High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Nitpicking A 4-0 Phillies Win

Episode Date: April 6, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies' 4-0 win over the Nationals on Friday 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

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. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The pitch swung on, pulled through the hole. There's a base hit to right field. Stott is home to score. Here comes Castellanos.

The throw from Thomas is late, and it's a two-run single by Kyle Schwarber. And the Phillies now lead it 3-0. Welcome on in. It is the final out. Sports Radio 94 WIP. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Friday evening. Everything will be all right. I tried to tell you yesterday on the afternoon show.

R-E-L-A-X. Solid win by the Phillies tonight. Let's get into it all with the afternoon show. R-E-L-A-X. Solid win by the Phils tonight. Let's get into it all with the game wrap, which is sponsored by Blaser Swiss Lube and Crevits, the metal working fluid specialist providing professional CNC machine cleaning, coolant maintenance programs,

and waste coolant disposal. Crevits.online. The Phils win 4-0 tonight behind Aaron Nola and some of the offense. Keyword, some of the offense. This is the final outsponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. 215-592-9494 to get in.

Listen, we actually have a lot of D.C. callers, so if you're at the ballgame, would love to hear from you. Another dead ballpark down at Nationals Park, per usual, as they are definitely in this rebuild mode, as the Nationals seem to get every year, at least since they won the World Series,

2021, 2022, 2023, they just keep signing these older semi-cooked players in hopes that they have a good first half and they can trade them at the deadline. Like that's what Schwarber was a couple years ago. I'm watching Joey Gallo in the lineup tonight. Eddie Rosario.

Matt Barnes is closing it out. Like they are a collection of baseball players that were good five years ago. What an organization. But regardless, Phil's go down and at least take care of business in game one. Let's get to the biggest takeaway of the game, which is brought to you by Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm.

I've got three big takeaways from tonight. One, I'm going to ask for permission to nitpick because unfortunately for the Phillies, they've gotten to a point now where and it's probably unfair because it's unfair to judge baseball games by this but it's it's hard not to it feels like we at least I watch a lot of games thinking okay how is this going to play out in October is this good enough for October how does how could that come back to bite them? And I watched the offense tonight, and it's been the biggest sticking point I've had through the first now seven games of the season, is the

offense just is not consistent enough for me. They should have won that game by 10. There were so many situations where they could have just blown it out of proportion. And it bothers me to a little bit of an extent that Jose Alvarado had to come into that game. That's a 4-0 game that should have been out of reach. Now, he hadn't pitched since Monday, so I get it. You don't want him to lose the momentum he had. But still, with a bullpen that's been semi-overworked, having to use Alvarado tonight, not the best scenario. The offense should have won that game by more. And, yes, they had three hits with runners in scoring position,

I believe heading into the ninth. They were three for nine. So that's okay. But there's also back-to-back innings where they had bases loaded one out and they come away with nothing. That's what some of your better runners in scoring position guys, like Bryson Stott. There was a couple situations I feel like earlier in the game, Alec Baum.

It was a game tonight that glad they won 4-0, but how does that go against a better opponent? How does that go against a team that has a pulse, that has some good players? That's what I'm kind of nitpicking tonight because they can be better and they should be better. And I just didn't... The offense left a little bit to be desired tonight for sure. So that's my first thing, a smidge nitpicky.

And this is a nitpicky final out takeaways for a win down in Washington tonight. The first is the offense I thought should have been better. Base running still bothers me. There was a couple bad base running mistakes tonight. Stott is traditionally a very good base runner. I don't really understand his start to the season, at least on the base pass. But tonight in the first inning, he's on second base. Marsh hits the ball to the wall. That's about where you should be on third base. He ends up

staying on second base, and it costs them another run early in the game. So it could have been 2-0 rather than 1-0 against a better opponent. How does that bear itself out? Second is, again, RealMuto picked off with runners on first

and third, and I don't know where he's going. There's been some scenarios to start the season here where I just don't know where any of these guys are going. Just stay put. Nick Castellanos is not fast. He got picked off. Real Muto,

either you're trying to get stuck in a run down there to get the runner home from third, but even in that scenario, you're facing the Nationals. You don't have to do that at that point. So that was frustrating, and then they doubled down on it. I don't know. So some more base running mistakes and an offense that could not capitalize on the situations that were presented.

I mean, that Nationals bullpen is nothing to write home about. A couple cooked arms, too. Like, Matt Barnes used to throw 97. He was 92 tonight. Tanner Rainey used to throw 100. He was 92 tonight. So, a little bit of nitpicking to open up the show tonight. Second thing I'm going to nitpick is Aaron Nola.

A pretty good bounce back start. I thought he found his command really as the game went on, which is good, but a couple walks. Aaron Nola is a guy who is traditionally pounds the strike zone, and maybe tonight it's a bit of an overcorrection from the game against the Braves where maybe he's sometimes too aggressive in the strike zone and throws too many strikes I know that sounds insane to say but if you're always around the strike zone and you're always throwing strikes it makes it easier to kind of narrow down how you're attacking hitters so maybe it's an overcorrection, but still it was, it was three walks in five and five and two thirds. And again, it was one of those things where I'm watching Aaron Nola tonight

and I'm thinking, how does this go against some better offenses against better offenses? How does Aaron Nola's performance go? Like there's a situation where, you know, runners at second base, they hold him at third. Cassianos throws, hits Harper, the cutoff man. CJ Abrams, I believe, is going to second at that point. And bang, they get him there. All of a sudden, there's two outs. Dumb baseball by a young team in the Nationals.

I just, it was a good, normal performance. I'm not crapping all over it, but there's also some walks in there. And I do wonder how that goes against a better offense. So those are my two big nitpicking kind of things, way to start the show here. My final big takeaway from the game tonight is that this bullpen is definitely rounding into form. It was an annoying first game of the season.

I believe Alvarado got charged for five earned. So, you know, that kind of jacked his ERA all the way up. But if you take out Connor Brockton, which I don't think he should have been on the roster anyway, but whatever. which I don't think he should have been on the roster anyway, but whatever. Since Sunday, they've gone 18 and two-thirds innings, four earned runs. So if you take out the Brogdon innings and you just make it that, because Brogdon again shouldn't really be here, four earned by the bullpen. I thought it was aggressive managing by Rob Thompson to bring in Matt Strom versus Joey Gallo. Joey Gallo is like the one kind of power punch that Nationals bullpen or that Nationals lineup has. And it was a three nothing ball game at that point. You know, Nola versus Gallo. Nola probably gets him out because Joey Gallo isn't very good, but aggressiveness by

Rob Thompson. He brings in Strom. Strom gets the out there, goes another inning, does his job. Sir Anthony, obviously the best he's looked so far this season. I thought the slider finally had that bite. You know, I thought what was kind of killing him in his first couple of outings is he was sitting 99, but 99 wasn't an issue and as we all know if you throw 99 in the big leagues it's nice but you got to have something else you got to have a a complimentary pitch and and at the beginning of the season he didn't have that i thought that was the most bite that his slider had all year it wasn't flattening out and you know a positive step forward for sir anthony a very easy i believe believe, 10-pitch inning.

So, good job by him. And then Alvarado's coming in. And it was good morning, good afternoon, good night. A tad annoying he had to pitch tonight. But, you know, he hadn't gone since Monday. It's a 4-0 game. Rather than screwing around and bringing in a lesser reliever, I'm fine with Rob Thompson going for the kill

and taking the shot that in these next two games against the Nationals, you're not going to have to use Alvarado or hopefully only have to use him in one of these games because the rest of the guys should be able to do the job against the Nationals team that, again, just not very good.

2-1-5, 5-9-2. 94-94 is how you get in. It's Jack Fritz here on the final out. Let's kick it off with Paul in D.C. What's happening, Paul? Paul-y. Paul-y. Buzz, are we still having troubles with the phones here?

What's going on back there? I haven't taken a call on nights all night, so I guess that is something I should look into. Yeah, well, given that it was also an issue at the end of the afternoon. I was not notified. Really? No. What's the chain of command over at WIP?

I mean, this is falling apart. It's an important institution. It's a big final out tonight. I got some work to do. Let me work on that. All right. All right. On the other side, a lot more to get into.

A good development on the injury front in the minor leagues tonight. And a couple other things that stood out to me lineup-wise. It's Jack Fritz hanging out here on the final out on 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. Welcome back. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good.

Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Friday evening. Tell you what, pretty nice that it wasn't really raining today. Now, of course, the wind stuck around. And I tell you what, kind of looked like a miserable night for a ball game down in the nation's capital. You know, Aaron Nola is a guy, and listen, maybe this is part of the reason why he didn't look sharp. We know he's traditionally a guy that likes pitching in

warmer weather and again tonight he was good it was just a couple walks in there he it was it was sharp as the game went on but it wasn't exactly the most inspiring performance and maybe it's fair maybe it's unfair but it's just it's how i kind of watch them now and it's it's is this good enough in october and you know hopefully as the season goes on these little things get cleaned up it's been a frustrating start to the season from the standpoint of you know that the base running stuff is is mind-boggling for big leaguers and i know people will want to blame Rob Thompson for that. And to an extent, I do agree. Like, you got to nip this stuff in the bud,

especially when it seems like this is the third year of this kind of stuff. But at the same time, these players also have to be smarter. This isn't Little League. He doesn't need to hold their hands out there. Just be smarter on the base pass. Does he need to make an example? I don't think it's that drastic yet. But that kind of stuff just has to get ironed out as the season goes on. If they're still making these kind of mistakes in, I don't know, July,

I think it's a big problem. The interesting part is they've kind of had this problem on the base pass for the last couple years, and it hasn't really come back to bite them when it gets into october and when they play in these playoff games it's like all of a sudden that extra level of intensity kind of takes over and the base running stuff kind of goes away so it's frustrating for the beginning of the season when you come out of spring training and you say, what did you guys even do the entire time down there? Frankly, I'm more frustrated with the offense because they're a bunch of veteran guys that

should know what it takes to hit the ground running and be ready to go from the jump. And they haven't been that. ready to go from the jump, and they haven't been that. The offense tonight, again, some hits with runners in scoring position, but not really enough. They did it without having to hit a home run, but that was a 4-0 game that should have been easily 7-0. They should have been putting up more crooked numbers, and there was too many instances tonight where, you know, a couple times, again,

seventh, eighth inning, bases loaded one out, and they ground it into double plays. Like, that can't happen, especially against better teams. The Nationals are teams, you know, and the rest of the month, even though some of these teams are off to hot starts, do you buy it, do you not buy it? But this is what you have to take advantage of. So, a good win but a bit left to be desired let's get to the injury report which is sponsored by the plumbers union local 690 protecting the health of the nation visit plumbers690.org and it's a ryan kirkering

now a ryan kirkering when you look at the bullpen and how this whole thing is being shaken out a good night for sir anthony but we talked a lot earlier in the week about who are the right-handed options in the bullpen that you trust right now and it's hoffman 100 sir anthony hopefully regaining our trust. Marte, gaining our trust. Not at the point where it's like, okay, we can give the ball to Marte in a tie game or with a one-run lead, and he's good to go. We're not there yet, but I like what I've seen. And then after that, they don't really have a guy.

I'm not putting Pinto in that kind of spot yet. I'm definitely not putting Nick Nelson in that kind of spot yet. Kirkring has to be a guy. Like, I'm not putting Pinto in that kind of spot yet. I'm definitely not putting Nick Nelson in that kind of spot yet. Kirkring has to be that guy. And tonight, down in Clearwater, struck out five and hit a guy. But struck out five, looked dominant. You see the tapes on Twitter. Sweeper looked like it was back to what it looked like before he got to the big leagues last year and then his couple little big league outings before the Diamondback Series.

But getting him back and getting him into the mix, they have some nasty lefties. I mean, Strom, Alvarado, Sotos had a good start to the year. You had Kirkering. Part of the reason why they were number one rated bullpen heading into the year was how good a Ryan Kirkering should be. So when he was out at the beginning of the year and Brogdon was in there, people started mocking the number one ranking.

If you put him back there and it's Kirkering, Sir Anthony, Marte developing, and obviously Jeff Hoffman, that goes to pretty nasty real quick. So good signs from a Ryan Kirkering. Nasty real quick. So good signs from Orion Kirkering. He's on the path back, and he struck out five tonight in his rehab appearance. So nasty, nasty stuff from Orion Kirkering. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. Player of the Game is sponsored by South Jersey Gas Conserve,

helping customers and the community save energy and money. Visit southjerseygas.com slash conserve. I'm going to give it to Bryce Harper. Three for five tonight for Bryce in a return to the nation's capital. Cannot believe they still boo him. I just don't get it. I don't get why they still boo Bryce Harper. He left.

You didn't really offer him anything. The ownership stopped kind of spending money. Everything fell apart. We're still booing Bryce Harper. We won a World Series. It seems a little weird to me, but it seems obvious to me that the catalysts on offense right now are Harper and Schwarber.

Harper locked back in after the 0-4-11 start. Schwarber, another single tonight. Two walks, good to see, but another single. So taking his tally to two home runs and six singles, we need those home runs to start piling up so that he does not end the year with more singles than home runs. But those two feel like the catalysts. It was good to have Turner get the double,

his first extra base hit of the year, but still one for five. It was good to have Turner get the double, his first extra base hit of the year, but still one for five. And Cassianos, when he's going like this, it is a really tough watch. Just a really tough watch. And overall, I thought Rojas had some pretty decent at-bats tonight. He worked a good walk after being down 0-2 late in the ballgame. So I thought they did a good job walking tonight. It is important. Don't let the old heads tell you that walks

aren't important. Getting runners on base is important. Working pitchers is important. Getting guys in the strike zone is important. And that was something they did not do in the first six games of the season. I thought overall they did a better job on that tonight, but, but, but they have to, have to capitalize given the opportunities and they did not do that enough tonight. But Bryce Harper is my player of the game. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. The phones are back up. We'll get back to your phone calls on the other side, but also get to the play of the game and a whole lot more. Look ahead to tomorrow before handing

things off to Rob Cherry here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Welcome back. It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you for the next couple minutes. We're handing things off to Rob Cherry. He'll take you

through the rest of the night here on WIP. Reacting to a Fells win. It was nice to get one of those. It's been a hot, heavy reaction to the start of the season. Again, 155 games left, but regardless, love the reaction. It's good. It's good. It means baseball matters

again in the city, and if baseball matters again in the city, then I'm happy. So a good win tonight down in Washington that they frankly should have won by more. But regardless, we're not nitpicking. We're trying not to nitpick. But when you evaluate this team and you hold this team to a high standard, it's hard not to. Let's go back to the phones. Paul in D.C. was at the game.

What's happening, Paul? Hey, Jack. Thanks for having me back on. I just wanted to do a quick shout-out to your team behind the scenes. Fixing the phones. Really appreciate it. Well, anything to get you on the air, Paul. That was our goal.

No, I appreciate it. But yeah, watching it live, listen, I know the whole thing you're saying tonight is it's the Nats. They should have won against them, of course. But, you know, Nola, just watching him in person, it was good. He was on point. You could just tell he had his stuff tonight.

And I just want to make sure that we're not taking anything away from that because, again, when we get Noles on a good night, to your point, it's good. And then Sir Anthony, I mean, yeah, you made the point earlier. His slider really had that bite tonight. I mean, just sitting behind the plate and watching it, borderline unhittable. And I know I was pretty down on him earlier this week, but he was good tonight.

Well, we know the upside's there, right, Paul? We know the upside's there with Sir Anthony. Even at the beginning of the year when he didn't exactly look sharp, 99 was still there. It's not like he was throwing 95. So you hope it's just a matter of time because in spring training, I thought he looked great. Exactly.

No, it's just a matter of tapping into and potential, which I'm happy he did. Again, casting on us tonight, man, watching him in person, it's different than watching it on TV. Like, it's brutal right now. You can just see when he's swinging, all of his weight is just on his front foot. He is just in a slump, typically speaking. He almost looks defeated even

before he gets up there. It's like there's no conviction behind any of his swings, and he just looks totally lost right now. He does. He does. I think we just have to give him some time to work through it. Again, it's early in the year,

and he will eventually get on a hot streak of sorts. But it's all going to come down to patience with him. And then Trey had a nice double tonight. I'll give him that because I was getting worried for a bit. But, you know, I'm interested in just keeping an eye on Trey a little longer because I feel like once he gets in a more confident state with his defense, you'll start to see his bat pick up as a result of that. That just might be me, but I would love to get your take on that.

Yeah, I appreciate the call, Paul. Trey's interesting. Maybe we have to accept that he's a bit of a slow starter. I wish it wasn't the case because it's such an important part of the lineup, him batting second. That's a key, key part in the lineup. And so far this season, Schwarber's looked locked in. Harper looks good.

The four spot is still in question behind Bryce. I don't love having a question mark at two, a question mark at four. Boom, Stott, Castellanos right now. Stott looks pretty good. Boom, a little bit of just driving the baseball into the ground for my liking. Castellanos obviously lost. Marsh having a good start to the year, and then Rojas.

A lot of question marks for the amount of talent they have right now. And I just, when you rely on your stars and you pay a guy 300 million, you pay that for special. And so far last year, it ended up being just pretty good.

Insanely good after August 4th, but overall pretty good. This year, good after August 4th, but overall pretty good. But this year, a lot of like one for five or one for four games rather than three for four or two for four. And again, he had his first extra base hit tonight. So hopefully he gets going. I'm not writing him off. It's seven games into the season.

But he's just such an important part of the lineup that if he's just pretty good or good, it's probably not good enough, especially this early into the contract. I know that's a grave sentence to say, seven games into the season, but it's just how I feel watching the lineup right now. games into the season but it's just how i feel watching the lineup right now is it feels like a lot is on the the shoulders of schwarber and harper to to kind of carry this team right now

now how it should work is when castellanos is up and down there's enough talent around him to where it shouldn't really matter like boom shouldhm should be consistent enough. Stott should be consistent enough. We know Harper is. We know Turner should be. Schwarber, we kind of know what we're getting. It's just not always the prettiest site. It's just that Turner spot in the lineup is just so, so important. The play of the game, speaking of Kyle Schwarber, we played

to come into the show tonight. The play of the game sponsored by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo mustard of the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber's single to make it a 3-0 game. Another single by Kyle Schwarber. We're going to need him to start launching some baseballs because, again, a little too many singles here for Schwarber to start the season.

But his average is in the 270s. He walked twice tonight. Looks locked in. Looks slim. Looks spry. And, hey, man, when he doesn't have to worry about going out in the 270s. He walked twice tonight. Looks locked in. Looks slim. Looks spry. And hey, man, when he doesn't have to worry about going out in the field, all he has to do is focus on having good at-bats. And so far, it is paying good dividends.

Tomorrow, Phil's 4 o'clock tomorrow as they take on, obviously, the Nationals. Again, Ranger Suarez on the mound. Ranger looks really good against the Braves over the weekend. Had the Albies home run, which I'm still surprised went out. I thought he kind of got it off the end of the bat, but had enough strength behind it to poke it over the left field wall. Outside of that, pretty locked down. He only had a lot of run after that.

And I just think Ranger's poised to have his first real put-it-all-together kind of season. Ranger, in the regular season the last couple years, has been pretty good. Nails in the postseason. I think it's skewered or altered how we feel about Ranger in the city

versus how he's perceived throughout baseball. Throughout baseball, I feel like he's viewed as a question mark. Here, we're like Rangers are a guy. And it would be nice to have Ranger put together a complete Ranger season. So, Ranger on the mound tomorrow against the Nationals. Jake Irvin for the Nats. Three runs and seven innings in his first start against the Reds.

Faced the Phillies once last year and threw six shutout innings. So pretty good stuff from Jake Irvin. Nothing crazy. That's pretty much the story of this Nationals team. A random mix of some young, exciting players like C.J. Abrams and then just some random old guys like Joey Gallo and Matt Barnes

and obviously Patrick Corbin. By the way, Patrick Corbin should have obviously scored more runs off of him. I mean, one of the biggest bullets this team has dodged in the last couple years is not giving him a contract. I know that they won the World Series in 2019. The Phillies were not ready for that. But my gosh, is that dude cucked. He's just – and it's so funny because he is such a typical innings eater

where it's so excruciating to get through. But regardless, the Phils dodged a bullet there. That's going to do it for me tonight. Phils win 4-0. Finally. I know it's good to get back into the win column. And obviously, we'll be back tomorrow. We'll have all the coverage on WIP.

I'll be back on Monday reacting to some fills out in St. Louis. So until then, Rob Cherry, he'll take you through the night. Buzz Wilson, Dan Wilson produced behind the scenes tonight. Have a good rest of your night. Go fills, and have a great weekend here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.