PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks' Pitching Hits NEW LOW in Crushing Defeat At Home To The Oakland A's

Episode Date: June 29, 2024

The Diamondbacks may have hit rock bottom in Friday’s loss to the Oakland A's. The D-backs bullpen collapsed, allowing six earned runs in the 9-4 loss. We discuss Slade Cecconi’s outing, Torey Lovullo’s decisions late in this one, and if this is the worst loss of the season for the Snakes. We also have more on the possibility of Christian Walker getting in to the All Star Game in Texas.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.

Hello and welcome to the D-Backs podcast coming to you live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. Of course, welcome it to another edition of this show. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor, P.HNX. This man next to me is Damon, occasionally known as the people's producer. And of course, you know, Jesse Friedman, the one and only vice mayor, aka Thunderstick, will be joining us from Chasefield here shortly. that sad music David yeah yeah so so I was the saddest of the year yeah I was sampling that music

beforehand and it kind of played it in the middle of the song it's 10 times sadder at the at in the middle to the end of that song than it is beginning which is yeah the beginning is a little electric yeah the beginning's a little electric yeah uh we don't deserve that tonight we don't deserve any any good feelings tonight we don't deserve any good things because the The Diamondbacks may have hit rock bottom into night's loss, losing to the Oakland A's by a count of nine to four. That score was absolutely run up in the blink of an eye. I think I went to the bathroom and it went from being six to four to nine to four before I could even come back. This is bad.

This is bad. I'm not going to act like it's not. We have a lot of things to discuss tonight, a lot to impact, especially. if you are here to vent about Tori Lovelo's decision-making, you have come to the right place. We thank so many of you for being here. We also thank Thunderbolt 47 for coming out from whatever rock he was under to come scream at the skies about the Diamondbacks

because this is a night that even your anger, Thunderbolt, is probably justified. The Arizona Diamondbacks lose 9 to 4. They are record now in games where they are trailing by two runs or more. is one and 38, Damon Dogg, one and 38. This was Oakland's, let's just pile it on while we're, while we're doing it. This was Oakland's first win on the road since June 1st. 11, they almost.

What's that? That's 11 games. That's 11 games. That's a lot. That's a lot. So let's get into it because of course we have a lot to discuss. We're going to discuss Slade's night. We're going to discuss a lot of things, but obviously the big story is the way that the bullpen absolutely had a meltdown tonight.

And that's no pun intended for our guy, T time, but Ryan Thompson was part of that meltdown. The big question, I think, on everyone's mind after this game was why didn't Tori Lovolo go with Paul Seawald or any other option in the ninth inning when this team was only down by two instead of Brandon Hughes? in the top of the ninth. Not that it mattered, right? Essentially, Mason Miller came in and just did what he does. And I think maybe that could play into the reason why Tori wave the white flag there before we even got to the bottom of the ninth. But what were your thoughts in regards to him going to Brandon Hughes there in the night?

I mean, it's weird because I felt like Tori was kind of managing this game like pretty aggressively throughout the, you know, beginning parts of this game. When he went to when he went when he went away from Slade so quickly, right? When he slats set slate after four innings. Yeah, yeah, he was treating it like it felt like he was treating it like a playoff game. And then we get to the ninth inning and we put a guy in there who gives up three bombs. And yeah, it leads to questions about you had a couple other better arms on in the bullpen that, you know, probably could have gone out there and pitched.

but obviously Tori didn't make that call. Yeah, I mean, it's just a tough loss to take. I know people are pretty upset about this one. You know it's, you know it's bad when you lose Jacob Franklin, Derek. When you've lost Jacob Franklin? Oh, when? We lost him.

Did he call it time of death on the season or something? Is he that out or? He had this tweet to say. He had this to say, those who know me know I'm an eternal optimist about the debacks, period. That's how he starts it. And then he goes, this is the lowest I've been on them all year.

Tough to see a way out of this. If it's not one thing, it's another, multiple series against good teams after this, cooked going into this break. We lost Jacob Franklin, guys. And that's, that's tough to take. Yeah. No, I mean, you're not wrong. You're not wrong.

I think obviously, especially when you see the Diamondbacks asset, that was the the bullpen be the reason why this game turned in the way it did. You know, there's a lot of things that you could say going back and looking at this whole game, right? Again, even even questioning Tori Lavallo's decision to go with Brandon Hughes and then seeing Brandon Hughes give up three, three, three home runs, three home runs, Damon. Oh, my God, hold on, I got to hit something, got to hit something. Three home runs in the ninth inning solo shots.

It was disgusting. But does it matter because the Diamondbacks didn't do anything? It's not like the Diamondbacks went out there and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth. And you're sitting here kicking yourself because they lose nine to six. They didn't do anything. And they probably wouldn't have done anything, even if the score remained the same. They are one in 38 this season. One in 38 this season when they are down by two runs or more.

They are the late guybacks. I demand that we pull. pull that shirt off the, I'm furious I won't pull the answer back shirt. Yeah. It's the website yet. It's crazy the difference in the team from last year versus this year. Yeah, it's not even the same team. No, I mean, like it's the same players for the most part, but it's like Jesse keeps saying, I guess.

Is it? Is it? Is it, Damon? Is it the same players? A lot of them, right? I've been Longoria. I don't know. I don't recognize some of them.

Yeah. No, it feels really bad right now. And in speaking of you saying, did. Jacob, call it. Marcus sends in a $2 super chat and he says, Derek, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, call it. No, no, I'm not. I'm not going to call it. You know why?

Because Zach Gallen's going to be back tomorrow. He is. Let me have some of these guys that have been missing back. Let this team play the way that it's playing now with those guys back. And then maybe I'll call it because right now the Diamondbacks pitching has been bad. but maybe maybe damon one of the reasons that it's been so bad has been the fact that they have called upon their relievers so much uh the diamondbacks uh have not had i guess uh the starting pitching has gone four innings pitched or less now in five of their last six innings so you are not getting any length out of the starting pitching and you are relying entirely too much on the bullpen tonight was another night like that that Slade Sacconi went out there, looked absolutely incredible early on. You know, Slade looked great.

Slades, in fact, his 18 whiffs through three innings tonight, marked the second most ever by a D-back starting pitcher, only to the 19 once done by Robbie Ray. And then there was also this guy up there named Randy Johnson that had 17 whiffs one time through three innings. So Slade Sikoni doing big thing. but then again another Slate-Sakoni outing. Let me give you his numbers through the order.

His first time through the order, the A's were one for eight. He had five strikeouts, one walk. The second time through the order, three earned runs, four for seven, two strikeouts, one walk. So again, it's like night and day going from the first time through

to the second time through. I still don't quite understand that that might make logical things. to very smart baseball minds out there, but you know, I am a dumb, dumb person, and things like this don't make any sense to me. They don't make any logical sense because Slade was absolutely killing his first time through the order,

and I'm not exactly sure what exactly causes him to be figured out, but he ends up going four innings tonight. He gives up five hits, three earned, two-walk, 7K. Again, a manageable game if the bullpen is able to hold that lead because the Diamondbacks were able to get a lead. they're late. Of course, they established a lead early like they've done all season. Marte hit a lead off double to start the game and then scores on a Guriel RBI single. Guriel has been amazing lately. Marte continues to be amazing.

Guriel scores on a Randall Gritchick RBI ground rule double. Gina Wach's first inning huge success. The debacks, in fact, we tweeted this out, are batting as a team game in this season. 323 in the first inning in the first inning of baseball games this season. their batting average as a team is 323, which is the best in Major League Baseball. They are the only team in Major League Baseball with a 300 batting average or better as a team in the first inning.

And then what happens after that? I don't know. Yeah. That's that's that's that's the part that once again, I'm a dumb, like explain to me what happens to a team that has a 323 team batting average in the first inning and then can't get hit collectively for God knows how long. I mean, tonight the rest of the game, they were held to

only one hit through the next four innings. Corbyn Carroll gets a ground rule double that breaks that up, but then he doesn't score. Lordus Gueriel hits a 425 foot solo home run in the bottom of the six inning to tie the game at three. Corbyn once again gets a walk and Marte gets the go-ahead, you know, single there. I mean, everything was looking good for the Diamondbacks. And then you know, whatever happened to the bullpen tonight. Bullpen shit the bed. And of course, Brian Thompson, unfortunately, was part of that. Ryan Thompson, who has been the Diamondbacks most reliable reliever,

one of the most reliable relievers, but arguably the most reliable reliever goes, one in the third innings, gives up three hits, three earned, walks one, strikes out one. Really struggled tonight with his command was throwing like some things way outside of the strike zone and then when he was trying to get himself back in the zone was throwing things right down the middle got rocked for i think uh one home run and yeah this just was a disaster of a night right he allows those runs and then of course we talked earlier about brandon hughes coming in in the ninth inning but again six earned runs allowed from the bullpen tonight yeah not good enough. Ryan Thompson was like at the end of the day, as good as he's been this season and he's

allowed to have these games, I guess, because of how good he's been this season. But he was the reason we probably lost this game because we have that lead. You expect him to, you know, be kind of your horse out of the bullpen. You need him to shut it down there. It is what it is. But the problem is just the opponent you played against, I think, at the end of the day. Like you keep people expect you to keep a lead in the eighth inning against the Oakland days. That's if you want to be a playoff team in major league baseball, that's just what it's going to take. And, uh, you know, one off games are one off games, but like, I don't know, a lot of people went into this being like, we need to sweep this series and yeah, I heard that now, now it's like,

if you got to win the remaining games or else you're going to lose the series. So, uh, yeah, it's a, it's a big loss tonight and, uh, it definitely, it definitely hurts pretty deeply. Tanner says the whole pitching staff blew it. That's, yeah, I wanted to be, like, I don't think Slade, Slade Wall, like, he continues to be an enigma and, like, he's not, like, ideally in our rotation. He's, he wasn't the reason for the loss tonight. And, you know, he, like, when you think about our starting pitchers and that exercise

we did the other day, he's got to be up towards the middle or top of that, of that list of pitchers right now that we have that you have confidence in in any particular game because right now we're talking about Jordan Montgomery and him as fighting it out for potentially the second most reliable starter we currently have and that's they've been incredibly unreliable this season so I don't know it's just we we need gallon back as soon as possible and and Merrill but well we have good news because according to Tori LeBello tonight Zach Gallin will be starting tomorrow So we have Zach Gowlin coming back. And again, when you take a look at what I said earlier, the Diamondbacks, they starting pitching has gone four innings or less and five of their last six games. That right there is just going to put strain on your bullpen. And eventually you're going to have a night like this where things collapse on you. Hopefully, you know, again, this is just a game one. Doesn't matter. Hopefully this is enough for the Diamondbacks to. have a bit of a wake-up call. They probably thought that this was, you know, going to be

somewhat of an easy series for them. And this Oakland A's team is, you know, has been going through it lately. They lost five straight coming into this game. And they needed a win. They needed a big night. And they got it. They got a lot of home runs, especially they're late. They got a big lift. Diamondbacks have to flush this one, but not flush it. Like Tori always talks about flushing these games. This one should stick. This one should bother you. This one should upset you. This one kind of dates back to some of those early losses they had in the season that felt like just absolute

fumbles by this team. This one felt like a fumble. It felt like Tori fumbled it. It felt like the bullpen fumbled it. It felt like a lot of people were responsible for this loss, right? You know, Thunderbolt's not going to quit yelling until I say that the offense is also to blame. And you could argue that the offense should be putting up more than four runs against an Oakland A's team. However, the offense also had a lead late in this game going into the eighth inning. That should be enough with the way that this bullpen has been pitching to feel fairly

confident about getting through two innings with Ryan Thompson and Paul Seawald going out there. And unfortunately, didn't happen. Didn't happen tonight. But I will say, I will call absolute bullshit on you saying Tori has no fire and no passion. But that's easy for you to scream from, again, whatever rock you're hiding under Thunderbolt. But Tori does have a lot of fire and a lot of passion. Actually, he just doesn't let most of us see it because when he does have fire and passion, he says the F word a lot. And I rather enjoy that.

And I'm sure the players do too, but this isn't going to be the F word in a fun way for them. It's probably going to be directed at a lot of them. him and hopefully, you know, there's a little bit of a wake-up call. Of course, we got to give flowers to someone who deserves them. And Lordus Guriel Jr. continues to be good. He is not two for two. He was two for four tonight, but he had two RBI, two runs scored and a home run. Seven multi-hit games in his last nine. And Lordus, again, with as streaky as Lordus is, It's just amazing how he could be bad for an entire month and then good for an entire month and then bad. I actually went good, good, then bad and then good.

But luckily, Lourdes is good right now. Unfortunately, not getting a lot of support outside of Kutel. Felt like Corbyn had himself a good night. Corbyn was involved in a lot of the offense. But, yeah, four runs against an Oakland A's starter that was a lefty. That's been struggling. that hasn't been able to go very long. He looked like he was able to go long to night, Damon.

My man probably could have gone the eighth inning with the way things were going with him. I think his pitch count was at like 80 pitches going in to the eighth inning when he got pitched pulled out of this game. So it's this was one of those nights where the Diamondbacks did not make a starting pitcher who had a very rough first inning worked quite enough after that point. Yeah, it's good to see Lordis like. playing a little bit better recently. I think it's been it's been a little bit, you know,

he was struggling for a while there. And it seems like he's finally seeing the ball a little bit better here. So he's been playing better to King Snakes. I think in our last three post game shows for Lordus. So yeah, I mean, it's good to see that. But I'm most disappointed in Christian Walker tonight, Derek, because he's really been struggling right now. Yeah.

And he's been struggling and you got a lefty on the mound who on paper isn't that great. I don't know, man. I think this this needed to be like a Christian Walker big game for him extra base hit type of game. That felt like what was missing. Yeah. He didn't and he didn't get the job done tonight. So we need him to break out of that for sure. Well, we're going to talk about it a little bit later, but Christian Walker has a chance.

There's a path for Christian Walker to make it to the All Star game this season. And obviously a big part of that is he needs to play well in order for him to to make it there. But with the injury to Bryce Harper and him most likely not participating in the All-Star game, there is a chance that we could see Christian Walker in there for the National League. Of course, got to play that. Patrick Wayne collects. Thank you so much for your super chat. He says, I've been let down by Walker since last fall.

And yeah, that's an unfortunate truth. I think that Christian Walker was a big piece of the office. offense that was missing last fall. And, uh, you know, again, uh, even though he's been still doing it for the team this year, uh, he's been pretty streaky himself. He has not been consistent. And the diamondbacks need that. He especially with Gino also being a bit of a disappointment. They just, they really lack power right now. Kattel's been doing it. Lordus has been doing it a little bit. But I mean, those guys aren't really who you're expecting to get 30 plus home run. He's never going to hit a home run again. He's never ever.

Yeah, tonight, that ground rule double. I might my eyebrows went up a little bit and then I just went right back down. You thought, dude, that's crazy. I don't know. That's crazy. For a second, for a second. Patrick Wayne collects also sent in a $10 super chat earlier. Thank you so much, my guy.

And he says, I'm a Tory truther pain his life. I don't know. Well, means that in a positive or negative way on the truth or part. But I will say that I, understand both sides of it. I have professed that I will never be an unbiased person when it comes to Tory because I love Tori. I think Tori is a great human being. But much like my friends, much like Damon, I tell Damon all the time where I feel like he was wrong. I feel like all the time I try to give him advice and be like, I don't think you made the right call there, bud, right?

So if Tori and I texted each other, there might be a little bit of that, you know? I mean, I did text Drew McIntyre during WrestleMania, like literally in the middle of WrestleMania during the middle of his WrestleMania match when he both won the championship and then lost it moments later. I was texting him and he inexplicably texts me back. So yeah, like sometimes I will provide my friends

with advice even in the middle of one of their biggest championship matches of their entire lives. And honestly, I understand people questioning Tori. There were a lot of, you know, questionable decisions. There always are, especially when it comes to his lineup, especially when it comes to, you know, how long he lets guys go. I agree with Damon. I felt like he was fairly aggressive tonight. I thought he was trying to win this ballgame. I thought he saw that until he didn't, which was really weird to see. Well, and again, I don't know. Like, I don't know.

Did he, did, did Torrey wave the white flag there in the ninth inning by putting Brandon Hughes in? did he just say? Because like when I heard Paul Seawald was up warming up, according to the broadcast, I reacted positively. I thought that was a good move. I thought that even with a two run deficit, that it was an aggressive move, but probably the right one to send Paul Seawald out there, keep this game at a two run deficit, and then give themselves a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth. And instead he went with Brandon Hughes, which I felt like when that decision was made that was oh yeah this is the more likely to remove like this it didn't surprise me it didn't disappoint me it just made me feel like tory wasn't trying to take that extra step to be over you know

overly secure or overly aggressive as far as securing just the two run deficit right uh and instead brandon hughes outing in the ninth inning is as bad as you could have possibly had a nightmare about, you know, like it was exactly as bad as you could have drawn it up. And, you know, again. You got a question in the chat here, but like, I think Yoshi said it first, but maybe, maybe they, the Diamondbacks just really, really respect Mason Miller. Like maybe they look at Mason Miller and they were like, that's what I mean. Yeah, we're not coming back against this guy.

He's right. He's going to carve us up. And he did carve us up. That's exactly what happened. So, uh, maybe I, I'm starting to think now that. someone mentioned that i'm i'm starting to think here that maybe torrey was waving the white flag a little bit maybe maybe it was even beyond that maybe it was four d chess damon maybe the thought was that if it's a close game we'll get mason miller so i'm going to put brandon hughes out there knowing he's going to

shit the bed and then you know hey it's we're down by five there's no way they're going to put Miller in now, ha, we'll jump all over that guy. It didn't quite work out because they did put Miller in and he absolutely dominated them. And of course, I'm joking about that because, of course, that would be insane. But I understand. I mean, of course, you're going to have those times where as a manager, you have to be managing the next two games or the stretch until your next off day rather than just managing tonight. So you might think, hey, we're one.

and 37 when we're down by two runs, what makes me think that we're going to be able to have a comeback against one of the best closers in baseball right now. Yeah. Right? So maybe he was. Maybe he was. But we appreciate you guys so much.

Of course, Nicholas Gruders in the chat. Thank you for your super chat. He says certainly feels like we might be cooked. It does. I think there's one thing that can save the season, and it's the 999 challenge tomorrow. Johnny.

I've made, I've made a range. by the way to be present for the 999 challenge so I will be there that's big of you guys maybe participating a little bit not like actually participating but just you can't you can't have fast it you're in or you're out I don't want to do like damage to myself permanently yeah but being like I had three beers and two hot dogs that sounds like just a great day at the ballpark that that's not right yeah but that's not half party you can't you can't act like like you're kind of participating when you're doing something that we'd like you would do on a

regular day at the ballpark. Damon, you've met me. You've worked with me for long enough. I can do whatever I want. You know, I won't stand for that though. I'm going to be so angry about that.

I'll be there eating hot dogs and drinking beers with you. Just guarantee that. Benjamin Hunley, thank you for your super chat. He said, is Carol not back again? He's batting seventh. I don't know.

I don't have an answer for you on that. I'll say that he seemed back in this game. At least Corbyn was one of the guys contributing and doing stuff trying to make things happen until he froze in his biggest at bat of the game and struck out looking. That was absurd. Like we have to mention that. That's a pretty like horrible moment in a game. Like that's he wasted an A-B and he really thought he walked.

And I was like, what good is walking? You like should be up there aggressively trying to get a hit, not up there aggressively trying to to walk and it felt very much like that like that's fine when there's nobody on base and you're going to possibly try to get things going you know get things cooking for the team you want to get on base you want to get a steal you just want to find a way on that's different that was a big moment that was a runner in scoring position that was a chance uh like you said it was a huge moment in this game and i was a bit disappointed by that i would have rather seen him strike out swinging rather than looking in that scenario because at least it showed me he was going for it, you know?

Yeah. Well, I do want to think a special group of people, of course, it's our diehard community. Our diehards are wonderful people. They always make me laugh even during a terrible moment like what was going on in the ninth inning. There was talk about one of our diehards eating a sock if Christian Walker hit a home run late. And I was going to send him a link for the show. So he ate the sock live on the show with us tonight. Right, so. Get them a streamyard link, man.

Yeah, I was going to send them the stream yard link immediately. But, of course, this is the kind of fun and hijinks that we have going on in the Discord. You can join us here if you have not joined the family yet. Check out the options that you have here over at go phtonx.com. You get yourself a free t-shirt of your choice from the PHNX Locker.com. Get yourself a special diehard membership card that may or may not get you discounts at Subway. Max is going to be so mad for me saying that. That's a free ad and a lie.

It's a lie and a free ad. It does not get you that, but it does make you a member of the coolest, coolest club that you can be in. It also get you access to all of our premium written content. It gets you access to our Discord lounge where we are always doing special content just for our diehards, as well as discounts on all of our events like our upcoming takeover of Chase Field, where we will all be at the Chase Field, pool, hanging out, dunking cogs, and having a great time.

Speaking of having a great time, a great place to have a great time. Is it chicken and pickle? Of course, you guys can check out chicken and pickle over in the west side of town. It is an amazing facility with so much fun stuff to do. It was to the point where this guy, Damon, next to me, just stuck around late after another event we had just to keep having fun. And he shut down the whole facility. They had to kick him out because he couldn't stop playing pickleball. They had to call security.

and they had to grab me and flex and Tootry and Michaela and put us in cuffs and escorted us out of the building. Yeah. It was pretty serious. It was, but that's how much fun. It's like when you're having that much fun, sometimes you refuse to stop. And that is completely understandable. Chicken and pickle has an amazing indoor, outdoor entertainment complex. Includes a casual chef-driven restaurant with some amazing food, by the way.

I really enjoy their fried chicken dishes that they have. and I even had their grilled chicken that's like brined and pickle. I had that too. Yeah, it's good with the bacon and everything like that. I'm excited to try the, so they have like rotisserie chickens that they like, you can watch them cook it and then they give you like a big Serrano pepper that they're grilling.

I'm going to get that next time I go. I already decided. We're going to give it a try. Well, of course they are serving up fun all the times. They're serving up fun for all ages this summer. Of course, they have their junior pickleball camps this summer. So if you're looking for something,

for the kiddos to do. You can take them out. Lunch is provided each day and a camp shirt is included with every registration. So check out reserve cnp.com or ask a member of their pickleball team for more details. When you go out there and check it out in person, head to chicken chicken and pickle. That's chicken and pickle, the letter n pickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location. Also, a big shout out to our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union for sponsoring the count. we're going to look at some numbers that most of you don't probably want to look at.

But of course, we know there's other numbers sometimes that we don't want to look at. And that's our finances, right? Those might not always be fun, but it's something we as adults have to deal with. And of course, sometimes we need help with that. And Desert Financial can help you out. They have financial experts who are committed to their members, committed to helping you find financial solutions tailored, to helping you achieve your financial goals and dreams.

Of course, they also helped me. And of course, you can tell I'm an absolute mess. So if they were able to get me started on my home ownership journey, they can get you started as well. Join a credit union that's committed to giving back to the community and sharing success with its members. When you open a free checking account online right now with Desert Financial, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. And let's take a look at those numbers that I was talking about with the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. The Diamondbacks lose this one by a count of 9 to 4.

They get out hit by the Oakland A's 14 to 7. They, it's push on runners in scoring position. That's because the A's did a lot of their scoring on those solo home runs late in this game. They got five extra base hits to the Diamondbacks three. And they're, uh, that's not, that's, that's not really pitching ERA. But that is hard hit percentage. And it is 48.1% to the 30.8.8. for the Diamondbacks. Again, Diamondbacks have not been hitting the ball very hard, but the Oakland A's

definitely did. And it seems like Diamondbacks pitchers have been allowing the opposition to hit the ball very hard recently. It feels like when we go over those numbers, we see that quite a bit, Damon. Yeah. It hasn't been looking pretty recently against the Phillies or the twins or that are now against the A's to start this series. So yeah, it's been it's been a little bad run here of by the numbers graphics. Hey, it's all right. Who says I actually believe 30.8 relief pitching ERA. Honestly, yeah.

Yeah. Why wouldn't you? That's probably not very far off. Derek, can you do the numbers real quick? What was how many, when did a relief pitcher come in and how many runs did they give up? They, they, well, I, no. I don't want to do that. No, that's bad numbers.

I don't want to do those numbers because those numbers make me sad. Well, they, of course, let's see, five innings pitched, six runs total. I don't, I'm not good at math like Jesse, but let me, let me figure this out. We said six runs total. I'm designed by, by. Yeah. That's a 10.8, ERA. Might as well be 30.8.

Might as well be 30, but it felt like 30.8, right? Oh, man. It's just a bad night, bad night for the Diamondbacks. And again, I guess it might be reactionary. It might be a little too much. I know that they've probably had some worse losses during the course of this season. But this one, Damon, feels especially bad. This one feels bad for several reasons, obviously.

Feels bad considering that they had a lead late and lost it. It feels bad because of everything. the offense, the defense, everything feels bad. It feels bad that we lost to a team like the Oakland A's that haven't won a road game, essentially in the month of June up until this point, aside from the first day. So that is 27 days without a road win for the A's until tonight where they broke that record. And yeah, Elise says it here, which I agree with what Elise has to say. She says feels even worse after the last two against the twins.

The Diamondbacks come out. They got wrecked in the last two against the twins. And the one thing you wanted to see was a rebound. Some sort of, you know, answer back, if you will. And they did not answer back tonight, Damon. Well, the twin series felt like just a carbon copy of the Philly series. You know, like it was like win game one by a little bit and then just get smoked in games two and three against a good team. when when after game one in those series like as diamondbacks fans were overjoyed like we're

this it's it's it looks like you know we have a really good chance of winning series against some of the best teams in baseball but then uh now when it's against the Oakland A's and you lose game one it it's the opposite feeling it's it's really bad but that goes to show that I guess we could win these final two games and maybe feel a little bit better about this but honestly that kind of feels like the expectation at this point rather than like we you know we should be like super excited about that that seems like they kind of need to win these next two games and uh someone said it in the chat earlier uh does it like is it's early but like does this feel like you know it could be the season if you lose these like these next

two games and like i know i know it doesn't i know that's crazy but like if if we got swept by the A's going into the All-Star break, like before we play a bunch of really good teams as well, that's going to feel pretty low. That might be time of death time scenario, you know? It would have to, honestly, it would have to be how they performed after that. But yeah, yeah, I mean, I can't think of a lower low than being swept by the A's at this point of the season. Let's not even put that out into the.

atmosphere. Let's not even discuss that. But I do want to discuss with somebody else, Damon, and no offense to you. But I'd love to get it. I'd love to get this man's take on if tonight was rock bottom for the Diamondback season. It's the thunder stick himself, my vice mayor, Jesse Friedman. Jesse, this was a tough loss in a lot of different ways. But I think Damon and I we're kind of discussing, is this the worst loss of the season for the Diamondbacks? Is that hyperbolic to say about any regular season game? This one just feels especially bad. I mean, I don't think it's hyperbolic and like there, I don't know, there is,

if you play a whole bunch of baseball games, like theoretically, there should be a worst loss out of all of them. I don't know if today is that game for me. Today felt like a day where Ryan Thompson just had a, very, very rare off night. I mean, he's been so unbelievably good for the Diamondbacks since coming over. I think I heard that he had never allowed multiple runs in an outing

as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to tonight. So it's a, I mean, it's a bad loss, no doubt. Like the offense, you'd hope to get more against the guy like J.P. Sears, you know, Brandon Hughes obviously didn't really give the D-backs much of a chance to come back in the ninth inning. Slade Sacconi was subpar against a not so great Oakland A's lineup. So it wasn't great, but I don't know. The debacks, they didn't make any like enormous defensive blunders or base running

mistakes or I think we've had, I think we've had worse losses for the Diamondbacks this season. Unfortunately, there have been there have been quite a few that have been pretty brutal. Well, of course, Tori Lavello, the news is that after the game, he said Zach Gallen will in fact, start tomorrow. What are your thoughts on that? And like, is that the turning point potentially for this team to get to get Zach back? I think the silver lining for today's game is absolutely that Zach Allen is coming back tomorrow.

You've got your ace back at a time where you very much need him, right? I mean, the Diamondbacks after hitting 500 a week ago today, boy, the vibes were at a different place. We could go today, Derek, when the debacks, went into Citizens Bank Park and beat the Phillies by one run and got back to 500. They've lost five out of six in the last week since then. It's been a really, really brutal week for them. But yeah, you've got Zach Gowan coming back tomorrow. You've got Brandon Fott, who's been your de facto ace up to this point pitching on Sunday.

The debacks are still in a decent position to take two out of three games in the series, despite what happened today. And that, yeah, I mean, the first words that I heard when I opt on were the phrase death blow, a death blow on the season or something like that, which I do understand why you guys are having those conversations, because the Oakland A's are a team that the Diamondbacks really, really, I don't want to say need, need, like not must win level at this stage of the season, but the Oakland A's are certainly the worst team that the Diamondbacks are going to play between now and the All-Star break. And given that they're not really going to get, you know,

they're going to get some reinforcements back, they're going to get Zach Allen, they're going to get Alec Thomas. They're going to get Gabby Moreno back. Hopefully all three of those guys should be back. Obviously, Gallon tomorrow, Moreno and Alec Thomas potentially for that Dodgers series. But you're not getting knee rod. You're not getting Merrill Kelly back between now and the All-Star break. So this is a really crucial several weeks for the debacks,

especially with the trade deadline coming up and questions swirling over how the debacks will approach that. It is really important. And the Oakland A is our team that you really need to really need to be able to beat. Well, of course, every Friday here on the Diamondback Show is flavoring Fridays, presented by our friends OGs brands. And you can head on over to OGsbrands.com to see their full lineup, including their two newest gummies, the OGs naturals, and the big OGs. And find out where you can purchase them, of course, everyone knows. I'm a huge fan of OG's brands. And tonight would be a great night, Jesse.

Great night if you haven't tried OG's brands to have some on hand and get over what many people, what the word on the street is calling the worst loss of the season. I don't know. I wouldn't dare say something like that, but maybe in fact that's what's being spread around somewhere. But of course, whether it's a win or a loss, of course,

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I am also responsibly enjoying my third bad birdie beer of the night since Ryan Thompson had that meltdown. So, of course, that's a great, another great way to get over this loss. And of course, Bad Birdie juicy gold nail, as I've said, is the beer of choice, whether you're celebrating wins or losses. It's delicious, whether you're on the tee box or you're just a lazy guy like me sitting on your couch watching sports. Of course, it's a great way either way. but make sure to check out all the wonderful beers Four Peaks has to offer. And like I've talked about, grab one of those 15-pack variety packs and get you a little taste of everything. They're always changing up the flavors that they have in that variety pack.

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Jesse, we do have more on this game from the clubhouse. What do you have, especially when it comes to Ryan Thompson's terrible night? Yeah, we have Tori Lavellev. talking about that here, he was asked about how Ryan Thompson has been so incredibly good for the Diamondbacks this season and, you know, since the debacks acquired

him, this was obviously a very, yeah, this is obviously a very different story. So here's what Tori had to say about Ryan Thompson. Yeah, he's been lights out. I mean, he's one of our best reliever. So I felt when, I felt like he was getting over, Thompson to see you all book it.

And it just didn't happen. What I see, a lot of, a lot of two scene fastballs that laid over one another. He didn't change. He didn't change side lines. He didn't make some slider.

He got a really good slider. So there's a lot of two seam fastballs, sinkers. That's it, huh? A lot of two seam and sinkers. And he was missing pretty badly. It felt like he didn't have some, he didn't have very good command tonight.

Ryan Thompson. We also talked with him. I don't have video of that. But he, he had kind of a different explanation for what happened. happened tonight. He didn't seem to feel that he was throwing too many sinkers. He actually said, I asked about the mound visit with Brent Strom right before Zach Galloff's big triple that gave the

Oakland A's the lead. Thompson said that Stromi told him to throw a sinker and not the one that he threw, which was, you know, ultimately right down the middle. It just got way, way too much of the middle of the zone there. And he got beat for that. But Thompson was adamant that this was a mechanical issue for him. Something about his momentum sort of on his way down the mound. Something was just out of whack there. And he just said he couldn't fix it. You know, like he's used to making in-game adjustments and whatnot. Those things happen all the time.

And for whatever reason, he just wasn't able to fix it during the game. But, you know, it sounds like he sort of has identified what it is and feels better going and do his next outing. But yeah, it's tough. I mean, these things certainly happen. You're going to run into different mechanical things that you need to change during an outing. And pitchers do make those kind of. of adjustments all the time and Ryan Thompson has seemingly been excellent at that during his

Diamondbacks career and just just not so today. He got a strikeout swinging, I think, for his very last out, if I'm not mistaken. And when he did that, it was weird because he looked mad and like aggressive. Like you like like like you could just see in his body language that he determined like I'm going to strike this MF or out and like he did and it but it it did there was just like a look of of like even in that moment that he had figured out what he was doing wrong and then next thing you know he gets that strike you know that strike out swinging but too little too late at that point and again a rare a rare off night for Ryan Thompson of course we're again some people are making it out to be a bigger loss some people have called it the the rock bottom of the diamond back season i don't know who particularly those people are they may or may not be on this podcast hosting it right now but of course i mean the debacks have lost five out of six so i don't like i don't want to totally dismiss that as outrageous like what happened within this game i don't think was their worst loss of the season but the greater narrative is yeah this is like a really terrible

week for the Diamondback. So I don't want to, I don't want to dismiss that at all. Well, and again, something Elise brought up earlier was that coming off of these, these two losses to the twins, this felt like a get right game. This felt like we were going to see the Diamondbacks come back out. Right. And, you know, just rebound, react in a way that, and it felt like this game was going in that direction, especially once they had that lead late, four to three, and then the game went the way it did. But it's also the fact that this is, the Oakland A's and it's not to knock any baseball team because as we've seen good teams can be bad when the Diamondbacks play them. Bad teams can be good when the Diamondbacks play them.

It's baseball. You never know what you're going to get sometimes when a team's going to be hot. But this very much felt like a series people were talking about them getting the sweep. And if anything less than a sweep was a disappointment. Well, you're probably pretty disappointed after at least this game one loss. But the Diamondbacks have struggled against some of these teams that they shouldn't really struggle against. They've kind of played down to the level of their opposition. Yeah, that was another thing that Tori was asked after this game that we, that we do have video of.

He was asked about just not really, yeah, not really doing as well as you would expect. It seemed like the debacks to do against some of the lesser teams in the league. Here's what, here's what Tori had to say about that. I think those numbers are, but I'm not happy when we don't play good baseball. I'm not happy when we go out and just, it just, you know, forget who we are and how good we are. We're a good baseball team.

We're a damn good baseball team. We just got to find our way. And we got to start to click. We've got to put things together. So probably, you know more of the answer than I do. My answer is going to be no. I'm not satisfied with it at all.

He shouldn't be. Nobody should be satisfied with this in the organization. Players shouldn't be. Nobody should be set. Like, again, we threw a lot of the blame at the pitching staff and they deserve it, right? But like you said, when you came on

and like Thunderbolt screamed at the sky about earlier, is that the offense really should be, should be able to keep their foot on the pedal against a team like this. Instead, we saw another almost you know, textbook

Diamondback game from this season where they score the runs early and then go completely silent for four to five innings, straight without, you know, even getting a hit. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the debacks came out in the first inning. I think I saw their team batting average in the first inning is now 323.

And no other team in the league is even batting 300 in the first inning. So that narrative continues to very much be alive and well, even past the halfway mark of the season. And yeah, I mean, it was two runs and three hits on JP Sears right there immediately. like Gatel Marte, of course, hits that double, a couple of other hits in the inning debacks get a couple runs on the board. And then we've seen it so many times this year where the bats just go silent. And I think that Derek is honestly like the pitching sort of is what it is at this point. I mean, if you're shocked by Slade Sacconi going four innings and three runs and, you know,

throwing kind of a lot of pitches, I don't really know what to like I don't really know what you were expecting to be honest, because that's just kind of. who Slate Cicone has been, at least at this stage in his career so far this season. So for me, yeah, the storyline today isn't really Slate Cicone. I don't really think it could be Ryan Thompson because he's been so incredibly good for you. He still has an ERA that starts with a one even after giving up three runs in this game. The biggest story for me is the offense. That it, as you said, it came out strong.

And then, you know, Gueriel hits that home run. They scratch across another run at a different point. But for the debacks, they need their offense to be the difference maker right now. And with the current state of their pitching, they need the offense to be the difference maker. Their offense is on paper significantly better than the Oakland A's offense. That's not at all what it looked like today. The A's came out here. You know, they had 17 base runners, 14 hits, several walks in this game as well.

So, yeah, the offense really needs to really needs to pick things up. Well, then, Mr. Friedman, I will put you in a precarious. position that I know you do not want to be in, but let's go there anyway. With the way this offense was performing and with the way things were going, Brandon Hughes, right? Fans are mad. Fans felt like it was a bad choice to go with Brandon Hughes instead of Paul Seawald or another choice that would have particularly kept the game close.

Instead, he goes with Brandon Hughes and Brandon Hughes does what Brandon Hughes does. That aside, it's not like the Diamondbacks scored in the ball. bottom of the ninth and made this a nine six game and then you can scream at the fact that he gave up those three runs right yeah do you feel like tory saw the writing on the wall there with mason miller coming in for the oakland a's in the bottom of the ninth and just said screw it i'm not burning seawall tonight and put hughes out there just because he kind of at that point conceded the game and knew his offense wasn't probably going to be able to push two to three runs home against the best closer in baseball tory was asked about that after the game uh he talked about how he talked about

how he trusted Hughes. I mean, Hughes threw well, I think in the Phillies game. He sort of came up big for the for the debacks in that game. But yeah, he did say that if the Diamondbacks had gotten the game a little closer than, which, which, I mean, it was a two-run game. So presumably if it was a one-run game, then I do think Lavella would have gone to Paul Seewald in the ninth inning. I do understand people who, who don't love that decision.

I mean, you know, Tori is probably thinking about the next two days with Gowan on the mound, with fought on the mound. You've got a decent chance to win these games. What if you need Seawald both of the next two days? And then you're setting him up for a back to back to back by throwing him in a game here where you didn't really have a great chance to win. As you said, Mason Miller is certainly one of the best. But at the same time, I mean, the reality has been that CWald,

it feels like it's throwing about once a week for the Diamondbacks right now. Right. Because they're just not playing a lot of close games. So I do understand the sentiment of like just try to win the game in front of you. Just keep it close. Yeah. You know, keep it close. Give your guys a chance.

I mean, yeah, he's one of the best closers in the game. But just like Ryan Thompson, the night, guys have a bad night. And tonight could be his bad night. The numbers be damned. Tonight could be the night that you get to somebody like that. And I think that's the reason why fans are very upset with Tori and feel like he managed this game very poorly. You know, people want to just immediately assume that if the Diamondbacks somehow kept this

game closer, that then offense would have. scored in a reality where they didn't, right? So yeah, I don't know. I don't know what the answer there is. I can understand people being upset with Tori. I can understand because sometimes even in a loss, you want to see more of an effort. You want to see them at least try to win in a loss rather than what you kind of feel was maybe a rollover and die situation. But baseball is a long season. And like you said, looking ahead, you're trying to manage, you know, the next two games that you could win rather than this game, then you're down and most likely won't. So it's understanding what this team is, they're in a rut, Jesse, and they need to find a way to get out of it.

They do. Yeah, that's another thing that Tori was asked about tonight. You know, it just feels like every day it's, it's the defense. So, you know, one day, then it's the offense, then it's the pitching or some combination of those things. Here's what Tori had to say just about kind of the current state of the team right now. Yeah, and I think it's all predicated off the starting pitching. Start pitching needs to be better. You can't, you look at what we have absorbed. I think what it was, it was four today, it was three yesterday, three the day before.

That isn't going to be good for us to win baseball games and do what we need to do. So starting pitching needs to tighten up. We're going to get there with them. But are we back in that little cycle of, and how did you? Yeah, the defense yesterday. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. Yeah, we're in a little bit of a rut right now. And we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to be a fine way to do it tomorrow. You know, there's, it doesn't. Can't feel sorry for yourself. You know what I mean? You can't feel sorry for the expectations based on last season.

You just got to go out there and fight. I just think that this team is playing differently this year. And we've talked a lot about chaos ball and Diamondbacks baseball and all of that. I don't think Diamondbacks chaos was always just about running on the bases and stealing bases and doing things like that. Yeah, it's a good point. Diamondbacks chaos baseball felt like they were just doing things all the time. to try to get the little runs here or there that matter. You know, they were, they were, they were walking more.

They were getting on base more. They were just, you know, there was more bunting. There was more, you know, just actively trying to do anything they can. Me and Damon were talking a little bit about like Corbyn Carroll striking out in that big moment with two runners on. It's a big moment. Yeah. And it felt very much like Corby and Carol like doesn't like,

switch into a different mode when he's, you know, has those runners in scoring position. But he was able to do that last year, right? Where it was like, okay, runners are on. I'm going to get a hit here. Now it feels like he's going up there almost every time trying to work a walk. And even in this situation where you have a very close game and you need to get every run that you can manage, he strikes out on a close pitch. I'm not saying he wasn't, you know, he thought he walked.

He really did, but it was a good pitch and it was on the inside and it was a strike. And again, it's just a matter of looking more to walk like he has been rather than looking to be aggressive there at the plate and try to stick it in there and get a hit, you know, get a big hit in the moment. Cor, I mean, how many games did the debacks win last year because Corbyn Carroll came through in a big spot or just sort of came through in general, you know, help them score three or four runs in the first inning or whatever it was. Yeah, I mean, as much as I think Corbyn has looked better lately,

and he did have a double in this game. He did draw a walk in this game. So, you know, it's not like there wasn't any production there. But it's really tough for the debacks right now, late in games, especially with Corbyn, because when the A's put a guy like T.J. McFarland to face Corbyn, I think they feel pretty confident about that. Because T.J. McFarland has been good this year.

He's a left-handed, pitcher. And I looked this up just a few minutes ago. Corbin since April 18th entering today had an OPS of 356 against left-handed pitching. That spans almost the entire season at this point. That's more than three months of a 356 OPS against lefties. This is something we talked about a couple weeks ago when Corbyn really did seem to be coming out of the slump was that it was pretty much all happening against righties. The debacks weren't really facing that many lefties. You didn't really know kind of what the status was there. But yeah, it's tough when you've got a guy.

I mean, this reminds me of, you know, Corbin, I think is a far better player and will be a far better player than Jake Lamb. But it reminds me of Jake Lamb where like you've got this, this powerhouse bat in the middle of your lineup. But then, you know, the opposing team brings in their great left-handed high leverage reliever. And you're in a tough spot late in the game. And I mean, that's why the debacks had Corbyn lower in the last. lineup for sure because the A's had a how to lefty starter on the mound. But yeah, it's tough.

I mean, when you have a player that is is really struggling against one one side in particular, it's, yeah, it puts you in a really tough spot in those big moments. Taking a step back there to that last Torrey clip, he basically said that it all comes down to starting pitching. Deback starting pitchers have gone four ratings pitched or less in five of their last six games. and that I felt like wow that's a big breaking point right that that tonight is an amount of pressure that's been consistently put on the bullpen

where you couldn't expect them to tow that line for that long without having a night like they had tonight yeah it yeah I mean the starting pitching is you heard Tori say it earlier that that's been that's been the biggest reason for the diamond back struggles in the last week there's there's really no question about it uh slate sikoni i mean uh he did some he did some good things today like 18 whiffs 13 wits three innings was outrageous uh you guys might have already talked about it robbie ray is the only dbacks pitcher uh in the stack cast there since 2015 to do that uh which just felt right robbie ray first place is robbie ray second place is robbie ray and

third place was roby ray on that list which i thought was pretty funny but every time you're in you're in Robbie Ray's company in terms of swing and miss. Like, that means you've got some, you got pretty good stuff. But the problem for Slade was that a lot of those, you know, a lot of those strikeouts that he did have early in this game were, you know, seven, eight pitches deep. And he wasn't really able to be efficient. And he still made some mistakes along the way. Here actually is what Slate had to say about his, about his outing tonight.

A lot of, a lot of long at bats, a lot of deep counts. wanted to go deeper into that game. Pitch count was not where we wanted it. You know, even the strikeouts were seven, eight pitch of that. So I was happy with getting a swing and miss, but, you know, it was days. Is all the swinging miss an indication of how your stuff is playing when you're locating it? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I was able to get swing and miss on all four pitches today, which is encouraging. Yeah, the answer is yes.

There are a few people that look as different in street clubs. clothes than they do on the mound in their uniform as Slade does. He looks like a completely different person. That's wild to me. But, yeah, I mean, Slade, again, Slade is, he's still developing, and I still think that there is a enormous amount of potential when you talk about a guy that's go out there and able to get 18 whiffs through three innings. And I mean, at one point, he was, he was just mowing guys down until it stopped, right?

And that's just such a weird thing with Slade that I don't understand. And I need somebody smart like you to explain to me. Like, why is it that Slade hits a wall? And then all of a sudden, the opposition figures them out. I rarely remember seeing any picture where the transition is so stark, so significant, where they go from being so dominant to all of a sudden they just figured him out. It's a really good, it's a really good question. I mean, I don't, I don't really feel like I have a great answer for that.

I mean, the narrative has been that Slade. stuff kind of drops off a little bit. You know, you start to see some 901s and 92s in the in the third inning and the fourth inning, which we did see some of that today for sure. But it's hard for me to buy that that's the only thing. I think there's a there's a pitch execution element there probably of just not really hitting his spots as well. But yeah, I mean, he does have, he does have pretty good stuff.

And it's not like he's only throwing two pitches. You know, it's pretty normal to see a guy who only has a couple of pitches. Like that makes sense. once guys, once guys have seen it, you know, once or twice, they're going to be in a much better position. But Slate is throwing a four-pitch mix. I mean, the change-up is a pretty big part of his arsenal now. He got some curveball whiffs in this game, too.

I think that's one of the better curveballs that the diamondbacks have on their staff right now. So, yeah, it is a little dumbfounding in some ways. I don't, I don't really feel like I have a great answer for that. Is he, is he destined to be an elite reliever, in your opinion? I mean, I think I'd have to see it before I'd use the word elite. But yeah, I think it's totally reasonable to be fairly bullish on what Slade Saccone could be as a reliever. I mean, he did it again today.

The first couple of innings were scoreless. And I think he threw 38 pitches. It wasn't his cleanest start to the game necessarily. But yeah, I mean, his fastball has a ton of run on it. He's got several different weapons he could use. Maybe he would narrow things down in the bullpen a little. But, I mean, you imagine the velo ticking up a little. little bit more. I mean, maybe Slate's sitting a hundred miles an hour out of the bullpen.

I don't think that's a totally outrageous thought. So yeah, I think Slate could be pretty good out of the bullpen. But the backs have just too many injuries right now to really consider making that change. Well, of course, another guy that has been struggling lately is Christian Walker. We do know that we have talked about how Christian Walker should be considered for the All-Star game. But we also know that the voting doesn't necessarily reflect. where Christian Walker should be, at least as far as his worth as a first basement. Of course, notoriety is a big part of that. There's a lot of guys over there.

But Christian Walker also hasn't been playing well lately, right? And like sometimes it's about how you're playing right now. Like if he was hot and he was hitting a bunch of home runs, maybe that would add to voters recognizing him. But it feels like Walker's been in a slump lately. and you have just some other guys with bigger names that kind of have passed by him on that list. With Harper being injured, does he have any kind of? Does his chances improve at maybe making the All-Star game this year?

I think they improved pretty significantly. I mean, before I probably would have said the chance was pretty slim. Not that it was impossible to get three first basemen on the NL roster, but it's not really something I would have expected. Now that Harper's out, I mean, Freddie Freeman is sort of. going to be there. He's pretty much guaranteed to start. Starting first baseman. Yeah, he's going to start at first base. No questions there. But they're going to, I mean, they're definitely going to have at least two first baseman on the

roster for the NL. So Christian Walker finished sixth in, in that first phase of voting. So it's not like he was right there after Harper and Freeman. But you could argue that he maybe should have been compared to some of the other guys on that list. Well, Harper has, of course, I mean, even Harper's numbers aren't that great, but when you take a look at like the other guys that are above him, Pete Alonzo, right? You got Matt Olson. You got Jake Croninworth. Like some of those guys have been having a good season.

And it's not to take anything away from them. But Christian Walker arguably has been having a better season. I mean, his slash line is 246, 320, 460 with a 780 OPS. He has 17 home runs, 51 RBI, and a 1.9 war from baseball reference. in comparison he he does have or he's tied for the most home runs with pitalons at 17 he has the highest war he has the second highest batting average behind j cronanworth which i don't think should even count as a first baseman but that's just because i don't like anything the pardres are doing yeah no he's the he's the second baseman now luisa rides really the guy should be on this

right like why is why does why do they get to do this over there i don't get it uh matt olson's still been having a great year, 41 RBI. But again, Christian Walker's second on our RBI to Coronaworth. And again, like Walker has had the best defensive season of all of these guys. So again, it does feel very much like Christian Walker should be there. What happens with the next phase? When it comes to backups, do they go with voting still? Or is that selected by Major League Baseball in some way?

I believe that that is a selection made by the. commissioner's office. So when there is a player that drops out due to injury, yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a commissioner's office selection. So we could see Christian Walker's select. Yeah, it's definitely not the fan vote.

That definitely would not be the fact that Walker finished six. I don't think is really a factor here at all. But yeah, what, you know, Major League Baseball making the decision is that work in Walker's, in Walker's favor or against him? I feel like it does. Yeah.

I think it'll base more on numbers versus versus feeling. I would think so, but yeah, I don't, I don't know exactly what their process is. You're right, though, that Christian Walker has struggled lately. I mean, I think that a couple of weeks ago, this would have been really obvious. Like Christian Walker was head and shoulders above all of these other guys. Now, I mean, Pete Alonzo has the higher OPS. Like, I think the case for Christian Walker right now does depend quite a bit on his defense.

And that's just not something we really see, taken into consideration as much as it probably should be. Well, I mean, that's the thing. That's the thing that takes him above the rest of the guys. It's not to say because he's still right here. He's, again, he's got just as many. You know, he's right there with Croninworth, 52 RBI for Croninworth, 51 for Walker. 263 batting average for Crono word, 246.

But again, he has 17 home runs to Croninworth's 12 and 1.9 war to his 1.5 war. So, like, the defense there is separating him there with the, war and again that's the thing that if everybody's fairly even it feels like could be the thing that maybe pushes him up but yeah people don't really really value the first baseman's defense that much so who knows i mean that ultimately at the end of the day major league baseball might just go with the guy that they think is going to get them more more eyes on their all-star game potentially yeah and the answer to that frankly is probably not christian walker i mean peter lonso is you know, he's participated in the home run derby in the past.

That's a big moment there. That is also, that is also true. There's also the fact that the Mets are playing better than the Diamondbacks. I mean, sometimes you see incredible baseball right now. Again, thanks to Grimmis. Again, yeah, absolutely. Grimis is really at the center of this entire, this entire conversation that we're having for good reason. But, yeah, I mean, the debat, the fact that the debacks are kind of slipping behind some of these other teams in the standings, you know, does that give a Pete Alonzo a leg up in this conversation?

could be, I'm not sure. Well, of course, we know that no matter what the reason is that Christian Walker doesn't get in, somebody's going to tell lies to us about it and tell us why someone else deserves it more. But we know Christian Walker deserves it the most. But of course, that's because, Jesse, the numbers don't lie. Christian Walker's numbers don't lie. And Jesse Friedman's numbers don't lie. Jesse, what do you have for tonight's game?

Tonight's number is 195. I'm remembering that correctly. there it is. $195 represents the number of pitches that Diamondbacks pitchers through in this game. That is a whole lot of pitches in nine innings of work against the A's, you know, averaging well over 20 pitches per inning there. The A's just worked really good at bats.

I mean, that's the other part of this. It wasn't just, you know, D-Backs pitchers making mistakes so that there was certainly a decent portion of that in this game. It was A's hitters just really hanging in there, you know, laying off tough pitches to extend out those slates sikoning and bats, you know, doing damage on some of the mistakes that Ryan Thompson made. And, of course, the mistakes that Brandon Hughes made as well. So this A's team is not a great offensive team. Derek, you know, Zach Gelloff came in with a

595 OPS, but he reached base four times in this game and had a really big triple in that eighth inning to put the A's to put the A's out in front. So, you know, you got to sort of tip your cap here to the A's offense and what they were able to do tonight. I refuse to tip my cap to the A's. I'm not going to. That franchise doesn't deserve to be the cap tip to it. But Chris Carey, Chris Carey is one of their play-by-play broadcasters, Derek. So can you at least tip your cap to the A's for him? Why do you have to, you know how much I love Chris Carey. Jesse, that's, you put me, you, I'm conflicted now. You put me in an awkward position. Well, I guess I have to retract that statement that I just put out there.

But that's only because I love Chris Carey so goddamn much. Anyway, we thank you guys, of course, for being here. We don't want to do any more shows after losses as much as you don't want to be here for shows after losses. But we appreciate you being here for a show after a loss. Of course, we will be back. We are taking a three-day weekend, but we are going to give you an audio-only podcast tomorrow. So make sure to check your audio feeds for that. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the

PHANX Sports YouTube channel, do so now. Drop us a like before you get out of here. Make sure you sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our shows go live. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting app. That way you get that audio only episode tomorrow with me and Jesse talking about Lord knows what definitely won't be about this loss. That's for sure. But make sure to do that. Leave us a review. We appreciate that. Drop us a like again on the YouTube before you go. Of course, we thank you guys so much. We're going to take a little three-day weekend because Jesse is going to be

traveling out to Los Angeles next week to cover the Dodgers. And then he's just going to stay in California and go to San Diego for the Padre. So we will be bringing you four post-game shows, I believe, next week, Tuesday, Wednesday, we're taking July 4th off. Well, Jesse isn't, but I am because I'm going to be drunk and lighting things on fire and blowing shit up. But then we'll be back with shows on Friday and Saturday and Saturday, all post game shows all week long.

So make sure to join us for all of that fun. In the meantime, you can follow us all on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a Ced. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, the people's producer, Damon, is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G there at the end. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark.

Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but of course all roads lead to at P-HNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for your super chat. be calm. See clearly, of course, once I see it's yours, I know I'm not allowed to read it out loud or else my wife will get very mad at me for that. But your second one says, oh, my God, is Gallon on the man Saturday? Cheeks? I'll say cheeks. That's just fun to say. Yes, Zach Gallon is on the mound Saturday. So make sure you get out to Chase Field for that. Not just Zach Gallen day,

but it's 999 Challenge Day for the boys from the Cardinals podcast. It's also Catele-Marte bat flip day, which might arguably be one of the best bobbleheads in the history of this franchise. So get out to Chase Field this weekend. Come say hi to us wherever the hell we'll be at, eating hot dogs and drinking beer, and have yourself a wonderful weekend. In the meantime, we hope you guys do that exact thing.

We will see you back here on Tuesday with a postgame show. And until then, enjoy your weekend. Have a wonderful time. Enjoy your life and your loved ones. And in the meantime, remember kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you name Grimmis as your Lord and Savior.