Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Keller steps up, previewing Rangers series

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Keller steps up, previewing Rangers series · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network on Nolah Hiles.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Joining me at my house again is Mark aka platinum Key,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and back at his home in the Buckeye State, Josh Harrison.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: The Pirates finish a seven game homestand they win four,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: they lose three. They keep on adding to their record
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: above five hundred. Now we've got a lot to get into.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk to Mitch Keller. We're gonna talk about
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the interesting series that awaits them that will begin Tuesday
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: evening in the Lone Star State. And then, as always,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: we will round up our Monday show with our platinum
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Key of the week. So guys, let's just start it off.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: The Pirates, like I said, they take four to seven
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this homestand they win their weekend series against the Tampa
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Bay Rays, probably the best team they played this year
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: all things considered, and they probably should have swept him. Yeah,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: but Mitch Keller make sure they get the series win.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Big start for Mitch Keller. First Pirate to throw seven
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: complete innings on the mound since Paul Skeins did last
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: August against the Colorado Rockies, so it's it's been a while.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: It wasn't even Mitch's best stuff. I don't think I
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: think he finished with around five strikeouts, but he was efficient.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I think I think he finished around nineties eighty nine
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: pitches and yeah, and he probably could have went back
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: out there, but the game was I mean, they kept
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: getting insurance run. So he did his job. He got
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the series win.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Mark.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I'll start with you. You were there, would you like about
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Mitch today? Oh?
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, way a bounce back start from Mitch. I
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: mean he's such a bulldog and to go out and
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: just have a picture that you can be like, oh, yeah,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: we're gonna get a quality start. This guy bullpen was
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: taxed yesterday and actually Indians game and oh we can
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: just throw Mitch out there and he's gonna go get
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: a seven and it's gonna look easy.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Completely impressed by Mitch. And he's just it's been so
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: dominant and such a great leader for this rotation who
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: continues they continue to challenge each other, and Mitch is
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: saying that bar really really high for everyone, and that's
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: what you want to see from the veteran leader in
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: this clubhouse.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: What about you.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: I agree with you, you know, Mitch, you know, stay steady, man.
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: This is what we've talked about. You know, every fifth day,
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: God is gonna take the ball and give you what
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: he's got. And you mentioned coming off of you know, yesterday,
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: I know, one of those baseball days where you try
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: to change the timing of the game rain delay and
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: you know it's baseball and on the heels of dad.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: You want a guy like Mitch Keller following the day
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: that you've texted a bullpen and you know he was
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: able to go set innings under the ninety pitch limit. Yeah,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: you know, but but but that also says something about
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: you know, Mitch understanding, you know just how important it
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: is for him to go out there and do what
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: he does. Because I want to say they put up
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: the two runs on him, and I want to say
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: they were all like two out hits. Maybe I could
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: be wrong, but you know, even with that, you know
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: that that's part of baseball. He left it at too.
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: Two runs is enough, especially with this offense, to where
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: you keep a team to two runs. You know, this
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: offense which has been proven you know so far this
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: year that they're going to put up some runs, and
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: as I said, I agree with you, Mitch. Big day
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: for him, big day for the Pirates, especially, you know,
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: going with an off day tomorrow, you know, everybody gets
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: a reset.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And one final thing on Mitch. I mean, his worst
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: start of the season came his last time out on
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Tuesday against the Nationals. He only got through four innings.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: They tagged him pretty good. So for him to respond
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: like that, I thought was a statement for him. So
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: that concludes our Mitch Keller talk concludes, really our weekend talk.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: We've got some discussion to be had about the upcoming
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: series between the Pirates and Rangers. But first a word
• 4:09
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• 5:13
  Speaker 1: All right, so Pirates, they're off on Monday. On Tuesday,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: they start a three game series in Texas against the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Texas Rangers, and of course that means a matchup against
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: our good buddy, the guy that we all know very well,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Andrew McCutcheon, who will be playing for the opposition. It's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I think, I mean, I'll say this like the broadcast
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: is making an effort to make this like a nice,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: positive thing. I think it's awkward. I'm very curious to
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: see what Kutch will have to say to the Pittsburgh
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: media who makes the trip to cover him before that series,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: because I'm having covered Andrew for a little bit. I
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: know there's one side of them where you know, he'll
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: he'll he'll be the pro He'll say some things and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: like kind of keep his mouth shut or bite his tongue.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: And then there's the other side of Andrew who will
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: say a little bit more and and he's kind of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: within his rights to say whatever, right if he wants
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to take the high road or if he wants to
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: be a little real about things. I mean, he's done
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: enough for this organization where he's entitled to speak his mind. So, Josh,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I'll ask you, I mean, how do you think Cutch
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: handles just the pregame media availability on Tuesday? Do you
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: think he says anything about the pirates in a negative light?
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: I don't think so one. I can't speak for him,
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: but just given where he's at now, I think it'd
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: be taking focus away from what's really at hand for him,
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: and that's trying to help the Texas Rangers win. Obviously.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, if it was to come to
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: that point, that's something that he would do on his
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: own terms when that time felt right. But me personally,
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: I don't foresee him, you know, bashing or saying anything,
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: because you know, that's just gonna bring more attention to
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: the situation in him, something that is, you know, not
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: even really what he's about, you know. And as you said, no,
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: he's got every right to speak his mind, but I
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: don't think he does. If he does, as you said,
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: he's got every right, but I think it's gonna be
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: a situation where we've already acknowledged that it will be awkward.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: It would have been a lot more awkward if it
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: was at PMC. So you know, I think with it
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: being in Texas, you know, for him, Hey, I get it,
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: he's gonna be seeing guys that he was with last year,
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: just a couple months ago. And I don't think any
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: of those front office guys will go there it being
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: stretched for them to walk in and say, hey, Andrew,
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: good luck this year. I don't foresee any of that happening.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: But I think you will see him embracing some of
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: his guys from last year, because I don't think, you know,
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: no harm, no fould with those guys. Man. You know,
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: those are guys that he shared the locker room with.
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: And I think he's gonna handle it, as you said, Noah,
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: with with the one where he's going to be the
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: true professional, where you know he's men as baseball. I'm
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: grateful for this opportunity with the Texas Rangers, you know,
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: and my focus is helping them win games. Granted, you know,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: everybody remembers him as you know, one of the all
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: time greats. But I don't foresee him, you know, making
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: an awkward situation that much more awkward when there's a
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: lot more baseball to go. And as I said, I
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: think that's something that he'll handle on his own own
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: terms if need be. But you know, he's got the
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: opportunity to play now, and I don't think he'll do
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: anything to make it that much more awkward because it'll
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: be in Texas. It'll be enough to be saying I'm
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: away from even more awkwardness.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of agree with it. Well, I think
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you you made a really good point too, with just
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the timing of this. I mean, one, with it being
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in Texas and two it's still April. I mean, no
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: one should be running their mouth about anything right now.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: And coach is smart. And when when I said that,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you know, he could say a little bit more. I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: wasn't gonna suggest that, you know, he would just be.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: Right, you may.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he was. Obviously, he was very vocal
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: about his displeasure with the organization toward the end of
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: last year and then on social media with how they
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: handled his potential return this offseason. So I mean he's
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: going to be asked about that. But yeah, I think
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Touch kind of has always done a really good job
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of being able to read the room and know when
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it's maybe right or at least when it makes sense
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to kind of turn up the heat a little bit.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: And this, I do think he will appreciate seeing some faces.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Like you said, Josh, some of the guys who are
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: in that clubhouse with them the last couple of years
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: will be happy to see him. I know some of
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: the people on the broadcast too. I mean, like there
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: are people travel secretary, Like there's more people who just
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: watch baseball and our fans, you know, who aren't around
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: it as close as you know I've been and obviously
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: as Josh has been, you don't realize how many other
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: people are a part of the day to day lives
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: of these guys, people who you see more than your family.
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: So yeah, all those people, like the flight, attendance, on
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: the team, playing stuff like that, Like, there are a
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: lot of moving pieces to this operation and you build
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: relationships with those people over time.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: So I do think it will be a net positive
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: thing for couch mark as a fan. I mean, how
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: are you hoping that he gets recognized over these three days?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just looking forward. This feels like the first
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: opportunity to where the Pirates have a chance to start
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to mend this relationship. For how they handled everything this offseason, Uh,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: there is the lack of communication where they really didn't
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: tell couch that he wasn't going to be part of
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: the Pirates plans. So he's sitting there waiting being like,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: am I going to get a call from the Pirates?
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: And I think showing an an appreciation for Andrew mccutching
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: this series is a good start. It's they're not gonna
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: perfectly repair this relationship in one weekend, but showing some
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: appreciation and actually getting rid of some of that awkwardness
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: that we've been talking about. That's the best word to
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: describe this offseason for the relationship between the Pirates and
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: McCutcheon was just awkward. And so if if you can
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: get that first awkward like reintroduction out of the way,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: be like, hey, here's you know. We still love you,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: You're still our guy. We're sorry it didn't work out
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: this year, move forward from it. I think that's the
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: best thing you can ask for from this weekend series, right.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Like you'll see you'll probably see him in DK, you know, embraced,
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: Like I don't think he'll be like, I'm not going
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: to say what's up the DK or the guys, like,
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: you know, it might be a little awkward if you know,
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: being Sherington was to show up, yeah like that. But
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: that's not to say that Ben might not. I mean,
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: who I can't speak for anybody, but you know, you know,
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: DK was a manager, you know, I don't think Cutch
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: would be like, oh man, I ain't talking to those
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: guys or you know, you know those are guys that
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: he rocked with. But I will say, if he has
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: a good series, you know, their little celebration, I mean
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: you might see some aggressive last os from me. I
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: know that's like the Rangers little celebration. So obviously I
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: think there's gonna be a little chip on the shoulder
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: because I mean, obviously you know that. But you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: I think everything that we've all kind of expressed is
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: kind of what we expect to happen. And you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: if anything does outside of that happen, I mean, I
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: don't think it'll be anything that's gonna be like no
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: national headline. Obviously, people are gonna be tuned in because
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: he's playing against the you know, his former team, but
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: I don't think, you know, it'll be anything. You just
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: might see a little bit more pass not passion, but
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: let him get a big hit. You might see him
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: gallop with the lasso or something.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: But yeah, but for sure, and I'm sure a lot
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: of guys you know, from the team are going to
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: be excited to see him just because you know, they
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: were all probably hoping he came back and never really
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: got a chance to say like a proper you know,
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: thank you. So so I think it'll be kind of
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: cool with that too, because you will have guys like
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: I'm sure Paul is texting you know, niche but just
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: for him to be face to face, giv him, you know, handshakes,
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: some dapt to say man, thanks thanks for everything. I
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: think it'll you know, one not necessarily make him feel better,
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: but it'll kind of you know, all right, Hey, it
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: kind of mended a little bit like what platinum you know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Key said, mended a little bit. Yeah, you know he's.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah and I And to round this out, I mean,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: this is probably a good thing for him as far
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: as you know, he could use a little bit of
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: extra motivation right now. Yeah, he's not hitting very well
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: at the plate over the last week or so, so
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit of spark and a little bit of familiarity.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's tasting guys that he knows how they tick.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: You know, he's seeing these guys in live vps and
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: spring and everything, so he could use some big hits.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to watch. So you got one
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: more segment. We're gonna cover Mark's platinum key for the week.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: But first another break for our sponsors.
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  Speaker 3: Is all right, And for this week's key of the week, here,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: my key is going to be limiting errors. We saw
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: this week the Pirates beat themselves and probably two if
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: not three games here where you could have swept the
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Rays if you limited your errors. Last night, you could
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: have won the series against the Nationals if you limited
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: your errors. And we've harped on team defense a lot
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: on this show and Obviously that's one of the biggest
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: concerns maybe outside like middle relief in the bullpen. And
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: obviously you can't really limit that like or improve that
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: drastically with the players you're playing, but you can improve
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: it with your lineup. And we saw today that both
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Brandon Male and Ryan O'Hearn were in the lineup and
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: we saw a lot less errors out there. I mean,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: we saw a little bit less offense as well. But
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: you have to find that balance where you have this
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: really top heavy offense where you're getting a lot of
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: production out of guys like O'Neil Cruz, Brandon Lloyle, Ryan O'Hearn.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: That's want a lot of runs, but you're still losing
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: games when you're scoring seven runs, right, And that's the
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: issue is if you want to be a good team,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: if you want to win these series, you can't beat yourself.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: And it's encouraging that the Pirates are the ones beating themselves, right.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: They've been the better team. The Raids are a great team.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: The Pirates look like the better team this series, and
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: the only reason they did in sweep is because they
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: allowed themselves to beat themselves.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: We saw that wild hitch from Johann Ramirez with two outs,
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: and I think it was like the eleventh or twelfth
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: inning where they could have just gone out without allowing
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: to run, go into the bottom of the whatever Indian
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: was in extras at that point, and just lay down
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: some bunts. But because of your defense, you put yourself
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: in a position where you're having to come back from
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: a deficit yet again. And so I don't know how
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: the team can get better.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I was looking for.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: No, No, that's that's it. And I'll throw it to Josh.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, like, there's no, there's no you know magic.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: You know it's not space sham. You don't have Mike's
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: magic stuff that you're drinking. And he's like, oh, I'm
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: gonna make routine plays now, Like you're a major league
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: baseball player and.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: It's supposed to make the routine play. Yeah, yeah, you're
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: that is bare minimum.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You're supposed to be making above routine plays, Like that's
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the routine plays are the stuff that gets you to
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the major leagues. You're the top one percent. It's and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: so and again. They're hitting the ball, they're throwing the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: ball really well, like they're they're winning games, they're thirteen
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to nine. But for as much leadership as there looks
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: to be in this clubhouse right now, I really do
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: hope that that's a focal point among the group. Is like,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: guys like that, we're not nearly as good as we
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: should be right now. So Josh, I'll throw it to
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: you and ask, I mean, what's it like. I mean,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: there's obviously a difference among the g when everyone's slumping
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: at the plate and your team defense is just playing
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: horribly over a bad stretch, which one is harder to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: overcome collectively, And what's the talk like in a clubhouse
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: while both of those things are happening.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: It's harder to overcome the defensive struggles because obviously defensive
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: struggles can lead to you know, this is what we
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: talk about in spring training. You practice at twenty seven outs.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: You know it's twenty seven outs to the end the game.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: You want to protect the ball and not give up
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: extra bases, Extra outs, extra outs, extra bases mean that
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: my pitcher has to throw more pitches and more stressful pitches.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: And that is one thing that I've always said on
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: this podcast is defense cannot afford slump because it's inevitable
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: offense as a team is going to go up and down.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: It's gonna slump. That's just part of the game. Not
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: all nine guys are gonna hit at the same time.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: You go through stretches where, hey, man, we have had
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: a week where we haven't driven a guy in in
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: runners in scoring position, like these are things that happen,
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: but you don't want to go through the stretch of all, man, man,
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: we're booting the ball, we're giving away outs, and honestly,
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: the toughest ones to deal with their defense because those
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: are things that you show up to the field every
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: day knowing that, hey, I can control what I'm doing
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: on this defense side. That's not to say I can't
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: make physical errors, but you know, sometimes those physical errors
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: on defense comes from you know, carryover from the plate
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: and when they're going hand in hand, you would much
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: rather make sure that you're making all the defensive plays
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: because there are various ways to score without you know,
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: being in a good offensive spot. You can get a
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: wall on a guy over dirt ball, sackfly, you know
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: what I mean. So you can deal with those offensive
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: struggles because the game will present opportunities for you to
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: you know, scratch a run across the board, which is
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: why you make a big deal to say, hey, make
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: these guys earn their well base doom. You know, you
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: have to limit lead off walks, but you know, nobody
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: really harps on defensive you know, miscues until they continue
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: to happen, and they don't really get magnified until you
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: get to the last month and you get postseason. But
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: as we're sitting here, we can look through the first
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: month of the season, we could probably say more than
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: half of their losses have been due to defensive miscuse.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: So I don't think you want to look at the
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: end of the year and be like, oh man, we
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: hit the ball well. No, this is a time where
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: everybody in there you say, we got to go attention
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: to detail and at the end of the day, make
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: the routines out, make the routine out, make the play
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: and limit free nineties, limit you know, throwing the ball
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: away if and it's the simple thing of what are
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: you going to do with the ball before you know
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: when it's hit to you. Guys aren't thinking that, you know,
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: guys are thinking, weren't my lining up before it's hit
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: to me? Scratch all this analytic reaching in the bucket
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: where I need to say, I'm just being honesty. Play
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: know what to do. This is part of being mentally
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: in the game. Too many guys running the iPads looking
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: at at data cars. Okay, he's a pull guy. Man,
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: it's one out with a guy you know at second base?
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: What pitchs being called? Play the game? No his swing?
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: Do you need to cheat over? Has he been? Guys
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: don't think that. And when you got a team full
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: of guys out of position, they are where I am I
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: lined up deep right center, eight steps back? Okay, balls hit?
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: Oh where do I throw the ball? They don't. They're
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: not thinking that. And it's not only the guys that
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: have to do it. It's got to be collected from
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: up top. Give these guys a plan when they're going
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: out there. Hey, we know you can make the plays.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: It's no longer about making the plays. It's about mentally
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: being ready to make the play that needs to be made,
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: because at the end of the day, when that doesn't happen,
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: now you hand the ball over to a struggling middle relief,
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: and now you have struggling middle relief that can't get
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: it out in these that can't make it out, So
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: now you're asking offense to go up there and score
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: ten runs here, it's not going to happen.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And to round that out, I mean you talked
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: about like it being above the players too. I'm wondering
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: at what point in the season do we get to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: where Don Kelly's looking and saying, all right, well, most
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: of this team is hitting, so I'm gonna play a
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: nine that doesn't screw up in the field.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and if.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Some guys are, you know, who have like an ops
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: above league average or bench players, then like you gotta
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: do what you gotta do to win, right, And I
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: mean this whole thing of you know, start your nine
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: best hitters and then sub in good defenders as the
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: game goes on, Well it's like, all right, well, sometimes
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: you're subbing in guys after they had already made multiple layers.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: So it's like the damage has been done. And I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: get it, like bears can continue happening like we saw
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: on Saturday night, but yeah, like it's just gonna come
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to a point where you know, this is hurting your team,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: not as bad as the offense hurt the team last April, obviously,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: but it's it's preventing you from reaching your potential. So
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: those are things that need to be a priority moving forward.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Any final thoughts as we wrap it.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: Up, Mark, No, I'm just looking forward to seeing Touch again,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: hopefully the I know it's going to be in Texas,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: but hopefully the fan base is excited to see him.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: I'm still rooting for my guy Touch. It would be
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: awesome to see him have a great year with the
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Rangers and you know, really put a nice bow on
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: his case for Hall of Fame. I think that's probably
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: why he's still playing, is because he's so close if
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: I think he's a Hall of Famer, but I think
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: having a one good year left gets him over that home.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: So be rooting for Cutch when he's up to bed.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Hopefully the Pirates have a nice comfy lead for him
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: to you know, get some hits that don't matter, Josh.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Any final thoughts.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Definitely excited to see him. A boycotch man, you know,
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: and I'm sure you know all those guys are as well,
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: can kind of bring a little bit of you know,
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: peace to the end. For as I said, some of
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: those guys can personally thank him, and I think for
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: Cut it'll be all right. I can close this chapter,
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: like y'all all right, media, y'all can stop asking me.
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: But hey, they protected home. That's what we talked about.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: They went four and three. Yes, we sat here and
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: said they left some games out there, but ultimately they
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: went on the road before they came home, and they
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: just wanted so take this off day, go go go
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: beat up on the Rangers. As you said, Mark, you
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: know Cutch, you know, swing and do your thing, but
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: nothing that really hurts pirates, but you know, help in case.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: But continue the you know, the momentum that they got
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: and really hone on Mark's Key of the week. Please.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll just wrap that up. I just reminded
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: everyone hit that subscribe button. We're trying to get to
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: three thousand subs. Were almost at one point five, almost
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: halfway there, so really appreciate your help and check out
• 25:03
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• 25:07
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• 25:10
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• 25:15
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• 25:16
  Speaker 1: All right, So for Josh Harrison and Platinum Ke aka Mark,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hile signing off saying thanks for tuning in.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: To another episode of Buco Territory, presented to you by
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network.