00:00We can talk about the Guardians.
00:01That's where I want to start with you guys.
00:02We're going to spend plenty of time on them tonight.
00:06Just because, obviously, bats against the wall.
00:09You come into this game, and not only do you find a way to get a win,
00:13you did a heck of a lot more than just finding a way to get a win.
00:16You pulled off a dominant victory by the time it was said and done,
00:21taking down the White Sox by a final score of 9-3 today.
00:26And honestly, I sat here and told you,
00:28it didn't matter if the Guardians scored 10 runs.
00:30It didn't matter what they did in Game 3.
00:33I probably wasn't having a ton of faith going into Game 4
00:35because you have to rattle off three straight,
00:38and this is still going to be a rough matchup.
00:40And I'll be honest and put my right hand in the air
00:42when I tell you I take that back a little bit.
00:44I'm still not fully bought back in
00:46because there is part of me that remains sitting here going,
00:50kind of feels like tomorrow's the day where the Guardians then, you know,
00:52go right back to their normal selves.
00:55They rip off nine runs tonight.
00:56Looks really good.
00:57Things are just flowing for the guards,
00:59and then they pretty much turn into the exact same team
01:02they were in Games 1 and 2 when you get to a Game 4.
01:05But there is also probably the other part of me that's sitting here
01:09and saying, well, that was a convincing Guardians win.
01:13The offense, I mean, wasn't just putting together good at-bats
01:18and scraping across runs.
01:19They weren't blasting the ball over the wall.
01:21They definitely had a couple of just well-placed hits.
01:24Like, Jose Ramirez, you know, triple down the line, well-placed hit.
01:28Even Joe Adele's, you know, bases-clearing triple that he had earlier in the game.
01:32Also just kind of well-placed.
01:34It wasn't like it was a well-hit ball, but it wasn't incredibly,
01:37like, it wasn't a screamer down the line or anything.
01:39And I'm thinking, too, a couple of bloop singles that get over the infield.
01:43Like, it was guards ball.
01:45At the end of the day, that's what this was.
01:47This was the version of the offense the Guardians hoped to employ
01:51when they get to the playoffs and kind of do employ the entirety of the regular season.
01:57So now I kind of just get to sit back and stare at this thing and say,
02:00okay, well, if they're able to keep that going,
02:03and it felt like there was a shift today.
02:06It wasn't just the Guardians, oh, well,
02:08they basically just kept doing what they were doing the first two games
02:10and then eventually they just fell and they scraped across a few runs.
02:14There seemed to be a change in the way that they actually approached their at-bats.
02:19They were more patient today.
02:20They were taking more pitches.
02:22They were being a little bit more selective.
02:25And then also the energy, obviously,
02:27is you are able to finally scrape across the runs,
02:29not just blatantly play from behind the entirety of the game.
02:33Obviously, they did start down one to nothing,
02:34but were able to have it four to one by the time that you got through the third.
02:39So they got to play with a little bit of comfortability out front.
02:42They didn't feel like they had to walk on pins and needles.
02:44He often stayed alive throughout the course of the game where it didn't feel like,
02:48oh, well, they scraped across a couple in the first and then they went back to dead.
02:52So they have momentum going into game four.
02:54And this is where things actually get interesting because you get to game four,
02:59you get Parker Messick back on the bump.
03:01The Guardians retain.
03:03Now, what is their advantage in this series,
03:05which is the fact that the White Sox are going to roll out there
03:07and go bullpen every single game and not have a legitimate starter?
03:11The Guardians have two legitimate starters to close out this series
03:14in both Parker Messick and Gavin Williams.
03:17You should be able to start game strong.
03:20And in games one and two, again, I walked away from it.
03:23We talked after each of those two games.
03:27And I said, like, there was no breakdown.
03:29There was nothing for me to go to.
03:31There were seven hits in two days.
03:34That's not good enough.
03:34You weren't going to score runs.
03:36Well, if you're going to get an offensive performance,
03:38and I don't expect it to be nine runs on 11 hits,
03:40but this is a White Sox pitching staff that will walk you a ton.
03:44And they did that today.
03:46Guardians were just walking through, getting walk after walk,
03:48and ended up finding themselves on base ten times the other walk today
03:53and punished the White Sox for doing so.
03:56Again, I don't know that it's that egregious,
03:58but to say that you can get to four-plus runs,
04:00I think still is incredibly doable.
04:02And now you have back-to-back days.
04:05This is game number two coming up tomorrow,
04:08which will be, no matter what time that game ends up being,
04:11will be live on YouTube after it's over.
04:13So make sure you're tuning in for that on the 92.3 The Fan YouTube page.
04:16But you're now talking about two bullpens that got exhausted today.
04:22Nobody was using anything short of a ton of pitchers,
04:26seven from each side, having to give it a go.
04:30So you needed to get at the White Sox bullpen.
04:33You needed to see them run up the pitch count.
04:35And of the seven guys that pitched today,
04:37all but one of them for the White Sox threw more than 20 pitches.
04:42So you'll have guys that are available for tomorrow that did throw 20 pitches like Hagan Smith.
04:48It's possible he's available.
04:49I know he threw a ton in game one, so we'll see what the actual leash is on him.
04:53But I imagine he'd be available to go.
04:55David Sandlin, who this was his first outing in this series,
04:58he threw 22 pitches.
05:00He'd probably be available to go.
05:02So they have guys, and it's obviously all hands on deck,
05:05probably for both teams now,
05:06because the White Sox are going to want to close this thing out
05:08and not have to go back to Cleveland.
05:09And the Guardians are obviously right back in a do-or-die situation tomorrow night.
05:15But you've just set yourself up nicely to say,
05:17hey, they don't have somebody that's going to give them a ton of length.
05:21Like Sean Burke pitched in game two.
05:23Don't imagine him pitching in game four.
05:26And we have the advantage going into this thing
05:29where Parker can give me five-plus innings.
05:32I don't know that I can turn around and say
05:34anybody on the White Sox right now out of maybe Eric Fetty
05:37can sit there and give you five-plus innings.
05:39They used Davis Martin tonight.
05:41Fetty's there.
05:42Burke pitched.
05:42Newcomb pitched today again.
05:44And then that's pretty much it for their starting pitching.
05:48Those are the guys they brought onto the ALDS roster.
05:51They didn't go to anybody else.
05:52They tried to load up the bullpen.
05:53And Jordan Hicks will be available.
05:54Grant Taylor will be available.
05:55Neither of those guys went today.
05:57So there is still bullpen arms.
05:58But you need length.
06:00And the Guardians are going to have an advantage
06:02walking into this thing where you can say,
06:04hey, the bullpen is not well-rested,
06:07but you had guys get out of this relatively cleanly.
06:11Like, I know Gattis looked awful today,
06:13but he was able to, you know, just throw 12 pitches.
06:18Sean Armstrong just threw five.
06:19He's available in backup again tomorrow.
06:22And outside of that, like Tim Heron, 18, Kate Smith, 19,
06:25those are two guys that you could turn back to if you have to.
06:27Sobrowski didn't pitch.
06:28Vested didn't pitch.
06:29You have things available to you that the Guardians could actually push this forward.
06:34And probably are set up in the better spot.
06:37So, again, the confidence level, it does take a jump heading into game four.
06:42And we talked to Cade Krakus yesterday at Sports Illustrated.
06:44He said they managed to get a win in game three.
06:47His confidence heading into game four, maybe not fully restored, but it's back.
06:51He feels like the Guardians have positioned themselves well.
06:53And now looking at the way this game ended up playing out,
06:56I would agree that the Guardians have positioned themselves well for this game.
07:01So, just when it feels like maybe all hope had gone out the window,
07:05the Guardians are giving you a spark of life.
07:07And I don't know if that means anything.
07:09I don't know that, again, they could turn around tomorrow
07:11and just deliver you an absolute dud of a performance on offense.
07:14And this game was for naught.
07:15It was just a blip.
07:17But they've gone from what felt like an unwinnable situation,
07:22being down 2-0, having to throw, you know, not Parker, not Gavin.
07:27They didn't even throw Tanner today.
07:28It was Daniel Espino and to Foster Griffin with Joey Cantillo eventually going out there.
07:33You didn't feel great about the situation that they were going to put themselves in.
07:37But, again, you turn around and it feels like they came out ahead today
07:43and with momentum heading into game four.
07:45This is where the confidence gets renewed.
07:48And I think you are staring right now at, you know,
07:50a lineup that did find a little bit of confidence found something
07:53that they can build a basis off of where you had multiple guys
07:57with multi-hit days today.
07:59Patrick Bailey was able to get two down.
08:02Jose Ramirez was able to get two.
08:04Joe Adele was able to get two.
08:05You have three triples in this series.
08:07Like, the offense flowed today.
08:09And you're just hoping that this is a team that is able to ride the momentum.
08:13And they have done it all year long.
08:14Like, when the highs are high, the team is feeling good.
08:17And when the lows are lows, you have seen this team start to feel bad.
08:21So, I think it is a team that has an opportunity to ride the momentum.
08:24And you stole a little bit of it back today.
08:26And you turn around and just see, hey, who was the offense that really struggled?
08:30Like, the White Sox are still able to put together six hits.
08:33I know a lot of those came early.
08:36And it felt like they were able to tee up the ball and not really fully capitalized off of them.
08:41But that's probably a team right now that is going through a little bit more of the struggles.
08:45They struck out 19 times today.
08:47Right?
08:48Again, in a mostly bullpen game that included Foster Griffith and Joey Cantillo.
08:52They struck out 19 times for the 27 outs.
08:55The Guardians pitching staff was dominant.
08:57And you know Parker is going to have, more than likely, a good day against Chicago.
09:02A blow-up would be, I think, surprising to every single Guardians fan that exists.
09:08So, this is the game that you turn around and just say, it all looked pretty good.
09:12Right?
09:12We're going to get into some more of the specifics here within the hour.
09:15But there were just so many things that were flowing the Guardians' way.
09:19You have to feel good about where this team is going.
09:22You have to feel pretty decent about game four.
09:24And I think not feel like this is just a, hey, will they go and get game three?
09:28Like, there has to be some level of confidence built there.
09:30And a lot of the conversations we were having after the first two games,
09:33again, they're not put to bed because this team still is what this team is.
09:37And the offense still isn't perfect.
09:39And they're going to go through their ups and downs.
09:41But I think they put a lot of the Jose Ramirez, Steven Vogt, you know,
09:45this team has no chance.
09:47It's just another year of being the same exact year.
09:49They put some of that to bed.
09:52And it's a really good sign.
09:53A place to be in a spot where, again, a beauty of a best of five.
09:59It is just three games you have to rattle off.
10:01Guardians now trimming it down to two.
10:02They have a real chance at getting this done.
10:05They have a real chance at pushing things to being in a more confident spot.
10:10So, yeah, do I think the Guardians win tomorrow?
10:13I'm probably so much back in the confidence level of,
10:16I would take them again to winning game four.
10:18I really would.
10:20And it's not like an overwhelming confidence,
10:22but I would side back with the Guardians in a way that I have not,
10:25you know, heading into game two in a way that following game one,
10:29it felt like it was going to be demoralized.
10:31Following game two, I didn't think I'd be able to do it again.
10:34But today was a picture-perfect version of what it needs to look like.
10:38And obviously, again, the nine runs are nice.
10:41I'm not expecting the nine runs.
10:44But if you want to talk about being able to burn through the bullpen of the Chicago White Sox,
10:48you want to talk about, you know, being able to hold them under four runs,
10:52that's a recipe for success.
10:54That is how the Guardians have to pick up wins.
10:56And I think a lot of it did kind of, you know, figure out that throughout the course of this,
11:04you are going to be able to get a little bit more on the White Sox.
11:06You are going to be able to feel a little bit more comfortable.
11:08And it feels weird.
11:09It's a divisional opponent.
11:10But the longer these series go, the worse and worse the White Sox are going to be in a position
11:15of actually finding success.
11:17That's the way they have built their team.
11:19They are looking for short series.
11:20They want to get things, you know, out of it quick
11:22or be able to get length out of their relievers.
11:24And they weren't able to do either of those two things tonight.
