PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Corbin Carroll GOES YARD TWICE, Eduardo Rodriguez Strikes Out 11 In Diamondbacks Win Over Rockies

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Corbin Carroll electrified the Arizona Diamondbacks offense with not one but two home runs, while Randal Grichuk continued to contribute significantly in limited playing time to the team's offensive output with another stellar performance. Meanwhile, Eduardo Rodriguez delivered a masterclass in pitching for the D-backs, keeping the Rockies' batters off-balance throughout his outing and racking up an impressive 10 strikeouts. We have more on the well-rounded team effort that not only prevented a sweep but provided the Snakes some confidence in their MLB postseason pursuit with just 10 games left on their schedule. Join Derek, Damon, Jesse, & Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! Disclaimer: 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/ Sanderson Ford: The Sanderson Ford Summer Sales Event is here and they are teaming up with the boys of summer for a final Playoff Payoff Sale. You get the payoffs like deals on 24 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend. Lease one today for as low as $299 a month for 36 Months with only 10 percent cash down. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! 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. Gametime: 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! 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. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Skeedy to you all and welcome in to Studio K presented by our friends Circle K Diamondbacks win in a big fashion of course we are here. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Derek Montia occasionally known as your mayor of

PHNX. This man next to me is occasionally known as the people's producer but not anymore. I mean we're going to have to change that name. I don't know. You're still the people's producer when it comes to the Cardinals. So we might have to keep that but of course it's Damon Farrell. And Of course, we have our guy, Kevin on the ones and twos behind the Mac.

But the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies. Don't believe that score bug up there because Joe Mantipa gave up some runs late. But Diamondbacks beat the Rockies by a score of 9 to 4 to keep from getting swept in Colorado. They are now 84 and 68 matching their win total from last year. So, hey, there's a plus, right? We hit 84 wins. And the Diamondbacks have 10 more games to go. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet, 316.

Go download the Bet365 app right now. Of course, use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up. Choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. The Arizona Diamondbacks offense finally woke up after scoring two runs per game at Coors Field inexplicably. The Diamondbacks blew up in this one scoring nine runs. Of course, a huge part of that was Corbyn Carroll, who hit two dingers in this one, helping move this man's future bet along nicely. Road to 23.

The road to 23 is where we're at. What do you think about Corbyn's big day? I know you wanted more. You were a little selfish. Yeah, the whole time. I mean, Derek was calling me like the greediest man alive. Just absolutely greedy. He's just the worst.

I'm sitting there in court in the ninth inning and I'm saying, Corbyn, we want three. We want a third of all. Why not? Why not? Why not us? Well, the way he was dealing today, of course, why not us? The Arizona Diamondbacks, of course, got a lot from Corby and Carroll today. The big part of this being that Corby and Carroll now has consecutive 20,

20 seasons. So congratulations to Corbyn on that. That didn't even really look like that was going to be a possibility at one point this season. We were talking about it. You know, one one home run and one month, two home runs, another month, zero home runs in June. That future bet was looking dead in the water. But Corby and Carroll has been on another level, of course, since July 9th, roughly. That's kind of when, of course, as I say it, he was unplugged and plugged back in. But this was his third multi-home run performance of the season. And, of course, all of those coming since that date. Corbyn's just been, I mean, amazing. I know that, of course, his batting average is probably not going to end up at the end of the season, of course, anywhere that tells the tale of how good he was in the second half. But that OPS is creeping. He's at 760. I mean, he could be at 800 here very soon. Yeah.

I mean, I think the average is kind of like in modern baseball, right? It's somewhat negligible. If your OPS is 760 like Corbyn's is right now, the 235. average doesn't hurt as much. And as he's been on this tear, the extra base hits have just been all over the place. I mean, triple after triple, home run after home run. Corbin's been really good recently. But yeah, like you said, I mean, we were talking about it earlier. Through June, he had two bombs. Yeah. He had one in April, one in May, zero in June, 11. That's what it was. Yeah, too. In August. And hit his first two of September. So yeah, road to 23, Derek. We need two more.

He's also one stolen base shy becoming the first Arizona Diamondback ever to record consecutive seasons with 20 plus home runs and 30 plus stolen bases. And I mean, again, so much of that has been here in the second half. He's just been awesome. A piece of Yoshi with the super chat says take a shot every time Bert said, we need to score more runs. Six runs isn't enough in this ballpark. Well, he almost wasn't wrong with the way that Mantiply pitched there in the bottom of the ninth. but the Diamondbacks did, of course, keep them, keep the Rockies off the scoreboard for the majority of this game.

And a huge part of that was Eduardo Rodriguez, who was just outstanding today. When you talk about, you know, Eduardo, aka E. Rod, aka Picasso, as we are starting to call him on this. AKA Bob Ross. A.k.a. Bob Ross on the mound. He was the pitcher we always hoped he could be.

I mean, and beyond today. Like, I know he still gave up two run runs, and he was very mad at himself for doing. doing so, but his forcing fastball was outstanding today. Yeah. And I mean, it was really the, today was the guy that, you know, we, we were hoping we would see on the mound at one point. Yeah.

I mean, honestly, the strikeout total is a little bit more than I would have expected. I mean, I don't, I don't really, maybe I'm wrong on this. I don't really view Erod as a, as a big strikeout guy. But yeah. I mean, 11Ks in one game is, is crazy stuff. That's Zach Allen stuff. when he's like on his game, you know. So it's,

it's encouraging to see from Erodden, it's making it where it's like good problems to have going to the playoffs, right? Where, you know, it's like who do they pitch? Brandon Fott, I mean, he hasn't been pitching too well recently, but Eduardo Rodriguez is, is really doing pretty well right now. Yeah, well, of course, we have a lot of, we just had an excellent day here from Erod,

nine whiffs on 19 swings for the four-season fans. basketball, 14 whiffs total today. His line, six in the thirds innings pitch, five hits, gave up two run runs, walked one, but 11 strikeouts. Those 11 strikeouts in the start are the first time he struck out 11 plus since he did it as a member of the Boston Red Sox back in 2019. And it was also his first inning of six, his first outing of six innings or more since his final start of 2003 versus the Guardian.

So this was a very encouraging outing for Erod. And I know we're going to talk about it a little bit later when Jesse Friedman joins us from course field. But, you know, this puts an interesting wrinkle in the pitching, starting pitching dynamic right now for the years on the Diamondbacks. Absolutely. I mean, like I just mentioned, like it's good problems to have, but maybe maybe even not because if Brandon Fott comes out tomorrow and doesn't have a great performance, then I feel like EROD is kind of making that decision a little bit more simple on the Diamondbacks. there. And having a lefty in a three game set, obviously, it's going to be important for them. Yeah, it's advantageous. It feels like there's a good chance that he could end up in that spot, regardless of how well Brandon fought pitches, but I just, we don't know how things are going to, you know,

break down for this team. Of course, we still have to talk about Randall Gritchick, who still does not get enough playing time. Let's be honest. He came in with a ridiculous slash line for September. when everyone else seemed to be struggling, Gritchick was hitting 448, 484, 1069. Is that good? That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's his slug percentage.

I thought that was his OPS for a second. No, that's his slug. That's crazy. He was scratched on Sunday with having some right hamstring discomfort, so there was a little bit of concern there that the Diamondbacks might once again be losing another position player. We know as Jesse updated us on yesterday that they are very close to Lourdes-Guriel Jr. returning. So, of course, the baseball gods needed some sort of sacrifice to balance the scales here.

But Gritchick luckily played today, and man, he was incredible for this team. He had a home run as well. He also had a double Gritchick 2 for 4 with an RBI and just a great day all around. Diamondbacks had plenty of contributions across the board offensively. Gabriel Moreno was 2 for 5. You had Jake McCarthy going two for five. So, yeah, I mean, just a good day. Christian Walker, one for four with two RBI.

Good to have Gabby back. It's good to have everybody back. It is. It felt like the most complete Diamondbacks lineup that we've seen in a long time. Yeah, probably about a month, month and a half, right? But I'm looking at Gritchick splits here. He has 29 ABs in this month and 14 RBI. That's crazy.

That's actually crazy. And he doesn't play that off. No. You know what I mean? Like, that's the crazy. That's one of the hardest, most underrated things in baseball is coming cold off the bench when you're not seeing a lot of pitching.

Like, I think that that's what's been so impressive to me about Jock and Gritchick this season is that a lot of times Tori plays to the splits because the relievers are coming in the game. Yes. Specifically for just get Jock Peterson out of the game or get Randall Gritchick out of the game and bring the other guy in, right? So like it's, it's been impressive how they've both been able to to have that level all season long where they've basically where they've been consistent good contributors for this team while simultaneously having to come off the bench in the eighth inning of a game here and there

and hit a hit after you know not seeing a pitch all game long so yeah they deserve a lot of credit for that uh and i will also say i am is can everybody hear me okay are we good cuddy i just got to make sure is my mic off no it's not it's not good All right. Thanks. Thanks. All right. Well, if that makes things better, thank you, Shane, for that. Of course, there is still something to be said here about the bullpen because Joe Mantplai did not keep things solid there late. But, I mean, who cares in a game like this? It's just more of the, you got to look at Ryan Thompson coming in, giving two thirds of an innings pitched. You also have J. Mark coming in and giving one inning, giving up just the one walk. outside of Jomantzply, the bullpen was solid. This team was solid. But yeah, I think that there's still some concerns about who you can trust when it comes to the Diamondbacks bullpen for sure. Yeah, I mean, that's just been the story all season long, right?

And I feel like that's that's kind of all relievers, right? Like there's, unless you're like the elite of the elite reliever, you kind of have ebbs and flows as the seasons, you know, the season goes on. But you'd like to be peaking right now. Right? Like you'd want to be in a place where we'd say Joe Manseply looks pretty good as our fifth option in the bullpen or Kevin Ginkle has really been shoving recently. But unfortunately, that's that really hasn't been the case. So yeah, we're going to need those guys to play a lot better down the stretch, to be honest with you.

I mean, has Ryan Thompson seems like he's been picking it up a little bit recently. Am I wrong in saying that? Ryan Thompson has been better for sure. And Justin Martinez still continues to be solid. I just obviously I'm sure there was a matchup that. Tori liked with bringing in J. Manticpli they're late, probably wanted to save

A.J. Puck as much as possible in the game where they're up 9 to 2. So it all made sense other than the fact that you just, you know, you'd really like to see, you know, a quality outing once again from the bullpen like we've seen at times this season. We've, we have

very much praised the bullpen on this show. But I mean, in this series, the Diamondbacks relief bullpen ERA was 7.56 And that's just not going to it's not going to get it done. It's not going to get it done. It's not going to help you win games.

And it continues to be very bad in the month of September, as we discussed yesterday. But, of course, this game, this is happy times. The Diamondbacks avoid the sweep, which is a good thing. Like I said earlier, they do improve to 84 and 68. And now we're back. We're back. We're back. We were back.

We were dead yesterday. It was completely over yesterday. Oh, so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Thunderbolt isn't even here in the chat, which just shows you that the Diamondbacks had a great day. Because you know how it goes.

It's true. He would be here. He would be here. If they got swept, he would be dominating the chat. And that's the way it works. It's appointment television. When he, when there's a Diamondbacks loss, Thunderbolt is like legally required.

Right. Correct. To get in. See, Tanner has been furious with this team at times. But Tanner is still here saying things like McCarthy is cooked. See, I respect that out of Tanner. Right? You know, I respect.

all of you. So thank you guys for being here. And of course, you know what time it is. We've got to give our King Snake to somebody. There were a couple of good choices in this one, but it's hard not to give it to the guy that helped this man move closer to some money. So what are going to bring, Corbyn, two for four today with two home runs, three RBI and one walk. Carol's just been outstanding, continues to be outstanding and just has absolutely been the one consistent member of the offense for this team lately. I know he doesn't go out there on a night night out basis and give you three out of four nights. But he's continuing to make it happen.

He gets on base. He's been making things happen with his speed. And he had a very funny moment where he was coming in. What was this in the top of the ninth inning? Yeah. Where he tagged up from third base and came in and had the time to take his own helmet off. He was just running with his helmet like it was a football. Well, because, yeah, his helmet flies off due to the speed.

Like I've said, he's like. He was shaking on his head. Yeah, it's like a space shuttle. going into space like the atmosphere like his speed is so intense that like things just peel off of him and and debris you know ends up in his wake and of course he just wanted to not have to go back and pick up his hat but of course Corby Carroll was amazing and the Diamondbacks have 10 more games that they'll need him to be amazing for and then they very much need him to be amazing in the playoffs but how much does it stink kind of that they've matched their last year's wind total

but they're in a dog fight for the playoffs. I mean, it was a dog fight last year to get into the postseason, but they managed to do it by, you know, half a game or a tiebreaker. I forget exactly what it was on that last day. But now it's like they're significantly better than they were last season from a record standpoint. And it's going to probably come down to the wire again.

I think that's a good point. I think the other side of that is that you look at how close these teams are even to the best teams in the national league, right? No team in baseball is going to win 100 games this season, most likely, right? Like that looks like pretty, it's pretty much out of reach. That's crazy. And, you know, it's just, I think that speaks to the parity. Because not only do you have the top teams not winning that significant amount of games more

and kind of running away with it, you also have, you know, these teams that do have a good record are closer to those top teams, but there's more, more of them, right? So I think it's just baseball is this game. I mean, it's so crazy that you can have two games like the Diamondbacks just had where they were able to basically muster up two runs. And you have Corbyn Carroll outdoing that by himself today, let alone what the rest of the team did. You know, the Rockies are one of those teams that are frustrating

because their record suggests they're a bad team. Their record suggests that the Diamondback should have come in here and swept them. But that's not what they've been doing lately. The Rockies actually have a lot of new additions to their team. And, you know, they just got done also basically ending the Cubs season in the last series they played. I mean, they put the Cubs so far behind that they are now, you know, you can't really consider the Cubs to still be in the race. But the Cubs lost the A's today, by the way. So I think we, it's time to wrap.

It's a wrap. You want to call it? 3.30 p.m. Time of death. Time of Wednesday, September 18th. Sorry, C.HGO. At least in the Wrigley Field, right? Oh, it's beautiful over there. They have deep dish pizza, too.

They'll always have Wrigley Field. They'll always have, not the playoffs. No, no, they definitely don't have the playoffs. But, of course, yeah, I mean, there's no reason to tap dance on their grave anymore. Should we? I don't know. I don't know. I feel like a bad person.

It feels pretty fun to tap dance on the graves of all the all city baseball teams that we cut. Like, I mean, you're going to tell me last year against P.H.L.Y. Phillies. Like, that wasn't like, I mean, I felt like the man. Oh, we, we had a funeral, I think, didn't we? We had a little grave stone. Yeah, we did have a grave stuff. Yeah, we got, we got crazy with it. But of course, we do have one more thing that I wanted to talk about from this game, Damon, that I love so much. And it gets me so pumped. And I started talking about it yesterday because we got the video from Jesse with Jordan Montgomery talking about how he goes and hangs out in the bullpen now. And he did that today. Today, after the pregame festivities, Jordan Montgomery headed out to hang out with his friends in the bullpen. And it's such a vibe.

Like, I don't know why I get so excited about this, but it's kind of like Jordan Montgomery finally found something that kind of makes him happy again, right? Like something that just like, hey, no, I like, I really like Ryan Thompson and Joe Mantiply. I'm going to go kick it with them in the bullpen and not, you know, the rest of you on the bench. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't want to speak on stuff that I don't really know about, but it did kind of feel like he wasn't like part of the Diamondbacks group in a way throughout this season. Like, you know, even though we brought in Jock Peterson, he feels like he's been here forever, you know, like it's a great point. I think, you know, it's not, Gino, same same thing. Like, it's not like the new additions haven't felt like they have, you know, kind of vibe with with this core that we have.

have but to me it just kind of felt like Jordan was a little bit more on the outside of things. So hopefully, yeah, I mean, if he's feeling a little bit more connected, maybe he's a little bit more dangerous. Have you ever been the new kid at school? I mean, like, I've gone to schools that like, I didn't really know anybody when I was like when I, when I transitioned to sixth grade or to high school. Yeah. But not never like in the middle of when I should have been in middle school, go into a different middle school or something. Yeah. I did that and it sucks. Right. And like, It's weird because the thing that can make the difference there is the acceptance of people and finding people that you vibe with. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And like sometimes just having that group of people can make everything else just kind of be whatever because you're still like, you know, you're in a good mood. You have people that you enjoy their company. And it's also just cool that he goes out there and like roots really hard for the team. And like that's part of why he likes being out there is because you can just kind of like cheer on the guys from the bullpen. I mean, it's like, this is a different sport, but like from my personal experience, I remember when I was a junior in high school, our football team, like we had a lot of really good D1 talent on our team, but the team was awful. And they missed the playoffs. They, it's at Sall Point.

I mean, I don't know if anyone knows anything about Souta Point, but like that's, it's the best football team in Tucson in high school. And like, you don't have losing seasons. They had a losing season with multiple Division 1 football players. And then next year, we had zero division one football players, but we liked each other. that team hated each other and they had way more talent but they missed playoffs we were like all best friends on our my senior year and we are a really good team for it so i think it's an underrated aspect of sports is is yeah is the team morale how you how people feel about each other and and like it's part of the reason the dying backs were as good as they were last year i

think and that brings us back to belgian draft horses and how much they can tow when they were raised together. Tori's always thinking. I want to give a shout out up there in the chat. Go back up. I think Chris, R.A. says, I mean, Monty body language is noticeably different. I noticed that too. And I think that a lot of people noticed that. I think Chris had a comment a little bit up about that. He said, I think Monty came in very angry this year. I'll summarize. And finally found happiness. And yes, the happiness is there. It's just small things, right? It's just small things, right? small things. Sometimes, you know, again, it's, it's kind of like us here, PH&X. Like, we truly have a great group of people around here, and we're all rooting for each other's success and,

you know, except Damon. Why are you laughing about it? Because the comment that's on screen is one of my best friends, Kevin, who was on the team. He doesn't really watch the show. I don't think all that much, but he just happened to be here exactly for that. Hell yeah. Well, of course, we also have Tori talking here before today. game on knowing that last year's team didn't finish strong, obviously, in the regular season, but still went far in the playoffs. This is what Tori had to say. I think so. I think our guys are battle tested. They've been through just about everything this year, and you can only draw on some of the comparisons and some of the things that you felt before in this game. So yeah, I know where

we are in the standings. It's overlapping with what happened last year. I think we were fighting to win baseball games all the way through the final couple days of the season and I think that's how we're wired I think we embrace that so I don't think the guys are panicking because of what's going on I know that when you have the experience to draw from I can only prepare you for what's to come and I think that's where we sit right now I think that is an underrated aspect Derek of of how this I mean situation is playing out like a lot of these guys have played in big moments big games So this current situation where they're really fighting I don't think that it's like the mental side of things is necessarily getting to them I think they're they're incredibly battle tested, but

It's just gonna come down to how good of baseball they play I I I don't think it's like they're there they're scared or something like that you know no I don't think so I just think like especially in a place like course field right the minute you start struggling we kind of talked about this you and I You know you get past that third fourth inning in that first game and you're like oh damn Like what's going on? And, you know, you start just pressing a little bit. And I don't think it's the moment getting too big. I don't think they're thinking about the Mets and the Braves catching them. I think it's more of just like, you know, you're sitting there with your, you just want to smash one because of the environment.

Yeah. And because of, you know, how you normally do there. And unfortunately, it didn't work out for them like that in the first two games of this series. But it did today. And the Diamondbacks offense definitely showed up. It was a great day all around for this team. defensively they were solid. We saw Gino making some of those plays that he kind of screwed up in.

And yeah, this has been at least a day where you feel a little bit more confident that this Diamondbacks team isn't doomed. You know, that's kind of what started happening after they lost yesterday's game was that doom was starting to set in with 11 games left in the season. Well, at least for the fans, right? Like at least for me and you and, you know,

Jacob Franklin, who's texting me, like this team is lifeless. It's yeah we were done we're cooked like Jacob was taking all of his Diamondbacks gear to goodwill he was ready to just cash it in I'm sure he probably texted like me individually like Jesse individually like that guy that guy is living and dying with all these games so yeah oh yeah I'll show you my text message I got from a little bit later but of course we very much appreciate appreciate all you guys being here in the pH and exports YouTube channel right now subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already of course sign up for

notifications that way you don't miss whenever our shows go live and then of course hit that like button we would both appreciate it very much you got to you got you got to hit the like you got to hold the line uh and you got to htl of course jessie junior told me that he actually like it it it kind of is like it means everything to him it really does it really does if you don't like it like he he gets really emotional and like then derek and i have to like make sure he's okay it's like a whole thing he doesn't want to come on the show and he just sulks in the corner. But of course, you can subscribe to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, and that makes them feel so much better. Also, leave us a five-star review and say it's because of the

snake. And then, you know, of course, that'll cheer them up as well. But of course, we thank you guys so much. We have more from this wonderful series. So I probably shouldn't have said that, at least this wonderful game and the series total here in a little bit. But first, I want to tell you about Empire Today, because, of course, with Empire Today, you get Shop at Home, the right product for your needs, quick and professional installation, and a price match guarantee. So what more are you looking for? I know sometimes it's scary to go out there and decide which company you're going to go with when it comes to a commitment as big as changing your flooring in your home.

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runs ahead. So in this one, you were a winner despite what the bullpen tried to do there late. And of course, parlay and same game parlay selections will be marked as winners as well. So download the Bet365 app and use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you were someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1800 next step. Text next step to 53342 or visit problemgambling.azzo.gov. Before the season, I put down a little wind total bet on the debacks as well that coincides with my Corbyn Carroll future.

And we need one more W here, Derek, with our friends at Bet, He did the over on 84 and a half wins. So one more W, guys. That's a good one. It was a good one. That's the kind of odds you can get at that 365. That's right. Well, the Diamondbacks have a series starting up immediately here with the Milwaukee Brewers.

So hopefully they can fulfill that. Hopefully, why am I saying hopefully? We need them to win at least. We will. We're back. We're back. Yeah, we've never been more back. What am I saying?

Let's take a look, of course, at the count from this series, presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. And that kind of proves how back we are a little bit, even though the Diamondbacks lost the series. They still barely get outscored by the Rockies 15 to 13. Diamondbacks do, in fact, outhit the Rockies in the series 26 to 24, which I don't know is that, I don't know if that's frustrating or just baseball. Well, game one was extremely frustrating, right?

We doubled up their hit total and lost the game. So that one was a pretty damning game when it comes to, these hitting numbers. Yeah, that's for sure. But of course, runners in scoring position, the Rockies were 8 for 23 while the Diamondbacks were 6 for 27. Really good good thing to take away from this one, no matter how bad the series actually went for the Diamondbacks, is that they're starting pitching ERA was 2.65. And, you know, that's something that you wanted to see, and that includes Jordan Montgomery in there going four and two-thirds and only giving up three earned runs. But I mean, this is, this was a pretty quality day here for the Diamond

of course. You also have the Colorado Rockies here with a 6.17 starting pitching ERA. Relief pitching ERA very good for the Rockies, of course, and they got a lot of innings out of that. I mean, this is probably the worst aspect of this for the Diamondbacks is that the Rockies had a 1.76 ERA and a whole lot of innings pitch, 15 and a third innings pitch, almost four more innings more than their starters win. While the Diamondbacks relievers really struggled in this one with a 7. Yeah, the relief pitching ERA at this point in the season, that's not exactly encouraging. No, no. But of course, what is encouraging is the way that Erod pitched today, right? Yeah.

And again, I know this is something that's going to probably evolve as the rest of the season goes on. But, you know, who are the Diamondbacks going to turn to if they make the postseason for, you know, that wildcard series, for instance, that first three game series that most likely could be against the Padres or against the Brewers or against the Dodgers. That would be gross. I would, please, let's get the Brewers. I mean, it's what we were talking about last year and it felt pretty good when we played them. Like, that's kind of where I'm at again. Like, I want, I want the brewers.

I know that they're a better team than maybe they get credit for, but I just don't, I don't look at their lineup and like it doesn't inject any fear into me. You know what I mean? Like, they have Contreras and. And that's pretty much it. So yeah, I mean, I think that's, that's definitely something that is scary. But I hope it's just, I don't know. I don't want to play the, I don't want to play the Padres in particular.

I kind of feel better about playing the Dodgers. Is that weird? Yeah, no, it's not weird. It's not weird. I've actually said that. I've said that in regards to the Dodgers. And that's because the Dodgers right now just, I mean, don't get me wrong. They still have some of the best.

players in all the baseball. So that, of course, is never, that never really bodes well for the idea of wanting to play them. But, of course, a big problem with that is the fact that they still seem to have worse pitching than the Brewers. So I don't really know. Yeah, the Brewers pitching staff is pretty decent, but you're right. I mean, I just, I don't know. The Padres are so scary. They have a ton of good people in their lineup. And it's just, it's not a team that you want to play. Like, did you see that Machado bomb yesterday, Derek? Yeah, no, that's gross.

The vibes in the at Peco Park were unreal. Like, the fans were going crazy. The last thing I want is to play them on the road in that series. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And that's what a lot of people in the chat are saying. And, I mean, I don't know. I think there, okay, so there is something to be said about the fact that, you know, the Diamondback.

are playing the Brewers here a lot. So these teams will know each other really well. And I don't know who that gives the advantage to, right? The Brewers are the Diamondbacks. Obviously, we're going to be playing in Milwaukee if that's who they end up playing or we'll be playing in L.A. If we play in L.A., we just need to send Christian Walker out there and they'll single-handedly win the series.

So there's that. See, that does feel good. And I feel like they would press against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers, in a series, because of what happened last year and how that all went down. It's a good point. Pargamy feels like they would be like, oh, we need to win. Like the pressures on them after sweeping them last year. So that's kind of where I'm out with the Dodgers.

The Padre is obviously like there's not that kind of dynamic going on. Like it's not like a big brother, little brother type of situation. So that's why, yeah, I don't know. The vibes in San Diego are just something that I don't really want to deal with. I agree with what everybody is saying though in the chat in regards to we got to get there first. Right. and we have to get there first. And honestly, I didn't mean to be a Debbie Downer yesterday,

but it was hard not to be. A Derek Downer is what I should say. But Derek Downer definitely was in the house yesterday because I do feel like it's a valid thing to look at the way they played in the first two games of this series and think, what is this team even going to do in the playoffs? Right. But then you see them play like they did today.

And you think, like, wow, the only real blemish besides obviously Erod giving up a couple of runs there in an inning where, suddenly he was given up like he was cruising and he cruised almost in his entire outing but you know he struggled through one inning kind of oddly and outside of that it felt like he had a great day

felt like of course the bullpen could have come in and shut it down if Tori needed it to be the case and could have gone with its high leverage guys throughout instead of maybe Joe Manth applying the ninth inning but this team today very much looked like a team that could you know hey beat anybody in the playoffs

you know and that's again this is against the Rockies team that probably shouldn't be your litmus test by any stretch of the imagination. It's just when they're on and they play and they look sharp like they did today. It feels like they can beat anybody. Well, it's baseball. I mean, any team can beat anybody, right? That's true. That's kind of the point of the whole sport, I feel like.

And when you get to the playoffs, like, it's just about getting in the dance. Yeah. You know, it's not about, it's not some crazy, like, sport where it's just like, like, in the NFL, the chiefs are going to be in the, in the, a FC championship game. Like I'm going to guarantee that right now. In the in baseball postseason, I have no idea what teams are going to be in the NLCS or whatever, you know? So I don't know.

That's just kind of the, that's kind of the weird thing about this sport that we love so much. Yeah. I mean, it is weird. And of course, anything can happen. And that's why Jesse hates it because of the randomness. And that's why we all love it because of the randomness. And I know that the Diamondbacks can do, can't. They can win if they get into the postseason.

And of course, again, that today was a perfect example of this team basically, you know, showing how good they could be when everything clicks. Yeah, for sure. But it's also against Austin Comber, so I don't want to get crazy, you know. Yeah. Someone had said earlier that I thought the Rockies bullpen sucked. I thought it did too. But apparently that's not the case. Parts of it has sucked.

But they have called up a lot of young guys. And I know that that is. Who is that guy yesterday? Again, it was like Havilsteiner or whatever, two days ago. Dude, that guy. Throwing a hundred miles an hour. That guy is nasty. So, yeah, I mean, they have some Justin Lawrence.

I mean, I don't know how good he's been this year. I'm not, I'm not like super locked in on Rocky's baseball, to be honest with you. Oh, Justin. Yeah, Justin Lawrence. He has an incredible head of hair. 5, 970. But he has some decent stuff, you know. But they have a couple of good guys over there.

And, of course, they leaned heavily on the bullpen in this series. So, diamondbacks, I don't know what's happening in regards to the diamond backs and, you know, struggling against opposing bullpens. But this hasn't been, this hasn't been a great case of that. All right. Well, of course, excuse us for having some technical difficulties really quickly. We will get the lights back on here shortly. But, of course, let's take a look once again at our.

numbers from this series and we can make sure that of course we get everything back up for you guys uh we also have jesse joining us here shortly from course field um so anyway uh this series again not a great series for the diamondbacks but they did win today and then you know again they get out of here with a very encouraging well they needed this win they absolutely needed this win at least put it up earlier in the chat like i don't i this arched chat right now would be total doomsday mode if we had gotten swept in this in this uh series like it i don't i don't really know what the deal was with that but like it's just i don't know the dime backs fans are we're very on edge about how things are going each game feels like a

live and die type of moment you know what i mean that's fair though right isn't not i mean it's yeah no it absolutely is right now and how i mean i mean the again, the Diamondbacks just kind of got hot, I guess you could say, at the wrong time. Because they got hot, they played well, so did other teams. And then when they started to cool off a bit, those other teams didn't cool off. So it felt suddenly like we were kind of in a panic there. You know, the Braves were a team that were struggling, and then they even started playing good baseball and not really losing a lot of games.

So I think it just kind of got to the point where you had so many teams like breathing down your neck there late, or recently, that you, you, you, You know, you don't feel comfortable. And also watching them lose four out of five games will definitely make you feel that as well. You know what I mean? It'll make you feel that sense of doomsday that this is, that things are definitely going off the rails for this team right now. Yeah, I mean, lost four or five games still somehow five and five in your last 10. It feels, am I wrong?

Am I crazy in saying it feels like we've been a lot worse than that? Five and five in the last 10? Like, I don't know. I feel like they've been like three and seven somewhere around there. So you're right, though. They're not, it's not necessarily peaking at the best time. But I don't know. I mean, it's, it's, you got to start playing good baseball here in these final 10 games.

You need to, need to. You're not wrong. You are not wrong. Well, of course, we will be back here shortly. We got Jesse here joining us from Corse Field. And of course, I, you can focus in on. All right. Jesse, welcome in.

Sorry about those technical difficulties, of course. But I see that you, where are you at right now, Jesse Friedman? What was behind you there? That is not, that is not Coorsfield. This is a wall at Coorsfield? Yeah, I'll pull the curtain back for everyone here. So Coorsfield is sort of over yonder. Is this so that they don't close things down on you again?

it's beautiful isn't it look at the sun it's a lot of bright light for good it's a lot of bright light yeah yeah so unfortunately the the windows are now closed and so i think if i were to put the stadium in my background you'd see something like what you just saw where it'd be like a giant just just you basically staring at the sun um so yeah we're we're we're in this uh it's like a a nice bar kind of hangout area that they have kind of behind home plate here that's right next to the press box so uh that is That is where I am currently, Derek. Well, it was a beautiful game for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and of course they did everything right today.

This was, things looked much better. Cortman Carroll going yard twice, and Eduardo Rodriguez striking out Levin. He looked outstanding on the mound for this team, Jesse. He was so good. Yeah, I mean, Eduardo Rodriguez was really good. I know that, you know, I think he had one outing where he gave up just a run and five innings, something like that.

But this for me was Eduardo Rodriguez. his best start of the season by a wide margin. And that's, you know, not to say he hasn't had some games where he's been effective, but this was just a level of dominance that we have not seen from Eduardo Rodriguez at any point in his Diamondbacks tenure. And granted, like, yeah, he's only made, what is it, six or seven starts at this point. So we're still, we're still very, very early on in this four-year contract, I think is important for people to keep that in mind here through some of the highs and lows.

But yeah, I think this was a really, really big day for him, not only for the Diamondbacks to win a game that they very much needed to win, but just looking ahead at what these last 10 games are going to look like, as well as what a potential postseason run might look like for the Diamondbacks. After Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly, I think there's a lot of unknown about what this rotation would look like, especially if you're in a seven-game series and you need four starters. even as we've discussed earlier, there's potential to need four starters even in a five game series in the NLDS.

So Eduardo Rodriguez, from what I saw today, you know, it's against the Rockies. You have to keep this in perspective. But it was really, really encouraging for sure. Well, and I mean, to be fair, the Rockies really didn't have a problem scoring against pretty much everybody on the Diamondbacks. It felt like yesterday. So, I mean, just with the way that he was pitching the confidence that he had in his fastball, he was, he looked. like the guy, and this is how I phrased it earlier, but he looked like the guy that you could hope he could be, right? Like, he looked like the pitcher that the Diamondbacks went out and acquired,

and that would be essentially the third man in the starting rotation for this team. Absolutely. Yeah, and you think about, you know, if Ryan Nelson is able to come back healthy at some point, what it could look like to have Gallen and Merrill Kelly, who have certainly pitched better lately. Merrill Kelly did pitch well in his outing on Monday. The Diamondbacks, obviously, lost for a variety of other reasons. But yeah, with Gowan looking better lately, Kelly looking better lately, and then Eduardo Rodriguez having, again, far and away his best start as a member of the Diamondbacks, it's, yeah, you could talk yourself into a Diamondbacks playoff rotation that is actually

pretty decent, even though the numbers over the course of the whole season are not at all that, right? I mean, I think their starting rotation ERA is probably still close to five. and maybe in the bottom five of the league. But as we saw last season, really what matters the most if the Diamondbacks are able to get to the playoffs is what is your top end talent look like once you are in October.

And if that group of players is performing well at that time, you can go on a nice little run as we saw last season. Well, of course, all they got to do is make it there. And of course, that's not a given with how close this wildcard race is And we will get to that wildcard update here shortly. But first, I want to let you guys all know to go check out our friends at CircleK. CircleK is America's Thirst Stop.

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And of course, we've got to take a boys trip. Kevin doesn't know about the boys' trips yet, so maybe he won't refuse to include me the same way Damon doesn't include me on the boys' trips to Healer. David's kind of a monster. Why would I ever exclude you from anything, Derek? Yeah, see. We are brothers and our pro wrestling fandom. We can't let them separate us. already like Kevin better than Damon. I'm still Damon's dogs, but I mean, I'm part of Kevin's

is what I'm saying. I didn't I didn't give permission for Damon to just hop off set the moment that I Yeah, he completely abandoned. We had some technical difficulties and instead of helping out at all, he just ran out of the room is basically what he did. He kept took the mic with him for a little bit as long as the court would let him go and then he just dropped it. But of course, Jesse, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what's happening with Damon these days. He just left Jesse Jr. here by himself. This is a Travis deal. Let me give my snake some love. And of course, we need some love from this Diamondbacks team. After witnessing what we saw for the last two days, we weren't very happy with them. But today, I feel like we're in a better mood. We want to hear from our guys in the clubhouse.

Yeah. Well, we'll go ahead and start not in the clubhouse. We'll get there in a moment, but with the Diamondbacks manager, Tori Lavello, obviously Erod was the story of of this game for the Diamondbacks. And here were Tori's initial comments about the D-backs lefty. I love the three runs in the top of the first inning. Gave us a little bit of breathing room. Maybe let us exhale a little bit. And then Eduardo just went to work.

Six and a third, 11 punchouts, control in the zone. He got a really aggressive fastball, spotting it up. He was getting in on some right-handed hitters. I think that's really important in this ballpark so they don't get an extension or look down out over all the time. great game plan and we won this game today because Eduardo clearly. I mean he was commanding the ball and he was moving it around but you know some appeared to be middle-ish and yet you know they were swinging right through was there

anything deceptive maybe more than normal from him today with the fastball? I don't know that I haven't seen the location a lot of those pitches I just know there's good finish to his stuff and it looked a little aggressive I think I saw a couple 93s popping up so he probably was getting behind the baseball and had a little bit more a little bit more carry. He was ready for this game. We needed him to step up in a big way, and he did. They really did.

That's exactly true. They needed E.Rod to step up today. And, I mean, he was outstanding. He talked about his wife telling him that when he's on, he looks like a ballerina because all of his movements are very fluid and smooth, and she tends to compliment him in regards to that. And he definitely looked like he was he was out there spinning and dancing today. Yeah, I don't have video of that specific part.

There wasn't a whole lot there. But yeah, he was, Eduardo himself was asked about, yeah, whether he looked like a ballerina or not in this game. And he said he had, I think he said he hadn't talked to his wife yet. So he was waiting for her, for her assessment of the situation. You don't know if you look like a ballerina. You need someone else to tell you when you look like a ballerina. Like that's the way that's. Yeah, yeah. The other thing I'll point out real quick, that very subtle that people may not have noticed is that Jody Jackson and Tori Lavello swapped spots in Tori's office. So the last couple of days, Tori would have been on, or Jody would have been on the right, Tori on the left. Today, as you just saw there, they swapped places. And Tori credited that.

with today's win. He said that Eduardo Rodriguez had nothing to do with it. It was all because Jody Jackson came up with the idea to switch things up in the interview room. They swapped spots. And there you go. The Diamondbacks win nine to four. It's like Jody Jackson is Paul Seawald suggesting

they don't take batting practice, basically, is what you're telling me. I think so. Yeah, I think she had a big impact on this one for sure. Well, what else do we got there from the clubhouse, Jesse? Yeah, we also have. I imagine you guys have discussed Corbyn Carroll and the fact that he reached a 2020 season today, which was obviously a very impressive accomplishment given everything that he's gone through. Here's what Corbyn had to say about reaching 2020.

It's great. You know, given the way that this year started out, I think if you'd ask me in the middle of the season, if this was possible, you know, definitely wasn't on my mind. So to kind of find myself here at the end of the year, I think, It's kind of a testament to just stacking the days and continuing to work and, you know, having a great, you know, a group of people around me. So I have two. Jesse, Corbin.

I mean, we talked about it a bit. We talked about Damon's future bet for the home runs. It's just, it's been incredible what he's been able to put up as far as his season numbers go, considering that it's almost to a degree like he may. missed half of the season, you know? And I know he didn't physically miss it, but like he struggled so much and, you know, his power wasn't there and his numbers just weren't there that it did. It felt like it feels like, you know, obviously it's two completely different seasons for Corby and Carol from the first, you know, three months to what he was able to do in July and beyond. And

and I think that's what makes what, you know, that makes that 20, 20, that could be a 20-30 season, look so impressive right now. I mean, on, on, on, on, the start of play July 7th, Corbyn Carroll had two home runs. And here we are mid-September talking about Corbyn Carroll having a 2020 season. It really is just outrageous what he has been able to do, the turnaround. It's completely real now, Derek. At this point, you know, there was kind of a gradual process where you started to see Corbyn hitting more home runs, but he was still hitting a few more pop-ups than maybe you'd like to see. He wasn't making great contact all the time. And gradually, you've just,

seen him become more and more like the player he was a year ago, maybe even better than the player he was a year ago, frankly. I guess this kind of reminds me of first half Corbyn Carol from a season ago where he was very, very good. He is in a great place right now. And I think a really big part of this, which is something we discussed with Tori as well as Corbyn himself after this one, is his abats against lefties and how much better that has looked here over the last month, month and a half. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think Corbin has like a 1,000 OPS against left-handed pitching for a pretty decent stretch, maybe going back to the beginning of August or something along those lines. He has been really, really good against lefties. And even last

season, when Corbyn was obviously outstanding, he was basically about a league average hitter against lefties and did a lot of his damage against right-handers. Today, you continue to see that. Obviously, both of the home runs came against a leftie in Austin Gomber. And yeah, he talked about about just being able to see breaking stuff better from left-handers as being kind of the key adjustment there. And that is so huge for the debacks to have, you know, not only Katel, but also Corbyn there at the top of the lineup is someone you feel really, really good about against left-handed pitching.

It's a huge asset for this team. Yeah. And I mean, I know the batting stance change has been a part of that, Jesse. But could you speak more to that and what exactly how that's impacted things? Yeah, that's something I noticed today. I'm guessing that this has been going on a little bit longer than that. But yeah, Corbyn's, his setup in the batterers boxes is a little bit different in terms of kind of where his hands are. He's holding the bat a little bit more directly over his head as opposed to kind of more behind his head,

which is what we've seen from him in the past. So yeah, I asked him a few questions about that after the game. It sounds like it goes back to some of the struggles in the beginning of the season with with his bat, the plane being a little bit off. The vertical attack angle, that's something that we talked about a lot where his swing was getting too flat. And so I think this is part of that. So for people who maybe noticed that, I saw a couple comments on Twitter about people

noticing a different batting stance from Corbyn. He explained it as being kind of a gradual thing that's been in the works for a while. It's not something that he just changed a couple of days ago. but yeah whatever he's doing it is certainly working and yeah it looks a little bit different now than it did a few months ago well it's like again versus his struggles versus now i mean there's a lot of things about his swing and such that looks like uh like it was prior to that weird shoulder injury scare that he had last season right and i know that that impacted the way he was swinging the bat and that impacted his a lot of things he was doing at the plate. But it definitely looks like he's just swinging, you know, for, for power. And he's

swinging confidently and you just see him looking like, you know, like, like he sees everything very well. And I mean, obviously those changes have probably been gradual, but along the way you've seen that improvement. And I mean, the results have been there, right? Like this is an incredible thing that he's accomplished considering, again, going back to what I was saying, how long he struggled for, prior to, you know, finding his groove, getting his groove back, if you will. But of course, speaking of getting their groove back, Erod definitely looks great. Again, we will withhold judgment because much like yourself, I did, I do feel like no matter how high we want to get on today,

we want to like say this is against the Rockies and Gomber was starting. And, you know, of course, this was also a team that already has taken two out of three against the Diamondbacks and have won the series. And as much as I'm sure they would have liked to sweep the debacks, didn't really have much left to prove after the way they won games one and two in this one, right? So, like, I get it. It's maybe in game three, they played a little bit more like the team. We were hoping to catch the entire series.

But I'm still really impressed with what we saw out of E.Rod today. And especially, you know, how effective he was with his fastball. Yeah, it's bigger than one game, right? It's not just about E. Rod pitching well today and helping the D-backs win a very important game. It's, again, it's about what the next 10 days look like. I imagine that E-Rod would make two starts. I think he lines up to start the final game of the season for the Diamondbacks as well,

which could still be a very, a very crucial one against the San Diego Padres. So, yeah, it's just, you know, obviously the debacks made a really big investment here, and they've struggled a little bit in free agency with some of these lefties. So this was a really big step for him. going back to Corbyn real quick, I did think it was interesting hearing Corbyn talk about just the Diamondbacks in this series. And he mentioned that if the Diamondbacks had lost this game, right? Like getting swept at course field is not exactly what you have in mind.

And that's sort of what he described. But at the same time, he said some interesting things about the debacks and their hitters meetings today about how they didn't come to the ballpark today feeling like they needed to win. they came to the ballpark today, sort of expecting to win and feeling like we are here because we are a good team and we are going to win because we are a good team. We don't have to put that extra pressure on ourselves knowing that the situation that we're in. So yeah, it was interesting to hear that perspective from Corbyn. And I mean, again, this is a team that the one benefit to what they went through last year is knowing that, you know, things sometimes look bleak.

and you got to find your way in. And as long as you find your way in, you'll get there, they're just in more of a, obviously, of a driver's seat this year. And they were last year. They just didn't get the job done. They had to kind of back their way in. This year, you know,

they definitely have a chance to control their own destiny and win their way into the playoffs instead of letting another team lose so that they can get in. It just, I think that, you know, the experience once again tells them that, like, there is no need to panic right now, because, you know, they are a good baseball team,

a better baseball team than they were last year. And they can look kind of confidently at how far they got last year and know that they can do it again. They really can with the way that this team played today. Yeah, let's go to Erod, I guess, is sort of the man of the man of the hour here. Here's what Eduardo Rodriguez had to say about his outing, the game plan, and what was working so well for him today. I mean, the game plan was like always, you know.

We read the reports and everything and just attack and attack all the time. And that's how it was, so the attacking the strikes on with all my pages and try to look at it right what they wanted. And we got a good results today. How much did you use your cutter today? A lot. I mean, I feel like every start the game told me what are going to use, you know, that it will be some games that are going to change it more. There are some games are going to let the quarter like today or the sinker, the slider.

So for me, just go out there and read what happened in the game and just keep doing it. How pleased are you to be able to give the team six and a third, 11 strikeouts, a big outing that the team needed today? I mean, I was happy with it, you know, because I know we need to win most of every game we play right now. So winning today was just, it was great, you know, be able to go out there and be out there for six and a third innings. It's just special because I know the team would need it and that was available to do it.

With everything you have to go through, put this together for your team. I mean, good, you know, you just say like I was sitting, I was sitting back and watch everybody playing now that I'm back here and just been kind of like grinding the last couple of stars, you know, and until they be available to go out there and feel great on normal like pitches and everything, I told me that I'm good to go and be out there and execute it today was great. I mean, you already see it probably every start that I got this year. I think this is the best one, you know, so. So yeah, for sure, 100%. Pitching wise, velocity wise, everything was just right there. So, it's got. Well, I mean, that's, that's a guy that's important for this team. I think that, you know, obviously the versatility that he gives you in the starting rotation to have, you know, the two righties potentially broken up by a lefty and, and to have

him pitching like he pitched today in the postseason would be incredible. Yeah. And again, I mean, this is against the Rockies, right? Like, Corse Field is, is not an easy place to pitch. But at the same time, the Rockies did not have a great approach against him, you know, there was a lot of, a lot of first pitch swing at some cutters that were in off the plate, which ironically is actually where most of the Rockies hits came from. They chased a lot of cutters that were like kind of in on the hands and they found a way to fight them off into the outfield for bloop singles. But yeah, the Rockies are not, are not a very formidable opponent. I think it'll be interesting to see what E. Rod's next outing looks like, which I believe

will come against the San Francisco Giants. He's not not scheduled to pitch in that Brewer Series, but we will likely see him in that opener against San Francisco. And the Giants, it's not like they have an amazing offense necessarily, but a step above this, this Rockies group, Ryan McMahon also wasn't, wasn't in the lineup today. So, yeah, it's a, it's a really big step in the right direction. It is, it is encouraging for sure. But you also want to see him start to string a few of these together, right? See if it's not just a kind of a one-hit wonder.

and, you know, maybe he's able to really build something here as the season comes to a close. Well, let's take a look at the wild card race update. Of course, Jesse, Diamondbacks still, for now, have a half a game lead over the Mets until they play their baseball game. But they're here in the wild card race, obviously, and the Diamondbacks improved 84 and 68. They are, of course, still behind the Padres, who I'm being informed by Tanner are, about to take the lead in their game, which doesn't surprise me at all. But of course, yes, you have the Braves there two games back, two and a half right now from the D-backs,

and then those other teams that have kind of fallen off a bit. But, yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks are still here close. And, I mean, it's just kind of wild to think, Damon and I were discussing it earlier, that the Diamondbacks sit here at their win total from last season with 10 games left to go. And it's not enough to be in the postseason or have a spot secure. and they're going to need to win as many of those 10 games they have remaining in order to secure their spot. They are. Yeah, I mean, I wrote about it in my newsletter last night slash this morning. They're in a dogfight, right? This is going to go down to the final days of the season.

I mean, even if the Diamondbacks do play pretty well, it's going to be hard for them to clinch a spot until probably that last series against San Diego. So yeah, we'll see what it looks like here in these next few days. This weekend, Derek, I think is really important with the way that the Brewers play the D-VACs at Chase Field this past weekend, having to go into Milwaukee for four games there is a really big test. And I think as we talk about Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, you know, making strides forward, what is it going to look like against a better team in Milwaukee? I know Gallen obviously pitched against the Brewers this last time out.

But you want to see those guys, you know, really kind of get on a nice run here. And we've seen the beginnings of that. But there's still, you know, a couple of big tests here in this final week or so. So, yeah, this is this is not over by any means. Losing two out of three to the Rockies is at the end of the day a bad outcome. This is not what the dime packs envisioned coming in here. We'd be, we'd be having a very different conversation if they had won the first game of the series and then lost the next two, right? The vibes would be much, much different here on this post game show. But,

yeah, this was a well-played game by the debacks today and we'll see if they're able to take some of that momentum into Milwaukee. One guy we haven't talked about, and this is just for our Pavan Smith fan club, is Pavan Smith, who stays hot, Jesse. Pavan just continues to be a big contributor to this offense. And again, when this team has been going through its ups and downs lately, it feels like Pavin has kind of been a steady contributor there offensively. Yeah, he really has. I mean, this is going to be a really interesting time for the debacks. As I said yesterday, I think there's a decent chance.

The Lordus Geryl Jr. gets activated tomorrow at the start of that Brewer Series. And pretty obvious that Taven Smith is not going anywhere. Maybe there was a world a couple of weeks ago where Pave and Smith would be the odd ban out in this situation. But you just can't do that. the guy is just continuing to to hit and improve himself offensively. So it'll be very interesting to see how the Diamondback split playing time in left field with Guriel back. I mean, Guriel has great numbers this season against lefties. But frankly, against righties, there's a pretty big gap between what the debacks have gotten this season from Pavin Smith and what they've gotten from Guriel.

Obviously, the sample size is much bigger with Guriel than it is with Paveen. But Gurriel this season is only hitting 249, 292, 394. That's a 686 OPS against Ritees in 356 plate appearances, which is obviously a pretty big sample. So you clearly want Gurriel in there every single day against a lefty. But against a righty with what Paveen Smith is doing right now, it's going to be hard for the debacks to sit him in that situation. And DH spot isn't really an option. You got Jock Peterson there and First Base. You know, Christian Walker is going to be there the vast majority of the time.

So it's going to be tough to find at Bats for Pavin Smith. It's already been tough to find at bats for Josh Bell. We haven't seen him play a whole lot recently. So that's something I'm going to have my eye on this weekend for sure. BC is just now finding out on Puerto Rican Jesse. That's why when I, that's why when Jesse makes fun of my, the way I pronounce certain words, it's a hate crime. That's why that's the way that works. But no, it's because it's honestly I am very bad at speaking sometimes.

I'm also, someone asked why I'm so stressed. We had a camera die on us in the middle of a show. So I'm still recovering mentally from one of our cameras literally just dying. It just died. It died. It couldn't, I guess it gave up on the season before many of us did. Not even battery dead. Not even battery dead, Jesse.

The camera's just, it's inoperable. It's dead. The camera just died on us, yeah, but we appreciate you guys being here so much, of course, especially you Thunderbolt for finally showing up for a win. Way to go. But, of course, we also thank you guys so much for being Arizona Diamondbacks fans. We do have a big series that starts tomorrow. Of course, we will actually have a 1 p.m. show tomorrow instead of a postgame show.

That's because Archie Bradley is in the house, along with Jesse Friedman here at P.HNX.HQ. So make sure to join us tomorrow. for that of course in the meantime you can follow us all on Twitter I am at cap underscore caveman with a k jesse is at jesse N freedman uh of course kevin is at uh kev tom is it what like Thomas so my last name is Thomas so k-e-v-h-h-o-m-W-R-I-T-E-E-S like the way that jesse writes you need to you need to figure this out Derek because you ask Kevin to read out his Twitter handle every single show it's not my fault uh to be very confident every time I do it to be fair it's it's a very complicated one and I should probably write it down

but that's there I get it's down yeah yeah I guess Kevin Thomas like that that you're in a bit of a tough spot there Twitter handle wise like I yeah there's there's probably Kevin Thomas one through 50 Twitter handles school emails Xbox usernames like yeah the whole lot out there but follow him at Kev Tom writes And we are Kev's crew. Yeah, I don't know what to do. We don't have a noise we make for that. But we are also over at PHNX underscore D-Backs,

but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for stopping by. We'll see you tomorrow at 1 p.m. for our 1-PM show this week. And then we'll be back with a post-game show on Friday. So until then, have a wonderful evening. Go Diamondbacks and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun. when you can rely on your starting pitcher to get the job done.