High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: Offense has Awoken and Rotation Competition Heating Up

Episode Date: May 10, 2018

Jack Fritz and Mike Angelina are here after the Phils sweep the San Francisco Giants. The offense has fully awoken from it's early season slumber. Carlos Santana is raking and Odubel Herrera is a leader for the batting title. Also, what happens when Jared Eickhoff comes back?  Jack and Mike also go over the opening weekend takes and how they're holding up a month into the season.  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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Shop everything you need for back to school at IKEA today. Yo, it is! We had to do that for the brand. That's the IHOPES brand. And James Seltzer isn't here to do the Yo, it is. So I am filling in for James Seltzer on the Yo, it is. It's Jack Fritz here on the IHOPES podcast this week. Joined by Mike Angelina making his secondzer on the Yo! It Is. It's Jack Fritz here on the High Hopes Podcast this week. Joined by Mike Angelina making his second

appearance on the podcast. So am I filling in for Jack Fritz? Listen, if you're filling in for Jack Fritz, you've got to come in with some takes. The take factory has to get going. You have to top Adubo Herrera as Manny Ramirez and you have to top that

Aaron Nola is the second coming of Pedro Martinez. So, listen, you've got big shoes to fill over there, my friend. I'm more of a take shredder than a hot take artist. Yeah, well, speaking of takes we're going to shred, at the end of this podcast, we have got six takes that have already been debunked in the first month of the season that have been dished out by callers of sports radio, on Twitter, just bad takes all around. Actually, seven.

We thought it was seventh. We didn't think of a seventh one. So we'll get to all of that. The Phillies just got done sweeping the Giants out of town. The Giants came into town playing pretty well. They hit around the Braves pitching stat, which for some reason the Phillies could never figure out in the early goings. I guess they figured out how to get out Ryan Flaherty,

the most dangerous hitter in that Braves lineup. They come to town. The Giants come to town. And the Phillies take care of business after a meltdown in D.C. on Sunday. That was a brutal loss on Sunday. And I'm super impressed from the resolve for such a young team to come back from that that quickly.

Yeah, absolutely. That's a game that the old Phillies would probably lose four in a row, five in a row. It was probably nice that they played Monday night because they can just kind of get it right out of their system. They put up three runs that first inning, I think. Oduble Herrera, the season- of the day, the batting champion. Say it louder for the people in the back.

Oduble Herrera, batting champion. He's going to make his second All-Star game. But, yeah, no, it was nice. They put up 11 runs. How did you see the stat with the two games Jimmy Rollins attended? The Philly team has won by 11. That's pretty good. And also Alshon Jeffrey said that on his way down to the Sixers game,

he said they were going to win by double digits on that same night as the Sixers won by double digits. The Phillies also won by double digits. These guys have won rings before. They know what they're looking at. They know championship teams. They see Gabe Kapler and they see championships. They do.

But it was a fun series. And it was a series that got back on track, righted the ship a little bit. The pitching staff, I mean, we'll start with Zach Eflin. He went out there game one, and I tell you what, if he's throwing 95 to 96 with serious run and a slider that he can consistently locate, he might be a thing.

Yeah, so I was kind of getting sick of hearing about Zach Eflin's knees what was his rookie year I guess it was 2015 it's like oh well you know his knees were hurt he had bad knees the next year he had surgery to correct it it's like well you know he's coming off

surgery for his knees he needed to he needed to get that taken care of and then the third year it's like well you know he had to get used to having brand new knees. So, like, I'm glad Zach Eflin got his knees situated. I don't know if this is still for real or not. I will say, Jorge Alfaro may have gotten him at least four or five strikeouts with,

you see that beautiful framing? Oh, did I see the beautiful framing? He presented it beautifully. And, yeah, so, yeah, I hope it's for real. He, you know, real. He had a five or six inning perfect game last week. It's going to be interesting when Eikhoff comes back.

I don't know if you want to get into Velasquez, but now we're looking at maybe six candidates for five spots. Yeah, we'll get to Velasquez. He obviously had a really good start today that started off bad, and I was like, here we go. Classic Velasquez. he had obviously had a really good start today that started off bad and I was like here we go classic Velasquez but but Eflin if he's if he's 95 to 96 and you talked about Alfaro

I mean Alfaro that's one thing that that has been super underrated is his his defense I mean all we heard about was that he's not ready to play defense and you know he's like he's a liability back there blocking wise there's some little technical things. But his pitch framing is damn near one of the best in the league. He's got soft hands. He gets guys' strikes. And, man. Quiet movement.

Quiet movement. He has a hose. Oh, God. He hasn't. He's thrown the two hardest balls at second base this year. 89 miles an hour. Yeah. Which is just insane from a catcher.

Now, he would have a better. Like, his throwing out percentage rate isn't great. Yeah. this year. 89 miles an hour. Which is just insane from a catcher. Now he would have a better like his throwing out percentage rate isn't great. But that's because he's catching Arrieta who takes like four hours to get to the plate. And really I don't think the Phillies pitchers have really done him much service. But

Alfaro has been great and I think he helped out Eflin. You're right about that. But again the fastball up in the zone is really starting to help out these starters just a bit. So Eflin, really, really impressed by him. Was that the first Sir Anthony game? That was Monday night, yeah. I hit the mop-up roll on the 8th.

Yeah, because I don't want to go too far into this podcast before I start getting super excited about Sir Anthony Dominguez. So Sir Anthony Dominguez is up here. He is up here. He is throwing 98 mile an hour cutters with a hammer slider. And I think the most important thing, two most important things, Sir Anthony Dominguez is throwing strikes. And he doesn't seem nervous at all. He's challenging hitters.

Yeah. And Gabe said it after game one. He was like, hey, man, were you nervous at all out there? And he was like, no, I'm good. Well, you know, it was 11-0. Yeah, we Gabe said it after game one. He was like, hey, man, were you nervous at all out there? And he was like, no, I'm good. Well, you know, it was 11-0. Yeah, well, listen. Zach Curtis came in at a 10-run game and started walking people. You were probably the only person watching that game.

I was so mad because I just wanted the game to be over, and I wanted to go into watching the Sixers and their series. But what have you seen from Sir Anthony? How far in are you on Sir Anthony? And is his cutter better than Mariano Rivera's? Wow. Last question. No, not yet.

Yet. Yet, yeah, right, yet. Maybe he's approaching Kenley Jansen's cutter. Can we say that? What if? No, he's approaching Kenley Jansen's cutter. Can we say that? Yeah, what if? No, he's got great command. We already said he doesn't mind challenging hitters. You know, I was reading a couple Reddit comments a couple weeks ago.

I remember when one of our coworkers had a take on it. Remember Kapler on his day off went to Lehigh Valley just to watch him pitch? Yep. Yeah, no. I assume he's going to be a keeper going forward because Kapler talked about today on the pregame. When they look at his stuff, and obviously they only have two innings of sample work to look at, they think that his stuff works well, that he can get left-handed hitters out. He could be a right-hander that acts as a left-handed specialist,

kind of like Tommy Hunter already does. And that's big because really you only, if Morgan's got a back problem, he'll be back at some point. Zach Curtis can't throw strikes. And then Hobie Milner just gets hit around too much, gives up too many base runners. Stinks. Yeah, so you don't really have a lot of organizational depth from the left side.

And if you can have these guys coming from the right side, getting the lefties out, that's a huge plus for your bullpen. And, like, man, those eight spots are going to be crowded once everyone's healthy. Yeah, so the offense started coming alive on Monday. It was a nice bounce-back performance.

Carlos Santana is really starting to get going a little bit i think he's he's an ops of over a thousand in the last week his slogan percentage went up like almost 150 points and his average is up to around 200 after i think he began the week at 165 yeah uh he is homered in three straight absolutely crushed a ball today i'm he today. I mean, we've been saying on the podcast all year, like he's a slow starter, give him a chance. His April last year was the same exact April as he had this year.

Changing leagues, I think, was a way bigger deal than people made it out, or way, not a big enough deal than people made it out to be, because it's a whole new league, whole new book. He's the guy that studies these guys. Right, he's not a hacker that goes up there and just, you know, is going to run into hits. He seems like he comes up with a solid approach if you're learning a whole new league of's a guy that studies these guys right he's not a hacker that goes up there and just you know he's gonna run into hits he it seems like he comes up with a solid approach if you're

learning a whole new league of pitchers absolutely yeah he's got a plan up there and you know this is the guy if we get if we get him going to go along with a doable uh cesar mike hell is just like michael island it can't you just feel michl Island starting to fill up it was started by us we were one of the first three, me, you and Julio the last incumbents on the top of the palm tree surrounded by water of Mikel Island and now listen it might be a safe haven

for people yeah but do we want them there? I don't know frauds, James Seltzer total fraud but yeah it is Mikel Island we want them there? I don't know. Frauds. James Seltzer. Total fraud. Yeah. Just kidding. But yeah,

it is Michael Hyland. No, you're right. It's just, it's a stacked lineup depth-wise. And, you know, we can have one more name

that Alfaro's starting to really hit well. Yeah, it's still like, whenever he faces anyone throwing 95 plus, I just don't think he has a chance.

It's the weird, it's a weird thing with him. I think he was first for a while. Now he's second in baseball and swing percentage behind Javi Baez, which makes sense if you watch Javi Baez. But, yeah, it's just another threat in the lineup. They can just stack the top of the order. I'm not saying they're the Astros, but they can just, that kind of, you know, lineup style,

just stack one through four, one through five, and just, you know, go get them and put up big innings. And, you know, I guess that was a theme of the series. All four games pretty much had big innings in them. They did. And it happened again today. They hung a four spot on the Giants.

And, you know, the only guy that's really been struggling recently has, well, two guys. And two cult heroes of this Phillies team. Kingery and Hoskins. Like, once they get... I don't think... I'm not worried about Hoskins. Hoskins would be fine. Hoskins is one of those guys that... It's just baseball.

I mean, Carlos Santana had a whole month where he batted 150-something. And now Hoskins is, I think, batting 180 in the last week or whatever he's still got an on base percentage of like 420 he's fine really it's just small mechanical things with him he's wrapping his bat

usually when a ball's in the outside corner he's really good just sticking the bat out and letting it go the other way right now he's trying to hook that ball down the left field line he's guessed a lot of pitches wrong that'll even himself out the same way that we were preaching with Carlos Santana was water always finds its level. Yeah.

And that's the same thing that's going to happen with Reese. But it really feels like with the weather turning around, all these games at home, the offense is starting to turn into the dangerous threat that we thought coming into the season. I mean, Cesar rolls out of bed and gets on base twice. A double in first place for the batting title. Yeah, when Cesar's like 19.

What? When he rolls out of bed. Yeah, he rolls out of bed, he's 19, gets a double-double, walks twice, all that good stuff. And right now the lineup is definitely one to be feared with, especially with a guy like Carlos Santana. And really, I mean, add Aaron Altair in there. He obviously didn't have a hit today but he walked

a couple times it's a really tough lineup one through eight and I know Alpharo striking out a lot but he also hit a 450 foot bomb that was off like a slider down and in so he's once you get him going a little bit right now I mean one through six it's a

really formidable fun lineup to go along with the pitching staff that is that that seems like it's competing against each other right now with Eikhoff coming back. You know what I mean? Yeah, right. Yeah, I guess it's really three guys, really, I would say. Eflin, Eikhoff, Velasquez. It's weird, too, because Klentak assured a couple weeks ago that Eikhoff would have his job back.

He's basically been in the rotation since August of 2015, aside from this injury. And, you know, he hasn't been in the minors since, you know, really when he first came over with the Texas deal. But then a couple weeks later, in fact, it may have been Tuesday, Kapler said, in light of the tremendous Eflin start, that his spot isn't assured. So, kind of creating an internal competition, I guess, there. Yeah, the top three guys is Nola, Arieta, and then obviously a tier below them, but still a secure spot. Nick Pavetta, you know, really, more often than not, well, especially those two guys,

but then Pavetta, more often than not, you're getting quality starts, and then they only had really one losing streak this season. Yeah, and I think the competition is something that Gabe Kapler wants. I don't think he likes just handing over positions to guys. We saw that with Adubel on opening day. Ever since he's benched him on opening day, he's been unbelievable. I'm not going to say that's the reason why, but... Ever since he's benched, he's hitting like 350. Well, yeah. I mean, since the beginning of the year, obviously.

Yeah. I think Gabe is not about just giving positions or giving these guys positions just because they're on merit, basically. Maybe that's what's going on with this pitching rotation right now. We saw it with Vince Velasquez

today. Vince Velasquez had it with Vince Velasquez today. Vince Velasquez had a classic Vince Velasquez start where his fastball's all over the place and he's getting rocked. His first pitch was hit into the heart of right field. Right. And then he came back and he struck out, what, 12 today? Yeah, after he gave up the home run to Hanson, he basically, it's almost like he just said, all right, enough of this.

I got to, you know, bear down and put together a good quality start from here. And that's exactly what he did. Kept him in the game. And then eventually we are talking about the beginning. And then next thing you know, you look up and Vince Velasquez is a W in the box score. Vincey. Vince Velasquez. I still don't trust him.

I don't know what he could do. I mean, the fastball was good today. It seems like he had a good spin on his slider slash curveball. I'm not buying it yet. I can't get there. And, you know, going back to the competition, in years past when the takes would come out, you got to put Velasquez in the bullpen.

Then the next, you know, the follow-up question would be okay who do you want to replace him with and then there would just be like silence like what are you gonna put Ben Lively in there you know in the previous years where they didn't really have any organizational depth what are you gonna sign Kevin Correa again or like one of the Jerome Williams no uh now there's actually there's an answer or there's at least a consideration to Now there's actually an answer, or there's at least a consideration to who you replace him with. Some guys down on the farm, Eflin, I'm not sure about Lively. They're going to send Lively back to just keep pitching every fifth day down there.

I'm not really sure how much better he can be. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good on leaving him down there. Let him just play in AAA or whatever. He's a 4A player. He's not going to be anything in the major leagues. I fundamentally don't believe Ben Lively. Yeah, one of the first things you hear about Lively when he's discussed is he's got a great makeup. Yeah. I'm not really interested in that.

He's a real bulldog out there. Yeah, that's another one. It was a bit of a frustrating Pavetta start this week. I know he pitched five innings and allowed no runs and whatever, but when I watched it, it didn't seem like five innings, no runs, seven Ks. He worked a lot. He worked a lot. His first inning was frustrating.

I don't know why it took him an inning to get into pitching with conviction. His first inning, he went out there and he was trying to aim. And he was nibbling on the outside. Yeah, that's what those long at-bats long counts. And what Pavetta has been so good at this year and what has separated him from Vince Velasquez mostly is the fact that he'll just go at guys and throw his fastball and make them beat him.

And if the Ks come, the Ks come, rather than trying to nibble around the corners and then whatever, go from there. Be too fine, yeah. Yeah. The numbers were great. The no runs, fine. But it wasn't as good as the numbers would suggest.

No, and then once the Phillies, you know, put up the beginning in whatever, it was the fourth or fifth inning, you know, that was kind of, the Giants checked out. The Giants actually checked out a lot of times in this series. Yeah, they were done. Yeah, they,

I don't know how many strikeouts had that series. Yeah, they were done. Yeah, they... I don't know how many strikeouts had that series. It was well over 50. Yeah. No, you're right. It wasn't one of Pavetta's finer starts. But, Tuesday night, and before we move on, we gotta talk about

Aaron. Because Aaron Nola is just... It's becoming must-see TV watching Aaron Nola pitch Because Aaron Nola is just, it's becoming must-see TV watching Aaron Nola pitch. Aaron Nola has the 2-1-5 ERA this year. He is striking out. He struck out seven, I think, on Tuesday night? No, he struck out a dozen.

Struck out a dozen? Yeah, career high. I'm going to have to cut that part. That was dumb on my part. I was at dinner, though. So I was at dinner. I wasn't fully watching. I did go back and re-watch. But he was just

he's now striking out guys to go along with his ERA and producing really weak contact. I don't know how Major League teams can go into a start against Aaron Nola and feel good. Like he's just right now it's 96 with movement but he's also throwing a change up whenever he wants

which is different. and he still has one of the best curveballs in the entire game. I don't know how you beat him. No, actually, it's funny. There was a series last year, back when the Marlins were trying to be a major league baseball team, and they had the outfield of All-Stars stay in Ozuna-Yelich.

They faced Nola, and Nola completely shut them down. Phillies won easily. The next day, Mattingly benched all three outfielders. Really sad message. Yeah, well, then the Phillies, apparently around the batting cages, were like teasing them like, what are you guys, tired already?

And they're like, well, no, Nola got us benched because we look like garbage against them. Yeah, no, teams do not want to face Nola. The hitters do not want to get in that box against Nola. And you're starting to see, just starting to see people around the league kind of recognize him. He's one of the ten best pitchers in the National League. Yeah, and I think it's easy to say that. It's not even a take.

No, you don't have to rank it that hard to realize, like, yeah, you're not squeezing him in there. And he's another guy just like cesar where he's rolling out of bed and he's it's seven innings less than two runs and now the k's are coming along with that arinola he's gotta be he's like right now if we if if the all-star break was now who are the phillies all-stars him and herrera is that? Does Cesar get in there? Daniel Murphy being hurt helps. No more Dee Gordon. He might, yeah.

Well, Estrela Cabrera has been unbelievable. Yeah, I guess he's a second baseman now. DJ LeMayhew. That's might be it. Panic's been hurt. Panic got off to a really hot start, but then he got hurt. But yeah, I mean Cesar. I don't know what position Bai is.

I guess he's more second baseman. He's technically second baseman, I think. Let's see what Fangraph says. Nope, that's the wrong thing to click on. I don't know. I think right now Nola is a shoo-in. Nola and Herrera are locks. Yeah, there's no doubt about it.

And then maybe Cesar gets in there as well. Let's see what the fan graphs have as a second base. So, yeah, it has Javi Baez as a second baseman, as Drupal, and then... Oh, Ozzy Albies, of course. Oh, yeah. So it's between Cesar, Albies, and as Drupal and Baez. Yeah. Can you really see as Drupbble Cabrera being an all-star?

I don't know. It feels like Cesar is still underrated by every single person in baseball. Yeah, he absolutely is. I don't know. He just doesn't stand out. I think the only leadoff hitter in the National League with a better on-base percentage is David Peralta.

So you're talking about top two leadoff hitter in the league. Yeah. And playing really, really good defense. Yeah. I would say he's probably on the outside looking in of being an all-star. But Aaron Nola is a 100% all-star. Absolutely. And so is Oduble.

Yeah. Which, you know, makes me smile a little bit. You know, this is Oduble's third full year. Well, I guess he was a full year. He was a Rule 5 guy, but third full year as an everyday player and he'll have two All-Stars to his name

in three years of everyday play. Get rid of that guy. Not a winning player, Jack. You just can't win with that guy. Oduble every single day is, it's not even

really an argument anymore. You can't even have the Oduble sucks argument or he can't win with that guy argument. Well, it turns into, you know, well, look, he didn't run out of ground ball with two outs in the eighth inning, losing 8-1.

Which, by the way, next time I hear that argument, I don't know if, I'm sure they don't exist, but I would love to hear stats, what happens more frequently. The second baseman boots that ball and Herrera beats it out and the team comes back to win 8-1 or he blows out a hamstring or a groin. I would think the injury happens more frequently. Yeah, I would think so as well.

I would think so as well. The argument is he's becoming more and more dead every single day. Right now he would win the batting title. Adil Herrera might mess around and win the batting title. That is poetic justice. I am would win the batting title. Adil Herrera might mess around and win the batting title. That is just, that is poetic justice. And I am fully, fully rooting for it.

I can't wait until the end of the season to see where he ends up. Now, he's been traditionally streaky, so he could have a month where he... But he's been streaky for a calendar year now. No, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. But, you know, I just want to see it continue.

I honestly am a little bit worried about him swooning like he did, what, last May? Yeah, it was just May. It was a bad May. But other than that, he's been fine. And I really think most credit goes to Gabe Kapler. I think from day one, he went down to Dominican. He had a lunch with them. And I think from day one, he saw the talent this guy has,

and he wanted to get everything he could out of a double Herrera. And so far, so good in that category yeah and actually it's it gets more evident by the day he might have like the best hand eye coordination well I mean his swing is so ridiculous it's like yeah he just throws his bat at the ball

he had one today where like his foot was hovering over home plate he was so off balance it wasn't even in the batter's box and he just whacked the ball down the right field line for a double hustle double by the way hustle double hustle double love those uh so before oh real oh speaking of his hustle you see he he hustled for absolutely no reason today there was a man on first uh maybe an alter with or no cesar with one out, drop third strike, and Herrera sprinted his ass off down the line anyway,

even though there's no point to it. You can't take first when it's occupied on drop third strike with less than two outs. But that's the kind of player Dubal Herrera is. He's a winning player. He hustles anyway. Or he just didn't understand the rule. It's probably that, but he hustled nonetheless.

But he hustled. We'll go with your first one. We'll that, but he hustled nonetheless. But he hustled. We'll go with your first one. We'll go with that one. I'm just saying he hustled. So before we get to the Mets series, I just want to drop this little nugget in there. This is very much our brand. Enyel De Los Santos. This is our brand, all right.

Enyel De Los Santos, who the Phillies got for the absolute scrub that is Freddie Galvis pitched this week against the Paul Tuckett Red Sox. Seven innings, six Ks, two walks, and according to Tom McCarthy's son, Pat McCarthy, no one knows how to hit this guy for Freddie Galvis. His season ERA is down to.84. If any of the guys in the major leagues start to stumble a little bit,

N-Yell will be up here, all for a bona fide scrub named Freddy Galvis. Freddy Galvis, who's slugging.279 on the year. How is that possible? Is he the worst offensive player in the sport? He's probably the worst one with a guaranteed everyday job, yeah. Yeah, after then you're just looking at, like, prospects who are just trying to stick.

Yeah, like, remember this was actually argued, like, I guess early December, mid-December? This trade was actually argued? I do. I do. I do. He's a winning player. Freddie Galvis is a... Freddie, let me tell you.

Freddie hates to lose. Freddie hates to lose. He prefers to win more than losing. And, like, I don't know. How many guys in baseball can you say would rather win than lose? Just like Freddie Galvis would rather win the game than lose. He hates losing. Freddie Galvis would rather win the game than lose. He hates losing. Freddie Galvis, the owner of a 279 slugging percentage.

Slugging percentage. His OPS is in like the 500s, which is... Order with Velasquez slugging percentages. Velasquez is a better hitter. If I need one hit, I'm putting up Vince Velasquez. The argument with Freddie would always be, because his on-base and his batting average would be so god-awful, would be, well, he'll pop a home run every now and then.

Well, he's slugging 279. I don't think he's popping many extra base hits there. Freddie, Freddie, Freddie. I don't know, man. They were the worst takes surrounding Freddie. Well, we're going to get into takes later, but another nugget of the 14 qualified shortstops

in the National League, Fangraves has him ranked as the 13th best defensive shortstop. I don't trust defensive metrics, but... I think there's something to being in the bottom half. I don't trust defensive metrics. I know he's a good defensive shortstop.

He doesn't position himself in the hole sometimes. I'm just saying, if that's all these things that people try and make stick as to why Freddie Galvis should be a

winning player, there's not much merit to them. Well, we got more bad takes that we want to get into because we're a month into the

season. We had the bad opening day. All the takes became unleashed after get into. Because we're a month into the season. We had the bad opening day. All the takes became unleashed after the first weekend. And we're just going to break them down. See how they're going so far a month into the season as the Phillies are 22-17? 22-15. 22-15.

Yeah. Look at that. 22-15. Seven games over 500. And playing really, really well at that. Seven games over.500. And playing really, really well at home. Speaking of playing at home, the New York Mets, who, you know, got off to a really hot start. Everyone's like, oh, the Mets are back.

They added Todd Frazier. They have Adrian Gonzalez. They brought in a bunch of veteran players to combine with their young staff. Matt Harvey's looking like he's on the comeback trail. Well, that's gone completely south. That was the five innings. Yeah, it was bad. So, the Mets are coming into

town. They're stumbling into town coming off a series in Cincinnati where they batted out of order, which of course, batting out of order is worse than not having a reliever warmed up. Did you see who handed the lineup card over? It was Ruben Amaro. I mean, Ruben just stays Ruben.

I respect it. He doesn't care. Mets coming into town, stumbling a little bit, but they have three of their horses on the mound. I guess, I don't know. Is Matt really a horse? He was killed as one. He had a good, I don't know, jury's still out, I guess, I don't know. Is Matt really a horse? He was killed as one. He had a good...

Jury's still out, I guess. Tomorrow night, Friday night, we have Arrieta versus Steven Matz, which will be another fun matchup. Arrieta has really been in a lot of fun pitching matchups this year with Scherzer and with Granke and now Matz.

I was impressed with his last start. It was fine when they pulled him. It was the right decision at the time. They got a run out of it. Yeah, Nick Williams has proven to be a really good pinch hitter because relievers just come in throwing fastballs and that's all he can hit. Arrieta had a really good start last week against the Nationals. I hope we can

build off that. His fastball location was really good. His off-speed looked like it was coming back to form a little bit. Hopefully we can build off that. His fastball location was really good. His off-speed looked like it was coming back to form a little bit. Hopefully he can build off that against Matz. And then we got Syndergaard versus Eflin, our horse, matching up against Syndergaard, who

he should be a Hall of Famer one day. With the stuff he has. I mean, every time he pitches, it's like I see a gif of a 91 mile an hour change up that's just like how is that physically possible and then the big matchup

Aaron Nola vs Jacob DeGrom Sunday afternoon listen I need at least I need at least 25,000 people at that game yeah the attendance I think has actually been pretty disappointing a couple weeks ago it was Dollar Dog night's a big draw. It was that, and it was Grinky Arrieta.

And the Sixers were off, so it sounded like it was a Sixers conflict. And just didn't draw. Yeah, you know, like, it's Sunday afternoons, good day. You know, I guess it's Mother's Day, that giveaway. I would be surprised if they don't get 25. I need 25. Show some support for your... Nola enough should be enough reason to go to the ballpark.

Yeah, yeah. Come on. Come out. Watch DeGrom versus Nola. Fun matchups this weekend. All around. And let's beat the Mets. They're 7-13 the NL East, the Phillies are.

15-2 against anyone not in the NL East. That kind of seems like... Well, what about teams not named the Braves? Yeah, well, the Mets swept them earlier, too. Right. It's been a tough start. Yeah. That was also the first weekend.

Yeah. Well, it's got to be better than 7-13 or in division. Let's start digging into that this weekend. Yeah. And the Mets, there's nothing much there. Let's get back on track. Keep this hot streak going. The offense is going to be nice weather this weekend.

But before we get out of here, listen, we got some takes that we gotta debunk here. What should we start with over here? Well, we touched on Herrera, right? Oduble Herrera's not a winning player. If the season ends today, he's winning the batting title. I guess we didn't touch on his... He's got a good shot to win.

AJ Pollock always gets hurt, so maybe once he gets hurt again, Herrera can win his first gold glove. That would send some shockwaves to some people who say that he just takes bad routes to balls. Yeah, well, and he would join fellow talented former Phillies,

Bobby Bray and Jimmy Rollins, really talented fielders who won gold gloves and made all-star appearances, but people would nitpick on when they chose to hustle arbitrarily. Herrera fits in that category just because it's a category of people,

older men don't choose to pretend or not good at baseball. So, yeah, Herrera's a winning player. There's nothing more to say. You're sitting in denial at this point, if you don't think so. This one, this one got a lot of traction in spring training.

There was even some people that tried to bring an ethical side into this argument. Scott Kingery should be rushed to the majors. Yeah. And not only was that take wrong, once he arrived at the majors, they should have benched either Franco or Cesar Hernandez.

Which, I have to say, Kapler was a little guilty of following that rhetoric early on. You know, the Crawford injury has kind of, you know, been a remedy for that situation but yeah still Scott Kingery him being rushed up here to hit 210 or whatever he's hitting with a cape with at least two caves a game it feels like at this point oh yeah uh I'm not thrilled about his arm at third anyway uh look Franco's hitting over 280 uh slugging I think well over 500 he entered in today Mikeranco, our Mike Alfranco,

entered today betting 292. Okay, yeah. I think he's led the team in home runs the last two years, right? So far, he has seven. He's definitely leading in RBIs this year. So we're looking at maybe his third straight year leading the team in home runs. Well, at least it's coupled with a high average this year.

Right. Last year, it was like 220. I think high average this year. Right. Like last year, it was like 220. I think he went nuts the last week of the series too, which is kind of funny. At this point, Kingery,

when Crawford comes back, where's he going to play? He can't play over Cesar. He can't play over Franco. You're not going to set him down. They're not going to set him down. Florman's playing well too. Florman could be

your first guy off the bench. Listen, Kingery's going to be fine, but the overreaction... He's going to set him down. Florman's playing well, too. Florman could be your first guy off the bench. Listen, Kingery's going to be fine, but the overreaction... He's going to be fine. I didn't get why he needed to be rushed here. The overreaction to his spring training, which, again, never overreacted to spring training, was insane. It was two years in a row, really.

Two years in a row. He's going to be fine. He's got to work on some things. He's not perfect. He always had a high K rate in the minor leagues, whether people wanted to admit that or not is on them. But yeah, no. Right now, you're not benching Cesar or Franco to put Kingery in the lineup.

Good. Yeah. Okay, so that was take number two. Take number three, we can actually assign a name to this one. This wasn't just anonymous a wasn't just like anonymous like you know fools on twitter or whatever uh former manager pete mccannon claimed that aaron nola is not an ace he views him as a solid number three and if you're wondering the timing of when he said this he didn't say it like right when nola was drafted he didn't and he didn't have a chance to see him he

didn't say it in his rookie year he He said it when he had that tremendous streak after the All-Star break last year in late August. He said Aaron Nola, he looks at him, and he looks like a bona fide solid number three. Pete McKinnon is a glorified a-hole. He's like a smiling a-hole. He's just terrible. He was a terrible manager.

He batted Freddie Galvis in the two-hole, which every single game I wanted to blow my brains out when I saw the lineup. He said to Michael Franco, he's got to talk to me because I'm not going to him, which is just great. Really good stuff. He's in the face of constant communication.

Pete McKinnon was an absolute cancer for this team, and that's the one thing that I'll side with Pat Neshek on, even though Pat Neshek is now done for at least 30 more days. I'm not saying it's about time, but with that kind of arm angle and how old he is, I feel like he's never really been hurt. I think it was a bad move by Klintak, that contract. Yeah, it was more like, he wants to come back here?

Cool, we'll sign him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was an all-star last year. We'll see. Pitches his own convenience. Yeah, doesn't take the ball when you ask him to. Great, dude. All right, what's the next take?

Well, we already touched on Freddie, so that was one of them. Freddie Gallus being a winning player. Somebody here said, quote, Freddie Gallus can hit zero and be my everyday shortstop uh well listen uh no freddie galvis probably won't be a everyday shortstop come august that's fair to say right maybe even earlier when they bring up fernando tatis jr yeah yeah he's a transition shortstop they gave up a legit prospect for a transition shortstop right like that is look legit prospect for a transition shortstop. Look at the Padres rotation.

Yeah, it's mismanagement. That's malpractice. What's that guy's name? A.J. Preller? Yeah, yeah, Preller. Yeah. All right. This is a weird one.

It seems to gel really with an older crowd. We need to end the Reese Hoskinsoskins quote experiment in left field so no one it seems like we were among very few people that watched in august of last year the reese hoskins left field experiment it's over it took place in august last year yep i think he turned a triple play his first or second week in the big leagues out there. Didn't embarrass himself. You know, listen, he's not going to be, you know, peak Barry Bonds out there and win how many ever gold gloves he won, much less won.

But he doesn't embarrass himself. He's fine. He gets the ball as he should. I think he's a little better than Pat Burrell. Pat Burrell was a World Series left fielder, I guess for two teams. He's fine. Like, it's not an experiment. And then it's kind of better than Pat Burrell. Pat Burrell was a World Series left fielder, I guess for two teams. He's fine. It's not an experiment.

And then it's kind of like two or three-fold to this. People get mad because it moves Nick Williams and his.284 slugging percentage,.293 on-base percentage to the bench. I'm fine with that. Like you said, he's actually been a more than capable pinch hitter. Yes. And then it comes with, I think people just didn't, they see the name Carlos Santana and they think of the guitar player and not the bona fide middle of the order hitter.

Yeah, it's just like, I'm just sick. It wasn't an experiment at all this season. It was just kind of his position. he's a left fielder it's like and then let's all terror play like the alignment's fine the team's fine the lineup's fine everything is in the place that it should be but why it was it was always though why would you why would you sign carlos santana and take hoskins out of his natural position and also take nick williams out of the lineup right like at its peak the phillies are are better with Carlos Santana at first base, who has played a really good first base.

Yeah, it's the play he made today. Yeah, a ridiculous play. A really good first base. Now he's starting to hit to add to his defensive prowess. Hoskins is more than fine in left field. Like, he's fine. If Pat Burrell can win it out there, and Kyle Schwarber can play in the outfield,

Kyle Schwarber isn't terrible. So, yeah, Schwarber and Burrell have combined three rings. Sure. As left fielders. I mean, Schwarber missed the whole year. But, yeah. Yeah. He came back for the World Series.

But, yeah, no, it was always ridiculous. And, honestly, to get Nick Williams in the lineup, I think I'm okay. I'll be okay if Nick Williams doesn't play every day. I don't think he's an everyday major league player just because of his swing. I don't like it at all. Doesn't get on base, strikes out a lot. And when pitchers have a game plan for him, no. Nick Williams is just bad. Is it because he was traded for Hamels people want to

have him forced in? I don't know. It's weird. Nick Williams is very much in the Rashawn Holmes camp. Oh yeah. It's a good comp. Where it's like, Rashawn Holmes, he dunks and he blocks shots. Nah, he's also like a horrible defensive player and you can't win with him at the center.

Nick Williams is kind of in that same mold. So, yeah, that take was always so weird. It was like, why did you sign this? Because the Phillies lineup with a good Carlos Santana

is really, really deep and tough to get out when it's Carlos Santana, Hoskins, and Altair, mostly. That's a hard three-man rather than Nick Williams being out there. Do we have any more? Gabe Kapler. Gabe Kapler.

Listen, first weekend of the year, this guy's a dunce. He doesn't know what he's doing. Now, this is perfect timing, because when the Phillies went to New York last time, it was right off of the Hobie Milner breakdown, and at that point, Mickey Calloway was God's second coming of Christ to the manager position who now did something that I had never seen in baseball at least in Little League I saw it not in the major leagues little league sometimes people would do it on purpose to sneak it in

there and now the the Mets are just reeling Mickey Calloway didn't want to double switch one time because it just seemed too hard to figure out. Now Gabe Kapler loves the double switch. I think he loves the double switch a little bit too much, but yeah, those shifts, those takes have seemed to do a complete 180. Gabe Kapler is perfectly fine as a manager. I think he's done mostly good things. Mickey Calloway's on the hot seat.

Get him out of town. Sorry, Brad Stevens asked. as a manager, I think he's done mostly good things. Mickey Calloway's on the hot seat. Getting that down. Sorry, Brad Stevens-esque. Yeah, but actually you got to deal with a good manager. Well, Brad Stevens is good. We don't know if Mickey Calloway's any good. No, like early in the season, some of the shifts were not working their advantage. Now, I think more often than not,

the shifts that you look at the outfielders, they're exactly where they should be. And I don't know what, so I was listening to Torrey Hunter talk, and apparently, like he was saying, even when he was playing under Tom Kelly, which was,

I guess it's late 90s, early 2000s, so we're talking like almost 20 years ago, he had Hunter keep a card in his pocket on where to shift. This isn't a new thing, but, you know... Oh, he's reinventing baseball. He's reinventing baseball by doing something

that people have been doing for decades. And also it's practical. Right. Can you tell me looking at a freaking card is easier than looking at a sign from a hundred... From 300 feet away, yeah. Like, 200 feet away? Like, what is so hard about that?

No, it's ridiculous. And more often than not, they're in the right spot. Like, the game in Tampa Bay where they win 200 feet away? What is so hard about that? No, it's ridiculous. And more often than not, they're in the right spot. The game in Tampa Bay where they win because Altair was in a spot where 90... Whatever amount... 94% I think they followed. Yeah, 94% of the time that's a hit. Yeah. How many times is...

O'Double's Go Glove campaign is actually aided by this because he's oftentimes in a good starting spot to run balls down. Yeah, so that's going to do it for the High Hopes podcast. Shout out to Mike Angelina for joining me. It was. It was the High Hopes podcast. The Phillies offense is really, really fun to watch right now. They're clicking.

Listen, I love looking at CBP in the summer. Now that it's summertime, the weather's nice. It's a nice little... A good sunset at CBP. It just makes my heart feel warm. Yeah, they've had a couple... For the Saturday games, they've had a couple 405 and 605 games so far. I don't know how many more they have coming up, but I like that.

Yeah, it's nice. It's a nice little change-up. The Phils are playing good ball. The staff, they're all firing. They're all competing. Aaron Nola is our baby. He is also Pedro Martinez reincarnated. We'll save that take for another time.

But we'll be back on Sunday with a new pod. And go Phils. Let's take back that first serious sweep against the Mets. Let's change that. Change that narrative and get Mickey Calloway out of here. Another fact, so jump aboard the is a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is. Another fact. So jump aboard the BIB Express.

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