00:00I see a lot of people last night, you lose 1-0, Parker Messick, again,
00:04and it's the story of the Guardian starters' lives right now,
00:08is you go out, you have this great outing, and you can't push or run across.
00:14And I understand fans are getting very upset.
00:18They haven't been, but they're getting there.
00:20Very upset over the same thing being said.
00:23Because the season's slipping away, they're mad,
00:26and it's the same, I mean, it is the exact same thing
00:30as what has happened with Kevin Stefanski,
00:33with the exception of the drama in the locker room and craziness
00:36and innuendo and all the other crap that went on.
00:40However, it is really the same situation.
00:43You're mad because they lose.
00:45You hear him in the postgame.
00:47He doesn't sound mad, and you get mad at him for not being mad enough.
00:51Yes, Owen, you got a number.
00:52I have a number.
00:53However, this is as of August 20th,
00:56the Pittsburgh Pirates have been shut out the most 13 times.
01:01The Guardians and the Reds are tied for 12 shutouts.
01:05So really, the whole region doesn't hit well.
01:09Not a lot of offense around here.
01:11You can be to the ballpark where the teams that have been shut out the most,
01:15you can do that the quickest.
01:16Locally sourced runners left in scoring position.
01:20Yes.
01:21Grass fed.
01:24Locally, a real farmer's market of runners left on base.
01:28Well, they are now.
01:30That's good.
01:30We left eight on base last night.
01:32Oh, yeah.
01:33It was.
01:340 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
01:37Two of those.
01:37If you only leave six, we win.
01:39It's baseball.
01:40That's baseball.
01:42And so, Owen, I could.
01:44Now, you've played it three times.
01:46Are you getting pissed yourself?
01:48That wasn't until Keith texted me.
01:50All right.
01:51Let's open up that wound.
01:52That's four.
01:53Here we go.
01:54Let's open up.
01:55Maybe we can get to 12 as many times as they've been shut out.
01:58I don't know.
01:59We only have 16 more minutes to do that.
02:01Well, the eighth inning was critical.
02:03I mean, you get on with a leadoff walk.
02:05Quan is up there.
02:06All they have to do is move them around and strike out, strike out, strike out.
02:12What do you want from them, Anthony?
02:14It's baseball.
02:15Anything but that.
02:17And now, offensively, for the season, they are dead last in slugging.
02:21They are dead last out of 30 teams.
02:23And on base plus slugging, second last in runs.
02:27The bottom has fallen out.
02:29You're paying closer attention to them now that they're losing than you did when they were winning.
02:33Well, it's just when the numbers.
02:34What is with you?
02:35It's when the numbers are as neat and easy as they are here.
02:40You're dead last out of 30 teams.
02:42And the funny thing is, people have been more excited about aspects of this team all year offensively than I
02:49think they had been last year or the year before.
02:52But now you look at it, and compounding the problem, obviously, with the Jose season that he's having,
02:58is that even though Quan got his act together, they still are the worst hitting team in baseball.
03:04Let's call it what it is.
03:05Guys, I think we're ready to, and the only thing that, and it's the same sentence, it's just a different
03:10week.
03:10What's stopping me from calling the season?
03:13Last year.
03:14That's all.
03:15I cannot make an argument to say that this season is still alive without mentioning last year.
03:22It's an impossible thing to do, and that's not last year's Guardians aren't walking through that door.
03:28Literally, they can't right now.
03:30You had Joe Adele, who's banged up now, which is a huge blow.
03:34Huge.
03:35He had six RBI two nights ago.
03:37He has a 455-foot home run.
03:40He fouls one off his knee.
03:41Now you have an issue there.
03:43Chase DeLauter's being held out for a hamstring injury.
03:46At this point, Baskin might actually drive to his condo or apartment or wherever he lives and might actually tape
03:51it himself and make him go.
03:52Like, there is something to be said.
03:56There's something to be said for circumstance as well.
03:59But this is it.
03:59You go back to Chase DeLauter and those comments last week, and he talked about pressing.
04:05And so I'm trying to go back because we can only go back to our past to try to explain
04:10the now and try to look into the future, okay?
04:13I'm not going to go back to last year.
04:14I'll go back to this year because Chase DeLauter didn't make his appearance with the Guardians until the postseason last
04:18year.
04:19So follow me on this.
04:21Chase DeLauter, I thought, sounded like a veteran last week, said some, I thought, poignant things about pressing in the
04:28plate, young guys pressing in the plate.
04:30The only thing you can do is just get more experience and go up there.
04:33And so Stephen Vogt goes out there in the postgame, and they lose 1-0.
04:37They get shut out for the 12th time.
04:39Fans are really mad.
04:40And when he says this, that's six times now, people get really mad.
04:45We're halfway home.
04:45So people get really, really mad at it.
04:47And it sounds like Kevin.
04:49It does.
04:49He sounded like Kevin last week.
04:51He's been sounding like Kevin now more and more over the last month.
04:54The difference is, is that I have more excitement for the young players than I did the last, or two
05:02years ago for the young players that the Browns had, because they didn't really have many young players.
05:06It was starting to, the wheels were really shaking and coming off.
05:10I got more excitement for the young guys with this team.
05:12And I think he knows they're pressing.
05:15So when people are going, well, he's got to light a fire under him.
05:18Let's go.
05:18I don't, I don't doubt that.
05:20I think in the clubhouse, he, they're probably all freaking out that they can't get runners across.
05:25I think they all know that.
05:27I'm assuming they all know that.
05:29Maybe that's a bad assumption.
05:30I'm assuming they all know that.
05:32And I just don't think he's going to make it any worse or try to make it any worse talking
05:35to the assembled media and giving us something to play in the ground other than it's baseball.
05:40That's fans trying to, trying to project their football sensibilities over to a sport, a sport we're getting in guys'
05:48faces about pressing at the plate like that.
05:51What does that do?
05:51Yeah, but guys, I mean, you, I don't, I don't fully agree with that.
05:55Next time, you got to understand what's on the line and you got to come through with runners and score.
06:00Okay, Skip.
06:01I don't fully agree with that.
06:01I guess I'm going to be more focused this time.
06:03Yeah, but you got guys like, I mean, you have historical hard asses in the past, the late Bobby Cox,
06:08Jim Leland, Earl Weaver.
06:09I think they're all, are they all passed?
06:10Jim Leland's still with us or is he gone?
06:13Jim Leland is alive.
06:19Yeah, he is.
06:20All right.
06:21All them cigarettes, man.
06:23Hey, man.
06:24They can't get everybody.
06:26Some guys, they just keep going.
06:29Perrysburg, Ohio, brother.
06:31When you get the nicotine stain on your mustache, though, that's like.
06:35That's extra.
06:36I'm, I'm excited by 81 years here.
06:38It's extra angry.
06:39Yeah, it's good stuff.
06:41So like Jim Leland was a hard ass.
06:44Like there's plenty of managerial hard asses in the past and they, they, you see the highlights of them going
06:50after people.
06:51You don't know exactly what they would do every single day.
06:54So I'm not completely losing my mind on you and saying you're wrong and it's football stuff.
07:00I would, if I felt that way, because I would Jim Leland go and start screaming at guys from the
07:07Tigers or pirates or whoever from back in the day because they were pressing at the plate.
07:12I don't know if that's going to really help, but Chase Delauder, I mean, openly admits last week that they're
07:16pressing at the plate.
07:17Now they don't even have Chase Delauder right now.
07:19So.
07:21So now they just need to be screamed at more and then they'll, then they'll be better at the plate.
07:24There you go.
07:24That's what I mean.
07:25I don't think it's a football sensibility.
07:26I think it's a frustration with losing sensibility for a lot of the fans.
07:30And so they're upset and they want somebody to tear into them because they're mad.
07:34And then when the manager doesn't tear into them, it sounds a lot like.
07:38Hold on.
07:39We don't know that the manager is not tearing into them.
07:41He's not doing it publicly.
07:42It's just when the microphone is in front of them.
07:44That's what I'm saying.
07:45That's what I'm pointing out.
07:46And yeah, his, his press conferences have become a complete waste of time.
07:50You're not, you're not learning anything about the team.
07:51Like say what you want about Kenny Atkinson.
07:53Like he, he is always educating you on his team through every press conference, almost to a fault.
07:59He is going through the ins and the outs of what happened.
08:02Like vote is not doing that.
08:04Stefanski certainly did not do that by the end.
08:06They were completely fruitless.
08:08They were valueless.
08:09Yes.
08:09Now they've played brain dead baseball before, but they haven't played half-ass brain dead baseball in a long time.
08:15They got rid of the half-ass brain dead guy in Gabby Arias.
08:19And Owen was excited.
08:20And so was the rest of Cleveland.
08:21And I think that even though the slash lines might say different, you'd probably be pretty excited as well.
08:27So you've gotten rid of the poison, quote unquote.
08:30It's just, I'm not going to sit there and blame it all on injuries.
08:33I think that has something to do with it.
08:35I also think the inexperience has something to do with it.
08:37And we may find out over time, and this is the bad part about it, is that some of the
08:41guys that we're excited about, I hope it isn't this way.
08:43You may find out in the next year or two that they might not be that good.
08:47Now that's the worst possible outcome, but it's something that I think that people have to keep in the back
08:51of their mind just in case.
08:53Because that would be an organizational problem.
08:56I'm not ready to point at that yet, but I think that a lot of people are starting to wonder,
09:00you know, when is this going to materialize in the wins?
09:03And I just don't know if it's going to materialize in the wins this year.
09:05Because the only thing that's stopping me from saying that the season is over is what?
09:09Last year.
09:12So how can I use last year as legitimate reason?
09:16Instead of just lying to myself, how can I say that last year is a reason that this year is
09:22still alive?
09:22It's baseball.
09:24Seven.
09:25And the other thing is the wild card race.
09:27I mean, you're a game and a half back.
09:29Like, so no matter how bad they play, no matter how bad the offense is, no matter if they're in
09:33the cellar and all these offensive statistics,
09:36when they're a game and a half back, you can always leave the door slightly open that you can make
09:42up ground with just a good week of baseball.
09:44Like, that's all it takes to the American League.
09:46And you're playing not good teams coming up, so you still have that.
09:50This is one of them.
09:50That is a good, because at some juncture, like, I don't need them to win 8-0.
09:58I don't need them to win.
09:59Can you just give me 4-0?
10:02Because the pitching, the starting pitching is excellent.
10:05Can I get 3?
10:06Can I win 3-2?
10:08As long as I get more than the other team, guys, I don't care.
10:12I'm desperate.
10:12As long as I have more than the other team at the end of the game, I'm fine with it.
10:16I swear to God.
10:17It's baseball.
10:17This is not, yeah, it's not style points.
10:20That's 8.
10:21We got 4 to go.
10:22We only got a few minutes left.
10:24It's baseball.
10:24That doesn't count.
10:26Not putting that in there.
10:28Well, if you do, like, 5 of those, they add up to normal speed.
10:30That there is the butt to break up the no-hitter.
10:33Should we ask that about Mary Kay's video of Todd Munkin the other day?
10:37Yeah, it was a little slow motion.
10:38Did you see that video?
10:39That was something.
10:41It's like back in high school.
10:44What'd you say, Dad?
10:45Or if you get out of the Mercury Sable that your buddy's driving?
10:48You want me to do what?
10:50Huh?
10:51That's the way that sounded.
10:54I don't know, man.
10:55I'm looking for a silver lining.
10:58And I don't think it's a comfortable feeling when you have a silver lining that has to do
11:02with all the other teams that are not very good.
11:04And it's like, well, we don't control our own destiny, but we're just going to wait for
11:08the other teams to mess it up.
11:11Yes?
11:12Well, it's that.
11:13That, it's still like, when you see Parker Messick pitching the way that he pitched,
11:18I think that could give you a silver lining.
11:19But I mean, the reality is, does anybody think they're going to do damage in the playoffs
11:22with the worst offense in baseball?
11:24No, but I think that makes it, I think Parker Messick actually makes it more frustrating
11:27because you're wasting great outings.
11:29You want to have a great pitcher and win games.
11:31Like Bob Feller was arguably one of the greatest pitchers.
11:33Well, he's one of the greatest pitchers of all time, arguably was the greatest pitcher of
11:37all time.
11:38And you won a World Series with Bob Feller.
11:40So you did the winning and you got the greatness.
11:43Greatness isn't very much without winning.
11:46Actually, it becomes dubious or notorious at some level.
11:49Like, what do we always say about the 90s Indians?
11:51Great team.
11:52Why didn't they win?
11:54Why didn't they get over?
11:55Like, it's the first question you bring up.
11:56It's the first question they bring up.
11:58So if you have greatness and you're not pushing runs across, it's just adding to more frustration.
12:02Like, there's definitely, when you get to the offseason, I think there's definitely
12:05some changes that need to be made.
12:06If you want to bring up hitting, fine.
12:09You know, from when I was a kid, I liked Ruggio Dorr.
12:12I've told that story before.
12:14That's a weird situation over there at third.
12:17I mean, when the general fan is noticing just about every single night of something silly
12:21going on down there, I think your day should be numbered.
12:24But these are little changes because you got the big lockout possibly looming and then
12:28you have to figure out what you really want to do with your organization after that.
12:32Because, I mean, that's a top-down situation whenever David Blitzer is going to take over
12:36here.
12:36So that's where you're at.
12:37It's not good.
12:38It's not good, man.
12:39It is not good.
12:40It's baseball.
12:42We're up to nine.
12:43Three to go.
12:45There's not much else I can do with it, man.
12:48Sometimes you just got to go out there and you throw the first pitch.
12:51It's baseball.
12:54How can you get in where there's two more to get in and we can match the number?
12:58He's what's the difference?
12:59Nah, it don't count either.
13:01No, a two for one, you know what?
13:02That counts.
13:03It's 11 now.
13:03Well, the hard thing for them, too, is, you know, this time of year we start to get a
13:07little scatterbrained.
13:07You got high school football starting, you know, this week.
13:10Is their game tonight?
13:11Thursday night kickoff?
13:12Oh, there's always Thursday night.
13:13At the stadium tonight.
13:15Right.
13:17Ignatius and Avon.
13:18Oh, really?
13:18Yeah.
13:19And so they'll kick off the schedule there.
13:21You have a full slate on Friday and then college football week zero right around the corner.
13:25And it's like, this is the time.
13:27This is the time you have left to kind of get people really to focus on you, to be front
13:33and center.
13:34And that is not going to be the case if this is going to be how they're hitting, regardless
13:37of what their schedule is.
13:38You tell me that new coach is starting out with Avon?
13:42Yep.
13:42Nope.
13:43Couldn't get like a Washington, D.C. school to come in for week one or?
13:47It's football.
13:49I think they might rather it be.
13:51It's baseball.
13:54Hey, Avon's no joke, brother.
13:56Like, there's dudes on that team.
13:58I was unaware.
13:59Tell me.
14:01It's baseball.
14:02I mean, I will tell you.
14:08I like to chart every game I watch.
14:12And it is becoming a bit of a chore.
14:15I mean, it hasn't been that way.
14:17I can't remember.
14:18Like, since I started charting them three years ago.
14:20What's on the chart for this one last night?
14:23They lost one to nothing.
14:25And Parker Messick was great.
14:27A bunch of runners out on bases still.
14:29There's eight bases on this diamond.
14:32And I'm going to try to.
14:33And each has a runner on.
14:33I'm going to connect the dots, except they can't go in the direction they need to go.
14:37Because we lost one to nothing.
14:38We got shut out for the 12th time.
14:40That's not good.
14:42Oh, boy.
14:45Well, I'm just out of things to say about it.
14:462-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-9-8.
14:48Actually, I think I'm out of things to say about it, too.
14:50What does anybody else have to say about these guys?
14:52What else is there to say on except for?
14:54It's baseball.
14:55There you go.
14:55There you go.
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