PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Christian Walker powers Diamondbacks to series win over Rockies

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

After hitting four home runs in three games, it is very apparent that Christian Walker is back for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We discuss the D-backs taking two out of three vs the Rockies, the resurgence of their offense at Coors Field, and take a look ahead at their four-game series against the Padres in San Diego.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Walker Walker Walker Walker Walker having a name I was really I was trying to head bang on beat and got really out of it I have been off the I have done my promise yeah we're very excited because the Diamondbacks

win and we are the PHNXD back show right here on PHNX my name is Derek Montia occasionally known as the mayor of the city Phoenix This man next to me, he is Mr. Electricity himself, the one and only shot to pause. Also, the thunder stick down there, Jesse Friedman, and we are very excited to tell you that the Arizona Diamondbacks have won their second series in a row. Is that right? Does the math add up?

The math checks out. Are we back? Are we back? Are we back up is the question. I know somebody who is back up, and that is Christian Walker. Put the word out. Christian Walker, five home runs and five games. Four home runs in this three games.

game series, just smashing the ball. And separated himself from Lordus today. He really did because he had a crazy, they were very closely linked in their stats prior to today. But Lourdes actually left the game with a left hip contusion. Didn't hustle up the line on a double play. Turned out he was hurt on that. So they removed him from the game.

We'll get some more information about that as soon as we can. But going back to Christian Walker, man, we know he absolutely smashes. the ball in Colorado. But the Diamondbacks needed it in this series. The bullpen, once again, was not reliable. And without Walker's contributions, this would have looked probably a lot like some of those losses that we got during that stretch where Christian Walker wasn't very good. Yeah, Christian Walker was just huge in the series.

I mean, I don't know how you can possibly say enough. I mean, the man had nine RBI. If I'm not mistaken, four homers, nine RBI. the Diamondbacks scored 21 runs in the series as a whole. So basically every other time they scored a run, it was because Christian Walker drove that run in. He was, I mean,

he's kind of the engine powering this offense when a lot of other guys have struggled. I think we've started to see some guys come out of that a little bit. You mentioned Lord of Scuriel looking a little bit better. Hopefully he comes out of this game, okay. But yeah, I mean, that's the story of this game and of this series for the Diamondbacks.

Christian Walker was the difference between, you know, a series one and a series loss. maybe even a series one in a sweep with how these three games went. Just absolutely enormous series for him all the way around. And I mean, I feel like that was one of the storylines of the slump too, or at least the offense's slump is just as he wasn't producing. So it obviously is huge for him, but huge for the team to have that,

like Jesse said, have that spark back because there's obviously a lot of guys with talent, at least offensively on this team. But if there's a guy that's going to provide a spark, hit a home run, it's going to be Christian Walker. And we talked about Cotel Marte kind of towing the line during that stretch when no one else really was contributing much offensively. But, you know, now, again, especially with Walker contributing like this, it just makes the big difference. Like, again, we were just kind of talking about it. But without the offensive output that they had in these last two games, these would have gone much like game one.

And a lot of the games that they lost so far over this stretch that's been so difficult for them. But, you know, they did what they needed to do. They took care of business against Colorado Rockies, and that's important because, again, there are a lot of opportunities here now for them to play opponents that are ahead of them in the wildcard standings or close behind them in the San Diego Padres, which is their next upcoming series. But, of course, it goes without saying that our King Snake of this game and of this series is Christian Walker. Bang, bang. Six for 11 in the series, four home runs, nine RBI, an absolute madman in this series. and something the Diamondbacks needed. They needed somebody to step up like this,

and Walker was the guy. First off, from now on, I'm going to humbly request that if we have Christian Walker's name spelled out anywhere, we use his full government name. Christian Dickson Walker. If you want to add Big, that's up to you. Is that all right? But he is Christian Dixon Waters.

Walker. I always want to call him Waters. But, yeah, I mean, he is back. The backs are back with Walker's back. I mean, like we just said, big home runs. There are big hits. Like that's when this offense needs him. This is the guy you're going to look at first and he did that.

You guys like that picture? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's a good one. We got the guns in there. Kyle Lewis also contributed today. It's great to see him come up and be able to do something for this team. And I mean, there was a lot of good moments but also a lot of bad.

We talked about this series kind of being sloppy at times and this game was no different than that. There was a lot of bad things that happened in this game. Just things that should. It shouldn't have happened. You know, Corby Carroll stealing third and getting thrown out with nobody on in the eighth inning. Well, she did not get thrown out. Right. But they didn't have a challenge. Yeah, but they didn't have a challenge at that point, right? Nick Ahmed had a very exciting triple that he attempted to extend into an inside the park home run and was out at the plate. That one, I mean, there's a lot. Like we watched the 3D breakdown animation of that on MLB.com. And I will say that that was not only, hilarious but you could see that he wasn't even at third yet

before they were picking the ball up and throwing it and like I still don't understand why they went ahead and sent Nick Ahmed there this game ended up being fairly close and that one run could have made the difference yeah but like I said in the moment I know damn well that if my ass was was there when it was happening I would have been screaming

my head off and I think most fans would have been screaming their head off and the bench appeared to be screaming their head off to send him so like I mean obviously if you're the third base coach you got to do your job and it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks that's a different conversation but like in the moment I wasn't I wasn't too upset about it I thought it was pretty egregious I mean it was certainly egregious but I like in that moment I everyone wants the inside the park homers are obviously really fun especially if that ball

gets thrown and it like bounces away from the catcher or something and then everybody like see you should have said him yeah no that's fair uh Jose Herrera also clanked one that he kind of admired for a little too long off the right field fence Nolan Jones and then he got thrown out trying to make a single into a double. Which Nick Ahmed also kind of did. He didn't really seem to be running out of the box at first. Like he thought it was going to be a run or something. So I don't know.

It wasn't great. But they got enough today for the win. And a big part of that was Slate Sikoni. And his start in the game, he had a pretty good start. But things went wrong for him there in the fifth inning. He did last four innings, giving up four hits, two earn runs. He walked three and struck out four on 76 pitches. So honestly, at, at, at, at,

at Coorsfield, that's kind of a win. I feel like that's a fairly good day. I know they probably would have liked to get some more length out of them. And, you know, the bullpen coming in did kind of turn things into a bit of a disaster. But luckily, the Diamondbacks were able to answer back. Once again, answer backs are back. Slade Cicone had a pretty good slider going in this game. He got 13 swings at that pitch and six of them were whiffs.

So that really seems to be a pretty legit swing and miss pitch. You know, if it works at Coorsfield, you figure it's going to work. you know, pretty well at any ballpark. So I thought he looked pretty good. I mean, four innings, two runs in that ballpark. And we saw the Diamondbacks bullpen in this three game series. I think they gave up 14 runs and 15 innings. So, you know, if you're able to give up two runs over four innings,

it doesn't sound great in general. But I thought Slade was decent in this game and, you know, certainly kept the Diamondbacks in the game up to that point. And I mean, let's true. The bullpen, say the bullpen messed up is not necessarily fair. Like it's Miguel Castro mostly messed up. He let up four and runs. So like by and large.

But it's always somebody. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it's one of the guys. It's a different guy every single time. 100%. This time it's McGuff. This time it's Luis Friest. This time it's Miguel Castro.

Absolutely. Like that part of it sucks. But what doesn't suck is that Tori finally has two guys at the back end of the bullpen that he can count on. Yes. Kevin Ginkle and Paul Seawald. And by damn, we didn't even know if he was going to use them today because of how much he's used them.

But Tori did not. He did not do the thing we thought he was going to do and just go with someone else because of the usage of these two guys. He went to Kevin Ginkle and the 8th, went to Seawald the 9th. And to be honest, it worked perfectly. It worked exactly like a shit. It was daring, though. It was daring. I mean, it was four out of five for both Ginkle and Seawald.

And Ceywall in particular, he's thrown quite a few pitches in pretty much all of these. He has thrown more pitches than Gingle. As Gingle had like a seven pitch day yesterday. And so I can understand. I guess this is where Tori believing in his guys ends up working out, right? Like I feel like it's criticism that gets laid against him a lot. But here's the story does have this idea or this way of managing a team where he's trying to manage it like it is a marathon and not a sprint. Yeah.

Right. That's why he rests guys regardless of how well they're doing. That's why he sticks to his game plan throughout the season. He doesn't have the luxury to do that anymore. Yeah. I mean, they are in a playoff hunt right now as we speak. So at this point, all of that, I'm going to sit guy because I don't want to like wear him out too much. Those days are fucking over.

He really needs to do this and do this in any opportunity you can to lock it down. And people are going to criticize them for going to Paul Seawall too much. They're going to criticize them for going to Kevin Gingle too much. It's kind of a no-win situation. But when you have two guys like that that are able to do what those two guys have been able to do for this team lately, that they haven't really had all season long, even when they were playing really well. They didn't have this kind of like just this kind of lockdown, you know, two guys able to do it consistently, night in, night out, like these guys have proven to be able to do.

It's not going to work, you know, it would be great for them to have a multiple run lead where they didn't have to turn to these guys in order to lock it down. It's just getting to the point with this bullpen. I don't even know if I trust them to not go to them, even if they have a three or four run lead. In fact, it's been a very long time since they've had that big of a lead. Am I not? Yeah, the Diamondbacks have not won a game, I believe, by more than three runs since July 7th.

That was I believe 40 days ago today. That is a long time to go without. I mean, even like a four or five run win is not like a blowout. The Diamondbacks haven't even done that in more than a month at this point. All the games that they're winning are pretty tight wins. Which, yeah, that's going to be a problem moving forward. Like with how many games the Diamondbacks need to win down the stretch, they can't afford for all of them to be two run wins.

And where Paul Seawald has to pitch, you know, four out of every five days, you know, like he has over the past five days. So, you know, hopefully the offense can get into a little bit more of a rhythm. I'm still not quite there with the offense being totally back. I would like to see it being not so dependent on one player like it was in the series. And also to produce outside of Colorado. Yeah, yeah. And obviously the Rockies pitching staff isn't great on top of the ballpark being extremely hitter friendly.

I still think there's another gear that this offense needs to reach down the stretch. But this series was definitely encouraging in that regard. I mean, honestly, baseball is as much mental as it is physical. Like, it very well just might be good for this team to see them score runs. It's also magical because we tape the head back onto the home run snake and now they're hitting home runs again. We had Totry in the spot and they want. Totry hasn't stood in his spot in over a month. And what's happened that whole time?

I think you guys know the answer to that. Despite Jesse's doubts. Yeah, Jesse doubts. I have serious doubts. He owes Totry the biggest apology. I owe Totry absolutely nothing. I stand by that. He can stand there.

He cannot stand there. I have no evidence that it has any impact on the game. It's Jesse Friedman's fault. There you have blood on your hands, Jesse. You really do. Everybody here knows. Rumor has it that he would have that three-year-old Totry was standing there for Gonzo's walkoff.

In this build? Legend. In this exact spot. No way to confirm that. I don't think he even lived in Arizona yet, but he was there. That's what happened. Well, thank you guys for being here and listening to our Tall Tales in the PHNX-Extports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now.

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Visit betmGM-MGM-M-GRRRRR. Brian with the best question of the day stupid question why don't we say deed F a you're not wrong Nick with the right answer though the same reason you don't say R's BI we don't say R's B I but I also say I don't say RBI yeah I don't say RBI it's RBI it's a one the RBI RBI's thing like you can understand I think RBI is a valid like that that makes sense you don't necessarily have to make it R's BI in order for that to work deed F a I just can't I mean, it just, yeah, you just, yeah, I mean, like, doesn't make more sense theoretically, yes, but no, you just, you just can't.

Well, one thing we can do is look at the numbers when it comes to the series win for the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Colorado Rockies. And again, things very close. A couple of things there really stick out that the Diamondbacks finally are on top of another team when it comes to starting pitching ERA. But really pitching ERA, very, very bad for the. Arizona Diamondbacks in the series. Did okay with that batters, runners in scoring position, batting average, but those four home runs, they all come from Christian Walker.

And without Walker being back, maybe this series is much, much different. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things about this that are interesting to me. A, the zero errors, that seems wildly deceptive based on the defense that we played out. My God, they've had a couple of series in a row. Not all defensive miscues go in the box.

Yeah, right. But I mean, to see that there's like a number that's not a zero, starting off the batters and running the batting average with runners in scoring position is nice. Like they like they looked like a respectable offense in this series. They didn't look like an absolute joke like they have for a couple of weeks. And that's my takeaway. It's like they looked like an actual baseball team.

That's a, I mean, that's a high bar to clear. They look like an actual baseball team. It has been. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't the maybe convincing series win that you were probably looking for. I mean, we talked about on Monday, like, this being a series where the Diamondbacks needed to sweep the Rockies. And maybe that was a little over the top. It still are very much in this wildcard race, even though they only took two out of three. But yeah, I mean, they did win two out of three games in this series.

But honestly, these two teams look pretty evenly matched. Yeah. I think we're kidding ourselves if this was, you know, the debacks take two out of three, but we're clearly the better team. Yeah. Looking at these numbers, like, these teams were basically just going back and forth the whole series. all three of these games were basically right down to the wire dramatic finishes. The Diamondbacks didn't really outplay the Rockies by a very wide margin in this series. They are able to get those two wins out of the three games.

But yeah, it wasn't really what you were maybe looking for in terms of the bigger picture. I think this Diamondbacks team is still getting in its own way a little bit. They made a lot of mistakes in this game. The defensive miscues were crazy. And this is nothing new. So like when it comes to what we're saying about this team right now, this is absolutely what we've been saying about them all year long, even back when they were winning series after series. They've won two series in a row. That's great, especially after the funk that they were in all of July and to start August.

However, Jesse's right. I mean, this game, they're lucky to have won this game. They really are because of the amount of mistakes they made really, really chalked up to them at least wasting two runs in this game. and that could have really been the difference when it came down to it. I do think that it's nice to be back to criticizing them, you know, just to not win enough, right? That's something that we haven't done in a while where we're talking about like, yes, you won, but you should have swept.

You should have had more convincing wins. And that, again, is that's something that at least when things were going better for this team, we were saying. But when you look back on all of those little losses and all of those times where they should have swept a series and didn't, all of that could come up to be very big as we get closer and closer to the end of this season and remain in this wild card hunt. Today, the Diamondbacks are lucky because they have their opponents playing, once again, some pretty tough teams. The Marlins are still playing the Astros, and the Diamondbacks could, and Marlins are, or Astros are up five to two right now

in the second inning. Two back-to-back home runs in the first inning. Man. And so like we're talking about the Diamondbacks right now, as far as the Wild Card standings, not being too far out. Do we have those wild card standings, Damon? Taking a look at these, again, this is where we're at right now. Diamondbacks, two games back. Could be as few as one and a half game back after today. And it looks like hopefully that's the way it goes when it comes to that Marlins game.

Yeah, the Marlins have, they're finishing up a series with the Astros and then they play the Dodgers through the weekend. So this is a good week to make go Dodgers, I guess, on the Marlins. And the Diamondbacks have a four-game series with the Padres, which is very important because the Padres are pretty much as far as you look, if you look at the wild cardings, this is it. This is the separation point. After this, it's all the bad teams. It's the Mets. It's the Cardinals. It's the teams that are eight, nine plus games back and really kind of are distance from the back.

But I feel like this is it. And there are a lot of teams still in the mix when you talk about these three spots that are left. And nobody's playing well right now. Nobody's playing well. Philadelphia, Philly's lost their last three. Look at how many teams here are three and seven. Yeah, I mean, it's just wild here. So it's wide open for the Diamondbacks, really, to make up some ground here and to at least stay in the mix as far as a wild card spot is concerned as the season gets closer to wrapping up.

The debacks are also, I mean, looking at this, they're now only three games behind the Giants, too. Like the Giants have created some separation there. Yeah, I mean, even the Phillies are only, yeah, the debacks are four and a half behind the Phillies. So, yeah, I mean, this is going to be an absolute dog fight down the stretch. You've got six teams that are squarely within this race. The Padres, I don't know if I really consider them as being truly in the race at this point, but they're at least within striking distance. And they're obviously arguably the most talented roster out of all of these teams.

So I wouldn't fully count them out yet. But, yeah, it's going to be crazy just to see how this unfolds down the stretch with none of these teams really playing very well right now. And, and Yosey making a good point. The Cubs just lost Stroman. Yeah, no timetable there. Wow. I mean, it's there for the debacks, man.

I mean, I don't feel good about this team against any other Major League Baseball team that they would end up having to play in the playoffs right now, but that's a conversation for when they hope we get there. Well, no, I mean, let's, because here's the thing, the way this team is currently constructed in the way that they're, struggling against the better teams, it does leave you to feel like, yes, even if they make

the playoffs, it might be just kind of a hollow victory. Yeah. Because they go there just to kind of get knocked out. It really, it depends on how you're framing it. Because obviously, I think a lot of people's expectations got changed during the first half of the season. But like the Arizona Diamond, like in this situation, the Arizona has made the fucking playoffs.

That's such a, that's not only a W, but an unexpected W. Like that. And again, keep talking about it. We talked about a lot more when they were losing a lot of games. Like, this was always for next year. This was never supposed to be the year. So, like, if they make the playoffs and, A, you get these young guys, a little taste of postseason baseball.

And then also, you can just say, we really have something to build off next year. Like, there is a reason for Hazen and Kendrick to go for it in the off season. That's a massive W. The other thing I'll say is if the Diamondbacks or whatever team winds up getting that last wild card spot, you're not playing the Braves. in the wild card round. You're playing, right? I mean, the Dodgers and the Braves

presumably are going to be the teams that get those first round buys. Sure. If you're the last wildcard team, you're probably playing the Brewers, is what it looks like right now. I would rather play than any of the other wildcard games, it seems like.

I don't think you take the Diamondbacks over the Brewers in a three game series at this point, especially with all three of those games being played in Milwaukee, but it's at least like interesting. Yeah, it's like, I mean, there's just an enormous gap right now between where the Braves and the Dodgers are and where every other team is in the National League.

If you get in, at least the first round, I think, could be somewhat compelling. Well, I'm celebrating with a hop-not IPA from the greatest craft brewery here in Arizona, and that would be Four Peaks. Four Peaks is the official craft beer, the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's also, I don't know most of you know this or not, the official craft beer of Derek Montia. It's the unofficial. The unofficial? Do I have to have a contract deal?

I feel like. I felt like it was more of like an official on my part. to like officially declare them. Yeah, I mean, I guess, yeah, you can call them. Yeah, I guess it's more the other way. Right, right, right, right. They couldn't just call themselves the official craft beer. Yeah, but I can.

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. It's kind of like my international sex symbol. Of Derek Montia. So make sure to check them out. Of course, they are available wherever you get your beer, especially at Circle. Okay, you can also check out the Four Peaks draft room at Chase Field, which has some great food and is a great place to watch the game from.

And, of course. And the full selection of beers. Wide variety of Four Peaks beers. So make sure to check them out. And I sip it on a golden log. Yeah, the baseball beer. It is. It's, there's a specific color that you're looking for when you're out of baseball game.

Oh, I see you're saying. It's the exact perfect golden. Yeah. And it's not a nice light beer. I'm not going to argue with that. I know exactly what you guys are talking about. Very commercial. Very, very well done.

I'm proud of you guys both. If anybody wants to step in here and do the ad read, since you guys teed that up. So well, you can. Damon, disembodied voice behind the Mac. Are you, you're in here? If anyone wants Derek's job, why? We just can't take it. I just fucking throw it out there, man.

I mean, make it available. But check out Four Peaks Brew or Four Peaks Pub on social media to keep up with the latest Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks. Please drink responsibly. And also, like I said, get your Four Peaks at Circle K. You can get all your beer, all of your snacks, all of your coffee at Circle K is the place to stock up for everything you need to fuel yourself in your car and your life.

Of course, we got a road trip going out to San Diego this weekend. So great place to stop. I was supposed to go on a road trip too, and then Damon backed out with me. Totally my choice. Regardless of if he backs out or not, you still have to maybe fight Damon and then fight Sean for the opportunity to win a Ford Big Ben Bronco SUV. And of course, we're talking about buying four power aids for $5, and you could be entered to be one of 10 finalists to win that 2023 Ford Big Ben Bronco.

You can also get buy to get one free Monster Energy drinks and Monster, excuse me, Buy to get one free beatbox hard tea. So make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff. Right now text PHNX to 31310 and join their SMS subscriber club to get a buy one, get one free offer on 32 ounce polar pops. Head to CircleK.com slash store dash locator to find CircleKs near you. Diamondbacks still haven't reclaimed the All City Standings Division or All City Division. Let's take a look at those standings and see where we're at. I'm not happy about this, but they are very close to the Chicago Cubs.

And it's the Cubs. So the same reason why Craig Morgan refused to buy in and fully invest his emotions in that team is the reason why we're going to pass them soon enough, you guys. Well, yeah, I mean, it's funny because we're doing this. But at this point, it's like it's also just the wild card race. It is basically. Yeah, it is. We are fighting with the Cubs for the wild card. The other two teams don't matter.

No, no. I mean, the White Sox and the Rockies. Yeah, they haven't been mathematically eliminated yet. Yeah. And also, no one talks about the team that finishes in third. and everyone shits on the team that finishes last. So there's something to play for there. Most importantly, this reminds me that we are now one game over 500.

And Damon, you know what that means. I have to ask, was, were you guys when the Diamondbacks dropped to two games under 500? Were you at the point where you didn't think the Diamondbacks would be over 500 for the rest of the season? I don't believe so. I don't think it was that drastic. but I did declare their season over.

Yeah, I never. I gave a time of death and a day and a time. It was a very popular tweet. I never really even thought about the 500 thing. Like that was not something that I threw in all the way. It was more for me of like, oh, they're not going to make the playoffs now. I never really considered them being above or below 500. Yeah, no, that's kind of more of my thought process.

I wasn't sure we'd get 70 wins. Yeah, that was kind of where we were at. We were talking more about win totals and playoffs. You're not wrong. I started thinking about Jake's preseason prediction. and how we might have to apologize to Jake. And then yet the power of Jake being at Chase Field backed up by us being at Chase Field.

Why are we even taking any credit? You're right, because they lost the game. He showed up and they lost. He lost the game. We showed up and we won and we're just sharing the credit with Jake. And they're four for five since we were there. Yeah, nah, of all respect to Jake, but nah, that's us. We did that.

That's a great point. That's a great point. They do have this series with San Diego Padres coming up that Damon and Sean are not attending, but Jesse will be attending. I will be there. Let's take a look at the probabilities for that upcoming series. Dick milk. Dick milk.

Dick milk. Dick milk. Dick milk. Are we really doing this? I guess so. I don't know. You guys have the maturity of teenagers. It's Dick milk.

It's not just us. The chat likes Dick Milk. Everybody loves Dick Milk. You're the only one that's out on Dick Milk. It's not just a chat thing. Damon's a huge dick milk guy. Everybody craves Dick Milk. It's their favorite matchup.

I mean, I don't understand how you couldn't. It's Rich Hill versus Zach Galland. It's Dick Mountain versus the Melch. Man. If you've been living under a rock, you know that you might not know, but it's Dick Milk Time. So again, we're happy for this matchup, even though maybe not as happy on the road, because that gallon, of course, is that gallon on the road versus at home. But I don't know. I feel like his last couple of starts on the road haven't been as, he's like pretty good. Has erratic. Like we were like, oh, it's a bad start. And he gave him three-yard-run. Yeah, even the bad

starts that Gallen was having on the road should still be enough for this baseball team to beat Rich Hill. Like, it's not like he was given up eight runs. Yeah. Like they were bad by Zach Gallin standards. Even if Zach Allen is not what he was in his last start like he could, they should still be able

to get to Rich Hill. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. The pitching matchups are are reasonably favorable for the Diamondbacks frankly. I mean, Gallin against Rich Hill. That's obviously heavy, heavy advantage Diamondback. Seth Lugo against Brandon Foff. You backs just won that exact pitching matchup a few days ago as well.

U. Darvish against Merrill Kelly. This is not the same U. Darvish that we've seen the past few years, although the Diamondback seemed always really struggle against U. Darvish. We'll see how that goes. Merrill has obviously been good recently. And then, you know, Michael Waka against probably another bullpen game.

Michael Waka, the Syong winner. Michael Siamen. Michael Waka is a 2680RA, and his peripherals are that of a number four starter frankly. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't, maybe that's a little harsh. I'd rather have a 268 ERA and peripherals of a number four than be you Darvish and have a 424 or Lugo and have a 416 or he'll be like, I don't care what my fucking peripherals are.

I'm not going to run. I'm not going to run. Yeah. That's fair. But that. Look, look, there's a lot of dick milk. Oh my gosh. And I just wanted you to see that.

Big shout out to Tim Ankenman, by the way. He's our friend that came out and barked at. He should be getting. credit. He should be getting... He flew his ass all the way from Boise with his family and they started winning games. Save the season. Save the season. On his birthday, on his birthday. He saved the season. Yeah, it's Tim and his baby and his wife.

Yeah, by the way, Tim, I need to set up a play date with my friend Josh, who also lives in Boise and is a Diamondbacks fan. Yeah, not for your kids. No, not going to be clear. He also has a small child, so maybe the kids can also work out a thing where they find a common interest or a sports team that they like. His baby is like a baby. Yeah.

Like, drooling can't talk. Okay, okay. I just want to make sure. I know what a baby is. A baby is an avidavitaphase. I raised several of them. I know, but you were talking about your friend's kid. Like, he could talk about baseball or stuff.

That's fine. I get it now. Okay. Did you just say it? I didn't know that. I didn't think you knew that we were talking about like a baby baby. Wait, wait. Did Derek just say I've raised several and I kept one of them?

Wait. It's a commute for me. I was like, yeah, Derek and all his kids. And I was like, wait a second. Jesse actually has some breaking news. to take the heat off of me right now and all the babies that I have out there that I don't currently care for. But Jesse, what's happening with Christian Robinson? Yeah, I was told today that Christian Robinson cleared waivers and will remain, as far as we are aware,

will remain in the Diamondbacks organization for the foreseeable future. That's fantastic. And it's good for, I mean, obviously we know that, like, I don't know if another organization is going to care about him the same way that the Diamondbacks are going to personally, you know, care about, you know, everything he's been through and trying to get him back on track. But that's great news because I still felt like that was potentially a mistake. And he was kind of doing well in the Arizona Complex League. Yeah, yeah.

I think he's just working his way back. He tweaked his knee when he was hit by a pitch a couple of weeks ago. So I imagine he'll get back up to Hillsborough before too long. But I will say, to be perfectly honest, it does sort of speak volumes about the way that Christian Robinson is perceived across baseball that no team made this move. You would think if you're, you know, if you're the A's, if you're the Royals, if you just don't have a whole lot of talent right now, you know, that is close to the big leagues, you might be able to sacrifice a 40-man roster spot for a prospect who's a little

bit far away, but a guy that you think could be a difference maker in a few years. And there wasn't a single team in the league that was willing to take, was willing to take that on. So, yeah, a little surprising, frankly. But for the Diamondbacks, it's good. Josh Barfield told me they'd love to have him back, and that's exactly what's happening. It's good for him, too, right?

Because you mentioned he was maybe going through some personal stuff. Yeah. It's good for him. And you don't know if maybe that had something to do with the waiver thing. But like, good for him. Good for someone that's going through something, like whatever he appears to be going through, to have like a home,

like to have an organization that can still kind of take care of him and give him whatever assistance he might need in that regard. So I'm glad he just, is a part of an organization still on like a personal level. It reminds me of Andrew Tolls for the Dodgers. The Dodgers extended his contract. He was a pitcher formally with the Dodgers that has been diagnosed. I believe Andrew Tolls was an outfielder now.

Was he? Was he? Was he? Okay. I'm sorry. Andrew Tolls is an outfielder. He was a decent player for them for a while. Yeah, but he basically had quite a few mental health issues.

He, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And the Dodgers resigned him just so that he, he could stay under their organization for their health insurance and their mental health care program. Are you complimenting the Dodgers? I hate to do that. Is that what I just heard?

But sometimes sometimes you got a game got a recognized game, Jesse. That's one thing. I hate the Dodgers, but like it's not like, I don't feel like it's an organization you necessarily hear about like a whole lot of like negligence or male reasons. Like they tend to seem like they're pretty bundled up.

Yeah. I just hate him for baseball reasons. They run a good thing. I suppose of the fucking do that. who I hate everything about him. Yeah. You got that out? Yes.

All right. So you've said. Yeah. Yeah, we've heard that. Chili chopping taco, bandit sucker. I love that name. Says that we need eight solid innings from Gallin tomorrow. Yes, we do.

The bullpen is pretty dangtacks. I won't lie. But those anings mean nothing if the offense is giving up one run and then you have to go to a bullpen somewhere and it can't be Paul most likely because he's pitch so much. Yeah, there's no way that they'll use Gingle or Paul Ceewall tomorrow. So if ever there was a day for the Diamondbacks To just put up a whole bunch of runs on the board And you know kind of make that not a game if they're able to find a way

Tomorrow against Rich Hill that would be really huge That would be the time to do it let's do it By the way make sure to check out Factor Which is America's number one ready to eat meal kit We love Factor around here because we don't have it's incredible These guys don't want to cook for themselves Jesse doesn't even like to cook for myself Jesse doesn't physically incapable

Yeah, Jesse literally gets furious at the fact that he has to wait four hours to eat the thing that he made in the morning. Yeah, I'll barely even pack the lunch. I'll say, I don't know anybody who has their life more together than Liam Merrill, and she was drinking the factors of movie today. She was walking to the kitchen and grab one in the middle of our conference. Even if you have your life together, you can use factor too. Exactly. Yeah, no, that's true. You don't have to just be like these two guys. You can be like me.

You can't actually go for yourself. You can't actually be able to have time to prepare meals, but then you're just too lazy to and you don't want to. Well, that's what I was saying. Leah has her shit together because she's not lazy. She cooks all the time, but she still has a use for factor. Yeah, I, meanwhile, am not at all any of those things that he said. But Factor does have, like he said, refreshing beverage options, like cold-pressed juices, shakes, smoothies. The smoothies are incredible, especially as like meal replacement thing.

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Well, Diamondbacks, big series. Every series of the big series going forward. Big series with the Padres here. So make sure to keep it locked. We're having a little bit of a programming change, by the way. So we will be doing a postgame show tomorrow after tomorrow's first game against the Padres. And then on Friday, we will be coming to you with a 1pm show. So make sure to join us for all of that.

In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kapp underscore K-Man with a K. Sean is at Sean underscore DePaz. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. The maniac behind the Mac Damon is at Damon, D-A-W-G. Of course we are, Damon's dogs. I know Tim was barking. I know Tim was barking.

Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Can I just say real quick? No. The Astros have the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the third against the Marlins. They already leave this.

I hate that this wild card shit is making me root for teams I hate. We're all the Astros and Dodgers this weekend. What is going on? It would be a game and a half. Game and a half out for the Diamond Island. In a half. And fingers crossed. Well, again, we thank you guys so much for your time.

We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when the Astros beat the Marlots.