PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs After Dark: Everyone Calm the F*** Down

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks managed to take two out of three against the Atlanta Braves over the weekend, but they failed to complete the sweep in a series finale loss on Sunday. So why are D-backs fans panicking? Derek and Rok give their thoughts on beating the Braves and how fans need to pace themselves for the long road ahead. JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 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/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX15 at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. 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! 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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are now listening to P HNXD backs after Dart. Everybody needs to calm the fuck down. Calm the fuck down. The Arizona Diamondbacks take the first two games from the Atlanta Braves and win the series but fail to convert on the sweep on Sunday, losing five to three. And the reason why I start this show off with calming the fuck down is because I am honestly rock in disbelief by how quickly people freak the fuck out about one single loss without keeping

their eye on the prize overall. The main takeaway from this weekend is that the Diamondbacks went into Atlanta and took two out of three. They beat Chris Sale. They beat Chris Sale in a two to nothing game. Yeah. And yet we out-duled Chris Sale. Say it louder for the people in the back, you know?

E-Rod was dumb, did his thing on Saturday. And I mean, yeah, we didn't win the finale on Sunday. But, I mean, two out of three from a first place Braves team that, I mean, we could have gone in there and got smacked. And we did. be fair brandon brandon brandy garcia made a pretty big mistake against matt olson one that he probably won't make again yeah against the guy like olson trying to attack the zone was just walk him you just walk him just put him on first because yeah you throw that man anything within the realm of him hitting it and we saw what happened but you can't even be mad about michael saroka giving you

what no right no not at all you know what i mean so it's like overall it's the reaction day to day from D-BACs fans that I think that has gotten me, like, me personally shook. I cannot believe the overreaction sometimes from Diamondbacks fans. And don't get me wrong. I understand it, right? Things are getting to, they're coming to a head. However, we still have 44 days of baseball left. Oh, yeah.

We still have a lot of time left. There is no reason to overreact to a day. like Sunday where unfortunately things didn't work out for the Diamondbacks in more ways than one. Not only do they lose Sunday's game, right, but every team conceivably that you would want to also lose. Got a dub. Every National League West Wildcard contending team got a dub. I mean, at this point, I feel like I'm paying attention obviously to us, but I'm also very

aware of what the Phillies, the Padres, the Cubs are doing because. sure those are the ones that i'm immediately concerned about because they're right there and we're we're essentially trading that last wild car spot every other day with the padraries right now because we win they win they lose we lose it's just it's it's what it is right now that's what i mean and i mean from that perspective i feel like and this might be more life advice rock but like you got to protect your piece something you're very big on it's something i'm very big on you got to protect your headspace. You have to protect you and your emotions.

Looking at the wild card standings every day and overreacting to the Diamondbacks, either being in a spot or out of a spot is a little unnecessary until we get at least to September, right? Like give it until the first week of September before you start overreacting this stuff. Yeah, because if you think about it, that end of August, first week of September, remember we have the Phillies at home. Right. That series is going to fucking matter. Yeah.

Huge. Because not only do we see. We currently hold the lead over them, right? So again, the fact that we play them, we play the Padres more this year. We do. Like that Padres, the very final season, the very final series of the year, that might as well be a playoff series by then. Hopefully it's not.

But I also want to say hopefully it is because that means I'm a bad. are relevant and they're involved in the wildcard chase when we're talking about the final series of the year. Yeah. And I mean, the commentators have been saying it the past couple of games that these games have a playoff feel to them because they are so important right now. Every game matters.

And honestly, and that's why them losing today, like I'm not even remotely concerned because this team, you can tell this team is locked in right now. This team has their eye on the prize. They know what they have to do. And I mean, aside from the little mistake that was made today by Garcia, I mean, they could have won today.

Absolutely. You know, so this team is, I'm not worried about this team. And then we literally are about to get some of our guns back. So. Right. Let's go. You're not wrong. Garcia walks, Matt Olson, gets out of that inning, doesn't give up that three-run bomb.

And then Ildomarovar Vargas does hit that home run. And the Diamondbacks walk away. Totally different baseball game. Right. It was one mistake. It's something you learn from. And you know, you can't expect this bullpen to constantly be perfect. However, I will also say that it's weird once again that like I saw people blaming Tori for Brandon Garcia giving up a three run bomb and saying it was 100% his fault because they didn't relay into him to walk him after he was down 3.0 and the count and shit like that.

like the fucking mental gymnastics that people have to do in order to come back around to blaming tory for shit is amazing brandon garcia's a big fucking boy so is gabriel merino those two can handle that fucking situation yeah they didn't that's not on that that's on tory that's on tory that's on the fucking two of them let's be honest and i'm not even saying this from a perspective of blaming as an outsider i will tell you right now that brandon garcia and gabby moraine would accept responsibility for that home run being given up far more than they would ever, ever, ever expect anybody to blame Tori. And now I sound like I'm riding extra hard for Tori.

But again, it's this, it's this like weird perspective that you see on social media from certain big accounts that get so, I mean, I mean, reacts so emotionally. Damon and I react in the way that we do as a gag. Well, at least I do. Damon, that's authentic. Everything is ups, his downs, his highs, his lows. That's all real, right? I mean, I've never worked with anybody

whose mood can drag me down after a loss as much as Damon Farrell's. But I will say still, even with all of his ups and downs, Damon is far more reasonable about the perspective of the entire season. And more importantly, the perspective of winning

a series over the Braves, even though you didn't get the sweep, right? The sweep would have been the cherry on the Sunday. Yeah. You still got the Sunday without the cherry, though. You still got two out of three. And you go into Boston. This is a big road trip still. And if you can take two out of three from Boston and come home winning four out of six,

that is an incredibly successful road trip against two of the best teams in baseball right now. Yeah. And Boston is playing some really good fucking baseball right now. Right. So this, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? Yeah. These are big. Luckily, we come in and Boston, I think, did lose to the pirates today.

So, you know, again, it's all about, like I said the other day, people want to always look at expected stats. They always want to look at all these projections, all this other shit. Look, I'm not saying that none of that information isn't good information. It's why we talk about it on the show. And it's why I openly acknowledge it, especially in the case of when, like, baseball savants page, can, like, show you at least how a guy is still doing well, even if the traditional numbers and statistics don't show that, right?

But it's baseball, man, and baseball's so weird. There's no way to explain how you come into a series after losing a three-game series to the Colorado Rockies and win against the Atlanta Braves, taking two out of three other than the fact that baseball's so fucking weird. and it's not about who's really good and who's really bad and who's really this and who's really that. What baseball really is about is who's hot right now? You know, is it is it a hot team coming in on a hot team? Is it a hot team that's cooling off?

Is it a cold team coming into another cold team? Is it a cold team taking on a hot team? Like all of that shit matters and seems to matter far more in baseball than the actual like standings do. And what you've done in your last, you know, 100 games. It's more about what you've done in your last 10 games. Yeah. And if you think about it, our entire 2023 playoff run to the World Series is because we were the hottest team in baseball at that time. Correct. Exactly.

Like it was the right time and everything lined up. And that's what sometimes in baseball, that's what happens. You run into a team that is red hot and they're doing everything right. And no matter what you do. What's funny is, right, we've seen that a few times out of the team that is the third. third place team in the wildcard race. And I bring that up because you are already in a playoff race as you're entering the end of the season.

You have been fighting for your life for every single game. And that's one thing that the Diamondbacks are doing right now, along with the Padres and the Phillies and the Marlins and the Cardinals. All of these teams are in it. All of these teams are going to continue to battle it out, right? But you'll have a few fall off. Hopefully the Diamondbacks aren't one of them. and hopefully they continue to battle, you know, I feel like with the job they've done,

you know, again, look at what a great job Michael Soroka did, even though they didn't win today, right? Like the team, the way it's built right now is only going to get better with additions like Jordan Lawler and Justin Martinez coming back. You're also going to have, right, like Lordus Gurriel Jr. You have one of the best pitchers in all of MLB, Corbyn-B-B-Burn-B-Burn-B-B-B-B-starting It's just not, it's not like that unbelievable to think that this is going to be another one of those years where this team is hot at the end of the season and can make it really fun. If we do what we need to do and get where we need to go, you could come into a, you could come into a playoff series against the Diamondbacks and you're going to get Corbyn Burns, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Fott, and Michael Sorroka. Not in any whatever order it's going to be.

But those are four guys. Good fucking luck. Good luck. Brandon fought is one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher in MLB right now. Just flat out. Since his return from Reno, equating him to other starters in baseball, he is the best starting pitcher in all of MLB. Going down to Reno was the best thing that happened to Brandon fought this year. The best thing that happened to him.

Damon posted about how like what the hell are they doing up there in Reno? and the president of the Reno Aces invited us to come on out to check it out for ourselves. So, Rock, all I'm saying is me and Damon might come back like O.P. You know what I mean? We might come back with higher podcasting numbers, better, you know, accuracy, right? Funnier, better looking. The theme song might be improved when we come back. I don't even know.

Reno Aces jersey with that nice diamond backpack. hatch on the sleeve. It's crazy. I can't wait to go. More importantly, I just want to caution people with this. And again, like I said, this might be more life advice than just advice for a fan of a baseball team in August.

But calm the fuck down, bro. Calm down. Like, there is no reason to overreact right now. I'm not saying that you can't get upset about the losses and excited about the wins. Feel free to do that. Celebrate those. But don't overreact. It is not. the end of the world. If the Diamondbacks fall out of the wild card race right now and they're

one card back or two one game back, two games back, it's not the end. It's not the end. They're going to continue to fight. They're going to continue to have stretches perhaps where they struggle and they're going to have stretches where they're very, very good. Just keep in mind, they have been, as they said many, many times on the broadcast today, the best team in the National League since July 9th. right so that's an impressive stat onto itself because we're this isn't july 16th this is august 16th rock yeah this is going far beyond just a small sample size when you were talking about this team being one of the best teams if not the best team in the national league for a month and a half that's not only impressive but that says something substantial about

what this team is is doing right now Yeah, just enjoy the ride, man. Like don't, don't freak out. Like you said, don't freak out, enjoy the ride. And if you're going to spazz out on social media, don't, don't be a Bob Nightingale and just start throwing out all kinds of whack shit. Just talking shit to talk shit. Yeah.

Just let it go, man. Yeah. Just enjoy the ride. Yeah. Good point. Literally. By the night andale, by the way, reported that Tori was going to have to get this team to the playoffs in order to stick around as manager of this team.

That's like honestly telling me that water is wet, grass is green, and the sky is blue. Tori's contract is coming to an end at the end of this season. And honestly, the Diamondbacks don't really have a reason to bring him back, should he not be able to find a way to get this team to the postseason. But if he does in this particular year, with all of the injuries they've had, all of the rookies they've had to call upon from AAA Reno

to come up and save their asses, and all of the amazing performances that this team has had, just like this one this weekend, despite the fact it ended on a sour note with a loss, this team and Tori Lavello deserve all the credit for how they've been able to just keep it pushing no matter what adversity has stood in their way. So credit to them.

And again, if Tori does find a way to get this team to the playoffs, then as much as there's as much as some people out there hate the idea of this, he probably deserves to just become the Diamondbacks manager until the day he dies. or until the day he doesn't want to do it anymore. That's all I'm saying. I mean, on the flip side, I'm like, okay, let's, if they, if they do what I hope they don't, it's, get rid of Tori, who, who are you bringing in? Because you got to bring somebody in that, like, you just can't bring anybody in.

You got to bring somebody in because this team, this fan, but we're used to a certain style of, like, managing and, like, we're used to a players manager, like, the team is used to a players, managers. So, like, who would they replace them with? That's what I mean. The, the general opinion seems to be that people want Jeff Bannister to take over, you know, just like that bench coach step in. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I mean, that wouldn't bother me. But like, at the same time, I'm like, I would still rather see Tori in that main seat. But if Jeff Bannister takes over, the vibes definitely. Oh, my God. The vibes are going to get a lot scarier and a lot darker.

all of your love bullshit and put it in a fucking sack and throw it in the dumpsters out back. We are here to win fucking games. They are quite the yin and yang. And it's got to be nice for Tori to know that you got a dog next to you. They just can go out there and bark. If you get tossed or it's a good feeling. It's a good feeling. I've never like whenever something doesn't go the Diamondbacks way, I love how the broadcast

team specifically zooms in on Bannister to see what his reaction is. Oh yeah. It's fucking out. Yeah, because Banniser doesn't hide it. If he's pissed off your own back, he's going to have all the things to say. That scowl, like that, that, like, ice grill that he's got. Like, I would not want that man looking at that. Love that man.

I do. I do love that man. But I say that man respectfully. I would not want that man. I say I love him from a distance and wouldn't actually tell him to his face. I would just give him a firm handshake and maybe very little eye contact. However, like if I would want him. in my bar fight crew. I would want Banniser behind me.

Fair, fair. Fair. You know? Yeah. Well, again, calm the fuck down, everybody. We got a lot of baseball still left to play. There's going to be some ups. There's going to be some downs. But there's also going to be plenty of time to freak out. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. So let's just save our energy. Let's save our freakouts and our crash outs for that point. Yeah, no, trust me. There's going to be a crash out or two because it's baseball. It's baseball. They're not going to win. They're not going to win like 32 games in a row. It just doesn't happen that way.

There's almost as many games left as like half of an NBA season and double of an NFL. That's the crazy shit, right? Yeah. Just everybody calm down. But anyway, we love you guys. We thank you guys for checking out this show. We'll be back next week with another D-Backs after dark. Until then, you can follow us on social.

I am at Kap underscore Caveman with a K. He is the man and he is at rock knowledge. That's our own knowledge on social media. Our shows at PHNX underscore. debacks but as always all roads lead to at phnx underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook we appreciate you guys thank you so much for your time we'll be back to say some more curse words next week but until then hope you all have a wonderful week more importantly hope the diamondbacks get plenty of wins and we can all stop freaking out and until we get back together uh we appreciate you guys

and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun after dark and when you stop freaking out