- 16 hours ago
https://go.audacy.com/y-listen-live-957thegame
Listen live: https://www.audacy.com/957thegame/listen
Visit our website: https://www.957thegame.com
Subscribe on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/957thegame
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/957thegame
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/957thegame
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/957thegame/
Join our Newsletter: https://www.audacy.com/957thegame/join-our-clubs/mvp-club
Listen live: https://www.audacy.com/957thegame/listen
Visit our website: https://www.957thegame.com
Subscribe on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/957thegame
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/957thegame
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/957thegame
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/957thegame/
Join our Newsletter: https://www.audacy.com/957thegame/join-our-clubs/mvp-club
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00No, we'll definitely be getting into it here as we are coming to you live from the Laughing Monk Studios.
00:05Laughing Monk, righteously brewed in San Francisco.
00:07The Morning Roast is presented by the San Francisco Fire Credit Union.
00:10Banking for heroes and anyone who wants to be treated like one.
00:14I think we're treating Landon Roop like a hero this morning.
00:16That was a pretty incredible performance from him last night.
00:20Just, I guess, we're off the rim.
00:21Just what stuck out to you from Landon last night?
00:24Well, I think one thing is that, I mean, in the one inning, he failed to find the strike zone.
00:28And I think that's where he ended up really struggling.
00:31And it felt like the game was in the balance at that point.
00:33But overall, whether we're talking about yesterday's start or just all of the starts he's had this year,
00:40the guy's 4-1 in five starts with a 2-2-8 ERA.
00:44He's thrown 28 innings in those five starts.
00:47Yesterday, over 100 pitches thrown, excuse me.
00:52His strikeout-to-walk ratio is about 3-1.
00:54It's excellent right now.
00:56He hasn't given up a home run, which is a big deal right now in this particular era,
01:01to go five full starts without giving up a home run.
01:04And his whip is a little over one.
01:06And I look at a guy who right now is pitching with tremendous confidence
01:10and can get multiple balls, meaning types of pitches, in for a strike when he desperately needs it.
01:17And I just think that he's a valuable, valuable piece for this team
01:21that just doesn't have a lot of pitching depth overall, whether we're talking about the major leagues or the minors.
01:26No, I agree with you again.
01:27We know that the top of the Giants rotation coming into this season was pretty set.
01:30Obviously, you feel good with Logan Webb as the ace of the staff.
01:34Slow start to the season, notwithstanding.
01:36Robbie Ray, you know you're going to be getting some good stuff for the most part
01:39when he takes the mound for about five, six innings at a time.
01:42Landon Roop, though, I thought was kind of like, I saw him as like the swing pitcher, so to speak,
01:47for this rotation.
01:49What I mean by that is Adrian Hauser, Tyler Malley, I don't know what you're getting from them on a
01:54day-to-day basis.
01:55Tyler Malley would be on the mound tonight against the Dodgers.
01:58Hopefully that, you know, goes pretty well.
02:00But you don't really know what you're getting out of them.
02:03Landon Roop is going to be kind of the deciding factor between whether this rotation does have three reliable starters,
02:10which in that case you're feeling a lot better about the overall strength and health of the rotation in that
02:17situation
02:18versus, you know, Webb and Ray and pray for rain.
02:22Landon Roop has given the Giants so far early in the season a legitimate one, two, three atop the rotation,
02:28which, Joe, I think in this day of modern baseball, you can't just have one good pitcher.
02:32You need to have two or three legitimate, reliable pitchers you could throw out there every week.
02:36Yeah, I mean, maybe there was a misnomer at one time.
02:39You could, I never thought, you like, you have to have a great staff.
02:42It just feels like when I look at the Giants right now, I'm talking about organizational depth in pitching.
02:49From the minor leagues on, you know I really follow the minor leagues.
02:52And they just don't have a lot of guys that are what they deem to be like big-time prospects
02:58that are pitchers.
02:59And so Landon Roop coming out of nowhere, let me throw this name at you.
03:03He's very different in terms of what he throws, but in terms of kind of like the story of coming
03:09out of nowhere, though,
03:10you know, I know this guy was a first-round pick, and we traded him away.
03:14Got a little Ryan Vogelsong in him.
03:16It's interesting you bring that up.
03:17It's like found money.
03:19I like that, yeah.
03:20You don't know?
03:22No, look, it's interesting.
03:23I'm looking at the game notes from last night, and Ryan Vogelsong is actually mentioned with Landon Roop.
03:28Landon Roop is one of just three Giants to record five or more walks allowed, five or more walks
03:34and allow one or fewer runs at home for the Giants since Robbie Ray last year and Ryan Vogelsong way
03:39back in 2014.
03:40There are certain guys, when they're on the mound, they just kind of grind in a good way, right?
03:45And, like, I think you and Risotto, when you guys watch Robbie Ray, you think he might grind in a
03:51negative way.
03:52The grunt master.
03:52Well, you know, Snell has this issue where he's an excellent pitcher, but he just nibbles.
03:59And he does not want to throw a ball right into the zone.
04:02He really likes to live on the edges.
04:04And if he's just a hair off, I mean, you're looking at 100 pitches through four innings, right?
04:09And I think that Ray can kind of get like that.
04:11Yesterday, though, he lost some of his command.
04:14I love the way Roop pitches.
04:16I mean, he really can get that curveball over whenever he wants.
04:19He's kind of nasty.
04:20I think also the hidden part of yesterday, Giants bullpen, four innings, only gave up two hits.
04:26I thought the bullpen management.
04:27Two walks and five strikeouts.
04:28The bullpen management from Tony Vitello last night I thought was absolutely phenomenal.
04:32Really quick, though, I want to get to the bullpen in a second because I want to still talk about
04:35Roop for a little bit.
04:37Just the way he was pitching, like, the curveball is absolutely phenomenal.
04:40Shasky, this is how I, when he was rising up through the minors a couple years ago, that was the
04:44word.
04:44Land and Roop, curveball.
04:45That's the pitch to look for.
04:47But he was mixing the other pitches in there, too.
04:49I thought the way he was using the sinker early on, thought he was locating it high in the zone
04:53really well.
04:53The Dodgers weren't really biting on it, but he was locating it in the zone and able to kind of
04:57get in head and counts, get more strikeouts early on.
05:00But then, again, when he lost that control in the fourth inning, he goes to the off speed there.
05:05And the changeup on the curveball absolutely bailed him out there in that inning.
05:09And those are tough situations for young pitchers when they suddenly lose their command like that.
05:13And I'll say, like, it's kind of a little bit of a grow-up game last night for Land and
05:17Roop to dig himself out of that little hole that he was in and only give up the one run
05:21to a very good Dodger lineup.
05:23You know, I brought up this player.
05:26And I think people are so obsessed with velocity they can't get past.
05:30I'm talking about the type of pitcher that he was in terms of pitch selection.
05:35Roy Oswalt was fastball, curveball.
05:37Yes, he threw a slider.
05:38Yeah, he threw a changeup.
05:39But that's what Roy Oswalt was.
05:41And he had this big looping curveball.
05:43I'm not saying that Roop is him.
05:47But similar, he has this looping curveball that I think is just a devastating pitch for him.
05:53Yeah, no, I love the Roy Oswalt.
05:55I was always a big Roy Oswalt fan.
05:57So anytime you're comparing anyone to Roy Oswalt.
05:59Roy threw a 96-mile-an-hour fastball in an era when everyone was sitting 91.
06:02So, of course, you're going to be obsessed with that.
06:05But when you mix that in with, like, an 82-mile-an-hour curveball, you know, mixing speeds and, you
06:10know, pitch height is a huge thing.
06:13Yeah, again, the chain judge was working with him last night, too.
06:16Another thing I love about just this emergence of Landon Roop is just how clutch it was.
06:21I mean, it was him and Hayden Birdsong were battling it out.
06:23Along with Kyle Harrison, they were kind of battling out for who's going to be that guy to rise out
06:27of the minor leagues.
06:28And Harrison, obviously, he had the pedigree.
06:30Hayden Birdsong burst onto the scene a couple years ago and wowed us all immediately.
06:35And Landon Roop is kind of that third guy.
06:37And now Harrison is with Milwaukee after getting traded to Boston.
06:41And Hayden Birdsong is, I don't know what's going on with Hayden Birdsong.
06:46He's got the Tommy John surge, but I don't know what his future looks like.
06:49The fact that Landon Roop has emerged as such a reliable pitcher now from that trio, like, oh, thank goodness
06:55for Landon Roop.
06:56I mean, just look at how delicate pitching is.
06:58I think just think about where the Giants are right now.
07:01Randy Rodriguez, Tommy John.
07:03Boy, they could use him.
07:04Yes.
07:05Jose Budo threw a couple of innings and boom, on the shelf for the whole year.
07:09I mean, he's done for the year.
07:10Yeah.
07:11And then you look at Hayden Birdsong, Tommy John.
07:14Those are just three guys.
07:16You felt good about all of them at one point, too.
07:19I hate to say it.
07:19I mean, there'll be more.
07:20I know.
07:20This is just how it is.
07:21And this is why pitching is just extremely delicate.
07:24You look on the other side.
07:25I mean, they're paying a $300 million guy in Yamamoto.
07:27I thought he pitched way better than what the numbers might suggest.
07:30First inning defense.
07:31Could some guys make some plays?
07:33Oh, well, I loved about that first inning, Joe, is the Giants were.
07:35They were taking advantage of the highest on Kim error, I guess.
07:38It was ruled a single for Adamus and an error on the throw, which, no, no, maybe we can
07:43split hairs about.
07:43Well, I don't think he's getting them out on a good throw.
07:45And so why is there an error on the throw?
07:48Because the throw was high, yeah.
07:49It was high and way off.
07:50But I also don't know of even the best of throws from Kim in that situation was going
07:55to gun down Adamus.
07:56But what I liked about that first thing is that they were taking advantage of the mistakes
08:00that the Dodgers were making.
08:01And that's a team in the Dodgers.
08:02They don't make a lot of those mistakes.
08:04You got to jump on them early.
08:05And I love that they put a three spot on right off the rip, set the tone in this first
08:10of 12 or 13 games that they're going to be playing against their division rivals.
08:14And as great as that first inning was, Shasky, and I tweeted out, it might have been one
08:18of the best innings of Giants baseball of the year.
08:21They immediately just shut down after that.
08:23I don't think they got another base runner until like the fifth or sixth inning later on
08:26when Jung-Hoo Lee reached base.
08:28We can talk about that in just a moment.
08:31But as great as that first inning was, Shasky, it was hard not to get frustrated afterwards
08:36because they just let Yamamoto get right back into a rhythm.
08:39He's excellent.
08:39No, he is.
08:40But you had him early.
08:41And the Giants in the past, they've kind of had some success against Yamamoto.
08:45I think there was the game in Dodger Stadium last, I think the Friday night before they
08:49got Devers, they roughed Yamamoto up in that start too.
08:52So they've gotten to him in the past.
08:54I just had him on the ropes early, would have liked to see them get some more kind
08:59of haymakers in on him later in the game.
09:02Luckily, again, the pitching was able to hold up and preserve that three runs lead.
09:06You were talking about kind of the first inning and the Dodgers throwing the ball run.
09:09I thought the Giants did a great job taking advantage of stuff.
09:12So like Rafi Devers, finally, a single with runners on.
09:15Oh, my God.
09:16Finally.
09:16And then.
09:17You'll take it considering the rest of his at-bats.
09:18Willie Adamas is scoring Luis Zerais to third base, Matt Chap in a second.
09:24And then Schmidt hits a fly ball to center field and Chapman tags up.
09:31Not only does Zerais tag up, Chapman tags up smartly on that ball to center field.
09:36And that was the one where the two guys, remember, collided, right?
09:39Yeah, Teoscar Hernandez and Alex Call, which the fact that Call bounced up as well.
09:43I mean, they were both lucky they didn't get more seriously injured.
09:46Teoscar's a big dude.
09:47I'm watching it.
09:48I'm like, can the Niners sign him?
09:49They got to have some room on the roster for a guy that size who hits that hard.
09:53And look, maybe Chapman scores from second if he doesn't tag up.
09:57But Jung Huli gets a big-time base hit.
09:59Jung Huli quietly having a great little, you know, 10-day stretch here.
10:03And then, you know, Devers goes to third.
10:06And then, I mean, I don't know if it was this at-bat or the second at-bat.
10:10I thought Ramos put one 40 feet up into the stands.
10:15Kuyper was like, he hits it high.
10:17He hits it deep.
10:19Oh, my God, I'm left fielding at.
10:20And it's like, no, actually, left fielding didn't move.
10:23And the bat is in, like, two pieces.
10:25And I love Kuyper, but I'm like, we got to get this guy some better glasses.
10:30I was fixing my dinner up in my little studio apartment last night when that was going on.
10:36And I kid you not, Shasky, he hits the ball.
10:38I hear the high drive.
10:39I almost slipped and face-planted in my kitchen trying to get in front of my TV to see what
10:44ended up being a fly ball on the grass.
10:46Yeah, I definitely got the old okie-dokie on that one there.
10:49They took advantage early, and they hung on.
10:52And I thought they did a really good job kind of navigating the game in general.
10:56The double play with Chapman to Arise was just absolutely huge in the fourth inning.
11:02Oh, God, huge.
11:03Absolutely huge.
11:04You know, Arise made a couple of really nice plays at second base.
11:07Nobody wants to give him any credit, but he's been a really, really good addition to this team.
11:13There's the offensive component.
11:15And then defensively, I just think he's made a lot of plays that are what I call 50-50 plays.
11:21Yeah.
11:21I look at Arise's defense.
11:23Unfortunately, I'm going to be that guy in just a moment.
11:25But on the one hand, I feel like so many of the great plays he's making, he's not moving a
11:30whole lot to get to them.
11:32And by that, I mean, like, they're positioning him very well, I think, on a lot of these plays, which
11:36is helping him out.
11:37He is showing great range, though.
11:38He had a couple plays moving to his right and left yesterday where—
11:41One on the move where he's thrown in on the run.
11:43That was a really nice play.
11:44Yeah, but then there's the slow roller.
11:45What was it?
11:46That was a great play where he threw a nice little dart.
11:49Yeah, that was a terrific play there.
11:50It was a really good play.
11:51Listen, they brought Luis Arias in to see if he could handle second base throughout the entire season.
11:56So far, in the first month, it's been really, really well.
11:58It's been really, really good so far.
12:00This is me being that guy.
12:02It's got to hold up throughout the season.
12:04It looks great right now.
12:05We'll see where it's at.
12:06Well, it's been a month.
12:07I know.
12:07It's been May, March 26th or whatever, so it's been a month.
12:11It's been great so far.
12:12Listen, Luis Arias, just God bless Luis Arias.
12:15On a one-year deal, it's been an A sign.
12:17Would you agree?
12:17He has been a breath of fresh air with everything he does.
12:20One month doesn't make the deal, but one month in, if you're going to give it a letter grade.
12:23Oh, absolute A+.
12:24Oh, A+.
12:25So there you go.
12:25Yeah, I would just say a normal A, but A+.
12:28A, A+.
12:28He has been—
12:29Okay.
12:29Yeah, just I feel so great when he steps up to the plate because I know, all right, we're going
12:33to get a nice little single here and keep the line moving.
12:35He's done exactly what you would expect him to do.
12:38The defense, so much better than I think anyone would have imagined coming out the gate here.
12:43Like I said, such a breath of fresh air, Luis Arias.
12:47Baraki, who looks like he's from the 1980s, all right, goes out there, and he does give
12:52up a hit, but gets out of the inning.
12:54He's laughing, coming off the mound.
12:55You go to gauge.
12:57He gets two outs.
12:58You have to bring Eric Miller in to face Shohei Otani, and then you end up keeping Miller
13:04in for the next inning, if memory serves, because he finishes out that inning and he
13:08comes into the next one.
13:09You go straight to Keaton Wynn, and then you go to Ryan Walker in the ninth.
13:12Ryan Walker, after getting the final out, is showing all this emotion.
13:15He's super fired up.
13:16That was a huge one for him.
13:17And I'm thinking to myself, like, we're going to give Tony Vitello a lot of love here for
13:21how he navigated the, you know, back end of that game?
13:24Baraki?
13:25Gage?
13:26Miller?
13:26Keaton Wynn?
13:28Ryan Walker?
13:29I'm just asking.
13:30Or are we only going to hyper-focus on when one reliever doesn't do their job?
13:35Well, unfortunately, Joe, we live in a society that loves negativity more than anything.
13:39But I will say this.
13:40Tony Vitello managed the hell out of that bullpen last night.
13:44Baraki, I mean, it's been rough with him out the gate here.
13:47Sure.
13:47Way to reward your manager's faith in that sixth inning.
13:52I think it was at Teoscar Hernandez's reach to start that inning.
13:55But Barak, he's got the righties.
13:57Honestly, he might just be better walking them because that's just less painful.
14:01He's getting the lefties out, though, which is what you bring him in to do.
14:04Matt Gage thought he handled his business very well in the seventh inning.
14:07But this is where Vitello really got smart here.
14:11Shohei Otani's coming up.
14:12He's got Eric Miller ready to go in the bullpen.
14:14Miller, who is, I think it was one for six.
14:16Or so, Otani is one for six with five strikeouts against the left-handed Miller.
14:21Miller, way to play the right matchup there, Tony.
14:23And you've got to give Shohei credit.
14:25I mean, like, he fought off a really nasty pitch, went the other way with it,
14:29and beat it down the line.
14:30Yeah, honestly, thank God it was just that.
14:33I love the way they approached Otani yesterday on the mound.
14:36I think Kruko said it at one point.
14:37You've got to pitch around him.
14:39They were pitching him kind of low and away,
14:40making him kind of reach for those outside parts of the zone,
14:43and credit the Giants pitchers for executing on those pitches.
14:45Kruko said it best on the broadcast.
14:47Like, they're taking his legs away, and all those swings were arms-only swings.
14:51It was, listen, I don't know if it's how often that strategy is going to work
14:54because Shohei is just that good of a hitter.
14:56If his weakness was that exploitable, everyone would be doing it.
15:00But I thought it was a terrific approach to him last night.
15:02But then what I loved in the eighth inning, you've got Miller still pitching.
15:06Dalton Rushing is coming up, the lefty catcher.
15:09They pinch hit Will Smith, the greatest catcher in the NL West right now, the righty.
15:14And when Smith gets announced, that's when Tony brings in Keaton Wynn
15:19to finish the inning and get Will Smith there.
15:21I thought that was just brilliant bullpen usage and response there from Tony last night.
15:26Did you notice that Matt Williams got subbed into the game yesterday at third base?
15:30Yeah, we're up against.
15:31I want to get into that on the other side.
15:33Joe Huli at first base.
15:34Oh, my goodness.
15:35He's at first base.
15:37And Ramos singles up the middle.
15:39And we're trying to score from first.
15:42And I got people in my mentions telling me it was a smart play.
15:46And then Jung Huli gets hurt on the play and is down on the ground.
15:49The good news is it doesn't sound like it's anything serious for Jung Huli.
15:52Hopefully.
15:53I mean, maybe he gets a day off today.
15:54I don't know.
15:55But oh, my God, Shasky.
15:57In the words of Guru, did Stevie Wonder send Jung Huli?
16:01Like, who was sending him?
16:02That was a Hector Borg special from what it sounds like.
16:06The broadcast didn't show what was going on.
16:08That was so bizarre.
16:10You know what?
16:10Steven Risotto was there.
16:11We'll have him tell the story on the other side.
16:14But oh, good Lord.
16:16That was very, very bad.
Comments