Cleveland Guardians collapse with 2-5 home stand

Cleveland Guardians collapse with 2-5 home stand

We are back and we are live. It’s 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning and it’s a big day for multiple reasons and none of them have to do with the Guardians. The Guardians are depressing right now, Zach, after their hot streak. They’ve lost five of seven to bad teams. But I’ve got two things that I’m very excited about this morning. Number one is that it was 14 years ago today that I moved to Cleveland. Yeah. Really? It’s my 14th anniversary. We uh it was supposed to be yesterday. We were drive we left New Jersey uh on the 17th. We were going to drive all the way and stay at a hotel before moving into our house that we were staying at at the time. But uh there was a lot of construction and we ended up spending a night in Youngstown because we could we just couldn’t make the last hour and a half of the trip. But uh 14 years ago today, I showed up in Lakewood and the rest is history. And now I’m not going anywhere. You people are stuck with me for the rest of time. It’s too bad you so those the summer of 2011s, but you missed like the good the good five minutes of that Guardian season when they were 30 and 15 and none of it made sense and Ezekiel Carrera was winning games with squeeze bunts and it was just, you know, it’s funny that you say that because, you know, I knew I was coming here for a few months before we went on the air. More than a It was probably about four or five months now. I can’t remember exactly, but until that point I had I had, you know, not, you know, I wasn’t watching the the Indians at the time on a regular basis, you know, and that year I, you know, had to make a point. I was already watching them before, you know, I I we moved here. And so, yeah, I remember thinking at the beginning of the year, oh, they’re going to suck and by the time we get there, they’re going to be terrible. It’s going to be over. It’s going to be all about football. Little did little did I know that it’s all about football all the time here at the time. I didn’t really fully understand that. But uh it it ended up being the case anyway despite the good start because obviously they collapsed the rest of that season. And how full circle we’ve come because going into August 18th in 2011, Cleveland was three games above 500 and kind of a pseudo contender a couple games out and where are we today going into August 18th? Cleveland is three games above 500 and kind of a pseudo contender uh couple games out. There you go. Yeah, that’s perfect. It really is. And that means it’s time for the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian show, [Music] you know, a week ago and we last did a show 10 days ago since I was away last week. Um, at the time we were feeling much better about the Guardians. They had been playing, you know, pretty good baseball for three weeks or so, maybe a little longer than that. But this week, um, it just all went away. Uh, they a home stand, especially, you know, it’s funny because they had been playing terribly right before the break and they were going to play the Astros and you’re like, this misery is going to continue and instead that’s when the turnaround happened. They swept the Astros. And now in reverse going into this week, you’re like, man, the team’s playing great. You got the Marlins. Okay, the Marlins are playing decent baseball, but they’re not very good. And then the Braves, who are disaster. You split four with the Marlins and then get took they took two or three. Oh, what the hell am I talking about? Two or three. Look at that. You were in a different country. Oh, yeah. You’re right. That’s a bad job out of me. Uh, okay. They lost three out of four, including the last White Sock game. Can I throw that in there? Um and then obviously the three-game sweep at the hand at the hands of the Braves was just hideous. Um and and just so let you know the terrible weekend and that leads them in the spot that you said where they’re a pseudo play playoff contender and and three games over 500 and yes they’re not out of it but it’s hard to believe they’re going to make the playoffs especially after what happened this weekend. Yeah, you can’t get swept this time of year. Um I I have done my best to try not to get, you know, it’s all the all the cliches a baseball player says, try not to get too high or too low because we tend to be our most passionate and understandably so when the team is either at rock bottom or when the team is reaching new heights. Right. Sure. And I don’t think they were ever as bad as it looked during the 10 game. I think I think that was an opportunity for us to like examine certain things that are wrong in the organization. But I also don’t think you know when they’re 20 what were they 22 and 8 I think at one point um in this great stretch and that that that is great like their true talent lies somewhere in between. And just because they were 22 and 8 doesn’t mean that some of the ugly baseball we saw in the first three plus months of the season wasn’t going to pop up at some point here, you know, the rest of the way. And so I just think this kind of is who they are. They’re just kind of an average to a tick above average team. And Atlanta just looked better. And then the instances where they they didn’t necessarily look like they were head and shoulders better than Cleveland. Cleveland couldn’t capitalize, right? I mean, Sunday’s game was an abomination. Sloppy and didn’t capitalize on mistakes and ridiculously stupid bunts and um yeah, just just a you know, it’s what we saw during that 10ame losing streak where there were games where they just got beat. Yeah. But there was a lot of just like you could have had this one and you didn’t. Um so like that series at Wrigley like the Cubs the Cubs looked like the better team of course but like for the Guardians to not get one of those three when they were in them Yep. Um that that a lot of that was self-inflicted. So, I just I just think like it’s baseball season has so many es and flows and it really is a roller coaster at times and a lot of the things we said when they were at their bottom still carry weight. Like there’s you look at this lineup and you know even during the good stretch like you’ve had Bo Naylor and Gabe Barius and Carlos Santana those are your guys hitting fifth most nights. Like there’s still issues. you scored one run the first two games of this Atlanta series, right? Um, you know, even the the I guess I would ask you, Bo, like what is what’s this team good at? What is their what’s their formula for winning? What is their like if you when we get to the end of the season, what are you going to point back to and say like that’s what made this team good when they were winning games, this is what they did? Because I’m still struggling to quite figure that out because it’s not the lineup. Like it’s a couple guys in the lineup. Yeah, you know, it’s not the starting rotation. It’s like one maybe maybe two guys in the starting rotation, right? Um and even the bullpen’s had its warts. So, I just I just this is a team that’s going to continue in my view to have ups and downs like this for the rest of the season. Yeah, I it’s really it’s an impossible question to answer because there is there is no clear there are parts of the team that are stronger than others obviously, but there’s nothing they’re outstanding at, right? And that’s that’s kind of the antithesis of what we’ve seen in the past. They’ve at least had a great bullpen, which they did last year. They’ve had a great starting pitching in in previous seasons. They’ve been elite defensively or elite base running. And the thing is, like this year, some of the things that they’ve been really strong at in past years are just not there. Like their defense is good, but they’re not fantastic. Their base running, they’re usually one of the best teams in the league. It’s just not the same. Their base stealing is not what it once was, right? Their bullpen’s good, but it’s not special this year. Their rotation’s good at times. But like Gavin, I mean, even Gavin Williams, right? The the last time, you know, like Gavin Williams goes and and takes a no hitter into the ninth inning. And here it is. He’s put it’s it’s it’s the inconsistency is behind him. And then against the Marlins, he can’t get three innings, he gives up four runs. I mean, at two homers and and can’t even get into the, you know, past the fourth inning. So, uh, that was a huge disappointment. And Slate Sakone, who’s shown a lot of promise, last two starts, he’s gotten destroyed. That’s been disappointing. Obviously, Tanner Bbey’s been, you know, up and down all year. So, I I think ultimately you’re right. Yes, they’re not a horrible team. They’re not the team that lost 10 in a row. Most teams aren’t outside of like the Rockies. And they’re not a team that that, you know, they had that great stretch and that’s that. They’re not going to do that again. They’re a mediocre team. and they’re going to finish between somewhere between three games under and three games over 500 or if you want to stretch it out a little between five under and five over somewhere in that range. And ultimately that will very likely not be enough to make the playoffs. It’s it would be hard to have much faith in this team even if they did make the playoffs. You know, at the moment they’re you know, they were right there a half game behind the Yankees and Yankees swept their weekend series. The Guardians got swept. So now the Guardians are three and a half back of the Yankees and a four back of Boston and Seattle. Two teams who who have, you know, have didn’t have a good weekend. Uh and they’re but they’re only a half game up on Kansas City and two up on Texas. You know, I I none of those teams are playing particularly well, although the Royals have played better lately. They’re going to play all these teams coming up, too. That’s the other thing. You know, you’ve got a series in Texas later this week. You’ve got the Rays and the Mariners coming to town. Then you’ve got trips to Boston and Tampa. I mean, you’re going to face all the teams right around you, right in front of you. And and that’s, you know, look, I I I am not one to say, “Oh, well, they just beat up on a soft part of the schedule because they went into Houston, they went into New York, and they swept the Astros and Mets.” Like, I give them I give them a ton of credit for how they turned it around. Um, and like personally, I’m a little disappointed because I spent all this time the last couple weeks digging into how they turned it around and yeah, you know, how all of this went out. I mean, they’ve been through some man. Like, it it’s there’s been a lot of adversity this year, and I give them a ton of credit for turning this around because they absolutely could have just gone in the tank and lost 95 games. And um you know we saw them like all right so your first full season in Cleveland bowl was 2012 and that team was kind of like this where they just didn’t play great baseball but they were around 500 all year and then in August and conveniently they I know there was some unrest in the the clubhouse that summer when they didn’t make any additions at the trade deadline. You know the year before in 11 they traded for Ubaldo Jimenez and it was like all right this is the start of a window. we think we’ve got something here. And then 2012, they were just they were average. And I mean, it’s not a surprise looking back. You had like Shelley Duncan hitting fourth. But um poor no trades were made. I think they added like Lars Anderson and Brent Libridge. Yeah. Yeah. And then they went five and 24 in August and Maniacta got fired and and it was that that could have happened like this could have been that absolutely where you know you lose 10 in a row and then you get Ortiz and Class A and you trade Bieber and there was a lot of tension about whether they were going to trade Quan and a lot of his teammates were it was like a huge collective exhale on August 1st when they walked into the clubhouse and you’ve seen it like the way they played the first two weeks of August was the way They played the last three weeks of July and it was it was impressive. Um, but that’s also evaluating that again like there’s going to be this, there’s going to be that and you got to just figure out what the team is like on average and on average this team is about average. Yeah. Um, that’s certainly true. They go to to Arizona tonight to start a series. 60. Uh if if you look at um they’re 63 and 60, so you got just 39 games left in the season. Uh how many do you think they need to end up at? Do you think they need like 88 89? I would say yes. Uh somewhere I I I am I have not been a believer in the Yankees all season. I’m not a huge believer in the Red Sox either. So, I think 88 could get it done. So, for them to win 88, they got to go what? 25 and 14. Yeah. Even if I knock it down to 86, which is probably not enough, but that’s 23 and 16. I I just would be surprised if they And and you know, you can say, well, they they just played that well before this weekend. And that’s true, but I I like we’ve been talking about, I just don’t think over the long haul, they’re good enough to play that well over that long a period of time. Hopefully, listen, hopefully they’ll prove me wrong. Hopefully they’ll prove you wrong and be better than mediocre because we want them to make the playoffs, but um ultimately they’re short on talent. That’s what it comes down to. They’re short on talent. Uh there’s just not enough quality bats in the lineup. Um, let’s talk about let’s talk about some of the young guys. By the way, you know, we haven’t had a chance to talk about. Obviously, CJ Kus finally got the call up. Um, what do you think of what you’ve seen of him so far? Um, I I don’t It’s He’s He looks fine. I It’s It’s tough. I mean, it’s been a tiny sample size. Right field is not his natural position. and he’s new out there. So, I refuse to offer any evaluation on that. Like, you know, I assume he’s going to be playing first base next season. So, um you know, the bat like I like that they’ve given him opportunities against lefties. It’s it’s funny to me. Historically, he’s never had, you know, issues against lefties in the minors. So, I’m glad that they are recognizing that and letting him play. It’s just what does Kyle Manardo have to do to get that opportunity? It’s yeah, it’s insane to me. Um, so, you know, you go into next season with Kus and Manzardo as your first base in DH tandem and I’d be thrilled about that. Uh, I I don’t there’s no spot for this in our shows. I This is not a name we’d normally mention and I just Have you seen anything Ralphie Velasquez? Have you seen anything about him? I mean, I know who he is, but I have no what he what what about him? I So, it’s just f like this is not a conversation we need to to drag out here. But, um, you know, he’s he’s a 20-year-old prospect. He was their first round pick in 2023. Yeah. And he was always just like big bat, that’s it. He he was originally a catcher and they’ve moved him to first base. He occasionally plays left, but he’ll wind up at first base. And you know, he got he had a kind of a he was okay last year in Aball and he started this year um at Aball again and for the first few months he was not anything special. He turned 20 in like late May. So that’s also, you know, he’s super young, right? He started hitting well like in late June and they bumped him up to Akran last week. And first I just wanted to mention that since late June his slash line is 368448715. Oh my god. So, okay, this guy’s figured something out, right? And they bumped him up to double A. And mind you, he just turned 20. He is the sixth youngest player in double A. Okay, here are his first five games in double A. One for four with a triple and a walk. Two for four with a double. Three for four with two homers, a double, and a walk. Three for five with a homer, a double, and a walk. Three for five with a homer, a double, and a walk. Jeez. Yeah. So, he’s Oh my god. So, since he they got promoted to double A, he’s hitting 545, 615, 1364. It’s OPS’s 2000. Um, and I only bring that up because for forever this was the pitching factory and like they couldn’t develop hitters and I I I still don’t know if they can develop hitters. Like we’re going to find that out once and for all in the next like year. Yeah. Because all their top prospects are, you know, Bazana, Delau, like these guys are all hitters. Cooper Engel is in TripleA now. And I just find it interesting with Ralphie Velasquez is this first baseman who is just destroying everything in his sights right now. And I would imagine he’s 20. Like I’m not I’m not jumping to conclusions here. I just find it interesting. Menardo, this is his first full season in the bigs. He’s first base DH. CJ Cayas. This is his first taste of the big leagues. First base DH. Like maybe right field longterm, but we’ll see. I think to winds up there anyway if he’s ever healthy. I think Juan Breurto might end up there. And now you got Ralphie Velasquez who’s who’s look again like he’s a year or two away. But I it’s just like you’re going to have log jams. And this is where the one thing this organization has just stopped doing in recent years is trading prospects for proven big league talent. And forever it was like, oh, why don’t they trade some pitchers and get some hitters in here? And now it might end up being the opposite. you might need to trade some hitters and and get some pitching in here, you know, to help make up for Luis Ortiz’s absence, Emanuel Class’s absence, or or maybe you’re trading from that first base glut to get a center fielder or a catcher. Sure. Or that, too. Yeah. Yeah. But it’s just it’s interesting, you know, they have if you want to point to something, some positive development or some takeaway from this season, it could be that like you have all these hitters on the cusp and and you need it because the lineup is not good enough. It hasn’t been good enough all season and it’s too bad that Bazana and Delau and Burrito have spent most of this year injured or else any or all of them could be up by now. Um because you’re you’re just you’re going to have a lot of position players to sift through here and you know by the time Ralphie Velasquez is a major league hitter producing by the time Bazana is a capable guy you want hitting at the top of your order in the big leagues like how old’s Jose Ramirez gonna be? Yeah. Where’s Steven Quan gonna be? Right. I mean, see, I think next year, we I’ve said this a million, we’ve said this a million times, but like next year might be the last best chance with Guan and Ramirez because let’s say everything goes right with these young guys and you let let’s say by May or June, you’ve got Manardo and Kay at first and DH, you’ve got Bazan at second, you’ve got Delau in right, you’ve got Quan in left, you’ve got Ramirez at third. you know, let’s say, let’s say, you know, whatever, Rochio or Arius, all right, at short, okay, you still don’t have a center fielder and a catcher. May maybe you get aggressive and make a move for one of those positions. And maybe we’re looking at it differently. I to me, you know, you talk about this year, um Kyle Manardo’s OPS just went up to 800. That’s pretty impressive. And about a week ago, it was like 840. Well, but didn’t Oh, but then it went back down under 800, but now it’s back to 800. Yeah. I’m just saying like he he I think he had a quiet weekend, but he’s he’s absolutely like he’s done everything you could have asked for. Yeah. Offensively, right? And and obviously there’s a lot of work that needs to happen at first base, but you know, his development I he’s had a really good season for a guy whose first full year in the big leagues with all the failures they’ve had offensively. He’s had a really good season. I think, you know, some people are going to say, “Well, but he’s only batting 230.” I I don’t care about his, yes, his batting average isn’t great. His on base percentage isn’t great. His defense isn’t great. We could focus on the Yes, there are some negatives in his game, but the power is is there. The production is there. Like, he’s he’s putting up the extra base hits. The slugging is there and in a big way. And for a team that needs it desperately, here’s the thing. If if you’re worried about his batting average, if if that’s the lens you view baseball in still in 2025, okay, the league average batting average is 246. So, let’s pretend we’re still in uh 1995, right? And you think a good hitter hits like 285 or better, right? So, pretend that it’s 1995, but Kyle Manzardo is actually hitting 275, right? Especi Exactly. You There’s no complaints about a slugger hitting 275. He’s hitting a bunch of home runs. He’s drawing some walks and he’s almost 100 points above the average OPS. So, you know, and and you look at this lineup. I mean, the the average OPS in the league is, I think, 715 or something like that. The Guardians as a team have a 675 OPS. That’s terrible. They only have three players above average OPS. Of course, Ramirez and and Quan, but Manzardo is the only other one, and most of their guys are significantly under average. By the way, speaking of which, how about that game Miles Straw had Saturday. Two home runs. He has more home runs than Nolan Jones. Isn’t that wild? Yeah, it’s wild. All right, uh, Zack, we’re we got to take a break here for a second when we’ll get to the fan comments. We’ll get to FanDuel in just a second. But first, folks, I got to talk to you about better help. Let’s get to better help here because we could all use some more help at times. There’s no doubt about that. some people more than others. But uh with better help uh it feels like you need some advice, right? Cold plunges, gratitude journals, screen detoxes. But how do you know what actually works for you? Well, Better Help with so much information online about mental health and wellness, it can be overwhelming. That’s where talking to a licensed therapist through BetterHelp can make all the difference. You get real personalized guidance instead of just guessing based on something you saw on social media. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world’s largest online therapy platform serving more than five million people. So talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners will get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/lockedon. That’s betterhelph.comlockedon. All right, let’s get locked on with FanDuel. Uh Zack, what do you got for us there? Yeah, we’re we are on the uh doorstep here of what I think is the best time in the sports calendar. You’ve got baseball pen and races, you’ve got college football around the corner, the NFL, it’s all here and it’s in full swing. So whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action, so why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. Well, I don’t know about you, but I just I’ll just open my app every day and just look at all the possibilities. Um, I mean, you’ve got props, you’ve got win totals, you’ve got Super Bowl, college football playoffs. It’s it’s all right there. And if you’re new to FanDuel, if you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.comuss to get started. Good job out of you, Zach. By the way, good job, Adam. I can I can I promote my uh my fall ball kids who did a great job yesterday? Yeah. Who which one of them hit your windshield? So, well, it wasn’t a kid on my team. It was a kid on another team. You know, I’m the commissioner of the league. So, I I I just I actually on last last Sunday, two Sundays ago, I was just going to check on my team had played in the morning, so I was going to check on our afternoon game, see if everything was going okay. I was just stopping at the field for five minutes. That’s when my wind windshield took the hit. But anyway, yesterday it was a big game for So, my team is the River Bandits, right, that I coach. And uh last year we won the championship. We pulled an upset over an undefeated the undefeated Ghost Pirates. We beat them in the championship. Yeah. This is you know the all the names of the teams are either related to um Cleveland sports history or Rocky River. Okay. So uh you know we have the Buckeyes, the Blues, the Ghost Pirates. My team is the River Bandits. We have the um the River Dogs, um the Spiders, and the the Blues. Did I say the Blues? I don’t remember. Um anyway, so so yesterday was the rematch of the championship when we which we beat them. And they wanted their revenge. They wanted their revenge. Okay. And uh they they were three and 0 going into the game. We were two and0. Every team plays a double header once during the season. They’ve already played their double header. That’s why they got more wins than us. And they had outscored their opponents by about 45 runs in the first three games. So, uh there was a lot of talk that they that nobody could defeat their team. Well, not so fast. Not so fast. The uh River Bandits, my squad, not only did we win, we came within one run of mercy ruling them. a 12-3 victory for the River Bandits. Revenge would not be had. Now, maybe we’ll see them again in the championship. Who knows? But shout out to uh one of the kids on my team is new to the league this year. He’s he’s actually we we uh we have a lot of kids now from it started as a league in Rocky River, but we unlike Little League where you have to be from Rocky River, we I when we started this league last year, I wanted to be kids from wherever. didn’t have to be from Rocky River to play. So, we got a lot of kids this year from Lakewood and Bay Village and Westlake to join the league. And it was tricky making the teams because, you know, you got to grade all these. Anyway, real quick. So, shout out to this kid, Owen Miller, who who is from Bay Village. And Owen was I I I put him on the hill yesterday and holy moly, he went five innings. He had 10 strikeouts. He didn’t even So we we do what we do in little league in football because we don’t want to unlike a lot of coaches for kids this age. We don’t want to destroy these kids’ arms. So we have a pitch limit, right? Like you can’t pitch uh at his at our age you can’t you 85 pitches is the max. And he didn’t even hit his pitch limit. Like I didn’t even have I didn’t have to take him out of the game but I was like okay five innings that’s enough. And we had kind of opened up the score in the last inning. Five innings, 10ks, gave up three hits. Uh, I gave up three runs, but only only one was earned. We made one. I My kids played great. Shout out to every kid on my team because they all contributed. We made a couple incredible plays on defense. Um, our hitting was great. My son got out of his slump. He had been 0 for five to start the season. He got a triple in his first at bat off one of the best pitchers in the league. And then he got a a single later in the game. So, uh um it was a good day for the River Bandits. Now improved to three and 0. I’m glad there’s an Owen Miller that actually meets expectations. That That’s one where I just I just looked him up and Yeah. Yeah. former Guardian Owen Miller is playing for the Rockies AAA affiliate and wow, not even not even hitting in Albuquerque. Um yeah, I thought he was going to be I just thought he was going to be a solid hitter and never never came. He was with the Brewers. Was he with the Brewers last year? He was with the Brewers the last couple years. Um but in the major I mean 629 OPS in a thousand major league played appearances. Yeah. I just remember that one season he was hitting like 420 in Alea for like six weeks and felt like they took forever to call him up and then when they did he just never got going. That’s why uh AAA can sometimes be like uh preseason football. Like it’s it’s not real till you do it in the big, you know, in the majors. Yeah. We’ve gone 29 minutes and we haven’t mentioned Dylan Gabriel or Sher Sanders. I know. Well, uh that won’t that won’t last another show, so let’s let it last a year. All right, let’s get some comments from the fans. Uh John says, “Bunting killed me. All the pressure was in Atlanta. Vote says it was Quan’s decision.” Yeah, we didn’t talk about that. What did you think of that situation? Just terrible. And it’s I mean I look I I have had arguments with I feel like Ken Carman and I have argued about this for 10 years and I just there there is I’ll I won’t say 100% of the time bunting is idiotic. There there’s you know if it’s like Austin Hedges and it’s you’re down one and it’s first and second nobody out fine. Um, but there’s that that that’s your second best hitter. There are so many ways Steven Quan can move the runners without It was absurd. Um, and it’s just and and you’re facing a guy who couldn’t find the strike zone. I just Yeah, it was terrible. Well, and also like I understand you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but when you sacrifice in that situation too, you also lead to the a real potential of Jose Ramirez being intentionally walked. It it doesn’t make any sense. He’s your He’s your second or third, you know, best hitter. Uh there you’re right. And And if they had if they had a different lineup and you had like Francisco Lindor hitting second. Yeah. Right. Different maybe. But even then, I’m still not doing it. What is the percent chance that the sacrifice bunt works out exactly as hoped? Like it’s not 100% obviously since he popped out. And then what is the percent chance that Quan just swinging away is going to at least move the runners? Like is it that drastic of a difference that like and so it’s just it’s beyond stupid. Uh Ken Ken’s lost in the old school if he’s arguing about this. There’s there’s maybe one out of 20 circumstances where it makes sense. There’s almost no situations where I’m like, “Yeah, it’s a smart sacrifice bunt there.” I don’t understand it. I was watch I told you I was in Toronto watched the Cubs and Blue Jays and the the Cubs did a sacrifice bump in a situation and I was like this is dumb. Why are you giving up out here outs here? I said and then it didn’t work and you know even if it had worked okay but like sometimes it’s going to pan out but um but even if it does I mean they they squandered so many opportunities yesterday. Yeah. You know Manardo getting doubled off third base. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Yeah. Um, you know, don’t give up outs. No. So, like Bo Naylor had four hits and Daniel Schnean had a great game and like Yeah, they still lost and they still lost. So, Wayne says, “Don’t fool yourself. If this team wins 20 in a row, they’ll fall flat on their face in the playoffs.” Uh, Brils, the Guardians have not been looking good, especially against National League teams. Uh, Brils, Slade should have went down to AAA, not Joey. I don’t agree with that. Do you think he should go down the triple A? Well, I think it’s interesting. Um, Canillo didn’t deserve a demotion. No, he didn’t either. I since laid down either. I But I don’t think that’s about Cantillo. I think that’s about Parker Messi. And I think I think there’s a legitimate shot. You see him Wednesday um make his major league debut. You know, Cantillo like his his last five starts he’s got 16 walks in 25 innings. And so their message to him is, yeah, your stuff’s good. You just got to throw strikes. But in those 25 innings, his RA is 355. So it’s like he’s, you know, so so, so we’re talking to the farm director yesterday and we asked straight up, so why can’t he work on that at the major league level since he’s still getting outs, right? He’s not giving up a ton. He gave up one run the other night, five and whatever. Um and or we’re talking to the assistant GM and the assistant GM did a very nice job of completely deflecting the question. Um which led me to believe that it’s not about Cantillo. It’s they want to see Parker Messik for a few starts, right? So maybe he’ll come up Wednesday. Um because they didn’t they didn’t have to do that. Like they need a starter for Wednesday now. And you had you had one who was Yeah. who was maybe not throwing enough strikes but like I would he’s been pitching better than Slate Sakone has. Right. like, yeah. So, it’s uh yeah, I don’t think that’s about Canillo. I think that’s about them wanting to see Messi for a few starts before John Means is ready. Uh Brendan says probably for playoff probably it for playoff sadly. Uh pitching regressing and hitting being hit and miss once again probably closer to reality than the last few weeks. 83 and 79 finish coming. Uh, synth commander trading Savali for a first baseman DH has been a good move for at least two teams. Yeah, because the the Brewers, they got Andrew Vaughn who’s like the MVP. The guy’s been unbelievable. The Brewers had won. They lost their winning streak ended yesterday. Four. They had been like a month ago the Cubs had a four-game lead in the Central. Now it’s eight games for the Brewers. It was 98. They are playing a fivegame series. F the rare fivegame series at Wrigleyfield. Double header today, right? Yep. Double header today. Diesel, the team is so mid and boring. Bringing up all the young guys, let them start all September. Get them their first MLB experience. I agree. I want the Lauder up in September. I want Bazana up in September. I do not want to see any I know. I I know neither is likely, but but that’s what I want. It’s the injury stuff. Um, you know, Delta’s like at least three, four weeks away. Burritos got I think he’s another three. So like and then then the Triple A schedule goes for I think another month. But yeah, I mean I’m not I’m not against it. Like just let let them get get like five game like Bo Naylor they called up at the end of 22. He played like right with like eight at bats. Why not do that with the loader something? Yeah. In 10 games at the end of the season. Uh Zack Diesel says this will be the final one. Zack, what’s a recent obscure jersey you have seen? Um, I’ve got I’ve got the list somewhere. I had These aren’t great. I just like over the last week I had uh Yonder Alonzo and Danny Salazar. I saw Oh, wow. Um, those aren’t those aren’t very good. I I Yonder Alonzo is good. Not Danny Salazar is not that obscure. But, uh, speaking of which, it’s I’m so pissed. That just reminded me when I was in Toronto, I was taking note mentally of obscure Blue Jays jerseys and I meant to write them down and I never did. There were surprise, this is not obscure because he was a really good pitcher for them for a couple of years, but I was surprised how many Aaron Sanchez jerseys I saw. He had like one awesome year. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. uh Connor Pilington and one of my favorites this year we’ve had was a Cliff Lee jersey, but it was when he wore number 65, which he wore for 11 starts in his first year. That’s a good one. Um and that led me to think of maybe my next frontier here is like a collection of jerseys from guys when you get called up, you don’t you often don’t choose your number. Like Jose Ramirez wore 62 for a couple weeks when he got called up, right? And so it would be like the greatest players and the numbers you never knew they wore. Yeah, I like that. By the way, did you know Connor Pilkington is pitching out of the Nats pen in the major leagues? Yeah. In 2025. Yes. In this economy? Yes. I’m going to double check to make sure I’m not making that up, but I’m pretty sure. No, you’re right. He pitched an inning yesterday, gave up two runs, hit two batters. What’s his uh he’s got a 617 ERA in 11 and 2/3. So, I’m guessing he won’t be in the big leagues for long. But um um 13 strikeouts in 11 2/3. Not bad. But anyway, he’s been in the big leagues for a couple of weeks. All right. Thanks everybody for joining us today. Um thanks to uh well, nobody else. That’s it. Thanks to Zach for joining me. Uh make sure you’re with us again next week. will be on Monday. Once the football season starts, we may go to a different day. We’ll let you know. Um, that’s going to do it for now. We’ll talk to you next time on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show.

The once hot Cleveland Guardians completed a terrible home stand by being swept by the Braves in a 3 game set.

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