PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Brandon Pfaadt shines in crucial Diamondbacks win over the Chicago Cubs

Episode Date: September 16, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks seem to have the Chicago Cubs number lately. Even with Cy Young candidate Justin Steele on the opposing mound, the D-backs did not have any issue at home with their offense. Meanwhile, Brandon Pfaadt was dominant in a short outing where the bullpen may have taken over too early based on how the 9th inning went. We recap the big win, take a look at how the other teams in the Wild Card race fared, and discuss the legacy of Roberto Clemente.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 WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx WIN MONEY THROUGH SPLASH SPORTS: https://www.splashsports.com/phnx 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.

What a win. What a win. Welcome in to the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX. I am joined, of course,

by my vice mayor and your thunderstick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. Welcome in to all of you here tonight. And what a wild win that one was, Jesse. Wilder than it needs to. to be. It was wild. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of how things have been the last few weeks, right? I mean, the Diamondbacks, they just don't win games that aren't close, right? Like, they just don't win six nothing games. That's just not really part of their character. It can't be this big one-sided,

you know, victory where we just get to take the night off emotionally after the Diamondbacks go up. No, no, no. They had to pull us back into it, which you got to admit, it's good drama. It's good TV. It's good TV. As a pro wrestling fan, I appreciate them making me care about a game that at one point I didn't care about anymore because this one was in the deep freeze back when Alec Thomas hit that home run. It was over as far as I was concerned. But these Cubs, they made it very close there in the ninth inning. Yeah, they did. Kyle Nelson continues to struggle in the second half. And Paul Seewald continues to not look very good. And yet still walk off the mountain with a, win, which is something that we've said about, yeah, he's, he's sort of mastered that art. We've seen him, we've seen him do. He only had to get two outs, but I gave up the home run and then, and then was able to get those two outs after that.

But yeah, I mean, still a huge win for the diamond backs, right? I mean, Brandon fought outpitched Justin Steele. I don't think that many people had that on their bingo card. Steele was going to give up six runs when Brandon fought was going to go five and a third scoreless innings. The D-backs offense was, and not, necessarily, you know, consistently on Cubs pitching all night, but they had a couple of beginnings, courtesy of, you know, a pair of three run home runs from Lordus Gurriel and

Analy Thomas that were obviously huge. And as things turned out, Derek, they needed, they needed both of those three run home runs. If it was just Lordus Gurriel with that three run shot, you know, who's to say where we would be right now? So, yeah, just a big day for the offense kind of bouncing back a little bit with some big hits and a huge day for. Brandon Fott stepping up when the diamond backs really needed him to. And of course, we gave, we gave the guys that made this game difficult top billing here when we started talking about this show. But Brandon Fott obviously deserves all of the flowers tonight.

Everything was working for him, including locating his fastball and getting his sweeper sweeping. I didn't update, I don't know if I updated this. I had three whiffs on his fastball and five whiffs on his sweeper. Let me. Yeah, he had four. He had four on the four seamer, two on the sinker and five on the sweeper when it was all set and done. Yeah. I mean, he was, he just had everything working for him tonight.

And I guess the one thing here is his line ended up being that Brandon fought went five in a third innings pitched. Four hits, no runs, one walk, six strikeouts, pulled out of the game by Tori Lovalo with only a pitch count of 73. and I know that's on a lot of people's minds and should be considering the way that this game ended up going and the amount of arms that Tori had to use in order to close this game out. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it had to do with Brandon Fott's numbers the third time through the order. I mean, it's no, I'm sure it's no coincidence that Brandon Fott got Nico Horner, who's single, right, right-handed hitter. And then, you know, once he gets to Ian Hap, who's a switch hitter, but has, you know, is better against right-eaties than. he is against lefties. Then he had Cody Bellinger, who I believe has reverse splits to Zier,

but historically has been better against right-east and lefties. That's the spot where Tori Lavello decided to make a move. And there is some statistical backing to that. I mean, Brandon fought this year. If you look at his numbers as a starter the third time through the order, opposing teams have teed off on Brandon fought in those situations. I believe his opponent's slugging percentage. I don't have it in front of me.

I want to say it was 7.5. I think his opponent OPS the third time around is about 1,200. So, I mean, those are, those are scary numbers, right? I mean, those are really, really big numbers. So I think that's probably where Tori Lavello was coming from. But at the same time, I mean, you know, fought accumulated those numbers in situations where his stuff didn't look like it did today, right?

Where he didn't have the command that he did today. So it still kind of feels like there's a world in which Ulibe, Brandon fought in that spot and he finishes a pretty clean sixth inning and he's able to go out there for the seven. I think that's where I'm at, if I'm being honest. I feel like, yes, there are times where he's gotten rocked, but were those the times where he was dialed in? It's not to say that we've seen him, you know, get those chances very often. It's not like he has been this good in very many other of his other starts, right? So it's like, I don't know.

I do get it, though, because Tori's trying to. manage this to a win and he doesn't want to see him suddenly go sideways on him and this man has been front row for so many of those occasions especially when it involved brandon fought uh the offense did help brandon fought out they definitely gave him a lead early on they also helped zagalan out a little bit in his si young bid by doing all of this against what many consider to be the frontrunner for the n l say young now which is just in uh steel and that that big first inning definitely was unexpected, but it gave Brandon Fought, I think, a nice, nice start, you know, just kind of have that three run lead early on and to be able to,

you know, to pitch confidently with that kind of lead. But a big shout out to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for hitting that home run. He's been fairly good at home. That's his fourth home run in his last seven games at Chase Field. And of course, you know, that was that was enough at the time, seemingly with how Brandon fought was pitching and how some of the bullpen arms pitched. It looked like that was going to be enough to get the Diamondbacks to win. However, Alec Thomas did add to that with his second home run against a lefty this season. And now just the third of his entire career, Jesse. But hey, he picked a great time to do it because the Diamondbacks needed that extra boost,

as we would see later on in this game. Yeah, yeah, they did. And going back to what you said about Justin Steele earlier, I have to be honest and say, I think that the Diamondbacks helped out Blake Snell more than they did Zach Gallen and the Cy Young race. That's absolutely fair. Still think Gallen is pretty far outside this race after, you know, three of his past four outings going going the way they did.

Agreed. But yeah, I mean, to get to Justin Steele that quickly, that early in the game, I think it was, I think it was huge for the Diamondbacks. We saw Corby and Carol lay down a bunch. in that first inning as well, which was another, you know, sort of controversial situation. Yeah, Katel is on to lead off the game. And then Corbynman Bunsen to second with one out. Some people might be wondering, what are you doing, bunting a guy over from first to second

when it's your best hitter at the plate. And it's only the first inning in a scoreless game. It kind of feels like the debacks just really wanted to get a run on the board. Like they really just wanted to shake off whatever happened in New York and try to get off on the right foot and get a run on the board. in the first inning, even if it meant sacrificing a potentially bigger inning. And yeah, I mean, I don't know of that situation necessarily panned out for them the way that they were looking for.

It wasn't an RBI single that scored the run in that first inning. But Lordus Gurriel came through with an enormous hitting. And Christian Walker also set him up, right? It was a runner at second with two outs, or I think maybe a runner had moved to third at that point. And Christian Walker has a nice, patient and bad and is able to draw, walk and then Lordus you know I think it was the first pitch of the at bat he gets exactly what he's looking for it was a a slider down and in you know the honey hole to the right-handed hitter and and Lordus did with that pitch what he's done to some of those types of pitches this year right if you you pitch

inside if you pitch middle in to Lordus Curiel occasionally that's the result it was his 24th homer of the season which is a you know it's a pretty pretty impressive number for him it absolutely is and I mean Christian Walker or just taking a step back to Christian Walker, they talked about him being more patient at the plate, which is something we've discussed. We've kind of seen him go out there at times and not really show a lot of plate. I wouldn't say plate discipline, but like just swinging early, popping up. Or, you know, we even saw him the other day, I think pop out, pop out in a big at bat with a three O count and things like that.

So it's like, it's good to see Christian Walker take the two walks that he did in this game. And coincidentally enough, he did. he did score both of the times that he got on base due to the walk. So it ended up being important that he was a duck on the pond for both Lordus Gurriel Jr. and Alec Thomas. But yeah, Lordus Guriel Jr, I mean, you can't say enough about his production. There's a lot to be said. I think it was your former co-host, Jeff Weiser, who very eloquently discussed it on Twitter about how, you know,

sometimes it's like when the, winds came, you know, like if you were to look at this season at the end of the season, compared to what your expectations were at the beginning of the season, you probably wouldn't have considered this season at all to be a failure. But it's hard not to look at the stretches they had and not be disappointed by the results, considering you know that they were so bad during a stretch in July and part of August that really, you know, sunk them now that these games are so close and that everything between us and the other teams are are so tight, right? But I feel like it's a similar thing with Lourdes. If you look at Lourdes,

Gurriel's overall numbers for the season, you would say that this entire trade and Gabby Moreno with Toronto is a smashing success and that Lourdes has put up some career numbers this season and has continued to just be a big part of this offense. In fact, he's our Kingsnake for tonight because that big three-run, home-run, put the Diamondbacks up early, and definitely was pivotal in tonight's win. Unfortunately, they also did need Alec Thomas's three-run, home-run as well in order to secure this win with the way things went in the ninth inning. Alec Thomas, definitely an honorable mention for Kingsnake

in regards to his contributions. But Gabriel Moreno went three-for-three against Justin Steele and went four-for-four overall in tonight's game. He was definitely missed when he was out on paternity leave. And now that he's back, the Diamondbacks instantly are scoring offense. He didn't have a big part in the run scoring tonight, but he was still four for four. And, you know, continues just to be an incredible hitter for this team. Yeah, I tweeted it out.

Gabby Moreno against lefties this season is now hitting 361 with a 557 slugging percentage. That'll play. He's, I mean, he's frankly been one of the, one of the best hitters in baseball against lefties this season. Numbers against righties have also picked up quite a bit as well. I think his OPS there, though, is still below 700. He's done a lot of his damage this year against lefties. And yeah, I mean, he had a four-hit day altogether.

I believe it was the first four-hit day of Gabby Moreno's career. And he just continues to look like a different hitter since coming back from his injury about a month ago now. he is hitting 329, 384, 582. That's his slash line since coming off the injured list with that shoulder injury on August 13. That's an 86 plate appearances, I believe. So, yeah, I mean, if Gabby Moreno has power, that's a really big development. You know, I mean, it's one thing to be a 270, 280, 280 hitter, you know, where it's mostly singles.

It's another thing to do what Gabby Moreno has done over the last month, which is basically slug 600. You know, if this, if this trend continues, that's a, that's a very big development for, for Moreno and the diamond backs. Carlos said there in the chat, Gabby's got that dad strength now. The league ain't ready. Exactly. Exactly.

There's another level of patience that comes with being a parent. And I think that's going to transfer right over to the batters box. But let's also give credit where credit is due to the parts of the bullpen that worked. Saul Frank was excellent. once again. Ryan Thompson has still not allowed a run as a member of the Arizona Diamondback. This is he's barely a lot of hit. He is a lot of hit. He is a one hit, one hit. That's it. He is just allowed one hit since becoming an Arizona Diamondback. It's wild to me, right? Because this man was not this good with Tampa. And yet he comes over.

This is like one of those like clean slate change of scenery kind of situations. I feel like he knows what he is because his numbers aren't flashy. What's flashy is the lack of anything happening, right? Like he goes out there and gets ground balls and gets the job done. He gets popouts, whatever. Like he gets he gets the job done. He doesn't have a lot of strikeouts, doesn't have a lot of anything like that. But he also has not given up a lot of hits. He's given up the one hit. He has worked five. And wait, now it would be six and two thirds innings pitch. And I mean, he just, I don't know, he just continues to be incredible since he became part of this organization.

Yeah, it still blows my mind that Andrew Saul-Frank was a minor leaguer until, I believe it was September 4th, I want to say, today was called up, which is 11 days ago, as we record right now. And then Ryan Thompson, I mean, he was let go by the Tampa Bay race. The Diamondbacks picked him up. They sent him to Reno. So he was in AAA as of just a few weeks ago as well. and these guys have come up to the majors and had some early success. And with the state of this Diamondbacks bullpen,

you're out a lot four or five good outings, man, you're pitching in the seventh inning in a high leverage situation because that's just the way that things go right now with the back end of this debacks bullpen. They need that kind of stability, and they've found it with those two guys so far. I'm going to defend for a moment here,

uh, Ryan Thompson's season, just because I'm looking back at his numbers. and I wanted to see where things went wrong. Jesse, through May 6th, he had a 1.80 ERA. Through May 7th, he had a 2.45. Then you have a bad outing here where he gives up in one and two-thirds innings, three hits, five earn runs.

Since that bad outing, he has given up three, four earned runs since May 13th at a major league level. Like you said, he did spend some time in July. and most of July and August, or excuse me, most of June July and August, not pitching at a major league level. But man, let me tell you, it's like there wasn't,

it's not a big sample size for his lack of success. It's almost just one really bad outing, considering he's a reliever, like screwed up his entire season. It almost feels like, I mean, he only has two games this year, strike that three games. this year where he's given up two earn runs.

So I mean like, you know, when you're a reliever, that's all it takes really to make your numbers look absolutely atrocious, I guess. I don't know. But well, I mean, when you when you pitch for the Tampa Bay raise, right? And especially at that time, I mean, the Tampa Bay raise were just on a completely different level than basically the rest of the league for a while there. The bar is is set pretty high, right? I mean, Ryan Thompson just two years ago at a two, three eight ERA was a pretty big part

of that raised bullpen last year, not quite as good. he still had a 380 ERA. And to your point, you look at his numbers. I mean, the man has given up 15 hits in 24 in a third innings, combining his numbers in Tampa with his numbers in Arizona. Opposing hitters are hitting 174 off him. And he has a whip of 0.90. I mean, there are some numbers here that are actually the best of his career,

not the worst. So, yeah, I mean, I think it was a great pickup by the Diamondbacks. They signed him to a minor league deal three days after the Tampa Bay. they raised DFA at him. And I think it was, you know, sort of an incentive, probably some incentives in the contract, but basically a deal where if the D-backs didn't call him up to the majors as of a certain date, then Thompson would have had the ability to walk and go elsewhere. But the Diamondbacks did call up Thompson to the majors by that specific date.

And he has been lights out ever since. And we should all be glad they did. Another guy that's been lights out is Kevin Ginkle. He tossed another scoreless inning and continues to lower his ER. this man another I guess you could say another almost mistake you know the way that he was once cast off and set down to AAA but currently has a 2.23 ERA this season Jesse and like I don't know there's there's few there's the new guys that have been impressing me self-rank you know Thompson but Kevin Gingle just feels like the security blanket he's just it's just warm it's got the good edge

you know, the nice velvety edge of a blanket that's like just a quality, you know, blanket. But I just, Kevin Ginkle's just been incredibly good as a reliever for this team. The Diamondbacks, frankly, only have one reliever who has been consistently good the entire season. And it's Kevin Ginkle. And I don't think there's anyone else that even remotely belongs in that conversation, frankly. Paul Seawald has only been here for a portion of the year. And, you know, he's gotten the job done. But as we talked about earlier, he's been pretty shaky.

other relievers have had their moments. Scott McGuff was really good for about a month. Kyle Nelson was really good in the first half. Andrew Chaffin early in the season had a nice run. Even Miguel Castro was getting some big high leverage outs early in the season. But there's only one guy who has been consistently good just the entire way, even though he was sent down to Reno, right? Back in June for a span of a couple of weeks, the Diamondback's best reliever by far

pitched in AAA for a portion of this season. but he just continues to be a staple at the back end for this team. Brandon has the right idea here, Jesse. He says, Ginkle Thompson, I legitimately trust Saul, Frank, Seewald, and Zavala. I'm close to trust. Zabala should absolutely be in there as one of your most trusted. Yeah, so it induced some weed contact the other night, Derek. You have to, you have to let you.

There's not much swing and miss there, but, you know, he's got the job done, Jesse. You got the job done. The numbers aren't sexy, just like Ryan Thompson's, but he got the job done. Well, you guys are hilarious, and we appreciate you guys for being here in the PHANXports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live. Leave us a thumbs up.

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to travel around the country to do his amazing videos at football tailgates all around the nation. This is incredible. It's what Shane was born to do. Allegedly. We don't know. We don't know where Shane is. No, you're right. You don't know what Shane is actually doing right now.

You are right. I'm not going to ask any questions about that, but I don't know if he's actually involved in the production of any of these videos that we end up seeing. Right? Like, who's the man behind the camera? It could be anybody. allegedly. You're right. I don't know why I believe these things. This is why Jesse is our journalist. I'm too gullible. I'm too naive. I just believe anything. I just go with the flow too

much. But I will tell you this. I know at least movies and television shows, which Jesse absolutely knows none of those things. So depending on what your necessities are, we hope to meet all of your needs for entertainment and journalism, I guess. But another source of trying to meet all of your needs for all that stuff is Fubo TV. It's got 140 live channels of sports shows, movies, and news, and you can stream Fubo TV from any device. You can watch the most Arizona sports for the lowest price. No contract, no cable, no sign up. None of that stuff. You just, you're no hassle. You do have to sign up. But once you sign up, you can start watching immediately with a thousand hours of cloud DVR storage included and no extra charge. So make sure to not miss out on all that stuff I talked about

earlier that's coming up here right around that corner don't miss out on football they have the red zone over there red zone's the best thing to watch football and we've all agreed about that but uh watch all of your favorite college football and the NFL with fubo go to fubot tv.com slash p hnx to sign up for 15% off your first month of fubo pro today in baseball was roberto clemente day around baseball or jessey as i like to call it the reason why i knew baseball existed as a small child because I'm Oregon. And Roberto Clemente is, like, I can't stress enough how big of a hero Roberto Clemente is. Like more than like politicians on the island, more than like, you know, I mean, the most famous of famous people.

I mean, I mean, this is how famous Roberto Clemente is. He is one of 10 people that are an actual, like, official national hero of the island. And the other nine are all people that were involved in like, politics. and the like crew like the freedom like like freeing the people on the island like bigger things as far as like the the island went and and and being what they are today uh and roberto clemente he was just a 15 time all star that's all he was but the man was just he was such an amazing person and such an amazing like part of baseball it's just crazy to think that like he he died in a plane crash on new year's eve trying to deliver aid to people uh who needed it you know like that's such a i mean that's that's the reason why he's beloved and that's the reason why he's considered to be the hero he was he was always trying to he was always involved in charity work and delivering aid to like latin american countries and Caribbean countries and things like that but it's just wild to really think about like you know the the nl MVP the

the 1971 world series MVP also jumping on a plane like two years after he won a world series and was the MVP and going to deliver aid himself. Like, like, what a selfless act of being so directly involved in trying to positively impact the lives of others of people that need help? You know what I mean? Like,

that's just why he's such a, such a big part of this game and why he, you know, he's honored the way he is to this day. But, yeah, I mean, um,

like he's beloved in a way that I honestly did not understand myself until I got old enough to understand the impact that he truly at right because like i just i just always want to know why we had all this pittsburgh pirates stuff in my house that's why i like that that was my main question like we we were not pittsburgh pirates fans why do we have all of this stuff in my house then that's pretty much until i was like about eight or nine did i really start to you know uh not question why all that stuff was around and that it was more about just one person but um yeah you had a decent uh he had a decent baseball career, Derek. He did. He did. He had 3.351 in 1969. He had 357 in 1967. He led the league in

batting average four separate times. He had a 317 career batting average, which is really just insane. I mean, something just doesn't really happen anymore at this point. You know, 240 career home runs, just an incredible all-around players. You said, a 15-time All-Star. That seems decent almost 100 wins above replacement in his career according to baseball reference so yeah he did you know he did some cool things you know for some people he did he did but he also did some cool things in baseball too just just the kind of guy that you know i mean everyone obviously um he was just an incredible example of what it looks like to not only be an incredible pro athlete but also to you know give back to your community and you know it's something that a lot of players now are

kind of looking back on his example and try i don't know if anyone is really doing quite what roperto cleventi did but you know trying to get back in in whatever way they can and i mean if they did basis like i don't know if anybody would let a player directly be so involved in yeah there would be some serious uh he's going himself with like you know with with the stuff and and just everything that ended up causing his death due to that that particular flight that he was on right but But also, like, I grew up in a world where I didn't, I couldn't imagine a lot of things that I read about in history books, including losing someone that was as important to the game of baseball as Roberta Clemente due to something like this until what we went through with like Kobe. And I felt like even though Kobe wasn't on like a humanitarian thing or whatever, Kobe was just like a beloved athlete that was one of the best to ever play his game. and like just just to lose him so tragically like it was the one time it was where I could finally

be like my god this like I didn't have anything ever to compare it to but like that's the closest thing I can imagine and I know like at the time it was you know an absolute tragedy you know in the sports world much like what we went through with Kobe Bryant so like it's just it's just something that's hard to imagine especially considering like I said that the man it happened what, like a year and a half after he was the World Series MVP in 1971. Like, it's just crazy. But absolutely tremendous person and like absolutely, you know, definitely should be somebody that's honored the way the baseball honors him.

And they do have the Roberto Clemente Award, which Nick Ahmed, I think someone's bringing up is somebody that people, the Diamondbacks nominated and absolutely somebody that deserves, you know, the nomination. He is an incredible person when it comes to giving back his community and just everything else he's involved with. But, I mean, this is, this was a day that definitely was an important day for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Roberto Clemente Day. When you look around baseball, we take a look at the scoreboards.

Things didn't really go their way as far as the other scores for the teams that are also in this wildcard race. The only thing, I think, really the only ball that bounced their way. was maybe in that Colorado game. That was such a wild game going there into, I think the eighth inning, or was it the eighth or the ninth, the Colorado Rockies through eight.

They had a no-hitter going on. And then the Giants busted that up in the ninth. Yeah. It was such a hilarious game. I think both of us were kind of like watching it on the side as the Diamondbacks game was going on. Yeah, I mean the Rockies had a combined no-heaval. hitter going through eight innings, but they were also down one to nothing heading into the

bottom of the eighth inning. They hadn't scored themselves. Logan Webb was on the mound for the Giants. Of course, he's one of the one of the best starters in the national league. Chase Anderson started this game for the Colorado Rockies, who of course, Diamondbacks legend, right? Chase Anderson, former Diamondback. Chase Anderson came in with, I think basically the highest ERA of any starter who had thrown like 70 or more innings or something this season. Like he had done. not been a good pitcher for the Rockies coming into this game. But, you know, this is sort of the, the, you can't predict baseball moments, right? Where Chase Anderson goes out there and dominates and the Rockies, you know, relievers were, we're kind of doing the same thing. And then, yeah,

the Rockies were able to tie it up at one in the bottom half of the eighth inning. They were trailing one to another. They tied up at one. And then heading to the ninth, they still have the no hitter going. That no hitter was broken. I think it was J.D. Davis, I want to say, who broke that. And then, yeah, from there, the Giants, you know, took a lead. They had a 2-1 lead in the top of the 9th. And then courtesy of a throwing air in the bottom half of the 9th inning, the Rockies ys were able to walk it off.

So just a crazy game all the way around. Welcome in AZ Sports Girl 224. You're late. I will be marking that on your record, by the way, but goodness do you. Gabriel Ferrer makes a great point. He says the new wildcard format is saving baseball. There's over 10 teams whose fate is not determined at this point in the season. Lots of teams are a good, bad week away from winning, losing everything.

And that is such a great point. So it's making it so much fun to watch this. And honestly, there aren't a lot of games left. And it feels once again like every single series, every single game is a playoff series. Let's take a look at that scoreboard real quick once again, just because I wanted to get the scores for the audio listeners out there. The Atlanta Braves lost to the Miami Marlins, for some inexplicable reason by a score six to nine.

The Mets went right back to being who we thought they were. They lose to the Cincinnati Reds five to three. So, of course, there's two teams that we needed to lose that didn't. Milwaukee wins, so they maintain their lead or extended, I guess. you could say on Chicago Cubs after they lose five to three. They beat the Washington Nationals. Phillies beat St. Louis five to four. And again, the Colorado Rockies when that came three to two.

So yeah, let's take a look how this impacts the wild card standings because it absolutely does for the debacks. Once again, here we are back in this, in this weird, in this weird. Okay, now there's a completely reshuffle of the same teams in there in just different spots. the Reds and Diamondbacks are tied at 77 and 72. Of course, the Reds hold the tie breaker over the debacks, should they tie, end up tied at the end of the season. The Marlins are a half game back, and the Giants now one full game back.

But this list is getting a little bit, it's getting a little bit slimmer. It's getting a little bit slimmer. There's definitely a lot. I mean, they're not eliminated yet, but there's a lot of teams that there is some distance between them, and they probably won't be able to make up any ground to get back into this. So these teams are the ones we will be fighting with to the end, And of course, after the Diamondbacks have this series with the Cubs,

they go on to a pivotal two-game series with the San Francisco Giants. I think at this point, the ship is basically sailed for the Cubs to catch the Brewers. I want to say it's five and a half games at this point, that the Cubs trail the Brewers and the Central. So, I mean, five and a half games with, you know, what, 13, 14 games to go. We did that to them. We ruined that for them. Yeah, and the Rockies, right?

They just lost two out of the Cubs just lost two out of three to the Rockies before coming to Arizona. So yeah, I mean, the Cubs are still, I mean, they're, they're not safe, right? I mean, after the way that they've played over the last week, they lost three out of four to the Diamondbacks, two out of three to the Rockies. So the first game here against the D-backs in this series, I mean, because of this stretch, suddenly the Cubs are not, not as safe as we might have thought they were, you know, last week at this time. So they're only a game and a half at this point ahead of the Diamondbacks, ahead of the Cincinnati Reds. The other big takeaway from today is, the Diamondbacks do now have the tiebreaker with the Chicago Cubs.

So if somehow, some way that, you know, were to come down to the D-backs and the Cubs having the exact same record at the end of the season, that is possibly the one tiebreaker that the D-Backs would win. They've already lost the tie-breaker to the Reds, already lost the tie-breaker with the Marlins. Currently not in good position with the Giants. They would have to win both games in that series next week in order to flip that tie-breaker in their favor.

but yeah, that is a, you know, it really could come into play. I mean, it felt like the Cubs and the Phillies were sort of doing their own thing at the top of this wildcard race, but the Cubs have fallen quite a bit here over the last few days. Yeah, well, I mean, we need anything we can get. And of course, that's why this was so important. I didn't expect the Diamondbacks to do this to the Cubs. And at this point, obviously, they still haven't won this series yet. But should they win this series, I think that this was actually quite impressive.

And I know what happened in New York happen. I can't explain how the Diamondbacks still just can't figure out the Mets. But I kind of overlook the Mets, which maybe that was the problem. I was really concerned about these two series with the Cubs. I just didn't know that it would come down to potentially helping the Diamondbacks maybe slide into that second position, or at least just secure one of the two positions, you know, them and the Reds might take over. and the Cubs fall out of things. So it'll be interesting how this plays out.

And I know I've said that probably one million times on this show, but it really is. It's so much fun. It will be interesting. It will be interesting. But it's just like, I don't know. I mean, baseball tends to be one of those sports that the division leaders run away with it. The wild card teams are usually pretty damn good. So like maybe maybe in the past I remember, you know, an occasion or two where there was a fight for the wild card.

spots or whatever, but this is just felt different. And I think this is much like the pitch clock in tonight's game, almost being this close to being a, you know, a two-hour game. It's, these are things that are making baseball more fun to watch. And I think it is going to be the kind of thing that brings brings more viewers in, which is essentially the goal with everything they're trying to do with, with this type of stuff. Yeah, to the earlier point of, you know, this, this wildcard format saving baseball. I, I definitely see, uh, I, I definitely see, uh, I, definitely see what we're coming from on that. I mean, yeah, the Diamondbacks wouldn't. I mean, I guess they still would, right? If we had two wildcard spots, the Diamondbacks are just talking about

close there to the Cubs. This nationally race is crazy enough that a lot of these teams would still be involved in the race. I'm not sure if I, if I love the addition of the third wild card in both leagues. I still think 12 playoff teams out of 30, you know, in a sport like baseball where there's just so much volatility and you know teams in the playoffs can can so easily just have a bad few games and lose to teams that are far far inferior to them um so i i still honestly don't love it but i understand where people are coming from that's all sports man and i mean you're giving people a series like i get what you're saying though like especially in the ballroom baseball is different baseball is different like in the NBA as much as i think it's stupid to basically have 20 playoff teams at this point which is

basically what the NBA has. Like the one or two seat in the NBA just isn't going to lose like the eight or nine seat or whatever. I know there are some examples, but extraordinarily rare. In baseball, that can really happen, right? Like the Braves could drop a series to, you know, if, I don't know, some team like the Padres. Like the Padres, like the Padres, like the Padres, we're in the playoffs and the Brits played the Padres.

Obviously, it's not going to happen this year. But would it be impossible for the Padres to win a seven game series or a five game series over the Braves? absolutely it would be possible, right? I mean, that's, that's just, that's just the nature of, of the sport compared to others. So I, I still don't love it, but, yeah, I know people are saying I'm no fun, but that's, that's my, I'm just letting you cook. Just go ahead. Just talk your talk, bad.

Just talk in, in, I will say, like I, like I said before, though, if the third wildcard spot didn't exist, the diamond back stuff still have something to play for right now. That's, right? The Marlins still have something to play for. So with all these. giants all of these teams still have something to play for it very true very very true well uh i'll tell you you have something to play for and that is the fact the diamond backs love some home games that you can attend you can show up you can root this team on they definitely need your support they need you to come out and a great way to get your tickets to that is by going through game time again it'll game

time allows you to wait until the last minute and get the best deals on last minute tickets uh and then that way you know if you have the ability to go you know if you're free that day you You don't have to try to plan things out or move things around. You can just grab tickets to a baseball game and go because there aren't a lot of baseball games left. There are two more games in this Cub series. There are two more games against the Giants. And then there are three more games against the Astros. And that is it, folks.

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I know Brian's been on our show and our chat before. And of course, we always love when you guys finally just join us. Just do it. I mean, you know, it's pace for yourself. Brian. Finally. What were you waiting for so long, Brian? No, diehard membership actually is a great value.

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Become a diehard today. And yes, Arizona Sports Girl, you will absolutely have to become a diehard. So join us over here immediately. There were some pre-game takeaways, including a not-so-gris. update about our pal dray jameson which puts fire in my blood jesse i don't like to hear negative things coming out about dray jameson and his rehab so what's going on there yeah it sounds like jameson has basically been shut down uh troy levello said that his progress has been stopped and pulled back those were his exact words uh dray jameson apparently experienced some arm tenderness uh as how how it was described

So Tori said there had been some sort of imaging done, but he didn't know the results of that as of yet. So hopefully we'll get some more information on that. But Tori didn't say this, Derek, but I feel pretty safe saying that Tray Jameson's season is probably over at this point. It already seemed pretty unlikely for him to be able to find his way back. Now, if they're shutting him down, if he's not throwing anymore, it's hard to see how he could pull it together in, you know, in basically two weeks. It's all we have left at this point. I know you have no way of knowing this. I know this would be pure speculation,

but do you think that this is a bad sign that maybe he might end up needing surgery that he was trying to avoid? Or do you think this is just potentially trying to let him rest and, again, not have any more stress put on that arm? Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, if they did imaging, then, you know, obviously, it's to the point where they want to they want to check and make sure they know what's going on in there I can't say anything for sure but the debacks sounded pretty confident in in the last few weeks

at least the dray would be able to avoid Tommy john surgery tory has said that he was he's more confident than he was when when dray initially made that decision and decided to go that direction i'm not for how much this situation changes that if it changes that at all um but yeah i mean it's ever good. You know, I mean, if you're, if you're experiencing, tenderness is basically a code word for pain, right? And yeah, that's just, that that's obviously not a good sign. So we'll, we'll see where it goes. And, you know, hopefully for Dre, he's, he's able to avoid that. I am no doctor. I am no medical professional. But the way I've kind of felt is kind of, I guess, how Elise put it here in the comment, She said he just needs to get the Tommy John instead of delaying the inevitable and wasting three more months.

The non-surgery approach doesn't normally work. That's kind of, that was my first reaction when I heard that he wasn't going to have the surgery. But that's only because we're so conditioned to hearing, like you said, the code words that we hear about a pitcher specifically and where those where those ailments are occurring. And usually we instantly know that that means that there's. a good chance this could result in Tommy John surgery or, you know, you know, or at least being shut down for a significant period of time. That's what we're seeing now out of Drey, the shutdown. But let's, let's hope that he doesn't need the surgery because that would be a tremendous amount of time lost on top of the time he's already lost. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the timing is really

what's important, you know, to this point, they haven't really lost anything because they knew that, you know, if Dre had had Tommy John surgery two months ago, he wasn't going to pitch next year almost certainly. Right, right. And, you know, if he has Tommy John surgery in or, you know, in the next month, he's also not going to pitch next year, but theoretically would still be okay for the year after. So, yeah, so you just have to hope that this isn't a situation where, you know,

he continues to just kind of work through it for now and come into next season. And then he later finds out that he actually needs surgery. and then you're talking about, you know, potentially cutting into his 2024 season as well, or is 2025 season as well. My gosh, next year's 2024. We're like four months away from 2024. That's terrifying.

I know. I'm well aware of that. Time just flies by me, Jesse, at this age. It's just 2019, 2022, 2022, 24. That's where I'm at now. I don't even know anymore. But, oh, man, yeah, like this is, this is not great. but we absolutely wish Dre the best and we hope to hear the best when it comes to his rehabilitation.

But Tori also had a fairly strong message for his players today. And I don't think that it's nothing. I don't think it's anything you wouldn't expect a coach to say. But I mean, it was the kind of thing that puts fire in your blood. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to run through a goddamn brick wall for Tori Lovolo. and that was that he said this, give me everything you got for 14 days, give me your best 14 and do it for me.

Do it for the coaches that are there training you and talking to you. Do it for your brother that is sitting next to you. You just have to hope that he didn't, he said 14 games, not 14 days because the debacks actually have 16 days left in the season. So, you know, if they're great for 14 days, Derek, but they're really not for those lines. Get out.

Get out. know why. David, make him leave the fucking thing now. I'll do the rest of the show by myself. Here I was being inspirational. And you're going to shut me down in that moment. You're going to shut me down when I'm getting ready to get fired up. Jesse.

Oh my God. What's wrong with you? Just saying those, those details, those details matter. You're lucky we're not in the studio together. Oh, man. Everybody's attacking you. And they should in the chat. But yeah, no, I mean, yeah, at least.

give me 14 out of the next 16 days. Give me the best that you got in those. I mean, if they win all 14, then yeah, they probably could take, or if they, if they win every game for the next 14 days, they probably could take those last two days off. So maybe that's what Tori was, maybe that's what Tori was getting at. Yeah. He's, they're one and oh. So it's worked so far. It's worked so far.

It was an exciting one. It got thrilling, but it was there's still want to know. So all right. Well, we will, we got an exciting announcement. I think we've been meaning to announce this all week long, and I'm just, again, you guys are all calling me old. This backs that up. It tracks.

Yeah, there it is. Eric is old. Thanks. Damon? Son of a bitch. Damon likes to hide under the PhD. I know. What a coward.

He's an absolute coward. It's like an innocent folks person for the company. We're going to have a special episode on Sunday because the Diamondbacks have been moved into the ESPN Sunday night baseball slot. Their game time was changed, I believe, from 110 to 410. And we will be here covering it postgame. So make sure to join us for a very special postgame show on Sunday, starting after the game wraps up, going 10 minutes, live 10 minutes after the final out.

And I don't know where Jesse will be. He'll be somewhere in the stadium. I'll make sure to grab them and find him somewhere. But I think we're going to be in studio. So join me and Sean there in studio. and Jesse will come to us live somewhere from the stadium. But we're very excited for this series because obviously this is a very important series. And yeah, I know.

I know it's a football Sunday, but we don't have a lot of these left. There's not a lot of regular season games left. So make sure to join us 10 minutes after the final out. Yes, Sunday night podcast. Let's go. Also, make sure to fuel yourself up at Circle K. It's America's Thirst Stop. They have a brand new membership program.

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It's good for wins. It's good for any occasion. You can get your Four Peaks at CircleK or anywhere you get your beer. It is the official craft beer of the Arizona Dimebacks. Of course, you can get it at Chase Field up there at the Four Peaks. draft room or all around Chase Field. And it is pumpkin porter season. So do not miss out on the pumpkin porter back on shelves and in draft lines throughout

the valley right now. So don't miss that. Visit 4Peaks.com slash locator to find all of your favorite brewery tours and events. Steinholding, win yourself some stuff. Go out there and show those guns off. October Fest, which is always a good time to drink some beers. And of course, the haunted brewery tours, which exposes the fact that ghosts make their beer over at Four Peaks. It's a whole thing they have going on that I only want to get into.

But all of that's right around the corner. So check out at Four Peaks Brew at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks. Please drink responsibly. And I guess you have to be a ghost to be a brewer over there. I don't know how that whole thing works. But we are going to get out of here. We thank you guys for being here on a Friday night with us. We thank the Arizona Diamondbacks for holding on to a very close victory. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kapp, Cade Man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman.

Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. I'm not going to miss Damon because he'll shout at me from the PHNX sports account in here. We are Damon's dogs. And you can follow Damon at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. Drop a like. There we go. Get that guy back up there.

Jesse, get out of the way again. Anyway, you can follow our show at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys again so much for stopping by. And again, we will see you guys on Sunday. In the meantime, we thank you for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when your bullpen doesn't always make it exciting.