Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Joe Ryan back, Walker Jenkins slumping, and time's almost up for Twins

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Joe Ryan back, Walker Jenkins slumping, and time's almost up for Twins · Twin Cities Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Guys, I'm not afraid to say it. Western Michigan was
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: absolutely freaking robbed. Holy cow. That was awful. A mystery
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: second and a special clock that no one else can
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: see just shows up and saves Michigan. I am testing
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: out some new material because it is looking like we
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: might have some time on our hands in October that
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: we'll have to fill with other topics besides Twins baseball
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: after a rough weekend. Again, for the Twins, lost two
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: out of three in Chicago with a particularly... deflating loss
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: on Sunday. We'll get to that in a minute, but
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we're going to start first with the breaking news this
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Monday morning, Labor Day, Monday morning. Joe Ryan is coming
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: back from the IL. Garrett Acton optioned to make room
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: for him. Dan, a boost for the Twins, but it
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: might be a little too late.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I like that you chose to go with, do you
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: want the good news or the bad news? Let's start
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: with the good news.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Joe Ryan is back and that is great for the twins.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: They've been needing him, sorely missed him. You know, he, uh,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: before the all-star break had 285 VRA, you know, 110 innings,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: 128 strikeouts and looked amazing. I mean, enough to earn
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that all-star nod for the second time without having to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: go to, um, like, get a get a uh add-on
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: he was he was a first ballot essentially all-star this
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: year you know and that that's a huge deal for
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: a guy um and then got hurt somewhere right before
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the all-star break and it can got worse and worse
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and we saw the three all-star post all-star starts in
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the 939 era and joe ryan looked nothing like himself
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: he thought it'd be a quick turn on the il
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: this has taken longer it's been a month basically he
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: went on retroactive to august 6th and He finally feels
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: like he's turned a corner physically. You can tell just
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in the way he talks that he's not concerned about
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: repeating what happened that got him into that place in
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the first place. But it might be too little too late.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: There are 19 games to go. The Twins are four
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: and a half out in the wild card. The division's over.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I think we can say that with pretty much certainty
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: at this point. Seven games. That was always going to
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: be a challenge, and that's why we really haven't even
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: talked about the division yet. probably for a month, but this,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: this one made it pretty, uh, certain, but, um, you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: any boost, whatever can get you going the right way is, is,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: is helpful. I think we'll see a piggyback with Connor
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: pre-lip today. Um, and in an effort to limit his innings,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: he's in 122 and two thirds. That's 40 more than
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: he threw last year.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It's his career high, but, um, so he'll pitch tonight.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Definitely. Yeah. Joe Ryan pitches. I think the game, uh,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: He'll start, and it wouldn't shock me if Connor Prelip
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: comes in somewhere around the fifth inning.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Sorry, this afternoon game today. Yes. With him back today,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that's probably roughly four more appearances left in the season.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Obviously not a lot of leeway for the Twins at
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: this point, Tyler, but I guess you hope beyond hope
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that this is your last little boost.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's all you can, like you said, it's
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: all you can hope for. It's, you know, like last night,
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: it's hard.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: To win a game.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: You walk that many guys, you know, our guys are
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: putting up runs, things like that. But, you know, even
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: if you win his four, you've still got.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: To win a lot of other games. So, you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: maybe he.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Lifts everyone up with him, you know, Taj guy, you know, it's,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: he looked good.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Just got hit.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: We have a couple of homers, things like that, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: it doesn't matter. You've, you just can't lose as bad
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: as you're losing these games. Like last night where you
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: just never had a chance really. And so it's just,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: you know, the division, like Dan mentioned, it's, you're not
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: going to get that, so you just got to keep
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: winning in any way possible, and it's kind of, like
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: I said, probably feels like a week or so ago now,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: that bullpen, you know, you're trying not to use guys
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: too heavily and keep them fresh, but at the same time,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: you know, if you're not playing in October, you're going
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: to have plenty of time to get fresh, so this
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: is really, for me, in my eyes, it's all hands
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: on deck from the first inning, and we just kind of,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: like Shelty, I think, mentioned, he called it the sprint,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: like It is. You've just got to find a way.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: You know, guys are contributing on offense. Guys are showing
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: up at times when they need to. Jeffers is hot
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: right now again. Bell hit the furthest ball I think
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: I've seen hit in the White Sox stadium the other day,
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: which is awesome. But, yeah, Joe coming back is going
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: to be big. Assuming it goes well, like, it's got
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: to go smooth. And then Prelip coming out of the pen, like,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: you don't know what's going to happen with that either.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: You know, sometimes those things get a little dicey, but,
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: you know, if those two can make a great bridge together, great.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: And then you have, you know, that's three starts where,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: you know, okay, we're going.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: To get some consistency, you know, each time through, but yeah, it's, it's,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: it's getting pretty close here.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Pretty close to midnight indeed. And here's a look at
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: those wildcard standings. Twins now four and a half out as,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: as mentioned, Cleveland still leading the way. Toronto, uh, lost
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to the Royals yesterday, but they've been surging and I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: didn't realize guys, but, um, they're done with the Yankees,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Rays and Red Sox.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Toronto's got a very easy schedule. Toronto has like,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I know there's a couple of Baltimore's in there, I
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: think for the, the blue Jays, but they have some angels. They,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: they have a very night and they have one more Royals,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I believe. I think they have the Royals up in Toronto. Um,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: they have a plush schedule. I was looking at that
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: yesterday and, uh, They're playing well. It's a challenging time
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: just for the Twins because that game Wednesday really stands
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: out the way it went. They needed that victory against Detroit.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And Detroit, since basically losing the first two of the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Twins and getting blown out, has shown some life at least.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I think they lost three or four in Cleveland last year.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: including getting swept on both ends of the doubleheader, the
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: split day, night doubleheader Friday, getting walked off in both
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: games by Cleveland. And they got walked off yesterday, but
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: they played it in extras three of five times since,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: since Wednesday. So Detroit has suddenly found some life, at
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: least where they're pushing teams. And obviously that Wednesday game
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: still stands out as a crusher. Like it feels it's,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: it's a, It's been a rough go for the Twins
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: here for about five days.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, every time they have tried to get going in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the last month, they have hit a roadblock pretty fast.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: String a couple wins together, and then here come the losses. Obviously,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: we talked a lot about that Detroit game last week. Sunday,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: in the same category to me in the sense that
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: they had the nice win on Saturday. Jeffers, his only
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: hit of the series, a huge one, the three-run homer,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: to help the Twins win that one. had a chance
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: on Sunday with a White Sox bullpen game to win
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: that series and come out of there feeling pretty good,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: heading into a stretch where there still could be wins
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to be had on the board, but they just had
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: nothing to offer, Dan, in that game.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: That was probably... Look, there have been worse losses, I'm sure.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: There definitely have been. But that was the most uncompetitive
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: non-competitive game I've seen from them all season. They just,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: they had zero. They didn't get two. They had one
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: inning where they got two runners on base, but Brooksley
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: had homered to start the inning. So they never had
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: two runners on base at the same time for nine
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: innings against the bullpen game. They went four for 30.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: They had an 0 for 13 spell in between Brooksley's
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: home run, ended the 0 for 13. They struck out
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: 15 times. their pitchers Bailey over, I thought was actually
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: pretty good. Um, but with the way his velocity is
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and as they, they kind of demonstrated how they are
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: not going to trust him to get in the, I mean,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: third time through, they're just not going to trust him. And, uh,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: when he got in a little trouble at third time through,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: they pulled him and went to the bullpen. Um, I
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: thought his stuff overall was solid. He like, he had
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: a bunch of swing and miss. He had six strikeouts,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: four and a third innings. They did break through. Um,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Murakami singled and made it 1-0 in the fifth. And
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: they went to the bullpen. And for the half inning there,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: the bullpen held up. But then the bullpen just fell
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: apart seven walks. I know one was intentional in there.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: But seven walks from the bullpen in four-plus innings. Their
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: pitchers walked 10 overall. It was just ugly. And it
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: got away fast. And the White Sox just kicked their
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: ass this season. And it was only 8-5 in the
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: season series. but the run differential was 74 44. Yeah.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: And we saw it again last night.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: It's two years in a row where the white Sox
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: have won the season series eight, five. And last year
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: the white Sox were 60 and one Oh two. And
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: the white, the twins were 70 and 92. So the
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: white Sox have found some new life against the twins
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: under Will Benable. And, uh, if you're a twins fan,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: you can't like it very much.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: He's a good guy. We root for Will.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Um, I, before we, before we hit record, I was
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: questioning the move to go to Taylor Rogers and then
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Garrett Acton when the game was only four, one in
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the seventh. But Dan, you very, very
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: quickly put me in my place.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Look, I, all I'm saying, and my point was you
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: like you'd won the night before and you'd use your
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: entire bullpen the night before and you have a turnaround run.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: day game on Monday if you go to Jeff Hoffman
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: there if you go to AJ Minter and you rely
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: on those guys right there in a game you're losing
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: four to one you're really taking a you're you're chasing
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: a victory in a spot where the percentages are low
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: um there was just no life from that offense. So
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: you're gambling your offense with no life is going to
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: turn things around. And instead, basically, I think it was
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: very blunt assessment that this was an uphill battle. The
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: White Sox had some of their better relievers still to come.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Like if the twins were going to do something, it
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: was going to be against Hagan Smith and he just
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: dominated against them for a couple innings. And knowing that
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the back end of that bullpen, which again, Just because
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: we don't know the names doesn't mean it's not a
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: formidable bunch. I mean, Grant Taylor's having a great season.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: He's about to hit 100 strikeouts for the season for them.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: He's the guy that gave up the home run. But
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Shelton was basically playing the numbers there and saying, hey,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: we need to rely on everybody so we don't burn
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: out the guys in our bullpen. And I'm sure that
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Garrett Acton, the reason why they used him was knowing
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: he's the guy that they sent down today when they
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: activated Joe Ryan. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Why wasn't it maybe...
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: You could maybe say Travis Adams there. You could maybe
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: say somebody that's a little bit more known. And Taylor
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Rodgers certainly has struggled when he's facing righties. So you
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: went to some of the guys at the bottom end,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: but I just think that was a statement that, hey,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: if we're going to win this, we're going to need
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: all the parts to come through. And the way the
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: White Sox pitched, I can understand why Derek Shelton just
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Didn't go to the A guys because today you got
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Joe Ryan, and today you got maybe Connor Prelip, and
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: you have Detroit, who's a little more susceptible. And you
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: might need your guys on Tuesday, and you might need
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: your guys on Wednesday. And they were facing an uphill battle.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, that was just– that was ugly. It was
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: just so uninteresting of a game yesterday to see it, like,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: unfold the way it did.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: All right, can we take it? Dan was not thrilled
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to be sitting through that game on Sunday.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Are you not entertained?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Please if you are listening or watching toss us a
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: like or subscribe however you are consuming this podcast if
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: you're on YouTube right now there's a QR code on
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the screen makes it super easy we'll talk more from
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the weekend and what's ahead for the twins right after.
• 12:27
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• 12:35
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  Speaker 2: All right.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to try to play around with this fancy
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: tool that we've got here for this next segment. Plenty
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to talk about from the weekend. And one thing that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: jumps out is that Mr. Walker Jenkins has had a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: bit of a tough go, guys. Let me see if
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: I can figure out how to navigate here. There we go.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: There he is. In his last five games, guys, 0
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: for 14, seven strikeouts and three walks. And we had
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: been obviously talking a lot early on about his position
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: player home run and kind of early impressions of him.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: It slowed down a bit. He wasn't striking out a
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: lot in those first four games, only one in his
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: first four, but there you see his last five on
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the screen if you're on YouTube right now. Seven Ks.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Had the day off on Saturday, but did make an
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: appearance late in that game as a defensive sub. It
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: hasn't been going well, and I guess the question is, Tyler,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I'll start with you.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Is it time to worry about No, I don't think
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: it's time to worry.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: I think it's kind of what we led into so
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: much before calling him up was you don't want to
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: have a situation where you're having to deal with two
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: guys doing what's happening now. Culpepper is settling well. He's
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: got the late hit down the line to drive in
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: an extra run. He's doing what he needs to be doing,
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: and Walker's just kind of getting his feet wet. It's
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: just frankly what it is. and it's in big spots,
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: and it shows up because we need these games badly.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: But this is normally a guy that gets called up
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: and kind of just let him do his thing. But
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: he's already had this. He's sitting days for probably matchup purposes,
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: things like that. But I think sitting him down doesn't
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: do anyone any favors because, okay, you option him for
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: the rest of the season basically, and then that's it.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: Or you let him sit here tomorrow, he figures it out,
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: and goes on a tear. I think that's the value
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: of keeping him around. He's a speed guy, so if
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: you need a guy to base run, things like that,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: keep him in the game with the bright lights because
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: the more exposure at this point he gets, the better
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: for him for next season. Playing these games against the
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: White Sox in that stadium, playing Detroit where everyone's trying
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: to win, and it's that heightened experience, the games getting
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: elevated a bit, getting those games under your belt is significant.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: So personally, I don't think it would be the best
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: idea to option him. Like it's, you know, September expanded
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: rosters are there for a reason. He's the perfect guy
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: to be on. You know, obviously we'd love for him
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: to be the star center fielder that he is to,
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: to be later. But you know, it's just, he's going
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: through that little slump, you know, welcome to the big leagues.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: It's just part of it.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: It's obviously a small sample size at this point. And,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Hardly his fault that the team's not winning right now.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: And maybe in a way, Dan, it's kind of a
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: better way for him to kind of take his lumps
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and learn the ropes as his team's games appear to
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: be headed towards the point where they're not going to
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: be as pressure-packed as we were hoping.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe A.J. Hinch knew what he was doing by having
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Walker Jenkins face a beer league softball pitcher in the
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: ninth inning or eighth inning on Monday night because he
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: is 0 for 14 since that home run. And, um,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: so he, I don't know, maybe taking some hacks at
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: 37 miles an hour, threw him into a different, uh, uh, headspace.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It's like the home run Derby messing up your swing.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. You know, um, that's exactly what happened. You know,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: the seven strikeouts certainly is a little bit concerning just
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: because it's 50, it's not 50% of his, his plate appearances.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: He's walked three times. There've been some times where he's
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: been able to slow down and take some good, um,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: But there was one where he swung at 99.9 from
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Jordan Hicks. I think it was his first plate appearances yesterday.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: He got to full count. And he swung at 100
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: over the top of the zone. And it was actually
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: a really well-placed pitch. It was just over the top
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: of the zone and in. But, I mean, he looks
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: like a guy who's seen– really good pitching, consistent pitching
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: for the first time. And this is one of the
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: concerns that I think the Twins had where they wanted
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: him to get the experience. Not that Kalen Culpepper had
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: a ton more minor league experience, but Kalen Culpepper also
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: had three years of college baseball. Kalen Culpepper played in
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: the College World Series and thrived in the College World Series.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: He went nine for 19 in his five College World
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Series games and hit for the cycle on one. and
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Kalen Culpepper is 24 Walker Jenkins is 21. So there
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: was some thought that Kalen Culpepper at least had, you know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: been out there and seen more and was more polished
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: and ready. Like Walker Jenkins certainly has all the tools and,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: and he's going to have a good career, but the
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: lumps were going to come at some point. And I
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: think the twins were worried about that for sure. And
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: so we're seeing that right now. And it's turned into,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: you know, early on the average wasn't great, but the
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: slug was solid. And, um, the last 14 play appearances
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: have been, have been tough because over 14, um, you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: in the ninth spot, this is a team that thrives
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: off that eight and nine. They've, they've had one of.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: The best bottom lineups.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Right. And, and setting it up for Luke Keyshaw and,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: and whoever's batting two on that certain day. Um, I,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: you know, all it does take is one good game and, and,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: getting a good result. And clearly, Walker Jenkins, the talent
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is there, and they're not giving up on him. But
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: this was the risk you ran bringing him up, and
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: it's going to happen. So it's an occupational hazard, and
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: unfortunately they're seeing it right now, but also things can
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: turn quickly. So they need to try and get him
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: to slow it down. I think we've seen it. I
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: think he's even looked a little like drag, but yeah,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: something like that. Just one thing where he gets a
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: good result and doesn't have to stress about it for
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: a minute. Um, I, it does look like he is
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: like sped it up a little bit. And, um, it's
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: the opposite for Kellen Culpepper. Kellen Culpepper has looked very
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: comfortable just, you know, and he's aggressive. It doesn't mean
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: that Kellen Culpepper is like had these perfect at bats, but,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: but he's found the results and, and um it's it's
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: uh the the two of them is like the the
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: opposite they they are basically the other ends of the
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: spectrum of what can happen when a rookie call up
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: happens right one yeah you can have one that's soaring
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: and then you can like it there there has not
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: been middle ground for walker jenkins even if he can
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: get to the point where they find middle ground that's
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: that's a good spot and uh it should help him
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: get going a little.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Bit tyler we talked with call pepper about um looking
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: up at the big number on the scoreboard and seeing
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: your average starting with a one. It's early enough that
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: a couple hits can turn that around pretty quick. The
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: boost can come from a lot of places. He almost
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: pulled a home run back yesterday on a ball that
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: tipped off his glove and went over the fence. Even
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: a play like that can get a player going, I
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: would imagine.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's what I'm saying.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: At the end of the day, yes, it's tough to
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: see a guy not get hits when you need them
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: and to struggle But at the same time, we talked
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: about this, he's there to also replace Byron in center field.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: And playing just average or better than average or whatever
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: he grades out to be as a center fielder, that's
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: an addition that you can't replace.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: That's a boost. Because you don't want to put Kieschel
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: over there.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: We've tried that. We've tried to mix and match with
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: Kreidler and things like that. It's just this guy's a
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: true center fielder. And you let him go out there.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: And that's what I was saying all along was, Just
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: let the guy play center field. Obviously, matchups in today's
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: game have a lot of weight, so you're going to
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: get taken out for.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: At-bats against lefties and things like that. I get that.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, having him out there on
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: the field is valued. He's going to run down more
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: balls than the average guy. He's going to make the
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: right throws, the right plays in the moments where maybe
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: the situation speeds up. There's just a lot of good
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: from him being there, and that's what I think, especially
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: sending him back down. I think there's no point in that.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: there's so much value to be had. And to that point,
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: he makes a sick diving catch. Most of the time
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: you're that guy that comes up next inning and then
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: hits a double off the wall. Like it's a game
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: just works out that way sometimes. And so it's just,
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: and we're in another big center field in Detroit. It's,
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: it's going to be a cool, like, you know, they're there.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: It's a great place to play. You know, one of
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: those historic places we all watched growing up watching Miguel
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: Cabrera and those guys, like it's a, it's a neat
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: place to play. It's a big center field. So, Maybe
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: he'll get one loose and get to run around the
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: bases a little bit.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Take one more break. When we come back, Andrew Morris,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Ryan Jeffers, and we'll tee up what's next for the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: twins right after this.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: The postseason run is heating up for Major League Baseball teams. Kratzy,
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: you can go see all these games, all the important games.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: Whatever your team is, they have a great chance, almost
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: all of them, at being alive for the postseason. So
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: you can go on SeatGeek and find whatever team you want,
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: whatever game you want, whatever matchup you want to try
• 23:06
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• 23:09
  Speaker 7: Yeah, look ahead of your schedule.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Go on to SeatGeek.
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: Essentially, your team's either in the playoffs or the team
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: they're playing has a chance in the playoffs. So all
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: these games in September, you got to get on there,
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: get your green dot, figure out where you're going to sit,
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: do it ahead of time, and use the codes.
• 23:27
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• 23:29
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• 23:36
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• 23:39
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• 23:47
  Speaker 6: perfect ticket on SeatGeek.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Other news of note from the weekend. By the way,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: you can read all about it if you so choose
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to subject yourself to that on The Athletic right now.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Tough way to end it. I'm sure a fun article
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: for Dan to write all about the problems from yesterday,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: but it is up now on The Athletic. Another statistical
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: anomaly or trend that has emerged is it's been a
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: rough three weeks or so for Andrew Morris out of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the bullpen. In his last eight games, an 11-8-8 ERA, Dan,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and a guy who had at one point emerged as
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the most reliable arm out of the bullpen along with Gomez,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: certainly before the trade deadline, has seemed to slip back.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Long term, I'm not worried about Andrew Morris. Long term,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: he's going to be fine. Short term, he's a rookie
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: who has hit a wall. It happens. This is just
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: how it works. You never pitched as a reliever before
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: like this where they need you today, they need you tomorrow,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: they need you the next day, and he's throwing harder
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: than he ever has, throwing 99, 100 times, although we
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: haven't seen even that lately, but it's shown up in
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: the form of execution of commanding pitches. Like he has
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: got the stuff. It's probably been too much in the
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: plate too often. And guys are fouling off his cutter
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: and it's probably not cutting as hard or the location
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: is easier to, you know, because he's not as pinpoint
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: with that command and put in the spots where it's
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: good misses that he was doing earlier in the season.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: And you look at it like Sunday night, it's just
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: a tough spot because he did get a ground ball,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: but the infield's in, and it goes off of Cody Clemens'
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: glove for a two-run double. And if the infield's playing mid,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: if the infield's playing deep, that's a regular ground ball out,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: but for the situation, it's a two-run double, puts the
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: game away, it made it 4-0. He's just got to
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: wear it right now. cause they, they are all hands
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: on deck and he still has some of the best
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: stuff that they have. And some days it might be
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: there and he might get through. Um, and then there's
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: just days like where it's just too middle middle. And it's,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: it's tough because I like his mindset. I talked to
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: him yesterday. It's not, this is not a guy who
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: is stressing and like defeated and crushed by the moment. Um,
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: I think he understands what's going on. Like, but, Sometimes
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: it just works that way. It's hard to get out
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: of your own way and get the good results. Two
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: good games of results would be so big for him,
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: but it just hasn't happened right now.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Tyler, I've got to believe it's a mind trip, especially
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: as a rookie, to be doing so well and feel
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: like you're there, you've made it, and then the reality
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: of how hard this is hits with a stretch like this.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's so crazy because you don't feel anything
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: physically change. You don't alter your routine or nothing like that.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: You just show up and then you throw a pitch
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: you've thrown all year, and all of a sudden it.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: Gets whacked off the wall.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: Or a guy takes that great pitch that he swung
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: at last week, and now he's on first with a walk,
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: and it starts to steamroll. And then the ground balls
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: that you really want to be an out just aren't
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: the out.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: And then it snowballs.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: And now you're here with an 11 ERA for the
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: last month and a half or whatever it is. And
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: it's tough because he's a guy, his stuff is so good.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: And to Dan's point, it's going to go back. He's
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: not going to get stuck like this. He's going to
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: be fine. Next season, next week, whatever it is. But yeah,
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: it's hard to understand. But from what I see, it's
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: just he does throw everything. Everything he throws is hard.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: And I think that, in a weird way, allows hitters
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: to maybe get comfortable, like, knowing, okay, it's just going
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: to be Velo. Like, for example, a guy's facing Taj,
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: but he'll mix in that big curveball here and there.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: It's a split, you know, respects, whatever. But his misses
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: are out of the zone. But everything is hard. So
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: guys can gear up for Velo all day.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: You can throw in 150. They can still hit it
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: if you give them enough time. It's just bad. Some
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: of it's bad luck.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Babbitt, as we talked about, if they touch it, it
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: just seems to get to the grass.
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: He's running into all of it at once. He ran
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: so hot and was so good for so long that
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: it is weird to see.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: I know they're tinkering.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: That's the worst part is you show up every day
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: and you've got to go again. You only get so
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: many throws in our arms to work on stuff. It's
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: a tough spot to be, especially this time of year,
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: but I think All in all, he's going to be
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: fine next year.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: He's going to be a guy that they depend on. And,
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: you know, this will be history.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Griffin, real quick, just to make this clear. Griffin Jackson, 2022,
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: had a 5.11 ERA in August. He was really good
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: up until August, had a 5.11 ERA in August. Louis Varlin,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: last year with the Twins, had a sub-2 ERA most
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: of the year. He had a 6 ERA in August.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Guys hit a wall. It's just how it works. Yeah.
• 29:13
  Speaker 8: And Presley was with me, Emilio Pagan, weirdly like guys
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: with electric stuff that just run into like the ball
• 29:21
  Speaker 8: gets touched and it just bad things happen for some reason.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: And there's no rhyme or reason.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: It's like a switch flips and then that switch gets
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: corrected and then rest is history.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: He had an 0.73 ERA in 24 and two-thirds innings
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: from mid-June to mid-August. He's certainly shown. It's been a
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: tough break for him and obviously for the Twins too
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: because a lot of those games in this last month
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: have been the games that they almost won and didn't.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: It's been unfortunate timing, but it does happen for sure.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: The one highlight maybe from the weekend was Ryan Jeffers
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: is three-run homer. He continues to be flirting with drug tests,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, do we know if they've gotten him, Dan? Do
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: you have eyes on him?
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: I don't. I don't follow players into the bathroom generally.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: The pecker checkers are in town.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: But yeah, Dan, six hits in the last five games,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: 11 RBIs. He's had some big ones.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: If you want to see where the Twins are playing
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: with urgency, it's that Ryan Jeffers has caught, I think,
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: every game for seven games in a row.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Despite three catchers on the roster.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Right. They're leaning into him because he's their best player.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: And he's shown up this week. He's got four home
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: runs over the last week. He's looked good. He's going
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: to get his payday. They need more of him. They
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: need to build the whole plane out of Ryan Jeffers.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: at this point, just get that offense going. You know, he's, he's,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: he's stepped up when they've needed him to that home
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: run Saturday. I wish that we could play the Taj
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Bradley clip. He got bleeped so many times last on,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: on Saturday night. It was amazing. Taj Bradley was in
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: a great mood and there was a lot of swears. He,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: the swear jar got filled for that part of, but,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: but Jeffers hit that ball. 20 rows up at left field.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: It was a monster shot. He's played his part. He's
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: done a really good job. I'm guessing he's pretty tired
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: right now. We haven't seen the lineup yet for Monday,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: but it wouldn't shock me if Caratini gets a start
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: because they're playing Ryan Jeffers every day and he's delivering.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: It was his only hit of the weekend, as we mentioned.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Josh Bell led the team with four hits, including that
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Mammoth Homer of his own, Brooks Lee, Cody Clemens, Kalen Culpepper,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Royce Lewis, three hits each. Everything else, not much to
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: speak of there. It's getting late very, very quickly here
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: for the Twins. We are 19 games left.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: Is that right?
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: They need to go 12 and 5.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: That's 17, Dan.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: 12 plus 5 is 17. Oh.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: Sorry, they need to go 13 and 6.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: They need to go 13 and 6. They need to
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: be 500. They have Detroit. They've fared well against Detroit.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: They've fared well against Cleveland. They beat the Rangers in Texas.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: They beat the Giants and the Angels. They need to
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: turn it on now. I don't think they have it
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: in them. I just don't think they have it in them,
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: but they really need to turn it on right now.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Dan already answered the question that just showed up on
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: the screen. There's certainly been nothing, I think, from the
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: last month that makes you think a 14-5 or 13-6
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: kind of run is coming. The fact that it ends
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: with Angels, Giants, and Rangers, could they win seven or
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: eight of those? They could, but they also have been
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: playing the bad teams terribly all season. Before that, they've
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: got three at Detroit, three versus Cleveland, three versus the Yankees.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: They'd have to also win At least six of those,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: which seems like a stretch, Tyler. But in the clubhouse
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: at this point, as long as there's a chance, you're
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: still going out there thinking you can do it, huh?
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: I think it's depending on the guys.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: The young guys, it's tough because they realize, okay, the
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: big leagues, when it's over, it's over. And then all
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: of a sudden, they're not going to push so-and-so to
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: play as often anymore. or whatever it is, and Jeffords
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: for that matter. If they get eliminated, like, hey, do
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: you want as many at-bats as we can get you?
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: Conversations like that are going to start happening. Relievers who
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: have thrown a lot are going to get put to
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: the side maybe. It gets very real in that light,
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: but at the same time, a lot of these guys
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: are playing for a paycheck for next year, an opportunity
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: for next year, a free agent contract, whatever it may be.
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: And so there's reasons to play 162, no matter what.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: And that's the beauty of baseball is there's no, can't
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: take a knee and sit up, run out the clock.
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: You've got to play all these games and they're still valuable.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: I've said it in the past to guys that it's,
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: it's sounds weird, but it's very true. It's, it's a
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: team sport and a team game, obviously, but it's made
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: up of a bunch of, you know, the individual efforts.
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: So be whatever that term needs to be in your head,
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: but do your job as best as you can, And
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: that's all you can worry about. It doesn't matter if
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: you're losing by 15, you come in as a reliever.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: If you strike out the side, well, that still counts
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: the same next year. And they still remember the punch outs,
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: not the when you were pitching or whatever you were doing.
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: And so the numbers still matter no matter what. There's
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: ways to get inspired to play this game, regardless of
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: your situation. And a lot of it's financial, obviously, at
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: times for guys. But It's just having some pride. It's
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: finishing what you started, man. There's guys that are going to,
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: this will be their first full year in the big
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: leagues playing 162, you know, position guys that Keisha comes
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: to mind. Like, you know, this is a wire to wire,
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: hell of a season for him. Like he's, he's playing
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: with his hair on fire and he needs to keep
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: doing that. That sends messages all the way up to
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: that front office of a guy. Like he's going to
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: play hard no matter what, you know, he comes to mind,
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: you know, the relievers that have, you know, Gomez, whoever
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: it is, you've got guys who've had great seasons and
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: they need to keep going as well. So it's like
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: I keep saying, keep your head down. Don't come up
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: until it's over because that's when the bad stuff happens.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: The other variable is there are still four teams ahead
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: of them in that race for that final wildcard spot.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Obviously any one of them could maybe get hot enough
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: to a point where it just puts it out of
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: reach no matter how well the teams play, but also
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: they could all stink enough to, that maybe it doesn't
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: take as good of a finish as we think it's
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: going to to get back into it. And the Twins
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: play two of those teams at home for three games.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: The other two teams are the Blue Jays and the Orioles,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: who I think still have six games against each other.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Cleveland also plays Baltimore still. So there's going to.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Be some losses. They play Chicago still.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: They play Chicago.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: They have to play at Boston still. So if those
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: teams don't perform, it may not take– 14 and five
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: or 12 and five.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: You just have to suck less. They have to suck less.
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: So that's the thing.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: You want them to just, you want them to put
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: the foot down to the pedal and get it going.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: When they were eight under, they did it in June
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: and they went like, you know, I think it was
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: what were they 16 and nine to get back and
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: to within one game of 500 and they played as
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: good as they have all season in June. And we
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: just haven't seen that. They need Trevor Larnik to come
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: out of this funk he's been in since he nearly
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: got traded. They need Royce Lewis to hit with power.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: They need Josh Bell to get the power stroke back.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: It's doable, but they need the middle of their order
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: guys to get going again.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: We are probably going to be the last Twins podcast
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: to officially throw in the towel on the season, but
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: that's because we are the 4.3 percenters. As long as
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: there's a faint heartbeat, we'll keep going.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: 66 percenters on this podcast since the two of you
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: are keeping it alive.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: It's Twins and Tigers starting this afternoon. Joe Ryan is back,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: as Dan talked about, expected to be sort of a
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: joint effort with Connor Prelip. And they're against Troy Melton,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: who they hit pretty good last time they played him
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: in Detroit. Dean Kramer and Zebby Matthews scheduled for Tuesday
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and Wednesday afternoon. We'll be back with you on Wednesday. Thanks, everybody,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: for listening. And we will catch you next time on
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Twin Cities Territory.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: Bye-bye.