PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Brandon Pfaadt notches first career win in Diamondbacks victory over the Reds

Episode Date: August 26, 2023

We are going streaking! The Arizona Diamondbacks win their sixth game in a row and finally get pitcher Brandon Pfaadt his first victory of his major league career. We breakdown the big night from the offense, what splitting the series with the Cincinnati Reds means in the Wild Card race, updates from the minor leagues, and more!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits of Creams. Go to https://theflowershopusa.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local The Flower Shop dispensary.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are a goddamn wagon. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on P.A.P.NX. My name is Derek Wantia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. That was Jesse Friedman there for a second, but he disappeared on us. But he is joining us, of course, live right now from Chase Field. where it seems like it is very, very loud for him to be. But anyway, Jesse will be with us here in a second. But of course, we are talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks

winning their sixth game in a row. That is right. This team has just won their sixth game in a row. This is a team that had just tied their sixth longest losing streak in franchise history that they snapped on August 12th. And since then, they have won 11 out of 13. and are on a six-game winning streak. I don't know how to explain it.

Just like I don't know how to explain Tommy Fam currently having the longest hitting streak in Major League Baseball. But that is what's happening. That is what's happening. So when it comes to a lot of things, there are a lot of things that happened in this game. But of course, the biggest thing that we need to talk about

is Brandon Fott getting his first major league victory. He gets his first major league win in tonight's wild game that honestly the bullpen tried to do everything they could to lose it for Brandon Fott. But it's just a real nice story that Brandon Fott gets his first win. He goes five and one-thirds innings in this game gives up three hits, two earn runs, walks one, strikes out five. And Brandon Fott's numbers since returning the starting rotation are pretty good.

When you talk about the Diamondbacks potentially going out there and acquiring a starting pitcher, at the trade deadline. I'm pretty sure you would have been happy with acquiring a guy that had a 3.48 ERA and a 1.04 whip. And that is what Brandon Fott has put up since returning to the starting rotation. So it's just absolutely awesome to see he had, of course, a questionable exit from tonight's game.

There is going to be, I mean, I don't know if it's controversial. It won't be so controversial since the Diamondbacks won this game. but he did get taken out of the game there with a pitch count of 86 and could have given the Diamondbacks a little bit more. Bryce Jarvis did come into the game in relief of Brandon Fott, and he does what the bullpen has done. He almost made me take this bat and destroy things in my office. But luckily, the Diamondbacks offense kept that from happening tonight because this is just absolutely insane. the Diamondbacks, the way this game went was crazy. But I don't know what's happening right now with Jesse.

Like I said, he was in a very loud area. So hopefully he'll be joining us soon. But I'll tell you this much. This team continues to find a way to win, even when their bullpen is absolutely awful. And when I say awful, of course, I truly mean how bad, how much this bullpen tonight between Bryce Jarvis and Justin Martinez,

has truly tried to give away the game for Brandon Fought. But luckily, the Diamondbacks offense was able to put up just some big numbers tonight. A very unexpected night from this couple of guys like Jace Peterson. He had two triples in this game. Jase Peterson, two triples, three RBI, run scored. It was kind of just one of those really weird games. And we have lots of weirdness to talk about. But of course, like I said, Bryce Jarvis came into the game.

game for Brandon fought. He in one and two-thirds innings gives up two earn runs, three hits. And then Justin Martinez could not seem to get really anywhere in the strike zone. He happens to pretty much give up nearly the entire lead with a grand slam there to make it unnecessarily interesting in the ninth inning. But the Diamondbacks did everything they could to do what they, put up big numbers on offense. Right now, Jesse is telling us that the entire building is loud. And God damn it should be loud because the Arizona Diamondbacks just won their six game in a row.

So they absolutely should be loud everywhere. Jesse, it should be loud everywhere in that building. I see you're hiding in like a corner somewhere in the press lounge. And I appreciate it. It's like faith and family night out there at Chase Field tonight. Is that right? Is that what going on? Yeah, there's a.

There's a concert in the background, and it is extraordinarily loud. And every inch of everywhere in this building, except for a corner in the back hallway behind the press box that I'm currently sitting in. This is about as good as we got. So we're going to make it work. Well, I'm glad you're here. I was floundering without you because I was sitting here already talking about the negatives. I was already talking about Bryce Jarvis and Justin Martinez trying to give this game away. but Brandon fought got his first career victory and luckily the Diamondbacks offense backed him up big time.

They were very patient at the plate tonight and it absolutely paid off early and they did not let up. They kept their foot on the pedal and they put up some big innings that we really haven't seen them be able to put up this year. Yeah, I mean, a five run inning, right? I mean, how long was it before we saw or how long was it that we saw the Diamondbacks go without even being able to score, you know, five or more runs in a game? Yeah. I mean, that inning in and of itself was huge. The Diamondbacks in this game had nine walks. They had 20 base runners altogether, 10 hits, a hit by pitch.

This was the most complete game that we've seen from this Diamondbacks offense, I think, in a long time. And that's a good sign. I mean, that's the reason that the Diamondbacks were a good team in the first half of the season. It's because they were a good offensive team. It's because pretty much every other night, you know, they were scoring more than five runs against the opposing team.

And, you know, the pitching side wasn't necessarily the prettiest today. After Brandon fought, things did get a little bit ugly for the D-Bags bullpen. It's unfortunately they often do. But, yeah, I mean, when you score 10 runs, you're probably going to win a baseball game. And obviously, there were so many, so many quirks to this game, Derek. I mean, so many different storylines that we could talk about. But, yeah, one of the craziest baseball games I've ever seen, frankly. Corby and Carroll had a three walk night.

Perdomo and Martage have two walk night. Like you said, nine walks total. They just, they were super patient. Hunter Green looked very good early on and then had that third inning that almost reached 30 pitches. He was at 28. Then his fourth inning just completely went off the rails. The Diamondbacks were able to just get that rare big inning that we haven't been able to see them produce very often this season.

So Tommy Pham extends his hitting streak to 15 games with that two RBI single. fourth inning. Then he almost made it, made it more with a three run homer that was for not, because apparently we're penalizing fans for being better at catching the ball than the outfielders, Jesse. That's where we're at right now. But of course, I know we're going to get to the kid who stole the ball from Spencer Steer. But like there was just, there's a lot of mistakes on the red side. They had that weird incident where Ellie De La Cruz and Spencer Steer collided in the outfield and Perdomo was able to score on it. Like a lot of the mistakes they were making were kind of things that we

mishaps that we saw the Diamondbacks have occurred to them during their losing streak. And now things are kind of bouncing the Diamondbacks way. And it seems like that's happening in a lot of these games that they've won. Yeah, I mean, and, you know, they also had a bunt in this game. It was actually successful this time. Jace Peterson laid down a good one. I believe that was the bunt that set up that play. One of the weirder sacrifice flies,

although it wasn't a sacrifice fly because it was like an infield fly, but Christian Walker still got an RBI for it. So it was like kind of a sacrifice fly, but there was also an E6. There were a lot of weird things in this game. That play was definitely one of them. And yeah, unfortunately, the Diamondbacks, like that cushion wound up actually being sort of valuable for them because despite having a 10-4 lead in the ninth inning,

you know, Justin Martinez comes in and loads the bases. He's able to strike the next guy out. And then Will Benson comes in and hits a very long grand slam. And before you know it, the Diamondbacks yet again have to use, you know, one of their back end relievers in Kevin Ginkle in order to seal the deal. So, yeah, I mean, I think in a perfect world, the D-backs coast to, you know, a six-run victory and they're able to avoid using Kevin Ginkle. It seems like the D-backs have always needed at least one of Paul Seawald or Kevin Ginkle

in order to, you know, in order to actually win a baseball game. But, you know, at the end of the day, a win is a win. And Tori Lavello talked after this game about how, you know, we're at a point in the season where it's sort of, you know, full throttle. We're asking a lot of everyone. And the Diamond Baxter, you know, are certainly doing that right now with the back end of their bullpen.

When you talk about Brandon fought and his outing today, he was good. He had his faults. He was getting himself much like Hunter Green into a lot of full counts. And his, you know, pitch count kind of ran up. early, but Tori Lovolo removed him with a pinch count of 86. And I was wondering if you had not necessarily in criticisms, but what were your thoughts on him being taken out at 86? Did you think that was the right move?

Obviously, with Bryce Jarvis giving up the runs that he gave up, it doesn't look like the right move. But yeah, do you feel like that was the time to take out fought? Yeah, I feel like I was a little surprised by it personally. Fought had 86 pitches at the time, right? it seemed like he might have still had something left in the tank. Tori afterwards basically explained it as just noticing that fought looked a little tired, that he looked like he was maybe wearing down a little bit.

That's what Torrey's line of reasoning was there. L.A. D. La Cruz had a couple of really good swings against him earlier in the game, so kind of wondered if that was the reason there. Tori said not really. That at least wasn't a primary reason in this situation. So, yeah, I personally, where I'm at is, is the diamond backs cannot sustainably rely on their bullpen as much as they are moving forward. I think there's going to come a point when, and not even from just like a workload standpoint,

but from like quality standpoint, right? Like there's going to come a point when I think you're, you have to go to Zach Gallen and be like, hey, I know you're at, you know, 93 pitches or whatever after six. I kind of need the seventh from you not, not necessarily just to save the bullpen, but because like, you know, your seventh inning is probably going to be a best seventh inning than what we're going to get out of the bullpen. And, you know, probably a similar story with Merrill Kelly, even though obviously he was dealing with an injury yesterday. And then, you know, potentially Brandon fought would be in that category as well where you might be willing to push these guys a little bit, you know, to save the bullpen and try to make sure from a workload standpoint, they're better. And also to be like, yeah, like we trust our starting pitcher in some of these situations more than we trust the bullpen.

And if there's anything we've seen this week, it's that, yeah, you know, going to that bullpen early is not really panned out for the diamond backers in recent days. Right, right. And we do have Brandon Fott's pitch chart, which let's throw that up there. And you can see how his pitch selection was for this game. What were your thoughts, Jesse, on this and just how many of his pitches were in the zone like this? Yeah, it's not great, right? You know, these are the pitches that were put in play. So you're not looking at like all of his pitches. All of his pitches, correct.

Yeah, these are just the pitches that were put in play. And yeah, a lot of them are kind of in the middle of the strike zone. So, you know, I do think Brandon fought all in all pitched a pretty decent game. But he also, frankly, got away with some pitches. There were some fastball center cut, you know, that Reds hitters for one reason or another just rolled over the top or, you know, popped up somewhere in foul territory, something along those lines. So, yeah, I don't, you know, I wouldn't say that this was Brandon Fought's finest work by any means. But if there is anyone who deserves to, you know, get a win and, you know, have a decent pitching line when all is said and done, even when he hasn't had his best stuff, Brandon Fawd is that guy. For real.

He has been unlucky in a number of ways this season. Of course, the biggest one being that he's finally just now getting his first career win. it's reminiscent of Zach Gallin when we used to joke about Zach Gallin not getting more than five wins in a season because he would pitch masterfully but the Diamondbacks wouldn't give him the run support or the bullpen would blow the game or whatever the case would be you know would be that wouldn't allow him to exceed that mark of that number of wins so this kind of feels like that with Brandon Fott it feels like it wasn't all his fault and tonight's game definitely could have gone a different way where he didn't end up with this win even if the Diamondbacks did because it felt like a back and forth affair. It felt like the Reds kept kind of sticking around. But the Diamondbacks just did an excellent job at capitalizing on the mistakes the Reds made. They did a good job of extending plays, you know, turning, you know, getting those extra bases. They did a much better job of, you know, running on the base path, obviously after the mistakes that were made in last night's win. But Jace Peterson deserves his flowers, man.

I brought up his, you know, his two triples today. but this was his second consecutive game with kind of the big hit that broke things open for the Diamondbacks. And it really feels like he's starting to contribute to this team. We also already know what Tommy Fam has been doing with this league leading 15 game hitting streak that he's currently on. Yeah, Jace Peterson was really big in this game, two triples, right? I mean, it's hard to have a better game than that. So, yeah, I mean, that's big for the Diamondbacks. I know a lot of people have been frustrated with the lack of production.

from from jace peterson which is understandable right so i mean since coming over to the diamond backs you really have struggled offensively but for better or worse i mean this is kind of what the debats have at third base this year right it's i mean it's jace peterson it's it's buddy kennedy for the time being and evid longoria right i mean that's kind of what they're relying on at third base when there's a righty on the mound you're probably going to see a good amount of jace peterson the rest of the way this season so even if people don't fully understand the trade or might ask some questions about why he's on this baseball team. I mean, there's nothing better for the Diamondbacks at third base than

Jason getting hot. He's going to be in the lineup more often than not it appears. And, you know, even though he hasn't been all that great so far with the Diamondbacks, he's better than the hitter that we've seen, right? I mean, he's consistently been a mid-600s, low-700s OPS guy pretty much for his entire career. And we're starting to see him, you know, kind of come out of this and start to put some some good swings on the baseball. How is Christian Walker doing after that scary hit where he got hit in the head?

Yeah, we actually didn't talk to Christian after the game. So I don't have a whole lot of information on that. He appeared to be okay in the moment. So I guess that's sort of a good sign. But yeah, I mean, you never, you know, you never like to see, you know, probably your best hitter in the middle of your lineup get hit in the head as he did. But as far as we know he's okay, we'll see if we can get some more information on how we came out of this one tomorrow. I hope to hear the best for him because, like you said, he's just a vital part of this Diamondbacks team.

And just a tough dude, but man, that looks scary. But the big story here, Jesse, is the fact that a Diamondbacks fan in the crowd owns Spencer Steer from the Cincinnati Reds. This is the story. Everybody is talking about. Everybody's going to be talking about. It was a home run, and I'm going to stand by that. I'm going to continue to call it a home run. It's a home run by Tommy Fam that went into the crowd.

Spencer Steer did his best to try to rob the home run from Tommy Fam and the fans, but the fans, Jesse, weren't having any of it at all. We have the, here's a shot. Here's the ball coming in. The ball right there is in. Spencer Steer's glove. Yeah. Now how this kid, as you can see, puts his glove over the top of Spencer Steer's glove.

Next shot, please. Uh, and then it looks like, yeah, Spencer Steer had it. He's going to come down with it. We're going to see him land on his butt. He's going to have the ball. Oh, but he doesn't. But he doesn't. Do you know why?

Because that fucking kid absolutely robbed him of that home run. That kid needs to be signed by the Arizona Diamond. and get sent to Basalia immediately. That's what I'm saying. At least, at least Hillsborough, somewhere in their organization. But this kid needs to be signed immediately. There was talk, Jesse, that the kid was ejected from the game. But on the broadcast, they said he was moved to a different seat.

Dan Herron on Twitter said that he was moved to the clubhouse, which I'm hoping that means a deal was eminent because he should absolutely be moved right into a goddamn locker in the clubhouse is what I'm saying. But what, what you were there at this game? What did you see of this ridiculous situation? Yeah, I mean, of course, I'm way up in the press box. So I, it wasn't like I had some like, you're farther away than I was. And I'm at my house. Yeah. If you were watching on TV, you had a much better initial view than I did. But yeah, I think it's important to recognize here that it was not one of those situations where a fan reaches out and simply, you know, puts his glove on top of the player's glove and the ball just falls in

the fans glove and then he pulls it back in classic fan interference. This was fan interference clearly, but it was not that kind of fan interference. This was Spencer Steer robbing a home run in incredible fashion, honestly, an incredible, incredible catch. And the kid basically coming out and saying, no, you didn't. You didn't just rob this home run. And the kid, amazingly, when Spencer Steer has already caught this ball and has already secured it in his glove, the kid somehow finds a way to, I don't know how he did it, Derek. Apparently it was magic.

It was magic. He has incredible hands, incredible strength. He essentially just pulls it right out of Spencer Steer's glove. And honestly, this is a, I mean, Tori Lavello said it after the game. This is going to be a play that's on like all of the, all of the news stations because it was it was that. incredible. We have what Tori LaValle said about this catch. Here's Tori Lavello on this young man catching the ball from Spencer Steer. Yeah, that's probably going to be on every TV station tomorrow morning all night tonight. It was a pretty amazing play. I didn't really see it,

believe it or not, because, you know, it gets a little blurry out there, and there's a lot of traffic, a lot going on. And I was just waiting for Speard, Steer to pull, pull, pull, his glove out and show everybody at the ball and he never did. So I didn't know what happened. So then we go pick up the phone and we get to our team inside here and they told us there's a pretty good chance that's going to be overturned. Hard to explain exactly what happened, but it'll probably get overturned. So then once I saw it, I had the same reaction that every fan had in the stadium that. It was a pretty remarkable play by the kid. It looked like it was in Steers glove and the kid just stole it from him. I don't know how he did it, but he was trying. He bleeds, he bleeds. He bleeds.

Sedona red. I know that that's for sure. Bleeds Sedona Red, let's fucking go, Jesse. I bleed Sedona Red, let's go. The other thing, that I have to say that people have to know, I'm assuming that you could hear this on the broadcast, they probably made some sort of mention on the broadcast. There were very much audible MVP chance for this kid

while it was being, while it was being reviewed. There were MVP chance. everyone in the building of course knew exactly what they were talking about. But yeah, isn't it, isn't it incredible to hear Tori Lavello? Like the first thing he says about this play is that it was an incredible play. And everyone in the room knows he's not talking about Spencer Stier, who legitimately just robbed a home run. He's talking about the child who took that ball out of Spencer Stier's glove.

I, it was incredible. It was honestly one of the most incredible baseball moments that I've ever seen in person. Something we're going to remember for a long, long time. Well, you guys want it. You know you want it. And I think Cole in the comment said, is this the catch two TM? It's absolutely the fucking catch 2.0 TM. Stronger than steer. Stronger than steer, Jesse, this young lad. It's incredible. This kid's my hero. This kid's my hero. By the way, in unrelated news, I guess it is related. But the debacks are now 10 and 6, Jesse, since I shave the purple outside. of my hair. So maybe I get, maybe I get king snake a little bit too. I don't know. I'm just fishing. It is. It is pretty wild that Brandon Fogg got his first career win and he's not

the king snake. Like this is like not that many. I feel like not that many things could have happened that would have caused that. But this child snatching the ball out of Spencer Steers glove, that's one of those things that I mean, that's just that's automatic king snake status. Sometimes stuff happens. Sometimes sometimes, sometimes just like Spencer Steer stealing that home run, sometimes someone comes up and steals what looks like an inevitable, you know, dinger from you. And that's kind of what happened to Brandon Fott. Sorry, maybe next time. Maybe next to win. We'll see what happens. But you can put money on Brandon Fought to win over at the Draft King's Sportsbook app, by the way. It's a great place

for you to make your sporting life even better. But it's not just baseball time. You know what time of year it is. It's fall is right around the corner, even though it doesn't feel like it here in Arizona. But you've waited all year for it. And finally, your time has come. football is back. And if you're an ASU fan like me, look forward to getting your teeth kicked into all these new rivals that we have to look forward to. But there's also traditions, tailgates, and great offers from the Drafking Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can score $200 in bonus bets instantly when they bet just $5 on any college football bet. Kick off the season with Draft King's sportsbook. Just download the app now. And again, use that code of PHMX. You are a new customer. You can score $200 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just $5 on. any college football game only on Draft King's Sportsbook with code P HNX and of course I love betting on college football

Jesse mostly because I know very little about it. So I might as well just be at times gambling on red or black on a roulette wheel, but it still makes it more fun. It makes it a thousand times more fun. So make sure to check out the Draft King Sportsbook app. Gambling

problem. Call 1-800 gambler in New York. Call it 18778-8-N-Y or text-Hope-N-Y. 4-667-9. and West Virginia, visit www. www.1-800 gambler.net. Partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charlestown Races, all games regulated by the West Virginia Lottery. Please play responsibly. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.

Call 888-7-7 or visit cppg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resorts in Kansas, 21 and over in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details and state-specific responsible gambling resources. Bonus bets expire. Seven days after issuance, eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com slash mMA terms.

And also, we thank you guys for being here right now in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Sorry for making you wait so long. As you can see, things were very loud at the stadium for poor Jesse. We had Brandon Fott getting covered with shaving cream and glitter and whatever else they could find. And, you know, a lot of stuff happening. But we appreciate you guys being here. If you haven't subscribed to the channel already, do so now. Sign up for notifications.

That way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. Leave us a thumbs up. appreciate that wonderful feedback. And speaking of feedback, if you're listening on the audio podcasting side, leave us a review there. We love that. And make sure you're subscribed there as well. We can always love to have you guys access us in whatever way.

It makes it easiest for you to listen to the podcast. But most importantly, go over to go phnx.com and sign up for a diehard's membership. If you aren't a diehardt already, you get all sorts of wonderful benefits, including our brand new awesome shirt at the phtnx locker.com, which you can get as your free shirt for signing up for a membership. You can pick any of the shirts or hats over there. You also get 20% off all future purchases. You get membership benefits such as Jesse's newsletter full count

and all the wonderful newsletters from our writers around here. Get access to our members-only Discord lounge, which our friend Chris will tell you is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan, so much more, including benefits from our partners, like a Mountain Mike's gift certificate for $50 upon signing up. You get a Dobson Ranch Ranch card. You get member only discounts with our partners and so much more. So sign up today, become a diehard over at go-Ph-N-X.com.

Jesse, I'm pumped. I'm pumped because it's wild card standings time. And let's take a look at where the Arizona Diamondbacks are on the wildcard standings, baby. Not just the final wild card position, but they leapfrog the Cubs and now have a half a game lead on those cubbies. Look at this. Look at this. This is beautiful. I've looked at it for five hours, Jesse.

It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. How have you been looking at it for five? Like the game wasn't even going. It's a meme. I knew you weren't going to know the meme, but that's fine. It's fine. I take everything literally, Derek. You should know this.

You should know this about me by now. Yeah, this is really remarkable for the debacks, frankly. That, I mean, you know, it was what? Two, three weeks ago we were talking about a baseball team that had fallen to, you know, three and a half games behind the third wild card team with more. multiple teams between them and the third wildcard team. And the Diamondbacks went out and won 11 out of 13 games. I mean, yeah, this was literally like a two-week span.

Diamondbacks have gone out and 11 out of 13. And, you know, they went from 57 and 59 to now 68 and 61. There's still a long way to go. So, you know, I don't know if I would do the victory lap just yet. There's still two more games in this series as well between the debacks and the Reds. But it is remarkable. how quickly this turnaround has happened for this Diamondbacks baseball team. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I was talking about it earlier, but it's incredible that they had essentially their sixth longest losing streak in team history. Oh, hey, there's that. There's that shirt. There's just put the shirt on top of dirt. It was almost on me. Yeah. It's the sixth longest losing streak in franchise history or tied the sixth longest losing streak in franchise history. And then they turn it around and now here they are winning.

six in a row, 11 of their last 13, like this. I mean, and we've even said at times, we don't know who this team is. When they were winning all of those games in May, I mean, even we were like, yeah, we think they have an easy schedule here, but they were fairly impressive on how much they were winning and how they were getting it done at times. Right now, like I've said it earlier. I've said it on previous shows this week. This once again looks like the team that we were kind of always scratching our heads about

how are they getting it done. because again, the bullpen today, not great, tried their best to give up this game. But somehow the Diamondbacks found a way to win. It was one of their best offensive performances of the year. And it took that in order to secure this win. But it just shows how this team right now is able to dig down deep and find a way to overcome some of this adversity like their bullpen being unpredictable. Yeah. And I mean, a huge part of it is that Brandon fought was just way better than Hunter Green tonight, right?

I mean, that's really what, yeah, there you go. Yeah, put the shirt on. I love it. I mean, that was really the, ultimately, that's the reason the Diamondbacks won this baseball game is that Brandon fought was better than Hunter Green. And the D-Back's bullpen wasn't great. The Reds bullpen, which is heavily tacked, wasn't great, just Brett Kennedy. So, yeah, I mean, the fact that Brandon fought has come around now has, I believe a 348 ERA, a 1.04-4 whip in seven starts since returning from Reno. that's a huge development for this Diamondbacks baseball team.

Because not only do you have that one-two punch in Zach Gallin and Merrill Kelly, now you have a third pitcher that you're adding to the mix that's giving you a pretty darn good chance to win every single time he's on the mound, even if he never gets the win until finally getting one today. But yeah. But it gives him a chance to win. That's totally, you nailed it on the head with that one, right? Because even when he goes out there and, I mean, since returning to the starting rotation, and I think he's given up four earned runs the most in one of his starts.

But, you know, I kind of went over his numbers earlier. And he's just been, you know, again, a pitcher that we would have happily traded for, Jesse, at the trade deadline with these numbers. 3.48 ERA, 1.04 whip, 10 walks. He's given up six home runs and seven starts. He has 39 strikeouts. I mean, these are good numbers for a guy that, and that's like, again, and seven starts. So like that's,

uh, I, I feel like his ERA and these numbers for the season don't look great because of his earlier performances, but this, this Brandon fought the Brandon thought that has had some coaching from Brent Strom and has changed the side of the rubber that he's pitching from seems like a completely different pitcher as far as value goes at a major league level.

Yeah, it's funny. You mentioned Brent Strom. We talked to Brent Strom earlier today. And of course, fought was, was one of the primary topics of conversation. Strom, he went on, you know, sort of a long rant about all of the changes that they've made and how, you know, moving from the third base side of the rubber to the first base side of the rubber, what it does for all of his pitches and all these things.

And he finished that comment by saying, yeah, I think Brandon fought is one of the better 0 and 6 with a 6 ERA starting pitchers in baseball. Like I think this guy, essentially what he was saying is I think this guy is way better than what his numbers to date would indicate. And that's abundantly clear at this point. Like you, I mean, even after this start, what is Brandon Fotz, ERA? I think it still might start with a six or maybe high fives at this point. But you know that, I mean, the pitcher that he- 5.91, yeah. 5.91.

Yeah. And we talked with him after the game about, you know, feeling more comfortable, feeling more confident at this level. And he absolutely agreed with that. He feels like he is a different pitcher now than he was, you know, when he first came up. And he talked about some of those, some of those first games up in the big leagues.

kind of sped up on him a little bit. You know, you get in a tough spot and in one of your first few major league starts, it's tough for, you know, 24-year-old up from AAA to adapt and figure things out and stay calm and stay collected in those moments. I think Fought has figured out how to do that. I mean, there was an ugly inning for him in this game.

I believe it was the second inning. He threw 32 pitches in that inning, if I'm not mistaken. That was kind of a disaster. And it looked like you might be seeing fought for, you know, three and a third five runs or, you know, a start that was very much non-ideal. He's able to bounce back. I think he had a streak of 11 in a row that he retired in this game. He's a different pitcher.

He's able to bounce back better now than he was when he first came up. I want to give some love to be calm, see clearly in the chat. They sent some super chats. We always appreciate you doing that. We love you for it. They sent Davies pitches tomorrow, so I'm going to enjoy this. That's, you probably should. but I don't know.

The way the bullpen went might be kind of reminiscent of what we'll see from Davies tomorrow. Who knows? B. Comcy clearly also asked when will Ryan Nelson take the mound again, Moxie? So any idea? Any thoughts on if we'll see Ryan Nelson again at a major league level this year? I kind of have to believe that the answer is yes. I mean, he's been pretty good for the Reno Aces. He's not, I believe he's first eligible to be called back up on the 28th.

You have to with the new rules with the collective bargaining. agreement, you have to give pitchers 15 days before they're eligible to be called back up. So I think that would be the 28th. That day is obviously coming. I have to believe Ryan Nelson is going to see time on this big league roster again before the end of the year. Because frankly, you look at this bullpen right now, you know, you look at Bryce Jarvis, who struggled in this game. You know, there hasn't been a whole lot of swing and miss for him so far in his brief big league

stint. I know it's still very early in his career. Slade Sacconi has pitched well so far, but I don't think he really has, you know, necessarily an established presence on the big league roster just yet. So Ryan Nelson is a guy that, you know, even though it wasn't pretty, you know, before he got sent down and I think there are some pretty significant improvements that have to be made there, he's probably one of the best 13 ditchers that the diamond backs have. And when push comes to shove in a playoff chase, I have to think that that lands it back

on the roster. Maybe it's not as a starter. Maybe it's, you know, in a few-winning role in a bullpen game, you know, maybe it's a a one-inning role out of the bullpen. I really believe personally that he's going to find his way back on the roster before all was set and done. He's only had two starts for Reno, but he has a 3.86 ERA and a 1.029 whip. So he hasn't been bad because that's that's Reno numbers.

Who knows who knows how that converts to major league. But I feel like he's still one of their better options that they have, so we should see him. Do you know how many strikeouts? Do you know how many strikeouts he has in those in those two starts and stuff? that up. I did not. I just shut it down, Jesse. So I just, because I was ready to move on. My timing is always perfect. Your tiny. Tiving is impeccable. But I did want to give a shout out. We talked about him yesterday a little bit, but actually a lot because we love him. But Gabby Moreno behind the plate. We can't say enough about what he has been. We talked about

his defensive run save. But here are his offensive numbers. This doesn't include the excellent night he had for the Diamondbacks tonight. But this is what he has done since recharging. turning from the IL. And this kid just continues to be a godsend for this team. I mean, he was two for four tonight with three runs scored in an RBI. He also had a walk. And, yeah, I mean, these are his numbers. This is, this is, this was a missing component to this team when they were struggling

offensively. Yeah, it's so true. Yeah, I mean, today was, he was two for four. He had a triple as well in this game. He continues to be a huge part of this offense. and you're seeing Tori Lavello lean on him pretty heavily. I don't have the breakdown in front of me right now. But Gabby Moreno started quite a few games since he came back off the injured list.

It's not the 50-50 split that Tori talked about for a while between him and Carson Kelly. This is Gabby Moreno being the clear front line catcher for the Diamondbacks. Jose Herrera, I'm sure you're still going to see him. It wouldn't be good for the Diamondbacks. It would not be wise for the Diamondbacks to have Gabby Moreno start six. games a week behind the plate or anything like that. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see Jose Herrera back in the lineup tomorrow. But yeah, he's been huge.

He's been absolutely huge for the Diamondbacks. I looked it up earlier today. I think you guys might have touched on this on the show yesterday before I joined. Gabby Moreno, when Gabby Moreno is in the starting lineup, the Diamondbacks are 43 and 27. There are 16 games over 500 when Gabby Moreno starts. And when we talk with Brent's mom today, I think we just discussed. games he played in but not necessarily starts but the starts are even more impactful that that margin

is even bigger for him in starting games yeah we talk with with brent strom about gabby as well and his ability to to you know be a game caller and all that stuff and uh brent strom said i believe he's going to be an all-star you know the way that he interacts with pitchers there's still some things to work through but it obviously his arm is incredible he's getting better at framing he's getting better at blocking and you know what he does offensively is just so significantly better than anything the Diamondbacks have gotten from that catching position in a while. I mean, maybe go back to Chris Hyannetta in 2018. You had a really strong offensive season.

Generally, the Debacks haven't gotten much offense there, and it makes a world of difference when they do have that. Since returning to the lineup, he has played in eight out of the Diamondbacks last 10 games. Yeah, that's a lot. More than Tori, I'm sure he wants. to use them for sure. Yeah. Tori has talked about, you know, in a pennant chase, like, you know, you're going to maybe push guys more than, more than he normally would.

Yeah. You brought that up a couple times. Yeah. I don't know if I see the Diamondbacks pushing Gabby too too much. I guess in some ways, you know, him being on the injured list maybe gave him a bit of a breather, you know, not catching, not, you know, putting as much mileage on his legs as he would have if you were in, you know, on the roster the entire time. So in some ways, maybe that allows the debacks to push him a little harder the rest of the way. But at the end of the day, yeah, I don't think you're going to see Gabby start more than about 70% of the Diamondbacks games. It's probably just probably just not a good idea.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, Jesse, but what is it going to take for the Arizona Diamondbacks game or team to play a home game at Chase Field or to get a playoff game at Chase Field? What do we think is going to happen in regards to that? Do we think that the Diamondbacks might possibly weasel their way into that position? Yeah, it's an interest. I was having this conversation with one of the security workers here at Chase Field today. It's not particularly easy the way that things line up with the current setup. You know, being a wildcard team, even having the second wild card spot instead of the third wildcard spot, you'd still be in position to play a three game series on the road and the wild card round.

If the season ended today, the debacks would play the first wildcard team, the Philadelphia Phillies, in the first round of the playoffs. And all three of those games, if they needed three games, would be in Philadelphia. So if you're the second wildcard team or the third wildcard team, it's kind of the two spots the debacks are messing around with right now. It's pretty tough to get a home playoff game, unfortunately, for DeBax fans. You have to find a way to win a three game series on the road. and then at that point once you advance, then you get at least a couple games in your home ballpark at that point.

So yeah, it's probably a little too early to be having these conversations, but something to be aware of for Diamondbacks fans who are getting really amped up about the postseason and what that could look like, something to have kind of on your radar. All I'm saying is they're 34 and 30 away. They're 34 and 30 on the road.

So I'm not that about them being a road team. I feel like at times, I mean, obviously with the ways that gallon pitches at Chase Field, you want a series at Chasefield. You just, you need it home. But it's just like, I don't know. I mean, this team at times plays fairly erratically at home. And, you know, up until this series with the Reds, they were playing 500 ball at home. So, I mean, I don't know how important that is for this team in order for them to have success. But there was, there was a, I mean, I mean, I.

I just want them to make the playoffs. That's all. Just give them a chance. Just let them have a chance, whether it's on the road or away. But that's not very easy because the rest of their season's strength of schedule is fairly difficult with the opponents left. And we've kind of discussed that they only have a couple of series with the Rockies and like the White Sox left that are games you could chalk up as easier opponents. And outside of that, it feels like everybody is an above 500 team that also are playing for the playoffs. themselves. Yeah, if we look at, if we look at these numbers right now, I believe this is updated

as of the end of play today. This is available on tankathon.com. They have a handy page that just keeps track of the remaining strength of schedule, basically just averaging out win percentages for all your opponents for the rest of the year. For the diamond backs right now, they have, let's see. So I'll just sort of go in order. So out of all the teams in contention in the N-O wild card race. The Miami Marlins have by a pretty considerable margin on the hardest schedule. Their opponent win percentage the rest of the way is 528. So they have three games against the Braves, three against the Dodgers, two against the race, seven against the Brewers and three against the Phillies. So Marlins are at the top of that list. After them, it goes down to the Phillies.

Theirs is 509, so quite a bit further down on the list. They have seven games against the Braves remaining. That's pretty tough. Three against the Brewers. Three against the Marlins. after them, the diamondbacks are right there at 506, almost in a tie with the San Francisco Giants at 505. Then it's the Chicago Cubs who are now at 502. So all of these teams in the mix, I guess you could maybe count the Brewers since they're, you know, they're leading the NL Central, but they could theoretically factor into this race at some point.

They're down at 485. So they have a relatively easy schedule compared to the rest of the teams. But yeah, at this point, the debacks are kind of stuck right there. right there in the middle of this group. So, oh, I should also mention the Cincinnati Reds, this team of Diamondbacks are playing right now. They're at 47, so they have a relatively easy schedule, easier than all of these other teams outside of the Milwaukee Brewers.

I wanted to give flowers quickly before we move on to a couple of other players on this Diamondbacks team. Alec Thomas, Jesse, is hitting the ball very hard. Yeah. He was two for five tonight with three runs scored in an RBI. He was active on the base path. And he just, he really, you know, again, we talked about how his defense is so good. He's a gold glove defender out there in center field.

He absolutely deserves, even if he's struggling at the plate, to be on this major league roster just based on the defense. He provides them in the outfield. But now that as bad is starting to come around, it really feels like Alec Thomas is starting to emerge here. Yeah, I mean, frankly, the debacks aren't really ever having him face lefties. So his primary weakness is his kind of glaring weakness is not being exposed. And when you're protecting Alec Thomas from that, he's a pretty darn good baseball player. As you said, one of the best defensive center fielers in all of baseball. I made a couple nice plays in this game as he seems to always do.

And on top of that, the man can rake against righties, especially right now, you know, four line drives in this game all with with good exit philosophy. these like you were saying he's really knocking the ball all over the ballpark right now and and he has I mean he has power like this this kid has a lot of strength in his swing that's that's I think one of the primary reasons why he was a highly touted prospect you know you look at him hit the ball hard today yeah he's got some he's got some serious power some serious strength to drive the ball in there and you know when he's spraying line drives all over like he was today he's a pretty darn good player. I mean, I think on the season, his OPS against Ritey's is well over 800. That's really solid

production. As long as a Ritey's on the mound, Alec Thomas is one of the best players on the field. Today, 91.3 miles per hour off the bat, 98.1 miles per hour off the bat, 103.5 miles per hour off the bat and 104. Those are some hard hit balls. So it's great to see them hitting it. Can people hear the music in the background? Oh, yeah. We're jamming out, Jesse. We're having a great time. We are having a great time. I seriously, when I was like scrambling around the ballpark, trying to find anywhere that wasn't super loud, like I'm telling you, if I was to go out in the normal spot where I do our show, you guys wouldn't be able to hear me. Like, you would not be able to hear my voice at all. We briefly caught you at the beginning of the show. And I, I think I heard how

loud it was. I figured that happened. I considered going on into the, I considered using the staircase, you know, like the staircase. But then I was like, wait, but if the concert ends, then there's going to be like thousands of people using the staircase. It can't just be like set up there. So here we are. I appreciate people bearing with me, even though our audio kind of sucks today. That would have been awesome. Maybe you would have gotten a kiss on the cheek like I did on opening day last year.

That would have been rad. But we talked about Bryce Jarvis and Justin Martinez struggling out of the bullpen and the position they put the Diamondbacks in today. But man, Joe Mantepa, was just he's he's back to being the all star that he was last year before you know that the halfway point he tossed a solid one two three inning for this team and then again once things really got harry jo man or uh uh kevin ginkle was able to come in yeah locked things down for this team and like it almost feels like a joke and i think that's the reason why people get so frustrated with troy lovelo is like okay you let justin martineas like kind of screw around out there long

enough to make this a close game where it had no business being that. And then when Kevin, Kevin Ginkles kind of just like the, I got it. I'll take care of it. And it's like, just put him in in the first place. I know he's had a high usage level, but let's just get this game over with. I understand, though, like you're still trying to develop guys like Justin Martinez. You want to give them reps, especially in a situation where they can't really blow the game, but he kind of almost did. Yeah, I was a little, a little bit confused. with that myself. You know, I understood going to Justin Martinez to start the inning for sure.

You know, you had a six-run lead. You know, if you can avoid using Kevin Ginkle, by all means, do it. But once the bases are loaded with nobody out, you know, on some level, it's like, okay, this is not a game we can afford to let get away from us playing against, you know, playing against Cincinnati Reds. It's a team you're in the thick of this race with, you know, you probably shouldn't be messing around in that situation. I didn't think it was, you know, super egregious necessarily.

letting him stay in the game. He did strike out the next hitter. But yeah, if it were me, I probably wouldn't have, I probably wouldn't have done that. I probably would have gone to Kevin Ginkle immediately after the bases were loaded. You know, maybe, maybe the final score is, you know, 105, 106 or something like that instead of, you know, 108 as we saw. I want to welcome our newest diehard, Kevin Haskey. I hope I'm saying that right. Hey, welcome. Welcome to the family. He said, boom, I'm a new diehard. I know it was that shirt that got. you, pal. Trust me, if I wasn't to die hard already, I'd sign up just to get that shirt myself. So we thank you, and we are thrilled to have you as part of the family. So thanks for,

thanks for joining us over here. Speaking of that, I don't know if you know, Kevin, but I hope you have yourself a great pair of premium polarized shades. If you don't, are friends from Shady Rays as you're back. It's an independent sunglasses company, as all of you know, that makes a premium product for not a premium product price. And of course, they also have the craziest lost and broken replacement plan in all of eyewear. If you lose or break your shady rays, even on day one, they told us they will send you a brand new pair. No questions asked.

No judgment heaped your way. No, no, you know, no guilt. They're not going to guilt you for breaking or losing your sunglasses. They're just going to send you out a brown new pair. And also, if you order yours online or even at their Kearland Commons location, you, we can return them for free and get your money back. Or you can return them for a new pair. within 30 days. Their team always has your back. There's no risk when you shop. And exclusively

for our listeners, Shady Raise is giving out their best deal of the season. Go to Shadyrays.com and use code PHNX for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the Shades rated five stars by over 250,000 people. And also tomorrow, if you guys want to go go watch Zach Davies pitch, which I know you guys all want to do. And more importantly, go out there and get that Corbyn, Carol, Bumblehead. Go to game time. It is the place for last minute tickets. And if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, guess what? We're in last minute ticket territory, essentially. It's that time. So if you have FOMO, if you want to try to go battle it out and be one of the 15,000 people that gets that little Corby and Carol for your shelf,

make sure to check out Game Time. It is the place for last minute ticket deals. It's the fastest growing ticketing app in the country for a reason. And that is because it provides you with the lowest price that you can find on those last minute tickets. Snag the tickets without the stress with game time. Download their app. create an account and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download game time today.

Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Well, we know about the present, Jesse, which is young and exciting, but the future of this team is also pretty young and exciting. And I know a lot of people want to hear about what Drew Jones is up to for the Basilei Rah hide. And let's show you what what Drew Jones is up to for the Basilea Rahide. Damon? Oh yeah. That is his first professional home run, courtesy of the Vasali Rodhide. Jesse, Drew Jones is doing stuff. It might not be great. It's a slow start. He's only played 16 games for Vesalia, and he's slashing 197, 319, 279 with a 598 OPS. But this was the go-ahead home run in this game. So shout out to Drew Jones for that. But what are your thoughts? Are you any concerns there about his early numbers or is this, is this just baseball?

I think there has to be some level of concern. I mean, he was, he was supposed to, I mean, you know, a lot of people viewed him as, as the number one prospect available in the draft, even above Jackson Holiday, who's gone on to do insane things for the Baltimore. I feel like the guy, you know, could be a September call up at this point with how it with the numbers he's put up. I think he's up in AA at this point. But, yeah, I mean, the injury.

are a huge factor here, right? I mean, it was the shoulder last year, of course, the D-BAC's first round pick shoulder curse. Drew Jones is the latest victim. He goes down for the remainder of the season with shoulder surgery, comes into this year. He has a quad injury that kept him out for a while. He had a hamstring injury more recently that kept him out for a while.

So, yeah, I mean, he's just now reaching 100 plate appearances. So the sample size is still very small. He is showing some positive signs. He's strung together a few pretty good games. I believe in his last four. He is five for 16 at the plate with a homer and a double in that stretch. So you're definitely seeing him, you know, start to make some adjustments and start to put up some numbers. But yeah, I mean, obviously a long way to go, right?

He's in low way at this point. And this 20-23 season with the injuries has really impacted his ability to just kind of get in a rhythm. them. So it's nothing that I would be too concerned about at this point because of how small the sample size and because of the impact of those injuries, but the concern level is not zero. Drew Jones should be pretty good against single A pitchers, you would think. He's only just now kind of starting to show that. And I mean, I know obviously the injury slowed him down. And like you said, it's kind of a joke to joke about this whole like first round pick shoulder injury thing. but I mean, obviously everybody heals differently and can take their own time.

So I think the weird part about it is it's baseball. So it's like I want to freak out because it's 16 games and I want to freak out because of how slow his progress has been. But the Diamondbacks were not expecting Drew Jones based on his age and everything that they knew about him, drafting him, to be called up anytime soon. So I get what you're saying. By comparison, it does kind of suck. But like, then I start thinking about that comment.

that Christian Walker made about how you just you can't compare things like that. You can't compare like your performance at this point to this point or anything like that because that's when you really start over overthinking stuff or you really start thinking that you're bad at baseball again and you're not. You're just, you know, sometimes in a slump. Sometimes you're just off to a slow start. But I would say I agree with you when I say my concern level isn't zero. It's just, you know, a small sample size at this point.

It was good to see him finally. hit that home run and finally do something of note for the organization. And hopefully we'll see that continue because the Diamondbacks need it. They need some young guys to get excited about. I know we talked about Jordan Lawler potentially being called up this year. Not sure if that's going to happen, but a guy that who has a good chance to get called back up again, Kyle Lewis, who hit another game winner for the Reno Aces on Wednesday night. And like, Jesse, I'm not, like this seems like the dumbest thing ever to say. But it's just wild how different Kyle Lewis is as a AAA player

versus a major league player. Like, yeah, he's just, he's just like the greatest goddamn hitter on the planet for the Reno Aces and then he comes up here. And with the D-backs, he has a 157-204-255 slash line with a 459 OPS, one home run and 2 RBI in 16 games, which again

is a small sample size. But he's absolutely fucking raking for the Aces. Absolutely raking. 1.1-29 OPS, 16 home run, 62 RBI, 363 average. Like it's wild how much better he is in AAA. Unfortunately, it is kind of a thing, right? Like the quad A baseball player, like the player that just absolutely, you know,

slams the living daylights out of the baseball in AAA and then comes up to the majors and just like can't really handle breaking stuff at the major league level. And that's kind of what we've seen from Kyle Lewis. There's just been a ton of swinging a miss, swing and miss in his game when he's been up here at the major league level. So, yeah, I don't know where the debacks go from here with him, frankly. I'm not really sure if we see him up at the Major League level again this season. They've tried it a number of times.

I know the sample size is still pretty small, but it never really felt like a fluke, frankly. You know, he was just, you was swinging and missing a lot. He was striking out a lot. It wasn't like he was hitting lasers all over the ballpark that were getting caught. So, yeah, it's unfortunate. You know, I mean, it's the comeback story that I think a lot of people, really wanted to see with the potential that Kyle Lewis showcased in Seattle a few years ago, just hasn't really happened so far.

Who would you say would be likely to get called up? Who would you like to see the Diamondbacks maybe add to this roster that you think they could help them win as we get close to the, close to the end of the season here in September? Yeah, I was having a conversation similar to this in the press box. With another security guard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. with Mark in the elevator, right? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, we're going to start a podcast with, you know, or just talk to all of the security guards here on Chase Field about their things on the They're great people, by the way. They are. I love, like, I love so many of the people that work at Chase Field. And I have this, you know, we have this working relationship, but we're, we're just kind of like family. Like, it's this weird thing.

I've been around so many of them for so long. So, but it was, it was funny when you said that earlier, because I was like, yeah, I also have these same conversations with security guards and stuff. Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean, they see like everything. Yeah, they're super knowledgeable. Depending on where they're, depending on where they're stationed around the ballpark,

they might not be able to see it live and in person. But they've got their little TV set up there. And they have seen every minute of every game, every home game, at least the entire season. But yeah, to go back to your question, I think Jake McCarthy, kind of similar to Ryan Nelson, I think Jake McCarthy is a guy that you can pretty confidently say we'll find his way up here at some point.

Just, you know, the base running value that he gives you, the defensive value that he gives you. Unfortunately, hasn't really been able to put it together this year like I'm sure he would have hoped. But, you know, thinking ahead to, you know, the pennant chase and, you know, a possible postseason roster, you want your best 13 position players and your best 13 pitchers. And I have a hard time believing that Jake McCarthy won't make that list when it's all set and done. Maybe he's not a player that Diamondbacks would start a whole ton down the stretch or are in the postseason. But I have to believe that, you know, his value on the base pass, his ability to be an impact pinch runner who can, you know, come into ninth inning in a key situation and steal a base, you know, almost on demand. That, that I feel like has a lot of value.

So he's, he's definitely a guy that would be near the top of the list. Ryan Nelson is certainly in the mix as well. We've talked about Dre Jameson and the fact that the Diamondbacks have not ruled out. uh, Dre Jameson for the 20, 23 season. I'm still a little skeptical that happens, but same.

Who knows? I guess it's possible. Similar story with Tommy Henry, uh, where Tori Lavello is not ruled out him coming, uh, back up to, uh,

to the major league level in the final days of the season. So, um, yeah, I think it's, you know, it's a lot of familiar faces. Plus,

you know, Jordan Lawler is, as we talked about the other day, Blaze Alexander certainly be in the conversation as well. Those are the some of the, some of the names that come to mind for me. And debacks have two more games with the Cincinnati Reds, and then they go on the road to Los Angeles for a series with the Dodgers.

If you want to head out on the road, of course, the best place to stop is Circle K to fill yourself up, fill your car up. They have the best coffee, beer and snack selection, and premium gas. Don't sleep on not only the Circle K branded snacks, but get down on their gas option. You'll save 10 cents per gallon on gas, and they have their inner circle coming soon. So make sure to not miss out on that. That's a great way to save on gas as well as on all sorts of other things at Circle K. Right now you can buy PowerAids four for $5 and you can be entered to be one of 10 finalists to win a to win.

You don't have to fight Sean. I just, since he's not here, if you win, you don't have to fight Sean. So if he if he challenges you do a fight, you don't have to take him up on it. The car is yours, but don't tell him I told you that because he'll be furious with me. Also, you can get buy two get one free monster energy drinks and buy two get one free

beat box hard teas so make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff right now go text PHNX to 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club and get a

buy one get one free offer on 32 ounce polar pops head to circlek.com slash store dash locator to find circle K's near you and of course pick up a lovely four peaks while you're there it is the official beer

of the Arizona Diamondbacks it's the official bear of Derek Montia. Like I said, there's no actual deal in place, but I love myself a good hop-knut IPA and the wonderful selection of beers that they have over there at Four Peaks. So make sure to check them out. If you want to join us at our next takeover event, we will be meeting up at the Four Peaks Draft Room. It's located on the sweet level at Chase Field, and it has all sorts of wonderful beers that you can try out all sorts of wonderful food, and it's a great place to watch the game from. So make sure to join us for that. And of course, check out tickets for our takeover event in our events page.

in our show notes. We have one more coming up here on September 5th, so don't miss out on that. If you haven't come to a takeover yet, I don't know what you're waiting for. It's an absolute blast. Jesse and I will come down there. I will live and die with the team in front of you,

and Jesse will nerd out with you about stats and FIP and stuff like that. So, Joy, we just talk about FIPP in the stands. Just talk about FIP the whole time. Everyone bring your favorite, you know, saver metric stat, and we'll have a great time. The R-A-plus. All right.

But anyway, you can follow Fort Peaks brew or check out their calendar over at 4Peaks.com slash events to stay up to date with everything they have going on. And of course, follow them on social media at 4Peaks Brew at 4Peaks Pub. Keep up with the latest Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. That's all I got, you guys. It's late. We thank you guys so much for hanging with us.

We mostly thank you so much for loving the Arizona Diamondbacks. And of course, once again, this team is a wagon. You can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Damon is here and we are Damon's dogs. And of course, you can follow Damon at Damon Dog. That's DAWG and you got to bark when you do that.

It's customary. You got to do it. But of course, our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs and all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again so much for your time. And remember, kids. Baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you steal a goddamn baseball from Spencer Steer.