High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies lost again

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to another shutout loss by the Phillies on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. 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, that was annoying. Welcome on in. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. 215-592-9494 is how you get in. I tell you what, you know, it was a very, very annoying, frustrating kind of night down the ballpark. But at the same time, you know, this whole, every loss is like this team's terrible. Sky is falling. See, they're actually losers. Deep breaths and calm down.

215-592-9494. Jack Fred signing out with you here on the Final Out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. And believe me, I'm not saying that to be annoying, look down on the fan guy thing. But how I feel personally right now

is that I believe more that the brand that they've showed in the last week is closer to the brand that we're going to see more often than not for the rest of the year. And they're going to lose games. They're going to see more often than not for the rest of the year. And they're going to lose games. They're going to win a good amount of games.

And I just think that eventually this whole thing is going to even out. The first week I thought was like panic button city. It was just like the bullpen looked cooked. Their starters were going like four innings each, and the offense was terrible. But for me, this team is getting some of my benefit of the doubt to where I don't need to press the panic button because they lost a brutal, annoying game to the Rockies.

Bad teams win games all the time. The worst teams in baseball still win 60 games a year. It's going to happen. You're going to lose bad games. And tonight, to me, was more of an anomaly than the sign of things to come. So my three big takes for tonight are this. One, and this is an annoying one, is they kind of just looked up. They looked like they showed up tonight and just thought they would win.

Like, it was one of those games where it felt like they rolled out of bed. They're back home. They had just come off a road trip. They played two games on Tuesday, a day game yesterday in Chicago, and they let their guard down. Like, what I saw tonight was a team that had essentially let their guard down and they weren't locked in. A lot of bad at-bats.

Not focusing in on a guy with an ADRA. It's like they saw the Rockies, saw how bad they've been playing. The Rockies had lost eight straight heading into today. Ryan Feltner had an ERA over eight heading into the game today. And in watching their actions and watching their bats and the lethargicness, they look like a team that kind of just rolled out of bed and said, yeah, we got it today. The Rockies stink.

And what is annoying about that mentality when they play games like they do tonight is that you can't just give away games when you don't have all of your horses and tonight was one of those games that they just kind of gave away they didn't even really put up an effort you know uh they had a good amount of hits again but it still just stymied and as as soon as Justin Lawrence came in the game, it just felt like, bang, deflating, game's over. Justin Lawrence is really good. Justin Lawrence is a good pitcher.

Of all the deficiencies the Rockies have, he's one of their, like, bright spots. And I'm sure he's going to get traded here at the deadline, and, you know, the Rockies will bring in some marginal talent or whatever. But he was pretty good, and his stuff is pretty good. And he just kind of shut down the Rockies will bring in some marginal talent or whatever. But he was pretty good. And his stuff is pretty good. And he just kind of shut down the Phillies. But just wasn't enough tough, grinded out of bats.

And my first big take tonight is with the guys that they have out right now, you can't show up and just expect to win games. You got to earn games. And tonight was a game where it looked like they were just going to show up and just expect to win games. You got to earn games. And tonight was a game where it looked like they were just going to show up and win. My second big take is that runners in scoring position is going to be a problem if they don't start hitting home runs. Like if you hit home runs and you mix in some solo shots

and heck, even a two run shot. What a crazy novel concept. Like, you can live with being one of seven with runners in scoring position. Like, it seems like we've had a multitude of games with one of eight, one of seven, two of ten. Like, the runners in scoring position thing is a real problem with this team. Only three teams in baseball have left more runners on base in the Philly so far this year.

And they have the highest batting average of baseball. So like, while I, I continue to believe that the runs are going to come and I continue to believe that eventually they'll break through here and you'll see more consistency with, with run scored. I also realized that if you're not putting the ball over the fence,

the runners in scoring position thing becomes that much more evident and that much more of an issue. So, and it's not really to a fault of these guys. They don't have traditional home run guys besides Kyle Schwarber. Everyone else has been more average and more in the 15. They have more 15 to 25 home run guys than they do 30 plus

home run guys. Harper for a full 162 is a 30 plus home run guy. Schwarber is and Reese Hoskins is. With Hoskins and Harper out of the lineup for the majority of the year, they're not going to get 30 home runs out of anyone besides Schwarber. So it just becomes compounded if they can't get the job done

with runners in scoring positions. So, again, only three teams in baseball have left more runners on base than this team. And I think that they're slowly working their way out of it. But again, a game like tonight happens. A game like game two in Chicago, which I didn't think was a big deal at the time, but same kind of thing.

Saturday against the Reds, those are three games in the last week while I agree they are playing better baseball. I think they're turning a corner here. Like lethargic, just meh efforts for a time without your big boppers. You can't have meh efforts. So running and scoring positions

can be a problem if they can't hit home runs. And my final take here in the open is that I think they've done a good job finding the pieces that are going to help them lock down games. And I think Soto, Alvarado, Kimberl on most nights, and Sir Anthony, who I think is on his way back, they are very tough to come back against. And they are going to be, you know, when you have a lead, I think on most nights, they're

going to get the job done. But what truly great teams have and truly good teams have is when you're down, not extending the lead to where it's out of reach for your offense to come back. And right now, with the way that Andrew Bilotti's pitching, they're not doing a good job. They keep putting him out there, hoping that he can kind of get into a rhythm.

But Andrew Bilotti's been a journeyman for the majority of his career. He got hot last year. But too often this year, it's been not enough swing and miss and sliders outside the zone and, like, too many walks and hit batsmen. Like, tonight, like, you're big leaguer. You're hitting a guy on a 3-2 pitch. You have a 3-2 slider that's like a hundred feet out of the out of the batter's box I mean that's that's it's not great so um

they need to start finding guys that can help them stay in games when they're down and give their offense a chance to get back into it and that's a part of being a good team and maybe when Matt Strom goes back to the uh bullpen he can kind of help in that regard um And that's a part of being a good team. And maybe when Matt Strom goes back to the bullpen, he can kind of help in that regard. But that's something that good teams also have on top of having guys that can kind of shut down a game when you do have a lead.

2-1-5, 5-9-2. 94-94. If you want to get in, react. Phillies lose 5-0. A disheartening effort. If you're stuck in traffic on your way home, we'd love to talk to you. It's Jack Fritz here in the final out. 35,000 down at the ballpark tonight. That was a good sight to see.

And I just hope that they can get on a little bit of a roll here. And all that good juju that they built last year with going to the World Series and having excitement and having people believing in baseball again in Philadelphia like I just I just hope that they're not kind of crushing that with the early season's returns here and I hope that people aren't getting too frustrated like tonight was a frustrating affair like I'm I'm not here to sugarcoat that um but I don't think it's the end of the world. I think they played an annoyingly bad baseball game. They came off of a road trip

and they kind of just thought they could waltz in tonight and beat the Rockies. They don't have the horses they usually have so they can't do that stuff. But I fully expect a good bounce back effort tomorrow. Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. 215-592- 9494 if you want to get in

and react to the Phil's loss tonight. We will get to all of your calls on the final out. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. If you want to get in and react to the Phillies' loss tonight, we will get to all of your calls on the other side, but also a big update on a guy that could help them with the round of scoring position, and an interesting quote from Rob Thompson postgame that perked my ears. So I want to run that by you as well. We'll get to all of that and your phone calls coming up next.

Behind the count to C.J. Krohn. Strom with the pitch. Swung on and blasted. Deep left field, and that one is going to go. C.J. Krohn with his fifth home run of the season. And it's the Rockies who score first tonight. Two-run shot from Krohn, and it's 2-0 Colorado. Welcome back.

It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. That's our Mike's Amazing Play of the Game presented by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil of the Phillies. And, unfortunately, that's all the Rockies needed. First inning, C.J. Krohn, who got off to a really hot start and then has kind of cooled off recently, got into a pitch from Matt Strom.

And it's unfortunate because Matt Strom is good again tonight. 11 strikeouts, which is a career high for him. And he just continues to kind of make a case here for remaining in the rotation. And I thought it was really interesting postgame. Rob Thompson said that Ranger Suarez is still a ways away. And that surprised me because he threw 25 pitches the other day. He was facing live batters. I know he has to go on a rehab assignment,

but I kind of felt like we'd be getting back Ranger mid-May at this point, given that it feels like it's kind of trending in the right direction. And when Rob Thompson said that, it just, you know, perked my ears up a little bit. Like, hold on. Are we missing something here? Every update we've gotten

has been really positive. I guess if you look at May 15th, I guess that's still like a ways away. But the way he said it so matter-of-factly, like Rangers still really far away, kind of caught me off guard, especially because, you know, the way that I viewed ranger coming back like i was never expecting him to come back and um like okay go give us seven shutout or whatever um i i kind of thought they would ease him back

in i thought he would be at uh i don't know 50 pitch limit, and then obviously work his way up 70, 80, until he can get to 100 pitches. And I kind of thought that what they would do is that on Ranger starts, they would piggyback him and Matt Strom just like they did when Ranger was piggybacking Spencer Howard a couple years ago, which obviously ended up being a disaster

because Spencer Howard was the softest athlete I think I've ever seen in Philadelphia. And I know Ben Simmons played here. But I thought they could at least bring Ranger back. And if he could only go 35, 40 pitches, whatever, just to ramp himself back up, then Matt Strom would kind of take down the middle of the game. If Ranger could give you three good innings, Matt Strom can get you through the sixth, and then hopefully you're winning, and the

bullpen can kind of take over from there. But what Rob Thompson said post-game about how Ranger still weighs away, just kind of, it was an odd quote to me. It was an odd quote to me. 215-592-9494. That's the one update on the injury front that kind of

gave me a little cause for pause. But the other came pregame from Rob Thompson. And you want to talk about getting a guy back that would help a ton with a runner to scoring position. I mean, we all know how massive Bryce would be from that standpoint. And I thought

this was really interesting. So Rob Thompson said pregame, it doesn't look like he's going to go on a rehab assignment. We've got all the stuff that we're doing here. We're bringing in pitchers, the simulated bats. We've got this new traject machine downstairs. They can put any picture on the planet on video and replicate his stuff. So he can,

he can get it best down there. So we just think as far as DH-ing is concerned, we're covering all of our bases. And then he did also add in that Bryce is going to go out to L.A., I guess on May 1st, to meet with a doctor that did surgery on his arm. And I guess at that point, their hope is that he could be cleared to DH. I mean, that's 10 days away. May 1st is.

So we realistically could be seeing Bryce within the next two weeks, which is just, again, we've been over this a ton on the final out. But that's just insane. Given that he got surgery in what, late or early December? But

the one thing that I think is going to be interesting here, he threw today for the first time. He got up to 60 feet. And I wonder at what point they put him at first base. Because he seems pretty dead set on, I'm going to go out there and at least try. But at the same time, I would rather just getting him back and putting him at DH and maybe a month, two months from now, put him at first base. I hope that the plan is not bring him back, DH him for a little bit,

and then bang, get him at first base because it makes sense roster construction-wise. I don't really care about roster construction at this point. I need to make sure that Bryce is good for not only the rest of this year, but next year as well. Like, let's make sure that arm's healthy. Let's make sure that arm's going well. I'm sure they're not doing anything that is not out of an abundance of caution, but they seem like they're really speeding up the first base aspect of Bryce's return.

And I'm just saying, like saying that worries me a little bit. We don't have to rush him out there to play first base. I understand that it would make Alec Boehm going back to third base that much better. It would leave a DH spot open for Castellanos or Schwarber if you want to keep Jake Cave. Believe me, roster construction-wise, Bryce at first base helps a ton. But we have to think about the player here. We know that Bryce is an aggressive guy. We know Bryce is a guy that is going to want to go out there and prove to people he's back.

This is like his third straight year of being injured and missing time. He just wants to play baseball, and he's a guy that's going to push it. But you have to be the adults in the room here and say, Bryce, we get you, and we'll work on it. But we're not rushing you out there to throw just because it makes sense roster-wise. And I'm sure he wants to get back on the field. It has to kill Bryce that he went from playing the field every day

and kind of being a guy that could get his pants dirty and was kind of just out there all the time to essentially a year and a half of season where he's pretty much been relegated to the DH. Like last year he played right field, but it was for like a month. So I'm sure he's itching to kind of get back on the field and become a complete baseball player again but just saying we don't have to rush him to play DH 215-592 94-94 Phil's go

down tonight at the hands of the Rockies Ryan Feltner it was frustrating but he's our player of the game brought to you by South Jersey Gas committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome.

And he's my player of the game. Ryan Felton is a guy who has been pretty bad during his entire tenure in Major League Baseball. You know, like last year, like, I mean, his career ERA is just pretty dreadful. He's always had pretty good stuff, but was just walking a ton of guys. And tonight, it's almost like everything that he could have asked for ended up working out for him. That was about as well as I think that Ryan Feltner could throw. I mean, it's his age 26 season.

His first year, he made two starts, but his ERA was over 11. Last year, he started 19 games. His ERA was close to six. And so far this year, his ERA was 8.78. And he's been walking 7.8 or 7.4 guys per nine. That is just atrocious from a starting pitcher. And, you know, righties were batting.333 off him heading into this game. The OPS was over 1,000 to right-handed hitters, which is absurd.

I mean, that's like MVP numbers. So, you know, to do that tonight and come out with such an uninspiring effort against a pitcher like that that's why my big take to beginning the show was like they kind of just look like a team that thought they could just show up tonight and win and when you're down the players that you are you can't do that

you can't do that but for me I just continue to believe that they've done more good than bad in the last week, and I just think this run's coming, and tonight was just an annoying, annoying loss. 2-1-5-5-9-2, 94-94. If you're stuck in traffic, if you paid your hard-earned money

to go down there and see that atrocity, get in. We'd love to hear your reaction to the game and all that stuff. On the other side, we'll look ahead to tomorrow before handing things off to Tom Kelly here on the final out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Welcome back. Final out here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looked so good.

A frustrating 5-0 loss by the Phils tonight. An uninspiring effort. One of those games where you start questioning if they're going to be able to do anything this year. But I know the reactions are hot and heavy, and I get it. I live and die with them too. But again, I genuinely keep coming back to more of an anomaly than the norm here.

And I think that a month from now we'll wake up and there'll be four games over 500 and we won't even remember this happened. Frankly. Ryan Feltner, a guy that no one's ever heard of, having an ERA over 8 heading into the game, coming in and shutting down the Phillies.

I've seen that story before. I've seen that story it feels like a thousand times. An annoying game a frustrating game but that panic button is not being hit yet 215-592-9494 tomorrow

it's bounce back day and I fully expect this team to bounce back and that's kind of what they do they lose in annoying fashion people melt down and then bang next day it's like oh here's a 15run game against Sandy Alcantara. Oh, we just lost 13-0 against the Reds? Bang, here's a blowout, nine runs in the first inning.

You know, you hope that they can get on a roll here and these roller coaster ride that it feels like the last couple of Philly seasons have been outside of last October slash November. It has been a lot of these up and downs and a lot of these big swings to where it's like whenever you start to feel good about them, they come out and they lay an egg like they did tonight. Tonight was an absolute egg lay. I think they've done a good job the last couple years of usually not letting bad losses compound, and I do think that they have the guys in the locker room that are like, guys, that was an atrocious effort. Let's go out there tomorrow and get it done. A guy like Noah Davis, again, this Rockies

pitching staff is just atrocious. I'm pretty sure that they're facing three out of four pitchers with an ERA over eight, I think, this series. It should be get-writable, and they dropped the first one tonight, obviously. Noah Davis is a guy

five strikeouts in his first game and five scoreless. Still did walk three in those five, but his ERA was over four last year in AAA. So he's a guy that is 26 years old and just made his major league debut last week. So it doesn't really scream plus plus stuff but we'll see tomorrow um with Aaron Nola on the mound and um you know I talked about this this yesterday and on High Hopes and by the way always check out the High Hopes podcast talking Phillies all the time um with James Seltzer but I am more concerned with Wheeler's start to the season than I am than I am Aaron Nola because I look at a guy like Aaron Nola

and while I didn't like seeing his stuff down in the 89 range 90 range, 91 range in his last start he's a guy that by the way, I feel like I've said he's a guy like four times this segment Tucker, and I start to feel like

I'm sounding like Chris Collinsworth when Chris Collinsworth says here's a guy like four times this segment, Tucker. And I started to feel like I'm sounding like Chris Collinsworth. So when Chris Collinsworth says, here's a guy. No, here's a guy. Dude, Tucker, I swear I've said he's a guy at least four times this segment. Is he the guy? No, he's not. Well, he should be the guy. That's what you're paying him for.

And that's what he wants if he wants $200 million. But Aaron Ola, here's a guy that, you know, last start, his velocity was down a little bit, but he's also been someone that I don't think needs plus plus velo to be a really high-quality major league pitcher, which he's been for a long time with the Phillies. I mean, everyone thinks he's terrible, but fourth in ERA last year, or fourth in Cy Young last year. So Aaron Nola, I just kind of trust that he'll find his rhythm. He'll, you know, the stuff will start playing.

He'll go on one of those month-long stretches where it's like, oh, Aaron Nola's, you know, back to having the ERA around 3.5. But the reason why I felt like he was more bounce backable than than Wheeler is like Wheeler at 97 98 99 miles an hour is an ace Zach Wheeler at 93 to 95 is still an effective pitcher but not Zach Wheeler um so like those are the two guys that for, this season just kind of hinges on. I think the lineup will continue to trend in the right direction. I believe in most of the arms down the bullpen, not name Andrew Belotti at this current moment.

I think Tywin Walker is going to do a good job for them. Bailey Foster is going to do a pretty good job for them on most nights. Matt Strom, Ranger, whenever that thing kind of gets ironed out, I think that that's going to do, they're going to be serviceable, but for this team to reach the heights that they want to reach it comes down to those two

in Wheeler and Nola can figure this whole thing out I know they pitched late into the year last year I know that this is the first time they've had to do that and come back and be ready for the start of the season and I can understand how that can be tough, but they got to get back right for, I think, this city to be fully in and fully back in on this team doing some special things this summer. So Aaron Nola tomorrow. And it just feels like one of those games where he goes like seven shutout, and

the Phils kind of make this one a bit of a laugher early. They've been good at bouncing back the last couple years, good at bouncing back so far this year. They kind of embarrass us, and then bang. It's like, oh, there. Thanks. Welcome to the season. Why'd you just do that last night?

So Aaron Nola, I feel like a bounce back performance tomorrow, his best start of the season, and they go just do that last night? So Aaron Noah, I feel like a bounce-back performance tomorrow, his best start of the season, and they go out and take care of business tomorrow night against the Rockies. That's going to do it for me. Hanging out here on the final out. Thanks for everyone that tuned in. Tucker Bagley produced an annoying 5-0 loss to the Rockies tonight.

I'm sure Tom Kelly's got some stronger reactions, but don't listen too closely when he starts talking about Peter Skowronski, because we cannot let that narrative continue to live out there that the Eagles should draft him. Either way, Tom Kelly's got you covered. He'll take you through the rest of the night.

I'll be back tomorrow in for John. Me and Ike will take you up to the ballgame with leading off, and then I will be back postgame reacting to what is hopefully a Phillies win and a bounce-back performance by this baseball team. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. Tom Kelly has got you next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.