High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The Phils Are BACK

Episode Date: June 11, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are finally ready to say the b-word after the Phillies took two out of three against the Dodgers over the weekend. Presented by Miller Lite. 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

This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes! It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Phillies. On Odyssey and Sports Radio 94 WIP. We're in! Oh, yeah! And another edition of the High Oaks Podcast. It's finally here, Fritzy. We can do it.

We can say it. We can say it. The Phillies are back. They're back. They're back. They're back. They did it. Seven of eight. They take two or three against the break. They're back. They're back. They're back. They did it. Seven of eight.

They take two or three against the red handle business today. One of those rare wins where the bullpen, like each of the guy comes in and gives up a run. You're like, Oh, and then we just keep scoring runs. Like what? What a nice win.

What a good look at baseball team for the first time all season. I know they're still under 500. There's still ways to go, but like nice to enjoy a little baseball for a difference, buddy. How you doing doing great doing great. They even they even

messed up a perfectly executed bunt by by Garrett Stubbs and nice safety squeeze. At least they got at least get the run out of it. Couldn't even just execute that perfectly right. And I will be honest, while I am very excited to say the B word, the Phillies are back.

Let me just get that out of the way. They are B-A-C-K. How's that for spelling? I'm impressed. Thank you. Thank you. Get me on. In your history.

Get me on. What is the spelling? Whatever. I forget what it's you. Thank you. But get me on your history. Get me on. What is what is the spelling be? Whatever. But I forget what it's called. This one scripts. Right. Right. Yes.

There is a part of me and a big part of me, frankly, a beyond large portion of me that is very worried about using the B word before a four game series in Arizona. In like a hell for the Phillies. Like we always suck out there. And it's usually when the diamond bags suck, like the diamond bags are awesome. Diamond bags are down like five, two in the ninth or five,

two in the eight, five, three in the ninth. They won seven, five. Like the dude. Yes. It's a really good point.

Very worried about it, but I'm not letting that. I'm not letting that deter me. Two of four. Two of four. That's fine. That's fine. I will be so happy.

It'll be the most. I know we were like that brave split. We're like, oh, that was fine. But we're like really happy. Like, I will be happy if they split with the Diamondbacks, honestly. Yeah. I mean, I mean, they're the Diamondbacks are good. Like, like they we avoid gallon which is big

yeah so not having to face gallon is a massive win but regardless they went out this weekend against the dodgers team there was a big like measuring stick for this team um and they went out and took care of business like friday night was was a... Like, Friday night, I think you could easily make the case of, like, okay, they allowed the home run, or Strom had the disaster inning, or whatever. And that's the reason why I don't have to believe in them. My main takeaway from Friday night was, like, I thought they looked deservingly to be on the same field as the Dodgers. Like, I thought they looked like a good team against the Dodgers.

I'm not letting the bad inning from Strom throw me off what I think was a good win, a solid win, and something that they look like a good baseball team during. Saturday was a disaster. I mean, it's just like. Just one of those games. One of those games. One of those games.

And then today, like they just went out they didn't let yesterday carry over into today every single portion of the team is pretty good the funny part is that the poor pen's been the thing that's been unbelievable recently and today was the day that all the studs i know didn't have good days like they just did not have good days today so um other than kimbrough yeah so than Kimbrough, yeah. It's great. It's been hard to, especially when Schwarber hit the walk-off on Friday,

it's been hard not to use the B word, be all in and keep fighting it. When they lost Saturday, I was like, yeah, it stinks, but if they go out and win today, it doesn't really matter. They went out and won today, played really good baseball. Besides the,

the, the safety squeeze gone wrong. Um, Tom Walker is brilliant. Like, and it's interesting. Shut up for Tom Walker. It's been interesting because obviously the,

the main narrative around Tyler Walker is like, ah, can't believe we signed him. Guys are really good for, for five starts now. Um, and especially his last two. Just like throwing with conviction. Throwing up back into the mid-90s, which is what they need him to be at.

And when you get that velocity back up, coupled with, I don't know, the splitter looks like it's dancing more. I have no idea what they did with it. But it just looks sharper diving down into the zone. They are the the taiwan walker that we thought we were signing i feel like is kind of coming around right now yeah and that's huge and then obviously ranger on friday night yeah buddy presented by miller light shout out to miller light we'll get to the middle light account of the week uh later in the

pod but ranger awesome to third straight start where Ranger was really good, like against, again, a really good Dodgers lineup. And you know, you couple that with look, and also they had two back-to-back walk-off wins in those games too. I mean, we did the pot on Thursday during the day before the Wheeler game, but the Wheeler for them to, to have Wheeler, give them seven and two thirds, no hit. And then to lose that. And then lose the lead,

again, coincidentally on a bunt scoring a run, like at least to tie it, you know, tie it, and then they give up the run in the ninth. For them to battle back and get the Clemens walk-off, like, you know, and then the next night to have the lead and to get a great outing from Ranger and blow it, and then to get that Schwarber walk-off, and, you know, for the bullpen to come through after that, you know, it was, you know,

those were, those were really, really nice, like wins. Like those are things that get you hopeful about the team. And then you lose nine, nothing. And it's like, all right, tomorrow's going to tell me a lot. Like it's going to tell me a lot about this baseball team. Like those days happen, especially it seems they're Noel on the hill, whether it's, you know, him just pitching mediocre to bad or, and then simultaneously the offense just clamming up when he's on the hill. But, you know, today for them to come out and like we said,

you know, win a baseball game where even the bullpen wasn't great. And, you know, they kept just scoring runs and kept providing a cushion and getting enough where it was like a comfortable win today against the Dodgers. It's huge, man. It's huge. And again, to your point, look, they're going to do four in Arizona right now. They are like close to 10 games under on the road. So, you know, it's hard to really say, oh, they're super back when, you know, they, they can't win a road game and these games come at home. So, like, that is a test and a hurdle that we still need to see them clear, especially with the history.

The last few years as a road team, we've had those conversations, you know, prior to, like, halfway through last year. I feel like every year we're like, this team needs to learn how to win on the road. So, you know, and I think it's more fluky than not, but they got to win on the road and they got a tough road series coming up here. So it's a good barometer to start. But look, I think, and especially with the three wild cards,

I think they've righted the ship. And I think that there might be a couple more ups and downs. There might be another they're not back moment with us. You know, it's certainly possible. Nope, I don't think so. I honestly don't think so either you know it's certainly possible nope i don't think so i i i

don't i honestly don't think so either but you know it's certainly possible but i i do think that you know they've they've righted the ship and they've showed us that you know they're going to be in this thing and and and they certainly have the potential to to go on a run you know well yeah and the scariest part for me is that beginning of the season, so they started one of five and I was furious. And then they'd write the shit from then and it was like, okay, I can let my guard down a little bit. I don't need to be

all wound up if they lose games. If they win games, that's what they do. They are a professional baseball club. But then they went to this... They weren't professional professional they're like getting thrown out all the time and they're playing crappy baseball and thompson's making bad decisions and it's like oh wait what by the way pulling walker today and that working out was probably 83 pitches

i was like what are we doing here buddy you're flying arizona tomorrow by the way like we really should say they have to win two of three in arizona because tomorrow is as much of a doc rivers sponsored schedule loss or in arizona that's oh you're right that's what i'm saying though they need to if we want them to split they need to win two or three is what i'm saying because tomorrow is a schedule loss is there is a scheduled loss i mean let's be honest you know unless like you know well unless they shove you know sounds like you you're doubting dylan covey in this spot right so bulk innings dylan covey i mean i i would call this game a schedule lost if wheeler was on the hill like the monday the sunday game flight

to arizona for a monday night game just feels like a total loss well maybe well will this help make you feel better is that maybe bailey falter starting the game oh yeah you're right the stuff everything's fine everything's fine hey there was a moment where we said we called it on the stopper um so yeah like obviously um but what worries me and what worries me is that i genuinely feel the way that you do where it's like okay they're they're going to be in it. You don't have to overreact. You don't have to freak out about bad losses.

It's a baseball season. It's a long season. They're going to happen, and the Phillies are going to be in this thing. And kind of my mindset right now is get me to August. Get me to August at 500 or above 500, and I'll feel pretty good about where we're at because I think August is that month where they kind of take off. But just,

and this is how I felt Friday where it's like, just when I want to start fully believing and getting downright cocky about the baseball team again, they usually find a way. Yeah. They usually find a way to make me not feel cocky at all and frankly have me cowering in the corner wondering if everything's going to be okay.

But what they've shown and how they've played, and now that you see what Schwarber's doing at the top of the lineup, listen, he's not a perfect leadoff hitter, but the funniest part about this year's Schwarber versus last year's Schwarber is that he's not a perfect leadoff hitter, but the funniest part about this year's Schwarber versus last year's Schwarber is that he's actually taking walks and seeing the ball more, it seems like. Big time. Even though he's batting 172 or whatever.

Well, the funny part is, honestly, Schwarber might not be the quintessential leadoff hitter, but it's working there. Trey Turner isn't the quintessential cleanup hitter, but he's a freaking stud there so you know and that's what i was just about to bring that up because i wonder what thompson does he batted turner two today yeah he batted a good day good day with three i mean like yeah i said this a lot i mean that we get we get joke about the phillies being back but like might maybe they were not back whatever trey

turner is back like he feels back totally i mean hitting the ball hard it's he hit the ball the ballpark against the tigers could have won the next night he's hitting the ball like off the wall all weekend i mean he had i think he has eight hits on the homestand he's even playing better defense he's still like he's like looks like a different human like it's crazy it's like oh my god that's that's straight it's like oh that's the guy i love that guy's awesome yeah yeah and and what's interesting is that um tomorrow they're facing tommy tommy henry who of course is a cy young winner owned him owned him last time he's a young winner i think it's smart to back turner two and and keep har Harper for just so we avoid the lefty nonsense.

Like there was nothing more eye opening. And frankly, I just it felt like the most advanced scouting kind of thing I'd seen from a team. And we know the Dodgers today with the opening with the lefty. I know. Well, but they did it Friday, too. Yeah, they did Friday at work because Harper was in the three home more today. That's kind of that might have been why Thompson moved him back, knowing they were it Friday, too. Yeah, they did it Friday at work because Harper was in the three-hole more. Today, that might have been why Thompson moved him back, knowing they were going to do that.

But, yeah. Yes, that is why Thompson. It's smart baseball, though. It's smart baseball, man. That is why Thompson moved him before. Yeah, exactly. Either way, it's awful for baseball, and I hope it stops. And I just hate it.

I feel like we've watched, what, four bullpen games out of the five like it's just we actually saw the tigers do the exact same thing yeah like they and they started the game with your we did the pod actually and it was like you're like results in game and i'm like i'm like who the hell's results and then it wasn't results and i'm like wait what did jack get this wrong and then it was like actually results and he and he actually fits well but you know anyway yeah so like it felt so advanced scouting by the dodgers of like okay we're just gonna throw a bunch of lefties at him and see if we can steal a game and i mean again i don't think i've seen a bullpen of five lefties in it until this series yeah well yeah well it's funny too because the uh the friday

game the phillies won only using lefties, which is ridiculous. Like four lefties on Friday. The Phillies only used Rangers, Schramm, Soto, and Alvarado on Friday, which is like, that's ridiculous. Yeah, we are the left-handed pitching factory. Yeah, but then the Dodgers do it. Yeah, so anyway, yeah, I'm with you.

It was fascinating baseball, but I agree. It's annoying. It is it. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, I'm with you. It was, it was fascinating baseball, but I agree. It's, it's annoying. It is annoying. Yeah. But if the Phillies don't turn it around against left-handed pitching, I mean, this is what teams are going to do against them. I mean,

it's just what it is. Like, uh, I thought it was big that Marsh had two hits against the lefty today. Like hopefully that keeps them in the lineup. Um, it's a shame that there's no Steve again, start again,

continues to, to look, you know, competent and solid against lefties. It's a shame. There's no Steve Pierce that they DeBrasi can trade for, you know, that can just like hit lefty pitching and everything will be fine. Theoretically, you know, that should be huge if he's hitting again,

like, oh, all of a sudden, Turner can come in and crush left-handed pitching for you, you know? Well, he's only been what? He's only been what, like a career 320 hitter against lefties? His own left-handed pitching his whole career like he's just been horrible against everybody but like if he's Trey Turner again like that's that could be big you know and it was was it when see Homer off of in Detroit I think it was anyway yeah so um so obviously Tommy Henry on the on the on the bump I would I would keep Harper at the

four and just make sure that they don't try to do this whole lefty nonsense kind of thing. I'm sure we're going to see a ton of Andrew Chafin this week against us. You guys are annoying. Oh, my gosh. Great beard, though. They are a great mustache. And he's good. And he's good.

And he's good. But either way, I thought that was interesting the way the Dodgers approached it today. And I just hope that now I scored seven runs. So that was good. But hopefully that's not something that teams look for as something that could be the kryptonite to the Phillies' offense, is just throw a bunch of lefties

at them. The right-handed hitters on the Phillies have to do damage. And right now, it's Turner, it's Cassianos. Again, that... Dude. That home run today was shocking. Yeah, it was. Shocking.

Other than when you take into account, you know, the 95 collapse. It's like, oh, yeah, Cassia. That joke, it's like any time anything happens, people are like, Cassianos, Homer. It's a little corny. Whatever. I'll let it slide. I get it. I get it. I get it.

Um, but like boom right now, I mean, bones of past that they were just atrocious, but I mean, he's his first game back. So I get it. Yep.

So hopefully he can punish lefties. But like, as we go forward here, you know, seeing how they do against left-handed pitching, I think it's going to be a, a big thing to watch for. Yeah.

That and the road thing i think it really did two things if you're looking at obviously we you know the starting pitch you need to keep pitching well and all that but let's get into that a couple specific things with what we saw um since we haven't talked in it well since it will get to to um dodges we already talked about taiwan but um quickly on wheeler just because we haven't talked since it and you know dude did have his you know at least from a no hits perspective his best outing of his career he was he was awesome you know we talked about the Nola one where it was like he looked really good but it wasn't it never felt like wow like this dude's gonna throw a no hitter here like I was like oh wow Zach I didn't know if the the

pitches we we saw you know he was getting up there but was like, Zach Wheeler could throw a no hitter right now. Like he's, he's locked in. What'd you think of a Wheeler's adding on Thursday? Yeah. I mean, um, it was good to see more swing and miss from Zach Wheeler, you know,

cause, uh, that's kind of what plagued him with the national start. It was like, like he could not, like he couldn't miss bats. Like he was, it was frustrating because there's a ton of bleeders in there, but um but also he wasn't getting any swing and misses so like of course

you lend yourself to more bleeders when um you're not generating any swing and miss so uh that was good fastball location was was good and and the good part about the Zach Wheeler start was that it just – you ever have like a feeling watching Zach Wheeler the last couple years where it's just like, oh, he's just going to go out and shove? Yeah. Like the no-hitter thing was obviously a reach, although it was funny that the starters had at least five innings of no-hit ball against the Tigers in every start.

Oh, I know. I know. It's like it says something and and you look at uh you know obviously there's more to uh you know hitting than average as we know but when they would show the starting lineup and the averages next suit it was like it was like a bunch of dudes hitting like 200 to 121 71 like it was nuts maytown was their four hitter i mean like so it's good i'm glad he went out and took care of business because he didn't take care of business against the nationals against the

nationals it was bad i mean it wasn't but i didn't again against the nationals i didn't think it was like oh my god cause for concern it just felt like an off night and i was glad to see him get back to being the zach wheeler that we had you know been seeing um before that so yeah you know I I feel good about him I I felt good about Nola it's just it's still and I feel better about Wheeler than I do Nola but like it's still just so kind of hit or miss at this point which is not what you really like to see out of your one and two starters. Well, especially, and I feel super confident that Wheeler is going to get back to a spot where at least it's going to be more often dominance than not,

or at least close to dominance, whatever you want to say. The Nola thing that's concerning is even when it looks like he's doing great, he keeps having that one inning one inning, you know, he'll look great for, you know, four innings. It's like, wow, he's dealing. And then it's like, oh, it's four, nothing all of a sudden. Like what happened now? I do say, I saw someone on Twitter. I can't remember what it was, but it was like, why does the, why does it seem like the,

the Phillies just seem to play with a lot of lack of like you know, if they seem like really lackadaisical when Nola's pitching. Like they, anecdotally, it feels like they never score runs for him. They're never like locked in. I don't know what the hell that is, but it did feel right to me. Well, I mean, it's exactly what the Hamels thing was. I mean, when Hamels was here, they would never score for him too. You're so right.

It's because he's that way. He's like so chill and so like laid back. Maybe he doesn't like fire him up or something. don't know i'm like re-grasping at straws yeah i had no idea i had no idea my my big my big annoyance with nola is that like it feels like whenever he just allows a hit it's hard for him to just get out of it and i think the biggest struggle for him with the modern baseball whatever is is the new pitch clock obviously even though it's freaking june and when runners get on base he can't slow it down and that was the thing about nola the last year last couple years is that when runners got on base like he was able

to just slow it down and and the game would start crawling which was very annoying um but that's what he liked to do and that's what he felt comfortable doing and that's what he can't do right now now the reason why bill miller created the scene yesterday is because what Aaron Nola is doing is to slow the game down. He's throwing baseballs away. So it happens like it happens all the time. And Bill, Bill Miller was the first one to be like,

all right, enough of that. Like get on the mound and pitch. And why Rob Thompson was mad is that there's no real rule to say you can't do it. Totally. So like, I understand.

And if you've been allowed to do it all season long by every other umpire like it all of a sudden like i get that umps have different ways of bumping but that's a very specific procedural thing where if you've been allowed to do it all season all of a sudden you can't just stop allowing him to do it you know well it's for yeah it's umpire discretion. So, like, that's obviously. I know what it is. I'm just saying if you're, you know, consistency, right?

So it's consistency. But when we talk about, again, this felt like another Dodgers advanced scouting kind of thing where it's like this is what he does. And there's no doubt in my mind that they said to the umpires before the game, watch when he does this. And if he does it too much, call it and and that's what i think happened yesterday and rob thompson i think was right you know be able to go out there and melt down by the way some strong shout out to

rob man that was great to see everyone's like does he have it in him he did he brought it man canadian got mean i need him to get thrown out more often it was phenomenal it was it was a great time it was a great time a lot of strong man right up in there you could see a lot of the the we don't curse on this pod but if we did we could repeat some of the things that rob thompson said bull asses a lot of bull asses a lot of bull asses he was he was fired up it was a lot of blatant things yeah that was a guy do you think there's a part of him that was like when he got the standing ovation leading leaving the field he was like all right but then also that's also also that like that's like what a what a city i mean like what a city like it's there's so many things

that i love about philadelphia but like there i don't think there's anything that i adore more than like the cheers after someone shows some fight i know i know like a obnoxious cheer in a situation where yeah all that stuff well and you know an appropriate boo is one of my favorites like i was at i was at the zach bryan concert two wednesdays ago or whatever the mets game that i lost of course no loan amount and he was like 45 minutes late to getting on stage and the funniest part about zach bryan is that he's an oklahoma kid who lives in philadelphia tweets about philly sports all the time like loves it here says how much he relates to it and i thought him getting booed for being 45 minutes late was the ultimate like

welcome to phil like welcome to welcome to real philadelphia um and so you know i am always it's it's i think it's my favorite thing about philly sports fans is is the is the cheers well i mean listen the boom last year when uh you know i bloopin hate this place whatever it happened he owned up to it and then the next night totally dude like that's again i just i wish people understood it more but people don't and that's fine but it's just that's fine. That's what makes it the greatest. I totally agree with you.

I think it's a fantastic point. All right. I want to fire off a couple more things, and then we'll get to the take back. But real quick, Ranger, we could just say back. Ranger back. Ben. I mean, like. He looked awesome again, and it's nice to see he's so casual still.

It's like, Ranger, you want to talk about Nola and the pitch clock and all this like consternation. I can't like handle it. Like Ranger. It's like, he probably doesn't even know there's a clock. He's probably just like, so. So I've never been a teacher. I don't know if that's evident on this podcast or not. I think that's good to know. I, they, you know, I don't think anyone knew that about you.

So thank you for clarifying that. So, and I don't, let me know if this doesn't make sense to that about you. Thank you for clarifying that. Let me know if this doesn't make sense to you or not. I guess it doesn't, but go ahead. The way that I comp Ranger Suarez is like Ranger Suarez for teachers is the good kid that doesn't screw up anything in the class. Yeah, okay. I get that. That's pretty good. The kid who sits there raises their hand when the teacher needs an answer yeah you know doesn't reliable

yeah cleans up their stuff that shows up on time what a good call by you love it yep you don't have to worry about range of fire it's like yeah range is good like like said kid can come off the il he could maybe struggle for for a couple couple classes honestly his spring training i think if he had had spring training and then like got hurt after his first start i think he would have come back and just been fine right away it's just they didn't have spring training you know yeah and i just like the the the most interesting part about ranger is like people talk about stuff all the time. They talk about his stuff's not overwhelming.

Ranger was hitting 96 the other night. When he went that one, two, three, fifth where he struck out the side, he just hit 96 and spotted both sides of the plate. I don't want to say he's him because i think that this guy when he's pitching at his peak here and with with cleveland was a hall of fame caliber pitcher but he just he continues to remind me of cliff like he just he reminds me a ton of cliff both from his mannerisms like on the mound just so nonchalant gets it goes the first he gets the ball goes he's aggressive he throws strikes he you know um i think the curve so i think the curveball is the important pitch for him because i think if they just sit fastball change up he's a little bit

more predictable but just when they can sit fastball change up bang he flips him a little curveball and i think that that is a game changer for him also just had had both sides of the plate just working fastball in was sitting 94 against like righties which i think is really really important and then if he can like sit fastball in and get it in there and get it on these guys hands and they start sitting on that bang he can throw that change of way like i i i i couldn't love rangers for us more like i you know i just more. He is such a treat. He is such a treat. And I continue to believe it, and I'll continue to say it.

He is going to throw a no-hitter in a Phillies uniform at some point. And it's going to be over in like an hour and 45 minutes. It's going to be so fast. But I just love him. And I have full confidence in him and I just, it's, it's been great. And I'm, I'm glad that the first couple of starts were a bit of an aberration. Yeah, it clearly, I mean, he's been awesome again against the Dodgers, like a really,

really nice thing to see. And yeah, I love the Lee comp. I've, you know, I think Lee had, had better stuff, but Rangers, mannerism-wise, and the way he goes about his business and the nonchalance and the coolness and all that, absolutely. I think probably the biggest difference, Rangers, seems like a wonderful guy. So probably a bit of a sweeter guy than Cliff.

I think he will come back for the 20 for the 20 year reunion of the 2022 Phil. So the 10 year, come back for the, you know, championship reunion that we went in the next few years, hopefully or multiple as John Middleton requested. All right. One more guy.

I want to single out and then we can get to the take bag and you can add in anything else from the weekend. You want that in there. But I mean, if you would have told me that on June 11th, that Sunday, June 11th, we'd be doing a podcast and I would be about to say the phrase, can you imagine where the Phillies would be without Cody Clemens?

I would say you're absolutely crazy. And I hadn't thought about it at all, but someone pointed it out on Twitter and I apologize. I can't remember who it was, but someone pointed it out. You're really good at saying,'re really good at saying someone tweeted something but who wasn't i don't know i'll try and look it up but it wasn't great points i hadn't thought about it because we just when even when the trade happened we're like oh soto for veerling mayton and donnie sands like what a trade this is great like cody clemens was part of that trade you know

like that was that was a freaking heist man like that Cody Clemens has been and you know look I know it's it's still only June and and it is in the grand scheme of things a pretty small sample size from a baseball perspective but man I've been so impressed with this kid and like he has been he has been so important for this team when we talk about losing Reese and then losing Hall I mean he's been one of the most consistent hitters on the team. And defensively, I mean, that catch he made the other night was like, best catch of first baseman of Philly's uniforms. Made sense, like Rico Bronya.

Like, that was awesome, man. So, you know, your thoughts on like the kind of Cody Clemens phenomenon and how much you think there's a chance that it can continue. Well, and the play he made today on Muncie was also a great play. You know, he's been making a ton of really solid defensive plays. And I thought, you know, baseball, I feel like baseball more than any other sport, it just kind of makes you chuckle when it comes to like,

that's a baseball thing. And like Cody Cle clemens so technically he did not have two errors on uh thursday against the tigers even though i mean josh harrison picked that ball and threw it over there and like cody clemens should make that pick could have gotten it could have gotten it i would i still think the error should have gone on harrison but he could have got listen josh harrison's going down, picking that thing, throwing it off his back leg. It's a tough play.

It's a tough play. It's a tough play. Now, freshman year, Fritz would have made that play, but besides the point. Sure. Besides the point. You know, and then for him to have the walk-off after making what I believe was two errors.

Yeah. Although. With his dad in the building on the broadcast, like, you know me me i'm a sucker for oh it's hard to turn up yeah now there was beautiful sports stories man the love of family listen try to keep it together uh if you could yeah like you're not the like biggest sucker for your kid in the world now so you know you get it um like tear up just looking at walk you're like just looking at him and the

tears just start rolling down your face well his first game which uh the needs of baseball like yeah you know as we start molding him into a star um baby grok is an inspiration oh my god i dude what a like what that dad that dad should be should be like like call child services like whatever we need to do to get that kid away from that man in my opinion. Like what is that? Oh my god. Yeah. Horrible, horrible, horrible parent.

That's all I'll say. Well listen, talk about inspirations. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But yeah, so like and there definitely was a huge part of me that was like hold on like i don't need roger clemens throwing bp to my team because i know like i know how most pitchers work you can't throw a normal bp it's like yeah totally you know he's

throwing some splitters like if someone if someone like hit a tank or whatever you know he's like maybe buzzing him up and in you know like like recreating the piazza kind of scene um but yeah like cody clemens first off shocked they just shocked he's been pretty good absolutely honestly honestly it might be the single most shocking thing that's happened this season and i had like no doubt he was hitting a walk-off in that moment i was like this is such a cody clemens kind of thing to do at this point which is a weird statement to make that this is what cody clemens does but yes he he plays really good um first base defense hits him uh hits some balls hard i mean his ops i think is still above 800 which is yeah he's like he's still like top five on the team and the thing that i'm most interested in is what happens when Derek Hall is ready to go.

Because he's ready to go. I don't really want to send down Cody Clemens. I would rather play Cody Clemens. Until he stops hitting, I would play Cody Clemens over Derek Hall. I know they need power, and that makes it a little bit tougher to do that because clemens will have a couple homers but he's not gonna you know hit that with with all his power but i trust cody clemens right now like until he he stops making me trust him like he's a good baseball player now he can play third bones back so that doesn't really matter yeah i mean look

we're already gonna have boom at first with sosa days and stuff so like you know like whoever it is like hall or clemens one of those two guys will get get i mean maybe they try and see if hall can play when he comes back and then make a decision after that but um you know one of those guys is not gonna play like well what they could do is like i mean he's played second base in the past if they wanted to move on from josh harrison which would be fine i mean josh harrison i don't remember a guy who's and it's funny because i'm 41 but he's like 35 but i don't remember a player looking as old on the team as in recent memories josh harrison like lumbers or i

feel like his like legs are to snap when he's running. It's tough. Well, he did have the... Listen, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the home run against the White Sox. It was an important home run. Gave them some good insurance runs. Yes, where would we be?

He's earned his championship ring at the end of the season. Yeah, well, yeah, more than Dylan Covey. I mean... What a statement you know no yeah i almost i literally almost said no bleep i literally came like this close to cursing it was like nope ah dylan kobe that's my response i mean andrew ellis also earned his his championship earned it without a doubt we had the drew ellis game you kidding me no doubt sent down sit down today thank you for your service yeah yeah it got exposed the next game but yeah yeah um all right

let's get to the take bad what do you got all right it's almost dinner time for me fritz you know i'm saying what'd you just say it's almost dinner time i don't i like let me look at my i'm just looking looking to my eyes right now i'm'm here with you. I'm here. Look me in the eyes. I don't care. I don't care. Thank you. Um, it's good. I feel like we should maybe have an extra Miller lighter too tonight for not having to see.

I mean, Freddie Freeman, we don't see him anymore. Oh, buddy. Mookie bats. Like Freddie Freeman, especially obviously over the years, but it's like, would not see him anymore. Oh, buddy. Mookie Pets. Like Freddie Freeman, especially,

obviously over the years, but it's like, at what point will this guy stop just crushing us? Like that dude, like it's like nightmares about Freddie Freeman. Well. Is he on the Mount Rushmore of our lifetime of guys just anecdotally, forgetting what the numbers is,

in terms of like, is he on the Mount Rushmore of our lifetime of guys just anecdotally forgetting what the numbers is in terms of like, is he on the Mount Rushmore of guys who you just feel like have crushed us the most? Because I think he is. Well, it's him. It's Brian Braun. It's Ozuna as a Marlin. It's Brian McCann. It's Miguel Rojas. You know, I feel like those are the five that jumped out very fast.

But I just, I love him. And I just, I hate him. I love him. I hate him so much. I hate him. Like, he ruined, having him in fantasy is great. And as someone that, you know, invested early in the Freddie Freeman is the goat kind of. Oh, yeah.

It's just like, chill, dude. You know what? All right. Here's what Freddie Freeman is. Freddie Freeman is a six, five chase out leaf.

He never got hurt. Like that's who he is. Like the bat is insanely fast. Great call. Like it's just insanely fast. It's kind of similar in a way. I just, it's, it's who he is. Like, the bat is insanely fast. Great call. Like, it's just insanely fast. Even that string is kind of similar in a way. I just, it's the worst. It is the worst.

And then Mookie, how in the world is he only hitting 264? He does that against everybody. Dude, how he's only hitting 264 is beyond me. Like, he is impossible to get out. And it's just like, you know what the ultimate respect is to a hitter? Is that I feel like when they get out, it's just like it feels you know you know what the ultimate respect is to a hitter is that i feel like when they get out it's lucky and when i feel like mookie betts gets out yeah great way to put it same with ray freeman i feel the same way they're just like oh we got lucky ron acuna is the same way totally you know great point acuna is uh such a good point real quick

you mentioned miller light uh thank you for reminding me shout out to the miller light account of the week audubon l house uh today to the Miller Lite account of the week, Audubon Alehouse. Today's Miller Lite bar of the week is the Audubon Alehouse and Audubon PA, where you can watch all Philly's games with $3 Miller Lite draft specials. Go to appetitesonmain.com.

Happily, you will not have to watch Freddie Freeman again this season, at least in the regular season, while being there, drinking some $3 draft Miller Lite. So that is a win. I look forward to seeing the Dodgers in the NLCS. Yeah, for sure. I mean, assuming they

don't lose before then, which is their way, unless it's the pandemic year, which is, you know, come on. I just... Again, I don't have the stats in front of me. I, every time they don't score with like,

they, they blow a scoring opportunity. There's no doubt in my mind, a team scoring in the next, the next inning. Like it's the most, it's the biggest lock of the century. And maybe that's like how every baseball fan feels,

you know, like I watch every Phillies game. So like, I feel like I know exactly what's going to happen on happen on the on most nights but like to no team more do i feel like it happens in the phillies it's just every time it's like they blow a scoring opportunity it's like oh well there's no doubt my mind like the fact that nola got two quick outs yesterday after they didn't score, I was like, this doesn't feel right. And then bang, it was like, here's three runs. And yeah, I just, I can't. It's part of the things that I feel like when Walker is getting older

and he's starting to understand being a Phillies fan, like when he has his first moment of truly understanding how they never, ever don't allow a run after not scoring, and he says, Dad, like, why can't they do it? I'm going to be like, listen, welcome to the last, like, 34 years of my life, son. You know what I mean? Like, that's the stuff that I look forward to as a parent,

which I think is the right mindset to have. Yeah, that's pretty stuff that I look forward to as a parent, which I think is the right mindset to have. Yeah, that's that's pretty messed up, man. That was a dark path you're going down here. It's good. It's good. I like it. No, I'm better. No, no, absolutely not.

No, no, I'm terrific. Yes, but I bullpen games, the devil and they're killing baseball. I hate him. I hate him. I don't like watching him. I don't like I hate him. I don't like watching him. I don't like thinking about him. I don't like anything about it. And I just don't know how,

I don't know how they change it. Like it is what it is. It's the one of all the rule changes. It's like, you can't be like, all right, well, you start,

it has to go starters sometimes like to, you know, some teams are showing up dudes and they can roll out there. And like, that's why everyone always like, like makes fun of the innings eaters lines like i don't want an innings here it's like guess what the reason innings eaters is a freaking thing is because guys who can go out and freaking start games give you like six innings and not you know crap to bed every time are valuable like it is it is that's just where baseball's at it's a shame but you're right

like it's not coming back i got a little fired up there i mean like i didn't know if you get so passionate about aaron harang i mean i was more getting passionate about the hate on the term innings eaters i don't like it don't mess with me it's yeah yeah yeah no i will cut that we'll send it to aaron harang i appreciate it i agree i agree with you i think i think the 2014 2014 Phillies were just built on innings eaters I think that's all they that's all they were although Michael Marriott got claimed by the Guardians

yesterday which I didn't think was possible do you remember Michael Marriott very very very vaguely there's so many guys during that time where it's just like how in the world did this guy like dude michael marriott there's no way he's pitching the big since like at least 2016 it was like he was atrocious here he reminds me do you remember um

yeah he's a 20 he's dude he's a 2016 philly do you know how bad the 2016 Phillies were? Horrendous. Yeah, there were 66 wins, right? Yeah, that's when they drafted Nick. Who was the... It wasn't Shipley. It was something like that. Oh, Jeff Manship. Remember Jeff Manship? Sure.

He was another one. Another one. I love... Let me just tell you something i love the random phillies the nobody loves it more no i love looking in your eyes when i'm going off on something that you don't care about knowing that you're thinking about dinner right now i am can't have it so i just got the the so i like i tried to guesstimate because emily was placing the order for delivery like how long it would take. And it's coming quicker.

Nice. I'm like seeing the text on the phone. Your order, your order is out for delivery. I'm like bleep. And then I mentioned Jeff Manship and you're like, you know what? We might need another 20 minutes. I was fine with the stuff that's, you know, worthwhile. But once, you know, we get to Jeff Manship, I'm like, all right, man, I'm pretty hungry.

Either way. Either way. way cannot stand bullpen games and i would like and there's no way to to replace them there's no way to like regulate them from happening but it's just like it's such part of what makes baseball great is like getting geeked up about a starter and like this whole oh my god like i wish dave roberts i wish like looking back on it now like i wish jorge pesada throw him out because like he would not have a job today if that was the case like it's just it's just so insulting like just start the freaking starter man like my manager he's our manager just start to start the freaking guy man preach i I agree, dude. Preach. I'm with you. Can we just stop ruining baseball every single day

of the year? The Los Angeles Dodgers. Why you never win a World Series? I agree. It's karma. One Mickey Mouse year. Either way. Trey Turner's very, very, very, very, very back. Yeah, dude.

They couldn't execute a normal safety squeeze which was what is brian and marsh doing like it's like um so i'll give him a little bit of like i'll try i i thought it was dumb but he clearly fell for the the pump fake of course he did but bro like who like come on man he. He's Victorino. How many times do I have to tell you that he's Victorino? You're right. Harper is the most likely to get caught in a dumb base running decision player on the team. Brandon Marsh is second. Well, and I just want to give a special kudos to Bryce

because when he hit the ball off the wall after the Castellanos home run, I was like, oh, he's definitely getting thrown out at second base. I'm not at the game, but it felt like he's going to get thrown out at second base in this play. And he didn't. So I'm proud of him. I agree. I felt the exact same way about it.

So let me – I don't want to do this. You know what I mean? I don't want to do this. And I don't want to bring down – I'm surprised it took you this long. I've been waiting on five. Like, bring it. Come on. Well, first off, you have zero idea what i'm about to say oh wow okay look at this

i i would put this at a two percent chance that you had no idea okay go ahead i'm excited so i don't want to bring down the podcast and because i i don't want to do that because i'm a positive guy and the phils are back and i the fact that they're back makes me more happy than than life itself but i can't stop watching castellanos and thinking if you just did this last year like we have what i was not exactly you're right we would be world series champions without a doubt like we wouldn't even start be like a 95 win team with the World Series title ah man yeah so I'm sorry

for bringing it on the pod I felt like it had look like Trey figured it out in season Harper that first season figured it out in season you need the whole freaking year Nick well let me ask you something before I continue to take he's like feeble

before I finish up the take feeble like you look feeble anyway go ahead before i finish up the take bag i mean what what did you think i was gonna say you're gonna give me crap for saying the b word on the morning show on friday even though i didn't say they were back now that we could say it i said i said it for the purposes of the show topics obviously almost the morning genre topics are the phillies back i'm not you know it is what it is but it's still my bad and i take any any whatever that i get they still want two or three so i didn't screw it up for them but you know just want to clarify things that's what i thought you're gonna do so well i just like that i just like that you were ready for it i was clearly You were like a lawyer.

I was basically, yeah. Honestly, I was more like someone who's hanging on the edge of a cliff and I felt like any moment I could fall under the box, at any moment, you're just going to fire it off of me. To be honest, I forgot about it. So I am proud that you brought it up. I'm proud that you held yourself accountable. When I can't hold you accountable, I'm glad that you're there to do it for yourself. I got it, up. I'm proud that you held yourself accountable. When I can't hold you accountable,

I'm glad that you're there to do it for yourself. I got it, buddy. I'm all over it. It's all good. It's all good. One thing I had written down in my take bag that we already brought up, but I feel like I have to mention it to you

because I don't really know how else to bring it up. I had written down in my take bag, so like Cody Clemens, question mark. That's all I had. That's what I said to you. I'm with you. Again, if you had to say right now, you can only keep one,

and it's not the way this works right now, and we'll see what Derek Hall looks like when he comes back, but you're like, you have to choose right now. You can have Derek Hall or Cody Clemens. I would take Cody Clemens. That's where I'm at with the dude, which is like, I certainly would have said that to choose right now. You can have Derek Hall or Cody Clemens. I would take Cody Clemens. That's where I'm at with the dude, which is like I certainly would have said that to start

the season. That's for sure. No, I mean, frankly, it's a shocking place to be at, but we take it every day of the week. And a couple other things here. Griff McGarry last night, double A.

Five innings, eight strikeouts um he's never gonna be he's never gonna be perfect he's never ever gonna be perfect but there's still legitimate upside here and they keep wanting to ramp his innings up to make sure that he's like you know as it has a starter's workload at this point i'm not making a trade for a starter like i just it's june 11th july 31st is a month and a half ish away like you just got to ride it out at this point and and and if you're in it then go sell real assets and get a real stud in here rather than like oh let's go trade for like random fifth starter guy. I will say, good, starting by Shane Bieber today. Nine days, seven innings.

He looked awesome. It's Houston who's lost Jordan right now, but still. Well, he's clearly taking what I said on the podcast personally. Good point. But I have no interest. My interest is back currently. i am interested in acquiring interested interested in acquiring shane bieber either way uh i still maintain that griff should

be up here in like two weeks but whatever well i guess i guess we'll never know but whatever i think it's i think it's dumb to keep him down there for a while either way and the final thing i feel like i have to get this off my chest and yes i know that you are uh frantically texting about dinner being here emily had to go to the door and get it so yeah we're there it's waiting for me it seems like a perfect time to bring up my first draft great i'm so happy right now this is. My first big board for the Philz at 27, obviously Kevin McGonigal, the Bonner kid who, listen, says his favorite player is Chase Utley and has great bat-to-ball skills. Oh, man.

He's probably a second baseman long term. So McGonigal, Yohani Morales, who's a third baseman from Miami that hits tanks. Some swing and miss concerns. Brayden Taylor is a third baseman from TCU who controls the strike zone at a very high rate, which is all I care about now. When it comes to what I care about most in baseball and evaluating people is, can you command your fastball and can you command the strike zone as a hitter? Because I can't take the chase stuff anymore. It drives insane and that's strictly trey turner's fault um and nick cassianos and nick cassianos but he's back so i don't really feel

a need to do that uh walker martin a shortstop from colorado i think he has a beautiful swing and his name's walker chase davis who's the next uh carlos gonzalez i would the next cargo is someone i'm very very interested in hurston waldrop who i'm gonna call hurston waldrop the third because he sounds like a yes i agree he won't be there because there's a zero percent chance that a race pass on him because he's a race guy like he is such a ray and he's gonna be he's gonna be i'm happy i'm happy you wasted our time bringing him up then thank you I know but I need it it's really because I when he eventually turns into a you need the

credit I get it yes yes I need someone to be like you know what Jack could call on her some water up the third and and then the final guy is Charlie Soto who I like but it's like it's definitely more in the Andrew Painter like we'll talk myself into I just don't want a pitcher that's more my thing like I just I need it I need another dope bat

I 100% agree with that like and there's so many there's so many bats yeah so that's where I'm at can't wait drafts less than a month away might have some special guests on and talk about it I don't think I don't think it'll be Keith Law oh no no I don't think so yeah either way um listen to too much of james seltzer's chagrin there will be much draft talk that it'll be it'll be fine i don't mind oh by the way i said i would do this really quickly uh if you like rom-coms like jack i said i would wait to recommend it till i was on the pop of them last night i watched one of the best rom-coms like Jack, I said I would wait to recommend it till I was on the pop of them. Last night I watched one of the best rom-coms I've seen in forever. Like in the last few years for sure.

It's awesome. It's a new rom-com. It's British. It's called Rye Lane. Rye Lane. It's on Hulu. It's, it's freaking delightful.

And it's 82 minutes long, which is like, oh, heaven. Like, thank you. You're amazing. So Rye Lane,

R-Y-E Lane. It, it it just it is it was i wish i could forget it re-watch again immediately and enjoy it again because it was so delightful so that's my only problem my only problem with british movies i just can't understand what they're saying you're gonna say you'll figure it out i believe in you buddy you really do all right uh i'm out of here i'm gonna go eat we're back later in the week until then I knew you were going to say that. You'll figure it out. I believe in you, buddy. I really do. All right. I'm out of here. I'm going to go eat. We're back later in the week.

Until then, Phil's are back! He's fried some salsa. We'll see you next time.