High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Why Are They The Way They Are?

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to a disappointing finish to the series in St Louis. The guys discuss the Bryce Harper incident, their disappointment with Joe Girardi, and much more. 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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Yo! It is. Another edition. Oh, no. Those are back. Of the High Hopes Podcast. Deflated. Yo. it is another oh no those are back of the ios podcast deflated yo for a deflated baseball team jack come on man how do you not use that as fuel how do you come out and i know the lineup was like little league worthy today but come on man after he the protector steps up, how do you not get fired up and go out and win a baseball game, Jack? Like, I'm just frustrated.

I haven't seen the fire from this team. They can't bleep and hit. What's going on, buddy? How are you? Well, it's good to be back. What's it been? Ten days? Has anything happened?

Has anything happened since our last podcast? Is there a dog crap center fielder? I see. Very cool. That was fun. Let me see. Has anything else happened? You didn't realize who David Boreanaz was.

That happened. Is there anything else? I can't think of anything else. The Eagles are going to break all eagles fans hearts tonight that's gonna happen but yeah i can't really think of much else jack well that's good that's good and then just another well-managed uh joe gerardi game today god they're frustrating man they're frustrating baseball team i can't i mean like this stat and i'm sure they'll win tomorrow because you know 13, 13 and 13 and all that. But like, like, how do you keep just winning and losing every like, how can you not win two games in a row, Jack?

Can I tell you how? They're the Phillies. And it's never normal. It always has to be the worst. It always has to be the most painful way. Like, they can't just have a normal bad center field. It has to be the worst of all time. They can't just have a normal bad bullpen. It has to be the worst of all time. They can't just have a normal

bad bullpen. It has to be the worst bullpen of all time. They can't have a normal bad defense. It has to be the worst defense of all time. They can't have normal bad starting pitching. It has to be the worst starting pitching of all time. It always has to be the extremes of this team. They can't win more than five games in a row. That's not allowed. They can't

go over 500. That's not allowed. Dude, I was thinking about this today and I've thought about this a lot because when the Phillies are down on down and start contemplating everything, it's like I put so much time and effort into this team and it's just, they always

let me down. They can't just, they have to lose in excruciating ways. Like, they'll bring in guys like Joe Girardi, and they just suck at managing here. They can't even do smart things like give Scott Kingery that contract and him be normal. No, he's freaking awful. Like, they can't, like, everything they try to, like, even analytics, like, even analytics, like, every one of the freaking sports doing it, they try to do it.

And it's like, well, it's not going to work here. Let's go back. Freaking old school, whatever, you know, you're fired up when you're almost dropping the F5. Yeah. Well, no, it's like, you know, and like, oh, charts. Great. And the driveline guys are great. And all that stuff.

I'm just fully anticipating that not to work out. Like, it's just like, it never can can just be normal it always has to be freaking awful and it's just it drives me crazy like bryce harper batting 339 although he did get hit in the face like that's the the most shocking thing of all jt real muto still being a normal good baseball player is the most shocking thing of all i am shocked they didn't come here and forget how to play this sport yeah but bry Bryce got hit in the face, Jack, let's not just gloss over that.

Bryce Harper locked in having his best April's affiliate, one of the best tables of his career. And of course he gets hit in the face, like with a baseball at 97 miles per hour. Like, and not even for like a baseball reason, just cause this guy couldn't control where the ball was going. Like it just, it's, of course he did.

Of course he did. Of course Bryce Harper was been Bryce freaking Harper. Of course he got in the face of the baseball. And now he's going to come back in like two weeks and he's going to, his timing is going to be off and he's going to, all this stuff's going to happen. And it's all just because we can't have nice things, Jack. We can't have nice things.

Like Joe Girardi, what a perfect thing. I've texted all my Yankees fans buddies over the last couple of weeks and been like, why didn't you tell me Joe Girardi sucked? Like, why? Why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me he was a good manager? And they're like, oh, he was, you know, he's bad with the bullpen, but he wasn't horrible or anything.

I'm like, well, he's horrible here. Okay just i i'm with you jack i'm with you buddy it always goes wrong and it's like you know we're sitting there spending a lot of time obviously we took 10 days off from the podcast because like i don't know james we had like real life stuff going on i mean i moved your mom came to town oh yeah uh by the way yeah how homeowner jack fritz i i should have led with that i apologize that the biggest news to hit the podcast since jim nance resigned i know yes i had yeah bought a house everything's great moving's a lot of fun and uh you saw your mom for the first time in what like a year and a half year and a half man that is a long That is amazing. That is a long time. Very cool, particularly for Zoe. Like, watching her and Zoe now that Zoe's older

and can actually, like, interact with people, it's been very cool. Yeah, no. A lot cooler than, you know, losing on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth. Oh, well, at least it was David Hale. At least, yeah, high leverage Hale. He's got David Hales on the team.

As if Joe Girardi were a bad enough manager, he's bringing his bad pitchers with him. Well, good thing he pulled Aaron Nola after 80 pitches today with a depleted bullpen. And also just can't help but sub guys in and out, right and left, when you have no one on the bench. They went into extras with zero players on the bench. Great managing, Joe.

Awesome. Yeah, well, it's always nappy as a right-handed option off the bench, too, which doesn't help. I mean, it's just, like, they're very top-heavy. Like, they're a good-ish baseball team. They're fine. It's just, like, once you get into the later innings,

you start seeing the real big flaws with this team. And, you know, maybe it's because the two guys running this team were in the AL for a long time in Girardi and Dombrowski. But, like, you need better bench options if you're going to really compete in National League Baseball. You need more relievers, all that stuff. It's year, I don't know, James, four of this, but they need more. Like, they need more. They need need more everything they need more bullpen they need

more starters they need more bench pieces like the starting starting lineup has been disappointing but i think they can be obviously they should be better it's just like they just need more they're not they're not good enough well jack that's where it comes back to what we always talk about like why we have built like the our core belief system at the high host podcast about what the phillies have needed and do need to do is the organizational depth man like they don't have players to bring up and fill holes like when a guy gets hurt like sagara like and nikki mayton's been fine like don't get me wrong i like nick mayton but but like they don't have, when you're a four or five starter,

just flat out doesn't work out. When your bullpen guys are hurt, they don't have guys to fill these holes. Not only is their bench bad, not only is the back of the rotation bad, not only is the back of their bullpen bad, but they don't have any options. They don't have guys like the Braves, the Dodgers, all these other teams, the Padres,

they just bring dudes up. Like, Hey, if the Padres have a starting pitching issue, Oh, let's bring McKenzie Gore up. Like, like that kind of stuff. And that's a high end example, but I'm just talking about like major league quality players that you can cycle in. Like this team has none of it like organizational depth and it is obviously to your point also 25 man roster depth like both the the the bottom end of the 25 man roster and the and the 40 man roster are bad that it's bad and like they can get by if you know

the top three starters are awesome like they've've been at times and more often than not, if Harper's amazing, Romulo's amazing, Hoskins is amazing, Didi's amazing, Segura's amazing. Like they need, there's so little room for error. Like there's so little room for error because they don't have that depth that they can spell guys with, that they can pinch it with, that they can this with, that with. Like it's just a, it is like you said, a top top heavy roster top to bottom both both 25 and 40 man well james i mean at least centerfield's fixed you know i mean i mean yeah they brought him right up and everything's fine in centerfield i was i was supposedly told so yeah great excited he's here but uh yeah it's just yeah like like made it even more fun to watch this team. Oh, yeah.

To watch that guy. Yeah, well, and, like, Nicky Maton, he's been, like, really fun. I mean, obviously, he's cold off in St. Louis, but, honestly, just, like, watching his defense has been refreshing. Made another crazy play today. But they just... They don't have enough guys. Like, you need...

Especially in National League Baseball, and that's part of what makes such a beautiful, beautiful sport, is you need guys. You need guys you can shuffle up and down from the minors up. And like they're honestly, they're built like an AL team without the super fun offense. All right, let's, because I do think that, you know, look, we know what the other holes are because we've talked about them nonstop. And we're going to talk more, I'm sure, about the four and the five starter and the bullpen issues and the, you know, zero bench and McCutcheon and center field and all that. But but within that, we haven't like the whole offense is struggling. I mean, yet again today, three runs.

They haven't been able to convert with the numbers of runners in scoring position outside of jt have just been like abominable um no one's getting on base for harper like what's going on jack like i always i'm a big you know chill out guy chill out but it's it's may tomorrow or two in two days like you know we're moving along a little bit yeah i know well so uh jt's off to like a really underrated scorching start i mean just like just smoking balls night in night out and he's even hitting the clutch which i didn't know was possible so good job by jt um harper's obviously been unbelievable hoskins is on a nice little run here i actually i know it's been bad but i'm starting to feel some optimism about the offense. Like, Kutch has looked really good

since Girardi sat him down for a couple games. Boehm, I think, is definitely close. Like, you can kind of see his at-bats coming together. He had two hits today. He was getting super unlucky. He was getting jammed with fastballs in, but you've seen him kind of make that adjustment the last two days where he's starting to start his bat a little bit faster,

and he's starting to get to those balls a little bit more. So if you can get Boehm, Kutch, you get Segura back, and then if Harper, I mean, hopefully he's good coming back from the face thing, I think he will be. JT, if you keep him going, like, that's a pretty good top six. We know center field is a disaster. We know, I mean, DD's been up and down. We're probably getting one of the few DD hot streaks coming up here,

given his health. So I just feel like they're all kind of pressing at the same time, and they're all trying to play hero. I mean, that's a lot of strikeouts. They've got to cut that stuff out. But, you know, and that was so frustrating about last night was you know,

Harper and Didi get plunked, and then all of a sudden, like, they're at bats, like, they get locked in. It's like, why aren't you doing this all the time? Why does it have to take Bryce Harper getting hit in the face and Didi getting hit in the back for you guys to start locking in at the plate? So, yeah, I don't know.

I just think that I'm still basing on the track records, and I know it's been frustrating, and the runners in scoring position thing drives me crazy, and the strikeouts are nuts, but I'm just going to bank on the track records, wake me up in June, and I just think that we're getting Kutch back to where we need him to be, and I think we're on the verge of a nice little Boehm streak.

I agree with you on Boehm. I have been more optimistic about Kutch the last couple days, but I'm not ready to, like I said, I'm a chill out, it's not even May, it's not even June for that matter yet, type of person. But I would like to see them get going a little bit. My bigger issue has been the lack of fire from this team, the lack of the lack of like preparedness to play in a way, you know,

the sharpness like we talk about a lot, but they are still a horrific defensive team. We add in the loss a couple of nights ago, the Eflin start in St. Louis, just another night. I mean, the Brad Miller play was horrendous. I mean, Roman Quinn, you know, man, just so many times. They're a really bad defensive team, but they also like, they don't play smart baseball. I mean, Zach Wheeler made that super smart play in his, you know, brilliant outing on Monday night, but we don't see a lot of those, like, except for Mayton. Mayton actually seems like a pretty smart defender out there, but they just haven't been sharp. And then like again you want to see them come out today after what happened last night with some fire with some like heat man like what are we

doing here and there came out limp again like and i like that they fought back after the the carpenter homer and tie it up. But again, they just lose. We talked about this. We were texting last night about it. But it's like, you've got to use that as fuel, man. You've got to use Bryce Harper getting hit in the face and then the next hitter getting plunked as fuel. You've got to go out one bud against those Cardinals.

Metaphorical, maybe a little literal. But that's disappointing me, Jack. This team that during that 5-1 start we were talking about, oh, they know it's time. Oh, they know they've got to make the playoffs. Oh, blah, blah like, I just, that's disappointed me, Jack, this team that, that during that five, one start, we were talking about, Oh, they know it's time. Oh, they know they got to make the playoffs. Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, and I feel like I haven't seen that since. Yeah, I agree with you. That's, that's been my problem with them on the road. It's like, no one can kind of get them going.

No one can give that kind of spark. And I thought Brad Miller at leadoff might have done a little bit because he's kind of a high energy guy and he did he did a decent enough job but they just they don't have they don't have enough guys that can kind of motivate them on the road um they can kind of you know get the clubhouse going a little bit like they feel like a very clicky team like everyone has their own like group of three or four guys, but they don't feel like a great, you know, cohesive team.

And that's honestly what, that's what happens when you, when you bank on free agents and trades to build your teams, that these guys don't come up together. They don't want to win together. And, and they don't have like the sweat equity built in with being a Philly. Like they're all kind of brought in and hoping that they mesh together

rather than grow up together and mesh together. So I think that's been a big reason why they've struggled on the road the last couple of years, because no one really knows each other. And I mean, like you hope that as they continue to grow, that they can learn to know each other. But like last night when Bryce and Didi go down, it was the first time I felt like they were coming together. And it was like, oh, OK, Like they actually are giving a crap right now. And it's, it's good to see.

And like, like even today with the, with, with Nair's hitting Arenado and it was awesome. Like great. I'm glad he did it. And Hector, the protector and all that stuff.

I mean, like not head hunting and throwing at people is fine. Like enough with the whole, I'm so sick and tired of the whole, Ooh, you can't throw at people. fine. Like, enough with the whole, I'm so sick and tired of the whole, oh, you can't throw at people. Like, it's the way the sport has been forever. Get over it. It's whatever.

Not headhunting, whatever. It's good. And you saw it today. And it was professionally done. It was old school baseball. Arenado went right down to first base. Everything was fine. Everyone understood there that have actually played baseball, right? That's the full disclaimer.

They've actually played a sport, understood that how that happened was perfectly fine. And then for that to happen, and then for Matt Joyce to get thrown out at third base, it's just like, great. So we're back to being a dumb baseball team. We're back to doing dumb stuff all over again and

hurting ourselves on the base pass. I mean, Roman Quinn again today on base pass. How does a Major League Baseball team continue to do this stuff? Why is Joe Girardi here then if this stuff is going to keep happening? I thought this was going to be cleaned up under Joe Girardi. How the frick is Matt Joyce, who's been in baseball for 15 years, why the hell are you getting thrown out at third base with your four-hole hitter coming up? Like, what kind of sense? Why does everyone come here and get dumb?

Why? They all become dumb baseball players. Yeah. I'm so with you, man. Like, it's unbelievable. I mean, the Joyce thing today was unbelievable. What are you doing? That was like a Little League, man.

Like, you don't see that in Little League, you know better. It was utterly, utterly insane. And it's like, what is the upside there? You're scoring a ball in the outfield. There's going to be two outs. You're moving on contact. I mean, unless David Hale's coming in to throw a wild pitch

and blow in the game, then yeah, maybe that would be a good upside. And I get like, I guess like, I mean, Alex Reyes had had six wild bitches on the year, which is whatever, but it's just like, you're Matt freaking Joyce, man. Like, who do you think you are? Whatever. No, it's not whatever.

You're right. And the same thing with some of the stuff we've seen from Roman Quinn, Roman Quinn trying to take third that time. Like, just dumb, dumb baseball. I mean, how many times have we seen these guys get thrown out on the base pass like over and over and over again whether stolen bases or dumb decisions on tags or whatever i mean it's like constant and to your point like why is joe gerardi here like this is the point i was making before this is supposed to be if nothing else a team that is

going to play sharp smart baseball a team that is going to play sharp, smart baseball, a team that is going to be prepared to play every day. A baseball is a grind. Like the best teams are the ones that can take it seriously every day and care every day. And that's where a great manager comes in. Like that's where that guy is. It's his whole job. His whole job is to get you ready to play every day. And this team for multiple angles whether it's the sloppy play the dumb play or just the total lack of energy like you talked about before and i do think that's an interesting thought about the road the the lack of guys to get them fired up but like then jojo rardy has to do it right i mean why is this guy here why is he making five

million dollars or whatever absurd number it is a year if he's not gonna at a base get this team ready to play every day and have them show up like professionals and play hard every single day like what's the point yeah well and then you couple in the decisions on top of that and it's just like i i keep waiting for the real joe gerardi to show up and i felt like last night was the first time i i kind of to him. I was like, there he is. Like I left last night saying, welcome to Philadelphia, Joe Girardi. Like welcome. Like you're here.

Like you're not just here collecting a paycheck. Like you're like, welcome to Philadelphia. That was your moment. That was like, dude, everyone was behind this baseball team heading into the game today. It was, everyone was just like, yo, bleep the Cardinals. Let's go win.. Everyone was just like, yo, bleep the Cardinals. Let's go win.

It was the most this city had been behind its baseball team since the 5-1 start. And it felt like one of those, like, all right, Joe Girardi's here. He's going to start getting the most out of these guys. And then to see them continue to make the mistakes today, it's like, well, what gives, man? What gives? And at least in the freaking post game show or post game press conference, he said, Hey, today's game's on me. I've messed up. Also Matt Joyce, I can't make that play. Like at least he was finally saying,

Oh, you mean he actually called out a player? He actually, he decided to break from his game capital routine. What a miracle. I know. I know. So yeah. And, and you know, the road stuff's got to be on a manager. You've got to figure out how to win on the road. Get these guys fired up. It just seems like, and this is the problem under Gabe, but there's never a sense of urgency. Never like,

alright, let's go. It's woefully disappointing. I mean, they split today. They split the series against the Cardinals. They should have won today. To not capitalize on the Hector hitting it, Heronado and that stuff, it felt like a big miss.

So, listen, disappointing road trip. The Mets are coming into town. We avoid the Grom again. I don't know. Hopefully the home stuff can get them going. Yeah, but it is. They got to figure this thing out. This team isn't good. They're not going win you know 80 of their games at home like they need to figure

this road thing out like they can't keep being this horrible i mean you said this dad today i heard on the afternoon show but that that they haven't won a four-game series on the road since 2017 yeah like what what jack fr Like, that is an absurd stat. And all the stats we've talked about with this road stuff, like the one you put out, whatever they, and it's worse now, it was 77 and whatever, 119 at the time, I think. And, like, it's worse. And, again, to bad teams, like not that St. Louis is bad,

but Colorado losing two or three there. And I know that Colorado is, like, the fourth circle of hell for the Philadelphia Phillies. But, like, you can't go lose two or three there. And I know that Colorado is like the fourth circle of hell for the Philadelphia Phillies. But you can't go lose two or three to that team. You just can't. Not if you want to be a playoff team. And what's so frustrating about this stretch of baseball right now is that there's actual opportunity. Like no one in the division is doing anything. Everyone's mediocre right now.

anything everyone's mediocre right now like the phillies actually if they had you know use harness that five one start and had some kind of actual hot start like they could be up six seven games the division right now like it's so frustrating it is infuriating jack like they had a real opportunity here to get a lead that they're gonna need against teams that are more talented than them top to bottom more talented and they missed that opportunity or at least it looks like they're going to need against teams that are more talented than them. Top to bottom, more talented, and they missed that opportunity, or at least it looks like they're in the process of still missing that opportunity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's hilarious. Like, talk about heading to the season about how loaded the NL East is,

and they've all just been so mediocre. It's not even funny. It's nuts. But, yeah, I mean, listen, this is the time. This is the time to do it. This is the time to do it this is the time to to capitalize and um you hope that it's just early season woes and and to be to be fair i mean like archie bradley going down has been a major thing like a major problem um and it's brought like the coonrod home run the other night to to the goldschmidt like that's archie

bradley's guy i mean coonrod i think is good. And him getting worked up last night was hilarious. But that's a guy that you trust. You trust Archie Bradley in that spot. You trust a Jose Alvarado. I trust Conor Brogdon in those spots. But they don't have, and we talked about this at the beginning of the podcast, they don't have enough depth and enough dudes that if a guy goes down that they can step up and replace them like they're better they're definitely better than they've been in years past but they still

don't have enough i mean like archie bradley going down shouldn't derail the whole bullpen and the bullpen was great against the the cardinals this series but you've seen in in the in the since the last time we talked like the archie br Archie Bradley spot being used by wrong guys. And, you know, it's just, and now with Bryce and now with DeeDee and, you know, now Archie's still out. Like they're, the injuries and COVID stuff is piling up. And, you know, they just,

I worry that the depth isn't there for, you know, for them to go on a sustainable run. Like everything has to go right for them. Yeah. I mean, like, again, look at the the freaking lineup they rolled out today i mean five through nine was about as bad as any philly's lineup i remember since like they were a 66 win baseball team it was a spring training lineup i mean numbers wise it might have been worse it was unbelievable um yeah i it's frustrating and and i think that the potential of the core of the guys here, the top heavy that we're talking about, is a nice core.

That's the thing that's frustrating. That's why you can look at this baseball team and say, oh, they do have a chance. The core is good. It's just everything else around it is, like you said, Jack, at times historically bad and otherwise just bad. I mean, the center field position, I mean, what is it, like seven for 84 or something on the season?

Like it's something like just it's, again, like you could probably stick a pitcher up in that spot and have better results. Like it's been that horrific. And good thing they brought Oduble Herrera up. That's worked out really well. Awesome. Thanks for that, guys.

Thanks. Like, all right. Let's talk about Tarnfield real quick. They have to go get somebody, right? Like, they have to. I would just ride Moniak. Like, I don't, like, Oduble does nothing for me. Give Moniak the position and figure it out.

I mean, he was playing better before Herrera got called up and whatever. I mean, it is what it is. I mean, I don't know who's trading their center fielder right now. I mean, like, if the A's had fallen out of it, Ramon Laureano would have been fun. Like, Kiermaier, sure. I mean, but are the Rays going to look into trade him right now? I mean, I'm sure there's a guy out there, but, I mean, that's the problem with where the Phillies are at right now.

We're two months from the trade deadline. Like, who is lining up to get rid of their center fielder right now? Or who's lining up to get rid of their four-starter right now? I mean, like, the trade I would love to make is for Hanager, but they're not going to make that move right now. They're second in the AL West. Honestly, Kikuchi and Hanager will put the team in the playoffs. They're probably looking to shed salary.

They want to get rid of Hanager. I know the Phillies probably won't do it because they'll put him over the luxury tax, but that would put them right in the playoffs. I just don't know who is out there that's like... Marisnyk is with the Cubs. He could play good defense, but he also sucks the plays.

That doesn't fix anything. Cedric Mullins would be fun, but again, are the Orioles looking to trade him right now? I love Cedric Mullins. Yeah, why would they trade him? He's young and not that he's 26 or whatever. He's cheap, young enough and cheap. Why would I love Cedric Mullins. Yeah, why would they trade him? He's young. I mean, not that he's 26 or whatever. He's cheap, young enough and cheap. Like, why would you trade Cedric Mullins?

Like, he's breaking out now. Like, I don't know. That seems weird. I agree. Yeah, I mean, the Angels are trading off. Maybe they'll get Mike Trout, see what that would be like. Yeah, that's actually, yeah, good call. Yeah, I mean, listen.

That's the one we should be looking at. Yeah, throw him a few prospects. What a fraud. What a fraud. Look at this. If Mike Trout were here, we wouldn't be talking about the all-time worst center field position of all time. We'd be talking about an all-time great.

Like, way to go, Mike. Way to submarine the team of your youth, the team you care about. Thanks, pal. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. I mean, just a total fraud phone name, Mike Trout is. But, yeah, well, yeah. But you know that if he came here and played center field,

he would also be batting like 091 and we would be melting down. Yeah, that's true. Mike Trout's the one who's going to cheer the Eagles taking some guard no one's ever heard of with the 12th pick. Mike Trout's going to be, yeah, go Birds, man, go Birds. All right, love the Eagles. Yeah, he's not a real Eagles fan like David Boreanaz. man go birds right look the eagles yeah he's not a real eagles fan like david borienis i i appreciated uh you took that one on the chin yeah like you did not try and you know come up

with some sort of like excuse or cockamamie story you were like on me guys this one is on me i respected that jack i thought you handled it well yes i donovan chest patted it right up but um yeah so for those that don't listen to the afternoon show here on wip um which like what are you doing i mean why would you not listen to the afternoon show but uh yeah so david borienis the uh the bones guy called in the other day as like Dave in LA and he said his last name really fast and I didn't pick up on it. And then I was sitting there as he was on hold and I bumped him down because I didn't like his point. Um, but, but he, but he said, he said his name and I knew that they, that there was a Dave guy that was an actor that lived in LA. And I was like, man, there's no way, right?

Like he called a normal call in number, like all this stuff. Like there's no way that's him. Cause like as a, inside the, this, the job here, like when someone gives their last name, when they call in, like you kind of put your ears up, you know, like as usually say like, what's your name when they pick up or when they pick up. So he gave his like full name, which put my ears up, but I didn't catch it because i was doing other stuff um and because

sometimes callers will give you their full name if they don't call that often or whatever they will say like every once in a while you'll get a caller be like george patterson or whatever it's like cool george thanks and you know whatever yeah yeah but he was he called in and i was sitting there and i was thinking there's no way that's him. And then I went on YouTube and I caught a video of him talking and I was like, it kind of sounded like him. So I took a shot and I bumped him up once. He's up next. And then he got on.

And so he's talking, whatever. And then. So first and foremost, you made David Morganis wait on hold. I did make him wait on hold. And then he went on the air as Dave in L with no one knowing he was Dave Boreanaz. Yes. Yes. And so we got just a recap.

Yes. That's what happened. And then when he was done, I texted him and I was like, hey, man, what did you say your last name was? And he texted back in full caps, Boreanaz. And you guys hung up on me. And that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah yeah and I was like oh oh I said uh the f expletive and uh and uh yeah so he was like he's like no it's all good like whatever

so we made amends we're good friends now um and everything but yeah yeah so David Boreanaz called in and I did not know who it was well i knew who it was i just didn't think it was actually him and i blew the chance to let them know that we had a hollywood star on the show and yeah the rest is history okay i have uh one question really just one question yes based on this if jim in new jersey called up and said hi this is jim nance i'd like to go in the air. Would you do the same thing to Jim Nance? Or would you recognize Jim and put him on the air?

Well, the first thing I would do is I would ask him how he's doing since he resigned. And then the second thing I would do is I would say, well, first off, he would definitely say, I'm Jim Nance, you know, whereas David kind of mumbled his last name. And also, I mean, let's be real. I think at least our group of people, we all would recognize Jim Nance way before we'd recognize Dave Boreas just from the voice. Right, right. If he got the phone, he'd be like, hello. I'd be like, oh, it's Jim Nance. I don't even need you to tell me your name.

You're Jim Nance. Hey, Jim. Yeah, you'd probably. Why'd you resign from CB? Yeah, you would get all high phone and be like, hello. I'd be like, oh, it's Jim Nance. I don't even need you to tell me your name. You're Jim Nance. Hey, Jim. Yeah, you'd probably. Why'd you resign from CB? Yeah, you would get all high pitched and worked up. I would just be like, I would just put him on hold like a normal caller. Because, yeah, here's what I do. Here's what I do is I treat everyone the same.

You know, I'm just, you know, no one gets preferential treatment except for like five callers. But no one gets preferential treatment except for five callers. But no one gets preferential treatment on our show. Well, then call my show. I'll give you preferential treatment. If you tell me you love High Hopes, you're going right to the top of the line. I'll tell you that much. That is lock city. All right.

Listen, that's a good inside plug. If you want to get on the Midday Show, call in. Tell James you love High Hopes, and he'll put you right to the top. If you call the afternoon show, don't say your name's David Boreanaz, and we'll be all good. You might get on the air. Yeah, we'll see. I'm enjoying talking about David Boreanaz

so much more than I was enjoying talking about the Phillies, Jack, so that's good. Yeah, listen, I just wanted to cheer everyone up before the Eagles screw up tonight, and we have to watch the Mets come into town this weekend. I was about to say, at least after tonight, we'll yet again be more mad at the Eagles than the Phillies. So that's something.

It is. Get the homeostasis back to where it's supposed to be. Right, right. Until the Phillies, well, they're at home, so they'll probably take two or three this weekend. Yeah, it's true. It's true. And then the Brewers coming out,

Corbin Burns getting hurt, which is devastating for my fantasy team, but awesome for the Phillies, so I'll take that. I will too. Even though it is, again, detrimental to the fantasy squad. But yeah, it's a real tough beat. I gotta be

honest. I am so not looking forward to the fantasy squad. I'm so not looking forward to the Brewers coming to town. I mean, they have so many guys that throw hard and like have stuff move all over the place. Like they're the most under talked about like dominant pitching, pitching factor. Yeah.

I mean, Woodrow Woodrow's probably the best pitcher that doesn't get talked about in all of baseball. Yeah. He's like, he's like, Oh seven Brandon Webb. Dude. He's like one of the best pitch all of baseball. Yeah, he's like 07 Brandon Webb.

Dude, he's like one of the best pitchers in baseball. Flat out. Like, that's how good he is. I know. He is unbelievable. And then they got Devin Williams and Josh Hader. And that awful... And Freddy Peralta. And that awful Brent Suter, who I can't stand.

Yeah, you've always been a Brent Suter hater. Oh, he's a loser. Seems like a baseball guy. He's not a baseball guy. He's a super... He's one of those nerdy lefties that are just losers that no one wants to hang out with. That's Brent Suter. He's a baseball guy. No, he's not a baseball guy.

He's not a baseball guy. You stop lying. He's not a baseball guy. He's not a baseball guy. He is a lefty. He is a weird, quirky lefty. That's Brent Suter. He is the worst. I didn't make him a baseball guy. He just is a baseball guy. No, he's not a lefty. He is a weird, quirky lefty. That's Brent Suter. He is the worst. I didn't make him a baseball guy. He just is a baseball guy. No, he's not a baseball guy.

Speaking of baseball guys, you asked me a baseball guy question recently. And I said yes, but I would just like to really hammer it home. Jacob deGrom is absolutely the best pitcher since Pedro Martinez and is one of the two best pitchers I've ever seen in my life. Jacob deGrom is absolutely the best pitcher since Pedro Martinez and is one of the two best pitchers I've ever seen in my life. Like, Jacob DeGrom is unbelievable. Like, that guy is so good, Jack. Like, as a pitcher.

Like, what do you, when you watch Jacob DeGrom pitch, like, are you just like, how? Well, you know. How does this happen? I usually would be like that, but he did get outdoiled by Nick Pavetta last night. So, you know, it's tough to say. Yes! It's tough to say who the better pitcher was. Are you impressed about the Phillies or excited because of Nick Pavetta?

Oh, I'm way more depressed about the Phillies. Like, the Pavetta thing, I mean, it's, like, dude, I got to be honest. Like, by the end, I was just so drained just emotionally about the Pavetta thing. So, it's going to be like, you know, I'm rooting for Carson in India. It's like that kind of thing. It's like I watch every Pavetta start. So, listen, he looks good. I mean, I'm freaking ecstatic they gave up him and Connor Seabold

for freaking Brandon Workman who got DFA'd by the Cubs today who suck and Heath Hembree like it's just what a stupid all time bad trade it's a stupid trade but like it's another frustration with the whole like the how they develop these guys I mean

like Pavetta going elsewhere being good Koehl going elsewhere and being serviceable like it's happening all over the sport. It's like, oh, great, awesome. So we've got to deal with this stuff on top of our baseball team being frustratingly inconsistent. I fully expect when Velasquez leaves here after this offseason, which, I mean, can we finally make that happen?

He's going to throw a 3-5 ERA next year. There's no doubt in my mind. Whoever leaves here is all of a sudden going to be fine. Freaking Arrieta, who sucks. He's back to being Jake Arrieta. It's great. Awesome. Fun.

These guys were the worst to watch here, and now they're thriving elsewhere. Yeah, we should have just kept talking about the other stuff instead of Phillies. Yeah. All right, what you got in the take back? Yeah, so Spencer Howard. It looks like he's going to have a new role. And honestly, it might be the only thing that can save the Phillies this season. Now, Dombrowski was on with Franski on the pregame show yesterday, I think. And he was

saying that it's not like they're stretching him out to be a starter. Like they're basically stretching him out to be a super opener where like four innings, five innings, like they're not stretching him out to be, you know, a six, seven inning guy. They're stretching him out to manage the innings. But also, like, honestly, it was probably what the tipping point was, and we didn't even get to this because it happened a week ago. But, like, David Hale coming in to face Trevor Story and not Spencer Howard because Girardi doesn't trust him to come into a spot like that with it being a clean inning.

Like, he apparently needs Spencer Howard to have a clean start to an inning for him to trust him. So I guess that was probably the tipping point of, listen, if you're not going to use him there, but you're going to have him use mop-up duty, what the hell was Spencer Howard doing down 8-2 for four innings? It was embarrassing. Ah, Jesus. But anyway, it's one of those things

where they're probably okay well if he's not going to do that then we might as well stretch him out and make him like a a semi-starter or a super opener where he can give us three to four innings at least those innings are going to be clean for spencer howard to come into so um listen matt moore has been a disaster they'll probably piggy piggyback Matt Moore and Spencer Howard and whatever. But again, much like Mickey, if he can just figure it out and be a normal 4-5 starter and be the number one prospect in the system, it would help this team a lot. Yeah, immeasurably. Immeasurably. It would be a massive thing for this team.

Again, and on top of that that to the point we're making before or like with a team that has so little organizational talent past that that top tier group of guys the core group of guys like like you need to squeeze the talent out of what do you have and like spencer howard is definitely more talented than chase anderson and matt moore like flat out no question about it like squeeze some talent out of this guy, Jack. What else you got? Oh, did you? So I guess I was legitimately geeking out today.

So you saw the play where McCutcheon came home and everyone was freaking out because Dusty Wathen put up the stop sign, right? Yeah, yeah. I thought Franzen had a great explanation of what was happening on the broadcast. So basically, the Phillies have been studying the tape and they knew that Goldschmidt

makes the read off of the third base coach. So the third base coach is putting up the stop sign. Most of the time first basemen are kind of reading the base runner or whatnot, but he reads the third base coach. So they had this play set up where he's going to put the stop sign, Goldschmidt's going to read that, and he'll cut it.

And it got the Phillies a run. And I don't know. That was just like you don't really see plays like that in baseball. You don't see strategy like that on the fly. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. So, you know, shout out to Dusty Watson. Good fly. And I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. So, you know, shout out to Dusty Watson.

Good, good, good play today. I loved it. I, I was listening. I was walking my dogs. What happens?

I was listening to Scott and Kevin and, and Scott, you know, he's making the call. And as he should, he's like, he's got the hands up. He's blowing through the soft side,

does the whole thing. And then friends. And like right after explains it really well saying like, no, no, no, that was a play. That was a thing they were doing.

Like, and explained why. And I'm so with you, man you man that's like like chess checkers type stuff i mean that's that's really cool you don't see that stuff and uh now if joe gerardi could just get his guys ready to play every day with a little bit of life and energy you know that other stuff is awesome like do more of that and and you know the other stuff yeah yeah yeah but uh i guess i don't really have much else i don't think because it's been a frustrating week at phil's baseball um but but i had a bunch of stuff from last week that i had my notes but now it all just seems silly yes yes honestly though honestly though like shout out to hector naris it was such a it was just well

executed it was professional it was part of the game. It was perfectly fine. And you know, I'm glad someone did it. I'm glad someone did it. And like I like that it's Hector. I mean, that's kind of cool to me. And all the old people

out there who seem to hate Hector Neris maybe they can finally, you know, come around to him. I mean, he's got a 1.5 E five era it's like that thing on twitter the the where they have the handshake thing and it'll be the one thing on one side and then the other thing on the other side and then they can agree on it's like we can all agree on hector in the middle on this one right like hector he came through and look i i saw some people on twitter doing the like doing in the ninth inning of a tie game. It's like, look, honestly, I get that. I really do.

But I think there are certain things that sometimes are just more important than winning one individual game during a season. Or at least that it's worth taking the risk. And he did it with two outs. It was Arenado. And he backed it up by getting a strikeout the next play. It was a risky thing to do but Hector realizing that was more important that he do that that his opportunity he wasn't

pitching where he's done after that batter and it was it was no one freaking Arenado like Hector took advantage of that and he said this is more important and I'm with you Jack I respect the hell out of it I loved it and that's again like to tie it all back around like that's why today's loss was so particularly frustrating because after hector did that like you gotta win that game like and and look they had to win the game two nights ago after the guys got hit we talked like it was a must-win game in that moment but like after hector does that i just would have liked to see that fire the team up a little more and it seemed to. I agree. Winning last night made up for game five in 2011, and then to come out today was frustrating. But, James, that's just what they do.

That's just what they do. Just what they do. All right, final thoughts, Fritzy. Final thoughts. Phil's are home this weekend. If you're heading out of the ballpark, stop by Four Fingers, grab some high hops to drink, and watch this team together. Someone walked in last weekend and finally did the bit of asking my dad

about the Phillies, and he didn't get it. So, yeah, it's fun. Go in, talk to my dad about the Phillies. He won't know what you're talking about. And, yeah, grab some high hops, get out of the ballpark, and they're at home this weekend. So two or three. My final thought, two or three.

All jokes aside, congrats on the house, man. That's like a big life moment. Buying your first house is a true blue, never forget it, really meaningful life moment, and that's awesome. Thanks, man. I, I'm really excited for you

and Jill. That's super cool. It's nice having outdoor space. You know, we've been inside little apartments for the last couple of years. So yeah, we can finally sit outside, have some fires, drink some beers and hang out. So it's fun. It's a cool place. And we'll have to figure out something where we can get you guys

out there and come out, hang out with Elliot and I. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm vaccinated now, so I'm, I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to hang. I'm ready to party. So I'm sure we'll figure something out. Um,

so yes, I'm ready. Yeah. So anyway, congratulations, man. That's really awesome. And,

uh, I am excited. Um, I'm excited for you guys. Um, all right, we'll be back next week. Uh,

my mom is leaving. Uh, Jack is settled. So, uh, we'll make it all happen. And mom is leaving. Jack is settled. We'll make it all happen in two or three. He's pressed himself, so we'll see you later. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question. What's the best podcast

of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day, I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago. It is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact. So jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.