High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Reacting to Aaron Nola's best start of the season and a big win for the Phils

Episode Date: April 29, 2023

Jack Fritz is back reacting to the Phils win over the Astros in Game 1 of a key 3 game series in Houston. 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

I'm feeling it, feel the passion, feel the rush, feel the legs pushing up on the stage, feel the high that you get from the low, I keep it real in the sky. What a win for the Phils, welcome on in, it is the final out here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. As always, the final out is sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable. Never looks so good. Best one of the year for the Phils by far. They came back two nights ago against the Mariners, and that felt like one of those wins that's like, okay, this team is finally starting to kind of figure it out, right the ship, had a lot of hits, pitching was pretty good.

But tonight, given who was on the mound, given who had the big home run early, given some of the stuff that happened throughout the game, best win of the year for the Phillies against a team that obviously caused us a lot of pain as a city last year. It was weird. It was weird seeing Minute Maid Park again. It was just like I was just put in a time machine five months ago,

and I was back watching the fills down there. And, you know, it was one of those games where, you know, it was just kind of eerie. It was like I know this is a different year different team but I don't know about you out there that watch tonight if you could watch I know that there's a lot of Apple TV struggles but I will say I watched the game on Apple TV first off picture was absolutely beautiful and second off they had an option where I could just listen to Franski and soccer the whole time which was phenomenal frankly I wish I could have that every game but um it was cool but like watching the

Phillies go down there again and and you know seeing them battle it out and have a tough you know kind of gritty win at Minute Maid again it kind of was a little bit of a flashback and it was it was like wow we were kind of just going through this and I felt like I was back doing it all over again it was kind of funny how little similarities there was all throughout I mean Kyle Schwarber took frame Revaldez deep in the first now um it wasn't the sixth or whatever like he was in game six of last year. But still, same pitcher on the mound, same kind of spot to give the Phils a 1-0 lead. That was eerie.

Sosa hit a ball later in the game that, much like in game six, had it been, I don't know, 10 feet to the left, is probably a home run. That was eerie. And then just seeing Jose Alvarado on the mound again at Minute Maid with a chance to kind of lock down a ball game for the Phils, seeing him out there again, I was like waiting for Jordan Alvarez to just come out of the dugout and ruin my life again.

But that didn't happen. Phils win. And again, best win of the year for this team against, obviously, the team that beat them last year, but also one of the better teams in the AL. Now, Jordan is hurt. Jose Altuve is hurt. But they faced Fran Bervaldez tonight. So it's not

nothing and there are still a lot of key cogs in that lineup. Welcome on and it is the final out. I'm Jack Fritz hanging out with you on this Friday night 215-592-9494 That's how you get in and join the program and react to what, again, it was one of those games that, you know, they haven't really won many of them this year.

Again, I thought the Mariners game two nights ago set the ball rolling. I thought the game yesterday was another gritty win against a pretty good team. And it clearly, to me, carried over into tonight. And there's no better person to start with tonight on my first takeaway of what I believe was the best win of the season than my player of the game, which is Aaron Nola. As always, the player of the game is brought to you by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome.

And it's Aaron Nola. But the most interesting part about Aaron Nola's start tonight is that I can't tell if what we're watching from Aaron Nola right now is a brand new Nola that is dealing with how to pitch with a lesser arsenal. And by lesser arsenal, I don't mean his stuff's terrible. What I mean is that a lot of his velocities are down. You know, his fastballball multiple times tonight was 89. He threw a couple 83-mile-an-hour cutters, a couple 76-mile-an-hour curveballs.

It was interesting. He threw a couple 87-mile-an-hour changeups, so maybe he's trying to do a 92-mile-an-hour fastball, a couple with 87 changeup, and try to keep hitters off balance that way. But it's kind of been trending in this direction for the last three games where it comes out and he's never been a guy who's overpowering you. So it's still like 91 early in the game.

It's not like a typical 96 that you feel like you see from a lot of starters, but it's more 91. And then by the fifth, sixth, it's down to high eighties on a lot of these pitches or even mid eighties with like his cutter. And it feels like he's starting to get a feel

for the diminished velocity on stuff. So my biggest takeaway from tonight is this might be the Aaron Nola we're getting all year, but what was encouraging about tonight is that he's figuring out how to pitch at the diminished velocity. Doesn't mean he's a diminished pitcher.

I mean, we have all seen Greg Maddux. We've seen pitchers who excel with command over stuff for a while. You haven't totally seen it in Major League Baseball the last, what, five years it feels like. But it's just something to monitor with Nola, where is he going to be a guy that is 89 versus 93 on his fastball with 85, 86-mile-an-hour cutter versus like 89-mile-an-hour cutter? And his curveball, which he throws it hard.

You know, it's good action, good arm action, so he throws the crap out of it. That was done at 76 tonight. It worked. It kept the hitters off balance. I thought he did a great job tonight of going up and down. You know, fastballs up, change-ups down. He's able to keep the change-up in the zone long enough to make the hitter make a good swing decision on it.

So I just felt like I was watching a guy that was starting to understand his new arsenal. And it might just have to be the new norm with Aaron Nola. I think Aaron Nola can do this. I'm curious to see if Zach Wheeler can do this. Zach Wheeler is a guy to me that needs to be 97-98 to be the full version of Zach Wheeler. I don't think 93 mile an hour Zach Wheeler can be as effective as like 90 or 90 mile an hour Nola or 88 mile an hour Nola because Nola has the overwhelming advantage when it comes to

command and stuff. So right now it's just like great start, whatever. But I kept having this takeaway of like, is this the Aaron Nola we're going to get for the rest of the year? And then my second big takeaway tonight was that I was impressed with the grind on the offense. And really, it's been a couple games here with the offense grinding and not giving away at bats and not just going up there swinging first pitch and making a bunch of quick outs, which was really frustrating. Like last week, there was five times they swung first pitch and they were out. Work a count for me one time. But, again, I talk

about the game Tuesday night. No, Wednesday night. I thought they had a lot of good fight and good at-bats in that game. Even the game they lost Tuesday night, they had good at-bats, 7-8-9. They came up small. I know they lost 1-0 yesterday, but it didn't feel like a lack of trying. I thought George Kirby was just great.

But tonight, you know, they're facing Fran Brevaldas. And Fran Brevaldas is someone that you can kind of just say, well, he's going to have his day. I mean, his stuff just jumps. 97 with like, it looks like six inches of run on it. He's a tough guy. I mean, he had two, two, two, five ERA heading into the game. So he's not some kind of pushover, but they grind it.

I mean, obviously, you know, the Schwarber home run, they're two for four at the scoring position, you know, in a 162 game season, you could easily excuse away like, yeah, they're facing Framber. What do you want them to do? But I thought it was really a good grind by this day baseball team and something that they're gonna need to continue to do something that we saw during the postseason run last year and when they get out of that and when they get into a funk it's a lot of first pitch easy outs when they are

committed to it and they grind out at bats and they don't just give them away. Like Kyle Schwarber's going to be a strikeout guy, but he worked a nine-pitch at bat tonight. He had a home run in the first inning. I don't care if he's a strikeout Kyle, but what I can't have is weak at bats that are less than two pitches and bang. The guy who has a great eye all of a sudden is out. Trey Turner, again, didn't get a hit tonight.

His average is down 263, but it wasn't feeble. It wasn't like what we've seen the last week where it's like soft contact, soft contact, swinging first pitch, a lot of strikeouts. It's like these guys I feel like are starting to look connected as an offense, and I think that's really important. 215-592-9-2, 94-94. If you want to get in and react, great win. It was a great win by the team tonight.

I hope that you were able to watch the game on Apple TV. I know there was a lot of problems with it. But overall, to me, the best win of the year. And very curious if this is the Aaron Nola we're going to see for the rest of the year. It's Jack Fritz here in the final out. Coming up, on the other side, we will going to see for the rest of the year. It's Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. Coming up on the other side, we will get to something that happened tonight that puts a bit of a damper on a great win.

I'll run through all of your phone calls. We'll get to the play of the game, all that good stuff. It's Jack Fritz here on the Final Out on Sports Radio 94 WIP. And NOLA delivers. And the pitch is hit in the air to right. It's deep. Castellanos back at the track. He leaps at the wall, and he caught it.

Did he get it? He got it. Castellanos takes the ball out of his glove finally. He leapt at the wall. He stole a home run, and then he sat down on the warning track. And now races off with a big smile on his face as he keeps the game tied. What a catch by Castellanos. I mean, there's simply no better play for the Mike's Amazing play of the game

presented by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil of the Phillies than the Castellanos catch. I mean, I think we're going to all remember where we were when Cassianos made that catch. It's one of those catches that we'll tell our grandkids about, all that stuff. It was, I mean, like, of all the unlikely things that I've seen, you know, as a Phillies fan and someone that, you know,

watches every game, Cassianos robbing a home run like that was definitely one of the more surprising. And, I'm just saying, he's starting to make a gold glove case. I mean, he's got a good amount of athlete assists so far. He had a big catch late in the game yesterday to preserve a lead. He had that catch

tonight that preserved a lead and ended up being kind of the difference in a Phillies win. But even the catch and then deking out the entire crowd, he completely faked out the Apple TV broadcast. They were like, oh, it's a home run.

And he is in such a cocky, confident kind of zone right now where he can make that catch and have the wherewithal in the moment to just be like messing with the crowd and stuff and he just continues to to to show his personality show he's comfortable show that he uh is really embracing being a philly and it's just it's been

great to see it's been great to see uh having Nick Castellanos bounce back, you know, when Reese Hoskins was still around, not that he's, you know, when Reese Hoskins was healthy, it was like Nick Castellanos, if he bounces back, great. But when Reese Hoskins went down, it became imperative. And he is, I mean, even the, he didn't get a hit tonight, but he smoked the ball late in the game that Jake Myers just had an unbelievable route to. So he is well, well, well on his way to being back.

And I think it has staying power. I think that when I watch him at the plate, I don't see it being a lot of luck. I see it being a lot of hard contact. And, you know, I don't think he's all of a sudden he's going to turn into a pumpkin and go back to what we saw last year. I think we're getting a prime Nick Castellanos here, which is such a game changer for this team.

I'll get to some thoughts on a bit of a damper on what was a great win here in one second. But first, Nick is in Voorhees. What's happening, Nicky? Hello. What's up, man? How are you? I'll never watch another game on Apple in the rest of my life.

Why? It was a great game. One of the best games the Phillies played all year. Would you believe that every two minutes it would go off for 30 seconds or 10 seconds? And finally, it went off at the end of the game. I don't know who pitched the ninth inning for the Phillies. I had to call your station to find out from your man that answered the phone

who pitched the ninth inning. He told me. I didn't know because Apple went off the screen. Yeah, that stinks. That didn't happen to me. I will never watch anything on Apple. In fact, tomorrow I'm going to cancel my Apple subscription because it's the worst thing I've ever watched on the best game that I had to watch.

I'm sorry that happened, Nick, because it was a pretty great game. Did you watch it on TV? I watched the whole thing on Apple TV. It did not kick me off. Did you watch the ninth inning? I watched the whole ninth inning, yes. Well, it went off on my screen. Well, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I never saw it. Every 30 seconds it would flick. Every 30 seconds it would stop and then start. Every minute. For the last three or four innings. So of the 30 seconds of the game that you saw, I mean, how do you feel about the win? Well, I watched the whole game.

But in other words, but it was delayed for like two or three seconds or five seconds every two minutes for the last three or four innings. And then the last inning went off completely. I got you. Well, I mean, do you have a takeaway from the game? It was great. Great game. In fact, Nola pitched the best game he pitched in years, I think.

I agree with you. I was hoping he pitched the ninth inning, but I didn't know until after I called your station. Well, but hold on, Nick. So you called the station, and Nick Earnshaw is producing the program tonight. He told you they won, and you were like, of course. No, I knew they won because it came back on after they won. I just didn't know who pitched the ninth inning.

Well, when he saw it was one, two, three, bang, game over, you figured it was Alvarado because he's locked down. That's why it was only off for maybe five or ten minutes, but I missed the ninth inning. Well, that's because Jose Alvarado was efficient. He was like, bang, he's done. I know. I was assuming he was going to come into the ninth inning,

but I didn't know. Anyway, my friends and I, I'm going to call all my friends. If the Phillies don't apply, we're not going to watch it. Look, I'm 87 years old tomorrow. Guess what? I will make sure anybody I know that's got Apple cancels it. And you can tell all your fans that they should never put the Phillies on an Apple station. Never.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry that happened to you, Nick. But as always, we are not on Apple TV here on WIP. So you don't have to worry about that. We're not going anywhere. We're not selling out to the Apple TVs of the world. We're right here. We are Odyssey, and you can always listen to Philly's games on WIP.

I will say, I mean, I'm sorry to people who had problems with Apple TV tonight, but I did think it was a cool feature that I was able to watch the game and then have it synced up completely with Franski and Kevin Stocker and it was like what a treat what an absolute treat um so that was that was good so uh the one thing that that puts a bit of a damper on this game tonight and um you know I don't know how big of a deal it is. I was kind of surprised he left the game. Hopefully it was precautionary. But Christian Pache has a big hit, gives the Phils a lead.

It's all for Amber Valdez, which is like, if you told me two, three weeks ago that, like, I would want Christian Pache playing every single day because it's like I kind of believe in the moves he's made at the plate, I would have told you you were crazy. I equated the beginning of the Christian Pache experience with the Phillies to a pitcher hitting. Turns out, not totally the case. But, you know, him going out tonight and kind of looking like it might have been a non-contact injury.

I know he slipped, but looked more non-contact-y than anything. You know, he was the guy that they had in the lineup against lefties. I would start Brandon Marsh every day. I mean, Brandon Marsh did get a hit late in the game that was nice. It was off-Ramber. So, you know, it continues to prove he can hit lefties. I guess Rob Thompson just thought it was a good spot to get him a break. Whatever.

But at least if they want to play Pache against lefties, like put him in left field and put Brandon Marsh in center field and let him continue to develop against lefties. Worst case scenario is that you have gold glove caliber defense in center and left field, which is just a godsend given the level of defense we've seen from this team the last couple years. So, you know, I hope it's nothing too serious. I would like to even see him play against some righties a little bit

and see if he can develop there because, you know, Jake Cave's just a guy. Christian Pache is like two, three years removed from being a top 25 prospect in all of baseball. Kevin Long has got him finally lifting the ball rather than, like, driving it into the ground. So it was a great win, but definitely a little bit of a damper. baseball, Kevin Long has got him finally lifting the ball rather than, like, driving it into the ground. So it was a great win, but definitely a little bit of a damper. Like, man, I wanted to see a little bit more from Christian Pache.

So hopefully he's okay, and we'll see if we have any news on him tonight or tomorrow. Dave is in Maryland. What's happening, Davey? Hey, Jack. How you doing, man? A great win. You know, no one will look great tonight. You know, Nola looked great tonight. I mean, the velocity's a little down, but just that he's pounding the strength zone,

which is key for him. The Castellanos catch, that was, you know, I think he's just like the confidence. And I think it's as simple as for him. I think he's a simple person. He just feels comfortable this year. I think, you know, just to see his interactions with the other guys on the team, even in the dugout, it's like comfort. It's, you know, and he's cocky again.

And it's like there's a quote about the Astros mascot waving the World Series ring in their face before the game. And he's like, yeah, we don't like that. And, you know, he just seems like he's a just a different person not only a different player yeah and it's so interesting dave because like first off i thought this was the cassianos we were getting and i just felt like when they got cassianos and i thought they were getting this kind of cassianos i had this feeling he's going to be like a fan favorite here like he's cocky. He kind of has that Philly-ish kind of chip on his shoulder. I saw the same quote about they waved the World Series ring on his face

and they didn't like that. Having an edge is good. How it was always, I felt like it was going to go down last year, was Casting Adams was almost going to be the bad cop in a way, where he was going to be the chip on chip on the shoulder bringing edge to this team and he just wasn't hitting well enough last year to to be that guy but he's kind of getting there now but he's not but i i guess i kind of have this perception that he's a bit standoffish the teammates but like i think that's been totally reversed i mean him and brandon marsh you saw them late in the game

they were like laughing with each other and he's messing around with them. I'm so with you. And it's so refreshing to see because I said this, maybe I said it yesterday, but I just felt like I was taking crazy pills watching him last year. Like this is the guy for the last 10 years in the, in the AL and, and, you know, the last couple of years in the NL, that was just a doubles machine that, that consistently hit and always got backbreaking hits and would just like kill you. doubles machine that consistently hit and always got back-breaking hits and would just like kill you um and last year was just so out of the ordinary so um thank god he's back because i don't know if i could live with with him just kind of wallowing out there yeah when he came up with when he was on the reds like against the phillies i was like oh jeez this is gonna be bad yeah and

that's you know and that's how uh that's how I feel now for the other team. That's awesome. One issue with Apple TV tonight, another Jose Alvarez. Oh, really? Yeah. But overall, I thought it was a good broadcast. They did a good job. How did you do the sync up with Franski and Tucker?

So it was like right down in the right corner. There's a little button there, and it gave you away team broadcast, away team radio broadcast, and I just clicked on that, and it was synced up perfectly. So I didn't hear any of the national broadcast at all. Yep, great job. Great talking to you. Congrats on the kid.

Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it. There he goes, Dave in Maryland. I'll get to all your calls on the other side, but also we'll preview tomorrow's game before handing things off for the rest of the night. Here on WIP, it's Jack Fritz hanging out

after the best Phillies game of the season. Aaron Nola, brilliant. All that stuff. You can react and get in now. 215-592- 9494. It's Jack Fritz here on the Final Out. Welcome back. It is the Final Out sponsored by Regency Furniture.

Affordable, never looked so good. Good reaction to a Phil's win tonight. 3-1 down in Houston where, yeah, nice little throwback. A painful throwback. An eerie throwback. I mean, eerie is probably like a strong word, but it was just weird. It was like Schwarberoff Valdez. Sosa balled 10 feet to his left.

Would have been a home run. Alvarado on the mound again. The Phillies, one of their aces dominating. But thankfully tonight they came out on top. And it's just, I said before the game that this was a show me series. And I've been kind of preaching on here for the last two weeks. Because even when they lost games, it felt like this team was turning a corner. First week of the year, I was freaking out.

It was like manager bad, bullpen bad, lineup bad, starting pitching bad. But everything is just kind of right of the ship here in a lot of those aspects and in a lot of those areas. And the one thing that I needed to see them show me was their two aces needed to join them for the season. Because for the first three or four starts, it hasn't felt like we've had our ace pitchers. And it was good to see Aaron Nola go out and do that tonight and have a good Aaron Nola start. Whereas he didn't have the blowout bidding. He allowed the home run in the first inning and it was good Aaron Nola start. Whereas, you know, he didn't have the blow up inning. He allowed the home run in the first inning and it was pretty much shut down city.

And I mentioned it last segment or in the first segment where I wonder if we're seeing a new Nola and this is what we have to get accustomed to watching with him, which is velocity down, but still effective as long as he can command his his pitches all over the zone he was up tonight he was out tonight he was down tonight he didn't miss many spots uh with you know his fastball and changeup curveball you know was a bit hit or miss but when he has fastball command like it just is a total game changer for him so it is a show me series from the standpoint of like how good are they? And how real are they? The Astros, while down Altuve and down Jordan, are still playing good baseball.

You know, they played well against the Braves last weekend. They, you know, were 14-11 heading into the game tonight. And the Phils went down there. And I just kind of look for – I thought I was watching the better team, which is a good thing to feel when you're going against the reigning World Series champs. We'll look ahead to tomorrow here in one second. First, our guy, Jerry the Truckhorn Driver, joins the show. What's happening, Jerry?

Oh, it's a big win, Jerry. People around you are pumped, I'm sure. They are thrilled. I'm glad you held me up because I was going through a town and i like man i hope he didn't bring me on in the next couple minutes because i was dead in the middle i have no idea where i'm at i just know where i'm going i'm in the middle of ohio somewhere on route 68 near springfield ohio i do know that because i just saw the sign but uh other than that i know where i'm heading and that's it now let me ask you

something jerry when when you're driving on the driving the uh the truck you're obviously a truck driver do you listen to the games on the app like the entirety of the game either on the app or the mlb app if i if the game if i keep the game keep these uh leading off on all the way through, it plays the game all the way out. It does it. But if somebody calls me or something, something goes on on my iPad, then I lose the game and I've got to go to my MLB app.

That's got to be kind of an interesting way to follow a team because it feels like you have to listen to a lot of these games on the radio. It's not like you've get to watch many of them. You know what I mean? No. How many games a week do you think you watch? Like two? I don't watch hardly any of them, Jack, to be honest with you,

because unless I'm parked somewhere and I put it in a TV that I got because I got a smart box that gets all the games and everything, plus a whole bunch of every other channel you can think of. But besides that, usually the only time I'll watch it on TV is on Park. Awesome. 99% of the time I watch it or listen to it on the game. I was up in Jersey the other night, and there was a guy who had a Phillies hat on. And I was asking for directions to where I was going, and he goes, and I was like, are

you a Phillies fan? He goes, yeah. He goes, I'm a Sixers. I'm a 4-for-4 guy. I said, oh, are you? I said, I listen to WIP. He goes, yeah, all the time. I said, I'm Jerry the Chuckhorn guy.

He goes, no, are you? I said, yeah, dude. It's me right here. He got a kick out of that, dude. He was like, damn. So I got him a name already. Well, it's tough getting famous, Jerry. Are you going to be able to fit your head through the door? I mean, can you? I don't know. He was like, damn. It's tough getting famous, Jerry.

Are you going to be able to fit your head through the door? I don't know. I might not be able to keep it in the truck. I don't know, dude. My head's getting bigger. What do you got on the game tonight that you listened to on the app? Well, I knew it was going to be a low-scoring game, just the way the game started out.

And the Schwarber hit that home run in the first inning. I'm like, all right, that gives us a little juice to go on. And, you know, as the game went on and then Castellanos makes that crazy catch, I didn't get to see it. I want to watch the highlights of it, but makes this crazy catch. It's just on the warning track, and nobody knows if he caught it or not. And finally he has his ball in his glove. I was like, hmm, this game might turn out pretty good.

As it kept going on, and Nola kept throwing and throwing, and he gets in the sixth inning, and he keeps moving, and he gets to the eighth inning. I'm like, holy smokes. Wow. I was like, damn. I couldn't believe he did that. I didn't know they allow starting pitchers to pitch into the eighth inning.

You know, I thought that was outlawed from the game, part of the new rules. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, so that, I don't know. I think that's the Nola we're going to get once he, I think he's starting to figure stuff out real quick. Hopefully.

You know? And because he pitched – how many strikeouts did he have tonight? I didn't believe – He had six. Six, okay. That's about average or so. Well, listen, I think – and I appreciate the call, Jerry. Actually, when Nola's kind of – I know Nola the last couple years has been a good strikeout guy,

but I kind of feel like when Nola's at his best, it's a lot of early soft contact and a lot of ground balls with a two-seamer on the outside or a changeup that starts in the zone and then dips out and a guy kind of rolls over on it. I would actually rather Nola, you know, pitch to contact in a way, not, you know, right to the middle contact, but, you know, not always be looking for the strikeout and generate soft contact.

That way he can pitch into the eighth inning. And how about Rob Thompson? You know, first game of the series, you know, the bullpen had been used a good amount the last two days. So, Nola giving that effort tonight was massive for the Sir Anthony's, Kimbrell's, Soto's of the world. You know, they should all be good for tomorrow and Sunday. But still, you know, putting him out there in the eighth in a tight game was ballsy.

And Rob Thompson, I know the beginning of the season, it kind of felt like people were giving up on him. But, again, for the last two weeks, I feel like he has gotten a good feel for this team. The marsh against lefties thing will annoy me. Pache, as he continues to hit, not starting over Jake Cave against righties, will annoy me. But when it comes to having a feel for his pitchers,

when it comes to having a feel for putting bullpen pitchers in the right spot, he has done a great job in the last two weeks. And not every decision is going to work out, but at least they're rational thoughts. And, you know, he is pretty analytics-driven when it comes to a lot of stuff, but I'll say this. He is also a feel guy. He's been around

baseball a long time. He has a feel for this stuff, and it feels like he is getting a good sense of who he can trust late in games, how far he can push guys, and I think the last two weeks have just been great. 2-1-5-5-9-2. 94-94.

We'll look ahead to tomorrow here. Zach Wheeler versus Christian Javier. They beat Frambois tonight. It is so funny because even like last year, it felt like they beat the good pitchers and lost to the bad pitchers. I know it didn't happen every game, but every time it felt like, oh, well, there's no way to beat this guy. It's like, oh, they just hung a four spot on him and then it's like some you know

marginal pitchers basically called from AAA or has like a 70 RA throws like six innings of two run ball against the Phils but you know beating Frambois tonight winning the Logan Gilbert and George Kirby starts yesterday losing the or over the

the Mariner series, losing the Marco Gonzalez start. It was like, wow, this is vintage, but Javier is very good. And much like for Amber, he in the world series last year through what?

Six, no hit innings. And then let his bullpen mates finish out a combined no hitter. So the Phillies are aware of him. Three out of his last four starts, he's allowed one run. So he's on a good little roll here. But it's also Zach Wheeler. And it was good to see Aaron Nola do his thing tonight

and look, you know, hopefully back on being the Aaron Nola that we've seen for the last couple of years. That was fourth in Cy Young last year. It's time for Zach Wheeler to do the same. It's go time. I mentioned pregame, and I mentioned it a lot, but it is Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, the next three series. So they're going to need their ace to be their ace.

Zach Wheeler's their ace. So hopefully tomorrow he can kind of right the ship and welcome to the season as well, much like Aaron Nola was tonight. So Zach Wheeler tomorrow, the thing to always watch with him is the velocity. Is the velocity going to be able to maintain through the 5th, 6th, 7th, hopefully? Or is it going to start to peter out in the 4th? So the last couple starts, he's had one blow-up inning, and then he's been really good. So hopefully, much like Aaron Nola, eliminates the blow-up inning

and settles in and does a job. That's going to do it for me. Thanks for hanging out here on the Final Out. Again, the Final Out is always sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. I will be back Monday. It's actually only for the sixth Monday because they go to Los Angeles. So someone else will have you for leading off and final out.

But as always, it's been a pleasure. Nick Earnshaw produced the program tonight. And Tom Kelly's got you next here on WIP. He'll take you through the rest of the night. Thanks for hanging out with me. Tom Kelly's coming up next here on WIP.