High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Bohm Touched Home

Episode Date: April 12, 2021

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to an exciting Phillies win over the Braves on Sunday Night Baseball. The guys discuss the instantly infamous Alec Bohm play, Harper's clutch home runs, and more. James and Jack also discuss any other games that may or may not have happened in Atlanta this weekend. 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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Dare I say saving this much money has never been this easy? Stack more, spend less. Like, way less. The Happy Stack. Only at Kudo. Now with internet. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High hopes. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the

phillies on radio.com and sports radio 94 wip yo it is another edition of the High Ops Podcast. Jack Fritz, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know if we would be doing this podcast if tonight's game had not turned out the way it did. After the first two games, we needed this one. What a win. Alec Boehm absolutely touched home plate. I will not hear anything else.

And what a win, buddy. Boehm always touched home. I mean, the rest of the weekend didn't happen, right? Like, this was the only game that we're talking about? Yeah, listen, listen. It was never going to be an undefeated season against the Braves. The Braves are going to get theirs. It's okay.

Boehm touched home, and everything's okay. Boom, touched home, and everything's okay. I like that. That's a rallying cry we can get behind right there. That's right. That's right. Everything's fine. Look, if nothing else, that was

a... I almost said a must-win game. Not a must-win game, but for our sanity for this podcast. And look, it was definitely an important win because going down there and getting swept, you just lose all the momentum that you gained with your hot start, with the 5-1 start to go down, and we'll get into it. But the losses were obviously frustrating, especially the Saturday nightose alvarado loss

we'll get yeah we'll talk about it but to come back in this game and especially be down early to go down early and then you know kind of keep taking the lead and keep having the brave snatch it back and then to finally take a lead and hector mow him down the top of the order in the in the ninth it was uh look again not must win but it was definitely a I think an important win for this team early in the season it was a uh right to ship game you know it's like uh you know it's uh we might be sinking might be sinking there's the iceberg right ahead of us we're the titanic but it was like you know what we're gonna steer clear of the iceberg everything's fine bone touch home and um yeah i mean listen it was it was an annoying series in atlanta it was it brought back a lot of bad memories like dude it's like every year every year you're just excited

for the phillies they get back and you know they have that first week in a you know week and a half and it's like wow this is a good baseball team and then they go to at half, and it's like, wow, this is a good baseball team. And then they go to Atlanta, and it's like, oh, this is the worst experience of my entire life. It's like a torture chamber. Dude, awful. Just straight up awful. And it's like, oh, all of us who were like, did you know Freddie Freeman went hitless in a series for the first time in his career? It's like, oh, really?

Oh, really? Oh, he stinks. Oh, Ronald Acuna didn't kill us oh whoops whoops yeah yeah but you know what big one tonight big one tonight uh listen honestly like honestly like i like i'll take that i mean i obviously you want to take two or three uh but the fact is the fact is they battled tonight with the braves with matt more on the mound which is whatever they were right in the game last night uh they were pretty resilient in both nights and you know friday night was a disaster but um like it was for for as bad as brave series have been in my life not the worst yeah oh well that's for damn sure i mean getting swept tonight on a walk-off homer

by ronald acuna or something was definitely the way this one was i was excited i texted jack i texted jack inside baseball because i it's a late night for us and i was like are you gonna be ready to go when this is over and as the as hector was coming in he's like you think this is over he's like come on man like this is it was way it honestly it was way too easy of a night for me like way too i i feel like i looked down for a second it was two outs i was like what just happened but really really important question before we get oh good because i have two important questions for you and then i want to get into the rest of my guests. So you go first. All right.

You have to start a team with one player, Acuna or Soto. Who are you starting a team with? So I said Acuna for the longest time on this, and then in the second half of last season, I pivoted soto and now i'm i'm re-evaluating it i like soto uh akunya is definitely a better defensive player for whatever that part of it's worth but man i think i'd still take soto right now but it's really close who would you take yeah it's it's really close who would you take yeah it's it's annoyingly close i would say i hate that they're both and and uh we'll get into the acuna stuff don't worry well how about this i'll say i'll say only one player touched home safely tonight in a tie game late in the ball game and that was

alec bohm so i'll take alec bohm over both of them. But if you make me choose who brings me more pain, I would say it's Ronald Acuna Jr. Yeah, well, that definitely might be true. Certainly the most reason in pain. All right, two questions, important ones for you, and then we're going to dive into the stuff we need to talk about from these games. First one, actually related to tonight's game uh as someone who talked himself into matt moore and uh two people on this podcast

one did not one after the last start said to you like i said matt mo Moore stinks. After tonight, Jack, would you like to amend your Matt Moore position, or are you going to stick with it? JT is, again, sinking Matt Moore. No, man. But it's okay. It's okay. Whatever. No, listen.

I don't know. I still think if you let me go through a game letting me call it i will eventually give up give it up but with jt calling it i can't give it up yet um but i will say no he's definitely not been a good start to the season but also like what's the plan here if he's just not that great you know i mean it like is spencer howard gonna be on his way back up here like how long better not be benny man better not be benny listen i i agree i would actually i would rather have matt more out there than benny but i'd rather have ranger suarez out there than benny i just like what like if if if matt Ranger Suarez out there than Vinny. If

Matt Moore keeps going out there and doing this, how long do you keep Spencer? I know they want Spencer Howard to be this hybrid kind of pitcher this year if they have him start. It's for three innings max, but Matt Moore is obviously not as good as Spencer Howard, and

it might just be a failed experiment. Not every signing you're going to make is going to work out. So yeah, it's, it's, it's not a, it's not a good spot to be in. And I wonder how many more starts they give them until they, they get Spencer Howard up here. Yeah. I would say actually, if you're, I want to ask you that question later about what is right now, the biggest hole in the team, but you know,

obviously we center field we'll talk about, and there are a couple other spots that come up. But I think you can make a big argument that starting pitching depth is the biggest issue with this team towards the back end. And we really need Chase Anderson to be, you know, what Chase Anderson has mostly been for the most part of his career. But, like, really need that if Matt Moore is bad. And I don't know how many starts. It's a really a really good question all right second question before we dive into specifics

from the games uh the more important question i would say um you're a big golf guy uh i didn't get to catch any of the masters who was calling it with nance not there do you know who they had calling the masters or a lot of nick a lot of nick faldo okay yeah i wasn't sure i wasn't sure i was trying to i was trying to think of like a witty tweet but i got in i didn't feel like dealing with it today um but i think cbs made a mistake letting uh jim nance resign i think so too i think so too and and even more importantly whoever decided that resign and resign were the same word uh even more are you starting to come around on my way of thinking i like i agree with you but i would have i would have looked at i would have

looked into it more before saying on the podcast that we got breaking news gymnast resigned yeah but if you know me at all i you know that I only read headlines. I don't really like to do any deep research into anything. I know. The only thing I do deep research into is, like, spin rates, horizontal. I know. You'll be like, oh, well, baseball, Savant, this, or Brooks, baseball, that. But you read, like, half of a tweet, and you you're like hey jim nance is leaving tbs

some say he wanted romo money it's great all right uh let's get in the games obviously not much there's no wait there was no other games besides tonight right yeah all right yeah let's not talk about games but let's talk about a hype at that particularly a hypothetical game on Friday night. If there were a hypothetical game on Friday night, and if Zach Wheeler were to, let's say, not look like Zach Wheeler in the game we know he pitched this season, that gem of a start he had, what would you say about Zach Wheeler's hypothetical performance? It was not great.

It was just, I thought he was trying to make good, positive trends forward after his last start. And it just felt like he could never get into a rhythm all night. It just never felt like he could kind of get on a roll and just keep it going and all that. The fastball location was brutal. There was a lot of people saying about the umpires and, oh, they screwed Zach Wheeler. It's like, dude, Zach Wheeler.

All right, there was maybe four times in a game where JT was set up in the outside corner and Zach Wheeler missed like two feet on the inside corner of the plate, and people were upset that he wasn't getting a strike call there and it's like the umpire is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt if you can't hit the outside spot so really the whole start from Zach Wheeler came down to not having good fastball location um you know he's trying to hit the outside corner and everything tried to hit the outside corner it just kept going further outside um and they tried to hone it in and it just wasn't the same. It wasn't the same.

It didn't have the same kind of jump on his fastball. And, I mean, it's one start, whatever. But, you know, I would like to see them get back to the plan that they had in his opening, or his first start of the season, where there's a lot of, you know, power fastballs up and all that and not trying to nibble the corners, which he's not great at. So I didn't like the game plan that much, and I don't think the umpires screwed him.

I don't think Wheeler threw enough strikes and dotted the outside corner enough for the umpires to give him the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, and look, for the same thing we said the first time around when he was awesome we're like hey he was awesome against the braves that's a damn good lineup what an impressive start like this time around you know what the braves are a damn good lineup and they're gonna get you sometimes too and and if you don't have your best stuff that's gonna happen um all right uh two more things from a hypothetical friday night. I'll get to the more inflammatory one in a sec.

But Joe Girardi, and in general, I wouldn't say a great weekend period for Joe, but I mean, like, it's rare you see a veteran manager whose is put together as Joe Girardi make a mistake like he did in that game. Yeah, it's funny though like I I totally got where he's coming from because that inning was so long and Cotham went out so early in the inning that like I too would have been like oh I did this doesn't make any sense why can't I go to the mountains so like I got it it's still shocking that that he pulled that um and if it was a you

know another manager let's say that was managing this team two years ago imagine it would be a topic on sports radio for like three weeks i know i know i know um but like i mean we gotta be fair right i mean let's be real if that were game it would be a total meltdown in the city. Yeah, it would be. No one would handle it well. No one would say, hey, human error, or those things happen. It would be, oh, this guy has no idea what he's doing. So, yeah, I mean, ultimately, they're going to lose that game anyway, I think.

But, yeah, it was just like, come on, Joe. I mean, now, two is defense. The whole, like, manager or the visits thing is just stupid in general. I agree. I mean, look, I applaud them for trying to do things that don't really mess with the fabric of the game to speed up the game, like that type of stuff. But I'm with you for the most part right so you know it was it was not joe's best moment um but there's been other things that he's done this this season that i have had more more problems with than that because i think i think wheeler was coming out anyway you know the unfortunate part was that it was a 2-0 count um yeah it looks ridiculous right it's just it's just stupid um but yeah it was definitely a shocking moment

um and something that i did not expect gerardi to you know to happen to him but also that ending was so long so i i do totally you know see where he's coming from yeah honestly the the bigger grape i have with gerardi was from a which we'll get to hypothetical saturday game but i'll get to that um the last thing from friday and uh speaking of maybe not your best night it was uh not my pal joe de camera's best night on twitter yeah uh what a what a night what is there tweeted if you didn't see it, he tweeted, I'm disappointed the Phillies did not plunk Acuna after he admired his home run ball for so long before running. I know a lot of young fans like these antics. I don't. It's not how the game should be played.

And if it is played that way, a pitcher should do something about it uh obviously like the easy response is joe a pitcher should not let the guy hit a 456 home run in that spot to to do something about it but uh dude i mean we'll get like just the situation but the camera so this tweet has 18 retweets and 918 quote tweets i don't think i've ever seen that before not to mention 874 responses if there's that means over 1700 people have responded in some way to the suite it is wild um what do you think of of the situation itself and of joe's incredibly old man tag about it i know you do you love the take yeah i know you do i love the take yeah i love it so it honestly sounds like a 90 year old man got twitter for the first time and and saw this happen it was like what are we doing

you gotta plunk that man i know i know and uh like so it's funny you know me i am pretty old school when it comes to this stuff. Sure. But it's funny. Like, I watched it, and I remember the moment, and I never at one point thought that Acuna was doing anything wrong. Like, it was just. He just crushed a baseball.

Like, he just crushed it. Like, he even said, and I think it was tracked as, like, one of the hardest he's ever hit before. It's like, just, like just like relax man and hey how about we stop throwing uh Acuna yeah like sliders or cutters in the outside corner like he can reach that pitch I don't know how many more we have to deal with before we can realize that JT but um like it's it's it it didn't feel bad in the moment. And I completely disagree with Joe. You know, I'm all for a good old-fashioned, you know, brushback.

But I genuinely, like, I didn't feel bad at all. I didn't either. You can usually feel one of those. You can usually feel one of the, like, unwritten rules, quote-unquote, being broken. Yeah, like, and he was staring at the ball he wasn't like looking at wheeler and like staring wheeler down or doing anything like confrontational well now i do love i do love real quick i do love that it made wheeler upset like wheeler in his post-game press conference they asked him about it yeah he was very short with his answers yeah

yeah like and and not from the standpoint that you, I don't like it from the standpoint of I don't want him to go, like, throw 100 in a coup in his face. But I like it from the standpoint of. He got shown up, and he doesn't want to be shown up. Right, but also I feel like it's a good moment for the Braves-Philips rivalry. Oh, yeah. Like, it's one of those things that can kind of get this going. So, I genuinely, rivalries in sports are great,

even if both teams are good. And this is just kind of another example of that. Yeah, I'm with you. And I thought, look, the most basic thing is don't let him hit it 456 feet or whatever in that spot. And, yeah, I'm with you. all right oh what do you think real quick while we're on acuna before before we move on to a hypothetical saturday game uh with this the acuna sagura stuff like it seems playful but at certain times it definitely seemed like

somewhat you know aggressive but i think it's mostly playful right it is i would just like for there to be one highlight where j where gene is the one you know celebrating a double and like you know messing with messing with acuna and not acuna killing us again and and messing around by the way i don't think i didn't notice your jt slander in there again. It's becoming a thing. Well, maybe, listen, maybe just get better at it and it won't be a problem. Also, real quick from Friday night. Yes. You obviously saw the moron Braze fan that was trying to chirp at Bryce.

And he's like, learn how to say his name. It's Acuna. I know. I know. And then Bryce responded with two straight games of dingers and not just dingers like like important moment dingers like he had two home runs in thai games like i mean they weren't like you know down 10 to 3 and he hits a solo shot or up 10 to 3 and it's a solo shot. Like they were important game, important home runs. Um, all right. Uh, moving on to, to a hypothetical Saturday night,

uh, game before we get to the, the moment, I think that is the biggest moment to talk about. Uh, um, Eflin certainly not, uh, as good as his first start or, you know, obviously in close kind of started really poorly and then pulled himself together after, what were your thoughts on Eflin? Yeah, I actually thought Eflin was great. Um, I know the first inning was bad and I get that, but like with most aces, he got to get to them early cause then they settle in. Um, but it was weird.

So, you know know early in the game he didn't have he didn't have his command down um and then as the as the game started rolling along and i think it's a really good plan of attack for for efflin and i think it's something that we should see a lot more going forward a lot of fastballs and sliders down like he'll keep the sinker down and he'll keep the slider down and then he'll he'll rush a four seamer up in the zone and i know like people are all scarred from the chris young experience and you know four seamers up in the zone are bad but um when you're consistently pounding down in the strike zone with your slider and with your sinker rushing a four seam fastball

up there at 94 95 is a really good and interesting plan of attack so um it was a nappy start so you expect nothing less from the best back catcher in baseball god i love that guy love that guy always have always have baby um but yeah so uh listen the first inning happened you know but i just think that the fact that that fact that Eflin bounced back from the first thing, I think it was impressive because he's had his struggles against the Braves. I mean, everyone remembers the heavy leg start from July 4th in 2019, where it was like Acuna has like a nine-pitch at bat to lead off the game, and Eflin was just done from that point on.

So, you know, the fact that he left the three and then was really solid after that and, you know, gave him a chance to win a ball game, I thought was impressive. And obviously the run late hurt. But, you know, I mean, it's it's it was a good start from Zach. And I really like this plan of attack. So I'm definitely if you're if you're telling me to sell one guy from the weekend, it's not it's not Eflin's performance. I thought he was good. All right. Before we get to the Alvarado play um i mentioned before the gerardi decision that i i i liked even less the the the decision to take hoskins out of the game and put nap at first base i like in a in a close game i didn't get that i mean i know naps better defensively because you know anyone is

better defensively but i mean what are you doing reese hoskins been the best hitter on your team this year what did you think of that move i know you did it because the batting order anyone the pitcher is lazy could be in all that but like i don't yeah i think you take hoskins out of that game so um i initially i thought the same thing but then you gotta factor in you know the two catchers thing you know right so if jt gets her you can move nap back to catcher is the idea yeah that's actually i mean it is a fair point i hate it but it's a fair point i suppose i don't i still love baseball baby yeah exactly national league ball all right all right um all right the alvarado play i look i've heard some people like i, Didi should have been covering second,

but, like, I don't blame him that much. He was thinking he was going to have to play the ball. Like, Jose Alvarado taking his eye off the runner at third. Like, the guy never stopped. He was coming home. Pasha, I think it was, whatever, just coming home. Like, that was a horrendously bad baseball. Like, in a brutal way to end up ultimately losing that

game. Like, and I know Girardi afterwards tried to excuse it saying like, Oh, first of all, that bowl is clearly not hit hard enough to get a double play with the fast runner. But man, like in that situation, the only important thing is that guy at third base and you got to keep your eye on him. I that my take what do you think of that play ah gabe gerardi uh letting letting his guys go after i i dude i couldn't believe it i i thought i thought he was so soft on that and i hope he was different buying closed doors but he was soft on that uh yeah no i agree um especially because all right so here's here was my kind of take on it was that first off if you're in that situation you're a pitcher jt just ran through all the signs you have communication with your shortstop uh you guys all know where everyone is on the

infield and even if that you know whatever if that ball gets to Didi he's not at double play depth like he's not he's not in a position to turn that double play because the infield's in so it really just comes down to lack of uh awareness of the situation because I'm sure JT called it out there you know I mean he he gave the signs and I'm sure that J uh that that Alvarado and Didi they also have their own signs where they know where they are. And they're on the same page. It just comes down to Alvarado turning the wrong way. I mean, he just turned the wrong way.

He made the wrong decision. He thought he could get two. And, you know, he didn't. He couldn't make two. It was a mental mistake. He has to make that throw home. And, yeah, it was a, it was a mental mistake. He has to make that throw home. Um, and yeah, it was,

it was terrible, but it, it comes down to, I think, um, a miscommunication and not having a good awareness of the, of the, of the situation.

So it wasn't great, but it, I mean, it felt like a classic Phil's brain. Oh, heartbreaking. It was the, it was the first time this season that really felt like the 2020 Fills

in any way, shape, and form. It really was. And, look, let's talk about it. I mean, quickly, in general, obviously that was a mental mistake as much as anything, but, I mean, the defense has been bad for this team ever since that opening series where they looked pretty good. It has not been great. Boehm obviously has looked better this season in general

but did not have a good weekend defensively in Atlanta. We've seen some miscues. Didi, I know Kukunya got there quick, but another time where Didi does that kind of double clutch. It hasn't been great, Jack. No, I totally agree with you. It's been really bad and like dd's defense i feel like it's taking a significant step down just doesn't look like he's getting the balls as

quickly you know there's even a well the play tonight was kind of ridiculous i mean it was a it was a hard hit ground ball to shortstop that has to be converted into a into an out it just has to be no matter if if Acuna is running as fast as he can down first baseline, like, that has to be an out. There was a play last night where it was a slow dribbler, and he just didn't, like, he's not really quick on the transfers. Like, he doesn't get it out very fast. So, and he just, I don't know, maybe it's eye test or whatever,

but he looks a step slower, you step slower when trying to get to balls. Reese is Reese. He's gotten better at scooping balls, but overall doesn't help you protect the lines. Same thing with Bomer. I mean, Bomer looks pretty good defensively, but it's a very low bar. And then Roman Quinn and Adam Haseley are I mean they're not good defensive players I mean Roman Quinn can't you know read a fly ball off the bat and Adam Haseley has the range of a snail so um like I don't know is it there you know I thought the defense wasn't going

to be great but I didn't think it was going to be such like a a big problem but i would say you know a week and a half into the season um the four or five starters in the defense are clearly well and then center field yes is another huge issue but if we're looking at three achilles heels for this team it's center field defense and the four or five starters yeah i'm with you it's concerning and it and it was something that we did talk about coming into the season, but we didn't think it would be bad enough to actually cost them games. And right now it's bad enough that it can cost them games. All right, but far too much talk about hypothetical stuff when we could actually talk about something real that happened, Jack.

The Phillies won a baseball game tonight. What were your biggest takeaways from tonight's game uh bone was safe that's a that's no brainer number one yeah that's not even a a takeaway it's just a a fact is what it is yes yes uh bomber was safe bryce bryce has uh his highest average exit velo um of his entire career uh going right now and he has two homers and two trade games ever since that braves fan uh tried to chirp him so um bryce looks great and like i don't know the balls that he has this weekend were like harder than i think i've ever seen them hit. Oh, my God. The one last night, Saturday night's one, just rocketed out of the stadium.

It was wild. It was. It was. If you look at all of Bryce's expected stats, his expected WOBA is top five in baseball right now. expected stats like he's expected woe but his top five in in baseball right now and even though he's i mean it's it's dumb to look at stats you know kind of a week and a half into the season um but there was people like oh was he gonna hit his first home run and and all that stuff and um like he has he had a pretty big weekend down in atlanta and you said earlier and i i forget i saw the stats we had out this weekend but but I forgot to grab it.

But, I mean, I think he's a career, like, 350 hitter with bases loaded since joining the Phillies. Or not bases loaded, in a tie game with an OPS over 1,000. Like, for all the Bryce criticisms of doesn't get big hits and only hits home runs when they're down by a lot of runs, since he's gotten here, he has just been a machine when it comes to late in ballgames or tie ballgames and the hitting home runs to kind of put his team ahead. Yeah.

It's been a really a lot of important home runs. Like that's why I made that distinction before, because there are a lot of guys and, and you know, you've had them on your team before where it always feels like they hit that home run in a 10-1 ballgame or whatever it is. And it does feel, and it felt anecdotally before, and then I saw that stat, and it felt that a lot of Bryce's home runs were in these big spots. And I think that matters. And again, it does look like he's heating up.

The at-bats were there early. He was grinding. He was having really good at-bats. He wasn't getting great pitches to it. And it's slowly starting to come along. And obviously, the last two games, the two dingers. Obviously, I mean, again, Reeves homering tonight. I mean, how locked in is Reeves Hoskins?

Just so far and away been the best hitter on this team through the first, whatever, eight games of the season, nine games, whatever. Yeah, and I think it was maybe in the fourth inning or something, maybe like his second at bat. I think Vaskarjan might have said that he had already worked like 20-plus pitches from Drew Smiley, which is, yeah, which is just great. Well, that home run, the bat that he hit, the homerun was a great bat

where he kept battling and battling and fouling him off until he got when he could yank. Well, that's what I'm saying. The home run against David Peterson was the same thing. It was like they don't get that big inning if Reese doesn't work a nine-pitch at bat against David Peterson. And, sure, he hits the home run. But, more importantly, he grinds out the at-bat and just puts the rest of his guys into position to hit. So, yeah, I mean, Reese has just been locked in all year.

It's great to see. And, you know, I feel I just he's so maligned. And I don't get why you know reese hoskins still hasn't walked james like he hasn't walked wow that's actually really crazy tag i did not realize that that's like shocking like he's finally doing the thing where people are like oh he's gotta be more aggressive and and all that stuff it's like okay well he's finally doing the thing where people are like, oh, he's got to be more aggressive and all that stuff. It's like, okay, well, he's doing it, and he's batting over 300. And hitting to all fields.

I mean, tonight's homer yanked to left field. Obviously, we talked about the opposite field one the other day. Like he's using the whole field. He's doing what like we always are like, I want that Reese Hoskins. Right. And, I mean, he got got may lead we've been over this he he really did he john mayley sunk him and he's he's kind of back to being the reese that you know obviously 2017 was ridiculous i mean it was a it was a hot streak that we haven't seen

since like when howard first came up um but like the guy's a the guy is a good baseball player he works really good at bats he's finally doing the thing where he'll get it to you know two two with a ton of pitches and he'll kind of wait for that fastball that he can drive and it's right where he needs it to be and Again, tonight, he works a nine-pitch at bat and takes him yard. This is really, really solid baseball. He hasn't walked on the year. He's being plenty aggressive. I'm just wondering, would you bat him leadoff,

or would you keep him at two? I know the whole idea of batting your power hitting first baseman leadoff is ridiculous but you know you see the bat that he the at bat that he had tonight I mean imagine imagine starting off a starter with a nine pitch at bat to get him into a ball game that would be that would be excruciating to deal with so um and like Acuna I mean he's not a guy that's gonna work a ton of bats but's going to put a good solid contact out there, and he can work pitchers. So, I don't hate the idea of trying to bat Reese Lidoff.

Yeah, it's interesting. I've never hated the idea of putting a guy like that in the Lidoff spot. It's interesting. I think he's really well suited for the two-hole too for the same reasons. But it's an interesting thought, especially if McCutcheon continues to struggle. Cause that is one guy who has really not gotten it going yet. Offensively, obviously he had the home run, um, in a hypothetical game, uh, on Saturday, but, uh, hasn't really gotten it going. Didi, the only other really guy who's kind of really gotten it going quietly yet. I think he's hitting every single game. The homer tonight off Smiley, he had been really, really bad

against his whole career. The homer to center the other day against the Mets. Didi is all right. I was a little worried about him at the start of the season. I feel like Didi is bringing it offensively. Obviously, defensively, we talked about the struggles. Yeah, and he's another guy that it feels like he always gets a big homer when the Phils need it.

And it was again tonight. It was just like, oh, we need a three-run homer. Great, DeeDee's up. So, yeah, he's up to 294 on the year. I feel like he hasn't been hitting at a 294 pace so far. But it's kind of shocking how low he is in the year. I feel like he's hasn't been hitting it at two 94 pace so far. Um, but it's, it's kind of shocking how low he is in the lineup. Um, but listen, I mean, they have a, they have a long lineup and they're going to use that length. So, um, yeah, I mean, just another big DD Homer tonight. Good to see him get that one and, um, just figure out the,

the, the defensive side. All right. one last thing before I want to ask you. Like I said, I want to talk about the couple things that I think are the biggest weaknesses on the team and see what you think is the biggest issue and most important issue. But last thing from tonight, and I actually tweeted this, so Jack, you know I mean business when I tweet it. I feel so incredibly confident in the opinion that Connor Brogdon is the best reliever on this team.

I mean, love to see it. I mean, he is. Let's put it this way. If you could pick one Phillies reliever to come in for one inning that you absolutely have to get through, who are you taking over Brogdon right now? No one. I mean, it strikes. one inning that you absolutely have to get through like who you taking over brogdon right now no one yeah i'm not i'm not i mean it's it's strikes it's 97 and it's a legitimate change up so um like i'm i'm with you i'm i'm i'm glad that everyone's you know finally starting to see it

it's good it's good that everyone's coming around to connor brogdon being our next madsen and you know it might be better than that you. You got to hit some of these at some point, right? Well, I mean, you know, for the amount of people that love to tell me, oh, you got Pavetta wrong in those RAs, like 3-2, you know, 3-2. 3-2-7, I think, is the RA right now. Listen, give me a little bit of props for being dead right about Conor Brogdon. So, listen, I'm not one to take victory laps. You know that, James. I'm all about the team not one to take victory laps. You know that James,

I'm all about the team here. You never hear about things you do or your accomplishments or never. Yeah, never. Oh no. I'm just, I'm just excited to be here and a part of this team. But,

um, yes, Connor Brogdon is, is a metronome. Um, one of our, one of our faith, uh,

one of our listeners, um, Michael, he, he's already coining him the string bean. I like that. Yeah, I mean, listen, he's very scrawny, but that's okay, you know, because it comes out in 97. I like referring to him as our Ryan Madsen,

but all the superlatives you can throw his way, I think they're all warranted because he's just nothing rattles him he's perfectly fine um and the fact that again they actually had a reliever come up through the system and turn out to be very good is damn near shocking and uh yeah just another example of that tonight yeah it's a it's a complete and total miracle all right quickly before we get to the uh my question uh we didn't mention but archie to the uh il i almost said dl uh the il um uh i'm not gonna say you wouldn't have gotten hurt if you had come on the podcast but i'm it's certainly possible that's all i'm saying uh oblique strain so like annoying it'll keep me out for a little while but not a

season ender or whatever but jojo comes up any general thoughts on that uh my first thought was the phillies are never gonna pay for a reliever ever again well how about the fact that that you know we know the roberts that they were all never going to return, and then he comes here. I think it was Corey Simon tweeted that R.G. Bradley, he has not been on the IL for almost six years or something. Yeah. Exactly.

Welcome to the Philz. Yeah, so obviously the R.G. Bradley injury sucks. He had been pitching pretty well up until when he had the oblique injury on Saturday. So, yeah, not great. But the thing is, is that they actually have guys behind them that get a job done. It's not like Archie Bradley goes out and the whole bullpen falls apart. Sam Coonrod, I know what happened tonight.

Happened. And it was another JT, whatever. It's the first run he's given up all season. Yeah. And it's to the best hitter in baseball. One of them. MVP front runner, Ronald Acuna. So I get it.

But, yeah. And I think he was deserving of taking down more beginnings. Um, and now he gets put in there and like, like, dude, I think Jojo is like already one of the five best relievers in the team. And I think it's ridiculous that he was never even on here from opening day. And I'm just glad that he's here now. Like it was so stupid that he was not on the opening day roster because he's definitively one of their five best relievers. And now you're going to see him in bigger moments.

And it also gives him another lefty. So if Jose needs to be down for a night, which we've already seen this season, where he obviously is going to have to take a night off, you can use Jojo Romero, and it's not a super downside. So it's not a win-win all around. You want Archie Bradley here, but I also thought it was freaking ridiculous that JoJo Romero was not on the opening day roster and wasn't up here by now. I mean, the guy is 97 with a wipeout slider.

Can we get him up here? Yeah, I agree. I thought he should have made the roster. I thought it was weird they were only keeping one left. Yeah, I'm with you 100%. All right. Before we get to your tape bag And before we get to a A quick addition of what would Jack Fritz do

Yeah No nothing don't worry It's baseball related It's not like I'm not putting you into words Alright but quickly I mentioned before but What do you think is the biggest issue with this team right now

Look they're 6-3 We should be happy with this team they've had some tough losses but also some really hard-fought wins they seem resilient like i like the vibe with this team but you like look center field first of all hashtag why not mick mickey moniak tweeting on i hope shirt is easily the best thing that's happened to me this month thank Thank you, Mick. You freaking rule and you are our guy forever. But, and seriously, hashtag why not Mick. Like, definitely the best option right now with this drivel. Like, Roman Quinn is an automatic out. Like, he is the most automatic out I remember as a Phillies position player in, like, since Andrew Knapp three years ago.

Which we always loved him. Yeah, that's a shot. That's a shot at Andrew. Never, never. It was just a statement of fact. Like center field clear issue, I would say just a right-handed bat off the bench, a massive issue and ties into the Quinn thing. And then I mentioned before,

I think the other thing you look at right now and say, you know, I think that's an issue is the depth at starting pitching, especially if Matt Moore continues down this road. Like, I mean, in theory, Vincent Velasquez is the six starter on the roster right now. If they had a double header and didn't want to call someone up, Vinny would start that game. And I don't think they would make Vinny someone who's in the rotation

unless there were multiple injuries. I think they would try Spencer Howard or do something else, Ranger Suarez or whatever. But when I tell you those three things, and look, you hope they're going to try and fix all these things in some form or another or at least attempt to fix them or make them slightly better. But what do you think is the biggest issue? Or is it something I didn't mention? No, no i i think it's the defense i think oh wow wow

there you go wow because my problem with the defense is that defense is the one thing that can happen during a game that can just shift momentum like that like it can just it can just take the momentum and and put it right in the opposition's favor and we saw this weekend and you know the the four or five starter thing is going to happen but um like when i'm talking about game to game and and trying to win every game center field is obviously a huge problem but i just a defense giving up runs late in games is so demoralizing, and it's the thing that reminds me the most of the 2020 bullpen. So I would say defense, none are great.

And, like, again, the fact that Roman Quinn is our best right-handed hitting option off the bench is absurd. That's really bad, man. That's really bad. I mean, like, he. That's really bad. I mean, like, he is so infuriating. And it's like, again, a thousand times, why are you trying to hit home runs? Just put the bat in the ball and let your athletic tools take over and actually help the – like, why are you striking out at the rate that you're striking out at?

It should never happen. And there's a guy, Jed Jericho, sitting on the free agent wire right now. I looked it up earlier today. I might have forgotten. I think he's a 300 hitter against lefties in his career. Anecdotally, I've owned him in fantasy multiple times,

obviously. I remember him as someone who matched lefties. Right. Like just, just go sign that guy, you know, for, for, for like a million dollars. Can't be worse than Roman Gwynn. Automatic app. Automatic app. It gives you an actual option in late in games. It gives you an actual option that you can go to.

And, and, and, you know, at least it's not, it's not just. It gives you an actual option late in games. It gives you an actual option that you can go to. And, you know, at least it's not just a pointless at-bat. It's really where Scott Kingery, like, Scott Kingery killed this team in this spot. Like, they were expecting Kingery, I think, like we've talked about, to be their center fielder. But if nothing else, to be a right-handed, you know, Swiss Army knife off the bench who they can you know bat instead of roman quinn and stuff it's pretty sad pretty sad jack yeah and i do think that kingery is gonna be back up soon yeah yeah i mean the the reports the reports from from from uh the

alternates that are pretty good you know we're direction. Jeff Pag's back at some point. All right, take back before a quick game of what would Jack Fritz do? Okay. Overall, like I'm not – the fact that they were pretty much in this series and needed a coin flip game last night, and obviously Bone was safe tonight, so there's never a doubt. I think it's good. You know, I think it's a good thing for this team. Not a super discouraging weekend.

Obviously, the Alvarado play happened, so I'm happy overall. So, like, the one thing that I wanted to get to, because I saw a lot of tweets about it tonight, so just inside the sport. So did you notice Matt Moore grunting tonight? No, I didn't. Dude, like, a total grunt fest. He would have thought it was like a tennis.

Yeah, sure. That was my first time when he said it. Yeah. Yeah, so the reason why he was grunting so much or whatever was because what pitchers try to do is they try to have everything mirror each other. try to do is they try to have everything mirror each other. So if you're grunting on 91 when you throw your fastball, it's a good idea to grunt

on your changeup because the hitter thinks that you're not just trying to power people with your fastball. Right. So that's why Matt Moore is grunting on every single pitch was because he didn't want to. Because he can't help grunting when he's dialing it up and got it.

He has to mimic it. That makes sense. That's interesting. Good looking out there, Doug. That's quite insightful from you. Yeah. Who would have thought? It's an old Moyer trick, actually.

That's good stuff. I try to do it. I try to do it in a couple starts, and I would get so worked up with the grunting that i would like i would forget how to you know pitch so um sounds about right yeah yes yes i'm always focused on the important things um and like i don't really have much else in my take back you know um but my last thing is like man if we're gonna call gene segura a hit machine. It would be great if we could start getting the hits. Dude, he's been rough. And, like, some of the pitches he swings at, it's like, bro, like, that one, the one tonight, like, hit, like, two feet in front of the plate in the dirt and he swung at it. It's like, what are you seeing, man?

I know. I know. man i know i know and it's like gene you can't be a 250 swinging at every first pitch guy i mean i i like the aggressiveness i think he's a good bats a ball guy but it's time to get that average up to to around 300 you know it's it's it's i mean we can't we can't be having the 250 ish seasons. I think he's batting like I think so before McCutcheon got hurt in 2019, he was batting like 310. I want to say. And since that moment, he's been batting like 242. So I need him to get back on the right track here. We're going to call him Gene Segura hit machine. You're damn right about that.

All right. I'll use my final thought. Do you have any final thoughts before I do my what would Jack do? Well, we're on to New York. On to New York. And a four-game series, day game Thursday. We will be, no matter what happens, recording right around 6 o'clock on Thursday. So expect any pod Thursday night.

Nice. Is that fair? That's right, right? We got Chase Anderson versus David Peterson. Yep. No, I think it's going to be – Oh, I guess it depends on if they throw a Strowman or not because he started the game, but that will be interesting.

I don't know. That's a good point. Either way, pitching matchups favor the Phils. If you miss to Grom, that's what matters, right? But it's a four-game series, so I don't think you will. Yeah, you're going to see him. The Grom's supposed to go third. I mean, they'll lose for him anyway.

Well, it's so funny. It's like they forget to score runs when he's pitching. Unbelievable. All right. So, last thing. A quick game of what would jack fritz do uh i saw this and it made me wonder what you would do because uh you know i'm always intrigued by you in these type of situation as a you know former high level athlete yourself okay that's right everyone um shout out to rgm our guy sam full uh i'm not sure if you saw this i think cory simon

might have tweeted out someone someone tweeted this out um it was from baseball reference uh about our guy uh it says on this day in 2011 sam fold had four extra base hits and tampa bay's 16 to 5 win over boston i owned him in fantasy for this by the way i yeah i did uh he goes after hitting a double a triple and a homer he came up in the ninth inning only needing a single to complete the cycle but instead lashed a double into the left field corner jack fritz you are in that situation the totally real hypothetical that you could be playing major league baseball and have a home run a double and a triple and you lash one into the corner are you stopping at first base i am not stopping at first base good because i could see you going the other way and being like i'm getting the i'm

getting david bell's out of the record books i'm getting the lat the newest philly site you know that's not going to be my name in the record books. Yeah, now I will say, if this is Philly's history, I am stopping. You might have to consider it. Yeah. I will do, James. The Phillies could make the playoffs. They could win the World Series. I need someone to hit for the freaking cycle.

David Bell is my least favorite Philly of all time. I hated David Bell. Just can someone hit for the freaking cycle so we can just erase that memory from the record books? So the point is, any other team, you're taking the devil and playing the right way.

I respect it. But you have to factor in so I'd obviously be doing this podcast and being a superstar on the Phillies. And everyone would know my personal brand of like needing David Bell out of the record books

I would just feel my Twitter mentions lighting up if I did not stay at first base and get David Bell's name erased in the record books so if I was a Philly and on the team I would stay at first base because I would, I'd need David Bell gone. But on any other team I'm going for second.

Yeah, I think that's the correct answer. All right. We're getting out of here again. We'll be back Thursday at three or four. Jack, can we say three or four? If they take three or four,

let's go. This podcast is going to be electric. Let's go. Three of three of four and and listen if anyone out there uh knows where jim nance went and you know reaches out to him once he wants to come on the pod and tell us what his future is going to be where he's going to end up we're happy to uh talk to jim too So... And... And... And... Boom.com.

Boom.com. Three of four. He spreads himself to a bug later. All-Star Closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game.

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