High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: A Season on the Brink

Episode Date: August 30, 2018

James Seltzer and Jon Marks discuss the Phillies worst loss is a season full of terrible losses. They also talk about the team bounced back with a resillient win the next night.  The guys also offer their thoughts on who's most to blame for the recent swoon, the team's chances to rebound in September, and more on the latest edition of the High Hopes Phillies Podcast.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. 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

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We are coming to you. Well, you'll be listening to this after it's already happened, but all right, we've got an out in the ninth. We are watching the Phillies and basically fearing how they could possibly break our hearts yet again after last night's worst, worst, worst loss of all the worst losses. We'll get into all of it. I am James Seltzer with me. get into all of it uh i am james seltzer with me my man the afternoon host of wip mr johnny marks what's up buddy i wasn't planning on doing a lot of talking during this podcast i you know here's the way i figured with starting this during the during the last inning if they did self-destruct again it would be, really intriguing podcast to listen to us freak out.

Right? But Kingery just made a diving stop and got Rendon, which was important to get the runner before him out because you don't want to put him up with anybody on base. But two outs, bottom of the ninth. It looks like they're – here's the problem, James, they're salvaging these series, but they're still losing the series. Yeah. They haven't won a series since the end of July,

which is crazy to think about. And it's frustrating because it does look like tonight, at least Atlanta as of now in a rain delay, but down eight to three in the sixth inning against the Rays. But they've had opportunities to gain some games, and then they've just found a way to actually lose games. And going into tonight, at least, obviously this will change when most people listen to this, or could, four and a half out, five in the loss column. Still in the wildcard race, but there's so many teams there. And

it's just been frustrating, John, because we'll dive into all these games because this game that is happening right now, and if the Phillies can pull it out, it's been a really fun game. And it's nice to feel like you can enjoy watching baseball again after the heart-crushing, soul-crushing game from yesterday, which we'll get into both. but just from a macro perspective real quick looking at where the team is right now the swoon as we said they haven't won a series since july and we're gonna get into parsing out some blame as well because that's kind of been a a hot topic lately but um where do you just stand with this team right now? Are you more in the camp of

what I'm seeing right now is too much for me to believe that they can get to the playoffs? Or is this, are you still in the kind of camp where there are some people who are saying, hey, chill out. There's still 30 games left, 29 games left, and they're still in it. Well, I'm not chilling out anymore, but there's a lot of baseball to be played. There's still a lot of baseball to be played, and obviously it's not going to feel good right now. It doesn't feel good to Phillies fans right now,

and it looks like they're going to get a win here, and you said it it the Braves are are losing so that gets it down to four games or three and a half games actually um so anything can happen anything can happen but they have to start playing better and the same mistakes that they've been making over and over again all year or most of the year didn't hurt them before it's hurting them now and um and they can't continue to do that so they really need to make some major changes the players need to make changes um and you know that that that'll be that and Roman Quinn just got the catch to get the win hey no meltdown on this podcast

damn it's a shame for the listeners and for us maybe it would have been fun maybe when we get to discussing last night's uh last night's just pathetic awful loss uh we can recreate some of our emotions and and see what it would have been like if we had been recording but like you said, I think right now, look, it's tough to believe that this team can do anything because it has been such a long stretch now, the longest of the seasonues and mental errors and BS stuff that you shouldn't be doing when you're in high school, much less in the major leagues. And, and it's one thing if, if players make some mistakes, we're all human and all that, but they've got 102 errors or whatever on the season. It's like, what is that, man? That is, that is just, there's so much about that that upsets me as a lifelong baseball fan, as someone who, when my dad, and I've said this before a bunch of times, but the first thing my dad said to me when I started

playing baseball was he said, when you're in the field, you should know exactly what you're going to do in every single situation, no matter where the balls hit, no matter, you know, what happens, where a runner runs, whatever happens, you know what you should do in every situation. And it's like that fundamental type stuff that this Phillies team doesn't do. I mean, the miscues that we saw last night with, I mean, Alfaro, that throw. I mean, the Santana throw was execution. But the Alfaro throw, how do you throw that baseball? How do you throw that baseball?

Yeah, this is a dumb team right now. They're making mental mistakes all over the field. The Santana play I had less of an issue with because it would have been a bang-bang play. It would have been a tough play. He would have had to make a perfect throw to get the runner at home, but I thought it was still worth throwing. I agree with you. The problem that everybody's seeing with it is that he sailed the throw

because his feet weren't set and everything else. So, yeah, I mean, that's why it's problematic. But, James, this team, and we're very pro-Gabe on this podcast, and I think we're pro-Phillies, and we like what they're doing. But I have a limit, and my limit was last night because it seems like every game, whether it's Wilson Ramos or last night it was Velasquez, you end the game by leaving too early, trying to tag up to get the third with two outs,

which is like I thought they've already invented all the ways to lose games. And seriously, you reach a limit. And my limit was last night. And do I think Gabe Kapler is solely responsible for this team's bad defense and their mental mistakes? No, of course I don't. But who am I going to blame? Are you going to blame the players?

Sure, blame the players. I'll do full circle. I'll go to the Eagles, right? If Doug Peterson is, if the offensive line is having a bunch of false starts, if the defense, if the line's jumping off sides, what's everybody going to say? They're going to blame the coach because the team isn't disciplined. This is an undisciplined baseball team. Some of it's personnel, and some of it's just these are mental errors.

And they have to be cleaned up. They're not going to be cleaned up this year. And in spring training and with different players you're bringing in here, you've got to do something because you're not going to win a lot of games when you have defense this bad and you make this many mistakes. Yeah, look, I actually think – I think Kavler definitely deserves some blame for this. There's no question.

But I think you're underrating the blame the players deserve for this. Like I said before, this is something that I knew how to do in Little League, in high school. Most kids do. You play this game your entire life. I mean, to think that a manager has to tell you what base you should throw a ball to, I mean, that's outrageous. And on top of that, I do think that, look,

I am at least giving Kapler the benefit of the doubt here that he doesn't just say that he has teaching moments with this stuff. And when players make these mistakes, he discusses them with it. But I think there's a combination of things happening here. First and foremost, they have a bunch of bad fielders. I think that's the most important thing to take away here. This is a bad fielding team. There is a lack of range.

There's a lot of guys, you know, when K.R.E.'s not at short, it's about as bad a defensive lineup as i can remember seeing in baseball ever seen just just from pure physical ability and you know position and all that type of stuff and then when you add in all the the mental mistakes that's the stuff where i think you know look there's blame to go around but i mean there's these are major league baseball players john these guys have been doing this their whole life like what you, you're professional athletes and you need your manager to tell you how to do the fundamental basic things of the game. I mean, I get it again. I think Kapler deserves some blame here. And, and just on that basic premise, cause I do agree with that premise that ultimately,

no matter what things fall on the manager, because he is the steward of the franchise or whatever you want to call it. But I think the players deserve the lion's share of the blame, at least for that specific thing. Because, I mean, you're major league baseball players. Come on. Yeah, you know, is the message being received? How many times do you have to have mistakes happen over and over again and they don't get corrected now you can say yeah that's the the players but what exactly is Gabe Kapler doing about this to correct that to make sure that it's not happening

James it's not getting better it's getting worse the mental mistakes and the lapses are getting worse I don't know if that's because players are pressing because they feel it's slipping away. But Vince Velasquez, that's just having an inexperienced base runner. I heard Gabe say, this guy's been playing baseball since he was a little kid. He's a great athlete. He was hitting the ball for a long time. He knows he needs to make that. He's not stupid.

He knows that he needs to make that. He's trying to do too much. Trying to get the third base when it doesn't when it doesn't really really matter but that's what that's what managing is managing the game managing these players if his message isn't isn't being received and and and and the problems are being corrected he's not doing his job so i it's your one i'm conscious of that i know a lot of this like you said you have a bad fielding team you have a first baseman playing left field you have a d8 playing first base you have i mean you have a short stop if cabrera's in there it should never be playing short stop uh oduble has not been good this year in center field. You have a below average and an undisciplined defensive team.

Some of this falls on Matt Klentak, too. But we also have to try to remember that this whole process was accelerated, and they really weren't ready to win yet. And next year, it's going to be a big offseason for Klentak and for Gabe to try to figure this out because you can't win 85 85 or 86 games next year and it's a successful season. Now you have to go to the playoffs next year. What you did this year with this many wins, now next year has to be a playoff year or it's a failure. Yeah, I 100% agree with you.

And I think, obviously, we've talked a lot about this. I think they have big plans for this offseason. I think, obviously, we've talked a lot about this. I think they have big plans for this offseason. And I think you hit on a really important thing, is that you can't blame Matt Klintak really for anything right now. This process is ahead of schedule. No one in that organization expected this team to be this good this season. Nobody.

They were building this team with an eye on 2019, so you've got to give Matt Klintak the chance to make that happen, you know what I mean, to actually get to 2019 and see what that vision looks like. And on top of that, he has tried to supplement and fortify this team without giving up things for the future during this run. So the whole blame Klintak thing, I think, is crazy to me. I think, you know, I understand that maybe this team this season is not a perfectly constructed team,

but they are playing better. They have 71 wins right now. I mean, you know, let's not get carried away here. They've already got five more wins than they had all of last season, and it's not September. So I'm with you there. But getting back to the Gabe thing, I do think that, look, I think the Velasquez thing, I totally blame him for that.

I'm talking about the fielding and the mental errors in the field and stuff like that. The Velasquez thing is different to me because that's a spot where you have a pitcher. You're right. He absolutely knows what he's supposed to do in that situation. But that's a spot where when it's a guy who doesn't run the bases all the time on a consistent basis, at least anymore, I would, if I were Gabe Kapler in that situation, I would say to Velasquez before he goes out to that base, Vinny, I don't want you tagging up unless it's a deep fly ball to right field. We don't need you on third base. I get it

helps. Look, if it's a wild pitch and I wish you were on third base, sure, that happens, but the risk is too great. Unless you are 150% sure you're going to get there, then go. And, and, and I would even say it, even though he knows it, I would say, and don't leave before he catches the ball, you know? So I, I just think that, you know, I mean, I know that sounds silly, but, but especially with a team, like we just talked about that has been so fundamentally flawed from that perspective. has been so fundamentally flawed from that perspective. I would do that. That's what I would do. And in that situation, I do blame Gabe. I'm talking more about the guys who are out there every day playing this position and knowing what they should do and not doing it. Like Jorge freaking Alfaro. Look, I love his talent. I love the bat. I love the arm, the athleticism.

He is a knucklehead when it comes to decision-making as a defensive player. I mean, that throw in that game, John, to add, and ultimately that run mattered because we wouldn't have had to worry about the Velasquez thing. And a game-ender, 4-4 after that if possible. But I thought that was just, that was a decision just to even throw that ball to a moving target for so little gain i was i was blown away by it poor decision making yep not poor decision making he's got all the tools he's got to listen when you're looking ahead to 2019 are you ready for jorge Jorge Alfaro to catch 130 games?

I'm not. You know, maybe 100, maybe 80. Maybe Wilson Ramos comes back on a short term. Wilson Ramos, please, sir. Give him a physical. Yeah, give him a hamstring transplant. But you know what I mean? You see what an upgrade of having a professional catcher. I thought it was a mistake going into this season with Nappy and Georgie.

Even if you had a backup that was a veteran guy that would hit 200 but knew how to handle a staff and was a good defensive catcher, I'd rather have that than two young guys that really are green behind the gills. But, hey, listen, they've made it this far, and they're still there, and they've got to win tonight so they didn't get swept. But this team is so annoying. I know last podcast we talked about this. They're so annoying.

They're not fun to watch. Tonight was a fun game. But the way they're losing, man, it's taken years off of my life, I swear. Yeah, for me, I'm with you. It's almost at the point where, like we said, and we'll get into tonight's game because it was a fun game. But it's almost to the point where with me, it was tonight didn't even feel as fun as it felt like it should have. Because I'm just so disappointed. And let's get into the game yesterday.

And obviously the first game of the series, they just don't come through and lose. And it was a loss. It sucks. Yeah, a loss is a loss. Yeah, but you have Aaron Nola going. And you say, all right, you got to do it again, Aaron.

You got to go up against Max Scherzer, and you got to throw us on your back again because that's what you do. And Aaron Nola's like, no problem, guys. I got you. And then they end up, I mean, John, first of all, the hom the Homer that Neshek gives up was, was such a gut punch. And then now Faro play double gut punch. And then, and then they end up having a chance to maybe tie the game and they lose it again. As you said, in a way that I've never seen a baseball game. And before I was racking my brain, and I'm waiting for Jason Stark

and his useless information department factoid to come out or whatever, and maybe someone has put it out there and I missed it, but I've never seen a baseball game end on an early left tag, like a tagging up situation where the player left early and an appeal that was won. I've never seen it in my life, John. No, I've never even thought about seeing it before. It's amazing.

It really is. It's amazing how much this team has started to slide. It's another – this's almost a wasted season Aaron Nola has had one of the great seasons in Philly's history in franchise history as far as I'm concerned he's easily past Scherzer for the Cy Young now it's between him

and Cindergard DeGrom and I agree with you by the way and he's been he wasn't even really he didn't have his best stuff yesterday, but that's how good he has gotten right before our eyes to where even when he kind of has B-level stuff, he can still give you seven innings of giving up even when he won or run yesterday. Yeah, he's like a bulldog like that.

You know, like old school go out and grit out a start even when you don't have your best stuff. I love it. school go out and grit out a start even when you don't have your best stuff i love it and you wonder if um you wonder if clintex is going to look into extending them and buying out some of those those arbitration years uh because he is a guy listen he's he's going to make a lot of money and this was really the first year that he stayed healthy for the whole year so there's no rush but at the same time you know how it is in baseball, man. I mean, they're already bought out Scott Kingery's arbitration years.

So it wouldn't surprise me if they're going to do the same thing. Maybe a little gun shy after that one. But yeah, I'm with you. And with Nola, lock him up, keep him here. He has skills that translate, and he seems like the type of pitcher who's going to age really well. Not a guy who it's all about velocity for.

Obviously, the fact that he can dial it up to 95, 96 when he has to is nice, but he's not a guy who just solely gets by on velocity. He's a pitcher. Yeah, he's a movement guy, and he's a pitcher, like you said. So Nola does that, and then as you said, it's just that we have had so many of those losses this season. I mean, Hector Neris, by the way, who looks good now. Hector Neris has been really good since he's come back.

A big spot tonight, got it done. He'd be my closer, actually. I agree with you, John. I think he's pitching better than anyone in the bullpen right now. At least he is. His stuff looks great. It's biting. It's like the old school Hector Neres when he was pretty good.

That was the thing about Neres. He definitely showed that he could be a good pitcher. He just kind of imploded with the whole pressure of it all. Here's the LA always. Larry Anderson said this today in his weekly spot, and he says it a lot when talking about the defined roles and having a closer, is that some guys can't handle the pressure. There's a net. When you're in the seventh inning, there's a net. When you're a closer, there's no net. It's you or you lose. And Nows couldn't

handle that this year so it's easy for me to say yeah make him the closer but at this point or at least last night tommy hunter came in and did a good job uh tonight and got pitched two innings but you know i gave him a tough spot because he has guys like me yelling that they need to find roles sir anthony pitched the seventh inning tonight. He used eight pitchers tonight. Yeah. I mean, it's the reason why it's a four-hour game, for crying out loud. Oh, it was brutal, man.

I'm so tired as we talk here, Johnny. Ditto. But Sir Anthony did good tonight. It was nice to see. But, yeah, I'm with you. That's the thing, is we can all bitch and complain all we want, but they just don't have the arms. They don't have the horses. It is what it is. And as we've talked about, Sir Anthony, isn't the same Sir Anthony we saw earlier in the season, um, who you trust, you know, and, and I'm with you and with LA on the, the having it or not. I've said a bunch of times i really

believe that because that's something where a lot of the stat guys or the analytics crowd or whatever argues that anyone can close it's it's all about numbers and i really do believe in the human element of closing and the fact that some dudes just have that that vibe that you need to have to go out and and close it out, and some don't. And I think that at least – and Neris, look, Neris has closed before and had success in the past, but this season certainly didn't. Either way, and Neris before, as we discussed,

some of the most awful losses alone, but we had the Hayward Grand Slam in Chicago. We've just had so many of these gut punch games. The Ryan Zimmerman walk off. Ryan Zimmerman, by the, just in the last few weeks, I hate Ryan Zimmerman. I'm, I hate that guy.

Um, he looks like he went to Duke, doesn't he? He does look like that. He's got that Duke face, the weasel face. He's got a weasel face. If you put a little, a little, he's like, looksasel face. If you put a little – he looks like Coach K if you aged.

No, he does. I hate him. I can't stand him. But that one and then this one, I actually think that was the worst one. Of all – when you take into account how important the game was the no love at all the slide they've been on it would have given them a chance to actually go in and win a series potentially because they keep as you said winning two and losing one um it was such a uh it was just for me it was the worst loss in the season i've never felt so defeated with this

phillies team as I did after that game. It was last night, and then it was last Tuesday or last Wednesday where you had the other. It was Wednesday because Nola, quote, unquote, saved the season on that Thursday day game, right? So it was Wednesday night. We were doing the same thing last Wednesday. You and Jack went on, and it was like, it was punching the gut.

You know, two outs in the ninth, a double, a home run, game over. And it was tough, man. It was tough. It's been a resilient team this year, and they're going to get their chances to continue the resiliency. They look like they've run out of gas just across the board. Good win tonight. Offense showed up.

But they look like they've run out of gas to me as a team, as a whole. Yeah, and look, I think that's a fair take. And again, I also wouldn't bet on them making the playoffs right now. But like we said before, I wouldn't be shocked if they can go on a little mini run and start winning two of three instead of losing, you know, two of three. But I wouldn't bet on it. But again, the schedule is good for them if they can actually handle bad teams. They play the Marlins a bunch, the Mets a bunch. They've got some nice matchups coming up.

And of course, that end of the season gauntlet with seven against the Braves and four in Colorado wedged in between there so you know it like again and I don't expect them to get through that gauntlet that's really what it comes down to but there's a chance they're heading into that with a real opportunity to to play meaningful games even at the end of the season which would be a blast but um you know you know what could You know what could happen there? You could get Odubel, who goes on the two-week Odubel stretch, where he has five or six home runs. Can you imagine? Just come on, man.

But that's baseball, and that's why you can't discount it. I don't think it's likely in those 11 games that they're 8-3. But if Odubel... Oduble can carry this lineup. It's when he is hot, he really pulls this lineup. And when he's been ice cold, they've been bad. So we'll see. We will see. Yeah.

And look, tonight's game was fun. This was a good win. And again, I feel like I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. And I'm looking at the screen right now, the graphic, 42-24 at home. This team's still a real threat at home, so if they can just continue to win games at home and maybe play a little bit better on the road, you're looking for some grassmen and some straws here. But I do think tonight's game was fun, some good takeaways. Arrieta, not great, Bob. But like you said, the bullpen comes in and after a real rocky month or so as a nice night for the pen. And as you said, the offense gets going as well. Carlos, I've always hated the nickname Carlos Slamtana because it's like he doesn't like because I feel like I feel like slam gets used for homers way too often.

And no, if you say slam, that means a grand slam. It's not a home run if you say, what a slam. It's a grand slam. So it bothers me. And I know there are going to be people who are going to hate this and be like, well, if they're just a slam, why would there be a grand slam i'm sorry it's just the way i feel about it and no one's going to convince me otherwise so i never liked the nickname because i'm like he doesn't really have grand slams for us so whatever tonight he was carlos slam tana john so i i enjoyed that i enjoyed that. I enjoyed that. But a fun game and a game where, you know, kind of after a really, again, ugly, ugly game,

to see them bounce back tonight. Like even it is, it is, they lose the series, which doesn't make it feel any good at all. But it still was a resilient showing tonight to not only bounce back from yesterday, but to be down 5-2 in this game and then take the lead and have it tied and then get the lead again and hold it out. I mean, look, if you're looking for positives, it was a positive win tonight. Well, just when you think that you're ready to pull life support, nope. You're like, oh, it's not over yet. It's not over yet. So you're ready to pull life support. Nope. You're like, oh, it's not over yet.

It's not over yet. So you're right. This team is not dead yet. It's going to be a long month of September. So hopefully the Phillies can win the games, Johnny, because it makes it so much more fun. All right. For Johnny Marks, Marksy.

I'm James Seltzer. Jack, stop tweeting. All right, we'll talk to you guys later. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day

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