PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks Get TROUNCED By Twins In Another Game Two Loss in June

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

The Diamondbacks have not been very good when it comes to the second games of their series lately. A subpar outing from Ryne Nelson combined with a lack of offense lead to the Snakes dropping Wednesday’s game to the Twins 8-3. We have more on what went wrong for Nelly, who we trust in the starting rotation, and a weird trade deadline rumor involving the D-backs. We also discuss a big night for Deyvison De Los Santos for the Aces and when we can expect to see Alek Thomas return to Phoenix. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365:Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose between either:Bet and Get offer and place a bet of $5 or more and get $150 in Bonus Bets OR First Bet Safety Net offer by placing a bet up to $1000 and if your qualifying bet loses you receive a matched refund in Bonus betsDisclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks. $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Chicken N Pickle: Head to https://chickennpickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location! PHNX will be hosting Trivia Nights and Pickleball Tournaments so stay tuned for info!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast right here in Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. Thank you guys so much for stopping in. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. And the Diamondbacks lose another game two. Surprise, surprise in the month of June, dropping tonight's game to the Minnesota Twins by a score of 8 to 3. Ryan Nelson, not very good tonight. Definitely another subpar performance from Nellie. and of course the offense decided to do very little.

Thank you guys again for joining us. Of course, Jesse Friedman will be joining us from Chase Field here shortly. And I am, of course, joined on the ones and twos by the people's producer, Damon Dogg. Damon, I know that this is just another game two loss. I know the Diamondbacks still have an opportunity to win the series in game three. But this kind of sucks. These patterns, first it was they couldn't win a game one. Now they can't seem to win a game two losing six of them.

Is that six in a row, seven in a row now? My God, it's a lot. Yeah, it's infuriating when you want to stack wins. But at the same time, it doesn't mean anything if you win game three, right? At the end of the day. And they've been winning a lot of game threes. So if they win tomorrow, I'm not too pressed about tonight. But yeah, the inconsistency is definitely tough to watch.

And yeah, that's a big part of it. You're absolutely right, because it's baseball, right? like it's so hard to predict just in general by nature. But on top of that, you just really have a team right now that is still struggling. A lot of guys on this team are still struggling. And of course, just by the nature of the game, the twins are a good team. They're not, you know, we said that before the series started that this was going to be a challenge for the Diamondbacks. This wasn't going to be a team that they could just kind of, you know, roll over on top of.

But, I mean, I will say that tonight's game, the big problem is, obviously starting pitching with Ryan Nelson, his inconsistency, and how frustrating that must be for the organization for Tori Lobello. Ryan Nelson goes out there. He gives you one night where he looks brilliant and then he comes out tonight. And it didn't feel like he could really get an out at times. I think that there is room to question Tori. And I will say, that's fine. but I would also ask, what would you do then? Like, what would you do if you pull Ryan Nelson out of this game so early? Who do you turn to?

Obviously, the bullpen tonight wasn't great. None of the other long relief options that Tori tried to go with, not using his high leverage guys, but using guys like Brandon Hughes and Bryce Jarvis tonight. I mean, it got them through the game. And honestly, those guys were more effective than Nellie. But, I mean, right now the Diamondbacks are just still in a position of having very little to work with when it comes to starting pitching.

Is that, is that rude to say? I mean, really, it's, there's just, they don't have a lot of options. No,

they have nothing. I mean, like, it's like we talked about yesterday. Like you, you were saying what, what did you say, like 85% health or something once Alik Thomas got back and

Jesse kind of pushed back on that and was like, three of the five of the projected starting rotation is still not present. And it, like, you, spread yourself so thin three three starters to be missing is is a lot to deal with and uh yeah you're you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna struggle a little bit when that's the case unless you're unless you're just like i don't know the dodgers or the braves or a team like that that just you know has like

an unlimited amount of you know arms or something work but we're not one of those teams um piece of yoshi says the bullpen was fine yeah by comparison ryan nelson the bullpen was fine but at the same time uh you're not you're not confident in that you know going into a game where the diamond bat you know brian nelson gave up four runs six runs doing all of this stuff the scott mcguff gave up a run you got brandon hughes giving up a run i mean the the bullpen didn't go out there and hold this uh the twins team scoreless by any stretch of the imagination uh but i mean again the diamond back's offense also is to blame here as well really the ryan nelson had terrible night and the offense once again Had, I mean, disappeared.

The Diamondbacks offense disappeared. And I think when I say disappeared, three runs is still fine, but what we've seen out of this team this season and especially what we've seen out of the starting rotation, three runs for the Diamondbacks are, it's just not going to win baseball games. No, no, absolutely not. Right? I mean, it's just not.

They don't have the pitching to win a game where their offense only scores three runs right now. most teams in baseball don't to be fair that's true but like but you know we we aren't really in a place this season where we were like oh well merrill's on the mound so we only need two runs tonight yeah like that's not that's not the case this season so yeah we there's not a lot of room for air on the offensive side of the of the game but nelly was nelly was flat out awful tonight uh twins hitters averaged a 96.5 mile per hour exit be low on nelson's fastball which he threw 52% of the outing. So, like, his pitch selection wasn't great.

His fastball wasn't great. And twins hitters were just hitting everything tonight. The Diamondbacks offense really does shrink in game two lately. So far, they've scored 13 runs total in their last seven game two of the series. I don't even know how to say that properly. Game two's of the series. They've just been bad in game two. We were talking about, you have your series opener, you have your series finale.

What do we even call a game two? The middle child? Well, the Diamondbacks are not doing very good at raising their middle child lately because they have not been winning those games. And again, like you said, in a lot of these series victories, it doesn't matter because in the end they are able to win game three. They're able to, of course, take the series. And especially what they were doing in April and May, that's a vast improvement. But this offense is just frustrating at times. This offense is confusing.

It's kind of like what I said earlier about Ryan Nelson, right? Like Nelson goes out there and gives you some good outings. And that's what you see out of him as far as his potential goes. That's what you see where he can reach and where he could be. And you know you're not going to get that every night out of him, but you do feel like he is developing and getting closer and closer to being, you know, a guy that can be a starter at a major league level for you and maybe a starter of the future for this franchise. However, you know, the time when he's bad, it's very, very bad.

And tonight was a night where, again, things didn't work out for him. His pitch selection wasn't great. His fastball was not great. And the twins jumped all over him. They kind of knew the game plan. And, of course, it's not a hard game plan when you go into a Ryan Nelson start and focus just on the fastball. because you know he's going to throw it a lot, and you know his fastball can be hitable at times, obviously. But again, going back to the offense, the offense is just to blame, as much to blame here.

They just, they shrink away in game two lately. Like I said, Lordus Guriel Jr. did record his eighth career triple, and he got an RBI. His eighth career triple. Corbyn. It's crazy when Corbyn is like, he's at like eight right now. in a season. And he sucks. I mean, yeah.

Speaking of Corbyn, Corbyn's reached base safely in 12 straight home games. And again, he had another night where he was hitting the shit out of the ball and it still was getting caught by the defense and felt very unlucky. But, man, I mean, I don't, I feel like, again, the results might not quite be there yet. But I'm not worried about Corp's. No, no, no. I want to make clear. I said he sucks right now. That was a joke.

And I don't want people hopping on me in the chat for that. They're going to attack. That's fine. I was, I was kidding. I like what I'm seeing out of Corbyn. I've liked it for about over a month now. Yeah.

I think he's playing pretty good. And, and, you know, it's weird. Baseball's weird. Like you said, like yesterday he, he gets jammed and he hits a little blooper and it falls for a hit.

Today he hits a 102 mile per hour ball. And it's a line out. Like, that's just how it is sometimes. And, you know, you get lucky sometimes. Well, Damon, Roger Bessions is here.

And he says Nelson needs to find a solid swing miss pitch. I'm going to guess sweeper. Yeah, no. We already know what Roger is going to say. Piece of Yoshi wants to fire Damon. Gino's still frustrated. If it was up to piece of Yoshi, there would be, this podcast would be an hour of silence.

There wouldn't be anybody that worked for this show. It would just be Jesse apologizing for saying bad things about payment Smith. That's what it would be an hour of that. And who wants that besides you and Don's Bread and Charles Woodall Pike? in most of our chat. But still, not a lot of people outside of that group

want that. So, uh, hey, and I want to give a shout out. I had a bad night. This was a bad night. This is a bad game.

Uh, but I want to give a shout out to Alex. Uh, he was security at Chase Field. And my guy, Alex made my night because even with how crappy things were going, I had him stop me at the diamond level. I felt like it was one of those times where I was going to have to flash the badge and be like,

I'm allowed to be here. Uh, and instead Alex just, gave me a wonderful compliment and said he watched the show and was going to watch tonight so I'm glad you followed through on that Alex and now I'm following through on giving you your shout out appreciate you man and again on a crappy night Alex made my night so I appreciate him I also appreciate Lourdes Gureel Jr. He is our king snake for tonight. Lourdes went one for three with two RBI and that eighth career triple of his career so yeah there you go there's there's

your king snake I honestly does anybody deserve it in this game probably not Probably not. But maybe we should give it to some of the guys down in Reno. Yeah, Ernesto Esker says, let's make this, the Davis and Delosanto show. I'm all for that because we're going to talk about him. But I have something else to talk about, and that is all of these game two losses. But I'm not just going to talk about it. I'm just going to, I'm going to yell and I'm going to get angry. And we're going to throw some shade.

Damon, do you have some good throwing shade music? Ready and handy? What is wrong with you? Why do we have to have these patterns? Do you know how much this upset Jesse? Because it makes no logical sense as to why the Diamondbacks cannot win a game two of a series. It doesn't. It's just an anomaly.

Is it a coincidence? I don't think so. Jesse seems to think so. And yeah, he's the big brain. Everybody trusts on this show. But that means he doesn't have an answer because he's going to say it doesn't make any sense. He's going to say there's no connection. But what's really going on here?

I think the Diamondbacks got so used to losing the first game of the series, that contentment just falls over them with that one win, and they don't pick it up in game two. And I need them to pick it up in game two. When their bats were against the wall, they could win a game two. Elise says it right here. We have the game two flu. We're calling it that.

Everybody's sick with it. Our bodies ache, and I hate it. And I don't understand why this team this year has so many bad patterns. sick of it and I don't know how to explain it. Can you win a game two for Christ's sake? Maybe a sweep. I have to keep reminding people that we swept the Reds because everybody keeps saying we didn't sweep any teams. We swept the Reds that one time.

Don't you remember? Anyway, thank you guys for letting me vent. And thank you to Shady Ray's for giving me the proper vehicle in which for me to vent. Of course, if you haven't gotten yourself a wonderful pair of sunglasses, make sure to get yourself a pair of shady rays. Not only are these bad boys cheaper than all of those premium brands that cost entirely too much money, but they are just as good.

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And we know how shopping online can be. So, of course, their team always has your back with personal and fast support. Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Raids is giving you. out their best deal of the season, head to Shadyrays.com and use code PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. Damon, it's illegal Pete's time. It's time to talk about illegal Pete's. And I mean, I'm saying this because I'm very hungry. When you said, Damon, I could just like hear it in your voice. That was your illegal Pete's voice. I knew it. I knew it was my bat signal. Yeah, it's because

I need, like Damon, obviously, we talk about Damon living there, and it's for good reason. Illegal Peds has so many options. They have, like, they have so many combinations. You literally cannot try everything they have to offer. It's impossible, but you can give it a shot. They have irresistible drinks, mouthwatering food. They have a full cocktail bar. And, of course, it's a great place to spend the summer.

I know it might not be patio season when it's 110 degrees outside. However, their margaritas are very cold, and they also have. air conditioning on the non-patio part of Illegal Pete. So whether you're looking to sit out in the heat and enjoy the Arizona summer or you're looking to cool off, Illegal Pete has you covered. Legal Pete is also here to bring you a win with their legendary sound check deal. Bring in your ticket stub from any ticket at event and get a draft beer or a house margarita for just a penny. Illegal Pete wants to celebrate with you, whether it's pregame or post game party.

They got you covered on all your game day needs. Must purchase an adult entree to redeem Illegal Pete's Town Check deal. your go-to spot for burritos buddies, beer and Damon, illegal beats. All right. Well, of course, we thank you guys for being here in the PHNXP's YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so right now. If you have not signed up for notifications, make sure to do that right now. And if you haven't dropped us a like, we implore you to do so.

If you're watching on Twitter, get off of that website and come over here and join us on YouTube. That way you guys can make some comments and, you know, be. in on the show. I think Twitter comments work in here also, but I probably shouldn't have said that out loud. Just get over here. Get over to YouTube. It's more fun in YouTube. Also, if you're listening on your favorite audio podcasting app, make sure you subscribe there as well. Sign up or leave us a review. We always appreciate those reviews. Those five-star reviews definitely help us out quite a bit. Of course, we do have some news on Tori Lavolo and his managerial staff for the All-Star game, which is very exciting. But before we do that, let's take a look at these numbers that no, I know nobody

wants to look at these numbers. But let's take a look at the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. This one's ugly. I'm not going to lie. It's especially ugly if you took a same game parlay per se and chose for the Diamondbacks to out hit the twins in this one. You were like, I know they're going to lose, but I know in a loss you would assume that they're going to get out hit. So to counteract that, I'm going to big brain it and be like, yeah, they're going to lose game two because they always lose game two, but they're going to out hit the twins because that's the less likely thing that would happen in a loss. And that's what would happen when I'm betting the same game parlay. Well, that's not what happened.

That would be a shame. That happens to someone you know or? No, it's just a, it's a fictional situation. Gotcha. This is just a scenario. I think you lost, you threw a couple eyes in there on accident. Did I throw, yeah. No, I mean, like, it was a, it was a joke.

If it was a fictional situation, I would use eyes. I would say it like from a first. hypothetically, from a first person perspective, would you think that? But you would be wrong. You'd be dead wrong. You'd be an idiot even because the twins smashed the Diamondbacks. They out hit them 14 to 4. They outscore them 8 to 3.

Runners in scoring position. The twins were 4 for 16. Diamondbacks 0 for 3. Extra base hits. The twins had a lot of them, I know, because I had a hard time counting them all up. They had 8. Diamondbacks had 2. And they hit the shit out of the ball.

their hard hit percentage, 59.4% tonight. 59.4% for their hard hit percentage. My God, they were smoking, like I said, they were smoking. They averaged a hard hit ball off of Ryan Nelson's passball. Think about that. They averaged it. A 96.5 mile per hour exit below off his fastball. Yeah.

Fucking throw those numbers in the basota. I don't want to look at those anymore. But I will say that the Diamondbacks still, no matter how bad those numbers look, still have a chance to win the series tomorrow. And they have Jordan Montgomery going for them. So, I mean, when it comes to not knowing what you're going to get, I feel like Jordan Montgomery is very much that, right? You don't know what you're going to get, but you do know what his floor is and what his

ceiling is. And so far this year, we've seen him in his last few starts to be pretty damn good, pretty effective. So hopefully he gives them a good chance to win. Let's do a fun little exercise, Derek. Let's rank our five current starting pitchers in, terms of how much we trust them. You want to do that?

Not really? I got Brandon fought number one. Number one. And that being said, we know he's going to give up a three run home run at some point in the game. Yeah, sure. Number two, who are you going here? Jordan Montgomery. I think we might be number one.

We might have to, but he's been terrible. He's been terrible. Recently he's been a lot better. Recently he's been better. And again, like baseball is one of those games, right? where three bad outings can make your season look terrible, can make your stats look terrible. I'm thankful that happens because that's how we got Ryan Thompson.

And as you know, Ryan Thompson is my best friend in the whole wide world. He might not think that. I might not be his best friend. No, he knows that. But I'm definitely okay with declaring him to be my best friend. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I guess like we're including Tommy Henry in this conversation,

even though he got sent down. Yeah, we will have to. I mean, I would go, I would go five. Let's say bullpen start. Let's say, let's say bullpen game. Let's say, opener. And it can be a fucking dealer's choice for open.

Okay. Then I'm, you know what I'm going? Yeah. Brandon fought bullpen game number two. Is it? Yeah. Montgomery number three.

You're probably not wrong. And then I'm going Slade number four. And then there's a giant gap and it's Ryan Nelson number five. Well, I mean, the bullpen games have proved to be more effective at earning wins. So, I mean, you're not too far off base with that.

Of course, we did get word that Tori Lavallo has chosen his coaching staff for the All-Star game in Texas. And of course, you knew it was going to be his guys. He picks Jeff Bannister as his bench coach, Dave McKay is his first base coach, the entire staff. Tony Peres-Chica, Brent Strom, Mike Fedders, Dan Carlson, Joe Mather, Damien Easley, Rick Short, Drew Headman, and Ryan DePalfi. I always screw up his name and I know I'm not even going to try it. It's the athletic trainer. Excuse me,

athletic trainer. Those are the National League coaching staff for the All-Star game. Let me tell you I'm not surprised there. We know Tori's a very loyal guy. Are you taking your own coaching staff to the All-Star game, Damon? Or are you choosing

like coaches from around the league? Are you grabbing the best hitting coach? Are you taking like the Atlanta Braves hitting coach are you taking you know a different pitching how can we put this into like ph and x lore well okay so like we're going on a trip yeah like let's say it's a big event right we're covering the world series again and you get your choice of production crew members to take with you are you taking Shane are you taking fucking Jacob no you're not we're calling Sean to pause and we're getting ammo right like I mean I feel like you get the best no question about it

in the league to come out and be your guys. It's an all-star game. Like, this isn't, this isn't regular, you know, old Diamondbacks baseball. Right. Let's get the boys going. Yeah, let's, let's get this thing. Let's get rowdy. Do you think that there's some gamesmanship where you don't want other coaches that then

could learn things from you and then possibly use it against you when you're playing their teams? I don't know. Anyway, but here's Tori from earlier today talking about telling his guys that they are going to be going to Texas to be part. of his All-Star staff. We were getting on the bus in Philadelphia after we won Game 7, and we were just about back to the hotel.

And we were feeling no pain, and I was thinking about some things, and fast-forward and some of my thoughts, and I thought, oh, my God, we're going to be in the All-Star game last year. So I collectively asked the group, what are you guys going to be doing next All-Star game? Like, next July for the All-Stard game, and they're like, I don't know.

I'm like, old S-H-I-T, we're going to Texas, man, we're going to be coached to the All-Star game. Log on. So that was a good moment for me in front of the guys. And we haven't really been thinking about it too much. I know we had a day with David Bell when we announced that. That was a special day for me because of my association with the Bell family. But we haven't really talked about it too much.

I'm going to take them out to dinner once we get back to Chicago and thank them for all their hard work. We're going to celebrate it when we're in Texas. and we deserve. We're really proud of that. I love every Tori Lovolo's story, by the way, especially ones where he says things like, we were feeling no pain, aka we were drunk as shit.

And I love that. And I also love the fact that after they won game 7 at Don Don Don Tori that he was going to be the manager for the All-Star game and started looking ahead at that and had that conversation with those guys that had to make that moment of not only advancing to the World Series

as a connected and dangerous team, very special, but, you know, it's more special that you get to, like, remind your coaching staff of what that means that, hey, you guys are coming with me to Texas. And I think that's extremely cool. And again, you guys know how I feel about Tori. I, he makes some bad decisions at times, but Tori isn't a tremendous person. And this is another case of that. Again, you guys are tremendous people, by the way, for being here watching us after a loss. We appreciate the company.

Of course, if you are not part of our diehard family yet, we implore you to check that out. Our membership gives you all sorts of wonderful benefits, including a free t-shirt for the PHNX Locker.com. You get a wonderful little membership card that may or may not get you into secret clubs all around the valley and all around the country. You also get access to all of our premium written content.

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become a member of the Die Hard family. Also, if you are needing to refresh yourself, if you're needing with this heat outside, to get yourself something to drink, something cold, you've got to stop by a Circle K. There are Circle Ks all around the valley. There's one near you. And of course, you know, you could get a froster,

or a polar pop right now for just 79 cents and that is through september 3rd and of course you also know i'm contractually obligated to receive frosters i do not have one right now this is an outrage to be on a travesty it's a travesty i was told that circle k was going to put a polar pop machine in studio k uh i still don't see it so i mean once that day happens i might never leave the studio ever again there's a couch in the back polar pop machine fridge right out there what else do i took a nap on that couch yesterday oh that's it good couch to nap on it's a great couch to nap on it was macela has somehow she mastered that well she she mastered that art she has made the couch her own and i don't understand that like it's like i sit in

shane's desk he tells me to get up i go sit in the couch mac comes in she's like get out of my office i didn't know it was her office she just made the couch her office anyway um but it's also a great time for you i took mac by the way over to circle k we got all a bunch of snacks uh and she's knows that the best snacks that are there are the Circle K branded snacks. Do not sleep on the Circle K branded snacks. They're right here behind me. They're delicious. And I keep getting told I can't eat these because they're like for the set.

And I'm furious. Again, no frost for me right now. No snacks for me. Not happy. Not happy. Diamondbacks lost. Definitely not happy. Is that actually a rule?

No, I don't know. Because I've definitely. Make sure he said keep it stocked. And I'm like, oh, I definitely walk back there. There's caramel and cheddar popcorn. right there and I'm supposed to not eat it. It's ridiculous, but I will stop on my way home because I need some cheap gas. And of course, I save because I am an inner circle member. You can save two if you join the inner circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. But when you do join the inner circle, you'll save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips and save three cents off per gallon every day after that.

All right. Well, talk about denying me goodies as Ruggnar in the chat here says. I also don't have any OGs brands gummies with me right now. And after a loss like that, I could definitely use some edibles. So check out everything OGs has to offer from their happy balance, which would be very much appreciated right now, to their sleep edition gummy, which I might need later in order to have a good night's sleep. But I will tell you that after one bag of the sleep edition gummies,

you will be back to sleeping on schedule like a baby. So make sure to try them out. Try everything that OGs has to offer. a wide variety of doses, strains, and effects for you to choose from. It's also the most delicious edible in the market. So to learn more about OG's Gummy somewhere you can find them, head on over to OGsbrands.com. Must be 21 or over to enjoy, and please enjoy responsibly. Well, we've been making him wait for entirely too long while I've been doing all of these ad reads.

But, of course, the man, the myth, the legend, my vice mayor, your Thunderstay, Jesse Friedman, joining us here from Chase Field. this was a gross loss, Jesse. And of course, we talked a little bit already about the fact that the Diamondbacks, they go through these patterns, these patterns that you hate because they don't make any sense

and there's no logic behind them. But first they couldn't win game ones, now they can't win game twos, and I'm frustrated. It's further evidence to me, Derek, that all those narratives are just like kind of fake. At least they feel that way to me. I knew you're going to say that.

Yeah. set people up for that? I don't know. Like, I think when the Diamondbacks, like when, you know, the whole narrative of how, how terrible they had been in the first games of series, I think during that stretch of time, they were playing really, really well in the last games of series. But like, none of us are writing articles about how great they are, you know, finishing the job or in a lot of cases sort of avoiding getting swept.

We saw that a number of times as well. But, yeah, you know, baseball is weird. These kinds of things are going to have been. over the course of the season. Maybe there was something to the D-back struggling in those first games of series that they seem to have corrected apparently now that they've won seven in a row, as we discussed on yesterday's show. But, yeah, another loss in a game two today.

And, you know, I think the Diamondbacks inconsistency right now, a lot of it has to do with the fact that, you know, three-fifths of their starting rotation has just been really inconsistent for quite a while now. I mean, you could argue four-fifths, really. I mean, Jordan Montgomery has been better of late, but certainly hasn't put up great numbers for the season. So it's hard. It's hard to, you know, string together consistent wins when your rotation is as decimated as the Diamondbacks is right now. I think you're absolutely right.

We've seen an inconsistency from everyone, including Brandon Fott. We were talking here a little bit that if you had to rank the Diamondbacks starting pitchers on how much you trust them, Brandon Fought probably is up there at number one. But, I mean, again, there's not there's not a lot. lot of confidence there. It's just basically looking at the options you have and being like, well, I guess of those guys, I trust fought the most. But when it comes to Ryan Nelson, I feel like his inconsistency have like the biggest like peaks and valleys in a way, right? Like he's been brilliant at times and has really felt like he, you've seen him turn a corner and maybe we'll get a couple of more outings like this. Like not, you know, not eight innings and two earned all

the time or whatever, but, you know, just something where there's a bit more consistency. There's a bit more length and a bit less damage, you know, and then tonight happens. And watching this game, watching him out there on the mound felt like he couldn't get anybody out. Yeah, that's something that I asked Tori Lavello about after this game. Like a lot of, a lot of Ryan Nelson starts this season, have been, as you said, pretty good, right? Like his last two times out where we're both really solid outings. And then he's also had kind of a lot of outings this season that looks something like this where

he gives up 10 hits and frankly he doesn't really give you much of a chance to win the game. I think we might have that. Damon, do we have that video of Tori talking about that? Yeah, I think it's maturity. You know, I think there's some middle grounds. You're going to have some starts that are going to be

lights out and you're going to go out and execute and pitch into the seventh, eighth inning at times, which he's done. And then there are those grinders. We just got to find a way to make pitches and keep your team in the game. And he'll figure that out. He's going to find a way to give us five innings and four runs. You know, get a pitch into the sixth inning and four runs.

And it was, you know, I took him off field in the fourth inning. That's not who he is. I know he's going to learn from this. He's going to find a way to get better. I know it. But it's about making pitches and just saying, no, this is where it stops right now. We keep my team in the game. I'm going to focus on wanting to focus on.

Control what I can control and go out next year. It's frustrating. Like it's, it's frustrating to hear the answers and it's frustrating to watch it. I feel there's a part of me that feels honestly bad. And I also understand how hard it must be for the organization. Again, to look at some of these guys, see how they pitch on any given night where they have a good night and not, not view that as where they could get to versus, you know, like we as fans, we look at the bad outings and we say, this guy stinks. look at how many nights he's had like this. And, you know, it's the pessimist versus the optimist.

It's like when you run an organization or you're part of the decisions on whether these guys stick around in your organization or not, you don't want to make that call, that judgment call and then see this guy end up blossoming into a great major league player. And I think that deep down inside people like Tori Lavala like Mike Hazen, they see the positives way more than they see the negatives. Yeah, I mean, it's part of their job, right? You know, you don't want to be naive when you're assessing your own players for sure. That's something that I think people in the organization have also been frank about how they needed to improve in that area, specifically after the 2021 season, which was such a disaster, obviously. But yeah, at the same time, I mean, this is what the Diamondbacks have to work with right now, right?

I mean, I know there's a lot of people maybe saying, like, oh, you know, you got to send down Ryan Nelson. I don't really think that there's any other options in this organization that are clearly better than Nelson at this point. Yeah. You know, Christian Mena was pretty good tonight for Reno. We could talk about his outing. He had 20 whiffs, which is a really impressive number. But he also gave up four runs in five innings. I think it's pretty clear that while the ceiling there is interesting, is intriguing, you know, is Mena

ready to step into a big league rotation right now probably not at least not in not in an ideal world you don't want to bring him up here before he's really ready for that opportunity nelson is at a point where you know he he's not pitching particularly well consistently but he's at least keeping you in some games and he's he's giving you some length from time to time he obviously wasn't able to do that today uh nelson i think had a chance today to string together a third consecutive quality start and obviously he wasn't able to do that. That's something that I think Alex Weiner from Arizona Sports up in the press box told me that's something

that he had never had never been able to do in his career. He had a chance to do it for the first time today, but Nelson still has not been able to string together three straight quality starts at any point in his big league career. So yeah, it's just about finding ways to be consistent. And as you heard Tori describe there, it's a matter of like, this is where it stops. Like I'm going to find a way to work through,

not having my best stuff or not having my best command to salvage a decent outing and save the bullpen and, you know, at least do all those things. And Nelson wasn't able to do that today. I know you, this would only be speculation. You probably didn't get this answered or you probably don't know this for sure. But is it, is it the fact that he isn't really feeling his secondary stuff? I know he doesn't throw secondary stuff often. But tonight, he threw his fastball 52% of the time. he threw all the other four breaking pitches or other pitches he throws less combined than the fastball, right? And again, we saw him have some pretty, a pretty effective night, a pretty good night when his pitch mix was better when it was when there was a little bit more variety is pretty much that probably because I know at times pitchers abandon the secondary stuff because they don't have a good feel for them on any given night or on any given nays is. Is that the reason why we see him kind of abandon all of that stuff and just rely so heavily on the fastball?

It's a good question. Tori, when he was asked today, what do you think was the issue for Ryan? The first thing that he mentioned was not enough cutters that he wanted to see more cutters. He threw six. Yeah, he only threw six. Yeah. And that has been a big pitch for Ryan here over the last couple of months. Not that it's been an outstanding secondary pitch form, but it's been a it's been a, it's been a,

at least a weapon that's there for him most of the time. He seems to have decent feel for it. And it's not really getting much swing and miss, but it is helping him generate some soft contact. And yeah, he didn't really throw that all that much today. When we talked to Ryan about that, he said it was more of a game plan thing.

He didn't think that pitch would work quite as well, I guess, to these specific twins hitters. He also talked about the fact that he gave up a very big hit in this game, the base clearing double that sort of broke this thing open, came on a cutter that was just right down the middle. So I think him not having feel for that pitch was also a factor. But yeah, it's, you know, his fastball is his best pitch.

So you'd hate for Ryan Nelson to get beat on stuff that isn't his best pitch. I mean, his four-seamer genuinely is a well-above average four-seem fastball. Just you have to obviously have things to complement it with. And he just hasn't really ever had that in the majors. There's a lot of disappointment and a lot of frustration with the fan-based. Jesse and I still feel like a big part of that frustration with this team this year is the fact that they made it to the World Series last year. Zach talked about it the other day.

We've spoken about it before. It's hard not for expectations to be through the roof when you make it to the World Series, especially when you go out during the offseason and add to your team in a way that everybody felt made your team better. I think it was a pretty consensus agreement that everybody, believe the team was better. Now, you know, you sit in a position where you're two games below 500 here. We're not to the All-Star break yet, but we're getting close.

And teams are, you know, fans are frustrated with this team. And it's kind of wild because, I mean, this kind of is exactly what this team was last year, right? We hovered right around 500. Well, I mean, after the terrible July. But, you know, we hovered right around 500. The Diamondbacks barely made it into the playoffs. I mean, the record wasn't great last year.

And right now, obviously, everybody knows that we're missing, you know, the starting pitching that we're missing, right? But it's, it still feels like this team as much as I want to jump off a bridge sometimes because of this team. It does not feel like this team is in a bad place. And it does still feel like this team, even on a night like this, is still trending in the right direction here as we move closer to the All-Star break. Yeah, talking about the world. series, Tori was actually asked about that after the game. He was asked something on the lines of, do you guys feel that urgency to get back there after, you know,

getting so close last season? And we actually have a clip of that. Here's what, here's what Tori had to say. Yeah, I think about that all the time. I think players think about that all the time too. And it just creates a hunger and a desire because you know what that feels like. and you know that there was a brotherhood that was formed last year that's very strong in that clubhouse,

and they know what it's going to take to get there. We just haven't played consistent baseball. That's been the name of the game. Something will break down on a given night. And, you know, today it was a couple things. It was offensively we never got going and started pitching. Didn't do their job. So when it gets moved in a very positive direction,

it will start to happen consistently not after night. We'll find a way to win these types of games. But this seems hungry. That first part, that was a very real answer. Because I feel like Tori has tried, we've talked about it, right? We've talked about setting the standard. We've talked about manipulating the idea of these expectations and trying to turn them into something positive, trying to turn them into something where you can motivate your

team with it, like calling it a standard. But you can call it whatever you want. It's still expectations. And that expectation is what Tori is talking about, them thinking about all the time, is that they got to the World Series last year and they want to get back there and they expect to get back there. Maybe they know other people expect to get back there. That is literally expectations and that is probably causing this team to have some of the struggles that they've had this season. Yeah, it's hard to say how those kinds of feelings are,

are impacting them. It feels to me personally, I mean, just hearing that question asked in the interview room, it's not that I'd forgotten that the debacks were in the World Series last year. Like, I'm definitely cognitively aware of that and have been throughout the season. But it just feels like such a distant memory now, right? Like, the expectations were big going into this season. And there was a lot of excitement. And we were having conversations about how this team would, you know,

projected to win somewhere in the mid upper 80s, but we felt had a genuine chance at going out and winning 95 games this year. I don't think that was an outrageous thought to have coming into this season. And we're just so removed from that at this point, right? It's not that they couldn't win 95 games. I mean, they'd have to have a heck of a second half in order to do it. But it feels like it's kind of been about survival for the debacks this year, just given all of the injuries that they've suffered.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's about, you know, not being embarrassed. It's not a, it's about not getting buried, right? It's not, you know, again, I still remember that conversation we have with Paul Seawald where he talked about his experience with the Seattle Mariners and saying how even though they got a slow start, even though they had some injuries, they just, they felt confident. And they were like, yeah, we'll make it up. We'll make up the ground. It'll be fine. And then until it wasn't, until it wasn't any longer.

And I feel like this team isn't necessarily playing. like that because if they were i feel like maybe we would see some different results at times like honestly i feel like this team is playing very like with a very nervous energy this team is playing like you know like their playoffs are kind of on the line almost every single night and maybe they view it as that maybe with this stretch right now with the injuries that they have maybe they're trying to you know view every game as being as important as possible i think that could be though why people get frustrated with seeing Tori at times leave starters in like he left with Brandon fought in game one or even tonight when Ryan obviously didn't have his best stuff but Tori still

left him out there and he ends up giving up six runs total. Tori definitely didn't manage this game like a like a playoff game. Not that we really would have expected him to. No, but yeah. And again, that's the thing is, is like I was saying when fans are frustrated with that, what is he supposed to do is who is he supposed to? turn to is he supposed to go to the bullpen in the second inning and the third inning? And like if he does that, doesn't that then maybe potentially sacrifice a win in game three? Who knows,

right? We know that once this team gets down by two runs or more, they can't come back. They're the laydown and diebacks, right? So like they can't come back. But, you know, again, you feel like you want to see a manager do more to try to try to protect, you know, or try to keep a game from getting out of hand and give the team a chance to win. Yeah, 100%, 100%. I mean, Tori really has taken that approach quite a bit here in the last few weeks, is the debacks have played a lot of games like this, right? I think seven of their last nine losses have been games lost by five runs or more.

Of course, they had that historic streak where they played 10 consecutive games that were decided by five runs or more. But yeah, a lot of times in the debacks have lost games recently, it's looked something like this. And Tori has been taking the approach of let's preserve the bullpen for the next day. let's leave the starter in a little bit longer than we might really want to. And, you know, let's try to ride it out with, with, you know, Tiago Vieira and Scott McGuff and whoever is in there to fill those innings to try to put them in the best possible

position to win the next day. Tori talked about that after this game. And you're right, the fact that they've struggled so much to come back from games, it's hard to look back on those decisions and be like, oh, the Diamondback certainly would have come back if Tori had been more aggressive with the way. that he manages pitching staff. You don't really know unless you see these games played out a different way, but it's hard to really second-guess those decisions for me.

I need to address a comment in the chat really fast, Jesse, and I don't do this often, but Mimi says this guy is calling out the Mariners when we swept you guys. Okay, you're not listening to the show because I didn't call out the Mariners. I referenced a story Paul Seawald told us about the Mariners. So I guess this was just just a chance for you to say we swept you guys. Good for you, me, me. Thank you for your input.

My God. Jesse, speaking of mistakes being made, Jock Peterson trying to steal. I know it was a double steal, but maybe not the best move. Jock's got wheels. I don't want to knock Jock's wheels, but come on. This was a bit much. Yeah, it wasn't.

It wasn't a great moment. This was in the first inning when the Diamondbacks appeared to potentially be on the verge of like a beginning. And double steal, you got runners at first, second one out. DeBox put on the double steel jock gets caught stealing second. Christian Vasquez wound up throwing there. And yeah, it did not go well. And Tori Lavella was asked about that after this game. And here's what he had to say.

Double steel in the first. Yeah. You know, when you look at the little things in the game, Um, that's a swing moment, and it happened in the first inning, right? Nobody, nobody, you guys, I'm glad you brought it up because it's just important to me in the first as it is in the eighth and ninth where we would definitely be talking about it if it happened then. But that was a really important moment. We met at first and third base, we were double stealing and Christian Walker at the plate.

You never know it could happen. You could be up three points in the second. We once were in the bat. But yeah, we had, we had some keys. we knew what to look for. Jock just got a late jump, you know, and I think their catcher did an exceptional job because the third basement was covering. I think the throw was going to third, but that catcher had been around for a long time.

That middle infield was standing close second base, and they just went backside on it. But Jock knew exactly what he did when he was running off the field. You know, the coach has talked to him. He said all the right things, and we'll learn from it. We'll definitely learn from it. I don't think that will happen again this year. Good. Good.

Anyway, well, I mean, again, we talked about it. This Diamondbacks team still has a chance to win in game three. It does at least, you know, feel good when they can secure that game one victory and, you know, obviously still win the series. It just, like you said, there's no, there's no reason to explain it. There's no connection between these game two losses. It just feels like in baseball there always is something that you can look at as to the reason why. these things are happening, you know, and I don't know. I mean, this is just, it's been a weird season for the Diamondbacks.

There's been lots of weird stretches for them where they're either very bad at something or very good at something. Well, the Diamondbacks this season, you discover it, they have about 384 runs. Only two National League teams have allowed more runs than the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024. for and they are you could probably guess it the miami marlins and the colorado rocky yeah it is just those two teams and then it is it is the diamond backs and that's that's the reality i mean the debacks had a decent rotation last year they had one of the best one-toes in baseball and zach down and merrill kelly they had an emerging pitcher and brandon they went out and they signed

jordan montgomery and abardo rodriguez and they have the third worst run prevention in the nl up to this point in the season behind only you know it's only been better than two teams that are obviously well out of the postseason race at this point so their offense has been pretty good like the diamond backs offense this year has been above average and that's why they've still been able to stay afloat uh but but with this pitching i mean we did we i don't know how many times we're going to have the same conversation but it feels like we still we have to over and over and over again with this starting rotation and and the inconsistencies that the diamondbacks have had there. It's just, I mean, how do you win five or six games in a row, you know,

when you're just not getting consistent performances from these guys? It's a really tough position to be in. Well, the Diamondbacks currently have a minus eight run differential. They sit at 39 and 41 and they are two and a half games out of the wild card, which that's both spots. St. Louis Cardinals and the Padres are basically both tied right now, essentially for spots two and three. And that's where we sit. And even that. And the Diamondbacks are still only six games behind Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Braves for the first wildcard spot. So things remain very close.

There is some distance being created. Now the Cubs are five games back after getting swept by the Giants. So like there's a little bit of distance being created here in the National League. But of course, things are what they are for the Diamondbacks. There is some exciting things, though. Of course, we know that they're getting Zach Allen back here soon. We know that they're getting Alec Thomas back. We also know that the Reno Aces have been a very potent offensive team.

They've been very fun to watch this year, Jesse. But I know before we get to that, the numbers thing. I lie sometimes. You lie. Damon always lies. But the numbers, they tend to never lie. So what do we have for tonight's number? Tonight's number has nothing to do with the game that Diamondbacks played tonight.

Perfect. Good. I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, I felt like people would get angry at me for that. which is one of the path. So tonight, yeah, we're taking a trip down to Reno, Derek, where the Diamondbacks won 9 to 8, dramatic, sort of a dramatic finish there.

They allowed four runs late but managed to hold on. And Davis and Dalo Santos was a big part of that. The number is 860, and that represents the number of feet of home run that Davis and Dalo Santos hit tonight. He had two dingers. One of them was a grand slam, and the other one was a solo shot that went 463 feet.

So De Lo Santos continues to show that his raw power is, maybe I shouldn't say second to none, but there are not many minor league players, not many minor league players, if any, that have more raw power than Davis and DeLos Santos. Solo home run and a grand slam, 463 feet and 397 feet. You also have Christyon Mena, who we talked about earlier, inducing 20 wiffs tonight, Jesse. Love that. You got to love that. Yeah, I saw a highlight that the ACE has posted on their Twitter account of a change-up that was a particularly filthy pitch. He's been known for the spin pitches, the slider and the curveball.

That was his calling card after coming over to the debacks in this trade. We've seen the change-up really come on this year, come on strong as another potential swing and miss offering for him. So the narrative with MENA continues to be that the secondary stuff is, all signs point to that being very legit and getting a whole lot of swing and miss. It's just a matter of the fastball and how well that will play at this level. It has not played well in AAA. And that's the reason why, you know, you're still seeing an upper four ERA despite some of these, you know, exciting whiff numbers and whatnot that we've talked about.

Jesse Alec Thomas went 0 for four tonight. he also looks very jacked. I know you and I agreed that it looked like Alec Thomas was definitely hitting the weight room in his time off. But he was also lifted from the game early. And he was lifted from last night's game early as well. Is that part of the game plan or any, I guess I get nervous anytime I see that Alec Thomas was removed from a game?

Yeah, Tori, Tori has said seven innings was the plan yesterday. And I'm quite sure he said that again today. So, yeah, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be concerned about that. I think that's just protocol. Although I personally, like, I'm wondering if there's science behind that, like, do they feel that if Alec Thomas plays seven innings in center field versus nine innings, like in those last two inings, that, like, that's when the hamstring gives out. Like, they've got, they've got a computer that has determined that. I don't really understand how those things are. in 45 minutes, Jesse.

Anything outside of that we're in the danger zone is basically what's going. Well, yeah, that's the other thing is the number of innings is so arbitrary, right? And in baseball, like, I don't know, the odds of going out there for an inning and not moving really much at all if you're a center fielder.

I mean, it's not that unlikely. So I don't know. Just one of those baseball oddities, I suppose. Could it be that like maybe games get, you know, you get competitively, right? You might, you know, you might not want Alec Thomas to be getting caught up in the moment because you have a, like he has a different goal than the rest of the Reno Aces.

And I know he's on that team to help them win and to go out there and, you know, give his best effort. But like maybe his best effort might be too much there late in the game and they're worried that that could reaggravate his hamstring or something. I don't know. You don't have him out there if he's not 100% healthy. I know that. But I also can understand the Diamondbacks being very cautious considering

what they've gone through this year. When it comes to trade rumors, we've been talked a lot about the Diamondbacks possibly making some sort of trade at the deadline for a starting pitching arm with the way they've had this catastrophe with their starting rotation, right? Jim Bowden wrote a few weeks ago

about the Diamondbacks monitoring their situation with their injured starting pitchers and possibly looking into a trade for a starting pitcher or a bullpen arm, which we already knew that they would be in the market for, but possibly a starting pitcher should, you know, maybe Merrill Kelly or Eduardo Rodriguez turn out that they're going to be even longer than anticipated.

So I, I, there is some smoke there when it comes to, you know, the question we've been asked this, I think, a few times on Mailback Monday if the Diamondbacks might end up going after a starting pitcher at the trade deadline. Yeah, no huge surprise there that debacks would be monitoring that market. Given how Erod and Merrill's progressions have gone so far, it feels like the responsible thing to do to sort of be working out a backup plan in case one of those guys are, you know, God forbid, both of those guys have further issues

as they try to work their way back. But I thought it was very interesting, Derek. Jim Bowden also wrote, I think just within the last day or two, he wrote a story with a trade for every team that is in the National League wildcard picture, or something that would be a difference maker in his mind. And his trade for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Derek, is the Diamondbacks trading, a prospect we were just discussing, right-handed pitcher Christian Mena to the Oakland A's

in exchange for right-handed starter Paul Blackburn. And I think this is amazing because Paul Blackburn is on the 60-day I-L right now. What are we doing? a stress reaction, something or other in his toe, I believe, and is not expected back until after the All-Star break. So he's perfect. Derek, he fits right in. It's hurt and won't be back until God knows when.

Why would we do that? What is, like, what is it that? Does he think the Diamondbacks are collecting injured starting pictures? Like, this guy totally fits their style. Have you seen what they got going on in Arizona? They're going to have the best starting rotation of 60 day IL pictures you've ever seen. What is going on? Not to mention, Jesse.

He's not very good. He kind of stinks. He's not great. Look at his baseball savant. Oh, wow. You pulled his baseball savant. 4.11 ERA, Jesse. Like, this is the baseball savant.

I mean, I'm not crazy. We had to know if he was unlucky, Jesse. We had to know if he was unlucky. Turns out he's just not very good. Yeah, yeah. He's kind of fine. I think last season, last season he had a ERA plus of 95. I think something like that.

So yeah, he's a decent, I mean, he's a decent innings eater type. You'd have to be crazy to trade a like 21 year old, you know, high upside starter though for him. Like that's just not how. It's tonight. What are we doing? You trade Pavan Smith for a guy like that. You call Christian Mena.

I don't think, I don't think the Oakland A's would, I don't think the Oakland days would trade Paul Blackburn for Pavan Smith. But I agree that, I agree that trading, you know, theoretically six years of Christian Mena for what is a little over one season of control of a number four starter, number five starter type in Paul Blackburn. Yeah, that doesn't really make a ton of sense to be on paper. I also think that D-BAC's vans maybe have to be realistic about the fact that a 411 ERA as not so pretty as that might seem is a pretty vast improvement. Yes, actually it is. If you go just about ERA, that is the best pitcher on the team. Granted, the A's played in a pretty picture-friendly environment out there in Oakland. But yeah, I mean, a guy with a, you know, a mid-4 ERA would actually be an improvement over what the Diamondbacks are getting in several of their rotation spots right now.

So I think it's possible that at the deadline, a rotation upgrade might look more like Paul Blackburn than, you know, like Garrett Crochet or one of the bigger names that's, projected to be available. Alicia Herrera in the chat, she gets it. She says Jesse being excited about baseball savant for usual. Jesse's like, oh, let me slip into the tub with that

baseball savant. Let me see them numbers. Let me see them numbers. All right, Jesse, here's one thing is maybe the Diamondback could trade for Eduardo Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers. What do you think about that? No? Yeah, he's

someone that's actually on our team. There are people that still don't feel like the Diamondbacks actually signed him and that that whole thing is some sort of fraudulent transaction. But I assure you, once again, he's a real person. We really saw him. I don't know. That side of the equation feels more and more correct every waking day. I don't know what's tell you. I don't know what's tell you.

Just because you went and saw Merrill Kelly in person at Guy Fiatis doesn't mean he's the only injured pitcher that exists. But you got anything else. It could have been the actor, right? What's the actor's name that looks like Merrill Kelly? Oh, yeah, Chris Elliott. Yes, it definitely could be Chris Elliott. Wooge. Yeah, totally, for sure.

All right, you got anything else before we get out of here? I don't think, I guess, yeah, one thing real quick, just about tomorrow's game, the debacks, it appears, I'm not, I can't remember off top of my head who reported this. But one of the twins beat writers reported that David Festa is expected to come up and make his major league debut for the twins against the debacks tomorrow. And he is a pretty legitimate pitching prospect. It is not going to be an easy matchup for the debacks. Festa by MLB Pipeline is ranked as the fifth overall prospect in the twin system.

This season in AAA, he has a 3770 RA and has 87 strikeouts in 59 and two-thirds innings. I think his strikeout rates like 35%, which is very, very high. So he's got really good stuff. And it's not going to be easy tomorrow. either for the debacks as they try to win this series. Jordan Montgomery has certainly pitched better lately, but the offense is really going to have to bring it against a,

I believe he's 24 years old and making his big league debut. Well, we look forward to that happening tomorrow, and hopefully we also look forward to the Diamondbacks being able to secure the game three victory because they have the Oakland A's up after that. And then some pretty tough opponents, Jesse, as they roll into the All-Star break. Yeah, it's Dodgers, it's Padres. Dodgers don't have Mookie Betts,

or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Padres, do not have Fernando Tatis. But those teams are both still winning a whole bunch of baseball games right now. So it's a big week on the road next week for sure. Well, of course, we look forward to being back out there. We look forward to seeing you guys back here tomorrow for another postgame show.

Make sure to join us after tomorrow. game same bat time same bat channel no not bat time this is an afternoon game so 20 minutes though after the final out make sure to be right back here uh we will have more information with another post game show until then you can follow us on twitter i am at cap underscore caveman with a k jesse is at jesse n friedman of course the people's producer damon is a damon dog that's d a wg we are damon's dogs bark bark bark our show is at p h nx underscore dbacks but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again for stopping by tonight.

We appreciate your time. We will see you tomorrow. And until then, have a wonderful evening. Have a wonderful day. Let's watch some daytime baseball tomorrow at 1245. Hope to see some of you out at Chase Field. It's always a great time to play hooky when there's a day game in town. So just throwing that out there.

It's what PTO is for, folks. Of course, we thank you guys again so much. We'll see you tomorrow. And remember, kids, baseball is fun. but it's so much more fun when you have starting pitchers who can pitch.