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Twins sweep Tigers and give the Hope-O-Meter a boost · Twin Cities Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: All right, hello and welcome back to Twins Cities Territory,
0:11
Speaker 1: our Minnesota Twins podcast here on the Foul Territory Network.
0:15
Speaker 1: I am Zach Pierce, editor for The Athletic, along as
0:20
Speaker 1: always with Dan Hayes, the Athletics, Minnesota Twins beat writer
0:24
Speaker 1: and Tyler Duffy, longtime Major leaguer and former Minnesota Twin guys.
0:30
Speaker 1: Break out the Bruins a Twins sweep of the Tigers.
0:33
Speaker 1: There it is well done, Tyler. The Twins go to
0:38
Speaker 1: seven and six excuse me after a four game sweep
0:42
Speaker 1: of the division rival Tigers, a team expected to contend
0:45
Speaker 1: for the division title. All in all, a solid start
0:48
Speaker 1: to the season given the expectations on this team.
0:51
Speaker 2: For sure.
0:52
Speaker 1: Dan was there again along with a few of his
0:55
Speaker 1: closest friends another another sparse crowd in the early April
0:59
Speaker 1: going here, But what did you see from the from
1:02
Speaker 1: the getaway game yesterday at Target Field?
1:05
Speaker 3: I would be lying if I said I was there yesterday.
1:07
Speaker 3: I had to duck out and go back home. So
1:10
Speaker 3: but I was watching along Brand News. Yeah, just know
1:15
Speaker 3: what they were doing.
1:16
Speaker 2: I no know.
1:17
Speaker 3: The vibe that's been in the clubhouse and it's been
1:21
Speaker 3: all good feelings. I think the way that it ended
1:23
Speaker 3: yesterday with brooks Lee getting the hit, you know, that's
1:27
Speaker 3: the guy that those guys all love. He's put in
1:31
Speaker 3: a ton of work in the off season. I did
1:34
Speaker 3: not in the story I wrote about him say best
1:36
Speaker 3: shape of his life, because I don't do that because
1:38
Speaker 3: I'm a professional stirs.
1:40
Speaker 2: But he did.
1:42
Speaker 3: He did redistribute his body weight and get a lot
1:46
Speaker 3: leaner his face. You could just see it went into
1:50
Speaker 3: some explosive weight training in the off season. He put
1:53
Speaker 3: in a ton of work. He was trying to get quicker,
1:55
Speaker 3: and the first week was pretty much the exact opposite
1:59
Speaker 3: of the first twelve games were exactly the opposite of
2:02
Speaker 3: what he wanted to put out there. His defense has
2:04
Speaker 3: been among the bottom in the league, and he was
2:07
Speaker 3: not hitting and so for him to get that big hit,
2:10
Speaker 3: you could see it.
2:11
Speaker 2: The bench erupted, he erupted.
2:14
Speaker 3: There's a lot of good vibes going around right now
2:16
Speaker 3: with that team because he needed that, and you know,
2:20
Speaker 3: he gets it and.
2:21
Speaker 2: They win and like they love that.
2:23
Speaker 3: So it was just a continuation of what we've seen
2:27
Speaker 3: so far where this team has continued to you know,
2:30
Speaker 3: put up the fight and and you know, now they've
2:32
Speaker 3: gotten results four times in a row, so I imagine
2:35
Speaker 3: they're riding a pretty good high to Toronto.
2:41
Speaker 1: Three to one was the was the score yesterday, Tyler.
2:46
Speaker 1: This team is spend all off season hearing about just
2:52
Speaker 1: you know, the fan angst with the ownership, the low
2:56
Speaker 1: expectations for them. Obviously seven and six is not necessarily
3:00
Speaker 1: mean it's time to put them in the playoffs just yet,
3:03
Speaker 1: but still has to be a boost in the clubhouse
3:07
Speaker 1: to start off. What is you know at this point
3:09
Speaker 1: above expectations.
3:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, especially like we let into the other day, you know,
3:16
Speaker 4: playing the team of that caliber that's early in the year,
3:19
Speaker 4: it can.
3:19
Speaker 5: Go two ways pretty quickly.
3:22
Speaker 4: And fortunately for the twins you know, in that clubhouse
3:25
Speaker 4: and leave for that matter, like this is as about
3:28
Speaker 4: as big as a momentum shift as you can get,
3:31
Speaker 4: you know, a jolt of energy into that locker room,
3:34
Speaker 4: in that clubhouse. They just fought through their first home stand.
3:37
Speaker 4: You know, thirty five to thirty eight degrees a game time,
3:40
Speaker 4: you know, wind chills all over the place. They get
3:42
Speaker 4: to go to Toronto play inside, you know, with a full
3:46
Speaker 4: head of steam going, and there's so much value to
3:49
Speaker 4: that you know, in that locker room you're getting on
3:51
Speaker 4: the plane, you know, everybody's buzzing. You know, like like
3:54
Speaker 4: Dan mentioned, your league gets a big hit, everybody's pulling
3:57
Speaker 4: for that guy. You know, that's something that that everyone wants,
4:00
Speaker 4: and it's all it was unspoken. Nobody says anything until
4:03
Speaker 4: it happens. And then it's like at that end of
4:05
Speaker 4: the game, you can see just that weight who's lits
4:06
Speaker 4: it off of guys. You know, in this moment, it
4:09
Speaker 4: was him. You know, next week it'll be somebody else,
4:11
Speaker 4: but you know it is it's a huge, just shot
4:16
Speaker 4: in the butt. You know, let's go and let's ride
4:18
Speaker 4: this wave and you know, try and keep it that
4:21
Speaker 4: head of steam going to Toronto and.
4:22
Speaker 5: Play the Blue Jays.
4:24
Speaker 1: I did look it up just because I was curious.
4:27
Speaker 1: I didn't expect seven and six to mean anything in
4:30
Speaker 1: the long run, but just so everyone knows the range
4:33
Speaker 1: of possible finishes. Across one hundred and sixty two game season,
4:38
Speaker 1: a seven and six six start has happened hundreds of
4:41
Speaker 1: times in baseball history. The worst ever record after starting
4:44
Speaker 1: seven and six is fifty three and one hundred and nine,
4:48
Speaker 1: and the best is one hundred and eight and fifty four,
4:50
Speaker 1: so anything.
4:51
Speaker 3: So those people that said forty five one seventeen, see
4:55
Speaker 3: you were wrong, you were wrong.
4:56
Speaker 5: You see your way out.
5:00
Speaker 1: Sixteen World Series champions in the group as well, also
5:04
Speaker 1: several hundred teams that didn't sniff the playoffs, so of
5:08
Speaker 1: course it was much harder to make the playoffs as
5:10
Speaker 1: well back in the day. But anyway, they're also since
5:15
Speaker 1: our last time with you all was a win on Wednesday,
5:19
Speaker 1: Bailey Ober a strong outing there in eight six victory.
5:22
Speaker 1: Twins jumped out to a six to nothing lead and
5:24
Speaker 1: then nearly gave it away but hung on. Overall, strong
5:30
Speaker 1: performances from from the starters across the board, the little
5:33
Speaker 1: bit of the blit from the bullpen in Wednesday's game,
5:35
Speaker 1: But four wins is four wins, Dan DoD we know
5:38
Speaker 1: when the last time is they had a four game sweep.
5:42
Speaker 3: Ooh no, I don't, honestly, but I know for the
5:45
Speaker 3: Division it's been quite a while.
5:48
Speaker 2: The Twins.
5:49
Speaker 3: You know, this is anecdotal, but it just always feels
5:52
Speaker 3: like they get that series win, they're looking for the
5:54
Speaker 3: sweep and they don't complete it. That was something that
5:57
Speaker 3: it's felt that way for a while, So this was
6:01
Speaker 3: to close close that out, especially with the way it
6:03
Speaker 3: went yesterday, was was impressive. But the Fromber game, you
6:09
Speaker 3: know they got on back to back nights. You know,
6:10
Speaker 3: the team that is the worst hitting team, we're one
6:13
Speaker 3: of the worst hitting teams against left handed pitching, gets
6:15
Speaker 3: scooball and Fromber and they got six on the first
6:18
Speaker 3: inning and Fromber.
6:20
Speaker 2: And it's funny.
6:20
Speaker 3: Because they almost blew it. And I could hear in
6:24
Speaker 3: the I could hear in my head Patrick ROYCEI sent
6:28
Speaker 3: out that tweet.
6:29
Speaker 2: This would be a bad loss. Thank you for my
6:34
Speaker 2: I I I could see that coming.
6:36
Speaker 3: And like you said, it was a little bit of
6:37
Speaker 3: a blip for the bullpen, but they got that save.
6:39
Speaker 3: And who was it that night? Was it was that
6:43
Speaker 3: Lawyerson came in at the end, No Lawyers got the
6:46
Speaker 3: first one or Morrison.
6:49
Speaker 5: Yeah that may have been.
6:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Thunderberg.
6:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, he came in and got the last two outs.
6:53
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, it's I mean, look, it's gonna be
6:59
Speaker 3: a struggle some nights for the bullpen, but like that
7:02
Speaker 3: was a to capitalize on that and to beat Fromber
7:06
Speaker 3: and night after being schoobl that was a statement too.
7:08
Speaker 3: I mean, this is this was a really good overall
7:12
Speaker 3: series when you look at it, just because Detroit out
7:15
Speaker 3: spent everybody in the division. Detroit, we didn't see Kenley
7:18
Speaker 3: Jansen in the series. I don't believe.
7:20
Speaker 2: I can't remember.
7:21
Speaker 5: I forgot he was there.
7:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is which is not gonna happen. He's their
7:26
Speaker 3: closer and he got a nice big contract and he
7:29
Speaker 3: was actually the last big good closer off the board.
7:32
Speaker 2: That was particularly notable in Minnesota.
7:35
Speaker 3: When the last big closer went off the board in
7:37
Speaker 3: the middle of December because they didn't have one. And
7:41
Speaker 3: and so the Tigers Tigers at every turn, and the
7:45
Speaker 3: Twins were in on from Bervaldez. They made an offer
7:49
Speaker 3: somewhere in the one hundred million range. But they're always
7:53
Speaker 3: they're always in show me, show me, don't tell me.
7:57
Speaker 2: They but they they you.
7:59
Speaker 3: Know, Tiger's out and so for them to beat the
8:02
Speaker 3: team that widely outspent everybody in the division, yeah it is.
8:06
Speaker 3: It is a good start and something that they can definitely,
8:10
Speaker 3: you know, hang their hats on.
8:13
Speaker 1: AI tells me that June twenty twenty four against what
8:17
Speaker 1: was then called the Oakland Athletics was the last four game,
8:21
Speaker 1: Sweet Dan, I'm sure you remember it well. Joe Ryan
8:26
Speaker 1: Bailey Ober also winning pitchers in that series. But so okay,
8:30
Speaker 1: it did happen in June twenty twenty four. According to AI,
8:33
Speaker 1: that's the last time, but I'm not sure. We'll take
8:36
Speaker 1: a quick break for a word from our sponsor and
8:39
Speaker 1: we will be right back.
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Speaker 1: All right, welcome back. We lost our background somehow.
9:49
Speaker 2: But what cod you do?
9:53
Speaker 1: We are back here on keep moving on, Twin Cities territory.
9:57
Speaker 1: And we mentioned a little bit u during the opening segment.
10:01
Speaker 1: I think we have to go back to the hopa Meter, Dan,
10:04
Speaker 1: the bend the the hoping meter is trending upward. We
10:08
Speaker 1: are referring to a what was originally a poll on
10:12
Speaker 1: the Athletic asking fans to rank their optimism for the
10:16
Speaker 1: various MLB teams. The Twins by far in last place
10:19
Speaker 1: at four point three percent. Before this season started, Dan,
10:22
Speaker 1: you posted an update to the Hope and Meeting. Yes,
10:26
Speaker 1: uh Dan's poll. What did you find on your in
10:29
Speaker 1: your research?
10:31
Speaker 3: Yes, in my exhaustive research on Wednesday night after they
10:35
Speaker 3: won the series, I posted just a quick poll and
10:41
Speaker 3: you know they were about three hundred per team for
10:45
Speaker 3: that help a Meter at four print three percent. This
10:47
Speaker 3: was only two hundred and twenty four so it's not
10:49
Speaker 3: totally accurate. It's not one d percent even, But the
10:53
Speaker 3: hope meter is up to twenty seven point seven, So
10:57
Speaker 3: the four point those those original the g four point
11:00
Speaker 3: three ors were probably upset because they have a little
11:04
Speaker 3: more room now. I think another twenty eight percent. We're
11:07
Speaker 3: on the fence. We meaning they can still be their
11:10
Speaker 3: their love can be bought. Count because I can. I
11:16
Speaker 3: can tell you every single person that has an opinion
11:19
Speaker 3: about Twins is on Twitter, and no they look at
11:24
Speaker 3: a good sign their playoffs. Their chances of making the playoffs,
11:27
Speaker 3: according to Baseball Reference are still only three point six percent.
11:31
Speaker 3: We have one hundred and forty nine to go. There's
11:34
Speaker 3: a long way, but just good vibes were needed for
11:38
Speaker 3: this team in the worst way to start. This team
11:42
Speaker 3: needed to show because fans were so out we know that,
11:46
Speaker 3: and just to show some fight and show that this
11:51
Speaker 3: can be a fun team. The bullpen is going to
11:55
Speaker 3: be a crap shoot at all times.
11:57
Speaker 2: We don't know.
11:58
Speaker 3: They don't even know who these guys are. Garrett acting yesterday.
12:01
Speaker 3: I pitched two innings. That was his first game with
12:04
Speaker 3: the Twins. Nobody probably I bet nine Twins fans didn't
12:08
Speaker 3: even know he was on the roster. He's a guy
12:10
Speaker 3: that they added the eighth man. That's always store of
12:12
Speaker 3: the case anyways, but to see the team come back.
12:17
Speaker 3: And also there's a very strong dislike of Detroit among
12:22
Speaker 3: Minnesota fans, So I think anytime you can, you know,
12:26
Speaker 3: crush the Tigers' spirits, that was that was good for Twins.
12:31
Speaker 3: In another way, they like, like we're talking about pre show,
12:36
Speaker 3: they they offer now anybody that came to that opening
12:41
Speaker 3: day a game gets a free ticket to the seventeenth.
12:43
Speaker 3: They're they're clearly trying to build a vibe in the
12:45
Speaker 3: ballpark and get people to go out there because this
12:49
Speaker 3: is their proving ground right here for the whole summer,
12:51
Speaker 3: this seventeen games at home. They need to get people
12:55
Speaker 3: on board and get them out there. And again, naturally
12:58
Speaker 3: people are going to come out because there's just fans
13:00
Speaker 3: that show up to go to the ballpark with their
13:02
Speaker 3: kids and enjoy summer, or people who just want to
13:05
Speaker 3: get outdoors and get to the park. The casual fan,
13:07
Speaker 3: those fans will still always be there, but they need
13:10
Speaker 3: to try and capture the core fan base, and I
13:13
Speaker 3: think this has been good for that, just the way
13:16
Speaker 3: they played, the fact that the offense is second in
13:18
Speaker 3: the running, second in the runs in the American League,
13:21
Speaker 3: and like seventh overall, there's more there there than people
13:26
Speaker 3: gave them credit for. And that's just a good place
13:29
Speaker 3: to start the season.
13:31
Speaker 5: Yeah.
13:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about the expectations and sort of the
13:39
Speaker 1: like how they must weigh on the players, but it's
13:44
Speaker 1: the kind of series that, like I also am struck
13:47
Speaker 1: by players who have had rough starts have then had
13:51
Speaker 1: their moments like brooks Lee probably the most notable one,
13:53
Speaker 1: at least the freshest one on our mind, like he
13:56
Speaker 1: had to hit himself in the face on a bunt
13:59
Speaker 1: attempt incident, he had the air meal to throw.
14:02
Speaker 3: Very relatable to every to the common fan by the.
14:04
Speaker 1: Way, and and uh it made me love him a
14:10
Speaker 1: little more actually, But but you know, then to have
14:13
Speaker 1: those things happen, I think an obvious confidence boosts for
14:17
Speaker 1: the player, but also a reminder that in any game,
14:19
Speaker 1: anybody can step up. That seems like Matt Wallner seems
14:22
Speaker 1: like he's either striking out or delivering a huge hit.
14:25
Speaker 1: It's just like somehow so far, the recipe has has
14:28
Speaker 1: yielded seven wins out of thirteen games and and a
14:32
Speaker 1: pretty good start overall. Wanted to also touch today on
14:39
Speaker 1: on Mick Abel. Guys, he was the wasn't the winning
14:43
Speaker 1: pitcher yesterday, I don't believe, but the starting pitcher and
14:47
Speaker 1: a strong outing. Obviously Tiger's only scored one run. But
14:50
Speaker 1: most notably, Tyler looked like his fastball was sharp.
14:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, he especially in the first two. Like I'll give
14:57
Speaker 5: you the first game.
14:57
Speaker 4: You know, Jitters called whatever, but every everything just looked
15:01
Speaker 4: a little more crisp.
15:02
Speaker 5: You know, the.
15:03
Speaker 4: Fastball out of the hand, it was, you know, there
15:05
Speaker 4: was ninety six. I don't know what his top top
15:07
Speaker 4: end vela was yesterday, if you hit a seven or eight,
15:09
Speaker 4: but pretty consistently it was ninety six. You know what
15:13
Speaker 4: I noticed the first couple, everything was just off the plate,
15:16
Speaker 4: you know, like he was being maybe a little fine
15:19
Speaker 4: or maybe just avoiding some contact. You know, we all
15:22
Speaker 4: do it. It's it's kind of part of pitching. Sometimes
15:24
Speaker 4: you want to you want to gain your own trust
15:26
Speaker 4: back and like get a guy out without having to
15:29
Speaker 4: flirt with the middle of the zone. But sometimes it
15:32
Speaker 4: works backwards, like sometimes you just got to shove one
15:35
Speaker 4: in there and remind yourself, like, Okay, this is an
15:39
Speaker 4: electric fastball. You know, these guys can't hit it even
15:41
Speaker 4: though they know it's coming, trust it, you know. And
15:44
Speaker 4: I think ironically enough, you know, Joe Ryan has so
15:47
Speaker 4: much of that, and and to that point over even
15:50
Speaker 4: where he's at, he still has that same kind of
15:52
Speaker 4: just effective fastball. And so we have a whole kind
15:55
Speaker 4: of a whole rotation of guys with heaters like that
15:57
Speaker 4: right now that it's like, hey, it's coming, and guys
16:00
Speaker 4: aren't that good at squaring it up. And so it's
16:03
Speaker 4: just one of those things. I think over time they
16:05
Speaker 4: can feel off each other. And and for Mick ultimately
16:08
Speaker 4: it was you know, settling in and you could see
16:11
Speaker 4: he was just dotting that like I can see one
16:13
Speaker 4: just dot in the corner just at ninety six, and
16:15
Speaker 4: it's like, guys, will you just tip your cap?
16:18
Speaker 5: You know.
16:18
Speaker 4: Josh Donaldson, I remember he said, He's like, if I
16:21
Speaker 4: come up there and a guy throws me three fastballs
16:24
Speaker 4: on the outside corner, I'm gonna walk back to the
16:26
Speaker 4: dugout because I know I can't hit it. I'm not
16:28
Speaker 4: going to swing at it because I'm gonna just break
16:30
Speaker 4: my bat. And so you know, that's such an effective
16:33
Speaker 4: pitch to have in your arsenal. And you know, if
16:35
Speaker 4: he can lock that up and maintain it.
16:37
Speaker 5: For the next thirty starts or whatever, it is, like
16:41
Speaker 5: he's he's gonna end up in a good spot.
16:44
Speaker 3: So he hit ninety six five. That's where he maxed
16:46
Speaker 3: out at. He averaged. So here's the thing. His first
16:52
Speaker 3: out in was a piggyback. His next one was twenty
16:56
Speaker 3: four degrees wind chill. Yesterday was the closest thing to
17:01
Speaker 3: normal conditions.
17:02
Speaker 2: It was like forty three degrees.
17:04
Speaker 3: We asked him after the Saturday game because he was
17:08
Speaker 3: throwing ninety two and ninety three and some ninety fours.
17:12
Speaker 3: Just he admitted, I looked up, I saw it, saw
17:16
Speaker 3: some numbers.
17:17
Speaker 2: That it took.
17:18
Speaker 3: He said, it took a little confidence away from him,
17:20
Speaker 3: this fastball, and it wasn't where it had been.
17:22
Speaker 2: Right like stuff. I'm going I'll ask you that in
17:26
Speaker 2: a minute.
17:27
Speaker 3: But I mean, like he knew it that it wasn't
17:29
Speaker 3: quite up to his standards, and he didn't attack with
17:34
Speaker 3: the confidence. He was spiking curveballs in those games. He
17:38
Speaker 3: just you know the secondary wasn't He didn't have confidence
17:41
Speaker 3: the secondary would play as well because the fastball wasn't
17:43
Speaker 3: playing to its normal kind of range. We saw yesterday
17:48
Speaker 3: where he was able to go to the secondary stuff.
17:50
Speaker 2: He really seemed like he turned it up.
17:52
Speaker 3: He had the two walks, the first two innings started
17:55
Speaker 3: identically right, he put two guys on and then pitched
17:59
Speaker 3: his way out of it. And those were definite confidence
18:01
Speaker 3: building aims. And you can tell that there's that he
18:04
Speaker 3: he trusts in himself, believes in himself, the way he
18:07
Speaker 3: was talking off spring when he was just unbelievable in
18:11
Speaker 3: the spring, like going into his piggyback. In his last
18:14
Speaker 3: game he had twenty three strikeouts and three walks. I think,
18:18
Speaker 3: of course he did the pigback and then screwed him
18:20
Speaker 3: up little bit and he had his worst out in
18:21
Speaker 3: the spring. But they were trying to prepare him. They
18:25
Speaker 3: should not do that anymore. They should just let him go,
18:28
Speaker 3: like this guy has got the goods. The fastball is
18:32
Speaker 3: not TODs Bradley's one hundred, but man, Mick Abel has
18:37
Speaker 3: some really good stuff and this this rotation has some.
18:41
Speaker 2: Really good stuff. He had he had said it he.
18:44
Speaker 3: Was looking forward to the next one after Saturday.
18:47
Speaker 2: We saw it yesterday. Even when he gave up a
18:50
Speaker 2: couple of doubles.
18:51
Speaker 3: Uh, he really just didn't panic and he went straight
18:53
Speaker 3: at them, and you know, it was a It was
18:57
Speaker 3: a very good building block performance for a young guy
18:59
Speaker 3: that needed it because he ended last year on that
19:02
Speaker 3: great outing against Philadelphia sent He actually told him, I
19:05
Speaker 3: was like, you're the reason Philly went in its offense
19:08
Speaker 3: went into a tailspind the off season or in the postseason.
19:11
Speaker 3: I was like, Mickabel, you did it in a great
19:15
Speaker 3: out hit against his former team at the end of
19:17
Speaker 3: the year. But he hadn't shown that on the big
19:20
Speaker 3: weak mountain so far this year.
19:21
Speaker 2: This was really good for him.
19:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, while we're talking about pitching, there was a notable
19:31
Speaker 1: statistical performance for Twins closers in this series, and we
19:36
Speaker 1: see if I can try not to further botch up
19:39
Speaker 1: the technology here, but we had in the four games
19:44
Speaker 1: here it is. For those of you watching on YouTube.
19:47
Speaker 1: Sarah Lang's a great follow on what is now called
19:51
Speaker 1: X pointed out that with four different Twins closers getting
19:57
Speaker 1: four different saves in that series, it was the third
19:59
Speaker 1: time since the saves became an official stat that a
20:02
Speaker 1: team has won four straight games with four different pictures
20:04
Speaker 1: getting to save. And I now realize that I cut
20:07
Speaker 1: off her her post. But the last two times this
20:11
Speaker 1: happened was in twenty eighteen with the Yankees and nineteen
20:14
Speaker 1: eighty nine with the Orioles, which coincidentally was also against Detroit.
20:19
Speaker 1: But Cody Laws and justin Topa, Cody Funderberg and Eric
20:23
Speaker 1: is that Orzy Dan?
20:25
Speaker 5: Yes, it is getting. There's some mouthfuls on this roster.
20:31
Speaker 1: Getting the getting the four saves. So a little bit
20:34
Speaker 1: of history. And hey, I guess if you don't have
20:36
Speaker 1: a closer, you know, maybe you have seven of them.
20:40
Speaker 2: That works just fine.
20:41
Speaker 5: Too, get twenty seven outs? What's tough?
20:46
Speaker 7: What?
20:48
Speaker 3: So look, I think this is gonna be a team
20:50
Speaker 3: that's gonna there's nobody that blows you away. I think
20:54
Speaker 3: I saw another thing, maybe code off. I ran it.
20:57
Speaker 3: Just number of ninety seven out our fastballs by the
21:01
Speaker 3: bullpen so far, and the Twins had three. The Rockies
21:06
Speaker 3: were somewhere around one hundred and fifty so far. The
21:08
Speaker 3: Rockies have some gas in that bullpen of theirs. When
21:13
Speaker 3: you don't have that that guy that everyone funnels to
21:16
Speaker 3: when you don't have you on DURAN at the back
21:18
Speaker 3: end and so there's no set roles. What what's you
21:23
Speaker 3: How often have you pitched in a bullpen like that
21:24
Speaker 3: where it's sort of uncertain and they're gonna go matchups?
21:28
Speaker 3: Like do you want that certainty as a as a
21:30
Speaker 3: relief pitcher or is it like, you know, how any
21:35
Speaker 3: this seems like it's gonna be able to fight for
21:37
Speaker 3: all season one for all kind of group.
21:40
Speaker 4: Any true you know closer you know, I know some
21:44
Speaker 4: teams purposefully don't use the phrase when they talk about
21:48
Speaker 4: guys because they don't want to label them for arbitration
21:52
Speaker 4: purposes or whatever it may be. But teams with a
21:56
Speaker 4: closer tend to settle in.
22:00
Speaker 5: Wordingly within that bullpen. And it is it's a tough
22:04
Speaker 5: you know.
22:04
Speaker 4: The bi committee is great, it can work at times,
22:09
Speaker 4: but more often than not, what you end up getting
22:12
Speaker 4: is guys you know like myself. For a while, you
22:16
Speaker 4: kind of you start.
22:16
Speaker 5: Getting looser, like this might be me.
22:19
Speaker 4: So you're like kind of stretching and then you get
22:20
Speaker 4: a phone call and it's this guy, and so what
22:22
Speaker 4: happens is you get these you know, waves of adrenaline
22:26
Speaker 4: throughout a game. You know where when I was kind
22:28
Speaker 4: of the fireman, I knew about the fourth inning to
22:31
Speaker 4: kind of get going, and as soon as anybody got
22:34
Speaker 4: in trouble, I just kind of got on a mount
22:36
Speaker 4: and then they call down and say, hey, you know, Duff,
22:38
Speaker 4: get going. Well, now it's fourth rolls around and you're
22:42
Speaker 4: gonna get all seven guys or eight guys moving at
22:46
Speaker 4: the same time. And it just creates a you start
22:49
Speaker 4: having a lot of conversations. You start thinking maybe a
22:51
Speaker 4: little too much, you know, things like that, which you
22:54
Speaker 4: know it's easy to fix that. You just you know,
22:57
Speaker 4: wait for your turn. But we're all human, we're all athletes,
23:00
Speaker 4: we all want to compete, so we're all kind of
23:01
Speaker 4: getting ready, and so to that point, I think it
23:06
Speaker 4: is possible that it can work. But having a true closer,
23:13
Speaker 4: or at least someone you're going to name the guy
23:15
Speaker 4: to get the ninth is huge because it allows for
23:18
Speaker 4: some some levity within the group to everyone just kind
23:21
Speaker 4: of all right, it's him and everything else is us.
23:25
Speaker 4: And then you see like, okay, lefties are coming up,
23:28
Speaker 4: this is this guy. You know, rioty's are coming up.
23:30
Speaker 4: You know, you can kind of start to predict and
23:32
Speaker 4: that's all. I think we just want a little bit
23:34
Speaker 4: of predictability as relievers. And I think Sheldy's already done
23:37
Speaker 4: a really good job of, you know, working the bullpen.
23:40
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's been a lot of guys, but
23:42
Speaker 4: it's also it seems like it's gone pretty smoothly. You know,
23:46
Speaker 4: then a couple of times where guys were walking guys,
23:48
Speaker 4: which that happens.
23:49
Speaker 5: You know that anybody's done that before.
23:51
Speaker 4: So you know, having having a job is great, But
23:55
Speaker 4: at the same time, like you're pitching the big leagues,
23:57
Speaker 4: you're gonna be up.
23:58
Speaker 5: For whatever ending you're in, and you're you're gonna be
24:00
Speaker 5: excited to be on the mount.
24:02
Speaker 1: Watching the broadcast on Wednesday, there was an interview with
24:06
Speaker 1: LaTroy Hawkins, pitching coach before the.
24:09
Speaker 2: Game with the.
24:13
Speaker 4: UH.
24:13
Speaker 1: He revealed that she asked him if there was anything
24:18
Speaker 1: you know, non traditional I believe is how she phrased it,
24:20
Speaker 1: that he's doing to to kind of get the get
24:23
Speaker 1: the bullpen bonded or whatever, and he said that he's
24:27
Speaker 1: reading poetry to the group. So hey, Dan, we need
24:31
Speaker 1: to hear a lot more about that. On the athletic
24:33
Speaker 1: and on this podcast, but also Tyler, what's the oddest
24:37
Speaker 1: thing a coach ever did in your time.
24:39
Speaker 4: For I mean, I for for the sake of you know,
24:45
Speaker 4: saving you know, people's uh.
24:48
Speaker 5: Relationships and things.
24:49
Speaker 4: I won't say too much, but it's a you know,
24:53
Speaker 4: we had Edie Gordotto out there. He was an absolute riot,
24:56
Speaker 4: which anyone that has been around him knows that he
24:59
Speaker 4: was like, you know, if he could tell guys were dragon,
25:02
Speaker 4: he'd he'd take a bunch of pre workout and start
25:05
Speaker 4: yelling at people. You know, just kind of at the
25:07
Speaker 4: end of the day, it's keeping it loose out there
25:09
Speaker 4: because we are you know, like Trevor May comes to mind.
25:12
Speaker 5: We talk about it, and he may have done an interview.
25:15
Speaker 4: About it, but it's you know, a starter shows up
25:17
Speaker 4: to the field and it's like, all right, I show up,
25:20
Speaker 4: I'm pitching.
25:21
Speaker 5: Reliever shows up. It's getting ready all day.
25:24
Speaker 4: And you're just on this slow roller coaster of like
25:27
Speaker 4: when when when when when? And you it can wear
25:30
Speaker 4: on you if you if you try to lock in
25:31
Speaker 4: for nine innings, you're gonna lose your mind, Like you're
25:33
Speaker 4: gonna be.
25:34
Speaker 5: Just absolutely insane. And so guys have to keep it
25:37
Speaker 5: loose and figure that out.
25:38
Speaker 4: And you've got young guys who are scared to death
25:41
Speaker 4: to breathe because they don't want to get in trouble,
25:43
Speaker 4: you know, a veteran or whatever it is. And so
25:46
Speaker 4: it's you know till la Troy's point. He's probably reading
25:49
Speaker 4: something pretty funny or something, you know, maybe a little
25:53
Speaker 4: inspirational here and there, whatever it may be, but it's
25:56
Speaker 4: something to break up the monotony of, you know, white
25:58
Speaker 4: knuckling a baseball game. And you know, Latroy's been in
26:02
Speaker 4: plenty of dugouts in locker rooms. You have seen it,
26:06
Speaker 4: heard it, forgot about it and more than anybody else can.
26:10
Speaker 4: So I think he's doing something that he thought would
26:12
Speaker 4: be a great fit. And I'm sure the guys love it,
26:14
Speaker 4: you know. Like I said, it breaks up the monotony
26:16
Speaker 4: of one hundred and sixty two games in a steel
26:18
Speaker 4: cage with fans yelling at you.
26:21
Speaker 3: I like the presence of him in that group, that
26:24
Speaker 3: they have a guy that's been there and done it
26:27
Speaker 3: for twenty one seasons, just to go for it and
26:33
Speaker 3: not worry about things like if there's a guy that's
26:35
Speaker 3: gonna get his young inexperience where he was pumped up.
26:39
Speaker 3: Latroy's going to be that guy. If he's in your corner,
26:41
Speaker 3: if he's in your camp, man, you got like a champion.
26:45
Speaker 3: And you know, he graduated college last year.
26:47
Speaker 2: I wrote about it. Last year.
26:49
Speaker 3: He went back in his late forties, early fifties and graduated.
26:53
Speaker 3: I think he's fifty two, maybe turning fifty three this year.
26:57
Speaker 3: He went back just to show his like family, his
27:00
Speaker 3: young nieces and nephews, that it could be done. I
27:03
Speaker 3: like to think that Latroy's reading some Edgar Allan Poe
27:06
Speaker 3: or some Walt Whitman, and there's.
27:08
Speaker 5: Like a nice stuff stuff.
27:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Like I look forward to diving into this story.
27:14
Speaker 3: He's he's a fascinating guy, and that's gonna be a
27:17
Speaker 3: group that is going to be They're gonna have their
27:20
Speaker 3: roller coaster moments all season long until they get someone
27:24
Speaker 3: with some pure heat. But I like just the characteristics.
27:29
Speaker 3: I like Eric Rsey's stuff. I think that's they found
27:33
Speaker 3: something there. They got him the Mets in November, another
27:37
Speaker 3: low wattage move that nobody paid attention to. There's guys
27:40
Speaker 3: like Cody Funderberg had a great post trade deadline last year,
27:44
Speaker 3: and we've seen him express a lot of confidence out there,
27:47
Speaker 3: get some big moments. You look across the board, there's
27:51
Speaker 3: there's guys stepping up and and so look, it will
27:55
Speaker 3: always be a fight. There is gonna be probably some
27:56
Speaker 3: Ron Davis moments for Twins fans where they're worried about
28:01
Speaker 3: losing and blowing the save. And that's gonna happen a lot,
28:03
Speaker 3: I think, but LaTroy can keep them kind of going
28:07
Speaker 3: in the right direction, I imagine.
28:09
Speaker 5: Yeah.
28:11
Speaker 1: The Twins now head out to Toronto for a weekend
28:15
Speaker 1: series before they return back home Stargutfield next week. Some
28:20
Speaker 1: decent weather days on the horizon. We'll see if how
28:24
Speaker 1: the crowd responds. But they have a root, so that
28:26
Speaker 1: helps Toronto. Toronto has a roof as well.
28:29
Speaker 2: That's correct.
28:31
Speaker 1: They're also the defending American League champions, but Tyler, they're
28:36
Speaker 1: also beset by some injuries. But nevertheless, a big test.
28:40
Speaker 1: We're coming off this feel goods four games sweep, seven
28:44
Speaker 1: and six, kind of maybe beating expectations and now comes
28:48
Speaker 1: to good test.
28:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that place, you know, I'm thinking about it
28:52
Speaker 4: now their home series in Toronto, those fans show up,
28:55
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's gonna be some guys, you know,
28:58
Speaker 4: first introduction to that. You know, I think most of
29:00
Speaker 4: the guys have been in the big leagues for a
29:02
Speaker 4: little while, but there's probably some guys in that roster
29:04
Speaker 4: that haven't been to Toronto yet. And it's you know,
29:06
Speaker 4: I debuted there famously, uh, you know, and I watched
29:10
Speaker 4: the day before. You know, that building literally starts shaking
29:14
Speaker 4: when it gets rotten rowdy in there, and so it'll
29:17
Speaker 4: be a real honestly, we'll probably see some guys get
29:19
Speaker 4: a bump out of it. You know, some velos will
29:21
Speaker 4: probably go up. Some results may be there that haven't
29:24
Speaker 4: been you know, it'll be a real change of scenery
29:28
Speaker 4: for a lot of reasons for the Twins, and you know,
29:32
Speaker 4: it's a it's a great place to play. Like you said,
29:34
Speaker 4: they're coming off some high expectations. You know, they're upset
29:36
Speaker 4: they didn't win a World Series. They were you know,
29:38
Speaker 4: a pitch or two away basically, you know, So it'll
29:42
Speaker 4: be good, you know, and I guess we'll try and
29:44
Speaker 4: keep Louis Varland out of the game.
29:45
Speaker 5: You know, that's a good thing for us.
29:48
Speaker 3: Did they When the Twins went there late last year,
29:51
Speaker 3: they played they probably outplayed the Jays in that series,
29:54
Speaker 3: and Jase won this series. The Twins bullpen just couldn't
29:59
Speaker 3: do it. It was the guy that they needed was
30:02
Speaker 3: on the other side in Varland. But they played great
30:06
Speaker 3: for about six you know, mid there was always that
30:10
Speaker 3: rule with the Twins after the deadline, like look at
30:13
Speaker 3: him from innings one through six and then forget.
30:15
Speaker 2: What happens in seven through nine because the starter is
30:17
Speaker 2: gonna go that long.
30:18
Speaker 3: Twins just need to keep that starting pitching train rolling.
30:21
Speaker 2: It's really good.
30:21
Speaker 3: But also the offense, and we haven't mentioned lots of
30:26
Speaker 3: you know, coming off of two straight one run games
30:29
Speaker 3: on Saturday and Sunday against Tampa Bay and that disappointing
30:32
Speaker 3: loss in extras on Sunday, offense broke out. Offense is
30:36
Speaker 3: second in the American League in runs right now now
30:40
Speaker 3: they're averaging four point six runs a game. Josh Bell,
30:45
Speaker 3: I'm really intrigued, Tyler you mentioned, yeah, I'm really intrigued
30:50
Speaker 3: to see the three in the hitting.
30:53
Speaker 2: Park is going to do for him.
30:55
Speaker 3: He was good in Arizona two years ago when he
30:57
Speaker 3: was in the hitters park.
30:59
Speaker 2: He's spent a lot of his.
31:00
Speaker 3: Time the last I don't know, it's been Pittsburgh is
31:06
Speaker 3: definitely a picture's park. He's played with the Nats, He's
31:09
Speaker 3: played in Kaufman, he's been in something, he played in Miami. Look,
31:14
Speaker 3: those are the friendliest picture or not the friendliest hitting parks.
31:18
Speaker 3: He's looked really comfortable, whether it is he's found his
31:22
Speaker 3: long ball a little bit, the home run Australia.
31:25
Speaker 2: Put them ahead.
31:26
Speaker 3: But the thing that really always impresses me is just
31:29
Speaker 3: the hitter, the bat to ball.
31:31
Speaker 2: He's a big dude.
31:33
Speaker 3: He doesn't strike out of the tun he knows his
31:35
Speaker 3: zone and and he dumps. You know, he's not afraid
31:38
Speaker 3: to dump a ball in and it can be the
31:41
Speaker 3: ugliest hit.
31:41
Speaker 2: But it's an effective to run. You know.
31:44
Speaker 3: He's he's just been big for them. I think that
31:46
Speaker 3: can be really helpful for some of the guys that
31:49
Speaker 3: the Twins want to be run producers, to see an
31:51
Speaker 3: example like him in the middle of the lineup.
31:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, and doing that, like to your point, Josh Bell
31:59
Speaker 4: with a Luisa Ryan approach, the ball's going to doubt
32:01
Speaker 4: a lot further like period, and so him just mishitting
32:06
Speaker 4: balls are doubles versus singles, and you know, continuing on
32:10
Speaker 4: like he gets a hold one a little bit.
32:12
Speaker 5: It's got a chance to get out, you know.
32:13
Speaker 4: And so that's, like I keep saying, that's all you
32:16
Speaker 4: can ask for in the heart of a lineup is
32:17
Speaker 4: a switch hitter that can put one in the third
32:20
Speaker 4: deck or shoot you the other way.
32:22
Speaker 5: For a single like that, That's you can't ask for
32:24
Speaker 5: much else.
32:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, Blue Jays are second worst in the AL and
32:31
Speaker 1: runs scored with forty one and fourth worst and runs against.
32:34
Speaker 3: So that's gonna definitely last. That's that's certainly.
32:40
Speaker 1: Let's get them while they're down.
32:42
Speaker 2: I guess is.
32:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, hey, sweep them, sweep them now.
32:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, Friday, if you're Sunday in Toronto, back in Minnesota
32:51
Speaker 1: on Monday, will be with you next on Monday. Should
32:55
Speaker 1: we Should we save Name that Twin Dan for next week?
32:58
Speaker 1: What should we?
32:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, let's say, let's say it.
33:00
Speaker 1: We have any It wasn't really. I didn't design it
33:03
Speaker 1: as a two player game, which was a mistake on
33:04
Speaker 1: my part. So let me go back to the drying
33:06
Speaker 1: board and make it a two player game for both
33:08
Speaker 1: of you. But we'll have a new game next week
33:11
Speaker 1: called Name that Twin. It's very creatively, Neil, that's a
33:15
Speaker 1: good one. I'll save it for future reference, but Twins
33:20
Speaker 1: seven and six leading the AO wildcard race with just
33:23
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty nine games to go, and there
33:26
Speaker 1: in Toronto this weekend. We will We will see you
33:28
Speaker 1: next week on Twin Cities Territory. If you like what
33:31
Speaker 1: you heard, please subscribe, follow, leave us a comment. We'd
33:35
Speaker 1: love to hear from you what you think of the show,
33:37
Speaker 1: and we look forward to seeing you next week. Thanks everybody,
33:40
Speaker 1: Bye bye
33:42
Speaker 5: Thank you all, say Y