Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with
Speaker 2: you this weekend with another of our hot Stove editions
Speaker 2: of the show. As we get deeper into the offseason.
Speaker 2: Coming up shortly on the show, we'll hear from manager
Speaker 2: Steven Vote as the.
Speaker 3: Major League staff.
Speaker 2: Has been announced for the twenty twenty five season, mainly returnees,
Speaker 2: but a couple of changes, and the manager will fill
Speaker 2: us in on that.
Speaker 4: Shortly.
Speaker 2: We'll also have another edition of our Game of the
Speaker 2: Week segment looking back at some of the great games
Speaker 2: of the season gone by, and we'll head right to
Speaker 2: the postseason for the pivotal Game five, the deciding Game
Speaker 2: five of the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers,
Speaker 2: a series that turned out to be really an entertaining series,
Speaker 2: had you on the edge of your seat most of
Speaker 2: the way, and we will look back at that Game
Speaker 2: five at Progressive Field that feature the grand Slam home
Speaker 2: run from Lane Thomas and put the Guardians into the
Speaker 2: American League Championship Series, so that's coming up in a
Speaker 2: little bit. We'll also fill you in on the award
Speaker 2: winners Guardians players and coaches among those who are award
Speaker 2: winners this offseason or at least candidates anyway, and we'll
Speaker 2: fill you in on those who have won awards announced
Speaker 2: by Major League Baseball earlier this week. So a lot
Speaker 2: to come on our show today, stay with us. We're
Speaker 2: back after this on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 5: The pitch swung a shot to right, diving stop on
Speaker 5: one hop by hem Anders. I'm throwing to get them,
Speaker 5: just give them the gold twelve tonight.
Speaker 3: What a play again by him and us robbing Russman.
Speaker 5: Out of one hop, pulling diving in the shallow right,
Speaker 5: then popping up to throw out Rustman. What a game
Speaker 5: by human Is, who leads the American League and most
Speaker 5: defensive run safe.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardian's weekly Jim Rosenhause along with you
Speaker 2: this weekend and for the Guardians this week, news made
Speaker 2: as they announced their on field staff for the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five season. Just one new name in there, and
Speaker 2: that is the major league hitting coach. With Chris Baleka
Speaker 2: accepting a position with the Cincinnati Reds for their new manager,
Speaker 2: Terry Francona, that opened up a spot on the Guardian's
Speaker 2: major league staff, and Grant Fink is the name that
Speaker 2: you'll become familiar with as we get closer to the
Speaker 2: start of spring training and then once the season begins.
Speaker 2: He has spent the last three seasons as Cleveland's minor
Speaker 2: league hitting coordinator, overseeing the hitting development of the organization's
Speaker 2: position players. Began his pro career coaching wise with Cleveland
Speaker 2: back in twenty seventeen after a three year playing career.
Speaker 2: He originally was Cleveland's third round draft pick as a
Speaker 2: player back in twenty thirteen out of Missouri Western State University.
Speaker 2: So he'll work with Dan Puente, who returns for his
Speaker 2: second season on the staff, and Jason Esposito, who's been
Speaker 2: promoted to Major League assistant hitting coach. So tip of
Speaker 2: the cap to es Bo for all of his great
Speaker 2: work and he's rewarded with a promotion for the coming season.
Speaker 2: Others in terms of changes with Grant Fink the only
Speaker 2: new hire on the staff, Craig albern As his back.
Speaker 2: He had been the bench coach and now his new
Speaker 2: title is associate manager. Kay Correa is also back. He's
Speaker 2: the Major League field coordinator slash director of defense, base
Speaker 2: running in game strategy, and he did great work on
Speaker 2: the defensive front a year ago, a big reason why
Speaker 2: the Guardians were one of the best in baseball in
Speaker 2: terms of defense, both infield and outfield. Returning to the
Speaker 2: staff this year great news. Carl willis back for his
Speaker 2: fifteenth season as Cleveland pitching coach Sandy Alomar's back as
Speaker 2: the first base coach and catching coach. This will be
Speaker 2: season number sixteen for Sandy. Joe Tare as the assistant
Speaker 2: pitching coaches back along with bullpen coach Brad Goldberg. They
Speaker 2: did great work this past season, especially with that best
Speaker 2: bullpen and all of baseball. Rugless Odor is back for
Speaker 2: a second season as the third base coach and outfield coach.
Speaker 2: Jat McGuire and hitting analyst Josh Tubbs also returned for
Speaker 2: the Guardians to that major league coaching staff. Earlier this week,
Speaker 2: Stephen Vote met with the Cleveland media talked about some
Speaker 2: of the staff changes, specifically Grant Fink, the new hitting coach,
Speaker 2: and what that means for the ball club.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, obviously, the first thing I need to
Speaker 4: do is just, you know, thank Chris Palaika for all
Speaker 4: that he did for us, and you know, wish him
Speaker 4: well in Cincinnati. And we're definitely gonna miss having Valor
Speaker 4: around and what he brought for our team. It was
Speaker 4: really fun working with him, but wish him all the
Speaker 4: best obviously, and so with Grant, you knows, as we
Speaker 4: looked at the landscape of the hitting you know, across
Speaker 4: the game. It's just we kept going back to Grant
Speaker 4: and what he brings from a leadership standpoint, from you know,
Speaker 4: familiarity with a lot of our players, and familiarity with
Speaker 4: the other three hitting coaches on our staff. And with
Speaker 4: Grant coming on board, just you know, he's taking the
Speaker 4: reins the last few years in the minor leagues, and
Speaker 4: we just feel like Grant's going to help the rest
Speaker 4: of the hitting group and and our players head in
Speaker 4: the right direction. And we're really excited to bring Grant
Speaker 4: on board.
Speaker 7: Is there anything in Grant's background from you know, when
Speaker 7: he first joined the Guardians as a coach and the
Speaker 7: miners to to now that sort of makes him, you know,
Speaker 7: fit really well with your group.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean I think you have to start with
Speaker 4: his content knowledge and his ability to get the best
Speaker 4: out of players. We've seen him do that, you know,
Speaker 4: I've seen it for a year, but the you know,
Speaker 4: the organization's seen him do it for a number of
Speaker 4: years now. But what we're really excited about is the
Speaker 4: way he interacts with the other coaches, the way he
Speaker 4: interacts with players, the relationships he can build. The content
Speaker 4: knowledge is there you know, this is a this is
Speaker 4: a person who has worked diligently hard to learn and
Speaker 4: to continue to learn, and we really feel like with
Speaker 4: his ability to use the relationships he already has while
Speaker 4: also just driving that hitting staff as a group and
Speaker 4: the four of them working together.
Speaker 8: Steven, how fun is it for you knowing that Albi
Speaker 8: will be back again next year? And then just is
Speaker 8: there a big difference out the title of the responsibilities
Speaker 8: of someone that's a bench coach too?
Speaker 4: No, I mean, first of all, I'm just so so
Speaker 4: excited he's coming back. You know, obviously for him to
Speaker 4: get the two opportunities and for him to choose to
Speaker 4: come back to us, it just speaks to who Albi is.
Speaker 4: And you know, we always want what's best for our people,
Speaker 4: and that doesn't change with Albi. You know, for Albi,
Speaker 4: Jen and the kids, we wanted what's best for them
Speaker 4: and fortunately that's back with us and so his responsibilities
Speaker 4: won't change. It was just a recognition of you know,
Speaker 4: you're more than a bench coache. You mean more to
Speaker 4: us than a bench coach, And for for Craig and
Speaker 4: for his family, we couldn't be more excited they're gonna
Speaker 4: be back with us in Cleveland, and so nothing, not
Speaker 4: a whole lot will change there.
Speaker 7: As far as being able to retain you know, Kay
Speaker 7: Korea and Carl Willis as well, just to keep that
Speaker 7: group together that you were able to sort of lean
Speaker 7: on so much during during the season. How important is
Speaker 7: that for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's huge. I mean, I couldn't be more thankful that,
Speaker 4: you know, Carl's coming back, what he means to this organization,
Speaker 4: what he means to me, what he means to our
Speaker 4: pictures and the rest of our staff. We lean on
Speaker 4: him a lot. You know, this is the most experienced
Speaker 4: on our staff. And for Carl, you know, to want
Speaker 4: to come back, to want to be with us, we
Speaker 4: couldn't be more thrilled. And I know I'm looking forward
Speaker 4: to sitting next to him for another season and him
Speaker 4: having to hear my words during the game and call
Speaker 4: me down and things like that. But what he means
Speaker 4: to this organization and our pictures, I can't I can't
Speaker 4: say enough about so really happy Carl's coming back, and
Speaker 4: for you know, to be coming back in a similar role.
Speaker 4: You know, he's going to be taking on more of
Speaker 4: an organizational role with the defense and base running and
Speaker 4: just so that we have continuity between you know, all
Speaker 4: the levels and what we're doing and everyone on the
Speaker 4: same page. And he was doing a lot of that
Speaker 4: last year so behind the scenes, and so this is
Speaker 4: not a huge change in what he does every day.
Speaker 4: It's just a recognition of you know, Kai means more
Speaker 4: to us than what a title can bring. And so
Speaker 4: really happy to have Kai back and to have Albi
Speaker 4: Kai and Carl specifically coming back is huge.
Speaker 7: To see the players be recognized with Gold Glove Awards,
Speaker 7: with Fielding Bible Awards, Is that an affirmation to you
Speaker 7: of what Kai and what what Ruby were able to do. Defensively,
Speaker 7: we saw them putting in the work all season long.
Speaker 7: Every day they were out there with the with the
Speaker 7: machines and putting an extra work before each series. Just
Speaker 7: does that affirm just that the process is working.
Speaker 4: With them, absolutely, And I think you know, the credit
Speaker 4: goes to the players first of all for all the
Speaker 4: individual awards. You know, they're the ones that go out
Speaker 4: and do it. They're the ones that put in the work.
Speaker 4: And so for a lot of our guys, the number
Speaker 4: of our guys we recognized all across different you know, platforms,
Speaker 4: and different awards. I think we had you know, we
Speaker 4: got two, but we should have had a lot more
Speaker 4: than that. And I think we all know that a
Speaker 4: lot of that comes from you know, Kay and Rugi
Speaker 4: and and our staff in general.
Speaker 3: J T.
Speaker 4: McGuire deserves a ton of credit for what he did
Speaker 4: with our outfield this year, and Sandy with our catching.
Speaker 4: So I mean, we we feel really good about our
Speaker 4: defensive group, and and Kai has taken some leadership in that.
Speaker 4: And it's just a testament to what this staff has
Speaker 4: accomplished and what our players are able to go out
Speaker 4: and do. We love watching them play, and our staff
Speaker 4: put in a ton of work behind the scenes for
Speaker 4: our guys to be prepared.
Speaker 2: Stephen, when you talk about the different people on the staff,
Speaker 2: did it take much for you to learn how to
Speaker 2: delegate and let them do their jobs because it seemed
Speaker 2: like they really were able to do that from day
Speaker 2: one last year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, part of part of my
Speaker 4: inexperience helped because I had to really on people. I've
Speaker 4: never been an outfield coach. I've never been an infield coach.
Speaker 4: You know, I have the one year of coaching experience
Speaker 4: and just learning and understanding who our staff is. I
Speaker 4: got to sit back and manage, and I think that's
Speaker 4: what made this group so special. And the trust that
Speaker 4: I have in this group of staff members to do
Speaker 4: their job and to push our players to be at
Speaker 4: their best. It makes my job a lot easier because
Speaker 4: I don't have to keep pushing. They want to go
Speaker 4: out there and do the work. They want to put
Speaker 4: it in, and so it's just a testament this staff
Speaker 4: worked incredibly hard. I did ask a lot of them,
Speaker 4: and they did it and more and I'm really thankful
Speaker 4: for him.
Speaker 2: And just circling back real quick on Grant, think how
Speaker 2: much communication did you have with him last year and
Speaker 2: would it have increased because of some of the players
Speaker 2: who came up from the minor leagues and were able
Speaker 2: to hit the ground running here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think. You know, I got to know Grant
Speaker 4: pretty well. You know, throughout spring training I talked with
Speaker 4: him a lot, and then he came to visit us
Speaker 4: quite a bit throughout the year. You know, he would
Speaker 4: come and observe, he would help in the cage, you know,
Speaker 4: behind the scenes, and so Grant was very involved with
Speaker 4: our major league group and he was a good resource
Speaker 4: for Val and the hitting group because he did help
Speaker 4: that bridge for guys that were making the transition from
Speaker 4: Triple A to the major leagues. He was speaking the
Speaker 4: same things that Val and the hitting staff wanted to
Speaker 4: be spoken. So Grant had a huge hand in what
Speaker 4: we did last year and a lot of that went
Speaker 4: into our decision. But also it's just the person. Grant
Speaker 4: Fink is exceptional and I'm really excited to work with him.
Speaker 9: Grant, Sorry, Steven, do you see a change in hitting
Speaker 9: philosophy with the new hitting coach?
Speaker 4: You know, I don't really know. You know, we're still
Speaker 4: we're still starting, you know, to get that together. I
Speaker 4: thought we did a lot of things really well this year, Hoisey.
Speaker 4: I thought, you know, Val, you know, in his group,
Speaker 4: they wanted we wanted to impact the ball more. We
Speaker 4: did that very well, you know, and I think that's
Speaker 4: something that we're going to continue to talk about. But
Speaker 4: I know that Grant and Alex Ecklman and the rest
Speaker 4: of the hitting group, they're all putting their heads together
Speaker 4: on how we can help our guys. And that's really it, Hoisey.
Speaker 4: That's going to be our philosophy, is how do we
Speaker 4: continue to get better every single day and how do
Speaker 4: we train our guys every day to be ready to
Speaker 4: beat that night's starter. And He's got a lot of
Speaker 4: good ideas as well as s Bo, Dan and Tubbs,
Speaker 4: you know. So we're really excited that those three guys
Speaker 4: are coming back because they're three elite hitting people as well,
Speaker 4: and we feel like with the four of them, we've
Speaker 4: got one of the best teams in baseball.
Speaker 7: We saw Kyle Manzartago go back and then and come
Speaker 7: back to the major league club, you know, with a
Speaker 7: sort of he looked like a completely different hitter when
Speaker 7: he came back. Was was Grant involved in any of
Speaker 7: the communication when when he went back down to the
Speaker 7: minors and and you know, worked out things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, the Triple A hitting staff
Speaker 4: was tremendous, you know. I think Junior does a great
Speaker 4: job there and you know, and Grant obviously has a
Speaker 4: big hand in that as well. So I think there
Speaker 4: was a lot of learning for Kyle. You know, I
Speaker 4: think he did some reflecting and when you were we
Speaker 4: talked about this during the season. When you're able to
Speaker 4: reflect and then you have the people around you that
Speaker 4: are going to support you and help you get back
Speaker 4: to feeling the way you do. You come with a
Speaker 4: new confidence and in better understanding of what that role
Speaker 4: looks like, what it feels like, what do I need
Speaker 4: to do to be prepared for a pinch hit versus
Speaker 4: you know, the DH role. And we asked a lot
Speaker 4: of Kyle. We asked Kyle to do some things that
Speaker 4: are not easy, and he really answered the call when
Speaker 4: he came back in September in the play in the postseason.
Speaker 3: How long is it taken you to kind of just
Speaker 3: kind of like digest what happened this season, especially the postseason.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure yet, you know, I think you know,
Speaker 4: it took me. It took me a couple of weeks
Speaker 4: to really just kind of put my eyes towards twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five. And I think I've gotten to the point
Speaker 4: now where you know, it's behind us, We've learned from it,
Speaker 4: and now we look forward. You know, my least favorite
Speaker 4: statement is last year. I don't like talking about last
Speaker 4: year because it's going to be a new group. It's
Speaker 4: going to be a new group of people that show
Speaker 4: up in Goodyear, and this is that we get to
Speaker 4: make a mark on a new team, and that starts
Speaker 4: with our players off seasons and how we can support
Speaker 4: them through having a great winner. So we're already eyes forward.
Speaker 5: Did you guys, do you external candidates and internal candidates
Speaker 5: for the hitting coach?
Speaker 4: We did not. We we we did internal candidates, and
Speaker 4: you know, we put our heads together and like I said,
Speaker 4: we looked at the landscape of what the hitting coach
Speaker 4: you know, looked like, and we just kept going back
Speaker 4: to our staff, our Grant think, and then our three
Speaker 4: that were already here. So we we feel really good
Speaker 4: about it. This is something that you know, we're confident
Speaker 4: in and we're confident in Grant's leadership, even not.
Speaker 8: To completely pivot away from coaching staff, but just for
Speaker 8: a manual class A to be a finalist for the
Speaker 8: cy Young and how ridiculously difficult that has become for
Speaker 8: relievers to even crack into the top three. Just what
Speaker 8: does that say about his season as a whole, for
Speaker 8: what he was able to do.
Speaker 4: I think I think it confirms everything that we saw
Speaker 4: that we watched. You know, we were fortunate to watch
Speaker 4: it every night, and what Emmanuel did this entire season
Speaker 4: was just incredible. And so for him to be recognized
Speaker 4: as one of the top three pitchers in the American
Speaker 4: League he should have been and you know, if it well,
Speaker 4: we'll see how voting turns out. But you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: I think even just for Emmanual to be a finalist,
Speaker 4: it's it's really refreshing to see that what he did
Speaker 4: for us all year long was is being recognized.
Speaker 7: What does it say about the quality of the managing
Speaker 7: in the American League Central Division where all three finalists
Speaker 7: are are from the division there, Yeah, it's really fun.
Speaker 4: I mean, just for me first year in ALE Central
Speaker 4: getting to know that brand of baseball, and you know,
Speaker 4: we all we all played very good baseball. We all grind,
Speaker 4: we all have to work, we have to make things happen,
Speaker 4: and it was really fun to see both, you know,
Speaker 4: matc Utrro and aj Hinch be recognized in that way.
Speaker 4: And it's a testament to how our division was. Our
Speaker 4: division went down to the wire. It was a dogfight
Speaker 4: and none none of the teams went away, and it
Speaker 4: was a really tough year and everybody played us tough.
Speaker 4: So really happy for them and it's a really cool honor.
Speaker 2: As manager Steven both talking about the new coaching staff,
Speaker 2: among other items, as we get deeper into the off
Speaker 2: season and head toward the holidays season. Stay with us,
Speaker 2: We'll have more to come. It's the Game of the
Speaker 2: Week seven coming your way next the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians
Speaker 2: Radio Network, Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along
Speaker 2: with you as we join you for another of our
Speaker 2: hot stove editions of Guardians Weekly and at least prior
Speaker 2: to the holiday break for us, which starts Thanksgiving weekend
Speaker 2: and takes you through to the new year. We like
Speaker 2: to look back at some of the great games of
Speaker 2: the season gone by, and we'll fat forward right to
Speaker 2: the postseason. An all time classic and anybody who was
Speaker 2: there most memorable for them. A decisive Game five in
Speaker 2: the American League Division Series the Guardians and the Tigers,
Speaker 2: the Guardians getting the series back to Cleveland with a
Speaker 2: gut check Game four win over in Detroit thanks to
Speaker 2: David Fry's late home run that put the Guardians in
Speaker 2: front and put them on their way to a Game
Speaker 2: four win to set up a Game five of a
Speaker 2: series even up at two wins apiece on the mound
Speaker 2: for Cleveland. Matthew Boyd. He was getting the start and
Speaker 2: he had the Tigers hitters off balance early on in
Speaker 2: this one.
Speaker 1: Nothing into the count. Now people get up and get
Speaker 1: into it. This will be a great atmosphere. It would
Speaker 1: have been off the charts tonight. Now the set. Now
Speaker 1: the O two delivery. Swam with the fastball.
Speaker 3: How about that. Matthew Boyd puts two on.
Speaker 1: Strikes out the side, gets his first standing ovation of
Speaker 1: the day.
Speaker 3: Detroit leaves a pair.
Speaker 1: Cleveland coming to ban and now they rises one at
Speaker 1: the corner of Carnagia and Ontario. Ken Matthew Boyd get
Speaker 1: out of it again. Nothing into the count on, Sweeney.
Speaker 1: Here it comes swinging in a mess out of the slider.
Speaker 1: You wanted even more drama after Thursday, We've got it.
Speaker 1: Early today, no score from downtown Cleveland.
Speaker 2: And as we saw throughout the playoffs, manager Stephen Vote
Speaker 2: was not afraid to go to his dominant bullpen early.
Speaker 2: So just a couple of innings for Boyd. Then it
Speaker 2: was Kaye Smith getting the call in the third down the.
Speaker 1: One two swimming and a miss. He threw the fastball,
Speaker 1: ain't by Riley Green. Middle of the third, Cleveland Detroit
Speaker 1: scoreless in a winner. Take Gallmanchum.
Speaker 2: Now the channel for the Guardians in that game five
Speaker 2: was the Tigers had their ace and soon to be
Speaker 2: Cy Young Award winner. You would think trek Scoubel on
Speaker 2: the mound, he was trying to keep the game scoreless.
Speaker 2: In the third.
Speaker 1: Outfield fairly deep toward left, Brocchio, Kwan Ramirez aboard the
Speaker 1: pitch swing and a broken bat pop up to first.
Speaker 1: Torkolsen will make the catch and Cleveland's opportunity is wasted.
Speaker 1: And credit trek Scuobel from rising to the occasion as
Speaker 1: he has all season long for the Tigers.
Speaker 2: In the top half of the fifth inning, the Tigers
Speaker 2: broke through for the game's first run. It was an
Speaker 2: RBI single by Kerry Carpenter and that put Detroit up
Speaker 2: won nothing. But in the bottom of the fifth the
Speaker 2: Guardians responded. Andre Simenez, Stephen Kwan, and David Frye each
Speaker 2: singled that load of the bases with one out for
Speaker 2: Jose Ramirez.
Speaker 3: Well, jose had a great quote the other day.
Speaker 1: They asked him, boy, how about having to face again?
Speaker 1: And Josey said, Hey, how about the fact he's gonna
Speaker 1: face us?
Speaker 3: Oh in one the count, here comes the pitch inside.
Speaker 9: It hit him Ramirez hit by the pitch that'll force
Speaker 9: in the tying run, and Ramirez is hurting behind home plate,
Speaker 9: but the run is scored to tie the game at.
Speaker 2: Won Hosey was okay, and that brought Lane Thomas to
Speaker 2: the plate, facing the mainly unhittable Eric Scouble. Thomas digs
Speaker 2: in hole for two. But he's been one of the
Speaker 2: hottest hitters for the Guardians for a month. Here's the
Speaker 2: pitch to him. He swings and.
Speaker 9: Drives it high in the air left field. Will it
Speaker 9: make the bleachers grandsand.
Speaker 3: Lamee Thomas has put the Guardians in.
Speaker 10: Front with a grand saund five to one Cleveland and
Speaker 10: this place is shaking.
Speaker 2: What a moment it was at Progressive Field. But there
Speaker 2: was still a long way to go in this one.
Speaker 2: Detroit came right back with a run in the sixth
Speaker 2: on a Jake Rogers RBI single. They scored another run
Speaker 2: in the seventh Cole Keith with an RBI doubled there
Speaker 2: and it was five to three Cleveland at that point.
Speaker 2: In the bottom of the seventh, Cleveland was looking to
Speaker 2: get some of that momentum back in their favor, and
Speaker 2: nobody better to get it started. Than Stephen Kwan.
Speaker 3: Here's the pitch.
Speaker 1: Kwan rifles won in the righties got another three hit game.
Speaker 1: He is a hitting machine. Stephen Kwan three for four today,
Speaker 1: could easily have four hits, and Kwan in this series
Speaker 1: he's gone eleven for twenty.
Speaker 2: Two batters later, Jose Ramirez singled, moving Kwan to third,
Speaker 2: and then Lane Thomas delivered again the bitch.
Speaker 1: He swings and sends a looper towards second basement. Keith
Speaker 1: has it, battles it. Everybody's safe into scores Kwan. That'll
Speaker 1: be another kind of off the bat single as Lane
Speaker 1: Thomas scorted one the other way and Colt Keith, who
Speaker 1: was shaded up the middle the second basement broke to
Speaker 1: his left, bottled it, but it probably wouldn't have mattered.
Speaker 3: It'll go as a base hit.
Speaker 1: Kwan scores Lane Thomas five RBIs today nine in the series.
Speaker 2: In the top half of the eighth inning, Detroit threatened
Speaker 2: again a lead off walk to the speedy Parker Meadows.
Speaker 2: He stole second to get into scoring position with nobody out,
Speaker 2: and that brought a Manuel class On to face Jake Rogers.
Speaker 1: Class A deals the pits swung on lined the short bleeping.
Speaker 3: Grab by Rochio.
Speaker 1: Well, if Brian Rochio's vertical leaf was twelve inches, he
Speaker 1: just went about sixteen. You can't make a better leaf
Speaker 1: than Rochio just did, timing it perfectly to Rob Rogers
Speaker 1: of a hit.
Speaker 2: Two batters later, it was the dangerous carry Carpenter at
Speaker 2: the plate.
Speaker 3: He's ready again.
Speaker 1: The two to two swim in the mess went tutter
Speaker 1: away and struck him out. Middle of the eighth inning
Speaker 1: off the shores of Lake Erie on a day that's
Speaker 1: getting prettier. Cleveland six, Detroit three.
Speaker 2: Then in the bottom of the eighth, Andre Simenez reached
Speaker 2: with a one out double, bringing Brian Rocchio to the
Speaker 2: plate again.
Speaker 1: The one two swung on banged up the middle base
Speaker 1: it centerfield.
Speaker 3: Pimnus hits third. He will score.
Speaker 1: Seven to three Cleveland. Bryan Rocchio's second hit today, his
Speaker 1: first starb I in the Division Series, and Cleveland, which
Speaker 1: had been shut out in back to back games games
Speaker 1: two and three, have erupted for seven today five off
Speaker 1: Derek Scooble.
Speaker 2: And in the ninth Classe was back out there trying
Speaker 2: to finish it up and send the Guardians to the
Speaker 2: American League Championship Series.
Speaker 1: Two down seven to three Cleveland ninth inning. Now the
Speaker 1: two to two delivery, a swing in a bouncing ball
Speaker 1: to Nailor at first, backs up long flip to clause boogam,
Speaker 1: and for the first time in eight years, Cleveland has
Speaker 1: headed to the American League Championship Series. And this October
Speaker 1: to Remember will continue with Game one of the American
Speaker 1: League Championship Series Monday night in New York. Cleveland eliminates
Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers today in Game five by a final
Speaker 1: score of seven to three.
Speaker 2: Now, the celebration was on and moments after the game,
Speaker 2: David Fry stopped by to talk to Tom Hamilton about
Speaker 2: the big win.
Speaker 3: David, congratulations.
Speaker 1: Is there any way to put into words what today
Speaker 1: in this season has been for you?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 11: Uh, this is unbelievable. I don't even really know what's say.
Speaker 11: This has been so exciting. I mean I blacked out
Speaker 11: at second base when Lane hit that homer. I mean,
Speaker 11: this has been the funnest day ever.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, and it took all of you, obviously,
Speaker 1: but David, this ball club was in trouble on Thursday
Speaker 1: and the seventh inning and you come off the bench
Speaker 1: and really flipped this series with that pinch hip to
Speaker 1: run homer.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, been been fortunate enough to have opportunities
Speaker 11: all series to get to drive in some runs. And
Speaker 11: Vodi went to me yesterday for a big one and
Speaker 11: kind of got the boys going. But we talked about
Speaker 11: all year it's a new guy every single day, and
Speaker 11: it's Hosey hitting a homer, and then today it's Lane
Speaker 11: and my gosh and Maddy Boyd and the bullpen were
Speaker 11: so fantastic.
Speaker 3: What a day, David.
Speaker 1: How about your down one nothing to Trek schoobl who
Speaker 1: hasn't given up a run since mid September, and you
Speaker 1: guys get five in the fifth, take us through that inning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 11: I mean, himmy and Rokyo at the bottom all day
Speaker 11: where we're so good. They gave us so many chances
Speaker 11: with runners on and like you said, I mean, give
Speaker 11: credit to school wel he's been so good all year.
Speaker 11: But we knew if we were gonna win the game,
Speaker 11: we had to beat him. They weren't gonna go to
Speaker 11: the bullpen, they were gonna try to ride him, but
Speaker 11: we just put together good at bat. Stephen Kuant Shaker
Speaker 11: got on base, and I mean we get to Lane
Speaker 11: in my gosh, what a swy.
Speaker 1: So you have had a new baby daughter, your first child,
Speaker 1: your first All Star appearance, and you're headed to New York.
Speaker 3: How much better can it get? Beck? Yeah? Two more series, baby,
Speaker 3: two more series. Thank you, David, great job, Thanks hemy
Speaker 3: appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Also after the game, Guardians manager Steven Vote talked about
Speaker 2: an incredible game and series against the Tigers.
Speaker 4: I'm close was the script going in that?
Speaker 1: Joining the follow Humush was just managin by what you're seeing,
Speaker 1: what you're feeling.
Speaker 4: I think kind of all of the above. You know,
Speaker 4: we had a little bit of a script, but you know,
Speaker 4: it went pretty close. You know, there was a couple
Speaker 4: of times that we had to kind of go off script.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, it was it was watched
Speaker 4: the game, see what the game's telling us to do.
Speaker 4: Matthew Boyd was outstanding. I think he could have gone longer,
Speaker 4: you know, but we've won with our bullpen all year
Speaker 4: and that's been who we are just as a manager
Speaker 4: in the first year, maybe just in this series alone.
Speaker 4: How would you be walking about that? Yeah, I think
Speaker 4: the best thing that we do is that we plan
Speaker 4: the game every night, and we've done this all year long.
Speaker 4: We plan the game. Obviously there's nights we have to
Speaker 4: rip it up, but we've talked through exactly what we
Speaker 4: want to do and win, and you know, using Carl,
Speaker 4: using the pitching staff, using the analytics, using everybody, And
Speaker 4: I think I've just learned that there's times where you
Speaker 4: can follow the script when the game tells you to,
Speaker 4: and there's other times you have to rip it up
Speaker 4: and go rogue. And you can't be married to one idea. Steven,
Speaker 4: what do you have to say about can you say
Speaker 4: about Lane Thomas?
Speaker 1: Obviously it was a tough month for him, but he's
Speaker 1: really turned it around and especially today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we when when we were approaching the
Speaker 4: trade deadline, we identified Lane as a player that we wanted.
Speaker 4: He fitted, he fit a lot of what we needed.
Speaker 4: And this guy's been a great player in this league
Speaker 4: for a few years now. And Lane has just been
Speaker 4: obviously had a great series for us, you know, the
Speaker 4: two biggest hits, you know, outside of Fry's homer, but Lane,
Speaker 4: Lane is a phenomenal baseball player and we're thankful we
Speaker 4: got him. Questions can in the front get one across
Speaker 4: and get five. Just what you see and how to
Speaker 4: build up that five run any with you know him
Speaker 4: and as geting a single kwan frize zone. That's who
Speaker 4: we are, That's who that group in that room has
Speaker 4: been all year. As soon as we get punched, we
Speaker 4: answer that that's been ourm O all year long. Is
Speaker 4: as soon as we give up a run, our guys
Speaker 4: come right back and you know, to put up the
Speaker 4: five spot. You know, Hosey gets hit by the pitch
Speaker 4: lane comes right up and it gets the big blast.
Speaker 4: But you know, we can't rely on the home run.
Speaker 4: We have to you know, string things together, and our
Speaker 4: guys did both today and uh then we got the
Speaker 4: add on runs at the end. And I thought today
Speaker 4: was just a perfect picture of who our team is
Speaker 4: at our best and couldn't have come on a better day.
Speaker 2: And then as the Guardians prepared to head to New
Speaker 2: York to take on the Yankees and the Alcs, we
Speaker 2: caught up with Game five hero Laine Thomas and he
Speaker 2: talked about what it meant to be one step closer
Speaker 2: to a World Series.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 12: Absolutely, I mean that's the goal from spring training. So
Speaker 12: you know, obviously I wasn't here in spring training. But
Speaker 12: you know, that's the mindset I feel like for any
Speaker 12: player is to you know, get to this point, whether
Speaker 12: you know, no matter where you're at.
Speaker 2: And now you mentioned that, and I know you've you've
Speaker 2: referenced it before, the ability of this team to make
Speaker 2: you feel a part of it soon after you were
Speaker 2: traded and it wasn't the easiest when you first got here.
Speaker 2: But but what were some of the keys day to
Speaker 2: day that helped you settle in and become the player
Speaker 2: that you always can be.
Speaker 12: I think it's always easier when you have a great
Speaker 12: group of guys around you, you know, kind of pushing
Speaker 12: you and kind of hanging in there with you when
Speaker 12: you are, you know, picking you up when you are
Speaker 12: going thro those rough times on the player's side. And
Speaker 12: the coaching staff was awesome too, So you know, I
Speaker 12: got nothing but good things to say.
Speaker 2: And obviously you have the big hit in Game five
Speaker 2: against the Tigers, the Grand Slam. We caught up with
Speaker 2: you afterward, and obviously there's a million things going on
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, but you've had some time to digest it.
Speaker 2: What's the last day or so been like, especially hearing
Speaker 2: from maybe some people you hadn't in a long time.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean I think it finally hit me this morning.
Speaker 12: You know, you wake up and you know, finally getting
Speaker 12: sorted through a lot of the text messages and phone
Speaker 12: calls and you know, just talking to my wife. It
Speaker 12: was it was cool. It was really cool.
Speaker 2: And obviously you you probably can't go too much, whether
Speaker 2: it's phone, social media, things like that television where if
Speaker 2: you don't see that highlight, is that kind of surreal
Speaker 2: sometimes when it's you who's part of that.
Speaker 12: Yeah, absolutely, especially when you're not looking for it, you know,
Speaker 12: and then something pops up. So yeah, it's it's been awesome,
Speaker 12: you know, but that was yesterday, and you know today
Speaker 12: we're you know, about to take VP and Yankee Stadium
Speaker 12: and kind of you know, start getting prepared for the
Speaker 12: next step.
Speaker 2: So you do turn that page and this team has
Speaker 2: been so good at that win or lose getting to
Speaker 2: the next game, and what are some of the keys
Speaker 2: that as you start to dive in on the Yankees
Speaker 2: a little bit that you think will allow this team
Speaker 2: to play to its potential and be a real contender here.
Speaker 12: I think over the course of the regular season, you
Speaker 12: know that there's a part of you that obviously wants
Speaker 12: to win every game, but you also, you know, you
Speaker 12: want to put up numbers too for yourself, And I
Speaker 12: think that's the difference between these games and the regular
Speaker 12: season games. It's, man, it doesn't matter if I go
Speaker 12: zero for five or you know whatever. It's about the
Speaker 12: team winning the game. So anything that I can do
Speaker 12: to help us win is the mindset that I know
Speaker 12: our whole clubhouse has. So that's kind of how we're
Speaker 12: looking at it going forward.
Speaker 2: And maybe that leads into the next question, playoff pressure.
Speaker 2: Does that help you handle it a little bit better
Speaker 2: when you don't think of it in terms of yourself
Speaker 2: but more for the team.
Speaker 12: Yeah, absolutely, because you know, no one in this dugout
Speaker 12: cares what anyone else does as long as we're winning games.
Speaker 12: So you know, I think that kind of relieves, like
Speaker 12: what you're saying, some of that internal pressure about what
Speaker 12: I have to do, you know, because you're just as
Speaker 12: happy if someone else does it or yourself.
Speaker 2: Playoffs means a lot of things to a lot of people.
Speaker 2: As much fun as you've had in this game at
Speaker 2: the major league level, Oh, it's been incredible.
Speaker 12: The last two months has been the most fun. I've
Speaker 12: hadn't have been in a clubhouse too, so it's been
Speaker 12: it's been an awesome it's been awesome so far.
Speaker 2: We enjoyed a I'll see as Lane, thanks for coming.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2: It was Lane Thomas and the Guardians on their way
Speaker 2: to the American League Championship Series, a series that the
Speaker 2: Yankees will win four games to one, but it takes
Speaker 2: nothing away from the memorable Game five that decided the
Speaker 2: American League Division Series in October. Stay with us, will
Speaker 2: havest some final thoughts after this time out on the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly Jim Rosenhouse pack with you
Speaker 2: for our final segment and for the Guardians. When you
Speaker 2: have a year that results in a good run in
Speaker 2: the postseason and a ninety two win regular season, there
Speaker 2: are individual awards that will come that team's way most likely,
Speaker 2: and it's no different for the Guardians. A Silver Slugger
Speaker 2: Award for Jose Ramirez, fifth time that he has won
Speaker 2: the Silver Slugger Award as the top hitting third baseman
Speaker 2: in the American League. So congratulations to Hosey with an
Speaker 2: MBA caliber type season for him, and also on the
Speaker 2: mound for the Guardians winning the Mariano Rivera Reliever of
Speaker 2: the Year Award a Manuel Classe, second straight year that
Speaker 2: he has won that award, the seventh time that's been
Speaker 2: accomplished by any relief pitcher, and he was an All
Speaker 2: Star for a third consecutive season. What a regular season
Speaker 2: it was for Classe, who was four and two forty
Speaker 2: seven saves, a new franchise record there five earned runs
Speaker 2: all season, his RA at the end zero point six
Speaker 2: to one. Just an incredible season for Emmanuel Classe and
Speaker 2: among pitchers with at least ten saves in a single season,
Speaker 2: his era was the third lowest all time. Only Zach
Speaker 2: Britton with the Orioles back in twenty sixteen and Fernando
Speaker 2: Rodney back in twenty twelve had lower earned run averages
Speaker 2: than the zero point six to one from Classe.
Speaker 3: That's going to do it.
Speaker 2: For this week's edition of Guardians Weekly, Thanks as always
Speaker 2: to Brian Montsey for helping to put together our show
Speaker 2: each and every week until next week. This is Jim
Speaker 2: Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly
Speaker 2: on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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