High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Final Out: Truist Park is a House of Horrors

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

Jack reacts to the Phillies continued struggles against the Braves in Atlanta. 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

Oh, welcome in to the final out sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable never looks so good. And yes, tell me why. Tell me why it feels like every game at Truist Park ends that way. Where it always feels like an uphill climb. Where it always feels like even when they're up, they're gonna lose. Tell me why every time Aaron Nola pitches there, I just have a sinking feeling in my gut that they're going to lose that game.

It was vintage. It was absolutely vintage what we saw down at Truist Park tonight in Cobb County. I'm not even calling it Atlanta. In Cobb County. Welcome on in. It is the final hour. Jack Fritz hanging out with you. 215-592-9494 is how you get in

if you want to react to another, you know, just whenever there's a little bit of momentum, a little bit of things going their way, they just can't capitalize on it. And tonight was a missed opportunity. It was a missed opportunity that only became a missed opportunity because their ace couldn't show up. And I say ace, quote unquote. Their ace could not show up and get a job done against a guy that had a 6 ERA in the big leagues and a 6 ERA in AAA. Like, that's a game that you have to win. Now, I know this team. I know this team like the back of my hand. They were always going to lose that start tonight

because it just makes so much sense that they wouldn't, that they would. It was the same reason why they won the Zach Gallen start yesterday is that things that should make sense in the sport of baseball just don't make sense. But when you're talking about Aaron Nola and you're talking about who he's been this year and who he has been when he goes to Truist Park I have no faith in him when he when it comes to these kind of situations and what makes tonight such a bummer and what makes tonight, again, a step back, when you had a little bit of momentum yesterday,

is that you really had a chance to kind of rev the city back up. You know, the Sixers happened a week and a half ago. People kind of forgot about the Phillies there for a little bit. And now as the Sixers thing is winding down, the focus of the city is starting to turn on the Phillies before training camp starts. And just for Nola to go out there tonight and say, hey, I've been up and down this year.

I've been frustrating. I get that. Let me just go out and give you seven strong innings. But instead, it is a big home run to Austin Riley, Marcelo Zuna, another Austin Riley home run, a couple back-breaking hits where it's like, can he get out of this, Aaron? Can he stop the avalanche that's coming?

And he just hasn't done it. And I said it before the game, and I felt this way even when he pitched well on Saturday, is that it feels like we're getting an 0-9 Hamill season from both Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler, where they can get on a little bit of a roll, they'll have a good start, you'll say they're back, and then bang, they give it right back. They give it right back in their next start. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94.

If you ever wanted to settle the Aaron Nola ace debate, just, I don't think you would VCR this game tonight, but go on MLB.tv, buy an account,

and say, go to May 25th, 2023, and it'll pretty much sum up the Aaron Nola experience. It was classic, and it was one of those games where it's like, oh, that's why. And it's not to say Aaron Nola's not a good pitcher. I'm not one of those people that sits here and looks to just dump on Aaron Nola and always take pot shots and say,

not an ace, fake ace, yada, yada, yada. He's a good two. Like, he's a high end two. And I never bought into the underlying stats or the pitcher war. They would have him as like a top five pitcher in the game because I know what those things are. They are strikeout-based.

They are strikeout-to-walk-based. And they put a high value on innings. Aaron Nola has been a very high-quality innings eater. And it feels like every single time that you just put your faith in the guy, he gives you no reason to do that and again tonight was one of those starts for Aaron Nola and it's you know it was a it's a missed opportunity that's what tonight was was a missed opportunity you had Dylan Dodd on the mound against one of your best pitchers and you lost that game in a game in which the offense showed up.

The offense showed up tonight. The Phillies pitching staff did not. My other big takeaway from tonight is that I will not give back what happened in the NLDS last year for anything. It was incredible. The Reese bat spike, game three, it was still the... So I went to every home playoff game besides

games three and four of the Padres series. The Reese bat spike I still think was the loudest I'd heard. And that game, because it was the first back at Citizens Bank Park in 11 years, like the energy in that stadium was unbelievable.

And being able to beat Spencer Strider, coming off the injury, and Brian Snitger putting him out there and being like, oh, no, and doing his whole like, we've played in loud places before, and then bang, welcome to Philadelphia, Brian Snitger. Like, yeah, I will never, ever give back what happened in the playoffs last year. To beat the Braves in the playoffs was a special, special thing. I just have no idea how it happened. Like, I just, I watched the Braves play,

and it feels like every single time they play the Phillies, just different classes of baseball teams. Like, just different classes of baseball teams. Like, just different classes. When it comes down to the little things, when it comes down to back-breaking hits, when it comes down to pitchers coming in and just doing their job, when it comes to random players stepping up,

when it comes to the bottom of the lineup just being able to come through, two-strike hitting, like, every little little thing the Braves seem to always do right and that's what's that's what's frustrating about this Phillies team is that they can't do the little things right the little things that I believe breed winning baseball the Braves do that and the Phillies don't. And ultimately, it does cost them games. Like, a lot of the problems this year have been offensive related.

The two best pitchers in the rotation have not been good. Bullpen's been hit or miss. Defense the last three weeks has kind of fallen off a cliff. It wasn't that big deal before that. But really, the other thing in addition to that stuff is that they can't do the little things well. Whether it's manufacturing a run,

whether it's being able to get a bunt down like Josh Harrison in San Francisco, whether it's throwing to the right bases. What are we, Little League? Situational hitting. Every little thing has kind of gone wrong for this team this year uh tonight boom bottom three i i'm proud of the home run that's

good that's good hopefully we can get more of that like let's let's hit the ball over the wall instead of little slap heads um but like the ground out uh with the bases loaded and one out like that's a chance to step on a throat. And didn't do it. And obviously they needed as many runs as they could have gotten tonight. The Castellanos slide is insane to me. Like, the ball went to second base. And he still was throwing.

He still was throwing at home. That just slide. Like a baseball player. You've played your entire life. It's insane. Gregory Soto. Not being able to find the strike zone. Going slide step.

How about you figure out how we throw strikes first before you worry about messing up with hitters' timing? So again, I just feel like every time they play the Braves, it has to be a perfect ballgame. And the Braves, they have a ton of talent. They have the best player in baseball right now. They always have seemingly good pitching, but they do all the little things well that breed winning baseball. And yet again, the little things tonight let the Phillies down.

2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. It is the final out if you want to get in. Reacting to another tough loss down at Truist Park in Cobb County. Again, I said it there. I'll say it again. I will never give back what happened in October of last year against the Braves. I just have no idea how they're able to get that done. 2-1-5-5-9-2, 94-94.

Jack Fritz hanging out here on the final out. On the other side, my one big positive tonight. We'll get to that and more of your calls coming up next. Pitch. Riley blasts another one. Harmon copy. And just like that, the Braves are back in front. His second homer of the night as he gets to NOLA again.

It's his ninth of the season, and it's 5-4 Atlanta. Oh, I hate him. I really do. Welcome on back. It is the final out, sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable, never looks so good. And, yes, that is our 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 love my home austin riley uh two for five tonight with two home runs they uh successfully got him hot which is what they do. No one better. No one's better at heating up Austin Riley quite like the Phillies. It is just remarkable. I have seen Austin Riley hit that same home run a million times. If he's not hitting a home run, he's roping a ball off the wall. There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it that he is going at least 400 in a series against the Phillies.

He is the worst. He is the absolute freaking worst. I cannot stand Austin Riley. I can't stand him. His career numbers off of Nola are insane. Why they even bother throwing him a cutter is a waste of time because he just deposits it in the left field seats. It's sickening.

It is absolutely sickening what Austin Riley does to this team. And it's just been my entire life. My entire life is a freaking brave just killing me at all times. Like, obviously, I grew up with Chipper. Into Brian McCann. Into Freddie Freeman. And now it's Austin Riley. Like, Austin Riley is the guy now.

He is the worst. He has been terrible this year. Not terrible. He was slowly heating up. But, like, the Phillies heating up Austin Riley was the lock of the century, the absolute lock of the century. It's every single time they see this guy, all of a sudden, he's like, you know what, I'm the best player in baseball.

And then he's going to ride this into like an MVP-ish kind of year because that's what happens every year with Austin Riley. It's every year. It's every year. It's always against Nola. It's unfathomable. Cannot stand him. Cannot stand him.

And I'm just going to call my shot now when I am on here tomorrow night at about 1030 reacting to the Phillies game. I'm not calling it a loss because I think tomorrow's a win. It's going to be hard to say. But regardless, Austin Riley guarantees me the player of the game. It's just 2-1-5-5-9-2-94-94. We'll get into some positives here in one second. Mike's in Westchester.

What's happening, Mike? Fritz, you're so right. I am just numb to when Austin Riley comes to the plate. Oh, it's just every time. It's every freaking time. I don't even care anymore when he comes to the plate. It's just accepted. It's a double or a home run.

It's him and Miguel Rojas. They come to the plate. I just know they're going to it yeah totally I'm gonna go a positive and a negative just a quick positive first even though it's a bad night how freaking good is Bryce Harper I mean we are talk about no I'm numb to the fact that he had Tommy John 150 days ago and he's still out there the best player on the team he's unbelievable but yeah and and you know uh that bont he had uh late in the game like that's two outs you know he's just trying to put a little bit of pressure on aj mincer cassianos get the single and and and bang you're in business and kyle short we're like that's a big hit there um so yeah any little thing he can do to

make things happen he usually does and um i'm glad he's a philly but tell me tell me tonight didn't just feel eerily similar and i know the home run happened earlier but it felt eerily similar similar to the home run off jansen last year that uh came into nick nelson closing out a game by the way double check me on this but i'm pretty sure it was a year ago to the date that really happened i'm almost positive it was. That is some sick stuff, I've got to be honest with you. But real quick, I've got a question for you that I'll hop off. How would you fix the starting pitching? What would you think your kind of solution is to get out of this? Like mechanics-wise or pitcher-wise?

I don't know if it's a shake-up or pitching-wise or maybe mechanics-wise or just even approach, maybe with JT before the game or something along those lines. All right, Mike. I appreciate the call. So I've been on this for a little bit now. Mechanics-wise, I don't really know. I mean, they're all kind of different guys.

They've been on this cutter movement for the last couple years. But regardless, when it comes to the plan, I said this pregame, I've said this I feel like a lot over the last couple days, that I think Griff McGarry is going to be up here in two weeks, and it kind of feels like they're ramping him towards being that fifth starter option. And maybe if they get the jolt of a young kid coming up, and every fifth day there's an electrifying arm on the mound like i mean he's not as good as him but when spencer strider came up

i feel like he he added a lift to that braves team like it's like oh my gosh we get to see this kid uh come out and just be a flamethrower um every fifth day like griff won't be that because spencer strider's like the best pitcher in the nl i think right now um so um but yeah like i don't know it's it's the way that i view nola and wheeler right now and it's a bit excusey but i feel like they pitched for the first time in their career late into a year and they just didn't really know how to bounce back coupled with the new rules in baseball and they're having a hard time adjusting and you just my big hope right now is that we don't have to just have a throwaway year for those guys and and chalk it up to uh the the late last year, and these guys just never really get right.

And then I have to spend all offseason wondering, am I going to get the good versions of Nola and Wheeler? Now, Nola's obviously in his walk year, and as we go along here, if the Phillies stay under.500, or they're barely over.500, if they're over.500, I bet they wouldn't do it but the the very real conversation that's going to have to happen around the trade deadline is would you move them and hopefully they're not in that position because that would be crushing

given all the expectations heading into the year but that's the nature of the beast when they're playing this kind of baseball and if they can't get on a roll here those are going to be the conversations that are going to have to be had because he is a free agent at the end of the year. I don't want to have him, but that's the nature of the beast. Tucker has informed me that it was yesterday, but still. I mean, that's just insane how the parallels are. I mean, they're pretty much in the same spot record-wise, team-wise, wherever that pitch ended up landing.

That's pretty wild. Yeah, but who's this year's Johan Camargo, who started at shortstop that year? Really? Yeah. I don't know. Hopefully it's not Trey Turner. So the one big positive that I had from tonight is that I thought the offense looked good.

And the shame of tonight is that I felt like it was a good momentum kind of building game for them. You know, yesterday we talked about it a lot on WIP today. I know I talked about it on leading off. Was how yesterday, hopefully for the offense, was an exhale moment and like, all right, just go be you and go play and go live up to your capabilities. They had 11 hits tonight. They scored five runs.

Schwarber had the big hit late. It wasn't just Harper. I mean, Harper was great. But Cassianos had two hits. Boehm had a home run. Marsh hit a ball hard so like um you know in a in a frustrating loss that falls solely on the pitching staff and and mostly aaron nola for me i do think it was a positive sign that the offense came out and did that

uh against the lefty so i know he's not a great lefty, but still, baby steps at this point. And what I have to hope for is that this is something that we can start banking on more often than not. Like, can I bank on you getting five runs a night? I know it's a big ask, you know, God forbid. But can I bank on a more consistent offensive approach? Like, tonight felt right. Even though Trey Turner took a bit of a step back in the ninth. I mean, I know there's two outs, but just swinging first pitch with a measly pop-up to the second base or shortstop was frustrating.

But if you're looking for a positive tonight, I think the offense had a really, really solid night. And hopefully they are getting into a rhythm, and hopefully being able to come back yesterday, not roll over, kind of has a bit of a snowball effect. And even tonight, they're down and there's two outs. Harper lays the bunt down, Castellanos single, and then Schwarber brings home Harper and should have been Castellanos, but whatever. That showed a pretty good fight.

Unfortunately, Gregory Soto had a bad Gregory Soto outing. And that's what stinks about Soto right now is that, you know, it seems like he has a really good run and then bang, a three-run outing. Good run, bang, three-run outing. Like his ERA right now is 5.64. I don't think he's pitched to a 5.6 this year. I think he had a horrible start. I think he got on a good roll.

He had a blow-up. He got on a good roll. He had a blow-up. And tonight, after a decent roll, he had another blow-up. And it's been kind of that way for him, Sir Anthony. Kimbrell's been more good than not. Alvarado's just been great all year. But when you're looking at back-end options when you have a lead,

and it's Soto or Sir Anthony, you just don't really know what you're getting right now. Sir Anthony was great tonight. Hopefully he can build off that and ride that wave for a little bit. But still, that is definitely a question mark for the time being. But either way, thought the offense, that was a game that they could hopefully build off of. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94.

If you want to get in on the final out on the other side, we'll look ahead to tomorrow before handing things off to Rob Cherry. It's Jack Fritz here on the final out. And the pitch, swung on, yanked down the right field line. It's toward the corner. It's in for a hit. Harper has scored. Castellanos around third.

They'll wave him home. The throw goes to second. Now the relay, and it's not in time. He got his foot in under the tag of Murphy. They'll no doubt look at it. 6-5, Phillies lead it as Schwarber doubles into the right field corner well they sure did review it

and ultimately Nick Cassianos was deemed out and that is our play of the game brought to you by Mike's Amazing Mike's Amazing the official mayo mustard and vegetable oil of the Phillies and And why is that amazing? You might ask. Because I just don't understand how you slide like that as a guy who's played baseball your entire life. Like, it was, what's the feed up for you know like how does the the throw goes to

second and you're still out at home like that's again when they play the Braves down there they have to do every little thing right there has to be an extra level of locked in. And it's felt like a majority of this season, not enough of that. Not enough of being totally locked in. And what stinks about that is because that would have been a nice one to steal. You already were disappointed with what Nola did after what the offense was able to do. But you had a chance to weather the storm, steal it, and take some momentum. And yes, even though Nola let you down,

still take a game in Atlanta and grab control of the series. But what they did tonight was what they've done a lot this year and what they've done a lot the last couple years is that they just create doubt in the people watching and the fans that pay attention. And they just create that because you see what winning baseball looks like versus what losing baseball looks like.

And for too much of this year, we can talk about the offense. The offense has been very disappointing. The pitching staff, they don't have a starter with an ERA under four. That stinks. Bullpen, hit or miss. Gregory Soto, bunch of good outings, one blow up, good outing, blow up. Don't know what you're getting. Sir Anthony, up and down. Alvarado now hurt. Kimbrel, pretty good. But it's the little things, the little things that breed winning baseball. They have not done that well enough today, or today and a majority of the season. Like, I can count on, like, on one hand, I feel like, the games where I'm like, solid baseball, good baseball,

that's something you can sustain. So, frustrating. And again, like, how do you slide like that? Like, that is a just atrocious, atrocious slide by Nick Castellanos. And ultimately, it cost them a run there. And maybe a game that they could have won. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Let's look ahead to tomorrow.

a game that they could have won. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Let's look ahead to tomorrow. We got Tywon Walker on the mound versus Jared Schuster, who made his Major League debut earlier this year. The notable thing about Jared Schuster is he's another lefty.

And the Phillies are a team that are just brutal against lefties so far this year. Bottom 10 offense in baseball. Tonight they did a pretty good job, but also, like, Dylan Dodd stinks. So am I supposed to have a massive takeaway of, like, oh, they figured it out against lefties? I don't think so.

You know, Hoskins was always a guy, it seemed like, handled lefties really well, and they're definitely missing that. Like, I feel like Castellanos hasn't made lefties pay. Bryce, before tonight, was really bad against lefties. Trey Turner, a career.309 hitter against lefties, was batting.194 against them heading into tonight. So, you know, I was happy that Rob Thompson let Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott play tonight against a lefty.

That's an important step forward. God forbid, just let your best players play. Who cares? But they've been brutal against lefties. And I feel like JT's been hit or miss. So hopefully they can figure out the lefty thing. Or else teams that have question marks with their starting pitching staff, I feel like they're just going to throw lefties at the Phillies

and see if they can beat them. And that's what it seems like the Braves are kind of doing. They're banking on the numbers. And even though these guys are inexperienced and don't have overwhelming stuff, they are lefty. And that is something that the Phillies have 100% struggled against. So Jared Schuster tomorrow versus Tywon Walker. And I would love to sit here and portray a massive amount of confidence in Tywon Walker.

I just have no idea what I'm getting. The kind of unfair thing going on with Tywon Walker right now is that, you know, besides the Giants start, he had been on a pretty good run there. I would say three out of his last four starts have been pretty good. And he had a Giants start where he went start where he went two-thirds of an inning and was out of the game. So that was obviously a disaster. So he's a guy that paid a good amount of money to come in here and be a low-end three, high-end four.

And he's pitched in a ton of baseball games. He's been around for a good amount. And you have to be able to trust someone. You have to be able to trust someone out there. They're not taking him out of the rotation because frankly, there's no one else out there. I have a minor amount

of confidence in Tywon Walker tomorrow night. Again, I have no idea what I'm getting on a night-out basis when he's on the mound. So hopefully he can build off his last start. He's really good. They pitched him on three days rest. Made some

usage changes with him. They're trying to find whatever kind of pitch mix gets the best version of Tywon Walker, and hopefully they found that against the Cubbies and he can go out tomorrow night and, and deliver a much needed Phil's win tomorrow in Atlanta.

But either way, I will be live reacting to it after the game. Also, I have you for leading off tomorrow, heading into the game. So that's going to do it for me. Tucker Bagley produced this portion of the program. As always,

the final out is sponsored by Regency Furniture. Affordable. Never looked so good. I'll be back tomorrow night. Rob Cherry has got you next here on Sports Radio 94 WIP.