High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: The Phils got a win!

Episode Date: April 15, 2023

Jack Fritz reacts to the Phillies 8-3 win over the Reds on Friday 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

Well, that's more like it. Welcome on in. Final Out here on this Friday night. Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on Sports Radio 94 WIP 215-592-9494 is how you get involved. As always, Final Out is sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable, never looked so good. That felt right. You know, it's been, the lappers this year have been few and far between. It has been an excruciating start to the season. It has been a start to the season that I don't think a lot of people expected. And wins like this just haven't happened. But what you saw tonight was a professional win. Just a professional,

solid baseball win that I felt like we had seen a lot last year. That felt closer to last year, which is what I needed to feel like. Not the beginning of last year, because most of the season so far has felt like the beginning of last year. That felt more like mid-summery last year where they were beating up on bad teams and they were staying in the race and they were in the wildcard position and trekking towards ending the playoff drought. Like, tonight's game felt a close resemblance to normalcy

and that feels good. That feels good. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94, Jack Fritz, hanging out with you here on the final out on this Friday night. Big Phil's win, 8-3. Some insurance runs late, which, you know, made me way less. I was a bit nervous. Like, frankly, a bit nervous.

It was 5-2. I felt like they should have been up more all game. Thankfully, Alec Boehm gets a big hit late to kind of break it wide open and things kind of went from there. Brogdon, you know, not a clean ninth inning, but whatever. They get the job done.

8-3. Phil's win. And Tucker, I'm not one to break a story here, and I'm not one to put you on the spot and be accusatory, but did you send the Phillies last night's final out open by any chance? I did. I did send it, in fact. Well, it seems that way because my first take on the three takes is that everything I pretty much complained about last night, talking about their pride and runners in scoring position and a starter stepping up and taking the baseball

and their big guy stepping up. All that happened tonight. Everything pretty much that I was begging for last night, the Phillies delivered tonight. And my first big take is that they did the things tonight that they haven't done all year. It has been every aspect of this team pretty much through the first two weeks of the season

that has let them down. Besides the defense. And that's such a funny place to be at as a Phillies fan is that the defense is the one thing that's not killing them. But between the base running, between clutch hitting, between starters, between bullpen, between manager, every single aspect has played a part in them getting off to a cold start. But what tonight you saw was almost all of that being corrected and done right.

First is that they finally had a starter pitching to the sixth inning. T-Mac said it was the third tonight. I think it was the second. pitching to the sixth inning. T-Mac said it was the third tonight. I think it was the second. But what I begged for yesterday is one of the starters to step up, take the baseball, and say, we're not losing tonight.

And that's what I saw from Tywon Walker. I thought it was a good Tywon Walker start. It wasn't overwhelming. It wasn't dominant. But it was workman's like. And at this point, six innings from a starter and one run, you take that every single day of the week. So I'm proud of Tywon Walker for stepping up.

And in fact, he's my player of the game. Brought to you by South Jersey Gas. Committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable natural gas. Make the switch at southjerseygas.com slash lovemyhome. I thought it was a different plan of attack for Tywon Walker tonight. A lot more four-seamers up in the zone, and I think that's a smart game plan for him. Four-seamer has a little bit of rise to it, so he should be able to get above the bat path. And then off of that, I think his slider becomes that much more of a weapon, and that splitter, I believe, just becomes more effective. Like, if you are fastball down in the zone, a splitter doesn't look as appetizing.

But if you're a fastball up in the zone that rises a little bit, and then you put a splitter same spot and tunnel it with the rising four-seamer, it's a way tougher thing for a batter to pick up. So I thought it was a smart plan of attack by Tywin Walker. And I think that's something they can use going forward as like the basis for getting the most out of him. So fastballs up in the zone, splitters and sliders off of that. Second, got some hits with runners in scoring position.

I mean, it's been insane this year. It's been brutal. Heading into tonight, I believe they it's been insane this year. It's been brutal. Heading into tonight, I believe they were three for their last 21. They got one hit with runners in scoring position yesterday. But tonight, it wasn't a great effort. But three for 13. The Alec Boehm one late kind of put the game out of reach. And finally, you see some hits turning into runs. And that's been the big thing so far. It's like, man, when are all these hits going to eventually lead towards runs coming home?

13 more hits tonight, 8 runs. That's about right. 8 runs a game is not realistic, but 13 hits, 5 runs? You should be able to win most of those games. So it's good to see some runners coming in tonight. A couple hits with runners scoring position, insurance run late, and you're finally seeing those hits turning into runs.

The base running actually helped them rather than hurting them. I know it was early in the game. I know it was the first inning, but Turner going first to home was a big spot there. And it kind of, you know, it gives you a little bit of breathing room. And once again, tone setter Kyle Schubert kind of getting the job done there. And then the final part of the things that they haven't done all year that they finally did tonight was the big guys stepped up.

Like when Harper's down and Reese is down, you're going to need the guys that you paid a ton of money and have paid a ton of money in the past to step up and carry you for a little while. We've talked a ton here on this postgame show about they're getting the breakout seasons from Marsh, Stott, and Boehm, and

it hasn't even been enough. They're still under.500. There's four games under.500. Whatever. Tonight, having the guys they've paid a ton step up was massive. Turner two hits, Schwarber two hits. Was that a home run? Didn't know that was possible.

I didn't know it was possible. I would love to know how many games as a Philly that Kyle Schwarber has been in that he's had two hits that weren't home runs in a game. It feels like that has never happened. I mean, heading into tonight, he had four home runs and three singles on the year, which is my favorite tracker. Nick Cassianos continues to look like he is back. I know the ball isn't flying out of the ballpark yet, but two more hits tonight. He is the first Philly since Worth in 2010 with nine doubles in a stretch here. So back to being kind of a doubles machine.

And JT, you know, I was down on JT. I wanted him dropped in the lineup. And, you know, he responded. He dropped the spot tonight and came up with two hits. So for a team that has struggled in so many aspects at the beginning of the year, it was good to see some of the things start to break through. So that was my first take. But the one thing that did not hold up their end of the bargain tonight

was the bullpen. The bullpen is still worrying me. That's my take number two, is that the bullpen is still worrying me because I don't know who outside of Jose Alvarado I can turn to and say, go get a job done right now. Jose Alvarado is unbelievable. I mean, 16 innings, 16 strikeouts. Sorry, that's not fair. 16 batters faced, 16 strikeouts. Although I don't think that's right either, Tucker, so I think I'm 0 for 2.

Yeah, that doesn't sound right to me. I mean, he gave up that home run yesterday. That's not close. But he has 16 strikeouts so far is more the big picture thing here. Donovan chest pat on that one. But outside of Jose Alvarado, you know, I don't know who you can turn to and say, go get me out of this. Even Sir Anthony.

And that's the thing that stinks right now is that even Sir Anthony, it's not clean. Sorry. 16 strikeouts in six and a third this year tucker so i think he has 22 batters faced it took us a little bit but well not i don't want to throw you under the bus tucker that's on me um 16 strikeouts in six in six and a third so um so uh but yeah, uh, but yeah, Jose Alvarado, like great. He's perfect. He's great.

But like, I don't know who else I can just turn to and say, go get, go get a job done. Like Brogdon wasn't clean tonight. sir. Anthony still, it just,

something's off there. Uh, the good part is that velocity is still 98, 99. Um, but not locating well at all. So, you know, as games go along here, you face better competition. Hopefully these guys can get on a roll.

Like, hopefully Soto has turned a corner. Hopefully Kimbrel. I know he blew the game over the weekend, but, you know, it was a cleaner 10th inning the other night. So they need to get some other people out there that you can turn to and say, go get me an out besides it just being Jose Alvarado. Because at that point, they're just going to run him into the ground. And that can't happen because if he goes down,

I don't know who you're turning to. And my third big take from tonight's win was that the time to go on a run is now. You know, I jokingly do the bid of, like, season starts now. But their next six games, they will face six righty starters. And just in looking at this lineup and knowing how Rob Thompson operates, this lineup is as close to making sense as one that we will see all year until they get some of the big boppers back. Cave's in the lineup and Marsh's

in the lineup and for some reason against lefties they just won't let Marsh go out there and face him even though he has a 1200 OPS against him this year but regardless Marsh continues to look great. I mean a triple tonight and the more and more he plays the more and more this. Marsh continues to look great. I mean, a triple tonight, and

the more and more he plays, the more and more we can just get rid of the whole platoon thing, but your next six games will be against righties. So, it should be this lineup, and I think this lineup, especially against right-handed pitching, gives them the best chance to win

on a night-in, night-out basis. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94 is how you get in to react to a nice, comfortable, easy, professional win by the Phillies tonight. And at this point in the season, given the slog it's been, we take that. It's Jack Fritz hanging out with you here on the Final Loud. On the other side, three really, really positive injury updates from earlier today. If you missed them, don't miss that next. And, of course, the most important thing that happened tonight.

Not the win. There was something that was more important. We're going to get to all of that and your phone calls coming up next. Welcome back. It's the final out. Sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. I often say that the final out on Sports Radio 94 WIP probably has the most

well-informed program on the station and definitely has the best research group of any program here on WIP. Apparently, according to Tucker Bagley, and he could totally be making this up, and I think he might be, Kyle

Schwab had 14 multi-hit games last year without a home run, including a game at Milwaukee last year where he had four hits. He had four hits in a game last year, four for five with two doubles. Was that a home run? Well, it was in June, right? Wasn't that his whole thing? Yeah. I mean, listen, June Schwaber, but, you know,

usually that's just in home runs. You know, usually that's just him going big fly. You know that game raises batting average 17 points? I'm sure it did. but you know usually that's just in home runs you know usually that's just him going big fly you know that game raises batting average 17 points i'm sure it did i'm sure it did listen to schwarber back over 200 now let's not i've often said don't let kyle schwarber heat up uh i think it's so funny because i feel like everyone always freaks out about schwarber like once a week everyone's like well you gotta drop him down it's just relax. If there's one guy that I think at this point we need to just trust, given the big home runs he's had in every single stage of his career

and given that last year he did the same thing and he's always been a valuable player, just deep breaths on the whole Kyle Schwarber thing. I'll get to your phone calls here in one second. But three really important injury updates from earlier today that Rob Thompson talked about pregame. One, Bryce Harper began sliding drills, and we've talked about how that's the last hurdle in order for him to start facing real pitching and truly getting back on the recovery trail. He had to get cleared by doctors to slide,

so I'm pretty sure this means that we're slowly on the way back here. And I thought it was interesting. During the game tonight, he didn't have the brace on or anything. So it was cool seeing him fielding ground balls with Bobby Dickerson. Seems like they are very, very committed to that happening. So obviously can't wait to see him. But I think the news that he is starting to do sliding drills, that signals that things are just progressing

and continuing to progress in the right direction. So, him beginning sliding drills, hopefully moving in towards a rehab assignment. Man, he's like four months removed, or four months removed, five months removed from Tommy John. It's just, it's insane how he could be back like legitimately in a month, like maybe a month, month and a half. Again, they didn't put him on the 60 day so he can come back

or he can come back, you know, whenever if he wanted to. But if they put him on the 60 day, he would not have been able to come back before May 29th. It's insane with Bryce Harper. So him beginning the slide tonight is a good sign. Rangers swore us through 40 pitches, and they said that his next step is facing live batters. So it's good to see that that forearm injury

didn't snowball into something more serious. I think they have mostly dodged that now. Because obviously the first reaction when you see forearm is like, well, bang, there's the precursor to Tommy John. So I think that's really good to see. Ranger threw 40 pitches, facing live batters, I think, early next week at Citizens Bank Park. And then they'll send him out on a rehab assignment.

I would assume he probably makes three rehab starts, two probably at the minimum before we see him back here. And I can't wait to see Ranger back and starting games for this team because, you know, I think that Matt Strom, you talk about guys that you can trust out of the bullpen. Hopefully he can go back and be a guy that can be trusted out there because they need that at this point. And they did sign him to be a reliever and he is someone that I think can help them. But Ranger, I think, just kind of settles down a lot in that rotation where it's not as volatile and we don't have to put as much eggs in the match-drawn basket. So Ranger seems like it's progressing in the right direction and Andrew Painter threw up to 60 feet today.

So that is good to see and hopefully again maybe around July we see Andrew Painter and we get to see him come back and do the things that we were promised all throughout this offseason. Three positive injury updates

on this Friday edition of Leading Off. We'll get to the most important thing that happened tonight first, but first let's go to Shai in Cherry Hill. What's happening, Shai? What's going on, Jack? First of all, I just want to say congratulations on the baby. Thank you, buddy. We were watching the final couple innings together.

You know, had him laying on my chest falling asleep, which, I mean, can the kid lock in one time? I mean, the Phils are falling apart here, Shai. Yeah, I mean, look, you've got to get his attention span up. But he's going to be a great ball player, just like John and Ike say. He's the next pitcher for the Phillies. Well, listen, if that happens, I will die a happy man. That would be just phenomenal.

So, yeah, it's been fun so far. How do you feel about the game tonight? I was happy with how they played tonight. I caught a few innings, but from the few innings I saw, like when this team plays with energy and what I guess I would assume they're playing with enthusiasm if they're all smiling on the field, that's how you win games. That's what got us to where we got to last year.

Now, the first few games, I guess, like, everyone was, like, in a slump because without Harper, without Reese, like, Reese going down with that ACL injury, that was the worst thing that could have happened to this team because it not only affects Reese, it affects the morality of the team, in my opinion. Well, the morale has definitely been off. And I guess, so I thought him being around, I thought he was going to be around and it wouldn't be that big of a drop-off.

But when you see the amount of base running mistakes they've made, you know, I think that Reese was kind of the guy that would be the one that would say, hey, we can't do that. Exactly. He's the leader. Exactly. So that stuff has been missed. And obviously the bat's been missed.

But I think when Bryce comes back, it's not going to look as detrimental as it's looked for a majority of the season. So I definitely think that his locker room presence will be missed more than his bat. Yeah. I just have one more question. So they said that they're going to put Bryce at first, most likely. Do you think that that's a good thing, or would you rather see him designated hit? Yeah, and I appreciate the call, Shai. Well, I think he's going to come back and designated hit first.

I would think that they ease him back into this thing before it's like, okay, you got to go make throws all across the diamond. But I think it's something that can work, and I think it's something that eventually he was going to make that transition anyway. He's a guy who they signed for a long time, that they wanted to be here for a long time. And I don't think having him roam around in right field was a long-term option. You know, the Yankees in 2018 during his offseason,

when they were looking to sign him, they were thinking about signing him to play first base. The Nationals, when he was with them, they had floated the idea of putting there. So teams have thought about this before, and given his catching background, given his, you know, I mean, his hand-eye coordination is pretty absurd, you know, I think he's going to be okay over there. So I think it was going to be a long-term thing anyway. Now it just comes down to, like, a bullet down the line is his instincts quick enough to get there.

I think, again, with the catching background, it should be. But with anything, he's learning a new position. It's going to be a work in progress. But what I will say is that I believe Bobby Dickerson and those guys are going to get the most out of Bryce. And I think Bryce is going to put in the time to, you know, see if it'll work. So I'm excited. And just seeing him back on the field and Cassiano Schwarber and, you know, we don't have to see the DHs of Jake Cave and Josh Harrison, all that stuff.

That's what I'm more excited about than anything. But the most important thing that happened tonight, of course, is that the Bryson Stott hit streak continues. The Bryson Stott hit streak has reached 14 games. Joe DiMaggio, the grave must be heating up a little bit. And it's so funny because he's at 14 games, and I'm watching these at bats like he's at 30. I'm watching these at bats like he's actually approaching the hit streak.

Because I have long believed that the hit streak of all the most unbreakable baseball records, we know all the big ones, of all the most quote-unquote unbreakable baseball records. You know, we, we, we know all the big ones of all the most quote unquote unbreakable ones. I think that's the most breakable of the unbreakables. And I just think that, you know, for the sport of baseball, obviously having someone go for the hit record would be insane. And I know that he, it would be, I think June 10th would be the first that would be, uh, he would have to He would have to get hits up until that day, which seems so freaking far away. But at the same time, it's been fun.

And he smoked that ball to the wall today. He laid down a bunt last night. I am treating the Bryson Stott hit streak right now like he's approaching 56. And yes, I know he has a ton of games left. But I don't care. Let us have our fun. 2-1-5-5-9-2.

94-94 is how you get in. We'll get to all of your calls on the other side before handing things off to Sean Bell. But we'll also take a look ahead to tomorrow's game and all of that good stuff. It's the final out here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. The pitch. Swung on. Hit deep. Right center field.

Fraley's going back. He's looking up and it is gone. Opposite field. Home run for Edmundo Sosa. It's his second of the season. And Sosa extends the lead. It's 2-0 Phillies.

How about Edmundo Sosa? That's our Mike's Amazing Play of the Game presented by Mike's Amazing, the official mayo, mustard, and vegetable oil of the Phillies. Edmundo Sosa continuing to make a claim to play every day, and obviously he's going to play every day. You know, I think it was Scott during the game was saying how, like, yeah, this isn't their usual righty line up against the righty because Edmundo's in there and Cody Clemens isn't at first base.

And I just had a cold shiver down my spine. Can we not play Cody Clemens? We don't have to play him. We can just let him sit on the bench and be Roger Clemens' son, but we don't need him to actually play games. We don't need Cody Clemens to be out on the field on a team that I believe has World Series aspirations. So let's just leave it to Bomer and Munozosa, and let's not get so caught up with the righty-lefty stuff.

And let's just let Munozosa play. Just let him play. He had a double last night, home run tonight. Um, so hopefully with more and more playing time, he continues to develop and, and,

uh, although it's so weird, you know, back to back nights with odd defensive plays, uh, for a guy that has been so locked down, um, you know,

on the infield to, to have back toto-back nights where defense kind of let him down was odd. But regardless, that's a good home run. And obviously you want to see as much pop as you can from Munozosa, given that he's playing third base a majority of the time. Let's look ahead to tomorrow night.

Matt Strom, the stopper, doesn't have to play stopper tomorrow, but he's been dominant this year. He's been great. Let's look ahead to tomorrow night. Matt Strom, the stopper. Doesn't have to play stopper tomorrow, but he's been dominant this year. He's been great. And he's turning into a bit of a folk hero here where he just takes the ball, doesn't worry about the pitch clock, throws a ton of strikes,

is fighting for the everyman, wants beer sales to be cut off in the sixth. But in all seriousness, he's been massive. For the beginning of the season that has been so annoying and not great, Matt Strom has definitely been one of the bright spots. When you talk about the lineup and you talk about the young players kind of stepping up, Matt Strom being what they paid for with the ability to both start

and hopefully transition back into the bullpen, it's been one of Dave Dombrowski's better signings through the offseason. So hopefully tomorrow night he can still go out and do what he's done all year. I mean, he shut down the Yankees. You know, he's faced, you know, whatever. In two starts, hasn't allowed a run yet. So, you know, he beat Sandy Alcantara. So the guy's just a pure winner.

But Matt Strom tomorrow night versus Graham Ashcraft. And I know Graham Ashcraft is not exactly a household name in Major League Baseball. But I'm just telling you, if you're expecting to sit down tomorrow night and see a scrub Reds pitcher, you're not going to get that. Graham Ashcraft, 96-mile-an-hour cutters. It is pretty – his stuff is pretty, pretty nasty. It's a lot like watching Kenley Jansen as like a starter with the cutter that he throws.

So look out for 96-mile-an-hour cutters. Look out for a lot of strikeouts. He has a 2.08 ERA so far this year. And his last start against the Braves, who we know how great the Braves are, he went six, allowing two earned and struck out seven. So tomorrow's not going to be easy. I know we have this perception of, well, you've got to just sweep the Reds. They're probably going to finish at the bottom of the NL Central

or fourth in the NL Central. It's frustrating when you don't beat up on a Reds team like they haven't done so far this year. But Graham Ashcraft is not some kind of pushover. So it's not going to be a laugher of a game tomorrow, but Sunday needs to be. You know, it's Nola versus Luis Cessa. Cessa obviously has, you know, some stuff,

but has never put it together in his career, even after leaving the Yankees. And Aaron Nola is facing that Reds offense, which is not great. So, you know, tomorrow, I believe, is a bit of a coin flip. Then Sunday has to be a must win. Must win is obviously a bit of a reach.

Splitting in Cincinnati, I guess, is now kind of the goal, which is disappointing, but whatever. It's kind of the reality of the situation right now. Can't wait for tomorrow afternoon. Obviously, Sixers play at one straight into Phillies versus Reds. Obviously, we have pregame coverage, postgame coverage, all of that. That's going to do it for me.

Jack Fritz here on the final out. Sean Bell's got you next. He'll take you through the rest of the night. Hopefully, the Phillies, when we talk on Monday, haven't let us down too much, and we can get back on the winning ways and get this season back on track. That's going to do it for me. Sean Bell's got you next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.