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TABLE TALK: Phillies vs. Braves: October Rivalry Renewed · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:31
Speaker 1: Podcast Show, the longest-running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
0:34
Speaker 1: the world, over 13 1⁄2 years strong. We've got a
0:37
Speaker 1: great Table Talk discussion coming your way this week as
0:40
Speaker 1: we dive into this matchup, this wildcard matchup. I can't
0:43
Speaker 1: believe I'm saying this. where the Phillies are going to
0:45
Speaker 1: be taking on the Atlanta Braves. And joining us this
0:49
Speaker 1: week is our good friend, Eric Moritelli. You can catch
0:53
Speaker 1: him over at Substack. He's going to be getting some
0:55
Speaker 1: good stuff up on Substack at Eric Moritelli over there.
0:59
Speaker 1: He's also been a writer and contributor on various Philly
1:02
Speaker 1: sites here and there. My friend, thanks so much for
1:04
Speaker 1: taking the time to join us. Good talking to you.
1:07
Speaker 1: And I can't believe the Phillies are here at this point, man.
1:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you would have talked to me
1:13
Speaker 2: yesterday morning, I feel like the tone would be very,
1:17
Speaker 2: very different.
1:17
Speaker 1: Yes.
1:18
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I mean, when you say playing the wild card, yeah.
1:23
Speaker 2: That's all we can ask for, right? Got in, and
1:26
Speaker 2: now anything can happen once you get into these short
1:29
Speaker 2: three-game series.
1:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
1:32
Speaker 1: I feel like this is this renewed rivalry here that
1:36
Speaker 1: we're continuing to see. Of course, the Phillies and the
1:39
Speaker 1: Braves are rivals within the NL East, but in terms
1:44
Speaker 1: of This postseason rivalry now that has been something that
1:49
Speaker 1: we're getting used to here. I want to start off,
1:52
Speaker 1: I guess, this conversation and discussion, Eric, by simply stating
1:57
Speaker 1: facts here. The Phillies have now made the postseason five
2:00
Speaker 1: years in a row. And I think there's something to
2:03
Speaker 1: be said for that kind of postseason consistency. And was
2:09
Speaker 1: it ugly getting into the playoffs this year for this team?
2:11
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
2:13
Speaker 1: But they are there. And I'm going to embrace it
2:17
Speaker 1: as a fan. And look, there aren't too many baseball
2:19
Speaker 1: organizations and teams that can say that they've actually been
2:22
Speaker 1: to the postseason for five straight years. I'm wondering, what
2:27
Speaker 1: does it say about this team and about this organization
2:30
Speaker 1: making the postseason for a fifth year in a row here?
2:34
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here? I'm trying to be optimistic
2:35
Speaker 1: to start off the discussion.
2:37
Speaker 3: What are you thinking?
2:38
Speaker 2: No, I totally get where you're going with it, Jeff.
2:41
Speaker 2: And you know what? I mean, it does say a
2:42
Speaker 2: lot for what the organization's done. And I think, you know,
2:46
Speaker 2: the tone is just so different around the 2026 Phillies because, A,
2:50
Speaker 2: they almost blew it and almost had the season end
2:53
Speaker 2: in disaster and ruined this consecutive postseason streak. But you're right. Like,
2:57
Speaker 2: it's not easy to get in, you know, one year,
3:00
Speaker 2: let alone five in a row. So the organization is
3:03
Speaker 2: doing things right now. There's definitely frustrating aspects. Oh, yeah.
3:06
Speaker 2: And I really think, like, you know, the tone– in
3:09
Speaker 2: 2022 versus now is so drastically different only because the expectations,
3:14
Speaker 2: I feel like I've gone up every single year and
3:17
Speaker 2: they've underperformed in all those situations. So I get why
3:21
Speaker 2: there's a lot of, you know, doom and gloom around it.
3:24
Speaker 2: You know, I gotta be honest. until I see the
3:27
Speaker 2: bats kind of do something, I'm a little bit skeptical,
3:30
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean, I think most fan bases would,
3:35
Speaker 2: you know, other than maybe the, you know, the Dodgers would,
3:37
Speaker 2: would take what the Phillies have had these last five years.
3:40
Speaker 2: You know, just getting into the post season, getting some
3:44
Speaker 2: extra baseball and given, given your team the chance. So yeah, I, I,
3:49
Speaker 2: you know, There's frustrating aspects, but they have been doing
3:53
Speaker 2: things the right way. It's now just putting all those
3:55
Speaker 2: pieces together and actually getting a championship.
3:58
Speaker 1: I want to bounce this off you because on the
4:00
Speaker 1: show this past week, we had our good friend Liz
4:03
Speaker 1: Roescher from the Hit and Season podcast, and she works
4:05
Speaker 1: over at Sabre as well as an editor. And I
4:08
Speaker 1: simply asked her the question. We got off the beaten
4:10
Speaker 1: path as well, saying this team is amazing on paper.
4:15
Speaker 1: And they have been. They have been a fantastic team
4:17
Speaker 1: on paper. It just hasn't translated enough. to the field
4:21
Speaker 1: or to the mound, however you want to phrase it.
4:24
Speaker 1: And it's, it's so bizarre. And Liz was saying, I
4:27
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe it's just cursed, a curse, or maybe
4:31
Speaker 1: there's just, you know, something, something spiritually, maybe there's something
4:35
Speaker 1: weird going on within the air and atmosphere at citizens
4:38
Speaker 1: bank park.
4:39
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
4:40
Speaker 1: It just, it amazes me that Dave Dombrowski can put
4:43
Speaker 1: a team together the way that he has and Again,
4:46
Speaker 1: five straight postseason runs, not runs, but five straight postseasons
4:50
Speaker 1: in a row. There is absolutely something to be said
4:53
Speaker 1: for that, but having it translate over to the field
4:55
Speaker 1: is so incredibly frustrating.
4:57
Speaker 3: Like, what do you think it is, Eric? Really?
5:01
Speaker 2: It, to me, it's like, it's a mixture of, of
5:05
Speaker 2: just not hitting on the right guys, like at the
5:07
Speaker 2: trade deadline and over the off season signings.
5:11
Speaker 3: We're going to get to that.
5:12
Speaker 2: And also a little bit of bad luck. Like, you know, you,
5:14
Speaker 2: you look at like, to me, okay. When they signed
5:17
Speaker 2: Brad Keller this off season, like perfect. This back of
5:19
Speaker 2: the bullpen is going to look great. The bullpen has
5:22
Speaker 2: been absolutely atrocious and one of the most terrifying aspects
5:25
Speaker 2: of this team signing Trey Turner. Now people hear all
5:28
Speaker 2: the time saying, you know, $ 300 million, one of the
5:31
Speaker 2: worst contracts given out in the context of the time
5:34
Speaker 2: period that contract was signed. It didn't look like it
5:36
Speaker 2: was that big a deal. There was four free agent
5:38
Speaker 2: shortstops on the market that year on paper and track
5:43
Speaker 2: record wise was the best of those four. The Phillies
5:46
Speaker 2: locked him up. And unfortunately, you know, his play just
5:48
Speaker 2: hasn't really translated and turned into what it was supposed to.
5:51
Speaker 2: So I do think it's like a mixture of, of
5:54
Speaker 2: bad luck. And then, you know, you get some of the,
5:57
Speaker 2: The trade deadline pieces who you think are going to
5:59
Speaker 2: make a bigger impact than they are. And it's just
6:02
Speaker 2: a recipe for disaster when you just when you just
6:04
Speaker 2: swing and miss that many times. Yeah, literally and figuratively
6:07
Speaker 2: with this team.
6:07
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
6:08
Speaker 1: And look, the Phillies are getting into the the Phillies
6:11
Speaker 1: getting into the wildcard round certainly wasn't easy at all.
6:14
Speaker 3: It was ugly.
6:15
Speaker 1: And many of us fans were certainly frustrated throughout the
6:17
Speaker 1: month of September.
6:19
Speaker 3: Rightfully so the hitting was abysmal.
6:21
Speaker 1: They, I mean, they couldn't make solid contact on the ball.
6:25
Speaker 3: It was amazing.
6:26
Speaker 1: They couldn't score runs to save their lives. Given how
6:29
Speaker 1: this roster looks on paper, like we're just talking about here,
6:32
Speaker 1: they looked like a hamster in a wheel, quite frankly,
6:36
Speaker 1: and a lot of opportunities were squandered over the course
6:39
Speaker 1: of these past several weeks. And I wonder what it
6:41
Speaker 1: does to their psyche. And we saw this team at
6:45
Speaker 1: the bottom of the barrel and it really was tough
6:47
Speaker 1: to watch. again, they're here in the post season. Should
6:51
Speaker 1: us fans now let them off the hook considering, you know,
6:55
Speaker 1: what we saw over the past few weeks or, or,
6:58
Speaker 1: you know, look, last game of the season, regular season, fantastic.
7:02
Speaker 1: But I don't necessarily think we should be letting them
7:04
Speaker 1: off the hook at all here.
7:05
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts?
7:06
Speaker 2: No, not at all. Like we said earlier, like the
7:09
Speaker 2: expectations for this team are high and you look at
7:12
Speaker 2: what this team did at various times over the course
7:14
Speaker 2: of the season, right? Just most recently, like in August,
7:17
Speaker 2: the way this offense was clicking, you know, the whole
7:19
Speaker 2: storyline coming out that they sat down, had a meeting
7:21
Speaker 2: and decided let's have an approach when we go to
7:23
Speaker 2: the plate. Like, I don't know what happened to that.
7:25
Speaker 2: Why they stopped doing that in September. But yeah, no,
7:28
Speaker 2: I don't think letting off the hook is, is fair.
7:30
Speaker 2: And I don't think, That's necessarily what you should do
7:33
Speaker 2: as a fan, right? I mean, we know what the
7:36
Speaker 2: talent level is and what this team can be. And
7:40
Speaker 2: what we saw that last two weeks of the regular
7:43
Speaker 2: season just, you know, did not live up to their standards,
7:46
Speaker 2: did not live up to the standards we have as fans. Yeah. So, no,
7:51
Speaker 2: I think this team should be held accountable and get
7:56
Speaker 2: called out when they need to because there are– as
8:00
Speaker 2: good as this team can be, the flaws are there.
8:04
Speaker 2: My tone tonight is very different. I did another show
8:06
Speaker 2: yesterday morning before the game, and my tone was drastically different.
8:11
Speaker 2: So I'm trying to balance the two here, right? Like
8:14
Speaker 2: temper my expectations but also realize that– the like hot
8:19
Speaker 2: teams do well in the postseason they had a good
8:21
Speaker 2: game yesterday i don't know if one game constitutes getting
8:24
Speaker 2: hot but maybe that's what they needed to get the
8:26
Speaker 2: bats kind of get kind of get the bats going
8:29
Speaker 2: yep um you know playing the braves again you know
8:31
Speaker 2: it's a team they're familiar with so you never know
8:33
Speaker 2: but yeah i don't think we let them off the
8:34
Speaker 2: hook i think this is one of those ones where
8:36
Speaker 2: you know if they end up crapping the bed again
8:39
Speaker 2: with and the bats don't show up you know Something's
8:43
Speaker 2: got to change. Something's got to be shaken up.
8:45
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
8:45
Speaker 1: And that something is something that we may be talking
8:48
Speaker 1: about at some point here on this podcast platform and
8:51
Speaker 1: certainly will in the future. Look, you mentioned the bats
8:55
Speaker 1: did come alive in that last regular season game. Trey
8:59
Speaker 1: Turner came alive somehow. Bryce Harper had a home run.
9:03
Speaker 1: I think it was only a second home run during
9:05
Speaker 1: the month of September. I mean, everything is now magnified.
9:08
Speaker 1: And there is this, of course, pressure that they are facing.
9:12
Speaker 1: And again, rightfully so. Did we see a breakthrough, do
9:16
Speaker 1: you think? And like you said, one game doesn't constitute
9:20
Speaker 1: them being on a streak. But do you think they
9:22
Speaker 1: kind of broke through and kind of broke out of
9:24
Speaker 1: their mental state that they were in. And, you know,
9:28
Speaker 1: I guess what are the chances that the Phil's really
9:30
Speaker 1: come alive during the season with the Braves, a division rival.
9:34
Speaker 1: And again, this October rivalry that seems to be renewed here.
9:37
Speaker 3: What are you thinking?
9:39
Speaker 2: I think there's a couple of different ways to look
9:41
Speaker 2: at it. Yeah. I mean, I think the, again, it's
9:44
Speaker 2: too short of a, a too small of a sample
9:47
Speaker 2: size to say, yeah, they're, they're out of it, but
9:49
Speaker 2: I just think they were pressing so much that last
9:52
Speaker 2: week of the season, like There there were some just
9:56
Speaker 2: absolutely atrocious at bats just innings where they're, you know,
10:00
Speaker 2: just like Trey Turner that a couple of nights ago
10:03
Speaker 2: where he swung at a pitch that was, you know,
10:04
Speaker 2: basically halfway in the other opposite batter's box. Like they're
10:08
Speaker 2: obviously pressing, right. That might've been like enough to kind
10:11
Speaker 2: of get that monkey off their shoulder and say, okay,
10:14
Speaker 2: this is what we need to do. Just, you know,
10:16
Speaker 2: you know, put the ball in play, get runners on base,
10:19
Speaker 2: get traffic and, and make things happen. Um, I think
10:23
Speaker 2: a lot of it's really going to depend on how
10:25
Speaker 2: do they go into, uh, their approach against, you know,
10:29
Speaker 2: the Braves pitching, you know, Chris, Chris sale is, is
10:32
Speaker 2: obviously a, uh, you know, a superstar when it comes
10:34
Speaker 2: to pitching doesn't always have the best, um, postseason track
10:37
Speaker 2: record but still you know and again a lefty we
10:41
Speaker 2: don't have much success against lefties yeah um so i
10:44
Speaker 2: think a lot of it's going to boil down to
10:46
Speaker 2: you know what is their offensive approach can they try
10:49
Speaker 2: to get to a bullpen can they make a pitcher
10:50
Speaker 2: work a little bit get guys on base you know
10:53
Speaker 2: distract the pitcher by you know potentially having a guy
10:56
Speaker 2: steal you know all this stuff different stuff goes into
10:59
Speaker 2: it but you can't do any of that when you're
11:01
Speaker 2: giving away strikes and you're giving away outs without really
11:04
Speaker 2: making the opposing pitcher work at all Yeah.
11:07
Speaker 1: And I believe, you know, you're talking about Chris Sale.
11:09
Speaker 1: I had him on my fantasy baseball team this year.
11:11
Speaker 1: Absolutely loved him, of course, but man, when it came
11:14
Speaker 1: to the Phillies, I mean, during this 2026 regular season,
11:17
Speaker 1: I think he was 3-0. He had a 2.08 ERA
11:21
Speaker 1: and a. 808 whip across four starts.
11:26
Speaker 3: Spanning over 26 innings.
11:28
Speaker 1: So Chris Sale is going to be extremely formidable, and
11:31
Speaker 1: this team is really going to need to Take that
11:35
Speaker 1: approach that you are talking about, and it's going to
11:38
Speaker 1: need to be that X factor. It's going to need
11:40
Speaker 1: to be that X factor, especially with Chris Sale on
11:42
Speaker 1: the mound.
11:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the only thing I could think of,
11:47
Speaker 2: as you were saying that, is maybe the Phillies are due.
11:52
Speaker 2: It's hard to shut down a team that many times
11:54
Speaker 2: in a year, so maybe this is it. Maybe tomorrow
11:56
Speaker 2: is it.
11:56
Speaker 3: Very true. All right, folks.
11:57
Speaker 1: Again, he's Chris Moratelli from Substack. I'm so used to
12:03
Speaker 1: saying the other site.
12:03
Speaker 3: That you were on before. It's all good.
12:05
Speaker 2: I'm so used to it.
12:06
Speaker 1: Really, Philly's writer, great Philly's writer, and he's going to
12:09
Speaker 1: be getting some stuff up on Substack, at Eric Mortelli.
12:12
Speaker 1: Twitter slash X, I believe it's at Eric underscore Mortelli,
12:15
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken.
12:15
Speaker 3: You got it.
12:16
Speaker 2: All right. That's the one I do remember.
12:18
Speaker 3: Yep, there you go. All right, we are going to
12:20
Speaker 3: take a break, folks. We get back.
12:21
Speaker 1: We got more of this wild card matchup coming your way.
12:26
Speaker 1: All right, we're back with our buddy, Eric Mortelli. check
12:30
Speaker 1: him out on sub stack when he, he's going to
12:33
Speaker 1: be getting some good content up there at Eric Moritelli
12:36
Speaker 1: on the Twitter slash X at Eric underscore Moritelli. And
12:40
Speaker 1: Don Mattingly, boy, I tell you, it hasn't been great
12:45
Speaker 1: when managing the pitching on this team throughout this 2026 season,
12:49
Speaker 1: just enraging at times. But then there are times when
12:52
Speaker 1: I think he's making good moves or trying to make
12:54
Speaker 1: good moves. And yeah, I do wonder if there was,
12:59
Speaker 1: and maybe it was because we saw reports about Aaron
13:02
Speaker 1: Nola wanting to pitch this past weekend. But I'm wondering also,
13:06
Speaker 1: I wonder if those reports are really valid. And I'm
13:09
Speaker 1: wondering if Mattingly kind of panicked by starting Aaron Nola
13:13
Speaker 1: this past Saturday. And if so, what does that actually
13:16
Speaker 1: mean about the faith aspect? that he has in the
13:19
Speaker 1: bullpen and his own ability to manage it. Because like
13:23
Speaker 1: I said, I mean, he's been, he's been terrible throughout
13:25
Speaker 1: the year. And I wonder how does the starting pitching
13:29
Speaker 1: actually shake out during the wild card series, Eric, now
13:32
Speaker 1: that we've seen Lizardo pitching this past weekend, you know,
13:36
Speaker 1: getting some reps in, we know we're not going to
13:38
Speaker 1: see Zach Wheeler during this wild card season, series here
13:42
Speaker 1: so I guess I asked a lot of different questions
13:44
Speaker 1: there let's let's start off with faith in the bullpen
13:47
Speaker 1: and Mattingly's ability to manage it here and then we'll
13:50
Speaker 1: maybe get into some starting pitching what are your thoughts
13:52
Speaker 1: with regard to the bullpen here uh.
13:55
Speaker 2: Zero faith I mean it is like it might I
13:57
Speaker 2: don't know if it could actually get any lower um
14:01
Speaker 2: you know it's it's it's just like abysmally bad. Like
14:05
Speaker 2: you just get nervous because there's no one to really
14:08
Speaker 2: get that ball to Duran, right? Like McFarlane has shown
14:11
Speaker 2: flashes being good. His stuff is really good, but also
14:14
Speaker 2: as such a young pitcher, like in a big moment
14:17
Speaker 2: like that, like, yep, no one knows how he's good,
14:19
Speaker 2: how he's going to perform. I don't really have any
14:22
Speaker 2: desire to see Jose Alvarado touch the mound. He has
14:26
Speaker 2: just been just, just so hard to watch. Uh, but yeah,
14:29
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's twofold. Like earlier when, when,
14:32
Speaker 2: when Mattingly first took over and the bullpen, you know,
14:35
Speaker 2: had a little more, um, I guess, and didn't have
14:37
Speaker 2: some of the injuries that, that, uh, accrued over the
14:40
Speaker 2: course of the season. Yeah. Mattingly, I don't think had
14:42
Speaker 2: a good feel for the bullpen. I think now he's like,
14:45
Speaker 2: I don't think he's a, I don't think he's great
14:46
Speaker 2: at managing a pitching staff at all. Yeah. But I
14:49
Speaker 2: also think his hands are kind of tied because there's
14:52
Speaker 2: a complete lack of any organizational depth with this. You
14:56
Speaker 2: alluded to the point about having to start Nola on Saturday.
15:00
Speaker 2: And I give Nola all the credit in the world, right?
15:02
Speaker 2: I've always been a Nola guy. The fact that he's
15:04
Speaker 2: willing to take the ball on two days rest, God
15:08
Speaker 2: knows what was going to happen, but he tried. But
15:11
Speaker 2: the fact that there was no other real option in
15:14
Speaker 2: a game where you are, you know, you have to
15:16
Speaker 2: win one of two games and the offense hasn't been hitting.
15:19
Speaker 2: Like you have to take every chance you can get.
15:21
Speaker 2: And they did not have another option. Yeah. to put
15:23
Speaker 2: out on the mound. And then you're going into a
15:25
Speaker 2: bullpen game, which just obviously, you know, kind of ended
15:29
Speaker 2: up blowing them in their faces. So I think it's twofold.
15:31
Speaker 2: Like Mattingly, I don't trust managing a bullpen, especially in
15:34
Speaker 2: the postseason. But I also think his hands are tied
15:36
Speaker 2: a little bit because I think no matter what he does,
15:38
Speaker 2: like anyone who comes in is terrifying to watch.
15:41
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
15:42
Speaker 1: And I never would have imagined in a million years,
15:45
Speaker 1: like say in March of this year, when we were
15:47
Speaker 1: doing our Phillies season preview that Orion Kirkering, you know,
15:51
Speaker 1: would have been optioned.
15:53
Speaker 3: To AAA. I would have never have thought of it.
15:56
Speaker 1: Just such a sharp decline in his control and his
16:01
Speaker 1: mechanical issues, Eric. Like it, it's amazing to me. And
16:05
Speaker 1: I wonder, you wonder, and we talk about it all
16:07
Speaker 1: the time, right? How much the pitching coach is responsible
16:11
Speaker 1: for various players.
16:12
Speaker 3: And even the hitting coach too.
16:14
Speaker 1: I know we're not talking hitting right now, but you know,
16:16
Speaker 1: I do wonder if some changes are going to need
16:17
Speaker 1: to be made with regard to the pitching coach, at
16:20
Speaker 1: some point down the road, or if it really is
16:22
Speaker 1: just a personnel type of thing and these guys just
16:25
Speaker 1: cannot hang as it gets to be this point in
16:28
Speaker 1: the season.
16:29
Speaker 3: I'm so surprised by Orion Kirkering, to be honest.
16:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. I am too. And the thing is, is like
16:35
Speaker 2: out of the whole coaching staff, the guy I think
16:38
Speaker 2: who has done the best job is Caleb Gotham. I
16:40
Speaker 2: think the pitching, the bullpen, I think it's, it's also
16:44
Speaker 2: a mixture of a, I think it's a couple of
16:45
Speaker 2: different things, right? I think Kirk ring, unfortunately, I think
16:48
Speaker 2: he's a head case and we saw it back when
16:51
Speaker 2: he first came up. If he didn't have feel of
16:53
Speaker 2: that sweeper, he would not throw the fastball. Like he,
16:56
Speaker 2: he doesn't necessarily like tinker with any other pitches. Also,
17:00
Speaker 2: you got to think like, How much did, you know, that,
17:04
Speaker 2: that end of the year, the, you know, the final
17:06
Speaker 2: play of last year, like it's kind of taken a
17:09
Speaker 2: toll on a young kid like that, I would think. Right.
17:11
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, I, I, I like Kirkering.
17:14
Speaker 2: I like his stuff, but I'm wondering if like a
17:15
Speaker 2: change of scenery, isn't something that, that both sides explore
17:18
Speaker 2: in the, in the off season. Cause it just seems
17:20
Speaker 2: like his time here, maybe it was run out. Another
17:23
Speaker 2: situation going back is, is Jonathan Bolin. Bolin looked really good. Yes.
17:27
Speaker 2: This season. I'm just, I'm wondering if, you know, this
17:30
Speaker 2: is the most innings he's thrown in. I think it
17:33
Speaker 2: was career. I'd have to double check that, but he
17:35
Speaker 2: might just be kind of getting burnt out a little bit.
17:37
Speaker 2: Now he had that injury. So that might've saved his
17:39
Speaker 2: arm a little bit. Maybe he's got a little bit
17:41
Speaker 2: of that back. Now that he had a couple of
17:43
Speaker 2: weeks off. Cause I think, I think to give Coffin credit,
17:48
Speaker 2: like getting guys like Jonathan Bolan, who I had never
17:51
Speaker 2: really heard of prior to getting, you know, getting traded here.
17:56
Speaker 2: He seems to be able to find something in a
17:58
Speaker 2: lot of these guys. Now, some of them, you know,
18:00
Speaker 2: it works out. So it doesn't. But I think with Bolan,
18:02
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it had to do with
18:03
Speaker 2: just like fatigue. Yeah. Alvarado has always been. You know, erratic. Right.
18:08
Speaker 2: And it's just this year seems to be worse than
18:11
Speaker 2: than than other years. So, yeah, I don't know exactly
18:15
Speaker 2: what it is, but I think right now it's it's
18:17
Speaker 2: clearly a lack of. of organizational depth to really have
18:21
Speaker 2: there because you know they're banking on guys to step
18:23
Speaker 2: up who just didn't right like alvarado isn't the same
18:26
Speaker 2: kirk ring wasn't the same um uh why am i
18:30
Speaker 2: blanking on who i was just going to talk about
18:32
Speaker 2: oh uh brad keller getting hurt didn't pan out like
18:35
Speaker 2: there's so many things that i think if you looked
18:36
Speaker 2: at back when we talked in march right this bullpen
18:38
Speaker 2: i have a pretty good shot of being something special
18:40
Speaker 2: yeah and Just, you know, didn't happen.
18:43
Speaker 3: Didn't happen at all.
18:44
Speaker 1: And as we look at the starting pitching going into
18:47
Speaker 1: this wildcard series, Jesus Lizardo slated to be the opener
18:51
Speaker 1: against Chris Sale. Christopher Sanchez starting game two, thinking Aaron
18:56
Speaker 1: Nola is probably game three at this point, right? I mean,
18:59
Speaker 1: that it's. I mean, this is going to be really interesting.
19:03
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, it's all going to
19:04
Speaker 1: be about the.
19:04
Speaker 3: Bats, man. It's all going to be about the bats.
19:08
Speaker 1: And I guess as we're concluding the discussion here, Eric,
19:12
Speaker 1: Luis Arias is going to miss significant time from all indications.
19:16
Speaker 1: Who knows? We may not even see him again in
19:18
Speaker 1: a Phillies uniform. You know, Bryson Stott's going to be
19:22
Speaker 1: at second base, Edmundo Sosa at third, Alec Boehm at first,
19:25
Speaker 1: where he's been playing for the majority of this latter
19:29
Speaker 1: part of the season here. And even though Arias hasn't
19:32
Speaker 1: performed like the three-time batting champion that he is, it
19:36
Speaker 1: does kind of just think that he's not going to
19:38
Speaker 1: be in the lineup. And again, possibly never again, as
19:43
Speaker 1: a Philadelphia Philly, like you said earlier, yet another trade
19:46
Speaker 1: piece not coming through for the post It's just amazing.
19:51
Speaker 3: There has to be something in the water.
19:53
Speaker 1: You know, it goes back to the team's great on paper,
19:57
Speaker 1: not translating to the field over here. It just amazes
20:01
Speaker 1: me at the trade deadline. They just can't get it right.
20:03
Speaker 1: I mean, what are you thinking with this particular storyline?
20:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, and it was like a
20:09
Speaker 2: freak accident too, right? Like, I mean, the injury wasn't
20:12
Speaker 2: something that, you know, you would necessarily expect. And as
20:16
Speaker 2: soon as he went down, you saw the way he
20:17
Speaker 2: was grabbing. It's like, oh, this is not going to
20:20
Speaker 2: be good, especially, you know, this late in the season.
20:24
Speaker 2: And then you saw him just trying to hobble off
20:26
Speaker 2: and basically not be able to put any weight on
20:28
Speaker 2: his legs. So, yeah, I mean, again, Araiz has not been,
20:33
Speaker 2: to me, like the most productive hitter, but I trust
20:38
Speaker 2: him in certain situations more than I trust, you know,
20:41
Speaker 2: Otto Kemp who now made the postseason roster, right? Like, so,
20:46
Speaker 2: and I think it does shake up the lineup a
20:48
Speaker 2: little bit, right? Because now, you know, you had him
20:50
Speaker 2: hitting behind Harper and not that he's like a power threat, but...
20:54
Speaker 2: A guy, a pitcher always had to keep in mind that, hey,
20:56
Speaker 2: this guy is a guy who can get on base,
20:58
Speaker 2: you know, at any given time. The kind of saving
21:02
Speaker 2: thing is that guys like Boehm have actually really stepped up.
21:06
Speaker 2: I know I've probably had some Boehm slander on this
21:08
Speaker 2: show before. Yeah. But I will say like, if you
21:12
Speaker 2: look over the last month, he's really been one of
21:14
Speaker 2: the most consistent pieces, which is actually, which thank God,
21:18
Speaker 2: because I don't know what they would have done. And so, yeah,
21:21
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it stinks that the arise thing again,
21:24
Speaker 2: didn't really pan out again. Is it like the biggest
21:28
Speaker 2: loss this team could have had? No, but it's just
21:31
Speaker 2: like one more wrinkle that this team doesn't need.
21:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yep. I am not trusting the last game of
21:36
Speaker 1: the series, to be honest with you. My thought is
21:38
Speaker 1: that the Braves are going to take this series. What
21:40
Speaker 1: are you thinking? Do you think the Braves are going
21:42
Speaker 1: to take it, or do you think the Phils will
21:43
Speaker 1: surprise us all?
21:45
Speaker 2: If you would have told me yesterday that this team
21:47
Speaker 2: snuck in, I would say, yeah, they're getting swept in two.
21:50
Speaker 2: All day, I've just been thinking about it, and I'm like,
21:52
Speaker 2: you know what? I think we go to three games.
21:54
Speaker 2: I think we go to three games. I think the
21:56
Speaker 2: Phillies take it. And I think they take it in three. Wow.
21:59
Speaker 2: Just because I think they've played the Braves enough. It's
22:01
Speaker 2: hard to, you know, it's hard to like being that division.
22:05
Speaker 2: They don't have an X on their back. Right. They're
22:07
Speaker 2: like the underdogs. Now, I saw like out of all
22:09
Speaker 2: the teams in the postseason, they like the lowest percentage
22:13
Speaker 2: odds to win the World Series.
22:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.
22:15
Speaker 2: Kind of like playing from that. from that standpoint, not
22:18
Speaker 2: playing from like a point of favorites. But then, you know,
22:21
Speaker 2: they get past Atlanta and then, you know, it's, it's,
22:24
Speaker 2: it's onto the Dodgers. And so again, my expectations I've
22:29
Speaker 2: learned are just very, very tempered each year. I'm like, Hey,
22:33
Speaker 2: you know what? They're here. I'm just going to embrace it.
22:35
Speaker 2: And I, I hope they win, but yeah, My expectations
22:39
Speaker 2: are limited.
22:40
Speaker 3: Sounds good. Sounds good, man.
22:42
Speaker 1: Look, I always love being the optimist on this podcast platform,
22:45
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to my co-hosts. But I'm just
22:48
Speaker 1: I've still got the nasty feelings over the past.
22:52
Speaker 2: I can totally see it happening. I can totally see
22:54
Speaker 2: it happening.
22:55
Speaker 1: Again, folks, he is Eric Moratelli. And go over to
22:59
Speaker 1: Substack at Eric Moratelli. He's going to be putting up
23:02
Speaker 1: some content in the very near future. And it was
23:05
Speaker 1: great talking to you, buddy. Seriously, I always appreciate you
23:08
Speaker 1: coming on. And this one was kind of like last minute,
23:10
Speaker 1: so I appreciate you taking the time. And let's talk
23:13
Speaker 1: more baseball in the future.
23:14
Speaker 3: All right?
23:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Jeff. Thanks for having me on.
23:17
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Table
23:19
Speaker 1: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
23:22
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23:25
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23:33
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23:48
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