High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - A Split That Sorta Felt Like a Loss But Also, We'll Take It?

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to the Phillies splitting a four game series with the Braves and more. Presented by Miller Lite. 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

This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes! It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Phillies on Odyssey and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo! It is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast. I had no, it's like the least idea of what I've ever had to do with the Yo, because I have no idea.

Like, two of four, sure, that was good. But you win the first two, you lose the last two. Thank God for the Cincinnati Reds, Jack Fritz. Not something I was expecting to say. By the way, presented by Miller Lite, official partner of the Philadelphia Phillies. I don't know where I'm at. Where are you at with this team, Jack?

It's like we're limping towards the playoffs. We're still a game and a half lead with 11 to play all on the road and you know the game and a half which means two and a half yep they've fallen behind the padres you know it's it's um you know there was some good nola ranger some bad everything else uh i don't know where you at how you doing by the way doing good i'm doing good um jill doing good. Jill doing good? Quick Jill update? We'll do that all the time now?

Jill's doing fine. She would have liked to have seen at least three or four taken this weekend by the Phils. Oh, yeah. But I will say, at least they didn't lose three or four because there was some talk about that heading in. Yeah, yeah. There was. There was some.

And they didn't do that, so that was good. It's like they're pretty much doing exactly what I didn't want them to do, which is, like, I still think they're going to make the playoffs. Like, I'm not in that mode. I'm not in the, like, oh, everything sucks, whatever. Like, they're not. I mean, I think they're going to make the playoffs. I feel pretty good about that. Two and a half games with, you know, their magic numbers down to what?

Eight. So listen, like, yeah. And, and, and, you know, no one wants to hear it right now, but they do have, you know, seven theoretically easy games coming up. Oh yeah. I know. And by the way, real quick, like I'm already annoyed at the, well, the Ashers have nothing to play for like the rays

had nothing to play for in 2020 2020 or whatever and i think the phil's got swept that last weekend of the year the phillies had nothing to play for in 2011 maybe they should have acted like it yeah um so they're pretty much doing exactly what i didn't want them to do which was limp into the playoffs have the city not that excited about ending the playoff drought like we'll be excited Well, they're pretty much doing exactly what I didn't want them to do, which was limp into the playoffs, have the city not that excited about ending the playoff drought. Like, we'll be excited, but they just, they're not getting any of the wind at our sails, you know, and letting us just, like, fully buy in.

They're not letting us fully be trusting in them, not letting us be like, I love this team, I'm all in, they have a chance to go make the nlds and stuff like that like they are capitalizing on the brewers not being that good which is fine whatever um and like they're still not playing good baseball like there was there's still too much losing baseball happening with this team and and yesterday was a classic example like they should have won that game James I gotta be honest I woke up this morning and I know like

95% of the city I would say was like oh Eagles win Jalen Hurts superstar MVP my first thought was how the bleep did David Robertson bounce a curveball one two throw a 58 footer in that situation are closer that

has big game experience. Like, how do you do that in that situation? How are it with runners in first and second with no outs? Do you not move the runner along? Like at that point, you don't need a big inning. Like you don't need a big inning. I know the whole offensive philosophy for the entire rest of the game is go for the big inning, whatever.

At that point, you've got to play winning baseball. Get the run home. Get the run home. It's not that hard. It's not that hard. You are big league baseball players. So yesterday, I was dying on the air, James. I'm doing the fifth quarter, and as Michael Harris is the ball over

Gene Segura's head, you can audibly hear me go, ugh, and then have to make an Eagles point. Like, this, I just, I can't, they have to start playing smarter. It's bad base running. It's bad defense. It's bad situational hitting. It's walking pitchers or walking batters.

Like, it's, Friday night was beautiful. Like, 9-1 gorgeous. Knowles pitched well. Ranger was brilliant. But, like, then yesterday happens, and it's like, that's a game that truly great teams, or good teams even, win. You gotta win that game.

And they're still just missing that. And they've been doing that for the last three weeks, and four weeks, or whatever. And that's what is just frustrating me right now yeah and honestly i can't decide if they're lucky that the eagles are playing so well so no one's paying attention to them you know not playing well or if they're unlucky because no one's excited at all about the the chance to make the playoffs it kind of the double-edged sword there um and it's certainly you know the the chance to make the playoffs. It kind of the double edged sword there.

And it's certainly, you know, the, you know, we work in radio. We know like the Eagles have taken all of it. Like there is very little excitement about the Phillies. There's only, you know, griping about, you know, what feels like a September collapse. And that's the thing is like, they're not, they haven't, they haven't collapsed yet. You know, they are a clear mathematical favorite to make the playoffs considering the games left, considering their schedule. Like, you know, they should make the playoffs mathematically and just logically, pragmatically, they should make the playoffs.

But it just, to your point and what you talked about, like it just, they don't feel like a playoff team right now. They just don't, they don't feel anything like it. They feel a lot more like the September teams of the past than a playoff team right now they just don't they don't feel anything like it they feel a lot more like the september teams of the past than a playoff team and it felt like it was turning right you know like that that you know what was a five game losing streak and we're all you know even me who has been mr you know they're gonna be fine they're gonna be fine the whole time is like all right you know before we did our last pod and then they come back and they win that game that game against the blue jays the baby fritz game and and then they come back and they win that game, that game against the Blue Jays, the Baby Fritz game,

and it was such an important win. And then they win that first two against the Braves. And again, to your point, win a really nice, tough, tight baseball game, and then they blow them out, and you're just sitting there like, all right, man, like, yes. You did it. You did it. All year long, whenever we doubt right, man. Like, yes. You did it. You did it. All year long, whenever we doubt him,

you battle adversity and then right back. And then the last two. And look, the Saturday game, like, right, that happens, okay? Yeah, no big deal. They played, no big deal, right? They just lost. They got beat. It happens.

And I actually thought that. Kyle Gibson sucks. I actually thought on Saturday, I actually thought they fought pretty well. Like, I thought, I think Bailey just wasn't good. That was the Bailey game. Yeah. Gibson was yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Your boy was yesterday. Um, but the, but the game Saturday, I was like, you know what? They lost, but, but they, they came back, they made it a game. They had a chance in the ninth. Like I'm not going to do well. I do have a loser mentality for most things, but like,

you know, it's a baseball game. You're going to lose that. I thought Saturday was like, you know what? Thursday and Friday were winning good baseball. They had a bad start from Bailey. He's been really good for the last, you know, month, month and a half. And they lost the game. That's perfectly fine. The Braves are good. We know the Braves are good.

It's just yesterday should have been such a win. And you just continue to see like just the Braves being that much better, James. Like, it's just, they're closer. You know, they're close. They're definitely closer than they've been in years past. That little bit. It's that little bit that the Braves have it and the Phillies just don't.

And that's, I can't, I used to not be able to handle loss of the Mets, James. I still think I handle loss of the mets james i still think i handle loss of the braves worse yeah they always feel worse yeah they feel worse if you obviously that seven to one game against the mets is like you know uh when we don't forget but otherwise it doesn't feel like it's like these close games where you're getting our souls crushed it's just like you lose them like the braves it always feels like they find a way to crush our soul. And, you know, over a course of a series, you know,

you're going to have a nail-biter, you know, heartbreaking loss, and you're going to get your doors blown off in a game. And, like, that's just like a lock against the Braves, it feels like. And, look, to be fair, you know what? What you're saying is obviously true, but of course it's true. I mean, this Braves team, obviously they won the World Series last year, but this is a team that's been in the playoffs, what, five years in a row? Something like that?

I mean, they are a battle-tested team with a lot of guys who have played these games and won these games. And, you know, that's the thing that's been so frustrating about the losses, the five-game losing streak, and then yesterday. It's felt like, to your point, like a Phillies team that, for lack of a better word, and they're not quite this bad, but they feel like losers in those spots. They feel like losers in that a team that doesn't know how to win when it matters. And that's obviously compounded by the last four Septembers, five Septembers, whatever it is, where we've kind of consistently gotten crushed. And that, you know, adds to how we feel right now. But the way they play, to your point, it seems like when the chips are down, they play their dumbest and worst baseball, whereas the Braves play their best baseball. And that's just a, it's like clear. It's just the Phillies are not there yet. They're not at the Braves level when it comes to playing in big,

important games. Yeah. And you hope that as we go along here with, you know, Rob Thompson taking over and Dave Dombrowski, I mean, Dombrowski's whole thing is he's not an analytics guy. He is a eye test. This is what a winner, you you know kind of looks like and honestly that's what anthropolis was like with the braves i mean i mean he's he's younger and

he's more new new age but he was like you know one of the the younger gms back with like theo you know what i mean like where now those kind of gms are viewed as old school with how the sport has gone. And it's like, it's so, it's so tough to put into words how I feel about this team right now, because like, obviously I love them. And obviously I want them to make the playoffs. Like if they collapse again, I don't know if I can do it, James. Like I just, I genuinely don't know if I can do it. It's been so long.

They are in such an easy spot where if they just do their jobs and get in, and then it's whatever. Who knows what happens in the first round? I mean, it's a three-game series. You should have Weir learned all of it. And you have Zach Wheeler, you know. And I do think having 10 straight road games, you know, being in that environment where you're used to being on the road.

11. Yeah, because it's three against the Cubs, four against the Nats, and three against Houston. Oh, there's 11? Oh, you're talking in this series. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

No, I'm saying, oh, there's 10 games left, right? Or is there 11? No, there's 11. There's 11. Okay. Whatever. It's three against the Cubs, four against the Nats, three against Houston.

Okay. So there's 11 games left on the road. And I do think that, you know, being on the road for that long, if they make it and they finish it out, I do think that gives them a little bit of an edge. Like, we've been on the road for the last 11 games. Road warriors kind of thing? Yeah.

Like, I think there's some part to that. And I do think that the last couple games at home, like, just you can feel the tension, you know? Like, I know their record at home is really good. But it's just these last couple games at home like just you can feel the tension you know like i know their record at home is really good but it's just these last couple games have just it feels like the crowd's like please don't do this again like please don't do this again it hasn't been like overwhelming like throwing the support behind the team and going um you know so i i think that going on the road almost is like an exhale for them at this point i know the last time they went on the road was a west coast trip, whatever. But I just,

that's kind of my general sense right now, but I just don't know how to feel about them. Like I, I just, I wish they were playing a more inspiring brand of baseball. And I, and you know, if there wasn't that third wild card and we're going along here,

we would be talking about them, them faltering down the stretch in September again, because that's basically what they've been doing the last couple of weeks. You know, they're gaming off back of the Padres now. Like they have, they, they,

we would have been, you know, talking about them in the last playoff spot for the last little while. And, and over the last, you know, week, they would have fallen out of it and they would be out of the playoffs right

now. If they hadn't had the third wildcard. I just can't put my blinders on and see like, oh, well, 83 wins and they're already over last year's win total and they're on pace to win what? Like 88, 89 wins

and that? Because they're in position to make the playoffs. If they don't now, it's another checkmark in the collapse column they're in position to make the playoffs. They are, they, if they don't now, it's a, it's another check mark in the collapse column, which is what five shirts.

It's the biggest. It's the biggest by far. Like nothing's even close. Because this team has been so much better than those past teams. This team has been good. They had a big lead in September. Like those other teams collapsed, but they didn't have like, the Phillies were up four and a half games,

five and a half for the tiebreaker in September. Right. And I can't... It's hard for me to do the macro, like, well, they split against the Braves thing, when they should have won that game yesterday. That game is sticking with me, where it's like, that little bit is just missing.

That little bit, that little clutch factor. And I don't know why David Robertson, who's pitched in a thousand of these things, how does that happen? How does that happen? How are you walking a batter every single time? It's every single time he comes in, he's walking someone. Whether it's a leadoff hitter or with one out, you are you you're like 37 years old you've pitched in a million of these things like every every after every post game it's like well i gotta stop walking people to stop walking people you know

like i just i can't i can't i can't do it anymore um so i don't know i just you know some of what we do is stream of consciousness on this podcast and that's just that's where i'm at right now like it's it's like i i they took they split but that game yesterday sucked and they haven't played good baseball in september they're not doing what winning teams do and it's like i just i need them to again i said this last time last time like you gotta just figure it out you gotta figure it out this city I don't I don't think it will re it's gonna be hard for this city to come back if they if they if they blow it again here like it's gonna be hard for them to after another September collapse to be like oh this this year's the year where it's different like this should be the year where it's different. This should be the year where it's different.

Yeah, look, if they, I mean, again, they're not even getting people now, right? And that's one of the things we talked about is that there isn't excitement in this. I mean, the Phillies, you know, obviously are in the worst part of this kind of, you know, stretch run that they've had. But, you know, for the most part,

for the last three weeks, a month have been like a clear playoff team who's played good baseball who have we been excited about and and the city isn't excited and we've talked about it we've done shows about on wip and we've talked about here and there are a ton of reasons we know that like the last four septembers the you know the lack competitive baseball, like T people don't trust this team. People aren't ready to just jump back in. Like the Phillies have to make the playoffs, not just to, to, you know, keep, keep people coming back. They have to win people back still like by getting there, it will bring people back right now. People are very clearly hedging and

very clearly not willing to jump in with two feet. And then this stuff happens and it just, it just like hammers home that point for a lot of people. It solidifies it in their minds that, that the Phillies aren't worth their attention and aren't worth their time. You know, again, baseball is a commitment. We know that, you know, obviously you were the, the psychos watching one 55 or one 60 or whatever we end up with. If we miss a couple games here and there, I know you will, you know, watch on your honeymoon, but everyone misses a few, but you know, even for, for people just to commit to the end, commit to September, commit to a stretch run. Like it's every night, it's like three and a half hours, three hours every night.

It's a big ask, you know, and you need to win that back from people and you know i don't blame people i get it like they need to earn it and and doing this stuff right now isn't earning it and i mean you keep talking about the loss yesterday i mean thank god the reds won the reds won a 2-1 game the reds lose it's a half game i know they have a tiebreaker but they're essentially tied coming in today if the reds don't win that game. And the Phillies were up five and a half a couple weeks ago, Jack. So, you know, it doesn't matter that they split

because all that matters is winning games against the, you know, more games than the Brewers. You know, like, that's what matters. And they got lucky in that aspect yesterday. Alright. I think I got it out of my system, James. I think now, here are what I in that aspect yesterday all right i think i got it out of my system james i think i think i think i fit now here here what i believe are are the positives okay well yeah i was gonna say let's

get to nola because that i think if we're coming out of the weekend and for and there's a lot we could talk about but i think the single biggest thing was in the you know biggest start of his career potentially or certainly one of them you know you could say that marlin's game to get into the playoffs in 2020 in the shamba season whatever but you know no no it was awesome he was awesome yeah and honestly i i i kind of felt like he was turning that corner a little bit um that game down in atlanta where he allowed four runs and and here's why i think that is that he allowed the four runs and it was like oh here we go again and I think he got pissed like all of a sudden like he came back out after he allowed four runs and I was like wow he kind of picked up his pace a little bit

and he seemed like he was pitching angry which I don't think I've ever seen from Aaron Nola like I've never seen him pitch angry in my entire life but you know I think I thought he started picking up his pace I thought he started being aggressive and i thought he was pitching mad and what i saw on friday night was like he was pitching mad again now it helped that obviously the offense took care of business went out and uh reese had a massive massive uh massive night and you know they they destroyed the braves but i thought that that Nola, the start before in Atlanta, was when he started turning that corner, when he was like, bleep this.

I'm not dealing with the September crap again. And he went out on Friday night and proved it. I mean, that was awesome. So obviously we've been detractors. It's been hard to trust in years past. But I think that start in Atlanta and then bouncing back, doing it again on Sunday or on Friday was about as much trust as I could have in Aaron Nolan in September. Yeah, which, you know, has been a low bar to clear, but he did look great. Obviously,

we need to see him finish out, especially because, you know, the way this is trending, he's going to have a couple more really important starts now again not as against a good as competition but look those have been some real demons for nolan you know a couple starts doesn't change the whole thing but it's really nice to see him having some success in september because it was getting ugly and it was getting you know it was getting uncomfortable he really was and and look good and look good. Get angry, man. Like I, at the end of last season, I hated that he kind of poo pooed the talk about his September's because it was like, dude, own it. Like, I know it sucks, but it's true. Like it's factual. Everyone has a reason to be annoyed with you for how you pitch in September. I'm sorry if you don't like it.

Them's the breaks pitch better. So get mad. I think that's you don't like it. Them's the breaks. Pitch better. So get mad. I think that's fantastic. So, you know, it was good to see. We still got a couple more. An interesting question I want to ask you after we talk about Ranger, because, you know, look, two straight against Atlanta in, you know, two massive starts. And Ranger was awesome in both. Obviously gotten a couple of jams here and there, but really has a knack for working his way out of jams, I think, you know, better than most. You know, I feel, you know, there was so much talk about, you know, who's starting the playoffs, isn't that?

I mean, it's obviously Wheeler, Nola, and Ranger now, but, you know, I feel great about Ranger. The cool, calm, and collected thing we've always talked about, you know, it seems like, you know, that may really transfer to big games like we thought it would. and thank god because i i was like i was so like the last couple starts with him i was like i was pretty down like i was like man come on ranger like you're so much better than that and like you get to the fourth inning second time through a lineup and it would just kind of fall apart and it's like ranger i deal this way deal with this with

everyone else you know i i dealt with it with nola didn't really deal with the wheeler uh cinder guard whatever uh your your guy gibby i mean just the worst when whenever a runner's on base he's automatically scoring all that but i thought ranger was the one where i was like no he's got us and um you know he went through like what a four or five start stretch there where I was like, is he even going to pitch a playoff game if they get in? Because Falter was starting to pitch well, and Ranger just wasn't having that trust level.

But thank God, because this is the Ranger that we saw when he came back from the back spasms. And it's also about who he pitched against. Pitching against the Braves in those spots in big, big games, that just matters so much more than Reds, Pirates, whatever, Nationals. They don't really matter. These have been check

mark starts for Rangers, Juarez, and Aaron Nola in those last two. Thank God. Seems like Rangers back. That's the one thing that if you're looking for a positive out of this weekend, other than splitting and not losing three or four, which some people were projecting. But the positive is that Rangers giving you depth now. Nola in his four starts in September has gone six plus innings in three of them.

Wheeler, you know, I think tomorrow, and I don't know if he has a pitch limit, but I would assume he wouldn't. I mean, it seems like it was 60 last time. I would assume they do have one. Maybe it's 100. Maybe they do 80. I don't know. But yet Wheeler back, he gives you some length. Nola Suarez and Wheeler give you finally some good quality innings on most starts. And then it lets the bullpen kind of take a deep breath. Because the bullpen in the last, I don't know, month and a half, two months, they just look absolutely drained. And they look like their stuff has been falling off a little bit because they've just been overworked

ever since Wheeler gone out and this kind of stuff. So having those guys back should help the bullpen a lot. And honestly, the thing that i can't stop thinking about positively this weekend is is zach efflin and the emergence of of what he's doing i mean holy well first off it's just so refreshing to watch a guy come in and throw strikes out of the bullpen like i know he's always been a strike thrower like that's been the thing with zach efflin um but it's so refreshing seeing it in a reliever-type role. You know, he's never going to be the big wipeout.

I joke about the Andrew Miller thing, where Andrew Miller's shutting down rallies in the middle of games. But if Eflin can come in and just take down two or three innings and throw strikes and let his stuff kind of show, and he's pitching competitively. He's been talking post-game about, I want to be out there, you know, he's pitching competitively. Like, he's been talking postgame about, you know, I want to be out there for this team, which is good to hear.

But, man, like, what a revelation that guy has been. And that's one of the other things where it's like, Ranger Nola good. Eflin, that could be something that, you know, changes games down the stretch here. So, some positives in what was a frustrating frustrating weekend all right hypothetical for you and this is a again big if the phillies make the playoffs we know that uh you know we'll see what happens i feel good about them making it but so do i you know it is very close so if they make the playoffs

look we know this is a meaningless hypothetical because we know it's going to be Wheeler, Nola, Ranger. Wheeler, Nola, Ranger. But how would you line them up? Because I do think it's a shame you can't know. But I would wait personally because I think if they win game one with Wheeler, I would want Nola in game two. And pitch because, you know, I don't want Nolaolan a deciding game is what it comes down to for me but if they lose game one i would actually want to go ranger in in game two i know you still have to pitch nolan deciding game after that but i would feel a lot more confident with ranger going first essentially in a deciding game i

know they're not going to do that but but what but what do you think about that? James, let me say something. I love you very much. And this has been a, a, a very joyous, uh, five years in this podcast, but I am simply not in position to say,

or talk about my, uh, playoff rotation, given the current, this is good. This is good. given the current state of this team i that's a good point i simply can't do it i i need to get there first i need them to get there first this is fair and this is good and i'm not going to be the one with the with the mush

being thrown on me because that's been thrown around uh with my name uh couple of years. So I'm not doing it. I appreciate what she just said. I think it made a lot of sense. Perfectly fine. Can't do it. Simply cannot do it. Okay. I think that's a very, very, very, very, very fair point.

The lineup. Schwarber. Whoa. Looks like he's eating up a little bit. Big day yesterday. Obviously, JT's been great. Where are you at with the lineup? Obviously, Harper had the homer over the weekend,

but for the most part has really been struggling, as we talked about last pod. It's so funny because you're right that the positives, all the things that we feel good about are the pitching, even when we talk about you know the the you know the hope for anything it's a wheeler you know that that's a hope nola pitching well in september um you know this team was built to to hit yeah believe it or not yeah smash the bell was their uh mantra heading into the season um so the lineups are so funny it's like

another if you want to do the positives after this weekend, which again, you could, cause they split and didn't lose three or four. Um, like they did score. I mean, one, nothing, then winning a one, nothing game against the Braves in September miracle will never happen again. I'm pretty sure in the history of the franchise thing that's ever happened. Yeah. Um, but then they, I mean, they scored nine. I thought pretty sure in the history of the franchise. It's the craziest thing that's ever happened. Yeah. But then they scored nine.

I thought they fought back well on Saturday. They could have scored more than three, but whatever. I thought the offense was pretty good. And yesterday they scored six runs. You know, I mean, Gibby, again, big game Kyle, you know, coming out and really helping the team by, you know, they got him six runs and he couldn't do anything with it. But, you know, the offense is pretty good this weekend.

And hopefully they're starting to come out of this. I mean, Reese has been good. Obviously, he was massive on Friday. Schwarber really seems, I mean, getting Schwarber back to around, he doesn't have to do what he did in June. But getting him back to at least hitting a home run not every, like, two weeks. And, you know, being Kyle Schwarber that leads the National League in homers would be would be nice and we know given his track record is that as the games get bigger schwarber uh usually does better and honestly you know there's been a lot of

articles that have come out recently about they all look to schwarber in these times when it seems like you know it could be teetering or how to handle being in a pennant race. And Schwarber, like, obviously his words matter, but they matter more if he is going out and doing it himself. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And I think it kind of takes, you know, lets everyone else kind of do their jobs.

So him doing that on Sunday, hopefully going back to Chicago this week, we get, you know, Schwarber to kind of do the thing. hopefully going back to Chicago this week we get you know Schwarber to kind of do the thing um Bryce like you know I just I I just keep waiting for it to happen I I think it's gonna happen I don't think we're gonna get this version of Bryce I I mean you're not gonna do anything about it like you just have to hope that he he can get going here and get hot and and it's not too late um the one the two things that are sticking out to me is i think bryson is really tired like i just think that you know bryson this is a rookie has not played this many games in his entire life i know baseball is now year round so i know i know he's played a lot

of baseball but we're talking about the mental grind of a of a player in which major league season yes majors yes so he looks tired the the bat just looks like it's you know he's just kind of hitting a lot of uh weak little pop-ups um the defense is like all of a sudden been kind of shaky recently so the loss of in mundo sosa and not being able to get him out there for a day give stotter Stotter a bit of a breather. I think you're starting to see that more. So you just hope that this off day happens today and he can kind of right the ship here a little bit because he's been not great the last week or week and a half.

So it seems like he's getting a little bit tired. The one player who I just continue to love and it seems like that they have fixed is Brandon Marsh. Like the balls. Now he's starting to drive it a little bit. It's not just like weak pop pop-ups over the shortstop or second base in his head. Like starting to legitimately drive the ball at three hits yesterday,

including a double. Um, and it's starting to do some damage. So Marshy looks like they've simplified everything for him actually looks like a weapon at the plate. So, um, you know, as we go along here, Brandon Marsh with, what,

five more years of team control playing elite defensive center field, now it seems like they've kind of fixed that bat a little bit is a really good sign. Yeah, I love it. It's a great, great point. I very much enjoyed Brandon Marsh. Very much enjoy the Brandon Marsh. I can't get a read on the hair thing, though. Yeah, it's not great i'm i if we're gonna be honest not a big fan of the hair thing let's just

be real about it like it's a it's a weird look man like it's just a weird look am i wrong you just tell me i'm wrong he makes it you know it puts like uh water all over it like yeah it's always wet i mean it looks like it just looks fake a lot of the time like the way it's like i don't know i don't know man i love him and do your thing buddy but it's weird well he's just hitting now he's hitting so yeah and he runs like runs like a gazelle i mean he's great and it gets to everything it's unbelievable he he does seem to injure himself jumping a little too much maybe relax on that it's because he it's because he's apparently like a really high level high school football player so i think he takes that mentality to center field got it he's out there trying to you know i get it yeah like

we're not hitting it a linebacker or you're not you know running into running backs like you're playing center field yeah buddy like rain it in all right big dog be a little smarter you know yeah we need you who to thank you but we need you pal yeah for sure yeah all right um what do you got take back yeah i mean nothing magic i kind of touched on it all with uh with what we talked about there but how about, I haven't gone in my life, James, as a Philadelphia sports fan. I don't think I've gone from, I don't trust this guy even a little bit, to, oh, he's obviously great now. More like Jose Alvarado. I mean, it is.

Really? More so than even a certain quarterback who's having a moment in this city? Well, I never doubted him um my my first instinct was star i never jumped off that good oh okay good good i must have missed that yeah okay no but everything negative i said about jalen was a bit so so it was good yeah everything was i mean you always do bits so it makes sense yeah just a bit guy i can't help it yeah you're just a big guy yeah so everything negative about jaylen was a bit and i always thought he was going to be a superstar yeah um but i actually think jose

alvarado is there like i never thought jaylen like jaylen i was like well he's never he's never been that bad i don't know how good he's gonna be like jose alvarado i was like i can't watch him pitch anymore and now he's throwing like nine dude he hit 103 the other day james 102.5 he's the only reliever i completely trust and efflin now somehow yeah honestly like i want him to be the closer he's the only guy who when he comes in i feel super confident he's gonna get the job done he's the most fun player on the team. His celebrations, the one the other night when he closed out the game. I mean, it's the most juice and fire you will see from Philly's player. I love him.

For Garrett Clevenger. I mean, come on. What a trade. That was Dombo's first move. We should have known. If we could just flip Robertson and Alvarado's roles, that would be my recommendation to old Robbie Thompson. Other than that, I mean, I thought Brockton threw the ball well this weekend.

Hopefully they can get him back to where he was, you know, like a month ago. But, yeah, I don't know. It's like there's definitely some positives from the weekend. You know, I think, again, we talked about Nola. We talked about Ranger. We talked about Eflin. Offense seems like it's doing pretty well. It's just that game yesterday really bothered me.

So, overall, again, I think if you said heading into the series that they split, I think we would have taken that a million percent. But when you win the first two and then you don't take three or four. It just kind of put damper on the weekend. But the next seven games, I mean, it's against very, very winnable opponents.

Make up for the Cub series here. Go take care of business out there. And then the national series. So I don't love that. The Brewers have what? Nine straight home games. They end with nine straight. Now, they have the Cardinals now.

So they have a two-game series against the Cardinals now, which is huge. Because then they have the Marlins and the Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks at least have been frisky. You know, they're not an easy out, so to speak. But obviously, like, the Marlins have pretty much packed it in for the season. Well, and Donnie Baseball, no longer. Yeah. So, you know, maybe they want to win out for Donnie. Well, Donnie baseball no longer. Yeah. So,

you know, maybe they want to win out for Donnie. That's something maybe I guess. Well, actually it'd be good for us. So yeah, the point is like the Phillies aren't going to get in by losing game. Yeah.

Go win. Uh, and final thing, seriously, I mean, come on final thing. Uh, our pools,

welcome to the 700th home, uh, 700 home run club. Pretty wild to do it in the same home run club. Pretty wild, man. Pretty wild. To do it in the same night, too. Unlike Aaron Judge, who's just stretching this out. Milking it. Pujols was like, I'm going to do this in one night, get this done, no problem, guys. Yeah.

College football fans, seeing them melt down about the cut into Yankees games on Saturday afternoon was just beautiful. It was even annoying during the Phillies game. It was like, all right, I get it. It was the eighth inning of a 1-0 game. And they're going full screen to Aaron Judge. I'm like, enough of this.

I don't care. I'll see it on Twitter if he hits it. Like, stop. Agreed. Also, did you agree with my top five ranking of right-handed hitters of my lifetime? Oh, give it to me. I don't care. Well, I put it on Twitter, so thanks for the follow. Yeah. five ranking of right-handed hitters of my lifetime oh i give it to me all right well i put

it on twitter so thanks for the follow um yeah you me missing something on twitter wow what a crazy thing how could that happen so the five right-handed hitters of my lifetime the five best number five is where i put manny ramirez okay number four i put miguel cabrera okay number three i put mike trout okay number two i put a rod and number one i put bulls um okay so um i'm trying to think if you're missing anyone i mean like frank thomas people were mentioning i don't think now now it feels like you got the right five it feels like you got the right five um yeah yeah right i think this is the right five look at you in good order though i mean now well that says about to get to so that's what i'm getting to next um so you had uh pools one you said right pools one a rod two trout three miggy four man man Ramirez 5 so okay

you could argue I mean I don't know like I could so like my gut says that Trout shouldn't be above Miggy but he

just because he hasn't done his long but he had his highest is definitely better than miggy you know same thing with a rod i mean a rod a rod was amazing though but i think manny of all those guys might have been the most pure best right hand like it just in terms of like i don't know i always it always felt like manny might be the best right-handed hitter i ever saw i know a pure hitter what a great list it's tough who else is one that's the right call yeah i mean dude like it's funny because he hasn't been like great in a decade but his 2000 to 2011 what oh my god unbelievable dude unbelievable like go back if you want to ever have some fun just go to his reference page and just look at like the insanity of those seasons like you know like 330 with 48 homers and

like you know 130 rv like these seasons were insane like you know he was unbelievable yeah so uh definitely earned the nickname the machine um but yeah great list it's a great list it was a you know i don't know if we're gonna see we That might be the last time we see 700 home runs. Oh, I think it probably will be. I mean, think about it this way. It's only happened twice in our lifetime, my lifetime. You know, your lifetime, obviously, too. But, yeah, I mean, it's him and Bonds in our lifetime.

Like 600. And I think you're probably right. 600 is probably still doable for a lot of people. Like 600 should probably happen. Again, 700, I just don again 700 i just don't i just don't i don't know i don't know if it's gonna happen we're never gonna see another 300 game winner zero percent chance oh well that that's way over way way over like i wonder what the next like i don't know what the next i guess we're gonna just redo what you know the hall of fame

stuff is like i don't know if we'll see i 3,000 hits is still doable. I think we'll see guys get there. But yeah, the 3,000 strikeouts, that's not going to matter. A 300 strikeout season, that's not happening again. All this stuff.

We do have to reevaluate a lot of that stuff. That's what makes the judge season so interesting. Comparatively, what he's doing is so amazing you know that i mean schwarber is second in baseball with what 42 or something 43 you know it's pretty it's pretty amazing what he's doing in terms of comparative to his competition but you know it's all like the it's you know it's everything's out of whack now jack oh 100 i mean i mean kyle schwerber has like 88 rvi with with 42 homers so uh yeah i don't know it was it was a good throwback baseball moment and people have been like complaining about the coverage of it it's like well at least they're doing it you know at

least they're not just like letting it go and and you see it on twitter and whatever like at least they're trying to you know for for as much as we hear oh baseball's got to market their stars they've done a pretty good job of this chase for 700 and judges 61 or whatever. Yeah, and making them matter. Because, again, baseball numbers mattered. Growing up, I can still name them all, whether it's 755 or 714 or 660 for Mays or Mike Schmidt's 548 or whatever. There are all these numbers that just stick out in your head because they matter. The, the, you know, 511 for Cy Young,

like all those things that are just kind of indelibly like inked in your brain forever, because that stuff mattered. It's how you evaluated greatness. It's how you judged the history of the game. It's the, the like totems, the barometers, the things you like that you use to weigh everything else against and all that. And, and it's changed and it's changing and it's, it makes it harder to kind of,

um, you know, put the game into numbers in that way. You know, now it's a lot more about OPS is and all that type of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it is.

Um, but I still like the old school stuff. I did, you know, me too, buddy, you know, me too,

pal. We'll see. We'll see. And the next, but I'm with you. If stuff. Me too, buddy. Me too, pal. We'll see. We'll see. And the next. But I'm with you. If I had to bet, I would bet we don't see another 700 homers. I just hope we get 500 for Bryce. Yeah, buddy.

I mean, that could happen. These guys stay healthy, but that could happen. Yeah. It's a shame that the 2020 thing happened. He got hurt last year, got hurt this year. Because, I mean, he should have passed 300 by now. Yeah, a while ago. Very easily.

Yeah, it's too bad. All right. Is that all you got? That's all I got, pal. Big week. So, it's a big week. Cubs. So, three against the Cubs and then four against Washington.

They're supposed to have an off day on Thursday and play a doubleheader Saturday, but now there's all this talk of like hurricane Ian and weather in Washington. So just pay attention. Cause they're going to find a way to play these games. Like they're not playing it the day in between the end of the season and the three game series,

if they have to or whatever, you know? So it could be a weird week of baseball jack always is whatever the most painful way for this team to make the playoffs will probably happen so that's my mindset i love it all right uh we'll be back later in the week um big just just win games man just win games at least they've beaten up on bad teams this year so hopefully that continues fritz you got any final thoughts clinch on sunday next sunday i'm in pal there you go there you go all right uh we'll be back later in the week