Latest / The Specific Jawns / Phillies Keep Rolling
Transcript
- speaker-0: What's up everybody? Welcome back to the specific Jawns Podcast. Wow. This is ⁓ kind of uncharted territory for a Phillies Podcast to have ⁓ two consecutive weeks of Positivity. ⁓ my name's Pat Barker, I'm your host for today. I missed last week, it was the first podcast I missed, and boy, did that hurt my feelings because it was ⁓ it looked like a lot of fun. My co-host today, Mike Sambuco, our good friend Carl Bakudi, thank you guys for ⁓ for picking up the slack for me last week. ⁓ and I was watching your podcast that you guys did together and I was just getting jealous because I'm like, why do I have to go on there every week and ⁓ rant and rave and be angry about things? Why don't I ever get a positive week? And now I I have one. Things are trending in the right direction. It's a good time to be a Phillies fan right now. We'll get into it in more detail in a second, but first Mike, how's life treating ya? How are ya? speaker-1: Great. I you know, I don't think it's any coincidence that you text us that you're ready to do a pod this week and they lose Monday and Tuesday. Just saying. speaker-0: There there is something that I have to reckon with. ⁓ and this is like a very like realistic thing that exists in my head. ⁓ and you gotta keep in mind, twenty twenty two I flew back for the World Series and got there just in time for games four and five, ⁓ which were the losses at home. They were up two to one. And ⁓ I flew back east and then they got no hit in game four and they lost game five. ⁓ ever since I moved out of Philadelphia, I've come back to Citizens Bank Park, I think for fifteen games. And they are two and thirteen, something like that. ⁓ there is a real case to be made that my support of this team is ⁓ their their worst enemy. So I hope that's not the case. I hope they could break the the Pat Barker curse. ⁓ I guess we'll find out. ⁓ the way they're playing right now, I think even I couldn't screw them up. But we're gonna find out this week. They are in Southern California with me ⁓ starting tomorrow. I'm going to the games on Saturday and Sunday. If we don't go two and ⁓ with ⁓ Sanchez and Wheeler against Angel starters with ERA's of six, then yeah, maybe maybe I'm the the jinx and I need to stay away from the team. I think that's fair. speaker-1: Yeah, I I think that would be a definitive answer that you need to stay away from this team in October. speaker-0: And I'll do whatever I have to do to ⁓ you know, make things right. Every time I think I'm over the hump, ⁓ I was in Dodger Stadium last year for the the Schwarber when he hit it out of the stadium, they won game three, and I was like, Well, there you go. I'm not the it's not my fault. And then I was there for the Orion Kirkering thing. So ⁓ the facts seem to point to me being the bad guy. I'm gonna give this one more year to see if that is in fact the case, and then they might have to get a restraining order against me. ⁓ but speaker-1: That's the whole reason for the lockout in in actuality. Like when we get to December it's because we need to keep Pat as far away from his baseball team as possible. speaker-0: That's the compromise. We don't need a salary cap as long as this guy is banned from all thirty major league stadiums. ⁓ I think it's fair. It's tough but fair. ⁓ this week, boy. ⁓ maybe not as good as last week, what you guys got to deal with. You guys were coming off, I think, a six game winning streak, ⁓ at the time you recorded last last week. ⁓ they go four and two this week, but the highs very high. To recap ⁓ what happened over the last ⁓ you know, s ⁓ six games First day of the walk-off win against the Cardinals, the first walk off win against the Cardinals, the one where they won seven to six and ten innings. ⁓ your boy Alex McFarland picking up a win. He picked up a lot of wins this week, which was ⁓ fun to see. Alec Bohm, of course, ⁓ who we love on this show. We've always loved him. Big Alec Bohm guys over here. We've been believers the whole time. and he rewarded our positivity with a two run walk off triple. ⁓ the next day, Andrew Painter. Gives them seven strong on the mound. They put up 12 runs and ⁓ beat the Cardinals going away 12 to 3. And then the third game, where they sleptwalk through the first eight innings, entered the ninth inning down four nothing. They were down four nothing with two outs in the ninth, and then put together one of the best comebacks ⁓ I've seen in a long time out of this team to win six to four as Kyle Schwarber goes off the top of the batter's eye into Ashburn Alley, nothing but net with a walk off homer. Then they go to Seattle, and that's a long travel, you know, situation. Seattle's a very odd kind of place there. ⁓ and they lose nine to two the first game. I'm not too concerned about the loss. I am a little bit concerned about the results that Zach Wheeler got on the mound. We'll talk about that. ⁓ the next day, the offense, it's their turn to ⁓ you know, kind of ⁓ come up a little bit short. They lose four to one as they get mowed down by George Kirby. But then just as you're thinking, okay, well, maybe we're heading back in the wrong direction, they played one of the more complete games of the season ⁓ yesterday with a six-nothing win. Jesus Lazardo looked great on the mound. And this team fielded like nobody's business. ⁓ they looked incredible in the field, which I did not expect to be talking about. The whole week, the whole last couple weeks have been topsy turvy. Alec Boehm is a star. They're feeling much better at their newer positions that they were forced into. By a poor fielder in Luisa Rise, who is also fielding the ball really well. ⁓ Andrew Painter is good ⁓ again. A Aaron Nola is good again. I'm deeply confused by what's going on, but I can't wait to talk about it. as of this moment with this recording, they are two games ⁓ behind the Cubs for that first wildcard spot, two games ahead of the Padres, and three in front of Arizona for the second wildcard spot, and they are four and a half behind Atlanta. in the National League East Atlanta currently, ⁓ facing off with the Dodgers. Last I checked, they were up one nothing against the pathetic Dodgers, which I also want to talk about. ⁓ I've ranted enough. Let's start with the six to four win, the big comeback. We haven't had a chance to talk about it yet. ⁓ boy, was that fun to watch. What were your takeaways from that game? speaker-1: So I I probably had the perfect viewing slash listening experience for that game because I was at Sesame Place with my family for the first eight innings. I get in the car to drive home, get to listen to Fransky, have a blast in the bottom of the ninth. What a comeback. I was like ⁓ you remember that Jimmy Rollins Ray Leota meme him in the shower, ⁓ in from the scene in Goodfellas? That was me in the car. I was banging on the steering wheel like speaker-0: He did it! He did it! speaker-1: ⁓ that was it was a blast. I was trying not to wake the ⁓ the napping ⁓ kids in the backseat, but it was fantastic just to ⁓ you could you could just feel the the enthusiasm through the radio of how how how much fun that must have been to see in person and I I had been at the game on Friday, so getting to to see the the Phil's come back to win that one in the bottom of the tenth on the Alloc Bone triple ⁓ was just fantastic to see him come through yet again, which I again, we were never anti Alec Bohm on this on this podcast. ⁓ so you know, we we just just a bunch of guys here talking, biggest Alec Bohm fans in the world. ⁓ so I that's that was actually game number two that I got to see in person with an Alec Bohm walk off the first being a sack fly. ⁓ earlier in the year, so not as exciting, but this one was a blast. It was a great game just back and forth. ⁓ Lazardo wasn't the sharpest that ⁓ he's ever that he's been, but ⁓ he really turned it around on Wednesday, yesterday with ⁓ seven innings of one hit ball. ⁓ just a fantastic pitching performance from Lozardo. ⁓ you know I skipped over Wheeler, I skipped over the Saturday gem by Painter, but ⁓ I I do wanna just I want to stay on the positive side of things. The painter gem on Saturday was just a sight to be seen. ⁓ we had talked in the last on the last pod about some of the bright signs of life that we saw from him in the Minnesota start, even though the stat line at the end of the day wasn't the prettiest. But he really put it all together and his probably his best start of his career. ⁓ and he looked like the Andrew Painter that we all had grown so hopeful to see as a Philly, ⁓ especially pre-Tommy John. And this this is finally starting to feel like he's coming back to that form. ⁓ the stuff has so much more movement than it did before he got sent down to the miners earlier this summer. And since he's come back, he's Hit his fastball has more zip on it, his slider has more movement, his changeup is nasty. a low 90s changeup is just y you don't see that very often. But he looks like he could do damage in whether it's a bullpen multi-inning role in the playoffs or or however they see ⁓ best to f put him in to a postseason rotation. I don't know if he's gonna start a game, but he could do damage in a way kind of maybe like a s Roki Sasaki did last year ⁓ for the Dodgers. ⁓ yeah, as as we talk about the rotation, Nola had another good start on Tuesday, didn't get the win obviously, but ⁓ pitched well enough to get get a win. He has been extremely ⁓ consistent over the last several I'd say eight or nine starts where it's just five or six innings of three runs or less. And that keeps you in the game. It keeps ⁓ the team alive. ⁓ so it's it's great to see the positive signs from the starting rotation. On the flip side, we have big concerns. speaker-0: We're getting we're getting you got you got the you're trying to do the whole episode in your first answer. All I asked you about was the six to four win. And I refused we are ten minutes into the podcast right now. I did not get to be part of the positive podcast last week. I am we are not touching on any negativity until the twenty five minute mark at at a minimum. Okay? So before you say any other names, 'cause I I know the tone of voice, I see the tone switch coming. We're saving the negativity. And I do want to touch more on all of the positivity that you just talked about. ⁓ and we're gonna get to that in a second. I I did I don't want to brush past this six to four comeback win. I I truly don't because to me it was reminiscent of a couple of the huge comeback wins against the Mets in two thousand seven and two thousand eight. Everybody remembers the one in ⁓ seven where they completed a four game sweep of the Mets at home. I don't remember all the specifics, but I think they won, you know, like nine to eight in the fourth and final game. Utley scored the f the run on a a walk off. ⁓ and it was just it was the perfect encapsulation of who that team was, the never say die attitude, the fact that you watched the games and you felt like they were truly in it. at all times. You never felt like they were out of it. And this is not, I would say, something that I felt like was a hallmark of this team earlier in the season. that kind of ⁓ comeback win to me is indicative of more than just you know, it is the the things that like manifested themselves physically. The the they had a much better approach. They put together really good at bats. They had eight pretty weak offensive innings in terms of ⁓ you know output And in terms of approach. And then in the ninth inning, they flipped a switch and their approach was completely different. And they put together great at bats and they grinded it out until finally Riley O'Brien, ⁓ just at the peak of his frustration, decided to just throw a fastball to Kyle Schwarber see what happens. And we all saw how that ended up. ⁓ but that was truly a season defining kind of win. ⁓ it spoke more to, in my opinion, ⁓ the character of the team. ⁓ than it did to, you know, the approach or the actual plate appearances or the results or anything like that. ⁓ and that's the kind of thing that y you know, I feel like even in the last couple of years, ⁓ even as they've been winning has been missing. I mean I look I remember the their final game of the season last year. Everybody points to the Kirkering error. The fact is they went eleven innings and scored one run. And at no point during that game Did I sit there watching it and think that, ⁓ they're gonna score? I thought to myself, how could they possibly score two runs in this game? It seemed impossible. This team, the vibe is different right now. ⁓ and I know you got that because you got to have the the the Goodfellas shower scene. My my experience was way different. I full transparency because I I don't tell any lies on this podcast. ⁓ except for the one where I said we were Alec Bohm guys. That was that was sarcasm. I hated that guy up until I believe the title of the episode two weeks ago was This Guy Stinks with I had to Google like Alec Bohm sad to get all the pictures for the thumbnail. ⁓ but you know I won't lie about this. My experience with ⁓ with that game was I had a little bit of an argument with my wife the night before, which very rarely happens. We get along very well, but we had an argument we we were We had to have a conversation about it, but the kids I didn't want to do it in front of the kids. So the next day I had I don't know if you've ever had this one of those awkward days where you're like, I got we gotta talk about this. There's obviously a weird tension in the air, but I'm gonna wait till the kids go to bed. So I'm downstairs watching the game, and now because I have kind of been like there's this weird tension in the air. I feel like I can't even like celebrate so I like cheering almost silently when they made that big comeback because I was like, I don't want her to see me enjoying this Because I want her to know I'm annoyed about whatever happened the night, which I don't even remember at this point. Doesn't matter. ⁓ the point is, ⁓ you know, I didn't get to have the the shouting in the shower experience. I was a very muted reaction. But I still thought it was a a huge moment. ⁓ am I on to something? speaker-1: I'm picking up what you're putting down. And and and let's not forget the the big hits leading up to Schwarber that that got us to that opportunity for him to hit the walk off. You you see Edmundo Souza come through with a big two out, three run double. ⁓ but that still doesn't tie the game and you got De La Cruz off to just an it seems like him and Hill are just like you you get big hit after big hit from them. It's incredible. Two two right handed bats that can play good outfield defense, especially Hill. ⁓ they're just great bench guys to have on this team. It's the first time we're going into the end of the season where you feel confident about guys on the bench but after the starting nine. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, completely agree. Slow heartbeats on both of those guys. You don't feel like the moment is too big for them. and like I say, I I just I feel confident now that if nothing else, the way they're going right now, they're gonna put together a good approach. And sometimes you put together a good approach and the results aren't there. I can live with that. ⁓ it is what we've seen too often out of this team where the approach is not there. ⁓ and it starts from the top down and you know, we'll talk in a second about Bryce Harper's on base streak and his numbers for August and everything like that. That guy is walking at a Barry Bonds kind of clip right now. and I think that everybody is kind of following suit and having ⁓ really good at bats. And ⁓ the guys you mentioned, Derek Hill and ⁓ De La Cruz, Sparkplugs, Luisa Rise, forget what his actual numbers have been with the Phillies. They they took a big dip, now they're on their way back up. It doesn't matter. He transformed the entire offense and somehow the defense too, which makes no sense, but we'll we'll we'll get to that. Anyway, I just wanted to ⁓ make sure that that win got the respect it deserved and ⁓ also assure everybody my wife and I are doing great. Everything's fine. Forget I said any of that stuff. ⁓ Well, let me ask you this. Let's let's go this way because I I know you you brought up a lot of the the bright spots. Andrew Painter, ⁓ obviously I don't think any of us expected this because, you know, Carl and I talked on the podcast two episodes ago about I said and you you you hit me up via text and you were like, This is Brett Myers erasure. ⁓ but the ⁓ the idea that the Phillies would fix somebody and actually sit down and like tweak something with somebody and ⁓ you know, fix their mechanics or their pitch selection or whatever, it doesn't seem to happen that often. It clearly happened here. Like Painter The stuff is incredible and the confidence is seems to be through the roof right now. He looks great. Aaron Nola ⁓ looks very, very good as well. ⁓ the fact that they put Aaron Nola out for the Field of Dreams game and won was ⁓ I ⁓ certainly a pleasant surprise to me, but that is the Aaron Nola of the last like month or two. He has been he's turned his season around. Bryce Harper, twenty-nine consecutive games reaching base, he just got his thousandth hit as a Philly. His slash line for the month of August, I wrote this down, 338-509-600, a 509 on base percentage for the month of August, 24 walks to 18 strikeouts. Who knew that if you actually put a competent number four hitter behind him, ⁓ it would help him out? I I wish we had mentioned that a thousand times on the podcast leading into the season. ⁓ and then of course, our good friend Alec Boehm, friend of the show, who ⁓ has just gone out there and not only been raking at the plate, but playing a mean first base as well, ⁓ clutch hits, putting together good at bats, really kind of shutting guys like me up. Those four guys, Harper, Bohm, Nola, Painter, to you, who is the face of the current Phillies winning streak? speaker-1: Ooh, the face of the winning streak. I think it's gotta be Harper just 'cause he's he's taking the approach that the rest of the lineup has just seen that improvement overall. He's taking it to the next level. ⁓ he's doing something that you don't see a five hundred on base percentage for a full calendar month very often. And his his overall ⁓ approach and performance this month has been ⁓ exactly what the the team has needed. And there was a little bit of concern coming after the all-star break with with a ⁓ whether it was injury related or ⁓ just general performance drop. And then the creeping thoughts of like is he ever going to get back to an elite level? Well he has absolutely done that in the month of August. And as we said last week, I mean, it just goes to show a lineup needs protection. And for a guy like Harper to bat in front of somebody who previously wasn't performing, adding that Luis Arayas, even with his overall performance not being where we would hope it would be, it has transformed the lineup because of it's put everybody else in the right places in the rest of the lineup as well. speaker-0: You know, it's interesting I knew that having a competent hitter behind Harper would help, but it's almost helped in an opposite direction of what I expected. I I I looked at his chase rate the last couple seasons. We quoted the stat where he saw more a higher percentage of pitches outside of the strike zone than any other player, you know, last year. And my theory was if you put somebody who's a real threat behind him, they're gonna have to bring the pitches into the strike zone because they're not gonna wanna walk him. It turns out they don't have to do that. They can keep throwing him outside of the strike zone, but the psychological effect is not so much on the pitcher, but it's on Bryce where he now feels okay to leave him out there. He feels confident passing the baton to the next guy. Which he clearly didn't before. So all this time I've thought that, you know, the it w the effect would be more on the pitchers and they would have to throw strikes. The effect is on Bryce. Bryce feels confident at the plate. He says, You're gonna have to throw me a strike, but if you don't, that's fine. I'll take first base. I'll let the guys behind me handle it. He clearly never at any point in the last couple of years felt confident passing that baton to Alec Bohm, to JT Romuto, to Nick Castellanos, to insert right-handed batter who hit 180 as a cleanup hitter here. No matter who it was, he never felt confident in them, and now that has completely changed. ⁓ there's also a stat I wrote down, and, you know, causation is not necessarily correlation, and I I tend to think the improved numbers are more because of the lineup structure and everything like that. But he's posted a 1046 OPS so far as a right fielder. He's looked good out there. He robbed Julio Rodriguez of extra bases ⁓ the other night. He's playing well in right field. Is there a do you do you put any stock into the idea that he is more comfortable in right field and that is contributing to his hot streak at the plate, or do you think that's just a coincidence? speaker-1: I think the positional change is more of a coincidence. I think the impact is more about the the overall lineup construction and the protection behind him. ⁓ I at the same time, I've been clamoring for this move to the outfield for so long because it just opens up the options for the rest of the lineup. And ⁓ by putting in a more ⁓ powerful ⁓ bat at first base, you you just have so many more options to choose from than sticking harper at first base. Who's who it's not like he's a f had been a fantastic defensive first baseman this year. And so the the the the general improvement is really out of being able to construct a lineup that with Arias at second base, we we kind of complained about moving everybody around Stott to third and not moving ⁓ trade of the outfield, putting Harper in right, putting Boom at first. It's worked out defensively, it's worked out offensively, and who are we to complain again? speaker-0: Look, I think it's important and I think this is one thing that I hate about the landscape of like sports media and podcasts and all that is like I think people view it as like a sign of weakness to admit that you were wrong about something. ⁓ I think you can have an opinion that is based on facts and ⁓ you know, it's a well researched opinion and it still ends up being wrong. I did not expect this out of the defense. What I'm seeing right now is Harper looks totally comfortable in right field. Alec Bohm is every bit as good a first baseman as he was a third baseman. I think he actually will grade higher. ⁓ they just debuted new stats this week in terms of like ⁓ first baseman receiving throws, ⁓ scoop percentage and stretch and everything like that, and like how many, you know, extra how much more quickly they're able to get the ball and they're gl etcetera, et cetera. I think Alec Bone being taller than Bryce Harper might have an advantage there. And maybe most importantly the thing I missed the mark on is I felt like Moving Bryson Stott from second base to third base was minimizing what you were getting out of the best defensive player on your team. I thought that up the middle would be more valuable, and I still think that holds weight, but I'll tell speaker-1: I do too. I s I still think he should be at second base. Or shortstop. speaker-0: I agree, but I have almost been and here's where I'm willing to admit that I'm wrong. I have been kind of writing third base off as this thing where it's it's almost like left field where it's like, ⁓ that's where you stick like your Pat Burrell, that's where you stick somebody who doesn't have like range like Bryson's got too much range to be at third base. You see him play and I this is hyperbole, but y it makes you realize like the whole time I'm saying that, I'm not thinking about Brooks Robinson, I'm not thinking about Mike Schmidt, I'm not thinking about Nolan Arenado. I'm not thinking about Manny Machado. I'm not thinking about these guys who are all world defenders at third base. And Bryson Stott is clearly playing out of his mind over there and is able to make an impact. That's the part I was wrong about. I thought third base you'd be minimizing his impact. I think he's making a hell of an impact at the hot corner so far. speaker-1: Absolutely. I mean he every single game it feels like he's making a fantastic play that I don't know that Bohm gets to. I mean, y you saw it in the in the game on Sunday, you saw in the game ⁓ games in Seattle, he's just making play after play at the hot corner and i it's not like he's played the position a ton before. I mean, coming up in the minors he was a middle infielder, mostly shortstop or second base. ⁓ he did start ⁓ the twenty twenty two season at at third base a little bit. But then, you know, quickly moved off of that. So he it's not like he's got a ton of you know of history playing third base, but he's picking it up like he's a natural. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And speaker-1: I don't know if they still do the the utility ⁓ gold glove. like they I think they did that a couple years ago. I don't know if they are still doing it or if they they ⁓ or or not, but I mean he's he's gold glove worthy this year. And that was my biggest concern with moving off a second basis, like y he's not gonna be eligible for gold glove. But he deserves to be in that conversation and I mean his work at s as at third base has been even more impressive, especially in the short amount of time. speaker-0: It is funny 'cause I've been reading a little bit of Philly's Reddit and ⁓ that's a concern for a lot of people. ⁓ the fact that he has not yet gotten a gold glove that he deserves. I I might be in the minority on this, and I felt the same way with like the Zack Wheeler All Star thing. I'm like I just don't care about these guys getting individual accolades that much. Like it's cool, but it doesn't it's it doesn't really move the needle a ton for for me. ⁓ I they do still, to my knowledge, do the ⁓ the utility gold glove. They did it last speaker-1: Yes, they did it last year. I d I just looked it up. ⁓ Mauricio Dubon won it last year in the AL and Javier Sanoa. speaker-0: I was gonna I was gonna say I knew about Duban because actually when I went to Truist Park this year, ⁓ back in March, they presented him and Matt Olson with their ⁓ gold gloves. And I I here's a brief trivia question for you. If you can't get it right in five seconds, we'll move on because I'm not wasting ⁓ anybody's time here. But what former Philly was a previous winner of the Utility Gold Glove Award? speaker-1: As a Philly or ⁓ just a former Philly in general? Okay. ⁓ three, two, one, pass. speaker-0: Twenty twenty six Phillies legend Dylan Moore ⁓ won I believe the first ever utility gold glove with the Seattle Mariners a couple of years back. So they do still have it. I don't think Bryson would qualify. I I think that's a thing where like you got I don't know the official rules, but to me there's a bunch of guys who play six different positions and infield, outfield, and you know, to me that's more of kind of the true definition versus a guy who played half the season and then moved to a different position. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah. speaker-0: And just kinda split them fifty-fifty. ⁓ but there's no doubt in my mind that Bryson Stott deserves a gold glove and hopefully he'll he'll get one soon. I'd rather have him get a World Series ring. ⁓ that's more important to me. Of course. ⁓ so ⁓ but we're on the we're on the same page with that. Okay, so that's a lot of positivity. And I said we would wait until twenty five minutes. We are now at twenty nine minutes. and we're gonna get to ⁓ the negativity, maybe concern more than negativity. I it may be different on the t the players that I want to talk about here. But before we get to that, I have to I I need you to indulge me in a little bit of negativity regarding another team that is not the Phillies. One of the reasons I feel so positive about the Phillies right now is living in LA, I get to watch the Dodgers a lot. And I wanna tell you right now, this Dodgers team right now stinks. They're not good. That's not to say they won't be good. They have so much talent, I have to imagine that they will end up being good again at some point. But here are two things that I feel very strongly about right now. Number one, I do not think they're going to win the World Series this year. And number two, I think it is going to be the most fun team to collectively, as a fan of any of the other 29 teams, look at and mock in the history of baseball. I remember Making fun of the 2001 Yankees when they lost to the Diamondbacks. How could a team that went out and bought all those players lose to the Diamondbacks in the World Series? Let's all point and laugh at them. The Dodgers are that times ten. I think that they are going to lose this year and it's going to be immensely satisfying, not just because they spent all this money and everything, but And I don't know how anybody feels about karma if they believe that karma is a real thing, and and some of this I I promise this isn't a political thing. It might come across that way. But the Dodgers and you gotta keep in mind, this is a team that built its stadium ⁓ on the the it bulldozed homes of, you know, displaced ⁓ Mexican residents in Chavez Ravine. There's a dark history there. Despite that, to this day they have a heavily Mexican ⁓ fan base. They are now owned by a guy who just had to sell the Lakers because he is frantically trying to get money together to pay back money that he owes from basically some alleged white collar crime type of behavior. ⁓ the the walls are closing in a little bit on Mark Walter who built ⁓ you know ⁓ Not insignificant part of his fortune, ⁓ funding ICE detainment centers. And this is not a political thing, by the way. If anybody's listening to and you're like, well, you're saying we should have open border. No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is I don't think anybody should be profiting hundreds of millions of dollars off of that. If there has to be like a detainment center, that should be probably something that our our taxes are paying for. I don't see why anybody is getting rich off of that. I don't think that's a controversial opinion. But this is a team that's gone to the White House two years in a row, ⁓ at one point. two weeks after, you know, there was an executive order to ⁓ you know, wipe out certain parts of like history records involving Jackie Robinson and then the Dodgers are gonna go to the White House, like they just in an effort to make more money, and if you go this really struck me 'cause I was in Chicago this past week. I went to Wrigleyfield and Ratefield, back to back days. ⁓ and looking at the Wrigleyfield Outfield walls, the iconic Ivy, we have a couple of ads on there. And everything, and you a couple ads around Wrigley Field, but you go to Dodger Stadium, every square inch of the stadium is just plastered with ads everywhere. And now one of the only things they didn't have ads for ⁓ was the gold glove bar out in left field. and it they have now sold the exclusive naming rights for that to Calchi, ⁓ one of the prediction markets that I think most people feel like Calchi and Polymarket are net bad for, you know, ⁓ society. There's a lot of stuff that a lot of people hate, especially here in very like liberal Los Angeles, and they are pissing off their own fans to no end. And I really feel like they're not gonna get a lot of grace this year because the fans are already furious, and to watch them turn on Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz and really this whole team, which is buoyed by a lot of likable players, but boy, I think most of the fans hate the organization right now, which by the way has priced the true fans out of even going to games in the first place. ⁓ I don't know. If you believe in karma, it's gonna be fun to watch them implode in the playoffs, which I I do think will happen. speaker-1: And after all of that, they still have the second best record in all of Major League Baseball and all of their arms are getting healthy at the right time. So it could be a whole repeat of twenty twenty five. ⁓ they do have some nasty pitching if they're healthy. That can be a big if. ⁓ I think they have a bit of a question mark at the back end of the bullpen with Diaz. ⁓ but y and and then Roki Sasaki now on the IL, as you mentioned, ⁓ a bit of a concern from a pitching standpoint, ⁓ at the back end of games because Roki was fantastic and was a big reason why the Phillies couldn't score runs in game four. ⁓ speaker-0: Bullpen the their bullpen is in trouble. Tanner Scott just took two losses in a row. ⁓ the starting pitching is obviously great, but they the the offense is doing nothing. Right now they are down one to nothing in the ninth inning. Otani is having a down year. It's crazy what a down year is for Shohei Otani, but Mookie Betts is a lot older. ⁓ Freddie Freeman hasn't hit a home run in the last, I think, forty-five games or something like that. Andy Paez is on the I. L probably through the end of the regular season. Will Smith has missed the majority of the season. His backup, Dalton Rushing, ⁓ has a torn UCL and probably won't be able to catch again this season. Might only be available as a pinch hitter. and Kyle Tucker's been terrible, and Teoscar Hernandez has been pretty terrible too. And Tommy Edmund is I'm I I'm telling you, I'm watching this team and I'm like, this is a very, very, very flawed team. In previous years I felt like, okay, they're just veterans, they're on cruise control, they're gonna turn it on in October. I do not feel that way this year. ⁓ hopefully I'm right. Hopefully I'm right, 'cause I think that would bring a lot of joy to baseball fans, ⁓ kinda all over the world. speaker-1: Would rather face the Dodgers or the Brewers in a an N L D S, assuming those are one and two, which path would you rather take? speaker-0: If the series started tomorrow, Dodgers. Dodgers. I really feel that way. I don't want to face Mizarowski two out of five games. and the Brewers offense I just think is much more consistent, like top to bottom. I think there are more guys who could do more things in that offense ⁓ than there are with the Dodgers right now. ⁓ now a month from now everything could be completely different. But Miz is the best pitcher on earth right now. Tarek Scubel is still very, very good, but ever since he, you know Basically went down with like loose bodies in his elbow and came back like two weeks later after like a procedure nobody had ever heard of. He's been he's been really good, but he hasn't been what you've been getting out of Tyreek Scuble in past years. and I also think the Dodgers are just older and tired. I think they played a lot of baseball the last few years, and ⁓ I I would rather face them than the Brewers in the first round right now. ⁓ That's that's my take on the Dodgers. ⁓ do you have anything to add? Anything I missed? speaker-1: No, I I would also rather face the Dodgers. ⁓ famous last words potentially, but I I I do see the holes, whereas the Brewers just seem more well rounded. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. Plus, I would like to go to more playoff games for twenty-eight dollars. Shout out to Dodgers fans. ⁓ not going to the game unless there's a bobblehead giveaway. Okay, let's get to some Phillies related negativity. It's been now thirty-seven minutes and some change. It's time to get to a little bit of negativity here. And there's two guys that really are on my radar for different reasons. Number one, Trey Turner, after what seemed like positive improvements in July, I really thought he had kind of turned a corner. He's fallen off a cliff again in August. He has just been bad. With him, I'm more angry and frustrated. And then you have Zach Wheeler for whom I am just like, I'm really nervous. I'm really concerned. ⁓ he has not looked good recently. He swears there is nothing physically wrong with him. And he is just missing his spots. I hope that that's true. ⁓ but he does not look like the same pitcher that he was a month or two ago, not even close. ⁓ talk to me about those two guys. speaker-1: I I feel similarly in terms of ⁓ Turner's more frustrating, Wheeler's more concerning. ⁓ and and that's largely because of of approach. Turner is and has historically been a free swinger. ⁓ and to the point where he swings himself out of good at bats. You get down in early counts because he swings early in the counts. He swings at a lot of first pitches and gets a lot of sliders out of the zone that he is just pulling off on and unable to get to. And where he had a lot of success during the regular season last year was he was taking those types of pitches the other way, looping them into right field for a single. This year you're not getting that and you're not really getting a ton of power either, ⁓ despite the fact that he is really looking to pull the ball in the air based on the way he's swinging. And he's not getting those results. And those aren't the results that we need, by the way, from Trey Turner. We need last year's version of Trey Turner getting on base for Bryce Harper and Lewis Rice. And and ⁓ I saw a stat earlier in the year, Bryce Harper was the batter with the most times at bat, with two outs and nobody on in all of Major League Baseball. And that's ⁓ largely due to Trey Turner. so his approach is really where it falls apart for me. The defense is obviously leaves room for improvement. But it's the the approach that I feel like is more changeable because it's it's a decision he has to make. And he's either not seeing the ball like he used to, or he is just trying to swing himself back out of a funk. And that to me is just not a way a recipe for success. On the wheeler side, his comments after the game on Monday I'm not sure if it made me feel better or worse, but at least it explained it a little bit. It's like his control is off on everything other than his fastball. You don't see him walk four guys in a game like you do, like he did on Monday. You don't see him I mean, he he let up four home runs too. I mean, you don't see that very often either. But he said he's healthy. I'll take him and his word for it. But the control is a big deal. Because he needs his off speed pitches. It's not like Aaron Null where he you know he lives and dies by the off speed. He I mean Wheeler, Peak Wheeler is fastball up in the zone with some ride. Is is a big pitch that he leans on. But he still needs those off speed pitches to be dominant. and if he doesn't have his control, I mean, I I don't know how confident I I can be going into a postseason start with ⁓ this version of Zack Wheeler. Last week I said I was not concerned. ⁓ one start later, I am very concerned. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. I'm in the same boat. And, you know, not exclusive to Wheeler, but any pitcher whose bread and butter is the fastball, without breaking pitches to keep the hitters honest, the fastball becomes infinitely more hittable. ⁓ you know, you gotta have something to at least make them respect the idea that it might not be a a fastball. Anybody, take Mizorowski, dude throws a hundred and five. If he threw well He might be because he does come out sometimes and the first 40 pitches of the game are all fastballs. Scratch him. Anyone else? The point is you can't just go out and throw all fastballs. and the beauty of a good off-speed pitch is that it looks out of the hand just like a fastball for a strike, and then it goes out of the zone. He's throwing non-competitive breaking stuff. It's not even like he's working around the edges and he's missing his spots. They're balls out of hand. And When you can as a hitter remove that, you see the ball and immediately you know it's not gonna be in the strike zone. Boy does that allow you to, you know, take control from there. ⁓ I hope that it is just a mechanical tweak. I hope that it's something that can be fixed. If I have to look for a silver lining, it's the fact that his velocity is not down. ⁓ the results tend to tell me it's a physical thing. But the velocity tells me that maybe it's maybe it's not, and he just kinda has to figure this thing out. I've been and this is kind of reckless speculation and ⁓ open ended and everything like that. I have felt like something is off with Wheeler all season. Just like kinda personally. ⁓ from the time Mattingley took him out at four and two thirds. When it was like a hundred degrees and he was at like a hundred and ten pitches or whatever, and Wheeler publicly called him out. And then the All Star Game thing, which I think scared Mattingley into lying and being like, I would love it if you pitch Sunday and then at the All Star Game, which is was clearly a lie. And then now even like Wheeler getting hit around this past game and Mattingley sending him back out there with ninety four pitches or whatever he was at to give up two more home runs. I think that Wheeler has had a a a a ⁓ like an edge kind of like emotionally and mentally this season that can be really good if if, you know, controlled correctly. And if not, I I I don't think this is part of his current problem, but it's just been a weird year for for Wheeler for me. ⁓ you know, I don't know. I'm probably you know It would be easy to just sit here and be like, Well, he's not throwing strikes, but that's not a fun podcast. So tell me, am I crazy to say like his behavior has been a little bit ⁓ atypical of Zach Wheeler this season? speaker-1: No, he hasn't been the same pitcher since the whole we kind of are inviting you to the All Star game, even though it's like the fourth or fifth wave of ⁓ starting pitchers that we need to pick and him ultimately declining. ⁓ he has not been the same pitcher since the All Star break. And ⁓ at the time we were like, Yeah, it's fine, give him some rest. He he's coming off a pretty s significant surgery last August and you know, more rest is good. Yay, win. Okay, we'll take it. That hasn't been the case. Like he he has not been ⁓ nearly as effective ⁓ in July and August, and it is at the point where it is concerning. So ⁓ he has call it a month plus for him to figure out the issue and ⁓ then the team has to decide if he's worthy of a postseason start. speaker-0: Let me ask I it's insane. And that's my question. If the season ended today, the Phillies would be the five seed. They be headed to Wrigley Field for three games. Gotta win two out of three at Wrigley to move on. Who are you starting games one, two and three? speaker-1: Wild to think of. I'm still going in some order Sanchez Wheeler Lazardo. Probably. speaker-0: Sanchez if Sanchez loses game one back against the wall, you are gonna leave Jesus Lazardo out in the bullpen and give the ball to Zach Wheeler. Alright. Alright, I hope if nothing else this next month, and I think it will will give us a little bit of clarity. ⁓ you know, I obviously the best case scenario is Wheeler figures it out and turns it around. Because I agree everybody at their peak, he's the guy I want with the ball. ⁓ maybe even more than Sanchez, if they're all at their peak. ⁓ he's just nowhere near his peak right now. And if he can't get back there, if we have another month of him struggling Yeah, all the other pitchers are trending upwards. Luzardo just picked up his two hundredth strikeout, you know, it's not even September yet. Nola has been pitching better. Andrew Payner has looked incredible. What if you have a month of Andrew Payner looking like he he just looked last start? What if he comes out and has four or five more starts and looks like that? And Wheeler has four or five more starts and he looks like he did in Seattle. You can't start Wheeler over Payner. With the season on the line. speaker-1: I would agree with that. ⁓ things are, you know, subject to change based on the next month. But as of now, I think you have to go with your three horses and then fill in the rest of the bullpen with painter and use Nola as your game one starter if you go all three ⁓ and make it to the NLDS. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean I think in a perfect world, you know, Painter, the the role he could be most useful in, you alluded to it earlier, is the Roki Sasaki twenty twenty five role. And that was why when he got sent down earlier this year, I I said on the podcast they should convert him into a li reliever right now and try to see if he could figure it out so that maybe he can give him something in the postseason. I didn't realize that they would figure out his problem and fix it. ⁓ Franklin speaker-1: I think anybody figured that, ⁓ or or predicted that i in in any way. I think we were all kind of resigned to the fact that he was get getting sent down and I don't know if anybody expected him to get called back up, quite honestly. speaker-0: No, dude g given given the history I have with the Phillies, I expected us to never see him again. Two years from now we'll trade him for a Harrison Bader type and be like, man, we should have sold higher on that guy. But he's turned it around and I would love it because the bullpen has holes, we'll say. I think it's safe to say that outside of Duran, and I think they have confidence in Rayleigh, and I think they have confidence in in Bolin. But ⁓ there's there's still holes and I I don't think they trust Orion Kirkering in a high leverage spot. I know I don't. I would assume that speaker-1: Don't trust Kirkring and don't trust Alvarado. But you might get a great you might get a great inning out of both of them every once in a while, but it's not something I feel is worth a ⁓ consistent amount of confidence about. The McFarlane though, I I think he is going to work himself into that seventh inning role. as long as Bolan and Rayleigh kind of figure out you know, their slots in the back end of the bullpen. I think McFarlane could be that fourth guy. speaker-0: Let's talk about it. And then we'll we'll we'll get out of here. Because I I I selfishly wanted to rant about the Dodgers. I know that's not really your wheelhouse, so you had to just sit there and listen to me ⁓ you know, talk about that. Certainly the prospects are not my wheelhouse. That is what your specialty is. You must feel a little bit like a proud dad watching Alex McFarlane go out there and compete at the major league level, rack up wins, and ⁓ really give ⁓ quality innings. Give me the full Alex McFarlane ⁓ scouting report and what you've seen out of him so far and and what you think his ceiling could be in October. speaker-1: This year I think he could be one of your guys that you trust in ⁓ a seventh or even eighth inning situation. I mean he's he's the type of guy that can blow fastballs by hitters. He's hitting one ⁓ two. I mean, th there aren't a ton of guys that can do that. And when you have that kind of velocity, as long as you know it's going somewhere near the strike zone, that d can do damage. And his his walk rate hasn't been terrible since he's been called back since he's been called back up the second time this year. ⁓ he's been a guy that has actually performed. ⁓ even on Friday night when ⁓ he gave up the one run in the tenth inning that was the the ghost runner, it was on a little bloop flare because the the hitter just kinda tugged it into left field. I mean, it it wasn't like he he let the inning get away from him. He he was thrown into a a big situation on a Friday night in the tenth inning and handled it admirably and ended up getting the win. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. It's been it's been fun to see. And it's crazy to think that he could be a guy that like you say they they trust, but this is what championship teams do. They have guys come up that you don't expect and they play roles. And on the offensive side of the ball, it's been it's been Derek Hill, it's been Brian De La Cruz. And on the pitching side, I think ⁓ I think McFarlane could be the guy. ⁓ and it's ⁓ speaker-1: I still have no idea why it took so long for him to get the real chance in the big leagues. Like he he was toiling in double A for three months before he even got a sniff of the big leagues and then was immediately sent down. Like give speaker-0: ⁓ yeah, but what are you gonna do? Not pitch Taiwan Walker? speaker-1: It's I mean, he just he we had holes. I mean we were we were fallen no, I can't even laugh about that. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I've seen too many Taiwan games live, ⁓ for that to ring home speaker-0: You got ETSD, you froze there for a second, that was wild. speaker-1: I'm now way lost in my train of thought. But you had guy after guy come up and McFarlane was continuously passed over, and he's performing in the minors. He's pr performing in double A, goes up to triple A, and they just continue to say, not your turn. When and he finally gets his chance and he's performing. And it's great to see because this is the type of arm they need from the right side. speaker-0: Absolutely, absolutely. By the way, a little score update before we get out of here. Over in Atlanta, Drake Baldwin hit Yoshinobu Yamamoto's first pitch of the game for a home run, and that was it. Chris Sale, a complete game, five hit, eleven strikeout, shutout, and the Braves sweep the Dodgers. The Dodgers, as I said earlier in the program, completely useless right now. They could have really done the Phillies a favor. If they had taken two out of three, the Phillies would be three back right now. As it stands, they are five behind the Braves. They do have seven games in ten days against the Braves coming up. ⁓ so they're gonna have a chance. They're gonna have a chance to make a dent in this thing, but ⁓ no thanks to the Dodgers who ⁓ didn't help us out at all. ⁓ speaker-1: All of a sudden the Braves are too back of the Dodgers for the second seed in the NL. speaker-0: One back, right? One back. Yeah. They are now one back and the Dodgers could be now the Dodgers were a three seed last year. They had to play the wild card series last year, so you know, whatever, it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I'm telling you, this is not the same team as last year. Even though I think they have a better speaker-1: Okay. So ⁓ one bat Phillies as a potential wild card team. That would be an interesting wild card series if they had to go to LA. speaker-0: ⁓ I don't want to face LA in a a wild card. Yeah, I d I don't know. I don't want to go anywhere where we don't have a single home game and we gotta face Yamamoto, Scoobyl, and Otani or whatever. But like I mean, I'd rather face them in the division series than a wild card series, but yeah, who knows? Maybe at this rate the Dodgers won't even make the playoffs. They could lose out and go eighty and eighty two. We'll we'll see what happens. ⁓ speaker-1: And then the AL that would get them a playoff playoff birth. speaker-0: ⁓ yeah, they'd be the two seed in the AL. ⁓ by the way, shout shout out to the Chicago White Sox. I gotta say I went to I went to Chicago, ⁓ I had a show out there and I managed to, even though I was only there forty eight hours, in addition to the show, I got to ⁓ I got to two games. I went to Wrigley and ⁓ I saw the Cubs and White Sox at Wrigley in a day game. ⁓ and then I saw the White Sox play the Braves in a a rain out makeup on a Thursday afternoon. ⁓ Both games, the home team manage nothing. The Cubs got two hits and no runs. The White Sox got one hit and no runs. But that game at Wrigley, a lot of White Sox fans in Wrigley Field. The White Sox won it three to nothing. They looked like a really good, fun team. It's nice to see them two years after setting the record for the most losses in the history of Major League Baseball to be ⁓ a good ⁓ fun team that might be able to make a little run this year in the playoffs. So I just ⁓ I like it. I want to give them a shout out. ⁓ That is it for this episode. ⁓ good stuff from the Phillies, terrible stuff from the Dodgers. Thanks for nothing, you assholes. ⁓ Phillies five back of the Braves, seven games in ten days coming up. It's gonna be a fun September and hopefully a fun October. ⁓ make sure to ⁓ you know, give us the thumbs up on this episode. ⁓ if you haven't subscribed, do it on YouTube. We are available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all that kind of stuff. When you try to get us on iHeartRadio and I don't know, Pandora, these other programs. We'll be releasing on You know, C D at Sam Goody by the end of the year. ⁓ until next time, I'm Pat Barker. That's Mike Sambuco. We're the specific Johns. See you next week. Go, Philz. speaker-1: Fails.