Diamond Diehards

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy did the show on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiamondDiehards), and while they were able to work in baseball, they mostly talked about what September 11 meant to them, including stories of how they watched the terror, what they did and how they felt in the moment as New Yorkers. For what usually is a baseball podcast, the em...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy jumped on Facebook Live for the Yankees @ Mets game, while honoring the late Tom Seaver. Dawg once again got to celebrate a win by his Mets, who trailed 4-0 and 7-4, but rallied for a 9-7 wain on a walkoff two-run homer by Pete Alonso leading off the 10th inning (yes, a two-run homer leading off the inning, because of the extra-inning runner...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy jumped on Facebook Live for the conclusion of the Mets-Orioles game. Dawg once again got to celebrate a win by his Mets, who were led by Michael Conforto's four hits and five RBI. For perspective, Conforto raised his average to .331 and his OPS to .960 by the end of this game. After the game ended, the guys addressed the suspensions coming f...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz, Jeff "Dawg" Healy and Jerry Milani brought the show to Facebook Live for the first time ever, and the community got involved. If you want to check out the video, you can find it on the Facebook group below. Lots to unpack here. It was Jackie Robinson Day in MLB so all players were wearing uniform number 42 in his honor. Late in the show, the stunning news broke...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz & Jeff "Dawg" Healy posed the question: Is this the best baseball season ever? There's a strong case for it if you listen closely. The guys also covered the plethora of doubleheaders and what they might mean to MLB in the future. Will we see 7-inning games for scheduled doubleheaders in 2021? Which of the other 202 rules will carry over? Is small-ball coming back...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz & Jerry Milani (pinch-hitting for Jeff "Dawg" Healy) got down to business about the Cardinals coming back online and having to play multiple doubleheaders per week for the rest of the season in order to catch up. But there is an angle here, and the guys were not ready to dismiss St. Louis like the rest of the baseball world. In fact, it's quite the opposite, and...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball, this time on his birthday! Riz wanted to celebrate his birthday by bringing on longtime friend Dave Schultz, who is the program director and host of afternoon drive show The Game Plan on WNSP 105.5 FM in Mobile, Ala. Riz & Dave have flown in the same circles for nearly 30 years, starting at the Baseball Winter Meetings at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami Beach in 1991...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. The season is in full swing despite COVID-19, so Riz & Jeff "Dawg" Healy are stepping it up to bring you more episodes. No need to wait for the usual Friday night Mets debacle when we have one on a Monday! The guys kicked it off talking about the Mets-Nationals game, which already was 12-0 for the World Series champs before they hit the record button. There was an an...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. In what seemingly has become a Friday night ritual, Riz and Dawg ended up watching the Mets, and once again they ended up with a disappointing loss, this time to the surprising Miami Marlins. The Marlins moved to 7-1 with the win, and Riz & Dawg broke down how they got there, where they will go from here, and what they need to do to make the playoffs under manager Do...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz guided Jeff "Dawg" Healy through the agonizing blown lead in the Mets' 11-10 loss to the Braves, as it happened while they were on air. Dawg could not stomach Dellin Betances and Seth Lugo blowing a 10-6 lead in the 8th after New York held an 8-2 lead in the top of the 5th. Dawg and his gin & tonics lamented about the pain of being a fan of the Metropolitans, whi...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. The MLB season is FINALLY under way. Riz & Jeff "Dawg" Healy obliged with a game companion as the Mets hosted the Braves in the season opener for both teams. If you have the game on DVR or want to follow along, start in the third inning (the guys talk about it shortly into the episode). As usual, the Mets were playing well on Opening Day, and they have the best such...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz was joined by Larry Fleisher of Forbes, who also is a long-time wire-service reporter, mere hours ahead of the long-awaited MLB season opener between the NY Yankees and World Series champion Washington Nationals. Larry mostly covers the Yankees but has been all over the sports map. Like Riz, he is a veteran of ESPN SportsTicker from back in the day, although they...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy are back, and so is baseball. The lively banter was about the impending return of baseball, slated for July 23, when the Yankees visit the defending World Series champion Nationals. A full breakdown of the scenarios around rosters, potential COVID infections, in-game strategy, season planning, and general baseball chatter exploded in the fir...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy talked about the best baseball movies on the latest Diamond Diehards. For some of these, you have to be a real diehard, and for others, they're great movies no matter what. Dawg chose the top 35 list from Rotten Tomatoes in order to give the guys a view from the so-called movie experts. The terrain was rough for a lot of the choices, and the...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz teamed up with Fordham classmate Ray Montgomery, who is the Special Assistant to the General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, and they covered a lot of ground. Montgomery patrolled the outfield with the Houston Astros from 1996-98, but has enjoyed a career off the field for the better part of the last two decades. Riz and Ray walked back through his career from...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz was joined by Mike Puma, who is the NY Post beat writer for the Mets. Riz and Mike go back a long way, to Fordham and WFUV, where they spent time together on the air covering sports and Rams events. The focus was on Puma's time covering the Mets for the Post. Mike broke down how the coverage is going during the COVID pandemic, including his trips back and forth t...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz was joined once again by Jeff "Dawg" Healy and they jumped into the 1952 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Spoiler alert, the Yankees won in seven games. Riz and Dawg started with Game 7, but could not resist looking back deeper into some of the key moments in the series when they were examining the performance of beloved Dodgers...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Riz and Jeff "Dawg" Healy joined up for this episode and turned back the clock to the 1970 MLB All-Star Game, which then led them down a rabbit hole. There was a complete breakdown of the amazing careers of Le Grand Orange, Rusty Staub, and all-time great Willie Mays. They dug up some historic names from 1970, and Riz shared a story about Hall of Famers Jim Palmer an...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Or at least he did until getting interrupted by a bout with COVID-19. Riz came back on the air after a week off and talked with Dawg about his story, and his time in isolation away from the family. He still has a little time left before he can rejoin the population, but so far has fared pretty well. The guys had chatter about the latest Strat simulation numbers, and...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. After finally taking a day off, Diamond Diehards came back strong as Riz finally had a three-way deal with Jeff "Dawg" Healy and Jerry Milani from the Fordham Crew. The Strat-O-Matic simulation results led things off and then it was on to chatter, as the guys had been watching the classic movie Major League, and brought it to real life. What if Pedro Cerrano had the...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Where it seems there is none, he's taking the Strat-O-Matic simulation of the 2020 MLB season as seriously as if it's happening in real life. If you're tired of hearing of Coronavirus and COVID-19, then this is your solace for about a half hour (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less) a day. Riz, who has brought you an episode every single day since the sea...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball. Where it seems there is none, he's taking the Strat-O-Matic simulation of the 2020 MLB season as seriously as if it's happening in real life. If you're tired of hearing of Coronavirus and COVID-19, then this is your solace for about a half hour (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less) a day. Riz, who has brought you an episode every single day since the sea...

Joe Rizzo brings you baseball, even when it appears there is none to be had. The Strat-O-Matic simulation continues and we have been with you every single day thus far to talk about it. For this episode, there was a little less stress on the games and more on the kids, as Joe's sons Dominic and Xavier joined in as co-hosts. The Rizzos talked about major league baseball and social media, and then t...

Joe Rizzo was joined once again by Jeff "Dawg" Healy from the Fordham Crew for this episode, covering the MLB slate for April 3, 2020, based on the Strat-O-Matic simulation. Riz & The Dawg broke down the surprsingly compact seven-game Friday slate in depth just as if it had happened on a real field and not a digital one. They gave some good inside stuff for the Strat-Heads as always, and injected...

Join Joe Rizzo as he navigates the 2020 MLB season the only way he can - by living the Strat-O-Matic simulation like it's 100% real. Riz recapped the highlights from April 2, which included the Nationals raising their World Series banner and Stephen Strasburg showing the form that made him the MVP of the Fall Classic. Jorge Soler has been a star of the simulation and he has Riz buzzing, plus the Y...