High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Phillies Take 3 of 4 Against Washington

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies 6-2 victory over the Nationals on Thursday night behind a trio of home runs. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All-star closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball Isn't Boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome on in. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you after another Phil's win

tonight down at Citizens Bank Park. It was a little tight for most of the game. Patrick Gordon walked seven Phillies, and they didn't make him pay. It felt like it was kind of trending towards a frustrating loss, but they came through, and they got the job done and came out of there unscathed and took 3 of 4 from the Washington Nationals, even coming off the no-hitter last night. Welcome on, Jack Fritz.

215-592-9494 is how you get in if you're leaving the ballpark. Would love to hear from you. Again, it's so weird. Crowd's been great all year. These last two nights, it's like all of a sudden it's still over 30, but it's not the 37, 38. It's more closer to 30.

I wonder if it's because of a little bit of a Nationals fatigue and whatnot, but still if you're leaving the game, would obviously love to hear from you. Let's get to the biggest takeaway of the game. Brought to you by Morgan & Morgan. The biggest takeaway of the game, and I kind of just mentioned on it there, they won a game where they just didn't have it. I think it was a natural letdown spot for this team. You have the emotional high of last night between the Weston Wilson home run,

the Nick Cassian's home runs. And then obviously Michael Lorenzen going out and doing his thing. You know, it was, it was a, it was an emotional night and I'm sure they were up later or, or they were, they stayed a little bit longer after to celebrate the night that Lorenzen had. And, and, you know, they kind of came out a little bit sluggish tonight. And I mean, that's pretty normal. The Phillies, after Roy Halladay's perfect game in 2010, lost the next night 1-0 to the Marlins.

So it's a natural letdown spot in a 162-game season. It felt like that. I mean, they could have blown it open early. You know, they had bases loaded, no outs. And they didn't make the Nationals pay, which was just annoying. And then really, it wasn't even like Corbin was good.

He allowed one hit, but he allowed seven walks. They just couldn't do anything with it. Until our guy, and the stat is out there, he's got over an 1,100 OPS since the standing ovation on Friday night. Looks like he's playing a free and easy style of baseball.

And yet again, the Phil's down 1-0, and in a big spot, Trey Turner comes up with our Mike's Amazing Play of the Game. Here's Trey Turner. Double play depth on the infield. And the pitch, swing, and a high fly. Deep left field. Back and depth on the infield. And the pitch, swing, and a high fly. Deep left field. Back and out of room is Garrett. And the Phillies have the lead as Trey Turner extends his hitting streak

with a two-run home run. That turns this game in the Phillies' favor. It's Turner's 12th of the year. 2-1 Phillies. 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. Trey Turner, I mean, he looks more comfortable. I mean, even something as small as the postgame interviews,

he looks more comfortable. You know, I think early in the season he didn't love getting water dumped on him and all that stuff. But, you know, part of that is kind of team building. And that's camaraderie. And when you have the young guys with the energy that they have and they want to mess with the older guy, you know, Trey Turner's like 30, sometimes you got to let them do it and let those guys shine.

And, you know, it's been so rejuvenating. It's been great. It's been so rejuvenating. It's been great. Seeing his turnaround and seeing him have these home runs in big spots. The home run on Saturday was a big spot. They were down in that game. It was trending towards, oh my gosh, are we going to lose a series to the Royals? Tonight, it felt like it was trending towards the Phillies had a no-hitter.

They had a two-homer game. And it was like, really? After all this, they're going to split? Hits that home run, and the floodgates sort of open there. So, Trey Turner, he also, and now last night he had a couple bleeders get in that obviously helped him get some hits. But he did smoke a ball in the first inning tonight. So, it wasn't like he just had the home run and that was it.

He also smoked the ball early that C.J. Abrams went up and got. So he just continues to look like a really good player. And the fact that it seemed, it's too early to say a fact, but it seems like we might be getting the trade turn that we paid for, for the stretch run here, which is just an unbelievable turn of events. Because if you told me that I was going to get anything from Trey Turner that we paid for for the stretch run here, which is just an unbelievable turn of events. Because if you told me that I was going to get anything from Trey Turner this year, a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, I was saying, no way.

Like it's, it's, it's okay. It's a lost season. I'm not giving up on the contract, but I was not at the point where I was saying, yeah, he can totally turn this around. And whether it was the ovations, whether or not they, whether it wasn't the ovations, I was saying, yeah, he can totally turn this around. And whether it was the ovations, whether it wasn't the ovations, I just am a firm believer that what happened over the weekend and kind of getting that weight lifted off his shoulders to where he doesn't feel like he has to,

almost like he doesn't feel like himself in his home ballpark, I think obviously the fans kind of releasing that tension there. I think it's really, really helped him play. It's been great. And he's batting 385 since Friday, 1100 OPS, all that stuff. It's been a really, really good run for Trey Turner. My second big takeaway from the night is we've talked about this a lot. You know, Alec Boe Baum batting two, but it just

continues to pay dividends. Six and a half runs a game with him batting second. Again, everything just looks like it just fits and works more. Six and a half-ish runs a game with him batting two. The other thing about the offense, and I know it sounds simplistic to say this, but you're seeing the importance of hitting the ball out of the ballpark with the run the Phillies are on right now. I mean, they've only lost once in their last seven games. They're 6-1 in their last seven. And tell me what the correlation here is.

Tonight, three homers. here is tonight three homers last night three homers uh game one the other night or the other day four homers the loss at night one homer uh on sunday three homers saturday three homers like like this is this is the formula they have to be able to hit home runs. And it's a direct correlation between winning games and hitting home runs. Do more home runs equal a world championship? No. I think you have to do multiple things to win a world championship well. But it just helps so much rather than having to string together a bunch of base hits or walks. Like, early in the game, I mean, they had seven walks and didn't score a run.

That's because they weren't doing any damage and they had one hit. So they have to consistently hit the ball in the ballpark. It was good to see, you know, some of the guys getting in on the action tonight and doing their part. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Last takeaway from the open here, and then again, we'd love to get to your phone calls, is I thought Aaron Nola was just okay tonight.

I think if that was a more competent roster, we don't get the outing that we got from him. He's just laboring out there. Nothing looks like he's comfortable.

He looks like he's still fighting the pitch clocks. He looked a little hot tonight. And just his body language is just, it feels like he doesn't really have much kind of confidence in his stuff right now. And I wanted to put him back out there for the sixth. I thought that was a mistake by Rob Thompson, but I get it. He's trying to put faith in his guy and say, hey, no, you're on a bit of a roll here.

Go get it done. But once Kiebert Ruiz was up, it felt like a natural spot to bring Matt Straum in. So, you know, he was fine. I just, again, much like with Trey Turner, at least two weeks ago, I was like, I don't really see this happening. The problem is that Aaron Nola is just so, so important for this team. And Rob Thompson the other day on with Joe and John,

he was talking about how it's essentially an open competition for the starting spot behind Zach Wheeler. I mean, that's the point that we're at with Aaron Nola that just the idea of him pitching in the postseason is even being called into question by his manager who easily could have said, we have confidence in Aaron Nola. He's going to turn this around and we believe in him.

That's a pretty brutally honest answer from Rob Thompson. So it's something that clearly has their antenna up. And he's not pitching to that caliber that we've seen the last couple years. And the offense is clicking. I think that's a good sign. Bullpen, for the most part, pretty good. I'll get to some more thoughts on that here in a second. But the one big difference between this year's team and last year's team

is that last year's team had two horses and two aces. And this year's team has won. And even Zach Wheeler hasn't been as good as the last couple of years. I know Tywon Walker is winning a ton of games, but I feel like that's more of a product of his offense picking him up. Michael Lorenzen, obviously no hitter and eight innings in his first two starts. It's a pretty good start. We'll see how he goes down the stretch run here. His ERA is 3.23, so it's like, yeah, I would hope that he's in the rotation. Ranger has been up and down.

Hey, maybe Lorenzen can be that guy. I think that's a bit of a stretch, but maybe he can be. It's just that's the one sticking point to this kind of team right now because everything else is kind of falling into place. The offense is falling into place. Bullpen's been pretty good. The electricity down at the ballpark is there. It's just the starting staff, and it's Nola.

And it's just hard to trust him. He kind of did his job tonight. I would have liked to see him go deeper against the Nationals. There's a lot of deep counts, a lot of 3-2 counts. Doesn't look like he has much confidence in his pitches, laboring, fighting himself. Man, if he could just figure it out, this whole thing starts moving in a really, really fun direction. It still is.

It's been great. It's just they need that guy to figure it out, and he's just not doing it right now. And if we look back on this season and they come up short and they don't reach the goals that we have set for them, I just have this feeling it's going to come back to Aaron Nola. And we might just be getting this 0-9 Hamels year from him, but it's like, man, it is just frustrating to go through.

I'd still give him the ball in a postseason series, but that's getting tougher and tougher to believe, you know, as the days go on here and the starts go on. And my other thought on the pitching staff is that, listen, I think Junior Marte is an interesting arm. I think he's got some really good stuff. I would like to see him just try to throw it down the middle and let his stuff kind of work, but whatever.

Like every time JT sets up at a corner, I'm like, you don't have to do that. Just step down the middle and see what happens. I think Andrew Belotti should be in that spot over him. I mean, Andrew Belotti was pitching in playoff games last year. He's kind of up in AAA right now. He hasn't been great since being sent back down, but also he kind of just had one real blow-up outing up there in Lehigh. So I just, I think he's enticing and I understand it, but it's just, it's not consistent enough. It's a lot of, you know, three ball counts, walks,

you know, it's like a one, two,3 Junior Marte outing seems borderline impossible unless he's closing a game out in Oakland and it's just he's a little bit too risky for me and I just think if Belotti was here I'd feel more comfortable in that spot in a 6-1 game in the 8th to where all of a sudden I don't have to start

worrying if they're going to blow that game I would bring up Andrew Belotti for Junior Marate starting tomorrow. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in. Mack is in Phoenixville. What's happening, Mack? What? What's going on, man? Oh, no complaint.

Listen, I listen to High Hopes, man. I'm glad to hear you getting some more time. So, big fan. I got a – Appreciate it. Absolutely, man. Seltzer, not so much, but, you know you know i'm kidding um no i gotta two things quick um and i'll let you roll but the biggest thing for me this one felt like this game tonight it felt like a lot like um when the eagles

played the chargers back in 17 right like they were doing okay but not great you know not really a lot to write home about but but they got the job done. Right? Like, to me, that's the way I look at this one tonight. Right? Like, Nola was eh, you know, but they had just enough from the boys that they got it figured out. And for me, you were mentioning kind of how you're concerned about Nola. Kind of how you're concerned about Nola.

For me, I think how we're different from last year is you just are able to give. When you have both Lorenzen and Suarez doing well, you can give Nola a way shorter leash in the playoffs to where you can start him. You know, if he struggles in the third, you can go to a Lorenzen and say, gobble up two and two thirds or Suarez if you have a pocket of lefties. Like the Phillies are big on like matchups you know so to me it's like yeah you would like to see them do more but the reality is you're not sure you're going to bring nola back next year um you know you don't know how that's going to play itself out and you know next year harper is going to be better from a power standpoint i mean you see how he's doing slightly better now. Reality is he's going to be back to

his, we expect normal production next year. So I think they can make it back this year. I'd be really happy if they did, obviously. But my expectation is like the Phillies best swing at this thing is when they get Harper fully healthy, Trey out of this, these doldrums he's in like first year getting situated. And then you get Stott, Bowman, Marsh. And remember, they're winning without Marsh right now. Marsh has been like 285. So this is one of those deals where they're winning games

that it's not pretty, it's not flashy, they're not playing at their best. But these are games we've seen them lose all the time last year. And this is how they got to be the last team in the playoffs last year because they would lose games like this that were there for the taking. So I think there's way more positive than negative when you look at it. Totally. Totally, Mac.

And I appreciate the call. 100%. You know, I've said it a couple times. They haven't really reached their ceiling yet. And tonight is encouraging. They didn't play their best. And, you know, they got the big hit from Trey, and I think that kind of opened things up and let them calm down a little bit.

But, yeah, I mean, also I give them the benefit of the doubt. I mean, like, Lorenzen threw a no-hitter last night. They're up late. It's 100% a letdown spot there. But they still were able to come out on top. And they are playing pretty good baseball. Their stars are able to come out on top. They are playing pretty good baseball. Their stars are starting to come out of it. We'll get into one of the big

questions with the team coming up on the other side because it's one of the big storylines from tonight. Seemed like a positive update from Rob Thompson postgame, but we'll get to some thoughts on that and all of your phone calls coming up next here on the Final Out. One ball, one strike. strike the pitch swung on hit well right center high and deep and that one is gonna go

jt remuto gets in on it it's his 14th home run of the season over the out ofof-town scoreboard a two-run shot of his own and the Phillies breaking it open they lead it six to one welcome on back it is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture affordable never looks so good Jack Fritz hanging out with you reacting to a Phil's win tonight over the Washington Nationals down at Citizens Bank Park that is our player the game, which is brought to you by South Jersey Gas, committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome. JT, hopefully everything's fine with his hand late. I mean, he got hit in the ninth, which is not great.

But, I mean, he's two for two tonight. He had two walks and that home run. And, you know, JT, when he is thinking opposite field and he's looking to do damage, driving the ball the opposite way, that's the best version of JT Real Amuto because that's when you know he's locked in. And, you know, for how well the Stars have been doing recently, Schwarber, Cassianos, Harper, Trey. JT feels like he gets left out of that conversation,

but he's a $25 million a year player. And he's been batting in the 240s for what feels like a good stretch here. He's had a couple off days over the last week-ish. And you just, if you get him, now he's not as important, I don't think, as like, now that Boehm is batting too, it feels like it kind of settled the lineup down. So when you have like Schwarber with a chance, hit the ball out, every single time he goes up the plate.

Boehm, pretty consistent. Harper looks great. Castellanos looks Boom, pretty consistent. Harper looks great. Castellanos looks great. Bryson Stott looks great. Turner looks back to being really good. JT feels more like a luxury at this point. It's kind of like Castellanos in that lineup last year. Even though Castellanos was batting four, you don't really notice JT.

It felt like at a lot of points this year, I felt like I noticed every single time Trey got out. And when Castellanos was in that 11 for 94 stretch or whatever it was, it felt like you could just feel it. I haven't really felt that with JT. But, again, I mean

he is, he's like the silver slugger for catchers. Like this is, he's the best catcher in baseball. And if he can just get going along with everyone else in this offense, I mean, obviously you just start dreaming on what they could be. We know that they're not going to do it every single night, but I

thought tonight it was a good sign that even when they didn't have their best stuff, it didn't seem like, and they came out a little flat, and they still hit the ball at the ballpark. JT had one. Cassianos had a beautiful home run.

And obviously, Trey continuing his hot streak since getting the standing ovations. And they have to hit the ball at the ballpark, especially at Citizens Bank Park. And they're pummeling some bad pitching. And it could have easily been a sweep, frankly, all these games. I mean, they could have swept the Royal Series and taken a sweep from the Nationals here. Obviously, that's baseball. It's not always going to work that way.

The worst teams win 60-plus games a year. So, I'm glad they ended up just opening the floodgates and going tonight and just hoping that JT can get going. Now, the biggest question off of tonight is the status of Bryce Harper. Now, Rob Thompson said postgame, it's day-to-day. And this is not a criticism of Rob Thompson. I would love to believe what they say about injuries, but it feels like multiple times this year, they're like, yeah, he's fine. And then he ends up on the IL. I mean, it's happened with Alvarado, the painter thing.

It happened with, I mean, I'll never forget. You know, I was at WIP. I was watching the game on my computer when Reese went down. And the first thought is, obviously, it was Torres-Akeely or Torres-ACL. And then Rob Thompson, like, the seventh inning, he's like, yeah, I saw him, like, sprinting around the clubhouse. I think he's ACL. And then Rob Thompson, the seventh inning, he's like, yeah, I saw him sprinting around the clubhouse. I think he's fine. He didn't say that.

He said he was walking. But still, he's like, yeah, maybe we dodged something here. I don't know. I hope that Bryce is fine. I would anticipate this probably takes him out of playing first base for the weekend and maybe even a little bit longer. They have two off days next week, so maybe they just kind of shelf the first base thing here for a little bit. He had the error tonight, even though it hit off the base,

so I'm not sure how much was totally on him. But, yeah, you hope it's just back spasms. He's had back issues in the past. When you're as violent of a swinger as Bryce is, I mean, this was going to happen. He swings the bat really hard. So he's been able to stay relatively healthy from that standpoint. I just hope he's okay.

I would anticipate this probably takes him out of playing the field for a little bit because they want to make sure his bat stays in the lineup and keep him as fresh as possible. But overall, hope that Bryce is okay. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in. Steve is in Egg Harbor Township. What's happening, Steve? How you doing, buddy?

Yeah, I'll tell you, you know, I'm listening to you, and I don't know if we need Aaron Owe or not. All we need is another pitcher to step up. And why can't it be this guy, Lorenzen? I mean, in his last, like, nine starts, he's given up 11 earned runs. That's pretty darn good for 11 starts. I mean, obviously, we see what he's done in the last two games for us. And he's new to the National League.

Well, he's not really new because he was in Cincinnati. But this guy obviously had some confidence in himself because when he went to Detroit, I was listening to the radio the other night, and somebody specifically said, you know, when they offered – when Detroit offered him a contract, he says, I'll sign with you as long as you really give me an opportunity to start. And they did. And he's obviously – he went to the All-Star game, I know, was with Detroit, and he didn't have a great record.

But his ERA has been good all year, and we've seen what he's done for us. Yeah, and Steve, I never said he didn't have a great record, but his ERA has been good all year and we've seen what he's done for us. Yeah. And, and Steve, I never said he couldn't be, I just, you know, I will say, um, so, you know, I, I, I, he's pitched to a three to three. He's been really good. He threw a no hitter. He had, uh, you know, eight innings of, of one run ball and his outing against the Marlins. Like, listen, if Michael Lorenzen turns into that guy, awesome. And, Eight innings of one-run ball in his outing against the Marlins. Listen, if Michael Lorenzen turns into that guy, awesome.

And you have a number two starter. But even with Lorenzen possibly being a two, if you could get Aaron Nola to be Aaron Nola, it just raises the ceiling on this team, or raises the floor on this team. And you can start dreaming on, okay, you have Wheeler, you have Nola, you have Lorenz, and you have Tylan Walker. We'll see with Ranger. It just gets so much deeper.

And Aaron Nola, he was fourth in the Cy Young voting last year. I would like to be able to have that guy be reliable in the postseason. But as they barrel towards the playoffs, and again, they are now four games up, or they're four clear of the last wildcard spot, and a game and a half up on San Francisco, it would be a collapse to not make the playoffs, it feels like at this point. Again, just want to point this this out nine and a half back of the brace just just pointing it out nine and a half back of the brace you know just keep an eye on it um you know like i would like to be able to set a rotation and be like okay well bang aaron noel is obviously starting game two for us but as we get into the postseason conversation,

that's going to be, I think, the most dominating point of conversation this last month and two weeks of the season is how much can we trust Aaron Nolan on a playoff start? Would you give him the ball? And whether or not you're going on past success or whatever, I don't know.

But that's going to be the conversation that dominates Philly's talk as we head into the postseason. Can you give Aaron Nola the ball? At this point, I'm still giving it to him. Lorenzen's been great, but it's still Michael Lorenzen. Maybe he's just developed into a good starter here. But if you ask me today, Aaron Nola is still in my postseason rotation. He's been frustrating.

It's been killer. But he still has the highest upside, I believe, out of their starting pitchers besides Zach Wheeler. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94494 is how you get in. On the other side, we will look ahead to tomorrow before handing things off to Sean Bell. It's Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. Hey, fantasy football owners.

The road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception. Join me and James Coe as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster, wide receivers. We analyze route running, target share, and all the metrics that matter, giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers.

As you prep for your draft, let us give you the coverage you need. Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. This will be pitch number nine. Coming to Castellanos. The source are ready and delivers. And it's swung on, hit deep, left field. Garrett back at the track, at the wall.

Look it up. It's gone. Castellanos with a two-run home run. What a net bat. It's his 20th of the season and the Phillies expand their lead it's now four to one I mean what a bet is right I mean Nick Cassianos again yesterday he hits two home runs on two pitches and then tonight he works like a 10 pitch at bat. I mean, I don't know if I can count on one hand the amount of 10-pitch at bats. I've seen Nick Cassianos have it his first two seasons as a fill.

He's an aggressive hitter. I mean, it is what it is. Some guys take pitches. Some guys look to do damage early. Either way, I mean, Nick Cassianos averages back over 280. He's had six homers in his last 11 games, I believe. And I just, it is so, I'm so happy. I am so happy that the July thing didn't just extend into the rest of the season

because, I mean, it just changes everything for this team. They don't have to worry about their cleanup hitterter at this point they have good protection for bryce uh by the way speaking of bryce i i misspoke his play was changed from an error to a hit which makes sense i mean it was it was a tough play and it bounced off the bag so um i don't know if that was a play he got hurt on the the tv broadcast made it seem like it was um you know maybe like stretching over to uh tag out tag out the runner at first base. But either way, it changed from an error to a hit. So Bryce only has one error on the season at first base.

But yeah, the Cassianos thing, it's just massive. And it helps so much. And again, the ovations were great from the standpoint that it looks like it really helped Trey. And it made him feel more comfortable and, again, didn't have to feel anxiety heading into his home ballpark. But I think one of the more underrated things that have really helped this team and have really made this last week of baseball so special is that I think it eased a lot of tensions with, with the stars on this team.

And I felt like a majority of the season, those guys were like, we got to recreate the magic of last October and every single game. And just by being able to have the crowd not feel like they're, they're ganging up on you and feel like they're on top of you with every little mistake you make. And instead just, just kind of releasing that and letting that go. I mean, the Stars have looked really, really good here for a week,

and I think that's why the vibes around the team and the vibes around the city are so excited right now because of how the Stars are playing. Like, listen, the bone breakout, which is, I mean, like, he's batting, like, 295 right now. Like, it's just, he went from, like, at one point he was down to 260-something. And then, bang, he's, like, looking to do damage on pitches early and counts and stuff.

And it's just morphing into finally realizing, like, try to drive the ball to right center field and just using his all-gap kind of power that he has. They mentioned on the broadcast again tonight that he went from soft toss and he felt like he was in between pitches to high velo training in batting practice. And it's working for him. He's looking to do damage on 95-plus, and it's been an unbelievable breakout. But, like, you know, bone breaking out is important,

and marsh breaking out is important. Stop. We know how great he's been. But when you get the big track record guys going at the same time, then you start dreaming on this thing becoming even bigger and even better. But I just think that this week has been just a special week where everyone, and it feels like in the city, is wrapping their arms around the team,

and the team is responding to it. I mean, 6-1 in their last seven. I know it's bad competition, but it's these kind of games that can just get you on a roll here. We know what August is. August is a lot of home games against mostly bad teams. And September, where the schedule looked a little bit more challenging, it did. I mean, it was like, oh, we've got to play the Mets.

We've got Braves series. We've got Cardinals series. Like, we got seven out of our last ten against the Mets and a Cardinals series mixed in there to go along with two Braves series. And I tweeted earlier today, and I believe it. I think the Phillies are going to win the division. Like, the Braves have played their stars almost the whole season, and they're getting praise for that.

Like, oh my God, look at Austin Riley's playing every game, yada, yada, yada. Meanwhile, oh my gosh, the Phillies are sitting Bryce and Stott. And yeah, it can be frustrating to not see him out there, but there's a plan here, and there's a reason why they're doing it. And if these guys are more fresh than the Braves heading down the stretch run, you have six games against them, plus the division games, plus the Cardinals series, nine and a half games out. The division is not dead yet. 2-1-5-5-9-2.

94-94 is how you get in. This is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture Affordable. Never looked so good. Tomorrow night, the Twins come to town. Not very often you get a Twin series. I mean, it feels good. The first time since like 2018, maybe. They've come to Citizens Bank Park, but either way, I'm just saying this, and I don't care that in his last outing, he went five innings and had a one-run ball, whatever. Dallas Keuchel has been the worst pitcher in baseball for, like, three years running, four years running. He was an automatic bet-against guy.

Like, he was the easiest guy to bet against in baseball. And I know he went to driveline, and maybe he figured out some stuff at 87 miles an hour. Whatever. I don't care. In the five innings, he allowed eight hits. Like, he's Dallas Keuchel. He's got nothing left.

So, tomorrow is the night for the offense to show up again. I would anticipate Bryce probably not playing. I mean, it is against the lefties, so maybe it's a night to get off. But, yeah, Dallas Keuchel on the mound tomorrow night. Chris Sanchez on the mound for the Phils. Last start for me just felt like a weird outing more than an antenna being raised. I know the final stat line doesn't look great. I believe it was 6 earned or 5 earned. But it's not...

I thought he pitched better than that. So I'm anticipating him getting back to where he was on that pirate start and really, ever since he's been back in the rotation, it wasn't a major cause for concern. Just felt like more of a blip in the radar than anything. So Chris Sanchez on the mound tomorrow

night against Dallas Keuchel. The Minnesota Twins coming to town to take on the Phils. And, again, they are in first place because they are in the NL Central. They are not a very good baseball team. They are closer to 500, in my opinion. You know, they've got some pieces out in the bullpen like Duran. But, I mean, this is, again, a series. You're at home.

The vibes are high. The team's playing well. City's all in. I expect the crowds to get back to where they've been for a majority of this season this weekend. And it's Dallas Keuchel, again. I can't make that statement more than I can. It's Dallas Keuchel.

Let's go take care of business tomorrow night. Either way, that's going to do it for me. I'll be back tomorrow leading you into the game with leading off, and I will also be doing the post-game show as well, reacting to it all down at Citizens Bank Park. Tucker Bagley produced the program tonight. Sean Bell's coming up next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.