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Twins lose on opening day: Joe Ryan shines, the bats struggle + more · Twin Cities Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the second episode of Twins Cities
0:10
Speaker 1: Territory here on the Foul Territory Network. I am Zach
0:14
Speaker 1: Pierce alongside Dan Hayes. We are both of the Athletic
0:19
Speaker 1: Dan is the Minnesota Twins beat writer in Baltimore right
0:22
Speaker 1: now with the team for the opening weekend series. I
0:26
Speaker 1: am just the Athletics Olympics editor.
0:28
Speaker 2: I'm still not sure.
0:29
Speaker 1: Why I'm here, but I am coming to you today
0:31
Speaker 1: from our Palm Springs bureau. It's still very dark this morning,
0:35
Speaker 1: on this Friday morning, not just here, but also in
0:40
Speaker 1: Twins fanland after a frustrating opening day. How about that
0:44
Speaker 1: segue into today's topics. But the Twins are oh and
0:48
Speaker 1: one Dan after a lost Thursday in Baltimore, two to one.
0:52
Speaker 1: Plenty to talk about from that one, and I guess
0:56
Speaker 1: we'll get right into it.
0:57
Speaker 2: How does that sound? Yeah, that sounds great, and I
1:01
Speaker 2: should go ahead. Sorry, I was gonna say it was.
1:04
Speaker 2: It was crazy. It was a really spectacular day in Baltimore,
1:07
Speaker 2: like seventy five degrees. It was aesthetically about as pleasing
1:11
Speaker 2: as possible. And then if you're a Twins fan, the
1:15
Speaker 2: game was quite the opposite from that perspective.
1:19
Speaker 1: I'm glad it was so pleasant for you. Dan. The
1:24
Speaker 1: day started for me in the Minneapolis Saint Paul Airport
1:27
Speaker 1: running into TC Bear, who came through the Delta sky
1:32
Speaker 1: Club and was handing out tickets to next Friday's home opener,
1:35
Speaker 1: which insert joke here if you want, but a pretty
1:39
Speaker 1: cool thing for the twins to do. I would say,
1:41
Speaker 1: also to to to help drum up some interest for
1:45
Speaker 1: what's probably I would imagine a tough a tough sell
1:48
Speaker 1: these days on tickets, given the outlook for the team
1:50
Speaker 1: this year. But so I might be there with you.
1:53
Speaker 2: Actually, by the way, I wanted to tell you, I didn't.
1:56
Speaker 2: That was just some guy that was walking through the airport.
1:59
Speaker 2: It was just some Yeah, somebody decided to go to
2:03
Speaker 2: the MSP and hang out and hand out tickets. And
2:05
Speaker 2: he's just some guy, So the tickets aren't even real.
2:08
Speaker 1: We'll get there, my kids will be crushed, like, okay,
2:11
Speaker 1: good good to know. Well I won't tell my son
2:13
Speaker 1: that he was high fiving some guy and not actually
2:16
Speaker 1: a bear.
2:17
Speaker 2: Good to know.
2:19
Speaker 1: The first episode was also my Michael Jordan flu game,
2:22
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that I have a little more energy today.
2:25
Speaker 1: But perhaps less of a voice. But we'll we'll get
2:27
Speaker 1: through it. We'll power through it. Anyway, back to the
2:29
Speaker 1: matter at hand. Opening day game frustrating in a lot
2:34
Speaker 1: of ways, I think, maybe indicative of how we expected
2:38
Speaker 1: this season to go. Really sure, a strong, strong effort
2:41
Speaker 1: from the starting pitching bullpen only allowed two runs, but
2:44
Speaker 1: it was enough to lose the game because the bats
2:47
Speaker 1: just couldn't come through in the clutch, Dan sort of,
2:48
Speaker 1: what was your overall takeaway from from game one of
2:51
Speaker 1: one sixty two.
2:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, this team came in with a lot of questions
2:55
Speaker 2: about how it was going to hit against left handed pitching,
2:57
Speaker 2: and we're gonna have those questions. We will get to that.
3:01
Speaker 2: But you know, the biggest takeaway, let's start with Joe
3:05
Speaker 2: Ryan just because like that's the least frustrating part of
3:09
Speaker 2: of yesterday, I think, And and that's a good place
3:13
Speaker 2: to start, just because, you know, he had a strange
3:16
Speaker 2: spring that followed a least interesting off season at the
3:21
Speaker 2: start of it, that followed, you know, last year to
3:24
Speaker 2: trade deadline, thinking he'd been traded, and there were there
3:28
Speaker 2: were plenty of reasons for him to be a little
3:31
Speaker 2: bit distracted, you know, there and He looked fantastic. In fact,
3:37
Speaker 2: I think they were the only thing that stopped him
3:39
Speaker 2: was his pitch count. Yesterday he had to talk about it.
3:41
Speaker 2: He couldn't throw more than eighty five pitches just because
3:43
Speaker 2: where he's building up wise, But Joe Ryan delivered in
3:48
Speaker 2: every way possible for the twins. You know you're fill
3:51
Speaker 2: in for Pablo, Well, okay, Joe Ryan's like the one
3:54
Speaker 2: a Pablo Lopez. You can argue either way which guy's
3:58
Speaker 2: gonna go first. It most likely it was gonna be
4:00
Speaker 2: Pablo Lopez. Then he blew out his elbow and had
4:04
Speaker 2: Tommy John surgery. So Joe Ryan filled in and there
4:08
Speaker 2: was no letdown at all. I mean, he was amazing
4:11
Speaker 2: and there had been some velocity stuff for him going
4:15
Speaker 2: into his last start. He averaged ninety two miles ninety
4:18
Speaker 2: to ninety one to nine with his fastball, And I
4:21
Speaker 2: think you know the one thing that is great about
4:24
Speaker 2: spring training now is we have these numbers because everybody
4:27
Speaker 2: has them. Every team. They've started using the stackcast system
4:31
Speaker 2: down there, and so you get all these numbers. The
4:34
Speaker 2: bad part is we have these numbers and people freak
4:36
Speaker 2: out because this is the time when guys are usually
4:39
Speaker 2: building up and so they're not reaching their season high velocities.
4:42
Speaker 2: And there was a lot of talk about whether or
4:44
Speaker 2: not Joe Ryan's velocity was gonna be an issue for him,
4:47
Speaker 2: and he was fantastic. The velocity the first three pitches
4:50
Speaker 2: was ninety four to seven, ninety five and then ninety
4:54
Speaker 2: five eight, and Joe Ryan had said after his last start,
4:57
Speaker 2: you know, actually, I think my velocity is right. It
5:01
Speaker 2: typically is at this time of year. It's right where
5:03
Speaker 2: it was and the season sort of takes care of itself.
5:05
Speaker 2: And it was like, okay, Joe Ryan, I'm trusting you
5:08
Speaker 2: like I believe you. And then we looked at Baseball
5:11
Speaker 2: Savon and last year in spring training for the two
5:15
Speaker 2: recordable games, Joe Ryan was ninety two miles an hour
5:18
Speaker 2: and it was like, oh, yeah, he knows what he's
5:20
Speaker 2: talking about. He's really on this. And so for him
5:23
Speaker 2: to like say, yeah, it's gonna be there and then
5:26
Speaker 2: to come out like that and show it first three
5:28
Speaker 2: batters and granted that was an amazing crowd forty two
5:32
Speaker 2: thousand people. Just there's not many places that are better
5:36
Speaker 2: to be on opening Day than Camden Yards, especially when
5:39
Speaker 2: seventy five I mean, there was just this buzz in
5:41
Speaker 2: the city yesterday because you know, I know, we had
5:43
Speaker 2: a pretty rough winter and that last storm was pretty brutal.
5:48
Speaker 2: They had a very similar type winner and that's very
5:51
Speaker 2: uncharacteristic for them, so they were looking to be outside
5:55
Speaker 2: and enjoy it, and it was a great energy in town.
6:01
Speaker 2: And Joe Ryan just wrote that and it was so
6:04
Speaker 2: impressive the way he handled it. And you know, Trevor
6:08
Speaker 2: Rodgers for the Orioles was just as good. I'd say
6:11
Speaker 2: Ryan was actually better. He was more efficient, he got
6:15
Speaker 2: you know, he didn't allow the base runners. Rogers just
6:18
Speaker 2: pitched extremely well when he had to and went longer
6:21
Speaker 2: into the game than Joe Ryan. But you know, it
6:24
Speaker 2: definitely was a weird year for him, like it's been
6:28
Speaker 2: a weird time, and hear all these potential distractions and
6:31
Speaker 2: I think he did a good job just dismissing all
6:35
Speaker 2: of them and going and doing what he does.
6:38
Speaker 1: Five in the third innings, one hit, no runs to
6:41
Speaker 1: he walks, seven strikeouts, a very solid first outing, as
6:46
Speaker 1: you said, But you couldn't just let Twins fans have
6:49
Speaker 1: that joy, Dan, could you? You had to point out
6:52
Speaker 1: in your article in the Athletic that that that actually
6:57
Speaker 1: might just lead to his early it from Minnesota. Obviously,
7:02
Speaker 1: the team having conducted that fire sale the trade deadline
7:05
Speaker 1: last year, who knows where they're going to go from here,
7:09
Speaker 1: but Joe Ryan is certainly one of their top remaining
7:11
Speaker 1: trade pieces if they if they choose to go that way,
7:13
Speaker 1: and certainly with all the talk out there, it seems
7:16
Speaker 1: like that's that's a pretty high likelihood for the future.
7:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to change the chiron below my name
7:21
Speaker 2: to the Grinch because I did write that. Look, it's
7:24
Speaker 2: hard not to face the reality that if the Twins
7:28
Speaker 2: go as everyone projects them to go, they're going to
7:31
Speaker 2: be in July looking probably to sell again, and that's
7:35
Speaker 2: a difficult spot. And they won't have nearly the amount
7:38
Speaker 2: of pieces to trade off that they did last year.
7:40
Speaker 2: I mean, they everybody knew that were like six guys
7:45
Speaker 2: free agent wise that going into the deadline last year
7:48
Speaker 2: could be traded, you know, between Danny Cooloh and Chris Paddock,
7:52
Speaker 2: Harrison Bader and by the way, I'm really going to
7:54
Speaker 2: test myself here for an early morning remembering all six guys.
7:59
Speaker 2: There's no him remembering anyways, they had six free agents
8:03
Speaker 2: that we thought, hey, they can trade that, Well, they
8:05
Speaker 2: don't have that very much. This year. They have Josh
8:09
Speaker 2: Bell on a one year contract and he definitely is
8:11
Speaker 2: a guy that teams acquire, and he's been traded before
8:15
Speaker 2: the deadline. There's very few free agents that they have,
8:21
Speaker 2: so it's a lot of young guys, so you look
8:24
Speaker 2: for the guys who are closer to going into free agency.
8:27
Speaker 2: That's Joe Ryan, who's got a year and a half
8:29
Speaker 2: at that time. He's basically got two years on his
8:32
Speaker 2: contract right now. But the peak time in baseball trade
8:36
Speaker 2: guys is when they're a year and a half out,
8:38
Speaker 2: and so Pablo Lopez will also be there. Obviously he's hurt.
8:42
Speaker 2: That pretty much disqualifies him from being traded. Ryan Jeffers
8:46
Speaker 2: is a free agent at the end of the season.
8:48
Speaker 2: He's a guy that would potentially be looked at. But
8:52
Speaker 2: I mean, if the Twins are headed down that path
8:55
Speaker 2: of a seventy eight win season or seventy two win season,
8:58
Speaker 2: whatever they are, and you know Joe Ryan's going to
9:02
Speaker 2: leave in free agency, I I it's you know what
9:07
Speaker 2: his when we talk to him at the end of
9:08
Speaker 2: the season, he wants frontline starting pitching money and I
9:13
Speaker 2: you know, it's me and Matthew Leach from MLB dot Com.
9:16
Speaker 2: We're talking to him in the dugout in Texas and
9:18
Speaker 2: he was saying, you know, I've wanted like a six
9:22
Speaker 2: or seven year deal, and I don't know how the
9:23
Speaker 2: Twins would do frontline money for six or seven years,
9:26
Speaker 2: because that to me is something like six and one
9:29
Speaker 2: eighty or seven and two ten. And we've seen what
9:33
Speaker 2: a huge cont like one huge contract can do in
9:36
Speaker 2: hamstringing the Twins. Now, I know they want to potentially
9:40
Speaker 2: spend money, they're not. They haven't payrolls down again thirty
9:43
Speaker 2: five millions, So it's it's lip service till they do it.
9:47
Speaker 2: I know they want to spend, but I don't know
9:49
Speaker 2: that that's going to be in line with what they
9:51
Speaker 2: want to do. So it's like, all right, Joe Ryan,
9:54
Speaker 2: the likelihood he is, he's gonna leave it free agency.
9:56
Speaker 2: So do you if you do lose, do you just
10:00
Speaker 2: cash in and get a lot of prospects? Because if
10:03
Speaker 2: jo Ryan pitches the way he did yesterday, look, I
10:05
Speaker 2: said a weird spring. Think about all these things that
10:07
Speaker 2: he had. First, Let's just okay, he thought he got
10:10
Speaker 2: traded at the deadline right there was a bad tweet
10:14
Speaker 2: sent out by another service, and everybody thought for about
10:18
Speaker 2: five or six months Joe Ryan had been traded to
10:19
Speaker 2: the Red Sox. He certainly did, and the team had
10:23
Speaker 2: to say the next day, no, we didn't come close.
10:26
Speaker 2: I mean there'd been a discussion, of course, but we
10:28
Speaker 2: didn't come close, so that was not accurate. So then
10:32
Speaker 2: he goes into the off season, and at the start
10:34
Speaker 2: of the off season, the front office was wishy washy
10:36
Speaker 2: about what they were going to do because they had
10:38
Speaker 2: no direction. The partial sale of the team still was
10:40
Speaker 2: not complete. They didn't know what ownership wanted them to do.
10:43
Speaker 2: So not only did they not know if they could
10:45
Speaker 2: add to the roster at the time, they didn't know
10:47
Speaker 2: if they could keep Joe Ryan or Pablo Lopez and
10:50
Speaker 2: if they traded them either of them and started to
10:52
Speaker 2: tear down some more. Byron Buckston was saying, I want out.
10:55
Speaker 2: So it was going to be like this big mess.
10:57
Speaker 2: And that was basically October. In early November, they weren't
11:01
Speaker 2: talking to agents or to teams about ways of adding.
11:06
Speaker 2: At the GM meetings right after Derek Shelton had been hired,
11:09
Speaker 2: it wasn't until three weeks later that they started those
11:12
Speaker 2: conversations and they quickly actually signed Josh Bell at the
11:15
Speaker 2: winter meetings. But like it was clear that once the
11:19
Speaker 2: partial sale was complete, that's when they sort of got
11:21
Speaker 2: their marchin orders. So there was that limbo period for
11:24
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan. Now, fortunately his first child was born in
11:29
Speaker 2: the off season. That was a great distraction for him.
11:32
Speaker 2: He was preparing for the WBC. It's another great distraction.
11:34
Speaker 2: So he was okay either way. But then January comes
11:38
Speaker 2: along and he's about two hours from arbitration. Three hours
11:44
Speaker 2: the next morning, everybody's flying to Phoenix to go for arbitration.
11:47
Speaker 2: And he was okay with that, but nobody wants to
11:51
Speaker 2: go to arbitration and sit across the table from your
11:53
Speaker 2: employer and hear how you suck, the ways that you
11:56
Speaker 2: were terrible, and so that they can get salaries down
11:59
Speaker 2: and it's now process. And the Twins actually did a
12:02
Speaker 2: really good thing. They went above his midpoint in the
12:07
Speaker 2: two sides were about I don't know, five hundred thousand apart,
12:10
Speaker 2: I think in their ask, and the Twins went about
12:13
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand above the midpoint and avoided arbitration. So
12:16
Speaker 2: that got cleared up. But then he gets to camp
12:20
Speaker 2: and Pablo gets hurt, and five days later he gets
12:22
Speaker 2: scratched in his first start, and like all of a sudden,
12:26
Speaker 2: you're like, oh man, what's going on? Like they losing
12:30
Speaker 2: both guys and they knew pretty quick it was back
12:32
Speaker 2: tightness and Joe was back out there right away. But
12:37
Speaker 2: like it's just, you know, it's been distraction after distraction
12:41
Speaker 2: after It's so weird what has gone on. And I'm
12:45
Speaker 2: totally losing focus on what I was my tangent was
12:49
Speaker 2: going on here. But he like it's essentially like you
12:53
Speaker 2: know that this could end up being him on the
12:59
Speaker 2: blocks point and it's just gonna maybe get there if
13:03
Speaker 2: they now look, if the twins are good, then you
13:06
Speaker 2: add around him and you take those two years. But
13:10
Speaker 2: who knows if they're gonna get there. There's some we've
13:13
Speaker 2: talked about there today. There's so many questions to answer
13:15
Speaker 2: for this team, some of them surfish yesterday, and it's
13:20
Speaker 2: gonna be a very It's gonna just be a continuation
13:24
Speaker 2: of all the stuff that Joe Ryan has been going
13:28
Speaker 2: through since August, essentially, and he has done a great
13:32
Speaker 2: job being like I'm here and I'm happy to be here.
13:34
Speaker 2: This is where he's had his success, So it's a
13:38
Speaker 2: great place if he's pitching the free agency. If he's
13:40
Speaker 2: here for these two years, say the Twins got good
13:42
Speaker 2: and they want to stick with Joe Ryan and not
13:44
Speaker 2: trade him and then get a comp pick for him
13:47
Speaker 2: after next year. He is content being with the Twins.
13:50
Speaker 2: It's the first place he had success. He's really good.
13:53
Speaker 2: He's comfortable here. I don't think the distractions will be
13:57
Speaker 2: there for I think he's good at warding them off.
13:59
Speaker 2: But there certainly is. You know that reality is there.
14:03
Speaker 2: The clock started yesterday if this team can't win, because
14:08
Speaker 2: you've got to cash in on that guy if they
14:10
Speaker 2: don't win. And it's a it's tough to say it
14:14
Speaker 2: because I know Twins fans want to focus on the season,
14:16
Speaker 2: but it's at least in the room. You know, it's
14:18
Speaker 2: the elephant in the room for sure.
14:21
Speaker 1: Well, there you have it, Dan Hayes stealing your joy
14:23
Speaker 1: from the will and bright spotper apps of Game one,
14:27
Speaker 1: the Grinch. But it's spot on. I mean, certainly enjoyed
14:33
Speaker 1: Joe Ryan while you can Twins fans because obviously you
14:37
Speaker 1: mentioned it, Dan if they're good. Things change, but if not,
14:41
Speaker 1: it's hard to believe this franchise of all franchises spending
14:44
Speaker 1: top line free top line free agent money to keep
14:47
Speaker 1: him around, to be sure, for a team that's not
14:50
Speaker 1: not bringing it.
14:51
Speaker 2: One thing real quick on that. I got to talk
14:53
Speaker 2: to Bailey over about it, and he did say, Byron Buckston,
14:56
Speaker 2: Bailey Over, Ryan, Jeffers, Pablo Lopez, this group of guys
15:01
Speaker 2: that survived that trade deadline and had to endure it
15:04
Speaker 2: and saw all their teammates traded, what they are enjoying it.
15:07
Speaker 2: They are taking the time to sort of smell the
15:09
Speaker 2: roses and enjoy the conversations. Bailey Over was watching that
15:13
Speaker 2: intently because they've banded together as a group because they
15:16
Speaker 2: want to teach this core the right way they want
15:20
Speaker 2: to be like, and so even they're enjoying it, they're
15:23
Speaker 2: making sure to smell the roses along the way, just knowing,
15:27
Speaker 2: because how do you not think it's part of the reality.
15:32
Speaker 1: I thought for a second the police were coming there
15:33
Speaker 1: to take you away for that take of yours, But
15:36
Speaker 1: it sounds like the sirens have gone away, So that's good.
15:40
Speaker 1: We'll move on from mister Ryan to probably the bigger
15:45
Speaker 1: or the reason the Twins didn't pull out that first
15:47
Speaker 1: game just they could not get a hit when it mattered,
15:49
Speaker 1: one for twelve with runners in scoring position. From what
15:53
Speaker 1: I was able to watch on our flight out here,
15:55
Speaker 1: I saw more than one bases loaded in and nothing
16:00
Speaker 1: and uh dan uh we saw it coming, I guess,
16:04
Speaker 1: but certainly a frustrating start for the for the lineup.
16:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, this is going to be a team
16:11
Speaker 2: I think that struggles against left handed pitching. Not that
16:15
Speaker 2: they're going you don't see a ton of that during
16:17
Speaker 2: the season as far as starters, you know, it's a
16:19
Speaker 2: small portion of the schedule, but the fact that their
16:24
Speaker 2: backup catcher was the start in first baseman to get
16:26
Speaker 2: another right handed bat in the lineup, it speaks kind
16:29
Speaker 2: of volumes to what this team is having to do
16:33
Speaker 2: to get ready for lefties. And you know when you
16:39
Speaker 2: I thought the bats early were good and then when
16:42
Speaker 2: Trevor Rodgers buckled down And remember, and I think sometimes
16:46
Speaker 2: fans forget that's their best guy too. You know, you're
16:49
Speaker 2: going up against their best guy. And Trevor Rodgers last
16:52
Speaker 2: year had a one eighty one and one hundred and
16:54
Speaker 2: three innings and was really good. You know, generated a
16:58
Speaker 2: lot of buzz, and he really turned it on when
17:02
Speaker 2: he got guys on and I think he allowed seven
17:04
Speaker 2: base runners in his seven innings. I think it was
17:07
Speaker 2: three hits, four walks acount, something like that. But when
17:11
Speaker 2: he got to first and second, he started using his
17:15
Speaker 2: off speed and he got a lot of swings and misses.
17:18
Speaker 2: He got a lot of double plays. That was a
17:19
Speaker 2: frustrating part of it. And I think the worst one,
17:23
Speaker 2: the biggest gift of the day was the dropped fly
17:27
Speaker 2: ball in right field that Luke Keishall reaches on two
17:29
Speaker 2: base air and Lukeishall didn't advance from second base after that.
17:33
Speaker 2: And that's in the middle of the order. You know,
17:35
Speaker 2: Lukey Shall hit third. Yesterday, the lineup against Driver Rodgers
17:40
Speaker 2: was Martin leading off. I think we'll see a little
17:42
Speaker 2: bit of that Byron Bucks and hitting second. Luke he
17:44
Speaker 2: Shall hitting third, and so you're at the fourth, fifth,
17:47
Speaker 2: sixth spots and they didn't advance him. And I went
17:50
Speaker 2: out after the game and met some friends Twins fans,
17:54
Speaker 2: and they said, you know, if you're against a guy
17:57
Speaker 2: like that, you got to think about manufacturing. Okay, Look,
18:01
Speaker 2: I understand the I understand that idea for sure, and
18:05
Speaker 2: I think if the Twins are going to struggle and
18:07
Speaker 2: play a lot of tight games, eventually they may have
18:09
Speaker 2: to resort resort to manufacturing. I mean they've already talked
18:12
Speaker 2: about wanting to run the bass hard and take extra
18:16
Speaker 2: ninety feet and you know, we saw Austin Martin Steele
18:19
Speaker 2: base after his single. I think it was the first
18:21
Speaker 2: pitch yesterday after a single. That could be something the
18:25
Speaker 2: Twins have to get to, for sure. But asking any
18:28
Speaker 2: of your four five six hitters the middle of your
18:30
Speaker 2: order guys to lay down a bun on opening day, like,
18:35
Speaker 2: it's just I would it be a great tone setter. Yeah,
18:39
Speaker 2: that would be a great tone setter. But also I
18:41
Speaker 2: don't know that you can really do that. And I
18:43
Speaker 2: think it was tough because they just did nothing with
18:47
Speaker 2: runners and scoring position every chance they got, whether it
18:50
Speaker 2: was the three double plays and it's it just fed
18:54
Speaker 2: into everything that I think fans are worried about with
18:57
Speaker 2: this team and the same old we can't score. We
19:01
Speaker 2: have all these chances, and it certainly hurt them yesterday.
19:04
Speaker 2: I mean, you grabbed any momentum early on if you
19:06
Speaker 2: get an early run and we'd seen it the night
19:09
Speaker 2: before with the San Francisco and New York. The Giants
19:13
Speaker 2: had first in in first and third, didn't score. Yankees
19:16
Speaker 2: came back and got Logan Web for five runs. And
19:19
Speaker 2: it just had that feeling yesterday of a weird game,
19:21
Speaker 2: whereas like, even though Joe Ryan was so good, anything
19:24
Speaker 2: could go wrong at the drop of a hat, because
19:26
Speaker 2: the Twins had wasted so many opportunities. And you know,
19:32
Speaker 2: Joe did a good job sticking through that. He actually
19:35
Speaker 2: gave up that deep flyball. I think it was Blaize.
19:37
Speaker 2: Alexander hit a fly ball to the warning track at
19:39
Speaker 2: the end of the fifth inning, and that looked like
19:41
Speaker 2: that play where it was like, oh man, it's gonna
19:43
Speaker 2: be two nothing in a heartbeat here. But the problem
19:47
Speaker 2: is when your offense does that, you just definitely leave
19:51
Speaker 2: yourself in a spot where you're vulnerable. And your bullpen
19:56
Speaker 2: is not built for tight games. Not right now, at
19:58
Speaker 2: least they need to figure out the roles, they need
20:01
Speaker 2: to figure out who their trusted guys are, and and
20:04
Speaker 2: so you kind of had a feeling how that game
20:07
Speaker 2: was going to end. And you know, the even the
20:11
Speaker 2: one hit with runners in scoring position was Louke Keishall
20:14
Speaker 2: on the infield and there was a runner and second
20:15
Speaker 2: that runner couldn't even advance because it was infield hits
20:18
Speaker 2: short stop. So it was like it just all the
20:22
Speaker 2: fears were worried. And again, Trevor Rodgers absolutely dialed it
20:27
Speaker 2: up when he got into those situations, and he is
20:30
Speaker 2: a very good pitcher. But there's certainly some disappointment if
20:34
Speaker 2: you're the team, if you're that group, because you had
20:37
Speaker 2: your chances to support Joe Ryan and you couldn't get
20:40
Speaker 2: it done. Yeah, it was I'm glad that Buckson got
20:45
Speaker 2: to triple and Keishall, like, I think that's the two
20:49
Speaker 2: right there that are going to be the make or
20:51
Speaker 2: break in this offense all season long. They're they're the
20:54
Speaker 2: they're the igniters, they're the the fire starters. Kind of
20:57
Speaker 2: like there, those are the guys and they that was
21:00
Speaker 2: a nice combination to see them get on the board
21:02
Speaker 2: and make it a game so that the Twins could
21:05
Speaker 2: threaten to, you know, at least get back in it
21:08
Speaker 2: in the ninth. But you know what, from your perspective,
21:13
Speaker 2: you know, what's it like watching that go on and on?
21:18
Speaker 1: It just looks very familiar. And I think it illustrates
21:21
Speaker 1: everything we talked about in the first show that.
21:24
Speaker 2: The margin for error is just not there. It's you know,
21:27
Speaker 2: the season of it.
21:28
Speaker 1: If everything goes right. Well, a lot of things did
21:31
Speaker 1: go right. Joe Ryan had a great start. They're getting
21:34
Speaker 1: base runners, but it's just it's not a team, it
21:37
Speaker 1: seems that can overcome one for twelve runners in scoring
21:42
Speaker 1: position and three double plays and missing those opportunities for sure,
21:46
Speaker 1: and if they had and even one instance, they might
21:50
Speaker 1: have pulled that one out.
21:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's go with the caveat that it is
21:54
Speaker 2: opening day and it's a different day, right that there's
21:58
Speaker 2: a lot of adrenaline the guys have. You're playing in
22:01
Speaker 2: Florida in front of seven thousand people. Uh, there's not
22:05
Speaker 2: except for the guy on top of the dugout at
22:08
Speaker 2: the home games yelling into the microphone like this. There's
22:13
Speaker 2: not a lot of noise and energy in spring training.
22:18
Speaker 2: And so you're forty two thousand people. There's a lot
22:22
Speaker 2: of different You have to learn to play with that
22:25
Speaker 2: again and learn how to silence that crowd and just
22:29
Speaker 2: focus on what you have to do. So there are
22:32
Speaker 2: certain things you can throw out the window and they
22:34
Speaker 2: are going to get balls to go through, and what
22:38
Speaker 2: would so kind of I don't know, ironic, is that
22:44
Speaker 2: the Twins had all those chances and couldn't get done.
22:47
Speaker 2: The Orioles basically got those see nice singles to jumpstart
22:53
Speaker 2: their whole rally, and their their only rally of the
22:55
Speaker 2: day was on the kind of balls the Twins desperately needed,
22:59
Speaker 2: just something to get through. Because the Twins hit some
23:01
Speaker 2: pretty hard balls yesterday and they found a lot of gloves.
23:05
Speaker 2: There was some talk about that after the game, was like,
23:07
Speaker 2: you know, we weren't far off, and so I think
23:10
Speaker 2: they're encouraged and that was our but on the execution level,
23:14
Speaker 2: it's clearly discouraging. So you know, first one gotta trash
23:20
Speaker 2: it and they got a day off to you know,
23:24
Speaker 2: just get ready for tomorrow.
23:27
Speaker 1: I think we can have a standing caveat that. You know,
23:29
Speaker 1: it's just one game, but we are here to obsess
23:33
Speaker 1: over pretty much every game on this podcast. So and
23:36
Speaker 1: also like when it goes almost exactly according to the
23:40
Speaker 1: way it was sort of predicted that the entire season
23:43
Speaker 1: would go, I think it stands out a little bit more.
23:45
Speaker 1: But yes, it is one game. We'll see what Saturday,
23:47
Speaker 1: Sunday and beyond, bring one more thing we should talk
23:50
Speaker 1: about Dan from that game. Royce Lewis bat at eight
23:56
Speaker 1: breach base once but then was pinch hit for in
23:58
Speaker 1: the ninth inning in a one run game.
24:01
Speaker 2: Just curious what you.
24:02
Speaker 1: Heard about that and your take on his debut.
24:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's one of those moments every Bay raises
24:10
Speaker 2: their eyes, right because this is the guy that was
24:12
Speaker 2: the playoff hero and hit ten home runs in June
24:15
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four and it looks like he can be
24:17
Speaker 2: a star. And here we are an opening day him game,
24:20
Speaker 2: pinch hit in the ninth inning with the runner on base,
24:22
Speaker 2: and first, let me just the last time we're here
24:27
Speaker 2: for opening Day twenty eighteen, my first season on Twins
24:29
Speaker 2: steet eerily similar situation actually happened. Derek Shelton was in
24:34
Speaker 2: the bench for that on Paul Malder's staff on the
24:38
Speaker 2: bench for that Paul water stuff Byron Buckston got pinch
24:41
Speaker 2: hit four in the ninth inning of Opening Day twenty eighteen.
24:45
Speaker 2: I remembered it like my just kicked in Robbie Grossman
24:49
Speaker 2: pinch hit for and Paul Malterer brought in Robbie Grossman
24:52
Speaker 2: in a key spot. Robbie Grossman parachuted in a two
24:55
Speaker 2: run game time signal with the pinch hit. I don't
24:58
Speaker 2: know if Derek Shelton was trying to bring the back
25:00
Speaker 2: the Twins lost in eleven that day by the way
25:02
Speaker 2: three two, But I don't know if if that was
25:05
Speaker 2: Derek Shelton having a recall but very similar situation to
25:11
Speaker 2: you know, your your hopeful young star and pin chating
25:14
Speaker 2: for him. But Shelton, this is going to be key
25:16
Speaker 2: because Royce Lewis is a is a vibes guy and
25:20
Speaker 2: communication is going to be key. But Shelton basically said,
25:23
Speaker 2: up for the game, you can't take it personal, like
25:25
Speaker 2: this is something We're gonna do this at times. It
25:27
Speaker 2: doesn't matter who it is. Their closer Healsley throws a
25:30
Speaker 2: one o two. It's a tough matchup. We are already lefty.
25:34
Speaker 2: We're gonna do this with guys. And so now I
25:38
Speaker 2: think the key is and I guarantee you because Derek
25:39
Speaker 2: Shelton really wanted to talk about communication and how important
25:44
Speaker 2: it is and make it a key something he learned
25:47
Speaker 2: since his time in Pittsburgh. I guarantee there was conversation
25:51
Speaker 2: with Royce yesterday. There'll probably be a conversation with Royce
25:54
Speaker 2: tomorrow again at the ballpark, just to make sure that
25:57
Speaker 2: the message is hurt and like, it's not personal. This
26:01
Speaker 2: was just something that was going to happen. It happened
26:05
Speaker 2: to be him at the time, could have been brooks
26:08
Speaker 2: Lee a batter later, that kind of thing. And you know,
26:11
Speaker 2: getting that message across will be important because Royce Lewis,
26:16
Speaker 2: they desperately are gonna need I know about at eighth yesterday.
26:18
Speaker 2: They're gonna need him to be a big player for
26:20
Speaker 2: this team if they want to be successful. And they
26:23
Speaker 2: know that, so for sure it raised eyes. And then
26:28
Speaker 2: Derek Shelton said, look, it's just it's don't take it personal,
26:32
Speaker 2: like this is just gonna happen. So we'll see, it's
26:37
Speaker 2: just one gamezac It's.
26:38
Speaker 1: Just we need a counter on how many times we
26:41
Speaker 1: use that phrase over the course of this season.
26:43
Speaker 2: I'm gonna trying to just remove it from my I
26:46
Speaker 2: like calling there We'll see, all.
26:49
Speaker 1: Right, So Royce Lewis pinch it for in a clutch moment.
26:54
Speaker 1: Line up one for twelve with runners in scoring position,
26:56
Speaker 1: three double plays, bullpen gave up two runs.
27:02
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan great.
27:03
Speaker 1: But Dan Hayes thinks you should start saying you're goodbyes
27:06
Speaker 1: to him right now, just to be safe. All that said,
27:10
Speaker 1: I think we should end on Maybe this will be
27:12
Speaker 1: a recurring segment, something to feel better about, or something
27:16
Speaker 1: to make you feel good. It will workshop what to
27:18
Speaker 1: call it exactly, but at least it wasn't the worst
27:21
Speaker 1: loss in the Al Central. Yesterday the White Sox struck
27:24
Speaker 1: out twenty times in a fourteen to two loss to
27:27
Speaker 1: the Brewers. So it could be worse.
27:29
Speaker 2: It could be worse. That might bet you know what,
27:31
Speaker 2: let's call the segment. It could be worse. I think
27:34
Speaker 2: that could be. Okay, the Twins go with Hunt for
27:37
Speaker 2: the Good. The Twins are doing Hunt for the Good.
27:40
Speaker 2: Let's go with it could be worse. I think that's
27:43
Speaker 2: our counter to that.
27:44
Speaker 1: So all right, Well, as Dan mentioned, Twins are off Friday, Saturday,
27:50
Speaker 1: and Sunday. They finish up the series in Baltimore, then
27:52
Speaker 1: off to Kansas City.
27:54
Speaker 2: That I get that right, Yeah, yes, And they have
27:56
Speaker 2: a weird schedule there. Monday Day off, Twoesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so,
28:03
Speaker 2: and then the home opener next Friday, which.
28:06
Speaker 1: As of now will be my son's first Twins a game,
28:09
Speaker 1: assuming he still wants to go next Friday, we'll see.
28:12
Speaker 1: Thank you TC Bear or whoever you were at the
28:14
Speaker 1: airport for for the sicconds, but we'll be back with you,
28:18
Speaker 1: uh sometime soon next week. And we should also very
28:22
Speaker 1: soon have the debut of Tyler Duffy joining us on
28:26
Speaker 1: this podcast, so we'll try to get that that fired
28:28
Speaker 1: up soon. But uh, that's it for today. Twins are
28:32
Speaker 1: own one, back at it on Saturday, and we will
28:34
Speaker 1: be back with you next week on Twin City's Territory.
28:38
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, and for Dan Hayes,
28:41
Speaker 1: I'm Zach Pierce.
28:42
Speaker 2: We'll see you real quick if you if you like
28:44
Speaker 2: like what you're hearing, hit that subscribe button definitely. Well yeah,
28:48
Speaker 2: good shout out.
28:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I gotta get I gotta get used to this
28:52
Speaker 1: whole process.
28:53
Speaker 2: I'll get there. It's weird. Yeah all right, thanks everybody.
28:57
Speaker 1: We'll again next time.
29:03
Speaker 2: Very many. Ustadt