High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Ranger Suarez Allows 4 Runs In Loss To Tigers

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies' 4-1 loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers on Monday night. 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

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or wherever you get your podcasts. The pitch. And he swings and pops it up the left. Bradley Green waiting. And Riley Green has got it, and the ball game is over. Tarek Skubal dominant tonight and leading the way for the Tigers. One big inning is all it takes against Rangers Suarez, and Detroit evens the series with a 4-1 win. Welcome on in.

It is the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on this Tuesday night reacting to just a meh baseball game out in Detroit tonight. Let's get to it. The game wrap-up sponsored by Blaser Swiss Lube and Kravitz, the metal working fluid specialist providing professional CNC machine cleaning,

coolant maintenance programs, and waste coolant disposal. Kravitz.online. 215-592-9494 to get in. If you were at the ballgame out of Detroit, we'd love to hear from you. Or if you just sat on your couch like I did and watched this one, get in now. 215-592-9494. But the biggest takeaways of the game brought to you by Morgan and Morgan America's largest injury law firm. So big takeaway is it was really just one bad inning.

I mean, it's kind of as simple as that. Defense let them down in two spots. Trey, obviously, with a play that Rob Thompson said he rushed. You'd like to see Trey make that play. Interesting Trey Knight. You know, he had a play that Rob Thompson said he rushed. You'd like to see Trey make that play. Interesting Trey Knight. You know, he had a couple of really actually good plays defensively. And I was like, oh, man, like maybe he's not a huge problem out there at shortstop. And then that play happened and not great.

I mean, not a great play from Trey. But, I mean, it kind of is what it is at this point. I don't think he's going to all of a sudden turn into prime Jimmy Rollins. It's something you've got to live with and hope that he can kind of hit his way through. I do think he did make some really nice plays tonight. It's just unfortunate that that one

kind of backfired on him, and the inning really fell apart after that. And then it was played on a line that Bryce, I feel like a majority of the season has gotten to. Didn't happen tonight. Just kind of a sloppy game. You know, I think that they came in. It was like, Tarek Skubal, we know that's going to be a tough one.

Ranger, you know, it was a mixed performance by Ranger tonight. That inning, he has had, and really every single Philly starter has done a good job with this. But they've done such a great job of getting out of trouble and limiting damage and not letting innings snowball. And it just didn't happen tonight. You know, Ranger was not able to get out of that inning. You know, I thought early in the game, he did a really good job, you know, mixing in his little backdoor slider cutter to get hitters, you know,

to maybe change up some of his tendencies to right-handed hitters. And I thought he was doing really well. He just kind of lost the feel for some of his pitches, which we just have not seen from Ranger. But overall, just a bad defense tonight. One inning that got away from him. And it ultimately sunk him. Like, again, Tarek Skubal was one of my, you know,

biggest takeaways of the game. We'll get to it in a second. But, you know, he was on his game tonight. He's the favorite for the Cy Young for a reason. And the Phils. Shrug out eight times tonight. Three of them were at Christian Pache. He could argue is not a major league hitter at this point.

And, yeah, coming off 17 strikeouts last night, eight wasn't fantastic. But, again, just kind of a bad defensive night. My player of the game is sponsored by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com. Love my home. Speaking of Tarek Skubal, he was nasty tonight. And he lowers his ERA to 2.32, seven strikeouts.

But just power, power, power. I mean, he hit 100 a couple times, a lot of 99. I mean, in the seventh to close out that inning, he had 98 right down the bottom of the zone. He was nasty. And this was dubbed as the matchup of the two Cy Young favorites in each league. And it pretty much lived up to it. You know, I mean, Ranger again, bad inning.

We'll get to that coming up a little bit more here. But Scooball showed up, and man, that Phillies lineup against lefties is pretty brutal. I mean, Merrifield, Pache, right now it's Marshawn Slash. Well, Stubbs doesn't play against lefties, but you get the point. I mean, either one of those two is pretty light hitting. That lineup against lefties, even Emundo's been great, but Emundo I still think is more of a utility guy, which is super valuable.

But again, the more and more he's out there, I think the more he maybe gets exposed as he plays a little bit more. But man, Tarek Skubal definitely had the good stuff tonight. 2-1-5, 5-9-2. 94-94. And then my last big takeaway of the game is what Rangers did tonight. Now, only 88 pitches tonight, and his ERA

just raised. It's time to worry about Ranger Suarez. ERA now over 2. His ERA after tonight is 2.01. Again, he's not allowed more than 4 earned in a game this year, so he's able to keep that streak alive. But really, we know it was that one inning. The pitch count is sponsored by the Plumbers Union Local 690,

protecting the health of the nation. Visit plumbers690.org. 88 pitches for Ranger Suarez tonight. And again, like I talked about a little bit earlier, I just think that he was pretty good early, generating soft contact. I thought he had a good plan against righties. I feel like the book for a majority of the season

for Ranger has been, you know, cutters in, in, in. And I think he was trying to change some of the tendencies up. It looked like he was backdooring that pitch a little bit more and trying to get hitters off it. I just felt like he lost the feel for his changeup a couple times tonight. Did not have the typical Ranger kind of command. And one of the few times really by him and a lot of these guys,

they aren't able to get out of it. I mean, Nola, I think that's been the biggest development of Nola this year and the biggest reason why he is looking about as close to the 2018 Nola, I think that's been the biggest development of Nola this year. And the biggest reason why he is looking about as close to the 2018 Nola as we've seen the last couple years is that he's not letting these innings snowball. And yes, the Turner play happened. You know, the Turner play wasn't great. But, I mean, the guy who led off that inning was batting like 145. And Ranger hung a curveball to him.

You know, so while Turner is going to get a majority of the blame here, and again, was not a great play. We're all about accountability now. We're an accountability station. It was not a great play, something you've got to kind of live with a trade. He's going to make some plays. He's going to give some plays away. But Ranger also didn't do his job either.

I mean, he allowed a single up the middle to Andy Ibanez. The play down the line, Bryce maybe could have got, but again, that's two outs with a lefty up with Riley Green, who's a good player. But you would like to see Ranger get out of that. So while Trey is going to be a focus here, I also don't think Ranger

was super sharp. But either way, it happens. I know it frustrates people, but sometimes that's baseball. You ran into a buzzsaw on Tarek Skubal. The Tigers' bullpen's not terrible. Foley's got some good stuff. Good to see Bryce take him deep late in the game, but overall, I don't

think there's much to be concerned about with Ranger tonight. Just one of those nights. 215-592- 94-94 to get in on the other side. We'll get to the play of the game, plus something to monitor that has definitely stuck out to me the last couple of games and may have cost the Phils a little bit tonight. We'll get to that coming up next on the Final Out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. Hey, fantasy football owners.

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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. One ball and two strikes. Two on, nobody out. The pitch. Swing and a ground ball hit left side. Turner's got it. Oh no

he doesn't have it. He booted it. Charging in for it in and out of his glove. I think maybe he was going to try to throw it to Attick. It was going to be a close play at third base. I don't think Turner was going to have a shot at first base. It almost looked like he was going to try to grab it

and flip it with his glove, which would not have worked. That is our Play of the Game, sponsored by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo and mustard of the Phillies. Welcome back. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Tuesday night.

215-592-9494 to get in and react to this one. But yeah, the Turner misplay. Don't want to see that happen. Again, an up and down night defensively for Trey Turner. He made a really good play the inning before. I actually think he's looked pretty comfortable out there. And then that

play happens and all the negative kind of feelings about his defense come crawling back in and then you get the whole well maybe we should put him in center field and maybe we should put him mundo at shortstop and yada yada yada like listen you can have that that feeling they're not gonna do it he's their shortstop i think eventually he's gonna move to one of the outfield spots as he gets a little bit older here. I don't think it's reached the critical you got to get him out of there

kind of position yet. I think that was a bad play, but I don't think we need to shift around everything because of the Trey misplay tonight. I have an inkling that at some point tomorrow on WIP,

and Buzz, tell me if you think I'm correct on this assumption, and I'm not trying to do the Howard, this is what you guys do on WIP. Are you separating yourself from the station? I'm not separating myself from the station. I'm a foxhole guy. I'm a foxhole man. Do not, you know. Please do not write that Jack Fritz is separating himself from WIP.

But if I had a guess, if I had a guess, at 10.01 tomorrow, I believe that this will be brought up, the idea of moving Trey to the outfield. To the outfield, yeah. I'm just placing odds. Yeah, Julio hinted at it with a tweet a little bit. Couldn't you just see him writing it? It's almost like you could see him penciling it in. That show meeting

for tomorrow's midday show has already happened. It has already happened at a house in Bucks County. And it's probably because I did say, I questioned Joe's ability to hold players accountable today on the afternoon show because again, there's no show on the station that is more accountability-ed up

quite like the afternoon show. Or Buzz. It could be happening with Broads. I mean, Broads coming up next. I could see that is more accountability-ed up, quite like this. Quite like the afternoon show. Yeah, or buzz. It could be happening with Broads. I mean, Broads coming up next. I could see him being a get-Turner off a shortstop. Yeah, he's running Trey Turner out of town. He already told me. He's going to be off the team by midnight.

That's what WIP does, man. We just run so many examples of running players out of town. But, yeah, Turner misplayed. Brutal. But at the same time, I think Ranger's got to make pitches, too. You know, I don't think Ranger was as sharp as he's been this year. It's not like the Tigers. I feel like the Tigers have not been able to field a competitive offense

since Dombrowski left. I mean, that organization has been through the dumpster. I mean, they drafted Torkelson number one overall. He's back down in AAA. Riley Green's a pretty good player. But they have squad. They gave Javi Baez, like, $180 million to, like, jumpstart their rebuild. Javi Baez?

Are you serious? I mean, you think Castellanos has no plate discipline. What is Javi Baez? I mean, they've been pretty brutally run for the last little bit. They're slowly turning it around a little bit organization-wise. But again, at least back in the day, they had Prince Fielder, and they had V-Mart, and they had some guys. I mean, I feel like they've been a bottom five offense in this league forever.

So I just think that Ranger didn't have his great stuff tonight, missed some pitches, left some curveballs up, especially the curveball. I thought the curveball was especially hung tonight multiple times. And, you know, that's something I expect him to kind of be able to right the ship coming into the next start with. Now, speaking of Trey, and this is one to definitely monitor, Harper hit a ball to the wall off a school ball where Turner's on first base.

And given the the tray that we've seen the last you know season and a half here he scores there pretty routinely but he is definitely not running at 100% and I think if he was running at 100% he scores there pretty easily like if the the normal Trey Turner and there's been a couple times where he's just kind of shut it down and we're not seeing the usual Trey Turner speed. I just, I wonder, I wonder how long it's going to take for him to really let it loose. I wonder if the hamstring is still lingering at all. You know, it's not like it's really shown up at the plate. You know, he did hit the home run the other night. He's had a hit in every single game besides tonight. But there's times where it's like,

all right, there's the Trey Speed. He'll beat it out, and he's gotten thrown out. So it's definitely something to monitor. And maybe they're just trying to get him to the all-star break, and then post-all-star break, bang, let him lose. But I'm sure there's some people out there that are like,

wow, this is why he has to go on a rehab assignment. Like if, if he doesn't trust it, he doesn't trust it yet. And I'd rather get Trey Turner back in the Phillies lineup than have him wasting that time up in triple, triple a. So like,

again, just something to monitor these next couple of games. If we're going to see him break it out, if it's still an issue. I didn't see them ask Rob Thompson about it after the game. Like, is he just picking and choosing his spots? But I don't even think he's picking and choosing his spots. I don't think we've seen him really kick it into full gear yet.

So, yeah, I don't know. It was definitely noticeable on the scoop ball play. It's definitely been noticeable. He's scored on a couple of them, but usually he's flying around the bases. And he's not letting it completely loose just yet. And I do wonder when we're going to see that. But either way, having Trey Turner back is worth it. 215-592-9494 to get in as we head into the final segment here.

We have a look look tomorrow so look ahead to tomorrow the 105 stars the we make the return the grand return of one of our favorites plus one of the best insiders in baseball link them to a possible trade candidate and i tell you what i'm becoming more and more convinced that they need to make this move by the day. Who did he link to the Phillies? We'll get to that coming up next on the final out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. The 0-2 pitch. Swung on.

Hit it in the air. Left field. Going back on it green. To the track. At the wall. He jumps. Oh, my goodness. What an effort, but he didn't get it.

It's into the Tiger bullpen. And Bryce Harper with an opposite field home run to start the ninth. It's his 20th home run of the season. And the Phillies will not be shut out tonight. They sure weren't shut out. Good to see Bryce get that one late. It was 4-0, but whatever. That won't matter at the end of the year when we're talking about the MVP. We're just going to be counting the home run.

The double off of Tarek Skubal, that again, Trey when he's fully healthy, probably scores on and the home run late. He continues to be scorching hot. I believe he's like what is he hitting? 256 in his last 15

games heading into tonight. Obviously helped his case there a little bit. But man, the Phillies offense this year I think has been pretty good. They had the lull when Boehm was going through it and Cassianos was going through it before the last two weeks.

They still feel a bat short. It's especially evident in games like tonight where you're facing a lefty and it's like you get to the bottom of the lineup and you just feel like there's no hope. I mean, you get to the bottom of the lineup and again, I know JT will be back for the playoffs, hopefully.

I mean, hopefully he's back to being JT and I know Cassiano's had a good run, but Cassiano, Sosa, Merrifield, Pache, Marchand is just a struggle bus. I mean, an absolute struggle bus. I keep holding out hope that Merrifield will look anything like the player he's been since 2017 or even most of last year. I just don't know if it's going to happen. And if the whole idea is, well, I've got to play more to get my reps and then I'll be fine. Well, will you be?

Like, I don't feel that way at all. And Pache, while he did make a great play in center field tonight, also struck out three times. The truth is that both him and Rojas aren't really major league hitters. Like, Pache works better at bats. He'll take a walk. Rojas is definitely more swing happy. But it's not like Pache is some hitter. They really need another right-handed bat.

And Jeff Passan, earlier today on ESPN, did link them. So it wasn't like a report. It was, I would say, more informed speculation from the standpoint of, you know, he basically just lined up the biggest trade targets and where he thinks the best fit is. And he thinks Philadelphia is the best fit. And the nice part about what he wrote up is that now he said that they're going to ask for Aiden Miller. I don't think the Phillies would trade Aiden Miller in a package for, for Luis Robert. I do think they would trade like George Clawson, Starling C kaba who is a shortstop prospect that's coming

through the system that's you know pretty pretty well regarded is arguably i mean he's already like an 80 grade defender like he's a stud defensive shortstop could be something you want to keep you know as the trade contract as we move along here but probably the time to to sell high i guess on starling kaba even though i think he's going to be pretty good. I don't think they're going to trade Andrew Painter, but it's something that could be on the table. They already pretty much have four guys under contract. If they want to take a big swing and you're not getting Luis Robert without putting either Painter or Miller, I would be of the mindset of trading Painter before Miller, but who knows what the Phillies are saying. If they want to put Johnson Crawford in it, they want to put Rojas in it,

I think the Phillies have enough to go get Luis Robert without having to give up Painter and Miller. I think if it's Crawford, Clawson, Abel, who is completely falling apart, maybe someone else thinks they can fix him, and Starling Cobble, I think you're pretty close there. You're pretty close. But it was good to see the Phillies linked in.

And now I feel like I watch every Luis Robert at bat. Starting to heat up a little bit. I know people will look at the overall numbers and be like, ah, we're trading all this prospect capital for this guy. Are we sure this is the right player to invest in? I've had that question too. But at the same time, sure this is the right player to invest in i've had that question too but at the same time the upside is the upside and he has superstar upside he's been playing for a brutal organization he i mean goes to the ballpark he's like their only real threat in the lineup

comes here first off he's obviously going to citizens bank park playing in front of a 40 000 a night i don't know how you couldn't be invigorated by that he is surrounded by talent in the lineup like the fact that he'd be probably placed in between harper and bohm and he has plenty of protection he provides some power behind bryce in the lineup or if you want to put him behind bohm you can if you if you like what bohm provides from the the cleanup spot like there's some real upside i mean he's right now i think he has a second higher highest uh you know barrel percentage in baseball like he is he's hitting the ball consistently hard now his strikeouts are coming

down a little bit when he first came back off the injury list he was striking out a lot and not walking much you're seeing him slowly come out of that. He's not just hitting home runs. He's super enticing. I just, and the more and more I see the bottom of this lineup, and the more and more I don't think they'd put Schwarber back in left and go get like a Vlad Jr., even though I think it's not a bad option, or Pete Alonso.

Like, pushing your chips in, taking a shot on the upside of Luis Robert, who, again, has three and a half years left to control at a very reasonable price, plays gold glove caliber defense, center field, has 35-plus home run potential, and you get a chance pretty much to buy low on a guy that a couple years ago was viewed as one of the best young prospects in all of baseball, if not the best young prospect. Like, it's exciting.

It's enticing. And getting one more real bat, and you go up and down the lineup, and all of a sudden it goes from Schwarber, Turner, Harper, Boehm, Castellanos, and then like a drop-off. It has really good hedge slash insurance, and you go Schwarber, Turner, Harper,per robert boom and then you know the rest of the lineup it can be it can be jt it can be it can be cassianos but they're all kind of pushed down a spot to where they probably more should be it it's pretty enticing so i was excited to see

louis robert linked to the fills by by jeff pass. MLB.com also labeled the Phillies as the best option to go get Luis Robert. And, sure, there's definitely some concern there. There's definitely some, you know, the injuries are real, you know, all that stuff. But the upside is also the upside. And if I'm the Phils, it does feel like you're kind of all in move in a year where you're trying to win the World Series and compete with the Dodgers, Orioles, the Yankees. It's time

to take a shot, for sure. Let's check in with Art in the Northeast. What's happening, Art? You better throw the Guardians in there, too. Yeah, I mean, I guess. I know. It's just they're so hard to take seriously. Now they're number one in baseball. Yeah, I know. I know. I'm sorry, Chad. No, it's all good. What's're number one in baseball. Yeah, I know.

I'm sorry, Chad. No, it's all good. What's happening, man? The thing that disturbed me the most tonight was, and you never know how a game will go, if the Phillies score the first run. When Harper hit that ball, I was looking and I see Trey Turner

didn't score. I couldn't believe it. Now I'm hearing all types of things that they're either trying it like on the post game show they said well maybe they told him not to go for in my opinion if Trey Turner is going to be uh moved to play again let him be Trey Turner or don'trey Turner, or he shouldn't be playing. Because that's ridiculous that the Phillies, you never know what happens if they score the first one. Okay, probably they would have lost anyway the way that guy was dealing. But, I mean, it just disturbed me that if he can't run, then he shouldn't be in the game.

And the other thing, I just want to throw this in because I know I've got to be quick. Pache is killing me. As bad as Rojas was, I think they sent the wrong guy down. I know the deal with if Pache goes down, he can sign with another team and all that. I don't think you're losing anything with Pache. Yeah, I mean,

I appreciate the phone card. At this point, I don't think you're going to... I don't think if you place small waivers, you're at the risk of making a huge organizational disaster kind of mistake by if Pache goes and signs somewhere else.

It's just, he really can't hit. He's never really been able to hit. There's been some signs of life, but overall, very meh. And yeah, I mean, I think the send down was more about Rojas and getting him to do the things they want him to do, which is bunting and not costing him out from the base pass. Again, he let the team getting picked off, which is pretty brutal. So, yeah, it was more about Rojas, I think, than about Pache.

We'll see what happens here as we approach the trade deadline. But the Turner thing, yeah, I hear you. You wanted to be 100%. At the same time, I want his bat back in the lineup. And it did cost him a run tonight. I mean, it 100% did. But he's also been pretty good since coming back from

the hamstring injury. Again, he's going to hit in every game besides tonight. And again, against Tarek Skubal, who was pretty nasty. So, I'll give him a little bit of a pass there. The play defensively was pretty brutal. Also, they labeled that as a hit. And I'm not a big complaint about the modern-day scorekeepers

and Major League Baseball guy, but that's not a hit. Jack, we used to build things around here. I know. We used to be a proper sport. We used to be a proper sport. Hey, what about holding the players in Major League Baseball accountable for being big leaguers, Buzz? Exactly right to be a proper sport. Hey, what about holding the players of Major League Baseball accountable for being big leaguers, Buzz?

Exactly right. Make a routine play. And also, it's going to screw up Ranger Suarez's ERA. So it actually does. No, it literally does. It really does. It really does. So maybe they'll go back and make the change there.

I'm sure Trey would take the error if it meant to help that Ranger for the Cy Young odds. But either way, it was a very just kind of, again, meh game tonight out in Detroit. And hopefully they can bounce back tomorrow. Spencer Turnbull on the mound versus TBD for the Detroit Tigers. We love TBD. I hope that means they're going bullpen game because I wouldn't really trust the Tigers bullpen too much. But Spencer Turnbull, welcome back to the rotation. I'm curious to see how

long he goes. Does he have, let's say in a perfect world, he's cruising and he's, can he go seven? Has he been stretched out for seven? Has he stretched out for six? Or is tomorrow more of a five inning? Hopefully it's

less than three runs and he'd get out of there. Either way, I think Spencer Turnbull's going to be pretty motivated because I do not believe the ending to his Tigers tenure. I believe it ended with him suing them for the neck injury. I think they sent him down, but he didn't feel like he had to get sent down or something

like that. There was something there. There's some story today, I think, by Gelb that no one knows the true story. I think we're going to see a little bit of motivated Spencer Turnbull tomorrow. He's not getting a return video. No I don't think he's going to get that at all. I don't think he's going to get that at all. He's not getting a standing ovation.

No. Welcome back Spence. Welcome back Spence. So he's been again his last time out and really his last couple times out of the bullpen. He's been flashing 96 so I'll be curious to see if that translates over to a start tomorrow. But either way, the midday show will

have you leading into the game, and then afternoons, we will have you post-game reacting to it all. That's going to do it for me. Dan Wilson produced the program tonight. Hunter Brody Bros is coming up next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.