PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks Suffer CRUSHING Loss To Giants, Fail To Boost Playoff Chances

Starting point is 00:00:12 I hate that goddamn song anyway, so I don't care where we started at or if it's correct. Welcome in to another edition of the Arizona Diamondbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Occasionally, no, as your mayor of this joint. This man next to me is the people's producer. But no more. I'm not, I'm taking away the people's producer. It's just the people's champion, the one and only game in peril.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Well, I mean, you're here, buddy, next to me for the remainder of the regular season. no matter how bad things get. Don't say the P word. Yeah, no, I should. I did. I did it. I did it. I promised I wouldn't it.

Starting point is 00:00:53 I did it anyway. Anyway, welcome it. You guys. Thank you guys so much for joining us right here on the PHNXD bags podcast. Brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Of course, go check out the Bet365 app. Download the app right now. Use that code of PHNX365.

Starting point is 00:01:07 When you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. and you know what's not ordinary, Damon? And inside the park home run. That's not ordinary, but that happened tonight at Chase Field. Initial reactions to the Diamondbacks losing to the Giants here in this game, 6 to 3. Just what's in your heart right now, sir? I mean, I'm just like every Diamondbacks fan, I'm sure,

Starting point is 00:01:36 and that's worried that this team is, you know, not going to make the postseason at this point. I think we're one and a half are one and a half up now on the Braves. I believe after tonight, um, drop down to that third wild card spot, which to be fair, you know,

Starting point is 00:01:53 a lot of us have talked about potentially wanting to get that third wild card spot over that second wild card spot. But what comes along with that is obviously the downside of you're cutting it a little bit close to whether or not you're going to even make the playoffs or not. So yeah, uh, just worried, really. Yeah, worry is the exact response I was looking for.

Starting point is 00:02:16 And everyone should be worried with the way this team is playing and the way things are going. I don't care that the Diamondbacks still have, you know, the fact that the Mets and the Braves play each other. I don't care about that. Anything could happen right now. And at this point, the Diamondbacks could be the team on the outside looking in here very shortly if they continue to play like they did today. they lose six to three. Their record stands at 87 and 70. Right now, as far as the race for 91 wins,

Starting point is 00:02:46 if you want to consider 91 to be the goal, to be the way that the diamondbacks can secure their spot in the postseason, they now have to go four and one in their last five games with three of those games being against the San Diego Padres. Yeah, and I think the scarier part is, like, I know you mentioned it already, but obviously the Mets and the Braves are going to play each other. here. It doesn't matter if those teams like split games and the Diamondbacks just continue to

Starting point is 00:03:15 play awful baseball. That's right. If that happens, based on a chance to win. Yeah, for sure. Well, that's definitely a huge advantage for the Diamondbacks. Like it can't, you can't go into this, the final stretch of this season just being like, oh, it's fine. Well, because the Braves and Mets are going to, someone has to lose those games. Like, we got to figure out how we're going to play better baseball. And on top of that, like, more than just from a standpoint of making the playoffs, but also from a standpoint of doing well in the playoffs, because the way that this team is currently performing is not anywhere close to what you would want out of a team in terms of peeking at the right time in the season. No. No. And of course, the starters cannot go deep for this team.

Starting point is 00:04:02 That happened again tonight. Credit to the bullpen for only allowing one run. Credit to a all people Scott McGuff for going out there and once again being sexy Scott McGuff. This was a much sexier Scott McGuff than we've seen as of late. He went out there. He looked great. Maybe he was asked to do too much. Maybe that was another flaw in Torrey's game plan. I know one question a lot of people had was, where is Catelle Marte?

Starting point is 00:04:29 Right. No Cotel Marte. We know that Gabby Moreno is temporarily sideline, but it sounds like for the most part, we've avoided him suffering a major, you know, maybe re-aggravation of that injury that he already aggravated. But no Catele, and we do actually have video from pregame from Tori explaining why Cotel was out of the lineup today. Here's what Tori had to say about that. Marte has been going out there with just blood and guts and given everything that he possibly can. The left leg probably wasn't 100% when he came back. You guys, if you guys studied the swings in another,

Starting point is 00:05:07 you could recognize that he was protecting that space. It's getting much better. He feels very good and he's gaining confidence on that left leg. You know, the lower back is a chronic thing that he battles. So I've been in that red zone with Marte over the past couple of days. I felt there was some urgency to that last series. Every game is really, really important. But I just probably went a little bit too far with them and I needed to give him a day off today.

Starting point is 00:05:36 Now, I know that we react differently to that. Obviously, fans, people on the outside looking in, consider that to be kind of weird. I mean, Cotel Marte, at least, I mean, at least for Cotel, right? You know, it sounds like he was having some soreness with that ankle. And that's the reason why he did not start today. He did pinch hit in the eighth inning and he struck out. But like Lordus Gouriel Jr., for instance, having the day off and then pinch hitting late.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Again, another guy that missed time due to injury, and I'm not sure if Lourdes needs days off. However, when we say that, we only say that based on them playing in baseball games, right? So we consider them to be off and not playing to be like days off, when in fact they're actually doing a lot of work on those days, which is the reason why sometimes when it comes around like this, as ridiculous as it sounds,

Starting point is 00:06:34 they really do need a day off. However, that time has come and gone, Damon. That time for day, the time for days off are over. We have six games left in the regular season. And I understand you want to rest these guys for the postseason. But there might not be a postseason. There might not be a playoff for this team. So I don't know if resting guys now is going to make a lot of sense to a lot of people.

Starting point is 00:07:03 Yeah, I mean, I think every. Everyone's first reaction when they saw the lineup today, right, is where the hell is Cotel and no rhyme intended. And that's great rhyme. Put it on a shirt, I even put it on a shirt. That's just kind of what I do, but that's no big deal. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it was concerning, right? And then immediately everyone's mind goes to the ankle. Is he okay?

Starting point is 00:07:26 And then next thought is Garrett Stubbs belongs in a jail cell. But honestly, like, I, it sucks. I thought we were kind of past this. I thought they brought him back. No, like after the, you know, little I.L. stint, like, assuming that he was finally going to be healthy. And clearly, he's not according to Tori. So down this final stretch, yeah, it's pretty concerning that he's not fully healthy.

Starting point is 00:07:54 And we're going to need Cotel Marteat because he's our best player by a lot. And it's just like, it's, it's sad. the place we find ourselves in right now when we need to be like I mentioned earlier peaking at this moment right now it's like oh no, Catell's actually not 100% and he's hurt and Lordus can't play every game and it's like well and Gabby's out like this

Starting point is 00:08:21 we finally felt like we were getting back and then it just keeps like feels like we keep getting more and more things to set us back what what sucks is is that this feels a lot like the beginning of the season This feels back, like a lot of the things going wrong for this team feel, you know, right now at least blowing big leads, having guys injured, not being able to really mount a comeback when you were down by two runs or more. Like some of these things truly do feel like the early season struggles. And maybe that's the case.

Starting point is 00:08:55 Maybe the Diamondbacks really did just peak a little too early. And now they're coming back down to Earth at the worst possible time. I don't know the answer right now. What I do know is that the diamondbacks have some really timely injuries that popped up. And I do think that there is something to Gabrielle Moreno not being out there for this pitching staff. You know, you got Eduardo Rodriguez who absolutely shoved his last outing. This time he could not give the diamond back to another quality start. He really cruised through his first two innings, relied on his forcing fastball a lot.

Starting point is 00:09:32 but his defense behind him wasn't great. We could talk about Jake versus the wall, but Jake fought the wall and the wall won. You know, that's the way that that worked out for him. He misplayed a ball hit by Matt Chapman that resulted in an inside the park home run that may have been more embarrassing than blowing the 8 to nothing lead yesterday. I don't know which is more embarrassing. That one was pretty bad. No, no, no, it wasn't.

Starting point is 00:10:00 But it did, it was a shame. that it happened to Jake twice. Jake had two attempted snags at the wall, both on Matt Chapman balls, both that he kind of misplayed. Like, he made spectacular attempts, but he just didn't, like they almost didn't need to be as spectacular as he made him.

Starting point is 00:10:20 One resulted in an inside the park home run, and one resulted in an RBI triple. Not a great day for Jake in center feet. Like, I've made my thoughts on this known for a while, while, Derek. You watch a lot of baseball with me while we sit on these recliners here at PHNX HQ. And I just don't think Jake is that great of a fielder at all. I don't. Like he, he has the tools to be. He's incredibly athletic, probably the most athletic dude on the team. He's super fast. He just doesn't, I don't know, he doesn't communicate well.

Starting point is 00:10:53 He doesn't make like the most spectacular of plays like you might expect from a guy with his athleticism. I think him and Corbyn to an extent as well are both guys that I look at that I'm like, I feel like they should be giving you a little bit more defensively than they are. And yeah, I mean, it's just tonight, another example. I mean, at least that second one, based off what I saw, he should have caught that. His glove was just in the wrong spot. Like he, he timed the job properly.

Starting point is 00:11:22 He, you know, he read it well. He, his jump on the wall was good. and then he just, his glove was here and the ball was here. And it's just like, I don't, I don't know what to say about that. Yeah, I don't either. I mean, I've seen Jake make some outstanding plays out there. I disagree with some of the comments in the chat about him not being a good center fielder. He just wasn't a good center fielder tonight.

Starting point is 00:11:46 But we've seen Jake make some plays in center field that I have very little doubt someone else could play as well. Maybe this guy that I'm wearing his shirt right now, Alec Thomas, we know that. that he plays an incredible winterfield as well. Alec Thomas 100% makes that second play. There's no question about that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But Eduardo Rodriguez, man, tonight just relied a little bit too much on that foreseen. He got 13 whiffs total.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Got eight strikeouts, which isn't bad, but his, like I said, his defense behind him wasn't great. And he didn't give the Diamondbacks munch length. Four and two-thirds innings pitch, seven hits allowed, five earned runs, three walks 8K I guess does this answer the question for you about who the deback should turn to in a game three of a wild card series

Starting point is 00:12:35 should they make the postseason and should that situation arise I mean I think so right what would you say I didn't watch tonight and think to myself oh I'm really confident in Eduardo Rodriguez maybe maybe like you mentioned earlier it's a it's a Gabby thing

Starting point is 00:12:55 But that raises another point of how many times is this team not going to have Gabby in its lineup? Is this just going to be an issue every single year compounded on top of each other? Because we almost missed the playoffs last year because Gabby missed an extended period of time. And now this year, Gabby misses an extended period of time. And then he gets hurt again. It's like we can't, I know we can't catch a break, but also like at a certain point, like, I hate to be this guy, but like we can't, we can't keep. having him missing like this it it's a huge detriment to the team uh shan says herera framed

Starting point is 00:13:31 pretty well tonight i agree with that but obviously there's there's far more you know attributes i guess you could say uh that go into catching right and there's something about the way gabby calls a game uh and communication and uh just other things i mean i don't know i'm not putting all of this on gabby because erod once again uh i mean we've seen this out of erod it's It's very much like the outings that we see out of Jordan Montgomery, right? It's not super impressive. There's not a lot. You're not seeing a lot out of his V-Law and his fastball that make you think that this guy is,

Starting point is 00:14:07 you know, a dominant pitcher of any kind. It's average. He was locating well tonight. He located well, but of course, you make mistakes and then, you know, that the stuff isn't really good enough for you to overcome making those mistakes. And, again, he didn't make a lot of them. he did make enough to put this team in a hole. And obviously the Diamondbacks, you know, the bullpen did a decent job of, like I said,

Starting point is 00:14:34 of holding the lead. Scott McGuff, I'll say it. They looked great at times. He sat down five in a row. He had a one, two, three, sixth inning. I just think maybe Tori asked, once again, asked too much of him. He gave up two hits, a one earned run. Brandon Hughes, very good as well, one inning pitch, struck out one, walked one.

Starting point is 00:14:53 And then Blake Walston also. a big inning there in the ninth. He had a pretty impressive strikeout of Matt Chapman and the ninth inning that at least gave you some encouragement, you know, there. At least the bullpen was able to not let this lead get worse and gave the Diamondbacks an opportunity at a comeback. But that's, offense wasn't able to do that. And the offense wasn't able to do much tonight. You know, they once again did their disappearing act of being able to score in the first inning. You got back-to-back doubles by Perdomo and Jock Peterson that gave them that lead early on. They now have 122 first inning runs.

Starting point is 00:15:30 If you want some good news, that leads Major League Baseball. And they are the first team to boast a first inning average of 324 or higher since the 2000 Cardinals did it. And right now they are just one of 19, one of nine teams, Damon, since 1979, to have a first inning average of 320 or higher. All of those other teams went to the playoffs. What's wild is the Diamondbacks pitching might just be bad enough that it keeps them from the postseason. Dude, it's so, have you looked at like the MLB standings with like the runs for and the runs against?

Starting point is 00:16:09 It's a, it is stark. The, the runs against. I mean, like runs for obviously most runs in the National League, like that there's something to be said about that. It's awesome. Good for us. But when you look at the playoff teams and the teams that are good that have aspirations and the runs against, I mean, it's not even remotely close. Like the Diamondbacks have by far the most runs against them in the National League among competitive baseball teams. I like to see Kyle Cooper's head in the right place.

Starting point is 00:16:39 He says, this is all Zach Moss's fault. Honestly, I'm guessing Kyle lost his fantasy football game, I'm guessing. Words right out of my mouth. So Kyle and I were Kyle and Kevin and I are. we're watching the Monday night football games over here. And we were both playing against Zach Moss, and he scored a touch, a meaningless touchdown at the end of a game to finish with 20 points.

Starting point is 00:17:06 I just want to say that while he did have a meaningless touchdown, that did win me a game in a different league by one point exactly. This is true. So the highs and lows of the sport, we're on full display here at PHMXHG. Kevin won because of it and I lost because of it. It was pretty brutal. But yeah, Zach Moss, you're a scum bag.

Starting point is 00:17:23 Wow. All right. Freddie Fender says Derek shave and the debacks win. Like my whole face? We're bringing back playoffs stashes. Yeah, Freddie, this is the thing is we're trying to, we want to talk about peeking at the right time. Derek and I are trying to peek with our mustache game at the right time so that we can bring those powers to the table once the postseason starts. And we can't do that right now.

Starting point is 00:17:50 I mean, you could ask us to do that if you really think, if you're desperate enough where you think, no, no, we need the magic. Remember early? Remember earlier this goddamn year? We thought that was going to do it. And it absolutely destroyed this team. No, I'm not pissing off the baseball gods. I will not be shaving this into a playoff stash until it's the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:18:12 And if we don't make the playoffs, you don't get a stash. You get no stash. I'll just, I won't shave the beard at all. I'll just grow it out. and look like an unhomed person, I guess. I don't know. Here's my promise to you chat. I will still shave my and go playoff stash,

Starting point is 00:18:29 even if we somehow miss out. And I will then paint my body the color of whatever team the Dodgers are playing. And that is going to be, and that's my new team. I've been a fan of that team my entire life. I don't know what team it is, but I love them. Clip it,

Starting point is 00:18:47 clip it and hold it forever. Well, I know you're going to like this. one because the offense didn't play well tonight, but one guy did. And that's our guy, Jerry P. He was out there doing it alone. And he is our King Snake for tonight's game. Heraldo Pardomo was two for four with an RBI and a walk, got on base three times, tried his best, couldn't do it alone.

Starting point is 00:19:09 Yeah, I mean, that's, I always love a good Heraldo Pardomo Kingsnake game, Derek. Like, that's one of my favorite, you know that, you know me. You know that's one of my favorite things. I know. But. I almost gave it. I almost gave it to sexy Scott McGuff. That's where we're at.

Starting point is 00:19:25 That's where we're at. With five games to go in the season, I almost gave it to sexy Scott McGuff. Yeah, I just, usually I feel like, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like Perdomo Kingsnake games almost always come in Ws. Like, I don't think,

Starting point is 00:19:40 I don't really envision them happening in L's all that much. So it's a little, it's sad that we waste a Perdomo Kingsnake game on that. But to be fair, he's also partly Kingsnake, because who else are we supposed to give it to? Everyone else didn't perform to a level that would have earned anything close to that kind of honor.

Starting point is 00:20:00 Tanner says no one deserves Kingsnake, and I think Tanner might be on to something. I mean, really, I felt like in this one, no one deserved it. Herrera, I guess. Herrera was decent. Herrera was decent, right? And I mean, again, I can't,

Starting point is 00:20:12 I can't fault him considering, you know, the ups and downs and, I mean, the pressure, right? Who was going to play a catcher, if anything happened to Jose Herrera. He needed to be protected at all costs tonight. I don't know. I don't know what happens to this offense. Again, offense is impressive early on.

Starting point is 00:20:33 Then they did not get another hit, Damon, until the seventh inning. That's what they do, right? Christian Walker had an RBI double in the third inning that scored Corby Carroll. And then they did not get another hit until Jose Herrera's double in the seventh inning. That's amazing. You know, and again, they make pitchers like Birdsong tonight look like, you know, elite, best of the best, you know, pitchers in the league. I don't understand what happens to it, to the offense, you know, especially considering, like you said, this is the team that generates the most offense, right?

Starting point is 00:21:11 And I just, I know a lot of times it comes in bunches. I know a lot of times they have games where they just score a ton of runs and that's how their total has become what it has become. but like again against the Giants team that really doesn't have much left to play for I would think that we would see and I hate to be on the same page as Thunderbolt but more fire out of this team you know what I mean more fire out of you know just more fight to not lose this ball game there was just a lot of peculiar things going on we didn't really see Randall Gritchick make an appearance in this one I don't feel like they tried to do everything that they could have done to win this ball game Yeah, no Randall Gritchick. Instead, we get Josh Bell, which I thought was insane swinging out one of the worst pitches I've ever seen someone swing at. And then obviously, Tori decides to not go with his better bullpen guys, which is fine because they weren't the reason that we lost tonight.

Starting point is 00:22:06 That wasn't like a didn't turn out to be a super costly mistake. But yeah, it didn't feel like the Diamondbacks were pulling out all the stops to win this game. And I think that it goes to, it's going to, it's really going to come down to these next two. because like you mentioned, the Giants are not playing for anything right now. They're done. So obviously you would expect the Diamondbacks who are playing for everything to show a little bit more fight than a team like the Giants. And the Padres are going to be playing hard baseball in the final series of this season.

Starting point is 00:22:40 So these next two games are incredibly crucial, Derek. Like, you almost have to win them, I think, because the Padres are going to, the Padres are a playoff team that are honestly, maybe the scariest team in the National League and you're going to get their best game. He's here right now. Fernando, I hope we don't see you in the playoffs. In the wild card.

Starting point is 00:23:01 I hope we see the Brewers. No, I don't want you. We don't want that smoke. You just wait for the Mets and you can take on the power of Grimmis. I'd love to see what comes out on top there. But yeah, no, I don't, not interested. Who in the chat is currently debating Padres

Starting point is 00:23:20 versus Dodgers. Is that a debate for DeBax fans? I would rather the, I'm rooting for the Padres 1,000%. I've been a life-filling podres fans. I hope both teams lose. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:23:34 I'm sorry. I don't like the Padres, but like my hatred for the Dodgers is far beyond the reach of any hatred I have for any other team. It's not even close. I don't know. And I think Tanner

Starting point is 00:23:50 also makes another good point here. Tanner, you're full of them in the night. He says, will Padres have anything to play for, though? That could be true. The Padres could secure their position not only in the playoffs, but as the top wildcard seed, Dodgers win the NL West. They really don't have anything to play for. So maybe they sit some guys. Maybe they arrest some guys. That would be very helpful for the Arizona Diamondbacks at this point. Anything would be considering the way they play tonight against this Giants team. So we appreciate you guys so much for being here. the PHNXports YouTube channel. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet,

Starting point is 00:24:24 make sure to do so right now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. We do some emergency podcasts around here, and we might be doing some more this week. So make sure to sign up for those notifications. Of course, hit that like button. That's for my self-esteem,

Starting point is 00:24:40 for Damon self-esteem. Kevin can use it. Anybody that face Zach Moss tonight could use that self-esteem. So hit that like button. Of course, if you are listening on the audio podcast, side. Make sure you subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting app. Leave us a review. We appreciate that feedback. Of course, those five-star reviews mean the world to us. When we come back on the other side, we will talk here about more from this game, even though I don't want to. And of course,

Starting point is 00:25:06 we'll have Jesse joining us here shortly from Chase Field. But first, got to let you know, I am here in my home right now. I could use some new flooring. So I'm going to talk to the folks at Empire Today. You should also check out Empire today if you are thinking about upgrading your flooring, doing any upgrades to your home in general. Of course, now is a great time to do it before the holidays come around, right? They'll be here before we know it. Halloween stuff is already being taken down off the shelves, folks, and Christmas stuff is being put up. And that means holiday guests will be in your home soon enough. So you can get the flooring taken care of with Empire Today and their easy, quick, and convenient service. You get someone in your home that day and

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Starting point is 00:28:09 in scoring position to the Diamondbacks three for ten. Giants had six extra base hits. A lot of those were home runs. The Diamondbacks did not have those home runs and that made the difference in this game. Six extra base hits for the Giants to the Diamondbacks four extra base hits. And the expected batting average was 271 for the Giants to the Diamondbacks 2.59. And yeah, the Diamondbacks really just couldn't get anything going. It was actually kind of frustrating to hear them on the broadcast say that the ball is really flying out here tonight. And it was like, Not for the D-backs. It's not.

Starting point is 00:28:45 But yeah. Matt Chapman. I think, I mean, I've heard some people in our chat before say that we're a little bit too home run dependent as a team, the Diamondbacks. Like if they're not hitting home runs, they're not typically winning baseball games. They're not winning baseball games. True. But I think that that, to be fair, isn't that kind of true of a lot of baseball teams in current modern day baseball? It wasn't true of the Diamondbacks last year.

Starting point is 00:29:10 It wasn't what the DNA of this team. was last. No, no, no, but the Diamondbacks last year were an anomaly. They were, they played a completely different brand of in style of baseball than, then I think you conventionally see these days. That's what made people fall in love with that team. Don't get me wrong. But this team is a little bit more of, yeah, it's, it's over the fence or it's feast or famine. You know what I mean? So I, I think that that that style can, it can work in the playoffs if you're playing good baseball. But when you're not playing good baseball, you look really, really bad. And that's kind of what we see. all tonight. It's the pitching. When you look at the Diamondbacks relief pitching

Starting point is 00:29:46 ERA, it's one of the worst in baseball, starting pitching ERA, one of the worst in baseball. I mean, realistically, when you say the Diamondbacks need the home run to overcome, you know, or to win, they needed to overcome, you know, the amount of runs allowed by their pitching staff. We had some great outings recently, some very encouraging outings. And it was from guys we were hoping to see those outings from, including Erod, striking outings. out 11 in his last outing, Brandon Fott, striking out 12 in his last outing. But again, these have been the outliers. These have not been the norm for this team. The norm for this team has been that the starting pitching hasn't been very good and doesn't go very deep in games outside

Starting point is 00:30:28 of guys named Brian Nelson, it feels like. And of course, he's another guy that they have lost recently due to injuries. Injuries have had a huge impact on this team this year. And it's not just the injuries it's the layoffs you know what i mean it's the layoffs due to injury and how hard it is to return from those layoffs yeah no the the injuries have been a huge killer of this team this season and that's not to say that the dying backs are the only team that i've had injuries but it's been constant it hasn't it never has really felt like there was a time where they finally were getting back fully healthy until recently right and then it hasn't really come together all that all that well like the best baseball that they were playing was in that stretch of july where they were missing

Starting point is 00:31:15 tons of pieces and there were guys like josh bell and kevin newman that were stepping up left and right and then now when we when we're needing those kind of performances out of those guys in these crucial games down the stretch i mean josh bell pavin smith kevin newman they they haven't been getting it done recently and that's been they're not getting regular playing time like they used do. And I think that's, you're right. You know, you're totally right. That definitely plays an impact. But the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, we got 0 for seven from Pavan and, and Kevin Newman's night. And that's when they do get their spot starts, they have to be better than that. They have to. Well, and the problem, once again, the problem was that you had guys that

Starting point is 00:31:59 were playing regularly that were contributing like Josh Bell and Kevin Newman. And then when Catea and Christian Walker came back, they just weren't what they were when they were when they left due to, due to those injuries. And arguably, Josh Bell might have even been better at times offensively than Christian Walker even was for stretches this year. We know Christian Walker has had his struggles at the plate, as have so many guys on this team. It's just you kind of, over the stretch between July, August, and September, you had guys that would contribute consistently. You had, obviously Corbyn Carroll and Gino being such big contributors, you know, in July. That's when those guys came back online.

Starting point is 00:32:41 In August, you had a lot of contributions from those new additions to the team and guys that just stepped up and, you know, played due to injury or played due to opportunity or whatever the case may be. But I don't know. This right now, this feels like once again, they're playing in a way where they're nervous, that it feels like, you know, they're not. loose out there. It feels like they have their back up against the wall and they're not, I guess they're not responding well to that pressure right now. They didn't respond well last

Starting point is 00:33:13 year either. We know how the end of their season wrapped up. We know how they did not win their way into the playoffs last year. I feel like there are some people that think that that that's fine, that they do that again this year. And it is, right? It is if they make it into the playoffs. I just feel like right now the team you know we all kind of expected the braves to fade away with all of the injuries that they experienced and this team just hung in here this whole time and has just been an absolute problem for the diamondbacks on the Mets in regards to clinching that wildcard spot right but you know right now the diamondbacks have a chance to you know win these final two games against the giants and put that pressure back on on those teams trying to make their way in

Starting point is 00:33:59 that's what they got to do. They got to finish stronger against the Giants. No doubt. Like I mentioned earlier, those two, those two, these two final games against the Giants are so crucial based off of what the Padres

Starting point is 00:34:12 potentially could be playing for in the division somehow at the end of the year, which a lot of people in the chat reminded us of. But what's crazy to me looking at these standings right now is just the, we were, it's so much better of a record this season than last season. But for some reason, it doesn't necessarily, like, feel like it.

Starting point is 00:34:34 I think maybe because of our expectations, what would you say? No, it's just that it doesn't, record doesn't matter. It's a matter of making it into the postseason, right? Yeah. I think a lot of people would be satisfied with the Diamondbacks making in the postseason and not having the same run that they had last year. But making it into the postseason and consecutive seasons means a lot. I think it's interesting what it means for baseball as a whole.

Starting point is 00:35:02 I think when you look at MLB and the fact that you don't have any 100 win teams and that you have so many teams, you know, still in it this late with five, six games left to go, that shows how, you know, that shows the parody. It shows how close these teams all are in and how competitive Major League Baseball is right now, which is a great thing for the sport. it's just a shame that a team like the Diamondbacks that have played so well, you know, for the past three months are now kind of letting everything slip away. And honestly, I believe they still have a winning record so far in the month of September. So despite the fact that it feels like they've let this whole thing slip away, I mean, they're still there.

Starting point is 00:35:49 They're still up in the race and they still haven't fallen out of it yet. So I guess as much as tonight's game makes all of us want to panic, make all of us want to worry, they still have the spot, you know, and they're still tomorrow, there's still the final two games of the series. And then they get a day off before playing the Padres. I guess there's one thing positive to this week is that the remaining teams have to play six games straight. Whereas the Diamondbacks just have two more against the Giants, then they get a day off before taking on the Padres. but also they're not very good after days off. So there's that.

Starting point is 00:36:27 And they're all home games, right? And not hypothetically. Should. Hypothetically. But I don't know. People need to come out and support this team. That's why we need to support. A hundred percent people need to come out and support this team.

Starting point is 00:36:46 I plan on going to the Saturday game, which obviously like I work this job. I don't get the chance to go to a ton of Diamondbacks games, but I'm going to go out there and try to support them on Saturday. Damon doesn't really get to leave the building. That's kind of... I live here. He just has a cot over in Studio A. It's back behind the bookcase,

Starting point is 00:37:07 and that's where we let him sleep. Yeah. All I wanted to say is the vibes, the vibes of this, of the whole, like, Chase Field relocation thing coming at just, the absolute worst time possible in terms of we need these our fans to show up and show out and, you know, root the boys on and get them over this final stretch. But also, we might not be here.

Starting point is 00:37:36 Like, it's ridiculous, Derek. Like, the timing of that could not come out of worse time. And I can't believe that the Diamondbacks are like, I can't believe the manner in which they chose of going about this, to be honest with you. It honestly, frankly, makes me sick as a. fan of this team it was by design i and i and i don't believe for an minute that it wasn't and i don't i don't really know who went there first i don't know if it was the diamondbacks i don't know if it was maricopa county but it very much felt like the timing was by design because there's a lot of

Starting point is 00:38:11 eyes on this team right now and at any other time during the regular season there would not be that kind of you know i mean they could have waited until the playoffs to start pulling the stadium stuff if they really wanted to peek uh and and get the most eyes on on this dispute this squabble that they're having it just sucks and you're absolutely right in regards to how it feels as a fan to have this stuff coming up right now and and and again i mean it's it just it just kind of piles on, especially considering what we've witnessed over the last two days. You know, we had some pretty embarrassing things happen to this team in the last two days. And then you have the fact that, you know, this looming stadium argument kind of took center

Starting point is 00:38:56 stage there for a few days last week. It all, none of it feels great. None of it feels great. But of course, the Diamondbacks can make that all go away. And hopefully they're blocking out the noise. What they need to focus on is these next five games and winning as many of. them as humanly possible. Excuse me.

Starting point is 00:39:16 I don't think that affects the team itself. Like I'm not, I don't think that, you know, Christian Walker and Catal Marte are going up to the plate being like, oh, the Maricopa County and the Diamondbacks can't agree to a deal.

Starting point is 00:39:29 But I do think there's something to be said for the environment around the ballpark. Like, those are just not good vibes to be going into the postseason with when we need all of the good vibes. I want all the good vibes coming our way. Like not not thinking about the atrocities that could happen if this team was to leave. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:39:50 I think for me personally, I would like to believe that the Diamondbacks don't even hear anything about this. The players themselves, I mean, I just have a hard time feeling that or believing that 100% just because they have friends, they have family members, they have spouses. Like they come home and their spouse might bring this up to them. or they might get a text message from a friend of theirs or something like that. So sometimes stuff like this is kind of hard to avoid, especially when people might think that the players know what's going on more than what's being relayed to the public.

Starting point is 00:40:26 So they might be like, hey, are you guys moving or something like that? You know, and like, again, it's not really something that's on their radar. I don't think it's anything that bothers them. I just don't know how easy it is for them to completely avoid it and to not, not even pick it up on their radar. However, there are some guys that don't even know what their own batting averages. So, like, I can understand how some players work really hard or are really good at blocking everything out, including their own statistics and data because they feel like it's going to impact them negatively.

Starting point is 00:41:01 You know what I mean? Just stuff to think about when you're up there at the plate. But got some super chats. Thank you so much. Be calm. See clearly. Jesse isn't here to blush about these, so we'll throw them up. He says, the Mets play the Braves.

Starting point is 00:41:14 Interesting. Go D-Backs. Thank you for your super chat. Interesting. He says, we need vintage godly fat with the cheeks. Yes, we do. We need vintage, godly fat. Fought?

Starting point is 00:41:27 Fought, I think. Fought. I'm pretty sure it's fought. I was just saying it wrong. I don't mind the spelling error. I just don't know where I got fat from, but fought. I think it's because fat cheeks. Right.

Starting point is 00:41:39 Yeah, those two things go together. But yes, we need Brandon with the cheeks showing up tomorrow. He was very good in his last outing. And we definitely need that version of him again. I think, again, going back to the discussion about Eduardo Rodriguez. Obviously, the benefit to Erod was that he's a left-hander. So he offers you that different look from Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly. However, big game Brandon in the playoffs last year was amazing.

Starting point is 00:42:08 And I think if we see another good performance out of Brandon fought tomorrow's game against the Giants, I think that's going to solidify, you know, what the Diamondbacks would potentially do if they face that circumstance in the playoffs or maybe even what their postseason rotation is going to look like. I don't think that it's a discussion in the Diamondbacks Clubhouse anymore. I think they know who their three are and they're going to go with Erod as the four if they need a fourth guy. I think it's been decided. They watched Brandon Fought in the postseason last year. They know what he did for this team. They watched him just go out there and just absolutely shove against the brewers.

Starting point is 00:42:50 And I'll tell you who doesn't want to see Brandon Fott is the Milwaukee Brewers. If you're matched up with the brewers, I mean, they're shaking. Like, how could you not be? He owns them. Does he not? Like, I mean, I know he gave up some runs early in that Brewers. that he pitched last year, but then he really, really rounded out a nice outing. And then I wouldn't be feeling good about it if I was a Brewers fan after what I witnessed

Starting point is 00:43:16 on last week. Like, that's the last guy I want to face. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I mean, I don't know how the Diamondbacks are going to react to losing, you know, a game that they were up eight to nothing next time they see the Brewers if they get that chance in the postseason. But I'd like to see a little anger, a little fire out of them after that.

Starting point is 00:43:36 of course speaking of anger and fire i think i've seen jesse try to join the show twice now unsuccessfully i have no idea i have no idea what's going on with him but i'm very captivated to see if we get him on the third swing uh on at the dish here in a moment though uh so hopefully we'll have jesse joining us here shortly excuse me of course we thank you guys so much once again for being here if you are a die hard we thank you guys so much once again for being here if you are a diehard we thank you guys much for being diehards if you are not a diehard yet let me tempt you with a little preview of what me and damon are going to be bringing you during the postseason because if that should come around you'll get all of this stuff you'll get your diehard membership card you'll get a free

Starting point is 00:44:24 t-shirt or hat of your choosing from the locker you'll get access to all of our premium written content from jesse you get entrance to our discord lounge where we do so much fun stuff and of course discounts on all of our events but But speaking of that entrance to the Discord lounge, that also gets you premium diehard content. And that's going to include our upcoming series where David and I are unfiltered and unedited called D-BACs after dark.

Starting point is 00:44:51 So, of course, if you miss the cursing, it's just going to be 10 straight minutes of cursing, 10 to 15 straight minutes of cursing. So, I mean, Jack, you want 10 minutes of the dirtiest nastiest mouths you've ever heard in your entire life, then make sure you become a diehard because Derek and Damon are going to give you that

Starting point is 00:45:13 every pokey's in game. That's what we're giving us. Yeah, so, of course, if you can't be tantalized with that, then I don't know what else is going to get you guys in the door as a diehard. But of course, you do get some wonderful other benefits, but most importantly, you get debacks after dark.

Starting point is 00:45:32 So make sure to join us for that. Of course, we will have Jesse, joining us here from Chase Field shortly on the other side of our break. But first, let's talk about our friends from branded Bills. Of course, you can see that wonderful hat there behind, Damon hanging up on the wall, that beautiful, that beautiful ASU hat. That comes from our friends at branded Bills. If you want to elevate your, it's a beautiful hat, Damon.

Starting point is 00:45:56 I know. Derek, you know for a fact, I know it's nice because I've told you off air how much I really like that hat. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so I know it makes you say. to have to admit how much you like an ASU item. Yes, Kevin.

Starting point is 00:46:10 Not to interrupt you, Derek, sorry to cut off your read, but I wanted to hop in. The branded Bills U of A hat that I own, by far the most comfortable hat I've ever owned. And I'm not just trying that because it's a sponsor us. It's insane. You would not even believe it. The material is great.

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Starting point is 00:47:15 we got five home games left for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And a great way to go check out those games is by checking, getting your tickets from game time. Right now, not only, you know game time already saves you 60% off by buying tickets last minute for baseball games, but you also have to check out their new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting your tickets. for your favorite live events even easier.

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Starting point is 00:48:26 Download game time today. What time is it? Game time, Derek. So no joke, I had a buddy hit me up this week and say, Hey, Damon, what's the best place to buy tickets for sporting events? And I said, pal, do I have that for you? You asked the right person, my friend. You really did.

Starting point is 00:48:46 Why don't you go ahead and just toss promo code PH&X in there while you're at it? Get yourself free $20 off. Yeah. It's simple. It's easy. Of course, we got some more information coming from the one, the only, the thunderstick, Jesse Friedman from Chasefield. Jesse get in here.

Starting point is 00:49:08 Welcome in. This game sucked. We are not happy about what we saw. Defense wasn't great. Jake McCarthy fought the wall a lot and seemed to lose every single time. But I think the thing we're most concerned with here is it's another short outing for starting pitching that didn't go really great. And the offense once again disappeared after, you know, some early runs being scored. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it.

Starting point is 00:49:34 before, right? At a certain point, the Diamondbacks have to win games where they don't score eight or nine runs, right? That's something that this team has to figure out how to do. And it's not to say that their pitching hasn't had some good days recently, right? I mean, the Brandon fought game in Milwaukee, they won that game five to one. They had a shutout win recently as well. So there have been good pitching performances every now and then, but not the level of consistency that you really need from from a pitching staff that you know you hope can carry you deep into october potentially in in a week so yeah it's uh this was this was a rough one for the diamond backs it was a rough one for edwardo rodriguez the the offense certainly uh struggled it was an uncharacteristic day

Starting point is 00:50:17 for them but these days are going to happen and this is this is where you need a guy like Eduardo Rodriguez to really step up and pitch well. And unfortunately, he was not able to do that. Well, we do have more from Eduardo Rodriguez on his takeaways from this game. Here's what Eurad had to say after the game. I mean, they made mistakes. You know, I feel like the hummers was just more pitches that I missed me to the plate.

Starting point is 00:50:46 So something that I just, it's always happened. You know, when you miss the plate, you paid for it, no matter who you play. So that's what it happened today. so many strikeouts for the last couple of starts. So you feel like you're kind of like in midseason form by this point. I mean, like I say, when it matters, it was winning the game. So no matter like, I mean, I take just no strikeouts and go out there and give seven innings, you know, so that's what it's more important for right now.

Starting point is 00:51:09 So that strikeouts and no, I give a five runs and that's what we end up losing the game. So that's what it really matters for me right now. It felt like obviously things kind of, you know, really fell apart for him there. in the third inning after the first two innings went so well for him, Jesse. I mean, it did seem like he was locating well, felt like he was cruising like he did in his last outing. And then, I mean, especially once Jake misplayed that ball and the inside the park home run happened, it just looked like he was a different pitcher at that point. And I know obviously it's hard to keep your composure after something like that happens. But it did feel

Starting point is 00:51:53 like even though he got some strikeouts after that he still threw the ball well it just it felt like the whole demeanor of this team uh kind of dropped after that it was a kind of a demoralizing moment for sure uh you know that this is a ballpark where you do see the occasional inside the park home run center field is obviously uh you know not exactly set up for for the defense's success uh but yeah it wasn't you know i don't think you can really fault jake there like that's a really hard play to make you could maybe i haven't taken a close look at it you could maybe fault paven smith or corbin carroll for for not backing it up properly maybe there's a way to hold chapman to a triple at the very least if those guys are well positioned to field that ball afterward paven wound up having to go quite a long way

Starting point is 00:52:41 in order to run that ball down uh but yeah that that is sort of where it felt like the momentum of this game changed i i know the giants had already tied the game at that point uh but yeah and inside the park home run is not an easy thing to bounce back from. Apparently, at least that's what it felt like. But, yeah, I mean, I think with Eduardo Rodriguez, you know, you heard him talk there as takeaways from this game. Don't make mistakes, right? And that is, you know, certainly an understandable takeaway.

Starting point is 00:53:10 But at the same time, like, no pitcher is going to be perfect, right? You are going to miss your spots every now and then. And I think the concern with Erod at this point is that it feels like he has to be really perfect. in order for things to go his way. And he was excellent his last time out against the Rockies. He was not perfect, but pretty close to it, I think, at Cores Field. But this is, you know, the Giants, I think, have a better offense than the Rockies do.

Starting point is 00:53:39 The Rockies are specifically prone to, are specifically vulnerable to four-seem fastballs. And the giants are less so. And so we didn't see the same volume of whiffs on that four-seamer that we saw in Colorado. So, yeah, you just continue to, you know, hope for better things for Erod moving forward. But I thought he made some mistakes in this game, but you're going to make some mistakes for sure. And as of the way things have gone recently, those mistakes have, you know, often gone over the fence or been extra base hits or whatnot. It's made this, you know, these first couple months for him a really rough go. I think what you said when you joined us, though, or a little while ago was the big,

Starting point is 00:54:22 point is like we talk about how good this diamond backs offense is but we also damon and i just spoke a moment ago about how bad the pitching's been right so it just it does feel like the diamondbacks can't win a baseball game if they don't hit a home run which they didn't do tonight and it's starting to feel like they can't win a baseball game if they don't score six runs or more yeah yeah that's that is pretty accurate uh i don't know am i allowed to do numbers don't lie because that's a that's a pretty Oh, you know what? You are allowed on a night like this. You can do numbers, don't lie whenever.

Starting point is 00:54:59 Damon will lie to you and tell you you can't do it, but he's a liar and you know that. But of course, the numbers, they never lie. What do you got here for tonight's number that doesn't lie, Jesse? Yeah, tonight's number, maybe this is cheating. This is actually a date. It is 824. It is August 24th. That is the last day that the Diamondbacks won a game in which they scored fewer than five runs.

Starting point is 00:55:22 They beat Boston Red Sox that day, four to one. And granted, this is, this is maybe a little bit unfair because the Diamondbacks haven't scored fewer than five runs in many games. So the sample size here is kind of small. But still, it's been nearly a calendar month since the Diamondbacks have managed to win a game where they did not have five runs or more. And again, it's kind of what I was saying earlier. You need your pitching staff to dominate a little bit more consistent.

Starting point is 00:55:52 if not dominate, you know, you need to be able to kind of hang in these games where you only score three runs. It's going to happen every now and then even for what has been the best offense in baseball. And yeah, we obviously saw how that turned out today. Well, it's going to happen in the playoffs, Jesse. Like, that's what playoff baseball is. It's not going to be Diamondbacks versus Marlins up eight runs in the first inning. Like it's going to be dogfight games where it's a one run, two run baseball game, low scoring. Like that's how this works. Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't agree more.

Starting point is 00:56:28 I mean, the pitching staffs that you're going to be facing in the postseason, if the Diamondbacks are able to get there, are obviously going to be really good. And I could still see this offense having some days where they put up nine or 10 runs. But if you're going to make a deep run in October, you're not going to score nine or 10 runs every time. And you are going to need to just flat out out pitch the other team for, from time to time. And this was,

Starting point is 00:56:52 this was a big start for Eduardo Rodriguez. I think that's the other part of this. Like, yeah, I wasn't really thinking of him as a postseason starter for this team before his last outing in Colorado. Correct. And then he went out and looked so dominant.

Starting point is 00:57:04 And then it was like, all right, maybe this guy is actually your, you know, your game three starter or whatever. And then after today, it's like, all right,

Starting point is 00:57:11 well, you know, there's still the one really good outing against the Rockies. But are you, are you putting a guy in as your game three starter? Just kind of based on that outing, alone. I'm not sure if that's necessarily the case. We still have to see how Brandon fought pitches tomorrow. And I think, I don't think that that's,

Starting point is 00:57:28 I don't think they're in that place where they are still deciding on who's going to be that starter in a, in a number three, you know, or game three, but they might be. They might be. They might be. I don't know. I mean, I think they have Zach Gown and Merrill Kelly penciled in and I don't, or maybe penned in. I don't know if they have anyone else even penciled in beyond that at this point. You know what this is like, honestly, this is like Ryan Nelson and Jordan Montgomery staying in the starting rotation. But like I think all of the data, like your soul says Eduardo Rodriguez, just because he's a lefty and he's the big starting pitching edition that you made at the beginning of the season makes all the sense that he would be the third, you know, starter in a series like that. But

Starting point is 00:58:10 you don't know what you're going to get out of him. And Brandon Fott has really stepped up in postseason games. And we saw it last year. year and he had a great outing his last start so again i think that tomorrow is pretty crucial for this team i think it's crucial for brandon fought i think they need to go out there and they they just need to win then i know these last five games aren't you know every game isn't a must win but it feels like it right like they need to go four we're getting pretty close right four and one to get to 91 wins right and we determined that 91 kind of is the safe number that you can reach on your own that will control your destiny and allow you to know that you made it in on your

Starting point is 00:58:50 own without the help of another team having to lose. But it's it's kind of wild right now. Yeah. Barring Brandon Fott getting absolutely shelled tomorrow or even like an E. Rod like performance tonight, you don't think that he's penciled in as the third starter because I do. Yeah, I think I think that's probably fair. I think I think fought probably had just just based on how good he was his last time. I mean, maybe going into that, that start in Milwaukee, maybe he wasn't penciled in. But true, after being as dominant as he was in that game, it does kind of feel like, you know, I mean, I guess if he really, really had a bad day, then maybe you'd reconsider. But I think

Starting point is 00:59:30 that's fair. I think Fod is probably penciled into at least some spot in the postseason rotation. But again, as some people are saying in the chat, like, you got to get there first. And the diamond backs are still, they're still in good position. Like their playoff odds are still above 50%. I haven't seen exactly what FanGraphs has them at. But yeah, you said it, Derek. Like 91 wins gets you in for sure. You know, if you go three and two the rest of the way and you finish with 90 wins,

Starting point is 00:59:58 that still puts you in a pretty good spot. The Braves would have to go five and one or better in order to, in order to out the diamond backs if they were to finish three and two. But once you get into, at two in three territory or one and four territory, you know, it's, I think at two and three, it's maybe a 50, 50 shot on paper and anything less than that, certainly, you're not really expecting that to be good enough. So, yeah, whatever cushion was there, whatever happy feelings there were on Friday when we did that post game show. It was called happy days. It was called happy days.

Starting point is 01:00:34 It was called happy days. And it's crazy how quickly things can change, right? I mean, what, a little over 24 hours ago, you look like you're talking about a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. I mean, talk about a huge momentum boost, you know, all kinds of comfort in the wildcard race going into the last week. And you let that one slip away and you lose today. And suddenly it, it's not a coin flip, but their chances are not all that much better than that at this point. And Graf has that's 73.7% to make playoffs right now, Jesse. Okay. I think that's as low as it's been. in a long time. I've seen 76, 75, I think, in the last week or two.

Starting point is 01:01:16 I don't think I've, I don't think I've seen it quite that low. Yeah. Well, here's what Jake McCarthy had to say after the game on the mindset with these final five games to go. I don't think it's any different than it has been. You know, I think we go out. We don't take any days off. And I feel like we've been playing some good teams over the last, you know, a couple of months. So I think when you have that mentality every day, you don't have to turn it on for, you know, this time of year.

Starting point is 01:01:44 So I think that's something that plays to our advantage. But, you know, still, we want to win games this time of year. We always want to win games. And we're putting this one behind us and we're coming back tomorrow trying to win. And that's the only way they can approach it, right? Like, I think when you talk about that shift where we went from potentially sweeping the Brewers to now losing two in a row, right? we as fans feel that dramatic swing, but the players maybe not so much.

Starting point is 01:02:15 You know what I mean? Maybe because they're used to baseball and everything like that, they're not in that same panic mode that we are. However, maybe they are because maybe, you know, maybe the reason we saw them today play the way they did is because they can hear those footsteps behind them.

Starting point is 01:02:32 They know exactly what's going on and they know that their back is kind of up against the wall now at this point. I mean, it reminds me of last season when, again, the Diamondbacks kind of backed their way in. They built a bit of a nice cushion for themselves. And then they wound up losing four consecutive games to finish the season. And they got to the playoffs because the Cincinnati Reds were down like 13 to zero or something in the third inning on the second to last day of the season. And at that point, you're feeling pretty good about yourself. And that could happen again.

Starting point is 01:03:05 I mean, that is also possible, even if the Diamondbacks don't finish well. If they go stay, say two and three the rest of the way, it's still totally possible that they could make the postseason. It's not like they have to win the four games in order to get there. But yeah, you'd like to build a little bit of momentum. You'd like to not have to totally flip the switch in the way that the team did last year. Although granted, that worked out pretty well for them. So maybe that's the way to go.

Starting point is 01:03:33 Maybe that's the way to do it. I don't know. We do have an updated wild card race graphic, I believe. if we do, there's where we stand right now. Of course, the Braves, I believe are one and a half games back, but whatever. Yeah. I mean, none of these games back matter right now because really it just matters is the debacks sit there. Of course, one loss worse right now than the Mets.

Starting point is 01:03:58 We knew that they were already going to be in the third wild card spot if they tied with the Mets due to the Mets holding that tiebreaker. obviously the Braves also hold that tiebreaker. But I don't, you know, Damon and I touched on it, Jesse. I don't know if the Diamondbacks end up getting the final wildcard spot. I don't know if that's the worst place for them to be, despite the amount of anxiety that's going to cost us for the next, you know, five to six days. Yeah, I mean, I've said it all along, right?

Starting point is 01:04:30 I think the brewers are on paper. Of course, you could beat any team and any team could beat you. It's a three-game series, who the heck knows. But on paper, I think you want the Brewers in the first round. At least that's who I would want if I were them. So, yeah, and a similar thing happened last year, right? The Diamondbacks were actually in pretty good position to get the second wild card last year until they lost those four games and Marlins wound up finishing a game ahead of them.

Starting point is 01:04:57 Who knows what happens in 2023 if the D-back start out going to Philadelphia for a three-game series. I mean, they did lose the first two of the NLCS. Maybe that's how that series would have gone too, and the Diamondbacks would have been two games and out, and that's the end of it. So those, yeah, those kinds of little details can make a huge difference. But yeah, for right now, of course, you're focused on just trying to get in.

Starting point is 01:05:23 You're focused on trying to win every game. You're not trying to get too cute with, oh, we want to win enough to get this seed, but we don't want to win so much that we get that seed. That's certainly not the mind. set here with five games to go. That scamp, Patrick Lyons is in our chat and he says that middle screen has my interest peaked.

Starting point is 01:05:42 I wonder if he has thoughts on the Phillies clinching tonight. Damon, you want to yell about Garrett Stubbs? My thoughts mainly stem from, I'll see you there, Philly. I know you don't want to see us. I know you don't want to see us. That's a fact. So, yeah, Garrett Stubbs, be afraid, buddy. Be very afraid.

Starting point is 01:06:03 Well, Jesse, there were a lot of. the things about this game that kind of irked me as far as Tori's managing. I just didn't feel like there was enough of a sense of urgency. There was also the decision to pinch it, Josh Bell, for Jack Peterson there in the bottom of the seven thoughts on that decision. Yeah, you know, that was something that in the moment I was somewhat questioning, you know, in my head, you've got a lefty on the mound, so it certainly makes sense to make a move there. But you've got Josh Bell on the bench, you've got Catelle on the bench, you've got Lordus on the bench, Gabby Moreno is on the bench, although I wouldn't imagine you'd want to pinch him in that spot.

Starting point is 01:06:40 In my head, though, with both Gritchick and Gurriel as options to replace Pavin Smith later, it felt like a situation where you might want to use one of those guys. Both of them have considerably better numbers against lefties this season than Josh Bell does. However, Tori did say in his post-game presser that part of the decision there was that the Giants had a right-hander warming. And so I think Tori felt that if he had gone to a Gritchick or to a Gurriel in that spot, that Bob Melvin would have just countered and it would have been a right-on-right matchup. Obviously, Josh Bell is not really prone to that sort of thing, being a switch hitter

Starting point is 01:07:17 who has pretty even splits. So in retrospect, I don't think that was a huge deal. You know, there are little things here and there that maybe you could criticize. but the fact that Cotel Marte was not in the lineup was obviously a serious point of contention going into this one, to put it lightly. There was a full-on uproar on the Twitterverse, which surprised no one. Have you guys talked about? I know maybe the updates came in, came through earlier.

Starting point is 01:07:47 Have you guys discussed anything relating to what Cattel specifically said after the game? No, we have not discussed that. And I was going to get injury updates from you. But yeah, I mean, what, what it could tell? have to say after the game in regards to not playing tonight. Well, let's hear it from the man himself. Here is, here is Ketel speaking on whether he was okay with sitting out tonight. Yeah, I know going to hear that?

Starting point is 01:08:10 Yeah, I think the body asks for it. When the body does it, when the body is for a lot of days off, you know, I don't say to pay day live, but when I'm the body asked for it, you know, I'm not someone who asked for a lot of days off, but when I do ask for it is because, you know, I didn't you. So the implication there is that this off day for Cotel Marte was not Tori Lavello's idea. The implication is that Cotel asked for this day off, which yeah, I think it's

Starting point is 01:08:47 probably hard to argue with, right? I mean, Cotel has been, from what Tori said today, Cotel has basically been playing hurt ever since he came back. He sort of acknowledged openly that Cotel came back before the ankle was 100%. It did feel like a pretty quick return for a high ankle sprain. You know, if you do a Google search on how long it takes to come back from that, it's certainly longer than how long Kattel ultimately took. So the D-backs took an aggressive approach there. Kattel did say that there have been some effects of that. He said that he was a little bit concerned at first when he came off the IL about what it would be like playing with the ankle the way that it was. But yeah, from what Ketel said there, I am very much led to believe that this off day was his idea and that Tori just sort of went along with it.

Starting point is 01:09:37 He doubled down on it after the game. He said that this was an off day that needed to happen. He didn't have any second thoughts about it. And that answer makes an especially lot of sense if it was Ketel himself that actually asked for it in the first place. Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. And it's something we brought up earlier as to, you know, our frustration. the fans frustrations about watching this team go out there and have guys that are sitting on the bench that are arguably their starting players. And no knock to guys like Kevin Newman because this team was very good at one point with him as part of the starting lineup.

Starting point is 01:10:14 So I don't think he's necessarily the problem. It's just the constant shifting and not letting guys kind of get in a rhythm, get some regular playing time here, especially with only five games left in the regular season. but did you have any other injury updates what's going on with gabby is gabby okay or do i need to freak out more about gabby yeah gabby was available off the bench today obviously you saw tory pinch hit lortis for jose herrera uh they're late which of course would have meant that gabby would come in and catch if if the game had gotten to that point so yeah he was available it sounds like tory almost used him as a pinch hitter as well uh at some point in this game so uh it sounds like

Starting point is 01:10:54 he could very well be in the lineup tomorrow. Don't know that for sure, but that seems totally possible. Some of the other guys, Ryan Nelson, it sounds like could return this weekend. He's first eligible to come off the IL on Friday. But it's a little bit unclear at this point whether he would return as a starter or reliever. He is scheduled to throw a 25 pitch bullpen tomorrow, which of course is not a starter workload. But he hasn't been down all that long.

Starting point is 01:11:22 So Tori seemed to think that he could ramp it up. up higher than 25, certainly. But, you know, is that 45 pitches or is that 75 pitches, Tori didn't say today. And it sounds like they're only going to have him start if he's able to give them some semblance of a starter's workload. If they decide that 35 pitches is best, they're going to move them to the bullpen and use them as a weapon that way. So, yeah, we'll see what the future holds there. But it does sound pretty realistic that Ryan Nelson could be back this weekend at some point. they need something they need something i mean scott mcuff was pretty good today but they need to figure something out and they need a backup plan uh should things not work be calm see clearly

Starting point is 01:12:04 thank you for your super chat you've been killing it with the super chats today uh he says it's a legit fact that fought in big games shoves and he does and they need him to do so tomorrow uh that's probably one of one of the biggest regular season games of the year and I, you know, I know that might be a bit much because obviously the diamondbacks aren't in a must win situation yet, but they kind of are. They're kind of in a must win where they just need to need to close the season out and, you know, like I said, gets 91 wins. That's that's the goal at the point. And that that Padres Dodgers series is also pretty important, I think, for the devax just because if the Padres put up a fight there, I think they're three games. out of the division, I believe, going into that series.

Starting point is 01:12:54 So if they pull off a sweep, then the division is that they would be in first place and they would be very heavily motivated to try to win over the weekend. Whereas if the Dodgers go in there and take two out of three or especially if the Dodgers sweep that series, then suddenly, I mean, I guess if the Dodgers sweep and the Padres are maybe fighting for their lives a little bit just to get in the postseason. So there's a lot of different. Yeah, we just want the Dodgers to clinch, just the Dodgers to clinch, but then the Padres to also just clinch.

Starting point is 01:13:23 Yeah, I know this is all disgusting. Jesse did this. Jesse made us do this. I hate this. I hate this. All right, David. Sorry,

Starting point is 01:13:31 I almost threw up live on air. I'm really sorry about that. Look like you're sick there. We better wrap before David loses it. Jesse, got anything else from Chasefield? Yeah, I mean,

Starting point is 01:13:44 I think that's about it. You know, Logan Webb on the mound for the Giants tomorrow. That's not exactly. Not exactly what you want to hear. coming off a tough one like this. Logan Webb does have really good career numbers against the debacks. And I guess the one other thing I'll bring up is I did ask Tori if I did I did ask

Starting point is 01:14:05 Tori if if bouncing back from from Sunday's game could maybe have been a factor if just the effects of, I mean, having a team scored that many unanswered runs against you is is really something. I guess the debacks did score one run. They did make it nine to six. but they obviously lost the game anyway. So yeah, Tori seemed to think that maybe that was a factor, the guys, you know, kind of struggling to get over that and move on.

Starting point is 01:14:34 But that was sort of his message was it, you know, if that is an issue for us, that's something that these guys need to figure out. So we'll see if they're able to do that here over these next five games. Get your axe together, Diamondbacks. You don't have a lot of time left. This is, this is it. This is zero hour. Get it, get it going.

Starting point is 01:14:55 Well, we appreciate you guys for stopping by tonight. We thank you guys so much for venting with us. You can follow us all on Twitter. I am at K-B-U-R-I-T-E-S. Jesse is at Jesse N-F-E-M-F-M-E-M-G. Damon is at Damon-D-A-W-G. And our producer, our guy, K-T, is at Kev, Tom, T-H-O-M, writes, W-R-I-T-E-S.

Starting point is 01:15:17 I got it right that time, but only because I got to cheat-sheet here in front of me on Streamyard. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Bax. I appreciate if you follow us there. But of course, all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We'll be back tomorrow with another post-game show. So make sure to join us then. And in the meantime, behave yourselves, have a good evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have a sense of urgency.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks Suffer CRUSHING Loss To Giants, Fail To Boost Playoff Chances

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