PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks dingers carry Zac Gallen to his 10th win of the season

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

Evan Longoria, Corbin Carroll, Christian Walker and Ketel Marte all homered as the Diamondbacks downed the MLB-best Tampa Bay Rays. Zac Gallen did not have his best stuff, but he bounced back to toss six solid innings. Meanwhile, we have the latest on a surprise injured list stint for starting pitcher Merrill Kelly and the call-up of Diamondbacks pitching prospect Justin Martinez.SUBSCRIBE 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 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.Manscaped: Save 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code “PHNX” at Manscaped.com. BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX (betmgm.com/phnx). Place a pre-game, moneyline wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price. You will receive $200 in Bonus Bets instantly regardless of the outcome of your wager! Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up!Swing for the Fences: https://promo.betmgm.com/en/promo/sports/swing-for-the-fences 3-Ball Challenge: https://promo.betmgm.com/en/promo/3ballchallengeGambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, DC, IL, IN, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA)21+ to wager. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS, NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI). Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in DC, Nevada, New York or Ontario.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.

Who's the best? That's the best the American League has to offer. That is the best the American League has to offer. It's not good enough for this wagon. Welcome on into the PHNX DBAX podcast. Happy National Pina Day to one guy. And one guy only, of course, maybe to all of you with your fake purple hair. But of course, welcome on into the PHNXDBACs podcast.

My name is Derek Montia, formerly known as mayor of this joint. This guy next to me is your thunderstick. He also has a fire-ass closer character now thanks to Damon on MLB the show. It's Jesse Friedman. Yeah, closer me apparently throws 99. He has an immaculate inning. It was amazing. And has both a change up and a splitter, which is fascinating. It's just excessive. And I have a slurve. A slurb. Yeah, four-scene fastball, slurb, circle change. And, uh, yeah. That's a pretty complete arsenal for a closer. It's really wild. 99 like that's that's pretty that's pretty crazy it's it's fun to watch but this team this arizona diamond backs team also very fun to watch maybe not that second inning for zack gallon

so much but the rest of the team was an absolute vibe all night long uh the diamond backs absolutely celebrated by the way national pineapple day by giving out purple wigs selectively to people uh they don't have the commitment that this guy's got though uh if i would have known that there were going to be wigs i maybe wouldn't have made such a permanent decision like it came to this, but we're not sure what broke Zach Gallen there in the second inning, but he definitely broke for a period of time. Luckily, somebody reset the router, unplugged Zach, plugged him back in, and he got back online.

But there was a moment there where it looked like Zach Gallen literally could not throw the baseball competitively anymore. Yeah, it was absolutely bizarre. That second inning, it went walk, double walk. So you had the bases loaded with nobody out. And it was like, all right, well, this isn't it. I mean, the debacks just put up five runs in the top. Yeah, we're going to talk about the offense,

but we were ready to chalk this one up as a win already after the first day. It was a weird way for Zach to respond. He just wasn't really throwing strikes. He didn't have a feel for his curveball or his change up at all in that inning. So it's the base is loaded with nobody out. And then he throws a wild pitch and you're like, okay, well, that's a little weird. Granted, Gabby Moreno, I don't think at his best date behind the plate. I don't think it's 100% Zach's fault necessarily.

But he throws one wild pitch, makes it second and third, one run scores. There was another wild pitch and the same at bat. And then you've got a runner at third, nobody out. And all the, all the raids had done at that point themselves was hit a double. Other than that, it was two walks, two wild pitches. Talk about just handing the other team runs. And yeah, I mean, it just kind of continued just to snowball from there. They scored another run on a ground out.

And then there was a solo home run that somehow got out of the ballpark. It felt like the ball was really flying at Chase Field tonight, which was weird. It was because it looked like it was a high pop-up. and it did not look like it was going and going and going. It was really weird. That was off the bat of Jose Siri. But yeah, that made it a 5-4 game and you figured like, oh, well, that bottom of the first was fun. But here we are back to reality.

It's the Tampa Bay Rays. It's probably going to be a dog fight the rest of the way. And it really wasn't. Debacks just sort of took control through the rest of this game and won 8 to 4. Most importantly, Zach Gallen got back on track. And despite that second inning kind of being all over the place, we did see Zach adapt and be able to be effective. again. When we got this question recently on Mailbag Monday where we were asked like, what do you guys mean when a guy doesn't have his best stuff? What do you mean when you say he

doesn't have a feel for his pitches? What we saw in that second inning was kind of that with Zach Gowan, right? Like he is trying to throw his other pitches. He's trying to throw his knuckle curve. He's trying to throw a change up. But those pitches aren't working. They're not working. And not only are they not working. They're not effectively getting even across the plate. and they're a problem. So we saw Zach Gallen pretty much in this game after that second inning completely abandoned his arsenal pitches outside of the cutter

and the fastball, the four-seeing fastball. He did mix in still his change-up and the knuckle curve like every once in a while, but when you look at his baseball savant page from that second inning on, it's just a whole lot of cutter and four-seem fastball. So Zach did his best to, you know, kind of shift gears in this game

when what he was trying to do wasn't working. And he found something that did because you take out that second inning and Zach Allen goes five, five innings gives up like three hits and no other runs besides that. All of the runs that he allowed were in that inning. His line ends up looking not great, but six innings pitched, five hits, four earned runs, four runs, two walks and four strikeouts. Much better, much better than we thought we were going to see potentially out of him, which to start this important series against a team like the race was going to really put the Diamondbacks. in a bad position. I think you just came into this game just assuming that if the diamondbacks lost, it wasn't really going to be because of Zach Gowan, right? Like maybe he wasn't going to dominate, but I mean, the man is 7 and 0 with a 1.0 ERA or that's what he was at home coming into this

series. So he's been basically robotic at Chase Field. It's just the way he's pitched in that first inning, right? It was, I think it was a 7 or 8 pitch first inning. You know, you feel like here we go, Zach Allen's just going to cruise through another game. But yeah, it was another one. where he kind of had to fight through, as you said, his pitch mix was weird in this game. He really didn't have a feel for the knuckle curve or the change up early on. And he kind of ditched them through the middle innings.

And like you said, it was just a bunch of fastballs and cutters. Then he did kind of mix in the change up and the curve ball after that point, just to make sure that there was some variety there. But yeah, this is who Zach Gallen is. I mean, when he doesn't have his best stuff, which it feels like he basically never has this season, he's still able to find ways to get around that. today it was the cutter. It was a pitch that we haven't really seen use in that role a whole lot,

but it was effective for him. And at the end of the day, you know, four whiffs on the cutter, seven whiffs on the fastball, 14 whiffs total. Pretty decent Zach Gallen outing, even if it, even if it wasn't his best start overall. What a metaphor for this team as a whole that is Zach Gallen, right? Because when you say that, Zach Gallen got his 10th win of the season today. He is on pace to win over 20 games this season. And Honestly, there are times where Zach Gallen just finds a way to do it. And that's what this team does. This team comes in.

Things aren't working for them, and they find a way to win. Things are working for them early on, though. Like we said, after that first inning, we thought this game was a wrap already. You had the Diamondbacks just come out very hot. Perdomo single to lead off the game. Then there was a wild pitch on the race side. Marta walks. And that's followed by Corbyn Carroll home run.

And that's how we kick things off immediately with the Diamondbacks having a three-run lead. Christian Walker, Walker, Walker, Walker, single double, triple Walker. He hits Dinger, Christian Walker, having a day at Chase Field. Christian Walker with a 16th home run. Corby and Carroll with his 17th home run. A lot of D-Backs dingers in this one.

Marte got in on the home run action later. And it was, you know, like Jesse said, you thought it was going to be a dog fight, and we saw the Diamondbacks continue to put their foot on the pedal. They continued to score runs. And today they did it in a, yet another different way. Today it was the long ball. Evan Longoria even did it against his home team, his former team hit the crap out of a ball, 446 feet. He always does, man. He never,

there's no, there's no cheap shots for Evan Longoria. And yeah, with that home run, Evan Longoria became the 70th player in major league history to have homered against all 30 teams. She's a really incredible, really incredible accomplishment. I mean, you take into account a point that a really good point that Chris Garagiola made on the radio. We haven't had the balanced schedule in baseball for all that long. Right. I mean, literally not long at all, right? This is the very first year.

So, and obviously has played, you know, some, some seasons, a significant portion of his career in both the AL and the NL, which does help. But, yeah, just a really incredible what what Evan Longoria has done for the Diamondbacks this season. I mean, the man has 11 home runs there. He is on paced at 27 years young. He's on paced at 22 home runs. at age 37 and he only plays like every,

he only starts like every three days. It's really incredible. He flashed the leather today. He played some great defense as well. So it's not like he's not washed and he's not a bad option for them. And we kind of had our episode where we discussed the Diamondbacks picking him up. We didn't really know how he was going to fit in. But I'm sure we didn't think he was going to contribute this much or even play this much.

But he really has with, you know, with some of the changes they've made with Josh Rojas being sent down to AAA, it's really great to see Longoria doing the damn thing. And I mean, what a great story. Like, you can't make this stuff up where he hits his 30th home run against the team that he essentially was a huge part of, that he's still kind of beloved by. And, you know, I mean, I'm sure that they kind of like that it was, you know, that they got to see that, that Evan Longoria, you know, is still playing. And they got to see him, you know, hit this home run against the final team that he didn't

get one against. He's just become, you know, this team gets contributions from all over the place. Cotel Marte, though, not enough is said about how good Marte has been this season. He, his numbers don't jump out at you. I mean, it's still very good. And compared to other second baseman, he's up there as one of the top offensive second baseman. Oh, his numbers jump out at you at this point, there. Well, yeah, I mean, a 900 OPS from a second basement.

Come on now. And he's got his 20th, he reaches base for 20th straight game. and it is his second time this season. He just had one game against the Braves where he didn't reach. If not, he would have like a 49 game on base streak right now or 50 even if he would have gotten it in that game. But I mean, to have two streaks so far this season and we're not even tomorrow is the halfway point for the year. We're not even there yet. And he has already had two streaks like this.

He's just been an absolutely huge part of their offense and continues to just kind of do it. Like, I mean, under the radar, right? Like, you just don't hear Catell talked about right now. Yeah, I mean, in June, he is hitting 333, 460, 654. Oh, my God. Which is ridiculous. He has an 1114 OPS in June. And we talked about it a little bit on the show yesterday.

If it weren't for Fernando Tatis, he'd really have a pretty clear shot at the NL Player of the Month award. Honestly, if he has a few more games like he had today, he might still have a shot at the NL Player of the Month award for June when it's all said and done. But yeah, I mean, we talked about it the other day as well. Catell Marte coming into the year, one of the biggest X factors for this team. You know there's a lot of ceiling here.

You know the player that he can be when he's at his best. And this is the year where he's really put it all together. And it's not just against lefties, right? We've seen a version of Cattel where he just absolutely destroy his left-handed pitching. And against right-ease, he just kind of hangs in there and is more of a league average sort of guy. But, yeah, it's unbelievable what he's doing from both sides of the plate right now. And I know some people are saying it in the comments. I think we're at the point, Derek, where if Catelle Marte is not an All-Star,

we've got some problems, right? I mean, Luis-R-Iriott. We riot. We absolutely riot. We grab our pitchforks and our torches. Luis Arise deserves to start the All-Star game. I'm not going to go there. But I think it's pretty clear that, yeah, Ozzy Albies is doing some good things.

You know, Nolan, there's some good second baseman in the National League. But when you're getting a 900 OPS from your second basement, it's really, really impressive. There weren't a lot of guys when you were voting for players that had a 900 OPS on that list. Let me tell you. I can think of a few of them off the top of my head that had 900 or better as far as their OPS is concerned. But Marte, just loving what that guy does. And of course, he also just has a very fun attitude. I mean, I was talking with Mark the clubhouse.

I don't know, a security guard you want to say? I don't know. Mark's just, he's the host. He's our clubhouse host. But we were talking about how much fun this team is having right now, right? And like one of the guys that you see having the most fun at times is Marte. Like he's joking around with his teammates. He's joking around with the opposition.

He just looks like a kid that's out there playing baseball and loving every minute of it. And it's just, it's great to see. But when we talk about kids going out there and playing the game, Let's talk about Corbyn Carroll. Home run number 17, 44 RBI this year. And of course, that dinger, he's our Kingsnake. He is our king snake. He's our favorite baby boy.

And this man continues to be incredible. It's just amazing how fast when you watch Corbyn Carroll with his teammates, how fast they have just become this team that kind of looks up to him. Like, he is entirely too young of a team. player for you know for him to kind of have you know kind of the aura about him that he does but i think everybody in the clubhouse knows that he's a very special player yeah it's it's incredible what corbin has has accomplished this year we've talked about it so many times but you just can't really say enough about about what he's done and he's been going through it at the play lately right there've been a couple

slumps that corbin has has gone through this season and i think in each of them people kind of wondered like all right, is this sort of when the league is figuring him out a little bit, right? Which is a real thing for young players. Sometimes guys come up and they dominate for a few weeks. And then the wheels kind of come off once opposing teams figure out what their weaknesses are. They haven't figured that out yet, Derek, with Corbyn Carroll. And that home run, I mean, these are not all cheap homers, right? I mean, that was off the batter's eye in center field.

The sound that it made off the bat in Chase Field was incredible. He got more MVP chance today at Chase Field, which is. always cool to see as well. And the purple hair was, I mean, it was something that was kind of silly, you know, and look at me saying purple hair is silly. That's, that's ironic. But, you know, they were having such a fun time with it. Corbyn was rocking it. We saw Alec Thomas rocking the purple hair. And again, going back to what I was saying about Cattel, there's something about the way this team is just having fun and enjoying playing baseball. It's such a different mood than the last few seasons being around that clubhouse and have everything be so somber.

They just, they're, they're playing really good baseball and a big part of it, I think is because they're playing really loose and they just have a great group of guys over there. So tonight was a complete win. Tonight was an absolute complete win for this team because Zach Gallen had one really terrible inning. And I felt like in other cases, we've seen this team fall apart when Zach Gallen isn't at his absolute best. Tonight,

they just really prove that they can hang with the best teams in baseball and can beat them. And again, Zach Gallen, win number 10. It's crazy. Yeah, I mean,

we're basically at the halfway point of the season. So, Zach Allen is on a 20 win pace right now, which is pretty crazy. I mean, I don't think the Diamondbacks have had a 20-game winner. I want to say since Ian Kennedy

back in 2011, if I'm not mistaken. I don't think Zach Granky did it. I don't think Patrick Corby did it or Robbie Ray. So, yeah, I mean, it's been more than a decade since we've seen that happen a long way to go. But Zach has a chance to do that. The other thing I'll say is that even though wins are a stupid stat and they shouldn't matter in Cy Young voting, they absolutely still do. They do and they have to.

They didn't matter back then when our guys were going to. Now they matter. Now they have to matter. If he gets to 20 wins, I mean, you know, even if he's maybe not at the top of the league and some other stuff, that really could go a long way and helping his case. So obviously, we're a long way from that. But 10 wins at this point in the season is really impressive. It's odd. It's kind of like the MVP where like there does have to be a factor of the team winning and being successful in order for that to factor in.

Right. And a Cy Young should go. I still kind of think it's dumb. Well, I get you because it's the most valuable player, right? Yeah. And baseball is not the kind of sport where it's like, oh, you had that player, but you weren't good. Like, oh, that player must not be very good. It's like, no.

Looking at you, the angels. Yeah. Have you watched Angels baseball? the last decade. Like, you can't be pointing the finger at either Otani or Trout for any of the problems they've had in recent years. So. Very true.

But I digress. Yeah. Zone in Arizona says they were having fun, but were they having teenage dirtbag levels of fun? I don't think so. Maybe the Tampa Bay Rays were too loose before the game because in their little workout area, they were blaring the song Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatis. And, of course, they were also singing along to it at full volume.

and I got quite the thrill out of that. It's a good chorus. It's hard not to sing that chorus. But anyway, we thank you guys for being here. Of course, if you're here in the PHNXports YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe to the channel. If you haven't done so already, sign up for notifications.

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467-369, New York. Call 1-800-5-2-2-470-Cansas, Nevada. 1-800-3-270-50, Massachusetts. 1-800 bets off Iowa. 1-800-2707-1-1-7 for confidential help, Michigan. Well, we have some transactions to discuss that we haven't brought up, but we did have some breaking news earlier today. relief pitcher Justin Martinez was called up to make his major league debut, as well as Kevin Ginkle, who we've talked about quite a bit as far as kind of scratching our heads as to why Kevin Ginkle was sent down.

But it was the, I guess, I guess the corresponding moves that were a bit surprising. Not surprising was Joe Mantipli being sent down because we knew that was potentially an option. But what was surprising was finding out Merrill Kelly has been added to the 15-day IL retroactive to, I believe, the 25th of June. So after his last start with right calf inflammation. And apparently, according to Tori Lavallo, he has a blood clot in his right calf, which isn't great considering we know that Merrill has suffered from blood clots in the past, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he had thoracic outlet syndrome, right? That's what ended his 2020 season, went into 2021.

That was, I mean, thoracic outlet surgery is, as I wrote last year, is one of the more risky procedures a pitcher can have. He obviously has come back, you know, even better than he was before, which is remarkable. But, yeah, Tori said that this incident is not at all related to that. So as far as we know, there's no connection whatsoever with a thoracic outlet situation. This is something that very similar thing happened with Ian Kennedy last year. Ian Kennedy, I believe it was July 4th of last year, hit the injured list. Also with right calf inflammation.

And the explanation then was also that Ian Kennedy had a small blood clot in his lower right leg, which is what's happening here with Merrill Kelly. Toy Lovello didn't seem overly concerned. Here's what he had to say about this injury and Merrill Kelly missing time. It's very similar to what Ian Kennedy had last year. If you can remember correctly, that Ian missed a very short period of time. first of all I thought it was a great catch by the medical team to understand that there was a little bit of discomfort and inflammation in there that we should get it checked out and on the level that we did there was a small clot in there and you know we we feel like meryl obviously missing the 15 days and in place on the disabled list he'll be able to step back into the arena and compete as soon as possible and again he did not set a timetable for his return But it does sound like Merrill Kelly will most likely miss the rest of the first half of the season. You probably won't make his return until after the All-Star break, which is two weeks from today, in fact,

or at least the All-Star game itself is two weeks from today. So that kind of checks out as far as Kelly would probably have maybe, what, two more starts or three more starts between now and then? Yeah, yeah, something like that. Yeah, I mean, if you do the math, I don't think he could be active. in time to have him start before the All-Star break. So, yeah, you can pretty much, the soonest you could possibly see Merrill Kelly at this point is after the All-Star break. I believe the DeBex are in Toronto that weekend after the All-Star break.

So, but yeah, Tori didn't put a firm timetable on this. So we don't know exactly how long it's going to last. But everything was pretty optimistic. Tori made it sound very much drew a close comparison, as you heard there, to what happened with Ian Kennedy last year. Kennedy was on the injured list for 16 days last season. So this isn't like a deep, dark despair sort of moment. There are a lot of worse things that could happen here.

This is Merrill Kelly, you know, missing a couple of starts here as we get into the All-Star break. And that's okay. The Diamondbacks can find a way to make up for that as long as he's not out too much longer. We all know the lack of depth in this starting rotation and the importance of Merrill Kelly and the fact that the Diamondbacks, even with Merrill Kelly, still need to add a starting pitcher at least one at the trade deadline. So to answer the question from the chat earlier, why is Zach Davies still on this team? That's why.

Yeah, could you imagine if this happened and Zach Davies was already gone? I mean, maybe some people, I'm sure there's some people who are like, yeah, well, I'd still rather have Blake Walston or whomever come up from AAA. Very similar to the mad bum situation where you're like, I don't care who you replace them with. replace them with some guy you pick up off the street. Like it doesn't matter at this point because anything's got to be better. But it's not. And Zach Davies is still somebody that can help the Diamondbacks get to that trade deadline and take up some innings. I mean, it's not the best option for them right now.

But I don't feel like they internally want to give up on Davies as much as fans want to give up on Davies. And it's understandable. We are way less patient. Somebody tonight tweeted to us that they needed to send Zach Gallen down. So that's just the kind of reaction that you get from people sometimes. It's not based on any kind of actual, like, reasoning or thought process. It's just pure reaction, pure angry reaction. There are different levels of that, though, right?

There are definitely. Like, wanting to DFA, Zach Davies is on a, is not on the same level of craziness as wanting to demote. Fire Lvolo! That guy, you know, that guy. That guy always shows up in our mentions when a little game. is on the line or they're losing. But Justin Martinez got called up and I tell you this much. I have done this for a very long time.

I've covered this team now for way longer than I even want to admit. But it's still never, it still never gets old seeing the joy in a young man's eyes when he is up, when he is here, when he has made it to the major league level. This is the goal, the dream they've had since they've been a little kid. And to see them accomplish that goal to kind of be present. and be able to be around their joy is definitely something special for me still. Yeah, it really is cool. And yeah, I mean, we talked about Justin Martinez a little bit yesterday

and everything that he brings to this team. I wrote a story right around game time about Justin Martinez and what he brings to the Diamondbacks. I'll probably tweet that out again in the morning. We didn't get to see him make his big league debut in this game today. But, yeah, I mean, the man in his last game in Reno, Derek, He averaged 101 with his four-seem fastball. That's the average folks.

That's the average. He topped out at 102.5 in his last appearance in Reno. And what I wrote about is that, oddly enough, his fastball is actually not really a swing and miss pitch for him. He really doesn't get whiffs on his four-seem fastball all that much at all. His whiff rate on his four-seem fastball, almost identical to the whiff rate on Scott McGuff's 94-mile-an-hour fastball. And we know how sexy that is, right? I guess that doesn't really make my point. But yeah, you guys understand where I'm going to back.

Make sure to check that out. We're not going to give away the whole article, but it's very fascinating. Jesse and I talked a lot about, like, his fastball and not having a real vertical ride. There's a lot of things to it that, I mean. It turns out that throwing 100 miles an hour doesn't necessarily make it like a swing and miss pitch, which is a really weird thing. Like you assume if a guy's pumping 99 or 100, like, oh, no one can hit that, right? But no, major league hitters are very good and have seen that before. And they can do it as long as as long as the fastball has like kind of a normal shape,

kind of a predictable shape. And Justin Martinez sort of has that to a certain extent. It has a little bit of a drop to it. It's a little more of a sinker kind of a forcing fastball. But it's still very exciting. And again, something that the Arizona Diamondbacks really needed was some reinforcements. We saw Kevin Ginkle in tonight's game. Kevin Gingle picked right up where he left off and this guy just again, we talk about parts of this team that work really well that don't really get the credit they deserve. Kevin Gingle absolutely did not get deserve to get shut down on the way or to get sent down based on the way he was pitching. And tonight he proved that he deserves to be back up on the major league roster.

Yeah, it is interesting. I mean, we were talking yesterday about how weird it was that the Diamondbacks, as of yesterday, we didn't know the full story yet, right? We kind of knew that Justin Martinez is going to be called up. But we didn't know that Kevin Ginkle was going to be called up. And that was weird because we were like, we were like, why not Kevin Ginkle? Why would you call up a new arm when Kevin Ginkle is just sitting there? But now it makes sense, right? You have Merrill Kelly going to the injured list. You might as well bring up two bullpen arms instead of one. So, you know, we get both of those guys up at the same time.

And yeah, Kevin Ginkle, I mean, the man deserves to be a big leaguer. And he kind of felt for the guy when he was sent down. And, you know, frankly, this, it's only going to get. more challenging to nail down a job in this bullpen as we go into the trade deadline, right? The Diamondbacks are probably going to make a move or two, and it's going to, you know, it's going to make it even harder. It's going to make it even more competitive to nail down those jobs. So you have to appreciate what Kevin Ginkl has done with the opportunities he's had. G1's in the chat. Let's go, Dan G1. And Zone in Arizona says,

Corbyn Carroll is taking hundreds of pitches a day with his VR headset and win reality at 100 plus miles per hour. Corby and Carroll doesn't sleep. He just trains nonstop. He just stays awake at all times, just training. We do have some more information. You guys trying to get ahead of us. We got your probabilities for this series.

We have an idea of who's going to make that start on this. We have an idea. We have a sneaking suspicion. But I did want to say, of course, one thing that was beautiful tonight was seeing the bullpen worked the way it should. Three innings, the bullpen gave up one hit. And that's all that they gave up.

Talk about an uneventful end to a game against one of the best teams in the American League. Now, we don't want to, like, let's pump our breaks a little bit because the Rays have actually not been very good lately. They haven't been great lately. They've just been kind of mediocre playing sub-500 baseball when you factor in this game in their last 10. But still a very dangerous team and still a team that the Diamondbacks really need to, you know, win, I guess you could say. They need to prove that they can beat these best teams because sometimes when they've had these tests, they have not passed them.

When you look at the Braves and even the series against the San Francisco Giants that they just salvage that last game out of. Yeah, I mean, your pitching matchup today was definitely better than what the pitching matchups are probably going to be the rest of the way. Especially knowing now that Merrill Kelly is on the 15-day IL. I know we will not see him in this series. But this was a big game for the Diamondbacks to win with Zach Allen on the mound. We talked about there have been some other games that they've played recently where it was like,

all right, this is the one that you had to get, right? Like the game that Gowan pitched in Milwaukee or on the flip side, like the Logan Webb game for the Giants, right? Like that's the game they're supposed to win. And they did. And the Diamondbacks were able to pull that off today. Chris says I will take no salt on any tasty win. You're absolutely right. We're keeping things positive around here.

And of course, if you want to go check out potentially Justin Martinez's debut in tomorrow's game, make sure to join us. You can get your tickets through GameTime. Game Time is not only a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing app, but it is the app to get last-minute ticket deals. It's the fastest-growing ticket app in the country. For a reason, you can snag the tickets without the stress with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 for $20.

Terms do apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute ticket deals, lowest price guaranteed. And of course, for all of you procrastinators, out there. Just go download the app now. Just have it on hand. Ready to go for the next time you get FOMO for missing out on an event. Of course, another great partner of ours is our friends over at Saturday Neon, which is a great story. We talk about great stories. Corby and Carroll going to the

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So great for offices and gifts. It's a great gift. It makes a great gift. So go to Saturdayneon.com and you can use code pH and X for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for all orders over $200. Damon, let's take a look at those probable pictures. for this series because we have no idea what we're going to see. This is just a guess now.

This is an educated guess. Zach Davies starting tomorrow and we are throwing it out there that we think we will see Brandon Fott start in the finale of this series against the race. Jesse, what are we doing here? I think we know. I don't want to, I mean, this is not official. If you go on the bad app or I guess just called the MLB app, You're not going to see Brandon Fott listed as the probable starter for Thursday.

That's us taking some liberties of our own there. That is correct. But it's pretty obvious. I specifically asked today, I asked Tori about Tommy Henry and whether the Diamondbacks are looking to move him into the bullpen potentially this turn through the rotation, just given that they are skipping him by starting Zach Davies tomorrow. And Tori, very frankly, said no. He had not an option to pitch out of the bullpen.

Tori also specifically said that Tommy will pitch. in that series against the Angels. Which, yeah, Tori also went out and said that Merrill's, he's basically viewing Merrill's spot as being on Thursday and that the Diamondbacks will bring in a starter to take that spot on Thursday. Derek, Brandon Fott is going to start on Thursday. Let's go, Jesse.

I think it is abundantly clear. Yeah, you don't love looking at this probable starters graphic and seeing a 7-82 ERA followed by an 837. No, I only have a bit. Fott has pitched better of late down in Reno and no injury is well-timed, but I do think that Brandon Fott deserves an opportunity back up here, and he'll get that on Thursday against the best offense in baseball. So good luck.

Good luck, kid. And all of you that said bad things about Zach Davies is if he has a good start, you got to come back to the show tomorrow and apologize. That's the way that works. But I don't know what we'll see how Zach Davies, because that's probably been the biggest problem. Davies at times has actually looked like a very capable competitive pitcher and then at other times he looks like he absolutely is a detriment to this team and their success. So who knows which Zach Davies will stand up tomorrow. But what we do know is this podcast, this very

podcast continues to maintain our lead in the most important division. I don't know. Do we say that anymore? I think the NL West is clearly the most important. It's pretty important. Last year, All-City Division was the most important. Yeah, but it's still very important to me for bragging rights over the other, over the other shows. We still have a nine and a half game lead, folks. We've really, we've really lost the White Sox and the Rockies. They've just kind of drifted out of the picture. Did you know that the Rockies won that series against Angels?

No, I heard that. The Rockies had an amazing weekend. They lost a game 25 to 1 and they still won the series, right? Man. That's like the definition of like lost the game. battle but won the war? Yeah. And you like, you really got your teeth kicked in in that battle, but somehow you still won

the war. The debacks have a couple series this year. When we took a look at behind the numbers after, after everything was said and done, uh, there were, there were, uh, quite, quite an ass kicking, but yet somehow the diamondbacks came out with two wins, uh, in the series. And, uh, if the atmosphere at Chase Field was anything like it was tonight for the remaining games, uh, I don't know how the diamondbacks can lose because the atmosphere. at Chase Field was electric.

It was incredible. And of course, you know, I think the biggest thing about the atmosphere being like the way it was tonight was the fact that it's the race. They don't have that fan base that you expect an electric atmosphere at Chase Field to have, especially like some sort of split crowd when it's like a Dodgers matchup or it's a Cubs game or something like that. This was a lot of Arizona Diamondbacks fans coming out to support. And to be honest, it was great to see.

It was great to see. It was a good environment. Yeah, it was 20, it was like 23,000, 351, something like that. I was on Rock and Mnuch talking debacks earlier today, and they asked me what I thought the attendance would be this week, which I was like, oh, man, I don't know. It's the middle of the week, right? Middle of the week against the Tampa Bay Ray is a team that does not draw well on their own. It's kind of a recipe for disaster from an attendance standpoint. But you can kind of sense in the ballpark that fans are starting to catch on on what the Diamondbacks are doing.

They're starting to get behind this team, which it seems like in past years, that's something we haven't seen until later in the season. People are like very skeptical in the first few months of the year. And you don't really see the attendance tick up until like August or September. We're seeing it a little earlier this year. The debacks up to this point last season, I think we're around 19,000 on average at Chase Field. And this year, they're around 21,000. So there's been a little bit of an uptick. And I think that will continue in the months to come.

And if you need more reasons to come out, Again, the crowd was very pro-Diamback. So I know sometimes it's annoying to come out to Chase Field when the stadium is going to be filled with opposing fans. I understand that. I get that. We feel that at times. When we're there, we're like, oh, my God, like, calm it down.

All right, your visitors in an opposing ballpark, like literally taking over the chance, especially the seventh inning chant, you're a monster if you do that. But we could have done without the wave, though. There was a, there was like a sixth or seventh inning wave at the ballpark. park and it was like, come on now. The game is still close. Don't make me tap the sign again. And people were really into it.

It was not a lackluster wave. It was one of the most impassioned waves I've ever seen. Do not get me started. Don't even get me. Don't even get me started on the wave. My like things in life. The two things Damon hates the most in life, James Outman and the wave. That's one and two.

Fuck the wave. Maybe one A, one B. I don't know. But I will tell you this much. Saul is here. Saul is here because the Diamondbacks are a wagon. If Saul is here, the rest of you should be here, too. Come on out for these games. The Diamondbacks are absolutely a wagon, though. And I think that, again, when you talk about Zach Gallen starting, we know that this game was kind of like, you know, this is their best chance to win a game in the series. But what they did tonight to pick Zach Gallen up was pretty impressive. And I think that that's something we've seen out of this team all season long. They legitimately, can tell when they're, you know, starting pitcher is struggling. And they try to do stuff to back them up. They try to pick them up.

They try to get those extra runs in. And so far, they've figured out a way to continue to win. We are looking at a team that won their 48th game. We could be talking about 49 wins in the first 100, or I'm sorry, first, what, 61 games of, or my math's all right. Yeah, I don't think any of those numbers are right. 81 games of the season. There it is. I got it.

I'll get it eventually. but it's just impressive. We are very close to the Diamondbacks matching their season win total for 2021. We are four games away from that now. We are four games away from that. Four games away from them matching their entire total for 2021.

I still can't get over that. In other news, by the way, we just want to give a quick shout out. Eduardo Escobar became a U.S. citizen. So shout out to spying on our exes a little bit. We want to do it a positive way. when we can. So shout out to Eduardo Escobar, who is now on the Angels, and we will get to see him in this next series after they take on the race. Yeah, the Angels, the Angels making moves over there.

They are. The hot stove is hot, Derek. Eduardo Escobar traded to the Angels. That was the key piece that they needed to put it over the edge of the ALS. You just need that first big chip to drop. And now it's, you know, it's going to be eight trades tomorrow. I can't wait. I can't wait. So anyway, if you, where next stop, Anaheim on Saturday? Is that what we're, is it, is it an away game or are they here?

I forget. Is the Angel series in Anahe? It's in Anaheim. Okay. Maybe. Yeah. Road trips are great. You know that.

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guy promoting them. But more furniture does have a wide variety of other furniture for you to pick from. That's not just a chase lounge. So make sure to buy whatever you need for your home over morefurniture.com and have it delivered to you with their white glove delivery service, which we got for our office. And I can't imagine bringing any furniture up these stairs or in these elevators. So thank God they were there for us. But you can say big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to morefurniture.com. Before we get out of here, we want to take a look at those probabilities one more time. Jesse did want to bring up one point in regards to Zach Davies of Brandon Fott. Yeah, actually, sort of about Tommy Henry and the fact.

that the Diamondbacks kind of inexplicably skipped him, like we talked about before. I just want to touch on that real quick. It was brought to my attention that the Tampa Bay Rays this season are 12 and 4 against lefties, whereas the Los Angeles Angels are 8 and 14. So if you've got a lefty and you got a righty, the numbers say you should have the righty start against the raise and then save the lefty to start against the Angels. Tori's playing the long game here? What is happening?

That's my guess. It is pretty weird because Tommy Henry's going to be pitching on like tons of rest. they might have to have him throw some sort of an extra side session to make sure he stays fresh for that game. He pitched on the 22nd last, I believe. So he's going to be on like a full week or more depending on which day exactly they are.

It's going to be more than a week. It's going to be at least Friday. It's a little bit of a problem. Yeah, that's like seven days rest at least for Tommy Henry. So a bit of a weird scheduling move there. But yeah, that is my guess as to why the Diamondbacks made that move and why we won't see Tommy Henry. we don't think in this series.

I'm very sorry to reform Skid who once again kind of get shafted on his tickets to the game and who's starting. But hey, fingers crossed, we see Zach Davies make his best start of the year and rebound from some pretty bad ones. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. We will keep you posted and up to date on everything

Diamondbacks related. I'm at Kapp underscore K-Man with the K. This maniac is Jesse N. Friedman on Twitter. The other maniac behind the Mac is Damon Dog. That's Damon, D-A-W-G, and you've got to do a little at the end, of course. How did you become the only sane one here, Derek? Because we're the maniacs and the guy with purple hair is totally normal. It's ridiculous.

Derek's the sane one. That's right. Clearly. The man with purple hair is clearly the normal guy. I am obviously the normal one here. This man tried to say I was a small child basically. And he won't even make himself a lunch that he can't eat immediately. I'll make it. I just will be miserable while I'm making.

The four hours that he has to wait until he eats his sandwich are going to be the worst four hours of his life. Our Twitter account is a lot of fun if you're not following it already. That's over at PHNX underscore DBEX, but of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for staying up late, hanging out with us.

We appreciate your time on behalf of this crew. We thank you so much for stopping by and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have purple hair.