White Sox Success and Roster Analysis

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The twenty twenty six FIFA men's World Cup is coming to the US , Canada and Mexico, forty eight teams, one hundred four matches, and no weird kickoff times. Sling TV has the action live. Select in Fox local markets is twenty four dollars ninety nine cents a month or select or select non Fox markets starts at nineteen ninety nine. Sling TV makes it easy. Don't miss the World Cups, starting at just twenty four dollars ninety nine cents a month. Go to sling dot com for more details and sign up today Thanks for joining me on this Cleveland Baseball Morning, the final from Progressive field in Cleveland it's the Guardians getting swept by the New York Yankees with the finale on Wednesday. It's the Yankees eight, the Guardians four. I'm David Barris, lifelong Cleveland Baseball fan and I want, to talk about the actual game on the field. The thing I enjoy watching baseball being played. And yeah, this episode is coming to you a day late. I apologize. I apologize. I knew with the off day in between the Yankees and the Tiger series, I had a little bit of a buffer. And frankly , the honest reason why it's a day late is because one of the kids just kept me up all night and I tried waking up early. I really tried waking up Thursday morning early and coming down and recording the podcast and my body said no you idiot, you need another hour of sleep or you ain't gonna be able to function. So listened to my body and decided we could we could talk about this in twenty four hours. It would be okay. We'd still be and yeah twenty four hours later am I still steaming about this series? Yeah. Am I still really annoyed that we got swept by the Yankees? Yeah , am I there annoyed with how many runners were left on base, how the bullpens , how the bullpen collapsed? Yeah, still steamed about all that. So don't worry, we're gonna have a real great episode here I do have a lot to talk about because not only have the Guardians getting swept by the Yankees , but the Yankees have swept us into second place in the American League central somehow. The Chicago White Sox have been resurrected, they're back to life and they put another coin in the arcade machine and they are in first place now in the American League Central. And we're going to talk a little bit about how exactly are they doing this ? Because yeah, it's been an interesting it's been an interesting transition in the American League Central this year . So So yeah, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. Let's talk about the game on the field though. You know, this is one of those times where I wish I kind of still did the podcast daily and gave you an episode after every game , but you know life , life gets in the way. But this Monday night was the perfect example of it. Like what a game Monday night back and forth changing leads. We get extra innings, like we get heroic home runs, we get devastating bullpen moments like we had a little bit of everything in this one, right? And this is the kind of baseball game where I'd really love to just take all that emotion, bottle it up, sit down here at the microphone and let you have it, let you know everything I'm thinking about that game. Now unfortunately, I got to go back in time and remember what I was feeling, what emotions were there and get back into it, but we can, we can. We we had Gavin Williams on the mound. We had our ace on the mound, right? We had just beat the Yankees in a series and then we struggled in Texas and you know we went through all that, but hey, we're back home and here come those Yankees again and let's show them, let's show them that we mean business . And you could tell that the players, yeah, the reason I was excited about this game on Monday is you could tell the players wanted that win. Everybody was playing their hearts out. And I don't think there's any better representation of how hard these guys were trying than Brian Rocchio's double play in the top of the eighth inning we had just tied just the Yankees had just tied the game up off of Hunter Gaddis. He gives up three hits only can record one out Cage Smith comes in. He's got a he's got to go for it's not even a five out save situation. He was just the only arm that was up and loose in the bullpen and he's got to come into this tie game now and somehow hang onto this thing and give our offense a chance, right ? Well, this is a terrible situation. Like he's got to he's got to get two outs. You're telling me in the eighth inning and then and then he can and then you know hope that we can he has enough pitches left in the arsenal that he can then get through the ninth inning as well . Oh boy, I don't know how he's going to do this. There's runners on base. How is he going to get through this? Well two for seam fastballs at the knees and jazz chisham hits one back up the middle at ninety one miles per hour, so you know not a joke there, but back up the middle Roccio was shading up the middle almost like a middle infielder in old man softball and gets it , doesn't even step on the bag, slaps the bag with his glove and spins and throws the first to get Bellinger out at second and get Jazz Chisholm out at first . So an absolutely incredible double play by Brian Rocho. And I don't think there's anything in this game that more represents the heart and hustle that these guys were playing with that play right there . They wanted that win. And so he gets out of that eighth inning with two pitches. That's it two pitches. He's perfectly fresh now for the ninth inning. Everything is set up for you to storm back and complete the comeback and finish this game. And of course, you do nothing in the ninth inning, so it goes to extra innings. But we'll get to that in a second. There's plenty more to this game. Let's jump back to the beginning and we'll get to this extra innings moment here. So you know what? Goldschmidt gets us in the first inning. I feel like Gold Schmidt is having a fantastic season against us, but very first inning, a walk in a home run and Gavin Williams has done such a good job of cutting down on the walks. Yes, he has given up some hard contact. Yes, he has given up some home runs. Ends up giving up two home runs in this one ends up giving three runs for earned. He had three walks to five strikeouts and five innings pitch, ninety pitches, he's hard hit seven times and it's already causing problems in the first innovatively not Gavin Williams best game . Will Warren on the other side, the other starter for the Yankees can't even make it through the fifth inning. He only lasts four and a third three runs to earn two walks to five strikeouts. He doesn't give up any home runs. He takes them ninety one pitches to do four and a third innings and he's only hard hit four times. So we don't really do our damage against him as much as the Yankees bullpen in this one and they would throw everybody at us. My God they were throwing the whole bullpen at us in this one . Anyways , first inning, Paul Goldschmidt it's a w alk to Ben Rice and then Goldschmidt gets one hundred four point nine miles per hour, thirty one degree launch angle three hundred eighty eight feet. No doubt about it, thirty out of thirty s ballpark . Let's go to the match up here and let's see what Gavin Williams gave him first he wasn't even close to Ben Rice like Rice chased a first pitch curveball and then it's Sinker sw,eeper, sweeper, curveball, and he's just missing far off the plate with all these pitches . So doesn't really have his location. So Goldschmidt comes up and actually workss that pretty' a tough at bat here. He goes to the cutter , which he didn't throw to rice, the lefty, but against the rightie he's going to the cutter gets him to chase one a little bit off the plate for strike. One, gets another one on the inside edge ch. Soanging locations, changing doesn't have to be up and down, changing locations can mean in and out as well. So he comes inside now with the cutter and catches the inside edge for a call strike , tries to go with a sweeper. I don't know. Does he lose the grip on it? I don't know. I don't know if you want to sweeper up like that. That's way up at the shoulders . And then a curve ball that he misses inside with. So it's a two count and he's going to attack he's not walking guys right. He's really trying not to walk guys. So he's going to attack and he probably wanted this cutter inside. Instead it sneaks back to the middle of the plate. It's elevated and Gold Schmidt unloads on it for his eighth home run of the season . Two nothing New York . The next run would score he'd get into a little bit of jam in the third inning and a situation where they try to turn a double play , but with Bellinger running they were never really going to be able to turn a double play . Manzardo gets it to Rokio, but it's a really slow get a get there . Trent Grisham is able to score. Rice is out at second, but Bellinger's safe at first . There's also a throwing error. That's right. There's a throwing error by Rokio in rushing his throw to try to get Bellinger , he throws it wild and that's what allows Grisham to really come in and score. So makes it three nothing Yankees and And not feeling too good about it. Now I'm going to be honest. When we're down three, nothing like that and there's just nothing is going right, I lose a lot of confidence in this team. Like I just don't think we have the offensive firepower to come back in these situations . And yet, here come the guardians Kwan would draw walk Patrick Bailey would double and one hundred point nine off the bat actually would have been home a running one out of thirty ball parks. Oh, Houston, of course. So it must have been a left field. Uh , if it's a Houston . Uh Rokia would ground out to first, but that would oh sorry, Quin would score on a wild pitch and Bailey would move up to third . So they were actually there was a, you know, for as competitive as this series was, I feel like I'm a little all over the place tonight. As the competitive as this series was , there was a lot of sloppy baseball in this one. I mean, we just gave them a run in the top of the third inning with an errant throw to first base and trying to rush and make a double play happen that just wasn't there and he probably should have put it in his pocket and then here they go in the bottom and third innings so wild pitch allows Kwan to score the first run for the guardians. Bailey moves up to third, then Rocchio is able to ground out and drive Bailey into score . And then the next one would be an error by well they do they call it an error? Yeah, fielders choice. Okay . So yeah, they gave an error to Cabaiero here . Making sure I'm getting all my scoring plays right. So Bazana would ground out. Ramirez then with a two ounce single chased a lotter with a two ounce single I believe Ramirez stole a base in here as well . Did he steal here? I don't remember if he stole here or later. Ramirez steals so much lately it's hard to keep track. No, no stolen basses in this game for Ramirez Okay Okay , so Deloter was single and then Manzarda would rocket one at one hundred miles per hour back up the middle. Cabaiero is there the short stop for the Yankees is there , but kind of lays it doesn't can't feel it cleanly and Ramirez is able to come and score . Deloter makes it all the way third, but that's where the rally would end. Machine would line out . That was another problem like we can't complain about a three run inning, right? We should not complain about a three run inning , but it just felt like all week that even if the Garduians did put together a rally, even if the Guardians were able to score a run or two . There was never just that like big hit, that like bases clearing double, that three run home run . There was never that exclamation point on the inning . And it cost us because it kept the Yankees in the game. They would have been really nice to put an exclamation point on this inning. But still a three run inning is nothing to sneeze at, right? A three run inning is a it's a good inning. It's a really good inning for this offense, especially the way we're able to do it. We're able to take advantage of some mistakes. We're able to , you know, hammer the ball so hard that they can't feel, you know, that we're creating errors based on our exit velocity alone . So yeah , that would actually that play happened twice in this series. That play would happen. We'll get to it. That play would happen again on Wednesday in that loss on Wednesday . So yeah, so we tie the game up unfortunately the fifth inning McMahon gets ahold of one. He goes Apo h to lead off the fifth inning one hundred and four point seven off the bat, twenty five degree launch angle three hundred and eighty nine feet would have been home running twenty four out of thirty ballparks, but it's just enough to clear the wall and hit the railing here in Cleveland . So yeah, that's a shame to see . Let's see what pitch Gavin Williams gives up the home run on it is a looks like a hanging curve ball. Just hung a little too much of the curveball and McMahon is able to flip it out there in the left field and clear the nineteen foot wall. So they had to review it, but it was a curveball that he got So that would be so they'd have that lead that four to three lead. We'd get into the bottom of the sixth inning . You're wondering, you know, how long how tough is the is the bullpang going to be for the Yankees can the guardians offense actually mount a comeback late in the game David Fry with a lead off walk and then here comes Anha Martinez , one hundred five point one off the bat twenty seven degree launch angle, four hundred and fourteen feet would have been a home run in twenty nine out of thirty ballparks. It is so nice to see Anja Martinez continued to be a surprise power bat in this lineup and he just got a fastball right down the middle. Was it a cutter technically? He got a fastball right down the middle. It's interesting I said that. I was not intending this, but it literally says the there's a flow progressive ad literally right behind Anal Martinez while he's hitting this home run that says power up . So yeah , I guess I they called that one with the ad let's go to the matchup here. Let me see if I can find it and let's see what on how Martinez hit for the home run . This is off Paul Blackber d who just come into the game. Brent Heedrick was the one who walked David Fry . So Anhal Martinez in it's the second pitch. He has a sinker at the knees for a co stldrike actually a little bit of low. He could have if he challenged he could have won that one. I don't know if they had any challenges left. And then yeah, it was a cutter. It was a ninety two milepower cutter right the heart of the plate and that's a good swing decision there from Augal Martinez. I'm perfectly fine with him letting that first pitch go and clearly this was a mistake pitch from Paul Blackburn. Nobody ever wants to put one right down the heart of a plate , especially a cutter that's going to just break right into the sweet spot, right into the barrel for that left handed hitter . So yeah , we talked about this a lot. I don't feel like we've talked about a lot this season, but definitely in past seasons where if you pay attention, most home runs come on mistake pitches. Like look where the catcher any time you see a home run highlight, pay attention to where the catcher was set up. I guarantee you this is not where that pitch was intended. It was supposed to be high and tight it looks like based on where the catcher was set up. Yeah, they wanted that up and in and it just comes dead center. So the Guardians take a five to four lead and this was another inning where this could have been more . So after the home run, you've got a ground out from Quan, a strikeout from Bailey, but then Rocho keeps things alive in the nine hole one hundred and four point nine miles per off the bat. Travis Bazana draws a walk. Now we got two runners on for Jose Ramirez. Can we blow this game open? No, just to fly out just a flyout to end the threat . So yeah, the Guardians offense went threatened again. Then in the eighth inning the another fielder 's choice play here would allow Trent Grisham to score. Fortunately, Hunter Gaddess would give up singles to Trent Grisham and Ben Rice to lead off the inning. Now you're in a little bit of trouble. Here comes Goldschmidt. And it's just a groundball up the middle . Bazana has to range like way behind the bag to get it. Is able to flip at the Rocheo covering, but just it's just takes too long to develop and they can't turn the double play. Wouldn't have mattered anyways the run still scores. They still tie the game up . They threatened a little bit more there. Bellinger would single that's what would knock Hunter Gaddis out of the game and before Jazz hits into that double play two signals for the Guardians in the eighth inning your set up eight and nine hitters in the lineup. Rokio was trying like crazy to set something up for the guardians to win this game. Bailey singles, Brocchio singles, Bazana pops out, Jose Ramirez flies out . Both had zero expected batting averages. It's just zero, zero zero. So no chance to take advantage of your eight and nine hinters getting on in the eighth inning to turn the lineup over like that's a moment. That's a moment when the Yankees would take the lead and we're just not there offensively. Like that's what was so maddening about this game. It was exciting, but it was also maddening. Like man, you had opportunities in this one. The on the final box score with runners in scoring position, the guardians go oh for eleven. Yeah, they score five runs, but they went oh for eleven with runners in scoring position man Man , man that's brutal as a fan. That's just so like every time every time they set it in up and you're like, yes, this is it. This is it. John Adams should be beating the drum right now in heaven. Like come on. This is it. This is the moment. Get on your feet guardians fans. This is going to be the pop out and a flyout to end the threat . So Spencer Jones does single the newest the newest Yankee, the newest six foot seven yankee Spencer Jones would single but then he strikes out Cabiro. This is Kate Smith Strikes out Cabiero strikes out Volbi Strikes out li Sanchez so taking advantage of facing the bottom of the lineup for the for the New York Yankees and then in the bottom of the ninth, we go one, two, three as well and it sets us up in the tenth and just how many times have we seen it? How many times have we seen the the away team has the advantage in these extra inning situations . I you'll never be able to convince me otherwise. I've seen it too many times where the away team gets to set the mark, set the number and here they set two runs as the mark and the guardians just have no answer for it. Even though they bring the winning run to the plate, they have no answer for it. So the Guardians have no one to blame for themselves. We do get Tranquistian to fly out, but then they don't want any piece of Ben Rice . So they intentionally walked Ben Rice . Then they accidentally walk Max Schumann and this is this is Sean Armstrong in there for the Guardians and you know Armstrong's numbers don't look terrible but has anyone anyone have a memory of Sharm Armstrong where he pitched really great like I just don't I don't have I mean in the last week in his last seven games. He's only got a two point seven yard in seven games six point two six and two thirds innings pitch. He's given up two runs on four hits . He's got four strikeouts, it's two walks . Like it's not terrible , but it has not been stellar. Like he hasn't been that answer to like who's going to pass the baton to Kay Smith Like who.'s going to be the setup man for Kade Smith ? Armstrong hasn't really answered that call . So two walks in the inning and then it sets up Cody Bellinger with the bases loaded and he would single in the two runs , one hundred and two point five off the bat and just shoot it through and score the two runs. And the Guardians despite a lead off walk from Anja Martinez, which means you got two runners on now, you get a lineout from Quan, Bailey would strike out and then Rokio would ground out to end the threat. So the eight and nine guys in the lineup get one more crack at it and they can't play the hero even though they tried so hard to set the game up for us earlier . So it's a real disappointing ending, but you gotta admit it was a very exciting game. It was a it had the feel of a playoff game. I mean, not totally. We've seen what the crowd is like, but definitely the back and forth nature of it, you know, changing in leads multiple times , late inning heroics, it definitely had the feel of a playoff game from the players . Obviously we know what progressive field sounds like during a playoff game. It is intense down there . All right, so that would be Monday's game . Tuesday's game. Again, you have an answer, but man the offense just goes cold . We end up losing this one three to two . It's pretty disappointing because we actually waste a good start from Slade Zuconi. He's battling Garrett Co le. Garrick Cole looks exhausted. It was so hot on Tuesday . I was a dummy. I went for a run at like noon and you know, I could barely finish. I couldn't I literally couldn't finish my run because the heat was so intense and it was so humid and man, just baking in the sun. So I can only imagine what it's like to be wearing a baseball uniform and just sweating it, dripping buckets of sweat out there on the mount didn't seem to bother slay Zaconi as much, but Garico definitely was feeling it's whatever was going on with him . He only lasts four innings, only lasts eighty three pitches, but we let him off the hook too many times in this one. We go to for ten with runners in square position. Last game we left eleven on base. This time we leave thirteen on base as a team. Ramirez does have a steal in this one . So the Yankees would again jump out to the early lead . It wasn't a theme the whole time to another two run home run this time. This time it is Spencer Jones , the power hitting replacement for the captain for Judge and yeah, let's go to the match up here let's see what he gets off of slates Coney after Jazz Chisholm gets on with a walk. So both games, both games, you got a lead off walk. Oh, not a lead off walk to start the ending game one, sorry. You have a walk followed by a two run home run. And this is also a cutter down the heart of the play. He misses high with a fastball probably just trying to establish get himself back in the count, establish strike one, and instead he leaves it dead , center . You think Spencer Jones has a little bit of power? Hits his thing at one hundred and twelve point two miles per hour, twenty five degree launch angle four , one hundred and forty three feet . My goodness, that's a monster shot . eighty three point three mile per hour swing speed . That is a monster shot. thirty out of thirty, no doubt about it . So that'd be the two for them them, we would come back not necessarily in the bottom of the second, not right away. We would come back. We'd actually waste an opportunity. We get two guys on in the bottom of the second. Kwan gets on with a catcher's interference, but then Hedges flies out to end the threat . They would get two guys on a third , but he's able to get out of it. Then with two outs in the third inning, the Guardians get a rally going Hosey Ramirez with a single. He would then steal, I believe, and then ch ase the lotter would be able to single in the center field, brings in Ramirez to score Manzardo is hit by the pitch or sorry sorry no manzard manzardo walks. Reese Hoskins is hit by the pit ch . So they load the bases up for Angel Martinez and here comes Martinez Rockets one ninety nine point seven miles per hour had a five hundred forty expected batting average except it was only a three dead launch angle and Paul Goldschmidt makes a diving stop. He gets the ball, but he kind of he kind of it's a slow toss. It's a big looping toss to Garrett Cole covering first base and Anja Martinez is running like a missile down the line head first slide and he beats a sliding pitcher Garrett Cole , both players , I think both players realize that if they if imagine if they went into that thing standing, if they went into first base standing , it would have been a massive collision . It would have been somebody's world would have gotten rocked. And I think both players wanted to avoid that and felt their best chance of getting to the bag first was going into a slide. And Martinez's hand beats Garrico's foot and goes as a single Chase the Lauder is able to score but then Kwan grounds out to end the threat and once again it just like where's where's that bas is clearing hit? Where's the big one to really really shift the momentum into your favorite? Just where is it Guardians ? So yeah, I mean Martinez's play is great . It's exciting. It's cool, but it only gets one run in and just if that ball had gotten down the line, if that ball had gotten past Goldschmidt and gone down the line could have been it could have been huge. It could have been absolutely huge . So that would be it . The Guardians would have two men on in the fourth inning and then Ramirez would fly out and chase the lotter or force out and then chase the lotter would fly out. It can't get anybody home. Hedges is trying to start things off with a single. This was the single by the way that was one hundred nine point six miles per hour off the bat. nineteen degree launch angle, three hundred se andventy four feet , seventy five point three swing speed would have been a home run in twenty six out of thirty ballparks, but not progressive field. It hits high off the wall, the nineteen foot wall, just too low of a launch angle. And it is the probably the hardest, loudest single you'll ever see hit, furthest single you'll ever see hit . And it hedges, it's not like he was watching it. I don't think he was. It looked like he just it got to the wall so quickly and came down so quickly that the outfielders were able to get the ball in. There's hedge as not a fast runner . So Rochi would strike out. Bazana would walk, you have two runners on Ramirez hits into a force out and then Chase Lauder flies out and you waste a great opportunity there. Leadoff single by Manzardo , you get a one out single from Aj artinez, but then Kwan hits into refield's choice. Austin head just flies out ends that threat . Two out single for Ramirez but turns into nothing in the sixth in the seventh inning, you get a leadoff single for Manzardo and then eventually Hoskins would line out and then Martinez would hit into a double play . So you've had leadoff hitters on, you've had runners on in every inning. Again, they're just they're keeping us on the hook. We're just waiting for somebody to step up and be the hero with runners in scoring position and get something done . Instead, it's Jazz Chisholm coming up in the eighth inning . Who is pitching for us at this point ? Tim Herrin was in there . So it's I believe it's lefty unlefty. Jazz doesn't switch it, does he? I believe it's lefty unle andf Ltyefty and I feel like somehow Tom Hamilton has just ignited this rivalry between Jazz Chisholm and the Cleveland Guardians, and he's playing great baseball against us. Wearing somebody else's pants, using somebody else's bat and leftty and lefty, he just supposed to be down and away . It's a pitch that's supposed to be down and away. And instead it comes inside to the lefty and he crushes that at one hundred seven point three miles per hour , forty one degree launching. three hundred and sixty feet got away up there. seventy six swing speed would have been home running twenty seven out of thirty ballparks. Was it the slider? It looked like the slider. Let's go to the match up here here who'd I say I said Tim Herran versus So this is Tim Herron's second inning a work by the way. Tim Heron versus Jazz Chisholm and it's a long at bat. It's a seven pitch ab at and he is throwing the slider away through him four sliders down and away through one slider up try to go back door but it was down at the knees then comes back with a forcing fastball away , works it back to a full count and it started this count owing two. He had them. He just couldn't put them away and finally comes up and in with that slider and he turn s on it. And that's the difference in the game. The Guardians had their opportunities, but it's a three to win for the Yankees in the eighth inning you get two more runners on one out single from Schneim and Rocheo draw s a walk, Bazanna strikes out and Ramirez lines out. Like how many guys did Ramirez leave on base in this one? And then even in the ninth inning you get a lead off walk from Chase the Lotter before he strikes out the side . This is Fernando Cruz in his second inning of work. They could not touch that splitter. The splitter was filthy for Fernando Cruz Going to the player breakdown page here Cruz let's see here, where is he ? He threw fourteen splitters to only eight fastballs and three sliders. He had a five whiffs on seven swings . It was a seventy one percent whiff rate on that splitter. All four strikeouts come via the splitter. He also had three called strikes on it. So it's a fifty seven percent CSW on that pitch Man, just brutal. He was only in the zone with it thirty six percent of the time, but the Guardians were chasing it fifty six percent of the time . So yeah , yeah, that's bad right there . The Guardians were chasing that much . That splitter that bad . You got to treat it like a knuckleball, right? High and fly, low let it go. Like is that's just how you got to treat a splitter like that . If he catches the bottom of the strike zone with it fine, but he's probably not. He's probably going to drop the bottom out of that thing, and you're going to look like a fool swinging over top of it. It's exactly what happened for four strikeouts there . So yeah, the guardians just you have good some good games multi hit game for Ameras just not when runners are on base, multi hit game for Enzardo and a walk. He's on base three times . Not when anyone's on base. Anjamartinez with a two hit game. He does drive in one of the runs at least . But again, it could have been so much more . So yeah , very disappointing from your guardians on that one, you waste a good star from Slatezikoni. Can you salvage the finale? I went and looked. I was like, Are the guardians just terrible at finales? Or are they just terrible at day games . I went and looked at the finales and no, I believe we're exactly five hundred. I think we're eleven and eleven. I counted them up. I think we're eleven and eleven in finale games in the finale of a series. We're eleven for eleven on day games, we are now twelve and fourteen . We're twenty five and nineteen at night, but on day games which is usually the end of a series, we're twelve and fourteen. Meanwhile the Yankees are fifteen and nine. They play very well during the day. We do not . Right . Nobody in the American League Central has a winning record during the day . All right, that's interesting. One run games, we're also not doing great in one run games. We're ten and ten in one run g ames . That used to be our bread and butter, right? The White Sox, the reason they are now in first place is because they're fourteen and six in one run games . So they do they are hand ling it very well, these tight games. 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Go to sling dot com for more details and sign up today . All right , so yeah, so I'm not super confident going into the finale then on Wednesday, especially with Rodon on the mound. He gives the guardians absolute fits usually. He's battling Parker Mess ic though, but you know, unfortunately it's another game where it was kind of back and forth until they finally blew the roof off the thing in the sixth and seventh innings where they combine for five runs . But you know, the Guardians were in this until then until this thing started to unravel . The offense really cooled off though in this one. You do have this great leadoff home run from Angel Martinez to kick things off for your offense. Man, it feels like it's been a while since we've talked about a leadoff home run like that. It's a called strike at the knees, maybe a little below the knees and then it's a slider coming down and in on him off the leftty and Anja Martinez blasted out the left field one hundred six point two miles per hour, twenty three D relaunching off four hundred six feet . So great to see the power bat there for Anjal Martinez. Even if the batting average has dipped a little bit and maybe the on base percentage has dipped a little bit, the power is still in that bat and that's definitely something we need and can work with would have been home running thirty out of thirty ballparks for sure . So yeah, the Guardians have that . The Yankees would answer in the second inning . It's back to back singles to kick off the inning and then and then chisholm this time with a triple at one hundred seven point four miles per hour would have been a home run in one out thirty ballparks. I'm guessing Yankee Stadium and I'm right of course, it was out to right field, that means . So the Yankees immediately take control back in the second inning . So it's not great. You know, obviously we talk about protecting the lead and all that and to have them hit this triple here . Then Volpi would reach on a fielding error by Travis Bazana and it would allow Chisholm to come in to score. I think wasn't there also like a wild throw to first base Parker Messik in this inning? So a lot of sloppy play early from the Guardians in this one and literally a fielding error allowing a run to come in the score . So it's three one Yankees , but the Guardians would fight back for a little bit. It looked like we were going to have a game bottom of the fourth inning . It's two lead off walks and we make them pay for it. Bazana gets walked. Stuart Fairchild draws a walk. What is Stuart Fairchild doing batting ? I believe sixth in this lineup, yeah , sixth in this lineup. Like I get that you're giving him a chance against left handed pitching, but battle ninth for the love of God he scores two runs in this game on two walks. He scores two runs in this game. I don't need to see Stuart Fairchild in there batting sixth against the New York Yankees. I don't need to see him batting sixth ever . Battam ninth , let Rocchio move up in the line up, give him a chance. This be the perfect time because they don't want to put Schneimen and Bazana back to back. They don't want the two lefties back to back. So that's why they stick Stewart Arity in the middle there and they stick Stuart Fairchild in the middle middle. But this could have been Austin Hedge as they stuck in the middle. It could have been Brian Rogue the switch hitter that they stuck in the middle there. Get Stuart Fairchild to the ninth hole if you have to play him, which you really don't. There's other outfielders down in A right now . Speaking of other outfielders in AA, Nolan Jones is no longer with the team. That's right, the Nolan Jones has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for international bonus pool money. We actually had to throw in a little money of our own, but not international bonus pool money, just some cash considerations to get the deal to go through . So they help us out on the international stage a little bit and Nolan Jones is no longer in the conversation. He is now the White Stocks problem to deal with. So I mean, great guy, a seemingly great guy, but yeah, I just I had high hopes. I had really high hopes when we brought him back and it just was not meant to be. He was hitting okay. I feel he was really hot started the season in Columbus and then cooled off a little bit. I don't know if he was heating back up before he got traded, but the numbers look good at A . It's just the question is like can is he a quad a player? Is he too good for AAA but not good enough for the majors and the majors pitching just give him all sorts of fits where you're not just not getting that same competition in A , but Nolan Jones is no longer with the team. So speaking of guys who played, formerly played in Columbus . All right, so Austin Hedges is able to the hedgehog man delivers a double hits a ground ball through to right field . Bazana comes in to score Stewart Fairchild moves up to third, then Brian Rocchio get in the dirty job done with a s ack fly out to right field. He goes Apo and brings in Stuart Fairchild to score. So again, the Guardians have a nice little rally there. They score three , you know, added two more runs, they tie the game up, but just where's the big hit? Where's the big hit to blow the inning open to really unload this thing ? Where's it at? Well, the Yankees had it. That's where it's at. The Yankees would put together a rally in the sixth inning. I believe Parker Messik is still in there in the sixth inning doesn't make it out of the sixth inning goes five to two thirds. Okay and, then Fest a comes in to try to clean things up and it doesn't go well for Festa . So getting back to the scoring plays here Cabaiero would hit oh let's set the whole inning up, the whole sixth inning up. So it's a triple from Trent Grisham. I think there's one did not have Martinez fell down on one and then had another one ricochet past him. I think the triple earlier in the game is the one where he just literally slipped in the outfield grass and this triple gets past him and so Cabaero then hits a sack fly to David Fry brings in that run to score. This is the one I believe where Fry has a chance to make a play at the plate like he comes up throwing but he really tails his throw you know kind of slices his throw if you've ever if you've ever had a slice in when you play golf, I don't like golf, but I have a terrible slice when I do play golf. And that's kind of what David Frey's throw looked like right there. And I thought Hedges had a chance to like get back to the bag and get back to the plate and actually tag them like it looked like even though the throw was offline, it was still there in time and watched the replay a bunch of times and I still can't tell if Hedges just like lunges too early because he thinks he's out of time or if he slips a little bit and then tries to lunge , either way, he can't really get the glove out there and Grishen was able to tap the plate and score. So then Volpi sorry. So then Jazz Chisholm draws a walk now with the basses empty and two outs . Vulpi would then double it would drive in jazz to score and then they were also the Yankees were being aggressive. They were starting runners. I believe Jazz Chisholm was running on the pitch and which allowed them to be able to come in to score . I believe yeah, this was one over David Frey's head that ricocheted off the wall . So they take a five three lead and then Paul Goldschmidt adds on to the scoring after Ali Sanchez walks Goldschmidt with a single brings in Volpi to score, Sanchez goes to third, that would be the end of the rally, but there you go. There's the big crooked number six to three lead , felt a little insurmountable. The Guardians go one, two, three and the bottom of the sixth, and then they're back at it again off our bullpen. This time it's a Bellinger double, big man would strike out, Grisham would walk, Cabaiero with a single would drive in Bellinger to score . Grisham goes to third and then Jazz Chisholm would hit into a force out . Grisham scores again Cabiero's out of second and Jazz Chisholm is chafe safe at first . So there you go then they really , you know, they add on to that thing . Put it pretty far out of hand eight the three. It was pretty far out of hand. The Guardians would have a chance again, especially in the ninth inning . Stewart Fairchild would lead off with a walk , Snimen would strike out but then Hedges would double at one hundred four point five miles per hour brings in Stewart Fairchild to score but then on a fielder's choice Roch o would hit one in the hole between short and third, Volpi would make the stop and he would catch Austin Hedges going to third base . I know Hedges thought this ball was through. I'm pretty sure Hedges would tell you afterwards , he thought the ball was through. He thought he was going to be able to make a third base, maybe even score . And it's the old adage that if the ball's in front of you, you retreat. And if the ball is behind you, you go and it was in front of him. He should have retreated because he had no chance of making it to third base . Then Rocchio yeah, hits into the field's choice then Martinez lines out to end the game. So you even have a chance you threaten you, rally a little bit in the ninth inning of this one. I wouldn't say it's complete garbage time. The pressure was still on, but it's just too insurmountable of a lead that the Yankees were able to build up in this one. So yeah , yeah, what do they go with runners in scoring position in this game in the finale ? They go one for seven with runners in scoring position. They only leave six on base this time because yeah, they just weren't getting any base runner, six hits, four walks and they strand six of them out there on base . All right , it's disappointing. It's very disappointing because the guardians seem to they seem to be at a roadblock right now offensively. You never know what's going to snap a team out of something like this, a funk like this, but it does seem to be affecting the whole team. Even when guys are having good games at the plate, there's nobody there to drive them in. They're leaving so many runners on base, they're setting themselves up so nicely for innings and the crowds into it and everybody's into it and these games are at home and you should be taking advantage of teams and they're just not getting it done . So it's it's a pretty disappointing series offensively. There's just so many opportunities . Yeah, the pitching in this one Festa and Cody Huer coming in out of the bullpen. They really struggle . Will Dianean actually gets out there and gives you a two and a third innings to shut out baseball. So nice to see that out of him Pergermes it wasn't a terrible start five and two thirds five hits, five runs four earned, three walks to four strikeout s. Yeah , it's again it's not a terrible start but it ain't it ain't looking that pretty. It really isn't looking that pretty of a line. A hundred pitches. He's only hard hit five times , but still it's felt like a struggle to get through that finale with Messic on the Mountain. And I don't say that often when Mesic is on the mount . All right, NVP on the series when you get swept , it's really hard. I think I got to go with Anjal Martinez though. He had the two home runs, very impactful home runs, the one to take the lead on Monday, then the lead off home run on Wednesday . It was some big home runs, whether it was to, you know , hopefully win the game for the Guardians. It doesn't pan out. The bullpen gives up the run, but he had a chance to be the hero who won the game for the Guardians on Monday and then to get the moment um going on your side, get the scoring starting , you know, Anna Martinez delivered a good series in this one . So he is MVP on the day. Now I told you we going' tore talk about the Chicag o White Sox. Now how in the world have these Chicago White Sox caught up to us ? Like are they what are they good at? What are these Chicago White Sox? Do they have any pitching ? So I just looked at the starting pitchers I'm over on Fangrafts. Let's look at war or F war because it's Fangrafts for starting pitchers. The Yankees are actually or the Dodgers are leading the way at eight point two. The Yankees are second at seven point eight . So as good as you think the offense of Yankees offense might be they're pitching. They're starting pitching a second best in the league. The Guardians aren't too shabby. They're fifteenth. Their starters are fifteenth in all of baseball. They've accumulated four point eight war. The White Sox are nineteenth in all baseball at four point five. Okay, so no, not the starting pitching for the White Sox. That's not the thing that's doing it. Maybe it's the relief pitching. Maybe they just got a killer bullpen so it doesn't matter what the starter's do. And if we look at war for the bullpen, the Guardians have one of the better ones. Fourth and baseball actually tied for third in baseball with Atlanta at two point nine war f war . San Diego and Philly have the best bullpens out there right now and the White Sox check in at eighteenth in baseball. So nope, not the White Sox, definitely not the White Sox bullpen. So leaves one option left. Is it the hitters ? Is it the White Sox offense? And looking at those war numbers again, the White Sox come in sixth in all of baseball at a plus ten point three war . Meanwhile, the Guardian's offense is seventeenth in all of baseball at seven point four . So yeah , the guardians offense is not doing themselves any favors you know, the adage is always give me the pitching. I can make the hitting work but give me the great pitching. And I think we're seeing a little bit of the opposite of that. Like the guardians pitching is strong , but the offense is really holding them back lately. And it's something we complained about all off season and just making a corner outfielder, something to boost this offense and it just it's not out there like they're just not finding the power hitter that they need out there . So yeah, so the White Sox offense is pretty darn good going over to their player page on or their team page on baseball reference , who is it? Who's playing good for them? Well, signing Murakami it was a really good decision . twenty home runs , only weirdly only four doubles, no stolen bases, but twenty home runs. So all his extra base hits, all his slugging is the home run ball . It was betting two hundred and forty, had a nine hundred thirty eight OPS , a one hundred and fifty nine OPS plus. Again, league average set to one hundred. You'd want to be above that for a plus stat. So he's fifty nine percent better than the league average hitter. Now he is on the ten day IL right now so that is hurting them a little bit, but Murakami, it looks like has been a great signing. And give them credit. They took the risk, right? They took the risk and it's paying off. Chase Meredith, the second baseman has a one hundred five and OPS plus Colson Montgomery the short stop the power hitting short stop with sixteen home runs. He's got a one hundred twenty one OPS plus Miguel Vargas, I think a surprise for everybody at short stop. He's got sixteen home runs matching his total from last year . He's got a one hundred forty OPS plus yeah, everybody their outfielders are not really household names but Sam Antonacci . I'm sure I'm pronouncing that wrong. We'll find out more when we play them . He's got a one hundred fifteen OPS plus, Tristan Peters in centerfield. He's got a one hundred twenty and one OPS plus. So they're getting it. They're getting the contributions that they need offensively . As far as pitching goes, Davis Mardin has been very good for them nine in two with a two point four one ERA and thirteen starts . He's got seventy nine strikeouts to seventeen walks only giving him three home runs on the season. Got a one seventy seven ERA plus a two point three nine fip, a one point zero nine eight whip . So yeah not really a heavy strikeout guy but does not walk and does not allow home runs. So Davis Martin has been their best starter by a wide margin and yeah, their bullpen isn't there's nothing super spectacular out there in their bullpen. So yeah, so that's a little bit who the White Sox are and how they've taken over first place from us. They've acquired some good young hitters. They just called up Braden Montgomery who they got in the trade with the Boston Red Sox and for Crochet and he I don't know if he was the centerpiece technically but he was up to their number two prospect in their system and he finally made their majorague L deebut this week what. And do you know ? He played huge roles in two wins for the White Sox already. So they have some good exciting young hitters all over the board and they're going to be a handful all season long. They're going to be a handful . So we'll see when we finally get to lock horns with them and play . All right , let's get into your emails here because it's already going long, but I want to get in your emails. First off, Eric emailed in and Eric, I apologize. He says, please for Travis Bazana. He says, It rhymes with Nirvana , not banana. And you know, Eric, I'm gonna you got me, you definitely got me. I'm gonna plead a little bit of the Cleveland accent here because the Cleveland accent does not do good with the A sounds . And a lot of us Clevelanders don't believe we have an accent . We do. Believe me, we do. Once I started hanging out with some of our our New England cousins , I started to realize how much of a Cleveland accent we have . And yeah, the A's do us no favor. So I know I call 'em bazana a lot like banana , but he reminds me it's bazana like nirvana. So I will try my best, Eric. Believe me, you're not the only one giving me a hard time. My brother gives me the hardest time about the way I pronounce names, but you know, I don't get the I take a guess on a lot of these. You just heard when I was going through the White Sox roster there, right? I take my best guess until I hear him in a game. Jeff with the G got in after the first two games . He said Monday nights' lost was a gut punch after we took the lead with Anhaus Homer. Whenever we score five runs, which is rare it seems, I usually think the guards will win. Unfortunately, Williams didn't have his best day. Gaddys just in heavenm and Arstrong wasn't strong in the tenth, it was a tough loss. Tuesday was an equally frustrating loss. How many one run games are we going to play this season? My nerves can't take it. Guardians had plenty of base runners but couldn't come up with a key hit to put up a crooked number. I was hoping Hedges line drive off the left field wall would squeak over but nope and he was held to a single and what was that oh that's right the safety squeeze play with Quantumzardo coming home from third. He says I love Manzardo but he's no Jose Ramirez on the base pass and finally their closer on the day Fernando Cruz made us look silly at least Slade had a good outing and I hope he can keep it upright probably won't get to see much of today's game he said. Thanks for the podcast. Jeff and Columbus . Yeah, he's right. I forgot to mention the Quan Manzardo play What are you thinking withz Manardo at third base? Like why are you running that with the worst base runner on our team? I mean, manzardo can hit the ball, but God he looks awkward running the bases. He's slow as dirt. Like why are you running that play with manzardo on third base? Just Quant, just swing away, man , just swing away . If there's a if there's a five percent chance that Quan was just doing that on his own , we believe in you, Stephen Qanu still. We still believe in you just swing away, man. And let's see if we can get some runs on the board. No more these safety squeezes, sorry, with Manzardo on base . So that was Jeff and Columbus . Bob got in, he says these three games were a reality check. Wherever we need to be , we are not there yet. Let's hold off judgment until the Tigers leave town. Pitching, pitching, pitching. Do we have it? Question Mark. So maybe a tease for what Bob is going to suggest as we get nearer and nearer a trade deadline we heard from Marlon. Marlon checked in with one of his classic ext,remely long emails, but he wanted to talk about Class Ortiz and the if you know the college football soresby gambling situation and his baseball fandom. So Marlon from B irmingham checks in and says, Hi David with the news of Brendan Soresby inexplicably receiving an injunction to play the twenty twenty six college football season, despite his own admission of gambling on his own team, I can't help but wonder how this ruling may impact Class A and RTs. After all, the attorneys for both guys are keeping close eye on the proceedings. If Soresby was granted an injunction, why can't they? Now I'm not saying I want either guy to return to Cleveland . I don't. But it hardly seems fair Case and Ortiz were indicted and Soresby wasn't. Why haven't the Feds arrested Soresby given what we know about his extensive gambling? All they know is Texas tech is playing with fire and could attempt to set a very dangerous precedent moving forward from what I understand Marlon , I heard it differently. I heard Soresby never gambled on his own team or on himself , where Class and Ortiz , it's more of a criminal enterprise, right? Like they were doing things based on other gamblers , where Soresby just has a gambling addiction, like an actual disease, an actual sickness , an addiction to gambling, just like any alcohol or drug related addiction , gambling addiction can be powerful and it can be consuming and it can tear lives apart . And so yeah, so Soresby is dealing with his own demons where Cosain Ortiz were part of a criminal enterprise to defraud major league baseball and the gambling institutions and yada yada, yada. So I think that's the difference . Yeah , yeah, that's I don't know enough detail about the SORSBE situation to really get into it deep, but I believe that's my best guess at what the difference is. A couple Marlon says a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that I had not emailed in a while and wonder if I was okay. The truth is between this sorry mess involving Class A and RTs and a lackluster off season thanks to , I decided to take a step back . Okay, so I'm going to kind of quickly move through his thing There's a lot of things. He disagreed with a lot of things this off season . He just doesn't feel like the moves were made for a team that should be contending for a World Series doesn't like the paint and polite thing with the rule five draft . Yeah, so he's been taking a big hard long look at my baseball fandom and wondering if I should continue supporting and watching. I've always looked forward to watching Cleveland when they come on television and I've been keeping a score of every game I watched since I was eleven years old until now it feels like I'm going through the motions with this sport. Now the few games that have been on television this year I barely watched. I refuse to buy the MLB. TV again . I catch the YouTube highlights after every game, not now. My love for baseball is waning. There's always been issues for a long time, but the continued lack of spending, poor scouting and dra fting, which creates these dull and boring offenses, Causein Ortiz's gambling, the Otani mysterious exoneration , and pinning it all on this translator has been questioning if I should continue supporting the game I've loved since watching Major League in the Sandlot when I was five or six years old , Marlon in Birmingham . And yeah, honestly, you know, you emailers, I do from time to time. I do think about you and how you're going to react to a player or react to a situation. So I'm glad to see you're doing okay, Marlon. And I understand , I understand it's it's hard to be it's hard to be a fan. And I feel like my, that's kind of how I feel about the Cleveland Browns right now Marlon . The Browns have just been so inept and such bad leadership and made so many terrible decisions and terrible draft picks and they've given opportunities to low character quarterbacks . And I have a real hard time being a Browns fan right now. So I understand what you're feeling, Marlon. And you know, I enjoy having you here because I enjoy your opinion. So that's that's all. So if you do got to take a step back though, I understand. If you're going to keep watching and keep listening, then obviously you're always welcome to keep emailing in and sharing your thoughts . And then finally , Skip just got in while I was recording this. He says, Hi, Davy. I'm really interested in how the Guardians will do these next few days against the Tigers. The Tigers lost eight straight steries in May , but now in June they've won three straight , sweeping the raise, beating the Mariners and now the twins. The Guardians on the other hand have lost four out of their last five series. Despite that I'm encouraged by how well the Guardians played against the Yankees , all but one of those six Yankee games were close. While it's disappointing that we only won two out of six, we held our own in at least five of them. The Guardians have proven they can beat good teams like the Yankees Phillies, Dodgers C,ubs, etc. Now they need to learn how to be bad teams. They rise to the challenge and then fall to mediocrity. They thrive as underdogs, but struggle as favorites. Skip from Columbus. Yeah, the Tigers have been doing good. They've also been getting healthy , which obviously helps . There's a chance we could see two starting pitchers returning from the IL this weekend. We could see the return of Scoobal and we could see the return of Casey Myes . So we'll see that's going to be real interesting . Speaking of gambling, I don't know how the Vegas is going to set the line for those games with the pitchers returning from injury . You have no clue what you're going to get out there from a guy returning from injury like that, especially like a guy like Scubble who recovered almost way