00:00We welcome on, brought to you by Shabin Jewelers, Cleveland Smear Jewelry Store,
00:04Daryl Ryder, our 92.3 The Fan Cleveland sports reporter.
00:07Daryl, welcome back.
00:08Hello, boys. Happy birthday, Nick.
00:10Oh, thank you so much.
00:13Sorry, no cupcakes this year, and also no dozen of hot dogs sitting in front of you.
00:19Yeah, Mac texted me earlier and asked where we got those burritos from last year,
00:24and I was like, they're hot dogs, you goober.
00:25Why do they look like burritos to him?
00:27He saw foil and thought Chipotle, I'm guessing.
00:31So, Daryl, how you doing, slugger? 0-2 in the league.
00:35You won it last year. What's going on?
00:38It's all right. I'm fine.
00:40I don't think you are. You're 0-2, Daryl.
00:42I think you're mentally crashing.
00:42I mean, I legit got a 30-second notice for the draft, so.
00:49I think we're making excuses now, Daryl.
00:51This is unbecoming of a reputable media man.
00:53I'm not saying that there was any gamesmanship that might have been going on or whatnot,
00:56but, listen, I've already reached the mountaintop.
01:00Gamemanship. Everyone knew the time.
01:03Clearly I didn't.
01:04I know, but it's like...
01:06I think that might be about your end of the communication there, Daryl,
01:09and not the league.
01:11Never got a notice.
01:12Not the next thing you know, text from you,
01:14hey, dummy, the draft's going on right now.
01:17Oh, news to me.
01:19Maybe, Daryl, hop off the incognito tab for once and, you know, check that email.
01:25I'm still looking for the email.
01:28Okay.
01:28Listen, I'm kind of, you know what?
01:30The incognito tab is hard to leave.
01:31I'm going to channel my inner coach here,
01:34and I'm confident in my team, and we'll bounce back.
01:37And then hopefully I actually play the players that score the points this week.
01:41That is how you win.
01:42Play the players that score the points.
01:44Yep.
01:44That's incredible.
01:45That's how you win.
01:45That's absolutely incredible.
01:46All right, Daryl, what did you make of Deshaun Watson speaking at the podium today?
01:50I thought he was fine.
01:52He handled the landmine questions about the fans,
01:57I think, a lot better than he has handled them in the past.
02:01And, you know, I think that that's probably the biggest concern going into this week now is,
02:08you know, how does he handle any potential negativity
02:12that should arise, whether it's this week or in subsequent home games that he plays?
02:19Because he has demonstrated that he is bothered by it, which is understandable,
02:25but, you know, he's tried to say he's not and act like he's not,
02:32and that's not been successful.
02:34So, the good thing for him, he's coming off what was a good performance, not great,
02:40but a good performance, a winning performance last week,
02:44and maybe that dials the temperature down a little bit for him.
02:47All right, Daryl.
02:49Between the game, where he finally, again, really had a nice breakthrough performance there in the second half,
02:54so there should be some confidence there.
02:56And the way he handled the podium today,
02:59do you trust Deshaun to handle whatever Sunday throws at him when he comes out of that tunnel?
03:07Probably not.
03:08Just because the way he has reacted to it has not matched what he said he would react to it.
03:21So, I do think that that would be probably the biggest concern.
03:27The good news is that he has shown in the first two weeks he can physically play the position,
03:35and then last weekend he showed that he can make some winning plays from that position,
03:40and he can take what the defense is giving him as well
03:43and allow his teammates to make plays on his behalf and put them in position to be able to do
03:49so.
03:49So, but, yeah, I kind of feel like that the negative energy in the stadium might be Deshaun Watson's kryptonite.
03:58What's been going nationally viral out of the press conference today is Deshaun just saying
04:03he's ready for support from Browns fans this weekend.
04:06Were you surprised that his expectation is that?
04:09I just feel like I always get worried about Deshaun when it feels like he expects one thing,
04:13and then something else happens, and I'm worried that this is the same thought process
04:18and the same thing that's going to happen over again.
04:20Well, but what's he supposed to say in the spot, right?
04:24And so, again, I think he handled the questions as best as you could hope that he would,
04:33considering what it's been and how a lot of fans do feel about him,
04:41and I still believe that if he plays well, it'll be positive,
04:46and if he doesn't play well, it's going to be negative,
04:49and I don't think, obviously a big part of this is the Deshaun thing,
04:52but that's just kind of how it goes.
04:54You play well, you get the cheers, you play lousy, you get booed.
04:57That's what you signed up for.
05:00So, I mean, again, I think he did as good a job in front of the microphone today
05:07as you could expect him to,
05:09and I think that might have been the best he's handled, those type of questions.
05:17I like the fact that he's talked about how he's focused on this week
05:24and maintaining the positive energy that they currently have as a team
05:28and, you know, focusing all the efforts in that direction
05:33and not worrying about things he may have said in the past.
05:37I think he said something to the effect of,
05:39I'm not looking to have a war with the fans or something like that along those lines.
05:44Smart, because you start a war with the fans, you never win.
05:49But, yeah, he passed the test today.
05:53Okay, we'll see if he passed the test on Sunday
05:55if, in fact, there's negative energy in the building.
06:00Daryl, Gardos tonight, another chance to get yet another win here.
06:04Five games to go.
06:05I know those five games might have a big impact on this answer.
06:08What are your expectations for the Guardians in October?
06:12Well, my expectation is that they make the postseason,
06:16and then I don't really have a lot of expectation from there.
06:22You know, I don't think that they're a contender by any stretch of the imagination,
06:27but they always seem to find a way in late August and throughout the month of September
06:32to put themselves in the position that they currently find themselves in.
06:36It is delightful, if not maddening,
06:41and I know that there's a lot of folks that just want to judge them
06:45based on whether or not they can go out and win the World Series.
06:48I don't think that's realistic for this bunch,
06:50but, yeah, I don't have a lot of expectation for them come October
06:56just because of the inconsistency,
06:58and you just don't really know what you're going to get
07:01from an offensive standpoint from them on a nightly basis.
07:06And so they have a lot of really good young players,
07:12some of them role players,
07:13and as you guys know, October baseball and success in October baseball is,
07:18you know, the unlikely hero stepping up at any given time.
07:22And they do have a roster full of those guys that have that capability.
07:26I just, I'm not confident in their ability to be able to go all the way,
07:33but this is one of those years where it feels like everything's up for grabs
07:37because there really has not been that dominating force in the American League this year.
07:44So, I don't know, maybe we get a 1997 deal all over again.
07:49If you remember that team, they won, I want to say, 89 games or something like that,
07:54and they ended up in Game 7 of the World Series that year.
07:57It was a very unspectacular regular season,
08:00not a lot of expectation in October, and then all of a sudden,
08:03they just had one of those magical runs.
08:06So, anything can happen in October, maybe they'll, you know, have a magical run,
08:11but I just don't expect them to.
08:13If they clinch today, a postseason berth, that is, what do you prioritize?
08:17Do you go aggressively trying to get the two seed and get the first round by
08:20and win the Central?
08:22Or do you prioritize getting your lineup set,
08:24getting your starting rotation set,
08:26and making sure that that's all your ducks in a row that way instead?
08:29Yeah, that right there is a tough one,
08:33because I am a believer in momentum when it comes to October baseball,
08:37but also with this elongated format that they have now,
08:43you can lose momentum easily by getting the bye and sitting around
08:48and waiting for your opponent,
08:51or you could just get wiped out before you can even advance.
08:54So, that's a tough spot.
08:57I'm all about going and winning the division.
09:00You know, I still wonder, maybe last year,
09:03if they just kind of ran out of gas chasing the division down the way they did
09:07and overtaking Detroit there in the final weekend of the season,
09:11and then the two teams met,
09:13and, you know, the Guardians just flat out flamed out.
09:16I mean, let's just call it what it was,
09:18and didn't really have much of anything in the way of staying power.
09:22So, I would probably lean towards now.
09:26They've been winning divisions,
09:27and it's all about getting into tournament with the way this thing's built.
09:31So, I would probably go with get the lineup,
09:36get the roster where you want it to be going into October
09:39so that maybe you can carry some momentum forward
09:42and not be all that concerned about getting a vacation
09:45before you have to start your playoff run.
09:48Darrell, his first year, he won 92 games,
09:50and the Guardians were in the ALCS.
09:52Last year, 88 games,
09:54and they did lose the wild card series,
09:59but they were in the first round of the playoffs.
10:00This year, they're 82-75
10:02and fighting for the two-seed in the AL.
10:06Is this, given the youth of this team,
10:07do you think this is the best managerial job Stephen Vogt has done yet in Cleveland?
10:12Oh, man, I mean, I think he's been great all three years.
10:17I don't know if I can say this is the best.
10:19Bet you have to, because that's what I asked.
10:21That's the question.
10:22No, I know.
10:23Not putting the screws to you.
10:24Come on, no riding the fence here.
10:25This is another show.
10:27Listen, I think the best managerial job he did was last year
10:32when the roof caved in on him.
10:34They fell behind 15-and-a-half,
10:37and they came back and won the division.
10:39I think that that's hard to top.
10:44That's something that's just never really been done in baseball history.
10:47He's done a good job this year,
10:49but I would not say that this is his best managerial job of the three years.
10:55I think that goes to last year, and it's not even close.
10:59I feel like a lot of people say the same thing about your managerial job
11:02of your fantasy football team, Daryl.
11:04Much better last year.
11:06Looking back right now, boy, that's a nice, yeah.
11:10Really, we all just got screwed by Hugh Jackson,
11:11and we need to recognize that.
11:13We recognize that.
11:14We all collectively got screwed by Hugh Jackson.
11:16I mean, I'm like the Browns.
11:17I'm 1-and-1 and feeling real sunny about the future
11:20because I'm coming off a win.
11:21Because you played me, and so I'm 0-and-2.
11:23Daryl's 0-and-2.
11:24I would be 1-and-1.
11:25I would have won last week up against all,
11:28but I think one other team in our fantasy football league.
11:32I did check that.
11:33I don't know why I checked that, but I did check that.
11:35That's the research you wanted to do?
11:36Yep.
11:37That's the one.
11:37That's where all the rest of the research went that I didn't do on the show.
11:40Bring zero stats.
11:40Zero stats ever.
11:41That's the only stat I care about.
11:41That's the one you got?
11:42Yep.
11:43It's a long season, Nick.
11:44Daryl, sit there in your failure and enjoy it.
11:46We appreciate you.
11:47Thank you, Daryl.
11:48You bet, guys.
11:48Have a good one.
11:49Daryl Ryder there brought to you by Scheiben Jewelers,
11:51Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
11:53Daryl Ryder there brought to you by Scheiben Jewelers.
