WEBVTT - Episode 386 - Guardians Recap, Yankees Preview 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.760 Episode three eighty six of Bucco Banter. The Buccos stay hot. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.119 They take two of three in Cleveland. We recap that 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.879 series in preview the upcoming series versus the New York Yankees. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.720 You're listening to the Buco Banter podcast, brought to you 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.200 by the Just Baseball Media Network. Hey music, I feel 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:19.760 one on one. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:21.479 You see a couple of them in My Taste with 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:22.760 Ye and my Lemonade? 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:25.479 Does I let the waite taste Beth seats at the 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:26.160 Pirates get it? 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:27.280 Let me run the base. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.479 Yeah, My time is like my money because I can't 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.480 afford to waste. Oh why see is Alloyers my date 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.200 to my dates? Or to stick by the plate? Senny 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.200 Case peptic Case from my race at my pace, Clintic 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:39.320 brass edis Snakes. 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.080 Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Banter, and we 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.960 literally just returned from this city that they call the 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.320 Mistake on the Lake aka Cleveland, Ohio. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:52.080 Boy, am I glad to be home. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.000 From that business trip not a vacation, by the way, 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:55.040 a business trip. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.520 And we come back feeling good. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.640 Right as always, It's a roller coaster with this team, 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.800 but winning the series is most important. I think we're 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.600 more on the optimistic side going forward. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.319 I'm so happy to be back from that miserable, miserable, 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:16.120 miserable town. Listen in the wise words of a man 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.560 who played professional sports, who goes to Cleveland to vacation. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.480 You ever heard anyone say they're going to Cleveland to vacation. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:24.400 I think it's cool. 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:29.080 I think it's cool. There. No, it's not cool. But 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:30.839 the Bucos went in and they took care of business. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.680 And we're gonna spend the first part of the show 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:39.600 talking about why this team deserves a shot. And when 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.720 I say that, I mean from the front office, why 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:46.479 they deserve to buy Bye bye right now, because they've 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.720 proved to the fan base, they've proved to the front 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.360 office that this is a winning ball club. And I 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.920 know we're a roller coaster of emotions. We talk about 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.480 it every single episode, how reactionary baseball is, how much 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:01.279 of a roller coaster your emotions could be on after 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.120 Game two on Saturday. I understand it feels that way, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.840 But this is a really good baseball team right now, Guys, 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.120 this is the best offense in baseball at point blank. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.640 They score runs, they're running the base as well, right now, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.280 they're playing much much better defense. The starting pitching is 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.000 doing what you needed to do. There's just one problem 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:24.840 and that's what needs to be taken care of in 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:25.840 the next couple of weeks. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.679 Yeah, I completely agree with you, Adam. I mean, this 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.000 is a team that is without Connor griff and your 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:35.960 franchise cornerstone, without Spencer Horowitz, without O'Neil Cruz, and the 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.280 offense is still looking elite. I mean, this is a 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.520 deep team. This is a team that is very capable 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.160 of going to October. 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.680 And I'll tell you what, Adam, watching. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.840 This Cleveland team at home this week didn't inspire a 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.320 lot of confidence in that team who is winning their division. 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.639 I am fairly confident in saying that if the Pirates 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.800 from the Al Central, they'd be at least ten games 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.080 above five hundred with this bullpen. That's how much better 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.320 they look than the Guardians on the field this week. 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.400 I mean today, Billy Cook and Jack Manghan put out 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.000 on clinic in the outfields, made some key defensive plays. 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.080 They were all over the place in terms of base 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.040 running on the other side, but. 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:16.960 Made some key defensive places. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.200 Even last night before Dennis Santana gave up that walk off. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.200 Brian Reynolds made an incredible throw home that Raffie Flores 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.880 was able to tag the runner before he stepped on 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.680 home plate, which extended a game just one more batter. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.360 But still, Adam, you know, I think the front office 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.120 really needs to see what they have in front of them. 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.240 This is a team that's very capable of competing with 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.280 the best, but you need to patch some of those holes. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:43.640 And you don't just need to put a piece of 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.240 tape over the hole to cover the water. 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:45.760 From spewing out. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.160 You need to bring in reinforcements that are strong enough 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.040 to go deep into October. 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:57.040 You win this series outright, you sweep the Cleveland Guardians 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.839 if you have one more high leverage arm. Okay, one 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.360 more high lever drum. I'm almost happy that Game two 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.720 happened the way it happened on Saturday. Now, obviously I 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.200 want them to win every single game. I would love 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.640 if they swept the series. That would have been incredible 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.480 winning six games in a row. But it kind of 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:21.960 just was the cherry on top of the cake of 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.279 what we've been dealing with all season. And I know 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.159 there's so many examples to point to. But now that 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.800 this team is in a wild card spot, that they're 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.640 been inching closer and closer and closer, and then that happens. 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.720 The offense obviously didn't have the best game in the world, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.839 but they did enough for you to win. And all 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.240 you needed to do was rely on a couple of 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.640 guys to close the door, and you simply couldn't do it. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.760 That should have been if you didn't already have the 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:55.360 alarm going off. Sirens are outside the front office right now, sirens, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.760 loud noises, because that's what every single Pirates fan has 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.920 been dealing with every single series for the whole year. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.400 This team would be much much better competing for the 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.800 Central if they just had a couple more lever drum 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.080 Scott and they got through it. Anyways, we talked to 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.800 Donnie today in the scrum. He mentioned just the bounce 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:17.640 back and the resiliency, and I know he says that 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.040 a lot after. You know, the grit of this Pittsburgh, 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:25.680 hard working, launch pale type of team, but it's true. 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.000 These guys you go in the clubhouse and they they 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.680 want to win ball games for each other. It's a 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.920 good clubhouse man. It really is. And they brought in 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.640 Jacob Gonzalez, which we'll get into in a second, which 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.719 is paying off. But Scott, it is open. 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.520 It starts with Jake Mangham, a guy like that, and 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:46.640 didn't start exactly with him, but it starts with people 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.880 like that bringing in a guy like that, which I 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:50.240 don't understand the hate. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.240 I've said that multiple times. I don't understand that he 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.640 gets because this is a guy that is a leader. 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.400 And we go to his locker today post game and 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.359 he talks about how, you know, we've talked as the 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.320 team as we're not happy, like. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.160 We want to go on a run. 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.280 We know we're better than this, and I just feel 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.480 like they haven't had that voice, you know, the past 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.479 couple seasons in this clubhouse, especially on the offensive side. 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.760 And now you have him, Brandon Lawe, Ryan O hurt. 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:16.680 When you look at the lineup today, you were like 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.920 before the game, oh boy, Jared Triollo in the two hole, 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.840 Billy Cook's playing, he never plays like Brandon Lowe's on 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.599 the bench. This is gonna be interesting against you know, 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.479 Joey Cantillo, who's a really solid mid rotation starter, right, 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.680 And they did more than hold their own man. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:35.239 They fought. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.359 It was next man up mentality, and you love to 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.680 see that bounce back from a game from like last night. 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.520 I feel like a game like last night would have 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.120 taken it this last year's team out of it right. 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.080 They would not have been able to bounce back like 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.320 they did today. It's almost like it didn't happen. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:48.800 Right. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.960 They came in today, new day, and they showed up 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.360 and punched back, and boy did they punch back hard. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:57.919 If you don't want to believes that they would be 0:06:57.960 --> 0:06:59.760 competing in the centro if they just had one or 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:03.520 two more leverage arms. Per producer Jay in the chat. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.800 Right now, Brewers are ten and a half games up 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.320 on us in the division. We've blown seventeen saves this year. 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:14.800 They could absolutely compete with a competent pen. Just a 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.600 couple of more arms and Scott will get into some 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.960 trade ideas that we have. But this offense, man, I 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.720 just can't say it like we might never see an 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.120 offense this good and are like they have to capitalize 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.800 on it. They are second in baseball and WRC plus, 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.280 only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ever heard of them. 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:36.920 They're tied for fourth in homers. Homers. I didn't even 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:38.600 know you were allowed to hit a homer last year. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.440 I thought that might have been illegal because they didn't 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.360 do it. This team just continues to hit and as 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.600 Maryland Valdez. They asked Donnie today, like did you picture 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.280 him being this good coming out of camp? And he 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.800 looked at the reporters straight in the eyes and said, 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:57.680 absolutely not, dude, what he not this good? Like this 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.280 is insane Scott and he hit that home run for 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.040 insurance in Game three today and we just looked at 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.880 each other and shook our heads because it's over and 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.640 over and over again, and the most important thing. I know, 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.720 I'm ranting, I'm talking about this offense, but going back 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.440 to is Merlin and how important he's been, and Donnie 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.280 confirmed it himself, how professionally at bats have been. He's 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.480 not just going up there and withing a ton. He's 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.400 getting successful challenges. He's understanding the zone, he knows what 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.720 pockets to do damage in, and by god. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:29.000 He does it. 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.480 But brother, that at bat today, I think it was 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:33.520 his first at bat red challenge to strike Cox and 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.080 the a bat and earned a walk. I mean, that 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.040 was a professional bat. That's not something you see from 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.920 a rookie often. I want to right off this stat 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.880 real quick per our friend Dan Zangrilly as Villain Valdez 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.400 is the first pirate since Wally Stargule. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.280 I'm sure you've heard of him. Maybe possibly he's. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.640 The first pirate since really Stargel during his monster nineteen 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:54.960 seventy one season, have an extra base hit in an 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.440 RBI in seven straight games. He's like the first player. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.319 He's like only the fifth or sixth player in major 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.160 league history. You have twelve homers and thirty plus RBIs 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.920 in a certain amount of games. Just what he's doing 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.400 is not something we expected. We expected him to contribute, 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:09.839 but not at this level. It was never something you 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:13.040 can expect from a rookie. So you know, that's obviously 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.120 a positive and Adam not to make it negative, but 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.000 I want to turn the corner real quick and talk 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.440 real quick about Dennis Santana, because this is a guy, 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.320 the guy Dennis Santana we really like. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.360 I mean, I think the whole clubhouse likes Dennis Santana. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.000 He comes to work every day with a positive attitude. 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:28.280 He's like I've been through worse. 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.760 Love it right, He's definitely trying on the mental side 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.800 of things. But boy, oh boy, man, I don't think 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:37.400 you can go another day with him on the roster. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.079 I just don't think you can pitch him. 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.199 Get They got themselves in a situation yesterday in a 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.560 doubleheader where he was the only guy really available to pitch, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:45.400 so they. 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.280 Had to bring him in in a ninth inning. But 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.439 you tweeted out that stat today. You pulled those stats 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.920 eighth and ninth inning this year. It's alarming you. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.280 If you're contending you can't have a guy like this 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.199 on your roster, you just simply can't. 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.520 That stat or stats, I should say, was jaw dropping. 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.400 And I was talking to Jay last night and I 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.000 wanted to put together these stats, but we figured let's 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.359 give it a day until last night. Registered on fangrafts 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.080 in high leverage situations. For the people that did not 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.120 see the tweet that we put out in the eighth 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.840 or ninth inning, he has a twenty point twenty five 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.240 er an opponent batting average of four point fifty eight 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.360 nearly half the time guys are getting hits, opponent on 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.640 base percentage of five point fifty two, opponent slugging of 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.199 one thousand, forty two home runs, four earned runs twelve. 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:40.320 This is just somebody, forget even low leverage middle relief. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.240 This is somebody you just can't have generally on a 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:48.600 competing ball club. Again, you said it beautifully. I love 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.440 Dennis Santana. You see him come to work and it's 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:52.960 so hard. And I was thinking about it as we 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.439 were going to the stadium today. Imagine having just absolute 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.719 worst stay at your job, just horrendous. You blow it, 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.760 the office is absolutely pissed at you, and you got 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.560 to show up and do it again the next day. 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:06.960 A lot of people mentally just can't do that. You're 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.240 not built that way. And this guy's been able to 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.840 show up to work and you know, continue to try, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.080 and you know, there's been a couple of reasons where 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.840 we thought maybe the tides returning a little bit and 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.120 spin rate was getting a little bit better, and he 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.040 had a couple of good outings. It's just not happening. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.560 We have to to cut dead weight right now. And 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.920 I know we're getting closer to August third, and people 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.040 want to talk about Christian Curtis, which again we are 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.600 going to talk about Christian Curtis on this podcast today. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:39.000 But the Dennis Santana experiment is over. Guys, it has 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:40.960 to be. It has to be. I don't know if 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:42.360 you need to just put him on the I l 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.000 if you're afraid the DFA the guy for whatever reason 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.160 with a phantom injury. Hell, Chris Devenski's been on nil 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.880 with an underclosed, undisclosed illness for three months now. Who 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:58.680 the hell knows, but you got he's burned, He's burned 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.560 his eyeballs. You gotta get him out of here. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:03.760 Man. 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.960 I'm sorry. I hate talking about people's jobs like this, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.040 but unfortunately, you have to face reality in these types 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.560 of situations. And right now, I think you're the team 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.559 would agree, players would agree. 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.559 Especially a guy like that, especially guy like that. I 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.240 don't want to belabor the topic too much. I think 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.440 everyone we all know what needs to happen there. And 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.920 I think you can add multiple arms, and let's talk 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.559 about arms that they've had added. Brandon Eisert is a 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.960 guy that is interesting. He was in the trade during 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.679 the door before the draft with Jacob Gonzalez and we'll 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:36.720 get into Jack Gonzalez. 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:38.040 I feel like we have a lot to talk about 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:39.040 here after this weekend. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.760 But Brandon Eisert. I'll just put it out there. He's 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.240 nothing more than a specialist and that's all he should 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.160 be used as. Like last night, he came in with 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.640 two outs in the seventh inning and he got Patrick 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.000 Bailey out. That should have been the end of his night. 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.280 Greg Risotto should have came in right away, but instead 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.040 we saw Stephen Kwan and we saw Travis Bozanna, two lefties. 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.640 Come up in the eighth inning. We're like, we're gonna 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:05.160 run him out there. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.720 As soon as Stephen Kwan hit that ball, got a 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:09.360 single on that first a bat should have been in 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.280 the night, but we kept riding him. This is a 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.480 guy that only touches eighty nine guys eighty nine. I 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.680 know there's a lead extension, but lead extension doesn't nine Jerry. 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.760 A lead extension is great when you throw ninety three 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.199 perceive philosophy could be ninety six eighty nine guys eighty nine. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.360 And he does have a weird We're talking about this 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.800 up in the press box very just as a lefty hitter. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.080 It wouldn't be deceptive, right. He lands like super closed 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.080 off and it's a cross body delivery. It's funky, it's weird. 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.520 But still he's not gonna blow it by anybody. He's 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.680 not gonna fool anybody. And Stephen Kwan was I felt 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.400 like nine for twelve this week against US, like it 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.920 was just hit after hit. He's finding himself this year. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.120 And Travis Pazana, you know, has that power as well, 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.920 so you know, getting in a position bring him in 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.400 the eighth inning. I just thought was a weirdition, but 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:05.800 also I acknowledged the fact that this is it's a doubleheader. 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.160 And your options were limited unfortunately. 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.640 Yeah, who else are you going to? That's the problem 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.240 you're thinking about it. Who else do you go to? 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.120 Maybe you go to Soto earlier, not like Soto did 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.640 any better. And I know Rafa had a tough. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.200 But US did do better. If he comes into a 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:21.000 clean inning. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:25.880 Yeah maybe possibly. We'll never know. But it's a shame 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.240 that Christian Curtis's debut got spoiled and people are not 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.320 going to remember it as much. I hope they do 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:38.200 despite everything that happened, because this guy shoved. He went 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.840 in there on a debut in an away series, a 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.480 double header, and he just grinded it out. He got 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.920 deep into counts, he was able to throw all of 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:52.440 his pitches confidently, Scott. We were talking about the poise 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.400 that he showed. He did not look like a rookie 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.000 out there. And people want to argue, Hey, the numbers 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.080 didn't look great, and screw the numbers, Okay, you could 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.200 talk about Braxton Ashcraft last year didn't have great numbers 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.640 going into the season. It's not about that. It's about 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.640 the stuff, okay. And you combine the stuff with the 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.640 type of person that Christian Curtis is and you trust 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:17.920 him to go out there and take care of business. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:19.840 When we saw him walk onto the field, we were 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.160 just hanging out by the dugout. We got there way 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.040 too early. We were just chilling by the dugout and 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.320 the players are walking in and we're like, is that Christian? 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.920 And when we tweeted out like Christian Curtis is here, 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.320 it was such a full circle moment and like, just 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.280 to talk about us for a second, I don't want 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.040 to take away Christian Curtis's moment. But if you go 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.920 back to episode thirty six, Scott, episode thirty six of 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.120 Bucko Banter, that would have been July twenty third of 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:51.040 twenty twenty four, almost two years to the date we 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.040 had Christian Curtis come on the podcast in his first 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:58.400 professional season as a baseball player, and he was our 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:03.040 first professional baseball play ever to be on the show. Okay, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.280 he probably didn't know that before agreeing to it, but 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.280 he came on the show and we talked to him 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.240 that episode for about an hour and his story I 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.520 beg you episode thirty six if you want to throw 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.080 back two years ago Christian Curtis came on the show. 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.120 He also came on the show in episode one fifty 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.560 five as well, but go back to episode thirty six 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:26.960 and listen to his story. It is so unlikely that 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.360 this kid would make it to the pros. He had 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.240 all the talent in the world. He got screwed by 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:36.080 a doctor who messed up his surgery. He was losing 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.400 all feeling in his arms, and up until twenty twenty 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.560 four maybe still today, he didn't have feeling in his 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.680 ring finger and his pinky on his throwing hand, which 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.240 would affect a lot of his secondary pitches. Because they're 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.240 fuel pitches, you got to have a good feel for it. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:51.720 Scott could talk about that all. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.760 That you put certain pressure points on the ball with 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.360 different fingers, on different pitches. So like, yeah, if you 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.080 don't have a feeling in your ring finger you're trying 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.280 to spin the baseball, that could affect the the pitch overall. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.399 Yeah, and this guy didn't have it. He just didn't 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.960 have feeling and he worked and he grinded. And we 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.199 mentioned when we saw him in the breakout game, like 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.679 he could be a guy. And he just kept going 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.560 and going and going. And you didn't expect him to 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.120 debut this early, but my god, Scott, like he did 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.480 everything he could do to help that team win. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:26.639 Yeah, I'll tell you what. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.200 I not that I didn't expect that, but like that 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.359 was that was awesome and and also I'm just really happy, 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.320 unfortunate that we were there to witness his debut. I 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.800 think Christian Curtis is very near and dear to our hearts, 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.280 being the first player to join us on Bucko banner 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.840 as we were building this passion project, and you know, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:46.600 to see him walk on the field and know the 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:48.800 type of guy that he is and how great of 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.160 a family he comes from, I mean, it was so 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.600 cool to just be there to watch him just shine 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.480 and to see him just go out there with such 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.560 confidence too. Man, I mean, like I think tweeted out 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.080 from my account that he's pitching with the poison a 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.320 vet right now. Like he did not look like a rookie. 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:07.800 He did not look like a guy that was trying 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.080 to aim the ball or be a perfectionist. He was 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.480 out there throwing, and like you mentioned Braxton Ashcraft, this 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:15.960 is a guy that came up last year. His numbers 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.280 weren't sexy out of Triple A, but the stuff way 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.280 believed in the guy they believed in. The same is 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.920 true with Christian Curtis. This is a big league arm 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:27.080 and I'm super excited. I don't think we've seen the 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.359 last of him in Pittsburgh, and I think he's going 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.720 to be a big part of the future of this organization. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.520 Really really cool. The only thing I want to talk 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.320 about or touch on before we take a break and 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:42.080 then get into our preview for the Yankees is Jacob Gonzalez. 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.800 We interviewed Jacob Gonzalez Saturday morning, the newly acquired pirate 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.120 that was traded for the competitive Balance pick, and Jane 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:53.879 Woods has made his mark already with Pittsburgh and a 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.600 lot of people were screaming and hollering about the trade fire, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.200 Ben Charrington, this is atrocious right now now like down 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:08.280 with the system R E. L a X. Relaxed, let 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.240 things play out. You're not a GM for a reason. 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.159 And I'm not trying to like, I'm not trying to 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.080 yell at people or or say your feelings aren't valid 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.879 as Pirates fans, you're a bit jaded. I get it, okay, 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.040 but that should be a quote part. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.439 Yeah, this is. 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:29.160 A guy with you know, pedigree, a first round talent who, 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.040 in just based on our sources alone from people that 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.960 we know that have worked with him directly, has made 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:41.000