Latest / Foul Territory / Phillies Manager Rob Thomson on Wheeler’s choice, Losing Alvarado, Elbow guard for Harper?

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Phillies Manager Rob Thomson on Wheeler’s choice, Losing Alvarado, Elbow guard for Harper? · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You got to keep moving forward in this game. I
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: love Hosy. He's a great person, great picture, but we
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: don't have him right now, so we gotta we gotta
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: keep moving forward. All right, Welcome back to Balatatory.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: But we are here with Brad Thomps and Phillies manager
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  Speaker 2: who has taken time out of his his busy day
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  Speaker 2: to talk to us for Jerola here, Kratz, Todd Frazier,
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  Speaker 2: h Rob how are you? Thank you so much for
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: joining us here today.
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  Speaker 3: You m.
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  Speaker 2: Oh geez, you got all the stories? Can you tell
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  Speaker 2: us all the quick? We only have a certain amount of.
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  Speaker 1: Time, Robbie, guys.
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  Speaker 4: Copper. Who's is KG holding the camera for you? I've
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  Speaker 4: never seen this. You're usually you're in that age demographic
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: where when when you call into the show, we're seeing
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  Speaker 4: up here, we're seeing up your nostril, KG holding the
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  Speaker 4: camera for you.
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  Speaker 1: I got this new fangled computer and and there's a
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  Speaker 1: camera on top of the computer.
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  Speaker 4: Topper you are. I'm so proud of you, not just
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: because just because you're not just because you're hip, but
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: because you figured out a way to change what was
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: going on. All these all these managers this year are
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: getting fired all these managers are getting fired. You were
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: there when Joe got fired and you stepped right in.
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  Speaker 4: We talk about it all the time on the show.
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  Speaker 4: Did you change the message that was being sent or
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  Speaker 4: did you just say I'll just move one slot to
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  Speaker 4: the left and now I'm the manager in the dugout?
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I don't know exactly what happened. I
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: do know this that you know. It was the first
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of June when I took over, and the month of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: May was probably the toughest month as far as our
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: opponents for concern, and then the month of June was
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  Speaker 1: probably the easiest month of you know, as far as
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: competition was concerned. We just got on a roll. And
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, anytime you have a managerial change
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: or a head coaching change, I think you'll see a
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  Speaker 1: spike in in wins and performance for a little bit,
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  Speaker 1: and then usually the team falls back to where they were. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we had a pretty easy schedule and we just got
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  Speaker 1: on a roll and everybody got confident, and we just
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  Speaker 1: rolled through the year.
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: Can you talk a little bit about baseball, and you know,
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  Speaker 5: you were an assistant coach for a while, now you're
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  Speaker 5: a manager. The Ebbs and flows of the game, which
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  Speaker 5: I think people don't understand. You know, you come out
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  Speaker 5: the gates, you know, you're not where people are in fans,
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  Speaker 5: They're like, oh the Phillies, what are we doing here?
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  Speaker 5: You know we're blaming everybody else. But can you can
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  Speaker 5: you talk a little about you know, ebbs and flows
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  Speaker 5: and how you know, some players come out hot because
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: you guys are you guys are doing it right now,
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  Speaker 5: but a little bit ago it was a struggle.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're probably going to another struggle at some point.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way the game is. And it happens team wide,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and then it happens individually as well. And I think
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  Speaker 1: that most players have three or four times when they
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  Speaker 1: go through a season, as they're going through a season
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  Speaker 1: individually where they struggle, and at any given time, you're
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: probably going to have two, three, four guys in a
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  Speaker 1: lineup that are struggling at the same time, and then
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  Speaker 1: it changes back and forth. It's a fascinating game that way,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and you know, the people that that can handle it
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: mentally and emotionally are the guys that are going to
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: succeed because it is so difficult. And I always tell
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  Speaker 1: my wife and I always tell my kids and I
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: always tell my friends. The moment that I forget about
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: how hard this game is is that's when I got
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  Speaker 1: to go.
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  Speaker 2: Have you guys have such an interesting owner in John Middleton.
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  Speaker 2: I mean I've been at play off games where he's
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  Speaker 2: picking up balls after vps giving them the fans. Like
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  Speaker 2: lots of guys will say we want to win, he
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  Speaker 2: proves it, he backs it. He he acts like a fan,
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  Speaker 2: but he also spends like a fan as well. He's
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  Speaker 2: not afraid to say winning is important. This is our window,
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  Speaker 2: Like I can leave another legacy to my grandkids than
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  Speaker 2: just money, right, Like I want the Phillies to win.
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  Speaker 2: I want to have that championship. How much does having
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  Speaker 2: an owner like that kind of permeate down to your
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  Speaker 2: level and kind of maybe impact the culture of what's
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  Speaker 2: going on in Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 1: Well, John, John's great because you know, I usually don't
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  Speaker 1: see him very much during the season, and he usually
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  Speaker 1: doesn't come down to the clubhouse. But his passion for
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  Speaker 1: winning is off the charts. It's as he's as passionate
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  Speaker 1: about winning as any player or myself or anybody in
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  Speaker 1: the front offices. And you know he is willing to
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  Speaker 1: spend his money, and he's willing to, you know, to
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  Speaker 1: provide us with anything that we need to win, So
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  Speaker 1: there are no excuse uses here. He gives us everything
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and I love it. And you know I came. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: was twenty eight years with the Yankees with George Steinbrunner
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: and very similar except mister Steiner got a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more involved on a day to day basis. But John's great.
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  Speaker 1: I love him. You know, this organization is really family oriented,
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  Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, it's it's about
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  Speaker 1: win a world championship. And he does a great job
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: at balancing all that out.
• 5:31
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• 5:51
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• 6:33
  Speaker 4: We had Dave roberts on manager for the Dodgers about
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: this time last year, and we talked to him, and
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: we talked to Max Munsey once a month on this show.
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  Speaker 4: Are you guys able to talk or do you talk
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: about being a playoff team and not just a regular
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: season team in the sense that how are you going
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  Speaker 4: to make the adjustments that you weren't able to make
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  Speaker 4: in Game six and seven against the Diamondbacks in the
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: games where you were playing in the shadows against the
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  Speaker 4: Mets and the Mets were running a hot streak, do
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  Speaker 4: you guys talk about that and say, hey, this is
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  Speaker 4: how we're preparing.
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  Speaker 1: Well. I think The one thing that we talked about
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: during the offseason and in spring training is controlling the
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  Speaker 1: strike So that is the one big message, and that's
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  Speaker 1: not really just set up for the playoffs. That's set
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  Speaker 1: up on a daily basis to hopefully get us there,
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  Speaker 1: and that works on both sides of the ball, on
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  Speaker 1: the mound and at the plate. So that's the one
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  Speaker 1: big message that we've talked about, and I think our
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  Speaker 1: guys have done a really good job at it during
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  Speaker 1: the season. My biggest focus is today in this series
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to play because we got to get there.
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  Speaker 1: And so you know, we play fifty two series every
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  Speaker 1: year and I tell the players and staff every year,
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  Speaker 1: if we win thirty, we're going to get in. So
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that's our goal. We got to win thirty series. And
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  Speaker 1: once we get to the playoffs, if we get there,
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  Speaker 1: then we'll start talking about that. But right now, we
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  Speaker 1: got we got a game tonight against a really hot
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  Speaker 1: Milwaukee Brewers club and we got to take care of business.
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  Speaker 4: You guys talked about the strike zone and understanding and
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: like controlling the strike zone. How soon was it that
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: you noticed that the ump zone a little bit tighter,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: a little the buffer zone. You know, supposedly Majorleague Baseball's
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  Speaker 4: pulled everybody, but not everybody knew at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: We knew because we knew that, you know, we had
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  Speaker 1: the ABS system in spring training and luckily in Florida,
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  Speaker 1: like almost every game we played was under the ABS system.
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  Speaker 1: So and I think I think it got people locked
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  Speaker 1: into the not just the players, but the umpires as well,
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  Speaker 1: locked into the strike zone and gave them pretty good
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  Speaker 1: reference as to it's a strike and what's the ball.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think in particular for us, I think
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  Speaker 1: it helped us quite a bit because that's that's what
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  Speaker 1: one of our goals was, So, you know, I really
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  Speaker 1: think that was part of it. I think part of
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  Speaker 1: it is our hitting coaches and how they stressed it
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  Speaker 1: in spring training and throughout their drill work and and
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  Speaker 1: post mortems after games and things like that. And I
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  Speaker 1: think our guys doing a pretty good job at.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: We had Ruben Tomorrow Junior on the show fairly recently.
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  Speaker 2: He was talking about Bryce Harper, you know, comes back
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  Speaker 2: so quickly, how he's just a guy who doesn't bruise
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  Speaker 2: or swell as much. And when I covered the Orioles
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  Speaker 2: Buckshowalter used to always say, well, this guy's a fast healer.
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  Speaker 2: Is there credence to that? Are there guys who are
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  Speaker 2: faster healers than other guys? I know Bryce works hard.
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  Speaker 2: I know that factors in it as well. And do
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  Speaker 2: you really feel nervous or do you have like the
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  Speaker 2: sense of maybe throwing an elbow guard at him so
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  Speaker 2: he can put it on when he's on the when
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  Speaker 2: he's if they're at the plate now, or or how
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  Speaker 2: nervous does.
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  Speaker 1: That make you? Yeah? I think everybody heals at a
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  Speaker 1: different pace. You know, it's just you're probably in your DNA.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, but every time Harp has had
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: some type of injury, he seems to come back fairly quick.
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  Speaker 1: So and we haven't seen him today, so I don't
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  Speaker 1: have an update today. But yeah, i'd like him to
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  Speaker 1: wear an elbow guard. You can't force the guy to
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: do it, because I think one of the one of
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  Speaker 1: the reasons why he didn't wear it is he felt just,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe a little bit restricted by it. So
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  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see where we go once he once
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  Speaker 1: he gets back swinging the bat.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: I want to ask a little bit about Jose Alvarado.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: How have you guys been without him on the mound
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: a little bit. You know, I don't have to dive
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  Speaker 5: deep into situation. But you know that trust factor too
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  Speaker 5: as well, has got to play a part in it too.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I would assume, yeah, and you know, and I said
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: from the get go, it's it's a loss, no doubt,
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  Speaker 1: because at the time that we lost him, he was,
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  Speaker 1: you know, one of the best relievers in baseball. But
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: we have the I think we have the arms here,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and the stuff here and and the makeup here. You know,
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  Speaker 1: to to pick up the pace and pick up the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: pieces and guys will step up and get it done.
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  Speaker 1: And so far, so good, knock on wood. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Hosey's Hosey's a loss. But you know, I tell you
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  Speaker 1: guys all the time, you can only control what you
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: can control, and worry about only about what you can control.
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  Speaker 1: And you got to you got to keep moving forward
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  Speaker 1: in this game. I love Hosey. He's a great person,
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  Speaker 1: great pitcher, but we don't have him right now, so
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  Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta keep moving forward.
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  Speaker 4: You talked about getting the team through today, but at
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  Speaker 4: part of a manager's job is to making sure you're
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: fine for tomorrow too. How often or how much do
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  Speaker 4: you fight back against that? I don't have one here,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: but the bullpen card that you have, Like, I get it. Hey,
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  Speaker 4: you know what, this guy's not thrown three days in
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  Speaker 4: a row. It's just it's what it is. This guy
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  Speaker 4: can't How often do you have to fight against it?
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  Speaker 4: But do you fight against it more than the pitchers
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: fight against it?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I make out my own bullpen cards so special,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think. Well, I've been doing it for a
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: long time and my number one goal is I mean,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: obviously it's to win, but we got to keep people healthy,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and we got to give them the proper rest and
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: at the same time get them into games enough to
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: keep them sharp. So there's a there's a balance you
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: got to strike there. And it's on my mind every day.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the picture. I give the pictures more
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: days off than they want. Let's put it that way.
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  Speaker 4: So they want to throw and you don't let them play.
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  Speaker 2: I get it.
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  Speaker 4: You take the ball away from him and they don't
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  Speaker 4: get to play. But you're not equal to That's the
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  Speaker 4: bullpen guys. Yesterday, or maybe it was a day before,
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  Speaker 4: Wheeler said, hey, is it too late? Is it too
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: late coach head coach Rob if I throw Game two
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: instead of Game one, and you told him, Ah, you
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  Speaker 4: know what, you do whatever you want. You're Zach Wheeler.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: I don't think you ever go to Ryan Kirkering and say,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: oh Ryan, you're O.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Ryan him that I told the media that, oh you
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: didn't do that. Well. I had called Zach and I
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: said which game would you like? And he said the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: day game? And I said fine, So I called her
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  Speaker 1: our media people and like two minutes later he called back.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: He said, is it too late to change it to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the night game? And I said, no, it's not too late.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I'll just give him a call back.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: So there's nothing to it. There's nothing where you know
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: what he wanted to He saw Sale and he's like,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: I want to go up against the Ragining s Young.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: So everyone knows that I'm going to win the sy
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Young this year.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what the reason was,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: but because I didn't ask him, but I just know
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: that he called back almost immediately and asked to change
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: it to the night game. So it's no problem.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Awesome, Well, thanks so much.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Rob.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I look forward to when the Phillies are in the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: DC Baltimore area. Hearing all the off the record stories
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: about Crassy and Todd, hear from you so yeah, book
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: a little time.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you over awesome.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Rob, We appreciate it.