High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies End Homestand with 1-0 Win

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies 1-0 win over the Mariners on Thursday afternoon behind a key hit from Kody Clemens and five dominant innings from Slinging Matt Strahm. 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

Well, if that wasn't getaway day baseball, I don't know what is. Welcome into the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable, never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you, getting you, you know, obviously set for the draft tonight, but we had to get ready and into what was a very gutsy, good Phillies win this afternoon. Won nothing. Obviously, not every game is going to be like, wow, you scored five runs

and your pitching staff allowed nothing. That was a gritty, tough win. I thought last night kind of laid the groundwork for today. They came back last night down 5-2 early in the game, made up for it, came through late. They had 11 singles. Out of the 12 hits, 11 of them were singles, and they had one home run. So it was a gritty comeback effort last night,

and it was a gritty win by the Phillies today, and they got to keep racking those up, and it was a good sight to see. Three straight. That is three straight series wins for this team. They are back to.500, which is massive, and they need that, especially with the upcoming series they have against the Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, Blue Jays. That's their next four series. So getting back to 500 and kind of

staying afloat while they wait for Ranger to get back and while they wait for Bryce Harper to get back, getting back to 500 and at least having that baseline is a good spot to be in. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. Jack Fritz, hanging out with you here on the final out if you're on your way home from the ballgame, we'd love to hear from you.

Love to hear your reactions from a good win for this team. And we'll get into it now because I got three big takeaways from the game this afternoon. Number one is actually my player of the game, which is sponsored by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome. And that is Matt Straum. It's just been an unbelievable find by this team.

Five and a third today. Five strikeouts, two hits. Rob Thompson pulled him. I didn't have a problem with it. I thought it was a good time to pull him. Julio Rodriguez was up. You had a righty up, ready to come in and time to pull him. Julio Rodriguez was up, ready to come in and kind of face him. You didn't want to have Matt Strom face

that lineup for the third time through, but either way, Matt Strom is a guy for years in the analytics world, has been a guy that teams have dreamed on. It seems like it is finally coming to fruition with the Phillies. He's just been an absolute fine for them.

He's meshing well with this team. I love that he yells at himself. He's kind of that quirky lefty. He is generating a ton of swing and miss, a ton of strikeouts. And with Rangers still probably about two weeks away, they seem to be saying they need him. I mean, this is, again, a tough stretch that they have coming up here, and Matt Strom pitching the way he is right now is really going to give them a lift.

I keep kind of waiting for the Matt Strom bubble to burst, but I got to tell you, he's probably the Philly starter I have the most confidence in right now going out there and giving them a chance to win. So every time Matt Strom takes the mound for the Phillies, I feel pretty good about them winning the game that day. And I still think he goes back to the bullpen just when Ranger comes back and he's fully stretched out. I think he goes back to the bullpen.

But either way, whether it's a spot starter, whether he stays in rotation, or he goes back into the bullpen, he has a ton of value in being able to pitch multiple innings a week or take down a couple starts. So what a find by Dave Dombrowski. My second big takeaway is that I thought Rob Thompson was great today. I know he's been maligned for a majority of the beginning of the season, but I thought he was aggressive, and he's turned this bullpen into a well-oiled machine. When they get a lead, it is hard to come back against this Phillies bullpen.

It is hard to come back against Soto, Sir Anthony, Kimbrel, and Alvarado. That is four options. When was the last time we legitimately had four options that you felt good in the back end of games with a lead. So I thought he was aggressive today. Obviously, he pulled Strom early. There was a lot of reaction to it. But this was obviously a correction from the Bailey Falter start in game one of the series

on Tuesday night. On Tuesday night, he let Bailey Falter go out there in the sixth inning, facing the top of the Mariners' order for the third time, a bunch of righties with Sir Anthony up in the bullpen. He did not pull him. Today, he made the decision early and he did not make that same mistake twice. So he was aggressive today. He knew he needed that win. He wanted to take three straight series. He knows that they have the Astros coming up on deck with two of their best pitchers going. Obviously, you have Wheeler and Nola going, but the Astros have two of their best going as well.

So to take that game today and kind of kill it and win it when you can, I thought Rob Thompson was great today. I thought he was aggressive, and I think he's found his groove with the back end of the bullpen. I mean, Soto in for Brogdon. He let Soto go out there for another inning.

I thought that was aggressive, and then obviously Craig Kimball to close it out. Four guys. They have four guys that can close out games right now, which feels like a godsend given we've watched the worst bullpen in the history of baseball in 2020 and all the struggles all throughout. So what a refreshing,

refreshing thing to see. And my final takeaway is that, not to steal a term from, from Nick Sirianni. I know it is NFL draft day, but the roots are clearly there for this team being really good. Like the roots are all there. They got to get some of their guys back. They got to get Ranger back.

They got to get Harper back. We know Hoskins won't be back, but whatever. This is a good team that is only going to continue to get better. Three straight series wins. The bullpen is a good team that is only going to continue to get better. Three straight series wins. The bullpen is really good. They have an ERA under one in the last week and a half. It's been a really, really good stretch for this bullpen.

The lineup's going to be fine. They're generating a ton of base runners. They're not hitting the ball out of the ballpark, but they also don't really have the horses in the lineup to hit the ball out of the ballpark, but they also don't really have the horses in the lineup to hit the ball out of the ballpark. So eventually the runners will come around. They have too many ducks in the pond. They'll bring them home.

But it's on Wheeler and Nolan now. Like I look at the team and I look at, you know, everything that's under the surface about them developing into a good team. And I just keep coming back to what Wheeler and Nolan are we getting? Because if we're getting the Wheeler and Nola so far this year, their ceiling is really limited. But if they can get Wheeler and Nola back

rolling in the direction that we need them to roll, the upside for this team is just it's really, really high. The Braves might run away and hide with the division, but there's no reason why they can't make the playoffs. So, Wheeler and Nola are the two that I just think with the Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, Blue Jays in the next four series, it comes down to those two.

And turning the season around and kind of carrying this pitching staff with a couple of their guys really only being five-inning guys at this time, at this point. Bailey Falter, when Ranger comes back, Matt Strom, those are kind of guys that are really just give you five good innings and get them out of there and trust your bullpen. But you need Wheeler and Nola

to give you 6-7 so that you can't be taxed in those other games. But I believe the roots are all there. And I think this team is only going to continue to get better. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. We'll get to all of your reaction on the other side. But also, there's a very important game going on tonight in Philly's land and a massive, massive update from Rob Thompson postgame.

What was it? We'll get to all that coming up next. 0-1. Swung on. Line to right center field. Castellanos on the run. Makes the catch. Goes into a slide, and he hangs on.

Hard hit, but it's out. Number three is Nick Castellanos. Got a great slide, and he hangs on. Hard hit, but it's out number three. As Nick Castellanos got a great jump, but he runs it down. That might be a gold glover right there. Welcome back. 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. Look at Nick Castellanos this year.

I believe that's his – he has like five outfield assists, I think, at the beginning of this year. He had a ton at the beginning of the year. I believe that's his – he has like five outfield assists, I think, at the beginning of this year. He had a ton at the beginning of the year. He was hot. He's obviously cooled off a little bit. But, you know, the Castellanos defense thing has been really just one of the funnier developments with this season. Like last year he pretty much said in the playoffs, like, yeah,

I'm just kind of focusing more. So that's why I'm doing better defensively. I'm making my sliding catches. And it's clearly translated over to this year. And he still has a terrible arm. Like, that's obviously a problem. But when it comes to reading a fly ball, I feel like he's actually gotten pretty decent with it. It's not like I feel a sense of dread when a ball is hit the right field.

So, listen, Nick Castellanos for Gold Glove, start the campaign. I mean, listen, he might be working his way into an MVP year if he keeps up what he's doing at the plate. And the nice part of where we're at with Castellanos is that he's hitting the ball hard again. Like, when he was breaking out, he was hitting over 300, and there was doubles obviously mixed in there, but it was still a lot of, like, flailing at it

and at least putting his bat on the baseball and kind of weak contact. Ever since Saturday and the two home runs, it's been driving balls with authority. So it is so refreshing to have Nick Castellanos back. Had another hit today, so he is, I think it's real. I know there's this cautious level of optimism to buy in to what Nick Castellanos is doing, but it's real. And he is hitting the ball hard, hitting it with authority,

and now bringing it defensively. And a good base running today, a good base running last night. The guy's just a 5-2 player, been saying it for years. We'll get some thoughts on big news from Rob Thompson and a big update for one of their other pitchers coming back from uh injury coming up here in one second but first we'll go to matt in wilmington what's happening matt hey how you doing jack what's up brother how are you i'm doing great um two things first i I think we're seeing some hitting alchemy being performed, turning lead into gold with players like Cody Clemens and Christian Pache. I mean, Kevin Long is turning guys that were essentially duds into pretty essential bench pieces for the Phillies.

pieces for the Phillies and all that he's done for our big name guys Harper, Boehm especially, Castellanos now that's amazing but the ability that he has to turn any hitter into a serviceable like MLB player is impressive I think more so. Well yeah I mean you think of I mean there's obviously great assistant coaches in this town I mean we we all know about jim johnson we know about jeff statlin right now but what he has done with this hitting and and the guys that turn around like marsh is the one for me that i'm still like i i i'm shocked i mean he's leading major league baseball on ops i mean what are we doing here brandon marsh is a guy that the angels are just like yeah what i mean they traded a hobby for him so obviously he was valuable but but I don't think the Angels believed he could hit. And the Phillies were like, no, he can. And Kevin Long, I mean,

he deserves all the money the Phillies pay him. I mean, the Phillies got the best offensive center fielder the Angels had, so I'm pleased with that. I agree. They gave away their best center fielder in team history. Yep. I know. What an oversight. Absolute fleece. But mainly what I got from today was Rob Thompson understands this bullpen. And I think Matt Strom being a Swiss Army knife for this bullpen and this rotation spot starter when needed is going to be a dangerous thing to behold for other teams going forward. Once Rangers back, once you have, and now that Taiwan, the positive news about not needing

an MRI, hopefully he'll be good for his next start. You're not as shallow on starting depth as you thought. Having Matt in that kind of role where he can do whatever, and as he said, he's comfortable in that position, that's comfortable in that position. That's going to be awesome because this guy is an absolute stud. Just a diamond in the rough, again, that the Phillies are just turning into an absolute machine. Never thought I'd see the day, Matt.

I appreciate the call where the Phillies are turning garbage into gold, as one announcer used to say. But, yeah, Matt Strom, you know, he has all the makings of being someone that this city just kind of rallies around. I mean, he has a long hair. He yells at himself. He's kind of eccentric. He said after the game, like, when you play with dirt bags, you feel great about it or something.

Like, all the makings of big, big playoff moments for Matt Strom. If I'm just trusting my gut on Matt Strom, he's going to be having some playoff moments as a Philly. So Matt mentioned it there. Uh, good update post game from Rob Thompson on, on Taiwan Walker. When he went out last night, I immediately was like,

well, they're kind of screwed here. When he went out, it was like, okay, well, what is there? How are they going to take down innings?

If Taiwan Walker is not going to miss time, like it's going to be a lot of Sanchez, a lot of falter, a lot of Falter, a lot of Matt Strom staying in the rotation. It's like those three guys who I believe are more five-inning starters at this point, you're taxing a ton of your bullpen, and it puts the pressure, again, back squarely on Wheeler and Nola. So it was a good sign, and hopefully he continues to trend

in the right direction and Tywin Walker doesn't miss time because he should theoretically be a very good innings leader for this team. He was always signed as a high-end three, low-end four that could take down innings. And to have him go out this early in the season would have been bad, especially with all the injuries that they've had in the rotation between Painter and Ranger. And speaking of Ranger, he is throwing 40 pitches at Redding tonight.

So he is on the comeback trail, which is something that they could really use and getting him back. And again, when he gets back, I just wonder what they do. I would put Matt Stroud back in the bullpen. And I think if they get desperate enough and they're like, wow, we need rather these five-inning starts not be going to a Falter or whoever. I'd rather be going to like a

Ranger Suarez. I think they can piggyback him and Matt Strom and that should theoretically get you seven quality innings on most days. 2-1-5-5-9-2 94-94 on the other side. We'll look ahead to tomorrow and this weekend against the Astros down in Houston.

Run through all your calls before handing things off to Marks and Reese live from the draft party. It's Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. Welcome back. It is the Final Out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you before we send things down to the link for the draft

party heading into the big night tonight. We'll get to some thoughts on the upcoming series against the Astros. But first, Blake's in Narberth. What's happening, Blake? Hey, Jack. That's a good Phillies win. No, it wasn't the prettiest, but after a 1-5 start, you get back to 500.

That means something. Three straight series wins. Eight out of the last 11. And Matt Strong channeling his inner Kevin Millwood on the 20th anniversary, that's just a good win. Well, and it's funny, I think it was Murph or Franski noted that that game also ended 1-0. So that's just baseball, isn't it, Blake? Yeah. But I want to talk about the bullpen, because that was just spectacular today.

And it's been like that since the first week of the season, with that exception. It's been lights out pretty much. those four guys as you mentioned but i want to talk about that trade for gregory soto because right now and today specifically that trade looking better and better soto today high leverage came in and then it was cody clemens the one rbi the only one of the day he delivered and if you look at nick mayton and matt veerling a lot of guys after the first week of the season were saying, we're missing those guys. But they're F-4, Fangraphs 4, Maton negative.3, Vierling.1.

And with Christian Pache playing well and a better defender, Dave Dombrowski and that trade, the weight added to this team, it's looking better and better, even though it's early in the season. We're breaking down F-4 here on WIP. I don't know if that's allowed. I don't know if we're allowed to break down F-4. But I agree with you. in the sport. Like you take a chance on that for two guys that are bench pieces. I mean, they are bench guys.

So you make that trade any day of the week. I still think Cody Clemens can't really play, but, you know, whatever. Today he did his job and he scored the lone run. He did the home run over the weekend. So it's definitely a win for the Phillies, and hopefully Gregory Soto can continue to pitch well. Although I will say it's never the easiest it feels like with him out there. Yeah, of course control is always going to be a question there,

but it has gotten better, particularly from where it was. And he had the decent issues that probably didn't help in the beginning of the year. But you talk about the guys with the Phillies bullpen. Kimball's looking better. Seraphine, Jose's looking great, as it was last year's building on them you even see junior marty looked a little good the other day so i know and from here we're going down to houston and i think if they can build on that momentum maybe take one in houston but the guys aren't looking as good as they were at the beginning of the year um boston's not looking as great as they

were the beginning of the year there's going not looking as great as they were at the beginning of the year. There's going to be opportunities there. And if the two horses at the front of the rotation start clicking, this team may not have their only trip to Houston in April. They might be going back there if they start clicking with those two horses at the front. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Thanks for the call, Blake. Yeah, it's a big weekend. It's a good measuring stick weekend.

The Mariners, they're kind of like the Phillies, where they got off to a slow start. They're under.500, but they have a ton of talent, and they faced two good starters in Kirby and Gilbert. But the Phillies and Mariners are kind of like that Spider-Man meme, where they're kind of looking at each other. The Astros have gotten off to a tad of a slow start here, but obviously they're coming off the World Series. They've started 7-9 the last four years and been

in the ALCS each of those years. It's a good measuring stick, and it's good to see how this team stacks up against some of the best in the sport. It'll be good to see how the back end of this bullpen holds up against a lineup like the Astros.

Nola vs. Framber Valdez tomorrow. Seven innings, 9 Ks, three earned versus the Braves in his last outing for Framber. We know what he did to the Phillies in the World Series last year. Was he cheating? Was he not? Was he cheating? Was he not? We have Zach Wheeler versus

Jody Max Sleeper, who Christian Javier on Saturday. So that's going to be a good matchup. And then Bailey Falter versus Jose Arquidi on Sunday who, if I could call my shot right now, Kyle Schwerber's hitting a home run off of him. Obviously, it's kind of what he does.

So it's Nola and Wheeler versus their 1-2. That's a good sign to have. And hopefully those two can kind of bounce back and start pitching the way that we need them to pitch. Because, again, I mentioned this tough stretch of baseball that the Phillies have coming up here.

They'll be able to stay afloat. We get that. But for this team to reach its ceiling and have us truly believing in a deep postseason run again, Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola have to get back to being those guys. They can't have the one-inning blowups where all of a sudden there's four runs on the board in the blink of an eye. They've got to get rolling. It's going to be tough.

I mean, they have a couple tough series in a row here, but they need these guys to right the ship. There is a lot of good roots that are being grown here with this Phillies team to steal Sirianni quote. There's a lot of good stuff that is being developed here. The bullpen's really good. The lineup of things is going to turn around. They have quality pieces in the rotation, but the ceiling gets raised when Nolan Wheeler is as good as they usually are. So hopefully they can get rolling.

Hopefully they can turn this thing around, and it would be a good time to do it against the Astros this weekend. That's going to do it for me. It has been the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. John and Ike are ready to go from the draft party. It's B-Genre Bus Time. That's coming up next here on Sports Radio

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