High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 1: Welcome to 2023, Philadelphia Phillies

Episode Date: April 23, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are encouraged after a weekend where the Phillies took three out of four from the Colorado Rockies. 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

Jack, if you had told me Friday morning that we would be doing this pod and not be completely despondent about it, I wouldn't have believed you because that game on Thursday was maybe even more embarrassing than the 13 to nothing loss to the Reds. Like the lifeless, embarrassing performance against a team that lost eight straight games in your freaking ballpark, not even showing up for it. And then Nola gives up the three run shot in the first the next day. And we're like, well, this is going to freaking suck. Like, what the hell? And then they battle.

We get a clutch Schwarber Homer. We get a big hit from Edmundo Sosa. Nick Castellanos hitting bombs. Brandon Marsh, the best hitter in baseball. Fritzy, we're back. We're so back. And Thursday night, I understood it. It was like, what a despondent, brutal, awful,

what are you guys doing kind of performance. Well, they just came out lifeless. And I said it after the game. They look like a team that had just played two games on Tuesday, played a day game yesterday they get to return home for the first time in like eight days and they get to uh face ryan feltner who had like an adra and the rockies team who lost eight straight and they kind of like all right we'll show up and win yeah um and to this team's credit and what they did last year and what they did

uh at the beginning of portions of this year, which is they bounced back. And it's like every time people are like, wow, there it is. There's the Fugazi baseball team. The one-hit wonders that got hot and went to the World Series last year. It feels like they do a really, really good job bouncing back. And when they have an embarrassing loss, like they did 5-0, like they did last Saturday, it feels like the next game they come out more

locked in more ready to go and we have to understand that like bad games happen i mean bad teams beat good teams all the time i mean worst teams in baseball still win 60 plus games maybe not the uh not the a's buddy maybe not the a's pal A's, pal. But it's good to see them kind of starting to right the ship. And I know Thursday night was bad, but I still genuinely felt the last week and a half of baseball that we'd seen from them, James, was closer to them starting to break through and be the team that we believed in in this offseason.

And taking three or four, coming back and some of these games, not always being the prettiest brand of baseball, whatever, you know, they had a lot of that last year. They still made the playoffs and went to the world series. So I'm proud of them.

Welcome to the season. One game under 500. And I just, you know, I hate that there's an off day tomorrow, but whatever. I'm proud of them. I love it. Look at you.

You're such an easy sell. Look, nice to see Houston handle the Braves a little bit, as we hope for. It's a big difference between seven back and four and a half or four, whatever it is now, pending today's game. Or no, four and a half, I guess it would be, or five, could be four and a half, whatever it is. A big difference than the seven before before and obviously way too early to worry

about it. But yeah, look, I think I, I am very impressed with the way they battled back after the three run Homer from Nola. Cause, cause Thursday was just a disgraceful, abysmal, embarrassing showing from that team. But then, you know, after three runrun homer, it looks like, oh, man. And then Nola settled in and gave him six strong after that and really gave him a chance to win. And then, you know, who else but Schwarber?

It's the big home run to tie it. You know, Sosa, the big hit to win it, you know, to her in the eighth. And then makes that great play in the ninth. And, you know, and then the next night, you know, the two Cassie homers, Christian Pache. I mean, what a day you get two homers from Castellanos and a Pache homer.

Like you have to win that game. Like that's a automatic must win in the moment. But, and it wasn't pretty. And look today they handle business and, you know, they got some hits when they needed it. Some home runs with runners on base. What I thought the Stott Homer, by the way, I was listening to Franski, only the third home run with runners in scoring position all season so good to hear right it's good to hear

um not right but like look you could look at it and say listen they they should have beaten these teams that you know on a higher you know they should be better than 11 and 12 based on the schedule to start the season like that and that's fair you know they should have you know won more against the reds they shouldn't have you know they should have swept the rockies jack said it going in the weekend or i was probably like it's a sweep it's gotta be a sweep this weekend and you know the way it happens you're happy with three or four but the flip side they've won six of eight you know as much as it doesn't seem like it they've won six of eight and to your point i think seeing them battle through adversity and i know it's not serious adversity,

but early season adversity, and when they really have to get hits or make plays, we've seen them make it. We've seen guys bear down the bullpen, zero runs allowed all weekend. The three games they won, zero runs when they needed it, especially in those first two games. Today, obviously a bit of an easy one, but the first two games were closed they were losing the bullpen kept a minute so i'm with you you know i 11 and 12 is not amazing and i still think you have to be more disappointed than not with the start of the season i think we're back now the last pot we did we're like we're back and then they lost that game and and maybe they're back so i feel like more back than not well i and i just think that all the signs are there that they're they're a good team like we've been over this i feel like

the last you know what after the first week freak out which i think was kind of justified because it was like every facet of the game they were just dreadful at where it was like how much you guys just be major league baseball players maybe a crazy concept there um but but really it started that sunday of the red series um and even though they split like the saturday game was just the worst but um like you've seen like you've seen them kind of settle into what we think they're going to be going forward now the thing that's going to be the the big kind of question mark as to how much can we believe in them is going to be wheeler and nola um because without their number one number two being like true number ones and number two um it's hard to like start putting them down as as as being you know uh i

think they could probably still make the playoffs the way they're pitching right now but like doing actual damage like you need your aces you need your guys to be your guys and you know like Nola did fine on Friday night it was good the first inning home run was annoying but whatever like he bounced back it was more

it was more good rather than great and I think against the Rockies I mean there's a bad lineup it's a bad team. You know, it's going to be different when you're facing that Braves lineup or, you know, whatever you want to say. Well, thankfully, I don't plan as much as they do. But my concerning thing with Aaron Ola right now is that he has 21 strikeouts in 28 innings. His strikeout per nine is seven.

His career is like nine and a half, ten. So he had three strikeouts on Friday night, which is just like, I mean, if he wants to be a contact pitcher, whatever. But like, there and all that was fourth and Cy Young last year and like has been a very valuable pitcher in the last couple of years.

And what made him valuable was taking down a ton of innings, not walking anyone, and striking out a ton of batters. Well, anyone, and striking out a ton of batters. Well, he's not striking out a ton of guys right now. So, you know, maybe he's changing up repertoire and being more context-oriented. But still, you know, that's something to monitor going forward.

And Zach Wheeler today, like, he was, like, pretty good. And then, well, he's unbelievable. Yeah, the first three innings, he he was like pretty good. And then it's, Oh, he's unbelievable. And then the first three innings, he was, he was unhittable. I mean, he was awesome. And then he was just like that fourth inning for him, you know, it was the third inning last time. It was the fourth thing this time. And it's like, he gets there.

It, it kind of snowballs. And then he's like fine everywhere else besides that. It's, it's actually very Aaron Nola. Yeah, it is. You're right. Yeah.

They've actually really been carving copies of each other this year. It's, it's a great point. And, you know, it was nice to see wheelers velocity up early, but then, you know,

again, as he's gotten deeper, still 12 strikeouts in five innings, you know, again, not a good Rockies team, but I think I'm hopeful. I think we,

we need to keep remembering at least for the early portion of the season that they did pitch it till November and that these are guys who literally had never pitched past like October 2nd or October 3rd whenever their season had ended in the past so like that is something that maybe it does take them a little bit longer to ramp up and get to where they need to be certainly a possibility but to your point you know so far this season, neither of those guys has looked like Zach Wheeler or Nola, or at least the guys we expect them to be.

So the interesting part about Wheeler's start today is that I agree with you, the velocity was down, but you know what's so weird about him? Is that he did throw a couple of 93-mile-an-hour sliders. So it's like, maybe this is them easing their way into the season.

Because when he went back out there for the sixth, his fastball was back up to 96, 97. And maybe this is part of their management is like, hey, we're not going to just – don't go out and try to throw 100 miles an hour. Work your way up to it. I mean, that's how Verlander, before he became a Met, that's how Verlander pitches a ton of innings.

Like, first inning, 92-93, and then by the seventh-eighth, it was like, oh, there's 100. Yeah. So maybe, hey, maybe that's what they're doing. But I think it's encouraging that at least, like, a 93-mile-an-hour slider doesn't happen by accident.

Yeah. So I think that means something. I thought it generated bad life today, like especially early on. I mean, it just looked, it looked wheeler ask. And also,

I mean, to your point you're making about, about the, the ways kind of easing himself into games and all that. I think that's absolutely something that could be happening with this team. And I think it makes a ton of sense. And I also thought it was a good sign that he came out and pitched the six. You know, it was like 93 or 94 pitches.

I wouldn't have been shocked at all if Topper was like early in the season. Let's just sit you down. Came back out, you know, cleaned it up in that six with an easy six. Went into 100 pitches. Just the fact that they were like, we're confident at this point in the season to let you go over 100 and pitch in a spot where you don't necessarily have to. I like that too. Well, and I, and I thought that one thing that was interesting with Wheeler today is that seemed like he quickened up his tempo. So what I noticed early in the game, like usually he's at a set position and they drops down. It's like

methodical up and then at you. But what happened in the first couple of innings, this is like down up, bang at you. And maybe that's like a way, maybe what he's trying to do from that aspect is okay. I'll be quicker getting into my mechanics from the windup. And then when I get the stretch and I have to be faster with the pitch clock, my body's already going to be adjusted to it.

So that might take time to get used to, right? I mean's already going to be adjusted to it so that might take time to get used to right i mean it wouldn't be especially because it seems like as we talked about it is for him has been something where most innings he's been good he just keeps running into these spots where he walks some guys runners get on base and he's pitching from the stretch and he's been struggling so i know we've talked about that with nolan in the past but maybe that the pitch clock combination of that with Wheeler is something he's still getting used to. Yeah.

And it does seem like the, today seemed like a classic case of I'm on such a roll out of the windup. And then it's like, oh, well here, here we go to the stretch and it's not going to, it's not going to be as pretty.

So, and I agree with you completely. Like, like I was actually of the mindset of like, why are you putting Wheeler out there again? and it's not going to be as pretty. And I agree with you completely. I was actually of the mindset of, why are you putting Wheeler out there again? It's early in the season. We don't need to have him over 100 pitches.

But I've said this a lot, and he did the same thing with Nola on Friday night. He said Nola easily could have been done after 6. After 6, but he went 7th, yep. And what I've been kind of of harping on, on, on the final outs that I'm sure that you are downloading, listening to on your walk in. I'm doing one of those things. Thank you.

Always appreciate the support, but I'm just kidding. But what I, but what I'm saying is that like, I want, when people freak out about pulling Nola or pulling wheel, I like should have pulled them earlier. Like, what are you doing? Rob Thompson? You're an idiot. My pushback to that is these guys have to learn to pitch through that. And I know it's early in the season and I get that. But like these guys have to be able to overcome this stuff so that as it gets later in the season, you can have them going seven, eight innings.

Because as the games get bigger, you want your best pitchers in there. And hopefully that's Wheeler and Nola. I want to see them work through adversity and push through adversity rather than the second anything goes wrong, bang, they're out of the game.