High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: This Team is Good, Why Doesn't it Feel Better?

Episode Date: June 18, 2018

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back after, another, series victory. This team is good, but it really doesn't feel like they're that good... why? The guys break that down as well as talk about Rhys Hoskins being BACK and looking ahead to this Cardinals series. 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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Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to beat your personal best, keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. Yo, it is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast. I am James Seltzer and we are coming to you after, believe it or not, the Phillies have won two series in a row. And with me, I get to celebrate, even though he's been a little down lately about the Phillies. And I'm hoping we can pick him back up here. 37 and 32, Philly squad, as I record with him here on Sunday night.

The one and only Mr. Jack Fritz. Frenzy. Well, I'm bad at golf. I realized that today. I haven't been bad at golf my entire – I haven't been bad at golf since I was 13 years old, and I went out today on Father's day for the first time in 10 months and i'm just bad and i don't like that i'm bad i like being good at golf i was getting chirped at by a guy who listens to wip all the

time he said he's gonna call in and talked about how bad i am at golf it was embarrassing it was sad it's the end of a good era um but i did come home to a philly's win which did make me more very excited however it's just never easy it is it's never easy with this team it is never easy with the hector narrows ninth inning like it's just oh it's it's it's so weird to not feel completely happy with a 37-32 team. It's weird. It's weird not being super excited all the time about a good baseball team. I don't know.

I'm in a very weird spot. Yeah, and that's because you're delusional and you expect too much. And Jack and I have gotten into this over text message multiple times and we'll get into it coming up is uh look this Phillies team is 37 and 32 after beating a Brewers team two out of three this weekend that just smacked the crap out of them here in Philadelphia the weekend before and won the first game of the series 13-2. Jose Valenti, or excuse me, Jasmule Valentin is out there throwing pitches in the ninth inning. And then this Phillies team battled back, and they're a young team. And that's the thing.

I know you know this, Jack Fritz. You know, because you are a smart, intelligent guy, that this is a young team with a first-time manager, and they don't have all the pieces they're going to need, and they weren't built necessarily to win it all in 2018. I personally look and I know it isn't always fun sometimes it is downright stressful as we'll get to when we recap look two straight series finales the the Colorado five to four win that that came down to the end and then the game today for uh again recording on Sunday where Hector Neres just implodes and then makes an easy win into a tougher one. But, Jack, I know you know that this team is young and you should give them time and stuff. What is it that is kind of making you so unhappy, even though they're five games over.500

and right there at a wild card spot, halfway through their toughest month of baseball, they're going to play all season. I just don't know what they're – like, what are they good at? What is this Phillies team good at? I don't think they have a – I don't think they're a good hitting team. I think Reese Hoskins being back to being Reese Hoskins, which makes me very happy.

Like, I don't want this whole thing to be like, this team sucks, because watching Reese Hoskins back to being Reese Hoskins has been very, very exciting and encouraging. I just don't know what they're good at. I trust one guy in the bullpen. I am gaining trust in Tommy Hunter and Edebri Ramos. I trust one starter, Aaron Nola. Pavetta's taking steps back.

Arrieta is just so frustrating to watch, because his ball moves all over the place, but he can't throw strikes and whatever. Eflin is fine. He's good uh and velasquez is fine uh the defense is freaking horrible on a night in night out basis like i just i just don't know what they're good at i don't know how they're winning ball games and honestly i'm just terrified they're gonna go through a huge stretch of just losing and i don't want want to go fully all in and be all happy because I don't see a recipe for long-term success this season. Obviously, if we're looking at the whole picture,

the whole picture is perfectly fine. I'm just looking at the here and now, the game in, game out, night by night basis of this Phillies team. And it's a mostly frustrating mostly frustrating boring unexciting team to watch that is somehow five games over 500 and i'm not exactly sure how see that's the problem jack you you millennials you want what you want and you want it now there's no patience obviously not true but obviously this team is not a World Series contending team the way they are currently constructed right now. What they are is one of the youngest teams in

the sport with a brand new manager who is seeming to learn on the fly quickly and make good decisions. I mean, you talk about a team that's five games over 500 that hasn't really played that well. And like you said, you don't really know how they're doing it. I think you have to give some serious credit to the managing and the coaching staff for finding ways to get this team that's not fielding great, that's not hitting great, that has gone through spells of pitching great, but certainly has also gone through spells of the opposite.

And they're finding ways to win games, and they're finding ways to bounce back from tough losses and getting their butts whooped. They come back again, 13-2 on Friday, and then come back and win back-to-back games against the team with the best record in the National League at the time. So I understand what you're saying, but I also think that it's the wrong perspective.

I would love to see this team go on some special run like Philadelphia seems to be doing a lot these days right now. But I'm just excited to see this team grow and the chance for these guys to play maybe meaningful September games and get those types of reps at this age and with this type of development, that's going to be huge. Of course there are going to be times where they're going to struggle, especially a sport that is such a grind like baseball and guys who haven't gone through that grind. who haven't gone through that grind. Again, we talk about Reese, who, by the way, is back and looked awesome this weekend. A couple of home runs that I don't know if they've landed yet.

But at the same time, we look at him like he's some veteran. The guy has played like 120 games in the majors in his career. I think that we're expecting too much too quick from this team. It's fun what they're doing. I love what they're doing, but I think that the you're underestimating the, a, the importance of the reps they're getting longterm and be the fact that

you got to just take it as it comes. Cause it's not a team that we have to live and die with yet. I mean, some of us don't, I, I live in, I don't live and die. yet i mean some of us don't i i live and i don't live and die you know what i mean though i mean with the with the future the future is so bright and it's fun to watch this develop and happen and and they're ahead of the curve they're ahead of schedule they're ahead of the curve i get all that but like man aaron altair batting 176, J.P. Crawford batting 189, Scott Kingery batting 222.

Like, it's just so frustrating watching them on a night-out basis. And, like, the approach to the play is fine. Like, get on base, walk, play for the beginning. It's just, like, that's also a really boring strategy to watch. And, like, it's just not a fun watch, watching them. Like, this Brewers series, like, the Brewers walked 10 guys on Saturday, and the game took, like, three and a half hours. And I'm like, oh, this is why people don't like baseball.

And, like, today's game was four hours long with, like, it's just, I don't know, man. Like, the averages are brutal. The walk, I don't know. They're good. They're fine. They're winning games, though. Yeah,'re they're good they're winning games though i don't yeah but why why are they winning games because they're managed well because they're aggressive

on the base paths because they've had timely hitting and that's the thing you would usually look at and say well they've they've got a 18 and 4 record in one run games that's not this it's not that they have some fluky type of record in one run games or some weird thing you can point to. They're, they're just a team that, that has been resilient and they fought. They're,

they're the type of team you should get bind. And again, they're going to go through some struggles. We've seen them already, but the fact that they've bounced back as many times as they have, it doesn't matter. Quote unquote, how they're winning all the, all that matters is that they're bounced back as many times as they have, it doesn't matter, quote unquote, how they're winning. All that matters is that they're winning. Right. And I understand you want it to be sustainable.

You want it to be something that can carry throughout the season. But at the same time, I wouldn't have thought that they would win these back to back series right here in the middle of June after struggling like crazy for so long. So they keep, they keep finding ways to defy what you might expect them to do. Yeah, and let's – And wait, one more quick point.

Also the fact that they're all not hitting like that. If they get these reps and they get more comfortable and they start to build confidence, imagine what the team could do if these guys do hit. Correct. Very correct. And let's talk about Gabe for a second, because I think he had a really, a mostly positive week.

He had the, he played for the beginning against Colorado on Wednesday or on Thursday, the day game where he, instead of JP Crawford bunting, he said, Hey, try to work, walk,

get on base. He's trusted JP Crawford in two major situations in his last couple of games. J.P., I think, has an OBP around 400 since coming back from injury, which is a major step forward. That's the J.P. Crawford that we knew, even if he didn't bat in the 250s or whatever. He may bat in the low 200s, but we expect that OBP to be high because of how good his eye is, and he has taken some really, really good at bats since he's coming back from injury. But Gabe played for the big inning against Colorado. And I like the theory of playing for the big inning.

Now, I do come from the old school mindset of bunt the guy over with first and second, get second and third one out. I think it puts more pressure on the pitcher that analytics don't really show. But I like the idea of playing for the beginning i think it's a good idea and i think it's trusting his players and i think they feed off of that trust and he did the same thing on saturday where he uh he he took back the picture took out eflin and like were you watching were you watching the game saturday live yes by any chance yes why why were people freaking out? I did not understand the initial freak out.

Well, because Eflin was at 73 pitches, five innings in, and... But you're not scoring runs, James. You're not scoring runs. I didn't have a problem with it. I'm just trying to explain where people are coming from in the sense that, you know,

the fact that the bullpen has been bad and I think that people worry about handing the game over the bullpen when Eflin seems like he's pitching well and could have a couple more innings in his arm. Theoretically, I think that's where people are coming from. I'm with you. I didn't have a problem with it, but I at least understand where people are coming from. Clearly it paid off. It was right. you know, results over process or whatever, but it was the right move. There's no question.

Yeah, and then, but today, today was weird. Like, I just, I didn't understand, you know, me and you argued about this on text, but like, why are you bringing in Sir Anthony into a three-run game in a seventh inning with one out and no runners on or whatever? And it just seemed like way too early for him. He pitched him in a four-run lead.

And then I just think I have become so worried that Sir Anthony is going to blow his arm out that I just want to overuse him. And I think it felt like a – He's going to need like a phantom dl stint later in the season i think it no matter what right right and maybe there's using him now to get through this stretch to make sure that they're afloat when they need to put him on the dl for like a week or two but and then the ninth you know hector starts going full hector and oh man and he puts in jake thompson i like what dude i like jack i almost spit out what i was drinking when jake thompson strolled to the man i i was watching

the game with my fiance's 88 year old granddad and i just started pacing around the whole room like what was that i i said that they should give the save to Oduble instead of giving it to Jake Thompson. Edward Ramos has a.60 ERA. Yeah, I'm with you. Honestly, Jake Thompson, probably the last guy in that bullpen I wanted to see in that spot. Did he see Jake Thompson get the save in the 20-1 Marlins game

and think this guy knows how to pitch in this situation? No. You know what it was? I'm sure it was a Jake Thompson throws this pitch, which gives this batter trouble, so this is what we're going to do, or something along those lines. I don't know. I really don't know.

It was really a strange moment. And the whole Neris of it all to begin with, especially because he brought Neris in on Saturday and Neris actually had a clean night you and I were texting saying oh sir Anthony for two obviously and it wasn't and it worked but bringing Neris in in the ninth there up five and he just implodes Jack it was classic Hector Neris and and gets him out just in time and Jake Thompson I mean did did you not think when that ball was hit that it was going to be a home run? And obviously Odubel makes a great play on it and just a really nice over-the-shoulder catch. But that was the same feeling with the Rockies game, the game we talked about, the 5-4 win,

where you just felt like it was a lock win. They were going to take the series, and then all of a sudden it was slipping out of your grasp, but they didn't let it slip out of their grasp. I know it's easy to rip the comeback, but they didn't let it get finished off. Jack, I do think that for a young team, that is something. Those are, again, reps that matter to be able to close out those games where it does feel like it's slipping away from you yeah and i guess you just kind of got to take a step back and think wow they took two of three from the from the brewers who have the best team in the national league record wise the brewers

after friday's game had outscored the phill. I think it was like 40-something to like seven maybe. It was absurd. It was absurd. So to take two of three against a team who was rolling, they were rolling before the Phillies got to town. That crowd, it's electric. Games at Miller Park have been really, really fun to watch this year. And to quiet that crowd, I know today got a little dicey.

But still, in those situations, I just think it is really, really impressive resolve for a young team. And, you know, I don't feel great about where they are. I'm just worried about the rug being pulled out from underneath me. But I'm happy. I'm very happy that they're playing pretty good baseball. The defense is still – the fact that they're – when I watched Major League Baseball growing up, it was like these guys never make an error.

And now I'm like, what are they – this isn't a Major League team. They make errors all the time. I don't know. I don't know. It's a really weird team it's a weird team i'm with you it's one of those things where you watch baseball and you say all right that that ball is hit this way as we're watching it that's going to be fielded by the second baseman and thrown into first base and it's going to be an out you're conditioned

and whenever it goes the other way it's a surprise this philly's team it seems to go a different way way too often i'm with you and and again we mentioned it i think on the last ios pod but but also the the fundamental stuff like you know if you're gonna shift that's fine but make sure everyone knows what base they're supposed to cover if someone has to run back and cover third base so chris bryant can't just take it for free then someone should to run back and cover third base so Chris Bryant can't just take it for free, then someone should be running back to cover third base and that person has to know what their responsibility is. And that's the type of stuff they need to do a better job of hammering home these fundamentals with defense as well, with getting your ball down on the glove. I mean, how many times have we seen a ball roll under Kingery's glove now? It's unbelievable. I say the shortstop quote unquote, and the ball rolls under his glove once a week. It's, it's crazy to me, but I want to, I want to look at each game individually as, as a couple of things that stand out from each for me, I want to start on the 13 to two smashy, and then we'll get to the good stuff. Really just one thing from that game that stands out to me, and that's Jake Arrieta spouts off,

and neither of us had too big a problem about it, but accountability, all that stuff. And he has had two outings since then, Jack. And the last one, the very first one, he grinded but didn't have a great one. This one, he just looked like crap. You mentioned before that you're certainly bearish, as it were, on Arrieta, but also factoring in the fact that he spouted off and can't seem to get it done. Does that make it extra worrisome for you?

Well, the baseball gods don't forget, and Jake should have known that. You don't throw a rookie under the that. You don't throw a rookie under the bus. You don't throw your teammates under the bus. And the baseball gods have not acted kindly on Mr. Arrieta. So he knows that, and now he's getting a lashing for it, as you might say. But he, and the most

ridiculous thing about this whole recent Arrieta stuff, is that he goes to Jerry Krasrasnick and he says yeah i could still strike out guys if i wanted to yeah no you can't jake you can't you can't strike anyone out like let's let's be realistic here for a second if you could really strike anyone out whenever you wanted when it gets second and third or bases loaded you would go in and strike a guy out instead you're relying on your defense, which, again, isn't great, especially given that he is a ground ball pitcher and he is on pace to set the record for most double plays in a season.

But watching him, man, it's just like he's just nibbling. He's all around the corners. He is not attacking guys at all. I feel like he's just trying to throw through guys. He's not trying to dominate guys. Right now he's trying to trick guys, and they're not getting tricked. He's not just throwing strikes. His ball moves so much that you'd think it'd be hard to barrel up,

but, man, they are barreling him up. It's been a rough recent couple of starts for Jake Arrieta, and he's got to get back to being able to strike guys out. He's got to find some semblance of an off-speed pitch. And he has to locate his fastball. If you want to be good into your mid-30s, you have to locate your fastball. And he hasn't done that at all in recent starts. Yeah, and adding on to that, I think as we've discussed a few times,

it's, it's extra frustrating because we've seen him do it this year. We've seen that old Jake Arrieta granted. I think the Pittsburgh start probably the only game where he really had it the entire outing, but we've seen flashes of that guy and he was kind of had flashes like that last season as well. So that's what makes it so tantalizing. But I'm with you. It's certainly a worry as and you hope it's maybe just one of those dead arm periods, as they like to call it, Jack. But I'm certainly right now not I don't feel great when Arrieta takes Dale. I don't feel great when Arrieta takes Dale.

But outside of that, the 13-2 game, the other takeaway really is just the fact that the Phillies were able to bounce back. And we've kind of talked about the resiliency. But to come back, the 4-1 game you mentioned on Saturday, a boring game. But we kind of dove into the Eflin pitching decision of it all. But what did you think? I know you've kind of gone back and forth on Eflin. Where are you at with Eflin? I know the strikeout rate is a career high,

had six strikeouts in five innings there, and again, was taken out a little early pitches-wise, but seemed to be pitching pretty well against a solid lineup. What did you think about Eflin's outing on Saturday and where he's at right now? Yeah, I'm kind of done trying to predict Zach Eflin because I just don't know what I'm going to get. But for the most part, I like what I've seen from Zach Eflin. I've said it ever since he's came back.

The fact that he's been pretty consistent at spotting 95 to both sides of the plate just makes him such a more effective pitcher because guys don't know where that fastball is coming and when it's coming at 95 it's like wow that's hard to catch up to they don't know if it's gonna be inside outside and he's done a pretty good job even against left he's getting that fastball in 95 on the inside half the plate so that's very very encouraging and when he first came up i was mostly intrigued because he was throwing this slider that was seemingly hard for batters to square up because it was moving a lot. It had a lot of three to nine movement. And it was it was slower than that, way slower than his fastball.

Like I think it's coming in at like seventy nine. And then recently he's gotten away from that. And he struggled for a couple of starts there. Last couple of starts, last two starts in particular, it feels like he's throwing that changeup more and more, which if you're throwing 95, 96 with your fastball and spotting it wherever you want, then you drop an 85-mile-an-hour changeup in there that just dips. It just dips right at the end. That's a tough little combination to to to

hit off of so i think he could be good the strikeout rate's very encouraging i'm not going to say like he's amazing but he certainly gives you a chance every fifth day it feels like it feels like zach eflin every fifth day is going to give you a chance because of his fastball location how hard he's throwing it and he's throwing it up in the zone to combat the launch angle movement. Yeah, I think you've summed it up really well. And look, he's pitched really well this month. He's been their best pitcher this month. Zach Eflin, the stopper?

Yeah, how about that? He has been this month. He really has been. And look, I think whatever you get out of Zach Evelyn is a, uh, is a bonus. So if he can keep throwing like this, that'd be, it'd be great for this team. But we also in this game, I think, uh, first and foremost,

I think just the way they kind of gutted out was impressive to me. You and I were texting about Sir Anthony and the strikeout of Yelich where he just, oh, what a pitch, what a pitch that was. But also a game where we see Reese really starting to bust out here. He hits a home run that is just as mammoth a shot as you'll see and had three hits on the night and just as locked in. We mentioned it before, but on a more macro level, what have you seen from Reese? And is it possible that his return alone, we've kind of talked about this a bit before,

but is it possible his return alone can turn this offense around? It's starting to. It seems like since he's been back, they've certainly gotten out of the offensive funk. Yeah, I've really liked him in the two hole, and I know that you and John marks don't like that but it's worked out really well the last couple games and it's it's coincided directly i think with crawford being able to get on base the bottom of the lineup like if you can if you can bat the pitcher eighth and then have crawford essentially be another leadoff hitter, get on base.

Cesar hopefully does something. You're most likely getting a Reese up with runners on base, runners in scoring position, whatever. And I think it just, it makes a lot of sense. He's hitting, he's finally hitting well out of the two hole,

but he, he, he is fully, fully back. And I think his, his launch angles have been really, really great on some of the home runs. He's hit. I's not super nerdy it only sounds super nerdy because i did a deep dive into launch angles and it's just like it makes so much sense and people get so freaked out by it but the originator of the launch angle movement was ted williams so all you old school

people who are like oh oh, launch angle. Guess what? Ted Williams, the greatest hitter of all time, pure hitter of all time, was the originator of the launch angle movement. So why don't you calm down? Irie Freds, I like it. But Reese is just, he's taking really nice hacks. Everything is on a line drive slash home run plane.

He's just a streaky hitter. This is what we've got to learn about Reese. And the problem, obviously, during that whole stretch where they were playing just horrible offensive baseball, was that both Adubel and Reese, their two best hitters, were both really struggling. And they're both really streaky hitters so it's tough to know like when they're going to go through those deep deep stretches of just bad hitting but unfortunately they're both they're both struggling at the same exact time and now it feels like they're both starting to pick it up at the same exact time yeah oh duba with three hits yesterday or today

uh homers on friday and the granted 13 to two stomping, but I'm with you. It's really exciting. And if those, can we talk about a doubles home run on Friday for a second? Yeah, because listen, you know, I've, I've, I've already started hearing the chirps. That's an a Bray you Homer. Is that, was it, was that an a Bray you Homer James? Oh, I don't know if that was an a Bray Homer. I don't think so. The, the, the, thebreu homer is the home run that doesn't matter at all. And that's why his stats are good.

I don't think so. Because Abreu is not a good player. Because he hit one that ended up mattering today. So suck it, all right, you jerks. But everyone's out to get Odubel. We're pro-Ddouble on this podcast but jack one thing i do have to say here in that four to one victory another home run from nick williams as the original aaron altair stan the whatever he's hitting 182 or whatever he's hitting i think

he's on the 170s and nick williams for and i and I have not been kind to Nick Williams at times as well, he's been way better than Aaron Altair, especially over the last month plus. What do you have to say for yourself, I guess is the best way I can put it? It hurts. It really hurts. There's no justification for playing Aaron Altair right now over Nick Williams. You just can't do it. And credit to Gabe for finally, like, remember early in the season

when he was like, yeah, we make our lineups a week out. And everyone's like, well, what if a guy gets hot? What if a guy gets hot? Now he's finally playing the hot hand, which is the smart thing to do. You just have to ride it when you have to win ballgames. And, listen, I don't think Nick Williams is anything special, but I was reading an Eno Saris piece like two weeks ago, and he has one of the best plate coverages in the entire game,

which is wild to me. He can hit balls anywhere and everywhere for pretty hard contact. So that's a good sign. I'm not totally buying it because he's been streaky as well. But for right now, you just have to keep playing him. You can't ride Altair. I mean, Altair looks like a mess at the plate. I think he has a bad launch angle.

I think he has to work on his launch angle because I think he drives the ball into the ground a little bit too much or just creates bad contact. But I think that Nick Williams has to play way more over him, unless it gets late in games, where you can just put him in the eighth and ninth as a defensive replacement and he's not coming up to the plate. With that being said, hopefully he gets hot

and makes me regret getting off of Altair Island. Here's the thing. First and foremost, you nailed it. Nick Williams should absolutely be playing over there in Altair. It should be a question. And Williams has had good at bats, too. And he's shown some power. And he really does have a sweet swing.

It really is a nice swing to watch. It really is a nice swing to watch. But even more so, I think that it was incredibly impressive that you were able to work launch angle 32 times into that last sentence that you said. So that's really the biggest takeaway for me. I think he has a bad launch angle, and I want Aaron to work on his launch angle. There you go. You hear that, Aaron? Get on the launch angle. Get on it.

All right. Back to yesterday or today. When a lot of people will be listening, this will be yesterday's game. But today's game, the 10-9 thriller somehow that felt like it was over. We talked about Odubel. We talked about Rees, both those guys, home runs in that game. Your boy, Mikel Franco. How does it feel to be wrong about Mikel Franco, Jack

Fritz? Nice day for Franco. Franco Island lives for a day. He didn't acknowledge my tweet at you. I was pretty upset you didn't acknowledge my tweet at you. It was disappointing. I know. I thought it was a funny tweet. Yeah, I mean, Mikel's

back. He's the third baseman of the future. Oh, yeah. No, I'm just kidding. Although it's, it's so frustrating because he had that a bat against Jeffries. Yes. It was a great, it was, it ended up being a huge event in the game. I knocking in a couple of runs. There was huge. And he was like, he was completely locked in.

He was. Yeah. And he took it the way that he took it to the opposite field. Like where the ball needed to go. It was a great hitting. I'm with you. I was like, what, who is this guy. I was like, who is this guy? I was like, what are you doing, man?

Like, why can't you just be that way all – I don't get it. Between him and a dude, I don't get why they can't just be locked in all the time. It's the weirdest thing. I don't get it. Mike Kel could be a good player. That was a good – today was what a good player looks like. And I know tomorrow or the next time he plays,

he'll be stepping into the third base box again. He's so frustrating. Yep, I know. He really is. Speaking of frustrating, though, how about a bit of a rough outing from Aaron Nola today? Did you see anything? Because his last couple outings,

he has not been quite as sharp as outings, you know, as he had been for quite a stretch there. Have you seen anything from him lately, especially today, that looks off? Or is it just one of those ebbs and flows type of periods? Ebbs and flows. I didn't see much of the start today because I was still in the course. But I was listening. What? I was on the course. Good i was listening good for you buddy listen this guy what do you want me to say i was out there grinding by the way i i've always sucked at golf so if i went out and sucked it wouldn't be a big deal for

me yeah um no i didn't i don't i haven't really seen the the the laboring like you seem to see that he's i mean it hasn't been as as, I guess, but I also think, like, it's pretty hard. I mean, he had a rough one today. He had four and a third, four earned, seven hits, four walks. He just had a rough outing today. Yeah, it's one of those outings. I mean, it happens to everyone.

I mean, except for, like, the Scherzers of the world. It pretty much happens to everyone. I mean, it's probably justerzers of the world. It pretty much happens to everyone. I mean, it's probably just like his mechanics are off by a little bit, and he's got to fine-tune that a little bit. Also, now you're kind of getting into the dog days of the summer a little bit, and he kind of starts slipping. So he'll be fine, unless it's like a trend. I don't think it's a trend.

I'm pretty confident he can roll out of bed, throw seven innings and, and allow less than two runs. But yeah, today wasn't great. Yeah. We already talked about the whole narrowest thing, the Jake Thompson decision.

And I'm with you. I think for the most part, Kepler at a really good week, you could absolutely quibble with those decisions. You could quibble with him not going and keeping Sir Anthony in for two innings in Saturday's game instead of going to Neres in the ninth there, even though that worked out. But ultimately, on the whole, I think a good weekend for Kapler. But when you look at the 10-9 game otherwise, we argued a little bit about Sir Anthony.

I think we're both on that page. I'm worried, too, about the overuse about Sir Anthony. I think we're both on that page. I'm worried too about the overuse of Sir Anthony. I yearn for nights where he is not needed. Again, it's a tough spot because there are so few people in this bullpen that anyone, especially Kapler obviously, but I think all of us can feel confident in. And Neris was example A, B, and C of that today in that ninth inning with that just awful, awful outing.

But outside of the stuff we've hit on here and kind of where they're at in general, any other takeaways from the weekend before we look ahead to what's coming up this week? This weekend was good. It was a positive weekend. I'm liking Tommy Hunter more and more, like slowly but surely, liking him more. But other than that, just a good series win.

Also, Brent Suter's a total nerd. He's such a nerd. I can't look at him i can't stand him he has a the ultimate hate the face he's got that stupid he's like such a classic lefty like lefties lefty pitchers are the weirdest people on earth and brent suiter just fits that to a t you know with his weird stupid dumb and dumber thing which he was like nailing spot on and acting like jim carrey i thought that was weird. His stupid, like, when he throws a pitch, he, like, jams his whole head all around.

And, like, I don't understand how he still has a neck where his head stays on. Very, I'm so out on Brent Suter. And he throws 86. Like, whenever I see a guy that throws 86, dominating major league players, I just get frustrated. Like, whatever.

He should be a hockey player. His name is Brent Suter. Be a hockey player guy. Brent Suter, Suter, whatever. Come on, guy. It's be a hockey player. His name is Brent Sutter. Yeah, it's Brent Sutter. Sutter's whatever. It's a very hockey name. His family is absolutely disappointed that he's a Major League Baseball player. I can guarantee that. All right.

Harvard. He's a nerd. Yeah, total nerd. What a dweeb. Way to go getting a good education, you idiot. All right. Looking ahead, and after we look ahead to this week's action i do have one incredibly important question i will ask jack before we get out of here

i want his take on whether he is pro something or anti something that the phillies it's a it's a core part of this season so uh getting his take on this will be incredibly important. But first, big week of baseball coming up, Jack, as of today. I keep going back between. This is one of those tough spots because we're recording this at 1030 on Sunday night. It'll be up by like 1130, midnight, whatever. And people will hear it on Monday. So I want to talk like it's Monday, but it's not Monday, Jack. So then

I keep saying today thinking it's Monday, but I'm really talking about yesterday and it's a whole to do. Do you understand what I'm saying, Jack? Sure. Okay. Good. The listeners love that point being the Phillies playing Monday through Wednesday this week. You, you know, last week, they got the Monday off and then played straight through this week. Monday through Wednesday, coming home for a three-game series against the Cardinals before heading to Washington for a three-game series Friday through

Sunday. Cardinals coming to town. What are your general thoughts on the Cardinals? Interesting matchup tonight. Nick Pavetta, your boy coming off his worst outing in a while against, uh, Miles Michelas, who I'm a fan of. I've watched that dude pitch a few times and, uh, he's nowhere near as good as this guy, but he kind of reminds me of Brandon Webb a little bit, a really hard

sinker that, that comes in at like 94, 95 miles per hour. And he just, he just, he's hard to hit the ball in the air against. It seems like a very heavy ball. I think people are going to be not enjoying Myles Mikolas as much as they should as a Phillies fan here, Jack. Yeah, he's had a great year coming over from Japan. Pavetta, he has been back to old Pavetta a little bit. He'll have the first inning where he gets lit up a little bit,

and then he struck out 5 of 6 in his last start. And I was like, oh, okay, he's fine. And then he started getting ripped again. Fastball location hasn't been there. And he's throwing only like 93-94, which I don't like at all. And his curveball hasn't had the same kind of bite that we saw for most of the season. I wonder if he's getting worn down a little bit. I hope it's not injury-related.

I hope there's not a little bit of, you know, maybe it's just a little period of dead arm. Maybe he's going through that. But right now he's definitely struggling. And he needs to start picking it up right now, he's definitely struggling. And he needs to start picking it up because now his ERA is over four, and I might lose that bet with Jody Mack, which I will never want to lose in my entire life because he will never live it down.

Yeah, Pavetta really a tough matchup this week, pitching-wise, between Myles Mikolas, Luke Weaver, who should be way better than he is. I need him to start turning into Tim Hudson because he's killing my fantasy team, and he should be Tim Hudson.

But he's had a rough go of it, but his FIP suggests that there is some coming back to earth from his ERA. And then Michael Waka, who's been great. He's been so good. I thought he was supposed to be bad now, but he's actually good. No, he's been awesome this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I've actually seen him pitch a few times, and it's totally legit.

His stuff is nasty this season. But at least for that game, they – Look, hopefully Jake Arrieta cannot suck. Is that too much to ask, Jack? I feel like that's not too much to ask. Maybe the channel is inter-cubbing him and say, try not to suck today. yet i cannot suck is that too much to ask jack i feel like that's not too much to ask maybe the channel is intercubbing them and say try not to suck today yeah i hope so look this is a big series because then it goes washington yankees washington to round out the month so but but

easier the phils are on national tv on sunday they are on sunday night baseball which is the first time they've been on Sunday Night Baseball since I feel like 2012. I think forever, it feels like. I don't know if they've ever been on it before. That's what it feels like. It has to be 2012, 2011, somewhere in there for sure. Was the last time the Phillies were on Sunday Night Baseball

the night that Osama bin Laden... I was gonna say that! I was gonna say that. It might have been. Look, it's been forever. That's really exciting Jack I love that that's very cool um so big stuff big week and we'll be back to talk about that series coming up as uh as we will be back with the podcast later this week but before we get out of here Jack I mentioned it before I have to get your opinion on something it's crucial because it's very important to the season how do you feel and I can't believe there's not something we've

ever addressed here before as as this is a very Jack Fritz type of topic but how do you feel and i can't believe there's not something we've ever addressed here before as as this is a very jack fritz type of topic but how do you feel about the little rub the fingers together type of move that they do this year that's their celebration for when they get hits the double you know get a double run scoring double look back at the dugout and do the little rub the fingers together move what do you think about that move well every team that has to have one i know i know and look go and watch the mets one from like i want to say it's like 2015 or 2016 i won't say what it looks like but it's basically like two hands wrapped around a pole like moving it up and down i think you figure can figure out the rest. Nice. Yeah. It's so lame.

I don't know how they all agreed to go with that. Just Google, like, anyway, maybe I'm sending people down a bad path. But regardless, regardless, it's pretty ridiculous. So what do you think about the finger move? I think it's fine. I like it. I'm all right with it.

Again, I've seen way worse, but I kind of like it. It's chill. It's subtle. I like it. Well, it would be nice if they did it when they were scoring more than five runs a game. Or they're actually like a... Jack, then they would never get to do it. Come on, man. It's semi-confident.

No, I'm in on it. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm in on it. It's good. It's subtle. I needed you to be in on it. I needed it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also this week, Rob Manfred said that they're moving towards a universal DH, which, once again, there's nothing more un-American than the DH. Get rid of the DH. More pitchers.

Give me the universal DH. We'll argue about this another time. All right. We got to get out of here. So we'll be back later this week some combination of the two of us and John Marks or something maybe all three of us we'll see how it plays out but we'll definitely be back to talk about the national series until then a 37 and 32 Phillies team it's something to be excited about somehow there are 37 wins like a month and a half earlier than they did last season.

So that's something pretty exciting to think about as well. So, all right. For the Abs and John Marks, for my buddy Jack Fritz, I'm James Heltzer. Thank you for listening to another edition of the Iowa's Podcast. We'll see you later. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time?

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