High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies Drop Opener In Toronto

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies frustrating loss at the hands of the Blue Jays 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

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. Welcome on in is the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture Affordable. Never looks so good. It was a bad day.

It was a brutal day. And frankly, it was one that they went up early and it's just they went up early, and they were up 1-0. They didn't add on, and it just had that feel where it's like, oh, I'm starting to really buy into it. They're going to go steal a game in Toronto, and they just, when you're playing a really good team like the Blue Jays, like minor mistakes just come back to bite you.

To be fair, the AL I think is mostly better than the NL. So you're just playing better competition. And like it just kind of showed. It just kind of showed tonight. And that was disappointing. It was disappointing in what I believe is a a show me series little things creeping up and hurting this baseball team 215 592 94 94 if you want to get in react to a Phil's loss up in Toronto a close one um and one that frankly the Phillies easily could have came out on the other side of it let's get to the biggest

takeaway the game brought to you by Morgan and Morgan. My biggest takeaway of the game is a couple things. Really, it's just a couple of concerns that I have with this team. And frankly, just where I'm at and how I feel about the team, they're going to lose three straight at some point. Luckily tonight, the Reds lost. The Marlins lost. So it's not going to kill them. Obviously you want them to go out and

win every game and whatnot. I'm just more at the point where they got a nice cushion. They beat up on some bad teams. Would I like to see the offense perform better against good pitching? Yeah, that's 100% a concern for this team.

But they have a nice cushion here to where I don't think it's like sky is falling and everything's going to hell and this team stinks and they're going to miss the postseason. They're 10 games over 500 right now. Like, I don't want them to lose. is over 500 right now. I don't want them to lose. But I am more evaluating this team

on the bigger picture right now. And how can I view how they're going to end this season and play in the postseason? I'm not at the point where I'm pressing the panic button with this team. I think that they ran into a buzzsaw

on Saturday against Pablo Lopez. Sunday, who knows how that game goes if Alec Boehm doesn't get rung up on a bad strike three call. And tonight, I mean, you've got to hand it to Isai Kikuchi, who is our player of the game, which is brought to you by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch to SouthJerseyGas.com. Love my home.

But with all that being said, when you start to evaluate, okay, how good is this team? And how much faith do I want to put in them? There are a couple things that I think need to be addressed. One is they have just completely cratered offensively against any kind of good pitching. Now, luckily for them, a lot of home games left. Pretty easy opponents. Again, seven of their last ten are against the Mets. There's a Cardinals series mixed in there.

They have a Nationals series coming up. So the offense should right itself. But the problem is that what happens in the postseason? but the problem is that what happens in the postseason? You're not going to be facing the just bad pitching that they face to get this lead in the wild card. So how far can I expect them to go if it seems like every single time they face a good pitcher, it's Schwarber striking out all the time. It's Castellanos back to chasing.

Harper not having discipline at bats. Like everything kind of craters when they're facing good pitching. And that's a legitimate concern with this team. Is that when they face good pitching, it seems like they just throw all their game plans out the window, are chasing all the time, and are striking out a ton. It feels like every time they face a pitcher that can throw 95-plus, that can locate a little bit and has any kind of a spin,

it's a high strikeout game for this team. That's concerning when you're evaluating how good this team is. The other thing is this bullpen. It feels like it's leaking oil right now. And I think that's why they're going back to a five-man rotation, because they need an extra arm out there and whatnot. But Sir Anthony Dominguez, who was really solid last year for this team, and then in the postseason, I mean, the Cardinals game, he was ridiculous,

was really good against the Braves. He went on a good stretch in that post. He just, he looks off. Everything looks off with Sir Anthony right now. Mechanic-wise, he's all over the place. He can't locate his slider. Seems like every kind of tight spot he craters. And he's someone that they need out there if they're going to make any kind of run here.

Because then, if you can't trust Sir Anthony, then how many arms can you truly trust out there if they're going to make any kind of run here. Because then if you can't trust Sir Anthony, then how many arms can you truly trust out there? It's Kimbrel? Like, who can you turn to on any given night and be like, go get me three outs and keep this one-run game or a tie game where it is? Like, sure. Obviously, someone could step up and do a job. That's fine.

But I just – when you have a bullpen where it's really one guy that you can trust in most situations, obviously Alvarado is on the rehab return here hopefully soon. But still, this is a guy with two arm injuries this year. How much can I bank on him? You know, I'm trying not to put too much faith in Alvarado coming back arm injuries this year, how much can I bank on him? I'm trying not to put too much faith in Alvarado coming back and righting the ship here at the bullpen because

before he went on the IL, he even looked human. So, again, two IL stints for Alvarado this year, a longer one this time around. I hope he comes back and is the same Alvarado we saw at the beginning of the year that was striking out the world. But it's just, the bullpen is 100% concerning right now. It's been really good all year.

It's been one of the best in the sport for a long time right now. But I think if you watch the games, your gut tells you what your gut tells you. And right now the gut is telling me that they're leaking oil out there. And it's teetering here with this bullpen um and the final thing is i don't get why when other players are struggling rob thompson has no problem moving him down the lineup um like trey turner huge contract high expectations he felt comfortable moving him down jt rolamuto he felt comfortable moving him down. JT Romito, he felt comfortable moving him down to seventh. Kyle Schwarber is struggling.

He is an important player for this team. You can't convince me otherwise. What he brings to that clubhouse, I think, is really, really important. But in the last three games, it feels like he is up in every single big spot and he's not coming through and he's not getting the job done. And he's back in one of those spells where he's striking out all the time and not walking as much and not doing the things that usually make him pretty good. And then obviously tonight defensively, brutal. I mean, that almost hit him in the face. So, I know he's comfortable there.

But the guy's a team player. He knows he's struggling right now. Like, this is where I was at with Boehm in the two-hole. And it's where I'm at now. Just try Stott and Boehm. Just try Stott leading off and Boehm batting two. And maybe with the young guys at the bottom of the lineup, maybe if they go out and they actually get on base

and are doing some good things, then there's a guy at the top of the lineup that can at least move a runner over, can at least do the little things, can at least bring winning base. Like, it's just, I love Schwarber. I mean, 30 home runs, second most walks in baseball, top three in RBI on this team. When people talk about, oh, all he does is hit solo shots. Well, that's not true.

It's just not. But, everyone else when they struggle is okay to get moved down. I know they're winning games, and I get it. But, I mean, we're not naive to think that's all because Schwarber's in the leadoff spot. So, like, I just, we're not naive to think that's all because Schwarber's in the leadoff spot. So, like, I just, it might help the team.

It might help spark them against some high-velocity guys. Boehm and Stott are pretty good against Velo. Stott, I feel like, at least, is going to be able to spit on some pitches and foul some off. So, just try it. Like, just try it. And if it takes off and it goes off, whatever. If it doesn't, you can go back to what you're doing. But just try Statenbaum batting 1-2.

So those are my negative takeaways from the night. My positive, I thought Zach Wheeler was just brilliant. I thought he was great. And, you know, I talked in the pregame show about how I was more annoyed. It was like, okay, Wheeler's back. They got their ace back. He's back to being the one with the two starts before the national start. It was like, bang, brilliant, awesome. And then the national start, I had never seen Zach Wheeler

give up that much hard contact. He gets a long rest here. They have the extra arm in the rotation, and Zach Wheeler was able to go out tonight. And I thought his stuff, while it was more 95 than 97-98, had good zip to it. His sinker was great to righties. I made one mistake to George Springer

that I was just sitting on my couch praying he didn't throw a fastball, because I could just feel him sitting all over it. He threw it, ripped it up the middle, game's tied, whatever. Regardless, Zach Wheeler went 7th tonight. They only need to use one bullpen piece.

Tomorrow, with Aaron Nola on the mound, they should have pretty much their whole bullpen ready to go, especially with the off day on Thursday. But I thought Zach Wheeler was just downright brilliant. And three out of the last four starts have been really, really high, high caliber pitching from Zach Wheeler. So I'm off the scent. I'm not concerned about him anymore.

Our number one ace is back, and that is an important, important thing going down the stretch run here. That is our biggest takeaways of the game. Brought to you by Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury firm. Chris is going to kick us off tonight. He's on a cell. What's happening, Chris? Hey, how you doing, buddy?

What do you got? Yeah, tonight just stunk. It just stunk. I don't know. I just think we're not getting enough of the four guys. 0 for what? 16? 0 for 16?

Yeah, this is what was killing them, you know, really before the standing O's, you know, that Friday night against the Royals, was they were winning games, but the top of the lineup was just brutal. I mean, it was Schwarber at that point. You know, you had Turner and Cassianos up there. Bo was working his way into that. But it was really the stars that they're paying $20-plus million. I don't think anyone had an OPS over 800.

So, I mean, they've been just, they've just been killer. Yeah, it just really stinks. I mean, I feel like we were making, some of us were making good contact. I know Sosa got a couple hits, which was nice, but the bullpen just really is, like, scaring me down the stretch

here, because, you know, come playoff time, like, if we can't rely on our bullpen guys like dominguez and we eventually need to get alvarado back kimbrough hasn't looked the best as of recently um i don't know i'm just worried i think we just need to get a win tomorrow well that'd be that'd be great i appreciate the call chris we got a stopper on the mound aaron nulla tomorrow so i'm sure everything's gonna go fine with that i i hope so i just Well, that'd be great. I appreciate the call, Chris. We've got a stopper on the mound, Aaron Nola, tomorrow. I'm sure everything's going to go fine with that.

I hope so. If you ask me on my confidence level, not super, super high. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. On the other side, we'll get all your phone calls. But also, one thing that just needs to happen ASAP with this team and a good development up in AAA. What is it? We'll get to all that coming up next here on The Final Out.

Kevin Biggio, the batter, and he gets plunked. And the Jays lead as Dominguez hits Biggio. The base is loaded. It's 2-1 Toronto. Yes, that is our Mike's Amazing Play of the Game presented by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil of the Phillies. Welcome on back. It's Jack Fritz here on the final out, which is always sponsored by Regency Furniture.

Affordable, never looks so good. And that's just like, I just don't know how that happens. And listen, it's baseball. It's pitching. It's tough. I'm not trying to minimize that. But it's like, in that spot, you have freaking Boehm make one of the plays of the year where, I mean, listen, we've seen Alec Boehm turn into a freaking vacuum over there.

And it's just like, all the momentum's on your side. All the pressure at that point is on the Blue Jays. All the momentum's on your side. All the pressure at that point is on the Blue Jays. And, like, again, just a little bit of stones. Just a little bit of stones in that situation. You hit him on a first pitch back foot slider? Are you serious?

Like, that's infuriating. That's losing baseball. Obviously, you know, Schwalbe having the ball pretty much bounce off his face is not winning baseball. A runner on second base with no outs, not being able to get him home to an extended lead, that's losing baseball. But like,

a first, and Sir Anthony, you kind of look at him and he does not look like he has the most confidence in the world right now. And you can just tell, I think you can tell how Sir Anthony, you kind of look at him, and he does not look like he has the most confidence in the world right now. And you can just tell. I think you can tell how a Sir Anthony inning is going to go with the first, like, three pitches. If he has the 97 with cut to it where it flattens out at the end, disaster.

When he gets behind the baseball and drives through rather than to the target um like that's that that's when sir anthony's nasty like sir anthony is so like he should be such an easy fix for this team because it's not it's not usage rate it's not it's not what pitches work in what situations. He is strictly mechanics. He is strictly, when he is falling off to the first base side, bad Sir Anthony. When he is finishing through the catcher, that is good Sir Anthony. That's it. If you ever want to simplify pitching to any of your kids out there, it's as simple as that. Think through the catcher, not to the catcher. Don't fall off to the side.

Finish through. And again, like that's, that can't happen. That is a big momentum spot. And Sir Anthony's a guy that has pitched in a ton of games this year, and pitched in a ton of big games last year and was really good. And I just don't know what you're getting from him every single time you go out there. And that's the other problem with the team right now is you have really one guy, and even he's kind of leaking oil right now, that you trust out of the bullpen.

You have one starter that you have a lot of confidence in, in Zach Wheeler. After him, I mean, Rob Thompson's openly admitting that this is pretty much an open competition for playoff rotation spots right now. Aaron Noles, the guy who was looking for a $180 million contract is in an open competition? I mean, I'm proud of Rob Thompson for that. That's good. It's okay.

It's okay to say that these guys are pitching for their postseason jobs. It's fine. I understand he's probably still going to get the ball, but these guys are athletes. They need to be pushed a little bit, and it's okay to say, hey, you got to go earn that spot. But man, frustrating. I mean, it's just a frustrating game up in Toronto that they easily could have gone the opposite way if they just locked in a little bit but this is what happens when they're not playing good baseball is like little things just come back to bite them um I don't fault I saw a good amount of criticism online of you know Rob Thompson leaving Kyle Schwarber after that spot I mean like every decision in baseball it's a risk first reward thing um and I just – you just won't find teams pulling their leadoff hitter

in a tie game late in it. Like, that's just – I think that would be foolish. So, frustrating. Just a really, really, really frustrating night up in Toronto. Let's check in with Mac in Malvern. What's happening, Mac? Just totally frustrated. Yep, totally.

As soon as they said they were going to, Sir Anthony was coming in and thought, oh, boy, here we go again. Yeah. Probably not. You wouldn't know this, but way back in the day, Sir Anthony reminds me of Matt Scarce, way back in the days of Danny Ozark. Every time he would come in, we'll leave.

My dad and I would look at each other, oh, no, here it goes, and he'd blow it. The guy has been awful, just plain awful. And it's just a frustrating loss. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I was waiting up to call in just to vent. Yeah, and that's why we're here. And believe me, I'm venting too, going through this whole thing.

And it's disappointing that we're there with Sir Anthony because he was really good at the end of last year. When he first came up, he was like a revelation because he had no guys and stuff in the bullpen. But it's like at some point, you kind of are what you are. ZRA's over four. It's either he's like one, two, three, bang out of the inning, or you're sweating your way through it.

And I know people will crush Schwarber, but also he walked the leadoff hitter. I think Dalton Varsha led the thing off. He's batting 217 with like a 260 OBP. It's just he is completely and utterly off. But at the same time, Macken, it stinks that we have to go through this, but you got to get them right too. So a 1-1 game in the eighth, Sir Anthony is someone that you're supposed to be able to trust.

Rob Thompson is in a lose-lose situation right there. Yeah, he doesn't know, almost feel like, you know, Green Bay's Packers coach. What's going on out there? You know, I mean, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but I think he needs to tee off on them and, you know, come on, start playing baseball here. And you had alluded, you had said it earlier,

when they get up against good pitching, they hold up the tents. And it's just annoying. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I just, like I said said i called an event listening to this and i'm thinking they got a chance and then what a what a what a crushing defeat hopefully they can get some they can get they the bats can can heat up and they can take one of them anyway you know yeah well mac the the stoppers on the mound tomorrow, so everything is fine. Aronola on the mound tomorrow. So the one very obvious takeaway from tonight is they can't get Harper back

at first base fast enough. I mean, I know they are probably playing it safe with the back spasms, and you don't want to risk re-injury. He hasn't looked exactly great since coming back from it, but, I mean, just being able to get someone else out. I mean, if someone else is out there in left field, that's a completely different ballgame. Now, maybe Serenity still doesn't get the job done,

but that's a different ballgame if that ball's caught, and we all know that. I wouldn't have pulled him because the 1-1 game, you don't pull your leadoff hitter. I think that's foolish. But still, I mean, just having someone out there that can do that job, get him off his feet, and maybe get the best version of Kyle Schwarber. But Rob Thompson seems to think that he could be back at first base soon.

I just can't. I'm counting down the days. version of Kyle Schwarber. Rob Thompson seems to think that he could be back at first base soon. Counting down the days. I wonder if they do it tomorrow. If you do it tomorrow, at least you have the off day after to where he can recover. But also, the contrary is you just sit him and you have him another full day

with the off day after that. It's a tough position, but I almost think you've got to be like, hey, Bryce, your back is hopefully fine. We need you out there because they do. And the other thing that I want to mention in this segment is good development up in Lehigh Valley where Jose Alvarado had a scoreless outing in a rehab spot up there.

Bad news is that Griff McGarry, his ERA after the game, is now 50-something in AAA, so has not been the best AAA debut for Griff McGarry. He's walking a ton of people. I think he walked six and hit a guy in his one inning tonight. I don't think he recorded an out. I would say he's having some control issues up in AAA. Also, Brandon Marsh, I think, is going to play tomorrow up in Lehigh Valley

and start his rehab assignment. So, again, hopefully this time next week, or maybe even over the weekend, I think Alvarado is going to be activated on Friday. But hopefully this time next week we're talking about Bryce back at first base, Martian left, and Rojas in center field. Once again, Johan Rojas, just good things happen when Johan Rojas

is playing. A big hit tonight, great defense, still batting over 300, just an electric little player. And just, he is a joy, joy to watch. So, having Martian him in the outfield was doing wonders before he got hurt.

So, either way, some good developments up in AAA besides Griff McGarry's tough night. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in. On the other side, we'll look ahead to tomorrow with the stoppers on the mound before handing things off to Tom Kelly here on the Final Out. 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 Coe 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. 0-1 the count, the pitch. Swing and a ground ball towards Boehm. He scoops, throwing home, and the throw is late. Oh, they call him out. JT with a stretch. They get the force out at the plate, says Ryan Wills. Jays want to challenge it.

Of course, they're out of a challenge, but given that this is the eighth inning, they can ask the crew chief for a review, and that's what they're going to get. And they've just shown that to the fans here at Rogers Center. After review, the call stands. The runner is out. How about that? Awesome. Welcome on back.

It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. I mean, a great play by Alec Baum, and it was risky 100%. But, I mean, I thought that ball was gonna end up in the stands so the fact that he's able to get enough on it uh and make an accurate throw there I thought was pretty ridiculous and again his development defensively it's just been like it's been it's been a revelation you know I used to be fearful every single time the the balls hit his way and now i'm just like yeah boomers got it um which is a a pretty big pretty big leap there with alec bowen third base and just a really

really good play especially because he's playing first most of the night to be able to come in and and make that play was a really really good sign so um it's a shame that we don't get to remember that play as as one of the more memorable plays of the season because obviously Sir Anthony hit the next batter on the foot. But regardless, we still have to point out that did make a really nice play tonight. And Johan Roeth continues to do great things. And Zach Wheeler is looking really, really good. Frustrating. Again, three straight losses.

And especially with the high of the last homestand and how well things were going and just the good vibes around the city with the baseball team. I mean, now it's kind of back to being like, eh, you know. Which stinks because it was such a fun week last week. And being in every game, obviously the no-hitter was incredible. And now it's like, you know, they're doing the middle of the baseball season kind of thing.

Where it's like, eh, you know, why? Why do you have to lose three straight games? But it happens. You know, they're 10 games over.500. They are two and a half up on the wild card. A lot of the teams around them lost tonight. So not a disaster, but definitely would like to see them step on some throats. But Blue Jays are also really good.

I thought Kikuchi was really good. He's been, I think Thompson mentioned postgame, he's had the lowest ERA in the AL after the All-Star break. So he's pitching really well, fastball jumps. The lefty struck out a ton. Stinks. I mean, it stinks. And it doesn't get any easier tomorrow, like at all.

Aaron Nola on the mound in a game where, yeah, like I would love to be able to say, okay, Wheeler was really good tonight. Now let's turn to our other ace and see if he can go out and put an endless little losing streak and get back on the right side of this thing. But I just – I'm not there with Aaron Nola. I just – I don't trust him at all. Again, I would love for nothing more than for Aaron Nola to go out there

and shove tomorrow in Toronto against a really good lineup and maybe that kind of jumpstart this season, but there's just no evidence for that. I mean, he could do it, but there's just no evidence that's going to happen. His ERA is almost 4-5 now. It's so 0-9 Hamels, it's not even funny. I mean, it's 0-9 Hamels all over again, which is just, it's crushing.

And you start evaluating the postseason, how deep can this team go? Well, if they're getting 4.5 ERA or 0-9 Hamels version of Aaron Nola, you're not going very far. I mean, the season comes down to him. And obviously the stars in the lineup have to do their job. But, like, if you feel like you can turn to Aaron Nola in the game too

and have confidence in him, it just changes everything. So, again, I'm just waiting for one of these stretches where he gets on a roll and that ERA gets back down to the threes. I don't know if it's happening this year. Either way, his counterpart, Kevin Gosman, former LSU teammates together. I think they were roommates. Gosman's been the opposite. I mean, a 2-9-2 ERA in his last nine games.

Strikes out a ton of batters. So, the Phillies, they go Pablo Lopez on Saturday, Sonny Gray yesterday, Kikuchi today, and then Kevin Gossman tomorrow. So that is a tough stretch of pitching before they head down to Washington this weekend. But still, nine strikeouts in his last start against the Phillies was Kevin Gossman. I remember watching it.

It was like, wow, they have just about no shot tonight. So, again, the stars on offense have to be more competitive, have to have more competitive at-bats, or else it's just going to be a lot of what you saw tonight, which is a ton of strikeouts and not doing their job and not driving the baseball and stuff like that. I would like to see Stot in the leadoff spot tomorrow. Don't think it's going to happen. Either way, it's approaching one of those, like,

just go out and get a win and calm everyone down and don't get swept down Toronto. Again, the Phillies have not won a game in Toronto since the day after I was married, which was in 2018. Like that's, that's a long time ago. There's been a lot of painful moments with, with the Blue Jays over the last couple of years.

And one of the most painful one was for Jose Alvarez. But even though the game was in Buffalo, we count it either way. That's going to do it. It's going to do it for me. Nick Earnshaw produced the final out tonight. I'll be back tomorrow leading you into the game with leading off a solo, leading off before Phil's Blue Jays,

and then I'll be back for the final out as well. So tune in for all of that tomorrow. Tom Kelly, TK. I'm sure he's excited about Aaron Nola's dart tomorrow. He's got us coming up next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.