PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Arizona Diamondbacks STOP the Bleeding, END Six-Game Skid with Back-to-Back Wins Over Athletics

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

📬 Arizona sports in your inbox! https://gophnx.com/newsletterWe questioned if the Arizona Diamondbacks would ever win another baseball game again after their losing streak reached six games, but the Snakes woke up and took two out of three from the Athletics in Sacramento over the weekend. We have more on the series, Ketel Marte cutting his hair, and Tyler Locklear having a breakout game. Also, Jeff Wilson from DLLS Rangers stops by to discuss the Merrill Kelly trade and if the Rangers gave up too much for two months of the Mainstay.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Phoenix Raceway: Tickets, hospitality and upgrades are still available for the NASCAR Championship Series October 31st through November 2nd! Visit the link HERE to get yours now!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxAll Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, I wish I could say I lost my voice this weekend, screaming about Cattell's hair or the Diamondbacks, taking two out of three from the athletics. But instead, it's because my cat broke my favorite glass and I screamed at him. But we have so much to talk about today that I wish I had more of a voice. Don't you go anywhere. We're starting in 30 seconds. Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNXEbacks podcast. Right here on PHNX, I am occasionally known as your mayor of this joint. I also am occasionally known as someone that's way louder than this.

My name is Derek Montia. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Of course, got my guy Damon on the ones and twos. And this show is brought to you by our friends over at Bet365 and GameTime. Make sure to use that Bet365 app. Use our code of PHNX 365. When you sign up, we'll get yourself some bonus vets. You're following a few easy steps.

And then over at Game Time, make sure to use our code at PHNX. You'll get $20 off your first order. Great to have you guys here. It's great to see so many of you. already here. The Diamondbacks are in fact back, maybe. Maybe we're back. Maybe we're not. I'm ready to jump to all sorts of crazy conclusions. But they did turn their season around just a little bit because after losing six games in a row, the Diamondbacks managed to take two out of three from the athletics. We're going to talk about that series. But more importantly, we have a special guest here

today to talk about the trade between the Diamondbacks and the Rangers for Merrill Kelly. It's our guy, Jeff from over at Rangers DLS Rangers. Jeff, great to see you here, buddy. Thank you so much for joining us. And excuse my voice today. I'm going to try my best, but apparently when you get up in the morning at 6 o'clock because your cat broke a glass and you scream at him, you can do damage that you didn't think you would do to your voice. But thank you so much for being here. And how are things going over there for you guys at DLS and more importantly for the Rangers? Yeah, you know, we're approaching our one-year anniversary, so, you know, we're the new kids on the block and the All-City Network family, but we just finished our show talking about kind of a rough weekend in Seattle. They've all been rough weekends for about three years, four years up there.

Rangers can't figure it out, but they're still in contention. They supplemented their roster, thanks in large part to the Diamondbacks. and saw Merrill Kelly pitch for the second time in person in my life. The first time was Game 2 of the World Series, and he was fantastic. It wasn't quite as good Saturday, but still pretty effective. And again, the only game the Rangers won over the weekend. Well, that's what Merrill does for us. And again, it's not always sexy, but the results are good.

And of course, I do want to ask, what was your initial reaction to this trade when you saw it happen? like overall the Diamondbacks kind of got involved with the arms race there in the Hell West. They felt like they gave one team a knife and the other team a baseball bat and said, here, go at it. But what was your reaction to Kelly joining the squad? Yeah, the talk before the deadline was that the Rangers were just going to load up on bullpen arms. They really wanted a closer. And I'm telling you, you know, five days before the trade deadline, a club official I asked them specifically about a starting pitcher,

and they're like, well, you know, if it falls in our laps, but we're bullpen, bullpen, bullpen, and I think once Bednar went off, went off, all the closers were gone. And I think that they kind of did a sudden shift and really dived into the starting pitching market. I mean, there was only about two hours ago, so obviously they'd laid some groundwork.

But they shifted to Merrill Kelly. I suddenly got a tech. from a source, hey, Merrill Kelly, keep an eye on Merrill Kelly. And then all of a sudden, you know, Ken Rosenthal and all of the usual suspects tweeted it out too. So it was quick. It happened. And the Rangers are glad, you know, if they make the postseason, they're going to have

Jacob, Graham, Nathan Valde, and Merrill Kelly in a short series. That's going to be really hard to beat. Yeah, that's nuts. The trouble is they got to get there. And they think Carol can do that. They don't have any more games against the Mariners, but the Mariners added the, you know, Swares and Naylor from

Arizona. And so they've improved their lineup. The Astros think they did with Correa and what Sanchez from Miami. So there's an opportunity to, if you can't beat them late in the game, might as well beat them early in the game. And that's kind of what they hope Kelly is going to do for them. Now, as far as the return, man, I love Mitch Bratt, just as a guy. You know, he's a good pitcher, too.

Don't get me wrong. But I really, and Cole Drake's a good kid from our area. So you kind of hate to see them go from the personal relationship side. And really, from the pitching side. They're going to be major league pitchers. I can relate to that. As many people watching this show, no, I do form entirely two personal relationships with players that I just like as a person from time to time. And, you know, again, you're always surprised by the, I guess, the personality of some of these players.

And, yeah, sometimes that makes you like them even more than their performance on field. I guess what was the reaction from fans to in regards to this trade? Was the feeling like what was the feeling that Rangers gave up too much to get Merrill Kelly? Was it well received? How, what's the temperature there? Well, you know, you have, you have your fans who are pessimistic and are like, oh, they should have sold in the. they shouldn't have been buying and then it's like oh they gave up too much but you know realistically though this is this is the business of of baseball and at the deadline you almost

always overpay but i don't know if it's an overpay or not probably because kelly's a rental it might be a little bit of an overpay you know if he doesn't resign but you know we're you kind of look at it the big picture the rangers didn't give up it you know they gave up two fifth round picks and an 11th round pick. Now, Cole Drake was probably their top healthy pitching prospect. He'd just gotten to

AAA, been there about a month. Mitch Bratt, who's pitching really, really well in Frisco. So two left-handers at a time when really the Rangers, the top end of their systems, a little bit thin. So it hurts on that point.

And the Rangers gave up six pitchers in the three deals they made. So I mean, their, their farm system took a hit as far as pitching depth. Some of it, fortunately, was not the lower levels like Hageman or Hageman, sorry. But, but the totality of the moves for three rentals, I think, has got some fans upset. Sure. I think, I think that's the idea here is that, you know, Diamondbacks fans should be at least a bit happy about the fact that the return is controllable young players. And, you know how the minor league system.

is. You don't really know who's going to work out. Like you said, Cole Drake was highly ranked in a prospect in the Rangers system and wasn't even like a top, you know, pick overall or something to that sort, right? So it's like guys can move up in the system. They can, they can improve. Col Drake just made his debut for the Reno Aces on Saturday. He went five innings. Gave up three hits. One earned run. No walks and had four strikeouts. In Reno, that's like a, No hitter basically in Reno. So that's pretty incredible. But I mean, overall, it's interesting to hear you say that fans wanted them to sell. The Diamondbacks were in a much worse position than a lot of teams were, and a lot of fans here were upset that they did sell. Obviously, a big part of that is the fact that they traded away such high quality talent. The other part of it is the fact that so many of these guys were on expiring contracts. So the debacks were set to lose them anyway.

But teams that were in a much better position than the Diamondbacks suddenly became sellers in the trade market. Like you said, even though transactions happen fast, including a lot of those transactions for the closers and those high leverage relievers, it felt like suddenly things shifted for the Diamondbacks as far as teams being interested in guys like Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen. Yeah, I think ultimately the majority of Rangers fans did want them to buy. but there was a pretty good chunk out there who you know and maybe it was because they'd just seen the angel series where the Rangers lost two out of three I don't know but you know I always say that you could give Rangers fans a million dollars each and they're all and and somebody's going to be unhappy you know and that's just kind of the way it is with this group and I don't know if that's just Rangers fans my guy for sure because right right right you know what I mean but yeah no I mean you do have you do have some good things going on and again you are in the hunt, so I don't understand why you wouldn't want to continue to try to pursue that with the group that you have. Yeah, I mean, the first two months were pretty dreadful offensively, and it started to come around. The pitching's been fantastic, and, you know, the opportunity, I know DeGrom has struggled the last couple starts,

but the opportunity to watch him and Nathan Avaldi this year has been fantastic. Just as a baseball fan, a neutral observer, to see those guys do their work, it's something special. You know, that's what's kept the Rangers afloat. You're maybe starting to see some blemishes and some of the wear and tear catch up, you know, the dog days, if you will. And I think getting Kelly will help the Rangers manage their starters going forward. You know, DeGrom is still first year back from Tommy John, first full season. So they want to limit his innings.

They've tried to limit his innings all year. You have, you know, two rookies, Jack Leiter, who's in the rotation now, Kamar Rocker, who was. And they need to manage their workloads, too. They've never pitched in September. They've never pitched this month. And so there are a lot of ways to do it. And if Kelly can go deeper into games, that'll save somewhere and tear on the bullpen.

So it was, it hit a lot of, it checked a lot of boxes, the acquisition because it can do a lot for the group that's here now, just from a health standpoint. How does it impact the starting rotation overall? Does someone get sent down? Does someone get moved to the bullpen? How does Kelly factor in there? Yeah, they sent down Kamar Rocker, who, you know, super talented guy, everybody knows his college career. But, you know, this is his first year back from Tommy John. And, hey, if we're being honest, he was rushed to the major leagues.

The Rangers had some injuries in spring training. Sure. And he was their best option. And, you know, there are some just game things, game situations. Like early in the year, he didn't cover first base on. a on a play and then he you know didn't turn around and get the runner coming home from third so just some game awareness things that he's not quite there on it takes experience you know and yeah that's that's that's yeah that's something you don't see anymore these guys get the major league so

fast without playing a lot in the minors and experiencing things that you need to to experience and maybe that's me being 50 years old and you know yelling at the clouds and the kids to get off my law sure you know it's just a different thing but it's a little legitimate. You know, you see mistakes made that it's like, who's coaching these guys in the minors? Well, nobody, because they're not in the minors very long. Yeah. But so that was the, the biggest thing, the head to roll, I guess, with Carol. I keep calling him Carol. I'm trying to mix Marilyn and Kelly together. Into one. Yeah. So you can't have Carol. You can't have Corby and Carol. No, I don't think the dime guys would get rid of him. But, so that's the first one to fall. And, You may see at times a six-man rotation here if they get into a stretch of games where they want to give their starters a rest, you know, dropping Rocker for a spot start, something like that. But they feel really good about that and how we pitch Saturday. Yeah.

Well, and again, it's a matter with Merrill of him being very consistent. Just make sure that he gets plenty of water and stays out of cramping. I know that the air conditioning, Globe Life field is glorious compared to Chase. field. So just make sure he stays hydrated. He'll be good. He's definitely missed. But of course, one thing that a lot of Valley fans have been talking about has been the idea of maybe the Diamondbacks being able to bring him back in the off season due to his attachment to the valley and being a free agent. That's always an open possibility. But overall, I guess, you know, this is one of those situations where the Rangers kind of have to make the playoffs in order for

a trade like this to pay off for them all things considered and still we don't know what the prospects end up being long term either so it's kind of like you have to wait and see with all of this and I feel like fans just immediately want to react to the trade to know who won who lost well in this case there's no way to know until we see who makes the postseason and how these prospects end up played out well in you know in 23 the rangers traded for a role as chatman and they traded They traded Cole Regans, all right. Oh, yeah, that's right. So Cole last year, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of Rangers fans were like, we gave up, you know, Chapman for, we gave up Regans for Chapman.

It's like, you don't win the World Series without Chapman. What do you rather have? Would you rather have the World Series? Or would you rather have Cole Regans and still be one of what, three teams or four teams, whatever it is, who's never won a World Series? I think the answer to that was pretty obvious. It's part of baseball, man. And it's happened. It's happened.

I agree. And the Rangers aren't the only ones to get burned by it or, you know, see a young guy go and start kicking butt with somebody else. But that's ultimately what it is. And if the Rangers go the World Series and Merrill Kelly's front and center in them winning the World Series are getting there, the trades of success. That's the bottom one. The trade will be a success. Exactly. How much do you feel like Merrill's performance in the World Series kind of played into this as well, considering the Rangers?

had a chance to see him up close and personal in that big game you know huge series it was pretty interesting because he said when we finally got our hands on him after the the start saturday he said well i hope that you know they they might remember me from game two i was like they definitely remember you from game too you know we asked marcus simeon about about him and mark was like oh man he carved us up you know and and so it was it's definitely fresh on their minds uh Bruce Bochy talked about it too. I mean, he was masterful in that game. He gave up the one run, but one run, seven innings, nine strikeouts, no walks.

You know, the dueling fastballs and the change-up, those guys couldn't hit them. And if the series had gone back to game six, Carol was going to start that, or see, I did it again. You did it again. Kelly was going to start that game. So, I mean, there was some urgency for the Rangers to close out the series in game five. So it was, it was definitely on their way. minds when they acquired Kelly, the game two

of the World Series. Well, Merrill is probably one of the guys that was in the Diamond Back Starry rotation that had that clutch factor. It just felt like in a lot of big games and a lot of big moments, it's not to say other pitchers haven't had great performances, but Kelly kind of thrive for that.

And especially if he gives up a run or two in the first inning, he only gets angrier, he only gets better. And he's just that kind of guy. So you guys have a great guy on your hands over there make sure to take care of them and Jeff I appreciate you so much for stopping by to give us a little bit of insight on these prospects and hopefully this is a trade that works out for both sides yeah well if you have the opportunity to get bratt or drake on your show they're great guys

they they do it you might have to work a little harder to get answers out of out of cold than Mitch but and then another thing and maybe this has come up I know you're on your your ad break but Mitch Bratt, you know, if fans there remember the 2023 WBC in Phoenix, the USA team played Canada. And their poor starting pitcher really seemed overmatched and got a little emotional on the mound. It was Mitch Bratt. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. He was a 19-year-old Canadian.

And he's learned a lot from that. He will talk to you about it. It's a pretty interesting story. We're putting that one. We're writing that one down right away. We'll be sure to talk to him about that. But Jeff Wilson, appreciate you so much, man. Thank you so much for joining us.

You got it. Make sure to follow him on Twitter at Jeff, Jeff Wilson. Is it ATR? ATX. Jeff Wilson, TXR. TXR. I screwed it up. I got close there.

But hey, thank you again for joining me, man. We appreciate you guys so much. Anytime. Any time. All right, man. See it. All right. Anyway, so that's all we got right now from Jeff.

But hopefully, again, like I said, we get some more. on these guys and that information about Mitch Brad is definitely introducing, interesting to me. That is interesting. I think I was at the game. Yeah. I think I watched Mitch Bratball live in person. Wasn't that the one in Phoenix? Yeah, that's what he was saying was the WBC game at Chasefield.

I don't know how I feel about that. Part of me is like he's 19 and he was getting like opportunity to go up against some of the best baseball players in the world. That's pretty impressive. Yeah. But part of me is like, is that a bad omen? his one start at Chase in his life, disaster? I don't know. I don't like that.

You had to take it in a direction I didn't like, but you also know about the burial ground underneath Chasefield. So there's that whole thing. Well, yeah, that's an obvious given. Anyway, well, that's all we got right now, like I said from Jeff, but we will definitely have him on at a later time to discuss some more about the Texas Rangers. He is an absolute legend there covering that team. But we have more about the Diamondbacks and

there are a series against the athletics taking two out of three there in Sacktown. That's what the Sacramento still seems just such a weird place to describe baseball being played. But we're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the P.H. The next Diamondback show. Well, All Pro Shade Concepts is here to help us save ourselves from a week like this. This week is bad out there for heat. Very, very hot here in the valley.

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pro shade concepts.com right now to schedule your free estimate. Phoenix Raceway Championship weekend is coming up and again this was a great weekend they had the I think it was the Iowa Corn 450 is what they called it and it was a very short track very fun race. to watch. And again, just part of the playoff process to get to Phoenix, which is where the championship race takes place. If you've never experienced a NASCAR race, not only is this

a great time to do so, but it is the biggest race of the year. So, again, all this goes down at Phoenix Raceway, one of the best tracks in the NASCAR circuit. And after a grueling season that starts in February, something we know all too well here in baseball, it all comes down to this a weekend of pure

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That's actually the best way to grab tickets for the upcoming race at a Phoenix Raceway. There you go. Don't miss that. And always listen to Damon, for sure. D-Backs win the series this weekend over the athletics. First of all, I feel like I saw Killer X say something about calling me an obsessive X. And then yet here he is with yet another fire Lobolo tweet. I just wanted to point the hypocrisy out there.

But the D-back snapped their six-game losing streak with a win on Saturday over the athletics, then they followed it up by taking their first series and sweeping the Cardinals with a win on Sunday. And a big part of this is that Cotell Marte cut his hair. Again, that's the real reason why I wish I would have lost my voice screaming about this. I wish we had the video of it because after he showed off his hair, he proceeded to, like, show to the camera how much he, you know, how his hair was gone. This is hilarious for a number of reasons because not only did it give Catele Marte's superpowers in this game going two for four with a home run and two RBI in the wind that snapped the losing streak.

But this occurred right after MLB the show finally updated Cotell Marte's hair after two years of not having the right hair on Cotel Marte. And then he cut his hair shortly after that. He owns them. Yeah. What is it? San Diego Studios. Is that who makes it be the show? I guess this is just a big game for him.

Yeah, he's trolling them hard. But anyway, after going two for four with a home run, of course he sat out on Sunday. And I'm sure people would have been screaming about that, especially if the Diamondbacks would have lost that game. Cattell is sitting on Sunday. I have to say, doesn't make a lot of sense to me

because I feel like Marte has had a decent amount of time off recently that I don't know if he still needs his regularly scheduled. time off, but hey, it is what it is. And as long as the debacks can find a way to get out of this, you know, terrible one-for-nine stretch that they were on of losing games, I'm all for it. As somebody already is screaming about Tyler Locklear, he finally had a good game. After going 0-4-7 with a walk in his first two games as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Locklear went two-for-three with two runs and a walk in Sunday's win. So, hey, there you go. Gave himself a a nice little game. I do think it's crazy to immediately start judging a young player who has played for probably about what, like a week in Major League Baseball before this. This was essentially part of his becoming a major leaguer. This is his second stint.

So I think he'll be able to put things together. We saw some nice defensive plays by Locklear already. So let's take a look at the series numbers, though, overall presented by our friends at Desert Financial. Diamondbacks win this one, two games to three, or two out of three, is what I should say. They outscore the A's 14 to 11. Diamondbacks hit four home runs to the A's two. They were six for 24 with the runners in scoring position to the A's five for 28. And starting pitching ERA, awful for both teams, 5.40 for Diamondbacks. A lot of that is Anthony Discoffani's start because, to be fair, Eduardo Rodriguez and Zach Gallen, both. We're pretty solid, and there's two starts. Six innings for Zach with two runs allowed. Five innings for Eduardo with two runs allowed. So a lot of that is Anthony Discoffani's two and a third innings pitched and four earned runs.

Then Diamondbacks bullpen, believe it or not, once again, kind of held things together here. 2.13 relief pitching ERA for the Diamondbacks 3.07 for the A's. One more time. What was that DeVax relief pitching you are right, Derek? It was 2.13. Having trouble or reading. Yeah, that's pretty good, pretty good. What?

Five, or excuse me, three earned runs in 12 and two-thirds innings pitched. Also, I want to say it's the A's the same way I want to say it's the Pirates, but the A's a pretty good offensive team. Yeah, they have a good lineup and, you know, that part, that ballpark is a hitter-friendly ballpark to a T. Like, I mean, I think that you got to take the pitching performance this weekend and be pretty happy with it. For sure, for sure. But what I will say also is that the, this was important, right? We were just talking about Friday. Like, when is the losing streak going to end?

How bad is this team going to be? Offensively, they have been god awful over that 9, 10 game stretch where they lost so many games. So it's just nice to see them put together some offense. Again, the A's weakness definitely is pitching. So this was a good series for them to get their offense back on track. But 14 runs, much better than what was it, their seven runs scored total in 65 innings prior to that. So I don't know. But now they have the Padres coming up.

And that's going to be a tough series for the Diamondbacks. Not that I'm trying to get my hopes back up, Damon. But I feel like a series against the Padres is going to tell me far more than a series against the Athletic. especially considering, you know, the way that the Padres are playing and the way that they got some huge pieces there at the trade deadline. Yeah, if the D-BACs go in and are able to win this Padre series, I mean, that would be pretty huge. It really would be because the schedule gets a little bit more difficult now.

Diamondbacks played their worst baseball on their easiest part of the schedule. So things are going to be tough. I don't know that anyone's really expecting a good wild card push at this point, but we would love to see competitive baseball here. for the foreseeable future. And if they can start it off by beating the Padres, that would be huge. The talk was that Mike Hazen went into the clubhouse and delivered a speech to the team. And a lot of it was Hazen taking accountability for the Diamondbacks being in the position that they were in.

Did you walk in and say, listen, fellas, our bullpen stinks. And that's on me. Well, what I will say is that based on Alec Thomas's response to this speech by Mike Hayes, and it resonated. Blaze Alexander said it resonated with him. Not in those words. Blaze used much more excitable words because he's an excitable boy. But this team kind of got pumped up about it and not to ever agree with Rex in the chat.

Or some of you also that have been screaming for Tori LaBelle to be fired. It is a little, it is a little underwhelming and disappointing that a speech like this that motivated the team needed to come from Mike and wasn't giving wasn't given by by Tori right like so I don't know if it's just because tori lobello has already been doing that and that is falling on on deaf ears like some of you have suggested that he's lost the team or if the impact is just greater because it's Mike he hasn't coming in there and not necessarily screaming at them for being bad but asking them to you know give it their all give it they're all for their teammates give it they're all for the team itself you know and so

So yeah, I'm glad it worked. I'm glad that the Diamondbacks, you know, got motivated by this. And maybe this will be the thing that it takes to get them out of the funk that they were in offensively. But again, this is not something that should have needed to come from Mike Hazen, though I'm sure everybody appreciated that it did. You know, so let's take a look ahead, though, at the series with the Padres because they are a pretty good baseball team. They currently have a record of 62 and 50 this season with a plus 36. run differential. They are 7 and 3 in their last 10.

They do have a 3.95 ERA, which is good for 12th in Major League Baseball. But, man, especially with the addition of Mason Miller, they are now the best bullpen in baseball with a 3.03 ERA. OPS as a team, though, still not very good. They have a 700 OPS, which is 22nd in all baseball. And then their outs above average is 4, which is 12th, just below the Diamondbacks, which are currently listed at 11th. So again, a good team that's on a roll, a team that is set to kind of give the Dodgers

a run for their money in the division. But if the Diamondbacks have any hope, have any hope at all of making some sort of crazy postseason run that nobody saw coming, it has to start with beating the Padres. It has to start with the teams ahead of them. in the wild card and quite frankly that's the Padres that no one no one's but no one thinks it's going to happen nor should anybody get their hopes up that it does but if there's anything to any reason to watch this team for the rest of the season it's that exactly is that again

now that the pressure is completely off and now that they have nothing to lose who knows what this team can do more importantly though I think it is going to give guys like lock lear and other young players that probably wouldn't get Major League playing time this season, an opportunity to come up and hopefully work through some of those 0 for seven stretches like we saw Tyler have to start his career and kind of get to being productive here before the end of the season. So that when 2026 comes around, those nerves, that newness, that experience is there, you know, that the nerves are gone. The newness of it is gone. So again, this is a great chance, though, for the Diamondbacks to prove that they are not going. away that they're not just going to be a team that slides off the standings and we have to put a little infinity mark next to their division and wildcard hope.

So let's hope that doesn't happen. Let's take a look at the probable pitchers for this upcoming series with the Padres. Diamondbacks do have Brandon Fott going in game one against J.P. Sears, who is 7 and 9 this year with a 4.95 ERA. He has 95 strikeouts on the year. We have U. Darvish once again going against Diamondbacks against Ryan Nelson. Nelson, again, really good this year, 3.20 ERA. Got to win that one.

Got to win that one. That's the one that they have to win. And then in the finale, oh, I hate that this is, I hate this. I hate Nick Povetta was so good. Nick Povetta was so good in his last outing. It's disgusting. And Anthony Discoffani had his worst outing of the year the last time he started. So what a disaster that one's set up to be.

Nick Povetta 11 and 3 this season with a 2.73 ERA. Fantastic. Do you ever think about how like other teams and forgive me if Nick Povetta was like some big time, you know, type of up and coming guy? But like you ever just are like how come we don't have just someone that comes out of nowhere and it's just an absolute stud pitcher? Yeah. Like what? Yeah. Nick Povetta.

Like like the MIS. for the brewers who is now on the injured list with like a shin bruise or something like that. Speaking of pictures being hurt, L.O.L. Hunter Cranton, acquired from Seattle for third baseman, E. Hueneos-Wares, has been placed on the seven-day I-L by the Amarillo Sod Poodles. The curse is real, Damon. It's real, and it's, I'm telling you, the best description is like its final destination running through this franchise. But speaking of things that are also kind of a disaster, the Speedway Classic was played this weekend on both days, despite the fact that it was supposed to only be played on one day. And it was both good and bad. I saw a lot of feedback from people there, and they were not having a good time, especially on Saturday when it was rained out.

And they just waited and waited and waited. That one was a bit wild. They ran out of food, Damon. They started at one point serving bunless hot dogs and nachos without cheese. Notchos without cheese aren't nachos. Those are just chips now. That's what happens. We call those tortilla chips.

Yes, that's what that is. They're probably not very good tortilla chips either. Some on social media described it as MLB's version of Firefest, which I can very much understand. SummerSlam just happened this weekend. It's not the reason why I lost my voice either, though that would be way cooler than yelling at my cat. But we got trapped at SummerSlam when the payment system went down in San Diego and in Las Vegas at two different facilities.

And we kind of had our own Fire Fest moment then, too. But eventually the game was finally postponed at like, what, 11 o'clock, 1030, 11 o'clock at Eastern time. And then because the rain wouldn't stop. They tried. They started the game. It was ridiculous. The minute they started the game, it just started pouring even harder than it did before. So eventually the game was postponed and then it finished up on Sunday.

The results were positive for us because the Reds lost and we needed them to lose. So that was good. But I also don't ever want to hear about Major League Baseball not having money ever again, ever again. I don't want to hear about it because this was an insane event and the amount of money it took to put on was totally not worth the trouble and the delay and everything that it ended up happening. So that's just that's my hot take on that. It was still a cool event though, Damon.

On Sunday when it took place without the rain and everything, I thought it was fun, including having Red Zilla drive around the track. That was cool. But some people did say that the distance between like the seats and the game because of the track was pretty damn far. I can imagine. I do think it's cool. Like there's no baseball team in Tennessee. And so they kind of split the two teams in the middle and said, hey, I'm sure that most people are. our fans of either one of these teams come to the game.

Like, I love the whole concept of it. Probably some stuff that needs to be ironed out. But I'd like to see them do more stuff like this. I still like your aircraft carrier idea. I don't know. The biggest aircraft carrier ever. Yes. Anyway, well, we're going to take a quick break.

And on the other side of this break, you know what we do on Monday. It is Monday. And we do that thing that we do every Monday. So don't you go anywhere? Stick around. We'll be back shortly. You're watching the P.H. Next time in Beck Show.

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Well, Damon, you know what day it is and you know what time it is, and you know how even on a year like this that looks so bleak, it's still our year. It's still the year of the snake on this program. It's still Black History Month every month on this program. Every month on this show is also Women's History Month, and every month on this show, Damon, also Black Women's History Month. Every single week on this show, regardless of wins or losses is Shark Week. and every single day is Earth Day because we recycle.

But on Mondays, we go to the mailbag, no matter how bad my voice is. Damon, let's go to the mailbag. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then what's a mix we go, wow, wow, my mail box. You doing all right? No, I'm not. I'm not doing okay.

But hopefully the audio listeners, they're the ones that are really going to struggle with this. I wouldn't want to listen to me. I feel bad for those people. appreciate them. I appreciate them more than any, especially than you, than you, but what do you got? You with the good voice. Why don't you read some of these questions? I will read some of these questions. We got Benji to start us off here on Milback says, as someone living through their first big deadline sellout as a baseball fan, is this how we cope? Can I learn to love again now that Nailer and Kelly are gone? Yes. This is definitely how we cope. I will say that it, again, it's

interesting to be talking to Jeff about the Rangers fan base and the Rangers at one point were tied for the final wildcard spot in the Yale. So they wanted their team to sell because even though there's a possibility of making the playoffs, they still don't feel that that team is good enough to compete, which is crazy because the playoff structure for Major League Baseball is enough that 12 teams get in. There is a, there is a, there is a lot. opportunity for anybody that gets into the playoffs to go on a crazy run and make something happen. Trust me, we saw it with our own eyes in 2023. So what I will say, though, is that it sucks that this happened.

Sometimes you just have to realize that it's what needed to happen. There are times with other franchises, with other teams where they did let key free agents walk. They don't make the playoffs. They don't get anything back for them. and in the end that ends up being actually more of a disaster than trading guys away. This just sucks for us. This sucks for fans. This sucks for people that watch every single baseball team that this team plays, game that this team plays.

And, you know, again, this is more about realizing that the controllable young pieces that they got in return have the potential to be far more valuable than the pieces that they traded away. Plus, there's a good chance that the diamondbacks have no clue that, or no chance of signing any of these guys to new contracts. So they could have walked at the end of the year for nothing. And that's the best way that you can cope with these kind of decisions being made. There's never going to be a time, though, that trading away a guy like Gino for prospects is really going to make sense. So it's just, it takes time for that to all come together. And five years from now, we can look back and say this was a bad trade or a good trade. but no way to tell for the immediate future.

What else we got, Damon? Next question here comes from Wildcat Brian. Shout out Brian, a fan of the Easy Wildcats podcast as well. My guy says it's a long shot, boys, but what if the debacks got hot swept the Padres? I would start saying some crazy things on this podcast. I just want Burgundy that right now. Yeah. Don't put any nasty bad words in the mailbag message or else.

Damon's probably going to read it live on air. Yeah, Damon's going to get fired up and say it regardless. But yeah, no, I think that if the Diamondbacks sweep the Padres, there's going to be insane expectations again. And I mean, if they do, it's hard not to get excited about this team, right? I mean, not only do they have the potential to beat anybody if they can beat a team like the Padres, but it significantly improves their standings in the wildcard. race. So based on what other what happens with other teams, perhaps if a move like that would be

enough for the Diamondbacks to pass, you know, one or two other teams that are currently in the wildcard race, then yeah, maybe, maybe that's something that that will get us excited. I mean, there's no maybe about it. If the Diamondbacks sweep the Padres, I'm going to start saying insane things on the show afterwards. It's going to be what, basically later this week, and I'm going to say probably a lot to regret. But I think for good reason, because if they can beat the Padres, then maybe this team can put together a very, very magical run that will make a lot of us believe they could make the playoffs. And then they'll fall two games short once again. What else we got, Damon?

That question made me sad for some reason, but not the question. I feel like I made myself sad with the answer. We're winning this Padre series. We're sweeping them, and I'm going to lead the charge after we're working. Yeah, I mean. We're making playoffs, baby. You're, you aren't going to be able to be talked to. Like, the, the things that are going to fly out of your mouth if they sweep the Padres is, is probably going to bypass anything that I could ever come up with.

The masculine urge to say we're back right after saying it's over there. He's tightening his tie while he's doing that too, for sure. All right. What else we got? Next question is from Travis Moore in the three hole today for Travis Moore. Hey, sometimes you need somebody to step up and show a little more power. We need some RBI production for sure. Exactly.

Says who's trying out right now for next season starting rotation? Let's assume gallon leaves in a free agency and Kelly doesn't come back. That last one hurt to type. Yeah, that hurts to read. Well, that's a great question. I will say that there were a couple of guys that I kind of had in my mind. I think Bryce Jarvis is the first name that comes to mind as far as pitchers that would be actually trying out. A lot of the guys that would be candidates are.

Done. Blake Walsden. Tommy Henry. These are guys that have had Tommy, John surgery, and won't be back to start next year. It'll be fought Ryan and Erod, for sure. Those three are locks, right? Unless there's an injury, knock on wood, God forbid. But those are the three players, I think, are no doubt going to be in your rotation. Without a question. Then it's probably free agent slash if Zach resigns on his qualifying offer slash if mayor. comes back. Right. That's,

you're probably filling out the last two with a combo of, of probably, you're probably bringing in two starters in free agency, in my opinion, at the start of your roster,

like to be on the opening day roster, and then you'll use like those wallston. I know you had a, he had a injury like you said, but like the guys that are in your minor league system will kind of be the depth pieces. Well, there's a couple of guys that I think about in,

in the minor league system. I think we'll still see you men, Lynn, before the end of the year, he could essentially be trying out for a role. Yeah, that's a guy like that, exactly. You know what I mean? You'll probably be depth call up at some point in the season when there's an injury and you need him to start a game.

And then it's just on him to prove himself. Right, right. And again, it's really about how some of these other, like the door is wide open for a Dylan Ray or a Spencer Geisting or some of these other guys to kind of step up, to be honest and fill out some of these roles, both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen. And some of them have been pitching pretty well for AAA Reno. And again, I think that the Diamondbacks are willing to give anybody a shot.

But I don't want it. I don't want it to happen at the cost of their development, especially considering, you know, the Diamondbacks aren't in a position to win, right? They're not in a great position right now to try to be making the postseason. But they are in a great position right now to give guys that are ready an opportunity to come up and see what they can do at a major league level. And so far, this team, you know, at least with pitching, has done a pretty good job of giving young pitchers a decent landing at a major league level and having them see success early on. But again, that's a case-by-case kind of basis. What else we got, Damon? Next question.

Give me one second here. I don't believe I got this one ready. Next question here comes from Cole Hunt. And Cole says, I'm happy to see this team find their back. again, what do you think the debacks do with English now that we have Locklear, off-season trade candidate? Perhaps. I mean, Tristan English has been a guy that's kind of toiled away in the Diamondback system quite a bit, and this doesn't work out great for him. You know what I mean? Like, this isn't a great thing for Tristan English. But I will say, especially based on my love of pro wrestling, that competition brings out the best in guys.

And the Diamondbacks right now, at least for the foreseeable future, aren't in a position. to trade away a first baseman that is going back to AAA that's going to be their depths until they have something else figured out. Should they go out and pick up a free agent first baseman in the offseason, then there's a good chance that maybe Tristan English does become somebody that the dimebacks don't feel the need to have as part of their team any longer and possibly look to trade him away. I do feel like Tyler Locklear, for the foreseeable future, is going to be ahead of him. And, you know, again, that just pushes him back that much further. I really did think that this was going to be a chance for English to, you know, to get that opportunity at a major league level. And Sean says English is what, 27, not much trade value.

I don't know if he's that old, but he is an older minor league player for sure. So that is one of the reasons why I thought that this opportunity for him would be his best chance to possibly win some playing time. And if it didn't work out, then it could be. He's 28, in fact. So, yeah. Chances are, you might be right. Maybe not much trade value there. Maybe it's part of the package, potentially.

They could see some return. But to me, he's just a depth piece in the organization. Yeah, that's what I see as well. And not to, you know, disrespect him. I'm not rooting against him at all. I just feel like Tyler Lockler's ceiling is a lot higher. And, you know, a 28-year-old who has been kind of in AAA for most of his time here. is to me that's a guy who's kind of just a really good minor league baseball player yeah and i i mean

i hate calling people four a players and all that kind of crap um but jake McCarthy he's had a couple good at major league seasons yeah i mean i mean let's let's put some respect on jake's name he just seemingly gets called down every single once a year at well he's he's he's a four a MVP is what jake McCarthy is when he goes down to triple yeah he hits 400 and mash his 90 home runs is what he does at a minor league level. All right. I've already accepted

Paven Smith is a part of this roster whether I like it or not. That's Mike Hayeson's son. He loves him like family. We know because me and Damon go to the barbecues. Remember? Yeah, 100%. Well, Tori told us that his family dinner on Sunday.

We're not supposed to tell people that we go to that. Well, it was like a special birthday one yesterday. It was actually really nice of Tori's wife to do that. You act like we don't go to the other ones. on, Damon. Yeah, but it just like, remember they made me like, they made me my favorite. They did. They did make you specifically. That was weird to like make something for everyone, but then make Damon his own special plate. It was wild. But what else we got? Next question here comes from basketball and football guy. And he asks, so roughly speaking, the Diamondbacks would probably need 90 wins to make the playoffs, which means they would need to go 37 and 13 the rest of the way. Is that even realistically possible? No, it's not. It's not, but it also doesn't necessarily mean with their schedule ahead of them that they need to win that many games. What they honestly need to do is win games against the Padres. That's what they need to do.

They have a three-game set against the Padres as their next series. Then they play the Dodgers again to end the month. Then shortly after that, let's see, what do they end the season? They end the season against the Padres. So they have six games still left against the Padres. is that that's kind of what you have to do like yes you have to win the games in between uh you have a touch tough matchups with the brewers coming up that have been the best team in baseball lately like i said you have another matchup with the rangers where we're most likely going to have to

uh play against merrill kelly that's terrible double agent maybe maybe maybe maybe he gives up six home runs in that game shot says we play the reds as well we do so yeah what's what's going on with The Marlins. I know we're derailing a slight bit here, but have you, have you noticed what they're up to? Yeah, they're unstoppable. They're unbelievable. Ever since they played us. We save the Marlins franchise. Well, we also turn the tiger season around too. So we're doing a lot of good for baseball. That wasn't even like a franchise saving thing. That was just strictly like the tigers are back. Yeah, yeah. That was like their offense needs. They have a plenty. They have, they have a great lead in their division. The Marlins might be a team of destiny. I like. Thanks to the diamond back there.

I think I heard this weekend, and someone in the chat, if I heard this incorrectly, correct me, but I think I heard that the Marlins swept the Yankees for the first time since the 2003 World Series when they swept them. They did. They did. Isn't that the craziest thing you've ever heard? It is crazy. O3 was the last time you swept them and it was in the World Series. You know how many years it's been since then, Derek? Like 22.

How do you not sweep them once in that time period? Yeah, no, absolutely. And the Marlins did dockwalk the debacks. Marlins sweep against New York Yankees was great to see. And it's, was that the game where they scored like a bunch in the ninth inning and scored on a one foot walk off? Yeah, that was the Marlins. Yeah, that was Friday's game. Just swag slide into home plate.

I mean, they are a team that is playing like the Diamondback should be playing. They have nothing to lose. They have no expectations. In fact, most people can't name three players on their. and their starting lineup, and they don't give a crap about that. They are out there. They are beating anybody that they play, and they're playing fearless. You know what I mean?

They're playing like, yeah, you don't know who we are. And that's kind of a good thing in baseball because when you don't know who guys are, you can't really prepare well for them. You don't have a great idea, but it's young guys stepping up and taking advantage of the opportunity. Even if they don't make the playoffs, this has been a fun year for the Marlins. and you can't help but be excited about the future of that team. That would be great to see the Diamondbacks play like that right now. It would be great to see guys like Blaze Alexander and Adrian Del Castillo and Tyler Locklear turned things around and suddenly start being the guys that lead this team a bit or at least contribute more often.

Alec Thomas since the All-Star break has been outstanding. This series, he was really good. Right. I mean, I can't say enough about how good Alex Thomas is. Get Alec Thomas in a PCL. ballpark all of a sudden. See, I'm surprised more guys didn't rake overall. You know what I mean?

Like they're they're PCL guys. They're PCL guys. I will say the, you know, just to correct myself a little bit on this Marlin stuff, they didn't sweep them in 03 as Sean put in the chat. They won in six games. They had never swept the Yankees before in franchise history until this last series. They're now 25 and 24 against the Yankees all time. And I believe that someone up here.

put it, yeah, Yoshi said they're the only team of the 29 other teams with a winning record against the Yankees. Mel Flores just showed up. Thank you, Mel. Mel says, I just got here. Sorry, traffic was heck. Why does Derek sound like that? Wait till you find out. Do I give a fake story at this point?

No. Do I say it's because. It sounds fake. Oh, my God. I couldn't believe the swerve at the end of night one of SummerSlam. All my friends were there and we just lost our minds. Or I could say I was screve. at the top of my lungs about Cattel's hair and him shaving it off.

But no, it's because I woke up at 6 a.m. to the sound of shattering glass, and it wasn't stone cold Steve Austin entering my house to beat my ass. It was my cat who knocked my favorite glass off the counter and broke it into a million pieces. And my reaction was to scream at it. Now, Damon has seen video of me screaming at my dog before, including a funny video of me kicking him out of my house. because, you know, he was trying to get bad with me, and I had to let him know. On the front door in case anyone was wondering. I was watching it on the ring camera.

Yeah. But yeah, that's why I screamed up my cat and I was still half asleep and I did bad things to my voice. So apologize for that. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. Damon, we got any more questions in the mailbag? I think we got a couple more. We got a couple more questions here. Next one comes from A to Z Sports says if they go 31 and 19 in their last 50 games with the record they have, can they make the playoffs?

Offs another team or three would have to collapse. Can you see this team making any noise that the guys they let go of? What's the starting rotation? Well, I hate the starting rotation right now. I really wish that they would give someone like Bryce Jarvis a chance over Anthony Disclfani. I think that that definitely impacts things and it makes it that much harder for the team to win every five days. But I do think there's a chance because it's baseball and some things in baseball don't make any sense. This would be one of them for sure.

But you are right. It would involve other teams collapsing. Luckily, some of the other teams that are above them kind of wave the white flag on the season with what they did at the trade deadline. So the diamondbacks could definitely be put in that category. However, if they can put some things together here and maybe have somebody like Bryce Jarvis step up and give them at least an opportunity to win every five days there in the fifth starter spot with Gallen and and Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon fought and Ryan Nelson, then yeah, I just think it's asking a lot to expect them to go out there and be more than a 500 team after that's what we've seen them be all year long.

And at points of season, they obviously had way more weapons than what they currently have. So it's hard for me to envision, but I do think that it's not like it's completely impossible. All right. What else do we have? Got one more? Yeah, last question here comes from Cole Hunt. And Cole says, I'm happy to see this. Oh, we answered this one already.

Oh, we didn't? No, okay. Oh, maybe we didn't. I'm sorry. No, we did. We did. Okay. Let me see if I made a mistake here.

Try to find if we have another question or if that was just what we ended. Oh, no, you're good. But I, you know what? We'll just wrap it there because I do know. Last question here from Russell. I'll just read it off. Sure. First of all, our future is bright because everyone we got in trades and other prospects,

we have will hopefully be called up when Corbyn Burns and other major pitchers come back next year or the year after. Second, are we back? Third, what will our record be by the end of the year? I wouldn't be surprised to see the Diamondbacks end up winning enough games to be a couple of games over 500, right? But that's like the most I can envision. And with how competitive baseball is and with the teams right now that are not only competing for a wild card spot like the Padres, but also still in the hunt for their own division, I it's hard for me not to say that as people alluded to with their questions that they you know nine that they that it's going to take 90 games to get in the playoffs I don't think the diamondbacks are going to win 90 games but I do think they could put a run together to win to have a winning season it's just I think I think ultimately it'll fall short unfortunately but we might be back we'll see this the series against Padres is again the next biggest thing

in the Diamondbacks season. It's always the next game. It's always the next opponent. But this one's bigger than most because not only does it save volumes about this team if they do have a good showing against the Padres, but it drastically could improve where they are at in the wild card standings afterwards. So let's hope that that's what we see. I'm going to head over to Chase Field and get some more from the clubhouse and Tori's pregame.

So make sure to keep it locked to Ph.NX underscore D-Backs on Twitter for that. You can follow me at cap underscore K-Ban with a K. Damon, of course, is at Damon. Excuse me, Damon Dog. That's with a DAWG at the end. We are all Damon's dogs. I don't know how I could forget that, even with a terrible voice. Bark, bark.

Our show is at PHNX underscore Dback, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We will see you tomorrow with another post game show. And until then, behave yourselves and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't lose your voice screaming at your cat.