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How Guardians are proving critics wrong in ALCS run, Jose Ramirez's impact furthering legend status
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00:00I am finally ready to say I was wrong.
00:02Okay.
00:03And here's why.
00:04Because you asked me yesterday about the whole viral kerfuffle
00:07and everybody dunking on me and hating every bit about me.
00:10And you doubled down on it, yeah.
00:11I doubled down on it because nothing had changed.
00:13Okay.
00:13Like, okay, they beat the White Sox.
00:15That was kind of the way I was leaning going into the weekend.
00:18But I still had massive concerns about the Guardians' ability
00:22to do what they did against the White Sox,
00:24against a far, far superior team than the White Sox.
00:27You pretty much saw everything that I said I didn't know that they could do.
00:31Okay.
00:32Like, you saw a starter that wasn't Gavin Williams and Parker Messick
00:36go in there and give you a real quality performance.
00:38You saw four more strong innings from your bullpen.
00:41Not you, Sebrowski.
00:42It was one pitch.
00:43It's fine.
00:44You didn't over-leverage Kate Smith in game one,
00:47which means he should be fresh for tonight.
00:49Hosey keeps producing.
00:50The guys around Hosey kept producing, including new guys like Nathaniel Lowe,
00:55Patty Barrels, as I mentioned.
00:56Then CDL had the oppo hit, and then that scorcher down the first baseline,
01:00or sign up the first baseline.
01:01The double later, like, everything that I was afraid they couldn't do
01:06in the ALCS against one of the three best teams in baseball this year,
01:11or sorry, one of the two best teams in the AL this year,
01:13they did it all in one game.
01:15So Friday, I was an idiot.
01:17I should have never doubted them.
01:19All right, here we are.
01:20All right, here we are.
01:21Let's get going then.
01:22One thing that's great about this guards team,
01:24when you hit, like, the 27 Yankees, turns out life becomes a lot easier.
01:27It's funny.
01:28During the regular season, they did not have a lot of two home run games.
01:31They really, truly didn't.
01:33They had the third best record in baseball when they hit multiple home runs,
01:35though, 28-10 when they hit multiple home runs in a game.
01:38And so, like, the ball goes far, team goes far.
01:41Mentality is still true.
01:42What I loved about that game, though, is it wasn't just the home runs
01:45like it was in game three and game four and even game five
01:47because J-Ram had that home run.
01:48It was the idea that the first couple home runs were obviously massive.
01:52It was huge.
01:53But the second part of that game was guards ball to a tee.
01:56And so it was kind of a blend of what is sustainable
01:58and then also the idea that in baseball,
02:01your offense has to get hot at the right time.
02:03Yeah, and I also love who helped you out last night.
02:06Like, we know Hosey, right?
02:08We know Chase DeLauder.
02:10And it felt like Chase was due for a, whether it was a home run
02:14or just a power game, and he got the huge hit late in the game,
02:18and then he got you the home run early in the game.
02:20But for me, it was like Foster Griffin had probably the most important start
02:25of his career and delivered everything you could have asked for him.
02:28I mean, it was the deadline acquisition, guys.
02:30Nathaniel Lowe.
02:31Going against a lefty.
02:32Joe Adele with a massive hit.
02:34Like, every person you acquired at the deadline, it was the deadline game.
02:37Every person you acquired at the deadline was awesome,
02:39which is funny because I thought it was going to be the DeLauder game
02:43for a second there, and then I thought it could have been the Hose game.
02:46And it's like, when you're running out of guys to bring up
02:49and just trying to give kudos to, that's obviously a great thing.
02:52And so we sit here today, and I feel like that game changed everything for me
02:57because they answered so many of my questions, right?
03:01Like, you needed that game to go a very specific way,
03:04and you didn't just do just enough.
03:06You did more than enough to win that game.
03:08And I think Espino was clutch following up off Foster Griffin.
03:13He did get lucky with that one high-ish fastball with Junior Caminero.
03:18That was the one lucky part of the pitching.
03:21Other than that, everybody just executed the way that you're going to need to do
03:26if you don't have Gavin or Parker Messick on the bump.
03:29Oh, by the way, you've got Parker on the bump tonight.
03:32Yeah, I mean, that sets up about as well as we could
03:34because it's Parker tonight, and then it's Gavin Williams in game three.
03:37This is exactly what you could have wanted.
03:38It's not stealing game one.
03:40And they won game one, and there's a couple mistakes that Kevin Cash made.
03:43I thought taking Rasmussen out, or sorry, leaving him in when he did
03:47for that extra inning was a mistake.
03:49I also didn't understand his bullpen usage in the slightest bit.
03:52Ninth inning, close game.
03:53I don't know why you're bringing in such a bad set of relievers
03:56when you have two guys that have had more rest than anybody in baseball.
04:00Like, that to me, it was a suspect.
04:02If I was a Rays fan, I'd be very pissed about how Kevin Cash managed that game.
04:05But, hey, whatever, Guardians take advantage, you get the win,
04:09and now we have a real chance to go ahead and take the series.
04:11I think this has been really interesting.
04:13I've listened to a few podcasts with former players,
04:16and their assertion to a man was, well, you're kind of running on fumes
04:20in game one in this scenario where you've played baseball more recently,
04:24you just had a travel day.
04:26So it's kind of like you're a little bit more locked into the rhythm,
04:29and they say that the kind of jet lag hits you more in game two.
04:32And, again, I have no foundation for my own life,
04:36but I think that makes tonight very interesting.
04:39I think, listen, Peralta's fine.
04:43He was very good for them since they picked him up for the Mets.
04:47I would still take Parker Messick over him.
04:49Oh, yeah.
04:50I mean, Peralta doesn't – he threw 66 pitches in his last game.
04:52That's going to be a – it's a pseudo bullpen game for them.
04:55And if game one is about subverting the expectations
04:57and telling baseball they can stick it
04:59and maybe telling Nick Wilson he can stick it,
05:01I think tonight is about, all right, you're playing back-to-back games.
05:06You come back to Cleveland on Thursday up two games to none.
05:10You can make quick work of this series
05:12and set yourself up for the World Series.
05:15I'm not ready to talk World Series yet,
05:17but I'm saying that is what tonight is about.
05:20Well, yeah, you'd be setting the table.
05:21And so even if you told me when the series started,
05:24you're tied up at one apiece coming back to Cleveland for games three,
05:28I would have thought that is a massive win.
05:29And there's no such thing as house money when you can taste it
05:32and when it feels this good.
05:33You've got to try your very best to win this game, obviously.
05:35But if the bill comes due tonight,
05:38and because you've played Gattis in every single game,
05:41because you've played Kate Smith in every single game,
05:43if some of the bullpen – the back end of the bullpen issues
05:46do start to pop up for this game and this game alone,
05:49then that might just be the cost to doing business
05:51if that's what you're getting at.
05:52So I think that's what's interesting is game one did so much to be like,
05:56Nick's first concern, knock it off.
05:58Second concern, knock it off.
05:59Third concern.
06:00All the way down to like my seventh concern about the ALCS
06:03and a step up.
06:04And we talked yesterday about the lack –
06:07or the small margin of error that you have in this series.
06:11Well, now you do have a little bit more to play with.
06:14But, I mean, you want to talk about the final kind of thought here.
06:17There were people, and I was one of them,
06:20wondering after game four, did Parker Messick run out of gas?
06:23He's at the all-time innings high for him.
06:25He was having trouble locating early in counts,
06:29and that led to a shorter appearance in game four.
06:31This is a great opportunity for Parker Messick to bounce back.
06:35And, again, I think the Guardians have the pitching advantage.
06:38If you can get – if last night was about – I think I said four innings
06:41from Foster Griffin.
06:42They gave – he gave you exactly four innings and exactly what you needed.
06:46Tonight, can you get five out of Parker?
06:49Can we push our luck and get six?
06:51That's honestly what we need at some point in the series, whether that is Gavin.
06:54It doesn't seem likely to be Parker tonight,
06:56but we need somebody that can go a seven- or eight-inning appearance
07:00and really just kind of let the bullpen have a day,
07:03comboed up with maybe even a day off on Wednesday.
07:05So if Gavin can go out there and go seven or eight innings –
07:07I mean, again, that's what makes yesterday so shocking
07:10with what Cash was trying to do with Rasmussen.
07:12They've had the days off.
07:13They played three games in the previous 14,
07:15and he was treating it like he needed that seven- or eight-inning game
07:18the way that the Guardians do.
07:20Like when you – it's going to be interesting to see,
07:22but tonight doesn't feel like that night.
07:24It doesn't feel like that.
07:25It feels like Mesk is going to get maybe four innings or so,
07:27potentially five, and then it's going to be a good morning,
07:30good afternoon, and good night.
07:31Not to be a – not to be a captain obvious here,
07:34but the difference between four and five innings is just gigantic.
07:37Although I will tell you, if Espino can be a –
07:40your starter just got out, and now all of a sudden
07:43you've got a guy with electric stuff who can come in
07:46and just look like a completely different pitch profile,
07:49different side of the mound.
07:50Obviously, he throws wicked hard, like – and has some stuff to him.
07:55Like he has starter stuff.
07:56He doesn't have the starter arm because of the injuries,
07:59but like Espino –
08:00Yeah, he throws at 99.
08:01And there is a smaller gap between what Messick's stuff is
08:04and what Espino's is versus last night where Foster Griffin
08:08to Espino's a pretty big jump.
08:09But still, I mean, Espino's emergence here –
08:11No, but that difference in velocity is huge.
08:14You know, Messick's going 94, and then you turn around
08:17and Espino's hitting 98, 99 consistently.
08:19That five miles per hour is all you need.
08:21But, like, that is the kind of development –
08:24honestly, it's like what's happening with Uribe and Milwaukee,
08:28where – you know, I've talked to Dan about Uribe a couple times,
08:31and this kid in the postseason, or at least in this Dodger series,
08:34has been aces when it matters most because he's got wicked stuff
08:38and he's just kind of a young, live arm.
08:41That's kind of what the Guardians have here in Espino,
08:44and I think you can tell by how he's being used
08:46that Steven Vogt has a lot of trust in him.
08:49And I think, again, the trust paid off dividends last night,
08:52and we haven't even talked about the fact that –
08:54I mean, I think it was of the top 21 hit balls,
08:58like the hardest 21 hit balls last night,
09:0115 of them were by the Guardians.
09:03And it wasn't even particularly close.
09:06Even Patty Barrels, who just smoked that ball for a –
09:09I think it was 433 feet, not yards.
09:12That would be very impressive if it was yards.
09:14I mean, that was just –
09:15that was exactly the kind of performance you needed.
09:18You out-rayed the Rays last night.
09:21Well, you were waiting for the damn the break.
09:23Watching that game and watching the Guardians go down 2-0,
09:26but you could see all these balls in play
09:28and you could see all these hits happening.
09:29I mean, Nick, they had 14 hits last night.
09:31The Yankees, in three games against the Rays, had 12.
09:35You want to talk about a team that came out
09:36and was not only having awesome at-bats,
09:39as you're suggesting, with some of the barrel rates
09:40and some of the exit velocity on some of these hits,
09:43but they were consistently getting on base
09:46and were just kind of waiting for the damn to break.
09:47Now, it took until the ninth inning –
09:49or eighth, ninth inning for it to break, but it broke.
09:51216-474-0092.
09:53At Nick Wilson says,
09:55at Jay Peterlin on social media.
09:57Obviously, we've got a lot to talk about
09:59between games one and two of the ALCS.
10:02The question here is,
10:03how much does the game one win change things?
10:05For me, it was everything I needed to see.
10:08I thought I was going to be able to cobble
10:10the eventual Nick Wilson was wrong on Friday
10:12throughout the first couple games of the series.
10:15Maybe that would – no.
10:16The Guardians just ripped that Band-Aid off
10:18and made me look like a real a-hole.
10:19Thank you to them.
10:20Hopefully, we stopped the bleeding.
10:22Hosey's stat line, the last four games,
10:24they're 4-0, by the way.
10:268-for-17, four extra base hits,
10:28two home runs, seven runs, eight RBI,
10:31and a 15-26 OPS.
10:34And more than that, what I love is
10:36he is so dialed in.
10:38You can almost make a case he's too dialed in,
10:41like you saw trying to steal in the first inning.
10:44First inning, getting caught to steal in a second.
10:46Even some of the leads he was taking,
10:48when you were trying to get back into that game,
10:50I was like, Hosey, don't get thrown out again.
10:51No, what he was doing, this is classic Hosey Ramirez.
10:54We watched him do this in game four,
10:56where he's manufacturing his own runs.
10:58He gets on base, he steals second,
11:00and then he finds a way to get to third,
11:01and then he's home.
11:02And that's just, he is single-handedly
11:04manufacturing a lot of these runs.
11:06That's what makes him so awesome.
11:08You know, it's funny, in the second inning,
11:10there was a pop-up to the third base side,
11:12and J-Ram caught it.
11:12At this point, they're down 2-0.
11:14And there are more people that are thinking
11:15negatively about that game than positively.
11:17And J-Ram catches it.
11:18And after he catches it,
11:20he does, like, this thing.
11:22Like, you just don't see baseball players
11:24celebrate that way.
11:25Like, after just a routine pop-up to third base,
11:27putting his hands up in the air
11:28as if he's like, hey, I caught it.
11:29This is awesome.
11:30That's classic J-Ram.
11:31Like, the things he does
11:33that gets this team going,
11:34when it seems like,
11:36even like the spirit after the first inning
11:37felt broke by some of the fan base.
11:39And he's like, no, I'm just having fun.
11:40I'm like a 12-year-old out there.
11:41Like, that's part of the J-Ram war.
11:43And he was in,
11:43when he was on second base late in that game,
11:45he was in the Rays reliever's head.
11:49They kept looking back,
11:50and I was texting my buddy Jeremy,
11:51and I was like,
11:53is Jose going to manufacture a run
11:55by distracting the pitcher?
11:57And it was maybe three seconds later
11:59that Jose got moved over.
12:01I mean, yeah, it's one of those things.
12:03He's just, his baseball IQ is off the charts.
12:05He's always been an incredibly smart baseball player,
12:07but his baseball IQ,
12:08and in this playoffs,
12:09when he knows how to mess with people
12:11and he knows how to get everyone going,
12:12like, he just showcases it consistently.
12:14But I like,
12:15so I always felt like with Tito,
12:17Tito was so consistent energy-wise,
12:19that I was like,
12:20all right, who's going to be the Napoli, right?
12:23Who's going to be,
12:24Kipnis had some of this in,
12:25the guy that just comes in.
12:26I think it's supposed to be Hedges.
12:27And, well, but offers a more,
12:30I don't want to say volatile,
12:31but an emotional perspective.
12:34Jose's so even keel.
12:35Jose is in it emotionally
12:38and has been in a way that,
12:40I honestly think it's not just because
12:43of what the Guardians are doing.
12:44I think it's because he's just so happy
12:46to be back to being Jose.
12:48Well, this goes back to him
12:49taunting the White Sox fans and everything too.
12:52I don't know if it's the idea
12:53that he's happy to be back to being Jose.
12:55It's got to play into it, obviously.
12:56But I just think he understands in real time,
12:59not only what a World Series run means
13:00to this fan base and the organization,
13:02but him delivering a World Series run
13:05or just even this ALCS run.
13:07He is untouchable in Cleveland sports right now.
13:10Should we do a Jose versus LeBron
13:12or should we let that one breathe for a minute?
13:13Everyone else in the world has done it.
13:15If you have any hot takes.
13:16Well, maybe we sit on that for a couple seconds, actually.
13:18I'll let you think about it.
13:19I promise you I'm not teeing off.
13:21I'll let you think about it.
13:22Yeah, maybe I'm going to sit this
13:23with the hot takes out for a minute.
13:24I promise you I'm not teeing off
13:26of the mornings on that one.
13:27That was a social media-led thing
13:29that I saw, the Jose versus LeBron.
13:31And it's like, let's just let this one simmer.
13:34One, we could always enjoy both.
13:35But two, I'm just really enjoying
13:38what Jose's bringing to the table right now.
13:40That's it.
13:40It's just, it's fun to watch him play baseball
13:41and it's fun to see what he's doing.
13:43And his, again, like his spot in the city is secured.
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