Ryan Merritt

They let him go, you know, five innings most times.

And then, you know, they trusted Ryan Merritt for one for four and a third innings in the final game.

There was not none of that here.

And you had arguably healthier, better starters.

Like I would take I would take Tanner over Trevor Bauer.

I would take Joey Cantu over Ryan Merritt, even though Ryan Merritt lives in the history because of what he did.

Same with Foster Griffin, just a better pitcher.

It's just so strange.

Yeah, so they trusted, I would say, two and a half starters.

He got slightly more trust than Ryan Merritt did in 2016, essentially, maybe more than Trevor Bauer.

I was just thinking back to 2016, and I was like, somehow in 2016...

They managed to navigate only having a healthy Corey Kluber, Josh Tomlin, Trevor Bauer wasn't very good when he wasn't playing with his drones.

And then, you know, you used Ryan Merritt.

Even in that game, they had the bullpen game three because of Bauer's bloody finger.

They didn't have a choice, but they won that game.

And they ended up trusting Ryan Merritt, no opener, for four and a third innings.

Sure.

Ryan Merritt.

Absolutely.

So-

And now you got this.

Anyone can step up to the moment, right? Anyone can have that big game feel, and I think that's like the beauty of this month, this run.

It can be, you can take a no-name player who doesn't do anything the rest of their career, and that's not to slight someone like Ryan Merritt, but he, we still know his name 10 years later, 10-year anniversary coming on Monday, because he did that in that moment, and fans funded his wedding because of it.

[laughs]

Like, so perfect example, 2016.

Uh, we had Jason Kipnis on the stream two nights ago, and- The, the fucking story about, uh, Ryan Merritt and shaking in his boots, and the boots in his locker, and then the fans posting his wedding registry.

Those are stories from 10 years ago that a lot of people probably forgot or just never even knew.

I remember them because I blogged those in 2016.

If, yes.

Look, Ryan, Ryan Merritt is a, is an Indians postseason legend, right? Do you remember who Ryan Merritt is?

Mm-mm.

No.