High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Aaron Nola Struggles In Lop-Sided Loss

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to Aaron Nola giving up eight runs in the Phillies series finale loss to the Red Sox. 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

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome on in. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Thursday night reacting to, hey, Phil's kind of got shellacked up in Boston tonight. That has not happened very often. They've lost two straight.

They've lost three straight series coming off of London. I would like to be able to kind of use the hangover excuse, and I think there could be a little bit of it, but they did play really well in that first game. Maybe that's just because of Wheeler, but obviously a lot to get into. The game wrap-up sponsored by Blazer, Swiss Lube, and Kravitz, the metalworking fluid specialist

providing professional CNC machine cleaning, coolant maintenance programs, and waste coolant disposal, Crevitz.online. 215-592-9494. If you're leaving Fenway again, a lot of Phil's fans made the trip up there, which is beautiful to see. Unfortunately, team didn't do their part. Or if you're like me and just watching your couch and want to react, get in now.

215-592-9494. But let's get into it. The biggest takeaways of the game brought to you by Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury firm. And obviously, big one that sticks out is back-to-back nights. Two of their best and most reliable starters, Sam, Zach

Wheeler, didn't have it. Last night it was Chris Sanchez. Tonight, it was Aaron Nola. And I think there is definitely something to having the extended time off and not being able to have the same kind of rhythm. And I think there is definitely something to having the extended time off and not being able to have the same kind of rhythm. And both those guys were just missing. And it seems like the Red Sox kind of had this plan the last two nights

to try to jump on these guys. And I guess when you are as command-oriented as Chris Sanchez and Aaron Nola are, it's not a bad strategy. You don't want to get down to two strikes against this team because they've been getting you out that way. But either way, just didn't have it, just missing. And it's back-to-back nights where starter Aaron was only three and a third tonight, three and two-thirds tonight.

Sanchez got through, pitched into the fifth last night, but still that is not the length that we've been used to. But the one thing that I want to get to here, because I think people are letting Aaron off the hook here a little bit for the Duran miss pitch. And first off, it was a three one count. Did the umpire miss it? A hundred percent. I mean, that umpire was atrocious tonight. I mean, absolutely atrocious. It was a Mickey Mouse strike zone. You had no idea

what was going to be called a strike, what was going to be called a ball. It was brutal. I mean, a brutal, brutal effort by the umpire. And it was really for both sides. And that pitch definitely sucked. But at the same time, that's a 3-1 count. If it's a strike, you still got to make a 3-2 pitch.

If he does his job and throws a good 3-2 pitch, yeah, sure. He gets Jared Ran out and maybe that inning doesn't happen. But Aaron Noah let that affect him a little bit too much for me. And listen, it's human. I don't need to bring up that I've pitched before, but if you've pitched, if you've been in a spot like that, whether it's Little League, high school, college, whatever, we all kind of have the same reaction.

Very few people are robots in the mound, and they are different. But Aaron Nola clearly let that affect him, and Nola is not usually like that, but after the Duran walk, it went Hamilton single, O'Neal launch, I mean, just a bomb, Dever single, and Yoshida single. That was it. It was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Could not get refocused back in after the Duran missed strike two call. And we saw Aaron Nola kind of chirping the umpire when he got taken out. He continued to chirp at the umpire.

Just not used to seeing that from Aaron Nola. He was frustrated. I get it. But ultimately, it completely unraveled him on the mound tonight. 100%. No doubt about it. So that was frustrating. Obviously, eight earned is most he's allowed since 2022.

And I'm not going to sound the alarms here. He had a bad night. Again, my mentions are largely a dumpster fire. But some of the things that I saw in there are Gareth Stubbs can't call a game with Aaron Nola out there. The catching without JT Romito has been brutal. Okay, deep breaths. Gareth Subbs with Aaron Nola so far this season was pitching to a 1.24 ERA. It was a bad night. A lot of regressing to the mean. It was a lot of same old NOLA. I don't buy that.

I don't buy any of that. I think it's been two bad nights coming off a trip to London where there was a lot of off days. These guys have not pitched in a while. It sounds excuse making, but sometimes excuses are explanations. Pitching is a feel thing.

When you're a pitcher, it's a lot of feel. And when you get out of a rhythm, it does take a little bit. You can throw as many bullpens as you want, but until you're out there throwing live bullets, it's not going to be the same. If it happens again his next start, sure. I think you can have a little bit of cause for concern. If it happens for Chris Sanchez in his next start, sure. There's some causes for concern if you want to go there. But I'm not doing this whole, there he is, there's the boogeyman, Aaron Noel's bad again, not doing it.

He's been too good so far this year. He had a bad night. He just missed on a lot of his pitches. I think a good amount of that has to do with London. The umpire was Mickey Mouse. I just, I'm not doing it. I can't do it. And there was, of course, because critical thinking is borderline impossible when it comes to baseball sometimes. A lot of, how do you let Aaron Nola pitch the fourth inning? Clearly didn't have it tonight. Rob Thompson loses another one. Please stop commenting on baseball. 2-1-5, 5-9-2.

94-94 to get in. Nola didn't have it. Didn't have it, and I didn't. He let the Duran 3-1 missed call really affect him too much. Usually you don't see Nola like that. I don't expect that causing, you know, turning into a huge problem. The one concern, the one concern I have is twofold. Now, this is not going to be the offense it is a month from now. We know that. You know,

Turner will be back. JT will be back. Marshall will be back. Hopefully, Boehm can kind of start heating up. We know this, like this lineup tonight, I mean, kind of start heating up. We know this lineup tonight, I mean, that's not the lineup of the best team in baseball. Holy cow. Just brutal. I mean, the fact that, I love Bryson's thought. The fact that he had a bat forward tonight is pretty insane. It's insane. But what this team can't have is a pitching regression. Again, I don't think there's a big pitching regression happening. Now, they are facing some real teams. We're going to see this team tested. The Red Sox

did a good job, I think, so far this series. Orioles this weekend will be a big test. Padres coming down. They figured out some things offensively. They got Luis Arise. Him and Jerickson Profar are 1-2 in average in the NL, and Fernando Tatis

is heating up. So I don't have this big pitching regression fear, but it's almost been so historic that it's masked, I think, some of the offensive issues with this team. And we take a lot of phone calls of like,

yeah, you know, they're the best team in baseball, the best team in baseball. And I think they are, I think them, the Yankees, and the Dodgers are the best teams in baseball. But there can be some causes for concern because we do watch these games thinking about October. And is this something that can come back and bite them in October? And the offense, again, down a lot of pieces. What has made this team so good so far this year is how dominant this

pitching staff is. And a regression from that standpoint, I don't know if that would not be something good for this team to go through. So again, I'll give them a pass with the London thing. I got some good stats coming up later that helped ease my tension when it came to some of the pitching aggression. But we need to nip this whole thing in the bud and get back to where we were about a week ago and then all before that. Because this week has not been something. It's not been the most fun week of baseball.

Haven't watched this Phillies pitching staff get hit around really for the first time all year. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in on the other side. They play the game. An update from down on the farm, and I actually have some positive thoughts on two Phillies from tonight because, again, they're're still damn good baseball team. We'll get to all that coming up next on the final out sports radio,

94 WIP. Hey, fantasy football owners, the road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from reception perception. Join me and James co as we take a deep dive into the position. That's going to make or break your fantasy roster wide receivers. We analyze route

running target share and all the metrics that matter giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers as you prep for your draft let us give you the coverage you need follow and listen to reception perception on the free odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts Oh He was about to call that a strike. Oh look at Garrett Stubbs. He is Angry unreal the dugouts not gonna be happy either. They're not but Garrett needs to stay in his game This I mean if that that boxes that didn't even have to be 99% accurate. That is our play of the game sponsored by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo and mustard of the Phillies.

You might be asking, what was that? Well, that was the missed strike called a Jaron Duran, which caused Garrett Stubbs to have a reaction. I think it was the inning before that he felt like a pitch was low that he got called out on, so he was definitely, his emotions were running hot. And then just some unbelievable lip-reading on Caleb Gotham.

Strong F-bomb, so appreciate that from Caleb. There is nothing funnier to me than when Rob Thompson gets a little fire under the brim. But yeah, it was a frustrating night. Noel didn't have it. Umpire was brutal. But, yeah, it was a frustrating night. Noel didn't have it. Umpire was brutal.

London trip hangover might be a thing. But, like, I just am not pressing the panic button. I hope a pitching regression doesn't happen because, again, the offense is not there right now. And getting the fourth spot in the lineup going, I think, is the single most important thing for them. Like, we can talk about the bottom of the lineup all we want. I think the Schwarber thing is kind of dead.

By the way, three hits tonight for old June Schwarbs and a big hit earlier that I thought was going to propel them in a comeback. But that four spot, and again, we've talked about it on pregame. We talked about it on the afternoon show today. I think Julio talked about it. But boom, since May 1st with the 221 batting average and a 600 OPS, we're getting Johan Rojas production out of the four spot in the lineup for

about a month and a half. Can't happen. Can't happen. I don't think they've been able to sustain, really. Sustain's a strong word. A pitching regression, like we've seen the last two nights, would lead to some real turbulence. They have lost three straight road series.

They did split out in London. So maybe we're kind of going through that rough stretch right now. Obviously, they are banged up and Trey should be back soon. Speaking of that, the injury report is sponsored by the Plumbers Union Local 690, protecting the health of the nation. Visit plumbers690.org. Down on the farm tonight Brandon Marsh three hits up in Redding

good to see would like that back in the lineup as soon as we can I think I mentioned this in the pregame but I do think it's interesting that they're going to play him in center field the next two nights you would think coming off the hamstring

maybe put him in left but I had the you know kind of inkling here okay they're putting him in center field because they like the at-bats that David Dahl is seeing. David Dahl, unfortunately, 0 for 4 tonight, but maybe they want to see what a Marsh-Dahl center field-left field combo would look like against righties, and could be a precursor to the trade deadline where maybe they want to go get a corner bat.

Tell you what, Tyler O'Neal looks pretty good. I mean, that ball is absolutely launched off of Aaron Nola today. Maybe they can get a corner outfielder, put Marsh in center field. Either way, I do think it's semi-notable that Brandon Marsh is taking reps in center field and playing games in center field. And the other news is that Trey Turner might be activated Saturday down in Baltimore, so obviously could use him back as soon as possible. Do not

love the two-hole Castellanos, but it is what it is at this point. They're batting Stott fourth tonight. Again, that lineup tonight was shocking for the team heading into the game that had the number one record in baseball. Let's go back to the phones.

Dave is in Maryland. What's happening, Dave? Hey, Jack. No panic. No panic here. I think it's, you know, when you look at the season, there's a couple stretches of the schedule which were going to be brutal, and this was one of them.

Totally. Going to London, going to Boston. I mean, I know Boston's a 500 team, but they're going to be decent at home. And then, I mean, coming off that London trip and going down the road for six games is a tough, tough go. I think I heard they were talking about how the Cubs lost three to the Phillies last year when they came back. And I think I looked after that.

They lost five out of six after they came back from London. And I think the Cardinals lost four out of six. Well, Dave, we can't have that. I mean, the city can't handle that. Come on, Dave. No, no. I mean, it's – I mean, but then you look at the lineup tonight. We have four regular starters out.

I mean, and then the pitchers aren't sharp. It's one of those stretches, and it happens during 162. You know, I think that you're going to see over the next course of a month, like you said, Marsh playing center, you know, keeping Dahl up there with Weston Wilson probably going down. Could this be the end for Pache if Trey and Marsh come back this weekend, that could be what you see. Yeah, it's going to be interesting, Dave, and I appreciate the phone call. It does feel like this is just a tough stretch.

I'm not going to go like, these MLBs ought to screw the Phillies, but having to go to London and then straight to Boston and then down to Baltimore, it's a tough stretch. It's going to happen in the baseball season. They also had a really, really favorable stretch to begin the year. So it's always going to happen. So I guess the broadcast talked about how last year, again, the Cardinals and Cubs came back from London.

They went and combined 1-5 in their first series after the trip. They were outscored 42-18. So I guess the final update here, because the Mets came back and won tonight on a J.D. Martinez walk-off home run. Mets and Phillies together have been outscored 32-14, and they are 2-4 in their first series back. So there has to be something to it. You're traveling that

far away, coming back and having the extra time off, not being as crisp. It's going to happen. Now the one thing the London trip might have done, again, might have done not saying he's back, not saying he's back. We're monitoring though. Just saying.

Whit Merrifield, two hits tonight. He had a couple walks the other night. He had a couple hits out in London, including the home run. Signs of life, slowly, slowly, from Whit Merrifield. And I did think it was interesting. And again, this is

nerdy stuff. You just don't do this on WIP. But, but, Gregory Soto, while I don't think I'll ever trust in any spot that has any kind of leverage, looks like they tried to do the thing they did with, they've done with Sanchez, and they've done a couple

of these pitchers where they have them throw a little bit softer, take some of the velocity off to make sure they're commanding their stuff, and maybe getting more movement to things. He was down to like 96, 97 tonight, but it looked much looked much more effective and looked like the sinker actually had more depth to it so one to kind of file away not gonna again not gonna go overboard saying oh we should all trust gregory soto now but this is something the philly staff has consciously done over the last year that phil's the phil's coaching staff has done is they've had some guys take some of the

velocity off so that they could increase their command. And sometimes they take velocity off, it also increases your movement on pitches. So maybe that's something they're trying with Gregory Soto. I would try just about anything with Gregory Soto. He is a conundrum. I'll say that. He is definitely a conundrum. And I don't think I'll ever trust him if he comes in a high leverage spot. But anything to kind of get him going because, again, this stuff is pretty good. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. On the other side, the player of the game, plus some updates on who the Phillies might be targeting in trades

and another one of their trade targets hit a home run tonight. So we'll talk about all that. Get to your phone calls. Look ahead to tomorrow in Baltimore before handing things off to Robbie E. Here on the Final Out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. That is our Player of the Game, sponsored by South Jersey Gas.

Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome. Tyler O'Neill didn't miss that one, and that one put it out of reach. Made it 8-3, like Scott just said, and just an absolute moonshot. It's as simple as that.

The final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Speaking of Tyler O'Neill, kind of an interesting trade target. We'll see what happens to the Red Sox as it approaches the trade deadline. I would assume they wouldn't keep him. I believe he's still a rental.

So he's a guy that, again, obviously has pretty big pop and could play a corner, generally grades out as a pretty good defensive player. Rob Ruff Snyder has been in the lineup the last couple nights. Maybe he's someone they look for. He rips left-handed pitching. So Ruff Snyder, Tyler O'Neal, two Red Sox that have kind of jumped out here as possible trade candidates for the Phillies. Obviously the big sexy name is Luis Robert,

who homered again tonight out in Seattle coming back from injuries. His last five hits have all been home runs. I think he's pretty much going like one for four in each of these games. But, I mean, he hit a home run tonight. That was basically a line drive to center field that just kept carrying. I mean, he has – when they talk about light tower power and they talk about easy home run power, I mean, that's him. And, you know, I've been thinking about – because, again,

I've been so conflicted on Luis Robert. And I talked about it last night. I talked about it on pregame. I'll talk about it here. Like, he is super enticing from the standpoint of has not really reached his potential, even though last year he had 38 home runs and 80 RBIs. But, you know, the upside is there's still untapped potential there. Chicago is a dumpster fire that he is basically been walking into a morgue

every day at the ballpark. So I think you would get him rejuvenized by being at Citizens Bank Park, playing on the team with one of the best records in the sport with a chance to win a World Series. I think you'd get the best out of him. And, yeah, the upside is massive. And center field, you can play center field, you can plug him in tomorrow. And you can keep him there and put Marshall on left,

and the defense doesn't take a drop off. Johan Ross actually had a really nice play tonight. He backed up Nick Castellanos and threw a guy out at third base, probably his best throw I've seen since he's gotten here. But regardless, we've seen him at the plate. Like Luis Robert, you add him, and again, we talk about the fourth spot in the lineup. Like it drops everyone down a him at the plate. Like Luis Robert, you add him, and again, we talk about the fourth spot in the lineup.

It drops everyone down a spot in the lineup. It lets Boehm drop down. It lets Stott drop down. It lets JT drop down. It lets Castellanos drop down. It lengthens the lineup. And it gives you a guy with 35-plus home run potential batting behind Bryce for the next three and a half years. The injury concern, 100% real.

Doesn't walk, strikes out a ton. That's there. But the power's the power. And when you're trying to 100% real. Doesn't walk, strikes out a ton, that's there. But the power is the power. And when you're trying to win a World Series, you look for difference makers. And he could be a difference maker. Me and Joe Giglio were talking off the air today, and the one name he brought up, and it's pretty good, is Jonas Cespedes, who David Dombrowski has traded for before. That's who he kind of reminds us of. And he also reminds me of Jorge Soler.

Now, he's better than Soler, like better upside. But again, Soler went nuclear in the 2021 World Series against the Astros and won World Series MVP. Like, he hits balls like Luis Robert does. I think Luis Robert is a better overall hitter than Jorge Soler. But still, it's really enticing. Either way, he homered again tonight. John Heyman also linked the Phillies to Tanner Scott today.

Now Tanner Scott heading into the game tonight against the Mets at a 1.3 ERA. And then JD Martinez hit a walk-off home run against them. So that's definitely being jumped up a little bit tonight. But Tanner Scott's pretty nasty. Now, he has allowed a home run to Garrett Stubbs before, which is questionable, but Tanner Scott, I mean, if you can go, again, you look at this Phillies bullpen, and you have the righty options. I know Kirkering allowed a run tonight, but I don't care. He's been great. Kirkering, Hoffman, Sir Anthony. On the left side, you have Alvarado, Strom,

and you replace Soto with Tanner Scott. It's pretty nasty. Like, that's a pretty good six-man bullpen that you can, if the starter gives you six, 7-8-9 is good morning, good afternoon, good night. So Tanner Scott's definitely one to monitor. Don't know what that would look like package-wise because he's been a pretty good reliever for a little bit here. But, yeah, John Heyman linked them to him during the game tonight. Jack is in Doylestown.

What's happening, Jack? Yo, what's up, Jack? Thanks for taking my call. Of course, man. Appreciate it. Yeah, I just wanted to echo pretty much what Dave said. He talked about the same thing I was going to say. You know, it's been a long road stretch for these guys.

I think during one of the games, Stocker was talking about even the four-game stretch on the road can be pretty brutal staying in the hotels and stuff. So just feeling like these guys are maybe feeling it, that they just haven't been home for a little bit, touch base. Yeah, and maybe there's also something to like, there has to be a little bit of a human emotion when you look at the lineup.

It's like, man, we're down JT, we're down Trey, we're down a lot of these guys. And it's a getaway day. You got a big series in Baltimore where, again, the Orioles, I think, probably have had this one circle for a little bit here. It's a show-me series for kind of both teams. Part of me is like, okay, they kind of want to get to Baltimore.

Again, a 7 o'clock game, too, on a getaway day before having to go right to Baltimore after being in London. It's not great, Jack. It's definitely not great. No, definitely. And I just feel like, like you said, with the lineup, you know, maybe the pitching staff are just feeling the weight of not having as much of an offense,

and that can kind of get in their heads a little bit. Yeah, and, you know, it's unfortunate when this kind of stuff happens. But, again, it's been such a magical year. Like, I can't crush them too bad. But, you know, bad stretches are going to happen. Frankly, with the regression or being able to take a step back, the record is the record. They're really good.

Being able to see what the issue is heading into the deadline and not be able to excuse it away by having the record and just living and dying by that could be a good thing. Could be a good thing. Let's close it out with Billy in New Jersey. What's happening, Billy? Hey, how you doing tonight? Good.

How are you? I'm doing good. I was watching a game at Chickie's and Pete's. I just got home. I was checking your podcast. Beautiful. Yeah, I was saying this podcast. I was just... Beautiful. Yeah, we are... We're...

I was saying this morning to your guys this morning, same thing happened last year. I had a bad feeling about before they were going into the series against Arizona. I just felt something was wrong. And it just... I think what it is

is that the Phillies, they start off... You know, they got, like, a high confidence in them they start off you know they they got like a high confidence in them and you know they they do well and then they win a like a ton of games and like all of a sudden it's like they did you get loose and I don't know if they're aware of it but they just get loose and they're like I don't know if it's like come from the top from the coach like not like pushing them to be hungry or not, but it just feels like right now I feel that you're going to see a huge downturn.

I hate to say it, but. But why? Because I love this gritty team. It's just very painful to see it last year. I saw it. I just saw it right before. Hold on. What do you mean by a huge downturn?

Like, I can't explain it. I just saw it right before. Hold on. What do you mean by a huge downturn? Like, how can I explain it? It's like a horse race. Like, you get out in front, right? And it's a long horse race. And, you know, you're basically up by 15, 20 lengths. And all of a sudden, you know, there's nobody around. And all of a sudden, you just – the horse gets loose. You don't know how fast to go, know how slow to go, and he loses that pace.

And that's what I feel here with the Phillies. And I said this this morning to your guys. They're kind of like, you know, don't panic after a game, you know, after yesterday's game. But I kind of felt it – I felt it it right in the beginning of the game yesterday, and I just got a bad feeling that now they're going to go with the Baltimore. Do you want them to lose more? Did you want them to lose more earlier in the season?

What I'm saying is that it just seems like when I say they're playing loose, what I mean is that— You mean sloppy. They're not hungry. They don't have that hunger going forward. It seems like they were hungry, and now they're out there. What about when they swept the Brewers last week? Well, I'm just saying. I know.

They had a bad couple games. I got it. Yeah, I got it. I got it. I got it. I don just saying. I know. They had a bad couple games. I got it. Yeah, I got it. I got it. I got it. I don't know. They head down to Baltimore. They head down to Baltimore.

Again, it's going to be a fun series. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to see the Phillies match up. I don't think this is – I don't need to see the Phillies go down there and get bludgeoned. I need the Phillies to go down there and be competitive. We'll see what the lineups look like to expect them to go out and out-slug an

Orioles team with Gunnar Henderson and Adley and all those young studs down there when we have a lineup like we had tonight is semi-unrealistic, I guess. The real big one for me is getting this pitching staff back in line. These last two nights have been jarring. We're not used to seeing

this Phillies pitching staff so far this year get hit around like they did. So Ranger, he did pitch out in London, so hopefully we don't have to deal with the whole London excuse or the London hangover. So he's going against Kyle Braddish, who has had a good year as well. 2.6 ERA. Either way, I will have you before the game with leading off,

and I will also have you for the final out. So we are locked and loaded. Also, a new High Hopes tomorrow morning with myself and James Seltzer. Ben Kenney produced the program tonight. Robbie, he will take you through the rest of the night here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.