PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Bryce Harper and the Phillies dominated Lance McCullers and the Astros. Is the series already over?

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

The Philadelphia Phillies came out swinging in game three and dominated Lance McCullers Jr and the Houston Astros. We are also discussing Christian Walker winning his first Gold Glove as well as the players who were snubbed.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: We are teaming up with Four Peaks to host all US and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, and more while watching on their 22’ jumbo screen. Click here to register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/phnx-2022-world-cup-watch-parties-1329339Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: use code “PHNXSPORTS” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Liquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. 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.

Good morning and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Why is Vodges already disappointed, didn't me? He has such a judgmental look on it. Derek, I've just had this built up in my head this entire time that you made the thumbnail loud noises so that you would start the show by screaming loud noises like the movie. and that's just such a missed opportunity. Is it or is he just like, Jesse doesn't like predictability, right? You got to know, that's the thing, is you don't know when that's coming, and it'll come at any time.

And of course, Fodge is not allowed on the show for the rest of the show now. So, of course, we thank you guys for being here. I am your mayor, P.HNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. This is your vice mayor, occasionally known as Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Lance McCullors, huh, Derek? Not a good day for Lance McAulers. Not a great day for freezing cold takes. from yesterday's show about Lance McCullors dominating potentially against the Phillies.

That did not happen. Definitely might have been tipping his pitches as well. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sportsbook app. Charles Woodall Pike is about to say no Faw, and then I cut him off. Everybody's saying hi to Faw. I don't know why that's a thing. But of course, yes, we are here with Father Overlord Jacob, Jesse and myself.

What a game that was for the Phillies. The Phillies dominated in a way that I don't think anybody really expected to. We knew that playing at home it was going to be something else. The crowd was electric. The mood. The feeling was electric. And Bryce Harper did not wait too long to pick up something on Lance McCuller's Jr. Not only did he pick up on something, but in one of the most beautiful moments in television history.

Yeah, it really was. As far as sports goes, as far as baseball goes, John Smoltz just absolutely choreographed. We were about to see like he had the script in hand talking about it was Bryce Harper coming up to the plate that Bryce Harper is an early swinger, that he's going to be looking for a breaking ball. Lance McCullers throws a lot of breaking balls. Basically said he should probably try to fool him here with a fastball, try to get one past him early because if he doesn't, loud noises, loud noises! And that's exactly what happened. And not only that, not only did Bryce Harper hit that two-run dinger, that that alone was enough for the Phillies.

pitching staff to get past. But he definitely picked something up and was sharing it with his teammates, almost immediately, calling Alec Baum over while he was in the on-deck circle to share whatever piece of information it was. And a lot of people were hypothesizing that it was McCullors tipping his pitches.

There's been some breakdowns online that kind of talked about it. And Jesse, what were your thoughts on McCullors and his disastrous night, historically disastrous night? Yeah. So first of all, Lance McCullors, Colors was the first pitcher in MLB postseason history to allow five home runs in a game. He was also the first like to give up three home runs in the first three innings or something like that.

Probably. Just make a dubious history as he went along. And I think in some ways that says less about Lance McCollers than it does about Dusty Baker, who after home run number four was still like, I think he's got this. You know, I think he's going to bounce back and figure this out when clearly Lance McCollers was not effective. My favorite tweet was, were we going to see the first time in World Series history where the manager is replaced in the middle of a game? Like the manager was just going to be fired and replaced by an interim manager. Not with Dusty Baker. Yeah, not with Dusty Baker.

But as far as tipping goes, Jacob, do we have these, do we have these screenshots in here? So there's two screenshots. Let's say which one do you want? I mean, I don't really just, yeah, just give me one and then we'll look at the other one. So stop being difficult, Jacob. So here is a screenshot of what a lot of people thought revealed that Lance McCullors was tipping his pitches. I'm going to look really close to the screen because I'm blind and can't see right now. But now I can see.

Everybody's focusing in there on the leg kick basically and the size of the leg kick. But a lot of players, a lot of other people have weighed in that the batters typically pay more attention to the glove. Right. The emblem on the glove where the height of the glove is. And that's something that you can definitely see was different in his delivery as well. Potentially, potentially. So let's just look at this screenshot for the moment. So on the right, you see like the high leg kick and that's a breaking ball.

And on the left you see the low leg kick. That's a fastball. All right. Now switch over to the other screenshot. So we have high leg kick is the breaking ball. Now look at this. We have the low leg kick is now the breaking ball and the sinker is the high leg kick. And the point being, and this is, I credit John Boy with this research,

John Boy went through all of the pitches that Lance McCuller's through. And yes, there are some situations where he does the high, leg kick, and some where he does the low. But there's actually no association whatsoever. Yeah, between what pitch he was throwing. You could look within a particular bat and say, oh, you know, and this is bad. It was, you know, curveball was low and fastball was high or whatever. But across the entire game, there was no correlation there that I could find. However, what you said about his glove placement, his glove being in like a slightly different spot on a slider.

That's what a lot of people, including Pedro Martinez, were really picking up on was his the direction of the emblem. And as you can see here in the screenshot, that little red emblem in this case, but every glove has a logo typically there. And hitters eyes are usually drawn to that to try to pick something up. So what they were saying is that there was something he was definitely doing, whether it was the direction, the point. there was definitely, like you said, there wasn't a whole lot of correlation to the leg kick at all, but the glove placement, you know, it was kind of giving up some stuff,

and it was kind of frustrating. I guess it was kind of sad to watch McCullors be so frustrated because... What's it? Well, I'm saying it for this reason. You could tell that he knew he was doing something, but he has no idea what he's doing, right? That's one thing I was trying to explain to people last night,

like tipping pitches isn't something he's doing on, purpose, nor is it something that he knows what he's doing. I hope not. No, because people, you know, I mean, like, they almost think, it's like, Houston has such a stigma about being cheaters now that they're like, oh, is he like on Philly's side? Does he have some money? Like, how much does this cheating go? You know what I mean?

So, like, but John Smoltz with that prophetic call before Bryce Harper came up was amazing. Yeah. I mean, I almost think of that more than I think of Lance McCuller's tipping picture. Because John Smoltz is a baseball mind. He's one of the best pitchers to ever play the game. And he understands the game differently than even you or I who just sit here and watch it and do this show. Right. Like he has such a high baseball IQ.

He saw that he laid that out, out perfectly knowing the tendencies of both the batter and the pitcher in that situation and knew what the chance was there for Bryce Harper to jump on something early, a breaking ball and kind of blow the game open early and that's exactly what he did and you can say what you want about the rest of the game but to be honest the the Phillies pitching staff doesn't get enough credit for what they did against this Astros lineup considering that they held them scoreless for the remainder of the game rangers sworez man that guy he came in with a sub two er a in the playoffs and he didn't allow a run over five innings it was it was incredible this Phillies this philly's pitching staff continues to be the thing that surprises me the most Ranger Suarez did have a good regular season.

He's better than I think a lot of people realized he was going into the postseason. But this Phillies bullpen, they didn't even use Jose Alvarado or Sir Anthony Dominguez in that game last night. And they still didn't allow a run, right, over four innings of work in relief. So just incredible stuff all the way around for the Phillies. Going back to what you were saying about John Smoltz in that moment, it reminded me of Tim McCarver when the Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001. Tim McCarver, the color analyst in that in that moment, literally said that Mariano Rivera, if he comes in on Luis Gonzalez with a cutter, is in danger of, you know, having Luis Gonzalez hit like a little bloop. And the issue was that the Yankees had brought the infield in, which made them especially susceptible to that sort of thing. And Tim McCarver literally just called that out right before it happened.

So I guess there's a reason that these guys get paid the money that they do to do what they do. It was impressive. They know this game. They know this game. But Chris is brought up in the chat. T-Mobile is donating five grand for every home run in the postseason. Last night was good for charity. There was a lot of home runs hit.

It was also good for a guy who I don't remember which players it was. But there was a guy last night who bet on four different Phillies players to hit home runs. And they all did. And he put $100 on it and he won $100,000. Let's go. I want to say it was on the draft king's sports. I'm pretty sure. That's probably where it was, but none was bigger than the Schwarber home run because apparently

it caused seismic activity in the Philadelphia area, Jesse. Here's a seismograph showing that exact time of when the home run was hit and the seismic activity going on caused, I'm guessing, not just by the ballpark, but by every living, breathing human being in the city of Philadelphia. Are we sure that was an Astros player? banging trash cans again. Oh, Jesse. Oh, Jesse.

That was low. That was low. But this is neat. It makes me think of the Seattle Seahawks when they caused a little earthquake. Yeah. When Marshawn Lynch had that touchdown. Also, we're calling that the quake rake. That's what we're calling them.

The quake rake. The quake rake. Kyle Schwabers? Kyle Schwerber. Quaker. All right. Patton. TM trademark.

There was a hilarious quote, by the way, from Nick Castiano's who, really puts things into perspective about what's important in life and what's important to him right now. And it's not his family. Nick Astionos on playing the outfield said a lot of times I find myself thinking about my wife or my kids or my mom. For me, as soon as the postseason baseball started, it's like my mind has gone empty out there. And the only thing I'm focusing on is the baseball. Another really interesting thing has been people describing Bryce Harper's routine as a hitter. Like they have said Bryce Harper, focuses on nothing but his at-bats, like his entire day. He goes and has this thing, like before he's up to bat, he goes the inning before and goes hits in the underground batting cage.

This man is obsessed with watching film on the pitchers that he's going to hit against. And because right now, you know, being to DH and not being able, by the way, this is a man who is not well enough still to play the outfield due to his injury, but he is just a monster at the plate when it comes to DH. The way that he kind of prepares for the game and prepares lately, his focus, sounds on the next level. You know, it really does. But he's right now, the Phillies are undefeated at home in the playoffs, 6 and 0. They are now 11 and 3 overall in the postseason.

The Astros are 8 and 2 overall. And it's pretty similar. I mean, those are pretty similar records. It's not like in the postseason the Astros are, you know, I mean, the Phillies have shown that they can beat the Astros when nobody else could in the postseason. So, yeah. I mean, Bryce Harper is hitting 382 in the postseason at this point. He hit that home run yesterday was his 6. He's hitting 382, 414, 818.

That's his slash line. That's an 818 slugging percentage everyone. Good Lord. In the post season. That's not a mistake. Yeah, yesterday. Yeah, that was a mistake. This one is not.

Holy crap, man. What a beast. Now Dusty Baker's managing has come in the question. We talked about that earlier. But Dusty Baker, who has still the most wins for any manager without winning a World Series, looks like he might not win another one potentially. I mean, is this series over after that onslaught yesterday? Or do we still have ourselves a baseball series? I don't know.

What do you think, Mr. Astros and 4? What's your updated take? What about you, Mr. Astros and 6? I want to know your take. Mine is still possible. I don't care if Biden is it possible. I was drunk. I'm drunk most time.

So it's not like you can ever really take what I'm saying seriously. That's fair. That's fair. I do think it's possible, though. Like, I do think my Astros and Sixth thing is still possible. I wouldn't say I feel necessarily the best about it at this point, just seeing how great the Phillies have performed. And especially how they've looked at home, you know, being 6 and O at home in the postseason and still having two more home games coming up. I mean, the Astros are the team with their backs against the wall at this point, right?

The Astros absolutely, obviously, they have to win one of these next two games. at least. And even if they, even if they do, even if these next two games are a split, it still might be tough, you know, going back to Houston and having to win both of those games. So this Phillies team, man, I mean, they just keep, they just keep surprising us. Like the moment you think that the Astros are showing their transcendence on the field, the Phillies go crank five home runs. And it's like this, this game is not even close at this point. And the Phillies seem to have all of the tools that they need in order to win this series. I'll yeah well I guess maybe that's a segue

to what we're talking about next which is sad but yeah now man I mean that's it's weird how one game can make you feel that you know this is an aggregate scoring so the runs don't carry over to the next series or next game or anything like at a certain point it was like all right I think you're going to win this one like maybe save

some of the homers for tomorrow well and I mean again that isn't that kind of part of the Phillies magic right now like these guys haven't stopped playing baseball. It's a 162 game season. They had the extra series to get in as a wild card. They've had to kind of gridded out going 11, you know, winning so far. They've played 14 games, right, in the playoffs on top of their 162.

And somehow they seem to keep getting better every game as they go on, right? I mean, like, think about their path to get here, right? Like they beat the Cardinals twice. They was just 2 and 0 against the Cardinals. They moved on from that series. They won three out of four against the Braves, who are a team that a lot of people had going all the way. Raining World Series champs. Yeah.

And then they get the San Diego Padres and they win four out of five. Yeah. Like they just have dominated every series that they've played so far. And obviously the Astros have done that too up until this point. But I don't get it. I mean, it's just weird baseball stuff, right? Like in the NBA, you don't see the lowest seed come out and just run over all of, like that just doesn't happen in other sports. But in baseball, those kinds of things can happen.

But that's why it's so much fun and people just need to kind of embrace that aspect of it, right? Yeah. Embrace the fact that this kind of changes baseball substantially, especially when you think about the top seeds, typically winning so many games that they can kind of take their foot off the pedal sometimes at the end of the season, rest some guys and whatever. But as the Phillies have kind of shown, playing baseball consistently and not really having too many days off has proven to work at least for them, right? I mean, although they did have a lot of days off coming into this series.

series, right? I mean, the Astros did too, but and then, and then of course we had the, the postponement of, of the game earlier in the series. So there was also two days off there. We were robbed of that, we were robbed of that Halloween game. That is still, that is still sad. It didn't seem like people really had their costumes at the game last night as far as I could tell. So we didn't miss out on that. Orrest, fourth horseman says, I think McCuller should get the World Series MVP of the Phillies win. I'm not opposed to that. Especially if they just kind of win every game going bored because, They get on such a role after last night. Who knows? He lit the, you let the fuse, you know what I mean. But anyway.

Jay says, I'm just happy for Mikhail, which is fair. Yeah. This is all for Mikhail. I mean, there's one, you can say all you want about the,

you know, things that the Phillies as a team have done on the field, their performance and their players. But the one thing that you can't deny is, all of this has happened since I visited the city of Philadelphia. That's fair. That's fair. I became the mayor.

They elected me on the street. It wasn't, it was, again, it's so easy. Like sometimes you guys wouldn't believe how easy it is to just go in and declare yourself mayor of a place. But anyway, Jesse has some wonderful stuff up over at go phtynx.com, not just him, but our entire staff here. So make sure to check that out. If you don't have a membership, sign up for a membership, you can get an annual membership. We'll get yourself a free t-shirt over at the phtonx locker.com. Get yourself deals discounts for

being a member over at the phtonx locker.com as well. You get yourself a month-to-month membership and you will get yourself a first month for just 50 cents. You also get access to members only Discord as well as members only invites to some of our events. Of course, we thank you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel right now. If you guys are here in the chat, make sure to sign up, subscribe, be here all the time. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. And also like the show.

That way I feel good about, I feel good about myself. And then Jesse can not have to deal with me and my emotional roller coaster of people like me. Yeah. It really is a daily guide. I just want to be like to you. So much. But also, if you're listening right now on your favorite audio podcasting app, make sure to subscribe to us there and leave us a review, especially, again, if you want

to make me feel good about myself and not have to put all that weight on Jesse's shoulders of getting me through this. You respond's much better to your words than he does to mind. So my words at this point just don't really do anything. You're very mean to me in text messages. That's fair. You never give me my flowers. But one guy who deserves his flowers is Christian Walker.

He is the Arizona Diamondbacks sole gold glove recipient, and we knew he was going to be after the tremendous season. He had defensively over there. No other gold gloves on the team, unfortunately. Varsho snubbed. Brendan Donovan takes the utility award. For God knows what reason. Which was a weird choice.

Had a feeling Mookie Betts was going to win right field, even though, as Jesse pointed out, Dalton Varsho had the same defensive metrics in, you know, 80 less games or something like that. Yeah, yeah, basically they had the same amount of defensive value and Dalton Varsho did it in half the time. Right. So, yeah, I'm going to be writing later today a story about Varsho being snubbed and how even though his innings total maybe wasn't anywhere near what Mookie Betts was in right field, he clearly, I think, is a superior right fielder. I think the numbers make a pretty clear case for that. So yeah, if you're angry about Dalton Varshow,

maybe my article later today will sort of harness your anger. Brennan Donovan winning the utility award didn't make any sense to me at all, frankly. He's a really good defender. I don't want to take anything away and say, you know, he's a bad defender or anything. I think our expectation going into this was that with the utility award, even though they're looking for guys who play multiple positions, they're going to value quality over quantities, right? Like they're not going to choose the guy you played six positions

over the guy who played five positions, you know, just because he played more positions. You're going to look at like, okay, who actually performed the best defensively? And I think both Dalton Varsho and Chris says, if we are angry, come on, Jesse. That's fair. That's fair.

Yes, I understand. But yeah, just looking at the numbers, I think it's pretty clear that Tommy Edmund and Dalton Vars show from a quality standpoint were superior defenders in that mix. I don't think Brendan. Brendan Donovan played more positions, but I just don't think the numbers looked as good from his standpoint. And looking at Cardinals Twitter yesterday, it seemed like a lot of Cardinals fans were

saying the same thing. Like, we're happy for Brendan Donovan doing this in his rookie season, but also it probably should have been Tommy Edmund. And I agree with that. I don't think Dalton Varshow should have won the utility award. I think it should have been Tommy Edmund from the Cardinals instead of Brendan Donovan. But in Wrightfield, I think it probably should have been Dalton Varsho over Mooky Betts.

And that's unfortunate to see that happen. Yeah, there's, I mean, it wasn't the only snub, right? And I think the thing that we see is the like Mooky Betts, you kind of see the bigger name win it even if the defensive metrics don't back it up. Nolan Aronado wins his 10th straight National League gold glove. Yeah. But like you suggested, Pirates third baseman Hayes, Kebrien Hayes. Yeah, Cabrion Hayes should have won the third base award in National League.

It's not by a huge margin. Like, I don't think it's egregious to give it to Nolan Aeronado. He has a defensive reputation for a reason. It's like Mookie Betts. It's the same thing. It's not to say that he doesn't deserve it, but at the same time, yeah, there is a lot of numbers that point towards somebody else being a bit more deserving. Right. And not the only one, right?

And as you pointed out to me, voting for Gold Glove is 25% based on Sabre defensive index and 75% percent. percent based on votes for managers and coaches. Yeah. It's not a baseball writer's thing. It's not. Don't heckle your baseball writer friends because they don't have any say in this. I mean, I wouldn't have had a vote anyway, but. But yeah, but definitely, I mean, managers and coaches, they might not vote with the defensive

metric numbers, right? If you're a manager or a coach and maybe you're not that well versed in some of the metrics, you're probably going to be like, okay, Nolan Aronado is clearly. an elite defensive third baseman and he, you know, has way more name cred than Cabrion Hayes. It's his 10th straight gold glove award at third base going back to all of his days with the Rockies. So, yeah, I don't think it's egregious, but I do think it was a mistake. I also don't know why Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won at first base in the American League. That's my other one that I'm not so sure about.

I think it should have been Arias from the Minnesota Twins. So other than that, I think most of the awards came out about as, I would expect them to. I think we're going to see things change this season. I think the Arizona Diamondbacks know defensively who they are. I think they know who is going to have, you know, I think there is going to be multiple gold glove winners on the 2020. So who could it be? Who could it be in 2023?

Walker again. Corbyn Carroll. Corbin Carroll. Okay. Dalton Varshot finally gets his. Okay. Because now he has that notoriety for. being a defensive, a very well-versed defensive player.

Okay. I play several different positions. Maybe they stick him in someplace where you can get, you know, more time there so that he doesn't have that. Yeah. That utility, maybe that utility option isn't there anymore, but maybe he's, you know, solidly in there for right field. Yeah.

Yeah. If you play Dalton Varshow, yeah, I mean, that's another point I want to make. Like if Dalton Varshow had stuck the whole year in center field, he, I think he wins the gold glove over Trent Christian. If he had played the whole year in right field, I think he wins. the gold glove over Moohy Betts. It's just the fact that the debacks took advantage of his versatility

and moved him all over the place that made it pretty difficult for him to win. And he's close to that utility ward. I just think Tommy Edmund's numbers were maybe a little bit better playing shortstop in second base for St. Louis. But yeah, I mean, you add Alec Thomas into that mix too.

Alex Thomas. The debacks could have, wouldn't that be wild? They literally sweep the outfield in the National League for Gold Glove Awards. Corbyn Carroll and left, to Alec Thomas and Center, Dalton Varshow and Wright. I like it.

Christian Walker at first base. I mean, that's pretty insane. I like it. I'm with it. I'm with it. Mark says the young king does need gold. He does. There you go.

He needs all the gold. So breaking news, Jesse. Not really breaking news. I'm going to put my thing up to my like this. Like breaking news, OGs has agreed to a new deal with PHNX. Terms of the agreement were released at the time of the agreement. But agreements have happened. And sources close to the agreement say that the two sides agree.

And they said that they were immensely excited about the agreement, looking forward to the agreement, creating more great content between the brands. We are very excited. I'm excited to be in that picture. That was a fun day. That was the day that Shane stole my keys as we've addressed. Shane stole my keys. We're no longer calling it Derek losing his keys. It's Shane Defenbach stealing my keys.

But as always, we can't wait to partner with OGs. We are excited for future events, all sorts of greatness. And, of course, them dropping off plenty of product to appease me. Yes, yes, the beer refrigerator has been refilled and so has the OG stash. So I'm very excited to be back at work, of course, for that reason as well. But make sure to check them out at your local dispensary. They are all about flavoring life. They're all about flavoring your life.

Local brand, great to work with. And not only that, but they are the top selling edible in the state of Arizona. So make sure to try them out at your local dispensary. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly. Guys, we want to hang out with you. We're already bummed. We're already sick of this season keeping us away from the ballpark. And we haven't seen enough of you out at the Arizona Fall League game.

So it's time for a meetup. Let's go. Join us at Sloan Park this Saturday for the Home Run Derby. The Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby is happening this Saturday. Tickets are just $5. But, but breaking news, Jesse. Oh, put the finger back up to the year. What do we got?

Breaking news. Our friends at Mountain Mike's Pizza just down the show. street at 849 North Dobson Road are offering to us and you guys 25% off of your bill when you mention PHNX and show your ticket stub from the Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby. 25% off. I did that for you. I made that happen for you. That's not 5%.

That's not 10%. That's 25% off your bill. That alone is worth the $5 ticket to go to the Arizona Fall League game. That's fair. Check out the home run derby. and watch our guy Davidson de los Santos Hopefully hit home runs I mean we'll talk about that

But come on out and join us It's going to be a great day And we're going to have a lot of fun out there So join us in the outfield Bring a glove maybe Jesse's supposed to protect me We'll see if that happens But yeah we're going to have to sit

Like we're going to have to be in the lawn Yeah Trying to catch some home runs Yeah and the pizza as Chris said In the chat is elite Over at Mountain Mike So make sure to take advantage of that I may have it on good authority, breaking news, that they are restocking all of their Four Peaks beers there.

So there'll be plenty of Four Peaks beers on hand for everyone to enjoy. And make sure to bring your tickets stub, mention us, mention these guys, PHMX, and you will get yourself 25% off your bill. Let's go ham. Let's have a good time afterwards and enjoy a wonderful afternoon of hitting dingers and then go eat some pizza. We have your Fall Guys updates, y'all. Fall Guys updates is that's $2.99 super sticker. Nice. Let's go.

I love it. All right, Pugs and hugs. No, no, no, no. You got to read the sticker. Yeah, we got to read it. Okay, it says, Sheba Doggwood sparkles in his eyes saying, my hero. And Ben says, please don't call Derek Daddy.

You call me whatever you want. All right. If you guys are going to, it's too late. You can't take it back. Can't take it back. Let's go. Fall guys updates. Look at these guys.

Oh, those guys are adorable. I love it. I love it every time. Jesse, as I mentioned, Davis and Dale Santos will participate in the Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby, despite not having a home run in 50 plate appearances. I think is this the first time in like the history of home run derbies that someone has been elected without actually hitting one? Well, here's the thing is I've gone through the field here. And to be honest, I'm not trying to attack the eight player field that's been said, but there's no. You a little underwhelmed there's no Jordan Walker in the lineup.

But that alone was enough for me to be disappointed, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, not a lot of top prospects. There are a couple of names to keep an eye on. Cubs prospect Matt Mervis, aka Mash Mervis. They're calling him Mash Mervis. So that means he has to hit Dingers, right? As well as one of the Dodgers' top prospect, Andy Pages,

are going to be competing in the home run derby. But you know what, it doesn't matter. I don't care. I'm there to watch guys hit Dingers. And maybe this gets Davidson de Los Santos on track. Who knows? I mean, honestly, like, Davis and de los Santos is sort of an ideal home run derby candidate. He really is.

I mean, it's 50 plate appearances, right? He hasn't hit well in the fall league. But that doesn't mean, don't be fooled into thinking that Davis and DeL Santos doesn't have the ability to hit home runs in a home run derby environment. Right. It's all different than playing in an actual game. I mean, Davis and Dale Santos is a very large man. And, you know, when he knows what pitch is coming, which he will in the home run derby,

he could hit some of these a very very big. long way. So I think I think we take away from the fall league pitching too much. I think we think like, okay, well, these guys should all be hitting. But in a way, the fall league is kind of an all-star mix of minor league guys. I will say that the fall league is generally a hitters league because what tends to happen is that a lot of the top pitching prospects in organizations like we've seen here with the diamond backs is those guys hit their innings limits. And then they're not eligible to pitch in the fall league. They don't have any more innings. Whereas the guy like Jordan Lawler, even after playing an entire season in the minor leagues can still play in the fall league because he's a position player and you don't have to deal with innings limits. So you do tend to have a disproportionate number of like top notch position player prospects and not necessarily top notch pitching prospects. Yeah.

Which the rafters have suffered from quite a bit, right? Like their pitching has not been great. But you're right. There's still a lot of good pitching in the league. There is. There is. And honestly, after losing their first eight games in a row, The Salt River Raptors are now 11 and 13 and are honestly right back in the hunt. The entire league is kind of right around like 500, right? Like I think some of the better teams are like 14 and 14 or something like that. So like there is not a lot of 14 and 10 is the top league. There's not much separation. Right.

There are only three games behind the best team. Yeah. I mean, they're in last still though, but it doesn't matter. I mean, that just shows how close it is. So there's one week after the home run derby left or after the fall. All-Stars game on Sunday. That's it. I mean, there is no time left.

So the championship game is one week after that. Who knows what can happen, right? I mean, there's a little bit of baseball left to play. And maybe the rafters just sneak in there somehow, some way. Maybe they're like the Phillies. They just catch fire at the end. That's all they need to do. But come on out and watch the home run derby with us because it's going to be fun regardless

who's hitting balls. And yeah, you're right. Like, there was a response about Davidson de Los Santos to our account about it kind of being like, is that something you? really want to do with somebody that's struggling the way he is right now. And Michael McDermott, of all people, had a sensible answer, right? He was like, think you're overthinking it. We love you.

We love you, Michael McDurman. And he got the greatest response because it is like, yeah, it's a home run derby. But, I mean, it's basically just batting practice where they're trying to, you know, smash the ball, right? It's not even like it's that serious of a situation. And that's the reason why, like you said, a guy like De Los Santos could all of a sudden have himself a hell of a day because it's not, it's really just taking BP, right? Yeah. Well, and this isn't like the home run derby during the regular season

where you still have half a season to play afterwards. Like there's like three games after the HomeLond Derby. So I don't think you're too worried about that. He has a whole off season ahead of him. Yep. But as we said, make sure to come out. Join us at Mountain Mikes. Get yourself plenty of Four Peaks while you're there.

We're also teaming up with our friends from Four Peaks to host all U.S. and Mexico World Cup Matches at their 8th Street Pub. Enjoy beer specials, giveaway guest appearances from Phoenix Rising players. Who knows who's going to be there? I'll be there. I'll wear a sash so that I identify myself. Because they say sometimes I just blend in wearing these shirts, and I don't know how that's possible, Jesse. Make sure to join us out there.

We're going to have a good time. Check the link in the show notes to register for free for that event. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy Four Peaks beer and enjoy responsibly. Also spruce up your home this fall before we get to football championship season, playoff season, playoff basketball season. Got to get ready for that. I don't know so much about the Cardinals, but the suns are looking pretty good.

So spruce up your home and get ready for all of the sports action like we have around this office over at Moore Furniture with their fall sale. Plus, you'll receive a $100 gift card for every $1,000 you spend over at more furniture. So get yourself some new furniture. I'd still love to get myself a new desk chair. And yeah, they won't. They're not going to get it to you. They still have the signs up, the pictures of me.

But we guys, we thank you so much for joining us again. Make sure to join us out there for the home run derby. We will be back tomorrow. We'll see how this World Series swings. This has been pretty fun to watch. Aaron Noah on the mound for the Phillies against Christian Javier tonight. I mean, I think he's still devastated by losing the King Brother crown to Austin Nola. But if his team wins the World Series, I think he kind of gets it back.

You really think Aaron Nola is still thinking about that, like, RBI single that his brother hit against him? Every single day. When Aaron Nola's team beat the Padres four games to one? Wouldn't you, wouldn't you, wouldn't you think about it? If your brother bested you in something, say,

and then texted you every day like a giff of it. Your brother beats you in ping pong. Is that what Austin Nola is doing right now? Probably. That's what I would be doing. Okay. Okay. Right.

And, okay, so this is a tournament setting, right? You're in a round robin thing, and your brother beats you. You advance out of your round robin, but your brother, never lets you hear the end of it. Do you not think about it in the future?

No, no. Because I advanced and he didn't. He just flat out lied to us. No, no, I'm being dead serious. If I, if I advance, I think ping pong is not even a great comparison because it's like an individual sport, right? So like in that instance,

if you advanced, then like you did it all on your own and you just like got farther than your brother did even if he beat you at one game. This I could understand. Chris is right. Sibling rivalry. over everything. I'm all for a good sibling rivalry. I just don't think Aaronola is, you know, kept up at night because he just can't stop thinking about. If I was Austenola, I would find the most

high quality image of that. I could. I would blow it up. I would frame it and I would ship it to him right in the middle of the World Series. That's what I would do. And in a few days, Aranola could come up and show him his World Series ring and I don't think Austin Noah would be talking anymore. This is the confidence of this guy. Philly's in what, four or five? What are we doing here. Well, I still have Astros and Six technically. But at this point, I have to acknowledge the possibility of the Phillies win this thing. Elizabeth says we all know the truth that would eat Jesse alive.

Oh, my gosh. Anyway, we got to give Jesse a movie assignment. So let's make sure to do that. What, tomorrow will do that. Sure. You know what I'm going to do. You have to pick a theme. I don't care what your theme is.

Pick a theme. Give us a theme. Oh, they're picking the theme now. You give us a theme. Oh, man. I'm going to let you pick four movies. If you send me a theme and four movies of your choice, we'll mull them over, we'll see which one we like the best,

and we'll give everybody a vote on which one of those four. So you're going to have them pick the theme. They're going to pick the four movies. And then they're going to vote on which one I want. You're giving these people entirely too much power, Derek. This is good. This is good. So, all right.

Make sure to look for that on our Twitter account. Of course, that's at PHNX underscore Dabax. Until then, you can follow us both. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K for some reason. This guy over here is at Jesse and Friedman because of course he is. And all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for joining us here in the chat on YouTube and on Twitter and everywhere. The Discord, everywhere you guys are at.

And make sure we can thank you for joining us on Saturdays. We want to see you guys all out there. Until then, on behalf of Faj, Jesse and myself, we appreciate you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you beat your brother at baseball. Thank you.