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00:00Dad texted me over the break.
00:01He actually had to make a good point in terms of, like,
00:03why guys like Pablo and Belt got loved so much is the Giants marketed them
00:07very, very well.
00:09Yeah.
00:09I mean, those panda hats, the giraffe hats,
00:11I think when you have things like that,
00:12when players are marketed as they are, like, the way the Giants are,
00:16like, you condition your fans to love these guys a lot more.
00:19And I think it's, you know, for years you was talking about, you know,
00:22the A's and the Giants, you know, the A's, it was, you know,
00:24they'd get rid of their players too early.
00:26The Giants, they'd hold on to them for so long,
00:28you almost got sick of them sometimes.
00:29I think that just kind of goes into, like,
00:31the Giants really trained their fans to fall in love with these guys.
00:35And the fact that they won championships on top of that made it just that much
00:39easier to be all in on guys like Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt.
00:45Speaking of guys who get marketed very well, Jung-Hoo Lee.
00:50He's been on a heater the last few weeks here, Joe.
00:53Last 15 games, he's sitting 439.
00:57And Jung-Hoo Lee is a guy who I think came into the season with a big microscope on him
01:00because, obviously, the contract, there's expectations on him in terms of what they expect,
01:05the Giants expect him to do in this lineup.
01:08And Tony Vitello said something before the game on Saturday that I really liked hearing
01:12in terms of what he was saying about Jung-Hoo Lee.
01:14Here it is.
01:15I mean, I think he's going to keep like this.
01:17I mean, he's a good hitter.
01:18So I think he's in a comfort zone right now.
01:20And also, some of those guys stack the way they are, I think, provides a different kind
01:24of punch in the lineup if we don't get, you know, something, a big swing from the top.
01:29But, obviously, right now, you would qualify him as our best hitter right now.
01:34He's got it going as good as anybody.
01:36But I really feel, we discussed somewhere along the line, him yesterday in particular,
01:41before he hit the homer, is I think he's just found a rhythm of who he is.
01:44I don't think he's, to me, he's not on fire or anything like that.
01:49I mean, he's gotten out, too.
01:51But his at-bats have been really good.
01:52And talk about staying to the ball.
01:55The home run was great.
01:56That's the one that ended up on the highlights, but I really liked his base hit to the middle
02:00of the field.
02:00He was out front, but he looked like his hero, Ichiro, just staying in line to the pitcher.
02:06So that speaks to the opposite of what we were talking about a second ago.
02:09The part of that that really stuck out to me is he's found a rhythm to who he is.
02:13He's not on fire.
02:15He's just kind of figuring out who he is with the bat.
02:17And that's the line I liked from that because, A, I love that Tony is kind of gassing Jung
02:22Hooli up a little bit.
02:23One, but two, I kind of think he's right.
02:25This is, I think, not the 438 hitter.
02:28I don't think he's going to be that good.
02:29But the profile, the hitter that he profiles as, I think we're seeing that really kind
02:35of emerge over the last couple of weeks with Jung Hooli.
02:38And I don't know if I'm getting to the point where I'm full buying it yet, but I'm considering
02:43where things started off this season, Joe.
02:45I'm loving the direction that Jung Hooli is trending in right now.
02:48I think that I look at what he's done the last few weeks and forget the batting average
02:53being as high as it is, because that's probably unsustainable.
02:55Yeah.
02:55But in terms of going the other way and hitting the ball into the gap, taking the extra base,
03:02like those are the little things I was hoping for when they signed him.
03:05Like this is the version that I thought would be some version of what he could be.
03:10And now it's really up to him to stay hot and the league will adjust to him and he's going
03:15to have to adjust to the league.
03:17But him being in the leadoff role right now, like let's just kind of ride that wave and
03:22see where it goes.
03:23I mean, ideally he could take hold of it and run with it.
03:25I have wanted Jung Hooli to be the leadoff guy ever since they signed him just because
03:29I love the contact profile.
03:31He's not as fast as I would like him to be, though.
03:33So I think he's not as slow as he sometimes appears to be.
03:39But I do think he'd be great in that leadoff spot if he could keep the contact profile there.
03:44His play discipline has been way better.
03:46Much better.
03:47And I feel like he's, you know, they throw him soft away and he was trying to pull a lot
03:52of the soft away stuff and now he's driving it the other way.
03:55And that is a huge game changer for him.
03:57No, I think it's again, you mentioned yesterday.
04:00You also have to hit on Friday again when he goes to left center there.
04:04I love when he goes the opposite way because that's why I feel like he's just he's most
04:07locked in at the plate when he is using that opposite side of the field there instead of
04:11just being the dead pole hitter that, you know, he would be at times last year.
04:15It completely changes this lineup around when he's hitting well.
04:19It's not just him who's getting better here.
04:21I mean, Elliot Ramos is hitting a lot better over the last couple weeks, 314 in the over
04:25the last two weeks here.
04:26Luis Raya is still being the same guy that he is.
04:29Matt Chapman, Drew Gilbert, they're swinging good bats right now.
04:31You're seeing this Giants lineup slowly start to emerge from this early season slump and
04:39Jung Huli leading the way in that.
04:42Landon Roop, too.
04:43Landon Roop, I mean, oh, God, he was just filthy yesterday.
04:48Dare I say that I kind of, without trying to crush Logan Webb, I trust Landon Roop right
04:55now more than Logan Webb.
04:56That's fair.
04:57And I'm not trying to crush Logan Webb.
04:59I'm just saying, like, that's how well Roop is pitching.
05:01I'm trying to elevate Roop right now.
05:03Yeah, you can elevate one guy without diminishing another.
05:05It's allowed.
05:06He has been spectacular.
05:08Not good.
05:09Spectacular.
05:10He had one bad pitch on Sunday.
05:11And then he, I think, recorded 18 consecutive outs at one point to finish it.
05:17Like half them are grounders.
05:17Yeah.
05:17I think there were seven ground balls to first base alone.
05:20And this team was down 3-1 in the sixth inning.
05:25And for them to claw back and tie it in the bottom of the sixth and then take the lead
05:29in the seventh inning.
05:30That was a huge win for them against the Marlins.
05:33Because it was going to be a 3-3 road trip if they lose, or a homestand if they lose
05:36that
05:36game.
05:37To go 4-2.
05:38That felt like a week's worth of wins in a rubber match game.
05:42And maybe I'm putting way too much on it, but that's how big of a momentum swing I felt
05:47like Sunday's game was.
05:48I'll be honest, Joe.
05:49I don't know if they win that game last year.
05:51I don't think they win that game three weeks ago.
05:53Yeah.
05:54That's a very good point.
05:55I mean, I think a lot of these games, I mean, the coming back aspect, I mean, this team
05:59goes down 3-0 so many times, like, you got to score three of these things and then
06:03a fourth run on top of that.
06:05And I think Vitello, he said after the game on Sunday, like, you know, when we're down
06:09early like that, we kind of say to ourselves, like, why can't we play three runs in an
06:13inning?
06:13Or why can't we just start chipping away at it, score one run here, two runs here, get
06:18even with them, and then take the lead early on.
06:20And that's such a great mentality, I think, for a manager to instill in his team that
06:25I don't think you saw last year, where it's just like, let's go out, see what we can get
06:29done, huh?
06:29When we don't win, we'll try again tomorrow.
06:32And that's what I think you're seeing with Jung-Hoo Lee, where even though we got off
06:35to the slow start, the coach staff clearly kept believing in him.
06:38And I love that Tony Vitello gasses him up like he does.
06:41Like, I love that.
06:41He's not hot.
06:42This is just who he is.
06:44Like, I love that because, I mean, obviously he's not the 439 hitter that he has been over
06:48the last two weeks, but he is the contact heavy hitter that we have seen over the last
06:52two weeks.
06:52And he is also the guy who, I think, again, coming into the season, Joe, I told you, I
06:57don't know how he's going to do on right field.
06:58Like, I asked him about it opening day, and he's like, ah, it's the same.
07:01It's just the ball's coming at you in a different angle.
07:04And my thought was, dude, I've seen a lot of guys play in this right field.
07:08It's not the exact same.
07:09Jung-Hoo Lee has been nails on defense out in right field.
07:13He had a throw on Saturday.
07:16Granted, it was a shallow one, but like, he came, I think, what do I want to say?
07:20I think it was Xavier Edwards hit a little shallow blooper out to right.
07:23He caught it, flung it home, no bounce, right into Patrick Bailey's glove.
07:26An absolute strike of a throw that even Bailey was able to corral.
07:29And it's like, you're seeing a little bit of an arm out of Jung-Hoo Lee as well.
07:34Like, he is really rounded into a very good defender early on in this season.
07:39He has more hits in less at-bats than Rafi Devers.
07:43He has the same amount of home runs in less at-bats, the same amount of RBIs in less at
07:47-bats.
07:48I didn't have that on my bingo card.
07:50No, you did not.
07:51And this is where I think, as we see this lineup get better and better,
07:54and what I like about this stretch, Joe, that they're in right now is the Giants,
07:58I feel like they're taking advantage of a slight soft spot in the schedule.
08:01They took care of business against the Nats.
08:03They took care of business against a Dodgers team that was not right, right.
08:06They took care of business against a Marlins team that, it's a pretty spunky Marlins team,
08:10but they're full of flaws here.
08:12You didn't see that last year.
08:14And you're seeing the lineup kind of come together here.
08:16They're taking advantage of this stretch.
08:18Save two guys.
08:19There's two guys in this lineup that have not quite joined the party yet,
08:25and it's the two most expensive guys in the lineup in Willie Adamas and Rafi Devers.
08:30Willie's been okay.
08:31Willie's had a moment here, but he's hitting 164 over the last two weeks.
08:35He got the day off on Sunday, so he can kind of get the bonus day off.
08:39And I think it was Steve Krohner during the pregame scrum asked, like,
08:43hey, you know, Tony, you weren't here last year,
08:45but you remember when Willie had that day off before Colorado and he went on a tear,
08:48and Tony's like, well, I wasn't here, so I don't remember,
08:51but I obviously expect Willie to keep doing that.
08:54Rafi Devers, he's not been awful the last couple weeks, but he's not been good either.
09:00He's getting some hits, but the strikeouts are still oosh.
09:04But you're getting production from Casey Schmidt, which you shouldn't
09:07or didn't have on your bingo card and Drew Gilbert as well.
09:11And it's looking very consistent with Schmidt right now.
09:13We'd like to see the walk numbers go up maybe a little bit more,
09:16but he's coming in through in the clutch, and he's a guy like,
09:19you've got to keep Casey Schmidt's bat in the lineup somehow.
09:22And how ironic is that for a guy that's arm and glove was the thing
09:25that was going to keep him in the bigs.
09:26Now it's the bat and him as DH and not a defensive player
09:29that's anchoring him into the lineup.
09:31That's pretty ironic.
09:32Well, I think Casey Schmidt is an example of how development's not very linear.
09:36Sometimes you just got to wait it out with these guys and take the lumps.
09:40I think maybe Jung-Hoo Lee even falls into that too.
09:42I mean, this is a guy, and I said the first couple years,
09:45I don't know what you're going to get from him.
09:47There's going to be an adjustment period where he has to settle in
09:49and learn how to effectively hit major league pitching,
09:52which is better than what he's seeing in the Korean baseball organization.
09:56And this is the year I think you're seeing him put it together.
09:59He's feeling more confident at the plate.
10:01He's being more disciplined at the plate.
10:03Same thing with Casey Schmidt.
10:04He's not chasing as much as he used to.
10:06He's becoming a more smarter, intelligent hitter.
10:09And I think that's enabled him to be more comfortable in the clubhouse.
10:12Like, he's one of those guys who's part of the joking around,
10:15who kind of helps set a fun tone there.
10:17There was a fun moment after the game on Saturday
10:20where we're asking about his home run, and JT Brubaker is like,
10:23hey, how come you never gave love to the bullpen?
10:25And Casey was laughing about that.
10:26They're joking around.
10:27Like, he's a part of that.
10:28You're seeing him grow.
10:29I don't know about a team leader, but an important guy in that clubhouse.
10:34And it just goes to show that if a guy isn't great right away,
10:38but you still believe in him, you've got to stick with him sometimes
10:41and take the lumps because this is what the finished product looks like,
10:45which is a bunch of guys playing as you expected them to be.
10:49But he's made a lot of adjustments because he was swinging through everything,
10:52and you couldn't have a guy out there batting 190 for the entire year,
10:55and he needed to look himself in the mirror.
10:58Whatever that he's been working on regarding his plate discipline
11:01and not uppercutting at balls in the dirt.
11:04Like, he's really, really dramatically improved his entire batter's eye
11:09and his plate discipline.
11:10And the way he's driving the ball, it was just a matter of time
11:12that he would be having the success that he's had.
11:14I'm shocked, though, quite frankly, that he's been this good.
11:17Yeah, I mean, you were high on Casey Schmid.
11:18We both were high on Casey Schmid.
11:19I'm shocked.
11:20I mean, I still remember to this day the temper tantrum you and I threw
11:23when Matt Beattie got that final roster spot over Casey Schmid.
11:28But Casey, he is absolutely delivering when he is at the bat.
11:32And so you've got a nice little road trip here.
11:34You're going to face a spiraling Phillies team.
11:37You've got a pretty good Rays team over the weekend.
11:39Then you come back home, pretty good teams in the Padres and Pirates
11:43at home after that.
11:46Can the Giants' lineup still keep taking advantage of these opportunities here?
11:50They're going to be tested a lot, though, in these next couple weeks.
11:54It's just a very exciting time for the Giants.
11:55So they're playing really good baseball.
11:57And they're going to get some pretty solid tests here in these next couple weeks.
12:01Yeah, and with the Phillies firing their manager, it should be very interesting.
12:04We've got a long track record with Donnie Mattingly.
12:07So it's interesting to see what this one looks like.
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