PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - After a big week for Emmanuel Rivera, have the Arizona Diamondbacks already won the trade with KC?

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to get consistency from their starting rotation and big offensive contributions from Josh Rojas and Emmanuel Rivera in a series win over the Colorado Rockies.SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeWebsite: https://gophnx.com PHNX Locker: https://phnxlocker.com/Head on over to The PHNX Locker to pick up one of our new PHNX hats!SOCIAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PHNX_DbacksInstagram: https://instagram.com/PHNX_Sports Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit and get a RISK-FREE BET UP TO ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply.If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez! We have free stuff for you! Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3, YES THREE, bags of OGeez including Orange Creamsicle and Tropical flavors, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform Check out OGeez! online at ogeezbrands.com and on Instagram @ogeezbrands. You can also find their products at your local dispensary. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. They have officially licensed gear for men, women and kids and everything from bobbleheads to swimsuits to crocs. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Emmanuel Rivera Stan podcast. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the founding member of the Emmanuel Rivera fan club. I am here with my vice, I don't know, president, vice president of the club. It's the one and only thunder stick Jesse Friedman. This is, we did officially become an Emmanuel Rivera Stan account yesterday. It is, it is official. We only care about Emmanuel Rivera. Nobody else matters on this podcast from this point forward.

So there you go. That's what this is. We're just going to talk about Emmanuel's favorite recipes, what he does to prepare in the morning, what music he's listening to and things like that. So we hope you appreciate the format change. Of course, this show is still brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top rated sportsbook app. Jesse, let's go. Let's go. Now we officially have to factor Emmanuel Rivera into the Paul Goldschmidt trade going forward to here until the end of time.

He is now part of this. He was part of this and I love it and I'm here for it. It was an incredible series for him. And obviously the two homers in the game yesterday, we very perfectly timed our tweet earlier that day when we said Emmanuel Rivera plays baseball today, today is a good day. And then sure enough, Emmanuel Rivera hovers in his first two at vats in the game. And we know it scores field, but both of those were pretty well hit anyway. So he's been an outstanding.

acquisition for this team and he's doing it against both lefties and righties, which is not something that I don't think we really expected to see necessarily based on his numbers in Kansas City. It's, it's been fun. It's been fun watching him. It's been good to see Josh Rojas over at second base, which I think is more of a natural position for him, even though he was doing really well at third. And the Diamondbacks won another series, Derek. And they did it in pretty dramatic fashion. These last couple games felt like they had a bit of an exclamation point at the end. So a lot of fun baseball this weekend. Emmanuel Rivera currently, Jesse, has a seven-game hitting streak with his hit today.

He entered today's game hitting 391 with a 1.505 OPS in seven games since joining the Arizona Diamondbacks. I mean, is it the Arizona manuals or the Arizona Rivera's? I don't know what sounds better. I think is Arizona Rivera's. I don't know. It doesn't matter, whichever one. Emmanuel is with God.

So I think the Diamondbacks have been with God as of late because this team has been on a role since the All-Star break. And good things continue to happen, right? This is another series win in a row for them. And they are doing the exact thing we implored them to do during this stretch. Like they still have some series against this Rockies team and some other teams that are very winnable. But they also have a lot of games left, Jesse, against the Padres, the Giants. and unfortunately the Dodgers. As you pointed out in your tweet yesterday,

if you take the Padres and the Dodgers and the Diamond, the Padres and the Dodgers out of the equation for the Arizona Diamondbacks, they have a positive run differential and they have a winning record. Yeah. Yeah. After today, I think it'd be 48 and 43. It's the record against teams that are not the Dodgers of the Padres, and they're now plus 36 in those games.

And I mean, you think about that, like, I mean, any team, any team's record is going to look, pretty good, you know, when you take away the two opponents that they were worse against, right? I mean, that's just sort of the way it works. Right. Especially division rivals that they play a lot. Like they have. Yeah. Yeah. This season. Right. So, so the outcome there is not necessarily shocking. But what I think is important to note here is that the Padres and the Dodgers are both spending, you know, 200 plus million dollars on payroll. I think the Padres are around 200 and the Dodgers have been

exceeding that figure for years. Um, so, when you factor in those things, like the Dodgers and the Padres are not the kind of franchises that a lot of teams have to deal with in their division. You know, like there, there aren't teams like that in the, in the AL Central, right? So when you factor in just how good of a division this really is at the end of the day, you start to paint a picture of like a diamondback team that in another division would probably be a pretty good team, like potentially an over 500 playoff contending team, that unfortunately in the NL. West, we just don't really get to see. see that because of the competition around them.

And I know, I know I don't need to do this, but hey, Emma, can you go ahead and throw our spying on the X's graphic up really fast for me? Because you know what we're going to do? We're going to spy on our X's just for a quick moment. When it comes to this trade, because Luke Weaver is now a member of the Kansas City Royals. And in four games, he has a 9.00 ERA. So I think it's safe to say at least in the short term that the Diamondbacks have won this trade.

Is it too early to call? Yeah, we can we can judge trades after two weeks, right? That's how this works. That's how it works. That's how it works. The man has a 9.00 ERA, Jesse. I'm calling it. I'm calling it.

Time of death, 4.06 p.m. Sunday, August 14. This trade's done. And we appreciate you, Emma. You are. Emma is elite. And I'm so glad to have Emma back. She is. No offense to Faj, aka Father Overlord Jacob, but Emma's, Emma's, Emma's our key.

Anyway, we have to give, we have to give Fajja, we have to give Faj a shout out on a day like this, though, because Faj put in quite a bit of work into the video that we released earlier today, which hopefully all of you have seen by now. Let's give credit where credits do, Jesse, you did a phenomenal amount of work yourself. This is something that we have been working on for a very long time since the no-hitter actually happened. But if you get a chance, please check out all of Jesse, Jacob, and Sean's excellent work. Yay, Father Jacob. I love that. I love that. I have never seen that.

I love it. But yes, shout out to Father Jacob and Jesse and Sean for their work. If you haven't had a chance, go to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, check out the first edition of Unscripted. It follows up on the one-year anniversary of Tyler Gilbert's no-hitter, which was extremely improbable, extremely unlikely. And as Gilbert said himself in the interview, he didn't even have his best stuff that night. But it's an incredible, yay, Father Jacob and baby boy, Sean, Lucky Sean, aka Young Rock, aka Teenage Rock, High School Rock. But, yeah, you guys did an awesome job on that.

Big shout out to the Arizona Diamondbacks for joining us for that and for giving us their insight because that really put that entire thing over the top. but I think you did a great job of breaking down why that was so unlikely, including a stat that we've been talking about quite a bit, especially when it comes to Christian Walker this season, which is that expected batting average. And now unlikely it is to have a no-hitter with those ridiculous odds. Yeah, I mean, by the end of that game, at one point in the video, I think it's about halfway through. I talk about how the probability of every batted ball up to that point going for an out

was 0.25%, which is a 1 in 400 outcome. If you drag that out to the end of the game, Derek, you're looking at 1 in 10,000, like that's sort of a level of outcome. I mean, it was insane what happened that day. And as Tyler said in the video, you know, it was a star's align sort of an occasion, right?

Just the kind of moment that nobody can explain. It's just sort of baseball being baseball. Mani Machado hits a 112 mile an hour liner off the bat and it's just like scalded right at David Peralta and left field. Like those kinds of things were happening throughout that game. It was really crazy. I think Varsho said it best when he said most no hitters really are just a case of the ball finding the glove in a game a lot. Like you have your dominant pitching performances where the, you know, no hitter was greatly,

the odds were greatly increased by strikeouts and the pitcher contributing much more. It's not to say that this was something that, you know, Tyler, Gilbert didn't earn. He absolutely earned this. It just was one of those situations. It was extraordinarily unlikely. Not to, not to mention if you factor in the fact that this is a guy that was doing electrical work with his father when the season began and eventually made his major league debut as a starter the same year and throws a no hitter that same night. That's just incredible. And again, kudos to the team for putting that together. You guys did an outstanding job. I implore you again to go check that out. It is the finest work that we've done.

This podcast is all right. But that video, five stars. We deserve a five-star review just for that. So if you're so inclined, subscribe to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, leave us a five-star review for the video. Also, if you're on YouTube, checking that video out, make sure to subscribe to the PHNX Sports channel. Give us a thumbs up if you're watching us live right now. And sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live, especially with this post-series show. Sometimes we get a, wacky times like our man Jesse Friedman traveling while covering the Diamondbacks game and still getting here in time for our show, which again, thank you, sir, for all of your work and

for not getting stuck in traffic between here and California because I know how that's a, that's a gamble. It's a miracle. It's a gamble anytime you take that ride. But this series has actually been a really good series for the Arizona Diamondbacks. One of the biggest keys for them has been starting pitching in regards to young starting pitching. Tommy Henry had an excellent outing today, even though it kind of got shaky there at the end. He didn't last very long, but still a very good outing for him. Zach Gallen continues to be lights out and has been in his last five starts.

And Merrill Kelly was, did Merrill Kelly start in the series or was it, am I mixing that up? Who started game one? This series, so it was Zach Davies in Game 1. Jack Davies. I was like Merrill Kelly was the Pirate series, I'm pretty sure. So, yeah, I know, Zach Davies. So starting pitching was good, taking a look at the numbers. That's definitely what set the Diamondbacks apart in this series as far as the,

as far as the ERA for starting pitching is concerned. But the Diamondbacks obviously got the back at the Rockies in a couple of different ways. Not only did they have a better starting pitching ERA, the relief pitching ERA, was in favor of the Rockies, but the Diamondbacks again had, can we get the graphic up for the, between, by the numbers? There it goes. There it is. There it is.

I'm all over the place without the actual numbers looking up there. All right, Diamondbacks, obviously starting year right here, Jesse, the thing that set them apart. Everything else, pretty similar. Diamondbacks, again, struggled with runners in scoring position just a little bit, but both teams had an extraordinarily high number of chances with runners and scoring position today in particular in the series. Yeah, today the debacks had 11 and the Rockies had 13.

So the debacks were three for 11 in the game today. So that was a decent boost for them all and all. But yeah, the devax starting pitching was really good in the series. I know Zach Davies didn't have his best stuff on Friday. But you know, you'll take like five innings around three runs and in a start at course field. And then, you know, five and a third, three runs from time. Tommy Henry today.

That's also more than acceptable, especially for a younger pitcher like Tommy Henry. But Zach Gallen, Derek, I mean, Zach Gallen really stole the show on Saturday. Seven innings for the third time in his last five starts, six strikeouts, no runs allowed. Pulling that off in that ballpark is extraordinarily, extraordinarily difficult. So I was just so impressed with what Gallen did in the game yesterday. he just continues to look better and better as the season goes on. Can we can we talk about the game yesterday, Derek? Like I know I know the Sunday game was good, but the Saturday game like the diamond backs were like.

It was an ask it. It absolutely was. Like the diamond backs were like running circles around the Rockies essentially. And in the case of Dalton Vars show, they were literally running circles. You literally hit what arguably should have been an inside the park home run. I don't know, Blackman sort of bobbled it in the corner. It didn't look like much of an air to me. That was the most fucking lackadaisical runover ever.

Like I get why he was because he was figuring it was going to, I think he was figuring it was going to careen off the wall more. So he didn't want to like charge in and then have it bounce out. You know, he was trying to keep it kind of in the corner and play it as it came. But it ended up looking like a lazy ass run. And then he bobbled it. So that causes it to be a triple with an error, which is bullshit. because our short king deserved the in the park home run.

Charles Woodall Pike says, can we appreciate that Alec catch some more. Alec coming in in the end of the game just to make an incredible save really fast. Oh yeah, I know I was off today, but don't forget who the king is. And don't forget where my kingdom is. It's center field and it stretches to every ballpark in baseball, Jesse.

So many people talk about like, and I think this is true at Chasefield, too, just like how roomy the center field area is in the ballpark. It's true at Chase Field and it's like doubly true at course field. Like that is a massive, massive outfield. And for Alex Thomas, who doesn't have a lot of experience playing center field in that ballpark to charge back and like perfectly time his jump, he absolutely robbed a home run. This wasn't like a, oh, it was like a nice catch running into the fence, but like could have been a double.

This absolutely would have been a home run. And I know the D-backs had a comfortable league. lead. So maybe the gravity of the situation wasn't quite as high as some of the other moments in the series. But he, I mean, the amount of proficiency that he has shown in center field this year is just insane. And I was looking the other day, Derek, at scouting reports of Halle Thomas. And he was not necessarily scouted as being an elite center fielder. It was sort of like a above at like above average defense, like a chance to stay in center, like might be better served moving to a corner outfield spot at some point where he would be like really good. But he is playing an outstanding, outstanding center

fields. And I know I mentioned this briefly the other day, but I will be writing in short order here about the landscape for the Gold Glove Award and the National League at that position. I do think Alec Thomas is in the mix there. And make sure to sign up for a membership if you haven't done so already to so you don't miss any of Jesse's incredible writings. Go to GoPhNX.com. Sign up for a membership. If you get an annual membership, you'll get a free t-shirt like this one I'm wearing. I think that guy's got one on too.

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free. First month for just 50 cents. Practically free. Come on, 50 cents. Even Jesse would pay 50 cents for an app on his phone because it's not the 99 cents. So it doesn't push him over the edge. I don't know if that's true. If I'm being honest. I still don't think I would pay 50 cents.

I don't know. It makes a special app that just delivered the information you wanted seamlessly at any point. You wouldn't pay 50 cents for it one time. One time, Jesse. Come on. I don't think. I don't think so.

I'm trying to think if there's a point, like, like if there's a certain level where I would be willing to pay for an app. And there's also a difference between paying for the app up front and then like adding a subscription or something later on. Because somehow that is something I'm okay with doing. But I refuse to pay for an app when I first before I pay anything for it. Yeah, for sure. But you would pay more than 50 cents for our membership to our website. And I know that. I would.

So anyway, make sure to sign up for a membership. if you haven't done so already. You get members-only access to our Discord, members-only discounts at the PHNX Locker. And of course, you get us, you get Jesse. You get all of his wonderful writing and all the wonderful writing of all the writers here. We have the best staff.

We really do. Gerald, Craig, everybody here is incredible. Even Totry, even though I wouldn't want to say it to his face. But Toadry, anyway, join us here. Wow, the slander. The slander in the comments. Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah.

There's a lot of slander. Jesse, do you want to slander Tommy Henry really fast before we move on or what's going on? He's not that good because he only let's let's talk about it. Let's go ahead. Sure, sure. So, so I have to, I have to admit on the front end here that as we, as we mentioned earlier, I was driving a car through the desert of Southern California throughout most of these games. So with all transparency, I will reserve my judgments to, to a later date.

looking at the pitching line, which admittedly doesn't give that much information at the end of the day. Three walks and three strikeouts. I don't love seeing that. We've sort of seen that from Tommy Henry in all of his starts, where he's like walking just as many as he's striking out, which is not really sustainable like for long term success. But, but no, I mean, I haven't watched this game. So I'm not going to like make these enormous statements about how how well or not well Tommy Henry pitch. it appears that for a course field start he was very, very good today. So that's all I'll say on that. It was reminiscent, not the stuff. I'm not going to say he was dominant like a Zach Gowan,

but it was reminiscent of Zach Gowen starts where it seemed pretty solid up until the end. It seemed pretty good. And then he got himself into some trouble that Lavello wanted him kind of to work his way out of, get through that, get through the sixth inning, get those six innings under his belt. And once he started to struggle, you could tell like because of the lead the diamondbacks had a seven to nothing lead at that point I felt like they were comfortable with letting him stay out there and again much like Zach Gallin in those starts where we were screaming for them to take him out of the game it's like it's kind of

like a like you know forged forged by fire situation staying staying out there in the heat letting letting stuff get uncomfortable letting you get into a jam and seeing how you work your way out of it again it's really about the development of someone like Tom Tommy Henry. And to an extent, it was about the development of Zach Gallen to kind of get him over that hump. What we've seen lately out of Gallen is that dominant pitcher that can go long in the game, have some that efficiency that allows him to make it into the seventh and eighth inning. And he hasn't been falling apart at the end of his starts, right? But Tommy Henry, again, he's another guy that looks, you know, like he could be a viable option for this team as a part of their starting rotation going forward,

which is really what they need, just some stability. and to have these young guys be a part of this team and continue their development now at a major league level. There's not a lot as far as pitching prospects go to be excited about left in the, you know, farm system. And it's not to say it's depleted. It's just to say right now some of the top prospects don't look as sharp as Tommy Henry has looked. And now he's come up and he's done the same thing that I think we saw out of young king Sir Alec Thomas, right? Alec Thomas came up and we just hoped that he didn't have a rough entry into the bigs. Instead, what we saw was Alec Thomas immediately acclimate himself to the big league level

and stay there without having to be sent back down and have that up and down experience that a lot of minor league players go through when they first get called up. Even some of the best prospects in the league have already been sent down once or twice. And what I'd love to see is I'd love to see Tommy Henry continue to grow, even if he makes mistakes, but stay a part of this team, stay a part of this starting rotation because they really need them. Yeah, I mean, what I will say about the rotation as a whole right now is that you really feel like you have a shot to win every single game.

You know, like Dallas Keikle just wasn't a majorly quality pitcher when he was here. If we're being honest, like the Diamondbacks were majorly behind the eight ball when Dallas Keikle was on the mound. The numbers make that pretty clear. But with Zach Davies back in the rotation, I know he hasn't been super sharp so far, but he's been like reasonably okay. And with Tommy Henry, you know, sticking it out through three starts so far, I don't think we've seen his best stuff. And that's what I'll continue to say about Tommy Henry is, you know, even if even if it sounds like I'm saying he hasn't pitched that well, it's more because I really think he's better in some ways than what we've seen so far. But you, I mean, there's no, there's no like gaping holes in the rotation.

I know Madison Bumgarner is not not what. he was, right? Not anywhere close to what he was. But with Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly, who are at the top of their game right now, both pitching extremely well. And then Madbom continuing to be a fairly steady presence, even if he's not what he used to be, can still give you six innings, you know, most of the timeout. And then Tommy Henry and Zach Davies, like holding it down, keeping the diamond backs in games day after day. And the offense is starting to look better. I mean, with Emmanuel Rivera, suddenly doing what he's doing, this Diamondbacks lineup has a little bit of depth to it that we didn't really see earlier in the season.

And it just sort of feels like everything is kind of coming together for them right now. I know 53 and 61 isn't great, isn't super exciting. But they've been pretty darn good since the All-Star break. And now, Derek, San Francisco, this is a really, really big series for them coming up here. And what you just said was very important, Jesse. 53 and 61. Today the Diamondbacks won one more game than their season total for 2020, right? So this is a big moment for this team because now I guess the cake has been made and everything from this point is icing on said cake.

Anything that they can do, any little achievement that they can win just shows how much they've dug themselves out of the hole that they were in last year. whether it's that third place in the division and overcoming the San Francisco Giants, whether it's potentially as crazy as it sounds, even overcoming the Padres who continue to struggle to find ways to win, even with this monster lineup that they've put together, right? So there are a lot of interesting things here. I sent out a ridiculous graphic today, Jesse, an absolutely absurd graphic of a comic book cover saying,

what if what if what if the new and improved Arizona diamond bags made the playoffs I don't fucking know I mean honestly you know the I think obviously it doesn't look good things don't look good and then that should be where we get our hopes up to because then that's that's a way to get let down pretty quickly but with the way this season is going and the way this team is playing we're seeing a much improved team that's definitely finding itself Emmanuel Rivera this might be a fleeting moment for him. This just might be the change of scenery thing that kind of puts that extra gas in your tank, right?

Maybe not. Maybe Emmanuel Rivera is the Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman, you know, going forward. Maybe Emmanuel Rivera is wild. You know what I mean? It would be. Look at this graphic. This is absurd.

I made this and I've like I asked myself if I was drunk. But I mean, what if, Jesse? Like, who cares what they do in the point? playoffs. I mean, the playoffs are very difficult. And at that point, you know, things definitely are not in their advantage, right? But whatever. Putting all of that doubt out the window, it's not to say like that's, it's that far out of this team's grasp. They have been playing good baseball. You get on a role against some of these teams that you can be going into a series against some of these more difficult division rivals like the Giants, Padres and Dodgers. And you

never know what that level of confidence, that role that you're on can do. What we're seeing, at least is the Diamondbacks attempting to make some changes where they've had faults. Today, Mark Melanson came in as the setup man and Ian Kennedy came in for the save. It still didn't go great. It still fucking wasn't great, but it just shows that we're adapting. It shows LeVolo is trying to manage this team in a way to win games. It shows that they aren't really just, you know, kind of throwing their hands up about this season, being like, like, hey, look, we won the same amount. We've already won more games than last year. We're good.

It feels like this team is trying to get themselves on the role. By the way, Jeff Bannister, as manager, I'm completely on board with as well. Not to say I want to see Tori Lavala go anywhere, but I believe Bannister is undefeated now as manager. So I'm just saying, just throwing

that out there. When our friend Jeff is at the helm, things go well, you know, but this coaching staff has been great. This team has evolved. We've seen this team, you know, This is a, it's a small victory, but it's a victory that's worth celebrating. And I hope they are. I hope the fact that they won today, one more game than they won all of last season,

and they still have half of the month of August left, the entire month of September, and like a week of October to play some more baseball and see what they can do to make this season even more special and dig themselves that much more out of the hole that they were in from last season, right? But, you know, hey, all I know is, again, Emmanuel Rivera is, my lord and savior and if you have a moment to talk about him, I'd like to come

into your house and preach the good word from the book of Rivera. Speaking of which, by the way, we talked about Josh Rojas. Josh Rojas has been incredible, even though he plunked Dalton Bar Show today with a fucking ball he was throwing around. Jesse, I know you didn't get to see that.

Oh, I did not see that. He just hit Dalton Bar Show. Like, he actually hurt Dalton Bar Show. Our short king almost got injured by Josh Rojas, throwing a ball around on the infield in between innings. But nonetheless, it still didn't disqualify him. Oh, yeah, and there's that. There's that. Cotell Marte currently is day-to-day with a hamstring again,

which was, of course, definitely an issue for him last year. Varsho was not fucking pleased with Josh Rojas. I'm sure there are words being had. And if not dinner's being bought, but we'll see how that plays out for sure. Still, though, like I was saying, it didn't disqualify him from being our draft Kings, king of the series, because he's had his incredible series. 462 batting average had a hit in every single game. Two runs scored five RBI in that home run.

Just big things for this guy. And Josh Roaz continues to be a spark plug for this team. 462 batting average 5 RBIs one home run and one errant throw at Dalton Arsho's head there you go he was he was on the I don't know what they call it but he was on the program with Mark grace where they do the sit down I think at oregano's and do a chat yeah and the conversation Jesse turned towards fights and let me tell you I have rarely seen somebody that like visually on screen just based on their demeanor that I I think that guy wants to fight someone really bad more than Josh Rojas because when they got into the topic, they started discussing penalties and not only like suspensions, but financial penalties.

And Mark Grace was given the old back in my day, it was $500 and no time off of games nowadays. And Josh Rojas had this look in his eye like, I want to play in your day just to fight people. Like that's what Josh Rojas looked. I really, no, we don't want to bring up Josh Roas's numbers with runners in scoring position and two out. Michael. And you know why.

We don't want to bring that up. But come on. He has been very good for this team. And especially in this series, he was pretty incredible and incredulous with that, that throw that he made that hit his friend, Dalton Varsho. I don't know if they're friends anymore,

but we'll see how that develops. Yeah. Yeah, Todd Walsh with Ballet Sports did tweet the Dalton Vars show did not have a concussion and is already penciled into tomorrow's lineup. So from an injury standpoint, things are looking good there. But yes, he did say. That's good for Josh Rawaz. It is. It is.

Yes, more than anyone else. But yeah, and he also did say that Cotel Marte is day to day with that hamstring, which is really unfortunate. I, again, only heard this part on the radio broadcast. but any time you hear about Catelle Marte, you know, kind of dragging on the base paths or are stopping up short, you kind of know that it's that hamstring that's probably being re-agravated. And that's just really unfortunate. That's been sort of an ongoing issue for Cattel for a few years now. And the Diamondbacks really can, you know, they really need him in the lineup every day. So hopefully he's able to stay healthy and this is more of a short-term thing.

Today's win, Jesse, is the first series win by the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field since about this time in 2020. So in about two years, it's the first time. It was August 10th through the 12th, 2020. So it's been a long time since they had a series win in Colorado. I'm guessing. Yeah, they haven't played that well against the Rockies this year, which is I want to say they're, I want to say they're five and six against the Rockies now. I might be a game off with that. This is their second consecutive series win,

but yeah, I think you could be right about that or pretty close. But again, it shows that this team is definitely on, rolling in the right direction. They have 74 road home runs now, which is fourth most in the national league. So this team,

and they have a winning record at home at Chase Field, which again has been rare in the past. the last few years. They've been pretty bad at Chase Field. So they're a lot of positive. They're 10 and three. They're 10 and three since the All-Star break at home. They've been playing really,

really good baseball at Chase Field lately. Yeah. So, but still regardless, currently 27 games back in the division, Jesse. So whatever you want to say, it doesn't matter because the Dodgers just can't lose even though they finally did lose today. So that's a good thing.

Any time the rest of the division loses, it's a good thing for the Diamondbacks. Of course, our Draft King of the series brought to you by our friends at the Draft King's Sportsbook app. If you haven't done so already, download the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Use our code of PHNX. Download that app and use our code, and you will get risk-free bet up to $1,000.

And Jesse, my bets did not hit. My bets did not hit. As a matter of fact, I tracked this all weekend long and not one time did the overhit in the series against the Colorado Rockies. So I'm throwing my entire playbook out the window, basically is what I'm saying. at this point. But that's that see these are it's called half time adjustments right.

Yeah sure. I'm down 30. But I've been down 30 before. Clear the, clear the lane. I close deficits in a hurry. But again, go to the draft king sportsbook app. Use the code of pHNX. Make your first deposit and get a risk for you bet up to $1,000. That's promo code pHNX only at the draft king sports book. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. And yes, all of my future bets will be on Emmanuel Rivera based on how he played in the series going forward, because that's what this, that's what this podcast is now.

It's an Emmanuel Rivera podcast. I don't know. If you're joining us late and you missed that early on, we're changing all the, you know, this thing in the background, that's going to be different. We're going to get new logos and stuff,

but we get that works very soon. Our graphics department really hates us right now. Oh, because we're really scrapping. They're like, changing all of the branding. That doesn't make any sense. And we're like,

then's the rules. I don't know. But of course, also go to our, friends at foco.com, which are hooking you up with the finest in collectibles. Of course, they're hooking Jesse's dog up with, of course, only the best license, collars and clothing for his dog. But get down on the FOCO merch, of course. We are partnering with them, and they are a leader in sports merchandise and collectibles. They have you covered with the best

Arizona sports merchandise officially licensed gear for men, women, Jesse's dogs, kids, everything from bobbleheads to swimsuits to crocs. We've been talking about the bobblehead. heads. And there's the graphics team. They will not be changing the graphics. All graphic changes will be denied. But, you know, well, that's why we have deepening. We'll figure it out. Of course, head over to phoco.com or click the link below in the description. For all non-pre-sale items, use the promo code PHNX and you will get 10% off. And of course, if you have that bobblehead shaped hole in your heart, you can go to phoco.com and get that filled. By the way, we're going to talk about a little bit more on tomorrow's episode because somebody

asked what was going on with the bobbleheads and it is wild to find out jesse how many bobbleheads from the 2020 season are still just sitting around in storage areas at ballparks around the country just really millions jesse millions of bobbleheads are just in boxes in storage areas they have 2020 printed on them they have nothing that they can do with them i i'm sure that like i don't know if you've been to the back's like yard sale. I'm sure that's the kind of stuff at the fan fest that the diamondbacks typically have. They have a yard. Sometimes sell their like giveaway items for not very much, like five bucks or whatever.

It's the t-shirts and bobbleheads and such. And I'm sure that stuff will find its way over there or some sort of event like that. But very interesting. And we're going to talk about that tomorrow, how that I think factors in to why there were no bobbleheads for the Diamondbacks, but bobbleheads for some of the other teams around baseball, which I know seems very unfair. Trust me, I'm furious about it myself. So Chris Mountain says I got a voucher for my Merck bobblehead.

Is that Mercury? You need to clarify here. This is a baseball podcast, all right? That is. That is. I do believe that is Mercury. Yeah. Okay.

I just want to make sure, but I don't want to assume anything around here. And as most of you know, I'm not very smart. But, Jesse, there's good news. We talked about the Dodgers losing. Anything the bad that happens in the NLEST is good for us. And something very bad. Happen to the Padres with Fernando Tatech Jr. being suspended for 80 games. Yeah.

Want to speak on this or do we want to talk about his teammates speaking on this? Which way would you like to go first? Yeah. Dang. I mean, it's not normal in this sport to hear players kind of take shots at their teammates. Like it is very rare. Even in situations where you kind of feel like those teammates deserve it a little bit, most of the time in these sorts of situations, you know, teammates still speak pretty positively

about each other. And, you know, like they're going to make a mistake and move on. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, usually it's a pretty supportive kind of a mindset. But Derek the Padres have come out and like Mani Machado and Mike Clevenger hearing their reaction to the news about Tatis. It's basically like, hey, we haven't had this guy the whole year. Like he hasn't been here and we don't need him. And we don't need him. and we've gotten this far without him and we can go where we want to go without him. And that's sort of been the general mindset from the Padres players that have said, that have spoken on this so far. And I just found that mind-blowing.

I mean, there's some serious tension in that clubhouse. I know we saw some high-tension moments last season in the dugout from time to time. But it seems like a lot of that is still there. and it all seems to revolve around Fernando Tatis, and the guy seems relatively immature. I mean, that's just sort of the narrative that it's hard to, it's hard to argue your way out of that from some of the things that we've heard about this incident.

So it's an absolute disaster for the Padres. I mean, there's no getting around that. It's a disaster in pretty much every possible way you could imagine. The clutch Canucks said they didn't even sound disappointment. It was like fed up. motion says that Tatis contract isn't looking too good for them now. I mean, they absolutely,

I don't know if I can even say that. Like, have you guys looked at Tatis's career numbers lately? Like, when he is on the field, he is insane. Like, his production level is absolutely insane.

I mean, it's, 40 still on bases, it's 40 home runs. It's just like, like the guy needs to grow up a little bit. And that's sort of the, that's sort of the feel that I get from the Padres Clubhouse.

You can't question that Tatis is like one of the best players in the game. There's really, there's really no debating that at this point. His numbers speak for themselves, but he's just not staying on the field and he's not staying on the field for some pretty stupid reasons that are frustrating his teammates right now. Gabriel in the comment says it's hard not to be angry when he's breaking his wrist on a motorcycle, then to be suspended for the rest of the year and next part of the next. Yeah.

Absolutely right. Yeah. For those people that don't know, he was banned for Klostball. I think that's how you clost the ball, which is a, steroid. It's a testosterone and classified as a steroid. So again, it's a PED. There's a good chance that the reason why he was taking this was to recover from that injury. There's a chance that he might have thought that maybe, you know, maybe I don't know how long it stays in your system. I don't know what. Maybe he thought while he was out injured, he could bounce back from this. Typically, these kind of performance and performing, enhancing drugs are kind of a shortcut to come back from an injury for some guys. Not always the case because we know why anybody would want to get a competitive advantage. Here's the thing, though.

Fernando Tatis, his entire career, has tried to find ways to get a competitive advantage. One of the talking points prior to this was how he was one of these guys that got essentially like a loan from a company that finances you and then takes a percentage of your future. earnings after financing you as a low level baseball player to have certain, to have money so you can have a good life, you know, so you can have a car and you can have, you know, like what he said. What was Tatis's signing bonus again? Oh yeah.

No, I mean, it's ridiculous. But I, again, it's, uh, it's, it's just one of those things that who knows, you'll, you never know with a guy like that if the investment that he made him in himself. was the reason why he end up being the player that he is, the player you describe, the player that got the contract that he got, right? But the point I'm trying to make is, obviously, there is a pattern of him doing whatever

it takes to try to be at the best that he can be, right? So this is another case of that. And it's another case of kind of doing it foolishly without thinking of the impact, without thinking of how it's going to impact your team, how it's going to impact your timeout. they're it's just it's stupid and i can understand as teammates being a little fed up with them after those events have occurred and that that's what's kept you out of the game for this long and what's going to keep you out of the game going forward for for quite a while yeah yeah to be i did so tautis's signing bonus is seven hundred thousand dollars which as far as signing bonuses

go is actually i mean it's a lot of money but it's not a crazy amount of money so right getting sort of understand why he why he you know took out these these loans and like in invested in this company to give him some, you know, a better life on the front end to try to bet on his on his future in the long run. I could, I could sort of see that. But regardless, I mean, we've talked about it, right? There's, there's the difference of a minor league player that does get that signing bonus that then can afford those luxuries versus those that can't, right? And those that can't definitely can fall back behind because not only is it a matter of not getting proper nutrition because you can't even afford to eat good food.

You're kind of forced to kind of eat like junk food and shit based on the amount of money that you make. But there's also the things that set Tatisa Park, like being able to hire a personal trainer when you're at that level of baseball, which most other players aren't able to do or like a fit, you know, someone, a dietitian that teaches you how to eat right. Like he focused, when he was asked about it, he focused a lot on that, right? But some people can view that as predatory the way that these guys kind of take advantage of these ballplayers that don't make that much money that and they're trying to get them to commit a percentage of future earnings that they don't really think they're not thinking ahead about those future earnings or how much that percentage essentially could be going forward. But I don't know.

As far as as as scams go, this company's got it nailed. Right. Like I'm not even calling it. I shouldn't even call it a scam because there's lots of investment things like this out there. There's lots of loans. there's lots of stuff out there for people that can't afford, you know, to do the things that they want to do, whether it's buy a house or car or anything else, right? This is, once again, an investment in yourself as a commodity, you know, and I get it. Gabriel says, scouts and personnel have always raved about how fast Tatis would heal.

I'm yoreing you on that one. That's not how he'll spell. But maybe we know how he was able to now. Yeah. I'm sorry, like me, a guy that doesn't, that has terrible grammar, getting someone else. I need to nail someone else when I can, Jesse. I'm sorry. But of course, we're, this might impact the NL West. It's going to impact the NL West. I think that this is going to be just another one of those distracting factors for the Padres. But who knows? Maybe this galvanizes the guys that are on the team right now and brings them together. Hopefully that's not the case because the Diamondbacks have lots of games left on the schedule against against the Padres. But, right now all that matters is the all city division which the diamondbacks once again kind of got some space between the colorado rockies and uh we're catching up a little bit on those white socks that have been doing pretty good themselves but uh yep diamondbacks now have a winning

record versus all city teams going eight and seven uh and that 53 and 61 record looks pretty good right about now jesse yeah i mean it it looks a lot better than than you know 52 and 110 or like what it looked like a couple weeks ago. So we're definitely moving in the right direction. But yeah, I mean, they're five and a half games behind the White Sox. So, you know, it's a reasonable, reasonable gap. You can close a five and a half game gap in a month and a half. So who knows?

Are you suggesting that we are climbing up Mount 500? I guess so. I guess that's what I'm suggesting. Are we making that March? She's going to hate me for doing this, but I'm doing it. Well, it's not Catell, though. We probably needed Baxter on that one. But the Diamondbacks making that march up the hill, right?

So, of course, as we look ahead, the Diamondbacks do have a very difficult schedule. That's the good one. All right. There it is. I don't know how much they're going to get ahead because the schedule ahead, very tough for this team. Yeah. That's the end. It's the end of the nice, you know, not so hard part of the schedule.

But the Giants are beatable. The Giants are beatable and the Diamondbacks, I believe, are six and three against the Giants this season. And I also misspoke earlier. The Diamondbacks, I do think are 8 and 8 now against the Rockies on the season. This ESPN thing, I'm a little bit unsure of if it updated already or if it's going to update tonight. But I believe the Diamondbacks are 8 and 8 now against the Rockies. And yes, they have been six and three against the Giants on the season. So DeBacks have played them pretty tough this season.

Clutch Connect says the September schedule does deprive. press me as it does with me. But they wrap up this road trip with three more against the Giants. Then they welcome the Cardinals here at home at Chase Field next weekend. And our friend, Paul Goldschmidt, of course. And then they go back on the road against Kansas City Royals and the White So it's kind of a weird, like short, short home stand, short road trip again. And then back here for games against the Phillies. So a lot of traveling in the schedule ahead for the Diamondbacks. They sat on the. the tarmac apparently for game one, which they lost for seven hours.

And our friend Patrick Lyons attributed that win a bit to them sitting on the tarmac for seven hours. Jesse, have you ever sat on the tarmac for that long? I have sat on the tarmac for five hours. I have never sat on the tarmac for seven hours. But it was, it was brutal. It was when I was living in Seattle and I was actually flying to Phoenix. And when it snows in Seattle, everyone, nobody knows what to do. Like, it's basically, it's akin to like when it rains here, right? When it rains here. Yeah, yeah, something like that.

Yeah, there was some snow on the ground that day. And so my flight was on time. We all got to the airport on time. We boarded the airplane on time. And then we just sat in the airplane for five hours while they tried to like de-ice the wings, which apparently was quite an undertaking. But, yeah, seven hours is another level. That is, that is brutal stuff that the damage backs went through.

It's heartbreaking that when you need OGs the most, you can't have them. But again, our friend OGs try to get you through those tough times. And by the way, shout out, shout out to OGs because they love me, Jesse. They love me on Twitter. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just because I'm such a fan of theirs. It's a reciprocal relationship. But I love our friends at OGs.

I love them because their gummies are so good. They have the variety of flavors. And they're all about flavoring life. And they're about flavoring your life with our flavoring life. sweepstakes. I said flavoring life way too many times in that sentence, but I have no regrets about it at all. You can go to our website over at go p hnx.com. Enter right now at our flavoring life sweepstakes, and you will get your chance to win yourself some goodies. Not only are they going to give you a whole bunch of free gummies, they're going to give you three bags, just three bags of orange cream,

school, and tropical flavors. You're going to get this OG's hat, a pHNX shirt of your choice, and a pHNX annual membership. Sign up at go phnx.com or click the link below on our show notes. Check out OGs online at OGsbrands.com or on Instagram at OGs brands. That's OGEEZ and find them wherever you get your local edibles because they are the top selling edible here in the state of Arizona. Of course, you can find their products at your local dispensary must be 21 years or older to purchase. And also, I've been sitting here this whole time. Enjoying a hot knot IPA. It's going to get, the glare is going to get that one. But it's, of course, my favorite. Open shirt, Derek, not included in the OG sweepstakes. Thank you for that.

disclaimer. I'm kind of mad, Jesse Max didn't put that. That should be part of the disclaimer. No, you don't know. I do not come with the giveaway, nor does the lady that I don't know in that picture. But of course, you do get those three bags of OGs, so it's worth entering for sure, as well as that membership. And we're also giving you a membership on behalf of our friends at our favorite beer company in the world, Four Peaks Brewing Company. Go get down on Four Peaks. com become a member of our website, by the way, while you're there. And then while you're there also enter both of our sweepstakes, enter the toast of the month sweepstakes, where you will get a $50, $4Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice,

an annual membership, as well as our love and affection for being our toast of the month winner. Go to go phnx.com or click the link below in the show notes. Must be 21 years or older and enjoy responsibly. And I am joined this one very responsibly. Cheers to the Arizona Diamondbacks winning yet another series. And us, Jesse, getting to actually be here to enjoy a series win, which we don't get to very often. Chief Crazy Buffalo, which is an incredible game, says 26 games versus the four teams ahead of us for the last two wildcard spots.

So if we win most of those games, we are in good shape, just saying, crazyer things happen end of season. Emma, throw the comic book graphic back up there. Just saying, what if, what if, Jesse? What if the all new, all different deep acts made the playoffs? I'm just saying, whatever. All right, all right. So let's play along here. So the Diamondbacks, as of right now, are 10 games out of the wild card.

As of this moment, they're trailing the Philadelphia Phillies. They have two teams between them and the last wild card spot, those being the San Francisco Giants. There's a four game series coming up. That smells like opportunity. And then you've got the Milwaukee Brewers who are eight and a half games in front of the diamond backs. are sort of right on the brink right now.

There's not that many teams, Derek. Like after the Giants, there's only, I guess you would have to hop over two more teams after the San Francisco Giants. And you are 10 games behind one of those teams, eight and a half games, behind the other one of those teams. That's a lot of ground to make up in a month and a half.

I mean, that's, it's a lot of ground to make up. I got pretty heavy on this side, Jesse. You weighed me down. It's a lot of, it's a lot of ground. but yeah, I mean, it's cool that like we're even able to have this conversation, right? And the Diamondbacks come out in the second half and it played some really, really good baseball so far. And yeah, a lot of people have pointed out like, hey, they could win these series to close out August.

Like they could at least split all of these series. And they're right. Like the debacks schedule the rest of the way is one of the most difficult in baseball, if not the most difficult. But it's not like you're playing the Dodgers every time out, right? Like the Cardinals are a beatable team. The Phillies are a. beatable team. So the Diamondbacks still have a lot of opportunity here. And with how they've played over the last few weeks, you got to feel about as good about it as you could possibly

imagine at this point. Well said. And again, remember to check out Jesse's not only his wonderful articles, but that amazing video that not only did he contribute to, but so many people here at PHNX. Big shout out to Faj, Father Overlord Jacob and high school rock, aka Shauna Shauna Paz, for all of their help and all of their support with that. Also, big shout out to Dalton Varshow, Tyler Gilbert and Toro Lovolo for participating in our recap. Yeah. His perfect game is no hitter. It's not a perfect game.

He gave up a walk right away. What am I saying? It was the very first thing that happened. And you'd know that if you wouldn't watch that video. So make sure to check that out. Gabriel Ferrer in the comment says with Corbyn Carroll coming up in September. They might split a lot of September series. Who knows?

They also have a bit of a logjam there with Jake McCarthy playing so well, which is something we didn't really talk about today. but McCarthy was excellent in the outfield for the Diamondbacks defensively. And once again, gives them a lot of hard decisions. And let's be honest, I mean, you know, there's going to be some pieces that are going to probably end up being moved. So as long as guys keep playing well, there's a good chance of Diamondbacks could make some moves to, you know, maybe add some depth in some of these other areas that they don't have such a log jam in like they did the outfield. I think that's what brought us Emmanuel Rivera.

And I have heard lots of things from Royals fans that are pretty sad about, seeing him over here now become, you know, the subject of this podcast. And, you know, everything we live and breathe and die for is Emmanuel Rivera. But that's just, you know, I get that. We're usually on the other end of that. So again, we won that trade per me. I'm calling it. It's done.

We thank you guys so much for joining us. Make sure to check out that video and everything we do. We appreciate your support. We appreciate you being here. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman.

This show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, where you can find all of our ridiculous memes, thoughts, and excitement during games, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we thank you guys so much for joining us on behalf of Jesse and myself. We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're Emmanuel Rivera.