High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies Need Extras To Take Series Opener From Rockies

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to Aaron Nola's gem and the offense's mounting frustrations after the Phillies beat the lowly Rockies in 10 innings. 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, punched to right, a base hit, ball game. Christian Pache wins it. Single to right, they come racing out of the dugout to celebrate with Pache and celebrate a 2-1 win.

Thank God. Welcome on in. It's the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Monday night reacting to an inspiring, inspiring Phillies win down at CBP tonight. The game wrap-up sponsored by Blazer Swiss Lube and Kravitz, the metalworking

fluid specialist providing professional and CNC machine cleaning coolant maintenance programs and waste coolant disposal. Kravitz dots on line. Yes, Christian Pache, the hero, but really an escape tonight against the Rockies

who again are just, and I mean just, dreadful. 2-1-5-5-9-2, 94-94 to get in. If you're leaving the ballpark, we'd love to hear from you, your takeaways from the game tonight, all that stuff. The atmosphere seemed great. I mean, it was another big crowd early in the season. Weather was beautiful.

I mean, it's about as picture perfect of a night for baseball as you could possibly ask for. So, again, a win they needed, but, man, not the most inspiring. Let's get to the biggest takeaways of the game brought to you by Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. And I mocked this a lot during the Eagles season, and I sort of feel the same way now. Like the whole a win's a win thing, I get it. Like it's good. They won.

They are now back over 500. But that's just a team that just come and take care of. It's as simple as that. And I know, listen, the worst team in baseball is still going to win, what, 60 games a year, most likely? I mean, some of these modern teams. They're closer to the 50s. But when you've been so inconsistent and you've been so up and down and people are just annoyed at the offense, coming out and letting Cal Quantrill, whose ERA was, I believe, over seven,

heading into the game tonight, have, I don't know, it's not a career outing, but certainly look more than capable out there with a lineup that should do some damage. I mean, I know it's been a really frustrating start to the year for this offense, but again, it's Cal Quantrill. So a win's a win. But again, it's one of these things where it's tough because you can't evaluate every game on, is this good enough to win a World Series? But it's hard not to.

I mean, it's hard not to be like, is this good enough to advance? And an effort like tonight from the offense continues to show it's not good enough. I mean, they're averaging, what, three and a half runs per game? By every advanced metric, they're in like the 25 to 30 range. It's insane. They're just, there's so much more talent in there than these guys are showing. So they won. I. So they won. I'm glad they won.

But still, you're not leaving that with a bunch of wind at your sails leaving Citizens Bank Park. You're leaving with a big old exhale leaving the ballpark tonight. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Offense, still a huge question mark. They got kind of lucky with the Hoffman play. If that's not Kyle Freeland running, tonight could have been a loss. Even in that situation, it's a bang-bang play.

Regardless, you have that play. The whole pulling of Schwarber in a tie game, I just don't love. I know Pache came through tonight and stepped up, and that was good, but it was one out. If it was no outs, I guess I would get it, but with one out in a tie game, he's probably scoring on a ball to the outfield anyway. He's actually looking pretty spry out there. It's a gamble pulling in from these games, and especially with how much this offense is struggling,

I would like to not be pulling one of my three best offensive players in a tie game late for a minimal upgrade on the base pass. Again, most times on a ball to the outfield, he's probably going to score. That's one thing that I just...

It's happened twice this year. Twice Schwarber's come up, or Schwarber's spot has come up in extra innings. It's one to monitor and one that I would like to be thought more out, I guess. The second big takeaway from tonight is obviously Aaron Nola was brilliant.

Aaron Nola tonight is my player of the game. Sponsored by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com. 12 whiffs on his curveball tonight. And that was the highest since 2020. One off of his career high, which happened in 2018. And speaking of 2018, that was about as 2018 Nola as we've seen in a while around here.

I thought he was dominant. And the interesting part about watching Nola starts in the last, I don't know, two years, is that even when he gets on a roll, it's like, ah, how's this one going to go south? And I never really had that feeling tonight. Even against a bad offense, that offense is nothing to write home about. I thought he was in total, total command. And the first start against the Braves wasn't great.

But, ever since then, he's been pretty good. Second start, a step in the right direction. Last start against the Cardinals, battled, but it was only the two solo home runs that came back to hurt him. I thought the curveball was great. And the fastball command was some of the best I've seen him have in a while.

There was a couple of, the Nolan Jones at bat was just surgical. Just absolutely surgical from Aaron Nola. Three pitches, good morning, good afternoon, good night. And when you're talking about how the starting staff can be going forward, Wheeler, obviously the ace it's like ranger and nola are kind of going back and forth here as to who the second best starter is on this on this on this rotation and man again i thought that was the best noles looked in a in a really long time just stress-free easy got right through it, never really struggled, made a bad pitch, and it got hit out of the ballpark.

But it didn't avalanche. It didn't snowball into more. And that's been the thing that has really hurt Aaron Nola the last year. I mean, last year was a lot of that where it just snowballed and he couldn't stop it. But that start tonight was a huge, huge step in the right direction. And the third takeaway from tonight, his

bullpen continues to be dominant. I mean, Alvarado easy, two pitches, bang, bang, out of the game. Sir Anthony, I would like him to... His slider, given his arm slot, just seems like it flattens out more often than not. I would like for him to figure out a

new pitch, but still, it was nice to see him at least in that situation, runner on second, no outs. We know about the ghost runner. It was nice to see him get out of it, and you hope that this is like a building block performance for him because the stuff's still there. I mean, his fastball is 97 to 99 still. The velo is still there. The nice part is he doesn't need to be as relied upon because Kirkering is back and Marte is developed. But still, if you can get Sir Anthony back to anything close to 2018, you're getting a damn good reliever. Hoffman was pretty good.

He spiked a couple of those pitches in the one inning he was in. And again, sort of got lucky because Kyle Freeland was on third base instead of almost anyone else. Again, the Rockies were down like a million players tonight, whether it be injury or Jake Cave getting the Philly flu and ducking his former team. But Kyle Freeland goes out there, and it seems like his shoulder's going to be okay,

but that would have stunk if he popped his shoulder out being a pinch runner. So regardless, win's a win, I guess. It's kind of hard when the offense is as meh as they've been so far. Nola Brilliant and the bullpen continues to be dominant. 2-1-5, 5-9-2. 94-94 to get in. What's your big takeaway from the game? If you're at the ballpark, there's a big crowd tonight. It seemed like

a festive night down at the ballpark. Wait, listen. It's 75 to 80. Beautiful sunset. It's hard not to want to be at Citizens Bank Park. It would be nice if the offense could show up one of these times. Al's in Lumberton. What's happening, Al? Yeah, I was there,

man. It was great. You know what? I know you're saying it, but they were hitting the ball hard today. They were hitting the ball hard. There was no wind at all. Harper's shot to the deepest part of the ballpark.

So, I mean, but the thing I want to say is this kid, Pache, we've got to give him a shot. We've really got to give him a shot. He's a better outfielder than Castellanos. You know, I don't know what Nick, I'd sit him. I know he's making all that money. I'd sit him. Yeah, I don't know.

He just, you know, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it's really tough. I mean, obviously, he's a guy you're paying a ton of money. Right now, for sure, but maybe it's a time where you can kind of spell him for a day or two and maybe get him back going in the right direction.

But you're not benching him out right for Pache. Oh, yeah. Okay. It's just exciting the way the pitching was great. I mean, it was a back-to-back play. And you know, I mean, Colorado, they're a young

team. That team, basically, most of its players are 25 and under. So they're young. They're young, and they're hungry. I mean, they might steal. So, on any given day, a team that young, they're capable of doing anything. You know, you've got to show up.

So I like the idea that we were hitting to me for the most part. We weren't striking out that much, and we were hitting the ball hard. We were just going to people. Yeah, I appreciate the phone call. And I think they did hit the ball hard a couple times tonight. The Harper one against the wall. Castellanos actually hit one late.

That was at the wall, but overall, it's still one run against a guy who has 7-plus ERA heading into the game. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt and say, eh, it's no big deal, but this has been the entire season. It seems like runners scoring position they're not bringing home. That's been a story of the doubt and say, eh, it's no big deal. But this has been the entire season. And it seems like runners in scoring position, they're not bringing home. That's been a story of the season.

And, yeah, there's certainly a lot to get into with this baseball team. 215-592-9494. If you're on your way home, get on in. 215-592-9494. On the other side, a possible injury to monitor that happened in the celebration. Big deal. Not a big deal. Could the ending of the game maybe open up the spot for

this guy to get through? Don't miss that coming up next on the Final Out. 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 Coe as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster.

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got him. There's number nine for Nola. And I believe that's going to be the last one. Welcome back. It is the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Monday night. 2-1-5-5-9-2.

94-94 to get in and react to the game tonight. Aaron Nola, brilliant. You know, he had nine strikeouts tonight. He had 12 whiffs on his curveball. And I really thought his fastball command was the best we've seen in a long time. Seemed like he was more fastball curveball tonight than changeup. I would have to go look at the exact numbers on it, but it seemed like he had no problem putting the fastball wherever he wanted.

To even start that eighth inning, he walked the first bat of the inning, but he just missed on a fastball in the outside corner. So, you know, getting him back into the 3-2 to 3-5 range. Ranger, he has a 2-6-5 ERA as of right now. We'll see where that ends up. Maybe that could be in the 3-2 to 3-5 range. Then you have Wheeler, who obviously yesterday didn't go very well, but it was kind of one bad pitch.

He was dominating before that. He could be in the 3-2 or 3-3-2. I mean, that's a pretty damn good first three in the rotation. Then you add in obviously Christopher Sanchez. What he's done so far, pitching probably more of a low-end four, high-end five, but

a forward ERA. And then whatever Spencer Turnbull could be. His last start wasn't great, but also wasn't terrible. And he's never going to be the model of efficiency. He's just not really who he is. All the stuff moves a lot. But if he can give them five innings, three runs or less,

I think you take that out of your number five starter. And then big old Taiwan. Taiwan's on his way back. So we'll see. They have a pretty tough decision when Tyrone Walker is ready to go. Not sure what they do. And I think it depends upon how Turnbull looks. He does have minor league options. They could send him back down. But still, Aaron Nola was just brilliant tonight. And this starting rotation, this bullpen, this pitching staff is just locked in and it's ready

to go. And that's what makes the lineup so frustrating, is, I mean, they could easily be one of the best teams in baseball when those guys heat up. And I'm not writing it off as they can't. I think they will. I mean, this Harper thing will end. Turner looks really good. Schwarber looks really good. They got to figure out the four hole.

It's the one thing that is really worrying me the most about the offense right now is the four spot because you know it's hard for Bryce I'm sure that when he feels like there's someone behind him that isn't totally reliable he has to go up there pressing and has to look to be doing damage so when you have a guy like Bryce who is struggling but also doesn't really feel like there's someone behind him who is totally trustworthy. I'm sure he does feel added pressure to hit the ball, the ballpark.

And that's not a good spot to be in as a baseball player. The problem is, I don't know you put there, you know, I mean like JT's getting that spot now. Is he really a four hole hitter? I mean, in a,

in a, in a perfect lineup, he's probably a six hitteritter or a seven-hitter. Boehm, sure, but doesn't drive the ball out of the ballpark enough. Should be Castellanos, but no. I mean, the swing. The Justin Lawrence at bat tonight was so perfect. I mean, he wanted to swing.

He was begging to swing at a pitch that was a football field out of the strike zone. Just begging. Just begging to swing at it. And then bid on the same exact pitch, except that it kind of resembled a strike on the next pitch. But that's the guy who should be batting fourth. I mean, he's the $100 million hitter. That's who should be batting fourth. But you just don't trust him in that spot right now.

So the fourth spot in the lineup is the one that's actually worrying me the most. I know people are obsessed with leadoff. Oh my God, leadoff. The four spot matters way, way more. Now, again, I mentioned it on with Ike today. If they do continue to struggle to score runs and that four spot is continuing to not produce the way it should, I am curious what a lineup of Marsh, Turner, Harper, Schwarber would look like. I'm not a big fan of lefty lefties just because of late game matchups and stuff, but I need someone there that can be a threat. It's as simple as that. And Schwarber, I don't think it would totally matter. I think he can kind of hit wherever he's going to be Kyle Schwarber. Do I think he provides a ton of value in the leadoff spot?

Of course I do. Yeah, 100% do. But for the betterment of the team, that might be the most productive lineup. The injury report is sponsored by the Plumbers Union Local 690, protecting the health of the nation. Visit plumbers690.org. And this was not something I was expecting to talk about tonight, given that they won and he was fine the whole game.

It did look like Johan Rojas tweaked something in the postgame celebration. Rob Thompson said he was not aware of any injury, and Johan Rojas said he was fine, but he was grabbing his knee and Brandon Marsh was helping him off the field. So that's definitely one to monitor. I'm sure a young player that's kind of fighting for playing time is not going to say that he's banged up. So, you know, that's one to definitely monitor. I will say though, I mean, Christian Pache is just a more competent major league hitter at this point. And whileohan rojas and i tweeted this earlier

tonight because he chased down that ball in the left centerfield gap and i was like man he's just he's such a unicorn defensively that it like pains you every time he gets out because you want him to be so good and he did get a hit tonight and he did smoke a ball to the wall and and hit another ball hard late so hopefully he's maybe figuring this whole thing out. But, I mean, Pache, at least at this point in left field, when they go to these Whitmerryfield lineups, until Whitmerryfield starts hitting the baseball, I mean, Christian Pache should be the left fielder when they want to go against the lefty,

and they want to take Brandon Marshall out of the lineup, or if they want to spell Rojas for a night. Like, Pache should be the guy. I don't know why this is difficult. I mean, he showed flashes last year when he wasn't hurt. He was a pretty good player for this team. And, again, his defense is really good. I mean, sometimes he stumbles to get to the baseball,

and it kind of looks like a deer learning how to run. But he gets there. I mean, Pache, he was always touted as a plus-plus defender. So we'll see. But it was nice to see him have that moment tonight. And Rob Thompson got kind of bailed with the whole Schwarber being pulled from the game and stuff like that. Elliot is in North Philly. What's happening, Elliot?

What's going on, Jack? Coming back from the game. I noticed that. Shout out there in left field, section 105. Had the pleasure of seeing nola pitch a gem i was sure after he let up that home run there that he was going to just like he said let it snowball but cool calm and collected man just let it let it go gave us a great performance gave us just chance to win got to see pache come through um i did want to say uh i kind of think

we're on the same page as far as lineup adjustments go. I know it's funny to talk about at this point in the season. 9-8, it's not too bad compared to where they've been early in the season. This is a hot start, Elliot. They're on fire to begin the year. Yeah, yeah. Right.

Compared to the last two years, absolutely. But no, I think we're on the same page, man. It's ridiculous to talk about moving Schwarber out of a leadoff, but put him at four might be the move. You know, I like Stott. I like Turner. I like, you know, Marsh up there at the leadoff. And then, man, I think we make those adjustments.

We're going to be cruising. So I feel good. I just wanted to say what's up. Appreciate you, Jack. Love you. And go listen. Take care. Thanks, good. I just wanted to say what's up. Appreciate you, Jack. Love you. Go listen. Take care. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Marsh had a 370 OBP last year.

There's a good player there. He's obviously off to a hot start today. Went over for him, but again, he was kind of just missing some. I think he works a good at-bat. Works the pitcher a little bit. They've never really given him a shot at the leadoff spot,

but again, given his on-base percentage, given how he's hit this year, given that he can do damage, not like he's just some little slap hitter, like he does look to do damage, I don't hate the idea of seeing how it would look if the offense continues to struggle here and they don't get things going.

2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 on the other side. The play of the game plus. Look ahead to tomorrow before we hand things off to, is it Jody Mack coming up after me, Justin? Awesome. Jody Mack coming up after final out. So we'll get to all that next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. As the pitch bounces in the dirt, JT goes to find it,

flips to the pitcher, collision at the plate, and out is the call, and Freeland is hurt. Hoffman fell down on Kyle Freeland as he was sliding in. Out is the call. They will clearly review it. Freeland gets up immediately, walks away, clutching his right arm. After review, there is no blocking of the plate, no violation. The call on the field stands. The runner's out. Welcome back. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture.

Affordable never looks so good. I know the Pache walk-off would have been the easy pick for the play of the game. Sponsored by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo mustard of the Phillies. And, yes, the Pache play, obviously more of the play of the game, but that's a play we're talking about because, again, if that counts, the Phillies went down 1-3 in the ninth, it could have been a loss tonight. And to lose in that fashion with your best variety on the mound with two outs, it would have just been absolutely crushing. And I'm going full, like, curmudgeony.

You know, as soon as I turn 30, I feel like I've just amped up my curmudgeony. Because, again, like I mentioned in the open, it's so hard to not, you know, when you can do the holistic view, 10,000 feet view of the team, it's not like panic in the streets. It feels that way given how the offense is. But in real time, it's like, Ken, is this good enough? Having a pass ball there, and I know why catchers go to one knee, because it helps with framing and getting calls, and I get it.

But with Hoffman spiking some pitches that inning and just not looking totally in command of his stuff, if he's in a normal catcher's crouch there, that ball's getting blocked. It's as simple as that. Hoffman pulled a slider. JT's gotten lucky with that stuff in the last couple years where he's been able to scoop it because he's so athletic.

But in that situation, get the body in front of it. Get the body in front of it. It's too important to run around third with two outs. That guy can't come home. And they're lucky it's Kyle Freeland. So they're let off the hook with that. It's simple as that. They're let off the hook. Again, I know white catchers do it. They steal strikes that way.

But I need that being blocked in that instance. And JT is still good behind the plate. But there's been an uptick of past balls in the last couple days here. You had the JT play yesterday where he throws through on a first and third situation. Maybe that was a stop miscommunication. Maybe the runner got in his way a little bit.

But this little stuff adds up. And on top of the offensive struggles at the beginning of the season, the little stuff continuing to add up becomes infuriating because they're big leaguers. And I think baseball, more than any other sport, I feel like we can relate to because a lot of us have played baseball and you're taught these things at such a young age. But there's been a lot of throwing to the wrong base,

bad situational baseball getting thrown on the bases getting picked off like these this little these little things are incredibly annoying and they do come to come back to bite you in october now the good part is that traditionally with this team around june a lot of that stuff just gets taken out, and they clean it up. But when you talk about starting hot, and you want to start hot, and you want to compete for the division, stuff like that adds up. And you want to see the team more locked in. However, they did win tonight, so everything's fine.

Tomorrow, it is Rangers Suarez versus Austin Gomber. I could tell you that Austin Gomber is not very good, but at this point, does it matter? It's a pitcher who the Phillies should hit well against. That's been the case the majority of the season, and they haven't done it. The funniest thing to me is Kyle Schwalberg's numbers against lefties. He was hitting 433 against lefties heading into the game tonight. Kyle Schwarber just continues to break baseball. Last year, he had more home runs than singles. He's an incredibly productive 190-some hitter last year, 196.

He had 100-plus RBIs, 100-plus runs, 40-some home runs. And this year, he's hitting 400-plus against lefties. What is Kyle Schwarber? He is an anomaly. And he is our leadoff hitter for now. But yes, Austin Gomber on the mound. Not great, but I just can't trust this Phillies offense against anyone at this point. And Ranger on the mound for the Phillies, who has just been great, was great against the Pirates in his last start. And again, against that Rockies lineup, while not great, they do have some decent hitters. Nolan Jones, not the pride of Plymouth White Marsh,

like I messed up in leading off tonight. The pride of Holy Ghost is off to a slow start, but it was a 20-20 guy last year. So they have some, I mean, I think they're 10th in runs. So I guess they're not a dreadful offense. I would like to see the Phillies do more damage against the worst bullpen in baseball. I mean, again, Justin Lawrence had an ERA of 11-plus heading into the game tonight. So regardless, offense has to get going.

Thank God they won. Then they were able to steal one tonight, one they tried to give away, and one that didn't have to happen. But one run tonight, they did hit the ball hard. Sometimes. It just happened to be right at people. But regardless, we'll be back tomorrow. The new version of the afternoon show starts

at 2 o'clock, so we'll be reacting to it all. We'll have a leading off for you. And I'll be back post-game. But for Justin Morganstein, producing Behind the Glass, I'm Jack Fritz. Jody Mack, he'll take you through the rest of the night here on Sports Radio 94.