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Bundling J another way to save with a personal price plan. Head to statefarm dot com to get a quote Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. cooverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state Thanks for joining me on this Cleveland Baseball Morning. The final from prorogressive field in Cleveland. It is the Guardians losing two games out of three to the Texas Rangers, but they do win on Wednesday. They open up the offense with a nice nine to four win. I'm Davy 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. once again the old hitting with runners in scoring position rears its ugly head on Monday to start the series You run into one heck of a strikeout pitcher in Jacob degrrom on on Tuesday's game and then yeah, the offense really does come alive comes awake and starts doing the things they need to do to win ball games on this Wednesday finale. I wish I wish we could just focus on Wednesday, right? I wish I wish we were back doing this daily and I could just celebrate Wednesdayays's win because it's everything you wanted to see. It's it's a little bit of power from the guys. It's hitting with runners in scoring position It's rallies, it's crooked numbers, it's Can this be guards ball C k Can this be how we identify ourselves with nine to four wins? inststead of these you know, tight one run games Uh, so yeah, it's uh It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun to have this game on in the middle of the work day, you know, youre you're just going about getting through summer And you know, somemer work days are always a little slower And yeah, it was it was a really entertaining baseball game to have on while you worked. So u Let's get into it. let's dive into the details and then we gott to save some time because you brought the emails for this episode. I don't know what it was about this Rangers series. or it was actually, I think my last episode challenged a bunch of to just email in when you had thoughts. like don you don't have to wait and wrap up the series like I do. When he got something to say, get in the email inb boox and say it. And so I think that inspired a couple of you to get back in there and email in. So we've got a lot of interesting conversations to have. with the email inbox. So We'll go through this series and then we'll get to your questions and your thoughts. U man we should go in chronological chronological order, right? We got We gott to eat our peas, we gott to eat our vegetables before we get to dessert. So Let's start with the rough. And you know what? you have to, you have to go back to Monday to tell the full storyline of this series because it might center around David Fry And yeah, there's even there was even a suggestion by an emailer, I think it was by Bob and Highland Heights that Fry should be MVP on the series And I just I can't do that. I can't do that after what he did on Monday. So the Gardians they're facing Tyler well, they're facing Chris Patdock. Tyler Alexander works as an opener And then Patdock comes into the game I don't know if the Guardians knew they were planning on doing that because they definitely have I mean, they've got Rese Hoskins starting over Manzardo. They've got David Fry in there starting in left field It felt like they were leaning a little bit on the right side And then the righty paddock comes in for four innings gives up seven hits but only two runs whichich is part of the problem. The Guardians go two for twelve with runners in scoring position, leave eight on base. It's your classic Cleveland Guardians they do find a way to scratch across three runs There's too many situations where they're leaving guys on base and no better example of it is than in the fourth inning of this game So You had just given up the first run of the game in the top of the fourth Josh Young had doubled Eventually, you know, they're able to ground out and drive them in with a little infield chop E Gabrier Arius makes a nice play to first base, but he has no play at home. And young scores. So they're up one nothing. You have a chance to answer U Rese Hoskins with a lead off single Cleo Watson would get on with a fielder's choice. I don't exactly remember. what happened on this play? U, But you got two guys on. You got the first two guys on of the inning. Uhs see secondecond baseman Camp Caller resound in second. fielding eror by second basement Cam Coie. Okay. So Watson's on. you got two guys on And now you've got power hitter and David Freya You got the guy who's known for hitting He's most famous for hitting, you know, a monster home run in the playoffs in twenty twenty four, right being an all star in twenty twenty four. U and yeah, this guy is known for putting the ball in the seats in left field into the bleachers at progressive field Denn he's up there with two runners on. You got a great start to the inning And what does he try to do? he tries to lay down a bunt He ends up popping it up. and making the first out of the inning And then Kan groans into a double play to end the threat So what starts is a beautiful inning. you got first two guys on, you got nobody out. you got so much possibility here in this inning. It's all killed. It's all killed when David Fry squares the butunch pops the thing up Isn't that how he got hit in the face with Scooubble? It wasn't he squaring to bnt or something like that? Um Yeah. so I went on a bit of a blue sky rant after this play happened And the big question is what is David Fry thinking trying to lay down a bun here? Like His job on this team should be to hit three run home runs not lay down sacrifice bnts for Stehen Kuan to maybe driveving an RBI That's not his job If this had been Stehven Kwineu I could see him bunting and moving the runners over and trying to get that one run back If this had been Who else has been hitting ninth first? Austin Hedges I would have been fine with that. Like I know Hedges Hedges is having a better offensive season than David Fry right now Still, Fry's job on this team is to hit three run home runs, not buunt And it seemed like he was doing this on his own It seemed like this was not something called from the dug out And my only thought, like the only reason You would be doing this is fear. Fear of failure You know, David Fry is batting let's see Whereas he leave the series batting because he does have a decent game on O on Wednesday. Well, he's got one big hit on Wednesday. He leaves the series b two hundred and fourteen with a seven o four OPS seven hundred OPS still not terrible two hundred fourteen betting average is a little bit rough. Uh, yeah, he, uh It has to be fear It has to be fear. your fear of failure And that is just the worst thing that can happen to a player in any sport, right A shooter in basketball afraid to take the shot a quarterback in football afraid to throw it over the middle or go deep with it, you know, doesn't trust his receiver to put the ball in the air. a running back who doesn't trust his offensive line and dances behind the line Right? The fear will destroy you in sports And it felt like that's what happened in this moment to David Frery It felt like he was afraid to bat against Chris Paddock And He let fear fear get to him And he chose the you know, what he thought was the safe route And it turns turns out to, you know be a trap door anyways. and he He fails anyways. He pops up the bunch. So yeah, this this if this is not a microcosm of the problems with the Guardian's offense right now in their current state. I don't know, I don't know what is they do score in the fifth inning. they They do answer in the fifth inning. You get a Gabel Aria sola home run one hundred seven point five miles per off the bat twenty eight degree launchg of four hundred and twenty nine feet Would have been a home run in thirty out of thirty ballparks. It was just a hanging breaking ball. I think it was a curve Um from u from Paddock Let's see here U homeome runs. Yeah, it was just a hanging curve ball right down the center of the plate And Arius with his big swing did not miss it U they would go on to add in that inning, they would actually take the lead in that inning. They'd be up two to one which, you know, sometimes is enough for the guuardians to hang on. Hedges would single after that afterfter a ground up by Bazana and a flyout by Rocchio, D Loter would rocket a double into the right field corner and score Austin hedges from second Hits it at one hundred and ten point seven miles per hour. It was an inside pitch and he kind of had to step out a little bit on it. It made his shortened follow through on his swing look even like more pronounced It looked even more like he just slapped the ball in the right field, but it went one hundred and ten point seven off the bat. I mean, Doter got it. That's just his swing. Like we just got to get used to. that's his swing. That's not a mistake. That's not a protection swing or anything like that It's just a swing. Its I guess it looks kind of even sillier on an inside pitch Um, So they do they do get a hit with runners and scoring positions. They that's two Two at twelve, right? That was one of their two So they get a hit with run scoring position and they drive in a run and they take the lead Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to do that again. They get a lead offff sing on the sixth. they get twoinners on. it can't do anything with it. they get two more singles in the seventh inning they would score a run here in the seventh iny but it wouldn't be with hit. Uh they would score on a a wild pitch I think while mananzardo is batting Rocchio Dol loto had had back to back singles and then Rochio is able to score on the wild pitch That would actually be a theme this week. If it felt like that was one of the only ways the Guardians could score runs was on wild pitches by the Texas Rangers. and eff fact Wednesday before they get that big rally going before David Fry So they they have a five run bottom of the second inning And before David Fry hits his big three run home run. they actually manufacture a couple of ways to score without without a hit So we'll get into that, but like it felt like kind of a theme throughout the weekend. you're not going to get the big hit. So you better hope that the Rangers make a mistake or something like that. and you're able to score a run U ses they scoren a wild pitch, made it a four to three game, made it a close game But the Guardian's bullpen falters in this one. That's another thing I kind of wanted to talk about like Sabrowski gives up two runs one earned Uh, because there is Kan kind of O can't can't secure the ball in left field. It doesn't b I wouldn't say really bbled it, but just it gets past him And so one of the runs coming in in that ninth inning is considered unearned So Sabrowski gives up two runs and he has not. If you look at his game logs, it has not gone smoothly for him in the month of June. For a guy who is dominant, let me pull up his game log here. A guy who was pretty dominant in the month of May before getting injured. In fact so dominant, he didn't give up a run in the entire month of May. A zero ERA. He didn't even give up an unearn run in the month of May in April, he hadn't given up a run. Let's see here He hadn't given up a run since he gave back to back u appearances where he gave up two runs Uh onene of them was on a home run U in april fourteenth and april seventeenth against Stain. Louis in Baltimore. He giv up two runs in each one of those games He hadn't given up a run the entire season outside of those two games Outside of those four runs in two games, he hadn't given up a run or an unen run the entire season Sabrowsky was dealing before the injury and then he comes back here about a month after the injury in May. and he's given up runs in almost every appearance. He came in to get one out against Seattle U on the twenty seventh and got the strike out Other than that, he's given up runs in every single appearance. T runs to Houston, a run to the White Sox, two to the Rangers one earned on the twenty ninth there. and then he comes into the game on on yesterday and gives up another home run U So gives up another run there on july first every appearance now except for that that one against the Mariners, he's given up runs since coming back from injury. So either either he came back from injury too soon He didn't he didn't get loose enough at u and his re like he should have stayed on his rehab start a little bit longer. But something isn't right with Eric Zabrowski right now And where this guy was maybe one of the most dominant relief pitchers before the injury. He he is human now And that is somebody we definitely have to get right for the second half of the season, Harry, you know, he needs he needs it all star break Sabrowski needs the All Star break real bad. to kind of reset himself and get back on track. O one who's really struggling this month has to be Sean Armstrong h Armstrong gives up another run he gives up us a solo home run in coming in and relief a Tanner Byy on Tuesday. Let's see how bad his June has been compared to his May U he was also out with an injury for a little bit there. when did was he out? So he was basically out from a month for a month from april twenty first to may twenty first U let's see here. for the month of May. two point zero eight ERA in a few appearances. He got yeah, he gave up one run in the month of May tos the Red Sox on his final appearance of the month. But then for the month of June, it's a six hundred fifty two ERA He's given up runs now in his last three consecutive outings, four of his last five outings. He has given up runs U pitched twice in that Mariner series gave up runs in both of those appearances now gives up a run in the one appearance in the Rangers series. So He has had a little bit of a struggle here in the month of June So another guy like we need to get him on track like we We need Armstrong. We need these guys who are supposed to be relying on Uh, you know, Armstrong definitely was someone we were supposed to be like a seventh eighth inning guy for us. someomeone we could rely on And there's two bullpen arms that really need to figure it out again So yeah. So they they they stretch out the lead here on us makeake it a six to three game and that would hold up and be the final. But the David Frery Bunt attempt is the thing that's just going to echo in my mind from this game moving forward. sorry. It's not going to be Gabel Arius a solo home run. I don't put a lot of stock in that. He hit a mistake pitch. like we talk about it all the time on the show. A lot of home runs come on mistake pitches. So I'm glad to see him hitting a mistake, but there's still a lot of holes in his offensive game That when Ramirez is back, I am totally fine if Gabriel Az gets DFA. He also had a bad defensive play. I think it was in this one let's see here Uh It might have been on Foscu's u double Yeah, deflected by third baseman Gabriel Arius. It was Fosccus double in the RBI double in the seventh inning that scores Nikki Lopez. It made it a four to two game. Uh, you know, I felt like it's a play he should have should have been able to make. It was a hard hit ball Let's see how hard Fasu actually hit this in the seventh inning U o no, it was only eighty eight mile per exX of velocity. so it really wasn't a hard hit ball It was just to his right and he he kind of goes down on his hip and tries to backhand it and can't come up with a ball And It just we've seen Gabriel Arias make great defensive plays. We know he's a good fielder. It felt like this was something he probably should have come up with But they credit Fascu with a double instead of an error because hey, I don't know. He h it to his left, you know, he did He did hit it to the left of the third baseman there and u Yeah. so a rough game for A. Well, he gets the home run, but yeah, there there's There are plenty of holes in Arius's game. That's my point. There's plenty of holes in his game that when Jose Romirez is back from injury tootally okay if he gets DFA. Like I'll live Olive L there were time There was a time where we thought maybe we could trade them, but I'll be okay Uh yeah, another another piece of that great San Diego trade All right. U So that is Monday's game. Tuesday's game, like I said, Biby and DGrnd both have great starts Degrrom definitely is on another level with nine strikeouts and no walks. and Bobby was solid but only two strikeouts. just It wasn't that kind of dominant performance that we saw from Degrrom here. And Degrrom, I mean, this this kind of took me back to like some of those Corey Klubber starts U the clue bot where it's just he was so locked in and doing what he wanted to do with the baseball. And I feel like Shane Bieber used to be like this too like when Bieber would lock in It was like, oh, you you're not getting a hit off this guy today. Like it ain't happening. you're You're striking out a ton And that's what De Grom delivered for the Rangers. We didn't hit him decently hard. So his final line was seven ins pitch, four hits two earn runs, zero walks, nine strikeouts He does give up the home run in the first inning on ninety six pitches, he is hard hit eight times And again another game where you thought maybe there was a hope offensively a lototer with a with a one out double one hundred and two point seven mile perower rocket in the left field left center And then manzardo steps up, takes an outside pitch, hits at one hundred and one point seven to center field to those seats in front of the the bow pens there It was put one hundred and sixteen out of thirty ball parks It's interesting to see how much of the home runs in this game because the Rangers would have some home runs too U Jack Peterson would get you that I believe it was this was that a second time through the lineup? Yeah H second time coming up through the lineup. He would get a two run home run answering the third inning. He hit his at one hundred two point seven thirty three de relaunch anle four hundred and three feet would have been home running twenty two out of thirty ball parks. You wonder how much of this was aided by the heat like the it was like ninety five plus mile ninety five plus mile or velocity ninety five degree plus heat Like I don't know what the actual like the real feel was or anything like that or the heat index, but It was like mid nineties and cooking and the wind was blowing out apparently and so it felt like listening I every time they cut Hamilton into the to the highlights here on the MLB app. It just it felt like the announcers kindind of allluded that the heat, you know, might have played a factor in some of these balls carrying. for home runs. It definitely felt like that on Jock Peterson. like it felt like he got his up in the air And maybe on a cold night, this is just a fly out to the warning track deffinitely carried for a home run here over the big nineteen foot wall. And then same thing with the one late in the game that Josh Young hits off of Armstrong he hit his opposite field. one hundred and one milep X velocity, twenty nine deg rel launch angle. three hundred and seventy six feet would have been a home run twenty five out of thirty ballparks, but it definitely felt like It felt like on the swing you didn't think he really got all of it, but it carried, man. it carried out there I don't know how much the heat plays a factor really U I also saw something interesting like a chart interesting chart about Home runs over the last like ten years and how you can tell exactly when MLB starts manipulating the baseball for more home runs or less home runs And they felt like they felt like we were in a period right now where MOB is manipulating the baseballs again So we'll see we'll see if that trend plays out for the whole season Um ye, who knows? Wh knows what, you know, MLB's doing behind the scenes, manipulating baseballs? There's always been rumors and talks of that and things like that Who knows what goes on behind closed doors? U So yeah, so you got a few balls to carry here. You got one early off to Gramardo gets one It's a good job of taking an outside pitch. It actually made me wonder like is M ardo seeing more outside pitches this year. than he has in in years past Um because it definitely feels It feels like those pitches are coming more outside. Let's see here. canan I pull up zones Let's see if we could do this. Total pitches, Noah, they're kind of spreading it around Um, Yeah, I wouldn't say any one zone is getting lit up any moreore than any other for Cowman Zardo Let's see if we go back to twenty twenty five Uh, pitch percent. Yeahah, it's about the same. It looks the same. the pitch chart. He they they're throwown all over to him They're not like targeting the outside or pounding the outside against him Um So yeah, so nice nice to get the two run home run early off of the ground, but man does he lock in And he was doing it with his four seam fastball Wh I looked into it is not necessarily his best pitch. H best pitch is that slider he had five whiffs on the slider, but they swung twenty one times on that pitch So it's not a high whF rate. It's only a whiff rate. It's only a twenty four percent wiffF rate on the four seam fastball They missed ten times. They had a forty five percent whiff rate Overall, it's a thirty six percent whiff rate for him and add in nineteen called strikes it's a thirty nine percent CSW Very aggressive, seventy six percent first pitch strike. They didt hit that the forcing fastball, they put five in play for of them had a ninety five plus mile per X of velocity. You averaged ninety six point one off that pitch. you also hit four sliders hard. U You had three base hits off that four seam fastball, but you were also striking out to it a lot. S of the nine strikeouts came up four seam fastballs all elevated all up above the strike zone. onlynly one was in the strike zone to Clea Watson, but it was still at the top of the strike zone. and then there were three sliders out of the zone that you chased for the nine strikeouts. So yeah, I looked into the Gram stuff And teams teams are actually hitting the four team fastball this season Last year it was much more dominant. Last year it had a one hundred and eighty nine betting average. This year they're betting two fifty three off his four seam fastball. They're slugging five twenty one off the fastball. And I believe the home run hit and I'll go back and double check this. I believe the home run hit by Manzarda was a high and away fastball. Yes, it was a forcing fastball up and away. Um, Yeah, the home run that he gives up By gives to Jack Peterson is actually a curveball like a back dooor curveball on the outside that Peterson goes oo with and goes and puts it into the over the nineteen foot wall in left field. Armstrong's was just a middle of the plate cutter just right down the pipe to Jng elevated at the top of the zone Uh yeah, So D Grom does give a home run here on that. And like I said, they're slugging off at five twenty one off of that forcing fastball So it's still a plus value pitch. It's still a plus three run value Last year, it was a plus twenty one run value. on that fast ball So it's not necessarily as high as whiff rate pitch his slider change up and curve all have over forty percent whiff rates where the four seam fastball only has a twenty five point four percent wift rate So in a K percentage U not his heavy strikeout pitch his again, his slider changing curve all have like mid thirty percent K percentage where the fastball is only at twenty five percent. So a little bit of an outlier for him with his four seam fastball that he was able to be that dominant with it against us, but it worked Uh And then on the other side By didn't pitch bad seven ins pitched five hits three earn three runs to earned. No walks two strikeouts, one home run given up to Jack Peterson, only hard hit six times on ninety one pitches. and I guess I'm kind of burying the lead on this game because we do have to talk about the Cooper angle of it all. So the one unearned run against Bby is because in the seventh inning, Cooper Engl forot how many outs there were thought they were two outs, catches a fly ball out there and left field with a run on second base turnurns and flips it into the stands, takes two steps to jog into the dugout And then it hits him exactly what happed And all of the guys, I'm sure were yelling at them, No, no, no, no, no, no, but too late. Too late, he made a rookie mistake And I heard some discussion on this on local sports talkal radio And you know, people were like, send Cooper Engle down, R R, you know, punish them No No, you cannot do that. You absolutely cannot do that. And you know, give credit to the Cleveland radio guys U they weren't saying that they were saying, this is the punishment. The punishment is we're talking about it today and we're going to talk about Cooperingo all day That's the punishment Uh nobody There's no punishment that Voe could come up with that's going to make Egel feel any worse than he's going to make himself feel. L there's there's nothing you could do to that guy worse than what he probably did to himself that night. You know, beat him beating himself up I'm sure he's going to be thinking about it for days and days and days like until he hits his first Major League home run, like he's He's going to think about this. He also went over for four with three strikeouts in the game. So Cooper Engle, just like Caleo Watson might need a moment to adjust here to Major League pitching Okay It ain't going to be instantaneous for Cooper Egele just like it wasn't for Ceo Watson. although Watson has come on nicely Watson his OPS is down a little bit. What does he leave the series Uh with his batting average looks his batting average looks fine, but He's betting to eighty six Okay. well the double on and going to for four on Wednesday helped them out It bounce that OPS back up to a seven hundred thirty one. So okay Watson's doing fine now But yeah, Engle doesn't play on Wednesday. not because of the the throw, not because of throwing the ball in the stands, not because of the mental error. It was because they were facing a lefty. So Egle doesn't play as a left hand hitter It was not that vote protected him after the game. all the comments after the game Uh, you know, votes said no, we we're going to pick that guy up He's never going to make that mistake again. We know that. So we're not going to we're not going to punish him If anything, if anything, you know, maybe Egle had to buy donuts the next day, you know, right? Like maybe maybe you show up to the ballpark with some really nice fancy donoughuts the next day, especially with a one and ten start, you know, everybody's coming to the ballpark early. I think that's how you handle. He did apologize to By, Byy told them because he was up the next inning in the bottom half of the inning Byby said, go earn the run back for us, you know, That was Byby's message to him So no vote didn't crush them, vote protected them exactly what the manager should do. And yeah, I think I think it was a it was a very unfortunate play And it was very unfortunate there was a run on second base. So you know, a ball that goes out of play from the outfield is to a two base error there So he comes in a score. It was the go ahead run. They would hit a home run off Armstrong anyways for an insurance run So byy probably wasn't winning this game anyways, but now By gets the loss. I think right By does get the loss in this one Um And yeah, it's look. it's continues byiby streak of bad luck on this season. Not only can he got knock in any run support, but his own team is throwing the ball away U So yeah, I think Cooper Engle will be just fine and we will never see this again U I can't ham them for runners and scoring positition because they only went one for two with runners in scoring positions. They just didn't get that many people on base once the grom locked in. What would you do if your online store converted thirty six percent more shoppers? You could take thirty six percent more vacation. Another pina cololado? Yes, please. Open a new retail location with thirty six percent more square feet. Fantastic. Hire thirty six percent more help. You're hired and you're hired Shopify has the world's best converting checkout up to thirty six percent better than other e commerce platforms. What you do with those extra sales is up to you. Switch to Shopify today at shhopify dot com slash listen and get a one dollar trial, shhopify dot com slash listen. Experience the World Cup at Jersey Fan Hub, New Jersey's home for soccer, music, and culture during the tournament. Join thousands of fans at Sports Illustrated Stadium for matchwatch parties on a giant screen from an on the field view, plus entertainment, giveaways and family friendly activations Best of all, admission is free on most states. Reserve your free tickets today at nYnjfwcw six dot com slash jersey. That's nYnjfwcw six dot com slash jersey. Hot summer days deserve cool comfortable nights. The Temper Breeze mattress is made with one of a kind cooling technology that pulls heat away from your body to keep you feeling cool and comfortable all night long. So no more sweating all night or blasting the AC. justust deep, undisturbed rest. Save big on cooler sleep during the Tempurpedic July fourth sale. For a limited time, shop and save five hundred dollars hundred on breeze mattresses at tempurpedic. com Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a state Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. and with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs so you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Head to statefarm. com to get a quote. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there Um So so moving on from this one let's talk about the fun one. Let's talk about the win on on Wednesday and the Gardiian offense goes off for five runs, but like I said, like the the struggles with hitting with the runners in scoring position didn't stop like they they still Their first two runs of this game come not via hit via other types of placeays So the first run actually comes from Austin Hedges trying to lay down like a safety squeeze. a little one out squeeze bun here. He was actually sacrificing himself He ends up bing it back to the pitcher. The pitcher Mackenzie Gore makes an attempt to flip it home but Rccho going on contact is too fast. It was actually Hedges a second attempt. he fouled off the first butt attempt And then he gets it down this time And Rocheo with a really nice slide to the outside of home plate gets his hand in there. I think the ball was dropped but it wouldn't have matter. Rkchio's hand was in there. So Hedges does make it safely to first Arius moves up to second But they score without a hit Then there's a wild pitch by Mackenzie Gore. It allows Gabriel Arius to come in and score U Hedges moves up to third, Staming and moves up to second. So bases loaded. you're like, okay, what's going to happen? I think it was bases loaded David Fryy up, right U I don't think there was an out in there. Yeah. So after the Sack bunch Schneeman had drawn a walk to to load the bases up And it brought up Fry and with Fry up the bat we get this wild pitch and you get to nothing lead without a hit with runners in scoring position Still hadn't done the thing yet So you know, we crushed David Fry on Monday for the sack Bunt attempt for popping up the bnt And what did I say David Fryy's job is to hit three run home runs And what does David Frery do He hits a three run home run to right center field. Brings in Hedges and Steaman to score with him. N only ninety eight point seven off the bat. thirty six degree launch angle three hundred and eighty feet would have been a home run in twenty eight out of thirty ballparks. Let's go over to the Illustrator here. What pitch did he get from MackKenzie Gore for this home run? It was a fastball elevated in up and away in the strike zone, but on the outer half of the plate to to David Fry here So he doesn't even hit it extremely hard, but he does lift it getet in the air and get a big three run home run exactly what we needed from David Fry. I think they said that was his first home run in progressive field this season. He It was his fifth home run this season, but the other four come on the road. Is that true? So yeah doesn't even pull it into the into the bleachers would have been a little hard with that outside fastball from the flamethrower Mackenzie Gore Gore does throws fastball pretty hard. Let's go to his player brereakdown page really quick. Yeah throws like ninety five. ninety five point five was his average on the day. That's a pretty decent fastball U But yeah, u David Frery delivers the three run home run. Mand did we need that like that was such a release valve on the pressure right there So to make that a five run inning really make them pay. That was the exclamation point on an inning that we just had not been getting this season Earlier any other game this season, you would have scored those two runs. you would have manufactured those two runs. People would have said o, there's guards ball And you would have manufactured those two runs and then that would have been it B the way, all this came with u I there was one out Kleo Watson had struck out before Austin Hedges did his bun thing. So This comes with one out But yeah, I there are plenty of times where u That would have been, you know, those two runs would have been the inning and then nobody would have gotten a hit with runners in scoring position. plenty of times this season That happened. You didn't let it happen here didid not let it happen. Let's see. There was in the third inning, they get a run here on a walk. they walk in a run U in the sixth inning they chip a little bit closer with a ground out, kind of fielders' choice moment here. in the top of the six. Stemen made some good plays by the way. Bazana gets the day off against a leftfty. He had been scuffling his last seven games like he he was barely hitting So he gets the day off against a lefty to try to get himself together, get himself going again And so Schneemen was in there playing second base and he was playing a dynamite second b second base. at one point, I think they turn a double play where he flipped the ball out of his glove to Rokeo covering the bag and then Rokeo makes the turn and turns the double play a really smooth looking play from Schneimemen at second base. In another world, Schneemen wouldn't be a super utility player. He would just be a really good defensive second baseman for some team U a yeah. so luckily here we have them as the super utility guy and we don't need to play at second base every day Um, But yeah, someone someone said something after the game like Schneemen Schneemen should definitely be in the consideration again for that utility player gold glove, right? whichich is a nice thing that they added to honor those guys U Also in that sixth inning, Nkki Lopez would double brringing azuna to score. So theyre they're coming close. They makeaking a five to three game. It look for a while there like that five runs. U you know it' questionable whether would hold up but then chase the lototter with a single in the seventh inning brrings in Qan to score Uh R another wild pitch by rookie pitcher Winston Santos. I believe Santos is making his major League debut, right? I thought that's what they said U And so he th he gets in a little trouble here in the seventh inning u throws a wild pitch uh and brings in the loter to score So they make it seven to three they' get a solo homegrown from Elias Diaz off of Sabrowsky once again abrowski in there giving up runs. likeike we said, he's giving up runs in almost every reappearance since coming back. So he gives up the solo H on ideas makes it the four to seven game. Yeah, not too worried But still let's get the icing you know, the cherry on top of the Sunday. I was going to do icing on the cake, but I think cherry on the Sunday is a more appropriate metaphor here. We get an Austin Hedges homeome run. I love Austin Hedges homeome runs in the bottom of the eighth inning just to add a little insurance with Cleia Watson on base Austin the hedgehog. gets up. Blasts a home run into the bleachers. Let's see here one hundred one point nine off the bat, thirty one to relaunching a four hundred feet W would have been a home run in thirty out of thirty ballparks. Forget about it Man, I love when Heedgeie gets a home run. Let's see what pitch was it U still facing Santos. It was a fastball down and in U ninety seven point nine mile per fastball. Yeah, the guy has some serious heat And he he came down and in and Heedgie went down and got it. U By the way, Sabrowski's home run that he gives up to Diaz is a hanging curveball like up at the belly like at the top of the strike zone, probably not where Sabrowski meant to put this curve ball Uh, what was the count? I don't know one two count Yeah It' definitely not where Sabraski wanted that pitch to go So yeah, this was a fun offensive game from the Cleveland Guardians. Doter goes three for five. with a double and a run scored and a run driven in U and basically everybody hit except for Hoskins and Schneieman, although Schneemen's walk does turn into a run. he scores on that David Fry home run. David Fry leading off by the way. I guess I guess that technically worked, although the three run home run is the only thing that he scores. Although Kan does pinch hit for him later in the game when they go to a right handed pitcher and Kuan delivers a triple into the left field corner. So I guess the lead combined in the leadoff spot. they go two for five with a Homer and a triple and two runs scored and three RBIs.'s that would be a good day for you know, a leadoff hitter combined U Kan's triple. I thought they had a chance at an inside the park home run But I think it was a lead off an inning And Ruy Yodor was like, why Why push it? Why We're leading off the inning. We got Chase a lotaer and Rhese Hoskins up next. like let's just Let's just let it be and it works I mean, the lotader rockets a single at one hundred and ten point four miles per hour Brings in Qantas score So you don't lose out on the run, but I thought for a moment there we were going to get in inside the park home run and U there was somebody else heading inside the park home run in Major League baseball yesterday. and it was one of those classic ones where an outfielder is going back on it and it hits on an you know, b hits on an angle against the outfield fence and then ricochets like way off to one side and then The outfielders got to go chase it down. It was one of those kind of classic ones that's just a really bad balance and an outfielder going for the ball and pins himself against the wall crashes into the wall and can't make the catch Um, and so you're off to the races and It's it's the most it's one of my favorite plays in baseball because There's usually chaos going on in the outfield, right There's usually all sorts of shenanigans and chaos and guys scrambling all over the place to try to get the ball in the outfield. And meanwhile, you got a guy in the infield just running for his life. just giving it everything he's got in the tank. They don't usually run that far baseball players like they're not known Baseball players are known for going ninety feet. They're not known for going all the way around the base paths, right? So it's usually the guy is just completely gashed by the time he gets home. and u It's just it's just one of the most fun plays in in all sports is the inside the park home Uh I would say like A running back going on like a ninety yard run. is, you know, or a receiver breaking away, you know, catching a slant and, you know, breaking away, but even more running back because there's that burst through the offensive line. There's that burst through the second level Like the offensive line opens up a hole, but then once he clears the linebackers and finds himself in open space and then it's just a foot race with the DBs that's pretty exciting too. But I would say this is on that same level like a breakaway running back. Nick Sub when he used to do those ninety yard runs U versus, you know, any inside the park home run you've ever seen I would say that's similar excitement level because there's there's a moment in both plays where and again, it's the running back clearing the linebackers clearing that second level and then getting into a foot race and it's the moment where the outfielder crashes into the wall or makes the dive for the ball and it gets past him where the whole audience realizes at the same time like This could happen. run, run run with everything you have Let's see it. We want to see the play. And so yeah, both of them are very fun U And so I thought Kuan maybe, but we live with a triple home and D a loter singaling them in Good offensive days there. Yeah, D lotder three for five. Menzardo gets in on the action, Rochio gets in and scores, actually the whole bottom of the lineup. five, six, seven, eight and nine all findine ways to score runs Hedges with three RBIs, including the two run home run Caleia Watson with a multi hit game including a double, which I gotta find this double because he rocketed this thing. U let's see here. Let's see if we can find Cleo Watson's double It was one of those ones where he hit it too hard. because I think there was a runner on base ahead of him And was this back in the third inning Uh yeah. Okaykay. so Manzardo was on with a single in the third inning Lee off third inning Rokio struck out Arias it flying out And Cleo Watson hits it at one hundred three miles per hour off the wall. would have been a home run in three out of thirty ballparks, but it's not out in progressive field. Let me guess, Yankee stadiia Yes, Yankee Stadium is on the list. and Cincinnat' great American ballpark. An Angel stadum. There you're three Um But yeah, Watson hammered that ball. I mean, it jumped off the bat and it was one of those ones where he hit it too hard. And there was no way Manzardo was going to score from first base. likeike I thought maybe Maybe they were going to send them and maybe if this is like up in the air and just in the gap in off the wall Manzardo has a chance to score from first base, but at a twenty two degree launch angle this thing was just a missile off the wall and unfortunately they wasted. It's a wasted double because Austin Hedges would pop out to end the threat. It came with two outs So yeah, a great shop by Cleo Watson there So really, really fun offensive day to back up Joey Cantillo who Battles for five innings him Mackenzie Gor could both only go five innings in the heat, although they both were up over ninety pitches. So Um It was a strong performance from Cantila five innings pitch. Th hits two and runs five walks. Oh boy. he survived five walks four strikeouts. The good news is he was only hard hit three times Okay, he's got that going for him at least. Uh the average ex of velocity off Cantilla on the day. He was leaning on that curveball again. He didn't have the same success stillill forty seven percent wh rate. stillill a really good wh rate on that curve ball. It's a thirty one percent wif rate total. He had three strikeouts on that curveball. So I guess that was still working for him. He's still going to it a ton But I mean both guys had to work in some brutal brutal heat. I'm sure a lot of you are feeling it. Like I know there was a heat wave kind of sweeping the whole country there at least, you know, the East, the midwest, the east Um, so I'm sure a lot of you are feeling the heat. U I blew up the baby pool in the front yard and filled that thing up and we we had some fun with the kids after they got home in the evening because you got to find ways to cool off. and'm I'm sure Joey Cantillo would have loved to have just splashed down. I'm sure he went down into the dugout and took a cold shower and or maybe slashed in the in the ice bath or something like that after that one because you It was it was I It was tough. It would been tough to to be out there playing baseball in that heat. And I'm sure same thing with Austin Hedges catching. U But Cantillo hangs in there does a good job. I believe gets the W, right Let me go back to the box score here. Yeah, Cil look gets the W moves to seven and three on the season Cantillo's getting the wins that Tanner Byy is not. U, but a nice strong start and the bullpen does an okay job behind him. Holderman actually gets into some trouble gives up three hits and a run, but Gadis is able to come in and u also had a little trouble but doesn't give up a run. Tim Herron comes in and gets two strikeouts. So Heron looks good before Sabrowski Uh gives up the solo home run Diaz and then Festa pitches a clean Ninthan and to get you out of the game and get the win for canantilla So a really solid fun win there in the finale. My MVP on the series, I got to go with Chase the laauder. S hits in the series really ham. I mean some extremely hard hit balls throughout this series, tons of exit velocity from Chaseed a lototter back U in the first full series back from injury and he is exactly what his offense needs at the top of the lineup. So really good job By Chase the loter In this one How many harder balls do you have the day? H threeree in the finale He had two in the loss on Tuesday. and he had I twow more Yeah. So he had six hits total in the series and he had seven hard hit balls on the series. ninety five plus mil per ax velocity. So great series by Chase the Lauder MVP on the series. All right, let's get into your emails because you have a lot of fun thoughts and a lot of fun questions Marlin from Birmingham checking in earlier in the week and he he wanted to talk about the Austin Hedges and Josh Naylor exchange from Sunday. If you've never heard of John Boy media, I think it is or something like that It's basically like a YouTube channel, probably a podcasting channel too Uh, but one of the things they're famous for is I don't know, the guy's just like an expert lip reader And he'll break down plays and break down exchanges on the field and tell you what was being said to each other Like whether it's a manager and an emmpire yelling at each other, whether it's two players yelling at each other, in the case of hedges and Nailer here Like he is famous for these videos. And so they kind of broke it down and Naylor was Naylor yelled something. This is after Naylor stuck his arm out and got hit by the pitch Um Nailler said something to Hedges and Hedges yelled back like nobody likes you. This is why nobody likes you And so u yeah, he, um He found it interesting how angry Hedges got. and then he brought up Marlin brought up another play where Jose Ramirez got hit by Gosman in Toronto and nobody Nobody stood up from last year. So I'm not sure how that really plays into this moment here He says Marlin says I like Nlor and enjoyed watching him play for Cleveland. It's sad reading some of the comments on social media from Gards fans, ragging on the guy. Yeah U let's see here. The guy was very intense and passionate, which is what the current team is missing. Remember the I want all the smoke bit against the White Sox backacks in twenty twenty two. Heck he rebounded from the gruesome leg injury in twenty twenty one. despite him not being a natural outfielder. He gave it a shot to help the team U Rokeo like John Byss video on social media. It's funny though. Yeah. and then he goes on to kind of torch Rcchio for his errors in the playoffs. So Marlin's a little all over the place, but his point is His point is that clearly the guardian like clubhouse There's not a lot of love loss there with Josh Nayler. Like they don't seem to really like Josh Naylor all that much and it makes you wonder when he was in town here Remember These guys, it's much more than baseball, right? They travel together. They're the team bus or the team playe And they go out to dinners together and they spend so much time around each other There's probably some guys that you just don't get along with. you just don't like And u I'm not, you know, there wasn't a big push to keep Josh Naylor here. In fact the writing was on the door that that guy was going to be gone as his contract came to an end And maybe this is part of the reason why, mayaybe because there was no real clubhouse chemistry. Like as much as we all enjoyed watching the wild man Josh Naylor on TV and some of his antics on TV, we didn't have to live with the guy We didn't have to spend hours upon hours with a guy. Like think back to your high school sports teams. I'm sure there was somebody on the team that you just did not get along with. Like if that guy sat next to you on the team bus, you were like, damnit. He was going to be a terrible half hour U but you played with them all the same And maybe that was just the situation here because clearly Austin Hedges who came over with Josh Naylor in the same trade. clelearly hedges does not like Josh Naylor. He literally told him, This is why nobody likes you So Clearly there yeah, Nayler was not a beloved figure in the Cleveland Uh in the Cleveland Clubhouse I'm sure more details will come out over time over Naylor's playing career, but U yeah, I can't speak anything else to it because I've never been in the clubhouse to see what those interactions are like. I don't know if Naylor was wouldould sit down and politely play chess with Stehven Kuan or play Mario Kart with Jose Ramirez? I don't know, or just kept to himself. I don't know U so we'll I'm sure we'll hear more things over the years U there was a lot of reminiscing this this week actually because Al Palowski and Chris Jimineez were on the call and I never say his name, right. I never know if it's Jimenez or Jiminez, which way to go with it. And they brought in a bunch of former Guardians players into the booth and guys you hadn't thought about in a long time. They brought in Matt Laaporta. They brought in oh, I can't believe I'm blanking out his name the pitcher from Boston. who was a decent starter for us for a few years there U the big writy wow. I'm totally blanking. Go ahead haammer me in the email. I'm totally blanking right now. But they were just reminiscing like crazy. And yeah, Matt Laaporta, when you look back on that you almost like there's like a pine of regret like Laaporto really should have been something like it should have and he was reminiscing about fond memories playing here in Cleveland and all I could think about like as a fan was like You were the guy that didn't work out in the CC Sabathia trade. Like we were lucky that we got Michael Brantley out of that trade, but it was supposed to be you Laaporta and you never quite developed into the hitter we thought you were going to be. And that's It's got to suck like you just want to come back and have good memories and reminisce fondly about your time here. the back of fans' minds, that's what we're thinking. Like I didn't want to think that. I wanted to think, Ohh, this's nice Matt Laporta's back. But but in the back of my mind, I was thinking, you're the guy that didn't work out for CC Sabbathia Um, and then yeah, the pitcher actually I thought he was going to be u I can't believe I'm still blanking on his name U I thought he was going to be like an ace. I thought he was going to be a really great pitcher and he was our ace for a season or two and then just did didn't quite have it after that U So yeah, so a lot of reminisccent going on in the booth this this week All right, let's move on to Jeff with a G. He was checking in He said, Hi Davy, I'm in Chicago for a family trip this week. not getting to watch games against the Rangers, but did see the we lost the first two went to the Cubs Padres game Tuesday night and he got the fun experience at Wiggley Field with lots of home runs. The wind was definitely blowing out He saw Matt Boyd pitch just a bummer that knot with the guuardians, he said. Yeah, Boyd Boyd not sign We're not res signing Matthew Boyd was They could have used that guy over the last few seasons. But he got to see all the stars hit homers It honestly made me sad that our star Hosey is hurt and not playing. The guards are just so much more dynamic and exciting when our best players in the lineup. Any update on his Hmmate removal surgery Yes, Jeff. I do have something for you here. So Stebvenens, Tim Stebs wrote about it I think this is a day ago. Yeahah, june thirtieth. So they had the stitches removed post surgery. He's got his stitches out now. He can grip a bat. They're letting him grip I love the I love the progressions they go through sometimes in these things. He's allowed to grip a bat. He's just not allowed to start swinging it yet. He's doing some fielding drills, which is interesting because it is the glove hand that they had the injury on the hammach bone surgery on It is on his glove hand, but they're doing some fielding drills and he's allowed to throw the ball. And they're actually showing him before a game throwing a ball, playing a little long toss because his right hand is fine. He can throw. He just can't catch it. So somebody else was catching it was like the court again, another football. and we're talking a lot of football this episode It's like the quarterback warming up before the football game where like the receiver is catching the ball and handing it to the quarterback, the quarterback throws it. They throw it back to the receiver. He hands it back to the quarterback. That's what Ramirez was doing with like one of the coaches there or one of the trainers there. So Um So yeah, he's he's making some steps. It's still going to be five to seven weeks to still the window vote set. But he got the stitches out and he's already back doing drills and he was so excited to be back doing drills that he I guess he gathered the reporters over and was showing them videos on his phone or something of him going through drills or on the iPad or something like that. So Ramirez is definitely itching to be back out there. He was pacing the dug out during this series, encouraging the guys, trying to get them fired up, trying to get them going So Ramirez's energy is definitely missed on the field and he's he's definitely working his way back. So Good news on that front, Jeff. So thank you. He said Jeff and Columbus reporting from Chicago So thank you for the email, Jeff anotherother Jeff checked in is one we haven't talked to in a why Jeff in Palo Alto cheheck again. He said Lots of things going on. so hes he's a little backlogged and he's been catching up on Cleveland baseball morning episodes He says, As usual, I find myself captivated by your deep dives impressed by your insights, even with a few and far between what? moments? I guess I said something about bad team contracts. Uh I I you know, I It's like any podcaster, any radio personality like I've said a lot of things over the years. So don't hold me accountable for something I said in the past. likeike, you know, I go with it. I I got I got to get a lot of words out to fill up an episode. And so yeah, I've probably said some crazy things over the years. So don't hold me accountable, Jeff U He says you raise some good points and he just finished the Mariner's episode. you raise some good points and here are my answers observations. I like this, little call and response with the emailers. I like it He said no, I would not consider Cleveland a favorite to win a series in the playoffs if it started today. notot without Jose An Hel Martinez, of course, with two guys less than a week of MLB service in the lineup And with an obviously still hurt Zbrowsky not trustworthy as an eighth inning bridge to Ked Smith No, I would not expect them to be favored in general to win a playoff series. As you know, professional oddsmakers are trying to equalize money on both sides of a bet and make bank on the Vigorish Even if healthy, the general perception of the team for payroll and anonymity reasons is such that they'll nearly always be an underdog and one with inflated eyes to try to get skeptics to bite. Yeah. So I guess He's right. you know, the when we look the odds sometimes the Vegas odds are like only barometer out there of what the country is feeling, what the baseball fandom is actually feeling about a series because That number is based on how people are betting. But yes, they do influence that number to make sure people do bet. and to make sure people do lose money. So maybe it's not the best paramer really of going into a series. I feel you on that one, Jeff Jeff continues Guards ball. I'm with you It's cute and all, but enough is enough Look at the AL base running numbers We're actually doing okay in base running numbers, he points out. seconde inst stolen base, first inst stolen base percentage, fourth and extra base taken. In contrast to what you posited, they seem to be successfully practicing what they preach on the base paths for what it's worth. For me, aggressive outs on the base paths are like going for it a fourth down. You remember the failures way more than the successes But studies say the numbers generally support the strategy. That said, I gladly trade those successes for significantly improved on based slugging. Oh and No bunting I guess unless you'reustin hedges, right Finally, love the investigation at a batting average for runners in scoring position, but you buried the lead. They had significantly fewer plate appearances in June in that situation and there's the problem. Look at their on base percentage month by month three hundred twenty plus in March through May and around two ninety in June. too many outs and too few people to drive in and the relatively few base runners they generate. Of course, the failures stand out to us because there are way fewer opportunities drive and runs Anyways, here's to a quick return to Health for our hitters, a smooth MLB transition for Watson and Egle promoting Aaman in a complete recovery for Andrew Walters. Appreciate your work keeping us informed G guards, Jeff from Paolo Alto, Jeff. I appreciate you catching up on episodes and thank you for emailing in and I like to call in response, you know