High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - R-E-L-A-X on Bryce and the Brewers Series Was Awful
Episode Date: May 17, 2019The guys are back off a frustrating Brewers and they're relaxing you about Harper. He's going to be okay. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. To learn more about listene...r data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This is the High Hopes Podcast.
High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes.
It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Philadelphia Phillies
on Radio.com and Sports Radio 94 WIP.
Yo, it is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast.
Maybe not as fun and happy an edition.
I'm James Seltzer. I'm looking at Jackieie mush over here and he is not a happy man jack this might be the most down depressed you've looked since
we started doing the podcast they ruined beach week i can tell i knew it was something i knew
it was more than just the poor play there was a little extra to it they're really down right now
for those who can't see jack it's like a real downtrodden Jack Fritz here.
I had to drop $950 on my car today, so I wasn't happy about that either.
Things are not going your way right now.
You know, we're going against the Brewers.
It's a measuring stick series.
And to get your doors blown off, meanwhile, I'm fighting with a five-year-old and a three-year-old
down at the beach.
I just want to have some alone time and some watching beers and watching my favorite baseball team.
It's supposed to be in first place.
It's supposed to be good.
Get their doors blown off by a team who, like, is Gio Gonzalez.
Gio Gonzalez.
Gio Gonzalez, who they screwed up all night long.
I got to get crap talked by Ben Harris about his team.
You know, and freaking Jelich, who sucks on the road, has to have.
Oh, does he now?
Oh, does he now?
He has to have three home runs in a week.
And let me just say yellow trode search was literally the only thing I needed
on my show sheet.
Nothing else really.
It's just annoying.
It's so annoying.
I did not.
I will bring up the trial of the black man,
the road splits,
but I don't know if I want to tweet him out.
I would don't even bring them up.
What are we trying to do here?
We're going to have to get into the Kurt Suzuki award too.
Everything's going wrong.
I might have to abandon the Kurt Suzuki Award really early into it.
It is not working out well.
Honestly, I don't want to abandon it because I want to see just how powerful it is.
I'm out of curiosity now.
I know it might hurt, but out of curiosity, I would like to see how powerful it is.
It's a power I don't want, Jack.
I've yet to pick someone who does not homer.
And Moustaka did it twice.
Yeah.
And your guy did it twice. And Grandol blew up the game yesterday.
And then, of course, the yellow droid splits.
He was like, oh, screw you, Fritz.
Yeah, I do appreciate Christian Yellows listening to the podcast.
That was nice of him, right?
It's just annoying.
It's like, why do they always...
Why does everyone have to make me look bad?
It's been pretty impressive lately.
Bryce is making me look bad?
Yeah, it's almost like whatever you say, the opposite is going to happen.
I just don't get it.
I don't get it.
Who did I piss off?
All I try to do is come up with rational opinions, and for this to be backfiring as much as it
has recently, I don't know what to do.
I'm an off-season man.
I'm not a regular season guy.
We've come to the bottom of why you are looking so angry and depressed today.
I think we've kind of nailed in on all of it.
Beach week ruined.
Calls going wrong.
Everything going wrong.
There's nothing more I look forward to in the world than watching the Phillies at the beach.
There's nothing better in the world.
And the fact that they just play like crap and I have to explain to everyone in the house
what's going on with the Phillies.
Hey, Jack, what's going on?
I know.
And then, you know, I got to watch Mike Moustakas, who should have been our third baseman,
torch us all week. Hey, at least you could do that. You could, I got to watch Mike Moustakas, who should have been our third baseman, torch us all week.
Hey, at least you could do that.
I was right about Moustakas.
How's the Franco takes aging, peeps?
Yeah, you enjoy that third baseman
from the Brewers? Yeah, he would have been pretty good.
We're back! We're back!
Alright, let's get into it.
Here's the funny thing, Jack. Maybe their
best win of the season in the first game of the series.
That was awesome. And then it all went downhill.
That was a good win on Monday, though.
Monday.
Game one was a good win, Jack.
It was a very good win.
It was a good win, and Aaron Nola sucked.
Aaron Nola went three innings.
Talk to me about Aaron Nola.
Because at least for me, and I think for a lot of Phillies fans,
we were starting to feel more positive.
We were seeing progression.
That start against the Cardinals, he's fooling hitters. You know, people
the curveballs curve and like he looked good
and then in that Brewer
start really just looked like he reverted back to
the guy we had seen the first few starts.
What happened and where you at?
I think where I'm at right now with
Nola is that he's just not
he's not the guy, like
obviously he's not the guy he was last year and I don't think
he's going to get back to that point. Like I and let maybe when the weather warms up maybe we'll see
a better nola but even if the weather warms up like this team is supposed to go into october
and if he can't pitch in the cold then then what's the point then what's the point like
it's it's terrifying so start him in la yeah like just just sit him out the entire uh season
why does every nola always pitch on the road in the playoffs? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.
But he, all right, so the problem with Nola on Monday
was that the fastball location was just all over the place.
So the fastball location was, it was,
I just think I'm not watching Aaron Nola.
Like, the fastball location has been a staple of Aaron Nola.
He had, he had the Peralta, the pitcher up.
He threw him four straight curveballs. What are you doing? Because he didn't believe in his fastball. What are you doing? He didn the Peralta, the pitcher up. He threw him four straight
curveballs because he didn't believe in his
fastball. He didn't believe in his fastball that much.
He threw four straight freaking curveballs.
What is that?
What is that thought process? And it's because he doesn't have any confidence
in his fastball right now.
If he doesn't have confidence in his fastball, he's just not
going to be the guy we saw last year.
And he's going to be a 3-2-3-5 guy.
That's what he's going to be because if he doesn't have fastball
location, then all of his other stuff just does not
work as well. I think his curveballs look
good recently. I think his changeups look much better
but without that fastball,
you're not going to be
as dominant and as much of an ace as
you were last year and it's going to force the Phillies
to go out on the deadline. If they want to win this year,
they're going to need to add a starter because there's no doubt about
it. If Noah's not, yeah, it's going to be Baumgartner they're going to need to add a starter because there's no doubt about it. Bumgarner.
Yeah, it's going to be Bumgarner.
It's going to be someone like that because Nola cannot be relied upon
right now to be your number one ace.
This is already the most depressing podcast ever.
I'm not even lying.
I know you're not.
What do you see out of this guy?
You see a guy that cannot locate his fastball.
If he can't locate his fastball, all of his other stuff is just not –
it doesn't play off of it as well,
and he becomes mortal.
Man, I will say, for all the people depressed right now,
later in the show, I think what I have is my favorite final thought that I've ever given on the show.
You've been really excited about this final thought.
If you stay for nothing else, just stay for the final thought,
because it's not going to be fun for a little while.
They did win that game on Monday.
It was a great win, but the next three days really kind of took away from it, Jack.
On Monday, they battled back.
They're down two separate times.
They battle back.
They tie it.
They get big hits to win it.
And then the next three nights, they just don't show up, Jack.
They don't show up.
We'll go through the specifics, but quickly on a macro level, what is it with this team,
show up. We'll go through the specifics, but quickly on a macro level, what is it
with this team, at least in your
eyes, that we can get
such inconsistency from
night to night? I mean, this lineup is too
good to have as many flat, lifeless
performances as they have. What are you seeing?
Alright, I'm not
going to say it for final thought because I think it's too important
not to say it for final thought.
I'm worried people are going to tune out.
I'm going to get it out now.
Playing for the big inning
is not conducive to winning a championship.
For as much as we love the IT...
We talked about this with Boston a lot last year.
This is one of your rallying cries
was that they just hit.
They go up and they hack
and they get runners on base
and they just continually...
Well, look at the Astros this year.
Yeah.
I mean, I know they have way more talent, but like...
They're also one of the all-time great offenses.
Right now. But the top 10,
the top 10 offenses
right or the top 10
teams in lower
strikeout percentage
are, I mean, they're
not all great.
Like the Angels have
the lowest strikeout
percentage in baseball.
It's not even close,
but there are, there
are five of the, I
think it's five of the
best teams that are
top 10 in strikeout
percentage are the,
are five of the best
teams in baseball overall. Like the Red Sox are in there. The Yankees are in there in strikeout percentage are the are five of the best teams in baseball
overall the red sox are in there the yankees are in there the astros are in there the the braves
are in there the dodgers are in there like teams that you see are like those are good offenses like
the phillies are 12th right now which is like they're definitely striking out less than last
year doesn't help that their 330 million dollar man man is contributing a lot to those strikeouts.
But for as much as the thought process of the big inning, the big inning, the big inning,
it is not conducive to winning a championship.
Because you can't rely on it.
And because there's just so many ways to, if you're constantly playing for the big inning,
you're going to become complacent.
Because you're going to be like, oh, we'll just wait for the big inning.
We'll just wait for the big beginning. And then players aren't
going out there and grinding out at bats.
When I watch this team right now, it is not enough
competitive at bats.
That's exactly what I was going to say.
Exactly what I was going to say. It drives
me insane. And it feels like it'll happen where
there'll be full games where they just go up there
and hack and don't have competitive at bats and there's
nothing. There's no adjustment. It's the approach.
How much do we talk about the
approach at the plate and how
impressed we were initially with the
want-to of the
approach at the plate, and we have not seen it.
And it's one reason why I think this
team, which is incredibly frustrating
considering the amount of
talent offensively,
but if this team is down
by more than three runs, the game's
over. The game's over. What is
that about? How does this team never come back?
Two runs, we saw it on Monday.
They'll come back. If it's one or two runs,
they fight, they stay in it. As soon as there's
a big deficit, they just check out.
And I think a lot of,
this is going to sound old man yelling at the cloudy,
but I think this comes down to
when they get down by three runs, it's like,
ah, what does Chocolates want up as a nail?
Yes, and I feel like Gabe does it too.
We've talked about that a lot with the pitching.
I mean, Edgar Garcia feels like he's pitching
all the time now.
You know, Juan Acasio, always in.
Jose Alvarez, who's been better?
Austin Davis pitching three straight games.
That's what I mean.
It feels like Gabe's like,
all right, we're losing by three runs.
This one's over.
I'm going to save my guys
for something that matters.
It makes no sense.
It's really strange.
No, I do get it in the sense
that it's 17.
You have to save guys.
They're playing 17 straight days.
I get that part of it.
I get it,
but this team needs a jumpstart,
and it needs something
that's going to get them going,
and maybe you need the camaraderie
of, hey, let's build back.
This has been two straight years of this. This has been two straight years of this.
This has been two straight years of this offense.
Well, last year's offense wasn't that talented.
But this year's offense, it's the same kind of thing where they'll just go flat.
They'll look cold.
They'll just look defeated out there for no reason.
It's May.
And you see it, and it's just like, all right, they don't have it tonight.
It's one of those things where it's not like they're not even going to try and fight their way through it.
There are just certain nights we look at them and say, all right, we're not scoring runs.
I don't get it.
And the big inning thing, sure, it sounds good to say.
Big fan of the hashtag big inning.
It's a great hashtag.
Do I see the hashtag potential there?
I do.
It's a really good hashtag.
I just don't think
that's how you,
I don't think you can win a title
just only waiting
for a big inning.
Because, listen,
if you get a run here,
get a run there,
like it chips away at things
and then you can hope
for a big home run.
But, like,
the Phillies aren't a,
like, they're not even
a home run hitting team anymore.
They're not.
Like, they haven't,
they didn't hit a home run
the entire series
against the Brewers.
Well, that's not true.
I mean, Gene Segura
hit two home runs.
Oh, yeah, Segura did.
And Cesar Hernandez hit one.
What was I thinking of?
You doing okay?
Yeah.
You used it in a football podcast.
Cesar hit one in the first.
Now, football podcasts, you don't talk about baseball.
I was thinking about something else, and I don't know where that stat came from.
They don't hit one in the Royal Series.
The Royal Series, they didn't win.
And then I had something else in my head.
That was just a bad job by me.
Great job by me.
Jesus.
Well, look at where I'm at.
I'm tired today, Jack. I'll tell you
that much. Well, you haven't talked about football.
Yeah, that too. We're crib training Zoe.
Is crib training as exciting as spring training?
It is way less exciting. Now,
what is crib training? It basically means we're trying
to get her to sleep in her crib through the night.
Oh, so I thought about this.
Just don't go back there.
Just let her cry all night? Yeah. She's
five months old. She'll suck it up.
You're not supposed to do that yet.
Trust me.
I'm ready to let her cry.
At what age?
I'm ready.
Apparently, like, a little later.
Like, six, eight months, and you're supposed to, like, give it a little more time.
I've been around six-month-olds this whole week.
So, if you need any advice.
Yeah, good.
Yes.
Papa Fritz could help me out.
I need something, because my brain is off right now.
See, while they were crying, I was downstairs watching the Phillies.
But yeah, they don't hit as many home runs as they should.
How about that?
Gene Segura did hit two.
Back-to-back days.
Gene's the only guy I count on right now.
Gene is such a...
Mean Gene.
Mean Gene is awesome.
He's so much fun, man.
Do you know there's only nine out of the 33 games he's played this year
that he hasn't gotten a hit in?
That makes sense.
Yeah. The guy just gets hits. Honestly, that feels like too many. I know. It's a little high, actually. A's only nine out of the 33 games he's played this year that he hasn't gotten a hit in. That makes sense. Yeah.
Honestly, that feels like too many.
I know.
It's a little high, actually.
A little high.
Like nine?
Really?
That's a lot.
That's a lot.
But, yeah, I just think, all right, here's where I'm at,
is that I think this offensive philosophy is almost on its way out.
And I understand the Phillies are new to the whole analytics thing.
They got into it super late. And this kind of offense worked two years ago understand the Phillies are new to the whole analytics thing. They got into it super late.
And this kind of offense worked two years ago
when the Phillies just got into it.
It's a really good point, Jack.
And now we talk about this over the offseason.
The game is changing right in front of our eyes.
Very quickly.
And there's more power pitchers.
There's more sliders than ever.
And there's more technology that is allowing people
to evaluate things on the fly things are just changing quicker like something like you just
said something that might have been the the big new thing a couple years ago can go away very
quickly right and listen i understand that strikeouts have been devalued but strikeouts
do matter and they can get in the head of your whole team they can bring down the energy level
of your team if you're just striking out all the time
I need to, I just want to
my main frustration, this team is
can I just say, this team is boring right now.
They're just a boring baseball team.
Which is impossible to believe after that first week
of the season. It's crazy. We thought we were going to be
raking all year long. I thought it was going to be
I thought it was going to be a raking offense.
And it just, it hasn't been.
It has been mostly, mostly boring. It's been a boring offense. It's been Yes. And it just hasn't been. It has been mostly boring.
It's been a boring offense.
It's been inconsistent.
Because you only get one beginning.
It's like when they are good, you get one beginning,
and then the rest of the game is boring.
And then I feel like none of the at-bats are like,
I'm going to grind this bat out.
I thought Bryce was starting to do a good job with this,
and then the Royals weekend happened.
He stopped doing that.
There's something to a guy grinding out an at-bat and working the pitcher. Remember the first week when they were working pitchers? Yeah. I feel like they haven't doing that. There's something to a guy grinding out in a bat
and working the pitcher.
Remember the first week when they were working pitchers?
I feel like they haven't done that.
I feel like it's been a lot more quick innings.
And if your style of baseball is going to be that way,
commit to it because they haven't done that, I feel like,
in a couple weeks.
Yeah, no, I think it's a fair point.
I think it's a really fair point,
and I think it's something that is a big issue right now for this team.
And look, they're still in first place
and also quickly on
Bryce Harper I'm not
at all anywhere near freaking
out about Bryce Harper I know there's been a lot of
people freaking out about Bryce
Harper not there
Bryce Harper's a streaky guy Matt
Gall put out a really good piece showing that
you know the peaks and valleys
of Harper's career that he had
four or five different stretches of
baseball that were just as long as his stretch now, which were
significantly worse than the one he's in
now. So this is just who Bryce is.
I don't want that next streak to happen.
Well, obviously not. Yes.
I'm definitely, listen, I think this is
who Bryce is. Am I frustrated
that it's kind of taken him
a little bit longer to get out of this? Yes.
And you worry about the fastballs. I think of
all the stuff with this specific
slump that is more
worrisome than others, if you're looking for one,
and again, I'm not worried about Harper long
term or even for the rest of this season,
but his inability to catch up to the fastballs
is new, we could say.
Why is that happening?
Yeah, that's definitely...
And Eno Sarah said a whole piece about the sliders
yesterday. The sliders are giving him fits
because they're giving a lot of people fits.
I don't care about the slider as much
as I care about the fastball. The fastball is
way, way, way more important because he's 26 years old.
He's 26 years old and I don't remember the last
time he squared up 96 this year.
I feel like every 96-mile-an-hour fastball, he's done a better
job of not swinging through it recently. He's just popping it he's just uh fouling it off and he
seems like he's right on it but he's not catching up to 96 um so listen am i worried about bryce
harper no i'm not worried about bryce harper because i think bryce is too talented and i
think he's just i think he is i think he's basically just too talented of a hitter to not
to come out of this because he always comes out says he is. He always comes out of it. He's got seven years in Major League Baseball of evidence
to say that he will come out of it.
And again, he's 26 years old.
The one frustrating part with Harper with me is like,
I know you're a tinkerer.
I know you're a guy that always does that stuff.
Yes.
Watch some video.
Watch some video.
Watch some tape.
Watch some video.
Like, I get it.
That's what you do.
But like, there is a ginormous resource that
is right there for you that helps many hitters in the game like just because it's not your style
like guess what what you're doing isn't working right now like give it a shot maybe your sloths
wouldn't last as long as the 65 65 plate appearances just because you do something
one way doesn't mean it's the best way to do it isn't that crazy yeah and why don't you why don't
you maximize your potential?
There's another level of,
I swear to God, I believe this to my core.
There's another level of Bryce Harper that we've never seen because he doesn't look at video.
I agree with you.
I think there's another level of Bryce Harper
that we have not seen because of his,
I don't want to look at video, I'm a tinkerer,
I'm this kind of guy.
That's not how I am.
Dude, you're willfully not taking the data.
How crazy is that?
It's unbelievable, especially for an organization that has thrown themselves into it so wholeheartedly,
so fullheartedly.
You would think they would try.
But instead, there's like, that's the way Bryce does it.
It's like, but why?
You're his manager.
You're his organization.
Why don't you go to him and say, you're paying him.
You're his hitting coach.
Yes.
John Bailey.
Who?
What?
I'm really with you there, Jack.
I think it's crazy.
And also the day off thing.
It seems like because Bryce says he doesn't want to take a day off
and he can figure it out better by going out and hitting every day.
Give him a day off.
Tell him, sorry, Bryce.
You need to sit for a day.
Like, I know you want to play 162.
I know you think you figure it out out there.
Maybe you're wrong.
Maybe you need to sit on the bench for a day and think about what's going on and just take
a day off and mentally refocus yourself.
But Bryce says he doesn't want to sit, so they're just like, oh, sorry, for good, you
don't have to sit.
Like, I don't know.
I feel like maybe the Phillies should be saying, all right, Bryce, hey, for good, you don't have to sit. Like, I don't know. I feel like maybe the Phillies should be saying,
all right, Bryce, hey, I know this is your style,
but could you try this out for us?
Like, this could work.
It's very Joel Embiid-ish of him.
A little bit.
A little bit.
But I don't care if he wants to play every day.
Yes.
I think that's fine.
I'd rather have a guy who wants to play every day
than wants to pat Neshak around.
And I will say, like, dude, for even, listen,ce harper i think bryce harper there's two things
he would be getting way more flack if one he wasn't busting his ass every game absolutely
because he is what he should not be getting i mean that should be a reason to not totally
understand and i don't want to i'm not bashing bryce harper i'm just saying for the fan local
fan reaction there's two reasons he He plays hard. He is sliding.
The diving catches. I mean...
I don't argue he's playing harder than anyone else on the team.
Bryce Harper was signed here for
his defensive prowess. I don't know what you guys signed up for.
Not 40 home runs. I signed him just
to be a good defensive player. He's an extremely expensive
defensive specialist.
Jason Hayward? Yes.
Yes. I don't know why
you guys signed him, but I signed him for his defense.
That's all I talked about.
I was like, come on.
Yeah.
What a great defender.
I don't even think about it.
You got to have this guy in right field.
Yeah, maybe he'll have 25 home runs, but have you seen his right field defense?
Guess what?
Don't even care.
Yeah, don't care at all.
You can bet below the Mendoza.
Just give me that defense in right field.
Yeah, I just, yeah, the most important.
Some would say right field is the most important outfield defense spot.
Most important just spot on the field.
Yeah, yeah.
Some say it's the quarterback
of Major League Baseball.
Bryce,
I respect how hard he's playing.
I think it's awesome.
And I think,
and the second part is,
dude, if he took,
if there was opt-outs in this contract,
he would be getting
crapped on.
Not just the opt-outs.
It's really the whole thing.
Like the whole first impression he made,
the answering the questions, the Philly stuff,
like all that.
Like he, I think he bought himself some leniency.
I really do.
Sure, there's been boos,
but I think, honestly, I think he,
I think he likes the boos
knowing that Philly's fans are like smart.
That they care too.
I think he's, he's so.
He said, did you listen to the interview yesterday?
Dude, you could just tell with Nash.
He didn't want to like crap all over Nationals fans,
but he made it very clear.
He's like, they just don't care
the same way that you care.
And I thought that was really cool.
And again, to that overall point,
and again, I know I harp on it a lot,
but Reese Hoskins was on the Midday Show today
and they asked him about Harper's slump
and he basically flat out said,
he's a human being.
He's got a lot happening.
There's a lot of pressure.
He's in a brand new city.
He's got his family.
He's got a kid on the way.
He's got a kid on the way.
We've talked about this a lot.
You were so bad
on this podcast.
Still am, Jack.
Still am.
The listener of this podcast
is Seltzer going through
a Harper slump?
Still am, Jack.
You know,
you got Emily at home.
She let you do this podcast
but even though she let you do this podcast.
But even though she let you do this podcast,
your performance was not where
the people on this podcast
needed it to be.
So, listen,
you're a guy that went...
And I'm a human, Jack.
People need to understand that.
And here's the difference
between you and Bryce Harper.
He's really talented.
He's 26 and you're four.
So, like,
you're a little bit older than him.
So, and you bounce back, kind of.
You're still working out of it. Kind of. Kind of. I mean, now you do the credit trading thing. You got a lot of crying. I mean, you got a little bit older than him. And you bounce back, kind of. You're still working out of it.
Kind of.
Kind of.
Now you have to do the credit trading thing.
You've got a lot of crying.
I mean, you've got a lot of the crying.
I mean, between a Phillies baseball team that's starting to look like a 2018 version, which
I wasn't ready for.
Don't even go there, Jack.
No.
No.
It's a strong no.
Oh.
Hold on.
Did you?
All right.
I don't know why I'm bringing this up now.
Why not?
Can I just ask a question?
Because I think a lot of people...
Now, you get animated on this podcast.
Your voice goes up a little bit.
Yes, it does.
I don't know if you've noticed that or not.
No, never.
I don't want to break...
Never heard that in my life.
I don't want to break any news to you.
Yes.
Is your daughter's cry very loud pitched as well?
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah.
It's an echo.
Oh, yeah.
It's a seltzer.
It's a seltzer cry.
She's Charlie Daylight. Wow. Yeah. Wait. What's the girl version of Charlie's? Yeah yeah it's a seltzer it's a seltzer cry she's she's charlie daylight wow
yeah wait what's the girl version of charlie's yeah charlie's yeah or or char i mean they're
girls named charlie oh yeah there is yeah yeah okay middle name um so what i will say is it's
a loud cry it's sometimes like so she'll sometimes just wake up at it like she'll be sleeping on my
shoulder and she'll just wake up with like the loudest
crying.
Like that's the way she wakes up.
And it almost brusts my eardrum.
And she says to you, that's how daddy does it.
She's like, no, what she says is bitch change me or bitch feed me or bitch whatever.
That's what she said.
All right.
A couple of Harper things real quick that I thought was interesting before we move off
of this.
His width percentage on fastballs right now is the highest it's ever been in his career.
So it's 15%. His latest
high was 10%, which is
not something I love. Awesome, Jeremy.
The last NL player to lead the league in
K's and walks in a season was?
Ooh.
How long would it happen?
It was in the 80s. Yeah, I was going to say it's probably been a while.
Walks and strikeouts in the 80s.
Because Harper's on pace to lead the NL in both walks and strikeouts.
Dave Kingman.
No.
Daryl Strawberry.
No.
Dale Murphy.
So Dale Murphy had, I think it was 90 walks and 141 strikeouts,
which Bryce is going to break in a month.
He's going to crush both of those numbers.
He also hit like 35 home runs that year.
The last Philly to do it was Mike Schmidt in 1983.
That makes all the sense in the world.
Yes.
So, listen, here's the difference.
Is that Bryce Harper is, listen, if he wants to strike out and walk, I'm fine.
But I need 35 plus home runs.
We need the homers.
Look, he can be a true three outcomes guy.
Like, that's okay in today's baseball.
And the way he hits, like how hard he hits the ball,
that's probably what it's going to be.
Yeah.
When he hits the ball, every ball he squares.
I feel like he squares them up.
They're awesome.
Yeah, it's monsters.
So I was thinking about this as well.
When we're talking about the park factors,
I was like, it doesn't really matter.
Because when he hits home runs.
They're no doubters.
That's a good point, actually.
He's a lot of no doubters.
So it's like the whole Citizens Bank part of it.
That's probably why he was like, I don't care if I go to San Fran.
I'll go wherever, baby.
Yeah, if he didn't go to San Fran, though.
Yeah.
Could have played with your boy Aaron Altair, though.
Well, that could be the best outfield in the NL.
Aaron Altair and two guys you've never heard of before in your life.
Steven Duggar.
Mack Williamson.
Kevin PR.
All right. We're done. A lot of Gi. Mack Williamson. Kevin PR. All right.
We're done.
A lot of Giants talk.
Yeah.
Done with the Giants.
Madison Baumgartner is the only Giant I care about.
And Will Smith.
And Will Smith.
Yes.
All right.
Anything else?
Eikhoff, look, regression was bounded.
Jared Eikhoff, he wasn't going to have a sub 2 ERA.
Yeah.
His ball, I think a lot of that was weather induced.
I mean, the ball just was not moving.
And actually, I don't want to call the Brewers cheaters,
but they're cheaters because I am, I swear to God,
I am 90% sure they had to have had something on both him and Nola
because they were squaring him up way more.
It was noticeable.
It was a noticeable.
I think they were tipping pitches or something,
and the Brewers picked up on it.
I mean, it's possible.
And if they did good for them. i'm never one to think that that
is i mean cheating whatever like if you can figure out that someone's tipping pitch is good for you
oh no i believe me i i love to i yeah what i used to do in high school that's all i did was try to
pick up that's cool i like that it's about it's one of the it's one of the most underrated awesome
parts of baseball it is great like that's that's your own fault if you were giving away now a
different thing is like yes when someone is binoculars
in center field, that's a whole different story
and that is when you cross a line.
Yeah, it's totally. When you got a spotter and a signal
guy and all that shit. That's a different
thing, but ultimately, I'm totally
okay if you're smart and you can steal
signs. I'm not calling Ben Harris a
cheater, but he is
well aware of my thoughts.
Cheater.
Alright, so Eikhoff, but he is well aware of my thoughts. Cheater. Freaking cheater.
All right.
So Eikhoff, anything else?
I mean, look, Eflin didn't have his best stuff,
but still battled.
I was actually pretty impressed with the way he battled.
I really liked what Eflin...
Obviously, it wasn't...
See, well, his fastball location was a little bit off
from where it's been recently.
But still, like, Pavetta or Velasquez
probably blow up in that scenario.
Yes, yes.
The fact that he kept it
right where it was,
he got unlucky.
I mean,
the Cesar play.
Oh my God.
I was like,
I was like,
this is where I'm so confused,
right?
This is where I always get confused
when I'm watching Major League players
do this.
And between him
and Sean Rodriguez
the night before.
Which was horrendous as well.
I played a lot of baseball.
Like, right?
I played up until college,
all that stuff. You have played
probably three times more
as many baseball games as I have in my entire
life. If not more. And like, the
fact that that was your thought process,
it's like, where's
your head at? Literally.
Literally, the first
thing you learn in Little League,
the first thing my dad ever taught me about playing
baseball, he said, when you're in the
field, you should know exactly
what you're going to do in any situation. Wherever the
ball's hit, whether it's a D, whether it's a someone, you
should know what your job is.
Why don't the Phillies know that? Like, why
do they not know what they're going to do if the ball
comes to them in these situations? It is
asinine, Jack. It is asinine.
You have so many time,
so much time in between pitches.
All you should be thinking about is what happens to the ball set here.
Yes!
Like Utley said.
Every spot on the diamond, you should know exactly.
Am I the cutoff man?
You should know everything.
The only reason Utley made that play in Game 5 of the World Series
was because that was his thought process.
His thought process was, if Bartlett does here, what am I doing here?
Same thing with your favorite Derek Jeter against Oakland.
It's because he just was in the right spot and was able to make a magical
play oh back when he could actually get the balls by the way marlins one of the all-time worst teams
we were right about that wow well let's not pat ourselves in the back no but have you seen their
offensive numbers i mean they they are literally setting records with their offensive futility.
The Marlins, I kid you not.
Had they kept everyone, would be the best team in baseball right now.
It's unbelievable.
If Jose Fernandez does not pass away.
And you have an outfield of Ozuna, Yellich, Stanton.
You have Grilmuto.
Grilmuto.
You have Dee Gordon.
Oh, my God.
All the guys they could have.
But, dude, they traded Luis Castillo for Dan Straley.
Yes.
They traded Chris Paddock for three months of Fernando Ramos.
Chris Paddock.
I forgot they had Chris Paddock.
Oh, my God.
Dude, they had Chris Paddock.
Oh, my God.
They had Jose Fernandez.
They had Domingo German.
They put Domingo German in the freaking deal for Martin Prado.
Yeah.
It's great.
And Nathan Evaldi.
Thanks, Derek.
Well, it wasn't Derek.
I mean, honestly, not a lot of it is Derek.
No, no.
But the reason stuff is a little bit Derek. Well, it wasn't Derek. I mean, honestly, not a lot of it is Derek. No, but the reason stuff is a little bit Derek.
Well, getting Louis Brinson for Christian Yelich.
Just trading Yelich in the first place.
It's going to go down.
It's going to be up there with the top three biggest trades of all time.
Worst trades of all time.
I agree with you.
I mean, Yelich is going to win back-to-back MVPs, it looks like.
Yeah, well, he can't hit on the road.
And apparently he can hit on the road.
Like, couldn't the Brewers thank me?
Who says that?
Who says that Christian, look at these
road splits and then he just comes in and just
owns our soul.
The road splits are the road splits. Am I supposed
to keep information to myself? Yes.
At this point, yes.
Wait until I tweet out the Charlie Blackman stats later.
Don't do it.
Any other thoughts from the
horrendousness that was that Brewers
series? Yes.
I'll just unload. Normally we go game by game. We don't want it. All right. Any other thoughts from the horrendousness that was that Brewers series? Yes. Yes.
I'll just unload.
Normally we go game by game.
I know, but we don't want to.
Exactly.
It's too depressing.
So just unload what else you got.
I feel like we're at a macro stage right now.
We got to get macro.
Yes.
But I will say this.
Jake Arrieta, for the love of God, please never rip your teammates again.
Because ever since that moment, you have a 614 ERA.
Yep.
The same exact thing happened last year.
Before that, he had like a.9 ERA.
You're absolutely right.
It happened immediately after.
The baseball gods know.
Yes, very clearly.
And here's the biggest sign for me.
Well, besides the fact that his command is just off.
I just hate watching guys that can't throw strikes.
I know you do.
It really bothers you.
It's so frustrating.
But Arrieta's sinker in his first five starts,
a 160 batting average against and a 240 slugging percentage.
Pretty good.
One home run in his first five starts.
Last four, 319 batting average against, 511 slugging percentage,
three home runs.
Not great, Jack.
That's not what I want to hear.
That's what he has to figure out.
And my last point from the weekend, pitching-wise, is Chris Young.
I hope you listen to this podcast because
you know he does. So just speak directly to Chris.
Your plan for Sir Anthony
Dominguez is flawed.
It is a flawed plan.
If you have a lefty up there with
Sir Anthony on the mound, why you
continue to throw outside cutters
that first off he doesn't have
command of. His command
of his fastball, of his cutter, is...
I understand people think...
I think Velasquez and the pen may work
because I've seen Sir Anthony.
And Sir Anthony has no idea where his fastball is going.
At least I think Vince has a semblance of an idea
where his fastball is going.
And I think he can break off some decent curveballs
or sliders off of that.
Sir Anthony right now,
I think the sliders look much better.
But that fastball command...
Why are you throwing a fastball away that cuts to a lefty that it's only going to cut into their back?
Makes no sense.
Like, dude, dude, start your fastball.
All right.
First off, start it a little bit inside and let it just cut in on lefty hitters.
I mean, Mariano Rivera, this is what he did for 20 years.
He only pitched you through him.
It's like, all it does is just cut in on lefties and they can't get it on the barrel.
If you throw, if you throw it the. All it does is just cut in on lefties, and they can't get it on the barrel.
If you throw it to the outside, it's only going into the barrel.
It's going to the sweet spot. You're basically allowing, yeah, exactly.
It's going to the sweet spot.
They're going to extend their arms and get the barrel right on it.
I mean, and that's exactly what Yasmany Grandal did.
That's exactly what he did.
If you start it middle and let it go in or in and let it go in further,
then it's only moving off of the sweet spot.
You want to avoid the sweet spot.
That's the name of the game.
I was surprised, and I know Morgan had had the walk and the hit batter,
but I was surprised they made the change there.
I know that if you look at Grondahl's numbers this year,
he's been significantly better against right-handed pitching,
but career-wise, he's actually better against left-handed pitching.
Well, especially at CBP.
I feel like he always hits home runs.
Always.
I just didn't understand the move of flipping him around.
Like, I would have kept Morgan in there.
I know that it wasn't ideal, but I trust that.
And first of all, I might not have brought Morgan out for the second inning in the first place.
I don't like any of our relievers going multiple innings.
Yeah.
None of these guys are multi-inning guys, or should be, at least.
Yeah.
And one quick note on Yosemite Grandal.
There's so many people that are like,
whoa, he's such a bad defense. Like, that
guy stole so many strikes
for that pitching staff this weekend.
Who says he's a bad defense? Well, because everyone's like,
well, he had a bad World Series or whatever.
He's a great defensive guy. Well, he's a terrible...
He's like Alfaro on steroids
where he can't block anything. Yeah, but he does
everything else really well. That guy stole so
many... I was watching Real Amido and him.
I think it was the Nola start, I think.
And Real Amido was not getting the same level of strikes
whereas Grandal was getting these strikes for Peralta.
So he's just – he's the best framer in the sport, I think.
He's a really good player in general too.
Yeah, well, obviously.
What can he do?
So, all right, we might as well talk about it
since we just mentioned Grandal Moustakis. What to do, obviously. What can he do? So, alright, we might as well talk about it since we just mentioned Rondon Moustakis.
What to do, Jack?
What do we do? You put up a poll. Should we get
rid of the, from the high ups account? Should we get
rid of the Kurt Suzuki Award? Overwhelming
yes. I don't know
what to do here. I'm torn.
A power that I don't like. I do think it's an
interesting idea to just see
how far it can play out.
But also, I feel like we're yeah tempting fate
could make our listeners really mad at us could make everyone really mad at us i'm really torn
here i don't know what to do rocky's coming up obviously that we would be talking about the
rockies only 65 are saying yes that's 35 do we do it one more time and if and if our guys go off
again then we just have to do it?
What if we start picking not good players?
Oh, like really go off the wall?
And then we see the
true power of it.
So let's say I pick
I don't know, Romil Tapia.
That's a good pick.
Right? If he goes off then
we start to really reevaluate
things?
I think that's the way to do it.
Okay.
So, like, last week, I mean, you picked Moustakas, good player.
I picked Grandal, good player.
The week before that, you picked...
DeYoung, good player.
DeYoung, and I picked Marcelo Zuna.
Well, Alex Gordon's not a good player.
I guess he's having a good year.
And I picked Hunter Dozier, but the Royals are also bad.
Yeah.
Like, this team also has...
This Rockies team has talent.
So, the point is, is we've been picking good, solid players.
We're going to try and take a step down.
Yeah, we're going to stop.
We're just going to pick bad players.
And that's the thing.
Tapia's not a bad player.
He's been playing better.
But I would guess that even the High Hopes audience,
which is a really smart baseball audience,
there are probably people listening to this who have never even heard of Ramil Tapia.
All right, let's take some players off. Okay, let's start with this. So no one heard of Ramil Tapia. Let's take some players off.
Okay?
Let's start with this.
So no one can pick Nolan Aronado.
Let's exit.
Let's exit.
Well, he's like Mike Gofranco on the road.
Okay.
Don't even go there.
He's batting 314.
Don't even go there.
He actually has, for the first time in his career, he has like nine home runs on the
road and only two at home.
He's been awesome.
So let's not.
All right.
One time fate.
I'm fine.
I'm fine.
All right.
Here are the players that we cannot pick.
Charlie Blackman.
Daniel Murphy.
No one there.
We are not touching Daniel Murphy.
Even though Murphy's been horrendous, but yes, I'm with you.
I don't get...
James?
Yeah, I'm with you.
It's Daniel Murphy.
It's Daniel Murphy.
I'm with you.
I agree.
What are you doing?
I agree.
We don't touch the Daniel Murphy stoke.
We don't start stoking that fire.
I agree.
God, what are you doing?
Story has a career like...
Yeah, no Trevor Story. We're not touching Trevor Story. Aaron Otto, we can't touch with anything. Yeah, and Blackman. starts toking that fire i agree god what are you doing story has a career like yeah no no
trevor sorry we're not we're not touching trevor story arenado we can't touch with anything yeah
and blackman i'm sorry we're not i know you're gonna go on your whole roadside thing we're not
taking charlie do you want to bust him out no do you know good he's been lately yeah but do you
know how bad you know why i know because i played him in fantasy last week and he crapped all over
me i was not psyched also he has like a career 600 slugging percentage in the bank part.
Yeah, so Blackman,
off the board.
I think that's it.
Okay.
Everyone else is...
Well, they just called up
their top prospects.
I know.
If we see Brendan Rodgers,
let's not hope that he goes off too.
Yeah.
I don't want to turn him
into a Rockies podcast.
I wonder what they're going to do there.
Where are they playing him?
I don't know.
Yeah.
I mean, I thought
Garrett Hampson was their guy.
I guess second base.
All right.
I'm going to go first.
I'm going to pick Ian Desmond.
Okay.
Because that guy stinks.
He's horrendous now.
All of a sudden, he's not a good baseball player.
I am personally not getting twitched by Ian Desmond.
I don't care how far in the heads the mush gods are of me,
but I am not getting twitched by Ian Desmond.
Okay, so here's the thing.
Should I not pick Ramil Tapia?
No, you can pick Ramil.
I feel like he's too good a player for me to pick, even though's not no he's not he's not okay ramil tapia he's gonna
be awesome what you could choose from right now is tony walters ryan mcmahon david doll who's gonna
go off this week and ian ian desmond so i'll go ramil tapia that's a fair take i should take
tony waltz by the way tony walters, great mustache. Yeah. Great mustache. I need to see
more staches in my baseball players. Tony Walters looks like
he could drop him right in the 70s and
he would flourish.
Big fan of that. So that's the new
position of the Kurt Suzuki.
They have to be like Kurt Suzuki. That's fair.
Kurt Suzuki is a part-time player. We're picking two good guys.
Yes. That's our bad.
And now, if these guys go off, we will
get rid of these boys. Don't worry.
We're tempting fate a little bit, but hopefully not too much here.
We're hopefully reversing fate so at least the bad guys play bad.
Yeah.
And the good guys who we don't pick won't play as good because we didn't pick them.
If so facto, you're welcome.
All right.
Irvin on the Hill tonight.
What are you looking for?
I know you were more bullish than I expected you to be.
I have a guy who had a 5.8
strikeout per nine
career in the minors.
Well, I wasn't.
His career is over seven
just this year.
This year was, okay.
So regardless,
even someone who's around seven
for a career minor league
strikeout rate,
I would not expect Jack Fritz
to be on board for.
You were a little more bullish
than I expected last week.
What are you looking for?
Well, you know me.
I just like seeing guys
that can pitch well.
I know.
I like the mix of five pitches.
It's your thing.
It's exciting.
I don't know if it's exciting, but it's something that I enjoy.
Not really exciting, but it's exciting for you.
And thus for us.
Looks like the soft contact woes are starting.
Like the trouble with relying on soft contact, I will say.
Yes.
It's starting to rear its ugly head.
Just past series.
Yes.
You can say that.
It didn't work out very well. It didn't work out very well.
It didn't work out very well.
That's a really good offense.
It works against the Royals.
We're not sure if it's going to work against...
Rockies are a better offense.
Rockies are a better offense.
A little bit better.
Listen, I don't know.
You're shook right now.
You don't even know what to call for right now.
You're shook.
How about this?
Cole Irvin is going to get lit up tonight.
There it is!
Yes!
Well done.
How's that feel?
Yes.
Yes.
You did it for all of us, buddy.
Cole Irvin is going to get shilled.
Not even worried about it.
He doesn't strike anyone out.
This is good stuff right here.
Should I start going into, I did this thing on CounterPoint where I would just really
get in the heads of mush guys.
I should start doing the same here.
You should.
I don't know why it's taking you this long.
I mean, you've allowed yourself to just get literally owned by the mush gods
for the last few weeks, month, whatever.
So man up a little bit and flip it around.
Stop just being all sad and depressed.
Actually do something about it.
Oh, Cole Irvin can't strike anyone out.
The Rockies strike out a lot, but they'll figure it out.
They'll figure it out tonight because Cole Irvin throws 85 miles an hour.
You know who else threw 85 miles an hour?
Me in high school.
Oh, see, there we go.
So if the Rockies can't figure him out, I think they should be in hot water.
All right, and we got Nola tomorrow and then Eikhoff on Sunday.
So fingers crossed.
Yeah, I mean, it's a big fingers crossed thing.
And, you know, it's interesting.
I tweeted this out, but for the last, I'd say, three weeks, two, three weeks,
the Phillies pitching staff has carried this team.
This Phillies pitching staff is not built to carry a team.
So this offense needs to start showing up.
The weather's only getting better.
The pitching staff kept this team afloat,
but this offense is too talented to be kept down for as long as they have.
So it's time for them to step up.
I really thought Bryce had a decent series against the Brewers. Obviously so it's time for them to step up uh i thought i thought i really thought bryce had a decent series against the brewers obviously it's nothing special and the fact
they were getting excited about like a warning track shot it's like oh yeah buddy he's gonna
go on a run i got really excited about that warning track shot actually sorry i messed up
uh bryce harper's toast there you go there we go see we're getting the hang of this thing now
but then how am i supposed to take and see anyway all right Alright, Jack, I have, I don't know about you,
I have two more things before final thoughts. Neither
are Phillies related, so if you want,
do you want to empty the notepad real quick?
Yeah, I'll empty it.
More just like pet peeves of mine that I'm starting
to get frustrated with. I am really getting
frustrated with the whole they're in first place thing
because I get it. I understand
they're in first place, but guess what? It's a way to qualify it.
We literally just saw this last year.
This is-
It's a good point, Jack.
Did we not learn anything?
No, it's a really good point.
They are in first place, though,
so let's not-
I know, they are in first place,
but can we talk-
It's a fair point.
You bring back last year,
it's a really fair way to take it.
They were in first place in August last year.
I want to be able to talk critically
about the Phillies without the disclaimer of,
well, they're in first place.
So none of this matters.
Well, I think we did that.
No, I know.
But like, it's...
It's fair.
It is a go-to.
They're in first place,
so let's not even worry about it yet.
It's now gotten to a process
over results thing that is like...
I think that's a fair take.
Thank you.
Fair.
Also,
wow, man, I just looked at it
and then I forgot.
Well, I'll throw one more at you.
Jack got mad at me today for not listening to his voicemail.
He calls me the old one.
Who leaves voicemails, Jack?
Me.
I don't know.
I wanted to leave a voicemail.
I was driving.
I didn't want to.
I was driving and I.
You don't think I'll see the missed call and get back to you or whatever?
No.
I knew you were in crib training.
I was in crib training.
That's me thinking out for you. Also. You call me an old man a lot voicemails i do an old man i'm single-handedly
bringing them back um what do you think about what do you think about the major changes or
whatever to the lineup so as in bryce the tool no no like gabe talked last night how like they
need to change things up basically and like we need to take action after a disappointing series and i think the first step was moving bryce up i like i don't
mind bryce i'm fine with that and that's where theoretically your best player is going to move
i have no problem with your best player is going to play or best players going to hit and um i'm
cool with him there maybe like moving him up as opposed to moving him back to be honest now i
think i i would bet I don't have any
information here, but
I think Cesar's going to be in the leadoff spot starting
tonight. And I think they're going to move
McCutcheon down. I mean, we've talked about this. I think
it's a good move right now. Look, McCutcheon
is clearly struggling. You put it
out until last night. He did not have an extra
base hit in May. And then he got an extra base hit.
It was unbelievable.
Seriously, keep doing ones like that.
Where it's like, oh, the Phillies are sucking because of this.
Boom! Well, I did tweet out the
Arietta Stats. Yeah, so that's good work.
That's only because I need him to show up against Darvish tomorrow
in Chicago. Oh, he's
against Darvish? Oh, man.
On Monday. And also flip off Theo Epstein as he
walks up. Oh, that is like the all-time... Oh, I can't wait to talk about
that on Monday. We will dive into that on the Ohio Spot.
That's like maybe the most important start of... That's even more important-time – oh, I can't wait to talk about that on Monday. We will dive into that on the Ohio Spot on Monday. That's like maybe the most important start of –
that's even more important than Pavetta was.
This is big for you.
I mean, if –
This is years of you saying this.
Can I go inside my head for five seconds?
Yeah, please.
I have this vision of Jake Arrieta striking out Anthony Rizzotto,
finish the seventh inning, walking off the mound,
flipping off Theo Epstein.
Ian Kinsler style?
Yeah.
Did you see that?
Yeah.
I mean, Ian, you suck.
F these Fs?
F these Fs, man?
First off, first off.
Talking about his hometown fans.
First off, Ian Kinsler can't handle San Diego Padres fans.
I know, right?
Especially for someone who's been in baseball as long as he has.
When did you get a thin skin?
Like, what happened?
You played in Boston.
And he's Jewish.
I'm a big fan of any great Jewish athlete.
A little soft, Ian.
I wish he played here just to see if he would have had the same reaction.
A little soft.
You're batting 171.
You don't see Bryce Harper's A&F these Fs, right?
I mean.
He's saying that they push him even further.
Exactly.
All right, Fritzy.
Before final thoughts, I'm going to put you on the spot here. No. Exactly. All right, Fritzy, before final thoughts,
I'm going to put you on the spot here.
No.
Yeah, you have no idea this is coming.
I don't like being put on the spot.
I know you don't, but you're going to have to do it
because I don't know if you saw,
but it was a big thing all over social media and all that.
Some, I don't know who could have possibly thought this,
but the Philly accent,
name one of the sexiest accents in America, apparently.
You got to give us a little.
Yeah, you think this is sexy?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's dying down the shore.
Listen, if you don't think this is sexy,
wait till I get a few Karenas in me.
I'll be freaking on top of the world.
Now, don't get me started on this Kapler,
coconut oil loving manager of the world. Now, don't get me started on this Kapler kicking that 0-11
manager of my team.
Because this Kapler guy doesn't know what
he's doing. Listen,
all these freaking losers who
thought Nick Pavetta was anything more than a number
five in a good rotation,
frick that guy. He stinks. I'm going to get a
hoagie down the shore, have a couple
Coronas, and we'll be back on
good terms, alright? Oh, man.
First of all,
well done. God clap. Second
of all, who could ever think that is an
attractive accent? How is that
sexy? You don't think that's sexy?
Yeah, come on, man.
Alright, final thoughts. Thank you
for coming through there. That hurts my soul, man.
Thank you for coming through. Down there in Aston. I needed that
from you right there. Deeply. So, thank you. Yeah, you're. Me out down there in Aston. I needed that from you right there.
Deeply.
So thank you.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Good looking out.
You know, I made people really sad today,
so we're going to make them happy at the end of the year.
Well, I'll make people even happier now
with my...
My final thought,
the best I've ever had,
so go ahead.
You said that four times.
Best I've ever had.
And that's only on this podcast.
Yeah.
You've also texted me.
I texted you about it, yeah.
And whatever.
It's time to bring up Nick Pavetta. uh it's obvious it's like nicky you know
what's so frustrating about the triple a nick about the pivetta conversation is if you just
if his name was like jason smith everyone would be like bring him up bring him up he's an
unbelievable prospect but since it's nick pivetta everyone's like well he can't do it against big
well listen dumbass like like like what prospect comes up and get like,
if this was like a prospect that never pitched in the big leagues,
you'd be like, oh, bring him up here immediately or whatever.
Just saying, we're monitoring the Nick Pavetta situation.
And he's looking much, much, much better.
People are too worried
about the walks yesterday. Walks happen.
You never know how minor league strike zones are.
They're weird. But he struck out 11, so good for him.
Second final thought is the Phillies record
right now is the exact same record as it was in
2008. And I have an interesting thread here
from Justin Kennedy, who's a listener
of the podcast.
Their scoring average is up nearly a run.
Their median
score is up a full run. Per meetings, their medium score, their median score is up a full run.
Um,
percentage of games held the three runs or less is at 30%.
Um,
uh,
last year,
that number was 30,
30.8%,
whatever,
uh,
affiliate this year scoring five or more runs in over half their games.
So they're scored five or more in over half their games.
I think that's a good stat.
Um,
so compared to the,
Oh,
wait,
lineup. They have been, um, in 2008, more in over half their games i think it's a good stat um so compared to the 08 lineup they have
been um in 2008 the phillies median run scored was four the 2018 the 2018 was two this year's
is five so the median run scores of the phillies year is five the 08 team was four the 2019 is
extremely similar to 2008 um the offenses are basically nearly the same.
And the Phillies team has been shut out less in their first 43 games.
So some positivity there from Justin. Justin Kennedy.
Shout out to Justin.
I probably butchered that because I went over it.
Yeah, it sounded pretty butchered.
But the idea being that, like, hey, relax.
This offense is not as bad as people are saying.
The idea is this.
The numbers on this current Phillies team offensively are right now better than the 08 team.
And we know what that 08 team did.
Yeah.
It worked out okay.
Yeah.
All right, Jack.
Final thought.
Yes.
I don't know if you saw this or not.
Chase Utley was interviewed.
I saw.
You did.
Well, I don't know what you're talking about.
Okay.
MLB.com.
They asked Chase what his favorite breakfast food is, favorite salad ingredient, favorite vacation spot, all that stuff.
And then they came around to Philly Expression.
Said, Chase, what's the quintessential Philly Expression?
What's the best Philly Expression?
Do you know what Chase Utley said?
No.
He said, yo, is the number one Philly expression.
Chase Sutley, confirmed fan of the High Ops podcast.
Confirmed fan of the High Ops podcast.
Yo is his favorite Philly word.
How about that?
I didn't know that.
How about that, Jack?
Yo.
Yo.
Should I start doing it?
Yo.
Yo it is, man.
How about that, man?
Chase Sutley's a huge fan of the podcast.
That's the only way I could interpret that. That's great. It's a good yo. I'm really chase all he's a huge fan of the podcast that's the only way i
could interpret that that's great it's a good yo i'm really happy it's a good yo uh and let's just
end on an extra positive note because it's been too negative podcast man am i happy that one of
our top picks is actually raking like i'm so happy that alec bohm is like looking like a baby like
he's raking raking he's back and there's ac bohm is like looking like a baby like he's
raking raking he's back and there's a lot of whispers he's gonna be in redding sooner
he should be so that'd be quick promotion after we were worried about the first you know why isn't
he moving up it's three levels in two months i mean that never happens so that's a good sign
they believe in him his hands are looking good we're not worried about that anymore
thank god and he is that was a real worry. I was freaking out.
I could barely focus on anything else.
That's all I cared about.
I know.
But bones raking.
Go Fels.
All right.
Beat the Rockies.
Two of three.
Maybe even sweep.
I don't know.
Win a few games in a row.
What a crazy thought that would be for this team.
Let's do that.
Jack, please.
Gene Zagora, the straw that stirs the drink.
Mean Gene.
All right.
We'll be back Monday.
Hopefully with a happier pot. Until then, have a wonderful weekend. please Gene Zagora the straw that serves the drink Mean Gene alright we'll be back Monday hopefully
with a happier pod
until then
have a wonderful weekend
go Phillies
we'll talk to you soon
he's Fritz himself
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