PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks set a franchise record in dominant Opening Day win over Rockies

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

The Arizona Diamondbacks picked up right where they left off in the postseason on Opening Day, crushing the Colorado Rockies by a score of 16-1. The Snakes scored a franchise record 14 runs in a single inning that might just be a statement to all of Major League Baseball. We break down this historic win, Zac Gallen's night, and Blaze Alexander's debut in our first postgame show of the year! in our first postgame show of the year!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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. Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/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.

Let's welcome in to a very first, the very first postgame edition of the PHNXDBACs podcast, 2024. My name is Derek Montia. Damon, don't you dare let that music go anywhere. I need that music in my life. I need the new theme song of my life. This is our win song, y'all. Let's go. Of course, I am occasionally known as the mayor of the PHNX and I am alone here tonight.

My best friend in the world, I guess. That's kind of sad to say that. but Jesse Friedman, aka my vice mayor, and you're at Thunderstick, still at Chasefield, getting us all sorts of valuable information from Tori Lovelos, post-game press conference, and from the clubhouse after tonight's huge win. But I am not alone.

Of course, tonight I got my guy, the one and only Damon Dogg, the people's producer, joining me just so that I don't have to sit here and talk to myself. Damon, put yourself up on screen immediately. I need the people to see your smiling face over there, pal. he's trying to get himself ready. All right.

Just get yourself up there. And you're you, you sir, you sir, I know are very excited about the things that we saw tonight. How can you not be excited? I don't know. I don't know how you can be excited. What a way to start this season. If there was any doubt in your head that the snakes were indeed alive, I think that this win tonight put it all to rest.

Of course, the Diamondbacks, I guess you could say make a statement here by crushing the Colorado Rockies by a score of 16 to 1. But of course, we welcome you into the PHNXD Back show presented by Factor Meal Kits. Head to Factor MealKids.com slash PHNXDBax 50 and use code PHNXTBX50 to get 50% off. And Desert Financial Credit Union, Arizona's number one credit union named by Forbes. The snakes are, in fact, alive, folks. What an opening day. I don't think any one of us could have asked for more out of today's game.

maybe this guy, he wanted a Zach Gallen perfect game, which of course he's asking for too much and he always does. But I will say this, that I have to give credit where credit is due. Our brand new theme song is, it was in fact brought to you by the people's producer when we were kicking around ideas. This song was his idea. And I think I think everybody loves the song. I think everybody loves the song, including Gabby Moreno loves the song. Do you have, do we have that? We're about to have it.

We're about to have it. Let's get Gabby up there. We'll have Gabby in here in a second. Gabby and the rest of the Arizona Diamondbacks, of course. They are riding high tonight after tonight's big win. A historic inning, in fact, in the third inning. But like I said, here's Gabby enjoying our new theme song. Can we get that up there?

We are back, folks. We are back. The offense absolutely exploded tonight for the Arizona Diamondbacks, as you saw, scoring what came to be a four. 14 run inning, which was a franchise record on 13 hits, which was also a franchise record. These Diamondbacks are incredible. I don't know what else to say about what we saw tonight. Of course, Lordus Guriel got things kicked off with a home run early.

It felt like right away there was a lot of energy in the ballpark, the just everything. The only thing I didn't like, the only thing I'm going to criticize is there was no pomp and circumstance for the unveiling of the Arizona Diamondbacks 2023 National League title. There is a, you know, a brand new 23 out there in the outfield. And I guess it just got put up at some point. I don't know when. Jesse didn't know one.

There was no curtain unveiling. There was nothing like that. And maybe that's something they didn't want to celebrate, I guess. I don't know. They are going to have a day later this year where they're going to give out there. their National League Championship rings and they're going to have commemorative rings for all the fans or not all the fans in attendance, but a number of fans in attendance. But Damon, am I wrong that I didn't get that even though it's just a number up there on the wall, like some sort of unveiling of that? Can you repeat it?

I'm sorry. Me and Kyle were having a conversation. We're not like multitasking when I'm sitting here drinking a beer and screaming about the Diamondbacks being back. Cheers, brother. Golden logger. Here we go. Yeah, Goldwater.

Pure baseball beer. Basically what I was saying was they did not do any kind of unveiling ceremony for the, for the National League title. Seems like a kind of a miss. But it also. But maybe they're trying to like send a message. Like this is this year we're going for it all. Like it's not about getting second place.

I mean. Doesn't that fire you up, Derek? Did they not show that tonight? They did show that tonight. They did show that tonight. They did show that tonight. They did definitely send a message to the rest of Major League Baseball. I don't know if it's a statement win against the Colorado Rockies because it's the Colorado Rockies, right?

But 16 runs in a game against any Major League Baseball team is incredibly impressive. In fact, they weren't the only ones that were hot tonight, the Coyotes, which some of you might be over there watching the Coyote Show right now. The Coyotes and the Diamondbacks combined tonight to score 24 times. Yo, talkies never been more back. Let's go. No, let's go. And of course, it's fun because both of these teams are doing it with the young guys. Of course, when you take a look at the box score, the Diamondbacks really just spread it all around tonight.

It was a pretty solid effort with multiple hits from Cotell Marte, Lordus Geryl Jr., Christian Walker, Gabby Moreno, Ehueheneos Suarez, who also had an incredible defensive play at third base that immediately, immediately, immediately made me excited for the fact that that man is going to be playing the hot corner most nights for this team. Of course, we also had Blaze Alexander get a two hit night. That's our guy. So that was great to see. Alec Thomas smoked the ball. He had a two hit night.

And Jerry P. two hit night. So the diamondbacks really, really spread around. The only guy tonight that did not get a hit was Jake McCarthy and Corbyn Carroll. And that's not terrible. Like that's not the worst thing in the world. How insane is that? It's crazy that Corby Carroll's the only one. Can I say something?

Shout out my boy Cameron. He had a bet that he was riding. And it was Diamondbacks Money Line and Corbyn to get one hit. That's a tough beat there. That is a tough beat. You hate to see that one. That's a tough beat.

That is a tough beat. Like 16 runs and the best player on the team. Yeah. He's over. Yeah. Jacob's right. Honestly, where is Jesse Jr.? I would,

if someone could. I think I need my snake out here. But Zach Garron tonight was exactly what he thought. We thought he would be. His line isn't, you know, isn't going to blow you away. But honestly, Jesse said something very poignant. And that was the fact that perhaps, oh, we got a swear jar coming in. And holy cow, we got all sorts of stuff.

Perhaps they should have just, hold on, hold on, hold on, I can't. There we go. All right. Now give it to me. All right. There we go. They might as well just pulled Zach Gallen. after the fourth inning. I mean, with the way that the Diamondbacks did what they did there in the

fourth, just absolutely exploding. Gallen didn't even need to come back out. And it wasn't that crazy of a suggestion. You know, Zach Gallen, of course, still had that short off season. We know that, you know, there's no reason to run them out there. The bullpen was able to lock things down and keep it essentially the same score. Gallen did give up one run. He gave up three hits total. Two walks, three strikeouts. It's not a great night in a strikeout. It's not a great night in a striking guys out, but he didn't really need to, right? I mean, once this game became what it became in the third inning, what you, you, you just, I think both teams just wanted to get it over with. The Diamondback scored 14 runs in the third inning. I think Susie from the DNVR show was

ready to just wrap it up and go home at that point. But yeah, the game kind of went fast after that. Again, some good defensive plays by Alec Thomas and Gino out there. But man, this was just an absolutely perfect win to start the season. If you were worried at all about if the Diamondbacks were going to, you know, come in here, taking the Colorado Rockies, you know, lightly, they did not. In fact, they whoop that ass. And it was a fun night to be out there at the ballpark watching baseball. It was a sellout, I think that they said 49,011 in attendance.

So just an incredible night all around. It was beautiful opening night ceremonies. Like you just couldn't ask for anything better. was perfect and the score is even more perfect. But again, Zach Allen, exactly what we needed tonight. And of course, we also have the fact that Damon over here might be a witch. I'm just saying. I don't, I don't typically like people are talking about it. People, that's the word on the street. People have just rumored that Damon might in fact be a witch before today's game. I gave a parlay that I thought was going to be a good parlay, didn't hit. Totally.

okay with it. I will 100% take my parlay losing for a 16-1 win any single night. And who was the one that questioned you? You questioned me taking the under on my parlay. And I mean, this is actually what you had to say. Let's just hear it from you

earlier on the base path. I think we're going to get that stolen base from Corbyn Carroll. That seems like a no doubter to me. The one that Dame and I don't agree with is the total runs. I went under nine. I went at eight and a half because I think Zach Gallon's very good. I think he's going to limit runs. Allen's throwing a perfect game and I think the dime backs are scoring 20 runs.

Okay. That's fair. That's way more realistic than what I was thinking. Way more realistic. But I went with Under on that one. You can do what you want over there. It turned out maybe it was way more realistic. How crazy is that?

Yeah. Yeah. Like those words that came out of my mouth, that's, people are talking about me knowing ball. Yeah. That's just a been a conversation. Yeah. I mean, when there was a, there was a moment, Damon, when the score was 16 to

want that I was like, this son of a bitch, it's going to actually be 20. They're going to score 20 runs. It's just incredible to me. Yeah, sadly, perfect game never on the table, really. But 20 runs, like, it felt like maybe 30 was realistic. I mean, they're not going to, they're not going to set the over under it at like 16 ever. You know what I mean? So it's like you were in the clear by quite a bit, by quite a bit.

But speaking of guys that were in the clear, Lourdes Gurriel, if there was any doubt that the Diamondback should have brought him back, I think, on opening night. He single-handedly put any of that doubt again to rest. Diamondbacks, of course, he is our Kingsnake tonight with the, with with his performance. Loris Gurriel goes three for five, one home run, five RBI, three runs scored. In fact, Lourdes Guriel's five RBII tonight are the most by an Arizona

Diamondback on opening day ever. Previous most was also against the Rockies on Mark 29th, 2018 by Jake Lamb. Jake Lamb missed that guy but not really not with not what are you talking about yeah no I mean what do you mean even say right that that was insane well I don't mean I miss him like on the team I just I don't miss him at all did you see Gino's hair tonight

yeah you miss Jake Lam did you see you see Gino way yeah the Gino's hair is gorgeous yeah it's don't even get me started this was just there's there's very few things to pick apart here I mean Kyle Freeland might have been our King Snake with the way that he performed for the Colorado Rockies tonight. We kind of joked earlier that this was going to be the most lopsided start or lopsided pitching matchup of opening day.

And it in fact, absolutely was the most lopsided pitching matchup on opening day with Diamondbacks having the biggest win by a score of 16 to 1. I won't lie earlier when I saw what the Dodgers were doing. I was a little worried, Damon. I was a little worried. Do you remember when I told you earlier that the diamondbacks had the best odds to score the most runs in baseball today. You did say that. I mean, Vegas knew. Yeah, Vegas knew. They just knew Kyle Freeland was trash, I guess. Well, I mean, this Diamondbacks lineup was very, very good.

Let's be honest. You got to give them credit. And, you know, coming into this game, you would not have thought that the Diamondbacks would have done what they did tonight with Corbyn Carroll, not getting a hit. But everybody else contributed. And of course, Corbyn still contributed. He walked twice. So it's not like he wasn't on the base path doing what he did. does. But of course, you know, this was just a night where this team came together and really put it to the Rockies. I think that there's something to be said about obviously the confidence that this team gained from last year's, you know, postseason run, right? There comes to be a point where you really do start believing because you are beating the teams you're not supposed to in

the highest stakes, you know, that you're not supposed to that you, you know, that you can beat anyone right now you come into this season you you're fresh off of adding all of the pieces that you added you have one last incredible piece added right before opening day in jordan montgomery which we're still not allowed to talk about in tory or or my case until it's official so that's still kind of weird because we just got to we have to throw him hypotheticals like let's just say you guys got jordan montgomery wink uh how would you feel about this starting rotation right and now you got feel pretty good. I think the team feels good. You're you come in already confident. You already come in believing, you know, in yourself and in your teammates. But man, tonight was just

one of those nights where this team kind of hit the Rockies to death. Like they just kept getting those hits. I mean, the Diamondbacks, they, uh, have 18 hits on the night. Those, uh, the 13 hits in, in the third inning again, like I said, was a franchise record. And they just, they just, just kept doing it. Like it just got to a point where I'm not going to say it was boring to watch it anymore, but it just, it felt like it was never going to end. It felt like the Diamondbacks were never going to register an out and that they were just going to keep putting runs up on the board in that, in that inning. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen any incarnation of this franchise do. I've never seen a night where I literally got bored watching

them score runs because of how many runs they were scoring, right? I almost felt like I was back to, you know, the four home run night against the Dodgers where in that moment it didn't feel like the Diamondbacks were going to stop hitting home runs. This night was a night where it didn't feel, it felt like they weren't going to stop hitting the ball. It just felt effortless for them. And I mean, what a great way to start the season, especially when, you know, you're coming off of a year where you advanced, you move the ball essentially so much as a franchise and you feel like you are in such a better position. You got a lot of great pieces added and, you know, you just come out on night one and start things off like this.

Like, you know, we asked Tori before the game if he felt like, you know, this is, you know, if opening day was more important than any other day, right? And he was honest. He would said, I'd like to feel like it's not because it's just one of 162 games we play. But it is. It sets a tone for the season. And this is a conversation Jesse and I had, but this is a statement game. It's a statement win. It's not that it's against a big opponent.

It's not like opening night. It was against the Dodgers and you put it to them like this. But to come out on your first night of the regular season and to essentially dismantle your opponent the way that they did against the Rockies, it sets the tone for the season. That's something I think Jesse said earlier that sometimes the season tends to go kind of in a way that mimics what opening day is like. If that's the case, hold on to your goddamn butts. because this is going to be one hell of a ride in 2024. Oh, Damon.

This team just has no holes, none. And we actually actually have some sound from Tori Lavolo on that third inning. Yeah. I said it three or four times. I've never seen anything like this. And it just kept going. It just kept happening. And like I said, it was just real good approaches to the baseball.

And nobody's trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. They were just trying to do what they do best and stay inside of the baseball and just use an all-field approach and backspin it. And yeah, many times. I said it probably four or five times in that inning. And I was just proud of the guys. They kept going.

They kept getting after it. Now, one thing we have said about this team at times is that like they almost do need to keep their foot on the pedal. And I see some of your comments because you guys are with me. Nicholas said honestly, though, Derek, I started to actually feel bad for the Rockies. They're like, yeah, These are human beings out there.

And like you don't really want necessarily to feel bad for an opponent. But when when the Diamondbacks just couldn't stop hitting the ball, there was a moment where you were like, yikes, you know. Of course, known baseball GM, Elise was laughing like a maniac in her living room after run number 10 scored. That's not, that's not surprising to me at all. But of course, tonight would be a very, very good night to get it on prize picks because you could have just done more than for. everything when it came to a lot of stats for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course, baseball season is here. And whether it's baseball season or basketball season with the tournament going on and the

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and of course if you're listening on what drop us a like drop me a like jesse's not here tonight these likes are all for me i'm taking credit for all of them these all they're summer for damon gabby gets no credit gabby's with it we're going to get gabby dancing to the theme song here again before the gabby's likes let's be real they are gabby's like yeah drop a like for gabby uh dancing uh like like the adorable man he is and of course for his wonderful production tonight let's not forget because i don't think i brought gabby up tonight gabriel morano also went uh two for five with three RBI, two runs scored, five runs scored total by that man, of course, or contributing at least to the total.

So just a great overall night for this team. I cannot get over all the things that they did, all the wonderful stuff they did. Of course, right now, let's take a look at the count, which is what we're calling our new box score recap every week on this show or every post game on this show. But of course, these numbers, they're kind of something tonight. Of course, we know that the Arizona Diamondbacks put up those 16 runs to the Colorado Rockies one run. 18 hits to the four hits. This is the impressive factor here, Damon.

The Diamondbacks went 12 for 15 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, the Rockies won for six. But 12 for 15, I don't know if I've ever seen the Diamondbacks do this. That was like what they were doing in the playoffs against the Dodgers. Like it's pretty incredible. I mean, it feels like that they're really feel like they're on a mission after watching. watching that game. I don't know if you feel the same way, but like, there's just no way in my mind that they're not thinking about we want to be the best. Like it's not about reaching the playoffs like it was last year. Like they, this team has a real mentality and Toro Lovolo is the type of manager that seems like he really has them going and the direction that they need to be going in. Yeah, I agree completely. Even with this offensive output, the Diamondbacks only had the one home run tonight from Lourdes. And the Diamondbacks actually struck out more than the Colorado Rockies. again, Zach Gallen only had the three strikeouts, but none of that matters.

None of that matters when you're putting up 16 runs and when you're going 12 for 15 with runners in scoring position. I think that Carlos is absolutely right. I think that's something that I heard from several people tonight. Like, save it for later? What are we doing here? Like, do we really need to do all of this in one? Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

Because, you know, like you said, Jerry P. talked in the Snakes Alive documentary, which they showed it. Chase Field tonight, and it was electric, by the way. They, you know, they, he talked about taking, you know, the, the, the attitude of the Dodgers personally, right? And I mean, there is a point where it felt like the Diamondbacks turned it on. And again, something they talked about in that documentary was the fact that they didn't care that they were being doubted anymore.

They just wanted to go out and prove people wrong. I think Tori Lavello is the right manager to. foster that mentality. Like when the players start feeling that way and as a group, they start coming together because they want to shut people up and prove people wrong. You know, that's that's the kind of motivation. I think that Tori can tap into. And I don't know if exploit is the right word,

but really utilized to get the team to see their full potential, right? Something that's stuck in my head, Damon, ever since Eduardo Rodriguez said it in his opening press conference was how when he used to pitch for the Boston Red Sox, they had to look over at the rivalry with the Yankees. And they had to think like, that's just some guy wearing a different. That's just some guy. Like it's just some guy, right? And I mean, it's not to say those guys that are just some guys aren't very good baseball

players, but you can also have the attitude that tonight you're not going to be a good baseball player against me. And that's something that was very evident tonight. the Colorado Rockies. The Diamondbacks, much like when Gabby said, you know, other teams are going to want to try to score, but he's not going to let them. Like the Diamondbacks, you know, they're just locked in, you know, and they are kind of ruthless right now. And it's the exact kind of mentality they need to have. I know I raised some questions like early on about the Snakes Alive thing. Like is it a little bit of loser talk? But I think throughout the, the series, like when I

was watching it, like they made pretty clear what their intentions were. And like it, like Jesse has been saying it really was remarkable but I think that these guys are like they are as locked in as you can possibly be. I've never been more confident in a Diamondbacks team like in my adult life at least that like they're

they're going to be a playoff team like never in my life. I mean it's it's hard to imagine that they're not going to be but it also feels like me of all people is telling you that that's a little bit much on night one pal but I get what you're saying

like it's hard to look at this team and look at what they've done recently oh oh i'm overreacting oh you're overreacting yeah you're the one overreacting but no i mean honestly yeah i get where you're saying like you you get that excited about this after one game and it's easy to because this team isn't a different team from last year this team isn't different from what they did during the postseason they did lose some pieces and some of those pieces were very vital to their success that's something that this documentary very much illustrates when it comes to like Evan Longoria and his role in getting the Diamondbacks to where they got and how important he was in some of those games, right? But you can't help but take a look at the upgrades that they have and already know

that this is a better team on paper than they were. Now we got a chance to see it all come together tonight. Defensively, offensively, offensively, this team was absolutely dialed in in every possible way. That's how that's how you can look at it. Now, you could also say it's against Colorado Rockies and they lost, I believe, 100 games last year. So I don't know how much stock you want to put in on them doing it for one game against the Rockies. But I will say that if the Diamondbacks go and sweep this series against the Rockies and do what they did tonight like for three more games, maybe not, maybe not even as badly as they

beat them tonight, but just do what they do what they did tonight for three more games. It's hard at that point to not start looking at this team like. an absolute monster that the rest of Major League Baseball is going to have to deal with. Well, we all is, is, I don't know, did someone, does Jesse dead? Did he die? Jesse was kidnapped. I can see, I'm terrified. I actually have something that we can talk about, Derek.

What's that? I can't believe we haven't gotten to this already. J. J.P. Why is this guy starting again? Oh, that's right, because he starts every goddamn rally that this. team has every single one of them all he does is get on base for the table setters oh but he hit it 85 miles per hour it was a soft line drive i i actually could not care less he's the nine hole he gets on base he's a good defender like do not touch my jerry p how dare you anybody that said that he should not be starting you should be ashamed of yourself i don't i don't think anybody said that they they shouldn't be starting but it does shame dude you're shaming you shame shame shame shame shame shame shame shame shame shame you shame shame shame you shame But no, I was going to say, I think when it comes to Jerry, it was just a matter of the rise of Blaze Alexander, which today was a big focal point.

Everybody was talking about Blaze. It was a wonderful day. You know, we got the video that the Diamondbacks put out of Tori telling Blaze the news, not to mention the fact that I got a wonderful chance to embrace him before his first major league professional game. I don't know why we hugged, but we just hugged. That's we're just we're just we're just dudes like that. But Blaise is he's an incredible person, man. And I mean, he's very excited to play this game. You can tell his enthusiasm is infectious.

And that was another thing that was brought up to Tori today that they kind of keep having this injection of life from these young players at times. And sometimes the guys, you know, don't have the same successes like a Corbyn Carroll. But it feels like every time a young player comes up, they find a way to contribute to the team. and they find a way to just be a bit of a spark, you know, at times for this team. But I mean, I don't know. I think that the main thing here is that Blaze Alexander had one of the best spring training, you know, I guess spring training periods that we've seen from a young man like this. And Tori talked today about how a big part of the reason why they decided to go with Blaze on the 40-man roster

and even for him to be on the opening day roster and in the starting lineup was because early on he was you know he was doing some things that tory didn't like and and you know tory coached him on it and he basically you know kind of corrected himself he he did what torr you know he saw tory saw on him you know that maturity to understand what tory was telling him i think he said like he pimped a double and like in spring training and yeah that does sound kind of a bit much right but of of course when you hit the ball as hard as Blaze Alexander does. Sometimes you just want to pimp everything. You know, it makes a lot of sense.

But the way that he could be coached, the way that he could understand what Tori was telling him, take it into consideration and immediately, like, you know, understand, you know, the philosophy there. Really impressed Tori. And I think that you mix that with the spring he had and the fact that he hit 400 essentially and was one of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball

in spring training. It was hard not to go with him. And again, the kid went out there and he had to give himself a great night. He went two for five in the DH with an RBI in his first major league baseball game. You know, he did have an embarrassing moment where he lost track of how many balls there was. And he threw his bat aside after three balls and tried to take his base. But he came back and smoked a ball after that and it made us all forget everything about that. So I think though going back to everything Damon was saying, Perdomo is.

Just different. Prudomo is this catalyst at time for this team. Prudomo is the one that gets things going. And in some cases, he's just the guy that kind of like will have that lengthy at bat or take that walk. Or I mean, in some cases, you know,

obviously it's not always done, you know, with the hits, but there's just something about Geraldo Perdomo always being in the mix for, you know, for the offense to get going. It's a lot of intangibles, isn't it?

I mean, like it's, it's not really. stuff that shows up in the box score all the time. But like when the, when Gabby calls a needs to talk to his pitcher, who's there every single time? The dude last year was 23 years old and he's, he's in every single one of those. He's more like attentive to that stuff than Nick Ahmed was, who was a 10 year veteran.

Like that's just the kind of stuff that he, he does on a regular basis. And I, I think that it goes unspoken for a lot of the time. Another great thing, by the way, I think that there's a comment here about Blaze handing out gum dbacks gum inventory to the kids um blaze is awesome he said at salt river my son asked him for gum and he said yeah we have lots of gum and then blazes just handing out dbacks gum inventory to the children uh because gum is for the kids that's that's what that's what the thought process is i know uh there was like Tommy henry was helping a dad get a ball for you know his son and stuff there's just a lot of stuff like that tonight you saw corbin carroll signing a million autographs

You saw these guys out there, really interacting with the fans and just being excited to play baseball, being excited to be around each other. And honestly, a little of that, a little of that excitement, I think, was being at Chase Field because Chase Field was electric tonight. Not only was the atmosphere electric, like we said, the players just, they can't think enough about or they can't express enough how excited they get about seeing a full house like they saw tonight. but there is something absolutely electric about the new light show and we have a little little clip of that and what exactly it looked like when the diamondbacks were doing the intros tonight man when i was looking back over this it kind of looked like the field at times with the light show looked like it was like uh like uh time lapse or something of the sort like this the sound system is so loud it is such a vibe in this place but like the lights man i can't tell you

how much I love the lights. If you go back and watch old episodes of this show, that was one of the things that I used to get the most mad about. Because LED lights didn't seem like that big of a thing to do, right? And like, and I knew, I knew seeing at other ballparks and stuff, that it would be electric in Chase Field, mostly because of the, you know, the airplane hanger nature of it, right? Like the fact that the Chase Field can kind of be so, I guess, dark and, you know, I just knew I knew those lights would go would pop off in there.

And man, it's a completely different environment. The franchise, the front office, they're so happy with just the way everything looks and the step that they took. They talked quite a bit about, you know, going around in the playoffs and playing at these opposing ballparks and seeing a lot of the stuff that the opposing team. teams had and wanting that for them. And that's how we felt. We were watching a lot of these teams do this stuff in the playoffs. And we wanted to, we wanted to know how it felt to have the light show. We wanted to know how it felt to have certain things. And I mean, the, the diamondbacks are really taking steps in the right direction to provide a more fun experience for fans. But I think also, like, do more for the players. You know, like, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

You think of the player amenities being the clubhouse and food that they have and stuff like that. The players love the light show just as much, if not more than even some of us. The players love the sound system and everything that they got going in there and the party atmosphere and everything, you know, just as much as we do. But the thing they love the most is seeing so many Diamondbacks fans in the stands. And that's something that, you know, again, I guess maybe because it's new, I guess maybe because it's something that. that we haven't had a chance to have a whole lot of, you know, it's something they still talk about.

But like, man, if we can fill that building up, I think Groundhog Mama said it in the chat. But like, we get to do this tomorrow. We get to go out there and do this tomorrow. We get to do this for 80 more games.

So we got to keep this vibe up because I really do feel like they provided a better atmosphere for us. I saw Patrick's comment. Patrick Lyons, you absolutely, I'm already giving you. Patrick, fucking lions, baby. Patrick motherfucking lions.

I can't wait. These Patty Plans me. For the yops again. For the fucking yops. He will return. Yeah, he will return. I'm already letting you have Jesse's bed or whatever. Wherever you need to stay, don't worry about.

I'll see you in October, you beautiful handsome man. I'll also allow you to sleep at Jesse's place. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, that's big of us, Derek. That's really big of us. Look, it's the sacrifices we make for this show and for Patty Plantains, but I'll be happy to do it.

I will be happy to do it. I think we also have. some video here from Zach Gowan in the clubhouse. Do we got that? Yeah, the offense is great. My joke at one point, I was like, I said, hey, I want to play. Like, I'm sitting at this high. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, that makes my job. Our job is pitchers a lot easier when they can go out there and give you, you know, that much support. I think next time I'd rather than just do it in like 10 minutes, like to score it in like 10 minutes, how I can go out there.

But yeah, you know, those guys, they came ready to play. And that's for sure. So hopefully we just got to keep doing it, you know, day after day. Have you ever seen that before? You guys bat around twice in the other than anything? No, I've never seen each guy get to a batting that I couldn't. Maybe Little League. I don't know.

Seriously, I don't say that as like a slight like that. I don't know if I've ever seen that happen. So, yeah, I mean, our guys just were getting pitches to hit. and even pitches that, you know, they still fouled them off and not just for two strikes, they put them in play. And, you know, they were making their guys work. So, yeah, from a pitcher standpoint, that's, that's all you can ask for. Oh, oh, Zach Gowan, you are delightful. I don't know what I like there much more. The fact that he basically said he's never seen this since Little League or the fact that he wanted to get out there with a bat in his hand and hit the ball too. He's like,

hey, everybody's getting hits off of Kyle Freeland. I might as well get out there and have a shot at it as well. I get that. I get that. I understand. I start thinking I could hit a ball to Zach until I get out there and actually try. But Gallin, it was light work for Galen tonight. Of course, he did like exactly what we wanted of Gallen. But, you know, of course, he probably didn't have much stress on him to be too good. Did he just call the Rockies a Little League team? He basically did just call the Rockies. That's pretty disrespectful. Yeah, it is. It's absolutely disrespectful. Tony in the chat with the super chat. I love you, Tony. He said, the mayor spoke the truth. The Korean pork belly nachos were incredible and made this night even more perfect for my dad and I. God bless you. God bless your dad. But most importantly, God bless those Korean pork belly nachos. Do you realize there were people strangers, not listeners to this show, not diehards,

not even people that were acquaintances that I've met once? No, just absolute strangers that I was just striking up conversations with in the crowd and telling them that they needed to go get the Korean. Korean pork belly nachos. I ate all of the stuff that they had to offer, and I'm still furious that I don't have two plates of Korean pork belly nachos in front of me right now. But anyway, Tori thought Gallen was also very good tonight. This is what Tori had to say about Zach Gallen and his performance.

He got up and through two times in the batting cages, and I went in there one time out a brief discussion with him, and then I had a brief discussion with him after the fourth inning. and that's tough. That's tough emotionally, the letdown, probably tough physically too. So he didn't let it affect him. You know, his stuff came out hot. He probably came out after that third inning or came out for the top of the fourth. And his stuff might have ticked down a little bit.

But when he needed two, he stood on it and he got after him. That's wild. That is wild that the third inning took so long that Zach had to, like, go throw BP. That's crazy. And like, again, that could be why you saw Zach only have the three strikeouts tonight. Could also be the run support that he had by that point. But for the most part, what a weird night, you know. And of course, Zach will take it.

You know, Zach will absolutely take it. But, you know, Tori makes a good point there. Like we, we joked. I joked earlier, you did kind of feel like you were getting bored there from watching the diamondbacks, you know, score runs and get hits for just a little while there in that third inning. And Zach Gallen, absolutely. got bored to the point where he got cold and needed to go warm back up. So that was an absolute crazy, crazy night for this team. But of course, I did talk earlier about Blaze Alexander and his

big night. Of course, Tori that go watch that video. If you want to tear up a little bit, go watch Blaze get told. I did tear up. Right. It's hard not to. How could you not be romantic about baseball there? That's what it's all about to the major leagues, right? But here's what Tori had to say about Blaze and his debut here in Major League. First of all, you can't understand the emotion that everybody was carrying around today. The fans were here, it was opening day, and then it had to be amplified for Blaze. His heartbeat was probably through the roof, and I thought he carried himself really, really well.

So everybody was pulling for Blaze. Everybody's spot on with him. They feel his energy. When he got that base hit, it was a great moment inside of our dugout. It was a great moment for him, great moment for his family. And, you know, the first one is one you'll never ever forget. That's the first of many. I know it for Blaze.

But I was just impressed with the way he handles it at Bats. And after he got the hit, I went over and gave him a hug, said, congrats. I said, how was that? How's it been? What are you thinking right now? I tried to dig in a little bit deeper than he was ready for. And he just gave me typical Blaze answers. He's like, that was awesome.

That was awesome. That's all I got out of it. I bet that's what you got out of him. I mean. I got to be honest. Derek, like out of, as far as any debut goes, this is kind of got to be, I know he said his heart's beating through his chest, but like, this has got to be one of the more comfortable circumstances. Right.

There's not a whole lot of pressure. Everyone's hitting the crap out of the baseball. Like, and then he just got, he's just got to go up there and do what he's done all spring. Exactly. And he did. And he did. And I think that there is something to be said about him kind of progressing into, you know, through that, that newness, through that debut, right?

I mean, I don't care how many baseball games you play, even against other major league baseball players, you still have the fact that you are making your debut and you go out there and sometimes your heart is beating through your chest, through your shirt. Sometimes you're just overthinking it entirely too much. But to be able to come out, have two hits in your debut like you did, and be able to just kind of put the debut part to rest and now be able to move on and progress with the season, knowing you're on the major league roster and knowing that Tori believed in you enough

to put you in the opening day starting lineup has to just do nothing but you know send his confidence through the moon right and I want to give a shout out to cogs no cogs I did not forget about your super chat cogs I love you for your super chat and I'm going to use the money to buy pork belly nachos Damon can we put cogs's super chat up there on the screen

please uh cogs says the rally monkey took a rest tonight we didn't need the rally monkey luckily and that's something we talked about actually we we in fact I think told somebody in the diehards that like you didn't believe you weren't believing enough in this team if you thought cogs needed to bring the rally monkey tonight but he says blaze alexander is the rookie of the year this is my year no our year I'm giving lordis my firstborn that's a that's enough every year is our year that's you cogs needs to calm down right now but every year is our year every year is our year yes that's true and every Monday we go to the mailbag

But Tori did get some advice from other National League managers about how to approach this season. And I think maybe he might have gotten some good advice. This is what Tori had to say about that. Yeah, I think we're on the right train. I've talked to a lot of managers, present managers, a lot of past managers, about what should I do? What can I expect as we step into spring training? A lot of them helped me understand what was important through the course of camp.

We got there. A lot of them followed up with you got to start fast and be ready on day one. I think we answered that question. You did. You absolutely did emphatically, in fact. So, of course, all of this great information we've been discussing. And I was brought to you by our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union. And for more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local

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Heela River. Is that okay? Can we do that now? Am I included yet? Fine. All right. There it is. And he has to go with someone.

And I mean, of course, you can go by yourself. I have to go with someone. You have to go with someone because nobody does it better. They offer an authentic and immersive experience. And Damon needs somebody to, you know, watch his slot. machine when he goes and uses the restroom. So they have an unprecedented level of entertainment and excitement that you won't find anywhere else. And like I said, they have their state of the art gaming floor with over 800 slot machines, 15 blackjack tables, live table games,

and Arizona's largest casino sportsbook. Head to Heela River Resorts and Casino and let them show you what the next level is all about. You do you at Heala River Resorts and Casinos. Visit play atheela.com for more details. And I am tired of being by myself. And I guess, you know, based on me probably excluding him from the boys trip to Heela River. Jesse Friedman is now joining us from Chase Field. And I know he has a lot to discuss in regards to this big wind tonight. Jesse, what the hell has gotten into these Arizona Diamondbacks? I actually don't have any comments about tonight's game.

I just want to talk about this trip that you and Damon are apparently taking without me now. That's not okay. That needs to stop. Exactly. Yeah, as you see, his loyalty is to no one but Herodon. How the table turns. Yeah. Yeah. My loyalty is to Geraldo Perdomo and making sure I make my trip over to Healer River Resort's

and Casino. He doesn't care who he goes with, Jesse. He just wants to go. And that's why he's selfish. But what a night for this team. What a way to kick off the 2024 season. And honestly, what a way to build on what they did in the playoffs last year and make them believe that they are the team that was worthy of getting to the World Series.

Tori said something along the lines of, I don't know if you guys have maybe played this as a clip already, but he said something along the lines of this being exactly what you hope for times 10 in terms of opening day. Like, I mean, how better, like, how could this game have gone better for the Arizona Diamondbacks? I mean, I guess Zach Allen could have thrown a no hitter or something. But, yeah, I mean, a 16 to one victory over the Rockies, all kinds of franchise records being broken in this game. I'm sure you guys have already talked about the 14. runs in the third inning. That's a franchise record for a single inning. They had 13 hits in that inning. That's also a franchise record. They sent 18 men to the

plate in that inning also a franchise record. That inning was unlike anything I've ever seen. And unlike anything that everyone we talked to today had ever seen, Alec Thomas said that he feels like he's always the kind of guy in those situations to get out multiple times, you know, to like make two of the outs in the same inning. So he was happy to avoid that fate. But we talked with, Gino Suarez. We talked with Zach Gallen, who I think you guys might have heard from already saying that he hasn't seen it other than maybe in Little League. Yeah, it was just something. Yeah, he made sure afterward to be like, I don't mean that as a slight. I'm not trying to offend anyone. But I mean,

the reality is that Kyle Freeland in that third inning, I mean, he just couldn't, he just couldn't get anybody out. And we actually talked with Zach Gallen after the game about how every pitcher's been in that spot before. Like, no matter how good you are, and granted Kyle Freeland, not necessarily a great starting pitcher at this stage in his career. But every pitcher, no matter how good you are, guys have days where they have an inning, maybe not where the opposing team bats around twice, but where the opposing team just gets hit after hit after hit.

And you're just kind of stuck as a pitcher. You might even be executing some pitches. Like, I don't think Kyle Freeland made 100% bad pitches in that inning. But it just speaks to the Diamondbacks and, you know, the game plan that they had going in. They clearly were as well prepared to have success against Kyle Freeland as you could possibly imagine. And they come away with with an enormous, an emphatic 16 to one win here on opening day. We also had Lordus Guriel, Jesse, with his five RBI tonight, the most by Dback on opening day. And I think that we're going to talk a lot throughout the season about the contracts, the Diamondback sign.

Gino had an incredible night as well as an incredible defensive play that made us swoon over the fact that he is our third baseman. We know Alec made an incredible defensive play out there, but we know a lot of the new additions to this team are kind of going to have the discussion about the contracts they were given and their worth and their contributions like Jock and Randall guys haven't played yet. Lourdes might get lost in the shuffle, but Lourdes now might, you know, I don't like he could end up being. the best pickup, even though he was just basically a player they re-signed. But considering how likely it seemed at one point that Lourdes was in fact going to leave as a free agent, it feels really good for him to be a Diamondback on opening night when he's setting a record for the most RBI and franchise history on opening night. Yeah, I mean, his first swing of 2024 was a home run, right? He took ball one and the next pitch was a middle and slider that he did not miss. And yeah, I mean,

there were times last year i know you look at the end of season numbers for lordis you're not necessarily blown away but there were times last year where lordis was basically the best hitter on this team or you know one of the top two hitters on this team uh you know you think back to all the success the diamondbacks had in the first few months of the season a lot of it was because of him having like a 900 ops uh you know through a decent chunk of the calendar uh you know i don't i don't know if we expect lortis to be a 900 ops guy for over the course of a full season but he can he can be a really really really good hitter for a few weeks at a time and last year we really saw that in may when he was a legitimate candidate for the national league player of the month but maybe

it comes a little earlier this year maybe maybe it's april where lordis just absolutely goes off and you know maybe carries the diamond backs offense for a time he had a really big day um i mean basically everyone had a really big day like every single diamond back starting position player had multiple hits except for corbin carroll i believe who did not have any uh so i guess we have to start the you know is corbin carroll washed conversations of course that feels that feels inevitable uh but yeah turn him off cut him off i don't want to hear any of that today just an incredibly well-rounded effort from the diamond backs offense and and that's something we talked about a lot over the off season is just how well-rounded of a lineup it is uh you know if heraldo perdomo is contributing like

he did today if alec thomas i really like what i saw from him today he got a double um hit a double off Kyle Freeland, who of course is a lefty, his swing adjustments. It's a subtle thing, but you can just see him not pulling off to the first base side nearly as much as we have in the past. I mean, that might be it right there, that, you know, that's the adjustment that he needed to make to really unlock his potential as a player. You know, it's only one game, but maybe this is the season where we really see Alec Thomas take that next step.

Now, the other big story today, obviously, was Blaze Alexander, not only making his major league debut in the starting line. but also getting multiple hits like you said everybody everybody except corby got multiple hits uh we have your clip here from blaze in the clubhouse afterwards on on his big night this is what blaze had to say oh he hasn't have it all right um but what what was the well we'll we'll get it here in a second but uh what was blaze's uh what was blaze feeling after his big big night he chest heart's still pumping out of his uh out of his chest i don't know if you guys have talked at all about the moment where he thought he had walked, but it was actually ball three.

I did a little bit. It was a little embarrassing. Yeah. It was definitely a low light of what was really a very successful major league debut for Blaze Alexander. But from what I can tell, from what we heard in the clubhouse and what Tori said, it sounds like that perfectly encapsulates Blaze as a player and even as a person in some ways. Multiple people, I think both Tori and Alec referred to that as a Blaze moment, like as if that's a thing. Like a Blaze moment is a thing.

I guess a moment where Blaze just like maybe has a brief mental laughs and like kind of makes a full of himself for a second. We are going to call anything I do on this show a Blaze moment like that, I think. I think that needs to be a thing that we do for sure. It's yeah. I mean, it's great. It's great branding material. Absolutely.

But yeah, it was funny hearing a few guys talk about that. There definitely seems to be a consensus that Blaze is just like kind of a quirky dude who occasionally like, you know, might forget how many balls or strikes there are. But, you know, it's certainly a lovable guy. Someone who clearly, clearly, you know, his teammates really seem to enjoy his company. Gino Suarez, as he was leaving the clubhouse today, it was like shouting at Blaze as we were talking with Blaze. So, yeah, Blaze really seems to be fitting right in in a really, really big first day for him.

How connected is that clubhouse right now, Jesse? How connected does 16 to 1 victory make them? Yeah, I mean, it's been a narrative with this team for a while, just the camaraderie inside the clubhouse. And it's always a hard thing to really get a great feel for as a member of the media who's only there at very select time for the day. But it really does seem genuine. Like I really don't have any questions whatsoever that that's a real thing.

A lot of these guys came up together. And they all really seem to do in. enjoy each other's company. That's something that here I can use my years of experience of covering this team to say like there is something that was always kind of hidden right about their camaraderie. You know, you would go into the clubhouse and for the most part it was like business. It was very much business because the media was there. And I understand that, right? I understand just the way just the way things blew up last year. Remember with the whole, you know, at a boy thing and all of that stuff like sometimes stuff that happens in the clubhouse that's

fairly innocent can become a bigger story just because the media is present and that kind of stuff right but i i think that the the i guess the way that this team is with each other is like it's it's a it's there when we're there right like we're there and they're joking around to each other they're they're laughing they're having a good time and they're don't really seem to care that we're there witnessing it in a way you know what i mean and like that's something that i feel like over the last 10 years of me covering this team wasn't something i've seen as often as i've seen over the last year you know and i mean today was a great example of that the team was loose they were having a good time there was just there there there's a lot of love

being shown between teammates when it comes to the diamondbacks obviously tory is a big you know is a big component to that. He is, his philosophy is, the whole 108 culture is about this team and how connected they are, you know, as a group,

you know, they are, they are Belgian draft horses, Jesse, and they pull the shit out of some weight tonight as a group. And it is exactly what Tori is talking about, about how much stronger they are when they know each other, and they're doing it together than when they're doing it by themselves

or when they don't have that same. connection. I mean, it is especially easy to have a good time with each other and enjoy each other's company when you're just beating the tar out of the opposing team. That definitely is a contributing factor. I do have to share one other moment from Tori's post game press conference that I found pretty hilarious. People might be familiar with Barry Bloom, who's a long time, long time reporter who lives here in the valley. What did Barry do now? Been a Hall of Fame voter for a long time. So Barry was just asking Tori questions about how unprecedented that third inning was and how amazed he was by it and how even despite all of his years of experience covering baseball, he hadn't really

seen anything like it. And Tori's response was absolutely amazing. Tori in response to that he said something along the lines of, wow, well, if we're impressing you, we must be doing shit right. I believe that's what I believe that's what Tori said. Jesse said a curse. I did. I was quoting someone, to be fair.

We're clipping that. Clip that, David, right now. Jesse did a bad word. I need that for my personal collection. All right. Well, of course, we do have the video Blaise Alexander talking about his night. And, you know, everything that went on with his debut in Major League Baseball. And next step that, you know, I know on that, what was it, three, one, whatever it was.

I thought it was ball four and kind of kind of embarrassed my stuff. a little bit, but made up for it with that the RBI hit up the middle. But I mean, yeah, I mean, I think it went pretty well, man. It's a lot of emotion and just happy we got the win, big win. Shoot. You never forget your first MLB game, obviously, but the way this one went, I mean, just how special was it? Yeah, I mean, super special. That third inning, we scored, what, 14 runs. I think that's some kind of record. Franchise record, yeah.

Yeah, 13 hits in that inning. And, you know, it's just, I mean, it's unbelievable. unbelievable group of guys and it was just cool having having their support the whole game you know each each pitch i would take or foul a ball off man i was looking at the dugout and they're they're right up there right on the front row and you know cheering me on and then you know that motivated me a lot so love these guys put a dollar in the jar jesse i don't care the chat says swear jar you have to put money in the jar now blaze man like tory tory dessert should be the one yeah no we'll make tory cover that i will bring this tomorrow night and put this in front of his podium.

But, and I'll say I don't like the way he's influencing you, my young ward. But, uh, no, man, Blaze obviously just looks like that kind of guy. Like when you describe what his teammates are saying about him and then you see him kind of give that explanation and kind of joke about embarrassing himself, but then making it up for it with the RBI, you know, up the middle. Like you're like, yes, yes, you did. And yes, this is like he just, he seems like a very enjoyable young man to be around. And I think that he is going to definitely.

contribute quite a bit to this team this year. Yeah, another thing that I thought was interesting from our conversation with Blaze was, I mean, so when he got his first career hit, it came after this sort of embarrassing moment where he thought he had walked. And then he had to, you know, do the walk of shame, essentially back to the batters box when he realized that he actually had not walked. And so he talked about bouncing back from that moment of embarrassment and kind of of salvaging some dignity for himself, which he absolutely did, right?

Coming up with his first major hit, the RBI, that set the franchise record for runs scored and inning that whole thing. And he compared it to a few days ago, and we saw Blaze Alexander hit a very, very long home run, also in this ballpark. And he talked about how a couple pitches before he hit it, he lost control of the bat. And he swung the bat and the bat went,

I don't know if it was into the seats or up against the backstop somewhere or something. But that's also not necessarily the greatest thing. when you're a hitter or when you lose control of the bad. It's not necessarily a great look. And he bounced back from that and he did absolutely monstrous home run. And, you know, he bounced back from this little moment of embarrassment and, you know, found a way to make history for the Diamondback. So all the way around, yeah, just a big day for Blaze.

And I think Diamondbacks fans, the more they get to know him will, we'll just, you know, really appreciate who he is as a person even that much more. So many fun stories coming out of tonight, Jesse. you know like not only is it it's opening day it was a historic win it's blaze alexander's debut you just had a lot of success you know with with the multiple hit night from so many guys it's just it's a fantastic night but we do have a brand new segment that is going to be brought to you by jesse friedman and that new segment is called numbers don't lie and on numbers don't lie we are going to be discussing a number a number every single week

or every single post game, I should say, not week, but every game, that's important from tonight's game. Tonight's number, as you can tell there, somewhere in there, is 14. 14, a very important number tonight because obviously the Arizona Diamondback scored a historic amount of runs, a franchise record, 14 runs there in that third inning. But like you said, Jesse, that wasn't the only historic thing they did. They did a lot of historic things tonight. I don't know what you're talking about, Derek.

I picked 14 because that's the number of out of zone fastballs that Rocky's hit or swung at today. God damn. That was a talking point. You're going to set me up like that, Friedman. No, I know. Yeah, no. 14 was exactly what you said. When I came up with the idea for this segment, I was like, oh, what if I picked like one number, you know, deep, deep within stat cast, like something I dug out.

I thought it was really interesting. I can explain to the people. But, yeah, when you set a franchise record, it makes my job pretty easy. We looked at each other. I was like, it's 14 and you're like, yeah, it's 14. It's 14. That's it. How can it not be 14?

Jesse, I'm shocked that the number wasn't 85.5, the exit velocity of Peraldo Perdomo's single that started off the 14 run inning. Damon's not happy with most people right now. I'm just telling you that right now. I just felt like that was really the most important thing that we needed to talk about tonight. Yeah, I mean, he didn't hit. You didn't hit the ball hard, Damon. And I continue to have serious doubts about her up now.

Yeah, that was 90.5. I mean, Jesse, it's just like, at what point did we just bench this guy? Yeah. Yeah, and he also hit a deep fly ball to the right field. And inevitably, it stopped short and only went to the warning trap and was caught by Jake Cave. So, you know, clearly Geraldo Prudomo also washed, washed alongside Corbyn. We can just put those guys in the wash category. Codds wants to talk about ex-Wobicon.

So can we get started on that? I mean, can we get a number on that, Jesse? I can't you a fairly nerdy stat here if you want something. Yeah, give it to me. Give it to me. I love when you talk to me. This one. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. This one actually, actually on the negative side for all the positive things happening. You know me, Derek. You know I can't have a full show. It's all positive. Bring us back down to reality, Friedman. Let's see at least something negative. So Zach Gallen, pretty decent in this game, like five innings one run.

I don't think you can really complain about that from a result standpoint, even with it being against the Colorado Rockies. But I will say that Zach Gallen allowed a lot of hard contact in this game. He was the beneficiary of some very good Diamondbacks defense. The average exit velocity against him today was 93.1 miles an hour, which is extremely high. Granted, it's just one game, but that is a very, very high number for a single game for opposing hitters to average, you know, well over 90 miles an hour exit velocity. The other number is that Rocky's hitters had an expected batting average of 328 against him. So the fact that Gallen only gave up three hits and five innings, you know, according to the batted ball data, he was pretty fortunate to do that, which really just continues

a trend. I mean, that was in many ways the story of, you know, some of Zach Gallen starts in the second half where he did get knocked around a decent amount, but he still came away with like a six inning, one run outing. You know, it feels like something like that happened a few times. So I thought he got away with some stuff today. He did have 15 whiffs. So from a swing and miss standpoint, there were some good signs there.

But he also, I think he only threw 33. I don't have in front of me. I think it was 33% of his pitches were in the strike zone, which that number doesn't have to be like 60%. But 33 is pretty low. You generally want that to be somewhere in the mid 40s maybe. So his command wasn't great today. He issued a couple of walks when the debacks were up by 15,

runs, which obviously wasn't a great look. So I don't, I don't think it was a terrible outing for Zach Allen or anything, but I don't think he was maybe as good as his final line showed today. J.A. in the chat says, there it is. Jesse's negative. I asked what it would be at the start of the show. And you delivered.

You don't let the people doubt sometimes, Jesse. I'm so thankful for that. Of course, now we get to watch more Diamondbacks baseball, right? We get three more games in the series against the Rockies. And hopefully they all go like this or at least something close to this right but um again i tried to i tried to do your thing earlier in temper expectations because it is the rockies and as much as you want to get excited that they beat the tar out of a baseball team they beat the tar out of a game a team that

lost a hundred games last year and i don't know how much how you know how how how excited you want to be but again it's it's like tory said you can't focus on anything past the opponent today right They need to focus on today's opponent. When asked who is toughest opponent is, it's his next one. It's today's. And the Diamondbacks took care of business today against the Rockies. And they still have to take care of business in this series. But man, you can't help but think the confidence level is through the roof right now with those guys after what they did tonight.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is as good of an opening day as you really could have hoped for. You know, it is just one game. it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. But talk about a tone setter for a season that people have really high expectations for. The debacks couldn't have delivered on that any better than they did. You know, through the first few innings of this game, I know you were here for the pregame ceremonies and whatnot.

There was a lot of electricity in this building. It kind of had a world series-esque feel to me in, you know, at least the pregame portion, the applause and the cheers for a lot of the Diamondbacks starting position players. I feel like those cheers were basically as loud as we heard them in the playoffs. This team has clearly endured themselves to the community and rightfully so. And the debacks came and they showed up. And everyone who came here, you know, hoping for a little bit more magic from that postseason run,

that's exactly what they got. Up until like the fourth inning when this game caught kind of boring because the Diamondbacks that were up by so much that there wasn't really much to cheer about the rest of the way. I just wanted it to be over. The fan just wanted it to be over. at that point. Like everybody was like, this is,

this game's a wrap, right? But I knew things, Jesse, we're going to be electric when we came out to the baseball field. And we saw Gabriel Moreno dancing to this song. Damon, you want to throw that video up there one more time? Oh,

you don't have it in there. All right. We'll get that up there. Shoot. I thought, I thought we were going to throw it back to Gabby. But of course, yeah,

like you said, the atmosphere was electric. Everything was fantastic. and here's Gabby now doing the thing to this song. I knew it was going to be a banner day once we saw that, Jesse. Of course, we'll be back out there tomorrow for some more baseball, right? Who we got on the mound for Colorado in game two, new Cal Quantrel? Yes, I believe it is Cal Quantrel against, of course, Merrill Kelly on the Diamondback side.

Speaking about guys on the mound, I believe Bob Nightingale tweeted. out a few hours ago that Jordan Montgomery will be introduced at a press conference tomorrow at some point. So we might have, we might have some more content coming. I don't know if that'll be in the morning or the afternoon or what it will be. But yeah, it should be. I mean, tomorrow is going to be a really big day. If, you know, people came out today or, you know, even if you didn't come out today, tomorrow should be a really great game to go to. You're going to get the ring ceremony before the game. You're going to get Evangoria throwing out. at the ceremonial first pitch, which I think will be a really special moment.

And who knows, maybe Jordan Montgomery will be hanging around the ballpark as well. I don't, maybe they'd show him on the screen or something once the move was made official. So that could be, that could be a pretty cool moment too. It was great to see like Paul Seewald and all the guys that are on the injured list still out there. Yeah, great, Gray Jameson. Great Jameson was introduced to. He's not going to play a single inning this year of baseball. ball and this man was out there running out to the line and you just got to love that you got

love that about these guys but of course do we have the rest of the probabilities for this series damon there's the rest of them again things look pretty good for the diamond backs and based on the information we heard today jesse it doesn't sound like we're going to be without erod for very long and it doesn't sound like we're going to be yeah without jorne montgomery for for too long like obviously we know he's got to ramp up and and probably make some starts there and in Reno probably so that he can get some live action under his belt. But this, with the way this offense was swinging the bat tonight and the way that this starting rotation is going to come together this season, I don't know how you can't be

romantic about Diamondbacks baseball. I think there's a decent chance that three weeks from now, the Diamondbacks will have the full starting rotation together, that Jordan Montgomery will be ready to go. Rardo Rodriguez, if he is able to throw off a mound in five to seven days, like Tori suggested today, if that does come to pass, then I don't think he's going to need to build up a ton because he was already built up to, I think, around five innings. So, you know, if he's able to get back and throwing. He was up to about 75. I think he was, yeah, I think he was in that range. So if he's able to get back that quickly, the buildup isn't going to be nearly as long. He's

not going to have to like go back to throwing one or two innings and then gradually go up from there. So yeah, I think three weeks from right now, I think it is very possible that Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez are ready to go. And the Diamondbacks at that point have a pretty, pretty darn good starting rotation. Jesse on the pregame show, you talked about how opening day and you even said it a little while ago, it's a tone setter when you have a game like this, but opening day can really kind of be like a small example of how the season is going to go. If that's the case for 2024, I can't wait to watch this movie play out. Yeah, it's true.

I mean, there was something about the Diamondbacks just commanding this baseball game from start to finish, right? I mean, Florida Scuriel Jr. hits that home run in the bottom of the first inning. It's quickly 2-0 diamondbacks. I know the Rockies came back, smacked a couple doubles. The next inning made it 2 to 1. Things were a little more interesting at that point. But then they did what they did in the third inning. And suddenly, you know, the debacks are up 16 to 1.

And yes, it's the Colorado Rockies. It's one game. All of those things are absolutely true. But you can't help but watch this game and at least wonder if this team's a little different this year, right? If this could be a team that isn't, you know, trying to clobes. out one run wins, two run wins, those kind of things like we saw a lot up last year. Like 16 to 1, I don't, I don't care who you're playing.

You know, that says at least something about who you, who you are as a baseball team. The debacks are still going to have to prove who they are, you know, for in the coming months. But today was, as we said earlier, today was as good of a start as you possibly could have imagined. Completely agree with you. And like you also said, tomorrow night is almost as good as opening day in a way, because you have the ring ceremony. of long ago thrown out the first pitch.

It's very much going to have the same atmosphere, I think, and I mean, might have just as many people tomorrow night after tonight's big win. So make sure to get out to the ballpark. Of course, a great way to get your tickets for that game and for any game is through game time. Game time is the place for last minute ticket deals, and it's the fastest growing ticketing app in the country for a reason.

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PHNX for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed and also a great place to fill up on your way to the games at Circle K because not only is there Circle K by you but you know there's one on the way to chase field Circle K will save you on some gas you can also Take those bottles of unopened water into the stadium and save yourself some money as well. But if you sign up right now for the Inner Circle Program for free by downloading the CircleK app today,

you can save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips. Save three cents off per gallon every day after that. You also get a wide variety of coupons in the app. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. And that's all we got for you. We will be back out at Chase Field, bright and early tomorrow, or kind of in the afternoon.

I don't know. Maybe I've been up since 5.30, so I'm actually impressed that I'm not asleep right now in this chair. But, of course, we cannot wait for more Diamondbacks baseball. So we will see all of you guys out there at the yard. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, the people's producer, Damon.

He's a Damon dog. That's D-A-W-G, and we are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Bark. There we go. well we're just we need to be in the same love after after 16 runs i can't get an emphatic bark bark bark i mean i mean for the love of god when can i get one i don't know i don't know damon you you were talking earlier about me no longer being invited on on on a certain trip and i thought we had something going he

doesn't forget we had something going and apparently we don't so i don't forget the things he says about heraldo perdom building it back up yeah there's a lot of animosity here and i never will who started it but we need to get past it you guys we need to really figure out uh how we can be connected once again because remember a connected team is a fucking dangerous team i don't feel very dangerous right now i don't i don't think you guys look very dangerous right now you're looking a little you're looking a little innocent in fact but i look i look very orange the lighting the lighting is not immaculate i'm looking i'm looking dark it's that new music it's that new music got that island that island on you dare I'm really feeling the Latin vibe.

I need a Pia Colada right after this immediately. But of course, we do thank you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. If you're a diehard already, we thank you for being a diehard. If you're not one, we would love it for you to try us out. We implore you to check it out. It pays for itself. You get a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com. Speaking of free t-shirts.

And speaking of free t-shirts, we got some pretty good new ones. Look at these brand new babies. We've got to defend the pool. which we are going to be doing all season long. Thanks to our guy Jake, he got us, he got us realizing that we really need to defend that pool. And then our Sunday Funday shirt, you can get either of these shirts

is your free shirt for the PhNX Locker.com. I love that Sunday fun day sure. I can't wait till arrives. I ordered one right away. So make sure you do the same. Of course, if you join us as a diehard, you can get one of those shirts or any shirt of your choosing for free

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but all roads do lead to at pHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for being Arizona Diamondbacks fans. And we thank you even more for being here tonight for our first postgame show of the year. We look forward to seeing you guys all back here tomorrow night for another postgame show. We hope you have a wonderful evening. We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you experience a blaze moment.