High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: Meltdown in D.C and Maikel Island?

Episode Date: May 7, 2018

The Phillies have an epic meltdown in D.C and Jack and James are here to react to it. Hector Neris is about as trustworthy as a used car salesman at this point and we'll see if James is ready to hop on Maikel Island yet or not. The guys also preview the Giants series and throw in a new trade hypothetical. 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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or they could be late for the bus. You never know. Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to be the ultimate soccer parent? Keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. Yo, it is another episode of the High Hopes podcast,

as we are coming to you sadly after one of the more frustrating losses of this Philly season. We'll get into that and what's coming up ahead. I'm James Seltzer with me as usual. The young talent himself, Mr. Jack Fritz, the self-proclaimed young talent, Jack Fritz. Fritproclaimed young talent Jack Fritz Fritzy, what's up, buddy? You're right, no one else thinks that Only myself I'm completely in love with myself

Tell you what Just about a horrible weekend of Phillies baseball It was a bad Pavetta Day Which I didn't appreciate The Pavetta Day But we're not going to talk about the Pavetta Day, which I didn't appreciate the Pavetta Day, but we're not going to talk about the Pavetta Day. That was erased from our memories. No one remembers the Nick Pavetta bad start

because everyone was focused on other things, of course. But then today happened, and I cannot proclaim how much I hate Hector Neris and how little I trust that guy in any big situation ever. I cannot stand him. I want him gone. I want Zach Britton to be our closer in about two months or get Sir Anthony Dominguez's ass up here

because he is crushing it at AAA. I am not enjoying the Hector Neris experience at all. Don't get on Jack's bad side, folks. He will just dismiss you immediately. Yeah, look, I think we've talked a lot about on this show that neither of us are 100% solid with Hector Neris being a great closer, even a good closer. He's fine.

I think he's a decent pitcher. I don't think they have to get rid of him. I just think that I don't think he's a closer. I don't think he's got what it takes to succeed in the ninth inning. And his stuff is fine. It's just not great. James, James, James, he never looks confident. Yeah, well, that's a problem.

He used to look confident when he would come in the seventh and eighth inning more. It's just in the ninth inning he never looks confident. Every time he goes to throw a fastball, it's a problem. He used to look confident when he would come in the seventh and eighth inning more. It's just in the ninth inning he never looks confident. Every time he goes to throw a fastball, it's just like, oh, I hope this is 94 on the outside corner. It's like everything he throws is like, I hope, I hope. But instead of with any kind of conviction, he has no confidence closing out a ballgame at all.

And it's more just like wishing that he closes out a ballgame rather than I'm here to finish this right now. Yeah, no, I agree. I think the mentality isn't there. And look, I think to say, bring up Sir Anthony Dominguez might be a little short sighted as well. I know he's been good in the minors, but that doesn't mean he's just going to step into the ninth inning of major league baseball and dominate. That doesn't happen that often, of Major League Baseball and dominate. That doesn't happen that often. But you never know.

Look, I think you're at the point where I think if this team stays competitive for the next month plus or whatever, then I think you start to think about trading for someone who's got a little bit more of a closer pedigree. And look, there are going to be teams that are – it's not just Zach Britton who's going to be on the market, but I'm sure he will be. But there will be other guys out there. There are a fair amount of teams who will be out of it the market, but I'm sure he will be. But there will be other guys out there.

You know, there are a fair amount of teams who will be out of it who have guys at the back end who would be better options than Hector Neris. But I'm with you. Look, I don't have any confidence in Neris. Closing out games. But the problem is, as you've kind of alluded to, there's really no one on the Major League roster right now who is that kind of guy either. You know, I like who let's assume that sir Anthony Dominguez is not the option the first option to bring a kid who's never pitching

the majors up to be your closer it doesn't happen very often like I said so with that in mind like who do you think could take over that role if it gets to the point with Hector Neris where you know you just have to take him out of the role, which, which look, two or three more bad outings and that's going to happen. I think, I think Luis Garcia always had a little bit of a closer profile. I kind of trust him. Like when I'm, when I'm looking for a closer, I'm looking, this is going to sound so like stupid and horse racy and not like analytically driven at all. But like when I look at a closer, I kind of look in their eyes

and certain guys have the look of a guy that I can trust in the ninth inning. Like Craig Kimbrell is always a guy that I always trust late in games. Even Jonathan Papelbon, I always trusted him. Like he just has a look of a closer. They're a different breed. They're not your usual pitchers. Hector Neris has never had that for me. And I think Luis Garcia has a little bit

of it. And I know this guy has good numbers, but I wouldn't trust him in this situation either. Edebri Ramos, I wouldn't trust him as a closer either, even though he's doing really good things. I would just leave him in his role. If I had to choose someone else, it would probably be Luis Garcia at this moment. But I was just looking, just, you know, we flowed out the idea of Britain and another closer to the deadline. How much do you think it would take to get Rossi Iglesias from the Reds? I think he would cause more than Britain. He's under team control for a little while.

I believe he's a better pitcher right now. I don't know if he's better than a healthy Zach Britton, but Zach Britton's not healthy. So, uh, Rysel, I believe it's Rysel Iglesias. I don't know if he's better than a healthy Zach Britton, but Zach Britton's not healthy. So, Rysell, I believe it's Rysell Iglesias. I'm not 100% sure. Are we going to get into our pronunciation? Well, in this case, I think I'm actually right about this one. I think it's Rossiel, but I don't know. Whatever.

Regardless, Iglesias for the Reds is quite a good pitcher. And I'm with you. Look, I would love to get a guy like that. I don't know what it would cost. I think, you know, look, the Reds are rebuilding. I don't know if Iglesias offers them that much real value over the next three, four years when they're not going to be very competitive.

It's what's the point of having a lockdown closer if you're not going to compete? At least if it's someone you think you'd really get something for because he's cost-controlled for a while. So, you know, look, I think that's the type of names they should be looking at. They should be looking at teams that are out of it, that are rebuilding, that have no use for a guy like that, who they can actually have for a few years if they're going to give something up for him. But look, we've also seen the other side of that where granted the players,

the Phillies haven't gotten, and we'll get into your buddy Vinny Velasquez at some point here, but trading multiple assets for a closer, Ken Giles, doesn't always work out great. And look, you can flip it around and say Kimbrell's been good two out of three years for Boston, but also had a terrible year. They gave up some good assets. Man, Mel Margot, I'm not a huge fan of, but he's probably long-term worth more than a closer. But regardless, I'm with you on the point of, and I don't know if I get as rudimentary as, I look in their eyes, man. But I do, I agree with your point.

And I've never agreed with analytics and stat guys and all that in this department with closers you know the keith laws the world always like you put anyone back there and they'll be fine you know read the whatever they pitch their numbers and it's not like that like you need you need a you need a certain a certain mentality to be that guy in the ninth inning there's a certain like living on the edge kind of vibe that those guys have that, you know, they want to be out there at the end of games. They want to be the guy to close it out. You need that mentality. And I totally agree with you that you don't see that at all from Hector Neris. You see a lot more deer and headlights look in close games in the ninth. And Grant is a guy who got the save on

Saturday, but even on Saturday, it was a kind of a high wire act and, you know, needs the, uh, It was a kind of a high wire act and, you know, needs the, uh, the pickoff, uh, play and all that stuff. But, um, back to kind of what else we saw. I think we can both agree that Hector Nair is not the long-term answer in that spot. And I think Tommy Hunter veteran guy, you know, probably the best pitcher in the bullpen theoretically could do the job, but has never really played, uh, closed too much in his career, but it has a few saves on his resume. But I'm with you.

I think more likely than not, the guy who will be the long-term answer, or at least the answer for the second portion of the season, isn't on the roster at the moment. But looking at the rest of the weekend as kind of a barometer mark, you know, you lose two or three of the Nationals. That Sunday game could have gone either way.

Arrieta pitches great,. Look good again. Pavetta, like you said, we're willing to give Pavetta a, a missed start off type of thing. He didn't even start. I don't know what happened. I'll I'll roll with that.

I was praying. I do think I'm intrigued to see how he pitches against the giants, a team that's played much better than I expected. And in a bounce back kind of spot, but look, the guy in the middle, you mentioned it, and the only pitcher who actually got a win for the Phillies this weekend somehow, someway, Vincent Velasquez, five innings, only one hit, does allow four walks in there, but the one whip is better than normal for him.

Looked a little more relaxed out there, but I'm assuming it does nothing to change your mind on Vince Velasquez. I mean, not totally. It's just that he's now become dependent on he needs to get his off speed working early, and that's what happened Saturday in the start. He flashed a really, really nice spiked curveball, which I don't think his other curveballs have been spiked. I think his curveball that I've been ripping for the last two years

that's not really an above-average pitch has been more just a typical curveball. He did flash a spiked curveball on Saturday, which I'm mildly intrigued by because it did have a harder bite to it. I know Pavetta's been messing around with the spiked curveball, and I wonder if they learned this from Arrieta because I think Arrieta came over with a spiked curveball and i wonder if they learn this from arietta because i think arietta came over with a spiked curveball um if velasquez can get a little bit harder dip on that i'm all in but um it's still he's still a two pitch pitcher i don't trust the change up yet unless he starts

splitting it um and still and like his fastball his fastball location was a little bit better but again i mean it's so much little factors that have to go into a good Vince Velasquez start. It's the off-speed, good feel for early in games, and good fastball location. When he doesn't have any of that, he's still crappy. So, like, it's just so hit or miss. I don't know what Vince Velasquez I'm going to get, but it feels like it's one good start mixed in maybe once a month

or once every four starts. Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm still far from ready to give that guy any sort of benefit of the doubt. Someone I will give the benefit of the doubt to, I will say I was wrong in the past when we've discussed Aaron Nola, and I'm for a while now saying he's a legit ace, but he's an ace. He's a number one pitcher. I didn't think that his ceiling was quite that high,

and I'm surprised that he's already reaching it. What have you seen from Nola this year that makes you believe he's taken that leap? Well, it's the changeup. It all comes down to the changeup. He's throwing it more. It's a legit weapon now that he can use when it's a 2-1 count. Instead of throwing a fastball, he can just throw that changeup in there.

And it's the pitch tunneling. He is starting balls in certain areas that are starting in the strike zone and then going out of the strike zone. He is starting fastballs on the outside corner. He's hitting the outside corner with his fastball. fastballs on the outside corner. He's hitting the outside corner with his fastball, and then once hitters see that, and they see him

painting that over and over again, then he can start to extend the zone, and he's throwing like 92 just a little bit further outside the zone, and guys have to swing at that because he's been hitting the outside corner all day. The hitters have to adjust to him. It's the impeccable

location. His curveball is the second most accurate curveball in the entire game behind Corey Kluber, which I think is super impressive. It's been a borderline elite pitch ever since he's gotten into the league. But really what has raised him to this next level is the changeup. The changeup is that third pitch that moves a different way than every other pitch. It kind of moves like his fastball, but it's 12 miles an hour less, so hitters just don't know what's coming. He is just nibbling the corners, and then

as soon as he's getting those calls in the corners, he's extending the zone just a little bit more. I know it was against the Marlins this week, but he was hitting 96, which none of us ever saw coming out. His ceiling has certainly been raised. You can't really argue against him being a top 10 pitcher in the game right now. Yeah, I think top 15 for sure, top 10. It could get into some, you know, kind of some people prefer some guys over other guys one way or another. It's kind of a close call.

But I think top 15, you can say without a shadow of a doubt. And probably, you know, you could make the argument top 10. It's really, it's been a shock. It's been very impressive, especially considering, you know, what, you know, everyone expected him to be for him to develop kind of into what he is now. But do it so quickly, you know, he got up to the majors quickly. He's still so young. It's really been impressive.

He's such a smart pitcher as well. Another guy, let's flip over the offensive side of the ball as a guy who I'm not saying I'm wrong about. You're like doing victory laps a month into the season, but Mike Calfranco has played better, had a really nice series in Washington, a pair of home runs, leading the team in that department, an 8.56 OPS, which is good. You know, it's very good, especially for him that the batting average up to 283, not quite enough walks in there. Still the OBP at 321 is

certainly great for him, but not great overall. But what have you seen out of Franco that makes you think that that's allowed? And it's also just partially that that's your personality and you will jump on the opportunity to gloat at any opportunity. But what makes you think that this is something that's actually going to continue over the course of the season? Because as I've said to you many times, I'm not on michael franco island with you and joe julio and all the other franco sycophants until i see it for a full season for longer than that like i he's he's burned us too many times what makes you believe this is going to continue hold on let me just finish uh

letting this cigar that i just that i just that's what i'm saying man geez listen man i don't know i don't know i don't know why you hate fun so much but what yes i hate fun that's a very good call like you're you're just so you're so mad that you're so wrong about michael you can't even let can't even let me and angelina and joe julius have a little bit of fun without trying to poo-poo it. I think this is going to sound so analytically driven, but it does come down, I think, to me, the launch angle. Whereas last year, he was hitting balls relatively hard.

I mean, we talked about the exit velocity all offseason, but they were just on the ground. Like, he was just smoking balls into the ground. Now those are turning into fly balls, and that has coincided with the spike in home runs and the RBIs. But that's not the only thing. His, I think it was, what, second or third inning hit off of Max Scherzer. Yeah, the single off Scherzer was an impressive at-bat. Like, honestly, whenever he got two strikes on him,

it was like, well, this at-bat's over. Because he had no chance in two strike counts. And that's kind of where I'm at with Jorge Alfaro, where it's like, two strikes is on him, guess what? Here comes the strikeout. Franco, it seems like he's being more selective. He's kind of just spitting on balls on the outside of the plate. Now, I know he did get a hit on a ball on the other side of the plate.

But for the most part, he's looking middle in and looking to pounce on those pitches and just spitting on the other stuff. And that's important. It feels like he actually has an approach this year than in years past. I'm not going to say I fully, fully trust him because of the OBP and that kind of stuff. But I think he's a good player that should play every day. And really, the thing that I've been most impressed with is that he's starting to get a little bit of that swagger back. He looks like

he's playing with a little bit of swagger in the field. He's flashing the leather. He's firing balls across. It's look good, feel good. And, and Mike L right now, it just feels like a guy that's so confident in himself. He's so confident in everything he's doing that it's, it's hard not to, to be excited for the potential of Michael Franco. Yeah. Look, uh, I, he's definitely been great in the field. I, I definitely noticed him whipping the ball across the field, played good defense, been in the right positions and, and he's hit the ball well so far. Again, you know, the 283 average is nice to see.

I think you hit on the point that I need to see that OBP go higher, especially for a guy like him to really start to buy into the approach being, you know, something that can continue long term. But, you know, I agree with your points about exit velocity and the launch angle, and that's all, you know, the stuff you your points about exit velocity and the launch angle. And that's all, you know, the stuff you want to hear. And he's had as good a start as you could hope for. So, you know, I'm not poo-pooing on the potential. I'm just saying that we're a month into the season and that's far too small a sample size based on this guy's history for me to believe

that it's going to continue. But look, again, you have to be happy with what you're seeing so far from him. And I thought that at bat against Scherzer was really impressive at bat and was definitely not the type of bat you would see from him in years past. You just hope he doesn't revert because we've seen him go through streaks and then revert. Still opening up at times, hitting a few too many big double plays, which I think just sometimes makes me a little frustrated, but I'm with you. Look, he, again, I'm not ready to proclaim Franco Island, you know,

the safe Haven or whatever you want to say quite yet, but it's certainly a positive start to the season. I think the fact that I think the fact that the launch angle stuff is working, the close stance stuff is working and he's, he's seen the results early is very important. Like if, I don't know,

it's, it seems harder for him to regress back to his old ways. If the stuff that they're teaching him has been working so far. Yeah. And I think that's fair. I think that's a fair point that, you know, you would think so. And I think that Maylee has made a difference for him. I think, you know, having a new kind of sheriff in town from that perspective and look, we all knew that, that,

that Franco's relationship with Pete McCann and wasn't good. And, and the McCann didn't know how to handle him, didn't know how to handle him, didn't know how to motivate him, didn't know how to keep him engaged. So, you know, I think, look, they're all positive signs. You hope that there are things that can continue. And he's been really good so far for them. And they've needed him because they really have struggled outside of the four guys we always talk about

or the three other guys we always talk about, him being that fourth guy. Odubel Herrera, again, we still have to comment on. about or the three other guys we always talk about him being that fourth guy audible herrera again we still have to to comment on 36 straight games on base that dude is just so freaking good i know everyone hates him but uh but we love him here at dios fuck yeah yeah i mean well it was 35 today was 35 straight so i thought it was 36 today. It's 35? Yeah, 36 will be tomorrow. That's tomorrow. Every day, in and out, he is

providing good defense, getting on base, hitting the ball hard. He was 3 for 4 today. Two of those hits were doubles off of Max Scherzer. Still, people want to run him out of town. It's just like, what is so hard about love? I don't, I don't know. I think he's just a good player. I don't want to harp on the

whole thing like we did last week, but like, just, I hope people are beginning to appreciate the stuff that a doable brings to the, brings to the dish every single time he goes out there. And even recently in center field, I've noticed quicker to routes and stuff. He's only getting better out there. The guy's 26 years old. He's batting in the 330s with like a 400 OPP. It's just you don't hear a peep about that until he does something stupid or a doable. He is – this is a take.

I'm sorry. But this is this is a take uh i'm sorry but this is this is this is the truth he is the modern version of manny ramirez in the sense of in the sense of it's just manny being manny and he lived with the good which is obviously the third best right-handed hitter of a generation um yeah i i get the take it's he's like light, light, light on both ends. He's not nearly as boneheaded as Manny was. He's not nearly as lackadaisical as Manny was. It's just amplified in this city, especially like we've talked about because he was really the only guy worth caring about on the team for three years.

But I get the comparison. I think it's a loose comparison. It makes sense. Like you said there, though, like, you know, Herrera is a terrific, terrific, terrific player. He is not Manny Ramirez. He will never be Manny Ramirez. He doesn't have that ceiling as a Manny Ramirez. I'm just talking about Manny being Manny.

I get it. Same thing here. It's a very fair comp, but I think that's my point. I think Manny was worse from that perspective, and I think you're able to deal with more because he gives you more, but I think Manny was even worse from a Manny being Manny perspective than Herrera being Herrera. Now, I was young in 2004 or during Manny's heyday.

How did a city like Boston handle Manny Ramirez? They loved him because he came up with huge hits that's the thing is like they were smart enough to realize that that this guy wins us titles this guy wins us games like whatever yeah he's an idiot we'll rip him when he does something stupid but then they're gonna walk David Ortiz and he's gonna hit a grand slam because he did it every time they disrespected him. Like it was just, man, he was a monster. And, you know, he was more, it's funny because he, I think he was less well received in Cleveland

when he did that stuff for those playoff teams. Cause they were really, um, I mean, they were great teams, those nineties teams, and he wasn't the best player on those teams. You know, there was Albert Bell, there was Kenny Lofton, there was carlos by air good guys who were better players at the time at their age um jim tommy was there but um so i think when manny did stuff there he wasn't necessarily the best player on the team i think it's easier to get away with stuff when you're a hall of fame caliber player you know yeah no i agree it wasn't that i think that a Dupal is as good as Manny Ramirez, but it's the same thing.

No, no, no. I think it's a very fair – I didn't mean to poo-poo the point. I think it's a very fair comparison. I just think Manny was worse. Well, yeah. And I think that just kind of hammers home how ridiculous the Herrera takes are here. Well, Dupal would never cut off a ball from the center fielder and then try to throw it to third base.

Oh, well, I mean, Herrera is 10 times a better fielder than Manny. Manny was a terrible fielder. Yeah, I know. You know, but regardless, nice little tangent there. All right, anyone offensively you want to kind of mention before we move ahead and look at what's coming up this week? I guess I'll talk about Altair. I mean, he had a really strong week this week i think he's

bad i think he batted 350 this week uh not a great series down in washington um but getting him going i mean i mean nick williams has sat 12 out of the last 15 games i don't think they're remotely interested in making nick williams a part of this team i think they i think they they realized the highest upside of the offense is having altair in right field a doable in center and recent left field i just think nick williams doesn't bring the upside of aaron altair uh defensively is the first point i mean aaron altair is a really really good defensive player uh nick williams is not the bat is slowly but surely starting to wake up another guy whose bat is slowly waking up, I mean, shocking, Carlos Santana.

Hits and balls hard this week. He had a homer last Friday night. Friday night, yeah, and a triple on Saturday. And he had a big double today in a losing effort. It seems like it's starting to pick up for him a little bit. But other than that, it's the usual guys. It's Herrera guys it's it's Herrera at Cesar uh Reese had a up and down week uh it was a bit of a frustrating week he's striking

out a lot a ton uh but still it came up as the whole team was yesterday or today yesterday when people hear it but for us today but Max Scherzer certainly was mowing him down yeah he's ridiculous he's ridiculous i don't understand how he's never really had arm problems because uh usually the guys that have the how do i explain this like basically when he goes to finish his motion he is a really violent downward motion and usually the guys that have that really violent last second uh downward finish to them they have a lot of arm injuries like joel zamaya that comes to mind a lot and for him with the with the amount of of of ferocity that he puts into his change up and pitches like that i'm just blown away that he's never really had knock on wood because i don't want scherzer to get hurt ever because i i think he's so underappreciated but i'm shocked he's never

really had major arm issues yeah no he's uh he's well put together he's a big boy too um definitely but yeah no he's uh he's the best pitcher in baseball right now i think that you could say that pretty unequivocally especially with courage Kershaw on the DL right now. But even before going on the DL, I think Scherzer in the moment has surpassed him in terms of, you know, if I had to pick one guy to win a game for me, I think it would be Max Scherzer right now. All right. Big week coming up here as seven games in seven days for this Phillies team.

No rest, Jack. We have baseball every day, which is a beautiful thing. Four games against the San Francisco Giants, then the Mets in town for three. A nice homestand. This team needed to come home after a losing road trip. You mentioned it when we talked the other day, the chance for this team to lose four straight series,

which happened with the loss in Washington. They lose the series to Washington, the series to Miami, the series to Atlanta, and then, of course, the Diamondbacks. So big week of baseball here, Jack. It's only maybe you want to see this team get back on track and start to win series. The San Francisco Giants coming in at 19-15. Actually, surprisingly good baseball being played out in San Francisco.

What's your take on this Giants team coming in? I don't know. I feel like it's mostly Foles gold. I don't like McCutcheon. I don't like. I feel like it's mostly Foles Gold. I don't like McCutcheon. I don't like Evan Longoria. I've always hated all of their hitters because they're just so – they're the biggest collection of most boring hitters in the entire game. I'm not interested by Joe Panic at all.

Brandon Belt is on my he's dead to me list for many, many fantasy baseball problems. Like, Baumgartner's out. I understand. Like, Posey's obviously awesome. I think Chris Stratton's hurt, which isn't very fun. I like Chris Stratton. I don't know.

Like, it feels fool's gold. It feels like they're hot to begin the season. But much like the Mets, they're going to start folding here pretty soon. I don't trust that team at all. Well, and that is, of course, the matchup this week as the Mets coming into town to the Met City in 17-15. I'm with you on the Giants. Giants in 19-15 just beat up on the Braves

this weekend, which was nice. But I'm with you. What was that? About time someone beat up on the Braves. Yeah, thank goodness. But I'm with you. This is a team that doesn't scare me at all when you look at how it's constructed. Just a bunch of old dudes is the way you kind of look at this team Andrew McCutcheon really unexciting at this point in his career Brandon Bell great point in terms of fantasy in the sense

that people always get excited about that guy I think we're finally at the point where people just don't care anymore and know that he's going to hit like 17 home runs when the season's over he'll have like eight in April and May and then, you know, eight in each month and then one more the rest of the way. That guy's infuriating. But I'm with you. Not a lot to fear Longoria as well. You mentioned Posey. Obviously Posey, a good player, but the Giants get it done. Bruce Bochy's a really good manager. They find ways to win games. So while I with you that um i'm not super scared the pitching matchups aren't that intimidating either you're getting jeff samarja derrick holland theoretically chris stratton if he's not hurt and um and ty black so there's no one to really

fear but still you know i think there's a big spot for the phillies at home to to get back on the winning track thoughts ons on the Mets coming in Friday through Sunday. Looks like we will see Cindergard. I should say the Matt Harvey-less Mets. See ya, Matt Harvey. I literally, I just, I can't believe his fall from grace. Like, Matt Harvey started an all-star game. Yeah.

He was unreal. Like, watching him and watching jose fernandez on a on a night in night out basis was must-see tv and i guess he couldn't handle the new york lifestyle i mean obviously he couldn't handle the new york lifestyle at all um i can't believe it's gotten to the point where they cut him but i guess he's just such a cancer that it's just not worth having him around. It makes sense. His quotes after games were just hilarious as a Phillies fan,

and I'm sure as a Mets fan it was like, dude, just cut him. The Mets literally must have listened to the fan as they got calls about cutting Harvey, and were like, you know what? They finally make some sense. Yeah. It's actually pretty funny. My buddy's a Mets fan, and he texted me a month ago and said the Mets need to cut Matt Harvey.

And I was like, that's ridiculous. We're a week into the season. They're not going to cut Matt Harvey. And lo and behold, he was right. Yeah. And, well, it looks like to begin this week, we have an important Eflin start tomorrow night. See if he can build

on his impress impressive performance down in miami and then we have a nolanite versus derrick holland which i mean like just bet the phillies that night i'll take it uh big bounce back pavetta versus stratton start hopefully stratton pitches uh that could be an intriguing matchup i like chris stratton a lot and then who cares about ty blatch versus vince velasquez just just couldn't be less interested in uh in that matchup on Thursday afternoon. But it'll be fun. They need to get back on track. I think they realize that.

I was impressed with the way they fought down in Washington today. And really, the most frustrating part about today for me and you and guys who support Gabe Kapler is that it was a really, really good Gabe Kapler game. He pulled Ariat at the right point. He put in Nick Williams at the right point. And even though I really, really don't like Nick Williams, I like him a lot as a pinch hitter off the bench.

I think he's batting like.350 as a pinch hitter. So he seems to know what to do in that role. It was just the bullpen that didn't get the job done today. It was a really, really good Gabe Kapler day today until the end, obviously. And really, if you win that game today, it feels like it could get you kind of rolling a little bit. Like we just beat Scherzer.

We came back against Scherzer against the Nationals. We can kind of get on a little bit of a roll. And then blowing a game like that it's just like man that's that's that's a deflating loss I could see them losing tomorrow night I hope they don't I hope they have some resolve but I wouldn't be surprised if they come out flat coming off of a a really disappointing loss down in Washington today yeah I feel you on that you feel good with San Francisco having to travel across the country to come into town and play you, so that is something at least, but I'm with you.

It's a tough spot coming off that loss. It was a game that really could have made a difference. You're tied for first in the National League East if you win that game. You've taken two of three against the team that has dominated the division for the last half decade. It would have been a big win against Max Scherzer. I'm with you. And it's also a shame, too, though, because I agree, Kaepernick made all the right calls, but a shame that the game played out the way it did,

that he did have to burn Ariat after only 75 pitches. The way he was pitching, it really felt like he could have kept rolling for at least a couple more innings at the pitch count he was at. He was really efficient with his pitches. So I thought that was a bummer too because it was absolutely the right move. It bore out. Williams hits an RBI single. They end up getting three runs that inning.

It was the right move. It's just a shame that kind of luck didn't bounce that way, if you know what I mean, where you could have gotten a couple more innings that area potentially and not had to worry so much about you know giving up runs with Tommy Hunter at a not a perfect outing like usual uh you know um Adam Morgan struggled a bit and and they end up giving up a couple runs and putting Hector Neris in a spot where he can walk in the tying run and then blow it so uh either way it's certainly a very

frustrating loss I think you could argue that um you know other than opening day this might be uh the most frustrating loss of the season to date so yeah and and i and i don't want to lament the loss too much because it's 162 games but uh i do want to talk about for one second i know you like you want to go to bed but i don't really care because i so want to go to bed but go ahead yeah i honestly i really don't care at all um you don't care about anything. We get it. I thought Arrieta had a really, really good bounce-back performance after the Miami game earlier in the week. He had really, really strong fastball location,

and that kind of sets up everything else for him. And he's finally locating his off-speed much better. He was throwing a little slider. It was either a slider or a cutter that was cutting really, really hard into left-handed hitters. They couldn't really figure it out all day. I think what we'll learn with Arrieta, much like we learned with Vince Velasquez, is that it comes down to fastball location for him. He didn't have it the other night in Miami.

He was all over the place. He wasn't locating anything. Today, he had it. He looked good. It was a really, really... I needed that start to kind of qualm some of my Jake Arrieta fears. And what I thought was interesting the most is that the Phillies have talked a lot about how Aaron Nola is now working on inducing weak contact. He's obviously kept the strikeouts up. He had seven Ks against the Marlins, but Arrieta is not having the same K success, and I wonder if they're kind of working on soft, weak contact

more than the strikeouts with Arrieta, but that's one thing to monitor. Yeah, I think that's something to monitor. Only two more strikeouts today, 20 strikeouts and 28 innings for Arrieta, so that is certainly something to keep an eye on as, look, if the,

if the results work, who cares? But I do think you've noticed it would know to that outing in Miami where he did have seven strikeouts, but he did, he induced a lot of weak lineouts, like a lot of like weak fly balls to right and left field that you noticed. It was one of those things where it just felt weak coming off the bat.

So I think that's clearly something he's emphasizing as well. Jack, any final thoughts before we get this week started right? Seven games again in seven days. We'll obviously be back probably before the Mets series to reconvene and talk some more Philly, see what happens in San Francisco. But any final thoughts until then, Fritzy? I think Thursday, me, you, and Marks will all be in the studio

and hopefully we can do a little mailbag or something of sorts with all three of us there. I think that would be a lot of fun. I haven't had a review in like 10 days which is just mildly terrifying for me. If you could please leave a review and let us know your thoughts on the podcast because it's

it's been too long i just i just want to know if people like what we're doing and uh yeah it's it's an important home stretch uh take four take give me three or four against the giants i'll give you tomorrow night but then but then win three straight just just for me uh and that's all i gotta say yeah i agree uh three of four is necessary here. And I do the reviews for Jack because he's mentioned it to me like six times over the last ten days, and it's getting annoying for me. So do it for Jack, and we will talk to you again later this week. All right, so for Fritz, for the Absentee John Marks, I'm James Seltzer.

We'll talk to you later this week. Alright, so for Fritz, for the absentee John Marks, I'm James Seltzer. We'll talk to you later this week. Now the most prolific national daily This game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago. It is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is. Another fact. So jump aboard the B.I.B. Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.