High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Are the Phillies Turning the Corner?

Episode Date: May 27, 2023

Jack Fritz is feeling encouraged after the Phillies' 6-4 win over the Braves on Friday night. 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

Good day, sunshine. make, four hours makes, when talking about this baseball team. But hey, that's the beauty of a baseball season. And it's always full of roller coasters. One minute you're back, one minute you're distraught. And nothing describes this Phillies baseball team more than that. And tonight was a really, really professional, solid, good, and something that I hope is a template for this team going forward. Because you could see it tonight. And my first big takeaway from tonight, and again, get in 215-592-9494 if you want to react to the Phillies game tonight

as you start your Memorial Day weekend. But my first takeaway from tonight was there's still a good baseball team in there. It's been a frustrating beginning of the season. I definitely was worried earlier today. After yesterday, I was definitely worried. But I never thought that this team was bad. I never bought into the notion that they weren't talented enough to be a good team. And what I hope that they realize tonight was that it's in there. There's a good team in there.

And tonight felt like a template. Obviously, the easy part of the template is the starter going out and doing their job. And yes, Tywon Walker wasn't perfect tonight, but he more than did his job. Like 100%, Tywon Walker did his job tonight. That was great. But what they did offensively tonight,

like that's something that you can take to the ballpark. Sometimes something's happening in games, you don't have it, you have it, but they always say you can't coach effort. What I saw tonight was a true effort from this team

at the plate. Really locked in, really connected, and frankly, it's really been the last two games. The comeback against the Diamondbacks was great. Obviously, being able to come back against Gallon was good. Scoring three runs late and then

a turnaround run and then eventually walking it off. That shows a good progression from an offensive approach. Last night, it wasn't the offense's fault they lost that game. Your ace or second-best pitcher wasn't good enough. But this has been back-to-back nights and really three nights in a row where you start to see what could be developing into an identity on offense.

They only had three strikeouts from their regulars tonight. I know Josh Harrison had two. I don't count him as a regular. So didn't strike out as much. Worked some strong good at bats. Kept the train rolling. Got some hits at the runners in scoring position. You know, didn't need a long ball.

Found different ways to score runs. But it wasn't feeble. And that's what made the last two, three weeks when this thing was kind of crumbling a little bit, was that it was a lot of just feeble, bad approaches, early swings and counts for no reason. Tonight, last night, and against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, wasn't any of that. It was more locked in. And every time I get excited about this team kind of finding that,

it feels like they always take a step back the next game. But that can't happen. That can't happen. A lot of guys, been around a while, have obviously been a part of a lot of baseball games. Like, ride this momentum. Ride it. Because what you saw tonight could be the template for this team

hopefully getting on a bit of a run. So there's a good baseball team in there. That was my first big takeaway tonight. Tylan Walker wasn't great, but he battled. And shout out to Rob Thompson for trusting him. I think that shows a lot of trust and faith in a guy. And I've been kind of critical of Rob Thompson because it feels like a lot of decisions this year have been more based in analytics rather than using your eyes and trusting your gut. I thought leaving Tywon Walker out there

for some of those situations was a good time to trust his gut. Bullpen did their job, and they just played good, solid, fundamental baseball. You know, I feel like I always harp on the fundamental baseball, but it's important. Like, that stuff matters, and it feels like the Braves are always very good at it. And I just continue to believe that as the games get bigger, the games get tighter, as they hopefully play in playoff-type games, that the little things start to matter and they become a good team at that kind of stuff.

Because I think it matters. And I thought, you know, late in the game tonight, they have a lead, but they weren't satisfied. They got him over, got him in. Bryce Harper hit a sack fly. Just did a job. That is good, solid baseball, and I'll take that. My second big takeaway from tonight, and it's actually my play of the game,

which is brought to you by Mike's Amazing. The Mike's Amazing play of the game presented by Mike's Amazing. The official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil. The Phillies takes us to the one and only Trey Turner, who did this tonight. Lipke, again the 3-2. Swung on, line to right center, there's a base hit. Towards the alley, it's going to be stopped on the track

by Harris, but in the score is Stott, and in the second is Turner. And an opposite field double for Trey Turner. It's 5-3 Phillies. Now, I know you're probably asking, why are you making that your Mike's Amazing Play of the Game?

Well, it gave the Phillies some insurance, but I thought it was Trey Turner's best at bat of the season. I know he's had home runs. I know he had the home run on Wednesday, but I thought that at bat, getting it to 3-2, fouling some pitches off, really grinding one out, I thought that was really important.

And then it finally paid off for him with that double into the right center field gap. I thought it was his best at bat of the season. And Ben Davis mentioned on the broadcast, I'm sure Kevin Stocker did as well, very flat bat or very flat bat path through the zone. And while we know how important launch angle is from the standpoint of hitting for power, Trace Hunter doesn't need to be that guy.

Like if he hits 15 to 20 homers, but he bats over 300, That's a massive win. Like I'll take that. He doesn't need to be a 25 home run guy. And if he can get his bat path back to being more flat, you know, you see the average start to creep back up. Hopefully it starts creating more hard contact. He smoked that ball. It was, it was, it was a hard hit ball hit into the gap. He was able to get the second base and able to make some stuff happen once he got there. And it was like, there we go. He got the third on a ball and dirt read, which I think is important. Him being able to be on base pass on a higher clip

just makes the whole offense that much better. So I thought it was Trey Turner's best at bat of the season. I thought he followed up later in the game with another pretty good at bat. I thought I noticed him standing closer to the plate. So maybe that's an adjustment to all the sliders that they're kind of peppering him away. If he stands closer to the plate, he can see it better out of hand and hopefully lay off it. So he's not just digging himself into an 0-1, 0-2 hole in the snap of your finger. But I thought Trey Turner had a good night, and you start to see him slowly coming out

of this thing. And man, I can't wait for us to see the real Trey Turner. I really can't. When he gets rolling, and he will, Stott at the top, Turner turner harper castellanos another good night tonight good to see um the thing with castellanos it's so funny um a couple nights ago i i felt like he was starting to chase again and i was like oh come on nick like you haven't been doing this all year don't start now fixed it pretty quickly and it's back to what we had seen at the beginning of the season. So you get those four going.

Schwarber, hopefully June comes around and he starts heating back up. JT, notorious slow starter. Hopefully he picks it back up. Boehm, I think, is rounding a corner. And Brandon Marsh, a big hit tonight to give the Phillies a lead in the game tonight. I guess that chiropractor that fixed his back might have saved the season, might have saved the season. But either way, a great, great baseball win down in Atlanta tonight.

Shout out to Craig Kimbrell getting number 400. That is a cool just baseball. You know what I mean? Like Craig Kimbrell starts his career against the Phillies as an Atlanta Brave and becomes the eighth closer in baseball history to get number 400 while pitching back in Atlanta. I mean, that is

baseball at its finest. 215-592-9494. We'll get to all of your calls on the final lap, but also we'll get to the player of the game next and one of the most important things from the game tonight what is it we'll get to all that and your phone calls coming up next here on the final out welcome back it is the final out sponsored by regency furniture affordable never

looks so good i guess the classic rock kind of uh a weekend here i feel like memorial day more of a classic rock kind of weekend. Listen, came into the show with some Beatles, mixing in some Zeppelin. Yeah, we're happy tonight because it's been a season where it's just been brutal heading into a year that was filled with so much hope. I mean, this was the most hopeful

we've been around here since 2011 with a real feeling that they could get back to the World Series and finish the job. And it's been excruciating at the beginning of this year. And games like tonight, while I'm very happy, it's also like you could have been doing this all year. You didn't have to get to 24 and 27. You didn't have to let that happen.

Especially when they play the style that they played tonight. That's what makes it annoying because the offensive approach, it's like, oh, my gosh. It's been so refreshing the last two nights of actually working a picture and actually feel like you're thinking your way through at bats and not just wasting them away by swinging first pitch. That's why I'm happy tonight, but I'm also like, what the hell? It could have been a season of this. But regardless, we know there's 162, and just hopefully these last two nights

and Wednesday, you start to see the offense carry this team for a little bit, especially while Wheeler and Nola are getting right and Ranger is getting right um you know I I've kind of I don't want to say I've thrown in the towel on Nola and Wheeler you know being the classic versions of Nola and Wheeler I'm more in the camp of like I can't bank on them being great and going on a run here I'm more start to start and hope they get on a run but the offense should should not have that problem there is plenty enough there and this whole I mean I love Reese this is not anti-Reese but this whole idea that Reese would have had this team in first place because of his leadership in the locker room. They were 22-29 with him last year.

What are we talking about? He's good. He's a leader of this team. I totally understand that. Besides Noel, he's been here the longest of any position player. I do believe he is a leader. But we just saw this last year with Reese here. He's been

one of the streakiest players in baseball the last four years. I'm sorry. Did we watch a different Reese Hoskins the last four years? Sure. I think, obviously, having a 30-home-run guy in the lineup especially

against lefties would have obviously helped i just think we've gotten a little overboard with how good this team would be if reese was in the lineup every day like they were also inconsistent with him in there as well they've been frustrated in the last couple years in the regular season with this kind of stuff so um that's just a minor rant that i need to get off my chest but um the one really important thing that did happen tonight and i touched on a little bit in the open but heading into the game tonight the one and two spots in the lineup had a on base percentage of 272 um The guy's batting number one and two batting spots in the world. Obviously, it hasn't

been stout all year. Turner's pretty much been up there all year. But regardless, that's the amongst the fifth, that's the fifth worst on-base percentage of your first and second hitters in the history of since 1961. So in the last 60 years, it's one of the

five worst on-base percentages at the top of the So in the last 60 years, it's one of the five worst on-base percentages at the top of the lineup in the league during that span. And those two guys had good nights. And I do think that Trey Turner is coming out of this, but you can't have those two being black holes at the top of the lineup where they feel more automatic outie than anything.

So I think Bryson Stott, if you kind of blink after people were worried about him and he's back up to 294 with a 333 OPP and a 412 slugging percentage. I think if a week ago I'd said that, you'd be shocked. So looks like Stotty is getting more comfortable. Stole a base tonight, a couple bases tonight, and hopefully he is kind of just settling into being the leadoff hitter for this team,

and as Bryce gets more comfortable, I think Turner's going to see more pitches, and they can truly get this thing going, but either way, I think that's an important thing to watch here, is can they get more production out of the one and two spots in the lineup because it's been historically bad to start the season. Let's go to Owen in New Jersey before we get to the player of the game. What's happening, Owen? Hey, I mean, I'm feeling a lot better than I did a couple days ago.

Me too, buddy. Honestly, a lot of people I know were, it was a loss last night, but I saw a lot of positive signs that I was pretty pumped up about last night. I mean, I honestly thought going into the Brave series that they might get boat raced every game, but they fought in both games, which is really cool to see. I was expecting this at the beginning of the season, like you said, but it's nice to see.

I think they've kind of figured out something. Offensively, I would agree with you. I think offensively, they've had good at-bats the last two nights. They've played inspired baseball. They've had some clutch hits. And I think that offensively,

I'll buy some stock on what they've done the last couple of nights. Yeah, and I mean, Noah obviously didn't have a good night last night, but I did like what I saw for Walker tonight. I mean, he did a quality start. That's what you need from your three or maybe four guy. And I liked how he navigated a couple jams, but, you know, obviously Ozuna gave us a gift.

Yeah. It was a good game. For sure. And I'm looking forward to the season. couple jams, but obviously Ozuna gave us a gift. Yeah, I got... Good game. For sure. Looking forward to the season. Hopefully this is a bit of a turnaround point, and hopefully they found out what they can do on offense and really

build off this last little stretch. Now, I will say, Jared Schuster didn't really impress me tonight. They probably could have done more damage off of him, but regardless, it got the win, so we'll take it. I thought Dylan Dodd was atrocious, so we'll see how they do tomorrow against Morton, and then obviously Sunday night against Spencer Strider. Those will be obviously better tests than what they faced in the first two games of the series, but as long as you are battling at the dish and you're grinding it out

and you're getting base hits and you're getting hits with runners in scoring position, it doesn't always have to be home runs. And just I think the last two nights, three nights, you've seen the makings of what could be a good offense, and hopefully the hibernation is over from that standpoint. Let's get to the player of the game brought to you by south jersey gas committed to providing safe reliable affordable natural gas make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash love my home and i'm gonna give it to taiwan

walker with a hat tip to rob thompson you know taiwan walker went out and you know that that shows guts like that shows some someitude, what he did tonight. Because he wasn't great, but he battled. He grinded. He gave them a good amount of innings tonight. Like, that's – you can ask that – I'll take that every time from Tyron Walker. Every day of the week, what he did tonight. But I also thought it was important what Rob Thompson did.

Like, Rob Thompson, you know, I know that the bullpen's kind of struggling right now, but he trusted his gut. And he said, Taiwan can get me through some portions of this game, even though it might be tight. And full disclosure, I would have pulled him after the fifth, but he went a couple more innings. And it's like, all right, that shows me something. So that's two straight good starts with Tywin Walker. He was really good on Sunday, good tonight. He had the one blowup in San Francisco, was pretty good the two starts before that. So maybe we're starting to see Tywin Walker find his footing here,

and that would obviously be a really big lift for this team as they're waiting for Ranger Suarez to find his footing here. And that would obviously be a really big lift for this team as they're waiting for Ranger Suarez to find his footing and waiting for Wheeler and Nola to truly take off. But Tywon Walker, that's a positive start in a big spot on the road where people are worried about the team. He went out there and he gave them a really good, high-quality outing. And shout-out to him and shout-out to Rob Thompson because it's on both of them.

And I was proud of Rob Thompson for trusting his eye and using his gut and just having a feel more than just being in the binder trying to find out the right kind of matchup and the right pitcher for the correct swing path that they're going to face that inning. I mean, it's good stuff, but also, like, calm down. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in on the final out on the other side. We will look ahead to tomorrow before handing things off to Ryan Rothstein.

It's the final out here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Welcome back. It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Phil is the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Phil's going to win. Phil's getting a win tonight in Atlanta. They won't get swept. It's a big win.

It's a big step forward. And now you have a chance to, like, honestly, selfishly, you want to go down there and take three or four and just start on a roll and get going. But I think that every reasonable Phillies fan is just like, go down there and split. And it's kind of, you know, you're obviously lowering the expectations, but like with how they've played so far this year, you take that.

You take that every single day of the week. So now they have a good chance to split. They have Zach Wheeler on the mound tomorrow, going up against Charlie Morton. Charlie Morton's been pretty good this year again i mean he's drafted in oh two still doing this thing and uh man like now traditionally the last couple years been one of the best big game pitchers in the sport obviously we know what happened to him last year but uh last year in five starts. Again, I felt like the Phillies never missed Sandy Alcantara last year.

And they never missed Charlie Martin. Five starts against the Phillies last year. And he had a 547 ERA in those starts. Zach Wheeler going for the Phillies tomorrow. 2.7 ERA versus the Braves last year in three starts. And a 198 ERA at Truist Park. We know that he grew up from that area, so obviously he kind of wants to go home and show the hometown team that he's got it.

I mean, that's a little extra motivation. I guess Brandon Marsh had 60 people at the game last night. I mean, Kimbrell's whole family was there tonight for number 400. So obviously a lot of kids grow up in the Georgia area, like East Coast-wise. Georgia and Florida are the hotbeds for high school baseball talent. So a lot of talent from around that area. So Zach Wheeler versus Charlie Morton tomorrow. And obviously you want to get this one because on Sunday, it's Dylan Covey versus Spencer Strider.

And if I know the fills, like I think I know the fills, they lose tomorrow and then beat Strider. That's just what my gut tells me. That's how it seems to kind of go is they lose when the ace is pitching and they win the Dylan Covey kind of game. So hopefully that's not the case. Hopefully Zach Wheeler goes out tomorrow and does his thing because

again, the offense I feel like is starting to break out of its shell here a little bit. Now it's time for the 1-2 and Tom Walker's been good. Rangers hopefully on his way back, but really it's the 1-2 in Wheeler and Nola that need to get this ship

righted. Nola was bad to get this ship righted. Nola was bad last night. He was good on Saturday. Again, this whole season with those two have honestly, it's been like a microcosm of the season where it's one step forward, two steps back. And, like, those guys got to figure it out. They've been here long enough.

They've been around baseball long enough. We can keep throwing out the excuses that they pitched late into the season last year. Well, so have a lot of pitchers. It doesn't give you the excuse that you can just tank the next season. Come back and be good. So that's starting to get frustrating. But again, a lot of season left. Hopefully they can get this thing kind of rolling here a little bit and get this thing back on track. But either way, excited to watch. James and I are actually live tomorrow

doing 1-3 and then we have you for leading off. So listen, we're always talking Phil's baseball and then I'm sure you're back with the high hopes on Monday morning reacting to what hopefully the Phillies taking 3 of 4 from the Braves in Atlanta before they head up to New York and play the Mets in a three-game set.

By the way, no baseball on Memorial Day. I mean, like, it's like a – Didn't they have one last year too on Memorial Day? I think so. It's just like – it's a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. Everyone's off. Most people are off.

Put baseball games on. It's a chance. It's a chance to bring in audiences. What are we doing? Oh my gosh, whatever. Hey, baseball's fixed some things, right? The pitch clock, the balance scheduling,

DH in the National League. Maybe on holidays, when most people are off, you play baseball games. I mean, I don't know. I'm just someone that wants to watch them on an off day, but whatever. That's going to do it for me.

Shout out to the Phils. Big win. And hopefully, this is the start of this thing turning around. That's all we do it for me. Shout out to the Phils. Big win. And hopefully this is the start of this thing turning around. That's all we can hope for. James and I will be actually on Go Birds Radio tomorrow from 1 to 3, and then leading off from 3 to 3.30. If it's Go Birds Radio, personally, I hope it's High Hopes Radio. So listen to that. We will be doing all that and having a fun time as well.

Ryan Ralstein's got you next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Talk to you next week.