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The Phillies Are In The Homestretch! (PST Episode 584) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey there everybody, it's Jeff here. I hope you're doing well.
0:02
Speaker 1: I wanted to let you know that this podcast episode
0:05
Speaker 1: was recorded on two separate dates this week. Our interview
0:08
Speaker 1: was recorded on Wednesday, September eighteenth, twenty twenty four. The
0:12
Speaker 1: first part of our discussion with Leh and myself was
0:15
Speaker 1: recorded on Tuesday night, September seventeenth, twenty twenty four. So
0:19
Speaker 1: by the time you hear this, some things may have
0:21
Speaker 1: changed here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
0:50
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:53
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over
0:56
Speaker 1: eleven years strong, and it's great to be in your ears.
1:00
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Warren. I'm here with my good buddy
1:02
Speaker 1: Len Hunsick or how you doing. Len?
1:04
Speaker 2: Better than the Eagles absolutely.
1:06
Speaker 1: Just about anybody's better than the Eagles at this point.
1:09
Speaker 1: Holy crap, dude, what a debacle. I know we're gonna
1:12
Speaker 1: get into it, but like I was, legit, I mean,
1:15
Speaker 1: we're always mad, we're always upset, we're always frustrated whenever
1:18
Speaker 1: the Eagles lose, but the loss was enraging. The loss
1:22
Speaker 1: on Monday night football against a Falcons team that is
1:26
Speaker 1: just not good is enraging. I know we're gonna get
1:28
Speaker 1: into it, but man, holy I was. I was beyond pissed.
1:33
Speaker 1: Man beyond pissed.
1:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like, I'm I'm going into work tomorrow and
1:38
Speaker 2: I you know, there's there's a bunch of guys that
1:41
Speaker 2: I like to mess with that are Cowboys fans. Oh
1:44
Speaker 2: they got stopped, and I'm like, this is great. I'm
1:46
Speaker 2: gonna be able to go in there. I'm gonna be
1:48
Speaker 2: able to just talk NonStop. And then the Eagles go
1:51
Speaker 2: and do that and it's just like, well, I guess
1:54
Speaker 2: I can't say anything.
1:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be dishing out
1:57
Speaker 1: some stats with regard to that once we get to
1:59
Speaker 1: that particular storyline within the show. But folks, we thank
2:03
Speaker 1: you for joining us here on this podcast episode. We're
2:07
Speaker 1: gonna get into some NFL talk right off the bat,
2:09
Speaker 1: most surprising storylines thus far in the league after two weeks.
2:13
Speaker 1: And then, as I was saying Lenin and I, we're
2:14
Speaker 1: gonna get into this Eagles team that were embarrassed in
2:17
Speaker 1: their first home game of the season, losing to the Falcons.
2:19
Speaker 1: We're also gonna talk about what you know. Our thoughts
2:22
Speaker 1: are this upcoming game against the New Orleans Saints, who
2:25
Speaker 1: are looking pretty darn good as well. We're gonna get
2:27
Speaker 1: into a little bit of Union talk, and then we
2:30
Speaker 1: got a ton of Phillies talk coming your way. I'm
2:32
Speaker 1: not sure if you folks have heard, but there are
2:34
Speaker 1: rumors already abound that during this upcoming offseason, the Phillies
2:39
Speaker 1: maybe one of five teams that are gonna be in
2:41
Speaker 1: on jan Soto, Len and I are gonna get into that,
2:44
Speaker 1: and we we're thrown down on the table. We've got
2:46
Speaker 1: Liz Rocher from Yahoo Sports and the Hitting Season podcast.
2:49
Speaker 1: She's gonna join us talk about this Phillies team and
2:51
Speaker 1: what we can expect from them down this final stretch
2:54
Speaker 1: of the regular season. So lend buddy, let's get into
2:57
Speaker 1: this NFL season. Here some surprising story lines thus far
3:01
Speaker 1: after two weeks. There's a ton, I mean there's a ton.
3:04
Speaker 1: It could be the fact that the Baltimore Ravens are
3:08
Speaker 1: zero to two, could be the fact that Sam Donald
3:11
Speaker 1: has been taking this Minnesota Vikings team quote to another level.
3:16
Speaker 1: They're two and oh I cannot believe it with Sam Donald.
3:19
Speaker 1: But I don't know what are you thinking? Because I
3:21
Speaker 1: have my most surprising storyline thus far in the season.
3:24
Speaker 1: What's been yours so far?
3:27
Speaker 2: Yeah? Mine are two teams that are currently two and
3:29
Speaker 2: one of which you mentioned, one of which you did not.
3:33
Speaker 2: Obviously you mentioned the Vikings. I just that's a team
3:35
Speaker 2: that I thought really was kind of staring down the
3:39
Speaker 2: barrel of last place in the NFC North, and that listen,
3:42
Speaker 2: that can definitely still happen. You know, we're only two
3:44
Speaker 2: games in and you know, the bear Bears are gonna,
3:48
Speaker 2: I think improve as the season goes long, Lions will
3:50
Speaker 2: find their footing. Packers you know, take a little longer
3:54
Speaker 2: once you know, Jordan Love comes back. But I expected
3:59
Speaker 2: them to be at the bot them and currently they
4:00
Speaker 2: are the top. The other one is the Pittsburgh Steelers,
4:04
Speaker 2: a team that just you know, when you think of
4:07
Speaker 2: teams in the league that have really not much going
4:10
Speaker 2: on offensively, yeah, I think they are one of the
4:14
Speaker 2: ones that, you know, maybe one of the first five
4:17
Speaker 2: teams I think you would mentioned and d'artillino and I
4:21
Speaker 2: you know, well, they certainly look good against the Falcons,
4:24
Speaker 2: scene that the Eagles couldn't beat. So there's that, yep.
4:28
Speaker 2: But yeah, those are probably my big surprises so far.
4:31
Speaker 1: I find it interesting because I mentioned it on our
4:34
Speaker 1: Eagles postgame podcast with our good friend Matt Rodgers from
4:37
Speaker 1: the honorable mentioned podcast filled in for you and Eric
4:40
Speaker 1: and the Atlanta Falcons. They did not allow one touchdown
4:45
Speaker 1: in five quarters. They did not allow a touchdown against
4:48
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers team that you just mentioned, And they
4:51
Speaker 1: did not allow a touchdown in the first quarter against
4:53
Speaker 1: the Eagles yesterday and that Monday night game. That's amazing
4:56
Speaker 1: to me. Five quarters not allowing a touchdown. That's a
5:00
Speaker 1: pretty damn good defense. Or a two and oh Pittsburgh
5:04
Speaker 1: Steelers team, I wonder, maybe a little overrated in terms
5:07
Speaker 1: of the offense. But it's just weird stuff going on
5:09
Speaker 1: the NFL. And look, as much as I cannot stand
5:12
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh, as you know, the Chargers are two and
5:15
Speaker 1: oh like then there's bizarre stuff.
5:19
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm asking they genuinely don't know.
5:21
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know off top of my head. I'm
5:23
Speaker 1: forgetting who they played. I can, I can bring it
5:25
Speaker 1: up here.
5:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm bringing it up too.
5:28
Speaker 1: Oh, you're gonna for freedom bring it up. I'm curious
5:31
Speaker 1: but it's amazing.
5:31
Speaker 2: You look, they beat the Raiders twenty two to ten,
5:34
Speaker 2: and they beat the Panthers twenty six to three.
5:37
Speaker 1: So not the greatest teams in the world, of course.
5:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, but hey, you play who's on the schedules?
5:42
Speaker 1: You do? You play who's on the schedule. These are
5:44
Speaker 1: NFL players too, you know. I mean, yes, Carolina Panthers
5:47
Speaker 1: are going through some stuff, Carol, right right, but still, like,
5:51
Speaker 1: I just find this season to be amazing. There are
5:54
Speaker 1: so many surprises from a record standpoint quarterbacks that are
5:58
Speaker 1: surprising us. You've got tight ends out there, Travis Kelcey,
6:03
Speaker 1: Sam Laporta, Mark Andrews. These are top tier tight ends
6:06
Speaker 1: in the league who are doing a whole lot of
6:09
Speaker 1: nothing when and you've got like Hunter Henry who's going
6:12
Speaker 1: off other other random tight ends. Oh my gosh, who's
6:17
Speaker 1: the guy that played for Penn State years ago? He's
6:19
Speaker 1: on the Bengals. And Mike Gasecki like is one of
6:22
Speaker 1: the top five tight ends in the league right now,
6:24
Speaker 1: And it's like, what is happening here? Again? Only two weeks,
6:27
Speaker 1: but these are a lot of surprises.
6:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, well, Kelsey, you know, I guess because
6:33
Speaker 2: they have a couple of wide receivers at homes is
6:36
Speaker 2: comfortable with. Yeah, so that's gonna take away some stuff there.
6:39
Speaker 2: And you know, I guess some of their other tight
6:41
Speaker 2: ends have been catching the ball too, So I mean,
6:44
Speaker 2: he still, you know, plays a hell of a role
6:46
Speaker 2: out there, even if it says a decoy. But you know,
6:49
Speaker 2: you would think at some point that's gonna that's gonna change. Yeah.
6:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely my biggest surprise len of this season. But
6:56
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I don't even know if this should
6:58
Speaker 1: actually be a surprise, because it was a theme that
7:01
Speaker 1: we were talking about, at least in terms of the
7:03
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles. But it's the amount of injuries that we
7:06
Speaker 1: have seen thus far in this league after two weeks
7:10
Speaker 1: to Atagovailoa, Jordan Love, Russell Wilson, Christian McCaffrey, now Deebo
7:17
Speaker 1: Samuel of course, AJ Brown is out, Cooper Cup, Puka Nukua,
7:23
Speaker 1: all these big name stars. There's a ton of injuries
7:26
Speaker 1: throughout this league. And I wonder if it is because
7:29
Speaker 1: again the theme that we have talked about on this
7:31
Speaker 1: show now for for the past few weeks, these guys
7:34
Speaker 1: are not getting action, a ton of action. They're not
7:37
Speaker 1: getting hit a lot during their during preseason games, training camp.
7:42
Speaker 1: They're getting out in the beginning of this league and
7:46
Speaker 1: in the beginning of this schedule, and their bodies are
7:48
Speaker 1: just getting the crap kicked out of them. Like, for me,
7:51
Speaker 1: that is surprise. I don't ever remember there being this
7:54
Speaker 1: many injuries after two weeks in the NFL like we
7:57
Speaker 1: are seeing right now. I think it's astonished to watch.
8:01
Speaker 2: Well, I'm curious as far as you know. Obviously, we
8:05
Speaker 2: know what we see and we see that they're not
8:07
Speaker 2: playing in preseason games. But what we don't see is
8:11
Speaker 2: you know, the you know, what they're doing in the
8:13
Speaker 2: practices in the preseason, and I wonder how strenuous those
8:17
Speaker 2: practices actually are. Yeah, like these guys doing anything in
8:20
Speaker 2: practice either, I would imagine they are, because I guess
8:23
Speaker 2: you heard some stuff with the Eagles with with their guys,
8:26
Speaker 2: but you know, I don't know, are they taking it
8:29
Speaker 2: too easy in preseason practice as well?
8:31
Speaker 1: I think when you look at various videos during training
8:35
Speaker 1: camp with the Eagles, I kind of think that is
8:39
Speaker 1: a standard throughout the league where yeah, I mean, you know,
8:41
Speaker 1: the linemen are kind of hitting each other, but they're
8:43
Speaker 1: they're quote taking it easy maybe on each other here
8:46
Speaker 1: and there where it's not one hundred percent, maybe it's
8:50
Speaker 1: only seventy five eighty percent that they're going within training
8:53
Speaker 1: camp and then they get out during the field week one,
8:56
Speaker 1: week two, and their bodies are just getting killed out there.
9:00
Speaker 1: And we're seeing these injuries just pile up and pile up.
9:03
Speaker 1: And these aren't really injuries where Okay, the guy's just
9:06
Speaker 1: gonna miss a week. We're talking like two, three, four weeks.
9:09
Speaker 1: So many guys on injured reserve already, right he moster
9:11
Speaker 1: are as well. There are so many guys. And I
9:14
Speaker 1: know this too because I got I've got a hilarious
9:17
Speaker 1: fantasy league len that I'm in. My entire bench is
9:20
Speaker 1: guys who are out for like four weeks. It's like, great,
9:24
Speaker 1: what do I do here?
9:25
Speaker 2: You should probably like do some drop Yeah, just.
9:30
Speaker 1: Drop out of the league. Just not do fantasy football anymore.
9:33
Speaker 2: I mean that would be my suggestion, I know.
9:37
Speaker 1: So I don't know, that's that's my most surprising storyline.
9:40
Speaker 1: That's far and again, like I said, probably not should
9:42
Speaker 1: be uh too too surprised by this. So I don't know.
9:46
Speaker 1: You got anything else for NFL Talk before we get
9:48
Speaker 1: into the uh to the garbage Philadelphi Eagles.
9:51
Speaker 2: Oh no, I wanna. Let's let's get in.
9:54
Speaker 1: Let's get into the Eagles, baby, let's get into this
9:56
Speaker 1: Eagles team. Boy an embarrassment on Monday Night football, as
10:01
Speaker 1: s Eagles fans know, twenty two to twenty one final score,
10:05
Speaker 1: opening home game of the season, fall into the Atlanta Falcons. Len.
10:10
Speaker 1: The defense not so good, defense, not so good, no
10:15
Speaker 1: pass rush at all. I'm gonna read really quick some
10:19
Speaker 1: stats that are good, friend, Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports
10:23
Speaker 1: Friend of the Pod that he was dishing out with
10:26
Speaker 1: regard to this twenty twenty four Vic Fangio's Eagles defense len.
10:31
Speaker 1: Yards per play allowed by this defense six point nine yards,
10:36
Speaker 1: thirty first in the NFL. Yards per carry allowed six
10:39
Speaker 1: point four len. That's thirty first in the NFL. Twenty
10:43
Speaker 1: plus yards plays allowed they've allowed ten thus far. That's
10:47
Speaker 1: thirtieth in the NFL. Ten plus rushing I'm sorry, ten
10:52
Speaker 1: plus yard rushes allowed eleven that's twenty ninth in the NFL.
10:58
Speaker 1: And then finally six full defensive play rate fifty six
11:02
Speaker 1: point seven percent that is twenty fourth in the National
11:06
Speaker 1: Football League. They are a bottom three defense at this
11:10
Speaker 1: point when in this league, it is concerning, to say
11:17
Speaker 1: the least, after two weeks Vic Fangio people propping them up.
11:24
Speaker 1: I was seriously worried, been saying it on this podcast.
11:26
Speaker 1: There's a new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator. We really
11:29
Speaker 1: don't know what we're going to see. There's talent on
11:32
Speaker 1: the defense, but there's no pass rush. I am, I am,
11:36
Speaker 1: I am tired of the seeing these undersized guys in
11:42
Speaker 1: Bryce Huff and Nolan Nolan Smith getting knocked on his
11:45
Speaker 1: ass by Bijon Robinson, can't get around to tackle at all.
11:50
Speaker 1: It's it's very concerning, Len, I'm concerned for the entire
11:53
Speaker 1: season with regard to this.
11:56
Speaker 2: Did Bryce Huff decide to work because you know a
11:58
Speaker 2: lot of times like, oh I wear this jersey number
12:01
Speaker 2: because of this? Did Bryce Huff decide on zero because
12:04
Speaker 2: that's how much he plans on contributing this year.
12:07
Speaker 1: That's so great? That really is I know what exactly?
12:11
Speaker 1: That is so great because really he's done nothing. He
12:14
Speaker 1: has done nothing, and quite frankly, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter
12:19
Speaker 1: doing a whole lot of nothing as well.
12:21
Speaker 2: There you can well, okay, na Kobe Deed's been a
12:24
Speaker 2: right But honestly, you can just say the Georgia guys
12:28
Speaker 2: Mario Davis and Carter and Nolan Smith and Ringo, you
12:33
Speaker 2: know who. I get it as a backup, but you know, still, like,
12:37
Speaker 2: weren't these guys the most dominant defense ever in college?
12:41
Speaker 2: Like what happened?
12:42
Speaker 1: Yeah?
12:43
Speaker 2: You know, yes, I know they're professionals, but you know
12:46
Speaker 2: you're supposed to be too.
12:48
Speaker 1: There were four man fronts throughout the throughout the game
12:53
Speaker 1: against the Falcons, Len and Vic Fangio just he wasn't
12:57
Speaker 1: he wasn't making alterations, just keeping four guys up on
13:00
Speaker 1: the line probably should have been five, you know, especially
13:04
Speaker 1: in those nickel defensive packages. He was just gett They
13:07
Speaker 1: were getting slashed and burned constantly and there were no
13:11
Speaker 1: adjustments being made at all. We certainly didn't see any
13:14
Speaker 1: blitzing packages. At least maybe we saw two or three
13:18
Speaker 1: maybe blitzes that were actually u that were helpful maybe,
13:25
Speaker 1: But the lack of being able to alter what your
13:29
Speaker 1: guys are doing on the field in terms of personnel
13:31
Speaker 1: and the way that they're playing. I'm just really concerned
13:35
Speaker 1: about this defense heading in and it's not there's no
13:38
Speaker 1: quick fix to it. You know what I mean, there's
13:39
Speaker 1: no quick fix. It's like Jesus, looks like this team
13:42
Speaker 1: needs six or seven new defensive players. And I know
13:45
Speaker 1: it's only two weeks, folks. I get it. It's only
13:47
Speaker 1: two weeks. Things can possibly turn around. But I don't.
13:50
Speaker 1: I don't know if it can turn around quickly for
13:53
Speaker 1: this unit. I don't know what are you thinking here.
13:56
Speaker 2: I just like when you have a guy who is
13:59
Speaker 2: based known as a statue in kirk Cousins, like, this
14:03
Speaker 2: is not a mobile quarterback. This is a guy that
14:06
Speaker 2: you know, you give him time in the pocket and
14:08
Speaker 2: he's gonna pick you apart. So what you have to
14:10
Speaker 2: do is immediately get pressure in his face and make
14:12
Speaker 2: him uncomfortable, make him rush like and he's not gonna
14:16
Speaker 2: be able. He doesn't move around one in the pocket
14:18
Speaker 2: and he doesn't. He's not a you know, or why
14:21
Speaker 2: aren't you attacking that guy like that? That would seem
14:24
Speaker 2: to me to be the time to attack, And they didn't,
14:27
Speaker 2: And I I don't understand it.
14:29
Speaker 1: I don't understand either. I mean it, and I guess
14:33
Speaker 1: we have to ask the question is the biggest common
14:36
Speaker 1: denominator here, Nick Sirianni. You know, when you point the blame,
14:40
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of blame to go around.
14:42
Speaker 1: You know. There there there certainly is Saquon Barkley dropping
14:46
Speaker 1: that dropping that pass out in the flats. He makes that,
14:51
Speaker 1: I mean and gets that first down, game is over.
14:54
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni is definitely to blame as well, just incan
15:00
Speaker 1: assistency coming from him going forward on fourth down, not
15:02
Speaker 1: going for it on fourth down, kicking the field goal
15:05
Speaker 1: instead here or there. I want an aggressive coach. I
15:08
Speaker 1: want an aggressive coach. I want, you know what I want.
15:11
Speaker 1: And he has been I will say that. You know
15:13
Speaker 1: he has been in certain spots, of course, Nick Sirianni
15:16
Speaker 1: over these past few years. We know he likes to
15:18
Speaker 1: go forward on fourth down. But the inconsistency of that
15:22
Speaker 1: during the course of the Atlanta Falcons game was very
15:25
Speaker 1: prevalent and fine.
15:28
Speaker 2: With that work of three when they didn't go for
15:29
Speaker 2: the field goal.
15:30
Speaker 1: Early, No, I wish they had have gone for the
15:33
Speaker 1: field goal.
15:33
Speaker 2: Okay, that like that to me, I mean, that just
15:37
Speaker 2: seem to be a guy that has fallen a little
15:39
Speaker 2: bit too much in love with being a gambler. Yes,
15:42
Speaker 2: like you know, Okay, it's fourth and one and you
15:44
Speaker 2: have this plane in your back pocket that you always
15:46
Speaker 2: use and it usually works. Okay, go ahead and use it.
15:50
Speaker 2: But once we're kind of backed up a little bit,
15:53
Speaker 2: you know, we don't have to gamble every single time.
15:55
Speaker 2: You can just take the point sometimes.
15:57
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, But I mean you're talking about poor game
16:01
Speaker 1: management decisions. That's what ultimately we're talking about here. Kicking
16:04
Speaker 1: a field goal then you know later in the game,
16:07
Speaker 1: to turn a one score game into a one score game.
16:11
Speaker 1: That's not that's I don't like that that decision right
16:14
Speaker 1: there either. So part of this is falling on Nick
16:17
Speaker 1: Sirianni as well. There's a lot of blame to go
16:19
Speaker 1: around Vic Fangio, Nick Sirianni, the coaches as well as
16:24
Speaker 1: you know Jalen Hurts with a terrible interception at the
16:26
Speaker 1: end of the game as well. Jalen Hurts had a
16:28
Speaker 1: pretty good game overall. He had a he had a
16:30
Speaker 1: very nice game after getting the rust off week one
16:34
Speaker 1: thought he was making some decent decisions. And by the way,
16:37
Speaker 1: when your offense is running through AJ Brown and AJ
16:40
Speaker 1: Brown is not out there on the field, you know,
16:42
Speaker 1: the other people that need to step up. I think
16:44
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley had a fantastic game until he dropped that
16:46
Speaker 1: ball in the fourth quarter.
16:47
Speaker 2: I I it hurts ran the ball well too, and
16:50
Speaker 2: that was that was maybe the most encouraging offensive thing.
16:53
Speaker 2: Was like, yeah, oh good, he's he's you know, running
16:56
Speaker 2: with authority again, like which you didn't see a.
16:59
Speaker 1: Lot of you didn't last year. Yeah, he was hampered
17:01
Speaker 1: with injuries throughout last year that weren't really talked about
17:04
Speaker 1: too too much. But still it was good to see
17:06
Speaker 1: him getting back to form. You know, he still has it,
17:09
Speaker 1: and I think that was an important takeaway from this game.
17:12
Speaker 1: But I think there's a lot of blame to go around.
17:14
Speaker 1: I just wonder what Vic Fangio does at this point.
17:17
Speaker 1: I wonder if the Eagles try to make a trade
17:18
Speaker 1: for a pass rusher to Lynn. I think that is
17:21
Speaker 1: definitely on the table. You know that Howie Roseman is
17:24
Speaker 1: obviously looking at his spreadsheets in the office trying to
17:27
Speaker 1: figure out if they're gonna be able to bring in
17:29
Speaker 1: some talent. I do seriously wonder, if I swear to God,
17:33
Speaker 1: if Hassan Reddick gets a phone call from this Eagles
17:36
Speaker 1: front office, I think it's highly doubtful. But I never
17:39
Speaker 1: say never to things anymore in this life.
17:41
Speaker 2: I think they just say, all right, we go back
17:43
Speaker 2: to the Jets and say, Okay, this didn't work out
17:45
Speaker 2: for either of us. Let's just yes, let's just switch
17:48
Speaker 2: it back.
17:49
Speaker 1: I would love it. I would love it. Let's just
17:51
Speaker 1: give us, Let's just give everybody everything back. You know,
17:53
Speaker 1: you stop the drama with you guys and Hassan Reddick,
17:57
Speaker 1: and we'll take Hassan back. In fact, if you want
17:59
Speaker 1: Bryce Touf back, you know, he played really well for
18:02
Speaker 1: you guys on third down and you obviously you know
18:05
Speaker 1: you need a little help there. Take Bryce Huff back too.
18:08
Speaker 1: I'd love that.
18:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's yeah. I mean, because not doing anything on
18:16
Speaker 2: on this team. I mean, just I just I've I've
18:20
Speaker 2: I don't remember. I mean, I'm really trying to go
18:23
Speaker 2: back and remember last time I watched an Eagles team
18:26
Speaker 2: that just could not generate a pass rush at all. Yeah, Like,
18:30
Speaker 2: I feel like they've always been able to do.
18:32
Speaker 1: That, absolutely, especially from the interior standpoint, and that there
18:36
Speaker 1: really are too talented guys in Jordan Davis and Jalen
18:39
Speaker 1: Carter who were there in the middle. Milton Williams. We
18:42
Speaker 1: saw some good stuff from him. I'll say that up.
18:44
Speaker 2: Guys, because right now, Milton Williams is the best defensive
18:47
Speaker 2: tackle you've got, yes, because those two aren't playing like it.
18:50
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, all right, buddy, Well let's get let's let's
18:54
Speaker 1: talk about what we're what we may expect to see
18:56
Speaker 1: from this upcoming Eagles Saints game, one o'clock game, this
18:59
Speaker 1: coming Sunday. It's down in New Orleans. I don't know,
19:03
Speaker 1: what do you think in terms of the scoring predictions
19:05
Speaker 1: or anything with regard to this game.
19:07
Speaker 2: I have been witness in person to an ass beating
19:12
Speaker 2: in the Super Dome. Yeah, so I know what that's like.
19:19
Speaker 2: And I mean it's so hard because you know, you
19:22
Speaker 2: you see things and you're like, oh man, this is
19:24
Speaker 2: going to be this again, and it turns out that
19:26
Speaker 2: it's not. But I mean, I don't know how you
19:29
Speaker 2: can look at what the Eagles did and then look
19:31
Speaker 2: at what New Orleans did at Dallas and what Alvin
19:34
Speaker 2: Kamara did and just like, Okay, how are they stopping that? Yeah?
19:39
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, so I'm not optimistic. And
19:45
Speaker 2: to be dead honest with you, I mean, for the
19:48
Speaker 2: foreseeable future. This team is going to have to win
19:51
Speaker 2: shootouts if it's going to win games, and I don't
19:54
Speaker 2: know if it wins the shootout, and Derek Carr doesn't
19:57
Speaker 2: necessarily scare me. But then again, Kirk Cousins and the
20:00
Speaker 2: Atlanta Falcons didn't scare me either. So there's that.
20:05
Speaker 1: Really quick before you got for remaker prediction. Before you
20:08
Speaker 1: make your prediction, I will say, Derek Carr another surprise
20:11
Speaker 1: in this league. Yes, he's leading the offense to you know,
20:14
Speaker 1: and the team to two to zero. He's got a
20:17
Speaker 1: seventy six point nine completion percentage at this point, four
20:20
Speaker 1: hundred and forty three yards on the season, eleven point
20:24
Speaker 1: four yards per tenp five touchdowns, one interception. That's not bad.
20:29
Speaker 1: Those are not bad stats. He's playing good football, then.
20:31
Speaker 2: Pretty damn good. Yeah, yeah, I am gonna go. And
20:36
Speaker 2: they still don't have Aj Brown, so I'm gonna go
20:41
Speaker 2: thirty six to twenty Saints.
20:43
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm picking a Saints win too, buddy. Just like
20:46
Speaker 1: I said with Derek Carr, he's been slicing and dicing,
20:49
Speaker 1: and yes, I know one of those games was the
20:51
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers. After Week one, you're saying Okay, is Derek
20:54
Speaker 1: Carr and this New Orleans Saints team really that good?
20:58
Speaker 1: And you say, okay, let's see what happened in Week two,
21:01
Speaker 1: and they absolutely dominated the Dallas Cowboys in the Cowboys House.
21:07
Speaker 1: They dominated that Cowboys defense, who's supposed to be a
21:10
Speaker 1: pretty good defense. Another surprising aspect of this NFL season.
21:14
Speaker 1: I think so far after two weeks, but I'm going
21:17
Speaker 1: with a Saints win here as well. I mean, I'm
21:19
Speaker 1: going with a twenty seven to nineteen Saints win. I
21:24
Speaker 1: don't think the Eagles are gonna be able to I
21:26
Speaker 1: think Eagles are definitely going one and two, and I
21:28
Speaker 1: think they could possibly go one in three because when
21:30
Speaker 1: they come back home to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
21:33
Speaker 1: that Buccaneer team's pretty good team. Baker Mayfield's playing some
21:36
Speaker 1: good football too. This could be a one in three
21:38
Speaker 1: Eagles team. Absolutely shocking Len in terms of where our
21:42
Speaker 1: mentality was throughout training camp and even the preseason. What
21:45
Speaker 1: we're gonna see from this team.
21:47
Speaker 2: It's funny because you mentioned the Cowboys. I just obviously
21:51
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be a little bit until they
21:53
Speaker 2: play them, so maybe things get ironed out between now
21:55
Speaker 2: and then. But all I can think about is betting
21:58
Speaker 2: the over on Eagles Cowboys. Oh yeah, cause either of
22:01
Speaker 2: them seem to have a defense. It's worth a damn yep.
22:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's really perplexing. What is happening here? Man, love
22:07
Speaker 1: to hear from folks. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com.
22:10
Speaker 1: Shoot us off an email and let us note you're
22:11
Speaker 1: thinking about this Eagles season if you want us to
22:13
Speaker 1: get into anything here on the show as well. So
22:17
Speaker 1: all right, those are our scoring predictions there, Len, buddy,
22:19
Speaker 1: you got anything before we head to break here?
22:22
Speaker 2: No, I don't.
22:23
Speaker 1: All right, folks, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening
22:27
Speaker 1: to us on. You can also hear our shows over
22:29
Speaker 1: at Philadelphia Sportstable dot com, our website, follow Len on
22:32
Speaker 1: the Twitter slash x at Len Hunter, or you can
22:34
Speaker 1: follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren in the show at
22:37
Speaker 1: Philadelphia p ST. We're also over on threads as well.
22:40
Speaker 1: Search out Philadelphia Sports Table there. I'm mister Jeff Warren
22:44
Speaker 1: over on threads or on Facebook or on YouTube all
22:48
Speaker 1: all that crap, or i should say, Instagram as well.
22:50
Speaker 1: Just search us out. We're gonna be back in just
22:53
Speaker 1: a bit. We're gonna pay some bills. Stick with us,
22:56
Speaker 1: all right, Len, We are back, and we were just
23:00
Speaker 1: about the Philadelphia Eagles before the break. A little downtrodden
23:04
Speaker 1: about that team. Let's talk about the Philadelphia Union. So
23:08
Speaker 1: I'll say this, when folks hear this, the Union will
23:11
Speaker 1: have already played this past week. They are going to
23:15
Speaker 1: be playing I believe New York and boy, this team,
23:21
Speaker 1: I'll tell you Inner Miami. Look, I thought they were
23:23
Speaker 1: actually gonna beat Inner Miami on the road in one
23:26
Speaker 1: of their most recent matches here. But again they faltered
23:29
Speaker 1: in the end. As you know, Lionel Messi, he returned
23:32
Speaker 1: to action after missing two months, Lend, But I think
23:36
Speaker 1: the I think the writing is on the wall with
23:38
Speaker 1: regard to this Union team here at this point, we
23:40
Speaker 1: got to start, you know, looking at the offseason and
23:42
Speaker 1: will continue to ask those questions and talk about the
23:45
Speaker 1: fact that this ownership group in front office they need
23:49
Speaker 1: to invest in the team. I mean, that's what's gonna happen.
23:51
Speaker 1: But I think the writing is on the wall at
23:52
Speaker 1: this point.
23:54
Speaker 2: Nothing it matters because they would have lost anyway. But
23:57
Speaker 2: he couldn't have missed one more game exactly.
24:02
Speaker 1: Really, we're at that point, you know, we're at that
24:05
Speaker 1: point We're like, can't the best player in the league just.
24:08
Speaker 2: Missed the game? Can we not raise the degree in
24:12
Speaker 2: difficulty here, because you know, yeah, need all the help
24:15
Speaker 2: thinking get At this point.
24:17
Speaker 1: The season's basically over. I think at this point, I know,
24:19
Speaker 1: whenever we have you on, Buddy, we like to talk
24:21
Speaker 1: to Union stuff. But I don't know what else really
24:24
Speaker 1: to say about this team that what we said last
24:26
Speaker 1: week on the show, other than you know, it seems
24:28
Speaker 1: like the writing's on the wall and we're gonna have
24:30
Speaker 1: to start talking about what this offseason is going to
24:32
Speaker 1: look like.
24:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they're kind of dead in the water
24:34
Speaker 2: here at this point. They you know, they have New
24:38
Speaker 2: York City FC coming up well tomorrow night. We're recording
24:42
Speaker 2: this on Tuesday night, and then a couple of short
24:45
Speaker 2: days later they have DC United, who's right there, you know,
24:49
Speaker 2: in kind of in the back end there the playoffs.
24:52
Speaker 2: Same with Atlanta United and then Orlando, Columbus Cincinnati, all
24:57
Speaker 2: of whom are you know, well above the Union in
24:59
Speaker 2: the stand things. So it's just, uh, it's not a
25:04
Speaker 2: reasonable road, you know, and for a team that currently
25:08
Speaker 2: sits eleventh in the East and they're only three points
25:12
Speaker 2: out of that last playoff spot. But you know, it's
25:18
Speaker 2: it's hard to really have any reasonable semblance of hope here.
25:22
Speaker 1: Where do you think in terms of this team and
25:24
Speaker 1: in terms of talent they're really going to need. I
25:26
Speaker 1: mean we didn't even start like talking about the off season,
25:29
Speaker 1: you know where they if like we had you know,
25:32
Speaker 1: if if if we had the wherewithal to be able
25:35
Speaker 1: to say, okay, ownership, we want you to do this
25:39
Speaker 1: first on the team. Did what do you think would
25:41
Speaker 1: it be goaltending? Do you think you know, getting getting
25:44
Speaker 1: that solid goaltender for the future perhaps, if it would
25:47
Speaker 1: be possible.
25:48
Speaker 2: You have to develop somebody for the future because Andrea
25:51
Speaker 2: Blake isn't going to be around forever. I mean, he's
25:53
Speaker 2: he's he's solid. I don't have any problem with him,
25:56
Speaker 2: but you know, like I said, he's not going to
25:59
Speaker 2: be there forever. So you do need to have, I guess,
26:01
Speaker 2: some kind of plan there. But it's just talent. It's
26:04
Speaker 2: just overall talent across the board. Yeah, they just they
26:08
Speaker 2: just don't have it. I mean they they they get
26:11
Speaker 2: these guys from from some of these you know clubs,
26:13
Speaker 2: abroad and they're low, lower level clubs, and yeah, the
26:17
Speaker 2: competition they're facing might be, you know, maybe the same
26:20
Speaker 2: as it is here. But still other teams are going
26:24
Speaker 2: out and signing hire more higher profile guys from from
26:27
Speaker 2: you know, overseas clubs, and that's what you have to
26:29
Speaker 2: do if you want to compete, and the Union aren't
26:31
Speaker 2: doing it. They're kind of picking at the margins and
26:34
Speaker 2: doing budget pickups and stuff like that, and more and
26:38
Speaker 2: more teams are starting to spend money, and as that happens,
26:41
Speaker 2: the Union are going to fall further and further behind.
26:44
Speaker 2: I mean, unless they really make a change of mindset
26:48
Speaker 2: of like, Okay, we're going to go out there for
26:50
Speaker 2: for these guys that you know they can be difference makers.
26:55
Speaker 2: This is going to be what they are.
26:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's and we would talk about it
27:00
Speaker 1: for how long. I mean, the community itself, the Philadelphia
27:03
Speaker 1: Union fan base and community have been talking about it
27:05
Speaker 1: for some time. And it leads me to believe. You know,
27:08
Speaker 1: we joke around with our buddy Jay a lot about
27:11
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates. He's a Pirates fan. But until Bob
27:14
Speaker 1: Nutting is no longer there, that team is going to
27:16
Speaker 1: be nowhere, you know.
27:18
Speaker 2: And that's the thing, like does does I mean, and
27:20
Speaker 2: maybe it won't happen on that level because people don't
27:23
Speaker 2: pay attention to MLS the way they do MLB or
27:27
Speaker 2: or the NFL. But does Jay Sugarman want to find
27:30
Speaker 2: himself in that Bob Nutting, David Tepper you know zone
27:35
Speaker 2: of Wow, the major overriding problem with this team is
27:39
Speaker 2: the owner, like, because that's where it's heading. Yeah, and
27:42
Speaker 2: so I mean maybe he doesn't care. A guy like
27:47
Speaker 2: Nutting clearly doesn't care. It's just this is how I'm
27:49
Speaker 2: going to continue to generate money. I wonder how that's
27:53
Speaker 2: going to last. I mean, I think I've mentioned this
27:55
Speaker 2: before on the show, but I've I've heard, I've read
27:57
Speaker 2: people say things like I'm not going to do at
28:00
Speaker 2: seasons past next year, Yeah, because I follow the Union
28:02
Speaker 2: and they suck. You know, you go, you watch games
28:05
Speaker 2: on TV and the stands are a lot less fold
28:08
Speaker 2: than they were a couple of years ago. Even the
28:10
Speaker 2: Suns of Ben section is pretty sparse, and that you're
28:13
Speaker 2: supposed to be your most vocal supporters. So it's just
28:16
Speaker 2: like you're I mean, you're just putting a choke hold
28:19
Speaker 2: on interest in this team.
28:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
28:21
Speaker 2: That's you know, what are you doing?
28:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question in the segment what are
28:28
Speaker 1: you doing? What are you doing?
28:30
Speaker 2: I don't get it.
28:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, Well let's dive into some Phillies
28:34
Speaker 1: talk here, Len Before I let you go, I know
28:36
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to be to work in a few
28:38
Speaker 1: hours here, But it was interesting. I was on Phillies
28:41
Speaker 1: Nation dot com read a report that they had specifically
28:45
Speaker 1: written about that. Bob Nightingale of USA Today reported that
28:49
Speaker 1: the Phillies are one of five teams expected to make
28:52
Speaker 1: a bid for Juan Soto in this coming off season,
28:57
Speaker 1: and the other four teams aside from the Phillies that
29:00
Speaker 1: people people in the industry think will bid on Soto,
29:04
Speaker 1: or of course the Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays,
29:07
Speaker 1: and San Francisco Giants. But the fact that the Phillies
29:10
Speaker 1: are in talks or I should say, within the discussion
29:14
Speaker 1: of possibly having Juan Soto come to this team, I
29:17
Speaker 1: love it. It says a lot about this team. It says
29:20
Speaker 1: a lot about where John Middleton has taken this team
29:22
Speaker 1: in terms of his ownership and what he's allowed Dave
29:24
Speaker 1: Dombrowski to do over the years, the talent, the spending
29:28
Speaker 1: of the money as well, because look Sodo, he's I mean,
29:31
Speaker 1: he's having a great season thus far, twenty five years old.
29:34
Speaker 1: He's got a nine to eighty five ops career high
29:37
Speaker 1: thirty nine home runs, and you know he is. He
29:40
Speaker 1: and Aaron Judge right now are killing it in the
29:42
Speaker 1: Yankees lineup here. But I think having somebody like Juan
29:46
Speaker 1: Soto would really be the difference maker for this Phillies
29:49
Speaker 1: team at some point down the road, starting in twenty
29:53
Speaker 1: twenty five. I would absolutely love it, Lenn.
29:57
Speaker 2: I mean, who would Yes, you think about putting him
30:03
Speaker 2: in left field in that lineup and just, oh my god,
30:09
Speaker 2: it boggles the mind to even think about it. I mean,
30:11
Speaker 2: I think it makes them the instant you know, front runners,
30:15
Speaker 2: you know, odds wise for the World Series if that
30:18
Speaker 2: were to happen. But this guy that's going to get
30:21
Speaker 2: probably five hundred million in free agency, and you've already
30:25
Speaker 2: got two guys on that team that are making over
30:27
Speaker 2: three hundred million over the course of their contracts in
30:30
Speaker 2: Harper and Turner. So to me, it's just how I mean,
30:36
Speaker 2: I'm glad they're being mentioned in that breath. I mean,
30:38
Speaker 2: that's that's a hell of a thing. But how realistic
30:42
Speaker 2: is that? And to me it's not very And I'll
30:47
Speaker 2: expand on that, but you know, I don't want to
30:49
Speaker 2: step on your toes view something you want to add.
30:50
Speaker 1: There, No, I really don't because I'm I'm thinking along
30:53
Speaker 1: the same lines of you. As wonderful as this would be,
30:57
Speaker 1: Like I said, really, what is what is the reality
31:00
Speaker 1: telling us with this Phillies team, the amount of money
31:03
Speaker 1: that they've already invested in players such as Bryce Harper
31:07
Speaker 1: and where they are right now over the luxury tax
31:10
Speaker 1: I don't know if if you know, they would have
31:13
Speaker 1: to I think certainly get rid of some guys, probably
31:16
Speaker 1: make some trades, I think in order to make sure
31:19
Speaker 1: from a salary standpoint it's you know, quote doable for
31:23
Speaker 1: the front office. But I'm not sure how realistic this is.
31:26
Speaker 1: I think from a you look at this from an
31:28
Speaker 1: overall picture standpoint, like you, Len, I'm not sure it
31:31
Speaker 1: is really that realistic.
31:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you look at so you look at
31:36
Speaker 2: the other teams that are mentioned in that you know,
31:38
Speaker 2: so Toronto. You know, basically that's the financial engine of
31:43
Speaker 2: Canada and but you have to consider the you know,
31:47
Speaker 2: the Canadian dollar and taxes and all that stuff. If
31:50
Speaker 2: I were to rank these five teams, I would probably
31:52
Speaker 2: put Toronto fifth. Yeah, I would put the Phillies fourth.
31:56
Speaker 2: The San Francisco Giants have been begging, absolutely begging a
32:01
Speaker 2: superstar to take their money for the past couple of
32:04
Speaker 2: years now. They've had money and nobody wants to take it.
32:08
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge didn't want to take it. He's from there.
32:11
Speaker 2: You know, there was the whole thing with Korea and
32:13
Speaker 2: that kind of went sideways because of his physicals. So,
32:17
Speaker 2: I mean, they've been trying to give somebody their money
32:20
Speaker 2: for a while now, and you know, a marquee guy
32:22
Speaker 2: and it hasn't happened. I don't know how he feels
32:25
Speaker 2: about the West Coast. I mean, obviously he was out
32:26
Speaker 2: in San Diego for a little while, But to me,
32:30
Speaker 2: I don't see any way possible that he escapes New York.
32:36
Speaker 1: I'm with you, I think he actually stays with the Yankees.
32:38
Speaker 2: To be honest, Yeah, I would I would put I mean,
32:44
Speaker 2: you know, it depends on, you know, how they do
32:45
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, and you know, does he get you
32:48
Speaker 2: know that that whole Yankee lure, like all that history
32:52
Speaker 2: just does that, you know, pull him and if it doesn't.
32:56
Speaker 2: Steve Cohen has been not spending money this year, and
33:00
Speaker 2: there's a reason, and it's because Wan Soda is going
33:02
Speaker 2: to be available. That guy spends money like nobody's business,
33:06
Speaker 2: and he has the money to spend and he will
33:08
Speaker 2: spend it. He's been thrifty this year for a reason.
33:11
Speaker 2: And I think Juan Sota is the reason. Right now.
33:14
Speaker 2: If I'm doing my board of where I think he
33:17
Speaker 2: ends up, I go Mets one, Yankees two, Giants, three,
33:22
Speaker 2: Phillies four, and then Blue Jays five.
33:24
Speaker 1: I'm with you on the last, Yeah.
33:26
Speaker 2: But you know it. But if he ends up in
33:28
Speaker 2: with the Yankees, that wouldn't shock me either.
33:31
Speaker 1: I'm with you on this list. Except for the top.
33:32
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be Yankees because I think
33:35
Speaker 1: the history and the allure. I think because Aaron Judge
33:38
Speaker 1: is still there, they obviously have a relationship together, and
33:42
Speaker 1: quite frankly, they're doing some special stuff right now, you know,
33:44
Speaker 1: trying to be objective on this show right now, and
33:47
Speaker 1: the Yankees and Aaron Judge, Wan Soda, they're doing something
33:50
Speaker 1: special here and they can continue to build that team
33:53
Speaker 1: and remain relevant for many, many years. And I don't
33:57
Speaker 1: mean to sound Hokey's saying this, but the Mets, and
34:01
Speaker 1: there is that air of Okay, the Mets are supposed
34:05
Speaker 1: to do this, they don't. The Mets are supposed to
34:08
Speaker 1: go to the next level in the postseason. They don't.
34:12
Speaker 1: There are many extenuating circumstances as to why the Mets
34:16
Speaker 1: continue to falter, but len the Mets continue to falter,
34:19
Speaker 1: and it is their foundation of who they are and
34:22
Speaker 1: their identity. And I think that may be part of
34:26
Speaker 1: the equation for Juan Soto to say.
34:28
Speaker 2: That absolutely might maybe, I mean, and the thing is,
34:32
Speaker 2: they're not a bad team this year. They are fighting
34:34
Speaker 2: for the last wild card spot. They've got a guy
34:36
Speaker 2: in Lindor who's you know, who's a high level player,
34:41
Speaker 2: and they have a decent team around him. So it's
34:43
Speaker 2: not like they're you know, underperforming. You know, I think
34:47
Speaker 2: given where people thought they're going to be this year,
34:49
Speaker 2: they might even slightly be overperforming. Yeah, there is that
34:54
Speaker 2: Mets you know air about them that they've had for
34:58
Speaker 2: years now in terms of like disappointing people. But I honestly,
35:01
Speaker 2: I really do think and listen. Maybe it's not enough,
35:05
Speaker 2: but I really do think. Steve Cohen says, give me
35:08
Speaker 2: a number, I'll give it to you. I really do.
35:11
Speaker 2: He's going to say that I can see it. We'll see,
35:12
Speaker 2: we'll see what matters.
35:13
Speaker 1: I can see it all right. Well, before we get
35:16
Speaker 1: to what we're thrown down on the table and our
35:18
Speaker 1: discussion with Liz Rocher from the Hitting Season podcast and
35:21
Speaker 1: Yahoo Sports, lend just really quick at Mundo Sosa. He
35:25
Speaker 1: was activated from the ten day I l and they
35:30
Speaker 1: optioned infielder Buddy Kennedy back to Triple A Lehigh Valley
35:34
Speaker 1: to clear room on the twenty eight man roster. So
35:37
Speaker 1: Sosa's coming back, Philly's team's getting a little more healthy,
35:41
Speaker 1: and it's going to be interesting to see what happens
35:42
Speaker 1: down this stretch man.
35:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is what you want to see.
35:47
Speaker 2: You want to see guys start to come back. Yeah,
35:49
Speaker 2: you know, Alec Bohm has come back, you know Sosa
35:53
Speaker 2: is back. So yeah, I mean you want to see
35:56
Speaker 2: these guys start to come back, and you know, hopefully
35:58
Speaker 2: you know, Ranger Suarez had a rough game last night,
36:01
Speaker 2: but oh yeah, maybe he can by the end of
36:03
Speaker 2: the year, kind of work himself back into you know,
36:07
Speaker 2: in shape and be ready to go and hopefully, you know,
36:10
Speaker 2: these guys have all their all their weapons available to
36:13
Speaker 2: them by the time the playoffs start.
36:14
Speaker 1: Got to stay healthy. I mean that's a key in
36:16
Speaker 1: sports in general. But you know, and it's just of
36:19
Speaker 1: course we all say team has to stay healthy. This
36:22
Speaker 1: team has to stay healthy if they're going to advance
36:26
Speaker 1: at all in the postseason. I mean, it's it's common sense, yes,
36:29
Speaker 1: but it's got to happen for this team because we've
36:31
Speaker 1: seen what happens when injuries happen. It's tough for certain
36:34
Speaker 1: guys to step up at times. And health is absolutely
36:38
Speaker 1: key here Lynn.
36:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And just getting in a good rhythm, ending
36:43
Speaker 2: the season on a good note, you know, kind of
36:45
Speaker 2: being hot at the at the right time, you know,
36:48
Speaker 2: you know, kind of avoiding that that funk it seemed
36:51
Speaker 2: to come over the team after the first two games
36:54
Speaker 2: of the NLCS last year, where they just were just
36:57
Speaker 2: hacking and everything and just you know, weren't even putting
37:01
Speaker 2: together good at bats. Like, you want to make sure
37:03
Speaker 2: that you're you're healthy and you're in the right mode,
37:06
Speaker 2: you know, at the right time.
37:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely. All right, buddy, I'm gonna let you go
37:11
Speaker 1: here and then we're gonna get to our interview and
37:13
Speaker 1: discussion this week with Liz Rocher. You got anything else
37:15
Speaker 1: here before I let you head.
37:16
Speaker 2: Out, No, no, I do not.
37:19
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good, buddy, You take care. I know
37:22
Speaker 1: you're gonna be off the next couple of weeks because
37:24
Speaker 1: you've got some You got some time off, you're gonna
37:27
Speaker 1: take it, some time with the family and stuff.
37:29
Speaker 2: So I have some I'm doing so yeah, I will
37:32
Speaker 2: be absent for the next couple of weeks.
37:34
Speaker 1: All right. Well, I'm looking forward to the text messages
37:36
Speaker 1: with regard to the Eagles when they lose against the Saints.
37:38
Speaker 1: That'll be fun. And I'm kidding, of course, in terms
37:41
Speaker 1: of the fun. But yeah, having a good couple weeks, buddy.
37:45
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, we'll see.
37:47
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, we're gonna take a break. We'll be
37:49
Speaker 1: back in just a bit. All right, we are back.
37:52
Speaker 1: Let's get to some more Phillies talk here. I got
37:54
Speaker 1: a great guess that's what we're thrown down on the
37:56
Speaker 1: table and now on the table joining us this week
38:02
Speaker 1: to get into this Philadelphia Phillies team and what we
38:04
Speaker 1: can expect from them down the stretch we have from
38:07
Speaker 1: Yahoo Sports. And also she is a fantastic and amazing
38:11
Speaker 1: contributor at the Hit and Season podcast. You know we
38:15
Speaker 1: love that podcast. Here a favorite Phillies podcast. We've got
38:18
Speaker 1: the one and only Liz Rocher. How you doing, Liz.
38:21
Speaker 3: I'm fantastic, Jeff, thank you. How are you?
38:23
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right watching this Phillies team, the ups
38:26
Speaker 1: and downs, you know, the the lefts and rights and
38:29
Speaker 1: the everything, you know, the North, Southeast and West. With
38:32
Speaker 1: this team, I tell you, they really are and you
38:35
Speaker 1: know what it's like, It's like, it's not that bad.
38:37
Speaker 1: It's not that bad, right, I mean we have seen worse. Yeah, yes,
38:42
Speaker 1: we have seen worse. But still it's fun to watch
38:45
Speaker 1: this team. It's still fun, you know, even the stretch
38:48
Speaker 1: after the All Star break, as frustrating as that was,
38:50
Speaker 1: this team is, you know, getting back in the groove
38:52
Speaker 1: in certain ways. And I think that we all and
38:56
Speaker 1: myself included, we got to take things down a little bit,
38:59
Speaker 1: take things down, understand that this team is in a
39:01
Speaker 1: good position for the postseason. That's how I'm trying to
39:04
Speaker 1: look at things right now.
39:05
Speaker 3: Liz, Yeah, I agree. With you. You you have to
39:09
Speaker 3: look at the big picture and at all the pieces
39:12
Speaker 3: that are there, yep, because what we've seen a lot
39:15
Speaker 3: of is like a couple of pieces doing doing the work,
39:19
Speaker 3: doing all the doing the heavy lifting, and you sort
39:22
Speaker 3: of forget. You know, there are guys name not named
39:25
Speaker 3: cal Stevens on this team, right. I still could not
39:28
Speaker 3: tell you what Cal Stevens looked like if you asked.
39:30
Speaker 1: Me exactly, I can't either. I can't either.
39:33
Speaker 3: So I'm like, there's a guy named Buddy Kennedy of
39:36
Speaker 3: this team.
39:37
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, didn't get optioned. Isn't he back in le
39:40
Speaker 1: High Valley?
39:40
Speaker 2: Now? Oh?
39:41
Speaker 3: He might be, Oh yeah, thank you for your house,
39:43
Speaker 3: Thank you, buddy.
39:44
Speaker 1: Sure, I don't even know what you like. I've got.
39:46
Speaker 1: I've got Coca Cola Park basically, you know, fifteen minutes
39:50
Speaker 1: from my house. I don't know what the guy looks like.
39:52
Speaker 1: I've been to gain, I don't know what he looks like.
39:53
Speaker 1: I don't I have no idea.
39:55
Speaker 3: You guys are just you just met like generic baseball
39:58
Speaker 3: player picks.
39:58
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. Well, Liz, let's start off this discussion really
40:03
Speaker 1: with talking about some pitching here. Let's start off talking
40:07
Speaker 1: about a pitcher I'm having some concerns with down the stretch,
40:09
Speaker 1: and that's Ranger Suarez. I mean, we've certainly seen the
40:12
Speaker 1: good and the bad from him this season, and he
40:14
Speaker 1: certainly didn't have a solid outing against the Brewers this
40:18
Speaker 1: past week here. How much do you think the Phillies
40:21
Speaker 1: will be able to count on him potentially during the
40:23
Speaker 1: postseason as we're looking and seeing some concerning inconsistencies, you know,
40:29
Speaker 1: with his pitching from the mountain. What are your thoughts
40:31
Speaker 1: here with regard to Ranger Suarez.
40:34
Speaker 3: I think they're in a tough spot with Ranger Suarez.
40:38
Speaker 3: I think they'll they'll trust him is as far as
40:42
Speaker 3: they can throw him. Yeah, I would hope, like it's
40:46
Speaker 3: not that they don't trust him, but that they have to.
40:50
Speaker 3: I think they have to pull him pretty much as
40:52
Speaker 3: soon as it looks like there might be some danger. Yeah,
40:57
Speaker 3: I think he needs to us to build back up.
41:01
Speaker 3: I think he was out for longer than any of
41:04
Speaker 3: us almost realized, like because it felt like he was
41:08
Speaker 3: gone and then like a whole bunch of stuff happened,
41:10
Speaker 3: he was back, and that whole bunch of stuff was
41:13
Speaker 3: a fair amount of time. So I think he does
41:15
Speaker 3: need more time to sort of get back into the
41:18
Speaker 3: swing of things. I think the Phillies just need to
41:22
Speaker 3: stay loose when it comes to him. They have to
41:26
Speaker 3: just sort of be ready for anything. If they're gonna
41:28
Speaker 3: have him go out there and make a start, they
41:30
Speaker 3: have to be ready. But I think Suarez also needs
41:35
Speaker 3: to be ready to take on other roles. I think
41:38
Speaker 3: he just needs to be ready to contribute, you know,
41:40
Speaker 3: if he can give what or if he could exactly like,
41:44
Speaker 3: he could be useful as a Taiwan Walker type, you
41:47
Speaker 3: know in the playoffs. Relievers, I mean, starters become relievers
41:52
Speaker 3: if they're not needed. And I think that could be
41:55
Speaker 3: a good way to use Dranger Suarez, this this playoff
41:58
Speaker 3: season thing.
42:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, well you say, you know, trust him as
42:02
Speaker 1: far as we can throw him in a way, And
42:04
Speaker 1: I wonder too, Like when you said that, it's like, yeah,
42:06
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you, But then again, what does
42:08
Speaker 1: it do to his confidence? But if he is able
42:10
Speaker 1: to accept some other type of role down the stretch
42:13
Speaker 1: in the postseason, perhaps it's not only gonna do him good,
42:16
Speaker 1: but it's gonna end up doing this team very good too.
42:19
Speaker 1: And I think he needs to be open to that
42:22
Speaker 1: because we know where his game is. He knows where
42:24
Speaker 1: his game is. Then again, he's a baseball player, and
42:26
Speaker 1: we know baseball players say to themselves all the time, well,
42:28
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be getting back into the swing of things.
42:30
Speaker 1: It's only a matter of time before things start coming back.
42:34
Speaker 1: But we're at a critical juncture in the season here,
42:37
Speaker 1: so I think him taking on accepting a new role
42:41
Speaker 1: is probably gonna be the best not only for him,
42:43
Speaker 1: but this Phillies team.
42:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. A good thing about this season is
42:49
Speaker 3: they they had that terrible post All Star period. Yeah,
42:53
Speaker 3: it was real bad, and you could see that they
42:56
Speaker 3: felt it, and I think that I think that helped
42:59
Speaker 3: the Philly as players and the coaching staff to sort
43:02
Speaker 3: of sort of learn how to put things in context
43:06
Speaker 3: a little bit better. Yeah, and to sort of understand,
43:09
Speaker 3: all right, this is where we are in the season.
43:11
Speaker 3: We don't have to get freaked out here. Now we're
43:13
Speaker 3: over here. Yes, now we're all the way down here,
43:16
Speaker 3: and maybe it is time to sort of make a
43:19
Speaker 3: little bit of change. And I think as long as
43:21
Speaker 3: Ranger Swarez is able to redefine what success means to
43:24
Speaker 3: him in the context of a pitching outing, right, I
43:29
Speaker 3: think he'll I think he could do really well and
43:31
Speaker 3: I don't have a lot of doubt that he'll be
43:33
Speaker 3: able to do that. He's a team guy. He wants
43:35
Speaker 3: to help the team.
43:36
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, absolutely. Well, there's another guy I want to
43:39
Speaker 1: dive into, and I wanted to get into Carlos Estevez here.
43:44
Speaker 1: You know, there was the reliever that Dave Dombrowski acquired
43:46
Speaker 1: before the trade deadline this year. There have been some
43:50
Speaker 1: ups and downs with him as well as he's been
43:53
Speaker 1: on the mound, and it seems like he and this
43:55
Speaker 1: pitching staff have been altering the use of his fastball
44:00
Speaker 1: and his change up. In fact, his change up has
44:03
Speaker 1: become an effective pitch for him, as it was generally,
44:07
Speaker 1: from my understanding, his third pitch. So I'm wondering, Liz,
44:10
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on Carlos Estevez here, his role,
44:14
Speaker 1: what he may do for this Phillies team, and what
44:17
Speaker 1: he may mean for the team as he's going to
44:19
Speaker 1: be a very important key cog in this postseason from
44:23
Speaker 1: the mound. What are your thoughts with regard to Estevez
44:25
Speaker 1: and what we may see from him.
44:27
Speaker 3: I think the Phillies are in a good position with him,
44:30
Speaker 3: he's had some ups and downs, and with a reliever,
44:33
Speaker 3: the downs tend to stick with you, true, And so
44:37
Speaker 3: I'm like, all right, I need to look at how
44:39
Speaker 3: he's done since he got to the Phillies. He is
44:41
Speaker 3: a one nine three era. Yeah, he's got four earned runs,
44:45
Speaker 3: you know, four owned runs and a lot of and
44:47
Speaker 3: four walks. Just two home runs, Like that's that's good
44:51
Speaker 3: in seventeen seventeen appearances. And I think again, I think
44:59
Speaker 3: that the key to the Philly's bullpen is making it's
45:01
Speaker 3: just not no one can really be in a set position.
45:05
Speaker 3: That is how they've worked best. Yeah, you know, that
45:07
Speaker 3: is how they've gotten the best performances from everyone. You know,
45:11
Speaker 3: you put Jeff Hoffman in the eighth, sometimes scenes in
45:14
Speaker 3: the ninth, sometimes scenes in the seventh. Matt Strom can
45:16
Speaker 3: appear anywhere, you know. And I was so worried about
45:21
Speaker 3: the Phillies really wanting to stick with you know, like
45:24
Speaker 3: bullpen jobs. Yes, I was really worried about that because
45:28
Speaker 3: that we've died several deaths, having to talk about that
45:33
Speaker 3: in the past with other managers, and seeing that they're
45:37
Speaker 3: just keeping everything loose, playing the matchups, looking at who's
45:41
Speaker 3: you know, who looks good that day and warm up
45:44
Speaker 3: that type of thing. I think it'll go a long
45:47
Speaker 3: way towards continuing to sort of integrate a step is
45:52
Speaker 3: into this into the pitching staff and sort of anchoring
45:58
Speaker 3: what they want him to do with his with his pitches,
46:01
Speaker 3: because I was not aware of that thing when I
46:03
Speaker 3: read your topics and like, that is super interesting and
46:06
Speaker 3: it's great to see that it has been pretty successful
46:09
Speaker 3: for him.
46:09
Speaker 1: It has been. It has been, and I think it
46:11
Speaker 1: goes to show too that Dave Dombrowski has done a
46:14
Speaker 1: damn good job in terms of acquisitions before the trade deadline.
46:19
Speaker 1: I mean not just this year with Stevez, but in
46:23
Speaker 1: previous years as well, And there are times, quite frankly, Liz,
46:27
Speaker 1: where I don't think Dave Dombrowski. I mean, he gets
46:30
Speaker 1: some props, for sure, but I'm not sure he gets
46:33
Speaker 1: as big of props as he should be getting considering
46:36
Speaker 1: where this ball club is at right now. I mean,
46:38
Speaker 1: Lennon and I were just talking a short time ago
46:41
Speaker 1: here on the show about the fact that Juan Soto
46:44
Speaker 1: is one he's going to be looking at one of
46:46
Speaker 1: five teams next year. And I know we're talking to offseason,
46:49
Speaker 1: you know, and we still got the postseason to go
46:51
Speaker 1: here and stuff. But Juan Soto is going to be
46:53
Speaker 1: looking possibly at the Phillies, you know. And and the
46:56
Speaker 1: fact that Dave Dombrowski has done what he has done
46:59
Speaker 1: with this team to get to a point where a
47:02
Speaker 1: potential free agent may in wan So to may come here.
47:05
Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing.
47:06
Speaker 3: It really is. Like Dombrowski, we're always looking as fans,
47:11
Speaker 3: we're always looking for the big the big trade acquisition.
47:14
Speaker 3: There's the big trade deadline thing, and that is not
47:17
Speaker 3: his style. I think we've learned now. This is I
47:20
Speaker 3: think our third season with him at the Helm during
47:23
Speaker 3: the trade deadline, and he's been he's he's made acquisitions
47:27
Speaker 3: every time, and I think the well, actually even the
47:31
Speaker 3: first year with what's his face? Who went to the
47:34
Speaker 3: Orioles Kyle something?
47:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh gosh, like Kyle Pitts.
47:40
Speaker 3: No, that's a Falcon player.
47:42
Speaker 1: Yes, whoever did that?
47:45
Speaker 3: As I'm forgetting Hendrix Kyle Hendrix, Now whoever he was,
47:50
Speaker 3: someone is yelling at their at their stereo right now
47:53
Speaker 3: their phone. But like even with him, he stayed around
47:57
Speaker 3: the next season, he did well, like they're not like
48:01
Speaker 3: gold Star, big name acquisitions. But he he's not about that.
48:07
Speaker 3: He looks under the hood. He looks like he traded
48:09
Speaker 3: with the Angels for Estevez, Like, yeah, not. I don't
48:14
Speaker 3: think a lot of people look to the Angels. You know,
48:17
Speaker 3: everyone still talks about moneyball and like, you know, the
48:20
Speaker 3: the market inefficiency and weirdly, I think looking at teams
48:25
Speaker 3: that are just not active, that are that people have
48:27
Speaker 3: forgotten about. Yeah, weirdly, I think that is a market inefficiency.
48:32
Speaker 3: Like look, look at the Angels. They've got good players
48:34
Speaker 3: and they're definitely not using them.
48:36
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, all right, Well, I want to get into
48:40
Speaker 1: this next player. And you know, he's the most one
48:42
Speaker 1: of the most popular players in Philadelphia professional sports. We
48:46
Speaker 1: all love him and and and at one point and
48:50
Speaker 1: at a few points I think in this season we
48:52
Speaker 1: were a bit frustrated with him and that and that's
48:55
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper, you know, some of us fans. I mean,
48:58
Speaker 1: we look going over month without him hitting a home
49:02
Speaker 1: run and seeing that power. For me, it was a
49:04
Speaker 1: little bit concerning. I Mean, the fact is that he's
49:09
Speaker 1: having a good season, though, I mean he's batting two nineties,
49:12
Speaker 1: got twenty eight home runs an ops of nine ten.
49:15
Speaker 1: But I feel like twenty twenty four for Bryce Harper
49:18
Speaker 1: has been kind of an inconsistent year for him. And yes,
49:22
Speaker 1: he does have stretches of inconsistency and always has throughout
49:24
Speaker 1: the course of his career. But I'm wondering what are
49:27
Speaker 1: your thoughts on how we can really dissect Bryce Harper's
49:30
Speaker 1: season thus far, especially as we're in the home stretch
49:33
Speaker 1: here looking at the postseason. Is it just baseball being
49:37
Speaker 1: baseball here or do you think there may be something
49:39
Speaker 1: else going on with regard to his inconsistencies or again,
49:42
Speaker 1: like I said, is it just baseball and this is
49:45
Speaker 1: just the way that these guys play.
49:47
Speaker 3: I think some of it is any Harper's getting older.
49:51
Speaker 3: I don't think his power is like just leaving. I
49:54
Speaker 3: think he's consistent. This is the second year in a
49:56
Speaker 3: row he's dealt with an injury. Yeah to z eelbow, Yeah.
49:59
Speaker 3: And that we had this conversation a year ago. You know,
50:03
Speaker 3: like Harper was having a good season. He was hitting
50:05
Speaker 3: tons of doubles, but he wasn't hitting the ball out,
50:08
Speaker 3: And we had this conversation as a community where we're like, well,
50:11
Speaker 3: what does a good season mean, is Harper worth what
50:15
Speaker 3: we're paying if he's hitting just doubles and he's not
50:20
Speaker 3: hitting just doubles, that's not the type of player he is.
50:22
Speaker 3: He will get you know, he's getting the home runs
50:24
Speaker 3: stroked back, but the issues, like the baseball scene this
50:28
Speaker 3: season is tough, it's long, and Harper's the kind of
50:31
Speaker 3: guy who will just take the injuries and continue playing. Yes,
50:34
Speaker 3: And so seeing him hit home runs recently I think
50:38
Speaker 3: is good. It feels like he's breaking out of it
50:40
Speaker 3: whatever's happening, his elbows loosening up. But he does a
50:45
Speaker 3: lot more than just hit home runs.
50:47
Speaker 1: Like that's a great point.
50:48
Speaker 3: Home runs. The Phillies have not hit a lot of
50:51
Speaker 3: home runs this year. I don't they compared to last
50:53
Speaker 3: year when they were everyone was talking about they only
50:56
Speaker 3: score runs by the homer. Yeah, I don't think that
51:00
Speaker 3: that's been the way of this year. And they're still
51:03
Speaker 3: winning and Harper is still positively contributing. People have to
51:08
Speaker 3: widen their expectation of what a good season means from
51:12
Speaker 3: not just like a good player is stoically, but from
51:14
Speaker 3: any player. Yeah, you know, I remember, like one Pierre
51:17
Speaker 3: we'd always say, and Ben Revere, like empty average, you know,
51:22
Speaker 3: lots of singles, lots of single but like that is
51:24
Speaker 3: that's so valuable? Yeah, you know, home runs are valuable,
51:27
Speaker 3: but like you look at a guy like Kyle Schwarber
51:31
Speaker 3: when he hits a power drought, he almost doesn't hit
51:35
Speaker 3: a lot else.
51:35
Speaker 1: Right, how many times how many times the season, Liz,
51:39
Speaker 1: have we said, you know what, if they got to
51:41
Speaker 1: play some small ball, they got to play some small ball.
51:43
Speaker 1: You know how many times have we said that and
51:45
Speaker 1: it's worked them? Yes, you have said that on the
51:48
Speaker 1: Hidden Season podcast every now and again, and and we've
51:52
Speaker 1: said it here too. And it's okay that Bryce Harper
51:55
Speaker 1: may not have all the all the power in the world.
51:58
Speaker 1: Maybe he's got like what eighty five ninety percent right now.
52:00
Speaker 1: Perhaps like you said, he's loosening up again, getting maybe
52:03
Speaker 1: back into form before the postseason. But small balls, okay,
52:08
Speaker 1: it's okay. To see some singles being hit, getting guys
52:11
Speaker 1: on base runners in scoring position, it's okay.
52:14
Speaker 3: Yeah. And the Phillis have been doing more of that. Yeah,
52:17
Speaker 3: Like I've seen them, like they're being more aggressive on
52:20
Speaker 3: the base pass. It's nice to sort of see them.
52:24
Speaker 3: I mean, not that I know this is completely true,
52:26
Speaker 3: but it feels like they're realizing the point is to
52:28
Speaker 3: win the game, right, The point is to like we
52:32
Speaker 3: we weren't able to win games for a while, we
52:34
Speaker 3: need to The games need to be one regardless of
52:37
Speaker 3: how it happens. Yeah, and I think they're sort of
52:40
Speaker 3: embracing that, like the run just needs to cross the plate,
52:43
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter.
52:44
Speaker 1: How Yeah, absolutely right.
52:45
Speaker 3: Think more teams need to take that mentality into the
52:50
Speaker 3: into the regular season, into the playoffs, Like the point
52:52
Speaker 3: is to win the games, especially in the playoffs, it
52:55
Speaker 3: does not matter.
52:55
Speaker 1: How exactly exactly again, folks, talking to Liz Roacher from
52:59
Speaker 1: Yahoo Sports Hitting Season podcast over at why y Billy
53:03
Speaker 1: Penn dot com basically my favorite Phillies podcast out there.
53:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely love all you out there. And as we're moving
53:11
Speaker 1: along with a conversation, Liz, I think all of us
53:14
Speaker 1: Phillies fans are concerned about a bunch of different things
53:16
Speaker 1: with this team again, looking toward this postseason. I mean
53:21
Speaker 1: from pitching to batters getting cold, to injuries. We're all worried,
53:26
Speaker 1: like about something that the drugs are gonna get pulled
53:28
Speaker 1: out from under us. I'm wondering, what's what's one under
53:32
Speaker 1: the radar aspect of this Phillies team that you're really
53:34
Speaker 1: going to be watching from now until the end of
53:36
Speaker 1: the regular season, that may have you a little concerned.
53:40
Speaker 3: I'm definitely going to be watching a lot of their
53:42
Speaker 3: at bats, yeah, very closely. How they handle things like
53:47
Speaker 3: long at bats with lots of fouling off, Like you
53:51
Speaker 3: want to see that type of thing. Yeah, you want
53:53
Speaker 3: to see them. Like I was just now looking at
53:55
Speaker 3: their walk rate and trying to see, like, how is
53:58
Speaker 3: it this year? I don't really route was last year.
54:00
Speaker 3: I think it was decent, but I was wondering whether
54:03
Speaker 3: or not, Like are they hitting a lot of walks?
54:05
Speaker 3: They're in the They're like seventh in MLB, which is great.
54:09
Speaker 1: That is great, and it is great.
54:11
Speaker 3: That's exactly what I want to see because it at
54:14
Speaker 3: least means they're spending time during the bat trying to
54:17
Speaker 3: recognize pitches, and you know, I just want to see
54:21
Speaker 3: them being patient, patiently aggressive. Interesting, Okay, that's together. I
54:33
Speaker 3: think it's selectively aggressive. It is what is what I
54:36
Speaker 3: think the term actually that actually makes sense. Yeah, it's
54:41
Speaker 3: just the quality of their at bats that I'm always
54:44
Speaker 3: concerned about, you know, just you see Alec Bohm go
54:47
Speaker 3: up there, he hits two balls and he's done. Like
54:49
Speaker 3: we I want to see them take I want to
54:51
Speaker 3: see them take some pitches. I want to see them
54:54
Speaker 3: fouling some off because it's again, you have to get
54:57
Speaker 3: the ball in play. And I think in a year
55:00
Speaker 3: where home runs have been down, I think pretty much
55:04
Speaker 3: across the board except in New York, where I'm going
55:06
Speaker 3: to guess they're just beating all of the bouncy balls exactly.
55:09
Speaker 1: They're just drinking home runs up there pretty much.
55:13
Speaker 3: But with home runs down, I think every team has
55:16
Speaker 3: had to adapt a little bit more to that. And
55:20
Speaker 3: you know, the best teams out there are the ones
55:22
Speaker 3: who can adapt the best, and I want the Phillies
55:25
Speaker 3: to be that team.
55:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely. They need to be able to adapt in this
55:28
Speaker 1: postseason for sure. So as I as we finish our conversation,
55:33
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready to let you go. Here. Last topic
55:36
Speaker 1: is on the flip side of that. What's one aspect
55:39
Speaker 1: of this Phillies team, Liz, you cannot wait to watch
55:41
Speaker 1: down the stretch? A part of this team that you're
55:44
Speaker 1: really really excited about? And why? Oh?
55:47
Speaker 3: Team work? I love teamwork. I love it when they
55:51
Speaker 3: get together when they do weird things when you know,
55:55
Speaker 3: the playoffs is the time for that because it's free
55:57
Speaker 3: baseball for everyone. Yeah, everyone, If your team is in
56:00
Speaker 3: the playoffs, this is this is extra. Yes, and I
56:03
Speaker 3: think they know it. You know, it's it's a time
56:05
Speaker 3: not just for the players to do well and to
56:09
Speaker 3: try and reach the ultimate goal, but it's a time
56:12
Speaker 3: to give fans something extra, a time to get fans excited.
56:15
Speaker 3: You know, Phillies players know they don't have to do
56:17
Speaker 3: much for us. We're we're ready to go. But I'm
56:22
Speaker 3: excited to see what comes from this year's you know,
56:25
Speaker 3: the social aspect of the playoffs. You know, when we
56:28
Speaker 3: get another like thing that there was with the Braves.
56:31
Speaker 3: You know what, who's going to get really hot, Who's
56:34
Speaker 3: going to make an amazing catch? You know, I'm just
56:36
Speaker 3: excited for all of all of the weirdly like the
56:40
Speaker 3: non baseball stuff of the playoffs.
56:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the fun part. That creates the culture. It creates, Yes,
56:46
Speaker 1: create the culture not just for the club itself, but
56:49
Speaker 1: for us fans too. And and and that I think
56:52
Speaker 1: is one of the most exciting parts of the postseason.
56:54
Speaker 1: You know, whether it's Garrett Stubbs and his overalls and
56:57
Speaker 1: how that translates to the culture of what you know,
57:00
Speaker 1: certain aspects of this team, and just you know, how
57:04
Speaker 1: this team really is a family in a way and
57:06
Speaker 1: they kind of bring us into the fold as fans.
57:09
Speaker 1: It's so it's so wonderful to think about, you know,
57:12
Speaker 1: considering the Eagle stink right now and considering, you know,
57:16
Speaker 1: we're not gonna know what's gonna happen with the Flyers
57:18
Speaker 1: and the freaking Sixers. We got the Phillies, folks, and
57:21
Speaker 1: that's most important here. It's most important. Look, and they
57:24
Speaker 1: may drop some games here and there toward the end
57:26
Speaker 1: of the regular season, it's okay, Sky's not falling. Postseason
57:30
Speaker 1: is right around the corner. They're gonna end up clinching
57:32
Speaker 1: within the next week probably, And it's something I didn't
57:36
Speaker 1: think was gonna happen. I really didn't think that they
57:38
Speaker 1: were going to win this division, Liz, but seems like
57:41
Speaker 1: they are and let's just enjoy it.
57:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't think they were going to win the
57:46
Speaker 3: division either. And if you take a look at my
57:48
Speaker 3: Yahoo predictions from from the beginning of the season, you
57:52
Speaker 3: can see that too. You'll be able to see my
57:54
Speaker 3: predictions on Yahoo Sports for the playoffs as soon as
57:57
Speaker 3: we get some matchups decided. And I can tell you
57:59
Speaker 3: now I probably will not be picking the Phillies to
58:02
Speaker 3: win the World Series. Yeah, just because I cannot. I
58:05
Speaker 3: can't let myself do it. It just does wrong.
58:07
Speaker 1: Can't do it. I have learned on this podcast over
58:10
Speaker 1: the years, Liz, don't pick Philly sports teams to win anything.
58:13
Speaker 1: Don't win. Don't pick them to win anything. All right,
58:15
Speaker 1: good things might happen, you know exactly.
58:19
Speaker 3: You need to let the universe. You need to let
58:20
Speaker 3: things play out in the universe as they are without
58:23
Speaker 3: you make it. You don't know how you can impact
58:25
Speaker 3: acts like that awful movie The Butterfly Effect.
58:27
Speaker 1: There you go, absolutely, that was great. Great ending to
58:31
Speaker 1: this discussion again, folks. Liz Roacher from Yahoo Sports the
58:34
Speaker 1: Hitting Season podcast or at why y Billypenn dot com.
58:38
Speaker 1: Follow her on the Twitter slash x at Liz Rocher's
58:41
Speaker 1: She's a great great follow Liz, come back join us
58:43
Speaker 1: down the road. I'd love to have you back on
58:44
Speaker 1: the pod, my friend, anytime. And that's gonna do it
58:48
Speaker 1: for us this week. Make sure to share the Philadelphia
58:52
Speaker 1: Sports Table podcast show with your friends and family members
58:54
Speaker 1: who may be Philly sports fans. You can always head
58:56
Speaker 1: on over to Philadelphia Sports table dot com to access
58:59
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59:03
Speaker 1: your device. We appreciate our guests taking the time to
59:06
Speaker 1: join us every week to help make this podcast happen
59:09
Speaker 1: and to give us great content, and ultimately we appreciate you.
59:13
Speaker 1: Take care and have a great week, and we'll catch
59:16
Speaker 1: you next time.