Jose Delivers Walk Off Winner

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Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, where the Guardians are taking on the Saint Louis Cardinals this weekend. A four to ten start on Saturday and a noon start on Sunday afternoons, so be sure to make a note of that if you're planning on coming down Sunday. Actually a twelve oh five first pitch for you on Sunday to close out the home stand. Good show line

Pinch, ripped into right. That's a mason near the line that'll score Kwan.

Big turn.

Jose holds throwback to first, skips away from Guerrero, goes to the Blue Jay dugout. Ramirez after diving in, gets up, goes to second. One nothing, Cleveland, and that'll be an RBI single for Jose Ramirez and he'll go to second on what will be a throwing air by Andre Simenez. Toronto tied the game with a solo home run in the top half of the fourth from vlad Guerrero Junior. But in the bottom of the inning, two men on,

It splits the gap. One hop pup against the wall and right center. One run is in that steam and Jones motoring home. Here's the relay.

He slides, He's safe. Close play at the plate, Jones made it.

It's a two run double from Godrie Larius and the Guardians.

They're back in front. It's now three to one. The Blue Jays answered with three runs in the top half of the sixth to take their first lead on the day for three Blue Jays, but the Guardians again responded in the bottom of the inning with Lane Thomas leading things off.

Lane Thomas won for two of the single, awaits the two to zero and he drives.

Into deep left down the line, go on to the porch. Second night, Naro, Lane Thomas finds the home run porch in left and we're back to even at four oh on a sight in back to back games to see Lane Thomas have back to back home runs, have four hints and four army eyes.

It stayed tied at four through the ninth and onto extra innings. The game went. In the top half of the tenth, Nick Enright, out of the bullpen, tried to keep the J's off the scoreboard.

En Right fires swung on ground into third. Ramirez clubs y'all have to hurry.

The thrown by a whisker.

We may have a challenge. It was bang bang. What will the Blue Jays do? They do not challenge it. Wow, was that close. We go to the bottom of the tenth still tied at.

Four by great work by en Right. Then in the bottom of the tenth Bownailor was the runner starting at second base. Stephen Kuan was walked intentionally. David Fry singled a bunt basit that loaded the bases with nobody out for Jose Ramirez. The pinch and.

Ramirez swings and lines of tent hesht ball game.

Jose Ramirez laces.

One down the left field line, scoring on the hil Martinez with a game winner, and Toronto had no choice. They had to pinch to Ramirez when the bases loaded. They get their walk off win number four and they knocked off the Jays five to four in tenanties and.

That was the high point for the Guardians. They have not scored since as they were shut out six nothing by the Blue Jays Thursday afternoon and five nothing Friday night by the Cardinals. And Sonny Gray. Stay with us, we'll have more to come up. Guardians Weekly from downtown Cleveland after this time out on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio.

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Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim rosenhouse along with you this weekend as we join you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. The starting rotation has been a real bright spot for the Guardians, including Logan Allen. He has strung together some really good starts of late, and recently we caught up with him and he talked about some of the keys to pitching deeper into games. As we have seen during this recent stretch is.

You know, having a good game plan going into the games with the with the catchers being on the same page, and then you know, trusting my stuff, trusting the defense, just trying to go out there and attack guys. You know, like I always trying to say, it's hard to hit. Remember that it's hard to hit, and just go right after you guys, let the defense work.

And you had a unique situation where you did have to go to the bullpen for I think the first time in your major league career.

And.

It went well from the standpoint of you got to win. You had a one two, three inning. What was that like for you to experience in the pen maybe even before you came into the game.

It was different.

This was kind of cool getting to see, like what that environment is like down there. I feel like the bullpen's kind of its own little team within the team, So it was cool to kind of, you know, see how those guys operate on a day to day basis a little bit different, you know, not really knowing when the warm up and all that kind of stuff. But you know, they they accepted the open arms. They helped me out, you know, getting ready and kind of walk me through it.

So they're awesome. So it was a lot of fun.

You say they accepted you with open arms, did they really make it part of the group.

Feel like I was kind of part of the group for a little bit. I got a little bit of craft today, So maybe not not as much as I think, but I feel like a little bit.

And you get a win only getting three outs? Was that kind of nice because I know as a starter sometimes you can throw it really well for a long time and then not gonna.

Win wins get a lot of flack and today's game, but I feel like, you know, they're hard to come by, so I'll take them anyway you can get them. Yeah, probably the at least amount of pitches I'll ever throw in my career to get a win. Hopefully, so we'll see Logan Allen's joining us. And I'm not sure how many people know, but you were a really good hitter position player in college in addition to it to being a obviously a top shelf pitcher to get drafted, but

Of the mound. Pictures don't do that very often, and how did you play that and why were you the only option to make that play.

I think I just got lucky with the way that he hit it. That he hit it, you know, low enough for me to catch it. I think for the most part, once it gets up above a certain height, it gets a little tough for us, you know, especially a lot of times it'll drift back on you. But yeah, I mean I always like to feel confident. I mean, we come out here in Shagby p every day. I feel pretty confident in catching a fly ball if I need to. So yeah, it felt nice to get one.

So it was pretty cool.

And I feel like anyone on this team wants to be like Jose Ramirez, and you did a Jose Ramirez replica after that would explain what happened there and what's going on.

Yeah, every time was the catch the fly ball, he gets a little two hands up celebrations, So I thought it was fitting that I caught myself one and I do it. He ran by me and he kind of gave me the two little celebrations, so I was like, oh, okay, it's a good time to do it.

Your last start. It came in San Francisco, a road game in a National League park, which used to mean pitchers hit, but no more. Were you disappointed?

Well, they took that away. I guess I knew it wasn't good, but yeah, it was pretty cool.

I think I've always had.

That in the back of my head that I'd have that opportunity, you know, if I ever got to the big least quick enough. But unfortunately change the rules before I had that opportunity. But yes, I would have been really cool to hit, especially hit off justin Berlander. That would have been a cool couple of bets to get right. But no, I guess it's right for the best. So we got a lot of good guys, like in the DH spot that kind of kind of slug for us. That's probably better off that I'm right in there.

Look it up, folks. He had some good numbers in college. Logan Allen thanks Loft for coming by. I think thank you, Rosie appreciate it. AT's guardian starting pitcher. Logan Allen also performing very well in that starting rotation is Slate Seconi. He'll face the Cardinals on Saturday, the four to ten game, and he's coming off a great start against the Athletics and has been more and more consistent with each passing start.

Yeah.

I think consistency is one of the biggest keys in pitching, not just in results, but in consistency in your process, the way you work, the way you go about your business. If you do things over and over again the same way, it's going to be much easier when you take them ound to replicate it.

I know when you were at the diamond or some stints in the bullpen as well as starting, has it made a difference knowing that you're a starting pitcher here and that that's your role and you can prepare properly for that.

Yeah, I think that helps.

Being able to be on the same five or six day schedule every week, knowing you're going to take the ball and get somewhere between eighty and you know, eighty plus pitches. For my situation, eighty plus pitches every fifth or sixth day gives you clarity on every day what you're doing to get ready for that.

Are you doing anything much differently from your first two years in the major leagues or is it just that you've got some experience under your belt and you're a year older and so things should smooth out a little bit.

Yes and yes, yes to both those answers. Yes, the coming of age and having more experience definitely plays a factor in slowing the game down a little bit, allowing you.

To be a little bit more comfortable out there.

But we have done a lot of work on implementing the sinker, the cutter, more curveball usage into the repertoire to keep hitters off of just my four team slider mix, because those are obviously the two pitches that I previously had leaned on far and away the most, and I still want to be able to lean on those two pitches, but using some of the other pitches that compliment them to open up space to use him has been a

He had a chance to watch Shane Bieber, so you can give us a bird's eye view an update on how he's doing there. He went through a bullpen as he continues to make his way back. How did he look.

I don't know if he missed a spot. He threw twenty something pitches. I saw him throw one curveball a little bit in front of where he wanted to. But man, it's it's fun to watch a guy who's that consistent in that precise with what he does do his thing.

Oh, he surely is one of the best. Hey, well, change gears for our last question. You're new to town. Yes, you are a kindoiseur. I'm guessing Italian restaurants and tell us about the food scene in Cleveland. This have been impressive for you.

It has so, I've I've made my way over to Little Italy a few times. I've enjoyed a lot of the restaurants that I've been over there. I would say my favorite so far that I've been to I've been to twice now is Vlarios really really good traditional Italian food.

Love it.

I was surprised to you who maybe based on what you thought Cleveland was a little bit.

I would say the weather has been a little bit different than I had heard that, you know, a little gloomy sometimes, but there have been a lot of really nice days suns out, feels like I'm back in Florida with the humidity, which feels like home to me.

I love it. It's good pitching weather.

You don't have to throw as much to get loose, so I'm really enjoying it.

Awesome play. Thanks a lot for coming by. I appreciate it absolutely. That's Lade Seconi, the starting pitcher for the Guardians in Saturday's game against the Cardinals. Earlier this week, the Blue Jays were in town, and that meant a visit from Ernie Clement, the former Cleveland Indian and Guardian. Clement has been in the top ten in the American League in batting for a good portion of this season, with that average well up over three hundred most of

Yeah, I think when you get normal at bats, you can kind of get into a groove, and you know, I'm fortunate enough to be getting a really good opportunity over here, like I said, so I'm just kind of trying to run with it.

You look at the Blue Jays and it seems like a team that could take off at any moment. They've had some good stretches and and what do you see here that's exciting as you get deeper into the season.

Yeah, I mean we have we have really strong pitching. I think anytime you have really good starting pitching, you're going to be in a lot of a lot of baseball games and you're gonna have a chance to win. So, you know, our offense is really really starting to click, and we're starting to put some runs up, So I think that's going to really compliment each other. And I really do think we're a dangerous team.

Good mix of veterans and young guys.

Yeah, yeah, and I think that's really important too. We have we have great leadership with the veterans and then we have some some hungry young guys who are who are you know, really really talented and you know, I kind of I kind of fall right in the middle of that.

So I'm excited.

And a lot of familiar names and faces for Cleveland fans. And what's it like being on the same team, either again or for the first time with guys like Miles Straw and Racily Mentz and others.

Yeah, I mean, these guys are awesome, and you know, it was so fun playing with them the first time around, and then as soon as we got them this offseason, it was it was really exciting. And uh, you know, they're they're they're playing good ball, man, They're they're helping us win, and uh, you know, it's it's it's cool to be back in Cleveland, for sure.

Former Cleveland Indian Ernie Clement is joining us. And memories of your time growing up in this organization, what stands out to you.

Just the people that are here in the organization have all positive things to say.

I absolutely love my time here.

You know, obviously I wish I could have could have helped the team and played a little better, but you know, I just I have no regrets. And I absolutely loved everybody I played with and and got to play for. And you know, staff and players were all just awesome. So it's it's always cool coming back, and uh, it holds a special place in my heart for sure.

And when you look at your path, you had a couple of situations where you had to impress a new team and how did that make you a stronger player? You think down the road.

Yeah, you really learn, you know, every stop you make you learn something new. And my time in Cleveland was was really special. And then you know, I got an opportunity, a brief opportunity in Oakland, and then you know I found my way here. So uh, you know, like I said, you learned something new along the way at each stop. But you know, I'm fortunate to have gotten another opportunity.

Brief time in Oakland. And you had a moment with current Cleveland manager Steven Vote tell us about that on one of the big days for his career.

Yeah, it's one of the coolest baseball moments I've seen, and I'm lucky I got to be there in person to watch it. He hit a home run and his his final career at bad and in the exact same spot where he hit his his first.

Career home run.

So I was on deck and I didn't really you know, I'd only been with those guys for a little while, so you know, I didn't really know him too well. But you know, I couldn't help but just give him a big hug when he when he crossed the home play because I just knew it was. It was such a cool moment for him, and you know, the brief time I got to spend with him, he's a special person and he's he's really good for the game at baseball.

Are any great stuff? Great to see it again, Thank.

You, yes, sir, good to see it.

Always fun to catch up with Ernie Clement, one of the good guys in the game, and nice to see him having some big time success with the Blue Jays. Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from Joe Torres, the Guardian's assistant pitching coach, that's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Jim Rosanown's back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland where the Guardians

You're right, things have gotten better, you know as a season gotte along here. But you know a lot of it's credits to the players and just the processes and behind the scenes work that they're doing. You know, where's a lot of communication going on, you know, post meetings, reviewing the games, going with purposes and intent into the bullpens and then translating that into the games. And we're seeing that happen more and more often. Guys are just

And Gavin Slade.

So you know, these guys are really just learning the demands of like a turn you know, every five days, every six days, what they need to do to prepare themselves.

And it seems like they're getting a better routine doing that.

You mentioned that that post start meeting, it usually comes to the next day or or if there's an off day, a couple of days later. And so for instance, the slate Saconio had a really good one on Sunday. What are some of the things you touch on with him after a really good start.

Like that, Well, I mean we use that meeting.

It's a good opportunit for the player to kind of flush and bring out, you know, any thoughts and feelings they had from the game, good, bad and different, right, so they can go ahead and just you know, go ahead and share with us, like what they were thinking, what they were feeling, and then it gives us an opportunity also be able to you know, offer some feedback throughout the game. So you know, for a slave, for instance, I mean very efficient, getting a chance to use all

That we can use to go into the next bullpen.

Used to be a starting pitcher, and there's a guy floating around here on the home stands mainly Corey Klueber. You could count on two hundred plus innings. That was important. It's probably still important, but it seems like the game is changing a little bit. And how do you manage as we get deeper into it now past the halfway point workload? And and is that two hundred inning mark Is that all that important anymore? Is it more maybe how you're getting to a certain level of innings.

Yeah, it's it's hard to say like importance. If you ask me, it's important. I'm sure players feel like it's important, but we probably see that that number more around one eighty now across the league, especially, like you know, the way way things are seeing with the third time through tend to get some relievers in there. The games has changed a little bit, and that's fine because you know, look at our bullpen right, Like, who wouldn't want those guys in the game, right And I feel like a

They've done a tremendous job.

I mean, our pitch counts, you know, up there with the league leaders in terms of our starters, you know, going deep into games.

So it's it's been great. But you know, you got you gotta give a lot of.

Credit to SNC and medical, to the routines that they're putting on these guys to help them, you know, work through the five days in between, the four days in between to prepare their bodies.

Joined by Joe Torres, the Guardian's assistant pitching coach, switching to the bullpen. It's a group that had an unbelievable year a year ago, and I thought it was interesting we're talking earlier just about how no matter what, the personnel is going to change from year to year. But you do have four guys who are backing up a really good season a year ago with more of the

Truly have been very, very impressed by them.

I mean, to handle seventy games in a season, I mean it takes a toll in the body, especially someone maybe like for kid who jumped from you know, thirty five forty appearances a year before in the minor leagues, right, and you see them coming back around again. Give credits s and c medical helping these guys, you know, with their bodies and their recovery.

But you know they're they're learning, right, they're learning.

How to how to back off their workloads and catch play a little bit more, you know, touch them out.

A little bit less.

You know, their their routines before the outing, let you know, bringing those pitch counts down a little bit in the bullpen.

All those things matter.

Every throw matters for these guys, and they're doing a tremendous job with that right now.

And most of them you've worked with for several years a couple of new pitchers. Just as an example, Matt Fester joined the team after the season began. Kobe Allard was in spring training but new to the organization. How impressed have you been with what they've been able to do in a short period of time to get acclimated to what Cleveland likes to do with their pitching.

Yeah, I mean that's a good point.

I mean them coming into a new situation, especially Festa kind of jumped in middle season here as we claim them from uh, you know, from the minor leagues.

We had it out there. They've been tremendous. I mean they've come in.

What's been great about them is they've come in they've been themselves and we've tried to support that as much as possible. You know, don't come in here and try to be more than who you are. And then little by little we can, you know, help them grow in any way that they feel like they need to or if we see fit. But uh, you know, they've been great, and the number one thing they've done is they thrown shrikes.

Like, it's been pretty impressive and it's been great to have.

Him and the guy at the end of games. A manual class A a year for the ages a year ago. Uh, what are you seeing from him this year? As the numbers look a little bit different, but maybe the numbers that we don't see that that say, hey, he's still as dominant as they come.

Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean still you can look up every night it's still nine to nine to one hundred, right. So you know, early in the season and he was dealing with a little bit of shoulder, you know, fatigue, and then and he was able to kind of get through that and and once we got to April, kind of look at the month of May and I'm not sure if you get up a run. He might have given up one run in May and been pretty solid. So it's like, you know, to expect what do you had?

In some ways from the year to year.

The amount of appearances that he's put out there and the numbers he's put out there, he's super impressive. And once again, like you know, he's going to continue to work and find ways to get better, and that's what he's doing this year.

Joe as always thanks for the time.

Appreciate it. Yeah, sure things, appreciate it.

That's Joe Torres, the Guardian's assistant pitching coach, and always thank him for his time. Some good thoughts on what's been happening, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen. Stay with us. We'll have our final segment of Guardians Weekly after this time out the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.

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Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim rosen House along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, and every now and again we like to catch up with Guardian's Senior Vice President Bob D Biassio and see who he has caught up with in another edition of At the Ballpark with Bobby D. This time around it's Cy Young Award winner Rick Suckcliffe.

The perfectly manicured field, the unmistakable aroma of a ballpark hot dog, and the electricity celebrating another victory.

This is at the Ballpark with Bobby D.

Thank you, Hammy, Well them to at the Ballpark, where we hope you enjoy our conversations with those involved in the great game of baseball. Those who may have been behind the scenes are the colorful personalities who have provided so many exciting moments and memories. Today we are joined by one of my all time favorites, a former number one draft pick.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers, a.

Three time All Star Cy Young Award winner and a Roberto Clemente Award winner.

Mister Rick Sudcliffe sut thank you for taking the time to be with.

Us, Bobby. There's not enough time in today for me to catch up with you on all the great things. And I mean seriously, just hearing your voice it takes me back to how much we love Cleveland. What a beautiful city it was. Our daughter was born when I was playing for the Indians. Bobby, when when I hear your voice, I literally think of Jimmy Warfield. I think of Dave Garcia, I think of Mike Cargo. We'b Blilevi and Andre Thornton. Right now I'm thanking to Joe Charbonneau

Yes and day you're too kind and we've stayed friends all this time, and you were in Cleveland just two years and a half. Some memorable moments and we'll get to that in a little bit, but we might as well start at the beginning. You're a number one draft pick, of the Dodgers in nineteen seventy four, twenty first overall out of high school and Independence, Missouri. Share that experience with us.

You know, the story that comes to mind, Bobby is I thought the worst day of my life. I'm eleven years old and my dad leaves our family. My dad did not like sports, so we didn't play. And it turns out that we were put up for adoption. My brother and sister and I and my grandpa on my mind said no, that's not going to happen. He took us in. He came out of retirement, he went back to work. He loved sports. He had my mom and

Well, you're a six seven, six eight two fifteen to twenty five.

What position did you play in football?

Well, you know, like everybody else back in the day, I never left the field. I was a quarterback. That's what I got recruited at. I was able, mentioned All American blah blah blah, got recruited all around the country. Oh, I could throw it, but hey, we weren't going to run the wishbone.

You know that, I love it.

You're drafted in junea seventy four, and quickly you're in the big leagues in nineteen seventy six, and you pitch one game in a September or five innings only what two hits, no runs allowed?

Bobby. The funny part about that story was I get called up in September from Double A. I go from you know, maybe two hundred people on a Friday night in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Dodger Stadium and Walter Austin retired with four games to go in the season nineteen seventy six. He told Tommy, you're running the team. But the only thing I'm telling you is I want the kid to be the starting pitcher. So Bobby, I'm the starting pitcher. I had probably ten complete games in Double A. I mean,

Oh my, I.

Love it so Oddly, you don't get called back up to the Biggs in seventy seven, and you only pitch one and two thirds innings or so in seventy eight, so you're not in the big leagues. In seventy seven, you pitch it an inning in two thirds and seventy eight, and then you go in seventy nine and you pitch two hundred forty three innings. About that big league it's like when you look at those kinds the numbers, and think you go from one and two thirds at as to two hundred and forty three at as.

You win Rookie of the Year, you have thirty nine games, thirty starts. It's amazing.

Yeah, I tell you I got hurt opening Day in nineteen seventy seven in Triple A. About a week later they sent me to see Frank Job and he told me I had a torn rotator cut. I was gonna have surgery the next day. My longtime agent and great friend, you know, you knew very action rod Well. We lost him a year ago. He was there representing another kid and as we came out, he says, how are you getting back to the hotel? I said, I'm waiting on a cab. He goes, I'll drive you back. He worked

Wow.

The other kid that he was there representing had the surgery never played again. I didn't get it done. The Dodgers were livid. They were mad at me. I barely pitched it all. In seventy seven, I get the spring training. I got to pitch well to make the Triple A staff, but we end up winning the championship that year. I got called up, as you said, for an inning or so at the end of it. I had to make the club out of spring training. In nineteen seventy nine,

Unbelievable.

Yeah, your career you started at twenty ended up thirty eight years old when you hung up the spikes real quickly on your twenty three nineteen seventy nine. You have all these great accolades, Rookie of the Year, but you had Don Sutton's what thirty nine, Bert Houghton and Jerry Royce are thirty year a twenty three year old kid joining that team of Steve Garvey and Davy Lows and Roby and Dusty Baker some household.

Now, real quickly, you know they weren't as good to me as Burt Blevin and Mike Hargrove and Andre Thornton were those guys all kind of hunger theirselves other than one person, and that was Dusty Baker. And Dusty Baker was a game changer. He would tell me when a hitter was too comfortable. I mean, he just guided me through that Rookie year, and you know those three years in LA We went to Rookie of the Year in

Well, the play the spaghetti is the story City. Oh yes, right.

I can't remember the day, but I know exactly the scenario. Bobby. I live in Kansas City. We don't have a garage or snow on the ground. I walk out to the mailbox and I open it and there's a World Series ring with a full share World Series check like fifty five thousand dollars. I figured, after what I did to Lasoria, I wasn't gonna get anything. We got everything. You know what happened the next day, Bobby, I got a call from Dave Garcia telling me that I had been traded

Absolutely wasn't Dave Garcia the most beautiful.

Man, nicest human being I ever met?

Yeah, unfortunately we've run a time, but stay tuned for part two of our conversation with rig Sudcliffe and his.

Time in Cleveland. I'm at the ballpark. I'm the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.

That's Bobby d at the ballpark, and that's going to do it for this week's edition of Guardians Weekly. Thanks so much for tuning in. As always, we'll catch you next week when the team is right back here at home taking on the Detroit Tigers. In a huge July fourth weekend series. Until then for Brian Maze who always

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