High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Phillies-Astros World Series Game 2 Reaction Pod: Not Our Night But Everything's Fine

Episode Date: October 30, 2022

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to a disappointing Phillies loss in Game 2 of the World Series. 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

This is the High Hopes podcast. High Hopes! It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Phillies on Odyssey and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo, it is. Oh, come on, buddy. No, here's what I'm going to say. Look, I said coming into this, I said we will not complain.

We will not be upset with the split. We said all we want is a split. And I feel that way. I'm fine. That yo was 100% saving my voice for the yo's to come. Okay, that is all it is. I swear. As you know, my voice going out has been a big theme of this

whole run and it's hurting right now. And I see an opportunity night where I don't have to do it. And let's be honest, my voice felt great last night. And then I did that, you know, and it felt horrible and it's horrible today. So I was like, you know what? It's okay tonight. I'm, this is not a representation of how I feel. I'm good. I, all I wanted It's okay tonight. I'm, this is not a representation of how I feel. I'm good. I,

all I wanted was a split tonight was annoying as hell more than anything. Like the, I'm sorry. And if you're one of those people, I'm really sorry to call you out right here, but like the loser vibe, the whole they're cheating. Like, dude, like, come on, man. Like they got caught cheating in the most public way possible. It was a stain, a black eye on baseball. And on the biggest stage, you think Major League Baseball is just going to be like, yeah, let them cheat.

Like, I just, it just felt like such a weak night, a weak night, whatever. We're going home 5-0 at CBP, Jack Fritz. And you and I are 2-0 together in the building. We're going to be in the building for all three games together. I have no worries. We are all good. I feel fine. Just tonight was, like, annoying.

Tonight annoyed me, Jack. Like, I'm annoyed that I'm not excited to record. I texted Jack. I'm like, let's make it a quick one because, like, I don't have anything to say. I'm just annoyed. How are you doing? So who is saving themselves more for later in the in a world series you with your yo's or or zach wheeler uh because i would like to i would like to believe it's zach wheeler frankly i really hope it's zach wheeler

because i'm gonna do the yo either way it might not sound good but it's gonna happen and it's not that big a deal. I'll just apologize to people. Zach Wheeler absolutely needs to be saving himself because that was not great, buddy. Did not enjoy watching my ace, who usually throws 99, sitting 94 in the fourth inning. Extra day of rest, though, so that was good.

Yeah. If you're looking for one massive... Is it take back time? I'm sorry, guys. If you're looking for one massive red flag tonight, Zach Wheeler's velocity is a concern. And it looks like a guy that threw a career high in innings last year and now is coming back.

And it's like, can't like he they said before the game is his pitch limit was 80 to 90 pitches like yeah this is a guy's this he's made what six starts and he's coming back from from missing a month or whatever like there's something i just i don't know this to be true i'm just telling you like it feels like there's something more here than just like he's working his way back from injury because it keeps they kept saying like, no, he's not really injured. They're kind of taking a month off. But if he was just taking a month off, then he shouldn't be limited to 80 to 90 pitches. Like he's a guy that is throwing 99 and has been sitting in 98 into the seventh, eighth inning and starts in the last couple of years. into the seventh, eighth inning in starts in the last couple of years. So the fact that we're sitting here and they're like limiting him

and he's throwing 96 in the first inning and he's getting hit around, that's like the only, like I legitimately feel like the Phillies that played the Astros tonight. Like I do. I know they lost. I know they lost 5-1. But if you're looking at two five two whatever um i told you you were checked out in the ninth i get it buddy i get it oh and by the way speaking

of the ninth inning i told you before the pocket i told you before the series that ryan presley doesn't scare me and i would like to say that he still does not scare me at all um yeah give me give me him and citizens bank park and it will not be the same story um but you know the only thing that has given me any cause for pause for phil's in five or phil's in six is i i don't i'm now worried about zach wheeler and that's not something that i was totally banking on heading into the postseason or heading into the series. But when you see that Velo did, it's hard not to think, like, is there something more here? Is he not 100%?

Is that whole rest thing not really real? And is it now something where you're not sure if you're going to get a full Zach Wheeler for the rest of the World Series? Yeah, look, something we didn't really talk about but was mentioned a little bit going in was the ball off the leg that he took. Yeah.

You know, like, and we really didn't even talk about that at all. And, you know, Thompson kind of just mentioned it a little bit in talking about the extra day he was asked about. He's like, oh, yeah, you know, just a bit of a bruise or whatever. But, you know, we're giving him the extra day. Like, who knows? Maybe that was a little bit more of a bruise, so to speak, than we thought the legs are important in pitching. We know that, like,

I don't know. Cause look, I'm with you, but like the, the arm thing doesn't explain why he was silly, but even if he could only go 80 pitches, he's still been awesome for those 80 pitches, all playoffs. Right. And tonight he wasn't. So I'm hoping it's something that's a little more, you know, just a weird night with that leg thing or something. But yeah, if you're coming out at night, the bigot, look, they lost a baseball game to a good team.

Frambois Valdez is really good. We said it coming in. We said on this pod, we feel much better against Justin Verlander than Frambois Valdez. That dude's nasty, nasty all year long. And he showed it tonight. Real quick, before we move on, can I get your official take on the cheating thing?

Because I don't know how you feel and maybe I'm on an island. I know there were some people who agree with me. And I got a lot of hate. I tweeted out and people came at me. But man, I just think we just lost tonight. I don't think they cheated. Official's position.

They were using trash cans in the first inning. That's my official position. Everything after. No, like, I don't think they were cheating. Like, I just think it's a cop-out for when your offense is having a bad night against a really good pitcher. And, you know,

sometimes when, when guys are going to their wrists or they're going through their hair or they're going to things like they're trying to find sweat moisture, of course, they're just getting sweat. Exactly. So like, uh,

for me, especially spin guys, especially spin spin guys like he's not a fastball guy he's a f**k you know what i mean he's like a spin guy like there's a guy who's the spin is what matters with him i mean on the fastball you know i mean he's not you know what i'm saying yeah you got you got fired up about spin rates and started dropping F-bombs. I think I said fastball. He's not a fastball guy. I feel pretty good. Totally disagree. We're going to find out.

I feel pretty confident. Like, yes, I feel super confident. I feel like I'm right here. Look, we got a lot of kids. Real quick, shout out to – Just think about our friends that have kids right now. The only great thing that happened to me tonight was our buddy michael tweeted us his two kids doing the yo intro and it was like the greatest moment of my life to get that video i was like that is the cool i was like wow like jack i'm sorry i i fought you on

cursing i'll never curse on this but again unless i just did which i really don't think i did but like that video was amazing like you made my night dude night, dude. And I really didn't think I cursed. But anyway, go ahead. We'll check it post podcast. Again, let me just say, I feel like let me just make this clear to everyone out there listening. I did not pitch in the big leagues. I don't know if that's been clear or not. But but wherever I got moisture was under my was under my forehead like i was always able to get

moisture there and then i was able to because like your hands get dry and you need to figure out a way to be able to grip a baseball again and like i just they check these guys i like that i don't think there's a conspiracy theory to allow sticky stuff i know like some pitchers have come back and had unbelievable years this year, and I'm sure they're finding a way. I'm sure they're finding a way to do it. I just can't deal with the whole they're playing bad tonight and it must be the Astros are cheating.

The Astros won 106 games. I don't think they're cheating all the time. It's the World Series. Every eye is on the Major League Baseball. series every eye is on major league baseball it was a the biggest stain on the sport in in in decades like they're not gonna not like pay attention to the astros in the world series like it's just crazy to me like it's it just was weekend the maldonado bat thing it's like the reason the bat is illegal because if it could break in a way that could be dangerous. It doesn't give you an advantage as a hitter.

And then on top of that, he didn't do anything. It didn't influence the game. I'm sorry. I got to save my voice. This is a save my voice night. It's okay. It's okay. The validest thing I get a little bit, I understand.

I can understand what people are coming from, but come on. I know. The Maldonado thing was insane. Dude, first off, he could go up there with an aluminum bat, and I really wouldn't care. It's Martin Maldonado. I know he had a little bleeder hit last night, but are we serious? Whoa, they should suspend him. Stop. I know we had a little bleeder hit last night, but like, are we serious? Well,

should they, they should suspend them. Stop. Like he, he thought it was a good bat. You would think that a bat that is wood is good enough to use. It's not like it was corked. Like people are acting like it was a freaking cork bat or something.

So, so official high host edition, like deep breaths, like just, just take some deep breaths i don't think the ashers are cheating the valda i know about us i mean he's touching spots i get it like it looks like if you were looking for classic signs of trying to find sticky substance substances um also like might be like i i think you never know you never know but like they are checking him the ums checked him coming off the field.

It's not like they just let it go. I agree. I forget where I was going because we went on this tangent three and a half minutes ago. Does it matter? You dropped an F-bomb. I did not.

I feel so confident. We have a chat, right? Are there people there? I didn't drop it, right, guys? No, believe it or not, the people are not as excited about a post-loss podcast as they are. So not as many. I'm shocked by this. Hey, you want to hear something else?

Me neither, guys. Me neither. Way less excited to do this pod tonight than I was last night. Last night, I felt like even though it was like two hours later than it is right now i felt like i could go for all night now i honestly i can't wait to go to bed i'm like excited for a day off tomorrow i need a break i'm dying over here well at least the eagles won't play tomorrow again so i did i've i've never cared less about an eagles game like don't care i'll watch it because it's my job. But like, really looking. The thing I'm most excited for tomorrow

is an early bedtime, Jack. That's what I'm excited for. This is insane. Well, look, it took us this long into the run for me to complain about it being late. So here we are. I know. It's a trope.

We had to edit it at some point. Yes. But overall, like, so in the first inning, they jumped on Whe you know obviously their plan was we're gonna get fastballs early we gotta jump on it and wheeler just didn't have a good fastball early i i felt like so actually this is the point i was gonna bring up before you dropped an f-bomb and start talking about the astros cheating is, is so when, when, when Wheeler was when Wheeler was struggling in, in the early portion of the game.

And we started, I started thinking about the knee thing. Like it made sense because I thought his mechanics looked off and it looked like he was battling an injury with his legs. Right. Like his, his, his, his, his fastball location. It was just way off. Um, I totally forgot it,

but honestly, I totally forgot, dude. It was all I thought about. Cause it wouldn't have explained why he was so good when he did pitch. He might've, the tiring out thing makes sense, but like for him to just come in tonight and look completely different than

he did. Every other start doesn't make sense with the like arm thing, you know? Well, and he looked he looked like a pitcher that was battling something and you honestly if it's his if it's his knee great like if it's his knee that is fine because i think he threw what 63 pitches tonight i think yeah somewhere in the 60s 67 63 something like that yeah and, and good job by Thompson for getting it up.

And we don't need to like, it's okay to just chalk it up as a loss. You know, like it's baseball. The only thing Topper did tonight that made zero sense was wasting a player by bringing in Maton instead of Marsh to pinch. I get it. You want Maton that bad, but like if you're taking him right out of the game

and putting Marsh in, you're literally wasting right out of the game and putting margin, you're, you're literally wasting a player. I just, that I didn't get. Well, so I saw your, I saw your tweets and I don't totally disagree, but I think that like if I'm Rob Thompson,

I'm looking at, and I think Montero has a similar to seeing that Sandy Alcantara. And we know what Nathan has done against Andy Alcantara. So maybe you're just like trying to hope he gets a fastball and hits it out and then you can put March in center field. Either way. Just a weird one. A weird one. It didn't look. It

wasn't a big deal. And look, Maiton did hit the ball hard just in the wrong spot. It was just a weird one. I was like, it's just wasting a guy in a spot, you know, especially when you have Sosa coming up next. You could like that Maiton next if Marshall, you know, it was just a weird one for me anyway. Yeah.

So, but if you're looking at all the telltale signs of a guy laboring an injury, I thought it was Wheeler tonight. And I hope it's a knee because if it's the elbow or if it's the arm, it's a lot bigger issue. Yeah. But the fact that now he has off Friday, Saturday, he's off. Well, he's not. Sorry.

He is off Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off day. So he has five full days until he pitches again. You would think in that point and that time he would be able to get, you know, back to being fully healthy Wheeler and get a game six in Houston where hopefully he feels like himself. But really, like, it looked like a guy that was battling something with his knee. Because he just, it felt like he was landing earlier and trying to overcompensate. And, like, his fastball location, like, he's, I swear, I've watched Zach Wheeler almost every start as affiliate James. I've never seen him locate a slider well once. So, like, that wasn't surprising. But it always was coupled with his fastball being pretty good at spotting up wherever he wanted.

Just didn't have it tonight. So, hope it's arm fatigue. Sorry. Don't hope it's arm fatigue. Yeah, exactly. Hope it's the knee. And we can bounce back in the game six if necessary. But at the same time, James, you got three games in Citizens Bank Park.

5-0, buddy. 5-0. They already took one down in Houston. It's all we wanted. It's all we wanted. I'm going to stick to what I said. I said I'm not freaking out if they split in Houston. They split in Houston.

And again. But Nolan Wheeler got crushed in Houston. They won one of two like take it and another silver lining some other bullpen pieces look pretty good like like bullpen period look good really i mean i mean they haven't they haven't allowed a run yet yeah that's what i mean like everyone's look good like obviously yesterday we talked about brogdon look great again he's looked good you know really since that that Atlanta you know outing which was rough but since then he's been really really good Bilotti is good like you know Hand and I did fine I don't count him but I think

Bilotti and Brogdon are two guys where like you know you can maybe count on those guys in a higher leverage situation if you need it like I think they can get you through something. I'm with you, dude. I think you feel good about where the bullpen's at right now and the usage. And look, now you get an off day. Sir Anthony Alvarado, all the guys using game one are ready to roll for game three. So, you know, I think you feel good about where your staff's at,

you know, considering. Yep. And Rob Thompson just said postgame that Thor is starting game three. I thought so. I had a feeling that was going to happen. I mean, obviously, with the Ranger usage, you know, I'm fine with that. You know, this is a mostly right-handed heavy lineup. Obviously, Tucker and Jordan are there.

But otherwise, it's a right-handed heavy lineup with the Sastros lineup. And, you know, Thor's been good when called upon in the playoffs. He has experience. Like, I don't hate that. Well, and he's throwing the ball pretty well. I'm not a Thor guy at all, but he looks pretty good so far this postseason, whether it's starting or

coming out of the bullpen. So it gives Ranger an extra day. And if you lose game three, then if you go Ranger, Nola Wheeler, you feel pretty good about it yeah three of your best pitchers going three straight so you try steel you try steel game three lance mccullers i think his era on the road is three five this year um and like one five ish at home uh if i

remember my pre um world Series preview notes and stuff. So it might be a bad night to be Lance McCullers on Monday, on Halloween. But, yeah, they split. Everything's fine. Deep breaths. And also, they are a mere 12 inches from that game being. Oh, my God. Totally different. 5'3". 12 inches twice. 12 inches from that game being, uh, Oh my God. Totally different.

Five, three, 12 inches, twice, 12 inches, twice back to back. Well, I mean like the, the,

the, the, the foul ball. And then, but then the catch I'm saying like, then the next one, he hits it to like the end of the warning track. Like you give me a foot there probably goes over the fence.

It's like, you have the, you have the Harper ball. You have the Harper ball that maybe falls in if it's a little bit further. The Gene ball hit to the one spot at that part of the park. That was insane.

I mean, can we... Right? Come on. Seriously. It felt like the whole night. It wasn't our night. It wasn't our night, man. It wasn't our night. It just wasn't our night. It happens. And you know what? It's happened in game two of each of the last two series and then we went home and handled business so yeah just saying just saying jack it's what we do it's what we do we're gonna go to the bank and we're gonna handle business and the crowd's gonna be insane and the asters are gonna

be like holy bleep what did i just step into? And we're going to handle business. That's what I think. I believe that. Astros crowd was embarrassing again tonight. Like, it felt like I was watching a regular season game. Like, it really did. That crowd does absolutely nothing for me. So, I feel pretty confident this team is heading home here. I do, too.

All right. Take back. I don't know how much I like you know i honestly i you know again like i don't really i just think tonight wasn't their night and you know the wheeler stuff we talked about the bullpen looks great like you know yeah there were some spots where they couldn't capitalize but i just you know i just feel like it just wasn't their night you know they got down early and they they ran into some great pitching and they fought you know i appreciate that they didn't just you know turtle up and and lose five nothing they fought the castellanos hit uh you know at the end kind of

fighting but you know it is what it is they just got beat tonight they did and uh rob thompson post games that who cares about framber being uh, you know, possibly. That's our guy. He gets it. It's our baseball guy. That's our guy. All right. Take back. First inning was, or yeah, no, it was first inning.

Like, like Matt feeling you were a role player, get behind the ball and make a good play. Make a throw. Dude, you like, he would, he would add the ball and make a good play. Be ready to make a throw. Dude, he would add my mile with a good throw there. Just like pure laziness. I don't know why. And same thing on Sosa. It was both laziness.

Like, what are you doing, dude? Like, make a good throw. I know Reese should add it, but like both those guys, you're getting your start of the World Series against the lefty. Like, come to play, man. Scoop the ball as well also like i agree i agree but like let's be honest one of one of those players is playing because if one of those players is a major league baseball player predominantly because of his defense and the other isn't like i'm i agree but like make a better throw window that was an easy

freaking play easy play to scoop as well. Like a major league baseball first baseman who has been brutal defensively scoops the ball. Just scoop the baseball. I could have scooped it from my couch, frankly. If you put me in that situation, that ball's in the glove. But yeah, the Vierling play annoyed me more than anything. It's like you're just camping under it for no reason

because you think Jordan's not going to run, and he tested you. And yeah, I think that Alec Baum could have scooped it and made a better play. The Phillies defense came back to bite him early in the game, which was going to eventually happen. Already covered a lot of this stuff. All right.

Positive stuff. There's really just one positive. I love Bryce's dot, dude. I was like, I can go 50 minutes on bryson stott because like i was like so the bottle be 51 minutes in a night full of of mostly negatives and just like eh you know that's thunk um bryson stops at that you know and it's not only the one he had in the ninth too is great. He's awesome. I just keep thinking about what is he like in two years?

What is he like in three years as he gets more and more comfortable at playing Major League Baseball and being locked in? He's so clearly going to be a really good player for a really long time um like you don't have those at bats against really tough pitching um unless you just have a really good clue of what you're doing at the plate and you know you just you think about it and what is bryce's what is he what is he like two or three years from now like he's already getting world series experience he's playing shortstop and at this point like i i believe me i love it mundo sosa um but i would have played sad tonight yeah just play start just play start he's he's proven himself against lefties against righties against tough pitchers against soft pitchers like he's going to get the job done

and he's going to work a good at bat at the worst case scenario. And I couldn't help when he was doing that at bat in the seventh, eighth, whatever of like, this guy's going to be really good for a long time. And he started thinking, okay, so next year,

do you feel comfortable with him being your lead off hitter? And do you, do you bump Schwarber down into a more run producing position or do you let just Stoddy kind of continue to develop and continue to grow because I don't know how you don't become like uh intoxicated with the idea of that guy's your future leadoff hitter because he seems like a prototypical modern day leadoff hitter that works great at bats and um hopefully puts the bat on the ball uh in in good cases but um really solid stuff from a rookie playing in the world series um and uh that's our guy i love him

dude i he does not look like a 25 year old rookie in the world series i think it's the best way to say he is consistently really the whole playoffs worked impressive at bats time and time and time again they know the you know classic the average doesn't show it that's been like the story of this guy's season but like i have been beyond impressed with him uh he looks like he belongs he looks comfortable with the bats and big spots in the world series, you know, a lot more comfortable than guys who've been in the league a long time. So yeah, I, I,

I a hundred percent agree with you on Bryson's top. He should be a lead off hitter. He's the lead off. I agree of the future. That's what I think. And you start thinking about next year and it's like, it's going through it. You start thinking about it,

buddy. You start thinking about Jean and what we do there. And you bring him back to go for Turner. Correa. Either way, Bryson Stotts there. Wheeler, I hope he bounces back. Whatever. We talked about a new thing.

If Connor Brogdon pitches like that, I mean, like, it's just it's so funny because he seems like the classic confidence player where like when he feels confident he's gonna go out there and look like an ex ryan madsen and then the second he loses it it's like he can't pitch in in big moments um i thought it looked really good tonight i thought it was an important bounce back outing for bret hand like i don't like bret hand i don't i don't believe in Hand. I don't believe in his ERA. I don't believe he's been good this year, but I guess the results speak for itself. He's

been okay. And I thought he looked pretty good tonight. A sharp breaking ball. And if Alvarado, you've got to use him in the fifth and there's another spot late in the game where it goes Alvarez, Bregman, Tucker, and he can't use Ranger because he's probably starting a game

or coming off starting a game. Like Brad Hand showing that he's not a complete disaster, I thought was an important moment tonight. Yeah, look, it didn't hurt. I'm not going to say that the next time Brad Hand comes in a game, I'm going to feel confident, but I get your point for sure. But I think in the other spots and i would throw a lot in there too like you know i think brogdon and baladi have looked good

in the spots been given like and i i for the most part at least in this particular moment feel semi-confident they're gonna get outs when they come in which isn't always the case you know yeah certainly certainly more confident with those two than Brad Hand. Who have you seen locate their slider more for a strike? Andrew Belotti or Zach Wheeler? Can you answer that for me? Yeah, Belotti. Dude, I just feel like, again,

it works because he throws 98 and 99 with Wheeler, but it's just like he just never throws a first strike. These guys just don't sit on it. Also, I felt like he threw way more sinkers. I was going to say it felt like he was relying on it. To your point, I think because of loss, he wasn't there, and hopefully it's because of the leg thing. He wasn't pitching the same way he was.

Obviously not effective-wise, but he wasn't attacking hitters the same way he was not obviously not effective wise but he wasn't attacking hitters the same way he normally did no he just he just looked like he couldn't plan on it you know and i feel like when you can't plan on it and you can't sit with like a 99 four seamer then you're like okay well i gotta get guys out on a sinker and hope to to go ground balling like it looked like 2020 wheeler where he wasn't striking anyone out. And then the, yeah.

In 2021, it was like four teams up, you know, let's get to that and whatnot. So that's it. That's all I got. It was a, it was a,

a boring loss that got it. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really good way to put it. It was a boring game it was which is so funny yeah i mean again last night was one of the great world series games of all time like you know they're not all gonna be that way and i don't i i if you i couldn't name one thing that happened in game two of 2008 in the World Series.

It's a great point. It's a great. I remember just being annoyed with it. I remember feeling very similar to tonight. Yeah. Here we are. We're back. Everything's fine.

For real. The Phils always lose game two on the road. It's simply what they do. And then they come back home. This is Bank Park. We get McCullers who can't handle Philadelphia. There's a zero percent chance he can handle philadelphia game four i'm nervous about christian javier javier yeah he's yeah i'm

the same yeah i'm nervous about him games game five justin verlander is i i cannot wait for it i have waited for i don't and again i don't know why i'm so like ravenous in needing to see this because i've loved justin verlander for a while i have said you want him to be a philly you keep saying like you keep like crushing him then being like future philly i'm like what two years 50 million um future philly doesn't for a letter but i I needed to get smoked citizens bank park. I have no idea why I just, I, well,

obviously cause I want the Phillies to win, but like seeing him lose and make me happy. I don't know how to, I don't know how to explain it. Cause like, I like, I like watching all time. Great.

Meltdown citizens bank park. It could just, it's, it does it for me. Um, and then game six, we go back to Houston and Zach, we'll pitch is a gem and his knees fully healthy and everything's great.

Speaking of Justin Verlander. So have you watched the Nolan Ryan documentary on Netflix yet? I have not. Pretty good. You know, pretty good. And I think the reason why I'm so dejected tonight is that I watched it and I was like, oh, Zach's going to do this tonight. Yep, yep, yep.

Wrong documentary to watch and apply fact to Houston. Zach's going to go out and throw 155 pitches tonight. Yeah, yeah. I mean, hang him up, Nolan. But I guess it was pretty cool that he's like 46 and fighting. Dude, he was unbelievable. Like the Nolan Ryan stats when you go deeper freaking insane like obviously the strikeouts insane but like just the like obviously i think the seven no hitters or whatever it is is one of

the many had like 10 one hitters or something like he was like that that stuff's unreal to me like the level 5 000 strikeouts yeah i said strikeouts. And then also just like the pitches. Like I think he threw like 201 starters. It's crazy. It's awesome. Here's what I'll say too, just in terms of again. And I said on the preview pod, like even before game one, I said no matter how it happens, we can't complain with a split.

We can't. We can't. We can't. It's what we want. And it's happening in each of the last two series. Like, we won't do it. And think about it this way, Jack. Think about it this way. We've had two.

This is the third straight split on the road to start a series. This is easily the least annoying loss of the three. Like, the Padres' 4-0 nothing blown lead easily the most annoying of the three losses and the other one was the Reese error Wheeler game which it's like you shouldn't a lot the the Dansby catch the Riley catch like we shouldn't have lost that game like tonight was like you know what we got beat it's okay let's go home and beat their ass like it's it's the least annoying of the three it's okay yeah um I most I mostly agree and i'll just say this like i don't know how that game turns out if sosa makes a good throw and re-scoops it and if uh again like the bregman home run like

that was one of the most hung sliders i've seen it was brutal it was it's like i elliot short park luck parks locks a no home run on that one like it was just like come on um but who knows how that game turns out if we make a play there in the first um and and if schwarber's ball is is uh two feet further or two feet to the left um you know we could be looking at a different game uh Of the Astros' bullpen pieces, Montero doesn't scare me. Also, Dusty just left him in there tonight, too, and bringing Frambois out for the action. Dusty's bad. Dusty is going to give them.

He already gave them game one. Dusty will give them more. The Phillies just need to take advantage of Dusty's mistakes because he's going to keep making them. Montero doesn't scare me. Presley doesn't scare me. Verlander doesn't scare me. Framber scares me. Javier scares me.

McCullers doesn't scare me. That's my updated ranking on the Astros bullpen pieces that scare me. Also, Hector is more in the scare me category. But like, again, just give me one, pal. Just give me one. pal. Just – You owe us one. Just give me one.

Just one. And I thought Hector was coming into face, Bryce. And I was like, here we go. Here we go. So, overall, like, you know, I think I need to talk about it because it's like, ah, it's kind of down. But, overall, we take a split all day. Yep.

All day. It's okay. We're going back to Philly. Might lose one, but hopefully Will's good for game six. So everything's fine. Ryan Sinek scares me too, but they don't use him. So we're good in that case. Why use that guy?

He's like filthy. Like he said, team record for ERA this year this year it's like why would we use that guy let me bring in a freaking starter with a 372 era instead thanks dusty so you know dusty's gonna help us we split it's all good i get a day off for my voice tomorrow jack i'm very excited about this is gonna be good and then mond, you and I are back in the building, and they don't lose when we're in the building for the playoff game. So we're all good. All good. All good.

Get me to Monday night, and everything will be okay. You got any final thoughts, pal? My final thought is... I don't know. That's good. I don't really have much. I don't either. I'm going to save my voice even more.

Monday. Get us to Monday at 8.03. They're going to win. I feel great. We're going to be recording a victory pod after that. That's how I feel. These friends themselves. He spreads himself.