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Twins' hopes all but officially over after series loss to Cleveland · Twin Cities Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm stupid. You're smart. I was wrong. You were right.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: You're the best. I'm the worst. You're very good looking.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not attractive. Okay, I had to get that off
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: my chest because the Twins just laid a dud this
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: weekend against Cleveland when they still had a little bit
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of life left in them in the wildcard race. And
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that has now all but officially ended their hopes as
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: they dropped two of three to the Guardians. and fall
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: five and a half back in the wildcard with 13
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: games to play for them. Here's a look at the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: latest standings right now. They're actually not even part of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the wildcard standings on our little apparatus here anymore. So
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: this is the AL Central standings, but six games back
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: in the Central, five and a half behind Cleveland, D.C.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Chicago has fallen back a lot. They have struggled ever
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: since the Twins were there last week. So a big
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: series in Cleveland actually coming up. this week as Cleveland
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: hosts Chicago playing for first in the Central. But guys,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I spent all last week straining as hard as I
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: could to find a pathway for this team to get
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: back in the playoff race. And it at least required
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: winning that series against Cleveland, if not sweeping it. But Dan,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: it was a familiar pattern. It's another series, three in
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a row now, where the Twins have lost the opener,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: won the middle game and seem like, all right, come
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: out in the finale and maybe you can steal one
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: and build some momentum. And for the third straight series,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: they kind of absolutely laid an egg on Sunday at
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a 9-2 loss. Joe Ryan struggled again. And it was
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: pretty much the rest of the air out of the balloon.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: It was. I mean, look, your effort was cute last week.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: You were just trying to keep the 4.3 percenters alive
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: and well.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: And I appreciate it. I think they did too.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: But now reality has hit us over the head. And
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: it's tough.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: This team, every time there's been a big game the
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: last 15 games, they've just wilted.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: They just haven't been there.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: It goes back to that Chicago Sunday game, Sunday night baseball, 10-1.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: The last game in Detroit, 7-2. Yesterday, 9-2. And even,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: you know, it all really started in my mind, that
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: last home game against Detroit. They could have swept the Tigers,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: ended that homestand. The start of the sprint, as Derek
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Shelton said, baseball's a marathon, but they were in their
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: 15-game sprint against the American League Central, and they lost
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: that first series at home when Walker Jenkins debuted, but
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: still got the nice win on Sunday against the White
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Sox and came out and just stomped Detroit those first
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: two games. But there was a third game, and they
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: were down early, and... They rallied, and they tied it,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: and they had chances in the 8th, the 9th, and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: the 11th, and then lost in 12 by five runs,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: that just abysmal 12th inning.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: And, I mean, this has gone back much further than that.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think that San Diego-Sacramento trip was pretty
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: devastating for them. That's where he lost Byron Buxton for
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: the season. But, in particular, the AL Central, going 6-9
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: in that stretch was not nice. And they, you know,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: just every chance they had to put it away, gain ground,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: they blew it. So, you know, just didn't have a
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: shot yesterday. Joe Ryan did not look good. Joe Ryan
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: took some accountability after the game. More for being out
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: of the, not on the mound. We can talk about
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: that in a minute. But, you know, he's 0-5 since
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: the All-Star break with the 849 ERA. And yesterday Cleveland
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: had constant traffic against him. Stephen Kwan needed a triple
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: for the cycle by the fourth inning.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: It was just a blowout. Tanner Bibby looked great against
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: their hitters. They just looked lifeless. It was just.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Not pretty. I got paid to watch it, so all
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: of you didn't. That's how I feel. Yesterday, I was
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: there while everybody else was there. getting ready for the
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Vikings game and maybe we should focus on the Vikings
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: a little bit.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm sure I'm excited about that.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Heck of a win. We'll take that for sure. They
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: can go one in 16 as long as you beat
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the Packers once.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: The only game that matters is sure.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Seriously, seriously. Anyway, uh, stick around, you know, for twin
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: cities territory after dark, maybe we'll talk more Vikings, but, uh,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: we'll stick with the matter at hand for now. So
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: that was the, um, this swoon has basically been since
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the start of August for the twins have just fallen
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: off the map. That was the seventh series since the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: start of August where they entered the last game, tied one, one,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and they lost six of those series. And that was
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: something they had done so well in the first half
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: when they were climbing out of that eight games under
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: 500 hole. Now they find themselves nine games under 500,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a new season worst. And Tyler, like, I think we've
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: talked about fatigue and as the season wears on and,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: The little injuries add up and everything, but what happens
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: in a clubhouse when you know you need to get going,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: but you just can't find that gear?
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's starting to set in now. You all mentioned
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: the Jeffers quote. We'll probably show it here soon, but
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: it is one like everyone, you're hopeful. You show up,
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: you're like, hey, we can win today. We can do
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: our job. We can move this thing forward. but you're
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: literally out of base. You needed to win that series
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: at minimum against Cleveland, and you kind of got knocked
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: around pretty good there. You had the stretch against your division.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: You had to make some moves. It just didn't happen,
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: and we kind of talked about it. They're missing with
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: Byron out. Jeffers, he's coming into his own. He's going
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: to be the free agent. He's going to be one
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: of the best catchers in the league that's available, but
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: I don't pick him as the spark plug guy.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: You know, he's going to get his hits. He's going
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: to have his opportunities, things like that.
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: But you know, that, that true table setter guy who
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: strikes fear in the other lineup, things like that just
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: isn't there right now. And it's showing that it's, you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: it's tough to scratch some of these runs across at times. It's,
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: you know, it's tough to even get guys on base
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: and it happens, you know, that's the game, but at
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: the same time, you know, that's kind of happened off
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: and on all year. I'm sure it's something they want
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: to address, but it's just, Especially with a team like Cleveland,
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: we talked about their pitching and how good they are
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: going into the series. They seemingly always have a back
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: end of two or three guys that are unhittable, and
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: then their rotation knows how to pitch. Bybee did his
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: job yesterday. Gavin Williams picked the guy. Basically, they're all
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: going to show up and do their job, but Twins
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: just didn't have an answer. Like Joe Ryan said, had
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: he been healthy this whole stretch, would that change things?
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Maybe.
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: Maybe they sprinkle in a couple extra wins, but I
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: don't think it would make a huge drastic difference at
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: that point. I think it's more of a total team
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: lack of that spark at this point than anything else.
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: We've had a few big moments, big hits, things like that,
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: but there just hasn't been that consistent spark since Byron's
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: been gone.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Obviously a lot of frustrations for the Twins to take
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: from this stretch of play, but Dan, you mentioned the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Detroit loss, the 12-inning loss where they had so many
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: chances to win that game and just couldn't get it done.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: There's been seven one-run losses since August 1st, two of
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: them in Seattle, Kansas City, two of them in Milwaukee.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: They've had a lot of games right there where something
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: went wrong in every game. Bad start, bullpen didn't come through,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: bats didn't come through. They have not been putting together
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: complete games. But what feels especially frustrating is They played
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: well against the other teams that are right there in
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: this race for that last wildcard spot. And they were
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: well positioned tiebreaker-wise. There's no game 163 if there's a tie.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: They won the season series with Cleveland. With Toronto, they
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: will likely win it with Texas as long as they
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: don't get swept at home in the finale. And just
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: here they are, unfortunately, Dan, with just really no realistic
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: shot barring a miracle run that just doesn't seem possible
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to come right now.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: It's just like they haven't hit. Ryan Jeffers was very
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: blunt about it yesterday. And he is one of the
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: guys that will just set us straight. You go to
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: him for those quotes. And he was like, we haven't
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: been playing good baseball. We haven't hit well enough. We
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: haven't pitched. We just haven't played well enough. Went on
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: here and talked about the doesn't feel like we're far enough,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: but we are far enough. But we are far enough
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: basically because of what we've done. You know, like everybody
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: knew how important these 15 games were and they went
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: six and nine. And he just, you know, he knew it.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: And he seemed resigned to the fact that this is
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: their lot in life at this point. And it's the
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: first time I've seen guys start to be kind of
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: realistic about it was always, hey, we just need a spark. Hey,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: we're one thing can get us going. And I think
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: they've seen enough evidence where they're starting to recognize it's
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: just not going to happen. I think it's– again, this
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: was a thin-built roster. This was– you had $ 107 million
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: payroll going– or $ 101 million payroll going into the season.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: And $ 30 million of that was to Correa and Pablo Lopez,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: two guys who weren't going to be on the roster.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: So you needed so much and said it a zillion times,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: but you needed your top performers– to do their thing.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: And in the first part of the season, when Byron
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Buxton's hip was healthy, and we will talk about his
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: upcoming hip surgery, because even though that was clearly on
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: the table, it's now a fact and going to happen.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: But when Byron was healthy, he was a three-war player
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: and just a 900 OPS player at the top of
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: the lineup. And even with the struggles with runners in
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: scoring position, he was doing enough things that the rest
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: of the lineup just needed to do a little bit.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: And they haven't had that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Consistency from him for, you know, his last homer was
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: June 22nd. I mean, we're talking about a guy that
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: was beat up basically since the end of June. And
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: he was doing so much that six weeks while his
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: hip was deteriorating in front of him. But it just
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: kept getting worse. And Joe Ryan being 0-5 and 8-49 ERA.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Joe Ryan, I liked the one quote, and I'll read it.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: He said, I'm frustrated with myself just not being out there.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: I think if I'm out there, it's probably a little
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: bit different situation. It's definitely hard watching and not being
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: able to go do my job. He said, basically, I agree.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: But also, I think what he means is the effective
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: version of being out there. Because he has been out
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: there five times. And this is just not the normal
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Joe Ryan that we're accustomed to. I mean, he gave
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: up two home runs Sunday. Joe Adele hit a monster.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: I think it hit the third deck.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I was kind of watching football. I
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: tracked it.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: The sound of the bat snapped you out of it.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I went to the Santa tracker in Norad to find
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the flight of the ball.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: It went far.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Kwon's home run was like, 96 and a.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Half miles an hour.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: That, that ball was only like a one 80 expected
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: batting average. So I thought maybe, you know, but, but
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Joe said that, you know, he was getting his locations.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: He just said he was, they were beating him to
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: the spot that he felt good about his locations.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: His stuff was okay. It just, it was really weird.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: He never gotten a rhythm once in his four innings.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: He constantly was fighting and, and they just kept adding on.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: And it was like, then you get to the bullpen
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: and you're not going to your best parts of your
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: bullpen when that's.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: The case, when you're down four to one. So it
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: was ugly.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: It really, truly like they have a, they have a
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: way of making games really fun where they look really clean.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: And then they play. Okay.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: But they just have, they've specialized in ugly ass losses,
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: like where you just turn the TV off and find
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: something else because it's not going their way.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: And it's going to be like a six or seven
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: run loss.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Sounds like a 70-win team to me. If you like
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: what you hear, please toss us a like, a subscribe,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: however you watch or listen. If you're on YouTube right now,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: there is a QR code on the screen to make
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: it super easy. We'll talk more about this season all
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: but officially coming to an end. Joe Ryan, Byron Buxton,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Emmanuel Rodriguez, and more after this.
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: Back in the day, Kratzy and I were looking for tickets.
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: It was so hard to find a seat or anything available.
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: You'd have to go online and there was nothing there.
• 13:01
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• 13:05
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• 13:07
  Speaker 6: that mean? It means when the green light is on,
• 13:09
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• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Go to SeatGeek.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: Kratzy understands how.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Easy it is.
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I know you used to scalp your tickets. But look,
• 13:16
  Speaker 7: it's way, way better now because you get to just
• 13:19
  Speaker 7: go right on SeatGeek. and find your postseason tickets. I'm
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: not even going to fast forward to the postseason. I'm
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: going to say the run to October because some teams
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: aren't in yet. So right now is the time to
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: get it, and those seats are available.
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: And it's playoff time, the best time for baseball. And,
• 13:34
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• 13:36
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• 13:40
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• 13:52
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• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Six home games left at Target Field. I bet you
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: can get a pretty good deal on SeatGeek right now.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Even better deal. Even better.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: It is the Yankees. It's funny.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: One of the questions we didn't answer the other day
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: was about attendance and TV subs.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to answer this real quick right now.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: We don't get the TV subs info.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: I guess Tom Pollak got in trouble for giving that
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: out last year.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: So we will not be getting that info again.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: Don't open the books.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but they are drawing less than they were last year,
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: but not significantly less. And they still have a Yankee
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: series here coming up. It wouldn't shock me if the
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Twins draw about exactly where they were last year or
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: within at least like 50,000 of that, which is still
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: a depressing 1.7 million. Yesterday was a ghost town. It
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: was like 17,000. I saw more Packers fans walking out early.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I wrote to my friends who went to the Vikings game.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I went and met them afterwards. A few of them
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: left three or four minutes ago because that game just
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: took so long at the very end of it.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: It just dragged out.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: I saw more Packers fans leaving early than I saw
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: people at Target Field yesterday.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: There was a good crowd on Friday. Yeah. yeah, there
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: were good crowds Friday.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Saturday was actually a really loud 26,000 and spirited. Uh,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: but yeah, um, it might be, uh, and we'll see
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: what the Yankees, Yankees always seem to draw, but I
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: wonder what the crowds are going to be like, uh,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: that final weekend against Texas.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Uh, I remember saying like early, one of our earlier
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: episodes when we were talking about how bad the attendance
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: was in April, like if they're in a playoff race
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: in the summertime, it will fill up. I, I didn't
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: account for this kind of playoff race where they never
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: were very good and were somehow still in it. I
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: was thinking more of the– The limping to the end
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of the marathon. Yeah, I was thinking more of like
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: there are six, seven games over 500, that sort of thing.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: So that turned out to not be another prediction of mine.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's like been a race with like
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: seven teams trying to– it's been like a potato race.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: With seven teams. Trying not to lose. Broken legs. Yeah.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Everybody has some kind.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Of physical– Beaten and battered and just– Well, it's like, yeah.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they got over 500 in early August.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Then they had just a bad stretch in Seattle, Kansas City, Milwaukee,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: came home for Baltimore, swept by the Phillies around the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Field of Dreams game. Then they got that sweep of Atlanta.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: And on the morning of August, like, right? It was
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: just three very professional, like, playoff, kind of games, low scoring, tense,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: got to make the pitches, got to get the outs
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: against a good team. And on the morning of August 20th,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: they were off that day. They were 63 and 65,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: but they were in the third wildcard spot at that time.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Since then, they are 19th in baseball and starting pitching ERA,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: 21st in OPS, 22nd in runs scored, 25th in batting average,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: 25th in bullpen ERA, 26th overall ERA. And here is
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the worst one for their purposes. 28th in batting average
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: with runners in scoring position and 29th in plate appearances
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: with runners in scoring position. So not getting a lot
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of chances and not capitalizing when they do. And just
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: to remind you through July, they were the best in
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the league hitting with runners in scoring position or 10th
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: in opportunity. So just the, the pitching never picked up
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: even after the deadline moves, at least statistically. And the,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the batting went way, way, way off the map. And,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: you know, we always expected, you know, anytime you're leading
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the league and something you can expect to come down
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but they didn't just regress to the mean,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: they regressed to the bottom of the league and it
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: has shown in their play since that time, uh, they
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: are just seven and 14 and have faded away.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: That's it. Yes.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: No, it's, it's, uh, unfortunate because the camaraderie is there
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: and the guys like each other and want to play
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: for each other. So I guess they're like first and
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: first and friends made along the way. Um, Like, like
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: this is a team that really did. I say, give
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: a crap. I'm going to go with, I'm not going
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: to have her make her work to bleed me. They
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: did give a crap and it's just not gone their way.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: And that's what happened. Like, this is just like the
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: gas tank is dry.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And that's what I, I, I very much appreciated what
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: we heard from the owner this year. But I also
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: think there was some naive comments early on when they
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: said they were going to play meaningful baseball late in
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: the season and Because this is the team that was
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: kind of built to– and I think that you– like
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Tom Paul has alluded to it, that he's learned a
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: lot this season. And I thought– I think early on
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: he thought that they could get there through being the
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: team and with their character.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: And that can get you somewhere. Absolutely can get you.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Like buying into the plan and playing hard, all that
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: can work. But also then you need– everything to go
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: the right way when you had the margins for error
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: that they do. And they were going to rely on
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: so many young guys. And we've seen those young guys
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: come up and struggle. And it's just what happens when
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: you have a young team that is inexperienced. They're inconsistent.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: And they can go into dry spells. And, like, Walker
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Jenkins is struggling right now. Emmanuel Rodriguez gave him a
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: little bit of a spark with the home run in
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: his debut. But, I mean, like, you're still– It's too
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: far from where they wanted to be and it's really
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: hit them over the head the last couple weeks and
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: it's it's just been resounding and flat and obvious that
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: that they just are gassed and it's felt like it's
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: funny it really felt like at the all-star break that
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: that going home for those four days there was just
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: they couldn't they were all in up until that to
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: that point and they continue to be all in but
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: like that energy that it felt like it has not been.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: As good as it was pre all-star break.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: And, you know, they came out with that nice win
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: that Friday night in Chicago at Wrigley field. And then
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: they got smoked the next two days and they went
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: to Cleveland and yeah, I don't know.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: It's been a weird, weird season. And Joe got hurt
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: or Joe, Joe started pitching like crap in Cleveland.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: And it was like, Oh boy, they have a lot
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: going on with them right now. And, and, that's when
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: it was pretty much obvious that Byron and Joe were
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: not right. And the, the, the best two players on
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: your team were not going to be able to carry
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: you the way they did in the first half.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: That's exactly where I was going to go next. I mean, we,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: we've talked about Joe Ryan already, Dan, but Tyler, like
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: when you had, when, when things were working, the formula was,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: they had a great top end, at least one, two
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: in the starting rotation and, some other good pieces in
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the rest of it. But with Joe Ryan struggling with
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Byron Buxton out entirely and struggling when he was back in,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: it kind of changes the calculus, not just obviously for
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: this season, but going forward now. Again, we're going to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: wait on the off-season talk. But this is now. I mean,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: surgery is happening.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: Byron's hopefully going to be able to– they obviously have
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: looked at it, evaluated it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: It's the right move to get it done. You know,
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: I don't know what the exact procedure is.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: I've had a lot of teammates have different hip surgeries
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: and some are quick, some are whatever, you know, you
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: get a hip replacement these days.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: It's like next day you're walking. So who knows what
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: it's going to be.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: Um, but to the point, you know, he, he and
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Joe both were kind of the guys, you know, the,
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: the one a of the pitching and the one a of,
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: of hitting. And when both of those guys get shaky
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: at the same time, um, you know, it's tough. You know,
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: Taj has pretty seemingly settled into like being a guy,
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: you know, potential one ace type guy with his stuff.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: You know, the guys filled in great.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Zebby had a nice stretch, but again, he's coming into
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: his own as a big leaguer, you know, figuring out
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: how to navigate, you know, making 30 starts in the
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: big leagues, you know, things like that.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: It's, it's another animal compared to the minor leagues.
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: And so it's, At the end of the day, I
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: think that's what I'm going to take from it, and
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: it's starting to remind me of it. 2016 was just
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: not a fun year for Twins baseball. I won't get
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: deep into it, but it was also a time where
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: all of the young guys that I came up with,
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: we kind of all got to the big leagues. We
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: all got there together. It was me, Raj, Kep, Byron, Sano, Rosie, Polanco,
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: all of those guys. We all came up within a
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: year and a half stretch, I think it was. Um,
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: and we got our feet wet and then next year we,
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: we showed up and it was like, everybody kind of hit,
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: hit stride at once and we made a playoff run.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: So it's, it's a good thing.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: Like at this point, I'm starting to look at it
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: as a positive for what's happening now. These guys are
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: going to get an opportunity to go play. Um, especially
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: as soon as they're out of it, you know, certain
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: guys just won't play that much anymore or whatever they're
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: going to do. But, you know, it's an opportunity for
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: all these young guys to get a lot of at-bats
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: and against quality competition, get your feet ready under you
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: for next year.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Um, you know, whenever the season.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: Starts, but yeah, when you lose your, your best two
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: guys in pretty close timing there, um, you know, it's
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: hard to recover from one and let alone both.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Dan, what's the, um, yeah, yeah, that they, they think
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: he'll be ready, uh, next season. And like, that's, it's
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: arthroscopic scope.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Um, okay.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So they're going in. Yeah. But also, they could find
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: something in there. You never know. You go in.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Loose bodies.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: But Byron– yeah, exactly. Byron really did feel like.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Confident that this will help him the rest of the
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: way in his career is what he said. He said,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: it might bug me down the road. So he's clearly
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: looking at post-life that he may– the hip could be
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: in trouble and he might need something later. But– he
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: thinks this is going to help him, uh, the rest
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: of the way.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: That would be great.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: He had two knee surgeries. The first one didn't take, um,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: that was the end of 2022 season. He had another
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: one at the end of 2023. His knees been not
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: an issue for the last three years.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: He's been good.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: And like, he's looked great. And he had so many
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: knee issues leading up to that. But this hip has
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: been since 2021 now. So five years, um, he, he mentioned, um,
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: and I, it's funny when we talked to him, he
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: called us over, I talked to him.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: When he was coming off the field.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: On Thursday, Friday, Friday, and asked him if he, he's
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. So I had to
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: ask him about Mike Evans debut with the 49ers on Thursday.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: And he was like, he was excited. Like you could
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: tell he was pretty hyped. He loves watching Mike Evans
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: and they waved us over and said, Hey, you can ask.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: And so a couple of us went over and talked
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: to him. And I think there's a little bit of,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Comfort because he had been working his ass off to
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: get back and not see him progress. And so there's
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: sort of that comfort in knowing, all right, I did
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: everything I could do.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: And he said he knew in May, the.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: First time this happened, that he was going to have
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: to manage it all season. He knew it immediately in May. Oh,
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: he's like, oh, that's something we're going to have to
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: work on every day. And he said at first it
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: was good because you remember he missed five games in mid-May.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: And then came back and he DH 10 of 11
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: games and he stayed on the field till the end
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: of June and he was very good. And then it
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: happened in June and he missed four or five games
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: and he raced back and get back to that Yankee
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: series at Yankee stadium over 4th of July. And he
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: played the Friday and he started Saturday and he stole
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: a base in the first inning and he got caught stealing,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: but also he got hurt on that play that landed
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: him on the I.L. and he was on the aisle
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: through the all-star break. He had to give up that
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: all-star start and tried to sacrifice it.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, what?
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: He missed nine games, and he came back, and he
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: was good for about five days, six days. He noticed
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: the diminishing returns, how quickly it was.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Starting to catch up.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: It was inevitable.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Right. And he came back, and he was– yeah, he did.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: So I think that he is content knowing he gave
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: it his all, while still very disappointed he can't be
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: out there. He didn't seem defeated because he knew he
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: basically put his body through hell to get out there
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: as much as he could, and it just couldn't keep up.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: He really got concerned that night in Sacramento when he
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: couldn't lean down and pick up that ball.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Because it locked up the back.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: He's racing for it, and he knew he wasn't being
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: himself by not getting that ball, and he couldn't live
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: with a play like that happening in a critical moment
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: down the stretch.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: So it's been a journey.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I think with what we saw production-wise
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: before the injury, there's reason to be excited about what
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Byron can do again next year. I mean, he's become
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: this force at the plate. Now he's just got to
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: work on the runners and scoring position.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: A little bit. And he can be an MVP-type player.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I think he's content, and I think
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: he is optimistic about what next year looks like for him.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Take another break. We'll be right back. We'll talk about
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the rookies from the weekend, and we'll give you one
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: reason to keep watching these last 13 games right after this.
• 27:58
  Speaker 8: Hey, today's episode is presented by the ASPCA Pet Health
• 28:04
  Speaker 8: Insurance Program.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Krath, we love our pups.
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: Yes, I love my mini golden doodle, Bella. But you
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  Speaker 8: Insurance is underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or
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• 29:00
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get that add in, but one comment
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: on Buxton. The endless cycle of injury and getting optimistic
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: and coming back and then injury again is obviously something
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: that is Dogged him for a long time. Obviously, it's
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: not a criticism. You can't help getting hurt like that. But,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: you know, now on the wrong side of 30, coming
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: back from this, we'll see. But, like, then you look
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: at the numbers and, you know, if the Twins only
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: get 80, 90 games of him, it's still better than
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: 162 of about 25 homers yeah right so yeah it's
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: frustrating but.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: It is what it is war he's missed how many
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: what's his games total played for the season.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: 93 what'd he end.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: Up at yeah 90 he missed he missed 70 games
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: and he's gonna end up 80th in war um best
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: on the team i think right yeah yeah it makes
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: the it makes the team MVP vote for, uh, for
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: the writers a little difficult because Byron's clearly been the
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: best player, but also like you, the, the lack of
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: playing like hurts.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Um, let's talk about something good from the weekend. How
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: about Emmanuel Rodriguez, uh, debuting with a home run and
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: his first at bat also had a hit on Sunday,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: two for eight.
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: For the weekend.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Great outfield assist as well. Um, we were texting after
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: the home run and it was just, it was so
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: nice to see the emotion that came out of him.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: And I made the comment that like, that was more
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: emotion than I think we've seen from the twins all
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: second half. And we kind of talked about it earlier,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: how the energy was just, just not there for the team.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: He comes hopping around third base, crosses home. He like
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: yells something out to the, towards the bench. And then
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: what do you know? They go out and get a
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: barrage of hits after that and score four runs. The
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: only runs they scored on Saturday and in the four
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to three win. And I asked, like, is this going
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: to be the spark? And the answer turned out to
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: be no, at least a day later. But still, it
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: was a heck of a moment for him.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: It was great.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Seventh twin to home run, their first at bat. First
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: since Eddie Rosario in 2015. Duff, were you up for that?
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Do you remember?
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: No, so I watched that on TV. I wasn't there yet.
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: But it was the first pitch he saw.
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I remember that one.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: And it was like ball– Ball out of the box,
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: like way over there. Just whack. Yeah, there's Rosie. He's ready.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: No, it was cool. Look, Emmanuel Rodriguez has wanted this.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: Emmanuel Rodriguez in spring training stood out. We interviewed him
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: and Walker Jenkins and Gabby Gonzalez all within like two
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: days of each other.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: And he and Gabby Gonzalez did an interview together.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: And it just was clear that this guy, A, likes
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: the attention, wants the attention, wants to be that guy
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: that talks. to the media, just seems to grasp what
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: is needed in that realm and wants to.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: Be a star. And to go out and, I mean,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: the assist was amazing because that was such a bang-bang play.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Second inning.
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Perfect throw.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: And Angel Martinez, it was. Angel Martinez was stunned running
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: from first to third.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: He is quick. And it was like just one hopper.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: And right into Brooks Lee's glove perfectly where Angel Martinez
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: slid into the tag. And Martinez was like– couldn't believe it,
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: wanted them to check the dugout. So that sets up
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: the day, like great start right there. And then to
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Homer and his family was there. Like he just– he
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: admitted before the game that he cried. This is like
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: when he got the news the night before. He said it–
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: like his interview was amazing with Pablo Lopez as interpreter.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: He said, full disclosure, I cried. But this is a
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: guy that, like, you know, he could have been here
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: earlier this year, and then he slid into first base
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: headfirst and tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: and had surgery and missed from May 1 until July 28.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: And at May 1, Matt Wallner was struggling. Maybe Matt
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: Wallner was already down, but James Altman was struggling. They
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: were looking to make a move in the outfield. Rodriguez
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: had like a 925 OPS at the time, or maybe
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: it was like 910. He was performing. He was like,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: they were talking about him. And then he slid into
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: first and hurt his thumb and basically couldn't come up
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: until the end of, you know, mid, mid September when
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: the seasons basically when the team's choking on fumes. But
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: he like, that was a great, like you could just
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: tell what it all meant to him.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: It was, he was emphatic about.
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: Everything and excited and like to hit a home run.
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: He said he had joked about it with his family
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: at night before. Like, what if you did that? Yeah,
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: so 14th twin also to Homer in their first game played,
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: last being Kalen Culpepper a month ago. So that's the
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: one thing that's good about this last 13 days. We
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: are seeing Kalen Culpepper. We are seeing Walker Jenkins. We
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: are seeing Emmanuel Rodriguez. The kids are playing as let
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: the kids play. That's what the fans always yell when
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: it seems like the season's over. And it is happening,
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: and you can see the cornerstones right there. Those three
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: guys are that next wave of the twins, and here
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: we are getting a good look at them.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Culpepper, Dan, he got drilled in the back.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: How's he doing?
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you could tell that he was hurt badly. He
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: could not stay in. Derek Shelton described it sort of
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: like a stinger. You could tell that Culpepper was struggling
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: to catch his breath. He was– what Duff, what is
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: that machine? Uh, they, it has a suction cup on
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: it and a wire and it sends pulses into your shoulder.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Do you know what.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: I'm talking about? Yeah.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: He was wearing that yesterday. He was, uh, they went
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: and sent him for x-rays. X-rays were negative, meaning good. Um,
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: so no fracture, but he was more worried about nerve
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: damage because it hit him basically on the, the shoulder
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: bone and, and he was feeling it.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: Um, He's sore.
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: He missed yesterday. He missed Sunday's game. Might miss Monday's game.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: But they were lucky. They felt, you know, this was
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: going to be something that would subside. But, man, it
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: was a scary moment. I mean, Franco Aleman was on
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: the mound for the Rodriguez home run. And Franco Aleman
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: had just a terrible inning Saturday.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Gave up all those blue pits. Was frustrated.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: Then he hits– I can't remember who he hit first.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: Right in the spine. Yeah, I mean, he hit two
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: batters in a row.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, it was Culpepper first, and then he hit
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: somebody in the foot. But, like, he fell apart in
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: the mound, and Culpepper went down hard.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Like, you're like, I thought if he got hit in
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: the back.
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he was a sack of potatoes, just boom.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: No, I thought if he got hit in the back,
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: that's a good place to get hit in the back.
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: It is not a good place to get hit. He
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: went down hard, man.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: It was tough to punch.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of bones back there, not much muscles.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was definitely not the most hilarious hit-by-pitch
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: of the weekend. That would be Joey Cantillo's aborted half-toss
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: that Brooks Lee just sat there and took. It was
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: coming to like.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: 30 miles an hour.
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: Brooks Lee's recovering well.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Barely softball pitch. Yeah.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: Barely softball pitcher. All right.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Well, Dan, since you already cheated, I'll let you start
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: the final segment of the show, but you kind of
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: already previewed it, but Yankees at target field for three
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: this week. Too bad it's not a little bit more
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: meaningful for the Twins, but they're here Monday through Wednesday,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: two night games and an afternoon game. And 13 games
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: left overall for the Twins. Again, not officially over, but
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: for all intents and purposes, I believe I saw this
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: morning that their playoff odds are down to 0.5%. So
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: hang in there if you're still hanging on.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: It's magic.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: But assuming there's no miracle run coming, Dan, what do
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: you have your eye on the rest of the way?
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the kids, man. I want to see Walker Jenkins
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: show a little bit of it.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: He's just going through it right now, and you can tell.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Striking out a lot. I want to see that.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: I want to see how he adjusts as he gets
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: his feet under him some more. Emmanuel Rodriguez, we're going
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: to see a lot of them both in the outfield.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Uh, Shelton indicated that one will be in center field
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: one day and the other will be, they'll, they'll rotate
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: days in center.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: Um, they're getting an idea.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: So we, we get a look at that 2027 outfield
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: with him and with those two and Luke Keyshaw out there.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: Um, obviously Byron Buxton.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: Figures in that plans a lot too, but, um, we
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: will get a real good idea of where the future is.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: And I, I, I'm, That part is exciting because we're
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: not talking about just rookies coming up.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: We're talking about top 100 rookies that are here.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: And Culpepper defensively has looked really good. Like the leaping
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: catch Caleb Culpepper made on Saturday before he got removed
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: from that game on a smoked ball. Like everything he
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: does is looking good right now. He had a huge
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: hit on– they came back. Was it Friday night? Yeah,
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: Friday night.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: The big hit off Hunter Gattis, a two-out game-tying single
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: in the eighth inning on Friday night. Kalen Culpepper is
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: living up to the billing, and he is ready. This
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: is fun to watch, and you can see the gains
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: coming at shortstop. It's just starting to look all natural
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: with him, and that's fun. That has been exciting to
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: chart since August 7th since he came up. It's not
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of guys on the pitching side. I don't
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: know what else they do. who they give shots to
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: over these 13 games. Royce Lewis hurt his shoulder on Sunday,
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: and that didn't sound promising, but we'll know more today.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: They didn't have much information other than what happened was
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: he dove for the bag. There was a really weak
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: ground ball hit to first base, and he dove to
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: the bag to beat the runner.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: It was Joe Adele.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: He may have jarred it there, and then he tweaked
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: it on a swing. in his next play appearance, and
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: he flew out. So I don't know. Could that result
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: in another call-up?
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: I don't. know.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: We'll find out more there. But, yeah, so, yeah, the
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: three kids is what I'm looking for.
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Dan took three things, Tyler, but you can have the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: next pick. What are you watching the rest.
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: Of the week?
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: At this point, like, try to play spoiler. Like, if
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: you're not going to be– In it, you might as
• 39:49
  Speaker 5: well ruin somebody else's day. I think that's the only
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: attitude to take. I heard, I think it was the
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: A's or somebody, they were basically talking about it on
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: post-game interviews.
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: It's one, you're.
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: Playing for jobs for next year at the end of
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: the day, and that's pretty much every guy in this lineup.
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: Whether you're a young guy or a veteran trying to
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: get paid or just to extend a career, these games
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: still matter. And to Dan's point, all the young guys,
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: they're about to play the Yankees for the first time,
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: and it's going to be one of those moments where
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: you look across the field and you're like, oh, there's
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: XYZ All-Star across their entire lineup.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: And so it'll be a fun one.
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: I think I'm looking forward to them showing up tonight
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: for this series in particular. Had a rough weekend. You're
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: playing a big team, a team that has history in Minnesota. um,
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: of just being a problem. And so it'll be, it'll
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: be fun. I'm, you know, it's just one of those
• 40:48
  Speaker 5: where at this point, the.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: Bad is here.
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: I experienced plenty of it. You know, I was part
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: of the issue. Um, but no, it's fun. You know,
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: it is at the end of the year, it's play spoiler,
• 41:00
  Speaker 5: like go, go up there and just ruin somebody else's day.
• 41:03
  Speaker 5: You're already having a tough go, you know, bring them
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: down with you, you know, go out swinging.
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's, At the end of the day, that's.
• 41:09
  Speaker 5: All Shelty can do as a manager is tell his guys, look,
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: go play your game and do your job, and the
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: rest will take care of itself. For me, hopefully Joe
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: Ryan settles in and gets right before the season's over.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: I think that'll be big.
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: If he can be who we need him to be
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: to finish, regardless of the result, that's a big step
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: for next year.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: Byron's obviously having his surgery. It's just now.
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: the 0.05%, whatever it is, like, um, you know, I
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: wouldn't hold onto that one, but instead just trying to
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: enjoy these games and enjoy the little positive moments in
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: the next couple of weeks.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: If you can. Yeah.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: That's basically what mine was going to be like, you,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: how do you want to go into the off season here?
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: You know, you, do you, you know, you, Finish something like...
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Just nosedive? Right. Will the nosedive continue and you finish
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: kind of at or below where everybody said you were
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: going to be and you just say okay? Or do
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: you show a little fight with a schedule that gets
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: pretty favorable at least after these next three games and
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: maybe put together an 8-5, 9-4 type of finish that
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: even though it won't be good enough to get you
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, at least puts you up there in
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: the upper 70s of wins and gives you something good?
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: to go by. Also watching all the young guys. Also
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: everything Tyler said, but in the interest of being different
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Anyway, I'll say that.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Can I add one thing real quick?
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: What was Matt LaFleur thinking taking points off the board?
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: That's all I want to say.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, I love it. It was a great decision
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure it would
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: have mattered given the avalanche that happened after that, but
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: so be it.
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: We'll take it.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: It's cold. Skol indeed.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: 1-0.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Bears next, though. They look good.
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Caleb Williams.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I stay.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: We're going back to Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week and next.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: We'll see you again on Wednesday. After that, unless the
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: Twins make a miracle run, we're dropping down to two
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: episodes a week after the regular season is over, so
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: we'll keep you posted on that. But Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: this week and next. Thanks for listening. As always, if
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: you like what you hear, please toss us a like
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: or subscribe. However you watch or listen, if you're on
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: YouTube right now, there is a QR code there on
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the screen to make it super easy. Thanks for listening
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: to Twin Cities Territory, everybody. We will catch you next time,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: and bye-bye.