PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Christian Walker OWNS Dodgers, Crushes TWO DINGERS In Diamondbacks Win At Dodger Stadium

Episode Date: July 4, 2024

Cristian Mena made his Major League debut on the mound for the Diamondbacks at hostile Chavez Ravine. While the night did not start out as planned against the formidable Dodgers, Mena eventually found his rhythm and rebounded nicely. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks mounted an impressive rally capped off by Christian Walker’s two home run night as he dominates once again at Dodger Stadium. We have more on the big win and Ketel Marte being named the starting second baseman for the NL All-Star Team, and Jesse Friedman joins the show from L.A.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365: Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose between either:Bet and Get offer and place a bet of $5 or more and get $150 in Bonus Bets OR First Bet Safety Net offer by placing a bet up to $1000 and if your qualifying bet loses you receive a matched refund in Bonus betsDisclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Indeed: listeners of this show will get a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/allcity. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks. $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Chicken N Pickle: Head to https://chickennpickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location! PHNX will be hosting Trivia Nights and Pickleball Tournaments so stay tuned for info!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.

Welcome in to a very, very fun edition of the PHNX feedback podcast. Of course, my name is Derek Monta, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This, of course, is Cosmo, the PHNX dog. You guys remember him. Leah found him in a box. And of course, I've joined tonight. Maybe for the first time ever by the one and only Dr. ER, I guess I could say. Eric Ruby joining me tonight.

And you might have to stick around every single night, Eric, with the luck that you brought to this team tonight. What a win for the Diamondbacks. 12 before? I wasn't feeling that way before the second inning started. And I kind of felt like. Neither of us were. Yeah, with all transparency. We were texting.

Yeah. And I also want to get a disclaimer out there. I would be screaming my head off right now, which I think the last time I was actually on this podcast, was opening night. I just ran in here and started screaming. But there's somebody sleeping in my apartment. So I'm going to be respectful, but just know if I'm... I would be maybe doing a backflip right now. If it was socially okay.

I'll scream enough for both of us. I might make them up. I might make them up. Yes. Yes. Welcome in to the Christian Walker podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, part of the Christian Walker Network. We are proud to be brought to you by Christian Walker. and we are proudly sponsored by Christian Walker. What a goddamn night for Seawak, man. I mean, and the humility afterwards of having Todd Walsh talk to him

and have him talk about his teammates and their performances tonight. You know that's not what we meant. You know that's why you're not here. The man hit two home runs tonight. He continues to own Dodger Stadium. And that's not just me saying that. That's a fact, Eric, would you put it up on the screen? because this is actually, and you know if it's on Wikipedia,

it absolutely has to be true. This stadium, Dodger Stadium, this is the description of Dodger Stadium, as you can see here, often referred to as Christian Walker Stadium. Now, I don't know what, I don't know what little Rapscallion did that on Wikipedia, but I think it was you. Me? I think it was you. I ever.

Could you imagine me doing something like that? Yes. Anyway, Diamondbacks now, proudly, Eric, two and 39 this season in games where they are down by two runs or more. Tonight was one of those nights, and it was one of the few times this season that they've been able to reverse the trend. Of course, we saw them almost do it last night. It was weird loser talk, but I did say last night how I felt like the Diamondbacks played a complete game. I felt like they did a good job yesterday. There was a lot of questioning of Tori Lovelow and a lot of question of the managerial moves. And in the end, it ultimately came down to Paul Seawald, unfortunately, given up, you know, those big runs late. But it still felt like the Diamondbacks played an excellent game. And it still felt like they should have won, at least in the opinion of me and probably other Diamondbacks fans. But the win tonight, huge, huge for morale, huge for this team.

I mean, just huge in regards to how. things kind of felt lately a little bit like some of these losses have felt like rock bottom this season. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, talk about feeling too. I mean, this is the one of the only times of season, it felt like the Diamondbacks team of last year where they would routinely find themselves down multiple runs. And you would almost sit back and go, I wonder how they'll do it this time, right?

Like how are they going to come back and get, you know, six runs? And how are they going to do it at this time? Is it going to be through pitching? And usually you haven't been getting that this year. But today in the most important moment, especially in a moment where you have a 21-year-old making their first start at one of the hardest stadiums to play at in Major League Baseball. And you as a team, like, bounce off the energy of them bouncing back and just completely take over. I mean, that is like, it's a bunch of green flags. We're just looking at a bunch of green flags.

And we just want to see them for more than two games out of 41 this season. Yeah. Well, Eric, the Diamondbacks have currently split the season series with the Dodd. four to four. So as much as it's felt like the Dodgers have dominated the Diamondbacks this year right now, we're all even with one more game tomorrow and Zach Gallen on the mound. And of course, that feels great. But it also felt great tonight to see Christiane Mana make his debut. That was the big story for the Diamondbacks. And of course, things didn't quite go the way that you would want them to go in a major league debut. The Diamondbacks,

Christyahn Maynett started about as badly as you could possibly imagine, especially facing Shohei Otani as your first Major League battered. Can you imagine that? It's like doing your first DMNDX, D-NBX, The Backs, PHNX podcast with Derek Montia, it's with the mayor, you know? Like, you got me nervous. You know what I'm saying? Like, if I saw you down the plate, I wouldn't want to pitch to you.

I have to get this problematic dog out of here. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. Don't worry about it. I had to put my cats in another room. before this started.

The animals are rambunctious about the diamondbacks. But the thing with Mena that was so cool to see with him is if he just came out there and had like, you know, an okay start, right? Like let up some contact, but didn't give up too many runs, but just like didn't feel like he was in control, but the Dodgers didn't take advantage. I would much rather what happened today happened where you just get absolutely like put down right off the bat on the road in a hard place to play against some of the best players in the world.

And you just say, no, I'm going to lock in. like I don't care right and then that type of energy just snapping everybody else into it as well like it was literally infectious and so I'd rather have that happen than you know an okay start with maybe not giving up that many runs and having that low of a low yeah yeah instead again he gave up a single to otani walked will Smith then he allows that three run home run to Freddie Freeman the next batter to Oscar Hernandez hits a solo home run and that is the point right there. That is the point where it was like, I think that's what you and I engaged in our text conversation of, oh shit, here we go again. Of course, you know, it's, it was tough to see. And I think a lot of Diamondbacks fans understand the perspective here that as excited as we are to see Christy on Mena, we also don't want his development impeded by the fact that the Diamondbacks needed to call him up due to injury. This is a guy that probably wouldn't have seen any time this season. and instead, here he is, you know, making his debut.

And he has had a great season for Reno. However, we talked about this a little bit. Like lately, his performances weren't that great. His last few performances weren't so great, you know. But he came out tonight, and I think the most impressive thing is he has as bad of a start as you can imagine. You know, doesn't go well, doesn't go great. probably in a video game scenario, I'm smashing the controller and turning the system off

or at least resetting things and starting the game over at this point, right? Instead, that's all that he allows. Mena allows the four earn runs without getting a single out and then doesn't give up another hit for the rest of his outing. Goes three innings pitched, four hits allowed,

four run runs, walk three, struck out two. I find that to be an incredible rebound. I don't know if that's maturity. I don't know if it's like it's a special thing though for a pitcher to be able to go out there have as bad of a start as you could possibly draw it up

and then still find a way to be productive to keep the damage minimal to what you already allowed there and then at least give the Diamondbacks three solid innings from that point because he hadn't registered a single out up to that point. Yeah, and I think you did actually nail it. I think it's maturity.

And before the game, Tori Lavello said that, you know, one of the reasons why he was comfortable calling up Christian, Christian, sorry, Maynott is he's 21, but he acts like he's 30. Yeah. And you immediately saw that the first time that he stepped on the mound. Because how many times do we see good pitchers just have really rocky starts? It's happened to the top of the ninebacks rotation in Zach Allen. and Amarrel Kelly, where they've come out and you're like, that's not them.

That's not, that's not Zach Allen. That doesn't like Zach Allen. And then he finishes the game and the only bad half inning he had was right in the beginning of the game. And like, that's what the best of the best do. And I know it's one game and you can't just like put that tag on him. But with pitchers, these types of intangibles, if you see them more often, it's like, wow. Yeah. Well, and you hit the nail on the head with that.

That's the exact trait that we talk about seeing. It's what we've said was the positives about Brandon Fott this year, right? Brandon Fott's outings, they don't look great. His stats don't look as good as you feel like he's pitched in some of those games. And typically the reason why is Brandon Fott has some inning. Lately it's been, you know, that kind of runs out of gas there late. Maybe Tori asks a little bit too much of him instead of pulling him, you know, when he should have tried to leave him in for an extra inning, whatever the case may be. But Brandon Fought has at times a hard time getting out of a game without that big inning.

However, you just see so much good out of him the rest of the time that you're like, that still feels like something that could be whittled down and changed and not, you know, be an issue for him anymore. However, it's also something that happens to all good pitchers, all the great pitchers, even at times, have a bad outing. And typically it's the response. It's your way to come back from that adversity. Christiane Manah showed something special tonight. He really did. I, you know, tried the reverse jinx thing tonight.

As you know, you were witness to it. Last night, Jacob called me out on it. Tonight, I went back and did the opposite. I put Christiane Mana rocked Diamondbacks lose second in a row as the headline right away, right away, right away in the first inning. Did it work? Am I the real hero here? Who's to say? I think you are.

I would like it. It's the first time the mayor has served their people in reality. you know like you know that's not the bear i'm kidding i'm kidding i'm kidding i'm kidding i'm kidding you serve you serve the people every day every single day you bring them i try i try no but you like just one one last thing on on him is that like if that's something that he can continue and something that you see and maybe he plays at home instead of on the road in a very rambunctious stadium against really good high paid players and a lot of them, you might have something here in a 21-year-old that you can really build on,

even if he doesn't stay in the majors when the rotation's healthy. Like this can be something that a year, two years from now, like, ends up paying dividends. That's what it's all about. It's the long-term development of these young guys. And it's the reason why the Diamondbacks keep giving, you know, these guys' opportunities besides the fact that they need them, right? It's not like, oh, hey, we have pitchers, but we're going,

we're giving you young guys a shot. No, they're kind of limited on options here. And that's the reason why they had to go with Mena. But it could end up being, you know, a very surprising thing. Maybe he does stay in the majors. You know, we know at one point we're going to get the starting rotation back, hopefully, allegedly, we've been told that. So when those guys do come back, obviously Mena's probably going to be the first candidate

to be, you know, sent back down to Reno. But like you said, that's not a bad thing. It's not a demotion. It's, you came up and gave this team. one of the most important starts of the year, to be honest. And like, you know, somehow you found a way even after having that disastrous start to go out there and turn things around and give this team an ability to win this game. And, you know, of course, the offense deserves a ton of kudos tonight.

But so does Mena. So does the bullpen. Because from that point on, from that first inning, they allowed the, I think they held the Dodgers to just two hits for the rest of the entire game. one was allowed by Bryce Jarvis. One was allowed by Kevin Ginkle. There was no runs allowed. There was no situations where the Dodgers really felt like they were threatening to score. And that's impressive.

I mean, the Penn held L.A., along with Mena, the pen held L.A. to just one hit from the first inning through seven. Jarvis went out there, gave him two and a thirds, one hit, two walks, one strikeout, no runs, mantiply, no hits in one in a third innings. He struck out one. Ginkle, who continues to look great. He continues to look better and better. each outing, one in a third innings pitched, one hit, one strikeout, and then Vioria gave him one

inning, one walk. This is a strong outing. And to be honest, these guys, Jarvis and Virrea obviously have, you know, it usually been used in garbage time. So I think like that's a big situation for these guys for Tori to use Jarvis as early as he did, because Jarvis has been kind of a long reliever for them, but he's typically been used in games where it's a negative kind of outcome where the diamond backs are typically down. And yeah, they, I mean, they came back, but they, again, they trusted some of these guys, and these guys responded nicely. The bullpen did V-A-Ria.

Sorry, excuse me, Maze Devil. But anyway, I don't, the chat's distracting me. It's okay. No, you were very eloquently saying everything up to that. I wasn't going to even acknowledge that it's another name that I'm bad at pronouncing. But one thing I'm not bad at pronouncing is how many strikeouts the Diamondbacks had tonight. Let's get that Circle K strikeout meter up there. Boom, 8Ks tonight for the Diamondbacks.

Great night for the pitching staff. And again, you take out that first inning. And they did an amazing job of holding this Dodgers team, you know, limiting them the rest of the game. But the offense is really the story tonight. Lordeus Gurriel, Gino Swarrett. as Gabby Moreno, Raldo Perdomo, these guys all chipped in. Everybody kind of chipped in the night. I mean, Catelle could kind of take tonight off on a very special day where he was named the NL starting second basement.

But, I mean, this offense tonight was exactly what we thought this offense could be at times. It's unfortunate that it only shows up every once in a while. But Lourdes, two for five tonight with a home run three RBI, Gabby Moreno, three for five. tonight with two RBI, one home run. Gino, I mean, I still in my head hear Steve saying how, you know, how patient his bats have been. But they have been patient. And Gino really has looked much better this week.

Two for three, two walks tonight, two RBI. I mean, come on. You got to give someone their flowers. I know this is a guy that's been struggling. But again, it's also like a guy that continues to be incredibly good defensively. So I don't know. It's great to see Gino, you know, having a night like this against the Dodgers. And hopefully this is, you know, a little bit more frequent.

You know, you're going to get some nights like this out of Gino more often. Heraldo Pardomo, two for four, one RBI. Just a great all-around performance from the offense. But of course, the end of the hour is Christian Walker. Again, humility, gorgeous, hunk of a man. And I say that after watching him, absolutely hit the shit out of the ball the night. Christian Walker went four for five

with two homeroom double four RBI and just my God was quite a night for Christian Walker. Quite a night for Christian Walker. He is inexplicably good at Dodgers Stadium so much so that despite the fact that they have Freddie Freeman

playing for them, I am terrified that the Dodgers are going to come for Christian Walker as a free agent this offseason. Oh, don't put that in the air. How could you not? How could you not? Put that in the air, Derek. And 17 career home runs hit tonight at Dodgers Stadium.

He owns that stadium. He owns that poverty franchise. And I just have one question is, how can we make our batter's eye at Chase Field, whatever the hell the batter's eye is at Dodgers Stadium? Like, just replicate it. even if you have to bring Dodger Blue into the stadium, I don't care. It'll fit in when that clown team comes to town.

I need Christian Walker in this form at home. It's incredible. It's incredible. The man just absolutely rakes leads most offensive categories dating back to 2019 at Dodger Stadium. Amanda Machado is the only guy that's close to him. Of course, it makes sense because we play, you know, a lot being division rivals. But at the same time, Christian Walker's dominance at Dodgers Stadium is, is, I mean, like at one point, you're just throwing your hands up in the air and saying, I have no idea.

What is this? I have no idea what this magic is. Yeah. I mean, when he went up and he was getting more bats, he thought maybe the game was over, you know, they're up with a good amount of runs. So Christian Walker's going back up, right? Awesome. And you think there's, I mean, there's no way he does it again, right?

Like, that would just be so much. And then he steps up and he crushes that ball. And I just found myself going, no way. Like, this guy's just, he's just too good. But I can't let what you said slide, man. I cannot believe you put that up into the air. No, I'm not. On tonight of all nights.

I know tonight of all nights. I'm just saying, I'm just saying it's an incredible thing. It's an incredible thing to see. And it's like, again, there's just no player that plays like that at Dodger Stadium. No opposing player is as good at Dodger Stadium as Christian Walker is. And it's, it's just, it's maddening. You know why? You know why I say that is because the Dodgers,

have Anthony Banda on their team and Anthony Banda now has a 0.95 ERA and I hate that and that's what happens when people go to the Dodgers. It makes me sick. But somebody in the chat, Corbyn Beryl's I believe, wanted me to address

probably the best play of the night. Christian Walker, yes, was incredible. But at times there was just a lot of things in this game that you're just kind of in awe of, especially how the Diamond turn things around. But what an enormous play that was when Jake McCarthy, you know,

made that throw to home play. I mean, what it, what an incredible. Oh, and we absolutely just lost Derek. That's not an incredible play. But no, he's right. Like, the thing that, like, was the best part about this game for me was the fact that there wasn't just one moment where you go, oh, well, that maybe that's just the best play. There were multiple contenders for best play and best moment as well.

But that throw was beautiful. That's like, like those are the types of baseball highlights that like kind of get lost throughout the season. Like there's these incredible plays and like they're not like the top of one of one percent. So you don't see them on like the end of your highlight reels. But like you watch them live. You just appreciate how amazing it is that somebody could just do that. And tonight is one of those nights where a play like this does get kind of lost in the performance of someone like

Christian Walker, right? So, like, yeah, you're absolutely right about that. I mean, there was just a lot of things that happened tonight that absolutely felt like the kind of a little unbelievable. You know, again, like the way Mena rebounded McCarthy there, this, the entire night Christian Walker had, the entire night this offense had. I mean, Gabby Moreno had himself an incredible night. And honestly, like, there's a lot of guys here that could be King Snake. If Christian Walker just didn't have one of the most incredible offensive nights of the season. You know, I mean, it's absolutely, it's just absolutely amazing what he did. I mean, and like you mentioned in there as well, like the bullpen stepped up incredibly.

And we don't win this game without any of all those like incredible performances. If Mana continues to just struggle and go down that hole and give up three or four more runs before getting pulled, you're talking about a different game. If the bullpen doesn't come in and carry that energy, if Christian Walker doesn't go absolutely nuts in his home stadium apparently because he just owns it. And Jake McCarthy makes incredible plays on defense. And everybody else on offense,

like all of that came together beautifully at one moment. And it's one of those things where you're like, I just want you to at least replicate like 70% of this consistently because you're not going to get all of that every single night. But you still really, really, really want to see them get more of that more often. Elise says it was a great play. Thank goodness. It was Jake in Wrightfield for that, not Corbyn's noodle arm.

I appreciate the shade there. And that is a great point. Like tonight, of course, even with Alec Thomas back, Alec Thomas was not in center field for the Diamondbacks tonight. Corbyn Carroll was. We saw Alec Thomas. I mean, honestly, he struggled at the plate, but he also, he had his mistakes that he made in the outfield yesterday as well.

I think that, of course, That ended up being a big part of tonight. And Jake McCarthy, again, he's another guy that just has gotten things going. Him and Pardomo, again, even when you look at their stat line and McCarthy was one for five with two runs scored, Perdomo was two for four with an RBI. Like, it feels like they contribute way more than even the stat line ends up showing at the end of the night. But do you want to know the stat that is going completely undetected, the play that nobody's remembering from this game? Listen, I'm filling in for Damon right now.

So let me get my Herald Prado. Please, I mean, he's going to be curious that I didn't give Prado enough love. So go ahead. First stolen base of the season for Herodumo. Let's go, Jerry. Let's go, Jerry. We love that.

We absolutely love that. We also love Jack Peterson being booed at Dodgers Stadium because he loves that. Love that. Love that. Love him. That is like steroids for him. Yeah, I know. Yeah.

He gets stronger with your hate. He feeds off of your hate. So the more you hate him, the more he's going to hit home runs there. But he wasn't doing it tonight, of course, though. It felt like everybody else was. Great night all around for this team. And a huge win, huge win, especially to rebound after last night's heartbreaking loss. Because, you know, that's a great way to respond.

I was messaging with the great Jacob Franklin before this. He was telling me he's like. Yeah, he's like. Yeah, according to social media handles. And he was just telling me like, yeah, you're going to have a way better time doing this than I did last night because the vibes were not great, not fantastic last night. Oh, no. Very blessed and very lucky to be here with that score in the top corner of our screen. Yeah.

Well, and that's part of it. I guess my frustration is exactly that. The people who I was pointing out last night that kind of only show up here when we have a loss are not here to celebrate this wonderful win with us. What kind of fan are you? When you literally only show up to a show like this when your team loses. I don't understand that. Does the hate power you the same way it powers Jock Peterson? I don't know.

But of course, it is what it is. I mean, glad to have you people watching. Shout out to Maria, our favorite Dodger fan. I know she's probably not here in the chat, but hopefully she'll be here soon. But, I mean, of course, again, this was a huge win for this team. There's not a lot of games between now and the All-Star break. So they need to do everything. they can. This was one of those situations where we wanted them to come in here and, you know,

have a good showing and we wanted them to hopefully steal a game. They've done that now. Now they have a chance with their best pitcher who is fresh and revived and healthy on the mound tomorrow and Zach Gallen. And they have a really good chance to win this series against this Dodgers, especially, you know, with the Dodgers kind of on their heels. I think Elizabeth pointed out on Twitter, by the way, that Dave Roberts was clipping his nails in the dugout. And yeah, he, that was insane. He was doing that, right? Like, his team deserves to lose every single game the rest of the season for that.

He was so locked in, too. It wasn't like he was like clipping and like looking out and looking around. Am I missing. Like, dude was just straight. And you want, and people want Tori fired? You want Tori fired? My God. Anyway, uh, I do appreciate all of you.

Even the haters, even, especially the haters tonight for being here in the Ph. And Xports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, so now. Make sure you sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our wonderful shows go live. Drop us a like. We appreciate when you do that. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, we appreciate if you subscribe on whatever your favorite audio podcasting app is, leave us a review. We appreciate those reviews. And of course, we implore you to leave us a five-star review. That helps us out quite a bit. Do it for, do it for Eric. Do it for him. He's a five-star guy. He's a

five-star man. Of course, speaking of five-star things, Bet365 is a five-star betting promotion. And of course, we are proud to be sponsored with them. They have 90 million users worldwide. They have all sorts of games that I haven't even seen Eric available on other betting apps in any way. I've seen e-sports on Bet-365, which this, of course, just encourages me to get into e-sports more because Bet365 helps make sports more fun. They pioneered live in-game betting, so they know all about that. And that's a big part of what they like to offer.

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That's mintmobile.com slash diamondbacks. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash diamondbacks. $45 up front payment required equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on a first three-month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes and fees and restrictions apply. Seamint mobile for details. And please, if you meet Ryan Reynolds, tell him that the only reason why I agreed to do these

was supposed to be in exchange to meet him. and for some reason, nobody's following up with me on that part of the offer. So again, if you know Ryan Reynolds, tell him to DM me or whatever on Twitter, he knows it's Captain Cape Man. Let's take a look at the numbers from tonight

because these are pleasant numbers. These are good numbers. Let's take a look at what the Diamondbacks did to the Dodgers, 12 runs to 4, 16 hits to 6 hits. The Diamondbacks were 5 for 17, with runners in scoring position for a new 294 batting average to the Dodgers, one for four. Diamondbacks had eight extra base hits to the Dodgers three.

And the hard hit percentage, 43.2% for the Diamondbacks, 40% for the Dodgers. Those are good numbers. That's a thorough ass whooping. Those games were like you watch it and the box score reflects what you saw. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It felt like an ass whooping. It looks like an ass whooping. However, it was, you know, again, it was pretty, things looked bleak early.

Things looked bleak. Didn't know how Mena was going to recover from giving up those four runs. Didn't know how the Diamondbacks would, you know, react to that. And they did something we haven't really seen them do at all this year, right? It's a situation where they were down and they just picked themselves up and just came out and they put it to the opposition. And this wasn't one of those one-sided ones where they came out and scored early. Like they did score one run in the first inning that we haven't really talked about much. But, you know, again, they didn't put up six or seven runs early on and then just have this lead for the whole game.

This was one of those games where there was definitely a valley in this game for the Diamondbacks. And things went way up from that point. But it didn't look like this was going to be the outcome. It didn't look like we were going to see the Diamondbacks put. but this kind of, you know, offense up against this Dodgers team. Again, I know that they talked about it at length on the broadcast, right?

But the Dodgers starting pitcher Gavin Stone went nine innings, a complete game shutout in his last outing. So not exactly the kind of outing they were expecting, you know, from him going three innings, giving up four earned and seven hits. So, but, but you know what,

since this was such a thorough ass-wipping, I made Eric do a little bit extra work. And we went ahead and put together just what Christian Walker's numbers against the Dodgers teams were. All right. So here, this one's a little bit more even. This one, this one, all right. We got, we got the four runs to the four hits. We got, I think, yeah, six hits for the Dodgers there.

Yeah, we got runners for scoring position. He was one for one. Yeah, that's 100% batting average versus the Dodgers 250. push on the home runs and yeah push on the RBI. So yeah, Dodgers pretty much lost to Christian Walker alone. One man. What can't he do?

That's what I'm taking away from this. That's what I'm taken away from this. That's all you really want to see. I mean, like, even the numbers that are even, you go, oh, he didn't beat them. And then you really think about it. And you're like, wait,

we're talking about a lineup that's worth like billions of dollars. And we're also talking about one person. So it's pretty impressive. that they pushed. Oh, there's a Dodgers fan in our chat that thinks like we're affiliated with the team. Eric, that's so cute. Oh, my God.

He said, dude with the hat is a total homer. We both have hats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's definitely a guy in the chat that thinks we are broadcasters or something. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much for thinking that I could possibly be a broadcaster

as I sit here sipping on my Four Peaks beer while doing this show. You are a respected journalist. The only respected journalist on this show, I'll add. He also doesn't know that you're also wearing a hat, it would feel like, so I don't know. Yeah, this is actually, I wear hats so much that it just people think it's my hair. So, you know. All right.

Well, this is good. Yeah, who's the Homer? The guys with the Diamondback shirts or the guys, the hats come up with which one of us. How am I a homer? My shirt says in Tori, we trust. How is that being a homer? That's absurd. And I refuse.

I refuse to be called a homer on this show, sir. We've always been known as a very fan-neutral podcast. The only homers you should worry about is the two Christian Walker hit against your team tonight. That should be the homers that you worry about. I mean, that that right there, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. All right. That's a professional broadcaster right there.

Moving on, moving on to better Diamondbacks news. Ketel Marte, named to the all. star team and of course this is a beautiful moment the diamondbacks had a wonderful video on their social media of that moment what's funny was i was texting with jesse when that happened and he got kicked out of the clubhouse so that they could have a moment with a team and not with a bunch of journalists like us but uh anyway he uh it was delightful and it's amazing it's so great for kutel this is his second all-star start and his all-star second all-star nomination four point four war five 17 slugging, 871 OPS.

These numbers are before tonight's game. So excuse me if they changed. He had 38 extra base hits, 50 RBI so far this season, 166 total bases, and 11 defensive runs saved. Leads second base in the National League in most of those categories, especially in war. He is a top contender. I mean, his numbers put him in contention for MVP consideration this year. Kattel is having an incredible year.

But to hear from Tori talking about how much missing out on last year meant to him and how much he wanted to be there with all of his teammates, it really sounded like it was a driving force as to why, you know, we're seeing Cattel have the season that he's having. Yeah, absolutely. I think that, like, that type of stuff can inspire people. And he very much feels like he was a man on a mission from the start of the season. I mean, this is a Cattel Marta that you're talking about, like you said,

an MVP candidate, Cotel Marte. Like, All-Star Game Starter is a fantastic nod in its own right. But if by the end of the season, he's also top three in MVP or winning the MVP, I mean, talking about one of the best seasons at Diamondbacks history at that point. And so this is just an extremely well-deserved nod for somebody that has worked so incredibly hard. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Kattel discussed, again, they had that video.

Make sure to check out that video because it was touching, especially Tori saying, I know the manager, you're batting leadoff, and you will be starting at second base. There's moments like that that, you know, you just realize how, you know, how close this team is. You could see the emotion on Cattell's face. You know, it was a very great moment. But here's what Cotell had to say before the game today. Since last season, I felt a lot of support, not just the people from Phoenix, but people back home, just my whole country. I felt that support.

He also, like, didn't, I mean, we've talked about this a lot, Jesse and I, but he never stopped during the offseason. We saw a bunch of videos on, like, social media, I think posted to, like, his Instagram videos and stuff like that, where he just, he kept it going. And, I mean, this guy already had an incredible postseason. It feels like he never stopped. And he just kind of stayed in the groove, even throughout the off season. Yeah.

And that's how you do with baseball. what we've seen with so many players on the nine backs of season are like these slumps and especially for like Jordan Montgomery, right, who had an abnormal, you know, preseason and, and lead up to the season and how much that can really affect the rhythm of somebody. And it's so hard to find the fine line between doing too much in the offseason and exhausting your body and not doing enough and falling out of rhythm. And it seems like he, whatever he was doing, however he was doing, is that perfect balance because he is just an incredibly complete baseball player. and he is not going through what a lot of other people on this team are going through,

which are incredibly low lows and then really high highs or somewhere in between. For him, he's just steadily been really, really, really good. And it's really consistently, and it's really nice to see, and not that it wasn't there before, but like the love everybody's giving him and talking about, like, I want to see his number retired. I mean, like, we're going to be talking about it, one of the greatest diamondbacks in franchise history. And this is just another thing to kind of add to that list.

And you just hope that he can keep it going and be consistent for the rest of the season. I purchased his jersey today. As you want to talk about B being a homer. There's a good. An absolute homer. As much as I can, right? I am absolutely over. And it's because I realized that.

Like, I realized in how much we talk about him on the show that could tell is my favorite baseball player to watch. If you were to ask me that, there's a lot of, of guys around the league I like. Some I would bring up on the show, but I'm not allowed to because it's just going to further the hate that you brought towards me for the thing I said about Christian Walker earlier. But there's, you know, there's just a lot of guys I like watching around the league. I find to be fun players. When I really think about it, Coutel Marte is one of the most enjoyable players to watch. Just his demeanor, right? He's not like a guy that's like barking at the

umpires all the time or always arguing with the calls. He lets him know. He makes some funny facial gestures when he feels like the umpire's wrong but like he's like one of the most unintentionally funny people he's just out there truly being himself having a good time having a good time with the opposing players when they come over to second base you know you always see he could tell hugging guys you always see him pretending like he has the ball in his hand and messing with them and and trying to catch him you know like slipping like they're you know he does like a fake throw all the time where he still has the ball in his hand and he hits up like that stuff i love and i just love watching him play baseball because not only is he so incredibly good at it, he just seems to

love the game so much. He loves it and he loves it in a way where you can see him while he's playing it, just really enjoying himself, right? So this is special. I mean, this is something that we thought that this was a no-brainer. Feels like a no-brainer based on the stats that I read there. Of course, even his closest competition, Luis Arise, isn't even really a second baseman. So it felt like this was something that was inevitable to happen. It's just great that it did. And it's great that he will be there with Tori in Arlington. We will be there in Arlington as well.

So that's- You will be there. You would agree. Well, I say that, I mean the guy that's joining us right now. No offense to you, Eric, don't mean to leave you out on that. But, of course, he's not even paying attention. Get him out of here. I belong.

I probably. Yeah, get him out of here. He's getting yelled at by security people. someone's always got a hassle Jesse in the press box, whether it's the people down on the field, putting the dirt back or whoever. But it is my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman.

What a win tonight for the Diamondbacks, Jesse, 12 to 4. Obviously, I mean, you're talking about the Diamondbacks haven't had a win like this at Dodgers Stadium since, what, 2017 was the last time they put up 12 runs or more. I mean, this is the most runs given up by the Dodgers at home this year to any team. Like this was a huge victory and a huge night for Christian Walker. Well, first, did you guys actually hear this, this interaction that just happened with?

We were trying. No, I, like, we brought you in and then I saw you were getting the business from someone. I just clicked away really fast. Okay. That was pretty funny. I don't think I've ever been asked to show my security back in one of these post-game shows. But like literally the moment you guys added me, that was pretty funny. Yeah, what a win for the debacks all the way around, right?

I mean, being down 4 to 1 pretty much, what was it, 15, 20 minutes into this game. I mean, you score running the top of the first and then, you know, the Dodgers come out and make a statement pretty big, pretty quickly with Kristen Mena on the mound for the debacks. But the way that they bounce back, I mean, I'm sure you guys have touched on this already. It's a level of, we have seen some fight out of this team for sure at times. We saw it yesterday. I think there were four lead changes in the game yesterday. Debacks down two runs early. were able to make a game out of that and come very close to winning it.

But today they were able to actually finish the job, right? This was, I'm sure you've already said it. This was their first win, you know, in a game in which they trailed by multiple runs since, I believe it's mid-April. It's that game against the, that crazy game against the Cubs that the Diamondbacks wind up winning an extra innings. That's the last time that they were able to actually overcome a deficit of multiple runs and wind up winning that game.

It has been more than two months since the Diamondbacks have managed to do that. And they did it in very dramatic fashion today, Derek. I mean, between the bullpen coming in and doing a really nice job, Christian Walker, I mean, what do you say at this point to Christian Walker's, you know, the news on Wikipedia. The news on Wikipedia is true, Derek. I can't confirm that Christian Walker does own this lovely ballpark behind me. But just a big win for the debacks all the way around. And, you know, maybe a momentum push for them.

If they're able to come out and win this series tomorrow, you know, you're not going to feel great about what happened yesterday, no matter what happens the rest of the way in the series. But taking two out of three would be really big here at Dodger Stadium. Well, of course, Jesse is on the road. And whenever Jesse is on the road, you know he's stopping at Circle K to get his snacks. A big shout out to Circle K for our strikeout meter that we stole. from Chasefield and made our own.

They allegedly have to pay for a new one, but I, that's what happens around here. I just, I take stuff. It's like, like, I gave myself an office at work. And no one, no one, I like, I shouldn't have an office, but I gave myself anyone. That's the way this works around here. Also, I'm still contractually obligated

to get a polar pop or a froster, and I'm mad that I don't have one with me right now. You can get one for just 79 cents at a circle K close to you. And of course, they are close to you. They're everywhere here in Valley. If you join the inner circle, program for free by downloading the Circle K app today. You can save on all sorts of stuff, save on snacks, but most importantly, save on gas.

I heard Petey is running for mayor of PHNX and he is running on a platform, Jesse, of being concerned about your gas tank. I've been running on that platform for years without even running for mayor. I've been telling you, save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Philips by joining the inner circle. And when you do, you also save three cents off per gallon every day after those five Phillips and Circle K already has cheap gas. So it'll save you a ton of money. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details.

But make sure get down on that inner circle. Also get your Four Peaks beer like this bad birdie, juicy golden ale I'm drinking right now at Circle K. You can also get Four Peaks all around the valley. Look at that. Stack those cans on top of cans. Of course, Four Peaks is delicious and they make amazing beers. This one happens to be my favorite in the moment. It is a collab between Four Peaks and Bad Birdie, super drinkable, perfect companion at all times, tea box, in your fridge, wherever you're drinking beers. When you're celebrating a 12 to 4 win over the Dodgers, it is the perfect beer for all

of those things. Be sure to follow Four Peaks on social at Four Peaks Brewer or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. You can also visit four peaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite beers and events. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks, and please drink responsibly. Jesse, I just still can't believe what we saw tonight. Of course, we talked about the Diamondbacks now being, of course, two and 39 in games where they're down by two runs or more.

There were a couple of moments in this game that truly did feel like it was a turning point for this game, but maybe even like for this season, I don't know. Like there's just things that happened in this game that I don't recall really seeing happened to this team. Having a young pitcher on the mound basically have a meltdown to start a game and then suddenly find a way to give the Diamondbacks three innings from that point on of basically hitless of hitless pitching. That was an amazing performance by MENA even though it wasn't very long, even though it started as a disaster. Eric and I were talking about it was just it showed a lot of maturity and it showed something that not a lot of pitchers have the ability to do. Get rock like that.

and then come back and still be productive. Oh, you're muted. Sick. There we go. Yes, I think we have a video of Tori talking about the lessons that Christian Mena learned in his big league debut tonight. Let's go ahead and roll that. Yeah, there probably won't be any tougher environment during a regular season that he's going to have to step into, a tougher venue, a tougher lineup. And now, you know, I call it sidelines.

knows what it looks like to stand on a big league mound and have to make pitches. And he's going to take that experience with him. And that's what I told me when he came out of the game. I said, this is a great moment for you. Just make sure you appreciate what you've done and celebrate what you've done. Even though it wasn't satisfactory and I know you're upset, you now know what it takes to be a big leaguer. And you're going to come out bigger and stronger from this experience. And he absolutely will.

And of course, we know that there's going to come a time where he gets sent back down to Reno because the Diamond Backs didn't call him up necessarily because he was ready. They called him up out of need. That's true. Yeah, I mean, I guess the Diamondbacks could have moved Slade Cicconi a day earlier. You know, they decided to push him back in order to get Zach Gallen to start tomorrow. Theoretically, he would have been on normal rest if he had pitched today. So I might ask that pregame tomorrow, just get clarity on if that was something the debacks even considered doing.

But yeah, I mean, as you said, like, was Mena really ready for an opportunity like this on this stage? I mean, is any 21-year-old pitcher truly ready for Shohei Otani in the bottom of the first? And, you know, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman and Teoska Hernandez behind him. As, as Tori said there, I mean, there's not really going to be a more difficult, more challenging, more potentially intimidating environment for a young pitcher to step into than right here at Dodger Stadium. and yeah i mean like nothing says welcome to the big leagues like show hey otani just staring back at you in the in the batters box i mean that's a that's a really tough way to start and uh i think mayna showed he showed a lot of poise tonight just being able to hang in there and it wasn't i

mean it wasn't a good outing right i mean he gave up four runs in three innings he still walked a couple of guys in the next couple of frames uh jake mccarthy which i'm sure you guys probably already touched on made an outstanding play in order to save MENA from what might have been a longer third inning there. But he managed to give the Diamondbacks three innings and keep them in the game as their offense was sort of picking up steam on its own. So yeah, you have to give him a lot of credit for what he was able to show today. Well, I think you and I have spent time looking at some of these guys that have been

struggling at the plate. And sometimes people call us crazy because it'll be an O for four night. We'll be like, Corbyn look better tonight. And it sounds like we're just making excuses, right? But there is a way for a guy to not have success, but still impress you and still show you something. I think that his ability to rebound and to get past what started out as, like I said earlier, as bad as you could imagine, as bad as you could draw it up. and to give this team three solid innings from that point with,

with, you know, absolutely with Jake McCarthy bailing him out there on an amazing throw from right field that we know, as we discussed earlier, thanks to Elise, known baseball GM, that Corbyn Carroll's noodle arm would not have made that throw. Those are her words, not mine. But we do know that Jake McCarthy made an incredible play to help him out. But Mena just pitched incredibly well after, you know, really, being being rocked by the Dodgers. And I think that that shows something in a, in a pitcher that not every pitcher has.

His stuff was definitely up a little bit today. I think he averaged 95, a little over 95 with the four seamer. He averaged 93 in AAA this year. I think the highest he ever averaged in an individual game was 94, something like that. So, yeah, it may, I mean, I'm sure the adrenaline was, was really pumping today. and understandably so.

But this is a really interesting picture for the debacks, right? They traded Dominic Fletcher in a move that I will probably never understand from the Chicago White Sox perspective regardless of how it turns out. I just don't understand why if you're the White Sox or trading away, you know, a starting pitcher that I think has at least a high ceiling for a maybe higher floor player in Dominic Fletcher, but a guy who, you know, probably more of a strong side platoon. and fourth outfielder type than anything else. White Sox are not exactly trying to, like, add depth for a World Series run or anything

like that at this point. But Maine is interesting for the debacks. I mean, I wrote about it before the game, just the mix of secondary pitches that he has is probably second to none among the Diamondbacks young pitchers. Like, I mean, Brandon Fott's sweeper is so good. But even Brandon Fott, I'm not sure that he has three pitches that are quite, like, three secondary pitches that are quite on the level of the, the slide. curveball and change up that Christian Mena has.

And you did see at times today, like the command, there were lapses in command, right? I mean, I think his second pitch of the game was a changeup that bounced like a couple of feet in front of the plate. There were some other ugly misses from time to time and that's something for him to clean up. But just from a pure stuff standpoint, it's, you know, you can, you can envision a scenario if Mena is able to figure out the fastball, you know, find a way to get hitters off that a little bit, put it in the spots where you want to, ideally. this guy is the makings of being a pretty good starting pitcher for this team.

Yeah, no, I'm with you, Jesse. And I mean, I think we felt that way when we saw the numbers that he was putting up in the PCL. We were like, this kid seems legit. And we know he struggled lately. So that's something that, you know, again, it felt like he kind of came down to earth, law of averages where it's going to kind of, you know, sell out. But I think tonight, again, is one of those nights where you're not going to brag about his stat line, but you are going to brag about the way you saw a 21-year-old.

The youngest pitcher to pitch for this team on a major league roster since the late Tyler Skaggs pitch for this team in 2012, right? I mean, that's not difficult. And to make your debut in that environment, like Dodger Stadium isn't the most hostile environment. It's not the bank or something, but it's definitely intimidating. There's history there. It's the team that spent a billion dollars. in the off season, like there's a lot there to kind of intimidate you as a young pitcher.

And I thought maybe he was too big of a spotlight, you know, there for a moment. And then I was just truly impressed by what we saw him do after he gave up those first four hits. Did you guys talk about Dave Roberts pulling off one of the strangest things that I've ever seen a manager do? Clipping his nails in the fucking dugout? I did Dave Roberts took the tails

in the dugout this is news to me yeah no no it was just he's just doing some he's just doing some just some manicuring in the dugout

my man was disengaged in the baseball game and it wasn't even like a blowout at that point which makes it even crazier Jesse it makes the man seem insane but no please

tell me what crazy thing you saw Dave Roberts do yeah so Dave Roberts did something in this game that I've the last I'll just put it this way the last time I saw this was an MLB the show when I forgot to get a pitcher warming up I I know I'm not the only person who's made this mistake where you forget to warm up the pitcher and you're kind of forced to just stick with a certain guy for a few pitches because it's no like yeah because the guy's not warmed up

yet and you have no energy left but you got to keep them out there right yeah you just got to buy some time you know try to like make it a one one count or something, don't go too crazy, and then you can eventually bring in the pitcher you want. Yeah, Dave Roberts did this very bizarre thing where he made a mid at bat pitching change with Corbyn Carroll at the plate. Johann Ramirez was on the mound. Corbyn Carroll was at the dish, as I said, six pitches into this at bat. It's a two-two count.

And Dave Roberts just decides, I've seen enough. I'm going to go to the bullpen in a two-two count with Corbyn Carol at the plate. he goes and gets the former Diamondbacks lefty, whose name is currently alluding me for some reason. Anthony Bonda. Anthony Bonda, thank you. So he goes to get Anthony Bonda left on left. And I feel very bad for Corbyn Carroll at this point because you've worked a count,

you know, two to count. And then suddenly you've got a pretty tough lefty on the mound band. A guy with a 0.96 ERA, yes. He's been very, very good for the Dodgers this season. But we asked Tori about this after the game, and he was very puzzled by it. It was pretty funny. Here's what Tori had to say. I've never seen anything like that.

I don't know. It worked. So clearly, they're one step ahead of the rest of us. But I've never seen it before. I don't know that. And I'm not in that dugout in that space. So I'm never going to question what's going on across the field. I've never seen it for.

Yeah, clearly it had a plan. And they executed it and worked out. You've never done that yourself? No, not that I can remember. Has it ever even occurred to you to do that? No, it has not. But it might be the next wave of next cutting edge move that comes up in Major League Baseball now. Everybody's doing the opener seven years ago.

It was like, what's going on in Tampa? Why are they doing that? So I don't know. I don't work that well. Oh, that's hilarious. Tori tried to be very nice there. He tried to be very respectful with that. I tweeted you, or I texted you, not tweeted you.

I texted you. They can do this, L.O.L. They can replace a picture in the middle of and at bat. And your response was, I've done it in MLB, the show. So there's the exact response of that conversation we had. But yeah, no, I mean, I can't believe I didn't remember that considering those texts. Yeah, that was an insane thing that I didn't honestly know was allowed unless injury? Like I thought maybe injury would be the only way that that would be allowed.

Right. Right. I mean, we certainly see it with injuries all the time, right? Right. Like that happens. I mean, guys don't just get hurt in between batters. Sometimes they get hurt on a specific pitch within a bat. But yeah, as far as a non-injury situation, which as far as I could tell, this had no indications at all of being an injury situation. It was just Dave Roberts wanting to make a pitching change. They said there was something about his mechanics or something that looked off on the broadcast, but they couldn't really know what was going on. Peace of Yoshi,

thank you so much for your super chat. Piece of Yoshi says, I can recount twice this has happened, both with the Dodgers, the Dodgers against the Padres and the NLDS. Game four, Mets against the Dodgers in June 22. So there you go.

Thank you for your super chat. Yeah, I was not aware of that. Yeah. That is interesting. Like I said, I thought it was due to injury, but of course the big story tonight, Jesse,

Christian Walker. And I mean, you know, Christian Walker hasn't had the best season. We know that we've talked about his numbers in comparison to the other first baseman. We've talked about his chances that may be making the All-Star game.

But it feels like he's really just trying to solidify his case the closer we get here to the All-Star break because the man's on fire. and I feel like he's making it hard for people not to know the name Christian Dixon Walker. Yeah, Christian Walker was asked, you know, do you have an explanation for why you do what you do in this ballpark? And this is pretty funny. Here's what he had to say. Maybe.

Jesse, I asked if you wanted to keep the question. I hadn't finished editing it yet. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. It's in the middle of uploading right now. You caught me off guard. I can have it for you in just a couple of seconds. I take full responsibility for that.

Eric did nothing wrong. That was totally on me. Let's go to a different Christian Walker-related video. I think we have, which is Tori Lavello talking about wanting to stuff Christian Walker in his suitcase on his way to Texas in a few weeks. I hope he gets very strong consideration. You know, we all have votes in this clubhouse, the staff.

I voted for him the best way I knew how, and I'm hopeful that the rest of the league did, and he does get some very strong consideration. I know there's some injuries at first base, and they'll probably have some decisions to make. I would love to bring him to Texas with us, for sure. I mean, especially one year removed from the Diamondbacks having so many people on the National League All-Star team,

it really would be a shame if the Diamondbacks only had one representative on a year where Tori Lavello gets to be the manager of the team. That's a great point. Yeah, it really would. It would feel a little anticlimactic for sure, especially coming off a World Series run, coming off a season in which the Diamondbacks had four representatives. I mean, it's a great story, obviously having Ketel in the game and having Ketel starting in the game. But, yeah, I mean, coming into the season, we were talking about, all right, Zach Allen,

will make it, right? Merrill Kelly probably could make it. Corbyn Carroll is a guarantee to make it. Maybe Lordis finds his way in again. You know, Geraldo Prudomo made it last season. Christian Walker Kattel obviously, there were a lot of guys coming into this season that you could pretty easily envision making that all-star team. Even Gabriel Moreno, like if we'd had this conversation before the season started, we probably would have thrown his name in the hat as someone who could, you know, have a decent chance at playing in the All-Star games. Well, one of us, Jesse, would have been stupid enough to maybe say that he would be leading the team in home runs. So, I mean, yeah, obviously, maybe we would have felt that way. But, yeah, you know, this is one of those things that we want. This is one of those things that we know there's a lot of other options at first base.

And it makes it tough, right? We know, you know, Freddie Freeman is going to be there. We know Bryce Harper led everybody in votes, which is amazing. and I guess good for Bryce, like that he's that popular. I do think Bryce is one of those guys that when he is on your team, you absolutely love him. And a lot of people around baseball do enjoy watching him and respect the hell out of Bryce Harper for what he's accomplished in his career

and what he's been doing not only for the Phillies, but what he's kind of done as a member of that team to kind of embrace that city, right? But, you know, again, there's a lot of big names in Christian Walker's way of getting there. When you look at the numbers, though, he definitely feels like he deserves that consideration, as Tori said. And especially if he can make a push here late, I mean, his numbers really could kind of soar a bit past some of his competitors. Very true. I've got the numbers in front of me, just first baseman in the National League. Bryce Harper does lead in OPS.

Bryce Harper, I believe it is a hamstring issue that he is out with right now. He is on the injured list. However, based on what Rob Thompson has said, it looks like Harper is going to be back in time for the All-Star break. I'm sure that could change. I mean, I don't think the Phillies are in a position to want to push him to get back soon or anything. But as of right now, it looks like Harper would be able to play in that game. And that makes things complicated for Christian Walker because then it's Harper and it's Freddie Freeman. And they're very well might only just be those two first basemen that make the team in the National League.

But looking at the numbers at this point, I mean, Walker has an 845 OPS after the three home runs and, you know, all of the craziness that he's been able to put up over the last couple of days. The next highest OPS is Michael Bush at 807 in the NLP, Alonza right behind him in 801. So Walker is clearly in that third place slot. However, something I just discovered talking with Tori Lavello is that he, along with the Diamondbacks players and all of the players and coaches around the league, presumably submitted their ballots on Sunday. So we are four days past when those ballots have been submitted. And based on that Walker, what he's done the last couple of days,

would not be factored into that process at all whatsoever. So that I believe that- Thanks for letting us down, Jesse. Thanks for really- I know. I know it was a, it was sad news for sure. But if Harper were to miss the game due to injury,

I believe I read that it is the league that selects the replacement so it's not necessarily dependent on what the the players and coaches voting look like. So if the league is, if the league winds up making that decision and Harper doesn't play in the game, then I could see them picking Christian Walker. But outside of that, you know, six days ago, if you back up six days ago, Walker's numbers did not look nearly as good as they do right now. Well, you did what you do. You brought me down. You brought me down on a night where the Diamondbacks won 12 to 4. I didn't think it was possible, but kudos to you, sir, on doing that.

But we do have maybe that video now from Christian Walker ready to go. Yeah, yes, sweet. Yes, we, yes, we... Why this place is so productive for you without the lawnball? No, no. You know, it's a good place to hit, see the ball well. You know, it's just one of those things. There's not like a rhyme or reason to it.

You know, it's, I think a big part of it is the lineup and the protection around me in the lineup. It gives me the freedom to, you know, take some big swings and, you know, try to change the score. And, you know, it's helpful coming up with guys on a lot. And, you know, just, you know, proud of the guys for putting all of us in an opportunity to do that. Do you walk in here, though, with, like, a frame of mind each time you go to this park, just kind of knowing the base that you've already built? Yeah, you know, confidence is high. I think anytime you play well in a park, you know, there's a few parks around the league where, you know, just something feels different about the batters box and maybe the lights, maybe just the visuals. But, yeah, just one of those things, not really one specific thing.

I really thought we were close to being canceled there, Jesse. Dude, you guys had me so scared. You know about the jury. Oh, put on some clothes, Paul. Oh, my God. Anyway. Oh, my gosh. Christian Walker needs to always have a beard.

by the way i just want to throw that out there because he tends to just change his facial hair as often as i do and like that's only good for one of us that man needs to keep this beard he looks like a goddamn lumberjack and he hits the ball like one too i don't know at the end of the day of christian walker is going to make it in and i think that that's a damn shame because again so much is of his value uh that i guess separates him from the pack is defensive and they don't really care that much about you know, his defense. And they should because he's incredible. And at times he tends to be not only one of the best defensive first baseman in the league,

but one of the best defenders in baseball period, no matter position that you're talking about. Yeah. I mean, Christian Walker's defense is pretty, pretty well documented at this point. Tori, I asked Tori what was going through his head when Walker hit the second home run. All of us up in the press box were sort of like, really? like that that that just had he just did it again uh and troy said that it has become something of a of a running joke in the in the dugout that christian walker every time diamondbacks come to dodger stadium he's going to hit you know he's going to hit a couple of home runs so um you know i'd love

love to know a little bit more about the dynamics of those conversations i'm i'm sure that uh you know i'm sure people were people were were kind of going crazy when walker hit the second one today but oh man yeah i mean i mean you almost expect it tomorrow, right? Like it would almost feel disappointing for, from a DeBax fan perspective to have Christian Walker not Homer in the finale of this series. So we'll take a bow. Take a bow.

Christian Walker, please. Let's get, let's get a curtain call. You got anything else from the, from the clubhouse there, pal? I believe we also have, I believe we have Christian Mena talking about his outing and overcoming some of the obstacles early in this one.

Fantastic. I'm really scared now because I feel like I don't remember at all which videos I've sent Eric and which ones I haven't. But Eric, if we have that one, let's go ahead and roll that footage, buddy. I mean, that was a tough inning for me and the first battered they got on base. But after that, I just want to make sure that I get out of the inning with no more damage. You mentioned flushing it. How did you flush it? That's not easy.

I mean, it's not easy, but I've been a. around good people that gave me some advice. And I think I've been learning a lot and I still have to learn, but that's something important to me, flotche and just forget about what just happened and focus on the next evening. Fun fact, he was born a full year after the Arizona Diamondbacks won their first World Series. That's pretty crazy. Yeah, Mena would be a

2000, 2002, 2003. December of 2002, yeah, December of 2002 was his birthday. Wow. We've officially reached the point, Derek, where I am like starting to feel old. Uh, talking to certain guys in the clubhouse. I don't.

Yeah. That's supposed to be your fit. That's not something I'm supposed to be experiencing on this show. I win again. Uh, all right. Well, that's fantastic. And of course, I know we talked about it a lot with him, but there, you know, you, you can't say enough about the amount of confidence, the amount of courage. You know, I went out there.

I got, I got hit pretty hard. I didn't die. I came back. I still pitched, and I pitched pretty damn well after getting knocked down. So, you know, I, you got to feel like that's a big confidence booster for, you know, young man going forward in his career. Yeah, 100%, 100%. And we don't, I mean, to be clear, we don't really know what is happening next with, with Christian Mena. Tori was asked, you know, is he going to make another start?

Is he going to go down to the minors? Or unsurprisingly, he was not, he did not answer that question. But I think it's, you know, I don't know. Like if the debacks decided to go a different route with the next turn through the rotation, I mean, they're going to be without Jordan Montgomery at least for, I guess that would be three turns through the rotation. I guess it technically two turns to the rotation if he's able to come back after that minimum 15 days. So they're going to have to fill this rotation spot again. The debacks don't have any more off days between now and the All Star break.

So do they want to go back to Mena? Do they want to see if they can get Tommy Henry in there? I have to look closer to kind of how the days line up. And if that's a possibility for them, what that would look like. But we'll see. We'll see what the Dbacks want to do moving forward. Mena did enough for the debacks to win this. game, but at the end of the day, it very well might be best for him to just go back to AAA and

kind of work on some things there. So I guess we'll, I guess we'll find out. Shout out to Alicia. She points out that we, it's after midnight, Jesse. Happy July 4th to you. Happy. Yeah, there we go. Independence Day. As you know, I do not work on July 4th. So we need to wrap this up right now because this, again, much like my polar pops, my frosters, it's contractually obligated that I do not work on America's birthday. But Kevin Rera, or excuse me, Kevin Haskey, sorry. Shout out to you, July 4th, taking a shot now. Let's get the party started.

Jesse, I appreciate you so much. You're going to be in Los Angeles still working, right? That's what you're doing. Yeah, well, I was just realizing it's probably a good thing we're not doing a post-game show tomorrow because, you know, normally we've had this little war zone situation going on behind me, which fortunately today, it's been reasonably, it's been reasonably tame. but I do believe they have a fireworks display happening here at Dodgers Stadium after the game tomorrow. And there would be, yeah, literal fireworks in my background.

I don't think you guys would be able to hear a single word I was saying anyway. So I guess that worked that worked out for the best. And yeah, we'll be back on Friday. We will be back on Friday. And we'll also be bringing you back a special Saturday episode this weekend after that second game against the Padres. Not to mention, it's real, folks. Jesse has to put up with me for nine straight days on the road. As we go together to the All-Star game, we will be in Arlington to watch Tori, to watch

Cattel, hopefully watch Christian Walker, all take the field for the National League. I hate the jerseys, Jesse. I hate the jersey so much. The National League jersey, at least, is way better than the American League jersey, but I knew based on those hats I was going to hate the jerseys and I was right. I do not like them. But I'm still going to be very excited to be in Texas for the All-Star game. We're going to be there covering it all week long.

Home run derby, All-Star game itself. We're going to be out there at the All-Star Village. Going to be bringing you guys hopefully a lot of fun content. So make sure to keep it locked right here to PHNX for all of that stuff. Also, as a fun little addition, we're going to be following the Diamondback to Chicago and Wrigley Field. So we will be bringing you shows from, hopefully we are going to invade C.HGO studios and make them our own.

And we'll be seeing me out with the 120 club drinking beers and doing the whole bit, and I can't wait for it. So we are excited. And hopefully the Diamondbacks can keep this thing rolling. Use tonight's win to maybe win this series again with Zach Gallen on the mound tomorrow. And we will be back here on Friday to discuss this series. and the start of that Padre series as well. Before we go, though, Jesse,

some people in the chat were not very happy with you because you said that Tori was going to say that he was going to stuff Christian Walker in a suitcase. And at no point during that interview, did Tori Lavello actually say that he was going to stuff Christian Walker in a suitcase? So the people are... That's fair. That's fair. So that was part of the question.

I believe Todd Walsh asked Tori would you want to stuff Christian Walker in your suitcase going to Dallas in a couple of weeks? And Tori responded in the affirmative, if I'm recalling correctly. So, yeah, it was more part of the question than the answer. Well, okay, that's fine. But that still makes you a liar. And of course, you know, I never lie. And I am like the numbers, which also don't lie.

Jesse, what do you have for tonight's number that doesn't lie? Yeah, tonight's number is 77, Derek. And this is one of the more absurd calculations that I've probably done for numbers, don't lie. 77 represents the number of home runs. I have to step back a little bit. I'm getting ahead of myself. So Christian Walker has 16 home runs.

and I believe it's like 140, 5, 146 plate appearances, something like that here at Dodger Stadium in his career, which is an outrageous number of home runs for that number of played appearances. If you take that number of home runs and that many played appearances, and you look at what he would be on pace to do over a theoretical full season at Dodger Stadium, he would hit 77 home runs. So that's what the 77 is. I tweeted another version of this in the middle of, winnings of this game after Walker had hit one home run. And I compared Christian Walker, like the

full season at Dodger Stadium for Christian Walker versus Barry Bond's 2001 season, uh, in which he had 73 home runs. And it was just absolutely ridiculous. And, uh, Bonds did come out on top, to be fair, but Walker had him beaten home runs. And now, now very much hasn't beat at 77 home runs. That's what he'd be on pace for. Um, so yeah, yeah, some about this ballpark, man, uh, Christian Walker doesn't really, he doesn't really know what it is, as you heard him described earlier. I don't think anyone can really explain this kind of thing in baseball. It's just one of those beautiful, corky things of the game.

And yeah, it is very much become a thing. I mean, there is, I've never seen anything like this in terms of a Diamondbacks hitter just dominating so much at a particular venue. It's been just unreal to watch. It's amazing. It is amazing. Well, like I said, I made a comment earlier. not going to repeat it.

But I just said, I'm thankful for Freddie Freeman. That's all. I'm just saying that's all. I shouldn't be because he has incredible numbers against the Diamondbacks and he has beat us many times, including just last night. But I'm just thankful for Freddie Freeman. That's all I'm saying. Anyway, we thank you guys.

I'm thankful for you guys. I'm thankful for Jesse. Jesse will be out at Dodger Stadium tomorrow. And then like I said, traveling to San Diego for that Padre series. So make sure you do not miss. out on any of this that we're doing, any of these postgame shows. I think there was, I might have misspoke. No post game show tomorrow.

There will be a post game show Friday and a post game show on Saturday. So make sure to join us back here for that. And then again, we'll be back on Monday with a mailbag Monday. Been a little while since we've did one of those. Kind of nice. Got to miss it a little bit, right? But of course, we thank you guys again for stopping by. You can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Eric is at Eric Ruby. Thank you to Eric so much for stepping up tonight and very quietly being just electric. I've never seen someone speak so quietly because someone was sleeping in their house while also still bringing the energy in a way I can't describe. It's a new challenge for me because usually I'm pretty loud. So it's all about the inflection.

I can't. I could never speak that low. That's impossible. But I wondered when I first hopped on and was watching you guys. I'm like, so it's like Eric's broadcaster voice? It's on the air. It seems I'm necessarily like. It's Eric after dark.

Yeah, this is Eric at the end of working 13 hours straight. Well, we thank you guys so much for being here. I thank Eric so much for stepping in tonight. We appreciate you. You've been awesome. Jesse, thank you again for all of your hard work out there in California. But a big, again, big thank you to all of you guys for being here tonight. Of course, you can follow our show at PHNX underscore DBEX,

but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We will see you on Friday. We hope you have a very happy 4th of July. Do not blow yourself up or blow off any of your digits. Remember, you need those to grip the bat. And also, hope you have a wonderful time and remember, kids. Baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you're Christian. Dixon Walker.