High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - A Crossover with Kevin Frandsen!

Episode Date: May 2, 2020

High Hopes and Pine Tar For Breakfast come together for this pod as James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are joined by Kevin Frandsen to talk about Philly missing sports, old baseball stories and a whole lot more! See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Philadelphia Phillies on Radio.com and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo! It is another edition of the I Am Spodcast. Jack, a special edition, shall we say.

A little crossover edition. A little Allen Iverson crossover. This is great. All right, so what you're about to hear is Jack Fritz and I literally three seconds ago just finished recording an awesome, awesome crossover podcast with a guy who actually played Major League Baseball and played for the Phillies. Shout out to Kevin Franzen.

I only played Division II baseball. Kevin Franzen played real baseball. It's actually like a real, real baseball. Yeah, Kevin Franzen played real baseball. We joke about it, but this is actually a guy who really actually played the Major League. Listen, I wouldn't want to spend Nick Pavetta's debut day doing anything else. And you'll hear more about that. So thank you for listening.

This is going to be a little bit of a different I Ops for you all. Enjoy it. It is us and Kevin Franzen going for a while. So enjoy. Okay, and here they are, two of the finest individuals in the world, let alone just the Philadelphia area, WIP production or producers, whatever you want to say on that one.

These guys have the number one podcast for all Phillies. And that's right. That is well over me because I'm down in number 962. We're going to move our way up. Jack Fritz, James Seltzer. What's up, boys? what's up boys what's up kev i was that that was way too kind an intro right there i mean all kinds of falsehoods being spread there we appreciate you're at least 982nd maybe so i dropped you're making it worse yeah i dropped

not even more i mean this is a joke. Here's what's bad. And this is what I found out today is James. I thought you were like 25, 26. I find out you're older than me. Wow. 38 my friend. And again, to those that do not know who you guys are, uh, which is probably everyone that's listening to this one right here. James works for WIP. He does the afternoon show. Actually, the morning to afternoon. Midday. We'll go midday if you want the radio lingo.

Yeah. Inside baseball, Kevin. The better one, Kevin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The best one in reality. And Jack's got drive time. I mean, he's just like, he's so big league on this whole thing. And Jack is the one that used to bring a lot of the Philly sounds. one and jack's got drive time i mean he's just like he's so big league on this whole thing and

uh jack is the one that used to bring a lot of the the philly sounds sounds of the game to you now they're five minutes longs of sound of the game instead of 30 seconds listen i i thought i thought i left a good uh you know people behind me but unfortunately the the torch was not passed correctly i guess you know that's what jack does he just throws people under the bus is his go-to so i tell you that was your job before no i had nothing to do with it i'm i'm i you know i mean more or less i'm the reason jack has a job you know just to you know james didn't have to work his way up through radio he just came in and was the midday show guy so i had to work my way up and work every holiday and every weekend. And Jack just waltzes in and is, you know, afternoon guy in a year. No, all you have to do is smile. You just

have to smile all the time and laugh at everyone's jokes. And Jack does that every time. Well, look, here's the deal. I wanted to bring the High Hopes podcast and have a mix with Pintar for breakfast because I think it's fun. A, I love talking to you guys in general about baseball. But for me, being a California kid, being a kid that played for the Phillies, doesn't mean you understand everything about the Phillies and the passion and pride that you have not only in your city but just the Phillies franchise the passion and pride that you have not only in your city but the just the the Phillies franchise I think it's fun uh you know you wear your emotions on your

sleeves when it comes to podcasts uh or tweets if you're in Jack's case uh and so no and I and I and for me being able to do this and doing cross pod I think would be fun just based on I want to learn more about the philly fan i want to learn about my buddies who live and die by this stuff and you know for you guys when you guys started high hopes what was it about we came to the right place for that kevin jack always likes to say that high hopes is for the diseased ph Phillies fan brought to you by diseased Phillies fan. So you literally could not be in a better place. Yeah, with High Hopes, we just wanted to honestly, to Jack's point, and that's why he says it,

is like we are like way too intense about the Phillies. Like our love and obsession with the Phillies consumes us. It's all we care about. And we wanted to make a podcast that spoke to those people because we know those people are out there. Well, I think it's phenomenal because I think Jack, more than anyone, we can't speak because we're late 30s. You know, we're so old there, James.

I know. According to Jack, we're ancient. Just so washed, you know. It's tough to see. Yeah, we just don't know the lingo and Jack's obsession with Twitter and Nick Pavetta. I mean, look, we're, what, four years away or three years away from his debut? I mean, this is a big day. It's happy debut day.

It was today in 2017, the legend of Nick Pavetta started. And how did it go? I don't know. See, now that's a great answer right there because we have the one great thing baseball reference and we can go back to that debut I was literally pulling it up as we spoke I love you for that guy the Canadian makes his debut against the Dodgers five innings nine hits five strikeouts, one walk, two earned runs, and a loss. Look, here's the deal.

That's a Nick Pavetta line, right? Good thing. Except for the walks. That's a great thing. And only two earned runs. I mean, let's be real. Listen, I'm just glad that nothing's changed in four years. I'm just glad that we're all on the same page here with Nick Pavetta.

Although I'm pretty sure in 2017 is also that Red Sox start, which was disgusting. So it was a fun little debut for Giancarlo Pavetta, as I call him. Yeah, that's cool. I didn't even remember it. That's how good it was. We're almost 15. We're 14 years away from my debut, which was on April 28th.

Did you celebrate that, Jack? No. Great question, Jack. You're actually friends with Kevin Franzen, and you're fake friends with Nick Pavetta, yet you care more about Nick Pavetta's debut. It's kind of messed up. Well, let's not say fake friends. We did meet, and I would say—

You hugged. Arm around you. I would say that Nick Pavetta left that meeting thinking I could be friends with that guy. I think Pavetta left that meeting incredibly uncomfortable. No, I think Pavetta walked away from that saying, you know what? I could grab a beer with that guy. And that's all I try to bring to the table every day. Now, Kevin, I did not know that your debut was two days ago, but I just put in my calendar for next April 28th.

Kevin Franzen's debut day yeah well you did you also know you went three for five score three runs how about that three four listen you're right plate appearances five you had a walk in there no i got hit by pitch i see it right now i was a part of a major league record really three runs by the no i had uh i had what did i have four four straight games to start my career with a hit-by-pitch. Oh, yeah, look at this. Well, no, four out of five it was, it looks like. Oh, but you didn't start the one game.

Does that make sense? So, yeah, your first four starts, you got a hit-by-pitch in all of them. That's unbelievable. Yeah. Very G. Sully-esque of you. Yeah. Well, I got like over 150 in my career, if you count the minor leagues and the big leagues. So, you know, that's pretty special.

That's a lot of hit by pitches like that's a lot of sucking in general. Real quick, real quick. While we're on the topic, like what is it like to get hit by a 90 plus, you know, 95 mile per hour fastball? Like the average person, we see that and we're like, I can't imagine it. The average person, we see that and we're like, I can't imagine it. And players, you know, you just take it and you run to first. It's like, how bad does it hurt to take a legit hardcore fastball to the rib cage or whatever? Well, the question is where? Like where you want rib cage? Ooh.

Okay. So that's a tricky one. If you go rib cage. Yeah. Those ones sting. Those might. Yeah. Okay. one if you go rib cage yeah they want those ones sting uh those might yeah okay so aaron seeley he was down in the minor leagues uh right as i made my debut got sent down you know like i don't even know a couple months later i hit a first pitch opposite field like one hopper over the fence for a ground rule double to start the game second bat just

dots me up with a 91 like right like kidney area and i'm going like i've been hit so many times that one hurts so bad and i'm like going down the line going oh god like oh it cracked a rib that was only 91 i got smoked in the face later on that year i went to bun a pitch uh lost in the shadows smoked in the face that one hurt pretty much all the other ones not so much like i i got hit in the elbow with a curveball didn't hurt at all it hit perfectly in like the spot for your bursa blew the whole thing up that one didn't hurt but like three four or five days later when my elbow was like hanging you know like just the actual ball of the bursa sack yeah that one didn't hurt, but like three, four, or five days later when my elbow was like hanging, you know, like just the actual ball, the bursa sack, yeah, that one didn't feel too good.

But other than that, yeah. It's worse hitting a ball off your leg. Let's just say that. Yeah, because that's like a blunt force just right down into the leg. It seems more painful because that's like the shin bone, and no one's ever ever walked away from a shin getting hit in the shin thinking, I'll be fine. You always think your leg needs to be

taken off. I had one against Andrew Kashner, 13, in Philadelphia. Human night. That was back when Kashner was throwing 98. It was 98. I fouled it just below my left kneecap. Just below my left kneecap. I remember at the moment like almost puking

staying on there i got a hit i end up beginning to hit or i got walked or something happened like that where i was on base i'm going okay this is fine this is fine it's still like kind of kind of throbbing not really i go in at the end of the inning, sit down for a second, and all I just feel is this stuff. And I look at it, and I bring up my pant leg, and I'm going, oh, yeah. You know, I don't know if I want to swear. Dude, I have pictures of that night, which is like just a circle, and it is all bruised. It is a perfect circle, and you, what's going to happen from there.

It's just going to expand. And this thing went my entire leg. I had it drained. I mean, it was, it, one of the most painful things I've ever been through because that night we had to fly somewhere and, and that sucked and it just made it worse. So James, to go with your thing, it really isn't so much the getting hit by a pitch. It's all the – It's where. Yeah, it's where.

It just depends on – it could be just the – it could be seriously 75 miles an hour. The wrong spot. It could be Jack's fastball at 75 miles an hour. You know what I mean? Yes! Hey-oh! Yes! I mean, you're not factoring in the two-seam run.

Oh, brother. I think the two-seam run would have caused at least some kind of bruising. I mean, not when yours is like a change. More like knuckleball two-seamer. No, that's true. That's fair. That's fair. But, see, that's what I'm saying.

You brought us on to talk about Philadelphia, Philadelphia sports, how much it meant, and all that. But what you just shared with us shows that Kevin Franson, even though he's from San Jose and likes hockey too much, he's a Philly guy. And you never played here. You played later in your career. Wait, wait, wait. I never played here. What are you talking about?

You didn't grow up here. Wow. Wow. So here's the deal. You welcome us onto your pod. We do this crossover thing, and Fritz just takes shots. Wow. No, this is making me look bad for stumbling up my words.

I'm not the smartest guy. We know that. I'm just saying that you didn't play here until late in your career. Maybe you didn't totally understand Philadelphia. And then, boom, you got here. And I remember because I was watching the 2012 Phillies video video yearbook the other night and I was like see that's what makes Kevin France and a Philly guy well here's the deal hold on I'm just tweeting out in quotes Jack Fritz I'm not the smartest guy oh and I am by the way we can remember we could we could that's

how we could tweet this thing out with that quote. So it wouldn't be breaking this. Here's the deal. Like for me and I was, I was talking to name drop right here. Wait to pick it up. Please. So I was talking to Shane Victorino tonight for the podcast as well. Oh, the, probably the most clutch Philly from a seven to 11. I would say.

Ooh, I liked it. I like it. We talked a lot of things. Jason Worth is the correct answer, but that's a good take. But one of the things I said was, like, look, in 06, I came here as a rookie. Bonds hit one of the farthest, and he goes, dude, do you remember that homer that he hit? And I was like, John Lieber. And he goes, dude.

I was like, yes. But that series in my rookie year made me fall in love with Philadelphia flat out. And I've told you that. It is never, never changed. And I just looked at this thing going, you know, I want to play here one day. And I'm playing for the Bay Area team. I'm playing for the Giants. I'm loving life, you know, to an extent.

But at that, I was like, this is the most insane thing. You had the, you know, the babe did it on beers and hot dogs. Yeah. And Bonds did it, and there's a giant syringe. But the absolute hatred. But it was like the everyone together on it. You know what I mean? Like, it just, I was like, dude, I was blown away.

So I was talking to Shane about that. And he goes, yes. He Like, it just, I was like, dude, I was blown away. So I was talking to Shane about that. And he goes, yes. He goes, it changes your mindset. And for me, I've always said, I don't, I want to be a Philly fan, like as far as the Philadelphia sports, but I don't think you can just say like, oh, I am a Philly fan. Well, you got to earn it. You got to know some things. You can't just do that.

We're very against the, you know, you can't just come in and hop on board we don't like that we're very provincial here and i and i agree with that i love that yeah i mean it's it's your way of earning it yeah it's almost like you from the west coast appreciate real sports fans not that not that west coast no no no i agree with you i agree with you but i think that's what makes philadelphia so special like you know and it takes a special No, I agree with you. I agree with you. But I think that's what makes Philadelphia so special. Like, you know, and it takes a special kind of athlete, I think, to play here and thrive here. Like, you're going to get scrutinized.

Like, every single great Philly athlete has gotten scrutinized. But it's the one that appreciates it. And that's what I was so impressed with with Bryce Harper last year. Ooh, nice. Good segue. Look at that segue. What a pro. some would say i'm good at this um but like with with bryce you're better in the background it's all right with bryce would say that absolutely no one actually but but like with bryce last year you know he has all this expectation and from day one, like, just got it. Just got Philadelphia. And, like, it's important to have leeway.

And usually when you sign that big of a contract in a city like Philadelphia, the fans won't give you the leeway. That's just the way that it's been forever. They expect it from day one. And the way he handled it, the way, like, when he was getting booed and he said, you know, I would boo myself too. Like it just it calms everyone down. And they're like, this guy's a real guy.

So that's what made Bryce so fascinating his first year here, because generally when someone with that kind of contract comes to the city and he has that slow little kind of start. Like, I mean, his May, I think, wasn't wasn't the strongest, but he battled through it. And by the end, like there wasn't one Philly fan that didn't respect Bryce Harper by the end. And I thought that was really, really impressive. Do you guys think that a lot of that with the Bryce was that not only was he was consistently the same as far as personality wise. When he went through those struggles, he was just loving life with Philly. when he went through those struggles he was just loving life with philly he i'm not saying he played it right but he just he understood he grasped what he was to this city would you say that's accurate oh for sure and he also he got us like i know it's it's kind of ineffable it's hard

to describe what that means but he knew just what to say that we would would love like jack said that like it's the perfect example that i would boo me too there have been so many athletes in this city who don't haven't and yeah yes in my head when i'm saying that i'm thinking of donovan mcnapp like guys who couldn't handle the boos who didn't who weren't able to respond to that like bryce harper was like yeah yeah i deserve the booze like bring it see that I thought that was the biggest one other thing too one other thing too is is the way he played like it's it's okay if you struggle but if if we feel like you're just bringing it every second you're out there you're running your ass off you're you know giving it your all in the

field all that stuff like that goes a really long way in philadelphia oh no doubt and then i mean look you you could ask like not even ask you could say that you know him having the fanatic shoes that type stuff sure you know it mattered the the headband thing you know the headband thing was just thrown in his locker and he's like dude i'll wear it next thing you know it like became a thing it wasn't even meant to be you know like hey it was supposed to be just like a handout like oh here it is and he wears it and next thing you know he goes off with it and you're going oh man this is this is incredible so okay if you take Bryce Harper peel back the name peel back the sport and you go Philadelphia who would be the closest thing to that as far as coming in mid-career and i'm not you don't have to have a 35 and 114 year you know for it to be great but who had the same presence the same feelings that that that bryce

brought or is he one of a kind well i think like example i think would be doc like doc from obviously doc's an all-time great um a Hall of Famer and all that. But, like, Doc from day one, I think all Philadelphians both appreciated, you know, his greatness. Like, usually greatness in Philadelphia doesn't come overnight. Like, it takes a little while for you

to kind of earn your greatness in a way. And Doc from day one, like, just looked like a magician out there, looked like a machine. And I just think that he was, he was such a hard worker and people, people in this city just appreciated that one, three, five days, he was going to go out there. You could see him kind of laying out there, giving all he had. Um, and, and Doc from day one was just, was just a machine. So I think Doc's one of those guys that became a Philly guy very quickly. But it's weird because I also think that about Cliff Lee.

Cliff Lee came in in 09, and I remember I was freaking out because I wanted Roy Halladay, and I was like, well, Cliff Lee's fine. And then he went and shoved. Yeah, and then he turned into Cliff Lee. He's also coming off a Cy Young award. I know. I know, but it was Doc at that point. I was so fixated on getting Doc Halliday that I was like, ah, Cliff Lee is fine.

But Cliff Lee, I think, endeared himself so quickly because he just looked loose. And he was having fun playing the game. But he was also dominating at the same time. So Doc and Cliff are kind of, they both became instant Philadelphia legends, but in different kind of ways. Oh, and as a teammate, too, they were so different, so opposite. The way they prepped, I mean, both those guys prepped like no other, but in different ways. It was like the way they got ready.

Like, look, I had the opportunity, and being close with Chase, but knowing how Chase worked and how he went about things was second to none. And then you had Doc in there, and it was going like, dude, like this is. And I mean that, that to me, someone I never take for granted is being able to be around those two, one position player, one pitcher who had the same work ethic, who had the same idea of it's not about me. It's about us.

How do I prep myself for us to be great and win yeah that's special i mean that's and i think that that's why those two guys are so revered here and especially like with doc i mean doc was only here like what four years i mean and it was three special years and then one kind of off year and that was it um for him to make that impression so quick, and granted, like Jack said, he came in as a legend. I mean, we knew the type of pitcher, the type of worker, the type of player he was,

but he just immediately had that thing that we look for. And it was Chase's whole career. Like from the moment Chase came up and the Grand Slam and like from the jump, like you saw it with Chase. He ran hard every single freaking time he went out of the batter's box. He took the hit by pitches, this, that. Like he was just so Philly it hurt that I think that's really incredibly unique to have two guys on a team.

Like that's the thing with Philly is like there's no other city I feel like, at least in the – and I've paid attention to sports talk all over the country and this and that, like there's no other city where we will get on you every time you don't run out of ball. I mean like we all know, you know, you played in the league,

like you're not going to run every ball out. Like it's impossible for 162 games over the, the dog days of summer and this and that to run every single little one out. Like, you know that like one of them, you're just not going run out it's just not possible and like Utley and Alladay on the other sidings were like those type of guys where it was every single thing they did was max effort full effort every time and that is like it's so

Philly it hurts yeah and then you add in Jimmy okay so let's take in the opposite right we're at times he'd become aloof and and he wouldn't run things out, but he was Jimmy. Right. Like the words he spoke and then he went out and did, I think – because here's the thing. Philadelphia is not a place where the talk, other than sports talk, the talk takes over, you know, the actual action, right?

Like there's – they want to see it done on the field. Yeah, we want to win. Or wherever the court. We want to win. First and foremost. So the time that he calls out the Mets, and then he goes out and does it, and then not only on top of that wins the MVP,

you're going, damn. Like that was so different. But from afar, we all knew it. Like I knew Jimmy before, you know, being a Bay Area guy. Didn't know him great, but knew him enough. And I'm going like, oh, my God, this guy turned everyone just by that, by just calling him out. Like, I don't know not being here, but Jimmy Rollins was Jimmy Rollins before that.

I get it. But he turned into, like, Jimmy Rollins. Like, that's J-Roll. Like, right there, the way he did it in talking and then going out and just absolutely destroying them. Yeah, I mean, I think he went from, you know, Jimmy Rollins, very good player, star, all-star caliber shortstop to that's the best shortstop in team history.

I mean, like Larry Bowe for the longest time was well regarded as the best shortstop in team history. And then when J-Roll did that, like for as great as Chase Utley is, and Chase Utley is my favorite player, you know, on that team. But what J-Roll did was J-Roll set the tone for the entire team. Like, J-Roll, you know, whether it was a leadoff home run. I mean, he did that in, what, game four against Milwaukee. In all the clinching games in 2008, he led off the game with a home run. In that insane.

Like, that's just stuff of legends. And, like, J-Roll, he kind of had the up-and-down relationship with the fans. Like, it never got to the end of Howard level, but him saying that Philly fans were— The frontrunners thing, yeah. The frontrunners thing. Like, it was kind of up and down. But I think every Philly fan really appreciated Jimmy. And I think the ones that really paid attention every

single day they knew that that team needed J Roll's you know leadership yeah like they needed his attitude he gave them an attitude that they didn't have like he was the the he was the face of that team and I agree with Jack oh he was my favorite player I think he was a lot of people's favorite player because he was major league baseball players like a lot of people's favorite player because of what we talked about before. He was a lot of baseball players. A lot of them favorite players. He was Philly. He was so us. We always dreamed if we were a baseball player, we'd play like Chase Utley. He's a baseball guy's guy.

Yes. Yes. But Jimmy was the face. He was the attitude. He was the toughness. He was the guy who went out and said, know we're gonna win the division we're gonna you know like he was the guy who gave us that that belief in and i think gave the guys on that team that belief to dig it go out and do it who like so growing up like james obviously and jack you

you have what 14 year difference yeah yeah i mean no. And I say that I think 12 years or 12 in between 12 and 13. I think the reason why I bring that up is like in the Bay Area, when you come up as a Giants fan or A's fan, like it mattered that those 12 years mattered of who was your favorite player. Like it was Robbie Thompson, Will Clark for me. And then if you ask, you know, people 10 10 years down the road obviously it's going to be bonds you know what I mean like that that is what it spanned like how it spanned it for you guys what was it who was it well yeah that's a great point because for Jack it's like those chase outley Jimmy Rollins teams for me it was Mike Schmidt and I I got the end of Schmidt's career I didn't get to see like peak Schmidt but i grew up with a father who was a diehard phillies fan telling me mike schmidt's the best player i've ever seen mike schmidt's the the guy

he's the philly like the best player we've ever had is this guy and you get to see him play i was at the game where they retired schmidt's number i was at the game where they like you know i've i got to see like so i didn't get to see. And I grew up with like Mel Allen and this week in baseball. So like I knew Schmidt, I knew how great he was, but I didn't get to see those games played in the same way where I saw the best of Schmidt. But I saw enough of Schmidt and grew up with the legend of Mike Schmidt. So for me, it was always Mike Schmidt. OK, so let me I want jacks in just a minute but

for this uh was it fun being able not i'm not gonna say living your dad's dream as on this but like seeing it through his eyes finally you know like all the talk and being able to actually put it into live action oh it was it was unbelievable and it is funny because like you point out there like for me and it's a little different for jack because you know granted the first part of jack's life as a phillies fan wasn't great but he was pretty relatively young when 0708 that run happened like for me as a phillies fan like i had 1993 and nothing else like we're talking about the worst team in baseball for many of my formative years so and i love that 93 team like darren dalton is my dude my guy like i love darren dalton with all my heart uh you know god rest his soul i love darren dalton that was my favorite one

the best like he's my favorite player from from that i that i grew up with but the schmidt legend was so strong and i think because those teams were so bad like what we had was the legend of mike schmidt when i was a kid it was like we got that guy that's the best third baseman who ever played this sport in the history of the game all of them that's the best one so i think that for for that like specific scenario it made Schmidt larger than life to me um but then 93 came along and I actually got to go to the World Series and and that team was so fun and so unexpected but it was one time thing like that was it I had no other glory as a kid it was really kind of a a crazy way to to grow up rooting for such a despondent, disappointing team.

Jack? Well, I think the obvious answer is Nick Pavetta. Really? But for me, you know, obviously Utley was my favorite guy, you know, once the runs start happening. And just I remember the Grand Slam over Gabe Kepler's head, which I think is always hilarious. But my guy was Tomi.

Tomi was the first Philly where I was like, I love being able to watch him every single night. Because Tomi, you know, the Phillies were so dreadful. I would go to the vet, and I barely, I remember the vet, but not really. And it was just like, yeah, this is boring. Like, Abreu was there, and Abreu was great. But, you know, Abreu didn't connect as well as, like, a Tomi kind of guy did. No, but he was so good. So good.

I mean, so good. So good. And I wish he was more appreciated here. It's unfortunate that he doesn't get remembered the way that he should have. No, I also – What's crazy is that – He wasn't like a Philly guy in the same way. Like, he never felt –

You never felt like Bobby Abreu was trying. And he was awesome. But what was crazy – He's a great player. When you talk about Chase and the way he ran balls out, that was the one thing in 2010 towards the end. We're talking like he was, what, 39 years old with the Angels? Yeah.

That Bobby Abreu busted his ass down the line like I've never seen. Like, it was incredible, but that's a part of it. There's a way guys run, right? There's a smoothness. He had a smoothness. Chase wasn't smooth when he ran. He just ran hard. Right.

Everything Abreu did was smooth. Like, everything he did was smooth. The way he swung was smooth, ran, played the outfield. Like, all of it was smooth. And, like, it's kind of like Cano. Oh, I would say. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

So, Jim Tomei. Tomei, yes. No, so Tomei came, and it was like, you know, we got this 40 homer, 50 homer guy from the Indians. Sure, he's a little bit older, but the Phillies shelled out all this money to bring him here i remember uh i remember i was watching csn like sunrise back when it's like sunrise in the mornings and uh he's walking walking and greeting all the uh the people who are building citizens bank park i thought that was so cool and then just from day one just day one hit absolute tanks i remember i was at the phillies baseball academy i used to go to i used to participate in that and uh they would have us

on video hitting and i thought that was the coolest thing ever in like 2004 and um i would stick my foot up at the end like tommy did you know um so tommy was a guy i love to replicate and uh just a truly, truly great filly. And even though Ryan Howard coming up and being unbelievable was awesome, but I wish we had more of Jim Tomi. Just to think, he's a guy that you thought lasted or was here for a long time. I know. He became like a filly legend. He's only here for

what three years three years three years yeah which is nuts to me because that that but that also is i think the beauty of this place in philadelphia um is the fact that you don't have to have been here that long it's what you do within that time and it doesn't mean you have to hit 50 homers like i feel like i i'm not gonna say i am beloved here but i feel like i am liked here because i played my ass off right and they remember that more than they remember me making like 30 years you know what i mean like that's the biggest thing and and that to me like saying that about jim tomey like for me that dude is one of the best teammates you talk about like the nicest human beings like there's there's a truth behind that but it's consistent

everywhere every fan loves him for the same things not anything different and I think that is special yeah and and you see it honestly that's something that's ubiquitous across Philadelphia sports I mean whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa, whoa. It's a big word. Huge word. Huge word. Not that big a word. Congratulations.

That's the biggest word here. No, I get what it means. I'm just saying it is never used on here. Yeah, we're talking two baseball guys, James. But it is. It's something that like Terrell Owens is a perfect example of that. Like Terrell Owens was one here and then submarine the next season. But because of what T.O. did in that one season, like he is beloved here.

Like there are a lot of people who love him more than McNabb, who was the quarterback for a freaking decade and was like the best quarterback in the history of the franchise potentially. And there are a lot of people who choose T.O. over McN to came here worked his butt off and was awesome and he played on he played on a broken leg in the super bowl like in the super bowl exactly like we and it's so true like we it doesn't matter how long you're here it matters what you do here that is a great point yeah well okay so when you look at other sports, and what this city has when it comes to the

Sixers, to the Flyers, to the Phillies, Eagles, all that stuff. It matters the Phillies not being able to play. I think that resonates. It's not just baseball. It's the Phillies. What it says across the chest. I think when you look at it

howie roseman would was i think more than anyone is is wishing that the phillies were playing right now oh he could use it he could use it right i mean but that's the thing yes it's not what it's different here that i've that i really feel is number one one, they love baseball, yes. But more than number one, 1A has to be the name of the Philadelphia Phillies, and that's what people are passionate about, not just the game of baseball. And I feel like the city's missing that. Yeah, well, I just think that it happens in baseball cities. Like New York, I think, is similar to Philly, Boston.

Obviously, football's probably king in Philadelphia. It's king in Philadelphia, which is fine. But I think baseball in people's gut is what they truly love. Football's nice. You can do it every Sunday, and everyone can watch football. But I do think that baseball is – that's why Harry Callas is so beloved here. Yeah. Because he was the sound of summers, and he helped people get, you know,

you go down to the beach and people would just be listening to HK and whatnot. So, like, yeah, I think for me, knowing that every night at 7.05, like at 7.13 right now, I should be watching a Phillies game. Like, there's no doubt about it. And I should be calling it. Yeah, you should be calling it. I should be back home in the Bay Area right now. Right.

And, like, having something to look forward to every night. And the thing that separates baseball, I think, from most sports is that you feel like you grow with these guys. Like, that's why 08 and that team is, I think, the most beloved team in the city is because we watched chase out they grow up we watched jimmy rollins grew up we watched ryan howard grow up because it was 162 for you know three seasons leading up to that and then turning into that cole hamels same kind of thing like that's what i that's what i miss the most is is is 705 just knowing there's a game to watch and yeah people say it's a long season, and I get it. I mean, it's a grind.

I understand. But it's one of those things that just becomes routine. And, like, I mean, HK said it all the time. Like, you never know what you're going to see when you turn on a ball game or go to the ballpark. And we're missing out on that. And I need it back. It's 7.14 on a Thursday night.

Like, let's play some baseball. You don't want to be doing the Pintar for Breakfast podcast? I need it back. It's 7-14 on a Thursday night. Like, let's play some baseball. You don't want to be doing the Pintar for Breakfast podcast? I love doing the Pintar for Breakfast podcast. I'm just saying, if I could couple that with a Phillies game, it'd be perfect. Oh, I agree. I like that. How about for you, James?

Your thoughts on that? I mean, like, Philadelphia, the Phillies matter, not not just baseball right yeah yeah no it did it's dead on i mean look the phillies have existed since 1883 right they were the quakers for a few years there but the philadelphia phillies in that term have been since 1890 i mean that's a long time that is a long time to build up a history. It's something that matters, and I totally agree with Jack. I think the Eagles might be more palpable to a larger group of people, but the true diehard fans are Phillies fans. And people love baseball, but people love the Phillies. They don't care.

Jack and I are watching the package and watching, you know, Brewers and the Cardinals play on a random Wednesday night. Like we're just weird. That's not weird. Yeah, tell me about it. It's my life. I love it. I need it.

I desperately am missing it. But in Philadelphia, the vast majority of people just love the Phillies. They don't care about anything else. They just care about that team. And that's why, like, to Jack's point, like 07 through 11, there was nothing cooler in this city than going to a Phillies team. Like, it was the coolest thing you could do. Like, it wasn't just fun.

It wasn't just night out. Like, it was the place to be. Ah, amazing. Let me ask on that because I think a lot of it, I was talking to shane about this uh today um they were a team that went out they had a good time they you know the city loved them but they were they felt like they were a part of the city like this this 2020 version they don't do crap outside like it's not like they go to social Social media has kind of ruined a lot of that.

Right. Do you think that... If this team... I'm not saying they have to go out and party. It's not about going. But if they were out amongst the people a little bit more, you think they would be beloved?

Or is it just the fact that they were winning and they had people that grew up as Phillies? Yeah, I think it has to do more with the winning. That's the one thing that I always give Phillies fans credit for is that even though the last two seasons they started off hot and in 2018 they were in first place for a long time, the fans never bought it. And that's the one thing that I always say that I think Phillies fans know.

But did they not buy the know. Did they not buy the players? Did they not buy the manager? Was it a combination of both? Well, I think they were turned off by the manager and they didn't really give them a chance. And I don't know if it has anything to do with the players. I think the players became a byproduct of it. But the problem with what I think happened

the last two years was that Philadelphia went from zero analytics to a hundred analytics. It went from zero analytics to 100 analytics. Like it went from zero to 100 very fast. And like to drop that on a fan base that, you know, grew up watching old school kind of baseball, I think it's going to take a little while for it to adjust. And I just think that, you know, the Phillies fans and people that watch that team every night, they always felt like, eh, it's not going to last.

That's what I think the biggest shame of this season not happening yet is I think that it was turning. I felt like with Joe Girardi, the fans in this city were going to give him more of a benefit of the doubt than they gave Gabe Kavler. And they were going to give him leeway. And they were going to say, even if they lose it a couple games in a row, it's not that big of a deal because Girardi's a guy that is going to

hone him back in and get him ready to go. That's what I think the biggest loss of the season is. I think the city would have been way more behind that team. I don't think it had anything to do with the players. I think they love Bryce. I think they love JT Romito. I just think that, you know, they didn't get the benefit of the doubt of who was leading them.

Yeah. I mean, from the beginning, Joe Girardi was, I don't know, he was more Philadelphia than anything. And it doesn't mean there was no acting involved. There was no script. He was just real. Yeah, and James says this all the time. It's just being real. That's why Bryce, like from day one, even though he was this real. Yeah, that's the biggest. And James says this all the time. It's just being real.

That's why Bryce, like from day one, even though he was this super mega star, he's been the face of baseball since he was 17, Bryce Harper felt real. He felt like a Philadelphian. That's what was so crazy about it. That's what's so crazy about Bryce Harper coming here and the preconceived notions of how he was down in Washington. All that went away when he became a philly because he felt like a real person and and gerardi you just said it a real person from day one yeah

yeah i mean look when it comes down to things i've i've told you this jack off air um which is the one thing i knew as a as a player nothing be scripted here. You can't sit there and think about what you're going to say because the moment that you think about what you're going to say, people think that you're fake. And so, you know, as everyone grew up with Harry, with Whitey, obviously now with Scott and L.A., on the radio side, like you hear the realness, right? There's nothing scripted.

Like LA is not sitting there going, I have to get this on the air today. Everything's so real. And I feel like when you go to a manager, like everything he says, you believe because it's not, I don't know. There's no paper in front of him telling him, hit this point, hit this point, not this bullet point but hit that bullet point there's none of that and like for you guys being philly fans growing up your whole life you feel that well especially in comparison to what we just came

from and no offense to gabe capler i mean i think we like gabe more than most but if you were going to say anything about gabe capler it's that everything felt scripted everything felt planned everything felt pre-packaged you know every single answer he had was so like formulaic and so just pre-packaged whereas gerardi it's it's you guys nailed it on that like he feels real like i feel like i could go get a beer with joe gerardi and talk baseball and it would just a wine he likes yeah whatever whatever works but the point is I feel like I'd be hanging out with a buddy like you didn't feel that with Gabe and it's no no ripping on Gabe like he just he just didn't fit here like and it's no offense he just was not a Philly guy and I hate to like boil it down to

something like that so it's so cliche but that's I know it's the only way to explain it trust me I understand it on it's dead on it's just the truth I understand it being a California boy as well but I I don't know like for me this city represents a realness a blue-collaredness that he may have possessed, but it is like, again, the analytics stuff. Like, if he didn't mention anything about analytics the first couple months, people probably would have liked him. But the fact he came in and was touting that, I think that's where it rubbed people wrong.

You're not going to change the game on us. Like, if it went unsaid, it went unsaid on the whole thing and they just ran it the way they did do you think it would have changed because i look at joe gerardi he's already said he goes look i'm a i'm a mix i love the old school but i'm a numbers guy i love all the data well it's so funny how he goes from binder joe in new york saying all he does is use numbers to real baseball guy in philadelphia yeah yeah but i, that is how it's perceived, right? If it's not shoved down your throat here, it is a beautiful thing.

It is something that you're going to give it a chance, but you're not going to tell a fan how to act. I'm not going to tell a fan, don't boo this guy. This guy's really playing hard. That's their opinion. Yeah, you can't tell people how to feel. You just can't in any walk of life, but particularly in this city as a manager or coach of a team.

Like, you can't tell us how to feel. Like, it's never going to work. It's never going to work if you try and tell us, hey, you know, it's not his fault. He's playing really hard. Like, it's never going to fly with us. Like, again, it goes back to the being real thing like just be real and Girardi is is particularly good because not only is he real but he's also a master of finding ways to deflect things or move around things without it feeling

like he like when he's been on with Angelo like Angelo will ask him a question he finds a way to sidestep it and still give Angelo something that feels like a real honest asked him a question he finds a way to sidestep it and still give angelo something that feels like a real honest answer to a question but it's not the question angelo it's so impressive it's so impressive but that takes talent that's a talent absolutely i mean he was in new york for a decade but he's amazing at it. It is very impressive. Oh, I love that you said that.

But, I mean, okay, so now that we have gotten a little bit about you guys, James Seltzer and Jack – I'm going my Charlie Manuel route. You got to check your notes to see who it was. Is it Fitzy? Yeah, I'd say. No, no, no, with an R? Fritz? Yeah, yeah.

Fritz? Yeah. Yeah, nice. Jack brought this one up earlier, James, and he goes, where would the Phillies be right now? Not only just in San Francisco playing, but like where would you see them had the season been going up? What a sad hypothetical.

Oh, it's the worst. But it's the truth. It just makes you think because of things that you might have seen or heard during spring training, what was it that you feel like they would be at? It's a great question. Appreciate it. That's all Jack, though. Yeah.

Well, I came into this season – and, again, it's so funny because we're always talking, like, they feel like a 90-win team or an 80-whatever team. And, like, that's meaningless now because, you know, hopefully we get 100 games or 110 games or whatever. If they're a 90-win team in a 100-game season, I think we might have something here. I came into this season expecting them to be, like, an 85-86-win team, somewhere in that general range, a team that was going to likely compete for the second wildcard spot. So I expect them to be a few games over 500. Now, I would say, I guess, is a good way to put it without looking at the schedule and who they were supposed to play and how tough it was early on versus later and all that.

But I think that if nothing else, and going back to Girardi, I think we would have seen a team that was playing fundamentally smart baseball. I think we would be watching a team and we would be saying right now, there are only a few games over 500, but you know what? I really like the way this team plays. I like the way they go about their business. They play hard. They play smart. There are not a lot of stupid mistakes every night,

not a lot of errors, Not a lot of this. I think we would feel good about the way they went about their business, even if they weren't necessarily one of the best teams in baseball. Jack? Yeah, because if I remember correctly from looking at the schedule, they had a lot of road games early against a tough – if I remember correctly, it was a tough early April and then really eased up around this time.

So I could see the first couple weeks being like meltdown city. But I also think that, and I said it a little bit ago, but I think Girardi would have given a lot of the fan base leeway that they did not give Gabe Kapler. So if they started slow, I feel like a lot of the talk would be like, they'll figure it out, Girardi's got it. Even though the importance of a manager can sometimes be overrated, the thing that I always believed about this Phillies team just from watching from afar

and not being around them every day was that, sure, the in-game moves might not affect the outcome of a game that much, but just the general attitude in the clubhouse and the general professionalism, I think you would have gotten, for example, i think segura would have had a really really good bounce back year and

i think he would have been a you would have remembered that gene segura is a career 300 hitter i think that's what the the talk around gene segura not be not running out one ball that honestly doesn't matter it would be oh crap gene segre is a 320 hitter and he's our third baseman right now like um and i i really do wonder if the if the calls for alec bohm would have been as heavy as they as they were but you know he probably would have raked down in triple a but i don't know that like i think i think segura was going to make it tough for for alec bohm to come up and take his job so you know i had pretty much by the time the season kind of got shut down, I was talking to myself and just about everything.

You know, the Bryce Harper bounce, not bounce back, but really breakout season. I mean, I legitimately think that, you know. You're on the same page as me. I said he was going to win the MVP to Jack. Right. Like everyone on this podcast thought that Bryce Harper was going to finish. Well, Jack, tell James what my numbers I had for him.

Oh, you had, it was 41-135? 45-135. Oh, buddy. 45. Yeah, I said to Jack, like, I don't, like, you can never know if, like, who knows, Mookie Betts or Yellich or someone has this, like, insane season on 110-win baseball. You never know what's going to happen.

But I was like, Bryce Harper is going to be one of the two or three guys we're talking about at the end of the year is like the MVP guys. Like he might win it. He might not, but he's going to have an MVP season was my thought. When I think the biggest thing for me, I didn't know about MVP, but it felt like this was the season Bryce was going to remind all of baseball that, uh, yeah, I'm pretty good at this. You know, I thought it was going to be one of those seasons from Bryce.

And just in watching, you know, Nola in spring training, the ball was down again. And the ball was down. It was sinking. It was diving. And he was focusing down in the zone. It was a lot of soft contact, a lot of ground balls. And it looked back to being the Aaron Nola that we'd saw a season before. And the other thing is that I think the main talk around Philadelphia,

and I really believe this, the main talk around Philadelphia would have been Zach Wheeler was a steal. And I know the contract was massive, but, dude, I watched that guy's final start in spring training, and I was like, oh, my God, we might have gotten Garrett Cole 2.0 here in Philadelphia. The talk around Zach Wheeler would not have been, you know, we gave him, you know, 5-1-20. It would have been like, wow, the Phillies found an undervalued ace in Zach Wheeler.

Yeah, see, I agree on the Wheeler one. I agree on the Bryce one. Nola was the one that I feel like if there's a benefit at all to not having right now, it's, it's the fact that he gets the rest after a couple of 200, you know, in years. Yeah. That's a good point. Huge September loads that he was, you know, having to carry, which didn't end up well for him, but it was, I don't think I'm never going to say that,

that Aaron Nola feels like the way of the world was on his back. Ever. Ever. I just don't feel that way. But in a way, maybe? Dude, you felt like they could only win when it was Nola starts for portions of last season. So, I don't know. I was looking at this as being a huge April, more than anything. Whether who they were playing or not, I really felt like this was going to be a big April. May might have been the cool down.

And the reason why was April, they were going to continue on what they were doing in spring training. Like this team, I never, ever take anything to account in spring training as far as record until you saw the way these guys were playing and it was different like these dudes oh this is this is making me sad no i'm not in it but see it shouldn't make you sad because here's the thing is like this can continue because it's in these guys and i mean like.D. Gregorius had done nothing in spring training. He finally got his first hit in my last game.

I mean, he was hitting the crap out of the ball, but, I mean, had nothing to show for it. That's how the game goes. Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I felt like if there was anything, it was going to be a huge April, and that's why I think I was pissed when everything went down, and obviously for obvious reasons,

it's not like anything that we're going, eh, I don't understand why we're no, I get it. But it's like, man, I saw, I saw something great.

Doesn't mean I, I meant like these guys are going to be in the playoffs or going like, I don't know. That's, that's the beauty of baseball. There's all this time. But question is how excited are you? If,

and when it does come back, because I'm going to say when it comes back. It's going to be a sprint. I know. That's what has me the most excited almost is that it's going to be unlike anything we've ever really seen. It's going to be like Jeff Jenkins in 2008. My boy.

That's my brother. That's my big brother. Well, tell him that this baseball season is going to be like him in Game 5 in 2008. Well, also thank him for what he did in Game 5. Okay, so you're going to cut this for you guys? Say from Philadelphia, Jeffrey, Gioff, my guy, thank you. Yeah. So you're going to cut that right there in that spot.

I'm going to send it to him because we love him. We all love Jeff Jenkins so much. I think it's the best fist pump in Philadelphia sports. Oh, it's so good. So good. It's up there. Really? The Chris Wheeler fist pump after they won was amazing.

But the Jeff Jenkins fist pump, like, that's how everyone was. He was summing up every philadelphians uh you know feeling at that time and jeff jenkins so the funniest part about jeff jenkins i feel like he was like my friend's dad and and that like that was basically my friend's dad going out there and hitting a double in game five of the world series yeah don't don't put that in there because i won't send that to him no but you have to like, you have to understand, like for me, like Jeff, he, he met the world to me living in Arizona after I lost my brother. Like he was there like around that time. And, and he, he befriended me. And the next thing you know, we have this like really close relationship and that dude's amazing. So I was

living through him. Like I was, this is the year that I had torn my Achilles. Things weren't great. I'm in the fall league. I'm watching this and going absolutely berserk because this – like, the delay, right? And you're knowing that there's a chance that he could be leading up. You didn't know. And that's the beauty about Charlie and the fact that he just tapped him about, like, ten minutes before and said, like, oh, by the way, you're hitting.

He didn't give him the two days to think about it. That moment, I still could feel that yell and everything that he was giving off. I was screaming in my condo. I was like, this was insane. It was unbelievable.

It's still unbelievable. They waited over two days to freaking finish the game. It's just crazy. Speaker 3 4th, and then the, the greatest heads up play and Jack would agree with it. Yes. The chase play. Maybe that was our Kevin. That was our biggest takeaway from the last podcast we did was we did a deep dive of game five god and our biggest our biggest takeaway was like why is that chase play not talked about as as one of the great if not the greatest plays in philly's history like why is that not revered and jack brought up a great comp like that jeter play against the a's in the playoffs where everyone's like oh don't treat her like that was the same

play like it was the same type of i mean a different specific play but like the same play. Like it was the same type of – I mean a different specific play, but like the same type of idea of like heads up, smart baseball where in the biggest of moments you know exactly what to do and where to go with the ball. Like that's what you learn in Little League. That's what you learn as a kid from your dad. It's like whenever in any situation, my dad used to always say, no matter where you are in the field, no matter what's happening, you need to know exactly what to do, not just if the ball comes to you,

but wherever it goes in any situation. And that was like the quintessential example of that type of play. I don't know why it's not revered as like the, one of the great plays in Philly's history. Cause it was, it was everything. That play was everything. I told Jack that the reason why I don't think it is as far as major league baseball i'm just giving the the broad perspective is because chase did that every day and maybe not that specific play but everything was so heads up and thought forward right like you was and you

could say some things about jeter but i don't look at his defense i'm not a guy that sits there and says derrick jeter was a great defender he wasn't he really wasn't yeah it really wasn't and that play shortstop when he came over they just you know jeter played there obviously but that play was a better defensive shortstop he kind of should have been there already you know it was just i think a little bit like just how everything kind of evolved and it was the glove flip right that was kind of like why it was talked about. The chase one, I mean, it was an unbelievable play. But it was the fact that I feel like people didn't really take into account that, oh, this happens a lot. This guy does every heads-up baseball thing ever.

So you become immune to it. I almost equate it to like Omar Vizquel and the things that he did defensively yes he won all these gold gloves but i don't think people understood how ahead of the game he was you know and and things that he did defensively that you're looking at and going oh my god you took it for granted you took you took that play from chase for granted because you almost expected something like that yeah um i think it's a great point and look the chase utley you're the man play another perfect example you know just he was

always so attuned to what was happening in that moment and was such a smart heady baseball player that you're right he made the the kind of stuff that we shouldn't take for granted we took it for granted well that's the coolest part about him is that like i was playing baseball during that time like i was still developing and whatnot and you know every single wait you're you're still developing yeah did you ever develop uh i would say i peaked my junior junior year i would say junior year 2011 i still remember uh Junior year. I would say junior year, 2011. I still remember 2011 was my senior year.

I still remember Chase Utley's first game back, hit an absolute tank off of James McDonald, and I was like, oh, it's showtime. Actually, no. That was 2012. That was your team that went down to the Astros and completely blew it. That was earlier that year. But Chase, when I was growing up, every single one of my coaches, to a T, would say, go home and watch Chase Utley. And him making that play in the World Series, you're right.

It was like, that's just Chase being Chase. But if that was Jeter who made that play, it would go down of like, oh, Derek Jeter, classic, always makes the heads-up play. But in classic Philadelphia bias, they don't show it in the same light i mean that play from from jeter was great and all but it was the fact that like you got to think about it he made these incredible plays or you know doctored him up a little bit and people were enamored by that and he had all these championships and people were enamored by that it was like they were trying to build a legend they were trying to build in my mind a unanimous hall of famer they were i i always

felt like that doesn't take away like dude was a great player i'm not he was a hall of fame player for sure but chase did those things every day and i'm not we're not talking offensively we're talking defensively but he didn't do it as smooth as jeter when jeter made those plays too so i feel like people are like oh this is incredible it's like you know i i don't know i i just get what jeter is that's then jeter is also in people's lives for a long time i mean 96 comes up and they're in a world series he also won right away. Like, he won three World Series in four years, like, immediately. I mean, that, you know, I think that people just were like, oh, he's a winner.

He's Mr. November. Like, he had that kind of aura about him just from the jump. The Mr. November. Yeah. And listen, listen, people, they tried to make him into the Jordan of baseball. And he's just not, like, Jordan was on tried to make him into the Jordan of baseball, and he's just not, like Jordan was on a different stressor. And listen, all I'm saying is that Chase Utley was a better player than Derek Jeter.

He just was. If we're talking about seven-year peaks, he's just a better player. I'm sorry. Yeah, well, we also talked about, I mean, Kevin Franzen started the pod talking about Barry Bonds, who is like 8 trillion times a better baseball player than Derek Jeter. Needles or not, Barry Bonds was a billion times better. Yeah, you're never going to hear me say anything other than the fact that he was the best. Best I've ever seen.

As a 38-year-old, Kevin, you and I are about the same age. He is the best I've ever seen, and it's not close. Not even close. It is so definitive that age. He is the best I've ever seen, and it's not close. Not even close. It is so definitive that Barry Bonds is the best I ever saw. I'll fight to the death about it. Well, here's the other thing that people forget. He was getting absolutely one pitch a game. I know.

That's so crazy. In the one year he hits, what was it? It wasn't the 73 years. It was his monster years, 03. It was his monster year in 03. When he had a 609 OBP. Yeah. He had 30. What is that?

What is that? 30 swing and misses. 609 OBP. Over 60% of the time you step to the plate, you get on base. Like, that's asinine. It's absurdity. 40% of the time you're getting out. that's asinine well it's absurdity 40 percent of the time you're getting out like that that's what they can tell us his 41 strikeouts i think i i i'm not gonna say exactly how many we're looking i'm sure baseball reference has it but it was so stupid

it was 30 swing and misses the entire season that's that's tony gwynn right that's tony gwynn 30 swing and misses the entire season. That's Tony Gwynn, right? That's Tony Gwynn with the power of 45 homers. You're just going, like, come on. Like, that's not right. All right, so, Jack, on your point, yes, we did go into Houston. Yes, we did, you know, S on ourselves.

Sure did. We played in front of a high, I think, of 13,000 fans. They had a 40-man roster that was absolutely to the fullest. Here's the other part. They, at I think three of the four games, they had a triple-barrel bullpen going for at least four innings. So they – They would go left, right, left, left, right, left. They would have those, and it was like, really?

So they're doing everything in their power to keep you guys out of the playoffs? It was weird. Yeah, well, because they had Tony DeFrancesco, who was the interim manager at the time. He had won all these championships with the Sacramento Rivercats. He was trying to make his name in September for them. That didn't happen. But I agree.

We did choke it. We did choke it. But, hey, look, yours truly went 5 for 14 in that series. So, I mean, I only made errors, but that was it. Right. Well, who cares about errors? It's all about what you do at the plate. Yeah.

I was watching the video yearbook last night because I love watching video yearbooks they're my substitution for not having baseball and i uh i had the 2012 one sent to me i was like ah you know i kind of forget this year because that was that was when i was my first year at college so like i was kind of getting ready to play college baseball and then being terrible at playing college baseball um and i remember the houston series was like oh wow like this wow. It felt like the Phillies were about to make their run, and unfortunately it did not happen. No, no. Thanks for reminding me.

No, it's no problem. I'll remind you. Anytime you need me to remind you, I'll bring it up. James, you know I played on a broken leg that last month, month and a half. No way. Really? Yeah. Holy.

Spiral stress fracture in my leg. Yeah, that's insane. There's games I had to take off. I missed the whole series against the Rockies. Like we were talking about before, it's very Philadelphia of you, Kevin. Listen, Kevin Franson, Philly guy. I didn't tell anyone. I mean, other than, you know, like, Scott Sheridan, who was –

he knew, like, because this is my opportunity to play. Like, people freaked out because they're like, oh, this guy – he's not this. I'm like, I am maybe not the, like the 340 hitter or whatever it was that year every day. But when you play every day, that's what happens. And when you're a bench guy, you're not going to put up those numbers. It's just a fact. And so, whatever.

Can I ask you one question about that? To be fair, you did bat 338 that year, though, in 2012. That's pretty awesome. I mean, I was just S-ing on balls everywhere. Let me ask one question. I had like 50 doubles if you combined AAA and the big leagues that year. It's a monster year. How the hell did you bunt that one ball that was at your face?

Dude, but the best part about it was me like juking out Cairo. I know, it was an insane play. It was, A, number one, wanting to get it down. And, you know, if you put your mind to it, I always said that, like if you want to, no, no, no, seriously,

if you want to bunt, all these guys that don't bunt or can't bunt, they don't want to be in there and doing it. I wanted to be in there to bunt, all these guys that don't bunt or can't bunt, they don't want to be in there and doing it. I wanted to be in there to bunt. I don't care. I mean, that was a run for us, right? And the ball was thrown in my face, and I'm like, oh, God.

It was all reaction. It was no talent involved. It was just I was protecting my face. I'd already been hitting my face once. Didn't want that again. Just happened to be in a perfect spot. Yeah, you learned your lesson i did i did all right so uh end of the show with the high hopes podcast james seltzer and jack fritz uh got a question for you guys do you want to play a game

i love games do you know about waffle or not no i do not, thanks for listening to the podcast. Appreciate it. Usually we have players on and I'll ask if they waffled a certain guy or not. I don't want any cheating on this. OK, but I'm going to get a. I'm going to name the guy who they faced. You're going to say yes or no. You're going to say waffle or not. OK, how about that? And then at the end end of it i'll tell you which ones were correct okay okay so i'm gonna start

out with uh jim tomey um we're gonna go with uh tim wakefield and roger. What do we got? I'm so confused. Yeah. So what are we doing here? Did Jim Tomei waffle Tim Wakefield? Did he waffle Roger Clemens? What does waffle mean? God, I thought you would actually be up in the lingo.

That means owning someone. Did they own? Did they waffle a ball? Did they hit that shot? You know what out of the ball? I knew. I'll go first. I'll go first. I'm going to say he waffled Roger Clemens, but Tim Wakefield waffled

Jim Tomey. I'm going to say, well, I've got to go the opposite. He waffled Tim Wakefield. You don't have to go the opposite. No, this is what I do. I go the opposite all the time. I would say that Jim Tomey waffled Tim Wakefield and

Roger Clemens waffled him. Chase Utley. Derek Lowe and John Neese. Oh, so he definitely waffled Derek Lowe and John Neese waffled him. Yeah, I agree with Jack on that one. John Neese.

Shout out to John Neese. How about it? I mean, who did he win the bet off of to get his nose fixed? No, seriously. Someone picked up the tab on him. Did they really? Yes. Because he had a nose, man. That was a noser.

Absolutely. Okay. Mike Schmidt. We have Big Daddy, Rick Russell, and Tom Seaver. And who was the other Rick Russell and Tom Seaver and who was the other one? and Tom Seaver oh man I'm going to say

just to go against the game I'm going to say Waffled Seaver so she goes more later Seaver than Schmidt would have gotten and he got Waffled by Rick Russell I'm going to say the same as James he Waffled Tom Seaver and Rick Russell waffled by rick russell i'm gonna say the same as james he waffled tom seaver and rick russell waffled him okay kevin franzen got waffled by everybody is that cole hamels and john danks oh dude john danks ate your lunch

white socks john danks i remember Danks. Rangers first and then. I will say that you waffled Cole Hamels and John Danks waffled you. I agree with Jack. So the winner of the day would be James Hilton. Nice.

And the reason why, Jim Tomei against Tim Wakefield was a 185 hitter with a 691 OPS. Wow. Roger Clemens, 355 with a 1293 OPS, eight homers. That's Waffles. That's awesome. Chase, I don't know.

Do you guys know the numbers off of Derek Lowe? No, I just remember the. Yeah, I remember him owning Derek Lowe. I just remember the one home run in 2000. I vaguely remember with Neese with the Mets that for some reason Utley wasn't great against Neese. I always put Neese and Lannan in the same thing. I always hated John Lannan. Well, there's a reason for that, too.

He broke Utley's hand. Yeah, exactly. Who would have won the MVP that year? Of course he would have won. He was unbelievable. Neese was better than... Peak Neese was better than Peak L have won. He was unbelievable. He was better than – Okay. Like, I think Pete Knies was better than Pete Glennon. He was.

I agree. Derek Lowe, 20 for 44. Wow. 455, 1353 OPS, four bombs. John Knies, 094, 288, and that was in 32 at bat. So it's not like a few. Mike Schmidt, you both had right. No, wait. Yeah, no, you had both right. No, wait.

Yeah, no, you had both wrong. You had both wrong. Oh, so he was good against Seaver Schmidt. No, you guys said he waffled Seaver. He didn't. He was 16 for 85. Right, the other way. That's what I meant.

He was bad against Seaver. Rick Russell, 52 for 129. Whoa. That's good for a 403 average. 11.42 is seven tanks. What do you think Rick Russell thought every time Mike Schmidt would come to the plate? I wonder what he's eating. I'm a fat man pitching in Major League Baseball.

Rick Russell, he was a Philly. I loved Rick Russell. He was a giant. He was a giant. Out there, too. Oh, yeah. He was a legend. Yeah, this is two old guys talking. I don't even know who he is. This is my era. I'm Out there, too. Oh, yeah. He was a legend. Yeah, this is two old guys talking.

I don't even know who he is. This is my era. I'm with you, Kevin. And then for myself, you guys are both right. Yeah, I don't know who Rick Russell is. Cole Hamels I owned. Russell. Russell.

He did own Cole Hamels. I knew that. I had a 1308 OPS. I was six for 13, two doubles, a homer. You know, shot him, change up. He fanned his glove. 3-2 pitch. Got it. John Danks is your kryptonite, huh? doubles a homer you know shot him change up he fanned his glove three two pitch got it

john danks is your kryptonite huh bro him and him and craig kimbrell well kimbrell kimbrell there was a reason john danks how about this in like the minor leagues i destroyed him destroyed him i get to the big leagues every time i face them i'm like the hell is it i mean i was over 10 three punchies i was like come on like i don't think i hit a ball hard off him no i just i just can't believe you just compared john thanks to craig kimbrell well no they they had i was over 10 against both i think well at least one makes sense well yeah that's true the last time i so before i let you guys go last time i faced craig kimbrell I was in 14 with Washington.

I faced him at the end of a game. I line out the center. I absolutely pee on a ball. I absolutely, like, nutted this thing. And it was right at the center fielder. No movement, nothing. I was like, I went down the line with my hand up and a fist up, and their whole dugout was rolling.

Because I was like, they knew how much he owned me. I didn't think I hit a ball outside of the on deck, whole dugout was rolling because I was like, they knew how much he owned me. I didn't think I hit a ball outside of the on deck, like not even the on deck circle, the front circle, like right in front of home plate, like the front cutout. I did not hit a ball in front of it either because I sucked. I fouled balls off. I struck out.

That was the first ball I think I put in play that was past the pitcher's mouth. Now, Kimbrell, did the fastball rise? I swear to God it did. I swear to you guys, every time you're in there, you're thinking a ball is going in the dirt, a fastball going in the dirt, and then it would hover. It would hit this

thing and it would just go... And you're going, what? No way. Every time I watched him, I was like, I know fastballs can't rise, but that dude's fastball is definitely rising. You know who else is rising? My podcast after this because I had you guys, and I'm going to have you guys tweeting this out

because you guys are way better at this stuff than I am, and I'm not a self-promoter, but I got to at least rank in the 800s. Right. I got to get to one. I got to get to one. I got to get to one. We'll get you into at least the 700s. I appreciate that. And if you can get the High Host podcast, anywhere you get your podcast, what would you say is Apple iTunes?

Spotify. Spotify. You can go to WIP, I'm sure, and find it there. The radio.com app. The radio.com app. James, Jack, you guys are the best for coming on. I appreciate it. Oh, it's our pleasure, Kevin. Seriously. Thanks for having us, man. This is great. Won't be the last time. My friend.