Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / SPOILER ALERT: Angels are out of playoff contention but could impact races

Transcript

SPOILER ALERT: Angels are out of playoff contention but could impact races · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo Territory.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I am Mike DiGiovanna, former LA Times baseball writer and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: host of the show, joined by my regular co-host, Mark Trumbo,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the former Angel slugger. Mark, how's it going today? Have
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you recovered from that Guardian sweep?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Recovered? What do I need to recover from?
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: On to the next, although it's an off day on Thursday.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: And then they've got some good teams coming up. This
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: schedule throughout the rest of the year is going to
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: be a tall task for the Halos.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Phillies coming in town for a three-game weekend series.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And right on their heels are the New York Yankees
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: coming in for a three-game set Monday through Wednesday next week.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So the Phillies are second in the National League wildcard
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: standings as we speak. Two games up on the Padres,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: three ahead of the D-backs. Going into the series, the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Yanks are a little more comfortable. They have an eight-game
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: lead in the wild card, in the AL wild card,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: but it's always an intense series when the Yanks come
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to town, no matter where the Angels are in the standings.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: With the Halos out of the playoff picture again and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: clinching their 11th straight losing season with Wednesday's loss to Cleveland.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: It got us to thinking here at HT, is playing
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: spoilers still a thing in big league baseball? I did
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: pose that question to manager Kurt Suzuki, who had a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: lengthy career in the big leagues as a catcher going
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: back a solid 20 years. Let's hear what he had
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to say.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Kurt, is playing spoilers still a thing? Was it when
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you were coming up? Yeah, it definitely is.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: I mean, we don't really think about it. I mean,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: whether you're a spoiler or not a spoiler, you're just
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: trying to win baseball games, right? That being said, when
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: you're playing teams... Mostly when you go on the road
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: because the stadiums are packed, you kind of feel a
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: little bit more about that meaningful baseball games. But yeah,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, spoiler, I mean, it's fun, right?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You can do that. No, I distinctly remember players from
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the late 90s and even some years in the early
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: 2000s saying they did not want another team, especially division
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: rival clinching on their home field. I remember I did
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a story on the Dodgers-Giants rivalry quite a few years ago,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and I interviewed Vin Scully. It was an awesome interview.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: And there were years in that rivalry where the Giants
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: or Dodgers fans actually took more pleasure in knocking the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: other out of a playoff than they did in sometimes
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: clinching a playoff berth. I don't know, Mark. What do
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you think? Are players wired the same way today? than
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: maybe they even were when you were playing along these lines.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: They are wired differently. They couldn't give a care in
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: the world about playing spoiler, is my assumption. It's not
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: something that they've probably been introduced to. What team has
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: a rivalry that's lost 11 years.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: In a row, you tell me?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Well, I think they do play Boston. They had a
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: good rivalry with them. postseason years ago uh the mariners
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: are coming to town for uh for uh they close
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: actually the angels close a regular season with four at
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: seattle seattle plays three games here that's been a bit
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of a division rivalry just because some of the fights
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: fight yeah it was a pretty good fight i will
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: give them that.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: How about you fight it out in the standings.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: But it's nothing compared to those American League East rivalries,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: of course. Now, you played your last three years in Baltimore, Mark.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The Orioles were out of the division. But I'm sure
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: there are plenty of September games against the Yankees, against
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox. Was it a little different even back
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: then when you were playing those teams as an Oriole?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Did you say we were out of it? I don't
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: know what.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Orioles were in 18 and 19. They were
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: well back. 100 lost seasons.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I recall.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I was also injured.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: That's when my knee decided to disintegrate.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: That spoiler, they were just ridiculously better than the Orioles.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I was on the club too. Obvious and just far
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: more talented. You go around One thing I've always done,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: and I don't know if anyone else does, but position
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: by position and just see how does one team stack
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: up to the next. Do they have a clear advantage
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: in right field, center field, and so forth? And they
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: had us surrounded, not to mention the better starting pitching.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: So I think that even then, spoiler, it was more like, hey,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: we've got to get our act together. if we are
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: able to play some nice baseball against them, uh, great,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: but the expectation was for them to steamroll us.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And they did. Yeah.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: What are these guys playing for in September then? What
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I'm sure there has to be something that, uh, uh,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: personal pride sets in, whether it's a, your next contract arbitration,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: what are the motivators for the angels, especially some of
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: their younger guys, I guess, even for some of the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: veterans who are probably playing for next year and To
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: earn a contract that's not here somewhere.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: The back pocket.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Is that a big enough motivator for most?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: You tell me. You're making the big bucks here. Oh, yeah.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, anyway.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: The thing is, it depends on where you're at in
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: your career. If you're an older player and they have
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: a few veterans, you're trying to have a strong showing.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: If you're a free agent, so somebody sees– because teams–
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: And this team in particular, the Halos, have bought high
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: on guys that have put together good closures to a season.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: A nice hot month, parlay that into a multi-year deal.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying any of the guys currently are going
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: to do that, but you're always playing for the 29
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: other teams. That saying has always been around, but that
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: is true. And if you're a younger player, you have...
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: as we covered a new boss that evaluates talent, uh,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: in my opinion, the correct way. And he is not
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: going to tolerate, uh, guys not hustling. And we haven't
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: really seen that. Have you seen guys not hustling any longer?
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: What happened to that? Yeah.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: A couple of little circumstances, not as egregious as they were.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Um, but I think a conversation is now probably more
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: likely to be had. You're not going to see a player, um,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: like Pat Murphy did, probably benched. That doesn't seem to be.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: It would be an odd thing to do out of
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: nowhere now. The precedent hasn't been set where Pat Murphy,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: you know what he's going to do. He had that
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: player that was gyrating or doing the D or whatever,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: the WWE thing. And he quickly said, no, no way, man.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: That's not how the Brewers play. That's not how we celebrate.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Get that clown show out of here. Got in and
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: he got benched. So, you know, Terry Collins, I think
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: you referenced that with Gio.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: With this team, you're not going to see that kind
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: of discipline. But I think these players know that they've
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: been put on notice somewhat.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: And the Angel.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Baseball, the brand of baseball is improving and they're going
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: to need to do what they can to look the part.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't clip this article for the show, but
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Jeff Fletcher of The Register did write a piece about
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Zach Netto the other day where Zach referenced a meeting
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: with the interim GM, John Moselock. I can't remember if
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the manager was involved in the meeting. No, I don't know. Yeah,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the story did not really get too in detail about
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: some of the things we pointed out with Zach with
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that lack of hustle and his sporadic effort or uneven focus,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: shall we say, But I have to think at least
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that served to calm Zach Netto's, I don't know what
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it is, it seemed to solidify his standing a little
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: with the team, maybe made him feel a little more wanted.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: We did see his name in trade rooms a lot.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I think it affected him going into the deadline. He
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: has been a much better player since. I don't know, Mark,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: do you think, without knowing specifically what went down on
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: that meeting, was that a good a good strategy for
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Mosaic and Kurt to sit this kid down. And I
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: don't know if they, you know, straighten them out even
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but it does seem like it had
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: an impact.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Sorry. Could you say that again? I don't know whose
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: side that was on. That was my watch. Your device. Uh, no,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to have you say it again. I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: will say that.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: I got, well, I told you I have this crank
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: so I can hear all of the, uh, In the intro,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: we have the silent mouse. Again, nobody noticed. But anyway,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: the meeting. So we do the best we can to
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: be timely. And I think we had recorded prior and
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: the article with Fletcher came out hours later. I had
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: speculated that it looked like something had changed with Zach.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: And I thought maybe a new boss and Mo might
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: have something to do with it simply for the fact
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: that he's watching and he knows what he's looking at.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: and he knows what he likes maybe not so much
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: he does know what he's looking at but um you
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: quick glance at how the cardinals play you can get
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: a sense of what he probably does appreciate and we
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: come to find that they did have a meeting and
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: i think it was a great thing I'm surprised maybe
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: it took this long, but it sounded like it was
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Kurt in there, both hitting coaches, Brady and Mabry. And
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: they gave Zach the floor too, to speak his mind
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: and get some things off his chest. It sounds like
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: one of these things that I don't know how much
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: he's been open to suggestions this year. I'd say probably
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: not a lot. I think he's trusted what's gotten him,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: to where he is in the last few years. And
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: he kind of overdid it. I think the swing metrics
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: prove that with his contact point going further and further
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: out front, the uppercut getting more dramatic and the production
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: suffering because of it. And it seemed like they, why they, okay,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: they flattened his bat is what I'm thinking they did.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: That uppercut, how would you probably negate that somewhat? You're
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: going to have to flatten that swing out. And so
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: they took some of the vertical out. some of that
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: coming way from the inside in golf, essentially. So now he.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Has a flatter swing. I'll get more in-depth.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: I didn't really rehearse for that, so I'll polish that
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: for a future episode if anyone wants that. But I
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: think that attitude-wise, too, it looks like things are looking better,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: more team leadership being shown. So goodbye, Moe.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Zach, talk about meeting the new boss, not the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: same as the old boss. So we're going to take
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: a little break for a word from our sponsors. And
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: when we come back, we'll break down this Guardian series.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: nowadays where you could think your team is out of it,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: but they might be back in it again. Let me
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: introduce you to the American League wildcard, KP. And let's
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: tell everyone why they might need to head back to
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: SeatGeek grab some more tickets for what is a playoff
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: race before the playoffs actually begin.
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: Well, speaking about being out of it, I'm an American
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: League East guy, and I'm talking to you Toronto fans.
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: I'm talking to you Baltimore fans. A couple weeks ago,
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: probably not a reason to come out to the games.
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: Look at the standings right now. Both of you teams
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: are right back in this wildcard race.
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: Rangers fans, we can go on and on. Mariners fans,
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: you might be feeling a little queasy, but you're still
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: in this thing too. So all of you, should head
• 12:11
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• 12:15
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• 12:18
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• 12:21
  Speaker 5: description to download the app and have the code automatically
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: added to your account so that you can use it later.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Mike DiGiovanna. Well, the Angels were swept by the Guardians
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: in a three-game series. They blew an early five-run lead
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: in Tuesday night's 8-6-10 inning loss. and a one-run ninth-inning
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: lead in Wednesday's 4-3 loss. That game Wednesday marked the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: 10th time this season the Angels have lost a game
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: when leading after eight innings. Had Ben Joyce been available Wednesday,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: good chance they nailed down that win, but with the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: flame-throwing right-hander recently returning from shoulder surgery and having pitched
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night, the Angels don't want to use him in
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: back-to-back games yet. Mark, Is this a good strategy with
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the closer as we enter the final month of the season?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: As much as it hurts to not win that game
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: for them?
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Let's get your opinion.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's smart. But I will say this.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: They do have to address this at some point. Ben Joyce,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: if he's going to close for a big league team,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: he's going to have to pitch in back-to-back games. You
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: definitely want to limit that. there has to be some
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: kind of plan to try to keep this guy healthy
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: because look what we've seen so far. Uh, he's been
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: really dominant, uh, in his return. I think it's been eight,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: seven or eight games back. His VLOs up to one
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Oh three, one Oh four pretty regularly. His off speed
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: actually looks better right now than I think it did
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: in the past. But man, you, we, they have to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: find a way to keep this kid healthy.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Uh, I don't know.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Uh, Maybe pitching back-to-back games is not a thing he
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: can do. If that's the case, you need to build
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: a bullpen that is deep enough to support a three-
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: or four-game win streak because you're going to need a
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: closer in back-to-back games all throughout the season. So that's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a big issue, bullpen depth for sure. I think we
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: said going into the year, there were a lot of
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: questions about this bullpen to even contend for a playoff spot.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: You need three to four quality, high-leverage guys. Just look
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: at the Guardians. They didn't have Cade Smith yesterday, their closer.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: They brought in the lefty, Cebrowski. He looked really good.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: They got Hunter Gattis down there. They have guys who
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: can pitch high leverage, and that's how you win six
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: in a row, seven in a row like the Guardians have.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: So it's tough because Ben's– a really good young pitcher and,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: but what good is he if he's on the shelf?
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: I'd be shocked if they hadn't already, but this is
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: a candidate to go to something like TPI and get
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: a physical assessment on his movement patterns, his mechanics, and
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: make sure that there is not some kind of something
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: in his delivery or something mechanically he's doing that is
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: a big, red flag for an injury concern. I know
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: golfers that, you know, they, they suffer a back injury
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: or hopefully sometimes, you know, you best to be proactive
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: about it and not reactive, but sometimes you have no choice. And, uh,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: with Ben, if there's a history of injury and, and
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: I'd want to get to the bottom of it, is
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: there some sort of restriction in, you know, a tight
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: lower body, for example, or a limited mobility in the
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: shoulder or elbow or whatever? And it could be he
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: passes all of their tests with flying colors. But in
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: this day and age, that is how guys go about it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: It's not just guesswork and go run some polls. They
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: can get pretty scientific about it. And I think that
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: could benefit somebody like this. And speaking of the Guardians,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: their depth compared to the Angels, it's not even close.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: And I think next week, something that I've wanted to
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: do is tackle war as a complex thing. It's a
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: little bit subjective, but There's some hard and fast numbers
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: of what it takes for a team, war-wise, to be
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: in contention. And I broke those numbers down. I think
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: some might find it informative just how the Angels currently
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: stack up this season against these teams that are going places.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: How far off are they beyond just the standings? And
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: a way is the answer.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Well, the Angels managed only two runs in six innings
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: against Joey Cantillo, uh, despite the Cleveland left-hander issuing seven
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: walks on Wednesday. How is that possible, Mark?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Well, they didn't score any runs, didn't get any hits.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: They scored a couple in the first two.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Innings, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They weren't able to, uh,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: get any rallies going. Um, the bats were okay.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: They had some line line line outs and, uh, the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: left fielder, uh, you'll remind me of his name here
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: in a second, but, uh, another fantastic cat.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Angel Martinez.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Uh, yeah. Very impressive. Uh, a couple of guys, you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it wasn't intentional. I didn't recall his name, but, um,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the third.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Baseman, you know, I believe, uh, the names, uh, these
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: are not household names, but you watch these guys.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I really like Rokio as well.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Um, Yeah, he made a great diving stop to start
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: a double play toward another Angel Rally. Yeah, he's a
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: good-looking player.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, this is the type of team,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ban the golfs again, but they have
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: a number of good supporting players that are not superstars.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: This probably reminds me maybe more of that 0-2 team
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: where you have depth. I don't know if they're going
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: to have quite enough when it comes time. We've seen
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: this play out year after year they'll go up against
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: one of these big, big spenders and we'll see what happens.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: But the Guardians are a team. I doubt Angel fans
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: root for them, but they're pretty easy to root for
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: if you're a fan of baseball.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And they got a guy up at the top of
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the order who's been mentioned on the show several times
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: by you. And I know you really love him, Stephen Kwan.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: And it's a really, it's an interesting dichotomy between him
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and Neto. If Neto does indeed stay in that leadoff spot,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Kwan had five singles in, in Tuesday night's game, and
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: then he had a big hit in Wednesday's game. I
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: think he's got two homers all year. I mean, this
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: is like a traditional leadoff hitter. There's still room for
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a guy like that in this game. And wouldn't the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Angels benefit by having a guy like that at the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: top of the order as opposed to Zach Netto?
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: I think they already have that type of hitter. He
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: just plays first base. Ah, interesting.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Interesting. But doesn't have the speed. Seventh or eighth in
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: your order. And a really good team.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I think that Stephen Kwan, I just like watching him hit.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: I like guys that you pitch him away, he's going
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: to spray a line drive. He's tough to defend. And no,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: he doesn't hit a lot of home runs, but that
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: is understood. He did hit, you know, the ground roll double.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: That ball was smoked. I mean, he hits the ball hard.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: He makes solid contact. He's just, I haven't stood next
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: to him, I don't. I believe maybe, but I don't
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: think so. He's not a tall guy. I stood next
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: to him on Wednesday. He's not a huge guy at
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: all or tall. Yeah, he's just a spark. He's athletic. but, um,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: and he, I really liked just his consistent approach. This
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: isn't his best year, but you wouldn't know it by
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: watching what's going on out there. And I think this
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: is piggybacking what Joe Adele was talking about, where these
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: guys are going out and just trying to help the
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: team win ball games. It'd be nice if they all
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: got five hits a game, but they find other ways
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: to contribute sack fly by, uh, Bonanza?
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Bazzana, yeah.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Bazzana. Bazzana.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: It's a little early. But I like his approach, too.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: He's a nice young player. Travis Bazzana, I do know
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: the name. That's all right.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Kind of winging it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: And they were able to manufacture just enough. The Halos
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: bullpen kind of running on fumes, a little short. A
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: little short. Probably the culprit. And Jose Ramirez, I don't
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: know why you're pitching to that guy. If you haven't
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: learned by now, I don't know what to tell you.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to take another break for a word
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: from our sponsors. We will talk a little more about
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez and at least one bright spot from the series,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Grayson Rodriguez start. We'll be right back with more Halo Territory.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Bella, Bella, Bella, where? I don't know where Bella is,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: but I know how to take care of my pup.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: Kratz, while you find Bella, today's episode is sponsored by
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program, the ASPCA Pet Health
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• 21:52
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Mike DiGiovanna. Well, there wasn't at least one encouraging pitching
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: development In that Guardian series, Grayson Rodriguez allowed only one
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: run and seven hits and five and two-thirds innings after
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: pitching to an 8-5-4 ERA. In his first nine starts
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of the season, he has a 3.03 ERA. In his
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: last six starts, let's hear what manager Kurt Suzuki had
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to say about Grayson.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think confidence, comfort, all those things, right?
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: And I know I keep talking about it, but, you know,
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: this guy hadn't pitched in like a year and a half,
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: you know, so I think he's starting to find his
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: groove and just kind of remembering how it felt in
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: Baltimore when he was really, really good and I think
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: you're seeing, you know, what everybody else saw here to
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: get him here.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: So, you know, just got to keep having him, you know,
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: staying with it, keep improving every day and keep getting that,
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: you know, those game time, you know, innings.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Mark, what are you seeing from the big right-hander in
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the last month or so?
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I like what I see.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: Grayson's fastball is really playing like I was hoping it would.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: He's got a good one.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: I think he threw about 60% fastballs in this last outing,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: and he had very good control. He graded out well.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: I think that my experience years ago when he was
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: a young player in his first, I think, big league camp,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: and I was at the very tail end, I remember thinking,
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: this guy is– it's one of those fastballs that you
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: can hear. It's a hard fastball that plays hard. I
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: think Fernando Rodney actually probably takes the cake for just
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: when you're up there. I don't know why or how
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: he did it, but he threw the ball and it
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: was whistling. And Grayson's got one of those fastballs too.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: And I like that, you know, he's coming right at you.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Very aggressive.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: When you see him, you know, throwing fastballs by guys,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: that is a great sign. You don't always see that
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: even if guys, you know, Walbert doesn't really blow a
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: lot of guys away. coming right at him. Think about,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: you know, Percival for those that have followed the team
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: for a long time, just a fastball that kind of
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: has enough ride. Now the guardians, they got guys that
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: do an exceptional job of that, where it really becomes tough. And,
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: and Yates, even this year, I know that it wasn't
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: your favorite, but he has that ability to pitch much better,
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: by the way, for the pirates. But yeah, that kind
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: of up-down thing where the fastballs appearing to rise and
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: the breaking balls falling off. Grayson has some of that too,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: but he's, he's good. If we see anything close to
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: this moving forward, he's made improvements. It seems like, unfortunately
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: the previous pitching coach really probably didn't help him very much.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: And we'll get more into that as I get a
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: little more information, but I think some of the tools
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: that weren't used probably hindered a guy like him. And
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: that's unfortunate because, There's a lot of.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Talent in there.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's pounding the strike zone too. 92 pitches yesterday,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: 63 strikes, way better ratios than we'd seen from him
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: throughout his first two months of the season. So, you know,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: he's a guy who's going to be a big part
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: of this rotation moving forward. And yeah, we'll talk a
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: little bit more about the rotation as we head toward
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the offseason. And there's some, I think there's some promising signs,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: at least starting pitching wise, especially if they're able to
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: retain Reed Detmers. Well, on the flip side of Grayson,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night's game featured another kind of a clunker from
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Walbert Urania, who gave up three runs and five hits
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: and walked five and three and two-thirds innings. The 22-year-old
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: rookie right-hander's been a little soggy in his last two starts.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: He's allowed six run runs, walked seven, and struck out
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: 10 and eight and two-thirds innings. He's now up to
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: 116 in the third innings on the season after jumping
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: from 77 in the third in 2024 and 141 in
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: 2025 in the minor leagues. Now, this is an interesting
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: quote from Wahlberg after that game, courtesy of the Orange
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: County Register. I feel like I've lost just everything mechanically
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and mentally too, Urania said. A lot of walks, a
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: lot of pitches, and a lot of mistakes. Now, Mark,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: we're getting into September. Boy, the temperatures are rising. Should
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the Angels think about dialing this kid back a little
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: bit in the final month, maybe even shutting him down
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: at some point?
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I came up with that idea. You can't steal that.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I told you that.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: I think it's a topic that hopefully they have a
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: plan for him.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they should. I think he's perfect. Right
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: in there in the rookie of the year race.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I'm actually voting rookie of the year. I think there's
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: five on the ballot. I got him on my ballot
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: right now at this point. He won't win it, but yeah, definitely.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Okay. Well, he's in. I came in second. Do you
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: know who came in first that year?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: When you came in second?
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: What year was this? You sound like you didn't even
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: know I did. 2011.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: 2011.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I did get the player's choice one. 15 years ago, man.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: You've been doing this for four decades. I know, but
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I don't memorize everything.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Jim Palmer remembers who he faced in 1965. Yeah, well, it's.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: A little different when you're in the arena. When you're
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: in the arena, it's different. I'm telling you. Greg Maddox
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: could recall at bats pitch sequences from 25 years ago.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: I always remember the highlights as a player. Not so
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: much the other. Okay, back to Walbert.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: I think that If he is showing signs of leaking oil,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: he's had a fantastic season. These last two starts, whatever.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Not a big deal. I think that you monitor them.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: The velocity has continued. If those guns are accurate on TV,
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: he's hitting 101. Again, he's baffling to me because it's
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: not a max effort delivery. Is he a bigger guy
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: than I think? He seems like he's athletic looking, but
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: not a 6'5.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: No, no, he's not that tall, but he's very athletic. Yeah,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, when I talk to him, I don't feel
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: like I'm talking or looking at a 22-year-old. He is
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: very physically mature, and I think he's mentally mature as well.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: But yeah, he's not a massive guy, unlike many of
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: those Guardians pitchers who I swear could form an offensive
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: line for the Browns. These guys are giants. My goodness,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I walked by some of them on a tunnel the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: other day, and I'm like, I I'm not a tiny
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: guy by any means. And these guys are looking huge
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: to me.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: I remember the Yankees when Tanaka, who I was shocked
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: when I, I thought he was much shorter and I'm
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: walking by people like these little anecdotes sometimes in the,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: in the tunnel afterwards. And I, he got me a
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: lot more than I got him. You want to know
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: my least favorite guy to faces?
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: Really?
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Tanaka split finger, whatever.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Anyway, I'm looking at a guy that's eye to eye
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: with me. And then you're watching him walking out to
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: the bullpen. The Yankees always did that with all the
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: starters walking. And he looks like he's six inches shorter
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: than the next guy. Not really, but they just had some,
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: you know, Sabathia, he's 6'8, and Batonsas.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: And some of these teams.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Really, really prefer those, you know, giant Redwood 6'6 plus.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: In the end.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: But it doesn't mean that, you know, you're going to
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: be guaranteed for success, but it does create more of
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: a downhill angle and it can be tough. But Walbert,
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: I think they need to look after him, look after
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: his arm. They're totally out of this thing. Here's the
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: deal with their standing, their record. They just don't want
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: to be fourth place. I think for draft purposes, and
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying trying to tank, but for the lottery
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: and the potential to get the first overall pick, the
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: bottom three teams, I believe, all have the same percentage chance.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: And then fourth goes down to about 10%. So I
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: think it's 16.5% chance for the top three worst records.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: And then you do lose some steam. So I don't
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: know where they're going to draft next year. They should
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: be aiming to win as many as they can. But
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: as far as getting the best player, it doesn't always,
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: you know, the wins don't help you in that regard.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll close the show talking about a player that
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the Angels have not liked to face and for some
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: reason pitched to, Jose Ramirez. The Angels did pitch to
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the noted Halo killer twice for the base open and
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: again with two on and one out in the 10th inning.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: On Tuesday night, Ramirez hit a two-run double in the fourth,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: an RBI double in the eighth, and a game-winning two-run
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: double in the tenth. Now, Ramirez has struggled quite a
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: bit since he returned from surgery on his left handmate
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: in June. He actually hasn't hit a home run since
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: June 6th. So he's not the same player as he's
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: been all those years. He just seemed to crush the Angels.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: But you'd hardly tell that Tuesday night. Mark, was this
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: a wise strategy? And we should note Joe Adele is
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: hitting behind him now. in that lineup?
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: That's a clown question.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: It's the one you gave me too.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: I fact check. I don't know about that.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: The wording, I don't know if I, that's one of
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: your favorite things. Mark, this guy has burned you so
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: many times. I believe they threw the statistics up, the
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: active leader in a lot of categories.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Career thousand, well over a thousand OPS against.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: He likes hitting an angel stadium and that you can't
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: ignore that. I mean, if a guy does well and
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: he's always a slow starter every year, I don't know
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: if it's maybe a cold weather thing or what, but
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: their offense as a whole kind of doesn't get going,
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: but their pitching always keeps them in it until their
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: offense does click. And I really have never had the
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: highest powered offense, but they do do enough to give
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: themselves a chance, and this guy looks like he's turning
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: it on at the right time, which is great for
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: the Guardians fans. He's got some protection, actually a lot recently,
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: with Joe behind him, who is putting the ball in play.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: What you really don't want is a really high punch-out
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: guy behind you, and I think Joe's done a nice
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: job of being a guy that is capable of hitting
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: that sack fly, getting that single up the middle, so
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Ramirez doesn't feel all that pressure to have to do something.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: He can take that free pass and trust that the
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: guys behind him, uh, both Joe and I think, uh,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: Nathaniel Lowe, uh, are providing some nice protection, but, uh.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Is it the right move?
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: It's the right move, uh, for some of these young
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: angels pitchers, as far as getting experience. Um, you know,
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: they have to go up against the best. And if
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: the guy laces one in the gap against you, you know,
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: that's one way to find out. Um, I don't really
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: fault Kurt for, for doing that. Uh, and going right
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: at them that I'd like to see how your guys
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: match up at this point, just giving them a free
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: pass with a team. That's, I don't know how many
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: games under 500, the angels are currently, but a.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Heck of a lot.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: And, uh, again, I'd like to see what your guys
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: are capable of. Go, go ahead and let's, you know,
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: let's see, let's see if you're capable of getting out
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: of this thing on your own.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think, uh, he's definitely not hitting as well
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: from the left side. That was a top hand, uh,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: handmade surgery. So, I would say him hitting from the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: left side, maybe go after him a little more. But
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I think he had one of those big hits from
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the right side against the Angels lefties. And maybe that
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: wasn't as wise a choice. Hey, we're going to close
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the show with that. We appreciate you tuning in and listening.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Please like and subscribe. And it'll be interesting to see
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Angel Stadium turn into Yankee Stadium West and Citizens Park
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: West this weekend. Enjoy it.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: You expect a bigger crowd than Sunday? Bigger crowd, for sure.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Excuse me, the day game Wednesday. Yeah, a little light.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Early on, but probably all in the shade.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, my God.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: It was scorching out there. Like I said at the
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: top of the show, no matter where the Angels are
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in the standings, it's always fun and interesting when the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Yankees come to town, especially when you see all those
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: social media clips. The fights, I don't know how much
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: fight the Angel fans have left in them after another
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: 11 straight losing season, but we'll see. All right, we'll
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: close the show with that. We'll see you next time
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: on Halo Territory.