High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Nick Castellanos is Back and So Is Aaron Nola's Velo

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies beating the Blue Jays 8-4 on Tuesday night. 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

What a night in Philly sports. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Welcome on in. It is the final out here on Sports Radio 94. WYP is always the final out of sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on this Tuesday night reacting to a very, very impressive, overall positive Phillies win tonight. I know it got a little dicey there late in the game, some bad fundamentals. But overall, I leave tonight feeling like that was a normal, solid, good win. I'm not letting what happened in the seventh kind of overshadow how I felt about the game. I thought that was a good, solid, normal baseball team win. Like as normal as a baseball team and win and whatever can go,

I thought that's what the Phillies did tonight. And it was a very, very positive, positive outcome. Let's get into it. 215-592-9494. If you are leaving the ballpark and want to get in, it was another packed house. I believe 56,000 hot dogs were sold or something like that. And I've mentioned this a lot on the final out, but it is just a treat to see the ballpark filled up the way that it is

and the way that it has been. And it was another really, really solid, solid crowd tonight, a damn near a sellout, and it's just been phenomenal. And my two big takeaways from tonight are this. My first big takeaway is that I felt like that was the most fundamentally sound offensive game of the year. Just good, solid, fundamental, doing the little things right, winning baseball. And what gets me frustrated about this team sometimes

is that I feel like I'm not watching what winning baseball is. And what winning baseball is, is not just trying to hit home runs all the time. Is not not moving runners along. Like, I've said this for years, is that I felt like regular season, like all these super analytically driven teams, they focus so much on the home run because over 162,

hitting more home runs than the opponent will lead to more wins. It's just simple math. But when it comes down to actually winning baseball and winning big games, you better be able to know how to do all the little things to get a job done. Seven walks tonight by the offense, which is a great sign. They had nine hits. They scored eight runs. It was a very fundamentally sound

offensive game, but there was a lot of little nitty-gritty things that happened that I thought were just fascinating and a sign of good, positive growth for this team. The first thing was the bottom of the fifth. Marsh walks. There's two quick quick outs after that Trey Turner is up two outs bottom fifth and Marsh gets put in motion and Trey Turner hits a ball into the gap which is a good sign like thankfully it wasn't a little slap hit or whatever um Trey Turner hits a ball into the gap and Brandon Marsh scores in first base that was a good old-fashioned hit and run. And I know this sounds insane, but I almost shed a tear.

I almost shed a tear because they ran a hit and run. It was like, oh my God, baseball, that's crazy. What a crazy concept. And that's why that's my Mike's Amazing Play of the Game presented by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil of the Phillies. A hit and run in 2023? They're playing baseball?

Is that allowed? Wow. So that was just beautiful. I was so happy. And listen, being able to execute those things when the shift is now gone and you have some speed on this team that needs to be taken advantage of like a Brandon Marsh, a hit and run, maybe that gets Trey Turner going a little bit. He's on a nine-game hitting streak, which is good to see, but still.

I thought that was great. So that was the first thing I saw tonight from a fundamentally sound baseball game. Bottom six. Nick Castellanos doubles. Kyle Schwarber gets him over. And JT gets him in. Bang. It's a 4-2 ballgame, but they're not done.

And Munoz Sosa adds another insurance run and makes it a 5-2 game. So even when they get that run home, they're not done yet, and they're adding more runs rather than just being satisfied with the one. That's a good sign of fundamental baseball. It's okay. If you're down an account or whatever, you just need to do a job, do your job. That's fine. Not everything has to be going for the big inning and big home run. Sometimes just getting a ball in the air to right field,

getting a runner over to third base is good enough, and then you bring them home. And that is good, solid, fundamental baseball. So two signs tonight that I thought were important. And then the third one. Bottom eighth, it's a 5-4 game. Guthrie walks. Real Muto hits a single.

Boehm walks. And rather than just kind of only getting one, which it feels like they've done a large majority of the season in this spot, Brandon Marsh doubles to the wall. Makes it a 7-4 game. Stott puts a ball in play, makes it 8-4.

Just puts a ball in play, knows he has to do one job there and make it a non-save situation and make it an 8-4 ball game and blouses. It's over. That is good, solid, fundamental baseball by the Phillies tonight on the offensive side of the ball. I know the seventh inning happened. I know the miscommunication between Sir Anthony and Boehm.

I think that's kind of a tricky play because I felt like Boehm had already turned his shoulders to make that throw to the second, knew he couldn't make the throw, and Sir Anthony looked down trying to find the bag. Like, it stinks. You hate to see that happen. The game got close. Gregory Soto hitting a batter on a 3-2 count,

going slide step for some whatever reason rather than just, like, pumping 99 behind him, which you can do. So that wasn't great. But from the offensive side of the ball, I felt like it was the most fundamentally sound game of the year. And then my second main takeaway from tonight is that Noah's velocity is probably the most encouraging thing from the year. And then my second main takeaway from tonight is that Nola's velocity

is probably the most encouraging thing from the night. He was back up to 94. He had been pitching around 89, 90. Seeing the velocity jump back up for him and see just an uptick in stuff. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't a vintage Aaron

Nola start. It was good. It was good enough. They got to win. good. It was good enough. They got to win. Whatever. We'll take it. But seeing his velocity bump back up was a massive, massive sign. And hopefully he is starting to climb out of what was an early season rut for him. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. It is the final out here on WIP.

If you're leaving the ballgame, we'd love to hear from you. I know it was a packed crowd down there. Another dollar dog night. Again, hot dogs are flying during the wave. So hopefully the Phillies don't cancel it. Because it's a good thing for them. And, yeah, some hot dogs are flying around. It happens.

But if you're stuck in traffic on your way home, we'd love to hear from you. 215-592-9494. Jack Fritz here on the final lap. Coming up on the other side, three other things I want to get into from tonight. Two positive and one potential negative. What is that?

We'll get to all of that coming up next. Still two balls, two strikes here. It's a 1-0 game. Toronto leads it. Lenoa ready. And a 2-2. Breaking ball. Hit in the-0 game. Toronto leads it. Manoa ready. And a 2-2. Breaking ball. Hit in the air.

Deep. Left field line. Towards the corner goes Varshow looking up. And that ball is fair and gone. Right down the line. Nick Castellanos takes Alex Manoa deep. It's his fifth home run of the season. A two-run shot. He's turned the game in the Phillies' favor.

It's 2-1. How about Nick Cassiano's three for four tonight with the home run with a triple away from the cycle. Damn David Bell lives on again. His name is just never, ever, ever going to be erased from the record books. But, yes, 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. Welcome on back. It is the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz, hanging out with you here tonight. And, man, like, last year was such a frustrating year. Like, not only, obviously, for Nick Castellanos, but, like, as Phillies fans.

I mean, it was brutal. You know, you pay this guy a ton of money, and I just never felt as helpless as I did than when Nick Castellanos was coming off the bat. Like, whenever he came up, I was like, well, he's not going to do anything. Like, he doesn't drive the ball to the ballpark. He doesn't drive the ball to authority. Like, what I have to hope for is he can just, like, throw the bat out and, you know, flare it over the second baseman's head.

Like, honestly, last year with Castellanos, anytime he didn't swing at a slider down and away, I was like, wow, that's a massive win. Here comes Castellanos. And then like the postseason, he made some really good catches. I mean, that most right fielders should make. And then like, he had some great quotes, like, you know, essentially like when you're coming to the jungle,

like good luck winning or something like that, which is, you know, that stuff that we will eat up in this town. or something like that, which is that stuff that we will eat up in this town. But the fact that we are getting one of these vintage Castellanos seasons and he is just beyond comfortable. Now we're starting to see the real personality of him. Post-game, he's messing around with Stoddy and Marsh. Don't give me your cups. I think him and Liam have such an awesome, cool, amazing, like, relationship.

He's giving them handshakes after home runs. Like, I can see that just developing more and more into something. Like, Nick Castellanos is developing into one of our guys. And he is developing into what we thought we were signing last year. And it's just so it's so refreshing and, and makes me so happy that I no longer have to feel like we have to waste the five-year contract that he's, that he's here under and that we're,

we're seeing true greatness from Nick Cassiano. It's like, he is the cleanup hitter right now. It feels like in, in, in runners and scoring position kind of positions, he's getting the job done more often than not. Feels like in runners and scoring position kind of positions, he's getting the job done more often than not.

And it feels like there's a little bit of a clutch factor coming back with him. His confidence is sky high. I forgive Nick Cassianos for what happened last year. Just an unbelievable start to the season. Every single time you start wondering, okay, is he going to start falling off now? The last six games have been pretty good. Nothing incredible. Then he goes out tonight and bang, 3-4 with a home run. It's like, no,

we have good Castellanos. We don't have to keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. What a start to the season for Nick and so glad that he is back. 2-1-5-5-9-2-9-4-9-4. Deepak is in Newtown Square. What's going on, man?

Hey, Jack. How are you? What's going on? How was the game tonight? Did you get hit with a hot dog or are you all good? I did not get hit with a hot dog. No, I saw a whole train fly over, though, and land on the section below me. So that was fun for them.

Yeah, I'm sure. No, it was a solid game. You know, this has been my eighth game this year so far that I've gone to. And normally when I go to these night games, I like to kind of sit up top solid game. This is my eighth game this year so far that I've gone to. Normally when I go to these night games, I like to sit up top and really get a good view of the game. Something that you said really stood out. It was solid, fundamental baseball. That's not to say that I'm against analytics, much like you're against analytics. Everything's good for the game.

One of the things that I noticed was yeah, guys were really just grinding out those at-bats. We've been talking about how Stotts has been working out really great at-bats this year. How Marsh has been working out really great at-bats this year. But today it looked like a lot of them were doing it.

A lot more of the guys were actually standing in there. We drew what? Four or five walks, something like that. Well, seven walks. They drew seven walks. So it's been great in that regard. But one thing that you mentioned with the fundamental baseball, and this has just been something on my mind when it comes to the philosophy.

And a few years back, I met Matt Stairs, and I asked him. It was the year after he was done as our announcer. He went to be our announcer, then hitting coach, whichever one was last. But I talked to him and I said, hey, we knew him as a launch angle kind of guy, right? Zero-sum. And I said, what's your

take on the philosophy? He wasn't a fan of this whole launch angle stuff for all the hitters. So here's my question to you, and I love this is why we brought in Trey. Trey has a nice, even swing. If you were to take the – I don't want to compare eras, but the 08 era of the Phils, that lineup versus the team and lineup that we have today, just in terms of fundamental approach at the plate and hitting mechanics, what team

would you say comes out on top? I know it's not fair to compare eras in that regard because every team is doing this nowadays. Yeah. But fundamental baseball, that's that era. Yeah. And I think the 08 fills obviously would take the cake there. I mean, like, you know, all that means Victorino, Utley, Worth, like they just, like Rollins, like those guys just kind of knew. And like they were kind of still in the older school style of play

while also morphing into the newer school. But I think still they had a lot of the old school aspects. So when it comes to knowing how to execute a hit and run, knowing how to do the little things, get a bunt down, that team just knew how to do it. They had guys that did it. Now this team and the offense and the lineup I think is deeper. Hopefully when Boehm and Marsh and Stott

heat back up because they've cooled off, this offense just starts really humming. Did Boehm get two hits? Yeah, it was. It was good to see. It's definitely been like he's gone into a little bit of a downturn, at least from the power department too.

At the beginning of the season, he had a little bit of a home run barrage, and he's been cool from that aspect. So I'd like to see him get back to driving the baseball. But I can't wait to see them continue to start humming, and hopefully tonight was kind of a step in the right direction when it comes to being fundamental. Yeah, it looks really good.

It looks really good. And, you know, as you mentioned, we have, really as Greg mentioned previously, you know, you have we have really as greg mentioned previously you know you have the marlins us and the mets all same record right now yep which means it's good that no one's pulling away apart from the braves which means it's manageable and i think that's what we need to keep you know in our minds as fans is that right now there's still no room to panic right we're not panicking we are fine we. We are getting our feet and legs under us. When it comes to guys coming back like Harper right now,

figuring out where Schwarber slots in in the lineup. So I think we're on a good trajectory. I'd like to see where our starters will continue to go. I mean, I want to see what's going to happen with wheels tomorrow. Last game I went to on Friday, he obviously wasn't as sharp. Yeah. But I also chalked it up to, you know, we're happy that fan's okay, but that 10-minute delay, that had to happen right in the beginning.

Yeah. I think threw him out of rhythm, and he just never gained it back, and that was concerning to me. It really was. Yeah, and I really, really appreciate the call. Great stuff. And hopefully Wheeler can look more like the Houston version of Zach Wheeler than the Red Sox start last Friday night.

But regardless, need to get Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler moving back in the right direction. I thought Nola took a nice step forward tonight. So three things that I want to get on real quick here. Two good, two one possible negative. To me, the most underrated part of having Bryce back is they add another guy to this lineup that can work pitchers and be patient. You know, you look at the lineup when Bryce wasn't in it,

and it was like, and without Hoskins too. Like Hoskins and Harper were two of the best guys when it came to working pitchers and whatnot. But it was pretty much Bryce and Stott. Schwarber, like his numbers of seeing pitches is pretty good. It's like 4.06 per at-bat, whereas Stott was like 4.28. Felt like Stott just saw more pitches. Schwarber seems like hit or miss

when it comes to aggressiveness. But regardless, more patient than most. So you had Stott, Schwarber, and Marsh, I guess? Marsh is pretty patient. But now getting Bryce back, it gives you Stott, Bryce,

Marsh, and then Schwarber. And then it just balances out all the aggressiveness they have in the lineup. The Turner, Castellanos, Real Muto, Boehm, Sosa. That's a lot of aggressiveness, a lot of first pitch swingings, a lot of quick outs in a way when it obviously doesn't work out. But Bryce worked in a bat in the middle of the game, and it was like, that is, you know, it's nice having that back in the middle of the lineup

to where you can finally work pitchers, and it's not so many quick outs and getting guys back into the, you know, letting pitchers get into rhythms and whatnot. Second really important thing tonight is that Craig Kimbrell threw 99. Like, I did not think for the rest of my baseball-watching life that I would see Craig Kimbrell back up to 99 miles an hour.

Maybe the guns were juiced tonight. I mean, Nola up to 94, Kimbrell at 99. I don't know what was going on down in South Philly. Maybe they just were downing dollar dogs before the outings, and it caused a velo spike. But regardless, 99 from Craig Kimbrell? What year is it? It was either way.

If they can get that going forward, awesome. I'm not banking on it, but, hey, I'll take it. And then two possible injury things. Jose Verado had a sore wrist that caused him to not be available tonight. I guess he could have pitched if needed. A part of me wonders about the bowling outing they had yesterday. I hope he's fine. But his stuff the last couple outings has not looked as dominant.

He's still really good, tough to square up, but not as dominant. So hopefully Alvarado's okay. And then Kyle Schwarber left the game with a left foot contusion. And they said X-rays were negative. Hope that remains the case. And he ends up being okay because I liked what he's doing in that 5-hole.

I liked how the lineup was flowing. I liked how I thought it made sense. But I would anticipate him probably not in the lineup tomorrow with the off day on Thursday. 215-592-9494. It is Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. We'll look ahead to tomorrow before handing things off to Jody Mack and take the rest of your phone calls on the Final Out coming up next.

Welcome back. It is the Final Out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here for the next couple minutes before we hand things off to Jody Mack, and he can let you all react and open up the phone lines to what was a beautiful, beautiful Sixers win tonight. I mean, how often do we get a beautiful night of sports in Philadelphia?

You know, it doesn't happen often. So we take these whenever we can get them. So, Jody, we'll have all your Sixers reaction coming up here in a few minutes. Let's go to Troy in Cineminson who's leaving the game. What's happening, Troy? Hey, man. I got three things,

three points. First win on Dollar Dog night. How about that? Didn't think we'd ever see the day. You know, maybe we should stop throwing them at people. But regardless, we're making progress. Second point was, I don't know if it was shown on the broadcast. I was down there tonight.

But I think the turning point of the game, which I never thought I would say in my 20s, was the wave that went on in the fifth inning. There was a huge wave that sent around the whole stadium right when Sosa was up to bat. Now, I'm not a major league pitcher, but the way the wave got and the amount of hot dogs that were going in the air and that 2-2 pitch that gave Sosa that hit to send the runner home, I believe that that was the turning point of the game because that gave us, I think, the product to 5-3. I mean, it was truly a 70s baseball game.

They executed a hit and run. The wave worked. There was like a million people in the ballpark on a summer night while a six-year playoff game was going on. I mean, baseball's fully back in Philadelphia, Troy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then finally, a big fan of the High Hopes podcast. Thanks, brother.

Can't wait to hear it tomorrow. All right, thanks, man. Really appreciate the call, yeah. If you don't know and you're driving home, like, what is the High Hopes podcast? I do podcasts along with James Seltzer, just talking all things Phils. So if you ever want to check that out, we'd love to have you check that out.

So tomorrow, another tough task for the Phils. They went against Alex Manoa tonight, who is, in my opinion, one of the better young pitchers in the AL. I think it's everyone's opinion. He's got some really, really good stuff. Was kind of all over the place tonight. Didn't generate much swings and misses. And, like, I went into the game being way more afraid of Alex Manoa

than I was leaving the game. I said on Marks and Reese, like, take the under tonight. Nola versus Manoa feels like an under kind of night. Obviously not the case. But they do have Kevin Gosman tomorrow. And Kevin Gosman, it's either he is lights out, unbelievable, going seven shutout, it seems like, or getting lit up. You know, his last start against the Red Sox,

he went three and a third and allowed eight runs. The two starts before that, he allowed none. But in the start before that, he allowed seven. So he's mostly really good. His ERA before that Red Sox start was, I believe, 233. He had a 233 ERA. And then it went over to one over three with that Red Sox start. So, you know, I guess both him and Wheeler both struggled against the Red Sox,

whose offense is definitely hot. So I don't know what they're getting tomorrow. Gosman could easily go out and pitch seven or eight and dominate, or maybe the Phils get to him. But what I want to see is I want to see them just carry over the stuff that we saw tonight. You know, it feels like whenever I start to believe that they're going to turn this corner when it comes to the offense and doing the right things and being

smart and being locked in, because they always take that step back. Like, I don't need to step back. You're under 500, but you have a chance to do some things right now. I mean, the Mets are under 500. They lost. I mean, Scherzer got pushed back again today. It's time to make a little bit of a run here, especially with the upcoming schedule they have.

It really softens up for them. Just continue to do what you did tonight against another good pitcher. Don't just show up against good pitchers. Manoa's good. Don't just show up against him. Show up against the bad pitchers that you're going to face in the next couple of starts.

But either way, Gosman, Wheeler, hopefully Wheeler looks more like the Houston start. And I remember a caller earlier was right about, unfortunately, the fan that fell in the bullpen, giving Wheeler a 10-minute kind of stoppage and not letting him get into a rhythm. But, yeah, so hopefully Zach Wheeler can go out and build on the Astros' start. And Nola, I think, took a positive turn tonight.

It's time for Zach Wheeler to join him. I'm curious to see if George Springer is in the lineup tomorrow. He missed tonight with an illness. I know he had a pinch hit appearance late, but he did not look right at all. So we'll see. We'll see if they get Springer in there. I would anticipate no Schwarber just because, like, you know, off day on Thursday, give him a little bit of a break before a bit of a West Coast trip.

So would not expect Schwarber tomorrow. Hopefully he avoids any major injury and all that stuff. That's going to do it for me here on the final out. Thanks for tuning in. I'll be back tomorrow with Marks and Reese leading you into the game and then I got you for final out after the game. Enjoy all the coverage that Jody Mack has coming

up next. He's going to have Sixers reaction. He's going to have Phillies reaction. He's got it all covered. Jody Mack's got you next. Tucker Bagley produced the final out. Thanks for tuning in. I'll talk to you tomorrow.