High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Ranger Suarez Dominates Again

Episode Date: May 11, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies improving to 8-0 in Ranger Suarez's starts this season. 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. Welcome on in. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Friday night as the Phils

just take care of business. The game wrap-up sponsored by Blaser, Swiss Lube, and Kravitz, the metalworking fluid specialist providing CNC machine cleaning, coolant maintenance programs, and waste coolant disposal. Kravitz.online. 215-592-9494 to get in on what just continues to be a magical start to the season for the Phillies. I mean, I get it.

They're beating up on a lot of bad teams. But I've just seen the Phillies play down to bad competition so routinely over the last couple years, especially early in the season, that I can't take this for granted. This is a ridiculous, ridiculous run to start the season that I can't take this for granted. This is a ridiculous, ridiculous run to start the season, and it's actually starting to feel like it's expected. It's pretty crazy. The biggest takeaways of the game

brought to you by Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury firm, and that's the big one for me tonight. Obviously, there's little things to get into, but it's just so fascinating, especially to me and I'm sure Ben Kenney behind the glass and a lot of you out there, that they're just showing up and taking care of business. They've gotten on runs like this,

and it's happened in June and July and in the middle of the summer, but you know, not usually to start a season like this. And I think it's, I think why it's so tough for me to like contextualize all this is that it literally hasn't been this way since I was in high school. I'm 30. Like, like 2011 was the last time where it was just like, yeah,

Phil show up when, and just go down there and do their thing. I mean, tonight, even when it was 2-0, it was never in doubt. It was never, yeah, I mean, this is going to be stressful at the end. I didn't feel that way at all, especially in that ballpark. I mean, that is a place where, I mean, having to create your own energy is an understatement. It is brutal at Lone Depot. And I guess to their credit, they actually had a decent crowd tonight. I guess there's a lot of young military people in attendance tonight.

But still, that is a brutal place to go down and have any kind of energy. And that's why a garrett stubbs on the team that's why a brandon marsh is on the team rojas pache like some of these younger players are are built for games like that where it's tough to create your own energy and they went out there and they took care of business and they they, I no longer have fear of Marlins Park or Lone Depot Park or whatever. It's just they are on such a roll. And I mentioned on pregame that, yeah, they lost on Wednesday. But I was happy with the way they fought in that.

And they're in just such a groove right now that they're just taking care of business. And that's what would hit me tonight is this team is just showing up, having fun, beating you pretty badly. I mean, 8-2 tonight easily could have been 8-0, easily could have been more. Whatever. They're just going down. They're taking care of business. Every player is doing a job.

And it's just a really, really fun watch right now. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 to get in on the final lap. Now, this might take up the rest of the show, frankly. It's that exciting to talk about. But my second big takeaway tonight is, I mean, Ranger Suarez should be the NL Cy Young frontrunner. Zach Wheeler's been great. Shota Omonga has been just as good. But Ranger, it's ridiculous what Ranger's doing right now.

It's effortless. It's free and easy. It's commanding both sides of the plate. It's just flipping over a curveball for a strike it's rushing a fastball up in on your hands as a righty it's it's having that little cutter that's getting off the barrel a little bit he is he is every pitcher's pitcher you know like when i was growing up, and I'm sure that the older generation, I'm sure that your coaches told you to watch, I don't know, Pete Rose, or tell you to watch some kind of player that was like an example.

And for me growing up, my coaches would always say, go watch Chase Utley. Like, that's a baseball player. And pitching-wise, I remember when, I remember when I was about 20-10, it was like, go watch Roy Halladay. It was just a perfect example of a pitcher. Now, Roy Halladay had ridiculous stuff. He could throw a 95 and he's a Hall of Famer. But Ranger is that kind of old school throwback, like doesn't overpower you,

but just does his job, you know, kind of pitcher that pitching coaches. I'm sure if you're a pitching coach out there, I'm sure if you're a high school or, I don't know, like some kind of baseball coach out there, you're probably telling your kids, go watch Ranger Suarez because he's the example. Not everyone has 95 to 99 like Zach Wheeler. Ranger Suarez, 91, 93, but it's pitching. It is just pitching in its purest form. It is beautiful. It's purest form. It is beautiful.

Like, it is beautiful watching Ranger Suarez paint masterpiece after masterpiece after masterpiece. Because that's what it is. That's what watching Ranger Suarez is, is watching a guy go out there and paint. And it was like just the amount of, I mean, seven, seven times he struck out guys tonight looking. That shouldn't happen. Like that, that, that it's a testament to just keeping every single hitter off balance. They have no idea what's coming. They have no idea what's coming. And it's pure pitching. It's pitching backwards. It's, you know, a classic fastball count, bang, here's a curveball. It's a classic curveball count or off-speed count, bang, there's a fastball in the outside corner.

And putting it in spots that you can't do anything with. What are you going to do if you're a right-handed hitter and Rangers throwing a 91-mile-an-hour sinker away? These hitters today don't have that in the arsenal to do anything with. He is brilliant. He is absolutely brilliant. I can't stop talking about him. Even the little play tonight on the comebacker to him, nonchalant, bang, got it on the first base. He is an absolute joy to watch. This whole starting staff is a joy to watch. Wheeler, Noel has been good. Ranger, Chris Sanchez, when Turnbull was in there. We'll get to watch. Wheeler, Noel has been good. Ranger,

Chris Sanchez, when Turnbull is in there, we'll get to Taiwan. But still, he is just an absolute pleasure to watch. And I'm a pitching nerd. If you're just,

if you're not, whatever, if you're just a fan of baseball and you're looking to exemplify what a pure pitcher is, that's Ranger Suarez. It's as simple as that. He is a pure pitcher.

And I just, every fifth day, can't wait for Ranger Day. 215-592-9494. And the final thing, the final thing in my biggest takeaways of the game is, and I mentioned it pregame, I believe he's batting.307 heading into the game in his last seven with an.850-something OPS in his last seven. Not a massive OPS, but still slowly coming out of the slow start to the season. Good to see Nick Castaneda's go-yard tonight. Obviously, returning to Miami, a lot of family and friends in the building. Great to see. Hitellanos go yard tonight. Obviously, returning to Miami,

a lot of family and friends in the building. Great to see. Hit the home run, made some good defensive plays, hit a ball really hard up the middle, hit another ball, broke to the third baseman, starting to barrel up the baseball more and more. And when we talk about a lineup, and you talk about, and everyone has this idea that, oh, once we get everyone clicking, it'll be fine. It's not how it works in baseball it's just not how it works like everyone goes through ebbs and flows castellanos really slow start to the year but i think you're starting to see little signs that he's that he's pulling himself out of this and the home run tonight was big going the opposite way barreling up the baseball three times tonight. Really good stuff.

Again, good last seven games, and hopefully he is starting to really, really pull his way out of this. Obviously, the player of the game tonight, which is sponsored by South Jersey Gas, committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome. I'm giving it to Ranger. You can't do that whole long diatribe there,

but how brilliant he is and not give it to him. His ERA is down to 1.5 on the year for all of you out there. And a lot of people have tweeted at me about this, that Gotti Ranger Suarez Cy Young bet before the year, plus 13,000. Plus 13,000. I believe he's – somehow there's nine pitchers ahead of him. Maybe a little bit under that, but I think there's like eight or nine guys ahead of him. Good luck.

You know, I just – there shouldn't be. It's as simple as that. He's on a heater right now, and he is just absolutely carving up lineups. 2-1-5-5-9-2, 94-94 to get in on this Friday night. On the other side, some other takeaways from tonight. A lot of good. A lot of good tonight. We'll break it all down and get to your phone calls here on the Final Hour

on Sports Radio 94 at OLYYP. 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. Welcome back. It is the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. Jack Fritz signing out with you on this Friday night.

The Pitch Count tonight is sponsored by the Plumbers Union Local 690, protecting the health of the nation. Visit plumbers690.org. 97 pitches for Ranger tonight, 7 shutout, 9 strikeouts, pretty effortless, ho-hum, just another night for Rangers 4. It was ridiculous and, again, just an absolute joy to watch. Now, some kind of one to keep your eye on here when we're talking about the injury bug. And there's been a little bit of an injury bug starting to bite this team.

And there's two things that stick out to me. One, and this is from Todd Zaleky, the Phillies pinch hit for Kyle Schwarber in the ninth because of back soreness. They don't think it's anything serious, but they'll be cautious about it. So, welcome back, Eminem. But, yeah, so Kyle Schwarber, a little bit of back soreness. And it's a shame, too, because, you know, I've been – me and, I would say, Joe Giglio have been on the forefront of the Kyle Schwarber leadoff. You know, we defend that.

And tonight, like, again, doesn't hit a home run, has two singles, drives in two, makes a 3-0 game, a 5-0 game. He's just good in that spot. And it would be a shame to see him miss some time here if he has to. And the other one is Alec Boehm, who was obviously on the hot streak. He had an 18-game hitting streak. Then he had that snapped. And he does have hits in two straight, I believe.

But he's gotten back to that hitting the ball into the ground thing a little bit too much for me. He did have the double tonight, which was good. And I thought he re-injured his hip last week. And he just doesn't look as explosive since. So that's one to definitely monitor. But the Schwarber thing, having to pinch hit for him, not great because he has been moving pretty well. He looks spry out there.

But at the same time, it was like 8-0 at that point or 8-2 at that point. So hopefully it was more just get him off his feet even though he's a DH. I don't know. I'm just kind of hoping that there's nothing more serious there because of Turner down, and we don't need to start having these injuries racking up. It's a pretty easy portion of the schedule. They are playing good baseball.

They do have guys that can kind of fill roles here. They are a pretty deep baseball team. But still, we'd like to keep the good things to good things. Now, other things that obviously stood out tonight, just in the lineup, Johan Rojas, good to see. He had

a really tough home stretch there. I think he had like two hits on the homestand. Has the home run tonight. Hits the hardest ball of his Major League career earlier in the game and has a nice little opposite field single late that was like 99 miles an hour off the bat. So it's just important from the standpoint of he's been playing the lion's share of the games at center field. And I believe his average now is 234.

And I think if you told me that he would have two home runs and he'd be batting.234 on May 10th. I would 100% take that, given what his defense usually brings. Christian Pache also had a pretty good night at the plate. So, you know, those two guys are works in progress at the plate. But I would say it was a good step forward. But, man, Johan Rojas definitely got away from home for a little bit and had a good first night here. So important stuff there.

And then one other thing on the lineup before we go to the phones. JT has had a hit in the two-hole with Trey being down with a hamstring injury. So far he's batting 416. He's 10 for 24 in that spot in the lineup. And it's such an integral part to a lineup. A two-hitter is traditionally where your best hitter hits. Traditionally is probably not the right term. In modern baseball,

it is where your best hitter hits. Trey was doing a really good job there. Obviously, batting 354 before he went down with a hamstring injury. Good to see JT doing the thing there for a little bit and maintaining and doing a job there.

So batting 416, if you want a roundup, it's technically 417. But two-hole JT is doing a job so far. Gary is in Whitehall. What's happening, Gary? What's happening, Jack? How you doing? What's happening, Gary? You know, same old, same old with the Phillies.

Now, this pitching staff is just one pretty agent. I mean, over my lifetime watching baseball, I don't think I've seen a pitching staff. I'll put them up against the four aces any time. staff close to 2011, but in totality, like, if you bring the whole bullpen into it, the whole pitching staff's better than 2011, and that 2011 rotation was ridiculous. So, it's been an insane

start to the season. It's obviously a huge comp, a lot of respect to those guys, but to even put this team in that class, I think, shows how great they are. Well, yeah, I mean, hey, as far as what you said about competition, hey, they don't put the schedule together. They can always play who's in front of them.

And, I mean, hey, hats off to Caleb Kaufman. I mean, we give Kyle Long all the, you know, just about the facts, but Caleb Kaufman needs some credit here too. Oh, yeah. I mean, Caleb Kaufman is ridiculous. I couldn't be a bigger fan of Caleb Kaufman. I mean, Caleb Gotham is ridiculous. I couldn't be a bigger fan of Caleb Gotham. I mean, you look at even some of the bullpen guys

he's turned around. I mean, look at Jeff Hoffman. Look at Jose Alvarado. He is taking some clay here and molding it into some studs. So, yeah. He's one of the best, man. And it's really, really fun to see. And it gives you hope that they can continue to find these pitchers

and turn them into useful MLB players. I mean, Caleb Gotham is invaluable to this organization, Gar. Yeah. I mean, hey, what you were saying before, maybe you were saying about the high school coaches telling their kids, watch Ranger. Maybe you should be studying a little bit, and get back out there on the mountain. Yeah.

I don't know if you can teach a command like Ranger, Gar. I appreciate it. It is. It's special. You know, the fastball was just moving. Like, it was inside, outside, sinking, cutting. It's just, it's pitching. Now, one guy who I know knows a lot about pitching is Skip in Malvern,

and it seems like he's ready to break down some good pitching. What's up, Ben Skip? Skip. I'm here. Hey, what's up, guys? What's up? Yeah, so, hey, what's up? So, yeah, so just thinking about Ranger and some of the best pitchers,

and Jack, you were a pitcher, right? Allegedly, yeah. Okay, allegedly. So were you a right-handed pitcher or left-handed? Were you right-handed or left-handed? I was right-handed. Okay. So the biggest thing is, and I was allegedly the same thing as you.

I came up and I played a little, you know, put it this way. I tried to play minor leagues at Lehigh Valley. I played up at Wilkes-Barre, Scranton. I played in Erie and things like that. Scranton I played in Erie and things like that. But anyway, the biggest issue I had was facing left-handed hitters. And from an opposite perspective, Ranger faces that. But my biggest thing was my best pitch was a slider or a curve. was my best pitch was a slider or a curve and the big guys as i came up would be able to get out in front of that and drive it into the uh left field gap and get out in front get their hands out in

front of it and what i found is that i actually just needed to flatten out a four-seam fastball and jam them inside on the first or early in the count, first or second pitch. But the technical aspects of the way Ranger pitches, you know, I'm looking at lefty Carllton uh fernando venezuela i don't think he's a whitey ford i don't think he's a sandy kofax but no i don't where do you yeah where do you look at the technical uh aspects of the way he pitches versus some of the greatest and uh what do you what do you think of the way he pitches yes skip i appreciate the phone call uh yeah i mean i've made the call before like listen comparing him to cliff is obviously a huge comp because cliff was was obviously really good for a long time but he always kind of reminded me of cliff and jamie moyer when he got into those

kind of rhythms and i know jamie moyer was like 47 yearser when he got into those kind of rhythms. And I know Jamie Moyer was like 47 years old when he pitched here, but he would always, once every, I don't know, six starts, it would be like, all right, well, Jamie Moyer is like in the sixth inning throwing a shutout. Like he is a rhythm and he's a feel kind of pitcher. So I just, he's always reminded me a little bit of Cliff, obviously on the mound with the way he feels his position. It's really good. Now, Cliff obviously

has a knuckle curve. I don't know. He's always just reminding me of Cliff Lee. If he lives up to Cliff Lee, we've got a pretty damn good pitcher here. Some special stuff from Ranger Suarez tonight. Jeff is joining the show right now.

What's happening, Jeff? What's up, man? What's going on, pal? Just coming back from the Met. Nice, nice. Who was there tonight? Lafay. Great artist.

And we had Sean Paul at the Philmar as well. So we had a good night. Good Friday night. That sounds like a big night. Were they all celebrating Ranger Suarez dominating yet again? Of course they were. Good, good, good, good. I actually think Ranger has become a real solid, solid pitcher.

And one of the, I think, best pitchers in the game, I think. I mean, it's obvious to say that. Well, but he's definitely, I think, heading into the year, I think everyone in Philadelphia was like, Rangers are a guy. That's our number three and whatnot. At least what he's done so far, obviously pitching to a 1-5 will get you on the radar. But I think he's opening the eyes to a lot of people of, oh, so it's not just Wheeler and Nola.

Like, Rangers should be in that mix. Correct. And you see where Wheeler is becoming, actually, maybe his speed has become different, but his command is amazing. And he's going to be a Cy Young guy, I think, as well. And he's a Hall of Fame guy. So I think the pitching that we have now is incredible. And the four aces were the epitome of this team.

I think we have really a well-rounded pitching and substantial bullpen that supports what they can do. how, you know, at the beginning of the season and even like a week and a half ago, you look at the bullpen ERA and it's in the fives. And it just doesn't really match up with what your eyes see. And heading into tonight, and the status courtesy of Jeff Kerr, last 13 games at a 1.49 ERA, 1.49 bullpen ERA. And hopefully those guys are kind of rounding into form out there because there's a lot of talent. And Soto wasn't great tonight. And hopefully those guys are kind of rounding into form out there because there's a lot of talent.

And Soto wasn't great tonight. But, again, if Pache catches that ball, he has a scoreless appearance tonight. But, you know, this staff is so – and this is more starter than reliever, but they're like all kind of old school in the way that it's command over stuff. Wheeler is the combination of both. They pitch deep into ballgames, and they compete. It's just a treat to watch. For pitching nerds, for casual baseball fans, they are a treat every single night out there besides Taiwan.

2-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Speaking of Taiwan, we'll talk about tomorrow and get to the play of the game all before handing things off to Rob Cherry here on the Final Out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. That is our play of the game, sponsored by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo and mustard of the Phillies.

Welcome on back. It is the Final Outs. As always, sponsored by Regency Furniture, affordable, never looks so good. Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this friday night johan rojas and it's so nice because early in the season last year and last year again his his 302 average or whatever it was a bit fugazi but there's been more times this year where he hits the ball hard and it actually travels than all of last year. Like, there was times this year, early in the year,

where it's like you'd hit the ball, and I'm like, man, he got a piece of that. And it would, like, barely reach left field. Finally starting to do damage and drive the baseball. Again, tonight, he hit the hardest ball of his career. It was not the home run. He hit the home run, and he had an opposite field single that was 99 miles an hour. Like three that were pretty much hit over 100 miles an hour. So good stuff from Johan Rojas.

Had a bad homestand. Was beginning to wonder, like, oh, no. Like I had stopped worrying about Johan Rojas, I don't need to start worrying about Johan Rojas, but either way, good to see him kind of break out of it tonight with three hits, a lot of positive signs in the lineup tonight, but again, Schwarber removed from the game with back tightness, do not love to see that, especially because he's had a really, really solid start to the season so far. Tomorrow, Tyjuan Walker. Now again, I joke about Tyjuan. He's not been

that bad. If Rob Thompson did not let him start the seventh inning in each of his last two starts, we're saying, wow, Tyjuan looks really good coming back from injury. But Rob Thompson, trusting his guys, leaves him out there with a pretty big lead. And it hasn't gone so well. Does he adjust tomorrow? We'll see. But so far, it hasn't been like, oh, dreading the Taiwan days. He's been fine. For the Marlins, they haven't announced a starter, which seems like a bad thing, I would say. Trevor Rodgers, there's so many good pitchers in baseball today that it's almost shocking to see a guy have nothing. But watching Trevor Rodgers tonight, it was like,

wow, he's got nothing to get the Phillies out. He's got a 92-mile-an-hour fastball and a slider he can't locate. He has nothing to get the Phillies out. He's got a 92 mile an hour fastball and a slider you can't locate. He has nothing to get the Phillies out with tonight. It was pretty shocking in 2024 to see that. But last time after a Trevor Rodgers start, the guy who started that day was Sixto Sanchez. So maybe, maybe we get a Sixto start tomorrow versus the Phillies, but not sure. They have not announced a starter just yet. So either way, it's kind of nice that we don't have this big

Lone Depot Park fear like we had last year, two years ago, of, oh, here we go. They're going to go down there and they're going to lose every game because it's a hellhole and there's no fans there. If it was not the case tonight, they show up, they take care of business, and at least got the series started off on the right foot. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Either way, I'll be back Monday reacting to everything going on.

Monday is up in New York against the Mets. Some more final out action next week. Looking forward to all of that. Rob Cherry, he's coming up next. He'll take you through the rest of the night here on Sports Radio 94.