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00:00Let's get off of our chest whatever it is we want to say about the Giants,
00:04and the oscillation is this.
00:06It's the fact that equal parts, I keep going back and forth,
00:10it's three baseball games.
00:13The Giants are not going to go 0-1-62.
00:16The last time they did this, they won the World Series.
00:20Honestly, nothing has happened yet other than visual frustration and PTSD.
00:29That's it.
00:30And there's two annoying pieces about it.
00:33One, it was boring and disappointing as all get out.
00:37To score one run in three baseball games is kind of embarrassing.
00:41And then the second annoying thing is I don't think anybody knows what to say yet,
00:46so they just start torching the hiring of Tony Vitello,
00:50which is beyond, way too early to do, and wholly unfair.
00:58But at the same time, I also kind of, I get it.
01:02I get it.
01:03He says things that are different than what we're used to.
01:06He does things that are different than what we're used to.
01:09And I think he's sort of trying to figure out, in games like this,
01:15what am I supposed to say that protects my players?
01:18And it ends up almost being laughed off, and in some cases, even by the players.
01:24You know, here's my number one observation.
01:28Tony Vitello says that the Giants are out there trying to hit a 10-run homer.
01:33Tony Vitello says the Giants are out there.
01:36They look tight.
01:37They're trying too hard.
01:38All of the things that you say early in a season when the pressure's up
01:42and things aren't going well, they're all trying too hard,
01:45and everybody is pressing.
01:47And I'm like, no, I don't think they are.
01:50I think you are.
01:51I think Tony is pressing.
01:53I think Tony is falling back on what has worked for him in the past,
01:57and that's speeches in the dugout.
02:00Right.
02:00I think Tony is falling back on what he's done in the past,
02:04which is head over there to the dugout, sit down with the media,
02:07and tell him it's my fault because all of these 19- and 20-year-olds
02:11here in my dugout, I'm going to protect them.
02:16That's not what's going on.
02:17Tony is searching for the right thing to say.
02:20He's searching for his first big league victory.
02:22He does not want to be the center of attention, and he is,
02:25whether we like it or not.
02:26And he has a sum total of zero to do with what just happened
02:30in those three baseball games.
02:31It's more than zero, I would say.
02:32His sum total is more than zero,
02:34and whether or not you should have pitched around Aaron Judge,
02:36you should have.
02:37Should you have used a pinch hitter in the first three games,
02:40you probably should have.
02:41Right now you've gone 0-3, you've scored one run,
02:44and a grand total of nine people on your team have actually batted.
02:48So if you're on the team and you haven't even gotten an at-bat,
02:52well, when you go out there for the first time,
02:54you're going to be rusty, whether it's Encarnacion
02:57or anybody else on the bench.
02:58You're not going to be in the flow because you played three games,
03:02you played a full series, you scored one run,
03:04and nobody else got a turn other than the nine guys
03:07who went out there and struggled.
03:09Only Jung Lee scored a run.
03:10So the sum total of blame on Tony is greater than zero.
03:15I'd agree with you that it's not 100%, but it's greater than zero.
03:18And I liked what you said about, you know, who is gripping right now,
03:23and it's he.
03:24He's the one who is really, he's gripping.
03:26He's never won a game in the bigs, and every other player on his team
03:30has been a part of a winning baseball game at the major league level.
03:34So I'm not saying that Tony needs to change what he does,
03:38how he talks to the media, how he talks to the team,
03:41whether or not he runs around with the team in the pregame
03:44and all the rest of it.
03:45If you're 3-0, then we'd all be saying,
03:48man, that Tony Vitello, man, he's working out,
03:51and I think he's really connected with these guys.
03:53So it's a small sample.
03:54I'm not saying he needs to change the way he's going about being himself.
03:59I do think, though, some of the decisions that he either made
04:02or didn't make early on in this opening series,
04:05it's worth keeping an eye on because I thought that there were moves
04:08that he could have made, moves that normally would be made,
04:11and I don't know if it's because he's used to the college mold of, like,
04:15you're my guys and we're going to go with you,
04:17but he didn't make moves and it didn't work out.
04:20For example, on Friday, the Giants were 0-2 at this point.
04:24And had not scored a run at all.
04:27This is after both of their opening days.
04:29First time that's ever happened, by the way,
04:31where you got two opening days, apparently.
04:34Giants lost them both, got shut out in both of them,
04:36and then said this.
04:38If I had to guess, to be honest with you, I'd blame myself.
04:41So maybe it's time to maybe do what I can to ease any tension in there
04:47so guys can be free and go out there and play.
04:49Because, as I said, I think everybody that was on the field or in the stands
04:54know those guys can play that were in that lineup.
04:57Okay, so good job, media, because the assembled media went,
05:00I'm sorry, ease the tension?
05:02It's opening day.
05:03Why is there tension?
05:05Is there tension?
05:06So what did you mean about tension, Tony?
05:09At this point, emotions are a little too high,
05:12whereas, unfortunately, this game is not like football.
05:15I mentioned Ray Lewis the other day,
05:17where you can have the intensity that you might have to.
05:21If I mentioned basketball, you're pressing up and down
05:23and running back and forth.
05:24You can't do that.
05:25Baseball is more about intent than it is intensity.
05:28So I think in order for our guys to get their best intent,
05:30maybe it doesn't need to be that fire and brimstone conversation
05:33I had with them three or four days ago, whatever the heck it was,
05:36where they want to charge out of the locker room
05:38and have a football game or start a UFC fight or anything like that.
05:42Just go play ball.
05:43And so it starts with the leadership,
05:45so that's kind of why I say it's up to me
05:47either to point that out or help bring that along.
05:49Okay, there's one very important sound clip,
05:53and it's from someone other than Tony
05:54that we need to play in just a second.
05:57But I got to react to this first.
05:59I saw your face do it.
06:00Fire and brimstone speech three or four days ago.
06:04So go back to last Tuesday-ish.
06:07Before the opener.
06:08The day before Netflix was here,
06:10and Tony went,
06:12all right, everybody gather around
06:15and, like, win one for the Gipper or something.
06:19And that's fine.
06:20You got to go out there and be tough.
06:23That's all I can think about is guru.
06:25Like, guru, before game one of 162,
06:28you're going to go out there and do a full-on, like...
06:30I'm tired of getting pushed around.
06:32Right?
06:32It's baseball.
06:33Let's go out there and take the Celtics' ass.
06:36I don't know if fire and brimstone...
06:38Like, it might work if you're playing game 162.
06:41Guys, it's been a long year.
06:42You got to go out there and be tough.
06:44You got to go out there and be tough!
06:46I'll tell you this, man.
06:48Gritty, you're in your back.
06:49It's perfect.
06:49I know, Gritty.
06:50But you love golf.
06:53Can you imagine?
06:54Can you imagine a golfer being like,
06:57all right, we're heading to the first tee
06:58here in about five minutes.
07:00It's the final round of the Masters.
07:02All right, let's start banging our head off.
07:05The catty breaks out the smelling salts
07:06and a couple of quick sniffs.
07:08Ah, let's go.
07:09I can remember years ago.
07:11We're warriors!
07:12No, we're giants.
07:14I can remember driving to the golf course
07:16with my good friend,
07:17who eventually made it on the PGA Tour,
07:20Aaron Oberholzer,
07:21and I had the music.
07:22I had the music turned all the way up.
07:25And I don't even remember what the hell I was playing.
07:27Was this some hip-hop?
07:28Oasis or something?
07:29No, it wasn't.
07:30It was like something that, like, it was a jam.
07:32And Aaron looked at me, and he's like,
07:35dude, if I listen to this
07:37on the way to, like, an actual round that mattered,
07:40he's like, I think I'd hit the first five-foot putt 20 feet.
07:44He's like, and that's how baseball is.
07:46And Tony even said, like,
07:48you got to just go out there and be functional.
07:50There's a process.
07:51You got to go out there and be functional!
07:53Exactly.
07:54Sorry.
07:55So, you got to go out there and be cut!
07:58And you got to go 82 and 75!
08:03Fire and brimstone.
08:05So then, the media runs over to Robbie Ray.
08:08He was a starting pitcher on Friday.
08:10Pitched very well.
08:12And they said, hey, Robbie,
08:14Tony wants to ease your tension.
08:17It's almost like Field of Dreams.
08:19Ease his tension.
08:20Totally ease his tension.
08:22Listen to Robbie.
08:24I don't think so.
08:25I think, you know, Major League players,
08:27I think that we can handle it.
08:29We can handle the ups and downs.
08:30It's just, you know, one of those things
08:31that has happened in the first two games.
08:33It's not ideal, but like I said,
08:35you got 160 games left.
08:36So, what are you going to do with it?
08:37Okay.
08:39Robbie, this is a, it's not a veiled shot,
08:42but there's something underneath there
08:43that I think is the number one concern
08:45that all of us have when Tony got hired.
08:49Robbie Ray's one start in,
08:50and the first words out of his mouth is,
08:53we're Major League players.
08:55Right.
08:56You got to ride the highs and lows,
08:58the ups and downs.
08:58Yeah.
08:59We don't need to go to my parents' couch
09:01and explain to them about the process
09:04of me ending up here in the Giants
09:06because I picked Tony Vitello as my recruiter.
09:10This is what we were worried about.
09:13Correct.
09:14And imagine if our boss,
09:15the great Matt Nahigian,
09:17our program director, the brand manager,
09:18what if he came in after every sentence
09:21and he's like,
09:22that's a great take.
09:23That's a great take.
09:23Keep that up.
09:24And then you come back
09:25and you say something else.
09:26I thought that was a little bit loose.
09:27You need to work on that.
09:29Like, not even every show
09:31or every hour or every segment,
09:32every sentence,
09:33fire and brimstone.
09:36GTFOA.
09:36Totally, right?
09:37That's what would happen.
09:38It would be hard.
09:39Yeah.
09:39And so I'm not saying that this is a problem,
09:41but it's something to kind of keep an eye on.
09:45That's all.
09:46That was not a good start.
09:48No.
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