It was just one game in 162, but that Giants opening day win just felt a bit better than ones in the past. What a great start for the Buster Posey era!
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00:00opening day. Welcome in. It's the morning roast Joe Shaski. I'm Mark Randy in for Spadoni.
00:04Giants baseball is back Shaski.
00:06Uh, what? 15 years from now, my, my kid's going to be like, where were you when Wilmer
00:10Flores hit that home run in the ninth inning on opening day? Cause we were in the living
00:15room and he's swinging the T-ball bat and we're watching. I'm thinking, all right, how
00:19are they going to screw this one up? I mean, they had an opportunity. It was first and
00:23third and Ramos strikes out. And all I'm thinking in my head is, oh my God, first and third,
00:28put the ball in play. Have a professional at that. I mean, as long as you don't ground
00:33out or a double play, the worst thing that could possibly happen is striking out without
00:37the bat leaving your shoulders.
00:39And then Patty freaking barrels comes up and puts one right back up the middle. And then
00:44Wilmer Flores steps up and hits a monster shot. And look, this is why we love sports.
00:49Wilmer Flores had I pulled Bay area sports fans. Wilmer Flores is your DH. How are you
00:55feeling about that? I mean, the approval rating would have been close to zero.
00:58Oh yeah. I don't think anyone was expecting him to do much of anything. And it's not even
01:03just that a bat, but this year and two butt cheeks into that bad boy and you're walking
01:07away with a win. And now look, I know it's 162 games. Joe, don't lose your mind over
01:12one game. No, I am going to lose my mind over one game because that felt like a, like a
01:17huge momentum. Forget the standings, forget the seat, like the team in the dugout Dodgers
01:22three and Oh, screw them. I've never rooted harder for Blake's against Blake's now for
01:29the psyche of the giants fan.
01:32How great of a shower was that to wash away all the negativity for so long and to start
01:39the Buster Posey era, which Buster didn't play yesterday birthday Buster, but for that
01:44to happen the way it did. I mean, Mark, that was, that was so fun. So fun. And it felt
01:50like all the giants fans were galvanized. Like, are you kidding me? You won this game
01:54that way. And then the graphic shows up first time in the history of the giants organization
02:00that they came back in the ninth inning on opening day. I can't, I can't believe what
02:03I saw yesterday. And I know it's, it's the reds. Logan Webb didn't have it. Like I want
02:07to peel back the whole thing.
02:09Reds are a decent baseball team. And when they got Hunter green on the bump pitching
02:12like that, I mean, they're hard to beat. He's electric and we'll get into him, but just
02:16how good does it feel when your team wins? It was amazing. I mean, what a vibe change.
02:21You're right. Like it's opening day. It means more. It's just one game. You have 161 games
02:27left, but that game meant a little bit more than just one win for the giant. It always
02:31does on opening day. Like I go back to the 2017 game where your mad bum comes out and,
02:35and has two home runs in the first game against Arizona. Exactly. And then Mark Melanson blows
02:41it. That felt like a bad omen for the whole season. Now I'm not saying you, you can win
02:46a world series or get to the playoffs on opening day. But like in terms of momentum shift and
02:50having a community kind of like rally around the team. When I watched those guys after
02:55that Wilmer Flores home run, come out of the dugout and Willie Adonis is like beating his
03:00chest and grabbing Jung-woo Lee and practically met Wilmer Flores at third base. How like
03:05if that didn't make you feel some kind of way, you're soulless. I mean, you're a ghoul,
03:10right? That was amazing. The Carter loves the ghoul. When I, when I go, I mean, we're
03:14going ghostbusters here, but like, honestly, that, that was such a fun game. And I think
03:19just signifying that baseball came back a great, that was fun. It was so much fun. And
03:24the night, I mean the ninth inning, I don't know how you felt going into that ninth inning
03:27tortured, probably thinking, uh, they're, they're not gonna, they're not gonna do this.
03:32I didn't feel good at all. Especially after, you know, you just, you're watching Lamont
03:37Wade jr. As your lead off hitter to start the year. And I think most people were like,
03:41Oh my God, what are we doing? And, uh, you know, I got to say Jung-woo Lee in the three
03:46hole spot, even though I want him as the lead up and we'll, again, we got a million things
03:49to get into warriors as well. We know it's a ride or die game tonight for the golden
03:54state warriors in new Orleans, but the speed of Jung-woo Lee, putting pressure on the base
03:58pass, putting pressure on the pitcher, being able to go first to third in that situation.
04:03It's an element that she just hasn't had for so long. And you know, credit Jung-woo Lee
04:09for being the rally starter. Not once, but twice. Yeah, no. So he drew a walk in the
04:13fourth inning that preceded the Elliot Ramos home run that had bat by Elliot Ramos, by
04:18the way, against Hunter green, who's throwing like 99 plus with unbelievable movement in
04:24every direction down away. I mean, he's filthy nasty. I mean, I've watched him maybe now
04:29three times he's dynamic. That's what a top pitching prospect looks like. You shared a
04:35video to the thread yesterday of Sandy Alcantara. Yeah. Who's amazing of Miami. Maybe the only
04:41guy who has nastier, like the nastier fastball than Hunter green. Amazing. But Hunter, when
04:46he's on, it's incredible to watch, but Elliot Ramos and 11 pitch at bat, I think he fouled
04:51off what five or six straight 98 plus mile an hour fastballs. Then goes oppo on pitch
04:5611, just gets it over the wall and right field giants. Get back within a run. Then they don't
05:01score again until the ninth. Just unreal. Jungle. Actually, it was a Willie Adams leadoff
05:05strikeout. Yes. He struggled at the plate. He looked great. One game, whatever. Jung
05:10who Lee draws the walk and then Elliot or then it's Matt Chapman professional at bat
05:15goes opposite way. Little dribbler loved it. The whole between the first and second baseman.
05:19And as you pointed out, you have speed and a good base runner at first, you go first
05:24to third. Now you've got speed on both bases. And ideally you would have liked to capitalize
05:29on that speed and had a sack fly, be the reason you get the run in and tie the game.
05:33But just having that speed on the basis, if it's Lamont Wade, who's on first draws the
05:38walk, it's Lamont, Lamont, Lamont, Wade on first, not Jung who Lee, and then the rest
05:43of the inning plays out the way it does. The Flores home run would have been to also tie
05:47the game and also take the lead in the game because Lamont Wade would not have gone first
05:52to third on the Chapman single. And he would not have scored from second on the Patrick
05:56Bailey single, not even, not even a slight chance in hell. And this is where, that's
05:59where the small things matter for this baseball team. Totally agree with you. And that, and
06:03look, eventually they'll get there. And I don't want to make this about Wilmer. They're
06:07not Wilmer, but Lamont Wade should never be batting lead off. But this is why speed up
06:11and down the lineup kills, right? It's an element that every single day speed doesn't
06:16go through a slump, right? I want to say that very clearly. If you are a speedy player,
06:21you never go through a slump.
06:22You watched early in the game. Speed was how Ellie Daly Cruz scored multiple times.
06:27And I, well, we haven't even brought it up. Mikey Stremski made a play in right field
06:31to track the ball. That was, it saved probably an inside the park home run and at least one
06:37extra run. And Logan Webb didn't have it yesterday, but, but that speed puts pressure on the base
06:42pass. And you can see it kind of got to Logan Webb a couple of times when guys are on base.
06:47He's worried about, Hey, I got to do a slide step, not the big high leg kick. But for them
06:51to do that, um, that way on opening day. And then let's, let's also the bottom half of
06:57the ninth was torture is back. It starts coming up. Did it not? Oh yeah. I mean, and Ryan
07:06Walker was excellent last year, but I mean that ball off the bat of whoever was it made
07:09the final out Matt McClain. I think the second baseman, my heart stopped. I thought it was
07:12gone at first, especially in that ballpark, everything in the air you think might have
07:17a chance to get out. Oh man, that was a little scary. What a fun game. We're here all morning
07:23for you to react to it. It's the morning roast Joe Shasky, Mark Randy with you. And shout
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07:36We're coming to you live from the laughing monk studios, laughing monk, righteously brewed
07:39in San Francisco brought to you as well by golden state serving the Bay area for three
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07:49which means Bonte Hill will be in studio at nine o'clock. Joining us on the river islands
07:54guest line as all guests do here on 95, seven, the game of Shasky. I'm just basking in the
07:59globe and opening day. When giants are off today at the built-in like rain, it's so dumb.
08:04Hey, if, if yesterday's game got delayed or postponed because of rain, they would have
08:08been able to play it today, but no giant space ball today. That's okay. Because what they
08:12did last night will carry me through Friday and get me ready for tomorrow. A hundred percent.
08:16And look, they, they got contributions up and down the team yesterday. I thought that
08:19was a great team. When the other guy I want to credit is Bob Melvin in this one. And the
08:24reason why is like that ninth inning, you know, having your bullpen ready to go for
08:28the bottom half of the ninth, it's not an easy task.
08:32You had to have Ryan Walker up and ready to roll to, if you take the lead, they also had
08:37maybe Deval warming up the camera. I don't know. They didn't show the camera, but like
08:42once you go first and third, somebody get up, we're about to tie this game. We're going
08:46to the bottom of the ninth because had the giants not scored their games over, you got
08:50to have somebody up to begin the inning too. I mean, unless you felt comfortable throwing
08:54Tyler Rogers for a second inning, which maybe, maybe you were good. Him, Randy Rodriguez
09:00and Miller. I liked what I saw on three scoreless. Yeah. I picked up Logan Webb who you've mentioned
09:05didn't have it, but still battled through five. I mean, that's just what he does. He
09:09no doubt. But I, what I like about Logan Webb and you know, we ever seen, I got like a text
09:13message from Stiney last night. Does it matter that the giants have the best left side of
09:17the infield defensively? It's like, it's an interesting question, right? Cause it's a
09:21thing that we say, it's like a narrative, right? Like, Oh, well Goldie and Aaron Otto
09:25might be the best corner infielders in all of baseball. Well, the Cardinals have been
09:30pretty trashy the last couple of years having that combination, but when you have a sinker
09:35ball pitcher, like Logan Webb, he's going to induce a ton of ground balls. And you saw
09:40it yesterday. They flipped a huge double play up the middle. You saw Chapman make a couple
09:45of plays. You saw a Domus make a couple of plays. I saw Fitz make a play on the other
09:49side of second base was good at second. He looks really good at second. I don't like
09:52him at short. I'd like him a lot at second base. And he's a bigger body guy who can stay
09:57in on that double play. When a guy's coming in to try to crash him, he's got a really
10:01good plus arm and he's a plus athlete. A Domus made a really nice play on a ball on
10:06the other side of the bag. Only gaff was the, the ball back up the middle, hit the pitcher,
10:10hit the mound, bounced up in the air and Ellie speed, you know, makes Willie kind of make
10:15one step towards second. Oh, I need to throw to first everybody's safe. So it does matter
10:21having a great defensive infield when you have a pitcher like Logan Webb, who's going
10:25to get a lot of ground balls. Yeah. And that, that mistake, if you want to call it that
10:29by a Domus, it was more. So just the pressure put on by Ellie Dela Cruz, that mistake led
10:34to the two runs for the Reds in that third inning. And so the Reds immediately take advantage,
10:39but that mistake, again, if you want to call it that Shasky, that's the only mistake the
10:43Giants defense made in the whole game. And it's something that you and I talked about
10:46yesterday and it's something that Dave Fleming brought up with us as well. If you just play
10:50like clean baseball, you don't boot the ball around. You, you, you just play catch. As
10:56you mentioned a number of times yesterday, even if you get the same production from your
11:00starting pitchers, which was not good last year, you, you get the same production from
11:04your hitters, which was not good last year. You will win like five, six, seven more ball
11:09games, just on the basis of playing clean defense. And yesterday was a good example
11:14of me. Yeah. Saves at least one run, not to an incredible play, an incredible play. And
11:19then it's, I think it was first and third again for Logan Webb later on the game ground
11:23ball, right? To Fitz fits. Boom. Let me flip it to a Domus. It was beautiful. It's one
11:27of the more beautiful double plays I've seen from the Giants in a long time. They led baseball
11:32back to back years and errors. Unacceptable. It really is. And where were they in the most
11:37porous up the middle, right? You didn't have jungle leave for the majority of last year.
11:41It was kind of a revolving door in center field. Um, shortstop has just been a bugaboo
11:46for multiple years since last year, specifically. And look, we love craw even the year before
11:51craw wasn't the same. Love the guy. I'm just being real. The range wasn't the same better
11:57than any of their options last year though. Oh, there's no doubt, but he wasn't vintage
12:02crawl and vintage cause one of the best defenders in the game, even in a down year, you know
12:08what I mean? But like having Willie Adamas, you could see the arm strength, you could
12:12see the range. I loved it. And to me, the leadership on the Flores home run, seeing
12:16him jump out of the dugout, we have been dying for this team to show life in the dugout.
12:22I watched the Braves. I watched the Astros. I watch all these other teams. The Dodgers
12:25have unbelievable chemistry. They do their little dance thing, the Dodgers, right? But
12:31it feels like their, their dugout is ready to pour out onto the field and party. We have
12:36had the more stoic, you know, team for years. Even when we had Buster and panic, those guys
12:42are all kind of like, I call flatliner guys. You know, yeah, this is a flatliner guy. He's
12:46not going to be a rah, rah guy. And that's fine. Like not everyone needs to be Pablo,
12:51but why did they bring Pablo back? Even though he couldn't play anymore was just to have
12:55somebody up that locker room and that dugout, but a dog is being an everyday player.
12:59Who's playing shortstop bringing that same intensity. It hits more. It hits the whole
13:03team more and you're vibing. And you could feel a connectivity that I felt like I haven't
13:08seen. I'll get it's one game. I'm not losing my mind. I'm not jumping out of my shoes,
13:12but like I felt the culture change. I mean, a handful of years ago, Brandon belt became
13:17this crazy story because he would wear a captain's hat and put a C on his Jersey. And like that,
13:25that was a big deal because who else was on that roster? Nobody, nobody with any kind
13:29of crazy personality like Darren rough had some of the most personality on their team.
13:34Is on the moon. I mean, right. But like, that's, that's where we were at. Like Ramos, I love
13:39Ramos, but he's not like a, um, over the top energy guy. I, he's just a grinder. I like,
13:45I love the way Ramos plays ball. Chapman grinder. Yeah. It's kind of a grinder. Joe Lee's got a
13:51little personality. Um, but you know, I don't, I don't know how easy or difficult or what his
13:57communication level is on the team. The interviews I've seen with him, he's speaking in another
14:01language, right? It's hard when you speak another language to connect with other guys on the team.
14:06So I don't know. I, I'm not trying to say he doesn't know English behind the scenes. I'm just
14:10talking about what I've seen on some of the interviews, having a Domus be able to connect
14:14different fractions and clicks of the clubhouse is a huge deal. It's a huge deal in baseball.
14:21When you're a traveling circus, the way they are. Uh, the six, five Oh,
14:24chiming in on our text line, eight, eight, eight, nine, five, seven, nine, five, seven,
14:27zero. I love how Flores hits that home run and walks the bases chewing gum. Like it's nothing.
14:33He's one of those low-key guys, but when you have a moment like that, you treat it like it's
14:37whatever. This is what I do. I mean, we forget Flores last year. I mean, terrible and right knee
14:44bothered him all year. Eventually he had surgery in August and his season ended a couple of years
14:48before that. I mean, clutch and clutch in the big moments, he would come through more than anybody
14:55yesterday. That was a sad sentence though. He was your best giant. And I like Wilmer, right? It's
15:00like, that's like saying like, we were just talking before, like the Warriors best player
15:05is Corey McGetty. Like, no, no, that's not good enough. You know what I mean? Like it's
15:09no, like you can't have that. And so yeah, like Wilmer Flores had a hell of a year.
15:14What is it? 2022. I think it was in 2023. He had 284 with 23 bombs. Okay. It was 2023. Pretty good.
15:20Yeah. But he couldn't play defense and they had him at third. They had him at second. This was
15:24during the shift. They tried to play him at first and he was a liability. Having him as your DH and
15:29your first baseman. Look, I don't love it, but yesterday he shoved it right into anyone's face
15:34who was critiquing him and was eye rolling him being your DH on opening day and good for him, man.