The Sonny Gray Experience | Cardinals Insider: S9, E8 | St. Louis Cardinals

Coming Up coming up on Cardinals Insider Sunny gray continues to Dazzle you know his presence on the mound um and his prep work everything is intense Plus on this Mother's Day weekend we hear about the real heroes in these baseball families I think number one she's so caring and loving and serves others and later the Cardinals and St Louis just go together a reminder why in just a little bit on a brand new Cardinals Insider [Music] Sonny Gray welcome to Cardinals Insider I'm Azie Smith Sunny gay hitline this Winter's free agent editions the righty has anchored the rotation so far and his teammates are glad to be playing behind them instead of facing him Brad Thompson Jim hayes and I are very optimistic tonight because at long last partner we get to Feast our eyes on that man Sunny gray this is the guy that is set to Anchor the rotation for the next 3 years in Sunny Gray he's ready to rock and roll and I can't wait to see it I'm glad he's on our team now cuz I didn't have very good numbers against him but number one I just think about how competitive he was on the mound you always respect the pitchers that do it that way he's definitely a guy I don't like facing when when I'm playing against him so I'm very glad he's on our team now and you can just sense the intensity um when you're standing in the batter's box against him so um not a fun at bat so I'm glad we have him him on our team now pulls the string and there's his first Cardinal strikeout it comes against Bryce Harper and it's a one two3 Cardinal debut for sunny gray when I think of Sunny I think he's a tough matchup with his size and stature but the way he competes out there he's a tough gift you know his presence on the mound um in his prep work everything is intense Sunny being across the field he's intense really intense I don't know there's not not as many guys anymore that you watch that are like sunny on the mountain you know way was something similar like that um I've been around a few pitchers that are like that and uh I respect it you know he's he's showing up on his start ready to work is cut on a missed Sunny gray has a double digit strikeout performance I think intense is a good word to use I think when he walks in a room you know guys kind of gravitate towards him and and you know they listen to him so he's got that good presence about him baseball is a 247 job that means Cardinals Wives those at home end up pulling extra weight to celebrate Mother's Day here's the players talking about their significant others so what makes Amy a great mom I don't think we have enough time uh everything everything everything in the baseball life these wives are pretty special you know there's a lot of Separation you know during the season where you don't get to really raise your family so to speak you know you're gone a lot so I think they're kind of a oneman show so to speak and they do a lot by themselves and you know I think it kind of flies under the radar but I mean I have a great wife and she does awesome for our baby girl and our family and you know she's the rock to this family and holds us together I think number one she's so caring and loving and serves others and I think that's almost every mom out there but Amy does a tremendous job she's always taking care of our kids and and me and my family and her family and so it's a very selfless job a very thank thankless job unfortunately and just so appreciative of of all she does for us it's been amazing to see her development over the past few months as she's become a mother but she's been incredible with with keeping her patience and keeping a great mindset throughout um and I know that she's going to continue to to be a great mom and I I can't wait to see her continue to grow in that way but it's the little things it's like you know the notes in The Lunchbox to the kids you know making sure Christmas Is Magical you know everything that Lauren does is trying to better you know the family right now specifically she's uh on tour our our uh the person that's helping her out can't be there so she's just flying by herself and traveling on buses by herself being a mom so um it's pretty amazing baseball is extremely selfish you know uh we travel a lot our schedules are really you know they're long days and uh for her to deal with the baby and so many different things by herself you know it's not easy and uh sometimes we think our job's hard but being a mom's not easy also so we're very fortunate for them any wife girlfriend anyone that understands this profession understands the ins and outs of it and how difficult it is so having someone that understands that and can also take care of of a lot of things while you're gone and we look forward to the times when we do get together and spend a lot of time together uh that's that's really important to have straight ahead on Cardinals Insider see why St Louis and baseball are a perfect match in the Gateway The Gateway City City Cardinals have been in St Louis since 1882 that's nearly 150 years of history between the city and the team the red birds are as much of a fixture as the Gateway Arch itself that's why you're seeing the club use a phrase for the Lou in so many places because St Louis is for the Cardinals and the Cardinals are for St Louis [Music] a [Music] coming up a lot can happen in a month we recap the moments and memories from the first month of road trips swing and a drive large Nar break out the tape On The Road measure a lot happens over the course of a six-month baseball season and and half of it happens away from your home ballpark our Emily Stevens has the [Music] evidence well it's hard to believe we are already 1 month into the season and the Cardinals have already visited a lot of different cities here's some of the top moments from on the road the birds paid a visit to the West Coast to begin their season at Dodgers Stadium Victor Scott II made his major league debut starting in center field after returning back home the guys headed west again this time to the desert and welcome back Lars Newar he made his 2024 season debut after being on the IL n hit a two-run bomb his first game back a 438 ft shot in Arizona also in Arizona New Cardinal Kyle Gibson organized a morning of volunteering with Adam Way's charity Big League impact Mason win Matt Carpenter and Ryan Howley travel to Mesa Arizona to the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children they packed meals for kids and their families all over the world the guys visited the Coliseum in Oakland for the very last time our own chip Carrey got to spend time in the booth with his son Chris like father like grandfather and great-grandfather Chris Carrey is the Oakland Athletics newest broadcaster and lastly reunited with former teammate Harrison Bader in the Big Apple also Wilson conteras continues to rake hitting home runs in both New York and Detroit one month in and still a lot of baseball to come for Cardinals Insider I'm Emily Stevens the Cardinals museum has a Vivas Corones rotating Gallery which features a new exhibit each season this year the focus is on the Latino players who suited up for the Cardinals our new exhibit is Vivas corones and what we are doing is celebrating but also recognizing the 176 guys that that are part of Cardinals history who are Latin and Hispanic some of my favorites well we have Albert P's rookie bat from 2001 um it's usually on exhibit but we've never brought it together with other things of his um there's a yachty mask which is wonderful of Fernando Valenzuela Jersey um Pedro Guerrero All-Star Game bat the first Cardinal of Latino Heritage was Alfredo Cabrera he was from the canary Islands which is a colony of Spain this was in 1913 he had two it bats and um unfortunately did not do well and was released the next year but he was the first and we have fortunately he's in a panoramic photo so we have a photo of him Polo if you listen to the Spanish broadcast has his little Polo isms so I took that and expanded and made a little corner called polos popups and what it does is that's an opportunity to tell some of the Latin and Hispanic stories of cardinal basball that isn't covered in the exhibit like Alberto and then throwing in little Polo ISM some of his uh almost Spanglish that he uses during the during the broadcast the meat fell off the taco but it's in Spanish so I'm not going to attempt to say it I think just that they were here that they were important and their stories are worth telling and recognizing and we're going to do a better job of making sure that everyone who comes in here sees themselves and that to me is the most important part we also have done our labels in English and in Spanish which is something we've never done before it was a lot of work and I worked with the Hispanic Festival Incorporated to get those translations and I'm so excited for fans to come and see this all fans will be open through February 2025 museum is open Monday through Sundays um um 10 to 6 unless it's a game day and then we're open through the seventh inning still to come it's been a busy start to the year for the Cardinals podcast nowadays you hit a homer off me do whatever you want if I strike you out I'm going to do whatever I want here more from Lance L and others when we Lance Lynn return L Land Is providing leadership and quality Innings during his second go around with the Cardinals he discussed that and more on the Chatters box with Kyle mclen earlier this year here's our Brett McMillan with more on that appearance and who else has joined the club's podcast recently there have been some great conversations so far on the Cardinals podcast this season the Chatters box with Kyle Mel and welcomed Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn of course Lance and Kyle were teammates on that 2011 World Championship team Kyle asked Lance why do you get so fired up on the mound you know they started talking about let the kids play right bat flip do all that so it's like you want to bat flip you can do whatever you want I'm not going to yell at you remember when we first come up I was like here yelling it guys big carp wanted to hit everybody whenever they just whenever they didn't Sprint out of the box on the Homer nowadays you hit Homer off me do whatever you want if I strike you out I'm going to do whatever I want that's where I'm at to get Gordon out the next pitch is swung on it this wi b l strikes out the side we go to the bottom of the fourth inning on the home run by Burger were tied at one over on the Cardinals Insider podcast we celebrated The Life and Legacy of the late great Whitey Herzog and we did so by inviting in two of his former relievers Ken Daly and Rick Horton they talked about Whitey the person and also Whitey the baseball strategist you know part of what I think he was always looking for in relievers is people that could go multiple Innings I think the the way the way he wanted to manage this mix and match kind of thing the bullpen bite committee which I still think he is the first one to create that phrase uh and is several people say that he did uh others may have used the bullpen similarly but that was his concept I think uh but the point is you know he he had he had a method to that and it would work if he had guys who number number one could go long distance out of the bullpen but number two could pitch the next day too and and so your ability to be able to come back was actually an ability I think he looked for check out the Chatters box or the Cardinals Insider podcast anywhere that you listen to podcast plus you can watch full versions as videos on YouTube just check out the podcast playlist on the Cardinals YouTube channel for Cardinal Insider I'm Brett McMillan the high family Pavilion offers Family Pavilion kids a place to get some energy out at the Ballpark here's a look at some of the new games and foods that are making it even better than before we are here between Gates 5 and 6 in our high chew family Pavilion we are super excited because this year made some big upgrades to our family Pavilion Bush Stadium now has an arcade equipped with we have claw machines we have ski ball we have a hurricane simulator which I think is going to be really popular during those hot July Day games you know kind of an excuse to cool off we even have some racing simulator so it's super fun here you know something that will really Elevate the game day experience make it really fun something for the kiddos but also something for the whole family we have a cotton candy vending machine so it's brand new here at Bush stadium and it's it's different than your typical cotton candy that you would find at a ballpark this is made hot and fresh right in front of you you get to pick your design your flavors it comes vends right to you and you get to walk away with it and I promise it's one of those things that fans will stop you and ask where you got it it's definitely a novelty food item and isn't that the fun of ballpark food I think that's the magic of Cardinals baseball in coming to bus stadium is that it's something that you do with your family with your friends you know it's something that's passed down through generations so having a place like this where you know behind me we have our play structures you know the kids can come they get to watch these athletes on the field but also make memories here in the family Pavilion we even have some really fun things like our speed pitch so if you're watching the game and and you're wondering you know can I throw like those pitchers can come out here we have a radar detected speed pitch you can test it for yourself see if you're ready to be pulled up to the big leads I love coming in here watching these families make memories hearing the kids laugh and have a good time it really is special here at Bush Stadium when we return I'm answering one of your questions it's ask Azie and it's up Ask Oazi [Music] next it's time for this week's ask oazi Macklin and hulham Missouri asked what was your favorite part about Bush 2 when I played uh started playing in 1978 a lot of the ballparks were more symmetrical and coming here to St Louis in ' 82 it was it was phenomenal to see the Sun come through the Arches The Arches played such a big part of the Mystique of bush 2 and it was always U one of the things that I liked about the fact that it it gave you that that feeling of of going to something magnificent a magnificent structure and uh coming to Bush Stadium at night was like like when I was a kid going to watch wrestling you know the lights and everything made it exciting to come to the ballpark and uh I enjoyed that aspect of it playing on AstroTurf uh was a much quicker game I grew up playing on grass you know so it didn't make a difference uh the the real difference that I noticed between the the the two is that I had to continually tell myself when we made the transfer from the AstroTurf to Grass to still be aggressive because playing on as Turf could make you lazy because the ball got to you so much quicker the heat was as bad probably more than people could ever imagine uh in some of those Summers you know and I tell guys that they have it really good today because back in the day uh the heat coming off of that Turf and you could probably see it if the camera was low enough you could see the Heat and uh there was no place for it to go so yes it was hot uniforms were hot but you guys didn't care you know you just wanted to see a good performance every day and and and hopefully we brought you that thanks for the question Macklin if you want to submit a question head on over to cardinals.com inssider and click the asazi tab but for now don't go anywhere there's more Cardinals Insider right after the [Music] break when life gets busy it's easy to let a few texts go unanswered how many is a few you be the judge on this week's ask a cardinal [Music] sheesh me see actually can I check on red I don't know a lot maybe 20 30 I think right now none um I try to get back to people as much as I can cuz I hate being left on red and nobody answers me so I I try not to be that way oh no I'm on top of all of them I try to get back to people as quickly as possible I'm like the person that doesn't have unread emails and doesn't have unread text messages or Miss calls I got to keep it I got to keep it meat I'm the worst I if I had to guess I me I haven't really looked at my phone since this morning so probably like 30 to 40 I would guess I don't know I don't I'm terrible responding to the text oh my like through text probably have like 40 or 50 social media I probably have ton of them honestly probably zero less than five I I hate seeing the numbers up down I truly try not to ignore people so um six you know for sure you you got a cold yeah I got it and two of them are family group chat so right now I'm pretty good I got like maybe seven or eight but I'd say generally I'm in the like 50 to 100 range I'm pretty bad at getting back to people probably like over 200 what we got to get to it people are trying to get a hold of you oh I just went through them I opened all of them I had over 300 and that's because like I see the text and I just don't open it um but now I have like 30 819 I got a new phone so I actually only have four but before I lost my phone I had I think I think I had like 2,000 so I'm glad I got a new phone so now I can I can respond to everybody when they when they text me a decent amount uh but I'm in group chats and stuff like that too so um I don't know probably around 100 what about emails emails that's a different story I got like 20,000 of those a lot I got a lot of emails if it's able to be maxed out probably maxed out the little icon on my phone just says like it's gotten to the number where it just puts the plus sign after it like it just doesn't count up anymore uh emails might be a little worse 12 , 396 5,665 I was I was on my phone before this so like the Boot Barn kind of emails and I like I like boot so stuff like that it just it just piles up you know I feel an endorsement coming with Boot Barn zero I just delete him if I don't want to read that's it for this episode you can always catch Us online at cardinals.com inssider or watch full episodes on YouTube thanks for joining me and I'll see you right back here next week he [Music]