PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Back-to-back jacks from Evan Longoria and Corbin Carroll lift the D-backs to a win over the Dodgers

Episode Date: April 8, 2023

Madison Bumgarner struggled once again, but the Diamondbacks came back with a pair of home runs by Evan Longoria and Corbin Carroll to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3. We discuss how much longer Bumgarner will stay in the rotation and a Diamondbacks bullpen that continues to be a pleasant surprise.WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS HERE: www.fubotv.com/phnxSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX (https://mediaserver.betmgmpartners.com/renderBanner.do?zoneId=1693757). Place a pre-game, moneyline wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price. You will receive $200 in Bonus Bets instantly regardless of the outcome of your wager! Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up!Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, DC, IL, IN, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA)21+ to wager. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS, NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI). Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in DC, Nevada, New York or Ontario.PHNX: Become a Diehard today! Check out https://phnxlocker.com/ to grab your membership to receive exclusive content, discounts on all events and merch, and access to our Discord chats. Circle K: Make sure you’re not missing out on all this great stuff, and be stocked all March Madness long! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Rotowire: Get your free trial and unlock all the best fantasy sports news and analysis at https://rotowire.com/phnxFour Peaks: Join us for our NFL Draft Day Live Party at Four Peaks’ 8th St. Pub. Register for free to receive drink specials: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phnx-cardinals-nfl-draft-party-tickets-610031329127Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. 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. 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.

Let's fucking go! Those fireworks are popping right across the street right now. We can still hear them going off, and we are excited that the Arizona Diamondbacks once again beat L.A., Jesse. They beat L.A. Third time this season, it feels good to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers this frequently, even if they have to play them

eight times to do so. Welcome on into the PHNXD Bax podcast. I am your mayor of this joint, occasionally known as Derek Montia. He's my vice mayor and your thunder stick, Jesse Friedman. Derek, that was a game. That was a game. It would be,

I think fans would appreciate it if the Diamondbacks would just like play a game that was a little bit more relaxing and uneventful. Why would you want that? Why would you want that? A late game comeback. Literally every single Diamondbacks win so far, all four of their wins have been comeback. late in the game, all four of them.

They're like the most exciting episodes of The Last of Us. You know what I mean? Like I need this drama in my life. I might not be able to take it for a full 162 game season, but I need it. I love it. And it's exciting. Of course, we are very excited to have you guys all here for so many of you guys that have already commented.

Welcome on in. And of course, we still don't know how the Diamondbacks win baseball games. Like, they seem to snatch the victory out of the jaws of defeat quite often, right? But this just seems to be like today's game between Madison Bumgarteners kind of slow start a little bit. But he did get things back on track at times. And a continued lack of offense, it really didn't look like things were going in the Diamondbacks direction early on. However, it didn't take long for Cattel to show what he could do. We saw Catell at batting practice and Cotell very dialed in. And of course, he got that lead off.

double and eventually scored. So it felt this one, this one, even though it did feel hopeless with Madison Bumgarner on the mound. It just had a different kind of vibe to it the whole time. Diamondbacks were able to have some big offensive outputs and really put this game. I don't know. Why are we talking about Ketel, Derek? He was one for four.

He was like the player at least to be highlighted in this game offensively because Evan Longoria reached in all four of his played appearances. He's the greatest baseball player to ever play the game. Apparently, I mean, what's crazy is that Evan Longoria is, I mean, he's not the greatest player to ever play the game. But Evan Longoria has had a pretty darn good career. Side note. But yeah, I mean, Longoria reached all four times in this game. Corbyn Carroll, of course, had the big go-ahead home run before Longoria could even get to the dugout after tying the game with a solo shot against Clayton Kershaw.

Corbyn Carroll, the first pitch he sees against Clayton Kershaw in the sixth inning, I believe it was. Lefty on lefty match. A pretty tough situation for Corbyn Carroll. He's hung in there against lefties during the season. I've been pretty impressed with some of those at bats. And today had a couple of hits against Kershaw, including that big solo home run that put the devax in front. I mean, the reason why I did talk about Ketel, obviously,

is because Ketel has been one of the guys that has struggled. It was a good start. And Madison Bumgarner, though, even with the good start, the Dodgers were able to answer back immediately. Madison Bumgardner just once again kind of look like he was going to have another one of those outies. He had six walks, Derek. He had six walks. He had six walks.

Three runs, technically only two earned runs. So in some ways. The pass ball by Gabby Moreno. Yeah, the pass ball by Gabby Moreno, I think, was the cause of that. But yeah, I mean, you got to give Bumgarner some credit for hanging in there and not letting some of these innings balloon on him. And he did get an assist from Jay Jameson in that fifth inning with the basis. loaded in two outs. Jameson once again had a very, very strong outing out of the bullpen for the debacks. And when it comes to the mound, that's really the story in this game is that the Diamondbacks

bullpen is good? Has been outstanding? What? Is that right? What is this mean? Of course, you know, we have the Scott McGuff, uh, blown ninth inning situation against the Padres. And I think that based on how we how, how, what we all went through last season, that immediately sticks out in your mind. as the bullpen performance kind of from this season. But the reason why is because the bullpen has quietly not really been the problem. Even in the losses, the bullpen gave the Diamondbacks an opportunity to stick in the game and come back. Starting pitching has been very bad for this team, but the bullpen has not. And Dre Jameson was very, very good today.

Yeah. I think Tori Lovolo has finally has that guy. And of course, the big concern here is to not want to go to Dre Jameson too often. overwork him because it feels like that's a very tempting thing that Tori Lavello might be wanting to do at times based on how good Jameson has been out of the pen but uh two and a third no hits no runs one walk one strikeout i mean it was really good it was really good and and i got to say the other thing that came out of this game for me is jameson's a reliever i'm just going to say it if the debacks want to make jay jameson a starter it's kind of a weird path to do so at this point

And he threw 38 pitches in his last game on Tuesday. He threw 26 pitches in this game on two days' rest. Things are not trending in the direction of stretching out, Dre Jameson. They're trending in the direction of kind of shrinking down his innings and making him available more frequently. And you can understand why. I mean, Jerry Jameson, if the Diamondbacks don't bring him in to that fifth inning

to get Mad Bum out of trouble and get those two key innings after that, this game looks different, right? Miguel Castro has been really good. your chafin's been really good. I don't know if the debacks have, you know, two other relievers that they necessarily feel comfortable with late in games. Drey Jameson, in almost all of the debacks wins, Jay Jameson has pitched in three of the four games that the Diamondbacks have won.

He's been vital. And he's been absolutely vital in all of them because the debacks don't have, you know, three, four, five arms that you really feel good about in these close games. He's been there to bridge the gap. And he's been really, really darn good doing it to the point that I don't know if the Diamondbacks could find a way to win some of these games if he wasn't in their bullpen. And I mean, even though that might be a problem, that might be not the worst problem to have. Dre Jameson, we talked to him.

He's very accepting of this role. He still seems like we said on yesterday's episode a bit confused about how he's going to be utilized because I feel like they still don't know. You can't blame him for that. No, they don't know. Like if they don't know, how can he know how he's going to be utilized, right? I just think that he is a very consistent, gives them length, gives them a two plus guy, which they don't really have in a lot of the other guys in the pen.

Another stellar managerial move, in my opinion, was Miguel Castro coming back out after coming in the eighth to get Mooky in the ninth. And that was something that we wondered if we would see that out of tour with certain guys. We didn't know about Miguel Castro, maybe his ability to come back to the dugout, sit down, and then go back out and work on the mound, right? Yeah, he looked great in that role. And it lined up perfectly for Tori Lavello, you know, have Castro stay in to get the righty and mooky bets.

And then you bring in Andrew Chafin for Freddie Freeman. You got Max Muncie, another left-handed hitters, a couple batters after that. Things really lined up pretty well. Andrew Chafin's slider is so filthy. It really is. I mean, it was good. It was good back in the day. But Andrew Chafin, my goodness, that slider is just an incredible pitch.

Last year, opposing hitters hit like 150 or something off of Andrew Chafin Slider. And we've seen that just continue to be an outstanding pitch for him this year. And yeah, the offense, Derek, like the offense kind of woke up a little bit, right? It was a little slow early on against Clayton Kershaw as it tends to be against the guy who's that good. But they've been good about going, like getting to the bullpen and doing damage against the bullpen when that starter has been dominant against them. unfortunately they've kind of fell victim to that it seems like every starting pitcher so far that has faced the diamond backs outside of you darvish you know and uh maybe i don't know uh what was in the first i don't know anyway ryan weathers yeah ryan wethers yeah right wethers is who i was

thinking of um everybody's looked like a star against this team and that's the part that's kind of the the i guess the more concerning thing offensively is is how is their game plan you know basically so lost against some of these starting pitchers but man, when they get into the bullpen, especially against this Dodgers team, they're able to make some stuff happen. The back-to-back jacks, though, by Longoria and Carroll, those were just electric. It completely changed the game. Change the vibe of the stadium. Like, I got to say, over, I mean, I know it's just been two games at Chase Field this year, but they've both been against the Dodgers.

And I have to thank the Diamondbacks fans for coming out and having such a great showing. Yeah. But it's loud in there, and it's loud for the Diamondbacks. The beat L.A. chance. We're running wild there at the end of the game. There were a lot of Dodgers fans there. I'm not going to lie. There always is.

You're never going to get away from that. Maybe 40% Dodgers fans, 60% DeBax fans. I still think that DeBax fans had the edge at the end of the day. It was fantastic. But yeah, they were out there. They were loud. And I mean, Evan Longoria, man, apparently has some sort of a clutch factor going on. He does.

Right? I mean, he's the guy who hit that home run in San Diego on Monday to give the diamond back so one run leave there. Unfortunately, that one didn't work out for Scott McGuff in the ninth inning. But it still happened. It still happened, right? Like, yeah, I mean, yeah, that one didn't go their way. And they're not all going to, right?

Like, you're still going to even have Drey Jameson possibly have a bad outing out of the bullpen or one of the other guys. But for now, it seems like Tori has at least three solid relievers that we saw make an appearance in this game that he can rely on, right? Yeah. But more importantly, the bullpen has not been the concern right now. The starting pitching, Madison Bumgardner, his role in the starting rotation, that's a concern. And the offense has been a big concern.

Tori Lavello spoke before the game about the offense. And what's funny about this is this clip starts off with our very own vice mayor over here, informing Jesse about... Informing Tori. I informed Tori. I didn't inform myself. You didn't inform yourself. Jesse, I've already almost finished this one, excuse me, but Jesse informed Tori that Lourdes-Guriel doesn't have a great, was it OPS there in the month of April?

Yeah, we were talking about Lourdes-Guriel Jr. pre-game and how he hasn't generally started off very well. And of course, he hasn't started off well for the debacks this season. He was 0 for 3 with a walk today. He didn't necessarily have a great game either. But yeah, I brought up how Lourdes in March and April had a career OPS. of 612 coming into this game. Not great. He's had a very streaky career.

If you look through Lordus, history of Lordus Guerriel Jr. Over with Toronto, he's had some very, very good months and some very, very bad months. Generally, those bad months start at the beginning of the year. But yeah, I talked with Tori about how

Lordus's numbers in March and April were not necessarily the best. Gabriel says, and Derek wanted him DF8 after game one. No, I didn't. That was Sean. Is that Evan Longoria? Is that he was talking about?

We never doubted Evan Longoria for a second on this podcast. We never doubted him, and that's why Evan Longoria is our king snake of the game. But we'll, I was setting up our Tori clip. Can we see what Tori had to say? Because Jesse is informing Tori about things about his own players. I think Gurriel has a career 612 in March and April. Does that come up at all that he's kind of struggled at the beginning of the year in the past? It is not.

It is not. But thank you for that information. I appreciate that. How do you balance just in general delivering a message to your hitters of what you want to see and also recognizing that slumps over seven games will happen over the course of this evening? Yeah, I'd probably talk more of the hitting coaches about that stuff, and it's mostly about just stick with it, stay with the plan, stay with the process, what is the process, do you need to examine it, change it?

And we've got great hitting coaches. They're always trying to push the right button. whether it's a drill or a conversation. And we've got an assortment of hitting coaches, so there's different levels of conversation. But I'll deal directly with the hitting coaches before I get into the player. And, yeah, look, it's not any time to panic about our offense.

I know that we are not swinging the bat well at all, but it's seven games. And, you know, I want to see things get better. I've done a little bit of my frustration yesterday just simply because what I said today, again, like, we got really good hitters on this team, really, really good hit. that have done at a very high level and done it successfully.

So we just got to remember that. We'll get back to that. Yeah, Tori looks at Jesse that way, by the way, Michael, because he wants to steal him from us. He looks at it and thinks, how can I add this guy to my staff? I'm pretty sure that's what it's about. But yeah, you did talk about there. You know, I mean, obviously, I think your question was a good question,

and it is kind of like how do you kind of coach these guys through a slump when you're just trying to trust them and let them do their thing. But it really seemed like it worked tonight because the six runs on the board was a nice output. We get tacos. Yes, yes. We get a win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But like I was alluding to before the Tory clip, Evan Longoria, we never doubted him for a second. And he's our King Snake of the game. Three for three, two runs scored, had that big home run, had a walk in there. It was on base every time he came up to the plate.

and Tori also spoke about Evan's impact in the clubhouse and in the dugout. He said that every time Evan speaks about the game, he's so knowledgeable and he's so experienced, that Tori finds himself leaning in and listening a little closer to what Evan has to say because he just has so much knowledge to share. And again, we talked about that. It's 15th year, man. He's literally played 15 years in the big leagues. But it's like you can't quantify how valuable that is to a team that's as young as this team is. Right. Like he didn't intend for him to come in here and be a mentor necessarily to these guys.

I think that was part of it. I'm sure. I mean, the debacks, the debacks definitely emphasized that they didn't just want him to be a mentor. Right. Like they brought in Evan Longoria because they still thought he was a good baseball player. To play a third base, right? Like they weren't just bringing him in as like the wise old man to guide the young ones, right? But again, as he's proven, Evan Longoria is still a very good baseball player. Yeah. I mean, what we've learned so far about the 2023 Diamondbacks is their biggest strength is a team is. the bullpen. Zach Davies is the best starting pitcher they have. He's their ace, obviously.

And Evan Longoria and Geraldo Perdomo are their two most valuable position plays. Just as we drew it up. That's what I've taken away. It's exactly as we drew it up, right? I imagine some of those things might change over the next few months. But, but yeah, Longoria has been outstanding. The debacks have, the debacks have used some kind of just straight platoons. It's been Nick Ahmed against every lefty.

It's been Perdomo against every righty, I believe. And then at third base, same scenario. It's been Josh Rojas against every righty. It's been Evan Longoria against every lefty. We've also seen Tori Lavello have a lot more regularity in the lineups. Guys aren't being shifted around the lineups nearly as much as we've seen in past years. Tori's been more consistent with that. And I know that's something that he did intentionally.

I don't know what that's necessarily contributed to the offense being good or not good. It probably doesn't necessarily mean much. But yeah, I mean, when you put Evan Longoria in the lineup, up and have him face almost all lefties. The numbers from past years say that's going to be a pretty good thing. Longoria, even though he's not nearly the player that he once was, last year with San Francisco, he had really good numbers against left-handed pitchers. And he held his own against righties as well.

So I like what I'm seeing from the debacks in terms of trying to get these guys in games and put them in positions to succeed. And honestly, I think it's some versatility, some flexibility, some flexibility. that Tori just never really had necessarily. You know, we've talked about how depleted this team has been at times. And even I think early on in his time as a manager here, he had good players that he believed in. So he trusted those guys and didn't really feel like straying away too often

other than giving them time off or whatever, right? But now it's different. I feel like this team does have the ability for Tori to kind of swap all these parts and not necessarily commit, which we know he likes to do. We literally loves versatility. We know he loves guys that offer that versatility. But I just, I'm really liking what I'm seeing out of him. And I feel like Tori is kind of trying new things, which is something that he's been criticized for in the past.

It's been kind of rigid. Yeah. And I mean, what he's done in the bullpen, I think has worked pretty darn well, right? I mean, there's that whole conversation about what are you going to do without a closer, you know, when Scott McGuff had that, had that ugly outing, you know, you're like, oh, man, this is not, this is not. this is not looking the way that you want it to. But again, the fact that Tori Lavello doesn't have a closer locked in means that when Scott McGuff goes out there and has that kind of an outing, he can be like, all right, I'm not going to go to Scott McGuff next time.

I'm going to go to Castro or Chafin or have Dre Jameson finish the game or one of those things like we've seen recently. And it's worked really well. Miguel Castro in particular, his stuff is extremely good. Yeah. I don't know if I fully realize how filthy Miguel Castro's stuff is. If you look at his numbers from past years, it's like, already had an ERA of four and struck out like a batter and inning.

This doesn't necessarily look that compelling. When you see it in games, you can see that when he commands his stuff, when he's able to put it where he wants to, and when, you know, he maybe stays away from using too many sinkers, that pitch has gotten killed a little bit in the past. He can be a really effective reliever. And you kind of like what you're seeing right now from the back end of the D-Backs bullpen like we were saying earlier. I love it so far. And I also love the fact that the Diamondbacks were able to beat Clayton Kirshan on the Dodgers without Christian Walker going yard.

That's true. Yeah. Imagine that. He went 0 for 4 tonight. Christian Walker does have 15 homers and 37 RBI versus the Dodgers since 2019, which is the most for both of those categories in all of Major League Baseball. Really? Wow. He just beats out Manning Machado in both.

categories for the most five of those homers are against Clayton Kershaw that's right they sure are all a little bit shocked that we didn't see number six and possibly number seven in this game for sure but I'm still betting on Christian what I'm still betting on Christian Walker to hit home runs against Clayton Kershaw anytime the two match up and I will never stop doing that and I do that over at the bet MGM app and you can too you can also get very coming very soon some PHNX curated in at bets from your favorites here at PHNX and you got to check out the sports book man the one

that sports book over there by State Farm Stadium is incredible we're going to have all sorts of fun events out there we are also going to have our monthly cornhole league at the State Farm Stadium Bet MGM sportsbook so make sure to join us for that if you haven't signed up for bet MGM yet use our bonus code of PHNX and you will get up to $200 in bonus bets on your first wager with bed MGM here's how it works download the bet MGM app and sign

up using bonus code PHNX, place a pregame money line wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price, and you will receive $200 in bonus bets instantly, regardless of the outcome of your wager. Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up. And now listen to our lovable Shane. Talk about the disclaimer. Disclamer 21 plus to wager. Visit betmgmgm.com for terms and conditions.

U.S. promotional offers not available in Washington, D.C., New York, and Ontario. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler. Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-N-Y, or text Hope, N.Y, 467-369, New York. Call 1-800 Next Step, Arizona. 1-8100, 5224-0-4-0, Kansas, Nevada, 1-800-3-2-0-1-1-1-Sachusetts, 1-800, for confidential help, Michigan. All right, well, we thank you guys for being here in the PHA-NX Sports YouTube channel. As always, make sure to smash that like button for Jesse. Jesse loves that.

I mean, I love it too, but I try not to show that publicly. But yeah, it makes us feel good. Of course, the bigger thing is subscribe to the PHNXports YouTube channel. That way you don't miss any of our wonderful content. Sign up for notifications so you don't miss our shows when they go live. If you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app right now, make sure to subscribe to us. We're coming to you right now from the past.

So we don't know if you're listening or not, but we hope you are there in the future. And leave us a review. We always love the feedback. more stuff to do. If you haven't signed up for a PHNX diehard's membership already, I don't know what you're waiting for. They basically pay for themselves instantly. Grab yourself a diehards membership.

Not only do you get access to Jesse's full count newsletter, which that alone is worth the money for the diehard membership. Let's be honest, you get all of his content. But you also get a free piece of merch from the phnx locker.com as well as 20% off all future purchases. You get that free piece of merch every year. You're a diehard member. You also get access to our members-only Discord lounge. you get discounts with our partners, including Mountain Mikes,

that gives you a $50 gift card when you sign up for a diehard membership, as well as access to our members-only Discord lounge, our special member events, members-only merch, and so much more. So sign up today for a die-hard membership and join our PHNX family. We want you here more than we want Madison, Bumgarner here, is basically what I'm saying. But Bumgarner did not have a terrible outing today. Actually, okay, okay, okay, he's right.

Okay, he's right. I'm just trying to sugarcoat it just a little bit. But six walks, not good. However, dating back maybe to the end of last season before he was shut down and his starts during spring and his first start this year, this outing didn't look so bad by comparison. He went four and two thirds, gave up five hits, three runs, two earned, like we said, due to the past ball by Moreno. still had five strikeout, six walks. At times, he looked like Madison, bumgarner of old. I actually turned to Jesse and said,

wow, that was a nice little three-player run we had here. Sure. You know, but that's the problem, right? You're getting excited because he was able to, after walking the first batter of an inning, kind of get out of it without anybody else getting on. The bar has been set pretty low. It was very low bar.

Like, I couldn't believe that I was actually. And also, like, you know, you look a little bit deeper and it feels like anytime Mad Bum has retired a few guys in a row, if you go back and look at it pitch by pitch, it's like, oh, that one cutter or whatever was kind of left right over the middle of the plate and he sort of just got away with it. So, yeah, Mad Bum just continues to be kind of the same pitcher that he was last year. His Velo did tick up a little bit in this outing compared to his last one.

Still not. 91, 90. Yeah, I think he topped out around 91. I think his average tonight was about 90 compared to 80, nine in his first start of the season. You still throwing that 88 mile an hour cutter that at times, if it's not located right, it's just a big old meatball. Yeah, the cutter is still probably his best pitch.

He did get some whiffs on some four seamers that were in some good spots. But the thing with Bumgarner is at the very least, you expect a guy like Bumgarner to be able to throw strikes, right? Even if he's not blowing guys away, he's the kind of guy out of everyone in this rotation who needs to be in the strike zone. and you can go out and walk six guys. It's really hard for him to stay competitive. Now, like I said earlier, you got to give credit where credit is due. The fact that he, you know, got out of this only allowing two earned runs with an assist from Jay Jameson, that's, that's nice. I mean, you'll, you'll take that.

You know, you like to see Mad Bum fighting out of some of those spots, unlike his last outing when, you know, it was just pretty, it was pretty roughy, about five runs right in the first inning out of the gate. But on the whole, it still, it still didn't look good. I mean, you can't give up 11 base runners in four and two-thirds innings and expect to only give up two or three runs with regularity. That's just not going to be sustainable. Mad Bum is going to have to be better than that if he wants to stay in this rotation. Also, I'm not sure if it's irony.

It might be a bit ironic that the man who relieved him is essentially the guy that's getting passed up for the starting rotation and who's doing an excellent job right now, the guy that bailed him out of a bases loaded jam, and also came in and gave the Diamondbacks two more quality innings of work. of no hit baseball is now kind of committed to being a reliever, and that's all due to the fact that the Diamondbacks don't have a place for him, and Madison Bumgarner is in the starting rotation.

If we're being honest about it, we don't know how much longer the Diamondbacks leave Madison Bumgarner in the rotation. It's probably going to be for the rest of the year unless some injury or something occurs. I don't know if I agree with that. Really? I don't think. I'm going to say it right now. Let me just say this before you start.

If he was any other pitcher besides Madison Bumgarner, we both know that he wouldn't stay in the starting rotation, right? Like if this was, if this was Dre Jameson, if this was Ryan Nelson, if this was Zach Davies, I would have a hard time believing that the Diamondbacks would continue to let him go out there and start. But because it's Bumgarner and because of incumbency

and what he's done in his career, it feels like he's going to continue to get opportunities. I see where you're coming from, and I think that was the case last year, right? Yeah. The D-backs wrote it out with Mad Bum, despite what the number said, up until the very end of the season when they were like, all right, take a break. Shut him down. Yeah, shut him down a couple weeks early, get some of these young guys some opportunity.

But I don't think that's going to be the case here. I'm going to go ahead and say just my personal gut feeling. I would be a little bit surprised if Madison Bumgarner was in this rotation once we get to May. Once we get to May, once we get to the second month of the season, I don't think the leash is very long for Madison Bumgarner. not because the debacks don't want to see him succeed or don't believe that he could succeed. Sure. But at this point, I mean, you've seen, I want to say it's about 450, 350, 450, 450 innings.

It's one of those numbers, roughly, that Madbom has thrown in his Diamondbacks career. And he has an ERA of five. And he's not showing anything right now that shows that he's gotten better from what he's done so far. If anything, the numbers tell you that he's probably gotten a little bit worse. And the Diamondbacks at this point, they're not playing for fourth place, right? Mike Hazen, Ken Kendrick, the people leading this organization came out at the beginning of the year and said, success for us means buying at the trade deadline, right? Playing meaningful games late in the season.

That's where they want to go. Tori Lavello's contract is on the line, right? There are things at stake here. I don't think the Diamondbacks can afford another 70, 75 win season, at least in their own eyes. I don't think the leash can be very long considering all of those things, even though the debacks aren't going to say it, right? They're not going to come out and say the leash is short for Bumgarner. But I wouldn't be surprised if in a few weeks,

if these trends continue and Bumgarner continues to be shaky and, you know, walking five or six guys in outing or whatever it looks like, I think they might have to make a move. I want to believe in everything that you're saying, mostly because it makes the most sense. Yeah. I don't, you're going to pay Madison Bumgarner. Gardner regardless. This is true. Whether he's good, whether he's bad, whether he's awful,

whether he's injured, you're going to pay him. Yeah. So why sacrifice the success of this team if you don't think that he is going to give you a chance to win baseball games? I mean, I will say that at one point during this game, I turned to Jesse and just commented about how truly hard it must be to throw a pitch, have it move, make it go 95 miles an hour, and just get it inside this little box. You know, it's pitching at a major league level is one of the most difficult things I think in sport, especially considering how all these analytics and everything has evolved the game, right? You can't just go out there and overpower a guy with a 98 mile per hour fastball.

That shit ain't going to work. If they know where it's coming and it ain't moving, you're not going to find very much success with it. Madison Bumgarner doesn't seem to have much left in the tank. It's not a shot at him. It's not that he hasn't tried. We have seen this man putting forth all the effort in the world, to be honest. And at times, it looks like he personally cares so much about this and wants to turn things around. It just isn't happening, right? Yeah. And that was that was the takeaway from his arm fatigue situation. Madison Bumgarner, after that happened, and Toro Lavello said the same thing. The problem was Madbum went too hard between starts.

And like in those couple weeks leading to the season, he also said over the off season, he probably overdid it. And I believe that. We're in no way are we questioning Madbom's, you know, yeah, his commitment, his drive, his desire to get back to the pitcher that he once was. All those things are there,

maybe to an excess. But it's just so abundantly clear with what you're seeing on the field right now that he's just not that guy. And I think the debacks, you know, if the next option was, you know, Humberto Castiano or Humberto Mejia or Tyler Gilbert or, you know, one of those depth.

Yeah. One of those depth starters that we've seen in the last few years. Then yeah, maybe you're like, okay, let's ride it out with Mad Bum. We're going to have to pay him all this money. Let's see what we can get. But that's not the case. You've got Brandon Fott. You've got Tommy Henry.

You've got, you know, Dre Jameson potentially, depending on how they want to go with that. I don't think you can afford to just keep running Bum Garner out there over and over again. And I hate to say that. But I also think that at a point, which I was getting to, is that you're paying him no matter what, right? So don't sacrifice the successful team. Yeah. By having him go out there and not be. And lose you more games.

Just not be somebody that can help this team get to where they're going to go. I mean, we've already talked in this show about Longo and how he not only has been successful on the field, but what he's added to the dugout in the club. house, right? I never expected to really hear that about Mad Bum and I've never really heard it about Mad Bum. I've never had these surprising discussions or talks with players from this organization where they were like, man, Mad Bum gave me some great advice. It was awesome. He's just been really helping me out. I think there's maybe been elements of that. I'm sure there is. He's not the vocal clubhouse leader that Evan Angoria is. Yeah, for sure. And that's the thing about it is is that there are when you're at that point in your career, there are other things you can

offer. But if you're not offering those as well as not offering performance on the field, then what are we even doing here anymore? I'm sure for the most part, it would be a hit to his ego, but I'm sure he also wouldn't mind riding off into the sunset a bit. You know, I mean, he's made plenty of money in this and I'm not sure if he would retire, but you could at least take some time off if the diamondbacks parted ways with him. I just don't, I guess that's my thought is with everything you said, what, what do they do with Madma? I mean, you could try him in the bullpen, right? That's the idea that people keep floating out there. I don't know. I don't know what Mad Bum is going to be down is going to be down for that.

I think at a certain point, the debacks wouldn't want to force him into that unless it was something that he was okay with. Like, I think that would just be, you don't want to completely destroy your relationship with this guy or anything, right? If that's something he really doesn't want, you probably don't want him to do it anyway. So maybe that would be a topic of conversation that would come up. But we're not at that point yet. Even though I said earlier, you know, my gut tells me that this might be over sooner rather than later.

The debacks aren't going to pull Bumgarner from the rotation when his only two starts are against one of the best teams in baseball, right? I mean, this lineup is very, very good. We saw them continue to work counts and continue to work patient at bats as they always do. We saw Miguel Vargas walk two more times, which is still dumbfounding how that man continues to walk every single time he comes to the plate. What was he, like nine for 16 at bats or something like that? I want to say coming into this game, he'd had 13 played appearances against the D-backs, and eight of them were walks. And he walked tonight.

This game, I think it was two out of four. So at a slightly lower, he only walked half the time today. So a slightly lower pace than he has in the past against the Diamondbacks. Every fucking spring, I am making sure that Diamondbacks young hitters go through this same hitting regiment of just standing there at the plate not being allowed to swing the bat because it has done something for his ability to, to, you know, know the strikes. Yeah.

It really has. Yeah. Or pitchers just got really afraid. They're just terrified. They're like, oh my gosh, he can't swing. Right. It's going to be so embarrassing. If I don't throw strikes.

And now they're just like terrified every time he's like, oh, no, he can swing now, but I still can't throw strikes. No, I think that will change at some point. Yeah. James Outman looks good, though. He does. Speaking of Dodgers, youngsters. First, he'll run off a left-handed.

Yeah. Yeah, he homered, sit his second home run against the debacks in this game and continues to look good. Corbyn Carroll's got some, he's got some competition for the rookie of the year award, even though he had a very nice game himself, as we talked about earlier. But James Outman, Jordan Walker is doing some big things for the St. Louis Cardinals. Miguel Vargas from these Dodgers, I'm sure, would be in that mix as well. What the fuck on, dude? Corbyn Carroll not hit a home run in this game, Jesse?

He did. He absolutely did. I'm just saying he's got company. That's what we're going to talk about. The R rookie of the year. I got money on him. Remember that. Let's not forget about that. We have a campaign to uphold.

What's that? We have a campaign to uphold. We have a narrative that we need to drive home. You know what I mean? That is. Corb him. We can't even be talking about other candidate. I picked him to win the rookie of the year.

That was my pick. I'm just saying there's some competition. That's all I'm saying. Well, I don't really want to do this to him, but I'm going to do it to him anyway. Mad Bum's performance tonight was our OG's performance to forget. Yeah, that's,

maybe it's the whole time with the Diamondbacks. I don't know. He's had some good months in there. I'm not going to... He has. I'm not going to throw him under the bus like that. But of course, if you want to forget about a performance,

tonight's game is not the performance to forget. Tonight, we want to remember tonight's game. But make sure to grab some of our friends from OGs and their wonderful edibles. So excited, by the way, for Buz of Palluz to be coming up next week. we are going to be out there hanging out with our friends from OGs for Budzapalooza. And of course, you guys know me, the best way to get a good night's sleep is with our friends from

OGs and their Aquaberry Sleep Edition gummy. It's a CBN to THC, 2 to 1 flavor ratio. And it absolutely flavors your dreams. Not to mention, we have our brand new collabo shirt with our OGs brands. It is live now. If you want to get your hands on this dope collab tea, make sure to get your ticket to Budzaa Paluza. Look at this bad boy that we've got. got caught. Look at this. This is probably my favorite shirt that we've done. Look at how happy

Phoenix is in this one, Jesse. Look at it. It's a little off-putting. I don't think Phoenix is supposed to be that happy. When you got OGs, you're always happy, Jesse. That's the big thing here. Is OGs? Make the vibes immaculate. And of course, you can grab this shirt at Budzapalooza to get info on Buzzo.com. Join us Friday, April 14th, right across the street, downtown Phoenix. We'll be hanging out with our friends at OGs. Like I said, we'll also be doing a special edition of our OGs. PHNX Variety Show Live from Budzapaloozo, which I will be involved with. And that is where you can buy this special collabo shirt.

Jesse won't go anywhere near a marijuana festival at all. But he does enjoy the stories that I bring back and tell him. I do. I do. He loves my adventures. But also, if that's not your cup of tea, go grab some beers over at the Four Peaks East Street Pub. Our friends of Four Peaks are, of course, the local craft brewery of choice for us around here at P-HNX.

They have their tours that you can take of that A Street pub. Their chicken tendees are wonderful. And honestly, I don't want them to hear me say this. They give you way too many. They just give you way too many chicken tenders. Everybody in this room right now is shaking their head in agreement with me because we all know. We've all eaten their chicken tenders and none of us can really finish them. There's just plates of half-eaten chicken tender all over the place.

You're always asking. Eventually, we'll figure out we should just split them. But apparently that's just too complicated. We don't have the mental capacity to pull that off. Always at the table just asking every single person you know, hey, do you want a chicken tender? Yeah, he's trying to pawn off these delicious chicken tenders on people. It's very odd.

It's just too much. It's just too much. And I love that. Anywhere that feeds you too much is a good place to go. So check out 4Peaks.com. Their events calendars at 4Peaks.com slash events for all your beer week entertainment. They have their new coach, their new GM, and the third pick in the draft

and I'm not talking about Four Peaks. I'm talking about the Arizona Cardinals. Big opportunity for this team and the best place to take in this pivotal moment and the rest of the NFL draft is on April 27th

with Bo Brack and Johnny Venerable and us will be there too your favorite degenerates at the Four Peaks 8th Street Pub must be 21 years or older to enjoy the beer and enjoy responsibly.

Before we get out of here, first, I didn't do this yet but Jesse we're peeking at Mount 500. Oh, there you go. Get the video up there. We got back. I want like,

I keep going. Man, that's exciting. David, they're having a good time over there. The debacks are apparently anti-streak, if I'm not mistaken. They are anti-street. They lost. They lost.

Game one. They won. They won. They won. They lost. They won. And today they won. Correct.

So I guess we're going to be doing the Mountain 500 thing kind of a lot, Derek, at this rate. This is right. We're going to pull that up 81 times. That's great. Diamondbacks finish the year 81 and 81. Hopefully more than that. Hopefully more than that, Jesse.

You can get over the hump tomorrow. Let's take a look. Yeah, the probabilities for this series. Maybe they can get over the hump. What do we got left? We got Zach Davies, known ace, known Arizona Diamondbacks ace. By far the best pitcher the Diamondbacks have.

Versus. Versus Thor and Noah Sindigard, who Jesse said, I believe he used the word wash. Did you say wash? I did not. I did not ever see. say the word watch.

I just said the Noah Cinderguard isn't the guy you remember from five years ago. I think he's a little more, a little bit more beatable than that. Although he did look especially good in his first start against the debacks. Very true. And playing the role of Walker Bueller's Michael Grove for the Los Angeles Dodgers, going up against Ryan Nelson, who has a wonderful picture of himself, by the way,

with a gigantic smile on in the back hallways, or I guess you could say lower, lower, stadium area of Chase Field where we walk out to go talk to Tori and go out and see the players. I've been paying attention to the new... The picture of Ryan Nelson? There is. There's some fantastic pictures up down there

that they have of the young guys. They also have all of their concerts as well down there. But more importantly, Diamondbacks most likely are going to, what, lose tomorrow and then win the next day? Is that how this works? I mean, I guess that's how it works. That's the pattern so far. Both of those feel like very winnable games, though.

Yeah. Davies against Cinderguard. Both of those guys pitched really well the last time around. And then, yeah, Michael Grove, I think, is certainly hitable. Ryan Nelson is, you know, I think got a decent outing in his first start of the year against the Padres. It's thrown against the Dodgers had some success against them in the past already. So both of those games are totally winnable. You're not staring down a, you know, a Kershaw, Bumgarner or something.

Like we said on yesterday's show, you kind of feel like you're stealing a game if you win the Armagh-Kirn and Kershaw matchup, and that's exactly what the Diamondbacks did today. And I think the biggest thing about this series and about the first series of the year is, I guess, a confidence building that kind of flows throughout this team. The Dodgers are beatable. And these teams are beatable. You can think of them as being a 500-pound juggernaut, but they're not. And at the end of the day, it's still one baseball team versus another. And they know their strengths now.

And it seems like the Diamondbacks, from what we've seen so far in the numbers in the first year, series and so far in the first two games of the series, they have an advantage when it comes to relief pitching ERA and how this bullpen has been doing. That is not something that they had in the past. Like if anything, they could maybe edge out the Dodgers in pitching matchups for starting pitching, but by far the bullpen was where things unraveled for the Diamondbacks. And like now that they have that advantage, it definitely feels like they could kind of hold these games together, even if they do give up a lot of runs early on and give this team a chance to come back. Yeah, I mean, last year the Diamondbacks were, I believe, 10 and 28 altogether against the Padres and the Dodgers

combined, right? They were 5 and 14 against both of those teams. It's to be four and four to start this season, right? Three and three against the Dodgers so far, one and one against the Padres. You got to feel really good about that. Again, as we talked about on the show yesterday, the level of competition they're facing right now is extremely high, right? I mean, these are these are playoff teams, right? There's no question. Dodgers and the Padres just about lock it in, both of those teams are going to be playing in the postseason at the end of the year. DeBacks are playing 500 ball against two really, really good teams. We talked about some numbers that suggest, you know, it might not be super sustainable.

The debacks offensively pitching-wise, there are some things that need to get better, I think, for them to maintain this level of performance. But nonetheless, you're winning. That room for growth is there and they're still winning, right? So if they do get those things on track, if starting pitching, if Zach Gallen is able to be Zach Gallin again. Yeah, somehow you're four and four against the daughters and Padres and Zach Gallin has made two terrible starts.

Yeah. Merrill Kelly didn't have a terrible start in his first one, but he didn't go very long. Yeah. And he was not good in his second one. He was not good in his second start. So, I mean, there's still a lot of hope for this team. And again, I think that the idea here is if things continue to unravel and, you know, maybe these guys that are struggling like Gallin and Kelly didn't see this team still finding a way to win, it might look a little hopeless.

right but when you're thinking about how like you haven't been very good and your team is still finding ways to win like that's got to motivate you to try to get your shit back together yeah yeah it's not it's done all the pressure you know you don't have all the pressure on one guy or two guys right it's not all if zach gallon doesn't throw eight scoreless then we're then we're doomed you know the debacks have some different ways to to win games i think their their lineup is more formidable on paper than it's been in the past and we haven't necessarily seen that materialize a whole lot so far But yeah, I mean, Lorda Scuriel is not going to be five for 30 or whatever it is for long, right? A lot of these things are going to resolve.

And we've already seen that start to happen with certain guys. So still in Alec Thomas to get his first hit of the year. We're still still waiting on that. But that's got to happen, right? Like, Alec Thomas isn't going to go hit list for the entire season. There's a lot of guys who still have better things coming around the corner. And you know what this proved, Jesse, even when things aren't going for you, well, for you. Well for you.

Well for you. Well for you. I can talk. When things aren't going well for you, for your team, right? You know, it can look hopeless. But you can get things back on track in a hurry, right? And since the D-BAC's offense has been struggling, I have to ask, how's your offense doing? How is your offense doing?

Is your offense doing all right? Are you guys striking out in your big moments in the bedroom? Are you having a hard time? I'm a feeling that's where you were going. Are you having a hard time swinging your bat through the zone, Jesse? Do you need help violating the pitch, clock rules, you know what I'm saying. Much like Arizona's coaching staff,

Roman is here to help you. Roman is the digital health clinic for men addressing a variety of sexual health needs and offering genuine medication that helps achieve and maintain a strong erection. Don't be like the D-back starting pitching staff and only go a few innings. We saw that again tonight. Roman offers discreet wipes

that help you last longer in bed. MLB banned the shift, and Roman has banned embarrassing trips to a doctor's office with a straightforward digital experience from the comfort of your home. If medication testing is appropriate. Roman will send it directly to your door. Everything arrives in discrete packaging. No worries for embarrassing. And if you have dead arm like Ryan, Roman will help get your arm back on track. You know what I'm saying? Put that power back in your arm and you will be

throwing fastballs over 95 miles per hour in no time. To learn more about how you can achieve your personal sexual health goals, go to RO. Ro.co slash PHNX to get 20% off your entire first order. That's O.co slash P-HNX. No, Jesse's fine. He's fine. I promise you guys that. But speaking of getting more, more furniture is where you need to buy furniture for your home. By the way, I have to tell everybody, again, Jesse wants everyone to know he doesn't have a home filled with chase lounges.

In fact, we've been lying this whole time. He doesn't have a single chase lounge in his house. No, but it is aggravating. I do love them. But he doesn't think like he's high class enough to have. one in his house. I don't know what's going on. Live your best life, Jesse. Go get a Chase Lounge. You want one.

Expensive. They're hard to find. But you know where you can get them? More furniture. And you'll save big money over there. And they'll deliver it to you with the White Glove delivery service how we received our wonderful office furniture around here. You guys can save big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to morefurniture.com. We love you guys so much. We love the Arizona Diamondbacks. And more than anything, we love winning. We thank you guys for being here tonight. You can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. This maniacs at Jesse N. Friedman. Damon Dog is at Damon, D-A-W-G because he's got that dog in him. The P-H-N-X-D-Backs account, P-N-X underscore D-Bax. We got the dog in us, too. But all roads follow, or all roads lead to P-NX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Elijah asked, how's the food at Chase Tasting? It was good.

We got a report back for you, by the way. Tonight we had the crispy bow bun, which I convinced Jesse to get. we shared like the adorable couple that we are. You get two. You get two. And it's a lot of food. It is a lot of food. I mean,

and it's delicious. It definitely provided us with enough sustenance to last an entire baseball game. Also, Tori did ask us during the press conference if we were sick of each other yet. We gave very different answers on that. So. Happy birthday, Charles. You guys have a great.

Hey, happy birthday to CWP. Big happy birthday to you, buddy. I hope you had a great day. And I hope you have a great. weekend. We love you guys. Thank you again so much for being here. On behalf of Damon, Jesse, and myself, we always appreciate you guys being here. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you got that fire in your blood.