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#28 | Yankees and Giants Both Struggle
12 Plays1 month ago
Andrew and Liam return to discuss a disappointing two weeks in their teams' performance.
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Transcript
Introduction and Season Focus
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello, welcome to Two Front War, bi-weekly podcast that covers the Yankees and Giants 2026 season. I'm Andrew, and with me as always is Liam. Liam. Hello, Andrew.
00:00:22
Speaker
Liam does not hold me accountable. To what? Or maybe he agrees with me, who knows. I said at the start of this season that no hot takes, no hot takes for me. Yeah, this is true. And I think it was last episode i declared the Giants season dead. Do you think that was too early or or or do you agree? Nothing's impossible. People are already saying how the Mets can turn it around, and you guys are incredibly comparable.
00:00:45
Speaker
Comparable to the Mets? Yeah. Okay. That doesn't give me too much confidence, so going to take that as a you agree
Personal Anecdotes and Life Updates
00:00:52
Speaker
with me. Yeah. Well, Liam, how have you been in these last two weeks? It's been an interesting interesting couple weeks. Personally, if you hear the squeaking, I'm dog sitting, and the dog just found the duck squeaking. What's the dog's name? Sandy.
00:01:06
Speaker
Sandy. Hi, Sandy. She's a good girl and very, very polite for most of the day, even though I only went on to walk her once. first She's like 10-ish years old, but she's still got a lot of energy with her, so I should probably be walking her twice a day. oh and I only walked her once today. Well, we'll have to get through this episode pretty quickly then so you can get on that second walk. It's only 8 p.m. where you are. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. where you are. It's not too late. not dark yet. no If anything, it'll be better when it's dark. It'll be a little bit cooler. It's been hot as hell. Yeah, it's been hot here too. It's 95 today. when We're recording this on Monday. This episode goes up on Friday. What else have you been up to? New job. Starting up sooner than i thought I would be, which is is cool. This is my last week at my with my former employer. Newly former employer.
00:01:51
Speaker
Newly former. Oh yeah, interesting interesting stuff. Coming down the wire, trying to get so the ball rolling on a couple of ideas. But in terms of being a Yankees fan, it's not been a good stretch. No, I took a look at ah some some records and was like, oh, that's not good. Hey, had a rush rush. tell tell Tell us about
Yankees' Performance and Challenges
00:02:10
Speaker
it, Liam. Tell us about it. I believe we're still second to the Rays in the AL and also in the division, okay which isn't terrible, but they ah this has been a bad stretch of baseball. And you are? For the Yanks, we won one series. Yanks. Okay, one series. One series. We got swept in one of them. That would be our series to the Brewers. right. And a lot of people got hurt. Some people came back.
00:02:33
Speaker
But the whole feng shu shui is in ah in a different orientation. So okay you got to think about some moves. big what ah There's some some injuries, some call-ups, some interesting call-ups that immediately...
00:02:48
Speaker
it did what everyone feared would happen, but I'll let you get to that. Start off with the the first series of the episode. All right. We'll be talking a little bit more in broad strokes, probably. First series is the best series just in line of we want it being our return against the Rangers this time at home as opposed to the last series when we were away. Game one was a 7-4 win. Elmore Rodriguez came back up on the mound. He was sent down a little bit later after this, but don't worry, he came back up. Had a three-run, 37-pitch first inning, but he settled down mostly after that, so just okay great adjustments. Nice to see that young guy can calm himself down to almost go a full five. Belly had an RBI double in the first and a rare McMahon two-run home run tight in the second.
00:03:36
Speaker
There's some quality at-bats throughout. The bullpen got called on to get out of their own messes that they created. Oh, you gotta love it when the bullpen does that. But it was all successful that go around in the first game, at least. That's good, yeah. You gotta love it when ah the bullpen just fails completely. Actually does their job? Yeah, well, it just fails completely. Although, I guess not fails completely, but like when they have like you said, like get out of their own messes. and that's always That's always fun to watch.
00:03:57
Speaker
This game one is kind of how I want the team to look at going forward. Like this is what they should be striving to be. Because they had DeGrom on the mound. And DeGrom's getting up there in age for starting pitcher. But he still has a lot of good stuff that any team would be looking to have in their starter. He had six earned runs, seven hits on six and one-third innings pitched. But it was just because the bats were competitive and they weren't afraid to challenge him. And... Every starting pitcher, Yankees, no matter where they lie in the lineup, should be looking attack the way that they attacked the ground that night. Game two is a different story. It was six to one loss. Not much good can be discerned from this one. Nathan Evaldi came in and absolutely killed like he normally does against the Yankees, only giving up run. which was a judge home run in the sixth. And he went the full eight. It was a two man rotation for both sides, both Yankees and Rangers. Other than that, cabbie got hit by a pitch and won't play the next game. Game three was fine. Where'd get hit? Where'd he get hit?
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah. Do you know where got it? Elbow, I believe. Yikes. A funny bone. Somewhere in the side. well It wasn't straight to him. Game three was a 9-2 win. It was a surprise bullpen day because Ryan Weathers got sick. They were like, oh, well, fuck. So Paul Blackburn was looking to get the start, and we were hoping that he would go at least like three-ish innings. yeah But on the first play of the game, Jason Dominguez went down with injury, bouncing off the outfield wall. He was listed down as an AC joint sprain ah from his left shoulder. He will be out at least three to four weeks. Ah, that sucks. Yeah, this was the first play of the game, the first ball to be hit in the contention. So kind of threw everything out of whack and gave a lot of icing time for Paul Blackburn. And he ended up only going out in the first. He went ah even then he only he walked to and had to bail himself out a little bit. So he was pulled out to the first and debuting. Brandon Beck got in and went three, three innings, gave up with the two earned runs off two hits, three walks and a strikeout. Not terrible. No, not's terrible. that For a debut. Not terrible for a debut for an impromptu bullpen day. Yeah, impromptu bullpen day debut. Probably weren't expecting to go out today. Probably expecting one inning. And now it's like, oh, guess who's got to eat some innings? New guy. Yeah, well, here you go, new guy.
00:06:11
Speaker
ah From there, it went from Hill to Hedrick to Bird to Duval, who let nothing go by the rest of the game. Adjustments made. Amon Rosario went from third base to right field. Belly went from left move to left field from right. McMahon came in to go to third. Max Schumann started at shortstop, who I don't think I might have talked about up until this point. He is a bench piece who's finally getting some reps in.
00:06:33
Speaker
Probably could have used some more. Yeah. And he then later moved to right field when Cabby came in. Cabinero came in as a defensive sub. Oh, OK. So he did come back. Yeah, no, he he came back. He doesn't get pulled out till later. Don't worry. There's some. Oh, we got another game to talk about there.
00:06:48
Speaker
Oh, no. Goldie triple. Belly ah drove him in after that with a right field drive over to Jack Peterson, who had his first outfield start since the the year of old. Oh, I believe he was with the Giants in 2023. And we can see why he isn't playing right field anymore. Yes. His easiest right field in baseball, allegedly Yankee Stadium, and he made it look like the hardest thing ever. Because if it goes over your head, it's a home run anyway. yeah He went diving for it and completely went too early. Oh, that's rough. It was very funny.
00:07:20
Speaker
do the Did he home run at least? Because usually with the Giants, he would anytime he made an error fielding, he would kind of make up for it by getting a home run in a year or two later. I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no, just because I don't remember and I didn't write it down. Yeah, also, not a Yankee.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. Forgot about that part. Grisham came up with bases loaded on the second after Jazz popped up and broke his bat in frustration and scored all three who were on base.
00:07:47
Speaker
Iscara scored on a Grisham single. Grisham scored and on an Iscara single. Iscara scored on a Judge single. Goldie scored on a Belly single, which is also something I'd like to see going forward. Single action, single scoring. Not everything needs to be a... a home run, especially if you're in the bottom of the lineup. In the seventh, Grisham got on again with his third consecutive hit with the game. And then Max Schumann, a little bit later, scored him on an RBI double, and he was the last Yankee of the game in the seventh to tally his hit.
00:08:13
Speaker
So every Yankee got hit in this game. Okay, nice. Duval to Andrew's point when cardiac closing appearance, I don't think it ah officially, it wasn't a save, was just him closing, where he just needed to see some guys walk before he got the job done. Other than that, that was the game. Duvall needs that pressure. I don't know about pressure. I wouldn't put him in a one or two run game at this point. That's what he needs. And if he doesn't have it, he will make it.
00:08:37
Speaker
Thank God he ain't the closer. He's not closer? ah No, I think this was ah this was a one-off thing just because the lead was soup was so big. Bednar is the main closer. Belliger, my, uh, my MVP for the series, six hits on 10 at bats, five RBIs, three walks, 600 batting average. Uh, unfortunately, because he got hurt, even though he got hurt, Jason Dominguez is my LVP thing for putting zeros across the
Giants' Team Updates and Strategy
00:09:00
Speaker
board, really. Okay.
00:09:01
Speaker
I see you're going for your MVP. You did it for the whole series. Yeah. Nice. I'm sticking with that. All right, right. I'm sticking with that. if If someone has a big enough game, like if there's going to be an ahed another Ahmed Rosario game coming up, like I'll name it, but i don't know if I'd give him MVP for the whole series. Okay. okay Unless you're like a pitcher. Have a good thing like that. i do MVP by game. I know you got to switch it up just to have something interesting to talk about. Yeah, true, true. So let's take a look here. Carter Bellinger. So he goes six for ten. Nice. Five RBI, three walks. Three walks? Great. Especially if they lead to to scoring. I like that. The Giants do not walk. They have the least walks of all the teams. It's rare.
00:09:40
Speaker
So rare to see. Giants, after this period, these these last two weeks, they currently sit at 20 27, seven games below 500. Yeah, they are fourth in the division, about like maybe half or one one game above the the Rockies. And they are another three games above the Rockies, or two games above the Rockies. And they're nine games behind first place. First series is against the Padres. The Giants lose this series. It's three-game series. They only win one game. But before we get into this, the Giants make some moves.
00:10:14
Speaker
Trevor McDonald is called up from AAA. He is a pitcher, and he's awesome. Eric Miller goes on to the 15-day IL for a backstring. And Gerard Encarnacion gets DFA'd, if you remember me complaining about him a lot.
00:10:28
Speaker
He had that really bad down-the-middle challenge, pitch that he challenged. Wasted that one. He forgot his glove and forced, I forget who the pitcher was, but forced a ball on the pitcher because he wasn't in position when the inning started. And not good on offense and defense. His defense was so bad that I would have rather had just keep Lee in the game for the bad lefty-on-lefty matchup than what? They cost runs, you know. See him coming off. Yeah. So he's gone. He had so many chances to like put himself on his team and he just, he just failed. But game one, Trevor McDonald brings life. The Giants came back home in low spirits. They were swept back to back and a winless road trip destroyed the team's hope for reaching 500 after a 4-2 homestand. Trevor McDonald was called up for game one of the series and frankly, hopes were low. But the only bad mark on his performance was when he gave up a solo home run in the first inning. After that, it was seven innings of domination. In true Giants fashion, however, the offense was weak, but they did manage to win three to two.
00:11:21
Speaker
Schmidt in the first inning stuck a dagger in the Padres heart when he worked a full count and hit a solo home run. Highlights for pitching Trevor McDonald's first batter. This is his debut with the team. I don't think this was his debut in the majors though. He's been stuck in AAA for a long time. First batter faced is a strikeout. Another highlight for pitching is from Caleb Killian. Last out of the game is a strikeout as well. On offense, you have Schmidt. Has an amazing at-bat in the first. He takes an 0-2 count to a full and then smashes a solo home run. And then he works a leadoff walk in the third inning. Arise doubles in the first.
00:11:51
Speaker
He beats a bizarre throw to third base. I forget who was at-bat. It was really weird. But he's on he's on second, right? Because he has a double. There's a a ground ball to short.
00:12:02
Speaker
I forget how many outs there were, but it goes to it goes a short. I believe that's Xander Bogarts. and Instead of going to first, he decides to go to third. and The throw is just botched, and now we have runners on the corners. I believe it was two outs.
00:12:16
Speaker
ah He also gets a leadoff double ah later in the game. Ramos, he capitalized on an error by the Padres' defense to get on base on what should have been a productive out, but then instead he's safe. And it hits a two out triple in the eighth inning.
00:12:28
Speaker
Devers, he gets an RBI single in the first, an RBI sack fly, and works a two out walk in the eighth inning. Eldridge works a one out walk in the fourth inning. And Adamas is able to steal second. On defense, we had Trevor McDonald makes a heads up play to tag the, he is awesome. Heads up play to get a tag out on the runner going to third base, which is to get a a put out by the the pitcher is very uncommon. Takes a comebacker to get the out. Then Arise has an amazing defense and gets a clutch out at second out of at first. My MVPs for this game for pitching goes to McDonald. He goes seven innings pitched, eight strikeouts, no walks, two hits, one earned run. On offense is Arise, two for three, two doubles and two runs. And for defense goes to McDonald.
00:13:09
Speaker
Lowlights for pitching. McDonald, he gives up a solo home run on the first. and Thankfully, it does not hurt him. Killing gives up a solo home run on the ninth. Another lowlight for offense is Casey Schmidt. He makes an emotional ABS challenge and loses. And then we go to game two, and the Giants make some moves. Guess what they did?
00:13:23
Speaker
What'd they do? McDonald gets option to triple A. That's an interesting choice. It sure is. Confused by that one. Usually that doesn't happen whenever, you know, you do that. what All right, so who who's taking his place?
00:13:38
Speaker
I don't know. You don't know. i don't know. i don't know who i don't i remember i don't know who took his place. I think he just got off. He was just brought up for the one game and then sent back down. Interesting. Yeah. Weird, right? Like that's the guy that gets optioned. Okay.
00:13:50
Speaker
So for game two, there was hope after the out of nowhere performance of McDonald, the giants would keep the momentum going. And it did look like it was web had a good first inning and Lee scored off of a Schmidt Homer. The giants even scored two more times in the second, but then web collapsed and what will hopefully be his worst outing of the season for innings pitched only four innings pitched, which is not common at all. Even whenever he has a bad outing, he still is guaranteed six innings, you know?
00:14:13
Speaker
Hmm. The Giants took a pretty good 4-1 lead, only to lose In a post-game interview, Webb was asked about how he felt being pulled after the fourth. For some context, even in his bad, yeah, his bad sense, he could go through at least five innings. He agreed with the decision. He went so far as saying that he should not have been playing. This should not be seen as a slight towards Tony, as even Webb agrees that he should have been pulled. So now, the only way for the series to be salvaged is to win the last game, a day game, or something that they have historically struggled with.
00:14:38
Speaker
For highlights, for pitching, Webb, he gets back-to-back strikeouts to start the game. On offense, Schmink is a two-run homer in the first. Rodriguez, his first big league hit is an RBI single, and he gets a solo homerun in the seventh inning. My MVP is just for offense. It goes to Rodriguez. He goes two for three, one homerun, two RBI.
00:14:55
Speaker
My lowlights for pitching is Webb. He gives up a two out triple in the first, gives up a two out solo home run in the second. He has an ugly fourth inning. He gives up two runs and reduces the lead to one. He hits a batter with two outs and he gives up a 4-1 lead. And the score is now six four in the fourth for the Padres. Another low light for pitching Brubaker. He loves the bases twice in the fifth inning. On defense, my low lights are a dominance. He in error turns a double into a triple.
00:15:21
Speaker
Rodriguez error turns a stolen second base to a runner on third. And Gregory Santos box and a runner on third scores. Oh, gosh. Yeah. 10-5. What was the balk really a symptom of? Was it just him not being ready or was he trying to like pick off attempt? No, it was not a pickoff attempt. It was a, it was a, uh, I don't know what, what kind of buck it was, but no, he was not trying to pick anyone off, which yeah, it's probably like the worst kind of buck you can do, huh? You're going to try to do something. I mean, I'd say so. Yeah. Uh, my LVP for pitching will be web. He goes four in his pitch, 62 pitches, four strikeouts, six hits, six earned runs on offense is Chapman. He went over four with a strikeout. He's really struggling, but towards the end of this episode, uh, he will be hopefully coming out of it. And on defense, my LVP is Adamas. And game three was, had work. So I wasn't able to watch. Did the giants win that one? Let's find out game three. They lose five to one. It was early. Uh, so yeah, that's my first series. The, uh, giants and that game 14 and 23 is their record for reference. So for them to be seven games under 500 really shows that they did not move that much in these two weeks. What about you, Liam? Did the Yankees fare any better against the Brewers? No. This was, at least record-wise, the worst series of, is going to be the worst series of the episode, but I think the Mets series is more painful. Okay. But Yankees go on the road. I'm doing some quick math here. It looks like the final score for this series with the Brewers is what, this 10? Brewers score 14 runs compared to the Yankees' six. Six.
00:16:54
Speaker
What are you guys, the Giants? Yeah, no. Right? ah No, yeah. han yankees Yankees hit the road. Brewers are first up. Spencer Jones taking the place of Jason Dominguez. Spencer Jones built as the lefty Aaron Judge. He's finally making his his move up. I think he's been in he was in AAA before this like three years. Okay. So he he's finally getting his his call up. I think he's he was around Judge's age when he was called up. Let me just double check that real quick. think Judge was called up when he was 24. Spencer Jones is 25 in and around that ballpark, in and around that ballpark. But he, a lot of debate going into the game, whether you start him right away. I think you kind of have to, you force yourself into the situation. has to make his start against Mizorowski, who is kind of one of one right now. Yeah, he's the big deal, big deal.
00:17:42
Speaker
kind of throwing him right into the fire right around here. This is also Ben Rice's first start back in the lineup after his hand scare. And there's not much to talk about because no one hit the ball. Yankees got shut out 6-0. This is the third shutout of the season so far. Yeah, they'll keep conversations around the game short. I think Jones was naturally, where was he? I want to say he was somewhere in the middle of the lineup.
00:18:06
Speaker
six Yeah, Jones was it in six. So out of the top four, top five, putting him in the bottom-ish half of the lineup, which is where I think in games like this against really good starting pitchers is the Yankees' big pivot they have to make on the offensive side of the ball. There are just guys who the the whole philosophy is living and dying by these guys at the bottom of the lineup that can maybe not hit as consistently as the guys on top but when they do they're gonna you know hit the solo homers yeah like the whole like idea for the bottom the lineup is just get on base for the dudes the top that's all gotta do which is what I vastly prefer to what we're doing right now. And the at-bats aren't that competitive because everyone's trying to hit for power. I don't understand why you're trying to hit for power. If the guy ahead of you in the lineup isn't hitting for power, you're sure as shit not going to be hitting for power. yeah Or else we'd be giving you the kind of money that we're giving him. Yeah, that's fair. So there are just guys that need to completely rethink, you know, how they approach some of these at-bats. Austin Wells is the big one. it was... I think ever since that elimination Toronto game in the playoffs last year, it's just kind of been the same thing by him. Like he wants to get at-bats done with, you know, the forget who, who it was at the time. I saved the the tweet to look at. I'm going to look at it right now. was some time, but it was, he couldn't find the strike zone. And then he s swings at the first pitch that he sees immediately pops up and he's over when you have bases loaded. What are you doing guy? yeah And it feels like I've every Austin Wells at bat since then, the start of the season has just been that over and over and over again.
00:19:34
Speaker
It was just like, yeah no one really wants to work a count that goes for Ascara, that goes for McMahon, that goes for Jazz Chisholm. The only guy who got two hits, two hits out of this whole thing, saw Mizorowski not once but twice and got two hits out of them was Caballero. And he's the nose to the grindstone, work the count type guy. yeah And famously is hardly ever on the aisle.
00:19:59
Speaker
So he'll be so consistent. He's so against his thing, bro. Against his thing. We call that... That's little thing that we in the biz call foreshadowing.
00:20:12
Speaker
Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing literally... It's a literary device in which... i'm I'm waiting for us to get to the game. I can't remember where exactly it happens because the injury is... Yeah, I think the injury is coming up, but he gets taken out in a different game.
00:20:25
Speaker
So... Everyone on the edge of your seats waiting for the dramatic reveal real quick. We're waiting. Game two, 4-3 loss. Schlittler goes six. Two hits, zero earned runs, zero strikeouts. Goldie had a leadoff home run. Jazz bunted in the fourth, which, okay going back to my previous point, I mean, if that's how you're going to be working competitive spots, Jazz, bunt away. Mm-hmm. Caballero also bunts in the six. So, I mean, if if that's the guy that you're you're taking it from, please just more of that. I just put the interesting ways to try and make things happen when the top of the order can't get their hits in. And then again, I'm also working counts is the big thing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Cause like, you're going to strike out at least like, you know, get to a full count, grind it out a little bit. Yeah. Just don't go swing, swing, swing. Get these guys, you know, pitching. Get these guys throwing stuff over the plate that can at least tire him out. Yeah. Like, I hope that's not all that they do. Well, no, you we don't want that. But if you're playing against like a, you're facing a pretty good pitcher, it's a good way to get them out early. Different different ways to get those right. It goes downhill from there. Hedrick gets in, takes over for Schlittler. And first batter he sees is Jake, former Yankee Bowers, who takes him long and deep. ah Yankees come out empty in the eighth after working two walks and leaving nine. They left nine men on base this game.
00:21:41
Speaker
Duvall went in two outs the bottom of the eighth. ah Bryce Trane gets on base, steals second, and then comes across thanks to Wilson Contreras. McMahon had an RBI single of the 10th, so they think they're going to just close it out and go home happy. But in the bottom of the 10th, Caballero bobbles a Churio liner that was literally on the floor, literally right in front of him. Oh, no.
00:22:00
Speaker
ah with one out. So Mitchell comes across ah to tie. Tim Hill is then brought in and everyone was like railing on him. They were like, do you know how many outs he is after he threw to third? Oh, I saw that. After he gets a bobble right in front of him.
00:22:13
Speaker
I don't maybe completely blame him because there's a play on either side of the diamond there. And, you know, naturally you're, you're taught in little league to throw to first, which is the closer option. But I think just timing wise, you know, either, either player could have come due. Yeah.
00:22:26
Speaker
Contreras comes up again and it's a sack fly RBI to finish it off. So Sirius has already lost. They're thinking they can go into game three, maybe get something done. But the score is identical. Oh, no. no Carlos Rodon making his ah season debut. And while it wasn't great, he also got like no run support, really. Judd had a first inning homer. Spencer Jones had his first major league hit, which is an ah RBI in the second to get the Yankees up to nothing early. He was then later hit by Grisham on the base path by a batted ball. So interesting way to both get your first hit and then followed by like, you know, you're the reactionary inning-ending play. I just found that interesting. The fourth, Rodon, throws eight straight balls to walk two batters, then hits Vaughn to load the bases. Brewers then immediately take advantage, 3-2 at the end of the inning. Gary Sanchez throws Judge out second in the sixth, which I thought it was interesting. Very, very boring stuff up to this point.
00:23:20
Speaker
I didn't even put what inning Belly came across the plate on, but Jazz hit a hard ball into the right field corner and Belly came across to tie it up 3-3. But then Bryce Trang hit a walk-off home run in the ninth. Oh, that sucks. Getting walked off. Meaning that this is the first Yankees series sweep in a while. I gave my MVP to Schlittler. I gave my LVP to Austin Wells for playing two games with six at-bats, with zero hits, zero walks, four strikeouts, zeros across the board. Okay. I got i got i got i get confused for a second there. Yeah. Look at your LVP for Wells. i was like, four strikeouts. It's not too bad. They're like, oh that's not a pitcher.
00:23:58
Speaker
That's not a pitcher. it was like it's like, oh, you misplaced your LVP. This guy did pretty good. That's a catcher. Nope. That's. Yikes. Yikes. This is where i think it was on Yes Network. They were talking about Yankees record versus 500 teams. I still think even now it's little too early for that kind of stuff. See me in June before you start talking about Yankees records against teams because one, the AL is very, very bad. yeah We were talking about how there was like only three really good teams. Yeah, i mean, like right now, I had to take a quick look at the MLB app, like just speaking about that, it's it's kind of crazy how my tune would be different if the Giants were an AL team. right because the giants are 2027 and for their wild card you know they're they're you know nine games behind first place the division and they're currently seven and a half games out on uh the wild card for the number three wild card but if they were in the al at with their record of 2027 that would tie them in a three-way tie with detroit and kansas city being only two and a half games out of the number three wild card you know divisionally 2027 that record would put them last in nl central it would put them
00:25:02
Speaker
fifth in al east it would put them tied for fourth in al central and it would put them in third for al west considering that there's a two-way tie for second so yeah like the al is struggling right now don't know how i would diagnose that just broad spectrum wise i just look at the nl like damn it's a dog fight over here don't know what these other guys are doing Yeah, seems to be like a little too early to talk about how playing against a team greater than 500 is like, I think you're right about that being way too early. Why do you think there's such a difference between the AL and NL right now with records? I just had no idea. Couldn't tell you. Because there's underperforming like everywhere beyond, you know, across the two. Yeah. The two leagues. The Padres and the Dodgers have been struggling. I'm also struggling. don't know. There's that one moment where like nobody in the NL West was, was winning for that short time. That was, uh, yeah, not sure. That's so, so interesting. Especially now with like getting rid of the, uh, or having universal DH, you'd think that there'd be more parody that way, but don't know what it is. Don't know. Everyone's waiting for good teams to hit their June swoon. Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
Well, you ready for some giants talk? Tell me about some giants baseball. All right. Giants stay home and they decide to go, don't decide, but they play against the pirates and they win the series two to one. Yay. For game one the Giants got out of whatever funk they have been in the last 15 games with not just a win, but a convincing win of 5-2. The highlight for this game, of my opinion, was the ninth inning. Jesus Rodriguez was hit in the elbow in the eighth and was replaced by Bailey after. the Spoiler alert. This is before Bailey gets traded. Check out the emergency episode. Spoiler alert, they
00:26:48
Speaker
at various points billie looked at the dugout and even held his arms out in a what do you want me to do stance i'm sure things will come out eventually but with april bean what it was also shouldn't be surprising things maybe be boiling over spoiler alert they did Can you tell what I wrote this? All right. Highlights pitching. None. On offense, you have Devers.
00:27:09
Speaker
suggest what ey did they five you Offense, Devers. He has a leadoff two strike solo home run and ties the game in the second inning. Ramos doubles in the seventh. Gilbert gets an RBI single in the seventh and a rise as a two RBI single in the seventh. So seventh inning beginning for the Giants. a Defense, you had Chapman who executes a 5-4-3 double play. Ramos executes 7-5. This is crazy. Ramos executes a 7-5 put out when Cruz goes from first to third.
00:27:36
Speaker
Emil Cruz got a little greedy there and try to get look got a little ambitious. his his ah He got bit by his arrogance. Just sort of went to a second. And Adamas gets a 6-4-3 double play to end the sixth inning. For MVP, I have only one on offense, Devers. He goes 2-4-4, two runs, one RBI, one home run.
00:27:55
Speaker
Lowlights, Robbie Ray. He has three straight two-out walks in the third inning. And Killian gets back-to-back one-out walks in the ninth. On offense, you have a bizarre bottom of the fourth inning has Schmidt tagged out at home what should have been an RBI double play.
00:28:11
Speaker
Then Adamas is robbed of a home run and the most unlucky bat of the season. Then Ramos hits an RBI single, but Chapman, who was on first, ran to second and was beat by the throw. Oh, sorry. He he was on first. He was running to third, was beat out by the throw. So he had to buy time to make sure Devers scored and then was tagged out for the last out. It was weird. and I don't have any LVPs. Everybody was okay. Then we get to game two. But before we get to that, the Giants make some moves, Liam.
00:28:37
Speaker
Guess what? Guess what? I'm guessing. Our ace Logan Webb is put on the 15 day IL for right knee bursitis. And this is the first time he's been on the IL in like years. Like i forgot how many innings he said. i think it was like 160 something innings since his last time on the IL.
00:28:52
Speaker
He tried to pitch through it. I think we've seen up to this point that did not work out. Don't work through your injuries, people. No. Do not. Especially if you're Yankee. yeah Yeah. Do not play through them. Just take the hit now on the... We saw that with Cal Raleigh, right? Where he was having the mother of all slumps. And then they finally put him on the IL. And it's like, oh, yeah. where Was it oblique? Was it was it it was like tightness or something? And it's like, yeah, maybe maybe you don't play through it. did Did you mention that he could have been dealing with an injury before? Did i I? hope I did. Did you? With Logan? don't know. Alex, cut that in. If I did. you If you remember when I did. You think Alex remembers? Alex, do you remember when I that you ever realize i said that? Drop the episode number. Or if you don't remember.
00:29:33
Speaker
Or if I didn't say that at at all. Andrew, I don't know. i think I remember you talking about someone injuring themselves. don't remember who, though. Liam's hunch is right. I do not remember. They should eat a banana. and Now you got me thinking, Liam. Because people have been dogging on him. Yeah, so so Logan, what is it?
00:29:48
Speaker
I mean, people have been dogging on Logan Webb, correct? and yeah yeah Yeah, they have. They have. General performance, but. Hey, while we're here, also, Alex, can you also throw in the definition of bursitis, B-U-R-S-I-T-I-S? Thank you, Alex. You're the best. Okay, bursitis, according to dictionary.com, is inflammation of a bursa, most commonly of the shoulder.
00:30:07
Speaker
Symptoms include pain, tenderness, and limitation of motion. I'm not going to look up and tell you what a bursa is, but we learn something new every day, don't we? So Logan what goes on the aisle. Guess who's back?
00:30:18
Speaker
Trevor McDonald recall from AAA. also catcher Logan Porter is brought up from AAA. I put that in there. i don't know if he actually got called up from AAA. We don't see him for the, this is the only time he will be mentioned in this episode.
00:30:32
Speaker
I don't know if he's actually brought up from AAA or not. I don't know who this man is, but he has 170, 179 batting average. So that's cool. Welcome back, Patrick Bailey.
00:30:43
Speaker
This was one of the worst outings that the team has had. Roop managed to keep the Pirates from scoring for most of his outing. Managed to get them to waste both challenges incredibly early. The Pirates countered with grinding at bats. Roop was pulled after 4.1 innings with 94 pitches and 8 strikeouts. If you hear that, that's my dog. She wants out. I will oblige. I will be back. We are back. So Rube gets pulled out after 4.1 innings with 94 pitches and 8 strikeouts. The bullpen was not much better than a tired... What did I mean by this? The bullpen was not much better than a tired starter. Borucki was sent out to eat innings. He was pulled after 16 pitches and 0.1 innings pitched and one earned run.
00:31:17
Speaker
The Giants would go on to use four more relief pitchers. watching the score climb to ten one before sending Koss out to White Flag. He would later be removed from the game after getting hit by a pitch in the ninth on the chin. The offense was non-existent.
00:31:29
Speaker
Eldridge scored a solo home run in the fifth inning. The seventh was grueling, and I tapped out in the ninth, where the Giants would be able to close the gap but still lose 13-3. Highlights. Roop, he gets six strikeouts by the third inning. he Can you imagine my excitement for this game? Six strikeouts by the third inning? That's awesome, right? It sounds like having a good outing. They're having a very good outing. Eldridge gets a leadoff home run in the fifth inning. Haas on defense throws out the runner for the last out after a disgusting fifth inning.
00:31:54
Speaker
and MVP. No one. No one. No one. Low lights. Pitching. Landed Root had an ugly second inning. Had the Pirates burn away both challenges. Thanks, Ozuna. But it was brutal on the pitch count. 21 at the start of the inning and 47 at the end. Pitch as a whole was a mess. Rupert had too high a count too early in the game, but Rucky made the fifth ugly and the seventh was also ugly. At two outs in the seventh, the Pirates pulled ahead to 7-1. On defense, low lights, you had Ramos who lost so he lost a ball in the lights. It was not an error, but it still hurt.
00:32:24
Speaker
Adamas has an error though in the sixth inning to extend the inning. And with this one was interesting that not even NBC was attempting to propagandize us TV watchers. And they played the boost. They did not attempt to hide the boost at all. I've seen this on sports Twitter. Yeah.
00:32:40
Speaker
You have Gregory Santos, who failed to catch a ball. He's a pitcher. Failed us to catch a ball. Run scores. Nine error. Pirates lead 10-1 in the seventh with still two outs. LVP. I only have one. Baraki. He goes 0.1 in his pitch. 16 pitches. 100 run. After that game, when asked about the booze, Tony Vitello said that, ah yeah, the team deserved it, that the fans, you know, they they pay a lot of money to watch games and they're not playing to those expectations. So once again, ah another another Tony W after an after an ugly loss because he's pretty honest. He's pretty honest about that stuff. He is, which is something you don't really see with a lot of managers. Yeah. So we get to game three. Guess what? I'm guessing.
00:33:17
Speaker
The Giants make more roster moves. and A lot of mid-series roster moves. Yeah, it's it's ah it's a lot. Left-hand pitcher Sam Henches is reinstated from the 15 DIL. Didn't know he was hurt. Didn't know he was on the team.
00:33:29
Speaker
don't know if we saw him up to this point. Yeah. Dylan Smith gets called from AAA. He's a right-hand pitcher. Ryan Walker and Gregory Santos both get optioned to AAA, and I believe Walker is still there.
00:33:40
Speaker
The series is won before a grueling road trip, and hopefully it's not a pyrrhic victory as the Giants go back-to-back extra innings. This one going 12. Mailey pitched fine enough, 8Ks and 5.2 innings, but four earned runs leaves it scarred for him. My scorebook is a mess and very confusing, but late game, very late game, kept the Giants in. Smith is the big loser here, only going 0.2 innings in extras and a big blow to the bullpen that is exhausted with no day off ahead of four game series in L.A.
00:34:05
Speaker
The Giants walk it off in the 12th with a Rodriguez RBI single scoring Ramos. ah For highlights, I got Mealy. He strikes out eight in 5.2 innings. He gets out of an ugly no outs. Runners on the corners 11th inning by inducing a clutch double play.
00:34:19
Speaker
On offense, you had Adamas, who gets a two-out double in the second. Lee gets a two-out double in the third, and he gets a bunt single with bases empty. Two outs ends on second after forcing an error by pitcher Bubba Chandler.
00:34:32
Speaker
Arise gets a two-out RBI single in the third. Ramos has a solo home run in the fourth to tie the game and an RBI double in the sixth. Devers gets a leadoff double on the sixth. He also gets leadoff double in the eighth. And it's almost a home run.
00:34:46
Speaker
I believe that one. Yeah, the almost a home run led to some anger online because he measured it after he hit it. And it was just short of a home run. if If it went to right field. And if you're familiar with Oracle Park, that's Levi's landing. And you have a tin roof because it juts out. If the ball hits the tin roof, any part of the tin roof, including the front, it's a home run. And it just barely missed that. It hit the the sixth. landing i think and uh it turned what could have been a triple into a double rough which is why you should never measure your home runs and just go chapman no he gets a one out rbi double to tie the game he also gets a one out double in the 12th it's weirdly hit and ramos goes the third adamas gets uh two rbi single in the 10th inning to tie the game and rodriguez gets the game winning rbi single
00:35:30
Speaker
On defense, we have Chapman, who takes a clutch line out to keep the game tied and send the game to the bottom of the 12th. My MVPs are going to be for pitching is going to be the bullpen. Wynn, Henches, and Killian, who combined for a 2.1 innings pitch for 35 pitches, three walks, two hits, no earned runs.
00:35:47
Speaker
Offense goes to Ramos, who went two for six. He gets three runs, two RBIs, one home run. Does not strike out. On defense, you have Rodriguez, who managed to stay in the game for nearly four hours as catcher. Lowlights pitching Pagaro. That was a leadoff walk to the nine-hole hitter.
00:36:02
Speaker
Smith. A wild pitch gets a ghost runner to third in the 11th inning. A leadoff walk, runners on the corners, no outs in the 11th. And he is taken out after nine pitches, inning is pitched.
00:36:12
Speaker
One wild pitch, one walk. Borucki walks the bases loaded with two outs in the 12th inning. On offense, if Paguro, Paguro, he's a pitcher. don't know I'm in offense, but he hits Ozuna of the Braves and then gives up a one-out double to score two in the 10th. there you go uh chapman strikes out he will always be zuna of the braves to me uh chapman strikes out and is uh the third out with a runner on second in the second inning Schmidt pops out and is the last out with runners on second and first in the fifth Rodriguez grounds out and is the last out with a runner on third in the sixth I also okay I think this is the first time this has happened in across both of our seasons um you know, the 2024 season and the, this season for another, uh, uh, low light. I put Tony Vitello because he kept Gilbert in the game. Oh, does not pinch hit him, uh, against a lefty.
00:37:03
Speaker
Gilbert hits into a unassisted ground ball to to first. While he is the only MLB player with a zero on base percentage against lefties, minimum 10 plate appearances.
00:37:16
Speaker
Interesting. So why he stays in? i like, I really like Gilbert, you know, but like there are people to play. yeah he's He's got spark plug vibes Christian Koss Although he got in the head yeah vi over the taking like you know There Haas He could have brought Haas in He can double up as a fielder ah The Giants also lead the bases loaded with two outs in the 11th On defense you have Rodriguez who botches a throw to stop a steal The runner gets a third with no outs My LVP only have one after all that It's Smith Zero innings pitch, nine pitches, one wild pitch One walk
00:37:50
Speaker
and That's ah our win over the the Pirates. It was scary and it left me pessimistic about the next series in l LA because there there was there was no off day. It was just bam, okay. We just had back-to-back, you know, the brutal games and we have an exhausted bullpen. Now we got to go to LA for four.
00:38:08
Speaker
We get a good win. Mushnitian win despite it being potentially Pyrrhic at this point in time. What about your Yankees? How'd they do on their next game? Who are you guys playing next?
00:38:18
Speaker
We had our series at the Orioles. Okay. So we're we're right back at it. We revisited the the Rangers like from last episode. Yeah, went north to Baltimore. South Baltimore.
00:38:29
Speaker
South to Baltimore. Where do you think Baltimore is? was It was in Maryland. Yeah. We're out in south of South of what? New York. New York? Yeah. US map. Hang on. Where do you think Maryland is? thought north. Where do you think Maryland is?
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. I bet you're thinking of Maine. You know, I was thinking i thinking in Massachusetts. No, no. Or maybe Connecticut. That's a state that nobody really thinks about, huh? Connecticut? Ew, Connecticut team. Connecticut baseball team? Ew. Yucky. All so how'd you guys do?
00:38:56
Speaker
How'd you guys do? Bad. hell Went bad. Uh-oh. 1-2 series loss was not all that good. Was not all that good. See my notes out for this. ah Game 1, Yankees lost 3-2. Ben Rice got in the lineup and then got his ah first real good big performance back from all the hand stuff. He wasn't all that good last series. Is he another victim of trying to play through an injury? Because if so, the the Yankees have a serious problem with that.
00:39:20
Speaker
Is ah Ben Rice another dude that tried to play through an injury? No, no, no. He had the the hand thing a little while ago. Oh, got got hit in the hand? Yeah, got hit in the got hit a little while ago. got His last series wasn't all that good, but he's kind of back to form now.
00:39:33
Speaker
ah This is his first step out of the game, though. He had a two-run home run in the third inning. means he probably has, he's probably somewhere lower in the lineup, some more like one, two, three type deals to start us off. Ryan Rethers was up and he put up a good stat line, one hit, two earned runs. Those two earned runs came in after he was pulled from the game.
00:39:54
Speaker
Three walks, nine strikeouts in six and one third innings pitch. Max Schumann had a big double that doesn't score, but it was very good at bat and a very good hit. Brent Hedrick comes in.
00:40:05
Speaker
Tombrunner's on and opens the floodgates after serving up a an 82 mile an hour slider over the plate. eggs yeah that's not Meatball, relatively speaking. yeah Even though it was some curb to it, I can kind of see what he was trying to do there. It was just not positioned well at all. The batter was just waiting on that thing there's to come closer to him.
00:40:25
Speaker
ah This is the one where Cabadero gets pulled out. It was in the last Brewers game where he was kind of making faces after he was sliding back into first off a pickoff attempt and didn't help that he was thrown over to first twice trying to get him caught stealing. He was really very grumpy about it. so That's what takes him out. that's what That's what got him hurt. He came in in a pinch running appearance in the first game of this series against the Orioles and he was thrown out to actually end the game.
00:40:53
Speaker
And he was holding his hand and he clearly was not all that happy. Okay. This will result in a 10 day IL stint and Volpe will come in to hold his spot until he gets back and either him or Schumann will get set down. Or.
00:41:07
Speaker
Or DFA'd. You know, or he's he is the one, Volpe. He could could be his. He could have figured out all his issues and he's your everyday shortstop again. i won't be I won't be spoiling what happens, but ah yeah'd I'd still have Caballero once he comes back sliding into the shortstop spot. right All right.
00:41:27
Speaker
ah Paul Goldschmidt singled in the ninth try and keep runners alive, but that Caballero pickoff kind of ended things where they stood. Colby Mayo is the name that you should be thinking about throughout this series. Colby Mayo? Colby Mayo koby me on the Baltimore Orioles. Colby. C-O-B-Y. Oh, Colby.
00:41:46
Speaker
Okay, okay. Yep, Kobe Mayo. He entered the game batting 158 on the season, and he's pulling out extra moves against the Yankees. He's the guy that blasted the three-run home run, and the seventh off Hendrick, and we're going to be seeing his name maybe probably a lot more coming up right here.
00:42:04
Speaker
In game two, Yankees defeated Baltimore 6-2. This would snap a four-game losing streak and secure their 10th win, their last 11 matchups against Baltimore. It was Will Warren versus Trevor Rodgers, and this is Trevor Rodgers' first start off the IL. If Trevor Rodgers was looking to lift his spirits, it did not go all that well. Goldie hit a leadoff home run against him just right out of the gate, just real real tone setter.
00:42:30
Speaker
Real mood buster for him. ball buster. Dang. So he has to contend with that. come back to work. The third inning, Wells got hit. Wells gets a hit, not got hit. What am i talking about?
00:42:44
Speaker
I wish he got hit. Wish something happened. Give him a quick change of pace. He was one for 17 going into the day. Oh, yucky. Gross, gross. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a good not a good stretch to be be in the middle of.
00:42:58
Speaker
Bailey scores him with bases loaded. Rosario beat a throw at home to score. Home task score. Yeah, he's going come in from home with. Yeah, it was Trent Grisham who blew the game open with a three-run homer during a five-run third inning. Cool, cool. Other than that, I i wish i I wrote some more intricate stuff, but I watched the game before. I was busy working on a lot of the stuff in Hero Game 2, and then I watched all of Game 7, where I wish...
00:43:25
Speaker
It was kind of the reverse of all this. oh I wish game two was the game I caught in full. It was in game... was in game three. It was ah Yankees just getting absolutely blown out 7-0.
00:43:36
Speaker
Kyle Brandish earned the win, throwing six innings with only one hit, striking out seven, while only walking three. Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried, who was looking very, very shaky this game. A lot of people were saying that he was looking shaky in the games beforehand. I personally did not see it. Mm-hmm. suffered a sore elbow and was pulled in just three innings, allowing three runs. Yeah, what did I say he was marked down as? Yeah, he's going on the 15-day IL with what is been officially diagnosed as a left elbow bone bruise.
00:44:08
Speaker
Elmer Rodriguez, who was sent back down, is immediately getting called back up. Volpe, his first game officially back in the lineup, also sees his first error. Oh, Volpe. And Jazz had a good hit, and that's all all the good I can say about Game 3. Jazz good hit.
00:44:22
Speaker
Jazz had a good hit. Goldschmidt's my MVP. right there with yeah I'm right there right there with you. I can't. Goldschmidt's my MVP. My LVP can go can be shared between Hedrick and Blackburn. okay Colby Mayo and Pete Alonso contributed RBI singles in explosive fashion. Who knows? Maybe they're the maybe they're the new Smash Brothers.
00:44:42
Speaker
Oh, man. Okay, so not great vibes after this one. What's really concerning to me is because it's the Giants do this all the time. That game two win that you guys had, 6-2.
00:44:53
Speaker
You get that after the third inning, so pretty early in the game, right? Certainly not insurmountable in the third inning. Mm-mm. But the fact that they don't score for the rest of the game is horrifying. No, yeah like it's great in the moment. And then and when they go back, I'd say two innings, I think I think two innings of of no production. It's like, oh shoot. Like, that's all we got.
00:45:13
Speaker
And every run that's allowed is you just see that that lead just whittled away. oh yeah But unlike the Giants, you guys were able to keep it. So that's good. Game three is just terrible. No bad. So with Freed getting hurt, I guess that's like it becomes that almost ah like got another impromptu bullpen game or bullpen day, doesn't it?
00:45:33
Speaker
Yeah, kind of it it basically did. So two of those. And he wasn't all that good he wasn't all that good to begin with. Yeah. So, well I mean, take that with take that how it as it may. Well, you ready for a some Giants as they go down to LA, Liam?
00:45:49
Speaker
I'm going to be savoring this Giants stuff. right. Right now, because then that I have to talk about the Mets series after this. Oh, okay. So, um weirdly enough, last episode, whenever I was talking about this next stretch, right? i was like, well, when talked about LA, I thought, you know, if we can split the series, that's a win, right?
00:46:08
Speaker
The Giants did split the series. And I'm weirdly disappointed at that, despite me putting the the bar at, you know, the high bar being split the series. And ah you'll see. You'll see why. But the vibes are back, you know, for these first two games. The Giants outfield humping each other. Love to see it.
00:46:24
Speaker
Immediately killed. Comes back in the next series against the A's. But before we get into game one, Liam, guess what? The Giants make some more moves. More More moves. Pitcher. you can't hurt shaking it up. No. Pitcher Dylan Smith gets sent back down to AAA.
00:46:39
Speaker
Tristan Beck gets recalled from alea Harrison Bader returns from the IL. The Giants have been struggling, but they came into LA with their balls swinging and smacked them right into Otani's forehead. o They took the lead early, lost it, then grabbed it right back.
00:46:52
Speaker
Devers appeared to be coming out of his slump, hitting a solo home run. Adam is also coming out of his slump, though there was not much production. Even the walks came back after going over. I put 150 innings of not walking. I don't think that's true. think it was like 87.
00:47:04
Speaker
not walking They got a total of six walks in this game, getting three consecutive, including an intentional walk to Devers in the ninth. Weirdly, the bums chose to punt the game unnecessarily, probably because their $700 million dollars money sink has not been performing as paid.
00:47:18
Speaker
It's going to be a long series, but this is a fantastic way to start, especially since the bums handed out a replica World Series trophies to the fans this game. Pretty good. The stadium was empty long before the game was over.
00:47:29
Speaker
Highlights pitching. Guess who started? Guess who started? McDonald's. Let's go. He's my new favorite player of the episode. He is. He's been great. If we had episode MVPs, it would be McDonald's. It's my new favorite player of the episode. Maybe we should. got to think about that next episode. Maybe we should. Guess what he did. He prevents the bums from scoring from third by striking out Dookie Betts.
00:47:50
Speaker
Also, he's back from his little stand on the IL as well. ah hitting at this point, like 170 something 190 something. Not doing great. He also gets i an ugly fourth inning, only giving up two runs and the lead.
00:48:03
Speaker
And he keeps Otani at 0 for 3 with the strikeout. Devers gets a solo home run in the second. He gets a no out double off Pahez. ah god you so When I was watching these games, I was watching them on ah yeah another server with some friends. And they said that like I could become a whole other person when I watched them play the Dodgers. They said, my morals go away.
00:48:28
Speaker
Everything that I believe like just goes away. Your morals and my morals go away. when Whenever I watch them play against the Dodgers. ah So the snow I have is Devers gets a no out double off a pot has brain dead place and Smith a third in the sixth.
00:48:43
Speaker
Works a walk, brings in a run in the seventh. Rodriguez steals second in the third. He gets an RBI sack ground out in the ninth. Ramos gets a no out two RBI double in the sixth.
00:48:54
Speaker
Adamas gets two RBI two out singles in the seventh. He's an RBI walk in the ninth. Bader gets a leadoff double. Chapman gets an RBI walk in the ninth no outs. And the Giants have nine at-bats in the ninth. Score three runs off of one hit, one sack ground out, three walks, one intentional walk, and one hit by pitch.
00:49:11
Speaker
Nothing too crazy on defense. My MVP pitching goes to the bullpen. They combine for 3.2 innings pitched, 148 pitches, three strikeouts, one hit, no earned runs.
00:49:23
Speaker
For that particular one, let me, I should probably, i should have put their names down. So let me grab that. right So there we go. ah The bullpen consisted of Gage, Wynn, and Brubaker. That's what they combined for. How many pitches? Do math real quick. Bullpen 3.2 innings pitch. They did not combine for 148 pitches. That's insane. They combined for 48. What was I on? I don't know where I got 148 out of. um Offense was Devers. He goes two for three with three runs, one RBI, two walks, one of them being intentional.
00:49:55
Speaker
No MVP on defense. Lowlights for pitching, I had to give it to my guy, McDonald, who gives up a leadoff double. He loves the bases of the fourth. He has an ugly fourth inning, which has him start with 39 pitches and end with 70, but he comes back from that. He shockingly is brought out in the sixth.
00:50:10
Speaker
He immediately gives up a solo home run to Max, only donates pennies to charity Muncie, who ties the game. And also, Lowlights goes to Banford, who refused to let his golden goose fall to a clutch 6-4-3 double play, has New York overturned the call. It was bad, bad call.
00:50:24
Speaker
New York screwed it up. Offense. You have Adamas, Chapman, and Bader, who had consecutive strikeouts to end the inning with a runner on second. An RBI single in the ninth with zero outs. I guess I give that up. believe the blade bases loaded in the third.
00:50:39
Speaker
Ramos is sent on a bad hit to short, thrown out at the plate for the second out. He walks the bases loaded in the ninth with no outs. Bader runs on contact, gets put out at home on a three five one play.
00:50:51
Speaker
have these in low lights, but this is this not a low light for Schmidt. He's still second. I don't have any LVPs for this one. Nobody was like particularly bad or or like lost. This is a game that I can point to, which is just the game too. The Giants had a slow start with this game going scoreless for 2.2 innings without any base runners until Haas shot first with a solo home run of the third. The lead was gained, lost and gained again before the Giants were finally able to pull away in the seventh. Haas also made history.
00:51:14
Speaker
being the first MLB player to get two home runs in a single game off of Yamamoto, which MLB is trying to like make a thing and like calm down, guys. he's been the he's been in MLB for, what, three years? Two years? Two years?
00:51:27
Speaker
Not very long. Two years. Relax. uh otani was mainly useless outside of paltry solo home run that merely tied the game the lineup as a whole was fairly me considering the slash lines uh with the win here the giants begin a three-game win streak while the bums have their losing streak extended to four and find themselves a half game behind the padres for the number one spot highlights killian He gets the Giants out of a dangerous eighth inning. Bases loaded, tie and run at bat.
00:51:52
Speaker
On offense, you have Haas, who ties the game with a solo home run. He takes a lead with the first pitch, two strike out home run. two strike home runs So he gets two home runs this game, which is awesome. Bader ties the game with a two strike home run.
00:52:03
Speaker
Ramos gets a lead off double. Gilbert pinch hits for Bader, bunts in a run, and gets a hit. Lee, ah off that bunt. He's safe on that bunt. Lee hits two out a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI double to extend the lead to six two in the seventh.
00:52:19
Speaker
And then on defense, you had Lee, who catches a deep fly to right, only allowing one run. Adamas has a clutch throw, barely takes out the speedy Kim at first. Arise ends the game with a clutch dive and throw to first to put out Otani.
00:52:30
Speaker
MVP for pitching goes to Killian, who went two innings pitch, 15 pitches, and a strikeout. On offense is Haas, who goes two for four, two home runs, two RBIs. Defense is Arise. Lowlights for pitching Hauser. He hits Turner, walks the bases loaded with one out.
00:52:45
Speaker
He gives up the lead and a solo home run to Otani. Hentges walks Freddie. He gives up a one out double to Tucker and he walks the bases loaded with one out. On offense, you have Eldridge who has an unlucky hard hit liner to Kim.
00:52:58
Speaker
That could have been a double easily. Haas just short of his third straight home run to center by a foot. If it was like an hour earlier, it would have been out but it went it was like straight to center and uh almost uh almost made it he would have gone it had hoss uh hit that one for a home run he would have gone i don't know what he would have gone i'm not sure what he would gone i think it was been like three for four with like three home runs My LVP is going to go to Hentes.
00:53:24
Speaker
He goes one inning pitch, 32 pitches, two strikeouts, two walks, one hit. On offense, going be Schmidt, who goes 0 for 4. He's the only one to not get on base the whole game. Arise also went 0 for 4, but he was intentionally walked in the 8th.
00:53:37
Speaker
So, you a little asterisk there. no No LVPs for defense. Game 3, Otani was on the mound. The Giants lost. Highlights. Ramos works a two-out walk.
00:53:49
Speaker
Arise works a two-out walk after a 10-pitch at bat. Oh, also after game two, that's when we see the infamous... Is that when we see the infamous pumping? No, I think that's game one. We see the thrusting. Game two was hilarious.
00:53:59
Speaker
hu I've been waiting for this saga. Yeah, so they you know they they they do their PP touch. And they're like in a circle. It's Ramos, Gilbert and Lee. they They get together, arms around each other, and then they just start thrusting together.
00:54:12
Speaker
There's that shot of Tony Vitello in the dugout also getting in on thrusting, which was... pretty funny yeah so somebody complained mlb said quit it so the next day whenever they on game two whenever they win the outfielders get together and it's pretty funny watching the nbc broadcast because uh you see the the three fielders get together and gilbert is in the middle and he has he reaches for something on the ground but he bends over to do it and the camera is immediately cut the second he bends over it the camera's cut they're like can't Change it, change it, change it. What did they do? They ended up just bowing, and they had to show it later. They were meant to show it later. yeah
00:54:49
Speaker
Game three, so yeah, Otani's on the mound. Giants lose. Ramos works two-out walk. Arise works out a two-out walk after a 10-pitch at bat, putting Otani at 51 pitches in the third inning. And he gets Otani to balk, which was pretty funny. A really interesting one, because that balk was, um for whatever reason, like Otani, I guess, forgot that a Arise was there on first. And when he went to go pitch to...
00:55:10
Speaker
I believe it was Schmidt. He's still in his the stretch. Or he's still in the windup, rather. He's still in the windup, which you know you' you're not supposed to do. You've got to go into the stretch when someone's on base. So that was ah an interesting ball.
00:55:24
Speaker
Devers gets a leadoff double. On defense, he had Adamas, who catches a clutch line drive for the third out. Devers executes a clutch 3-6-3 double play to end the inning, except it's quickly challenged and overturned. So it's not double play. But you know what? it was a double play in my heart, and that's all that matters.
00:55:38
Speaker
My only MVP is going to be Arise. He goes two for three with a walk and forced the Bok to get to second. Lowlights. There's a lot. Start with pitching. Robbie Ray.
00:55:49
Speaker
He gives up leadoff double to Tucker. He gives up two solo home runs in the third. He gives up a leadoff walk to Tucker. He has a wild pitch with one out, allows runner to go to second. He walks Freddie with one out. He gives up back-to-back walks in the fifth inning. Figueroa. has a wild pitch that allows Tucker to go to second. He issues a one-out walk.
00:56:07
Speaker
On offense, you have Devers, Eldridge, and Adamas, who all strike out in the fourth, making it for a short inning. Reminder, Otani was at 51 pitches in the third inning. He should have been close to, you like, come on, guys, please. They failed to take him out early, the did the Giants. Adamas, he, okay, this is another controversial one.
00:56:27
Speaker
He's on second. He is seen talking and being friendly with Mookie Betts. Forgets how many outs there were. Gets doubled up and tagged out for the last out of the inning on a 7-4 play. 7-4. Come on, guy. Yeah. Shout out to him, though, because when he was active, he did not skip the media. he did his interview and he uh he accepted what he did like he was like yeah like i screwed up i forgot how many outs there were got doubled up his fault he said it was the most embarrassing thing that has happened in his career someone asked if he slipped up because he was talking to mookie and just slipped that way he said no because he talks to everybody whenever he's playing and if that's what caused him to forget how many outs there were then he said it would be a lot more common for him to do that which i believe i do believe him he was just a slip it's just a really bad slip because it's like you know it's dodgers like don't be friends with them yeah but you know that's just not who uh adamas is on defense you have rodriguez who has a pass ball and allows runner to go to second my lvp is gonna be only have one lvp or two lvps actually it's gonna be a for offense adamas he goes one for four two strikeouts last track of the outs and was doubled up on defense was rodriguez who had too many pass balls
00:57:34
Speaker
Game four balls. Yeah, you would think that like like Otani was was was pretty bad, but all like if for us, you know, you know who is actually like like the but the Giants managed to keep him like pretty much useless offensively right through the whole series. But do you know who the real kryptonite on that roster is to the Giants? Who? Emmett Sheehan dominates the Giants. And haven have not heard this. Yeah. And the offense continues to struggle.
00:57:59
Speaker
They scored only twice in the fifth inning, all without a runner in scoring position all game. So game four, they failed to get someone into scoring position. Not not how you want to close it out. and Absolutely not.
00:58:11
Speaker
Highlights. You have Roop. He gets Dalton something fishy rushing to waste a challenge and get a called strike three. He gets a clutch out at third when the cowards bunt. He pitches through Devers' error and strikes out Tucker to leave the runner on third.
00:58:24
Speaker
Adamus, he turns an O2 count into a walk. Love to see that. Gilbert challenges a called strike three and turns a turns that into a walk. Lee, Jung-Hoo Lee makes history as he becomes the first giant to get an inside the park home run at Dodger Stadium to score two. Oh boy. Did you see that? It took him 15 seconds to run the bases. I did not see this. No. No, you did not see that. Oh my God.
Giants vs. Dodgers Series Highlights
00:58:48
Speaker
Did did I not send it to you? I did not. Alex, I'm sorry. We're going have to do some quick editing. Let me see if I can find it.
00:58:54
Speaker
That was on the 15th. Okay. I got the the video. We're going watch it in three, two, one This is flipped the other way and it's a fair ball. And it gets by Hernandez.
00:59:07
Speaker
It's going to allow the speed he has to score. And here comes Young-Hoo.
00:59:16
Speaker
Crazy, right? Nice. He joins three other Giants to get an inside the park home run against the Dodgers, including former Giants manager and former Giants catcher Bob Melvin.
00:59:27
Speaker
But he is the first to do it at Dodger Stadium. Or I'm sorry, unique low field at Dodger Stadium. Sellouts. I forgot they did that. So we so we love to see that. It'd be really cool if that resulted it in a win.
00:59:39
Speaker
Unfortunately, does not. On defense, we have Arise who catches a clutch line drive to prevent a hit. And you have my MVPs. I only have two on offense. Obviously, it's going to be for Lee, who I screwed up his count and did an impossible four for three. He actually went three for four. One hit, one run. What did I? What am I smoking? That's not right. i Can't go three for four with one hit.
01:00:02
Speaker
He goes one for three with a hit run, home run, and two RBIs inside the park home run. Then you have a Arise as well, who has been just... Honestly, a Arise might make the all-star team. Really? Amazing defense. His hitting is pretty good, too. It's not until his A's game, the the game and against the A's, that he finally gets his first home run for the season. But he is...
01:00:22
Speaker
his His defense is awesome right now, which is crazy because he was not brought in for ah ah for for defense, right? Well, let me bring up his stats for you real quick, a little bit early, something for preview of our next combined arms. He has two home runs as of right now. This is Monday, May 18th, batting.328. Okay. Yeah. Is that the best average on the team? Probably. Probably.
01:00:45
Speaker
Probably is. He gets on base a lot. Hopefully you get one. Yeah. we Well, because of the way that they do it now, they have equal representation. So he might be the gimme if he does make it, but he definitely deserves it. His on base percentage is 370. So his OPS is 807. Sure, he's not smashing it out of here, but he's getting on base. and That counts for something. Lowlights, you've got for pitching, you've got Roop. He gives up a leadoff solo home run to Will Smith. The offense, just not getting a single runner in scoring position the whole game.
01:01:13
Speaker
Defense, you have Devers, who errors and throws the ball in the left center. He botches the double play, allows the runner to go to third, but thankfully, Roop's able to get out of it. And my LVPs for pitching goes to Gage. He went 0.1 innings pitched with 21 pitches, one walk, two hits, one earned run.
01:01:29
Speaker
And Schmidt, who went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts. Yeah, it was really weird because like, you know, morale was low after that Pirates series because like, yeah, we won the series, but it didn't feel good. You know, like it was not ah we win the last game in 12 innings, exhaust the bullpen. Come come here. You know, then you have all that stuff against San Diego. You have the fan base who's just like like they sound done with the team, you know, at at the ballpark.
01:01:52
Speaker
But then we come here and we just take the first two games to show resiliency by not just losing the lead, but being able to take it back, you know, two days in a row. When you see like, okay, who, we see the this Dodgers rotation, right? And you see Otani and Yamamoto going back to back in a four game series. You kind of go like, I think if we're going to tie the series, like that's kind of the the one to lose, right? of But we win those games. And game one was, let's see, who was the starting pick?
01:02:21
Speaker
They started with Sasaki on game one. So it goes Sasaki, it goes Yamamoto, Otani, and then Sheehan. And we take those first two games and then it's like, okay. And then, you know, we get Otani's pitch count to 51 in the third inning.
01:02:34
Speaker
You know, it's like, okay, like he's not going to be in this game much longer, right? And then they just kind of collapse and... I don't know. like We just need one more win, you know? Yeah. But what's interesting is after that second win, the media dropped some details. I forget who it's from, but they said that one of the reasons why Tony Vitello was picked by Buster was during the interviews, he was the only one that showed confidence and like a plan on how to beat the Dodgers. And as of right now, like at the end of this little stint we're at, the Giants are winning these matchups. They're currently 4-3 against the team. We end the season playing against them. And if the doctors continue to to struggle as they, as they have been, especially around, around this time, they lost Snell again. They lost Glasnow again. And I called it and I called it. Did I not call it during that first matchup between them? that That you did, that you did. So he's gone. Cool. You're welcome. MLB or rest of the league rather not the MLB they're crying over it the struggles continue like now granted like it's the last series but I think we have to two in September there's a possibility that you know even if the Giants aren't in this they could possibly really screw over the Dodgers here and how great would that be to to to be kicked have the Dodgers kicked out of the postseason
01:03:41
Speaker
I mean, that that's the World Series for you guys, at least. Yeah, but like in a good way. Yeah. Not like in a, that was their World Series, blah, blah, blah. as they Don't make it to the postseason. I hope that's how it goes because that be, oh, that'd be great. I'd be so happy. But yeah, Split the Series just kind of had like a, it just felt weirdly disappointing.
01:03:58
Speaker
felt like we could have taken it. made noise. I don't know. Just weird. Just weird. Do you have any questions about that series? I mean, how does it stack
Subway Series: Yankees vs. Mets
01:04:06
Speaker
up to the whole rest of the season of it all really? You know, it's the games. So we have seven games against them so far.
01:04:14
Speaker
And there's something really weird about how so far, we're you know, we're two for two or we're not two for two. we're one for two with a tie. it's It's really weird that these both these times the Giants have played against them when they're having a, what can be described as a bad time. And then it's just something about about about facing against them is like, puts them on the right track. They start playing some of like their best baseball. And especially for these first two games, you know like you you look at it and you're like, this is the team that that we were expecting to see. like When you see the team on paper, this is who we were expecting to see. And then they really only come out consistently against The Dodgers for some reason. And then they kind of go dormant for a little bit. But it just changed a little bit.
01:04:52
Speaker
I can see our last series that we're going to talk about. But that'll be for a little bit later. Who do you got? Oh, Subway Series. We got to kick it back to me. Yeah, Subway Series. Let's go, baby. Oh, yeah. I technically count this as an end to a road trip just because you're heading back to New York. Yeah. But this is not a good Subway Series for my guys. Uh-oh. I'll start with Game 1. Game 1 was the Subway Series debut for Cam Schlittler. Okay.
01:05:17
Speaker
He had a great performance, striking out nine and throwing a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning. As of this start, he has an AL-best ERA of 1.35. Dang. So is he he's doing what he's got to do. Yankees would ride that performance to a 5-2 victory. Yankees offense headlined by Jazz Chisholm Jr. he lead the lineup with three hits, a walk, a stolen base, and a two-run double in the third inning, which kind of put them up big and they never looked back.
01:05:45
Speaker
Ben Rice added three hits, including his 14th home run of the season, all the way in the ninth as just an insurance run type deal. The Mets starter, former Yankee Clay Holmes, left the game early. He suffered an injury, a fractured fibula off a oh off a drive of the bat of Spencer Jones. He's expected to be sidelined for a significant amount of time. And he is, I think, far and away the Mets best starting pitcher. Oh, no. Regardless of the rest of the series, I think I can help you i can hang him my head.
01:06:16
Speaker
Wow. play holmes And I was a Clay Holmes fan, too. You were. was a Clay Holmes fan, too. You made me. was it Was it him that you made me censor something? you were like, I feel bad saying that. No, that was Gleyber Torres. Honestly, maybe we shouldn't have censored that. I stand by what I said now. With my whole chest.
01:06:36
Speaker
Alex, dig it up. Dig it up. She doesn't have those files. Does not does not have those files. All right. All right. So you win game one. Is that the one? That's the one where the Mets completely like botch it, right? um In what way? Because, I mean, I guess. Is that the one where they they like they have an error?
01:06:50
Speaker
Error doing what? I just remember seeing a, I think it was a Talking Yanks post on Instagram that was like, oh no Mets. I don't know. I'd have to dig it out. Yeah. I'll keep going and I'll see if I can find it This game also had Juan Soto's 250th career homer. but Oh, no, it was it was yesterday. it was yesterday This was Juan Soto's 250th? Juan Soto's 250th game in this ah this Yankees win, yes. Okay. Traitor.
01:07:13
Speaker
ah No, yeah, that was game one. Game two, completely different tone, really. Yeah, this was a 6-3 loss, and gosh, Luke Weaver entered with a bases loaded situation, which was the big one. I was four, keeping Luke Weaver at the end of last season, even though he was kind of, I think everyone was looking like the piece to move away from.
01:07:33
Speaker
Like, if you're going to move away from anyone, I think you can see Weaver was on the downswing, and... At the very start of the season, I could see what you were saying this season. Vintage Weaver performance. I like his vibes. I like his energy.
01:07:44
Speaker
And he he got he got revenge. And not much to to really say there. He got of that he got out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh inning. Striking out two batters and forcing a ground out to protect a Mets lead.
01:07:55
Speaker
This was, again, a 6-3 Mets victory. Mark Vientos drove in three runs. Juan Soto contributed ah two hits. This was Carlos Rodon's second start, and it was whatever you could say about his his last start in terms of the negative effects, it was that, plus it's just more poor performance on there. So this is not looking like the Carlos Rodon of old. What else what else can i really say? Well, just give him a few more starts, and he'll he'll bounce back, you think? Hopefully. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. Again, I'm i'm on the positive end of of him. he has ah he has a long rope to work with, with me at least. I can't really talk much about the Yankees situation on here. it was It was a lot of mets Mets dominance. Let me just double check the box score and make sure I'm not... Now I'm talking about on there, the only... Rosario was in the game, which is nice to see. i did I think I'd have him playing over McMahon at this point, but no yeah. just Whatever the Yankees were trying to do, the Mets were doing better. And this last game, Game 3, was the game I caught in full, which was completely winnable, the bullpen completely blew this game open, and they had absolutely no... Yankees lose 7-6. 7-6. It literally happened I'm going to say it was the... 10th inning. I'm going to be proven right right now. Yeah, it was the 10th inning. I know my baseball because I watched the whole damn thing.
01:09:09
Speaker
You're doubting yourself, Liam. You look over your notes. You look over your notes so much times and you're like, wait, that game I literally just watched, that went 10 innings, right? Like, yes, it does. 7-6 comeback at Citi Field.
01:09:20
Speaker
The Mets had their big heroic moment. They were trailing in the 9th. And they rallied off of Carson Benj and Bo Bichette, who finally gained a pulse with game tying three run homer by Tyrone Taylor off of David Bednar, who I have been highly, highly critical of. I've been highly critical of the entire bullpen because it's nothing but long relief guys. Long relief guys are typically are not strikeout guys. And yeah. This goes into my theory in that we were waiting for Rodon and Cole, who's coming up soon, to come back. And you might think that, you know, even when they come back, you have guys that can just eat innings away. So you're going to super healthy, super really good starters coming down to the final months of the season, meaning they can pitch even more innings come the playoffs. But that theory needs to be done away with sooner rather than later. And some trades need to be made to bring in some true one inning strikeout pitching guys, because this is not it. Especially after these two series, the entire philosophy about what that bullpen can bring has completely fallen apart. And you can take your pickings. You know, I think personally, even though he was the big, he's your guy and he was the big crowning jewel last offseason, I think Duvall would be the first to go. Oh, you think so? I think so. think he comes back home. Probably not. You want him back? I don't know. Yeah, we need someone that we can call a closer to be our closer.
01:10:40
Speaker
We still don't have one. If you want him. What did the Yankees get? What did the Yankees get? Yeah. I don't know. You'd have to tell me that. You'd be like, just take him? Just take him and give him some cash? Honestly, just take him. Just give me some cash.
01:10:53
Speaker
A lot of people are actually pretty high on Paul Blackburn now. I heard some people like, yeah, just put Paul black ah paul Blackburn. I can see getting like three innings out of him. And I'm like, I don't know what player you're seeing. That's not the Paul Blackburn I'm seeing. Not this year. oh I just gave him an LVP. Oh, no.
01:11:06
Speaker
Hey, but you know, LVP for, well, yours a little bit different because it's for a series. But for me, it's like, eh, not the worst thing to be given. a Bad game. Bad series. The Yankees built their lead initially off of a home run on Ben Rice.
01:11:21
Speaker
and a strong performance on Anthony Volpe, who had a two-run single with a bases-loaded walk. But the Mets always stayed close and off of stuff like a Trevor Simeon double and pinch running from Luis Torrens. I want to make sure I pronounced that right, Torrens, instead of, like, Torres or something, but...
01:11:39
Speaker
No, not much. this This is like the culmination of everything i was talking about before when it came to like the bullpen and what certain batters need to do, especially if you're sitting in a certain spot of the lineup, you got to have competitive at-bats because you know later in the in the ninth and tenth to solidify your spot, especially after those big moments, I had no faith in the people that were coming up at the bottom of the order to get some to get the job done. Mm-hmm.
01:12:03
Speaker
Austin Wells and JC Escara, everyone is at their wit's end with them. And it's a really awkward, catcher is a really awkward position to go out and get replacements for. Yeah. Because you need someone your pitchers can trust and you're bringing in replacements from the guys that they've spent a significant portion of their time growing close with. Mm-hmm. to
Team Strategies and Trade Discussions
01:12:21
Speaker
come in and just kind of slide right in because you, you know, catcher isn't someone that you're looking for an offensive at bat from really, but then there's, you know, not looking for an offensive heavy player. And then there's hitting 177, which is what I think Austin Wells is betting right now. I know exactly how you feel. Something has to change. And everyone's talking about bringing in because we have two lefty catchers. There is no righty catcher. i like the idea of the guardians just collecting
01:12:47
Speaker
Catchers. Collecting catchers, yeah, just to it just cause probably trade them in a little bit. That's just where struggling catchers go now, is to Cleveland. If they turn around, they have they have a good piece they can flip or hold on to or whatever have you. But I don't think we even mentioned, I meant to bring it up in the emergency episode, Yankees radio commentator John Sterling passed away. That was one of his big complaints. One of his last complaints he made to a mutual friend of him and Michael Kay. He was like, he was still talking about baseball up until the very end. and He was like, why do the Yankees have two left-handed catchers?
01:13:17
Speaker
Left-handed hitting catchers. What is going on? What what what did you do? Would you do shake up the lineup? That's like the one position that you want to have two guys on two different ends of the plate. But it's awkward if if you were to bring anyone in to kind of shake things up because if they're gonna if you're going to hold a competition and you're not going to DFA someone outright as soon as you make a trade, then it's not a two-way competition. It's a three-way competition. um This kind of ties back to the emergency episode. Do you think the way that Buster Posey is dealing with the Giants is going to catch on with other teams? Or is he just kind of like doing his own thing? Because two seasons now, very like early moves, right? Last year, he, you know, very early on extends Bob Melvin and fires him.
01:13:59
Speaker
very early on trades Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison for Raphael Devers. And then this year, very early trades Patrick Bailey to the guardians for a, a pick. And I forget for what else.
01:14:14
Speaker
Oh, for ah the double a pitcher, tugboat, yeah Matt tugboat, tugboat. do Do you think, do you think that'll catch on? Like, do you think like the Yankees could use something like that? Like early aggressive moves? I mean, I'd say right around now, as for it becoming a trend, I don't foresee that at the moment just because giants aren't all that successful. If they were seeing a lot of success, I can see other GMs being like, oh, they're making early moves. Who else wants to make some early moves? If it seems to be panning out, great.
01:14:39
Speaker
let's <unk>s Let's get this party shaken. But I'm personally a fan of it. It gets people hot on their toes, always thinking about, you know, what they can be doing to get better because you have someone who's willing to shake things up if he sees that it's clearly not working. And i'd like that I'd like to see that energy right around now. I'd like to see some, even if it isn't trades, even if it's calling people up from AAA who are who you see as bullpen improvements from what we currently have. I'm all in favor of giving them their shot up if they have performed and they can at least argue that they can get the job done better.
01:15:11
Speaker
My next question for you is your feelings towards Soto, especially after this Subway series. He spent quite a few, great he has like what, two different IL stints now, right? I think so. I think at least one at the beginning of this year. Yeah, he did. And like, he didn't talk to anyone on the team yeah for that whole thing. No, awkward in that respect, but i'm I think long term, i'd I'd rather have, you know, room for what we have now in the lineup as compared to like,
01:15:35
Speaker
how much little space we'd have if we'd have signed Soto. We'd have much less mobility to move a lot of the pieces that we need to move in order to make changes. Okay, so... A happy accident, I'd say, would.
01:15:49
Speaker
Ended up going down. but So you think keeping Soto means that you have a more rigid lineup, more rigid position players? And when someone goes down, it it's like bad, bad. Especially hearing in how stingy the Yankees front office wants to be and how hesitant they are in, you know, hitting the luxury tax threshold and all that. Why are they so hesitant?
01:16:08
Speaker
I don't know. It kind of goes against your idea of the brand yeah of the Yankees. But through whatever reason, their board members, the executives, they are very hesitant to cross the line a lot of the time and go like significantly over like the way like the Giants and Mets have. No, the Dodgers and Mets rather have gone. Yeah, it's weird that we really only have two teams that are doing, you know, this extreme luxury tax going over. Right. Well, I guess not really because deferred payments.
01:16:36
Speaker
Well, I guess you have, well, I guess even then it gets split, right? Because you've got the Dodgers who are doing deferred payments and you have the Mets who are not, right? They're just like eating the luxury tax. Basically. And they're getting they're getting two wildly different results. Yeah, very. Like, you have one that's going to be like, okay, we we who could very realistically, we're like, you know, bad would be the Dodgers winning five, you would say, five World Series in 10 years. It's like them doing poorly with what they're spending. And then you have the Mets who are spending just as much. You know, it's like,
01:17:07
Speaker
will they ever be able to see the month of October past the wild card nobody knows but that's also interesting that's about the National League hey okay yeah so that's uh maybe something to to think about think about that's that's kind of that's kind of that series very and I don't I don't see anything improving in this next series that we're playing right now i don't see those moves coming in hot off the press so the people that played in these last three games and three series I see continuing to play that at least this next one in Toronto and the one after that so oh that's rough well hopefully they have they can turn that's at least half of next episode too hey you know it's you can't count them out too bad because you know sometimes a team gets blown out you know they lose zero to ten and then the next day you have the same dudes on the field and then they just you know spank the other team right back baseball's weird like that pretty crazy stat that you start this uh subway series with that the yankees have not won a series at city field since 2018 eight years i heard that from john boy this morning Crazy. Well,
Giants vs. A's Series Recap
01:18:04
Speaker
ready for the last series? From my guys, the G-Men, as some may call them. As some may call them. You might know them as. Let's get on with it. Yeah, no, Wes, the G-men. ah They go west to Sacramento to go against the A's.
01:18:19
Speaker
And they win the series 2-1. Woo-hoo! And you're not going to believe what the Giants do before game one, Liam. did Do they make more moves? They make more moves. Christian Koskis optioned to AAA, while Daniel Stuzak gets activated from the 10-day IL.
01:18:34
Speaker
So Daniel Stuzak is back. He goes on the IL after a After basically losing Patrick Bailey, his job immediately goes on the aisle. And now we have now this is interesting because it's costs that gets sent down AAA, right? That means we have three catchers. So that's the strategy. Game one, the Giants anemic offense continues after their disappointing end in l LA.
01:18:55
Speaker
There really isn't much to talk about this game other than Marmali had a meltdown in the fifth that ballooned the A's lead to 5-2. The Giants would only have three runners in scoring position for the rest of the game and the game as a whole would be scoreless.
01:19:07
Speaker
For highlights on offense, you had Devers who had a leadoff walk in the second. Arise has a solo home run to tie the game. He also had a one out double that puts two giants in scoring position in the seventh. Adamus has a one out double in the sixth. Eldridge works the two out walk in the eighth.
01:19:22
Speaker
On defense, Lee initiates a perfect 9-4-2 relay to get the last out at home to save a run. Suzak throws out the runner stealing second to end the fourth. And Adamus executes a 6-4-3 double play.
01:19:33
Speaker
Do I not have any MVPs? I didn't put them in the notes. Let us take a look for this game. I didn't even bother with and MVPs and LVPs that last series. MVP for offense was Arise. He goes four for five. No, he doesn't. What does he do? what I missed the runs, the hits. He goes four for five with one run and one RBI with a solo home run.
01:19:55
Speaker
My MVP on defense is Lee, and then that goes into low lights. May Lee gives up a one out three run home run in the fifth to give up the lead. He gives up four runs in the fifth inning.
01:20:05
Speaker
And Bo Rookie, he gives a leadoff walk by hitting the batter in the seventh. And then my LVP is for pitching, Molly, Rayleigh. Five innings pitch, 90 pitches, 6Ks, one walk, 10 hits, five earned runs. And my LVP for offense is Chapman, who goes 0 for 5, two strikeouts. Game two.
01:20:24
Speaker
Guess what happens? Are there moves? There's more moves. This is a lot of moves. This is an insane amount of moves, isn't it? It moves game to game, yeah. Yeah, so... For the last, like, what? Like, six games? The whole episode. Like, the whole episode, except for the Padres, I think. Well, no, even then, because they had traded Patrick Bailey, and I forgot put that in the notes here, because we the emergency podcast. right, so Ramos, he goes on the 10-day IL for a right quad strain. In game one, he, in Tony's words, sold out to get an out and left. Strain his quad. Out for 10 days really sucks, because he's been getting better.
01:20:56
Speaker
Then, Will Brennan gets recalled from AAA, and Eric Miller returns from rehab assignment. Mm-hmm. The Giants come out swinging with Casey Schmidt leading the charge, going four for five with back-to-back home runs and three RBIs. Willie's base running mistakes reappeared, thankfully not losing the game.
01:21:11
Speaker
McDonald took the mound and dominated as well, limiting the A's to one run for his outing with a comfortable 6-1 lead. The almost what-if that would have been the talk of the game would be when the Giants slid to the bases with one out right after Schmidt's second home run of the game and failed to score. Miller returned from his rehab assignment and was expectedly rough, though he got two outs after walking two before getting taken out of the game.
01:21:32
Speaker
Killian was brought in and immediately gave up a three-run homer, nearly removing the lead. Gage closed out the game in an easy 1-2-3. For highlights, nothing really on pitching, but on offense, you got Schmidt. Hits a full count, two-out solo home run in the first, and he hits a one-out, two-RBI home run in the fifth.
01:21:46
Speaker
Adamas has leadoff double in the second, two-run RBI in the third. Devers strikes out with bases loaded in the third, hits a leadoff double in the seventh. Gilbert has a one-out triple in the fourth. Arise hits a two-out double in the sixth, and Chapman hits an RBI double in the seventh. This is also we see Chapman coming out of his slump as well.
01:22:04
Speaker
On defense, you have McDonald, who executes a 1-4-3 double play in the sixth. And for MVP, my pitching or for pitching goes to McDonald, who went 6.2 innings pitch, 90 pitches, five strikeouts, one walk, one hit by pitch, five hits, one earned run.
01:22:18
Speaker
And offense is Schmidt, who goes four for five, two home runs, two runs, three RBIs. Lowlights Miller. He can't find the zone to back to back walks that score after he's taken out of the game in the eighth and killing and gives up a three run homer in the eighth on the first pitch and the lead is reduced to six for those two out of those that three run homer that killing gives up only one run was earned. On offense, you have Adamas, who misread a hard hit line drive to third. He's tagged out by the third baseman in the second inning. on his site On his two RBI single, he gets put out on a an an insane 9-2-6 relay in the third.
01:22:51
Speaker
Just say that again. 9-2-6 relay. What? What? What? He gets tagged out at first. He forces an error to get to first safely in the seventh inning. Also on offense, you have ah Bader and Rodriguez, who failed to bring Gilbert home after his one out triple.
01:23:06
Speaker
And then Bader has an unlucky hit in the left where the wind knocked down a grand slam ball. He he knocked a grand slam ball down, getting the last out in the fifth inning. The wind was brutal that game. Strategy for that game was do not hit in the left field. Whatever you do, do not hit the left.
01:23:19
Speaker
On defense, ah you have Rodriguez, who expends the last challenge on a bad call. LVP is going to go to Killian, who went 0.2 innings pitch, nine pitches, two strikeouts, three runs, one earned run. Gave up three-run homer to almost lose the lead. Really sucks to see Killian struggle and end up on these LVPs recently because at one point I was thinking he could be the closer. on ah offense it's going to Bader who went 0 for 4 with 3 K's no one on defense and game 3 I missed because of work Giants destroyed the A's 10-1 win and we see the return of the thrust they did a little little tender thrust in the center field thrust thrust thrust so we will see if there are any penalties for that hopefully not but let the boys have fun is what I say
01:24:01
Speaker
You got anything for me for the series against Sacramento, the once Bay Bridge series? Is it called anything now? Are you guys waiting until they move to Vegas to call something else? ah It's not called anything right now. Some are speculating or some are trying to make the I-70 a thing. I'm happy to see the thrust back. As am I, as am I.
01:24:19
Speaker
And I hope it's here to stay. Are you envious in any way of the A's at all, just performance wise? Probably not organization wise. ah Envious performance wise? No, not really. During that that game three, every single defender seemed to forget how to field their positions.
01:24:36
Speaker
aye Don't know. Don't know what that was about. ah But no, not not not really. i think, I wouldn't say envious, but I feel like the the really good players they have, especially like the the younger guys, they don't deserve. Like john John Fisher doesn't deserve to have good players, i feel like. Yeah, they their talents are being, like it just sucks because we know how he operates. You know, and it's like, oh, this guy's getting good. It's going to suck because he's going to sent back down to AAA for no reason.
01:25:03
Speaker
Get traded outright.
Upcoming Games and Podcast Plans
01:25:04
Speaker
You know, and whatever big money they spend is just because they're because they're not the only big dollar players they have were only gained because John Fisher didn't want to pay a fine for not spending money on the organization. You they're about to be fine for that. Let's see here. Well, Liam, you're ready for, uh, see what, what, what our dudes got for, uh, upcoming games. Yes. All right. So for the Yankees, when we get to next episode, three game series against at home again, or no, sorry, four game series at home against Toronto. Uh, one of the games is live right now. Let's do a little quick preview on that one. It is five, three at the moment, bottom of the six, five, three, yeah. Five, three Toronto. Okay. So, o No, not insurmountable. Three game series at home against Tampa Bay. Then it's a road trip. Three game series against Kansas City.
01:25:54
Speaker
Three game series against the A's. And with the A's playing in a AAA ballpark, I expect many, many bombs from you guys. I'm expecting some rebounds, some a statement to be made, especially because... ah how back and forth I expect this Toronto series to be and how grueling I'm expecting this Ray series to be. Yes. So a tough first half, especially with that four game series, but an easier second half.
01:26:19
Speaker
I mean, the A's are number one in their division under 500. Then got Kansas city. They're at 500. I think at, at time of recording. All right. Okay. And then you have Kansas city. Who's also, I think struggling, right? Yes. Well, whole AL struggling. Yeah. The whole AL that's not the Rays or the Yankees. The whole AL. They're 20 and 27, which is right around where you guys are. Oh, yeah. Okay. And then we got the Giants. What do you guys have? We have a, and it's going to start soon, three-game series in Arizona.
01:26:48
Speaker
And then we go back home for six games, three games against the White Sox, three games against Arizona. So I guess these first three games might give us a preview on what to expect on that homestand.
01:26:59
Speaker
And then they go on the road to Colorado, three games in Colorado. Things are going to be interesting, I think. Tell me if I'm crazy. I mean, this is not a conversation to have on the middle recording, but I am going to those Colorado games. a And I'm not expected to be back until probably June June.
01:27:18
Speaker
June 2nd. It would be like the closest I'd be getting getting to recording. So maybe what we do is before I leave on that trip, I leave on the 28th. We could record the first half, get that uploaded, and then the next episode we'll cover Colorado. And then the next, you know, those those next series. that Your A's and and start with Colorado. Probably have to cover like quite a few games. Probably a longer episode, but we'll figure it out. I'm really excited. Gonna go see some friends and go watch some baseball. Gonna attempt the 999 challenge. really we could also skip the colorado series because can the real one a real one not not not like splitting a tall boy into knights and eating vienna sausage hot dogs uh try a real one but i can guarantee you right now especially since i'm going with friends probably not going to be taking too many notes in colorado uh so we will play that by ear how does that sound I like that idea. See, it was buff it out. Yeah, I'll buff it out as we get closer. Liam, you got anything to plug? Nope. Nope. All right. Well, I do.
01:28:19
Speaker
Once again, check out my friend Michael. He has his live streams. It's little bit sporadically, but you can catch him at twitch.tv. slash cinder varela c-i-n-d-e-r-v-a-r-e-l-a he also has a youtube by the same name and then you've also got he he wrote a book and you should check that out it is called cat and the cosmic campfire and it comes out june 1st you'll be able to get it on amazon digitally
01:28:52
Speaker
uh he also has ah a spiritual successor i don't know not like oh i guess it's equal it's in the same world spiritual spiritual successor but also like not like necessarily direct sequel to his first book not not a direct continuation yeah not direct continuation called limbo plane also available on amazon you should check it out pretty good and that i think that's gonna be it Check us back in two weeks and we'll see how hungover I got after attempted 999. Should I just do cups for the beer or should I just do like the cans? Do it do it it as true as a can or whatever is traditional.
01:29:30
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Or back. It's only a failure if...