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A rough weekend in Chicago and a big four games ahead in Cleveland · Twin Cities Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: A rough weekend at Wrigley Field for the Twins as
0:03
Speaker 1: they drop the last two of the three game series
0:06
Speaker 1: against the Cubs to start off the second half of
0:10
Speaker 1: the season. Byron Buxton is getting closer to coming back,
0:13
Speaker 1: but also some bad news on the pitching front, David
0:15
Speaker 1: Festa and Mick Abel and their injuries. All that and
0:19
Speaker 1: more today on the latest episode of Twins Cities Territory
0:22
Speaker 1: or Minnesota Twins podcast here on the Foul Territory Network.
0:26
Speaker 1: I'm Zach Pearce of the Athletic, joined as always by
0:28
Speaker 1: Dan Hayes, the Athletics, Minnesota Twins beat writer, and Tyler Duffy,
0:32
Speaker 1: longtime Major leaguer in former Minnesota Twin. Dan, I got
0:36
Speaker 1: I got a little I got a little excited on
0:38
Speaker 1: Friday night that that game was so great to start
0:41
Speaker 1: off the second half. It looked like after we'd been
0:43
Speaker 1: sitting here all week with the Twins in wild card position,
0:46
Speaker 1: thinking about the possibilities, they come out and play that
0:49
Speaker 1: great game, but then Saturday and Sunday not so good.
0:55
Speaker 2: You know what a.
0:55
Speaker 3: Toilet sounds like when it flushes, That's kind of what
0:59
Speaker 3: it's the legs. Saturday and Sunday or I don't know,
1:03
Speaker 3: that was just horse crap. That was not good baseball
1:07
Speaker 3: either day. You know, on Saturday, couldn't hit just I mean,
1:12
Speaker 3: didn't hit on Sunday either, but at least they hit
1:14
Speaker 3: some balls hard on Sunday. And it's just like every
1:17
Speaker 3: ball that they hit hard on Sunday, final glove. But
1:20
Speaker 3: Saturday just nothing going. Taj Bradley was as off as
1:26
Speaker 3: we've seen him in a while. Back to the Detroit
1:29
Speaker 3: start in June. That took them out of it. And
1:33
Speaker 3: then you know, they get to the ninth inning and
1:35
Speaker 3: they almost load the bases and then have a horrendous
1:39
Speaker 3: base running error. You know, instead of having bases loaded,
1:43
Speaker 3: nobody else, Caroteni runs too far, brooks Lee's running with
1:48
Speaker 3: his head down through first base too far. Josh Bell
1:50
Speaker 3: decides to give himself up, but oh yeah, brooks Lee
1:53
Speaker 3: was leaning too far. What should have been a single
1:56
Speaker 3: to load the bases turns into double play. So calamity
1:59
Speaker 3: of errors in that game. And then Sunday was wow
2:03
Speaker 3: Zebbi Matthews left two sliders up in the first two
2:05
Speaker 3: innings and gives up three runs off that, and then
2:08
Speaker 3: Luke Kishall misplays that ball to center field and what
2:12
Speaker 3: should have been a basis loaded single turned into a
2:14
Speaker 3: basis loaded triple and it's six nothing and before you
2:18
Speaker 3: know what, that game is over. So not pretty, especially
2:21
Speaker 3: given how nice of a game Friday was.
2:24
Speaker 2: Friday was fantastic.
2:25
Speaker 3: They came out, they had some clutch hitting. Ryan Kriyler
2:29
Speaker 3: came through with that pinch hit single to extend the lead.
2:32
Speaker 3: The bullpen held up even despite some tense moments. Ryan
2:36
Speaker 3: Jeffers hid a three run homer. Was a nice series,
2:39
Speaker 3: a nice victory to start the second half of the
2:41
Speaker 3: Twins or the post All Star breaking. They just weren't
2:44
Speaker 3: able to follow it up at all. Here's the good part.
2:47
Speaker 3: They're going to Cleveland. They have four at Cleveland, and
2:51
Speaker 3: you have Joe, Ryan Bailey over and TODs Bradley pitching
2:53
Speaker 3: in three of those four games. If you come out
2:55
Speaker 3: of this with a split, and you go three and
2:57
Speaker 3: four on that kind of meat grinder of a road
2:59
Speaker 3: trip to start the post All Star break, you're feeling
3:02
Speaker 3: good because you go home and yeah, you're two under
3:04
Speaker 3: five hundred, and you were at one point five hundred
3:07
Speaker 3: and that's that's unfortunate. But you're two hundred five hundred
3:10
Speaker 3: with the Athletics and Kansas City coming to town, and
3:14
Speaker 3: those are the kind of teams you should get healthy against.
3:16
Speaker 2: We saw the Twins struggle with Kansas City earlier this year.
3:19
Speaker 3: But you know, go to Cleveland, flush it, like, like
3:22
Speaker 3: Derek Shelton said yesterday, move on and get the get
3:26
Speaker 3: the job done in Cleveland, because you know you want
3:28
Speaker 3: to forget about Saturday and Sunday as fast as possible.
3:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tyler, it's it's not surprising to lose two to
3:35
Speaker 1: three to a good Cubs team, deflating perhaps how it happened,
3:39
Speaker 1: and it did feel like Saturday and Sunday were sort
3:42
Speaker 1: of a reminder of what what goes when when things
3:45
Speaker 1: go wrong with this team, how bad it can look exactly.
3:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, the the base running, blunder, the air here there,
3:53
Speaker 4: it's stuff that it feels like it gets magnified every
3:56
Speaker 4: series where they show up. You know it's against a
4:00
Speaker 4: team like the Cubs, it's one of those you know,
4:02
Speaker 4: there's blood in the water and they kind of they
4:04
Speaker 4: heighten their senses a little bit. You can't give especially
4:09
Speaker 4: these teams that are in the mix for a real
4:11
Speaker 4: playoff spot at this point. You know, within their divisions
4:14
Speaker 4: and things like that. You can't give that extra inch
4:17
Speaker 4: because it just it becomes a merry go round on
4:20
Speaker 4: the field.
4:20
Speaker 5: And it happened.
4:21
Speaker 4: I mean, that was a quick you know, seven runs
4:24
Speaker 4: between two innings and the game's over by the fourth,
4:28
Speaker 4: you know, And that's the Twins brand of baseball this year, Like, yeah,
4:31
Speaker 4: they're gonna score late, they're gonna put together some good
4:34
Speaker 4: at bats and make you work. But they've consistently scored
4:39
Speaker 4: enough runs. They're not gonna blow anybody out by any
4:41
Speaker 4: means that there. That's not their mo They're not going
4:43
Speaker 4: to come out and score ten or score nine and
4:46
Speaker 4: have this slug fest. It's they're going to win six
4:48
Speaker 4: to four or four to three or whatever it is.
4:51
Speaker 4: And so when they have those missteps and miscues that
4:54
Speaker 4: cost them some big innings, especially on the on the
4:57
Speaker 4: hitting side, you know, you got you go from basis
4:59
Speaker 4: load having no outs been made to two outs in
5:02
Speaker 4: a runner on second base. It was like, as as
5:05
Speaker 4: it was happening to watching, its like how did we
5:07
Speaker 4: even get in that situation? But you know, like Chelsey
5:11
Speaker 4: mentioned and Dan said, there, it's just you gotta flush it.
5:14
Speaker 4: You know, you came out hot and played well on Friday,
5:17
Speaker 4: just had two bad games and it just happened to be.
5:19
Speaker 4: You know, like we talked about before the series, the
5:22
Speaker 4: Cubs had a lot of festivities going on.
5:24
Speaker 5: There's they had.
5:25
Speaker 4: All the momentum in the world to rely on, so
5:28
Speaker 4: they they used Yeah, I mean, like the Twins weren't.
5:33
Speaker 5: Gonna win this series. It was just not the way
5:35
Speaker 5: it's gonna go.
5:36
Speaker 4: You know, the baseball gods, as they say, were on
5:38
Speaker 4: their side.
5:40
Speaker 3: There's there's even more to add to that. You want
5:42
Speaker 3: to know why baseball layer it? Wait, check this out
5:46
Speaker 3: there I buried. Yeah ahead, No, no, we'll do that.
5:50
Speaker 2: In a second.
5:51
Speaker 3: We'll talk about anthey, Risio. Second, you know how much
5:53
Speaker 3: the gods were against them. Yesterday on Sunday, the the
5:57
Speaker 3: team hotel, two of the four elevators were out, so
6:02
Speaker 3: guys had to wait at the elevator to check out
6:04
Speaker 3: because the whole world was checking out at the same time.
6:07
Speaker 3: So like the bus left like forty minutes late because
6:10
Speaker 3: guys had to wait, Like elevator would come and it
6:13
Speaker 3: was full with dudes with their luggage or or families
6:16
Speaker 3: with their luggage, and you know, you're on you're you're
6:18
Speaker 3: up on like a high floor, so you're not walking
6:21
Speaker 3: twenty five floors with your luggage. So they got to
6:24
Speaker 3: a delayed start getting to the ballpark in the first place.
6:27
Speaker 3: But no, Anthony Rizzo did not catch that ball. I
6:30
Speaker 3: love Nanty Rizzo. I covered him as a rookie. I
6:33
Speaker 3: was there for the first version of Rizzomania in San Diego.
6:36
Speaker 3: I got to Chicago and Rissomania was happening again.
6:39
Speaker 2: I've got a long history. He did not catch that ball.
6:42
Speaker 3: Nick Fodell, yes Athletic Twins for our Athletic Warriors.
6:46
Speaker 2: Rider was sitting behind him currently the ball. Crazy hand
6:50
Speaker 2: in the ball. But it looked great.
6:53
Speaker 5: It did look for TV.
6:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. I missed Sunday's game because I was at Mowana
7:02
Speaker 1: with the family.
7:02
Speaker 2: Turned out.
7:03
Speaker 1: It turns out also missed the World Cup Final, which
7:06
Speaker 1: seemed boring as heck.
7:08
Speaker 5: Two they played for four hours. So it's great.
7:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, But I would like to debut a new
7:15
Speaker 1: segment here called that didn't age well. As I mentioned,
7:21
Speaker 1: a Friday Night's game was just it was just a
7:23
Speaker 1: It was a fun game. It seemed like everybody was
7:26
Speaker 1: playing sharp luke keishall making sliding catches in center field,
7:30
Speaker 1: a great slide into third base at one point during
7:32
Speaker 1: that game. Just it was a feel good victory. And
7:37
Speaker 1: as it wrapped up, I tweeted, something's brewing with this
7:41
Speaker 1: m N Twins team. And since that tweet they've been
7:44
Speaker 1: outscored sixteen to three, sixteen to one if you don't
7:48
Speaker 1: count Cody Clemens. Was it a sack fly? Was that
7:52
Speaker 1: the only run they got on Sunday? From Royce Lewis?
7:54
Speaker 2: I believe, Yeah.
7:56
Speaker 1: So you know it's there's it's still early, there's still time.
8:00
Speaker 2: But no, you know what, zac you were correct, something
8:03
Speaker 2: was brilliant. It was cyclospora.
8:05
Speaker 3: That's probably that was the on field version of cyclospora.
8:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
8:12
Speaker 1: You know, as I was sending it, I said to myself,
8:15
Speaker 1: don't do it, like, don't jinx it, don't put it
8:17
Speaker 1: out there. It's too it's too soon. It's too soon.
8:19
Speaker 1: It's just one game. But what can you do if
8:25
Speaker 1: you like all of Dan's bathroom talk, There's been a
8:28
Speaker 1: lot of it already on this show. Eight and a
8:32
Speaker 1: half minutes in, we've already had I think two segments
8:36
Speaker 1: on various issues. But anyway, we're on our way to
8:39
Speaker 1: five hundred subscribers. We'd love it if you join us.
8:42
Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, there's a QR code on
8:44
Speaker 1: the screen to make it super easy. However you listen
8:47
Speaker 1: or watch, we would love to have you following along.
8:51
Speaker 1: Also foul Territory head store where we still merch there.
8:56
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Speaker 1: the All Star collection available right now on Territory shop
9:02
Speaker 1: dot com Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, every other All Star
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Speaker 1: is featured in the collection. You can scan another QR
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Speaker 1: code there on the screen to get a little bit
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9:20
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10:26
Speaker 1: Was a newsy weekend as well for the Twins. Dan
10:30
Speaker 1: will start with Byron Buxton, who is making some progress
10:33
Speaker 1: and getting back on the field.
10:34
Speaker 3: It seems like, yeah, I will say, I think he
10:39
Speaker 3: comes back today in Cleveland, and you know, we'll see
10:43
Speaker 3: in our later segment if I'm risky enough to stake
10:47
Speaker 3: my claim on that. But look, barn Buckson had increasing
10:50
Speaker 3: baseball activities over the three days in Chicago. The first
10:54
Speaker 3: day we saw him ring, he felt good enough on
10:56
Speaker 3: Saturday to get go in and add some defensive drills
10:59
Speaker 3: in some hitting and you know, so they were very
11:03
Speaker 3: optimistic that he'd at least be in Cleveland. So I
11:06
Speaker 3: will say I think he plays in Cleveland for sure,
11:08
Speaker 3: but it's looking like there's a good chance he could
11:10
Speaker 3: return Monday.
11:11
Speaker 2: That'd be a nice boost for this team just coming
11:13
Speaker 2: back because he does bring some energy.
11:15
Speaker 3: And you know, this is something where it's now fifteen
11:18
Speaker 3: days of rest, even though he's worked the last three days.
11:22
Speaker 2: So they really took their chance right here. And if
11:26
Speaker 2: they get him back.
11:26
Speaker 3: That's nine games missed but fifteen days down, which that's
11:30
Speaker 3: a good ratio if you're the Twins. The team is
11:34
Speaker 3: I believe, twelve and thirteen when he doesn't play this season.
11:37
Speaker 3: So you know, I think getting him back for four
11:39
Speaker 3: in Cleveland would be a nice boost. But we'll see
11:42
Speaker 3: how that goes again. Derek Shelton yesterday was optimistic. Buck
11:46
Speaker 3: thought he felt good when we talked to him Friday.
11:48
Speaker 3: He seemed like he was in good spirits on Saturday
11:50
Speaker 3: and Sunday in the clubhouse. So I think that's that's
11:54
Speaker 3: where he is. And again we'll find out, you know,
11:56
Speaker 3: in a couple hours.
11:58
Speaker 1: Tyler even I didn't know that stat twelve and thirteen
12:02
Speaker 1: without him, which is basically the same as.
12:04
Speaker 2: They are with him.
12:05
Speaker 1: But right, regardless of what that statistics says, I have
12:09
Speaker 1: to imagine having a guy like that on the field
12:11
Speaker 1: makes a big difference for how you feel.
12:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, and looking at the series, like the Cleveland series
12:17
Speaker 4: is the one we've talked about so many. We haven't
12:19
Speaker 4: really played the White Sox that much, but like your
12:21
Speaker 4: Indivision series, at the end of the day, are the
12:23
Speaker 4: ones you need to win. And so even if the
12:27
Speaker 4: threat of him coming off the bench is there, it
12:30
Speaker 4: changes the way a team approaches a game, you know
12:32
Speaker 4: it the matchup whenever it may be, you know, say denied,
12:35
Speaker 4: they bring him in late, you know, to get him
12:38
Speaker 4: on the field, whatever it may be. Who knows if
12:39
Speaker 4: he'll start, but it's he is a you know, the
12:44
Speaker 4: Uno reverse or the draw four card, Like he's that hammer.
12:47
Speaker 4: You're just like, no, what, never mind, Byron's going to
12:50
Speaker 4: come in and he can just do special things. And
12:52
Speaker 4: like Perk was kind of talked about it yesterday on
12:55
Speaker 4: the broadcast, it's just he brings an energy without having
12:59
Speaker 4: to like be loud and boisterous and like doing all
13:02
Speaker 4: the antics. Like he just does things that get people
13:05
Speaker 4: fired up, and he brings that every day. I think
13:08
Speaker 4: it's because we know how hard he works and you
13:11
Speaker 4: know how just unique he is. Like we've been so
13:15
Speaker 4: fortunate as an organization to have him since twenty twelve,
13:19
Speaker 4: and it's like every time he comes up, you've got
13:21
Speaker 4: to make sure to watch because he could hit up
13:23
Speaker 4: all the left and have a triple. You know, you
13:25
Speaker 4: can ground out to short and beat it, beat the
13:27
Speaker 4: throw by three steps.
13:29
Speaker 7: You know.
13:29
Speaker 4: It just he does incredible things on the field and
13:31
Speaker 4: it sparks the whole lineup and it gets the whole
13:33
Speaker 4: dugout riled up.
13:35
Speaker 5: You know, it's something special.
13:36
Speaker 4: And you know, four games in Cleveland, like if he
13:40
Speaker 4: can make a something significant happen in even two of
13:43
Speaker 4: those games, like that's all you can ask for, and
13:45
Speaker 4: that's all you could ever want out of him.
13:47
Speaker 5: And you know, he just elevates everybody around him. And
13:50
Speaker 5: that's the biggest thing.
13:50
Speaker 4: When he's in that lineup, the whole the whole face
13:53
Speaker 4: changes of that team.
13:56
Speaker 1: As much as I have in minded the Luke Kishel
13:58
Speaker 1: center field experience, at least on Friday.
14:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, said I said before, it's like we can't turn
14:04
Speaker 5: on him when it goes bad. This is when nobody.
14:09
Speaker 1: Forcing him out of position to such a demanding spot. Yeah,
14:13
Speaker 1: So we'll see if Buxton comes back tonight, and we'll
14:16
Speaker 1: also see if Dan has the guts to pick him
14:18
Speaker 1: uh in the Daily Dinger segment of the show later on.
14:22
Speaker 1: But some not so great news also from the weekend Dan,
14:25
Speaker 1: it looks like Mick Abel and David Festa, two Twins pitchers,
14:29
Speaker 1: are likely not coming back this season.
14:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:33
Speaker 3: Look, I would have put those on the long shot
14:35
Speaker 3: side that they would have had a real impact on
14:37
Speaker 3: the season. Mickabel, I think there was this hope maybe
14:40
Speaker 3: he could come off at two months and start playing
14:42
Speaker 3: catch at that point, which would be September one. But
14:44
Speaker 3: remember he had arthroscopic surgery on July one, and where
14:49
Speaker 3: Darik Skuble came back and is thrown great that you know,
14:53
Speaker 3: there were some really good factors in his favor on
14:55
Speaker 3: that Mickey Abel had the bone shape. Now there's no
14:58
Speaker 3: saying that on September one he couldn't be cleared for
15:01
Speaker 3: action right then and there, but that's the earliest that
15:05
Speaker 3: they will check on him. As September one, and like,
15:08
Speaker 3: even if if he got cleared that day, you're starting
15:10
Speaker 3: from scratch if you use him as a reliever. We're
15:13
Speaker 3: talking four weeks, so he'd be playoffs only. Would you
15:17
Speaker 3: really want to risk mick Abel as a reliever, I
15:20
Speaker 3: mean maybe maybe if they needed him and they were
15:22
Speaker 3: looking for a pick me up in October, they'd consider that.
15:25
Speaker 3: David Festa, you know, has been They had him in
15:29
Speaker 3: a three week build up and trying to get him
15:31
Speaker 3: just to the mound. They had to slow him down.
15:34
Speaker 3: He's still playing throwing intermittently, but there's a chance that
15:38
Speaker 3: his symptoms of durastic outlet syndrome are back. He's going
15:43
Speaker 3: for a new opinion, I believe on Tuesday or Wednesday
15:47
Speaker 3: this week.
15:47
Speaker 2: So that would definitely put him in the spot where
15:50
Speaker 2: he is done.
15:51
Speaker 3: It's not in a like he's just had a very
15:54
Speaker 3: challenging I don't know now thirteen months, twelve months where
15:59
Speaker 3: he had drastic lack year he got an injection, the
16:01
Speaker 3: stem cell injection. I think you know he got a
16:04
Speaker 3: stem cell injection recently and he probably is getting another
16:07
Speaker 3: one soon. It sounds like it's that sounds like it's
16:10
Speaker 3: on the table, but it's just kind of staying in place.
16:14
Speaker 3: He was getting there and when they got him, they
16:17
Speaker 3: kept ramping up. He just wasn't capable of doing what
16:21
Speaker 3: he needs to do. So it sounds like he is
16:24
Speaker 3: going to be done for sure.
16:26
Speaker 2: It's a blow because if either of these guys could
16:28
Speaker 2: have come.
16:29
Speaker 3: Back, they're live arms that could help you, But again
16:31
Speaker 3: I would have put them on the long shot side
16:33
Speaker 3: of really helping this team.
16:35
Speaker 2: Able wasn't going to start again this season, not go.
16:38
Speaker 3: You know, he's gonna be capable of like two innings Max,
16:41
Speaker 3: So losing the live arms and the hope certainly hurts.
16:45
Speaker 3: But I think this just kind of points to Twins
16:48
Speaker 3: even more in the direction of you're gonna need to
16:50
Speaker 3: go outside to get some pitching help to keep this
16:53
Speaker 3: team going.
16:54
Speaker 2: Because on O Prelip is coming back.
16:56
Speaker 3: He had three scoreless yesterday at Saint Paul with three strikeouts.
16:59
Speaker 3: Good sign with his blister, but you're gonna want to
17:02
Speaker 3: limit his innings at some point this year. So we've
17:05
Speaker 3: seen Zebbie Matthews struggling lately. You're gonna want some some
17:10
Speaker 3: rotation help, without question, And I think the Twins, you know,
17:14
Speaker 3: this just makes it more likely that if they want
17:16
Speaker 3: to compete, they're gonna have to go outside for some help.
17:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was gonna be my t up to you, Tyler.
17:23
Speaker 1: Part of the formula for the twins maybe finding a
17:26
Speaker 1: way here was hopefully getting healthy at pitching, which seems
17:30
Speaker 1: like it's not going to happen, at least not as
17:31
Speaker 1: fully as they would like. And so it just kind
17:33
Speaker 1: of increases the need to look elsewhere.
17:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it unfortunately opens the door on the other
17:39
Speaker 4: side too, Like if they can't get on track, you know,
17:43
Speaker 4: when do they start to move that other direction you were,
17:45
Speaker 4: I guess I'd say we're on the fence right now,
17:47
Speaker 4: about fifty to fifty.
17:49
Speaker 5: I don't know what the front office is actually thinking.
17:51
Speaker 4: You know, the old sand was never try to play
17:54
Speaker 4: GM because you're going to be wrong.
17:56
Speaker 5: But you know, it's it's fun. It's you know, pre
18:00
Speaker 5: lips the interesting one.
18:02
Speaker 4: Because if they're gonna have to be careful with them,
18:05
Speaker 4: you know, how much do you depend on him now
18:07
Speaker 4: or do you try to save him?
18:09
Speaker 5: You know?
18:10
Speaker 4: And like we've already talked about the going to get somebody,
18:13
Speaker 4: you know, I was looking at the numbers while Dan
18:16
Speaker 4: was talking and the Twins have. You know, they've given
18:18
Speaker 4: up their fair share runs, but they're about even as
18:21
Speaker 4: far as like run scored and runs allowed per game
18:24
Speaker 4: if you average it out, so it's like one little
18:26
Speaker 4: bump just on the pitching side to help that number
18:29
Speaker 4: come down would add to wins. You know, it's I
18:33
Speaker 4: keep saying, just just one. Doesn't even have to be
18:36
Speaker 4: the closer. It could be a seventh or eighth inning guy.
18:39
Speaker 4: You know, whoever it is, make a small move. It's
18:42
Speaker 4: not going to change the whole order. The guy could
18:44
Speaker 4: probably leave at the end of the season anyways, but
18:47
Speaker 4: just something to solidify you without having to make a
18:49
Speaker 4: huge move where you're moving, you know, prospects or or
18:54
Speaker 4: guys off of rosters or things like that, Like just
18:56
Speaker 4: simply aut a guy that maybe is under used with
18:59
Speaker 4: another team something like that. It'd be a low cost
19:03
Speaker 4: Dan said the other on low frequency move, but it
19:06
Speaker 4: would be a huge addition on the whole to that staff.
19:09
Speaker 4: You know, it's one The lineup is great, the vibes
19:13
Speaker 4: that we keep hearing how good they are. You don't
19:15
Speaker 4: really want to mess with that too much, honestly, And
19:18
Speaker 4: so I think it's just it's time, we're getting closer
19:21
Speaker 4: to time to jump on somebody that's available before nobody's available.
19:27
Speaker 2: Well, we shall see.
19:29
Speaker 1: It is a very consequential week, it feels like for
19:31
Speaker 1: the Twins, with these games in Cleveland coming up, which
19:35
Speaker 1: could go a long way to deciding where they stand
19:37
Speaker 1: in the division. We'll talk about that in just a
19:40
Speaker 1: little bit, but first it is time to talk about
19:43
Speaker 1: home runs.
19:49
Speaker 2: That's right.
19:51
Speaker 1: MLB season has begun. The second half should be an
19:54
Speaker 1: eventful one, and you can play daily dingers right now
19:58
Speaker 1: on FanDuel. Joining the action is easy. Just make your
20:00
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20:02
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20:05
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20:08
Speaker 1: It's just another reason why fan Duel is the home
20:10
Speaker 1: of home runs. Last week we had to do this
20:15
Speaker 1: on Home Run Derby Day. Props to me for picking
20:18
Speaker 1: Jordan Walker correctly to win the home run Derby, which
20:21
Speaker 1: you can't do. Thank you, thank you. Based entirely off
20:24
Speaker 1: a couple of games in Minnesota where I was like, dang, guys,
20:28
Speaker 1: just crushing this guy can hit.
20:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, and he's large human, a large human.
20:33
Speaker 1: Yes, that always helps. Today, the Twins are in Cleveland
20:36
Speaker 1: and facing Tanner Biby, who is a hard luck three
20:41
Speaker 1: and nine on the season with a three to nine
20:43
Speaker 1: oh era. He has allowed twenty homers, including one against
20:47
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Twins. Guess who Byron Buxton in a game
20:51
Speaker 1: back at Target Field on May ninth. It was the
20:53
Speaker 1: Twins only hit off byby in six innings pitch. Twins
20:56
Speaker 1: won that game two to one and eleven innings. So uh,
21:00
Speaker 1: Biby has for the most part been pretty solid. He's
21:03
Speaker 1: had a few bad games, including a couple outings ago
21:05
Speaker 1: against the White Sox got hit around for six runs
21:08
Speaker 1: and three homers, but went six and two thirds against
21:11
Speaker 1: Miami in his most recent start, allowing just one run.
21:16
Speaker 2: So who do we got?
21:18
Speaker 1: Let's start with Tyler this time?
21:22
Speaker 4: Well, Dan said, we're not sure if Buck's starting, so
21:25
Speaker 4: it's hard to hard to go with Firon. I still
21:29
Speaker 4: like I want larnick Man. Hopefully he's leading off tonight.
21:33
Speaker 4: I would imagine he would be against a riding maybe
21:36
Speaker 4: the little breeze going out to right field that progressive
21:38
Speaker 4: bald flies a little bit. Let's I want Trap to
21:41
Speaker 4: get hot because if he's hot, that means the twins
21:43
Speaker 4: are gonna win.
21:43
Speaker 1: So let's go with him, Dan, you can have a
21:49
Speaker 1: second pack.
21:50
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I like to run with scissors in
21:55
Speaker 3: my hands, cut the tags off my mattress.
22:00
Speaker 2: Uh, let's go with Byron.
22:02
Speaker 3: Byron's gonna be back tonight, I guess, And we're gonna
22:05
Speaker 3: see Byron Bucks and go deep for a second time
22:08
Speaker 3: off Tanner bybe.
22:10
Speaker 1: It's been a kind of a dry stretch for home
22:13
Speaker 1: runs because we had Jeffers, we had a couple from Codys.
22:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
22:19
Speaker 1: Uh, I'll go Cody Cody Clemens.
22:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:25
Speaker 1: So there we there, we have it, Larnic Bucks, Rogers.
22:28
Speaker 5: That's what we need, is the rock attendance.
22:30
Speaker 3: That's a great question. Sunday Night Baseball last night. So
22:34
Speaker 3: I don't know if he will be called that Yankee.
22:36
Speaker 5: Dodgers in the building.
22:39
Speaker 3: Hey, think about that booth last night. That was Roger Clemens,
22:42
Speaker 3: c C. Sabbathia, and Oral Hirschheiser in the Beast with
22:46
Speaker 3: Jason Bennetti. There was a pretty good collection of cy
22:49
Speaker 3: young winners and a.
22:51
Speaker 5: Few punch outs in that building. Yeah.
22:54
Speaker 1: By the way, Tyler, when I was watching the clip
22:57
Speaker 1: of you, uh throwing at your mean Mercede.
23:00
Speaker 2: Five years ago.
23:01
Speaker 1: It was the White Sox broadcast and it was Benetti
23:04
Speaker 1: on the call. He was he was not happy with
23:07
Speaker 1: you for what you did.
23:10
Speaker 5: Well, I love him, so it's clear. All right, he's
23:14
Speaker 5: one of my favorites. So good good, I'll take it.
23:16
Speaker 5: He was talking about me, so you know that's fun.
23:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, good publicity.
23:23
Speaker 5: That's right.
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23:59
Speaker 1: We've reached time of year where every series feels like
24:02
Speaker 1: the biggest series of the year for a team that's
24:04
Speaker 1: trying to prove that it can stay in contention. But
24:07
Speaker 1: this one really feels that way. It's a division rival,
24:10
Speaker 1: it's on the road, it's four games. A lot going
24:13
Speaker 1: on this Weekdan, We've already talked about it. It was
24:16
Speaker 1: unavoidable to talk about it up to this point in
24:18
Speaker 1: the show. But Twins have to be feeling good at
24:21
Speaker 1: least about the fact that you mentioned earlier, Dan, that
24:23
Speaker 1: they've got Joe Ryan, Todge Bradley, and Bailey Ober scheduled
24:27
Speaker 1: to go in the next four days.
24:30
Speaker 3: One of their two All stars is absolutely appearing for
24:33
Speaker 3: the first time post All Star Breaks night. Joe Ryan
24:36
Speaker 3: is starting. If they get both their All Stars back,
24:39
Speaker 3: that's a that's a really good place to start. Cleveland's
24:43
Speaker 3: had trouble scoring runs. Their offense is just like, there's
24:47
Speaker 3: some real talent there. I like Travis Bizana a lot.
24:50
Speaker 3: Stephen Kwan has actually started to pick it up lately,
24:52
Speaker 3: and that's good for them. They need him to get
24:54
Speaker 3: going in the worst way. But their offense has struggled.
24:57
Speaker 3: And this is a when you have three of your
24:59
Speaker 3: four better the best pitchers or three of your best
25:02
Speaker 3: pitchers going in that four game series, that's a nice
25:05
Speaker 3: place to go because you're never gonna be two. You
25:07
Speaker 3: know you're gonna be in all three of those games.
25:09
Speaker 3: They're gonna have probably a bullpen day, I think on Tuesday.
25:11
Speaker 3: I think we'll see a lot of Mike Paradis and
25:14
Speaker 3: Kendriy Rojas, but that's still gonna be determined by what
25:17
Speaker 3: happens Monday. But Joe Ryan pitches really well against Cleveland
25:21
Speaker 3: for his career, So you have a good tone setter
25:23
Speaker 3: for a very big series just starting things off on Monday.
25:27
Speaker 3: And you know it'll be interesting because if the Lebron
25:31
Speaker 3: news was to come down today and he goes to Miami,
25:34
Speaker 3: the Twins would be interested in handing Cleveland.
25:36
Speaker 2: It's second big l of the day. We shall see on.
25:41
Speaker 3: Both of those, but you know, I look, you feel
25:45
Speaker 3: good about what you're bringing in and this team's not
25:48
Speaker 3: the kind of team that lets stuff linger.
25:50
Speaker 2: I saw.
25:51
Speaker 3: I wasn't in the room for Keishaw, one of the
25:53
Speaker 3: other reporters to talk to him, and I liked the
25:57
Speaker 3: answer I heard. He was talking about the play that
26:00
Speaker 3: you know, he he botched that play. It was a
26:03
Speaker 3: hard line drive he came in on, it was caught
26:05
Speaker 3: in between, he didn't knock it down and went all.
26:07
Speaker 2: The way to the wall for a three run triple.
26:09
Speaker 3: But what he said was, Hey, that play it got me,
26:13
Speaker 3: but I'll get the next one. And I think that's
26:16
Speaker 3: exactly what he thinks at all times. I think he
26:19
Speaker 3: you know, he's not the kind of guy that let's
26:21
Speaker 3: kind of mistakes bug him. He's going to learn from
26:24
Speaker 3: it and move on. I think this team as a
26:27
Speaker 3: whole embodies that kind of philosophy and moves on. Well,
26:30
Speaker 3: I don't think they'll They'll let Sundays blow out loss
26:34
Speaker 3: or Saturdays disappointing loss linger and can move on. They've
26:38
Speaker 3: played well against Cleveland this year. They're four and two
26:40
Speaker 3: so far, and you know, the bullpen, the back end
26:43
Speaker 3: of the bullpen is fresh enough to handle a couple
26:46
Speaker 3: of games if they're asked to do so. So, you know,
26:50
Speaker 3: get through this, get these four, come out even, come
26:53
Speaker 3: out even, or come out you know ahead, and then
26:56
Speaker 3: head home and try to get fat off some lesser
26:59
Speaker 3: than a oponents.
27:00
Speaker 2: That's what the Twins kind of need to think about.
27:02
Speaker 1: Doing, Tyler, A big second half road series against a
27:07
Speaker 1: divisional opponent has got to be one of the more
27:11
Speaker 1: amped up you'll get to play on the road.
27:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, those guys, I mean, I'm not going to say
27:17
Speaker 4: guys don't scroll or don't read, like it's a huge
27:22
Speaker 4: array of like what guys do. Some have no media,
27:25
Speaker 4: some read everything. Guys know what's going on. You know,
27:28
Speaker 4: Joe Ryan is very aware of where he sits. You know,
27:31
Speaker 4: there's the potential like if he could be leaving or
27:34
Speaker 4: staying there. All those things got They want to win
27:37
Speaker 4: this series bad. And the fun part of playing these
27:40
Speaker 4: is you're that's the team that's right in front of you.
27:42
Speaker 4: So every game you win while you're there, you watch
27:44
Speaker 4: that score. You know, the standings start to flick. And
27:49
Speaker 4: when you can go in, especially the three games set,
27:51
Speaker 4: like the a four game set, you know, you win
27:53
Speaker 4: three of these games, you can leap frog them while
27:55
Speaker 4: you're there, you know, put a little pressure on them,
27:59
Speaker 4: maybe make the make some mistakes.
28:01
Speaker 5: You know, they it's they're they're kind.
28:03
Speaker 4: Of in the same boat as Minnesota right now, and
28:05
Speaker 4: so that that pressure is real. You know, you get
28:08
Speaker 4: these guys, jump on them early, just like I've talked
28:11
Speaker 4: about us needing to do in some series, which you
28:13
Speaker 4: know we did against Chicago. It didn't work out well,
28:15
Speaker 4: but you got to jump on these guys early and
28:17
Speaker 4: let them know who you are.
28:18
Speaker 5: You know that we're we're here for real, We're here.
28:21
Speaker 5: We mean business.
28:22
Speaker 4: But it's uh, this is a big one, without a doubt,
28:25
Speaker 4: because you need to win this. You're gonna go home
28:27
Speaker 4: to play some teams. You should be build as much
28:30
Speaker 4: momentum over the next four days.
28:31
Speaker 5: As you can.
28:32
Speaker 4: You know, it's a great The setup in Cleveland's great.
28:35
Speaker 4: You can walk to the field whatever it's it's a
28:37
Speaker 4: it's a fun place to play. The fans are going
28:39
Speaker 4: to be there. You know, they're always somehow aware. They're
28:42
Speaker 4: just baseball savvy always. You know, they they can feel
28:45
Speaker 4: that the pressure to the place gets loud. It's it's
28:47
Speaker 4: it's a fun place and you're missing Jose Ramirez, Like,
28:51
Speaker 4: take advantage of it.
28:52
Speaker 5: Get these while you can, because you.
28:54
Speaker 4: Know when you come play them in September, whenever the
28:57
Speaker 4: schedule rolls around, that guy's gonna be in the middle
28:59
Speaker 4: of the lineup again.
29:00
Speaker 5: And that's when they're a lot tougher team to beat.
29:04
Speaker 1: Twins are four games back in the Central currently being
29:08
Speaker 1: led by the White Sox. At fifty two and forty six,
29:11
Speaker 1: they're three games behind Cleveland for second place. Cleveland also
29:14
Speaker 1: holding down a wildcard spot along with the Boston Red Sox, who,
29:19
Speaker 1: thank goodness to Twins, I'll have to face them again.
29:22
Speaker 1: They got them, got thirteen straight wins, just swept the
29:27
Speaker 1: Rays and four games at home. They have now jumped
29:30
Speaker 1: into the last wildcard spot. Twins also trailing. They're now
29:33
Speaker 1: two games back, and both Seattle and Baltimore right there
29:37
Speaker 1: as well. So still a logjam. Still a long way
29:40
Speaker 1: to go, but a big series. It's Joe Ryan against
29:43
Speaker 1: Tanner Byby tonight, like we talked about. Parker Messik goes
29:47
Speaker 1: for Cleveland on Tuesday against what looks like a bullpen
29:51
Speaker 1: game for the Twins. Wednesdays Gavin Williams and Bailey Ober
29:54
Speaker 1: Thursday TBD for Cleveland and Taj Bradley for the Twins
29:58
Speaker 1: in the afternoon game. We will be back on Wednesday
30:03
Speaker 1: to talk about the first two games of this series.
30:05
Speaker 1: And thanks, as always to everybody for listening. We appreciate it.
30:10
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30:15
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30:33
Speaker 1: Twin Cities Territory. Thanks everybody, Bye bye,