Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is front
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim rosenhouse along with you from Target Field
in Minneapolis this weekend, where the Guardians are taking on the Minnesota Twins in
a four game series. Coming up a little bit later on in our show,
we will hear from outfield and base running coach J. T. McGuire,
also pitcher Logan Allen and catcher Cam Gallagher and one of the great storytellers
in the game. Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis will also hear from him later
on in our show. But let's get Let's get right to it. Our
week in review, and we begin with a really good series in Baltimore for
the Guardians. To start this road trip on Memorial Day, Monday. They
took on the Orioles on a Monday afternoon and they came away with a five
nothing win. Good pitchers duel early with Tyler Wells going for the Orioles and
for the Guardians, the rookie Logan Allen had it all working. Allen with
the one two, swang and I miss strike three. Allen strikes out his
seventh and it came at a great time, so the threat goes by the
boards. We head to the fifth still no score in Baltimore. Cleveland got
the scoring started in the fifth inning on a sack fly by catcher Cam Gallagher,
and then two innings later Gallagher knocked in another run. Gallagher groundball base
hit through the hole into right field, hitting third of straw coming home.
Here's McKennis throw to the plate head first, slide safe at the plate and
the Guardians take up to nothing lead. Back to back to back base hits
and Gallagher has both RBIs with that RBI singled a right straw, scoring from
second. Brennan stops at second and Cleveland now with a to nothing lead.
Next up in the seventh was Stephen Quan now the O one swung on a
chopper up the middle in the center field of base hit that'll score Brennan from
second on his way to the third. Gallagher in the second with a hustle
double is Quan Mullins, the center fielder on that chopper back up the middle
in the center slipped and fell as he was getting to that ball and Quand
turn that into a hustle RBI double three nothing Cleveland. They do it on
four straight hits and then I'm ed Rosario kept the inning rolling. The pitch
swung On grounded the second back. Hannaby Fraser comes home with the throw and
it gets away from McCann into scores Gallagher. Here comes Quwan. He'll score
before McCann goes back to get the ball that squirted behind him. And in
the second is Rosario and the Guardians are making everything count. It's a four
run inning and a five nothing lead, and Logan Allen continue to roll in
the bottom half of the seventh. Now the lefties won two swang and a
miss got him with a fastball. Ten strikeouts for Logan Allen and that'll wrap
up his day, his best in the Bigs seven shutout innings of three hit
baseball and ten strikeouts, Guardians five Orioles nothing and with the big lead,
Trevor Stephan was on to finish things up in the ninth. Birds down to
their last strike down five in the ninth the two delivery swung On grounded the
first handle by Naylor. He'll go to the bag himself. Full game and
the Guardians get another shut out and blank the Orioles five to nothing here on
Memorial Day as Cleveland pitches its fifth shut out of the year. Tuesday,
the Orioles came up winners eight to five, and that's set the stage for
the rubber match in the series Wednesday afternoon, and it was the wildest game
of the season in terms of runs scored for both the Guardians and the opposition.
The Guardians got things started early. Stephen Quan let off the game with
a bunt basse hit, and then two batters later, Jose Ramirez stepped in
the pitch, swung on trill the left down the line it goes this ball
is off the base of the wall near the left field corner. Quan around
third is coming home. Ramiers to second throat of the plate, Kwan in
sliding ball gets away from the catcher, goes to the backstop, and Ramirez
advances to thirds. So an RBI double for a Jose Ramirez off the base
of the wall in left and Stephen Quan able to score all the way from
first. In the second, after Shane Bieber got two quick outs, the
Orioles exploded for four runs on two walks and four straight hits that produced a
four to one lead. Then in the third, the Guardians answered with a
big two out hit from andres He Menez. The pitch and he sends a
looper to left. That'll get down. That'll be a base hit. Ramiers
will score. Nailers trying to score. McKenna airmails to throw to home in
the score is not only Nailer, but everybody else. Moves up bild a
third and Jimenez to set and the Guardians are now trailing four to three.
So a big two out, two runs single the other way by Andre Simenez
and that gives him back to back two hit games in this series. Baltimore
got one back in the third to make it five three, and then in
the fourth Stephen Quan was on base again as Josh Naylor's big day started.
Here's the pitch to Naylor. He swings and drives it right center field.
This one's deep way back there, and that ball is haha, run Josh
Naylor. They just cleared the fence and for the first time in more than
a week, a Guardians hitter has gone deep, and that two runs shot
off the bat of Nailer has tied the game. Josh Nailor, with home
run number eight on the season, has tied this game at five. The
next batter was Josh Bell. Here's the pitcher, Perez, and that swung
on and lifted high in the air to deep left. Does this have enough
way back? Home run Josh Bell to the deep part of the ballpark,
But it didn't matter. Bell. Homer's to left and the Guardians have taken
the lead. Number four on the season, four Bell. He's gone more
than a month between home runs, but that huge blast to left has put
Cleveland in front six to five. But the back and forth continued. In
the bottom of the fourth inning, is again Bieber got two quick outs,
but a single and a two run home run by Anthony Santander Baltimore moved back
in front seven to six. Onto the fifth Guardians responded with two hits and
a walk to load the bases for Josh Naylor. Here's the pitch to Nailer.
Hey swings and drives it high in the air right center field. That
ball bangs off the wall, extra basis for Naylor. One run is in.
That's Gallagher right behind him. Is Quan right behind him as Rosario.
All three score on the double off the bat of Josh Nailor, who has
a big day going, and the Guardians are back in front, nine to
seven. Cleveland Man he did not miss a home run by much. Nailor
now with two doubles, a home run and five runs driven in, and
two batters later, Gabriel Arius put an exclamation point on the fifth inning.
Here's the pitch from ballman swung on and there's a high fly ball deep left
center field. Way back there hard run Arius beyond the Orioles penning into the
Guardians bullpen. A mammoth shot off the bat of Arius, and the Guardians
now lead it eleven seven. The two runs shot off the bat of Ours
and it's a four run Cleveland advantage. The Orioles scored a run in the
bottom half of the fifth to make it eleven to eight, and then in
the seventh, Jose Ramire has doubled and Josh Nailer put the finishing touches on
a huge afternoon. Now the set and line drive swung on and hit in
the left by Nailer. Ramirez around third will score and Josh Naylor has Cleveland's
first six RBI game of the season. So Nailer goes Appa with a line
drive single to left and Cleveland now has the lead at twelve to eight.
In the ninth, there wasn't a safe situation for Cleveland. They were up
by four runs, but manager Terry Francona wasn't taking any chances as he turned
to Emmanuel Class to close things out a swing in a weak groundball to second.
Hemena's gloves, throws ball game and the Guardians taking a series from the
Orioles as today they come from behind and I'll slug Baltimore twelve day. So
the Guardians took two out of three in Baltimore and that made for back to
back series wins for the Guardians for the first time since the first road trip
of the season that took them to Seattle and Oakland, as they have really
had a hard time winning consistently since that time until this week when they took
a series from Saint Louis back home and then the series in Baltimore on the
Minnesota The road trip continued. Thursday night tough one for the Guardians as they
saw a late lead slip away and the Twins walked it off with a seven
to six victory and then on Friday night shut out baseball for Minnesota in a
one nothing win. Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from
outfield and base running coach J. T. McGuire. That's next on the
Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Baseball, basketball, pickleball are sports and people
love sports. If you love sports, you should know this. Drivers who
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save bid when you switch to Progressive, go sports teams Progressive Casualty Insurance Company
in affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim
Rosenhouse along with you from Target Field in Minneapolis, where the Guardians are taking
on the Twins in a four game series this weekend. It continues on Saturday
night with a seven fifteen first pitch and concludes on Sunday afternoon to ten.
This start time on Sunday, well, it's an experienced and veteran coaching staff
under Terry Francona for the Guardians, and there's very little turnover in recent seasons,
but this year one of the newest coaches in his rookie major league campaign.
As a coach is J. T. Mcguirey handles the outfield play and
also base running, helping out Sandy Lamar. He's been in the organization for
five seasons at the player development level, and he talked about the transition to
the major league staff and what it's been like making that jump to the big
leagues. It's been surreal. You know. At first, you're first,
you're kind of like, Okay, I'm I'm in the big leagues, like
this is a lot. But once he's sort of settle in and get a
good routine going, you know, the coaching staff has been extremely helpful and
beneficial to my development and being able to work with the players that most of
the players that I've worked with, you know for five years. You know,
having those relationships with those guys makes it a little a little easier um
than I guess like your your normal big league team would be. It's it's
it's I think it's it's more of a unique situation and starting at the top
with Terry Francona, it's such an experienced coaching staff. How beneficial has that
part been. It's been incredible. I think you know, at first you're
a little intimidated because he's got all the accolades and um, you know,
he's a Hall of Fame manager. But when it comes down to it,
um, you know, he's just a great guy. UM, super supportive.
UM. You know, if if you ever need anything, if you
ever have any issues, he's there. Um. So yeah, like he's
been, he's been incredible, um and has helped me like develop into a
major league coach. J T. McGuire joining us outfield and also base running
coach for the ball club. And uh, JT. You come here to
Baltimore and there's a lot going on in the outfield. So and you're mentioning
earlier even though there's been the adjustments and left right field can be more challenging
here in the case today for Gabriel Arias. Yeah, so, I mean
I'm from this area, so I came to a lot of games. Obviously,
left field shoots out pretty far now, but there's not really many nooks
and crannies to it. I mean, when you're looking out there, it
looks like Kwan's out on an island because it's so deep and then it kind
of jets back in. But yeah, right field, you know you have
the scoreboard with the padded wall, you got a concrete part of the wall,
and then you have some fencing and then the you know, the foul
line kind of jets out and gets tough behind there as well. So there's
a lot of unique spots to it. You know, We've taken our outfielders
out there to try and hit all those all those spots, but sometimes in
a game, it just you know, it may hit a spot where you
never really worked on. So yeah, it's it's a little difficult at times,
but I think our guys have been able to handle it pretty well.
And Gabriel Aris will be out there today new to the position, but it
sounds like his work ethic is off the charts to try and learn a new
position and really get good at it. Yeah, Gabby's really embraced the I
don't want to say a position change, but position adjustment, I guess you
can say. It just adds versatility to his game. You know, if
you ever come out for batting practice, he's before he even made the position
switch. You know, he'd be out in center field and rob home runs.
So he has the athletic ability to do those types of things. And
like I said, like he's embraced the role and he genuinely and I think
he loves to play the outfield. But his work ethic has been great.
He's trying to develop into an outfielder and again just adversatility to his game and
as someone who appreciates the position. You have two gold glovers out there in
Miles Straw and Stephen Kuan. What makes them gold glovers from what you've scene,
I think the biggest thing is their ability to just see the game differently.
Um, you know, when I'm when I'm positioning those guys. A
lot of times, Straw's already a step ahead of me as far as where
he thinks that he needs to be positioned. So there's most times I don't
even really have to position him because he's normally in the right spot. Um.
And Quan just has an inaability to read swings, put himself in the
accounts to position himself into, you know, a spot where where he may
think the ball might be batted. So I think it's just more a mental
thing than anything you mentioned earlier. You're familiar with this ballpark. What's it
like coming back here as part of a major league coaching staff. How much
friends and family have been down here this series? Yeah, it's surreal.
Um. You know, I've always liked this backdrop of the warehouse and I
can remember coming to this stadium when it first opened in ninety two. Um,
so yeah, I've spent a lot of time in this in this ballpark
as a fan. Um. I'm thirty minutes north of Baltimore from there,
and uh yeah, last night my my parents had a put a bus strip
together. They had about seventy five people. Um tonight or today they have
a box that they that they got, so there's going to be about thirty
people. Um. But you know, just throughout the week, Um,
friends and family that have you know, there aren't on that trip or aren't
in that those boxes. Um, you know they've texted me and came down
to the dugout to say hello. Um. Just a lot of people that
have um helped me along the way. J T, thanks for coming by.
I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Rosen That is outfield and base running
coach J T. Mcguiring's first season on the Major league coaching staff, Stay
with us. When we come back. We'll hear from pitcher Logan Allen and
your Cam Gallagher as we continue on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Hang
on, folks, this baby isn't over yet. When Alan does such a
great job is moving the ball in and out, up and down, and
he only throws ninety two miles an hour, but the hitter never knows where
he is throwing it. That pitch strength three called he had just worked.
The last pitch in this pitch was middled away. McCann's out looking. That's
a new career high nine strikeounts for Logan Allen and this incredible development team that
Cleveland has in regards to developing major league pinching has got to feel awfully good
again. Now the lefties one two swang an a miss got him with a
fastball. Ten strikeouts for Logan Allen, and that'll rip up his day,
his best in the bigs. Seven shutout innings of three hit baseball and ten
strikeouts. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you from Target
Field in Minneapolis, where the Guardians are trying to square things up as a
series and has gotten off to a difficult start continues on Saturday night. The
Guardians have dropped the first two games of the series, with two to go
Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Logan Allen Well, he's been tremendous in his
rookie major league season, picked up another win on Monday afternoon with seven shutout
inning against the Orioles and a career best of ten strikeouts. He continues to
make progress with each outing and when we talk to him about some of the
keys to his success, he says, at tension to detail is a big
key at the major league level. I think such a big part of it
is just leaning on all the support stuff that we have, you know,
the catchers who know these hitters so very well. Obviously Carl knows these guys
very well as well. So just trusting the game plans that we have going
into every game and you know, trying to keep it simple, just focus
on hitting the glove and you know, they kind of take the thinking out
of it for me a little bit, which is very nice. Is there
a balance between what you do well and then pitching to a scouting report,
Yeah, I think I think it's This kind of report can kind of tell
you where you can finish in that bat, like certain holes where you know
you can get a swinging miss, So kind of just knowing that you can
use that at the end of the bat and then you're still going to pitch
the same way, still gonna throw fastball, you know, to get ahead,
all that kind of stuff. But I think more so it just kind
of tells you where you can get some mounce up. When you look at
some of the places you've had an opportunity to pitch here early in your career,
been way this place, Baltimore's Oriole Park at camd in Yards at Beauty.
Do you notice that and is that something that impacts you as you go
out there? Yeah, no doubt. I would say before all my starts,
especially on the away games, I try to come out here and just
get a get a feel for these stadiums, especially one that I haven't been
to before. You know. I texted one of my buddies that is in
the Triple A with the Oriels and was telling them how they got a great
fan base, Like it was so loud here yesterday. Um, that was
really cool. But yeah, just playing out some of these historical parks,
like going to Fenway, and pitching there was awesome and I'm just excited to
keep keep on making this tour logan. You look at at strikeouts and I
think for you, it seems like the way you set up hitters is the
biggest key. And when you're on a good strikeout role like you were on
Monday, what's coming together for you that allows for that? I think it's
just being able to land all the off speed um execute fastballs to all for
you know, up, down, in, and out. But I think
being able to land the off speed, getting ahead, getting to O one,
not having to throw the fastball, and kind of keeping on in the
back pocket that you can use maybe later they have bats, but I'd say
definitely landing those and just getting ahead of hitters anytime you can get to one,
that's that's the key. And pace of game you work as quickly as
anybody. When did that become a part of what you do? Man?
For a long time, It's something that I've always heard, you know,
from guys playing behind here, guys that I've played with, talking about how
the pace just keeps everybody in the game and keeps everybody engaged. And I
think that that's such a big part of the game is, you know,
keeping guys ready for when the plays do come to them. So it keeps
me on a role as well. When I'm throwing good it seems to make
the hitters a little bit uncomfortable. So you know, it seems like it's
working out. Is it something that they had to teach yourself to do or
did it just come naturally? No, I've I've kind of always been that
way where you know, I finish a pitch and it's right back to the
rubber. You know, it's I guess I've always kind of been the way.
So I would imagine your catcher has to be on that same page too.
And I know Cam Gallagher on Monday seem to have a real good working
relationship with you. How much of an impact do they have on keeping you
at that pace? Oh? Man, they're awesome. He's really good about
getting the ball right back to me, calling a sign getting ready. Um,
I really can't give enough credit to him before. The way that he
called the game throwing out Mullins there in the first setting was huge. But
you know, he's put put good a bat together for us yesterday and he's
a heck of a player. We got two really good catchers, and you
know, they, like I said, especially for a young staff, they
take it. They take a lot of the pressure off of so we're really
appreciative. And circling back to something he said at the beginning about the amount
of people here who help you. It's a very pitching staff. How important
is it to have some veterans around, like as Shane Beeper, like a
Cal Quantrill And how in any way can they help you well? And I
think, you know, obviously talking to them, getting to pick their brain,
seeing the way that they look at games and how they how they like
to attack lineups is definitely big. But just being able to watch them,
you know, firsthand, sitting right here in the dugout, seeing the way
that they you know, formulate a plan and how they're talking in between the
endings, all that kind of stuff. It's it's the reason why you know,
Shane's want to say, young, and Cal's going to be pitching for
as long as you will. But you know, it's just it's nice having
those veteran guys, especially like having three you know, rookie guys in the
rotation right now. I think we look to them for a lot of our
you know, advice and all that kind of stuff, and I think they've
been huge for us of just you know, giving us peace of mind whenever
we're looking for it, and that flip side to it. And he may
have alluded to it, but at times three rookies in the rotation, Tanner,
Bobby's been here just about the same amount of time as you have been,
has that been helpful? But someone who's going through some of the same
things that you are, Yeah, I think so. I think he and
I are, like he said, we're just going through it together. We're
we're definitely enjoying it all, but we're just taking it all in stride,
trying to learn on the job as quickly as possible. And I like to
think we're doing a pretty good job. But you know, like I said,
a lot of credit has to go to everybody who's been making this job
a lot easier for us. So it's got a good staff here for sure.
Logan, thanks a lot for the visit, appreciate it. Thank you
so much. That's rookie left hander Logan Allen and catching him the last time
around was Cam Gallagher and for Gallagher it was a chance to play at Baltimore's
Camden Yards, spot that he had gone to as a fan growing up not
too far away from there, and when we caught up with cam earlier this
week after catching Logan Allen on Monday night, he said it was nice to
play in front of family and friends at Camning Yards for the first time in
his major league career. Yeah, it was. It was awesome. You
know. I uh, I was with Kansas City. You know, I
was actually unfortunate if I was three years that I was, the Royals were
playing here, I was injured, so I didn't get a chance to actually
play here. And you know, my dad grew up an Orioles fan.
I remember coming to these games as a kid and then being able to play
here and in front of them. It was something special and we really enjoyed
last night, and it was it was a lot of fun. I'm sure
youth league games your folks were probably there all the time. But what is
it like Is it much different at a major league game at the top of
the profession winder here? Yeah? Absolutely. I mean my support group that
I have, my family, friends, you know, it's you know,
I wouldn't be here without them, you know, it's you know, the
good days the bad days, they're always there. You know. Sometimes when
you're you're playing and you're you're you're not doing so good, you kind of
take on a lot of the heat by yourself. But you know, you're
family. You know, we have lies off the field too, and being
able to share that with him yesterday and having some success and a win,
it was. It was awesome. Cam right out of the shoot yesterday,
you throw out a runner trying to steal in the very first inning, obviously
a good throw and everything worked well. How challenging has it been this year
because none of these rule changes seem to favor catchers at all. Yeah,
yeah, you know, it's it's tough. You know, I know some
pictures. You know, Logan yesterday was quick to the play and you know,
it was it was huge. He gave he was probably one two,
one three to the play, being able to give me time to throw out
the runners. But um, you know that's something that guys sometimes struggle with,
is they don't want to be too quick to the play because they think
they're gonna lose some v low or a little bit of their command. But
yeah, when when pictures give me and Z and fry a good time to
to to throw guys out. It's it should be on us to be able
to throw them out. But you know, like I said yesterday, Logan
did a heck of a job giving me a chance, and you know a
lot of credit goes to him. And for the pictures. How much of
it challenges it knowing that they have limited throws to first base, Yeah,
it is. It's something we're all trying to kind of figure out. I
know that the stone based numbers have gone up tremendously and um, you know,
I think they're trying to obviously bring that part of the game back.
But you know, it's something that we're all going to be working on,
whether it's the pitching staff or the catching corps that we have here. But
um, you know, I think it's been a lot better as of late
than it was to start the season. So hopefully we're on a right track
and we'll keep working on it. So that was early in the game.
You get a couple of base hits that our key to rallies for the Guardians,
And when you looked at at how the runs were scoring yesterday, the
good stuff going on base running and all that, I'm sure you've heard about
last year a lot, but did you kind of have that feeling that this
is what it's about sometimes for this team. Absolutely, I know, playing
against these guys a lot in the past, you know that's I we know,
this is how we do our we win our games and stuff like that.
But you know, we don't rely too much on the on the home
run ball, which you know it's it's tough too when you trying to rely
on the home run and get a lot of strikeouts or whatnot. But you
know, that's our kind of game, is getting guys on base, getting
them over, guys on third base with less than two, getting them in
any way anyway possible, but just putting the pressure on and playing good defense
and good pitching. And you know, ultimately that's that's the main reason why
we won yesterday. And I saw after the game Will Brennan commented about you
barreling down the third baseline that got him fired up. It is that fair
for him to be saying stuff like that? Oh? Absolutely, yeah,
I know. I'm not a burner by any means. I know when I
was on third, Sarby was was telling me that it's ah, they're going
on contact, and you know, if you get halfway, make sure you're
get to run down. But I was I was joking with Sarby. It
said, once I got a halfway, there was no stopping. So I
was just kind to go as fast as I could. And you know,
we're fortunate enough to get in and you know Kwan was able to come in
right after me and the kid pitching, Logan Allen was just terrific when you're
back there. How easy to catch because of of how he works. Yeah,
you know, he's he's he's got a good rhythm, good pace.
You know, I love catching pitchers that you know, they get on the
mound, they throw their pitch like I throw it back to them, and
they're they're just the rhythm of the game is going quick, and you know
it's keeps the hitters off balance. They don't let the hitters get too comfortable.
And um, you know, I think that's you know, part of
Logan's game. And did a heck of a job yesterday. A lot has
happened in the first two months of the season that's been challenging, but the
team's won three out of four against good ball clubs, giving you a kind
of a preview of what could be for this team. Yeah, absolutely.
You know a lot of people didn't asking kind of what's been our recent struggle,
But I think we just haven't really played a total game where our offense
and defense and everything is kind of meshing together. But over the past couple
of days, you know, our offense has been good, defense and pitching
has been's outstanding, and you know, I think we're starting to hit their
stride a little bit and hopefully keep carrying this over. Everyone's still here tonight
or did they go home? Some of them commute, They went back a
little bit today. I think they're gonna be back tomorrow for the day game.
But yeah, there there's gonna be a few guys in the stands today,
but probably not as much as yesterday. Good stuff, Cam, Thank
you, absolutely, thank you. That's Guardians catcher Cam Gallagher. Always some
good perspective from him on a lot of different subjects, and we appreciate him
stopping by to join us here on Guardians Weekly. Stay tuned. When we
come back, we'll hear from pitching coach Carl Willis. That's after this time
out on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Gallagher cromboll base hit through the
hole into right field, hitting third, a strong coming home. Here's McKennis
throw to the plate, head first, slide safe at the plate and the
Guardians take it to nothing lead and Gallagher has both arby eyes Mullins aboard.
Here's Austin Hayes runner ghost pitch take and throw to second got him tag made
by Jimenez. Great throw by Cam Gallagher. Two four on the cot stealing
and Gallagher throwing out sixteen percent of the runners. Made an absolutely perfect throw
to Jimenez and the head first sliding Mullins was tagged out. Score Yes,
out of bells. Those are sports words. Some people hear any sports word
and they can't help it listen, like drive drives another sports word, and
drivers who switched and save with Progressive could save hundreds. You won't say those
savings are on par with the best in the league. You see pars also
a sports word, so I know you're still listening. And that's called covering
our bases. Okay, I'm done now, but I'm serious about drivers saving
big with Progressive. Now, I'm really dune Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates
potential savings will vary. Guardians Weekly continues where Target Field in Minneapolis. Jim
Rosenhouse along with you this weekend as the Guardians continue their series with the Twins.
Carl willis their pitching coach. He's been in the organization for a long
long time, but as a player, the highlight of his career was his
time here in Minnesota as a part of the nineteen ninety one World Series champions.
Carl Well, it's one of the great storytellers in the game, and
we cut up with them earlier this weekend to talk about how special that time
was for him. More than thirty years later, still some great memories for
Carl Well. Yeah, obviously the highlight of my playing career. And you
know, any opportunity, I mean not everyone can say that, you know,
they reached the World Series and then to win it and be a part
of it. Pitched him four games during that seven game series. It's really
really special and memories that you'll never forget in friendships that are ever last year.
It's remarkable and maybe it shouldn't be, but I mean it's more than
thirty years ago now and still though when we've been in town and I know
other events that you've had. They really hold that team in a great spot
of the hardest sports fans here. And that shouldn't be a surprise. Shouldn't
know it shouldn't I mean, you know, it's the last World championship team
in Minneapolis, Saint Paul. You know, the Stars and now the Wild
have obviously had some good teams in Minnesota. Twins have had some good teams.
Haven't yet recent World Series again or have the biking so um in the
in the Super Bowl. So yeah, it's it's uh, it's pretty cool.
It's hard to believe it's been thirty two years now, but uh,
it's really neat to come back and and how people remember you. Um,
you know, it's really special. Could you feel that as it was taking
place and getting deeper and deeper into the series, Well, you know,
I mean it was it's kind of hard to um let your mind go to
you know exactly how it was unfolding. I think we had you know,
four one run games, we had two maybe three, I can't remember now,
extra inning games. Um the home team won every game. Um,
but I think, um, you know, it's it's truthfully, you know,
staying mine in the moment and in today's game and seeing it through and
getting to tomorrow, I think no one really realized, um, you know
how it played out, certainly for the fans, uh, none of us
realized that until it was over. Obviously, this is a beautiful ballpark target
field, but those games were played at the old Metrodome, as loud a
building as you've ever been in. For those World Series games at home.
Yeah, I'll never forget our Bullpend coach Rick stelle Mason. You know,
we had the Bullpen phone and it was like a you know, wired but
portable phone that he had to put on the on the ground and keep his
foot on the phone because he couldn't hear it rings, so he had to
he had to feel for the vibration, you know when they would call it.
In the days, we didn't have a light going off or a hornblow
and it was just a phone ring and he had his foot so he could
hear it because the noise was deafening. And when you look back at spring
training that you're no one would have predicted a Twins Braves World Series for I
don't know the matchup or either side, but how did it develop? How
when did you guys start to think, hey, this is a really good
ball Cup here. Well, I think, you know, the clubs start
out two and nine, so coming off a season that had finished in last
place in nineteen ninety, I remember Tom Kelly having a meeting in Anaheim about,
you know, one hundred and sixty two games. We've only played eleven,
small number, a big number, making some you know slight adjustments,
and I think we got, you know, into May, and it was
late May, going into June, we had started to play better. The
record was, you know, starting to even out, and we won sixteen
in a row, fifteen or sixteen, I can't remember. I know the
last of those victories actually came in Cleveland at the old Stadium there, and
we went to Baltimore and Randy Milligan actually walked us off in the bottom of
the ninth Baltimore the next night, and then we came back, I think
in one another eight or nine in a row, and at that point we'd
created some separation and you know, start had gained a lot of confidence in
one another, and I think that's when the club really took off and you
had some of the biggest stars in the game. Kirby Puckett can Hurt Back
and Jack Morris. So there was some star power here, wasn't there.
Oh, there definitely was, you know, pup Hall of Famer. You
know, as you mentioned Ken Herbeck, you know, grew up right here
in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area. Hometown hero Rick Aguilera was one of the
best closers in baseball at the time. Chuck Nablock was the rookie of the
Year in the American League that year. So it was a former club it
really well. And I know you don't see him every time in but when
you see Dan Gladden, is that something that you guys go right back to,
is those good times that you had. Every now and again we'll bring
up, you know, some type of a memory about ninety one. But
I think just just living that together, like I said, it just it
caused us to develop friendships that you know, will last a lifetime. And
you know, I feel honored to just be a part of that group.
Carl, thanks laugh for reliving some of those memories. Appreciate it all right,
Thank you. That's Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis joining us here to wrap
up Guardians Weekly it's edition and in the books. Will join you next week
from back home in downtown Cleveland. Good homestand coming up for the Guardians with
the Red Sox coming to town for three starting Tuesday night, and then the
Astros in town next weekend. Until then, poor Brian Matz, who always
does great work putting together our show each week. This is Jim Rosenhouse reminding
you that you'men listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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