High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies Struggle In Soggy 8-1 Loss

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies loss in Cincinnati on Tuesday night and takes a look at some of the worrying trends that might be building up. Presented by Miller Lite To purchase Ring The Bell by Jack Fritz and Kevin Reavy go to RingTheBellBook.com 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

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And from the bleachers to the clubhouse, whether you're a diehard fan or just a casual observer, these conversations are aimed, educate, entertain, and most importantly, inform you. Follow the baseballs and boring podcast in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Well, that's not how it's been recently. Welcome on in. It is the final out. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on this Tuesday night as react to a pretty boring one out in Cincinnati. at least offensively. Now, don't you worry.

There is a lot to get into as there are some concerns from that one tonight. But overall, a stinker out in Cincinnati, rain delay. They said it was going to be a little while. All of a sudden it was like 25 minutes and then started pouring again late. Who cares? They snuck it in. Mets seem like they're going to win tonight. So division lead down a little bit.

But, you know, Phil's lose. They play good baseball, not the end of the world, is what it is. The game wrap-up, sponsored by Roto Router. When plumbing problems hit, wrap them up quick and call Roto Router, their team tackles, clogs, and leaks so you can stay in the game. Roto Router, your MVP for plumbing solutions. And early on, this was trending towards being the fastest game in baseball history. I think Ranger through 12 pitches in the first two innings,

and Brady Singer through 19. it was trending towards being a very, very fast night. A little rain delay mixed in, but overall, again, not a good one. 215, 592, 94 to get in if you want to react to this one. But there are some big takeaways from this. And the takeaways are brought to you by Morgan and Morgan America's largest injury law firm. First, it's Ranger Suarez. And the pitch count brought to you by the Plummers Union Local 690,

Protecting the Health of the Nation, visit Plummer 690. 92 pitches for Ranger and another excruciating effort. He's just excruciating, not from the standpoint of like, now I'm mad at Ranger. It's just everything seems difficult for him right now. Everything feels like the Mets start in the postseason. And what's been interesting about Rangers this year is I feel like you're just seeing more bad body language from him and he has been someone who has never really let seemingly anything affect him and this year he's just been pitching with a lot more emotion and in some ways pitching with

emotion is a good thing means you're into it extra adrenaline but i think in a guy like rangers case who is always relaxed all the time and laid back when he starts getting emotional i think he gets out of who he is lizarro i feel the same way about when lizarro starts to start to speeding up and letting the game speed up on him and I just think that ultimately becomes detrimental for Lizardo and same thing with Ranger. Listen, Max Kepler has to make that catch. Should have dove for it and it was disappointing. Umpire missed a call in that ending as well. Could have gotten out of it. There was a miss call late in the game that Ranger walked towards the umpire and was laying out of the strike zone. I've never seen Ranger do it.

I don't even see pitchers really do that in Major League Baseball anymore anyway. So, to me, when I was watching him tonight, he looks injured or hurt. It looks like he's battling something. I don't know what it is, but there was a couple times tonight where he threw a change-up that missed by, it would have been behind a left-handed hitter against a right-handed hitter. didn't look like he could get any finish on his pitches. And it reminded me a little bit of Nola right before they put him on the IL, where he just looked like he could not execute out there.

And he does not look like he can execute right now. You see the velocity on all the stuff trending down, and I know the Phillies will say, it doesn't matter, he still has great command. The command hasn't been there, the last couple of starts. the velocity is a real concern and if he does not have world-class command he's going to get hit around he got squared up tonight and for as good as this team has been this year they've been they've been really solid and they've they've dodged some some real problems throughout this year

bullpen offense some minor starting pitching concerns but now it feels like with the starting staff specifically, there are some real issues developing here. Ranger's one of them. You have no idea what you're getting from Lozardo. Wheeler has a stiff shoulder. Thank God Sanchez has been great and thank God Taiwan's been great. We'll get to Nola in a little bit. Good development up in Lehigh Valley. But it's almost like I wouldn't mind Wheeler getting a little I-L stint. I wouldn't mind Ranger getting a little I-L stint to get right and hopefully be as healthy as possible heading down the stretch run and heading into the postseason. But man, it's a tough watch for Ranger right now.

He's laboring out there. This stuff looks flat. It doesn't look like a bunch of stuff that's going to get major league hitters out. And he's just pitching more high-strung. And maybe it's the contract. I don't know how if you are in the position a guy like Ranger is in where he knows that every start it could swing tens of millions of dollars that of course you're going to be emotional

if umpires are missing pitches that should be strikes and should be getting you out of innings. So on one hand, I get it. But there also has to be a level of bearing down and doing your job. to me it just looks like it's physical and it looks like we've reached that point in the season where ranger's body is not holding up and he reminds me so much of efflin where i love zach efflin you love zack efflin i love ranger you love ranger but the bodies are the bodies and it's just one of those things where it doesn't seem like it's able to hold up efflin's body not able to hold up

he's good when he's on the mound but there's a lot of time missed ranger same kind of thing and and i feel like we are trending towards this second half ranger kind of body breaking down thing means errates over six in his last 13 starts so or uh that feels wrong he's got a high year right in the last couple of starts and and it's really unfortunate one hand i feel bad for him because i do think he's costing himself money here um but man i i don't know what they're going to do but there are some guys in this starting staff they look ripe for you know a little i l stint especially with noals coming back and taiwan doing what taiwan's done and the other big takeaway from the night is the offense where listen i love their ability to score late

but at the same time the only way that works is if the pitching is able to keep you in it it's not totally sustainable i like the the fact that it's very rare that that they roll over and die they seem to fight back in ball games and that kind of stuff does matter not going to overreact to a six one loss with a bunch of rain and a random rain dealing the middle of it where you started and have his best off it's just you know they're oath to their last 24 in the first three innings of games. I mean, the starting pitchers have held no hitters into, like, the fourth. They've done even better past that, like, you know, not allowing runs and stuff.

So I appreciate the scoring late, but one of the things that we've got to get right here with the team is you also got to hit the starter early and make it a little bit easier on yourself. 215-592, 94-94 to get in. On the other side, a good development up at Lehigh Vett. Valley tonight and something that happened pregame that was quite annoying. We'll get to all of that coming up next on the final out on Sports Radio 94 WIPA. I'm Kristen Press and I'm Tobin Heath. We're World Cup winners, Olympians, and the hosts of the recap show.

Every week we sit down with the icons, disruptors, and game changers on the field and beyond it to talk victories, heartbreaks, and everything in between. We've built a space where athletes, change makers, and people creating the future of women's can show up and show off as their full unapologetic selves. Follow and listen to the Recaf Show wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. It is the final out. Jack, Fritz, hanging out with you on this Tuesday night reacting to a stinker out in Cincinnati. Go for a series win tomorrow. That's all we can ask for. We take series wins. We take series wins. Obviously, we'd like to see them get on a nice little eight gamer, but you keep.

stack in series wins, but it doesn't matter. Mets are going to win tonight. Last time I checked, looked like they were in a pretty good spot. And yes, I did win tonight. So congratulations to the Mets for ending your seven games skid. Now, just a, I stumbled on the 13-starts stat last segment. I want to make sure I get it right. So from Paul Gisela, Ranger Suarez, the last two seasons, first half, 2.5 ERA and 32 starts. second half, 6.06 ERA in 13 starts. I know that in the postseason, you trust the guy. I think he's going to end up in the bullpen.

If I had to bet right now, him in the bullpen, I think they would give Lazzardo a start. I think that they believe in, if I had to read them, there's a better chance I think that they believe Lazzardo can go off. as a starting pitcher and I think they would have concerns about bringing him into a tight spot in the postseason. Does he have to come into a clean inning? Can he be someone that can come

in with runners on? What are his numbers out of the stretch like? And I think with Ranger, he's generally so like ice in his veins. It doesn't really matter, especially in the postseason. So I guess like from that standpoint, it would make sense to put Ranger in the bullpen. Stuff-wise, it doesn't seem like it's going to super, super play up. It's not like you're going to put them to the bullpen. He's going to be throwing 95, but at least I think you go in there and generally throw strikes and have stones and be able to get out. Listen, Tanner Banks has done a great job getting out this year. So out of the bullpen, I feel pretty confident that that Ranger could help out as well, especially because I don't know what we're getting from Matt Strom. I mean,

match drum is a total question mark right now. And speaking of guys that I think should be IEL with something, you know, Phantom IELD, when Alvarado's back, 100%. I want to, when Alvarado's back, strong on the IL, I would not mind a Wheeler IL with shoulder stiffness and wouldn't mind a Ranger IL with something, especially with what happened up in Lehigh Valley tonight, which is Aaron Nola struck out 11 and 5 and 2 thirds. He did allow two earned, but a lot of strikeouts. and watching some of the tape of it seemed like some of that life was back on his fastball

when he is really clicking. So good development from him seems like he is going to be good to go for Sunday as long as he comes in and seems healthy tomorrow. So good development there. Taiwan is obviously right of the ship and has a 2.9A DRA since coming back into the rotation. If he can just be serviceable,

get Nola back, you get these guys as fresh as possible. All that matters is the post. Have them be as fresh as possible heading into the most important games of the year. That is a luxury that they have with a lot of what they can do roster-wise. My player of the game, I guess, is Spencer Steer, which is brought to you by South Jersey Gas Conserve, helping customers and the community. Save energy and money. Visit south jersey.com slash conserve.

We'll get to an annoyance here in a second, but first, Bill is in East Hampton. What's happening, Bill? Billy. Bill not ready to go. Check on him. So, I'm pretty annoyed at the Reds. I'm pretty, they're acting insanely thirsty, trying to drum up this Kyle Schwerber hometown hero thing with the Reds. Schwerber's playing a little too much into it for my liking. I get it. You want to get paid. I want you to get paid to. I want you to be a Philly. Whatever.

Like, he's, he's, he's playing the game. The Phillies are playing the game. Seems like the Reds are playing a game. I'm annoyed by the Reds, though. Like, tonight, they put Schwerber in a near possible situation where they honor his dad and his youth coach with their, like, a youth coach award essentially. What is Schwarber supposed to do?

Is he supposed to say, is he supposed to be so cold-hearted that he's not going to go have a catch with his dad? This is the level of thirst that the Cincinnati Reds are trying to play into is honoring his dad and youth coach. They know what they're doing. They know the Phillies are in town. They could have done this any weekday.

any weekend against any opponent, but they're so thirsty and desperate to get Kyle Schwerber, who they know they're not going to pay. What is he going to do? I guarantee you. The affiliates will pay four years $120 million for Kyle Schwerber, $30 million a year, and they'll get it done. The Reds are going to top that offer. My ass. I just, it's, it's, it's, it's actually. actually minor league, Mickey Mouse, Bush League, nonsense. And they're sending reporters to ask Kyle Schwerber about it. Again, Schwerber's not denying the questions, which, okay. But at the same time, drumming up, oh, I, let's count down the days until I can fly back to Cincinnati.

Are you kidding me? are you kidding me and this is not to take shots to like Reese no one's dying to go back to Cincinnati no one no one oh my goodness

you honor his dad this is what we're doing now you're honoring his dad and his youth coach when the Phillies aren't down just to get him to sign there this off season

oh my goodness and you put Schwarber it's like they're trying to just make people in Philadelphia mad at them for having a catch or they're catching the first pitch from his dad and I'm here to say don't fall for it don't fall for it because it's Bush League minor league Mickey Mouse nonsense from the Reds they want you to get mad at Kyle Shoreber and say I just go sign with the Reds then if you want to be a red so bad. This is what they want. This is what the reds want. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. Because what they're trying to do is Mickey Mouse. And if you have kids or you

had a dad, whatever, you're catching that baseball too. It's the right thing to do. I don't blame Kyle Schwerber. I think they're putting him in a near impossible situation to where he looks like a D to his dad, or trying to make it look like he wants to be a Reds. Oh, he's knocking down the doors to remember his childhood of watching Aaron Harang, a cooked Ken Griffey Jr., pokey Reese, Austin Kearns. Oh, he can't wait to go back to the pride, the prideful Cincinnati Reds, the parade on opening day. Congratulations.

A bunch of nonsense. 215-592-94 is how you get in on the other side. A tough look for another supposedly proud franchise and a look ahead to tomorrow. All of that's coming up next on the final out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser Stage and the new Roger Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday. along the go network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, starting at $30 for two people and up to $60 for a group of five.

Buy your online go pass ahead of the show at go-transit.com slash tickets. And Pete drives one to deep right center field headed back toward the wall. It's out of here, out of here. Pete Alonzo stands alone. The polar bear on his own private iceberg. Pete Alonzo, the most prolific home run hitter in New York Mets history. I mean, again, we took down the Reds last segment, and now we're on to the Mets. What is that call? It's 253 home runs. First off, pretty embarrassing.

Imagine it's almost as bad as Papabon being your all-time saves leader. Pete Alonzo having to be your all-time home run king. I would be counting down the seconds until someone else could be the all-time home run king besides having Pete Alonzo's name at the top of my record books. But again, I'm not a Mets fan. But the polar bear is on his own iceberg. It's 253 home runs. What are we acting like that was his five?

I mean, did H.K. even have that much emotion in Schmiddy's, 500th? What is that? I, again, for a franchise that is, that I once thought was a proud franchise, we're acting like 250, it's not even 300. It's not even 300. It's not even 300 home runs. And how is the Mets all-time leader 253? It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. and the reality a curtain call and Steve Cohen's weeping and Harry Rose or whoever that is is calling that like it's it's a real accomplishment in many Machado is the all-time home run king for the Padres does anyone even know that does Mani Machado even know that 2503 home runs we're acting like it's game seven of the world series the polar bear

is on his own iceberg? What? Man, man, that is, that's a tough look. Bill's in East Hampton, what's happening, Bill? Hey, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing all right. How about you? Pretty good.

What you were just talking about, I've got to tell you, Dave Kingman had over 400 home runs for the Mets. This isn't what I wanted to be into, but I don't know, maybe because he didn't spend every year, with the Mets? Well, yeah, he's the Mets all-time home run game. Yeah. He had over 400 home runs, which was basically a ticket into a Hall of Fame, and they didn't give it to him right away. Yeah. Well, I'm old enough. I'm old as remember when people were comparing

Kyle Schorber to Dave King, then. Unfortunately, I'm old enough also. That's good. That's good. And then, though, a few more things. But you're right. Pete Alonzo, come on. man, 253. Did you hear that call? I mean, the call, you would have thought it was $400 or $500. It was ridiculous.

I know. So David Wright had, so he passed Strawberry. Strawberry had $252. Wright had $2.42. Piazza only having $220 is actually pretty surprising to me. Howard Johnson had $192, and then Dave Kingman had $154 home runs as a Met. Wow, yeah. I know he didn't send his whole career with the Mets,

but he was a good home run hitter. But he was a home run hitter. He hit a lot of home runs and he struck out. But who cares about these Mets? Anyway, I want to talk about the Phil's. I don't know everybody's disappointed with Ranger tonight, but come on, man. When the playoffs start, as long as they get,

I think what they need to do is, look, Nolan's back. I think they need to bring up Painter. He's never, there's no right up on him. There's just got an important to him. He'll cycle through five. through the first round of all the teams and he'll pitch well we could go into it we could like you said we could shut down wheeler or ranger for a little while yeah and we could have a

six-man rotation and everyone's doing fine there that would be a good thing i think i just i don't want to bring painter up until i feel like he's in a good spot and my fear with that is that is that Painter is really struggling at AAA right now and to just bring him up and almost like see how it goes. I almost would rather to make sure he's in a good spot. He's dominating. And it's like, all right, here it is. Like, here's the Andrew Painter show. I guess Rob Thompson did not close the door on him joining them this year. But I guess I've kind of just moved past the idea of painting. Now, listen, if he goes off the last couple of starts here, okay. But right now I just, I don't want to bring him up when he's struggling, I guess, Bill.

That makes sense. I think Rob Thompson made a great move tonight. I mean, I'll tell you, man, when Ranger was, look like he was melting down, and he went right out, he made that move at the right time, because I think Ranger was going to get thrown out of the game at that point. Because everything going on with the home plate umpire was not good. And I think Thompson sensed that, and he went out there and got him and said, just go sit down, man.

Yeah. I've never seen Ranger react like that. It was really, really surprising. I mean, I don't blame him, but at the same time, he clearly lost some of his composure. I don't know. I just, it feels like we're going through that time where his body's not holding up,

and I would not hate a little two, three-week I-L stint for Ranger. Yeah, everybody knows, and it's, everybody knows. that rangers he slows down a little in the second half he's a great pitcher but if we can get him a little rest and get wheeler a little rest before the postseason and we're going to make the both season it doesn't matter that we went from six to five games back we're going to yeah but if they do that i think we'll be fine i think we'll be fine yeah i mean i listen i preach the phone go, Bill. Not freaking out about tonight at all. I mean, Rangers, a concern, 100%. They lost a baseball game. It happens. They lost a baseball game. Reds are a pretty good team.

They needed that one tonight. I was definitely disappointed. They didn't do a better job against Brady Singer. Brady Singer is, to me, just the guy's ERA's been over five, his last eight starts. He's better than Taiwan, but he's close to Taiwan. Not to discredit Taiwan, but that's who he reminds me of. and to not put up a better effort against him was definitely disappointing. But we'll see how they come out tomorrow. They're bound to lose at some point, and we're at the process, or we're at the time where it's just about winning as many series as you can. Charlies and Harrisburg, what's happening, pal?

Hey, by the way, Jeff, before we talk Phillies, I love your top five today. I very much enjoy when you do non-sports-related top fives. I think they're always funny. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. And thankfully, the Phillies broadcast booth continues to give a lot of good content. And it might be the game of baseball. You know, baseball, I think it lends itself to those kind of things.

But, no, it was fun, man. I appreciate it. You know, is there non- tampering rules in the MLB like you have in football? Like, I feel like if you did that to a football player, the other team would file a grievance or something like that would happen to Schwerver today. Well, I bet the Phillies are like, I'm sure Schwerber was said to himself, well, I would definitely, I definitely want to just go out there. It's a first pitch. But I also think it's a weird look because obviously they want me to sign. And I'm sure the Phillies almost rolled their eyes at the Reds. I don't think you can legally tamper or I don't think you can call tampering on honoring his dad. But I bet did draw a big eye roll from the, uh, I don't think you can't think you can call tampering on honoring his dad. But I bet did draw a big eye roll from the, uh, Phil's upper management. Yeah, it also kind of reminds me a little bit of like when Aaron Nola was going on St.

Louis radio and stuff like that, trying to, you know, share the marker. I'm willing to leave Philadelphia. And I think sometimes that does work because you saw the deal that Nola got. Yeah, yeah, I don't, I certainly have never seen, like imagine in 20, was it, 2015 when Trout played here, if all of a sudden the Phillies were like, hey, we're going to honor your dad and high school coach I would be if I was a Phillies fan

and they did that it was I would be embarrassed I was embarrassed that he got the huge ovation that he did with Utley and Rollins and Howard on the field so I'd be 14 but like I was embarrassed it was like those guys won World Series and we were thirsting for a guy

because he's local and he's awesome I don't know I just he's localish I mean you can't get 94 WIP in Melville without a fair point the app so you know i don't fair point sometimes we got to calm down with that a little bit i agree i agree but uh yeah i mean just the annoying loss tonight and and the shoreboard thing certainly was a cherry on top i'm not worried about i mean this is just baseball i and i know people are sick hearing that but it's just the game you know the win the series tomorrow keep doing what you're

doing and you know just just keep playing good ball and everything's going to figure yourself out and hopefully they can go to a six man and you know let some of these guys get a little extra rest and and going ready to go. Yeah, I appreciate the phone call. Charlie, my only issue with the six-man is it definitely does help the starters out. That's great. But it generally leads to having one less arm in the bullpen. And I don't want to run those guys into the ground either.

So it's a bit of a give and take, but definitely with where the rotation currently stands, making sure they are as healthy as possible is imperative. Tomorrow, Chris Sanchez-on-the-Mound versus Hunter-Green, Hunter-Green coming back from an injury. so we'll see how long he can he can last in this one chris sanchise has been chris sanchise he's been absolutely money and the one thing i'm definitely going to be monitoring is will nick castianos be in right field he played tonight against a righty he did get the first hit but ellie could also came up with that ball rob thompson sat him against a righty on saturday will he do it tomorrow as we are on platoon watch with Nick Castiano's and seeing what they plan on doing with him.

But that is for tomorrow. Jody Mack, he'll take it. He'll be, he's up next. Very well-versed in Mets history. Curious his thoughts on the freak out about Alonzo and the all-time home run king for the Mets. But that'll be fun to listen to it. So Jody Mack's coming up next. Luke Nichols produced the final out tonight.

I don't know if I'm with you tomorrow night. I guess we'll find out. But thanks to everyone who tuned in, and let's get a win tomorrow. Jody Max next here on Sports Radio 94WIPA.