High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: Recapping the Cubs Series, Looking Ahead to the Brewers, and Calling Out the Kapler Haters

Episode Date: June 8, 2018

James Seltzer and Jon Marks recap a frustating series loss in Chicago. The guys discuss what went wrong over the three-game series, why there's more good to takeaway than bad, and more. Plus, James and Jon look ahead to a tough weekend matchup with the Brewers coming to town, disucss Vinnie Velasquez's resurgence, and call out the Kapler haters. 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

Every Canadian dairy farm is unique. That's why every farmer takes charge of their own unique environmental farm plan. Also drawing from 57 environmental practices. My plan starts with soil health. And part of mine includes biodiversity. Why care so much? Because Canadian dairy farmers hold themselves to higher standards. Because Canadian dairy farmers hold themselves to higher standards. That's what's behind the Blue Cow logo. Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Yo, it is another edition of the High Hopes podcast. As frustratingly, upsettingly, we come to you off another series loss as the Phillies unable to get it done in Chicago.

After taking game one, you feel good. Zach Effling gets you the W. And then, unfortunately, two heartbreakers in a row, especially, obviously, the game two loss where Jason Award hits the walk-off Grand Slam. But more up ahead, the Phillies have a huge series with the Brewers coming up. We'll look back, look ahead, all that type of stuff. First and foremost, let me welcome in, it's so exciting, whenever I get to actually do this show with the guy I started the show with, it seems like such a rare occurrence, but

it is always a blast, the one, the only, Mr. Johnny Marks. What's up, Johnny? What's up, James? What's up, everybody? What's up? I really dynamite intro right there, Johnny. Thank you. Thank you.

You just dove right in there. What is up? This is the, you're getting John Marks after, you know, a day of work, whatever, and then going home and having to take care of the baby and everything. And the children, as it were, it is a subdued Johnny Marks. Well, my kids wake up before 5 o'clock now. Literally, 4.50 this morning, it's like, no, please no. Please no.

All you parents out there know how it feels. Yeah. That is good stuff, brother. You got to do what you got to do in that department. I'll carry the energy part for us. And I'll tell you this. It's why even when you have an 8 o'clock start, it's tough because a 7 o'clock start is tough for me right now. Oh, me too, man.

And then you only have that one hour. It's like crazy, man. Oh, it's brutal. Like West Coast games, I used to love them when I didn't have to talk about them after it and whatnot. Like and stay up to watch the whole thing and all that if I could be like, oh, I passed out. But, you know, it is what it is. At least they've been fun to watch for the most part. But, look, let's start just kind of at the top here.

You and I haven't really talked since this end of May, beginning of June swoon, if you want to call it that. They've lost eight of the last 11. Obviously, the runs were an issue on the West Coast, but they come back. They do put a few runs on the board in Chicago. But just coming out of this series, look, it wasn't like they were blown out in any of these games. They lost by one run, and they lost on a walk-off grand slam. But what is your – actually, when you think about it, they actually outscored the Cubs

if you take just the total runs from the series. They outscored the Cubs. But what's your takeaway from this series against a good Cubs team in Chicago? Yeah, man, it was a tough series. Like you said, they could have won any of these games. The game that you thought that they were going to lose was Eflin, and that's actually the game that they came out. Eflin looked great. Nola didn't have his best stuff last night. And then tonight, or excuse me, me this afternoon Cubs are a good team it's a it's a tough place to play and kind of the end of a a two two series in in California you go to Chicago I thought they looked better this series um obviously the San Francisco

series was a debacle they split in LA uh but this was very easily a series you could have won two or three, so I'm feeling all right. The offense is still kind of like, eh. Kapler's moved some guys around. You've seen Kingery now in the three hole, which I mean, at least he's trying something new to get Oduble going or whatever, but the offense remains a concern and starting pitching in the bullpen, James, they can't do this the whole year long. So the offense at some point is going to have to step up and carry this team for a stretch. But hey, right now you got some winnable games coming up and you need to because it's a really tough end of the month. We're already the first, second week of June right now. Yeah. And it's already tough. There's no soft spots.

I mean, the Rockies are maybe the, you know, that's if you want to look at a weak spot on the schedule. The Rockies are tied for the lead in the NL West, and that's the toughest team. You know, the least tough team they'll face, they've got the Yankees this month. They've got Washington for seven games. They have six games against the Brewers,

who, you know, happen to have the best record in the National League. So's it's not easy at any point and we'll get into the brewer series they play much better at home too which is which makes you feel good coming back exactly back for this weekend yeah that's huge and as many home games as we can get obviously 13 and 19 on the road and i think still what 18 and 8 18 9 somewhere in that at home. They've been a much better home team. But I'm kind of where you're at in terms of I definitely feel better than I did after the West Coast trip. It was nice to see them respond with at least some offense, better at bats in that first game. You could see that whatever the message was,

whether it was Arrieta speaking out or Kapler, how he handled it with the team after that and publicly as well. And I'll get your take on that in a minute. But I do think that – and all season long, really, they've shown an ability to bounce back from adversity and not let the far down times keep them down. And I think we've seen that in the Chicago series. down times keep them down.

And I think we've seen that in the Chicago series. Again, that loss in game two with the Hayward-Walghoff is just... Still hurts. Yeah, it's potentially, and we've had some rough losses this year. Hector Neris is responsible for a few. And not this one, obviously. But I think this one, for me at least, I think that might have been the toughest loss of the season for me. But I think they've shown resiliency, and I felt good about the fact that they battled,

especially being down in these games and fighting back. Obviously, they had the lead from the jump in Game 1, but even though they didn't win Game 2 or Game 3, they fought back in each of those games and took the lead in Game 2 and tied it and then came close again in Game 3. So i think at least if you're looking for some silver linings it's the offense having some better at bats the aggressive base running i love that from o'double today where um you know he just takes third on a basically a grounder to short the guy looks him back you never see runners actually go there and he he waits waits waits for the guy to throw and just

takes off and I think that with this offense the way it is especially with Reese out I think that even though Reese might have been struggling he is we talked about his leadership and all that but also just a presence in the lineup that that at least instills some fear even when he's slumping and they certainly haven't had that same level of it. So they need to work at bats. They need to do what they do and they need to do things like, you know, get extra bases when they can. And I thought that was really good to see really quickly. I, you know, at least I knew you talked about on the radio, but we haven't really heard your take on, on the high hopes podcast about the whole Arrieta thing and then the subsequent Kapler response.

What was your kind of feeling on the whole thing? And do you think it was the reason that we're starting to see him play better baseball? Or was that just the ebbs and flows of baseball and they had a rough West Coast trip? Yes and yes. I love the fact that Arrieta came out and did it. He's the guy that has the presence on this team that can get away with it. He is the guy with the championship and the Cy Young pedigree. And the team needed it.

The team needed a wake-up call. They really looked. You have three games and you don't score a run other than your starting pitcher, Arrieta, hitting a home run. It's outrageous. Totally fine with it. You single out Kingery, and I'm sure he regretted that. But, hey, what he said wasn't wrong.

It was a sloppy baseball team defensively. For all the analytics that Kapler and Klintak talk about, Scott Kingery playing any games at shortstop shouldn't happen, in my opinion. It's not a natural position to him. The shifts aren't working. They're working out the kinks. And like you said, the ebbs and the flows. The Giants got swept by the Phillies in a four-game series

back here at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies got swept in three. It just shows you it's not easy to go to the other side of the country and to play. And the Giants kind of gave you back what you took from them here. It's the ebbs and it's the flows of baseball. I'm glad he did it. And Kapler's response to it was exactly, predictably what he was going to say.

Kapler knows he's not wrong. I'm sure he would have rather him not come out and single out Kingery. But Kapler can take it. I know he can take it. I know he knows how to handle the situation. But one of the reasons why you signed Jake Arrieta, and you saw with the response that he got in Chicago, which, hey, won a Cy Young, won a World Series there,

but you don't think that they would have, if they could do it all over again, that they wouldn't take Arrieta at 3 for 75 rather than that bum you Darvish that they signed. We talked about it on the podcast. Any day of the week, that's a better signing. He's a better pitcher than Darvish at this point. So that's why I'm glad he's here, because he's a guy that can say that and have no problems talking about it again the next day. And I'm an Arrieta fan, and I'm glad he's on the team, for sure.

Amen to that, brother. Seriously, I couldn't agree with you more. And I said it before when Jack and I talked about it, but you're absolutely right. You hit on the key of it is that there's only one guy on this baseball team, one player who has the gravitas, who has the standing in that locker room to get up and do something like this and it's the guy who did it and and i appreciate that he did that i appreciate that he recognizes his place

in the clubhouse that he wants to do that type of stuff and i think capler's response was like you said predictably you're dead i mean this guy he gets it he totally understands how what to say in public and what not to you know i I think maybe playing in the league for 12 years under a bunch of really good managers maybe taught him some things. But I thought it was such a perfect response. Take the blame on you. Defend the other guys and say, you know, we are open to all ideas and we want to be better.

Boom. Like, that's your mantra. That's what he lives by. And he just keeps backing it up and I was just look a lot of managers I mean think about like Pete McCannon last year if Pete McCannon's a player come out and say that you think Pete McCannon's responding that way he's just not like he's gonna be butter and he's gonna like be pissy about it like that or or silent about it or whatever like I thought Kapler just did such a great job

of handling it. Speaking of Kapler though, John, we got another round of the Kapler hate, which just they will find any way to jump in there. But in this series again, Chicago, obviously the heartbreaking, heart-wrenching loss, but there were a lot of people who had issues with the way Kapler handled the end of that game. I don't have... It's funny because I have a completely different thing to be mad at Kapler for. If you want to get mad at Kapler for that game, I don't have any problem with how the end of the game played out,

at least from his decision-making. How did you feel about the whole Sir Anthony of it all and Adam Morgan and the way that all played out? Well, if Morgan doesn't serve up a walk-off grand slam, we're not talking about it. And this is the great, one of the reasons I love being a baseball fan at Philadelphia is because we do react to games the way that we do with the Eagles, right? The NFL 16 games, it's you're reacting and this and that. And when you do it for 162, you don't get an opportunity every night, but it's fun to react with, um, it's fun to react

kind of like you're, you're watching a football game. Yeah. The minutia and the little stuff. And the, I'm so with you, man. Yeah. He, had a two-out save, I guess, or a two-inning save, I guess the week before. He's been dominating. Morgan, he's playing the matchups. Obviously, in hindsight, if I had to do it all over again or if he had to do it all over again, you would change it up maybe a little bit. But I'm going to ride with him here.

And keep this in mind, he's still figuring out roles. He's still figuring out what his pitchers can do and what they can't do. We're only, I guess, a third of the way into the season or whatever. So, yeah, man, he has his moments. Kapler has his moments. But I didn't take much issue with that game. John, I couldn't agree with you more. And look, he doesn't have a closer, guys.

Like, he doesn't have that go-to guy you can just say, all right, Mariano, go in there and shut this bitch down. Like, he doesn't have that, you know, option. Pretty clear it's not Neris, too too the way he's been using yeah Neris has been kind of taken out of those types of situations Luis Garcia's look good in those spots when he's gotten the opportunities but uh I look Sir Anthony Dominguez has at least in the first 16 innings of his career prior to that had shown that he can do that that he can do the two innings. And I'm totally fine with Kapler making the decision to bat him. I've heard people complain about that.

That's a whole separate issue than the issue to pull him out after that. I've heard people who are upset that he didn't pinch it for him, and then people are upset that he took him out. Like, one way or the other, like, did you want him to go out or do you want him to pinch hit? But I think the way it played out, I have no problem with him batting and saying, hey, this is my best reliever. This guy has been nails since the moment he came up to the majors.

And, again, a guy who has 16 innings in the majors. He's a kid. I understand how he's not going to be perfect, people. He's not going to work out every single time. He just gave up his first run and now 17-plus innings. Like, that's really impressive. But, look, it looked to me and to my layperson eyes that he didn't have it in that second inning.

And whether it's because he was used the night before and just couldn't go two innings or whatever, he didn't look like he had the same stuff that we've seen him have in that second inning of work. And in that situation, when you know you've got two switch hitters coming up and then a lefty who has struggled immensely against lefties, you have to believe that Adam Morgan's going to get those outs. Adam Morgan should get those outs.

He has gotten those outs. I think it's so crazy. It's like people are just looking for things. And the funny thing is is something happened you want to talk about the minutiae of the game there was something happened that happened the fourth inning of the game that if you want to rip Kapler rip Kapler for not yet coaching into these guys how every base is not covered when things happen in a shift or whatever it is like the fact that that Chris Bryant was able to take third base because there was no one

covering it was outrageous and that's on a stolen base walk there is no one covering third base that's the reason to get mad at capler and i understand that it's also execution it might not be his fault but keep them after practice do whatever you got to do to drill home the fundamentals if you want to get mad at Kapler for that game, get mad that his team didn't know the fundamentals in that spot and it ultimately cost you a run. That's when you get mad at him. The bullpen stuff, I think, for me at least,

it feels like it's picking at straws or trying to find something to get mad at. Yeah, no, I agree. I feel like any manager on any team in any season is going to have games where you get second guess. It's going to happen all the time. If Dominguez gets out of that inning and they get a save, no one's worried about it. If Adam Morgan comes in and finishes it up, you've got to give the other team some credit, too. Adam Morgan came in.

Give Hayward credit. He hit the bomb. He came in. Give Hayward credit. He hit the bomb. You know, one thing I don't even know if I said this on the air or just off the air or just talking to people, but Larry Bowe is one of my favorite Phillies of all time, both as a player, which was a little bit after really right when I started watching baseball. He was still playing later on as a coach and then as a manager. We know the manager thing didn't work out exactly how everybody hoped it would, but he was a damn good baseball guy. He

is a damn good baseball guy. And I'll tell you this, they'd be better defensively and they wouldn't have these sloppy errors that we're talking about if Larry Bowe was on this coaching staff. I know Kapler came in. I know he wanted his own guys. I know they kept Larry around the organization. But these are things. Larry works with infielders. Larry for the Francos and Kingreys and the Crawfords and Cesar. Ask Freddy Galvez, who helped him with his glove over at shortstop. Talk to any of the guys that have been in there.

So, you know, Rob Thompson, the story that have been in there so you know i rob thompson that the story that came out that hayman threw against the wall that it's like oh well more or less it was a puppet regime that um that that capler wasn't doing anything it was all rob thompson well if that's the case then this has nothing to do with gabe capler and blaine thompson right yes exactly john hayman whoever his sources are they all hate gabe capler i think that's our biggest takeaway he was the one who had to get the manager out of the way like this guy just seems to know everybody who can't stand gabe capler so he has an agenda and now now the new the new throwing stuff against the wall is manny Machado. There's another story that was out today about that.

So that's going to continue. Yeah, I'll just say I take everything John Heyman says with the grainiest grain of salt. That's what I'll say about that. You know what it is? It's good for us. It's good for people that like sports talk radio and like talk radio. Because you know what he's doing? I'm sure he's got people he talks to, but he's more or less connecting the dots and putting stuff out there.

A lot of times if you read how he words things, he'll say something to the effect of a source that has knowledge of the organization's thinking. What does that even mean? You know what I mean? Pay attention to the words that Heyman uses when he puts these stories out there. Yeah, it's a great point. It's a great point. And it's very well crafted and well done like that.

You're absolutely right. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing, but how often is he right with what he says is a whole different story. But regardless, look, you're going to hear the Machado stuff. And I think that's something that will cross that bridge when we come to it. I don't

think that he's going to get traded anytime in the near future, not until the closer to the deadline. I don't know what kind of market there's going to be for him as I would find it beyond shocking that he would sign a contract without testing the market, no matter who he thinks he wants to go to or what he wants to do. I think he's going to test the free agent market and make it very clear that as ever is trading for him, they are trading for a rental.

So it could be interesting. I say that. And then the Yankees traded a top five prospect to get a half a season or all this Chapman. So what I know, or the Cubs did, I mean, yeah, no, but the otherubs did, I mean, yeah,

no, but the other thing with, with Machado is he may sign with the Phillies if they offer him a half a billion dollars. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? It, it,

if you're talking about 400 to 450 million, sure you can resign them, but if you're not, it all depends on the price tag. Heyman was saying today that you're talking about four. I'm not saying that you couldn't resign him. I'm saying that, that I don't think you'll be able to re-sign him

before, unless you give, like you said, unless you give him $500 million. Yes. If you say, Manny, we're trading for you, and here is $500 million, then yeah, he'll probably re-sign. Especially if it was something, look, especially, and I don't like to make too much

of this stuff, but if he, you know, he knows the guys in the front office and all that stuff, so there's at least some level of trust in that type of situation. Meaning, I'd feel better about the Phillies trading for Machado and that meaning he would sign her than another team because they know Machado. Otherwise, I don't think it gives you a huge advantage when he's out on the market. I think that'll come down to money and fit and all that. But regardless, look at this. See, Heyman's already got us talking Machado, which is ridiculous.

Yep. Which is also funny, too, because you mentioned Freddy Galvez. And I would think that any part of a Machado-type trade would have Daniel De Los Santos in it. And I can't believe that that guy is what they got for Freddy Galvez. We don't talk about that enough. He's got a sub-2 ERA. He's got well over a strikeout per inning.

He's amazing. And they got him for Freddy Galvez. It's crazy. Yeah, and normally he would be the guy that you're saying, like, all right, bring like all right bring him up bring him up there's not really a spot in the rotation for him right now the the this was the start where if Eflin would have uh would have would have kicked rocks I would have been like all right it's time to bring up they got a couple young pitchers down there in triple a um also the

big lefty I'm blanking on his name right now, which is Cole Irvin, has been really, really good this year for the Iron Pigs. So he could be another guy that comes up. But, hey, starting pitching has been great this year. Yeah, and that's the craziest thing. And we'll get into that in just a sec because I want to look ahead to this series coming up and talk a little Vinny Velasquez. But before we move on, John, any other takeaways from this series in Chicago or anything since the last time you've been on the pod?

Yeah, man, I'm disappointed. I'm one of those old school baseball guys that hates the DH, doesn't mind the speed of the game. And I don't like interleague play because you can only get one trip to Chicago every year. You only get the one trip out to L.A. and out west. You only get the one to Pittsburgh for crying out out west. You only get the one to Pittsburgh for crying out loud. So yeah, everybody loves an early play. You play the Yankees, but this was the one

series in Wrigley. So for the old school get off my lawn, Johnny Marks baseball fan, yeah, I wish there was another trip out there to Wrigley. I always enjoy them. Yeah, I totally agree with you on that part of it. And I actually, look, I think there was another trip out there to Wrigley. I always enjoy them. Yeah, I totally agree with you on that part of it. And I actually, look, I think there should be uniformity between leagues.

I think it's absolutely absurd to have two leagues. It's just a joke. And I don't care if it's all DH or all no DH. I'm fine. I can get the argument for both sides. I think the strategy element of the argument for the no DH is slightly overrated. And I think the DH argument, I do like the concept of not having to watch pitchers hit. But I think there is some strategy and whatnot to it.

I just think it's somewhat over-argued. So point being, just make it the same across baseball one way or another. But regardless, let's look at johnny is a big series coming up here as as as you mentioned before it is it is just huge that this team is coming home it is they have been a different baseball team here than on the road and and it was kind of frustrating you mentioned wrigley too you watch those games and that place is packed you can't get to see if you tried they got the awning across the street that's got packed to the gills. And then we got big games happening here

and it's not packed down there. Before we get into the Brewers, what have you thought about that? Do you think it's just that they need to get going a little bit more and kind of prove to people they're legit? Do you think it's the weather? Why do you think some of these bigger games haven't been attended as much?

You know, when an Eagles player, let's use an example, or really any sport, they have that breakout year and they don't make the Pro Bowl or they don't make the All-Star team until the following year because while they're doing well, they're not being recognized by the masses. Fletcher Cox had a great year one year, didn't make the Pro Bowl, and then now he's a Pro Bowler every year after this because everybody knows about him now. So this has always been a town, except when Citizens Bank Park opened, to where you had to win games to get people to come see you. The Phillies were always like that in Veterans Stadium,

and then even after the newness of Citizens Bank Park wore off, they needed to win. 86 wins, 85 wins wasn't enough. So once school's over, if the team keeps winning games in July, games in August, you'll get some sellouts. You'll get some packed nights. But as far as games in April, May, and early part of June, good luck, man. Even next year, unless they make the playoffs and really make the playoffs this year, you'll still see some light crowds. And you know what? If people aren't catching on right now, I don't want to hear the argument that no one likes baseball anymore. Bogus. If this team was winning 95, 100 games, they'd be sold out every night.

But in this town, you have to win to get the masses to come out and see you. And hopefully they can get some wins this year and they can get people down there. Because this is a fun team to watch. It's fun growing with them right now. Ditto. Everything you said there, I couldn't agree more. It's a fun team to watch and it's fun to grow. And I thought about that before.

Once the run came to an end, and it was part of the reason I was so annoyed that it took so long for them to finally admit where they were and start the rebuild. But I was excited for the rebuild. And granted, I'm like you, a baseball nerd who loves the minor leagues and loves prospects and loves all that kind of, you know, stuff that, that not your average baseball fan might love. But I thought it would be so fun to get to see a young group of guys come up together again and to see younger players be like, what is that guy? Is he going to be something? And have guys turn into the stars that you end up loving

and all that type of stuff. So I think that's a great point, and you're certainly dead on with the fact that it's going to take time for this team to essentially buy back their patrons' trust in that sense, that they're going to be a good baseball team. It's going to be fun to come down to the ballpark. It's going to be a good time because like you said, they need to be good for people to come down there. And a big series though, coming up this weekend, and you hope that people get down there on the weekend for this because it might not be the sexiest series, thinking about it,

but the Brewers have the best record in the National League. They've been playing really good baseball, and it's really one of those things, John, where I don't really know how they're doing it. I mean, you look at their team, and they're starting rotation, and just the three guys that the Phillies are going to see this weekend, they're going to see Julius Shasin, Brent Sutter, who sounds like a hockey player, right?

And then Junior Guerra. Like these are the guys that they're facing. And then Chase Anderson's in their rotation. The offense, Ryan Braun is terrible now. Christian Yelich has been good. Lorenzo Cain has been good. And then it's a bunch of guys that your average baseball fan has never heard of, like Jesus Aguilar and all these types of guys.

And Travis Shaw has been a monster for them. Travis Shaw, John. Love Travis Shaw. Yeah. Look, the bullpen's been great. Josh Hader. Phillies fans will get to see Josh Hader for the first time most likely. This dude is the best reliever in baseball right now.

And he's awesome to watch. He's a huge left-handed guy with long hair, and he's crazy looking, and he's got tattoos, and he's awesome. But, John, what's your take on this Brewers team? Is this kind of a mirage? They started off well last year and faded off, but, you know, did go out and get Lorenzo King, get Christian Yelich, really thought they could compete,

and right now have been playing great baseball. Yeah, you're kind of waiting for the fall apart. Hey, man, we're a second week of June now, so still a lot of time and a lot of baseball to play but you can't go into this series thinking like yeah they're not really that good like who are these guys uh at some point it may fall apart but it doesn't look like it's happening right now but you know you know how baseball is you come in you're uh you're licking your wounds from a from a rough end to your road

trip and you come out and you get a sweep or you do something else but I I'm like I'm not expecting the Brewers to come in and roll over or to fall apart right now it may happen over time but it's not happening right now yeah and I don't know if it's gonna happen over time I think I was wrong about them coming into the season I looked at the look it's funny too because I think coming into the season everyone thought it was going look, it's funny too, because I think coming into the season, everyone thought it was going to be for sure. The nationals, the Cubs and the Dodgers, those three teams were winning the division. Then everyone else was playing for the wild card. Obviously it hasn't quite played out that way though. The Dodgers are climbing their way back into the NL West race as the West has clearly been the worst division. The Phillies,

even with the loss today, the Cubs, I think, might still be in first place if they're in the NL West, either in first or tied for first. So it hasn't been a great division so far. But, you know, the Cubs in second place, even with their win today, this Brewers team's played great baseball. And again, it might not be a group of guys

that you are very familiar with when you watch this team, but it's been working for them. And again, the bullpen has been might not be a group of guys that you are very familiar with when you watch this team but it's been working for them and again the bullpen has been one of the best in baseball with josh hater as i mean it's unbelievable he's striking out 50 of the guys he faces more than 50 it's like one one out of every two batters that guy faces he strikes out it. It's crazy. He had a, he had an eight out save a few weeks ago where he struck out all eight guys. He's amazing. So, uh, he's been a big weapon for them as a, uh, you know, high leverage type of reliever going in at big spots and, and shutting down rallies or

potential rallies or whatever. So he's a weapon. But again, I think it's one of those things where this team has played really well, but it's certainly not, um, they're certainly vulnerable. And it's again, all the Phillies need to do is come home and play home baseball. You look at the pitching matchups. And again, like we just said, we all looked at the pitching matchups for Chicago and said, oh, well, you know, we can lose the Eflin game and win the other two. So it doesn't always play out that way. But you've got Jake Arrieta going in this series. And you have Velasquez versus Chassin, Sutter versus Arrieta, and then you've got Junior Guerra against Zach Eflin, the last one.

But first and foremost, you have nice matchups there. Vincent Velasquez, John, we got to talk about him before we get out of here because this, I would say since its inception, the High Hopes podcast has been decidedly anti-Vincent Velasquez ever being a legitimate great or good or whatever starting pitcher in Philadelphia and for the first time I think we're all starting to say whoa like whoa he might be something and I don't know if he's ever going to be a superstar or whatever but when you look at his last six starts in 33 and a two-thirds innings 214 ERA a 203 average allowed, 48 strikeouts, or excuse me,

42 strikeouts in those 33 innings. He's been awesome. He's been really, really awesome. Do you think this is something that is sustainable, or is this just him stringing together a few of those tantalizing Velasquez moments we've gotten in the past? Yeah, I think that you have to look at him and what he's accomplished this year and really kind of applaud him and say hey man he's building

on something um you know ultimately do i think that that like you just said however many starts that was in the innings he's still only averaging five not even six innings a start which is probably which is problematic but if he's your fourth starter, you can deal with that if he's getting high strikeouts, if he has a low ERA. I'm still not sold that he's going to be an everyday starter. His stuff still, to me, translates to the bullpen and a dominant back end of the bullpen arm. But he's given me cause for pause to think that he's only a bullpen guy.

Vince has done a very good job this year. And just from talking to him and talking to him down in spring training and talking to Jake Arrieta, a big part of the young pitcher's success this year has been a veteran like Jake Arrieta and somebody that you can lean on someone that's been there someone that's seen a lot someone who struggled to begin his career that had great stuff in Baltimore was never ever ever never able to put it together someone who doesn't have a problem coming out and saying what needs to be said even if it if it's tough words so it's a good spot for Vince right now and And, hey, we're in June, James.

And he's still pitching well. So, next couple starts. I actually like this spot here. I like this spot here for the Phillies. And I like it for Vince too. I'm with you there. And like you said, I always say June 1st is real. I don't know if everything that's happened up until June 1st is going to continue at the same rate or whatever But if it's happened up till June 1st, there's a real chance that it could continue to happen

And I think you have to say about Vinny, man And just the way he's approached it, the way he's worked Again, we've talked about this somewhat recently on the I Am Spodcast But I don't think we can all heap enough praise Rick Kranitz's way for the job he's done with this staff. And particularly a guy like Vinny, who we all know needed a lot of that type of work. You know, Vinny, it was not just like, hey, get a mile per hour faster on your fastball or something. It was all in the head. The stuff's there.

So I think you've got to give Kranitz and his staff and Gabe and the whole staff a lot of credit for what we've seen so far. And you hope it continues. Obviously, consistency and all that. and his staff and Gabe and the whole staff, a lot of credit for what we've seen so far. And you hope it continues. Obviously, consistency and all that. A six-start stretch does not make a great starting pitcher. But like you said, a fourth guy. We've talked about it before where there's that moment in the start where you know – You could see it going one way or the other.

Yeah, totally. You could see it going downhill. And you haven't seen that really as much the last, like you said, five or six starts to where you think that it's like, oh, here it comes. And he gets out of it. So he's still throwing a lot of pitches. He's still wiggling out of trouble. But he's doing it. That's when he's getting a lot of strikeouts is when he's just kind of saying like, all right, listen, I got nothing else to lose.

He's not thinking about it. He's just kind of saying like all right listen i got nothing else to lose he's not thinking about he's just throwing um so you're right this is a mental a mental thing with vince and uh at some point he's still a young guy he could he could very easily figure it all out yeah he really could i think that's a a mistake that we all as a general baseball viewing public we all are really, really quick to judge with baseball players. Especially I felt like with the Harper Trout thing, when that happened, it kind of just made everybody have unrealistic expectations for prospects and what age they should be ready by and how long it might take people to figure it out. I mean, Nelson Cruz was like 28 before he figured it out in the majors, 29 years old or whatever.

It happens. Sometimes guys are just late developers, and Vinny's not even that old. And to your point, I remember I was driving. It was like a couple weeks ago even. I was driving around, and I heard him on with your show, John Marks, Ike Reese, Afternoons, WIP. And he's really well-spoken, and he was harping on the Arrieta thing. I remember that.

I remember him talking about what a difference that guy has made for that staff and in that locker room. And it goes back to what we were talking about before. He's that guy who can step up and can make a difference with those guys in the locker room. So, yeah, I'm with you. I'm excited to see him get back on the Hill on saturday after the whole you know outburst and coming back home and a big series against the brewers i'm excited to take the hill he he opened up his mouth now he's gonna back it up

he's gotta back that's what i'm saying that's exactly what i'm saying they got to him in the sixth inning he was kind of rolling along they got him. So now you open up your mouth. Now you have to back it up. And he seems like one of the guys that you know he's going to back it up this start. All right, Johnny, final thing before we get out of here. J.P. Crawford returns.

Interesting. Played third base yesterday. And it's one of those moves where Kapler said they might play him at third base more often. I don't get that one. You mentioned before I feel the same way Scott Kingery is not a shortstop he doesn't look comfortable there he doesn't uh make he doesn't have the right reads he doesn't he has trouble covering from that side of the base not his natural position think about it yes so I I find

that strange and I was talking to Mike Angelina today and we were both like is it is it maybe that Crawford's arm isn't ready to make the deep throws from short coming back from that arm injury we couldn't really figure it out do you have any thoughts on why that that's happening and and just generally on Crawford being back no No, with Kapler, you really, I would never put Kingery at shortstop unless it was a total pinch. There'd be someone, I know Floreman went down. I would have a guy that'd be out there for the most part, even if he can't hit, just because he can field his position. I don't feel comfortable with him playing shortstop. So I have no idea what Kapler's thinking with this. Why is he playing third base? I don't know.

As far as JP coming up, listen, for the High Hopes podcast, pretty big JP backers, right? I'd say between Jack, you, and I. He has not produced. It looks similar to what he was doing last year in AAA. He was down with clear water with the threshers with his rehab assignment he was he wasn't driving the ball he he wasn't

wasn't showing that he that he looked like he was going to come up here and really do much of anything so maybe they just want to ease him back in there you're right maybe it is a worry about the arm uh ultimately i think j JP's going to be okay, but certainly not the way you wanted to start your career up here in the big leagues. And so, yeah, as much as, you know, I'm not going, well, they should have never traded Freddie because they got a great prospect for him. And hey, listen, good luck to Freddie out in San Diego.

We love him. But yeah, it's a pretty big stretch here for JP before the All-Star game. It'd be great to get the average up. It'd be great to get on a little bit of a roll, take your break in July, and then come back out for the home stretch. Otherwise, James, if this team's in contention and he's still doing what he's doing right now, Klintec might look for a veteran guy that can help you down the stretch.

I know I would be. Yeah, you might have to. I'm with you. Look, depending on how this plays out, they might have to add a bat anyway. And I never would have thought that. I thought it would be a starting pitcher they would need, maybe a bullpen arm, But nobody's hit, man. And nobody's hitting.

O'Double hit, and now he's obviously been struggling more so than he did at the beginning, obviously. But otherwise, it's it. Cesar a little bit. Hoskins for like a week. Dylan Cousins got another start today. Dylan Cousins, yeah. He had a great throw from left field on that one play where Knapp was blocking the play.

But, yeah, he's fun to watch. I think he's going to be someone who ultimately will probably strike out a little too much. But you know what? The baseball is going there. The whole conception of, oh, that guy strikes out too much, it doesn't really matter anymore. Everyone strikes out all the time. As long as you produce the strikeouts don't matter i think that the worry with me and cousins is that once they figure out how to pitch

them it will be all strikeouts and no hits and that's where that's where i come down i i don't i'm not bullish on dylan cousins's potential uh but again you know look it changed the launch angle and all of a sudden he's a 50 homer guy every year you know, look, it changed the launch angle and all of a sudden he's a 50 homer guy every year, you know, that's the way it seems right now.

All right, Johnny, any final thoughts before we get out of here? Yeah, man, I have a, I did a Mark's

minor league podcast that we're going to be releasing on Sunday morning. I spoke to Jason Waddell who is actually down in Florida. He writes for a bunch of different major league and minor league baseball websites. But if you ever see me retweet Sixto Sanchez videos of him pitching or anything going on down in the Florida

State League, it's from Jason. He goes to all the games. He's been scouting this league for a long time. So he has really, really good information. And he's got a good perspective on the guys that are down there playing right now, where they were before, and even a Redding guy or two that he watched last year. So we're talking Sixto, we're talking Mickey Moniak, and we're talking Adam Haisley. Really, three of their bigger prospects, or two of their three top prospects. So that's coming up. I'm going to drop that on Sunday morning. So look forward to everybody tuning in for that.

I love it. Dropping Sunday morning, everyone. Check that out. The Marks Minor League Report is back, and I love it. And I will quickly, for the absent Jack Fritz, say rate and review the podcast. It makes Jack incredibly happy, but it also helps us, helps people find the podcast if they're looking for philly's podcast all that type of stuff so if people have been doing that too yeah we we appreciate it so much we can't tell you yeah we can't tell you how much we

appreciate it uh do it if you like us do it do it if you hate us do it if you're just on us but uh please give five stars even if you hate us yeah exactly please please do it for us uh whatever you think of us and my final thought really quickly is just in general be be relaxed with this team in this month of june because it is an awful month i mentioned it before but after this chicago series, three-month Milwaukee, Colorado is the worst team they'll play this month. Milwaukee again, St. Louis, who's like seven or eight games above 500, Washington, the Yankees, Washington. It is a murderous schedule over the next month. So they just got to keep their head above water. July gets way easier. They play the Mets. They play Baltimore. They play Miami. They play San Diego. So

keep your head above water. Treadwater. 500-ish baseball is okay for the month of June. Alright. Yes. That is, and look, don't lose it in June. That would be a great month of June. Exactly.

A 6-20 June ain't going to get it done. But if you go, you know, 10 and 13 or 13 and 10 or anywhere in that general range, I am fine. And I think that that is a fine spot to be in. All right. For John Marks, we will be back with another podcast, as always, coming up on Monday. And of course, over the weekend, it's dropping on Sunday, the Marks Minor League Report.

So, again, thank you for listening to another edition of the I Am's Podcast. We'll see you guys soon. See you. 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 I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game it's my podcast it's my passion it's a cause i started

more than two years ago and it's now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is another fact so jump aboard the bib 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