PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks TIE FRANCHISE RECORD For Extra-Base Hits, Sweep Rangers In Two-Game Series

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

The hits just kept on coming for the Diamondbacks in their series finale win over the Texas Rangers. The D-backs tied a franchise record with 13 extra-base hits in the 14-4 victory and complete the sweep of the World Series rivals. We have more on Eugenio Suarez and Ketel Marte being unstoppable at the plate, Merrill Kelly leaving early due to cramping, and the bullpen once again being solid in a win. Join Derek, Kyle, and Jesse for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE!  An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Sanderson Ford: The Sanderson Ford Summer Sales Event is here and they are teaming up with the boys of summer for a final Playoff Payoff Sale. You get the payoffs like deals on 24 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend. Lease one today for as low as $299 a month for 36 Months with only 10 percent cash down. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks.  $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details. Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, ski to you all and welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast brought to you right here from Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. Welcome in. Diamondbacks whooped that trick. Diamondbacks win in the finale today over the Texas Rangers in a big way. Of course, my name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. We got our guy Kyle on the ones and twos behind the Mac. And of course, Jesse Friedman, my former vice mayor and current Thunderstick, will be joining us from Chase Field here shortly with more from the clubhouse. But, of course, this show is always brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Go download the Bet365 app and use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365.

And of course, as we always say around here, it's never ordinary when you watch an Arizona Diamondbacks game in 2024. The Diamondbacks win today and secure the sweep, winning over the Rangers by a score of 14 to 4. The Diamondbacks set a franchise record today with 13 extra base hits. The last time they had this many extra base hits was 12 against the Dodgers back in 2014, May 17, 2014. But man, what a huge game. Of course, we did have a little bit of a scare there with Merrill Kelly. Bullpen came out and absolutely shoved in his absence.

and of course, Jordan Montgomery might be the Diamondbacks' best weapon in the bullpen going down the stretch, and we'll talk about that more. I know that that sounds like an crazy thing to say. But let's talk about this offense because, of course, the Diamondbacks absolutely busted out the whoop and stick today. They hit five home runs for a total of nearly 2,000 feet, 1,984 feet for those of you keeping score at home. But they got things started off early with a three-run first inning once again. and that just seemed to help Merrill Kelly Cruz through his outing until it was cut

unexpectedly short by cramping. Of course, so far we've heard that Merrill was not tended to, that he didn't receive any treatment after the game. And for the most part, it sounds like this is just another cramping issue for Kelly that we have seen in the past. But the offense today, it was incredible. I mean, you got, of course, Corbyn tripling in the first

and being the fastest man alive, once again, and he scored Catelle Marte. And then Randall Gritchick comes out and he hits career home run number 200 in the inning. That one went 420 feet. And Gritchick, again, you talk about all the role players on this team. You talk about the pieces. Tori was asked after the game about the offense and about, you know, if he's surprised that this team is currently leading Major League Baseball in runs.

And honestly, like, this team did a fine job last year offensively, right? Like you can't take anything away from what they were able. to do last year. We just didn't see as many games like this as we've seen from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Another 10 plus run game for them. And of course a lot of it was powered

by the home runs in this one, right? Gino hit a solo home run in the second. That was his 27th of the season. You got Cotel Marte adding an RBI single in that same inning. Cotel Marte also hit a home run there in the bottom of the fourth, scoring Suarez and Pardomo. That one went

nearly 400 feet. Delceston. Castillo, he's back. He hit a three-run bomb in the fifth that scored Gino and Josh Bell. I mean, this team was just hitting home runs all over the place. And of course, like Elise said, so many times, they have to win every game, right? That's the way it works. They have to win every baseball game. So this team, though, just is amazing offensively. And I think when you look at a day like today, we really thought that the Texas Ranger starting pitcher was going to give them some problems. He's been very good this season. the Diamondbacks got got to him early. They did not allow him to get comfortable. And I mean, it was just an impressive. It was an impressive display offensively.

Defensively, this team still has some work to do because there was a lot of, there was a very messy inning there in the fifth inning. And there's not really much to dwell on negatively, but things really fell apart there for the Diamondbacks in the fifth inning with Merrill Kelly having to leave the game early due to cramps. But the offense was just incredible. Gritchick added that 13th. extra base hit there in the ninth inning that scored Giorme.

That was an RBI double. And this Diamondbacks team put up 14 runs today. That's just a very impressive feat. But Merrill Kelly, he did look great early on. He didn't give up a hit until, what was it, the solo home run to Marcus Simeon and the third inning. So he kind of cruised through the first two innings. It just looked like old Merrill himself.

Unfortunately, it was old Merrill himself because we had him leave due to cramps. And, I mean, I don't know. I got to throw it to you, Kyle, on this one. It's not to say that I am overly concerned, but, you know, Merrill seems to have this issue with cramping. He also had the issue with the blood clot and his shoulder and things like that. There's just some things that I feel like are concerning about an athlete who's being properly cared for, you know, as from the medical staff and as far as the preparation goes, having this many issues with, like, cramping and such. How much water is he drinking? Is he staying hydrated?

Right. You got to stay hydrated in this weather. You do. And I mean, it's a matter of like even, you know, we're going to talk about zbiotics here a little bit, but like you got to pre-plan, right? You got to drink your thing beforehand. And I don't know, like I don't feel like that's not the case, right? Like, I feel like you would, especially considering that this is an ongoing issue for you, it's not like just something that happened one time. It just, it feels like it's, it's unfortunate considering the climate that we play in and that Merrill Kelly, I mean, and he's not the only one. We've talked about Jordan Montgomery. We've talked about other people,

you know having an issue with the weather but it just it seems odd to have this kind of problem with an athlete that should be hydrated properly you know maybe he needs like a longer stretching routine you know than other players or do some yoga every day or something like right you're not wrong i don't know like yoga help tang hill he can help merrill kelly get stretched out exactly you're not wrong like maybe try something different just in regards to that i don't really know but uh he did leave the game in the fifth inning with cramps and slade came in in relief and I don't know what happened to Slade I really don't this guy was obviously we all know that he was known for shoving he you know when he came out and I mean the problem was more of length

with Slade and not necessarily the idea that he couldn't go out there and give you some valuable innings right what happened to the guy that used to throw a no hitter the first time through the lineup that we all came to know and love I don't know but he really struggled to get out of the fifth his line he gave up three hits and two-thirds innings pitched he gave up one earn run. He walked one. Kevin Ginkle had to come in and save the day there in that inning and get them out of it. Of course, Merrill Kelly, he went four innings pitch today. He gave up four hits, three earned runs, two walks, and three K. And of course, you know, you want to see Merrill being able to give you more length, but you also have to be pretty satisfied with the results today for

Merrill Kelly and just hope that, you know, this cramping issue can be something that's not going to prevent him here down the stretch of having to also leave games. It just leaves the bullpen in a bad position and it leaves the Diamondbacks, you know, in a situation where they could, you know, it could possibly put them in a bad spot for a series with limiting, you know, their bullpen arms. However, it is time to talk about Jordan Montgomery because Jordan Montgomery might honestly be the Diamondbacks best secret weapon down the stretch for games exactly like this. And of course, Jordan Montgomery still isn't lights out. He's still not, you know, the guy that we saw last year but Jordan Montgomery is becoming the innings eater. He goes out there in blowouts one way or

another and he gives the Diamondback some solid innings pitched and today he did that once again. And I mean, again, it's just a matter of in this one, Merrill Kelly left the game, you know, in the fifth inning after four innings pitch. There's a really good chance that, especially with the usage that Tori Lobolo used yesterday, using a lot of his best arms in yesterday's game, that this one was once again going to be one that was going to tax you. And, you know, you had Dylan Floro come out. He walked one, but he still looks solid in his one inning of work. But then Montgomery gives him three solid innings, two hits, one walk. And I mean, he just, he saves, you know, arms in the bullpen.

And right now with this stretch, especially after tomorrow's off day, it's going to be critical that the Diamondbacks do everything they can to save their arms. And it's also critical that they win every single game that they can down this stretch because the Mets were being no hit today until the ninth inning. and then they somehow blew out the Blue Jays. So like the competition here in this wildcard race is not getting any easier. It's not slowing down. And I mean, honestly, that's the reason why that Jordan Montgomery could be so valuable for this team.

Just considering you have that guy that can come out of there and give you four or five innings. And it's crazy to say that because obviously Montgomery has not, has not been a great addition to this team. And he struggled and everybody knows how he struggled. this season has gone for him. But, you know, there is something to be said about how everybody on this team has kind of accepted a role. When you look at guys like Randall Gritchick, you look at Jack Peterson, you look at Josh Bell. These guys are all going to kind of have a reduced role in some capacity as we go down the stretch because it's going to be lineup based and Tori's going to do a lot of swapping around and playing guys and maybe not everybody's going to get the playing time that they

necessarily deserve or want. It's just a lot of weapons and a lot of the ability to have different lineups and go out there and put out this potent, you know, offense on any given night. And again, it's, it's Jordan Montgomery has now become a role player for this team. But that role could be very important for the Diamondbacks, you know, as they come down the stretch here. So it's just a thorough win. And of course, a sweep. It's very good for this team. The Diamondbacks, of course. And unlike, I like calling him Mopopop-Monti, by the way, we might have to just call Mop-Up-Monte. They do improve to 82 and 64. D-Backs free parking says, is you want Monty in a three in a one run game for three innings?

No, nobody said that. Nobody wants that. It's not the matter of the high leverage innings or the close games. It's the fact that his ability to go out there and save you innings on the games where you don't have those one inning games when you don't have those high leverage situations is really good because then those arms that you do want in those high leverage situations are fresh and they're ready to go. And right now with the way that this, you know, yesterday and today win.

I mean, yes, Merrill and Zach both. went out there and gave you, you know, good outings. Obviously, Zach's was much better. It gave you an opportunity to win. But more importantly, these guys did not give you very much length. And that's something that even with the two off days on Monday and Thursday, it could still kind of exhaust your bullpen as you move forward into a very, very important stretch here. Again, they have seven games against the Brewers left. I believe they have three games against the Colorado Rockies. They have that three game set against the Padres. Another three game set against the Giants. So there's just a lot of teams in there that the Diamondbacks have a good chance of beating

and then some teams that are obviously in the playoffs themselves that are going to be tough here as they go down the stretch. But I'm good with this. I'm very happy with the way this series went. And of course, this is a Rangers team that really has nothing to play for at this point. But that's kind of what made it so critical to not lose these games, right? This is a team that doesn't have much to play for at this point. And that realization for them is probably fairly new.

Like they haven't had a great season, but it's gotten down to the point that here we are in September. You have your record is what it is. You're behind in the wildcard race and in your division. And you're kind of just, as Archie said the other day, maybe starting to plan those offseason plans. And I couldn't be more thrilled that the Rangers are doing that. But maybe the Brewers, maybe the Brewers will do the same thing. I don't know. Brewers probably don't want to run into us in the playoffs again.

And I don't know many teams that want to run into the Diamondback. right now with the way that this offense is playing. I mean, again, it just gives you the feeling that this team can win, can beat any team on any given night. And that's a very impressive thing, you know, for the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks now have 27 wins since July 29th, which are the most in Major League Baseball ahead of the Padres, Cubs, and Mets. These are the teams that all have the most wins since July 29th.

us, the Padres, the Cubs, and the Mets. It's absolutely insane for it to be working out the way it is. But it is, oh God, something terrible just happened on the Sun's show and things are blowing up. I don't know. But this is a fun team to watch. And again, a very dangerous team. There are some improvements, obviously, that can be made. The guys, you know, the lineup, I mean, the pitchers can obviously have some better performances.

And, I mean, if you add those two things together, if you get some better performance, is out of guys like Zach and Merrill. You get Ryan Nelson continuing the pitch like he did prior to this last start. And some contributions from Eduardo Rodriguez, you feel like you feel pretty good about winning those games down this stretch and the Diamondbacks getting into the playoffs. Their playoff odds have to have improved. They were right there on the precipice of 90%.

So I imagine after today's win that they have kind of pushed over that mark. But this is just a fun team to watch. And it's a fun time to be a fan of the Diamond. What are you thoughts? What are your thoughts overall? Are you impressed with the way that they've like had these blowout wins in like these huge like offensive days? Oh yeah.

I'm impressed. I mean, they, they know how to win in this time of year. And like you said, they're the team. You don't want to see when playoff time comes around. Right. You know,

the offense is on fire. We'll get into the numbers a little bit later. But you'll just see. I mean, they're, you know, they should be winning these games against the Rangers, you know,

pretty handedly. and they're doing that. And, you know, that's exactly what you should expect from this Diamondbacks team going into the postseason. They need to get hot at the right time and it looks like they are. And they just need to continue doing this throughout the rest of the month and into October. So it's crazy, though. Like, it feels insane that the Diamondbacks right now have 81 wins or 82 wins, excuse me, 82 wins, right? They are two wins away from their total win total from last year.

and they still have 17 games, 16 games left to play. It's crazy that it feels like you have to hit 90 at this point. Like it feels like what a difference from last year where the mark to get into the playoffs is probably up 10 games from where it was last season or close to that. And Nate Cleveland wants to know whose voice is at. That is the one and only Kyle on the ones and twos. So again, thank you Kyle for producing us today. And of course, thank all of you for being here right now on the PHN Exports YouTube channel.

Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so right now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our shows go live. And of course, hit that like button. We love when you hit that like button. Of course, once again, Mike, like many people around here, Kyle, confidence levels through the roof. Mine, not so much. So hitting that like button just helps my self-esteem.

But of course, also what would help my self-esteem is you guys subscribing on the audio podcasting side. If you have not done so already, make sure to do that. I met some wonderful people at Chase Field yesterday that told me that they listen on their way to work or they listen on audio only. And I think that is wonderful. I mean, of course, I have to look at my face all the time on this thing. So I totally understand you not wanting to do that. But I definitely appreciate you guys consuming this show in whatever manner you decide to do so. And of course, if you are listening on the audio podcasting side, subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting app.

And of course, leave us a review. We appreciate that feedback. It does mean the world to us. And like Kyle said, on the other side of some commercials here, we will be talking about the Diamondbacks numbers from this series and, of course, awarding our Kingsnake. But first, we got to talk about Empire Today because Empire Today is where you need to go to get flooring in your life. And of course, here's the thing. There's things that you want to do to your home, improve your home, that you don't really want to do, right? It's a lot of hassle.

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Diamondbacks outscore the Rangers in the series 20 to 4. You know I am a fan of that final score number right there. 420? Let's go. What time is? Oh, it's almost 420. We almost link this up perfectly. Just need some snacks is all I need.

But of course, the Rangers score 4. 20 for the Diamondbacks in this one. Diamondbacks out hit the Rangers 26 to 12. Runners in scoring position, Diamondbacks were 8 for 22 while the Rangers were just three for 11. And then there's some nasty ERAs there, of course. The Rangers starting pitching ERA 12.46. They gave up four runs in the first game of this series in five innings pitched and eight runs today in three and two thirds innings pitched by starters for the Rangers. Diamondbacks, ERA. I actually did the math on this and I got to pull the curtain back a little bit.

I felt pretty dumb. I'm not going to lie, because the math for figuring out ERA not to get too deep into this is you take the runs, earn runs, you times them by nine and then you divide it by innings pitch. And I actually multiplied the number three by nine and then divided it by nine. And I felt very stupid with that. But the Diamondbacks starting pitching ERA there, 3.00. Relief pitching ERA, astronomical, just one. One. They allowed one earn run today. One. One. One. earn run and nine innings pitched by this staff. And excellent, just an excellent job. 9.82 relief pitching URA for the Texas Rangers. So I don't know, man, this team, this, I hate saying this, but again, there's teams like this that you can't get too high about beating because you have other teams that are the true tests, the teams that are competing for a playoff spot, the teams that are going to be in the playoff spot or in the playoffs potentially facing off against the

diamond back. So, you know, you just, you want to do this against the teams that you can. And, of course, have some great showings here against, like, the Brewers and some of these other teams that they have left on their schedule. But, of course, one reason why they are in the position they are in. And one reason why these offense has been cooking like it has is our King Snake, Gino Suarez. Four for four today, two RBI, two home runs, one double. I mean, it could have been Katel Marte. It could have been a lot of different guys in this one.

one, but Gino is just Gino. And I mean, he, B said he could have, could have hit for the cycle. He could have, like, could he have stopped at third base? Like, I don't know, maybe. Like, that should be allowable. Like, I hit a home run, but I'm going to take three instead. But that's how close he was to hitting for the cycle today. And Gino just continues to be excellent for this team.

I mean, we've talked about his numbers over the last stretch. But it has been an incredible stretch for Gino. And I think that he continues to really, make a lot of people feel bad about wanting to DFA him so much, right? And of course, there's a lot of those people out there. But I don't know, man. The Diamondbacks, of course, they had Jock Peterson, Christian Walker, hit back-to-back home runs for the fourth time this season in game one of this series. And of course, the offense goes off today and does what it did. The big thing here is the Diamondbacks had, you know, the 13 extra base hits in this one. And that's what's so huge about

this particular game today is, is you, you know, you kind of need to get on a roll. You need to get hot like Kyle said and you get hot at the right time. There's, there's other teams that are hot too, but they have a very tough schedule ahead of them. It's just good to see Catell get a home run in this one. It's good to see Christian Walker have the day he had yesterday. It's just, it feels like this team is running on all cylinders again as far as the offense is concerned. And of course, that's going to impact the pitching because the pitching feels confident to go out there and do their thing and know that the offense is going to pick them up, you know, should they need to.

And the thing about it is, even in a 14 to 4 blowout like this, there was a point where the Texas Rangers brought the tying run to the dish, which seems crazy that that is even something that happened. But, I mean, the Diamondbacks don't really have games where everything goes perfectly. There's always a little bit of drama. But they really continued to just keep their foot on the pedal. and, you know, of course, dominate the Rangers offensively in this one. So this was an impressive way. Of course, we will have Jesse joining us here from the clubhouse shortly. But, of course, we do also have to thank, once again, all of you guys for showing up for

our last takeover of the year. I know I covered it last year. But those of you that aren't here, maybe some of you were still driving home or not there. Just wanted to thank you once again for showing up to our last takeover the year. We had a blast. Maybe we'll get an unofficial takeover or a little group together here once the MF and YOPs come around but I'll tell you this uh it was a lot of fun last night and I'm really I'm really thrilled with the community that we've been able to beat here so or you know put together here so we thank you

guys so much for joining us for all of that of course if you are a diehard you got a pretty good savings on on that takeover and you will get a pretty good savings on a lot of events with us of course so make sure to grab that die hard membership if you haven't done so already you get a free shirt or hat of your choosing from the pH and X locker which by the way right now. I don't even know if that is, I think our locker has even changed, right? We have a new locker that's our all-city locker. So for some reason, you're looking for a gift for a loved one that might root for another fan base that maybe we're not friends with, but we also have as part of our all-city network. Maybe you can get on there and get them something as well. There's a wonderful

variety of items to choose from, so make sure to check that out. And of course, you get all access to all of our content, you get access to our Discord lounge, which is the best place to be in Arizona sports fan. We are going to be a lot. We are going to to have some die hard only episodes with Archie here soon. So make sure that you sign up if you want to not miss out on all of that content, as well as those discounts that I was talking about here on some of these events that we have going on. And we are going to have a ton of events going forward. So, of course, we make sure join us right now. Of course, Jesse, like I said, will be joining us from Chase Field here momentarily. But we do have some more partners that we have to discuss here.

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I don't know. We'll find out here. I'm sure he did something to really aggravate me. He always has to look smarter than me in some way. But of course, the one place I can look smarter than him is over at Bet365 because I'll be making that money. And Jesse has to be a professional. But, of course, you can do the same thing over at Bet365. They do offer the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 sports.

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So regardless of the outcome, the Diamondbacks would have got you that money. And of course, Parlay and same game parlay as selections will be marked as winners as well. So download the Bet365 app. And once again, use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary over at Bet365. Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you were someone you know has a gambling problem wants help, call 100 next step. Text next step to 53342 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. all right well of course once again we thank you guys so much for being here today for being

uh fans of this diamondbacks team and i'm interested to hear from you guys like in regards to merrill cramping what is your concern level because i know like there's some confusion on our part but cramping is what it is right like it's just such a weird thing it's it's not a major injury so i think you're thankful when you find out that maryl just left the game due to cramping and I think you also are thankful that it's not like a long-term issue for Maryland anyway, but it feels a little bit like it is becoming that. And I mean, again, we do have one thing coming up, which is sub-100-degree temperatures right around the corner.

Yes, folks, I might not be a meteorologist, but I am here to tell you that based on the 10-day forecast I saw tomorrow, we have like one more 100-degree day on the schedule. Then that's some 90s. And then I swear to God, of course, we know the numbers are the ones that never lie. quite often. But I'm not lying when I say I saw some highs of 80s in the future. And of course, maybe that's where Merrill Kelly gets his superpowers from. I don't

know. But of course, like I said, we will have more from Jesse Friedman here in a little bit. I want to take a look. A piece of Yoshi says Paven cramped and then hit a walk off. That's very true. We also have Elise here

in the comments makes a great point. Elise says it's wild how no other visiting players have had this issue only our starters. I don't know. Maybe they pitch here more than someone else. Maybe it's because they live here. I don't really know.

I would think you would be acclimated to the weather being here. I would think that there would be an advantage, right? I mean, we saw, if I'm not mistaken, right? Cody, or I can't believe I said Cody. Coach Dillingham just told us the other day about how he wanted it to be hot when the Arizona Sun Devils played so that they had that advantage from being here. in the valley and practicing in the heat and already being acclimated to it and they wanted that advantage and I feel like it would be an advantage but I don't know Marcus in the chat says you'd think

they'd fix the AC there and yeah we were talking about this at our takeover quite a bit yesterday you would think with these problems with these complaints that they would fix the AC and look there was a part of me that didn't really believe that you could really cool a building of that size until I went to Texas and hung out at Globe Life Field. Now, that might be a gigantic, ugly building out in Arlington that nobody really wants to go to and is not nearly as pretty as the ballpark that they used to play in. It looks like a damn tin shed. But I will say that they know how to cool that building. And it was very nice, very pleasant inside. And obviously, it's not Arizona. It's Texas. But swampy, it's gross. It was hot. It was very hot. I was very miserable. And like, that's the

thing is, is that the AC unit there seemed to work just fine. Now, that's a brand new building. I mean, the Diamondbacks, one thing we have to realize is Chase Field's 25 years old, right? So, you know, unfortunately, things age very fast here in 25 years. I just think once again, it seems crazy to me that we're talking about issues that should be fixed, considering that this is an entertainment venue and is meant to be attended by people in the summer to watch concerts, to watch sporting events, to do all of this stuff in, and they don't really seem to care to make it a more pleasant experience when it's obvious that a lot of people have their complaints

with how hot it is in that building. I think we had a comment up a little bit from Bourbon and baseball right there. They said, you're indoors is the AC. I can't say that word, but you guys can read it, like Minutemate Park. And like, yeah, I mean, I think once again, when you have 40,000 people or whatever Minutemate Park holds inside of a building, that's closed up with air conditioning on. It's going to be hard when it's hot outside in the middle of summer in general.

But we do know that there's a weird situation with Chase Field, and it's got a cooling station or substation of some kind, and apparently it also cools other buildings. I mean, just in general, the situation doesn't sound great, considering that you should probably have a dedicated source of air conditioning going to just that building and not having it be shared in any way, shape, or form. But what do I know? I'm merely just a man with a stuffed snake on my neck here.

talking to you about how damn hot it is in front of these lights as I sit in a building in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm hot right now, and it's a pleasant 73.3 degrees in this room that I'm in right now. So it's just hot, and hopefully things will start going down. But D-Backs free parking said, who is in charge of Chasefield AC? Honestly, I was under the impression Maricopa County was. I was under the impression that the landlords of the building were. I feel like there's been a lot of discussions about what is and isn't the Diamondbacks responsibility. And obviously we know that there's the problem with the roof, the safety issue, that they're going to fix this off season that should allow the roof to once again be open and closed while people are in the building next season. So we

should see that. But I don't really know the reason why we're doing this. And I don't, like, it's just crazy to me. But I really do think that it's something that the Diamondbacks really need to address more than possibly adding the light show that they added or fixing the sound system. And Elise is right. The county needs to fix it, period. That's how I view this. And that's the reason why this entire situation with the Diamondbacks in Maricopa County and Chase Field has become so contentious. Because at the end of the day, it feels like you are talking to, you know, a slum lord in a way.

And I just, this is just Derek Montia's opinion on this. But, you know, it does really feel like, you know, if you lived out an apartment, imagine going to your landlord and being like the air conditioning's not working great and they're like yeah your air conditioning is shared with 12 other units and you're like yeah that doesn't seem great and they're like it is what it is like no it's not is what it is you need to do something about it so of course I think the thing here is that Merrill Kelly cramping the day once again kind of goes to confirm that as much as it did sound like you know Jordan Montgomery was making excuses these aren't excuses these are players that want to play and just like us that we want to sit in a

pleasant environment to watch baseball games. They would like if they play in an indoor stadium in the desert to have it be a little pleasant and have them be able to go out there and not, you know, uh, sweat, sweat their butts off. But I don't know. I mean, this is one of those things that seems to continue to go on. And I hope that something can be done so that we don't have to worry about Merrill Kelly. I feel like obviously they've been, they, they've been very good about immediately going out there,

pulling him from the game, not giving him an opportunity to potentially injure himself or reduce some sort of more damage due to, you know, trying to play through the cramping or trying to, you know, stretch it out and continue. It just feels like, you know, again, with this stretch they have coming up, with the necessity to win these games, with the fact that they need their bullpen arms as fresh as possible, this really could be a problem because Diamondbacks do have a lot of home games left. And, you know, that's where they're at right now. They have a lot of, a lot of games to play at Chase Field.

Hopefully, though, like I said, that issue will be a little, alleviated a bit by the cooler temperatures that are supposed to start here shortly. There was also an update. I know Jesse Friedman tweeted it out, but we speculated about it. We just talked about it on Monday. We had a chance to ask Tori about it yesterday. And we did get confirmation today. It sounds like Brandon fought.

We'll skip a start to give him that rest. Most likely will be the fact that they have the off day tomorrow. And then they'll just proceed as normal starting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. and then giving, you know, obviously give Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly a few extra games, a few extra opportunities to go out there and help this team win down the stretch. Of course, like I said, none of the other teams seem to be losing. So this is probably if you're a Diamondbacks fan making you a little sick as it makes me. But remember, the playoff odds for this team are very good.

And those other teams that the Diamondbacks still have to face, they have an uphill battle. They have a tough schedule that they still have to play. And in some of those cases, those games are played against each other. other. So just right there, you know, one of the teams has to lose some games when the Mets and Braves play each other and it'll probably be the Braves losing all of them. But of course, the one man to ask about all of this is our guy, Jesse Friedman. He is now joining us from Chase Field, my Thunderstick, previously known as a vice mayor. But of course, he is here. And Jesse, the offense, whoop the Rangers today, setting that franchise record, 13 extra

base hits, 14 to 4 score. Just an amazing, amazing day for this team. Yeah, I, well, first of all, Derek. Why are they announcing Jake McCarthy coming out to the play? What is happening behind you? Is there another game? Is this a double header? I was just going to say I have no idea what you just said because inexplicably the Diamondbacks PA announcer is announcing players like an hour after the game ends. I'm not sure.

There are some people still still on the field right now. So I don't know exactly what's happening. to be honest, but yeah, apparently there's something going on. I'm imagining you asked me about the offense, something along those lines. Oh, yeah, 13 extra base hits today, 14 runs, Diamondbacks busted open the Rangers. Yeah, they really did. I mean, the 13 extra base hits, tie franchise records set back in 2014. This team rakes, Derek.

This team absolutely rakes. The Diamondbacks have a team OPS now of, I believe it's 770, Yep, 778. That is the highest OPS in all of baseball. Next highest there is the Yankees and the Dodgers. They're tied at 767. And as I said earlier, they've scored, as we've talked about a lot, they've scored the most runs in baseball by a wide margin.

And that margin is only getting bigger, Derek. The Yankees have, I guess, by their standards, struggled a little bit offensively as of late. And at this point, the Diamondbacks have 802 runs. And the Yankees have 730. and they're currently in second place and runs scored. This is not just the Diamondbacks having the best offense in baseball. This is the Diamondbacks over the course of the year,

scoring way more runs than any other team in the league. And, you know, Tori was asked about this after the game. Like, are you surprised that the offense has done what it's done? And of course, Tori sort of has to give the answer of, I think he said not necessarily something along those lines, because of course he has a lot of belief in these guys. But look, I mean, the Diamondbacks have even discussed openly over the past, you know, entering this season and certainly last season in the playoffs.

Like the debacks have not been the type of team to outslug you necessarily. You know, they're not the type of team to go off with Homer after Homer after Homer. And yet that's the team that we've seen this season, right? You know, they don't lead the league in homers, but they're pretty close. We'll get to that a little bit later. But yeah, this team just continues to absolutely destroy the baseball. And a two-game sweep here at home maybe doesn't fix what happened in the World Series last year. I don't think it even comes close.

But I imagine it still felt pretty good for the Diamondbacks to not only sweep the Rangers here, but do it in dramatic fashion outscoring the Rangers 20 to 4 in this series. We talked about that a bit yesterday, Damon and I, but we said like, that's the worst part about an American League, you know, about losing in the World Series is the only way for you to truly enact revenge against them is to once again match up against them in the World Series. Other than that, no regular season victory is ever going to feel like it's revenge for stealing a championship away from us, which is what I feel like happened. But, of course, that's only directed mostly at Corey Seeger. Jesse, though, I think the big concern today, obviously, is Merrill Kelly leaving due to the cramping? The bullpen did a great job.

parts of the bullpen did a great job of picking up this team after he left slade obviously struggled and was not very good today but do you have any concerns here about meryl kelly and his cramping uh i i have some concerns yes uh you know this is obviously a recurring thing with him we hadn't seen it yet this year but we certainly did see it last year a number of times right i think around this same of the same time of year season ago fortunately it never came up in the playoffs that would have been a real a real disaster at that point but one question that i asked tory after this game and we'll get to some of the video that i have here in a second but one question i asked is if if this was a playoff game would you have stuck with merrill kelly like was this

more of a precautionary situation or is this the kind of thing where it impedes his pitching ability so much that you wouldn't even want to stick by him in a playoff game because he's just not effective anymore. And that, and Tori basically said that. He said that, yeah, for me, it was impeding his ability to pitch so much that in a playoff game, I would have made the same decision that I made today. And I don't know if that feels more comforting or less comforting. Clearly, this wasn't a, this wasn't a situation where the debacks are like really concerned about Merrill making this worse. And that's why they took him out of the game. This is the Diamondbacks being like, this guy can't really pitch with this cramping.

Like, we have to take him out of the game and get somebody else in there. At that point, the game was starting to get a little bit more interesting. And certainly Slade Sacconi did not exactly help matters. He was, of course, the guy who came in in that spot. What happened to our Slade? What happened to Slade that would throw a perfect game through the first time through the story? I mean, honestly, do you think that this is a matter of, again, Slade moving from the starting role, which involves you preparing differently, having more time to get ready, like all of that, right?

Like all of the, you know, the concerns we had about Jordan Montgomery moving to a similar role, right? But somehow Jordan Montgomery is actually starting to get better in this role. And Slade just kind of hasn't found it yet. I don't remember really any outings since he's been back as part of the bullpen that he's really helped this team win baseball games. sorry the PA guy's talking behind me again yes yes I actually have some numbers with regard to Slade that I wanted to share that I think are kind of interesting for me a lot of what is happening with Slate Sacconi this season has to do with a slider his slider last season and really throughout the course of his minorly career was a really

impressive pitch and it was like it was a it was a wipeout sort of a pitch you felt really good about Slade, especially against right-handed hitters. And that just hasn't been the case this season. Slade's slider has been really not a very good pitch at all. A season ago, the whiff rate on that pitch was 36%. This year, it's down to 20.7%, which is well below average for a slider. The average whiff rate on a slider is probably around 30%. And that's why it just feels like every right-handed hitter that steps in the box.

Like, Slade can throw strikes. Generally, that's not the issue that he has. He can spot up the zone pretty well with his fastball, but he just doesn't have anything to get these guys to chase and swing and miss. There's just no finish pitch here. And that's why you're seeing him just get touched up time and time again, even though he's not walking a lot of guys. And he is still getting the occasional strikeout.

His fastball, I think, is a pretty good pitch. But when you don't have that great secondary weapon, then even in a relief role, it just isn't going to work. And I think that's been a really big issue for him this. season. Well, D-backs free parking, aka, well, let's see. I mean, D-Backs-free parking says high sliders, Sikoni high sliders need to be fixed. I'm guessing D-Backs-free parking would suggest that maybe he needs to learn some sort of football slider, perhaps. I don't know. That's just something I'm guessing based on who I think is the real man behind that account.

But Jesse, of course, the big thing is, I mean, we'll get to talking about the offense a little bit more here. And I don't know, I don't know right now if you can even hear me with what's going on behind you. I mean, is Chuck just getting, is Chuck just getting his work in today? But of course, you know, the concerns being, you know, Merrill and what's going on with his cramping. I know you said Tori said what he said. I'm sure you have more from Tori from the from the post game show. Yeah, yeah. If we have those videos, yeah, we can go ahead and start with Tori. He was asked a number of questions relating to this, of course. But this one is basically, what is your level of concern knowing that this is something,

this is an issue that has come up before. And here's what Tori had to say. Yeah, I hate the fact that we had to take him off the field. And I made that decision taking him the field. But I think that's been his track record. He speaks up. We've put everything in place to help him. I'm not going to downplay and say, no, there's zero concern.

Of course there is. But I know we're doing all that we can. And I don't want to say I'm snapping the ball on, oh, this is Merrill happening, the Merrill situation happening again. We've got to figure out how to make it not happen again. But we know we know. We know how to dance around it. So we can preserve him the best way we can. Today was a perfect example of that.

But we need Merrill. And I want Merrill to be at 100 percent because when he is, I feel like he can help us win baseball game. So my concern level is minimal. It's been more with Merrill, depending on what the situations have been. I know he had the calf. He's had more than just cramping. We've got to keep it at cramping and below and we'll be just fine. I'm really starting to think that this is a three-game series

and we're missing out on the second game of the double header behind you. But like, yeah, obviously, you know, you know what could happen. You know that cramping is cramping. And that's, again, we talked about it. a little bit earlier before you joined us. That's a good thing. But the fact that it keeps happening is not a good thing. And it's also not a good thing that that cramping could lead maybe to an injury

or lead to losing Merrill. And that's the absolute biggest, you know, disaster that could happen here with all of this stuff. Yeah. I mean, I'm not even that concerned, honestly, about, about Merrill, like this leading to something bigger necessarily. I know he did have some blood clotting stuff that's happened in the past. So, you know, maybe cramping in games could be connected to that in some way.

But I think this is just a, it's just a thing that the debacks can't really seem to figure out. Last year, when this issue happened, I remember Merrill talking about some different supplements that he was taking before games and whatnot, sort of a routine that he built into his before, what he would do before games to make sure that he was hydrated and try to prevent this issue from popping up. And he said today that he's stuck with that ever since this first popped up. And to see it continue to be an issue for this issue to pop up again today is obviously worrisome. We also have video from Merrill himself, who you can imagine was pretty frustrated with having to be removed from this game. It's a bit of a longer clip, but I think there's a lot of helpful details here. Here's what Merrill had to say.

Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely the overwhelming feeling. more than anything. You know, at this point it's just kind of the beating your head against the wall type feeling. You know, it's like we've obviously tried all kinds of things. And for that to be popping up again, it's obviously just, you know, frustrating. It didn't feel overly hot what we were sitting. Was it hot around the field today or is it just? I mean, it's, I feel like this year it's harder for me to gauge just because I haven't been here all year. I mean, I changed my Jersey after the fourth. It was pretty wet. I mean, I'm a big sweater as it is. But I, you know,

obviously I have a hard time comparing anything this year just because I haven't been here as much. How long did you feel it for calling the train? I mean, I felt it right after, right when I threw that pitch. I knew I was going to come out of the game as soon as I felt it just because it wasn't letting go. Before I step back on the mound, I still felt that I was just kind of giving it some time. In the back of my mind, it wasn't going to let go, but I was just given myself at least some sort of effort to see if it would. And then when I stepped back off the rubber, is when I knew that it wasn't going to give. And especially in that moment, when it's already starting to cramp, the more I throw, it's not going to get any better. Max came out, and I think I was just giving myself more of a moment there to just kind of digest what was going on more than anything.

I knew what was going on. I'd felt it before. I knew I was probably coming out of the game. I just wanted to give myself a minute there to just kind of process what was what was going on. Well, it's good that that Merrill seems okay with it, like for the most part and like kind of knew the signals that, you know, that like he knew, like he said, he immediately knew that based on what he felt he was going to leave the game. Yeah, yeah. And it's also interesting to hear him talk about how he just sort of wanted to give himself a minute on the mound there. It was pretty quick. I mean, after the, after trainer and Torrey and I think Strom, he came out as well. It didn't take long before Merrill was headed back to the dugout. But there was a

brief period of time where it was like, oh, he's maybe trying to stretch it out and see if he could keep pitching. But from what Merrill said there, it was really more about him just taking a moment to kind of process what was happening. And you can imagine, I mean, Merrill is obviously a huge competitor. I mean, we saw that come out in the World Series last year throughout the playoff run. He was the Diamondback's best pitcher and a huge reason why they were able to go as far as the they did. And the last thing he wants is to have to be removed from a game for an issue that feels, you know, pretty, pretty insignificant. Like, it's just a cramp, right? I mean, these aren't serious injuries. But I also asked Merrill after this one, how quickly did the, did the

cramping go away? And he said that even as he's walking back to the dugout, he can feel it's starting to go away. It really didn't last very long. But at the same time, he knows that if he tries to pitch through it, it isn't going to get better. So it's just, it's just a tricky situation where it's not a significant injury, and yet he can't pitch through it effectively. So you kind of have no choice but to just take him out of the game. Well, of course, we'll have more with Jesse from the clubhouse and from Chase Field. But first, I do have a good suggestion. And that would be maybe Merrill needs to stop by Circle K because it's America's

third stop, Jesse. It is America's third stop. And if there's any place to get hydrated, it's at Circle K. And like I said, right now, one of the, we've been holding back on you because we have not told you this as often as we should have, but right now, when you join the inner circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today, you'll get your first five polar pops for free. That's five free polar pops. And maybe Merrill could drink all five before a game.

Like, he might have to whizz a lot, but he's going to stay hydrated. I will say terms and conditions apply, participating locations, visit CircleK.com for details. But when you do join that inner circle, you'll save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five fillups. You'll save three cents off per gallon every day after that. and you'll get a bevy of coupons and free offers, just like these five free puller pops in the app when you do sign up. So make sure to check out Circle K today. And Merrill, stop by Circle K on your way home.

Again, it's America's their stop. So it is the place. They have Gatorade. They have all sorts of, like I think they have Pedialite. I mean, we'll make sure Merrill's taken care of over at Circle K. But I also want to shout out to Heel of River Resorts and Casinos. It has been the home of so many of our events, including our Cardinals watch party this Sunday,

which gave me so much FOMO I was not at. And looking from afar, I definitely was staring at my window, wishing I was there. They will be hosting all of our events this year, so many of our events, including cards and sons, watch parties, and so much more. So stay tuned for info on that. But, of course, at Heal River Resorts and Casinos, nobody does it better. You can visit anyone of their four locations to experience the best that the valley has to offer. And you can lounge at their AAA four diamond resorts or let relaxation take charge with just some beautiful views of our deseralsals. And, of course, like I said, hang out poolside.

Get yourself a frozen drink, pinoclotta, margarita, it doesn't matter. Have a great time. You can also go inside for a fun night. They have over 4,500 slots and live table games where you can catch all of the action at any one of their sports books. So you do you at Heela Resorts and Casinos. Visit Playatheila.com for more details. Of course, Jesse, the offense took center stage today. And we know that our King Snake, of course, J.J's King's.

snake is Gino four for four, two home runs today, just mashing the ball. When we talk about how good this Diamondbacks offense has been, Jock Peterson is a guy you could give a lot of credit to as an addition to this team, as well as Randall Gritchick, but you cannot, you can't diminish the efforts of Gino. And even though he struggled early on in the first two months of the season, like many players on this starting lineup did, he has just been an animal for this team. and they would not be the offensive powerhouse they are without them. Oh, you're muted, Jesse.

I'm really good at doing that, apparently. Two days in a row, yikes. I'm just trying to save you all from all the lovely background noise here. I appreciate that. Which, by the way, I will just say real quick. Apparently, there's like a bunch of people hitting. There's some sort of event here where there's a bunch of people getting to take batting practice at Chase Field.

And I'm not sure exactly what the situation is, but I wish I was one of them. Is Sophie Cunningham one of them? them. I heard she was at the game and I just have to check. It's my duty to make sure that I keep up to date on this. No, probably not. I have not seen Sophie Cunningham down there, but I'll keep you posted afterward if I do. But yeah, Gino, I mean, a couple of months ago, it looked like Gino's career, frankly, might be coming close to an end, right? I mean, it wasn't definitive, but he had an OPS under 600 and he's a decent defensive third baseman, but the reality is that for most of his career.

His bat has been his calling card, his ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark, and he just wasn't doing that for the Diamondbacks in the first couple months of the season. And now you look up, and not only has he turned things around dramatically and become a solid player for this team, he is now having one of the best seasons that he's ever had.

Like Gino Suarez, at this point, as of the end of play today, has a 121 WRC plus, which is really good. That's the fourth highest WRC plus that he's had in his career. It's much better than where he was a year ago. And it's not all that far behind a 20-22 season that he had in Seattle,

which was a very, very good year for him. So this is maybe the most dramatic, like, mid-season turnaround that we've seen in D-Backs history. Obviously, Corbyn Carroll would be in that conversation as well. For sure. His turnaround has been pretty dramatic, too. But, yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks went from getting nothing offensively, close to nothing offensively last season.

being, you know, in the bottom five or so and pretty much all the offensive categories from that position. So now this year, I mean, Gino entered today sixth in, in Fangraph's wins above replacement for third baseman. Like, he has been one of the best third baseman and all of baseball. It's really been incredible to watch. Well, let's hear from Gino. This is what he has to say on this career stretch he's having right now.

I think this is the best stress that I have in my career to be to doing that like that, you know. and feel good, to be honest. And I don't want to change anything. I just want to keep going and let it happen. What's going to happen? What do you most pleased with about your bat's going? You know, I just, I always think about being ready in the fastball. You know, I'm not chase anything else.

Sometimes, obviously, this game is so hard, and we're going to have a bad days. But I always be ready in a fastball. and not try to do much. You know, I work for this success. And now that I had it, I just got to enjoy it, you know, and not change anything, stay positive, and do my base every day.

Not just results, play hard, be happy. And I think that's my key. What a guy. Those vibes are amazing. And, like, yeah, that's all we can do, right? That's all any of us could do is come and try to be the best version. of ourselves every given day. But it's like, I don't know.

I mean, Gino, at least he recognizes what's going on. And he kind of understands, like, things like this happen in baseball. You just kind of have to write it for the time being. Like, you can't sit there and start getting in your own head about you being, you know, the next, you know, coming of Barry Bonds. But at the same time, Gino just, he seems unstoppable lately. And, I mean, it's just such a, such a big, you know, he's such a big part of this team this season and the turnaround.

Yeah. Yeah. He really is. I mean, yeah, like I said earlier, Gino has been one of the best third baseman in all of baseball. I think he entered today at 3.3 wins above replacement on fan graphs and Manny Machado is 3.2. I know Machado didn't get off to the best start this year, but he's really turned things

around recently as well. So, yeah, it's been so big. And I guess the question that people keep going back to is what about that option for next year, right? Gino has a $15 million club option for 2025 with a $2 million buyout. So it's a difference of $13 million, whether you want to bring him back or just let him walk. And a couple months ago, it would have been pretty obvious, honestly. It seemed like a foregone conclusion.

There's no way the debacks are picking up this option. You're not giving $15 million to a player who's clearly regressing. But at this point, again, Gino is having now one of the best seasons of his career. you know he's on track to hit 250 something this year with 30 home runs and around 100 rbi like he's he's on on track to have that kind of a season and it would be surprising to me at this point if he's not pencilled in as the diamond back's everyday third baseman again in 2025 well uh i i i don't know what to say about this man lately jesse but i also have to say i know we have another guy that we talked about briefly earlier in jordan montgomery and obviously his

situation with the Diamondbacks next year is kind of a similar one where we were like, well, we know he has an option based on how he's pitching and how much he's owed from the Diamondbacks next season. If he picks up that option that he's most likely going to be back. However, you know, we've also talked about how good Jordan Montgomery could be with a normal, you know, off season and, you know, in a career year where he's trying to get what could potentially be, you know, his final multi-year contract of his career. And like, he's honestly, kind of feels after today like he could, be a valuable weapon for this team down the stretch with the way that he was able to go out there

and give him three innings and save, you know, those those bullpen arms that might have pitched otherwise tonight. He was certainly more more effective than Slate Ciconey, right? Slate really, really struggled in that inning. And I'll get back to Montgomery in a second, but there were a couple other things I wanted to point out on Slade. There was a couple of mental, a couple of mental mistakes, right, where he, and granted, this might this might be on the DeBax coaching staff for not reminding him more than anything else. But for him to commit a bach because of three disengagement is rough. I think that was caused because a disengagement from Merrill carried over when he entered the game.

So that's a tricky spot. But then, you know, he doesn't cover for space on a play where clearly his job to be over there. You know, that inning could have looked a lot different if he was there. And again, going back to that slider as well, his slider on average this season is, is dropping six inches less than it did a year ago. And part of that is a velocity change. It's two miles an hour harder this year. So because of gravity, right?

If you're throwing it harder, it's not going to drop as much. But even if you remove gravity from the equation, the difference is four inches. So he went from having a slider that had really, really good vertical drop last year to this season having a slider that has basically league average drop. And it hasn't had much side to side movement. last year it didn't and this year it hasn't either so yeah there there's some questions to be answered there and i know uh earlier people were talking about yober diaz in the comments i saw his name

pop up a few times i i do think that the debacks could maybe go that direction at some point uh diaz has been pitching out of the bullpen uh in reno recently his last two outings have been out of the bullpen i think he went two innings on believe it was september 7th was the last time he was used out there. So I don't know if this is a move that's happening immediately necessarily, but given Slate, what we've seen from Slade, both the pitcher and just kind of mentally, some of the, you know, the bad body language at times and not covering first base in that spot tonight.

I, or today, I have to wonder if that's maybe something that the debacks are looking at. But circling all the way around, yes, Jordan Montgomery was, was effective in this game. And who knows, maybe in the playoffs, you know, obviously it's been a rough year for him, but maybe in the playoffs, George Montgomery can have some big moments. You know, he's probably not going to be one of the debacks four starters in a playoff series if they get there. But it's not to say he can't be valuable in saving the bullpen or even in a game that's competitive, giving the Diamondbacks some needed length.

Obviously, he's succeeded on that stage in the past. So, yeah, we'll have to see what that looks like. You may have seen me just blowing a kiss to nobody off screen. It wasn't nobody, I assure you. It was our very own Mackey P. Michaela Perkins, our social media queen. Today is her last day here at PHNX. And I just wanted to take a moment to say goodbye to somebody that was such a tremendous part of PHNX growing and becoming what it is.

Not to mention the fact that she was a huge part of this show. She's co-hosted this show with me before. She was there every step of the way, even though you might not have seen her through. throughout the playoffs, sitting on the other side of the camera, helping us out with all of those social media stuff, all of our videos. And we could not have done it without her. We couldn't have done so much without her. And I thank her so much. Michaela is an awesome, incredible person. And we're going to miss her a tremendous amount. And it's an emotional day around here, Jesse, because it's not only Michaela's last day, but it's Saul's last day. And of course, Saul Bookman,

RGM. What can we say about all of the ups and downs and everything that we've gone through with Saul. I feel like I personally am a better person because of Saul being here. And I feel like we at PHNX thrived the way we did because of Saul. And I mean, he has always convinced us that we were capable of achieving everything that we have and being better people, being better at our job every single day. And I'm getting choked up in a way that I didn't think I would over Saul Bookman of all people. But this man means a lot to us. And I love. love Saul. I'm going to miss him. Of course, he is still going to be a part of all city. So, of course, we are still going to be, you know, having Saul around. But he will be missed here at PHNX, just like

Michaela. And of course, he, I can't say enough, right? Jesse about what a big part, I mean, why we are the way we are and how much Saul has had an influence on that. Yeah, yeah, very, very well said on both fronts. Yeah, Michaela has taught me a lot about social media over the years. I use these hashtags like all the time. Oh my God. And the amount of time she's told me how long my tweets are and how nobody wants to read those. It's the only reason why we pop off when we say two words on a tweet. It's because of Michaela.

When I first joined pH and X, I think in my, you know, my tweet that sort of announced it, I said I'm joining hashtag pH and X. And in retrospect, it's like the most obnoxious like I just, I thought hashtag like it's social media. use hashtags. She used hashtags for everything, right? But no, Michaela has been such an asset for us at PH&X over the last few years. And as you said, a great person, great coworker, great friend. So we're going to miss her. And we're absolutely going to miss Saul as well. Wish him all the best in this new role that awaits him, which is also very exciting. But yeah, as you said, he's been a huge part of the reason that we as a company still exist.

Yes. It's, you know, it hasn't always been perfect. No, no star. No star. ever ever is going to be but it's been a it's been a fun ride with him and he'll be missed for sure yeah for sure and like i said he's still going to be a part of all city so uh we're still going to have saul making sure to get the most out of us but we will miss him a tremendous amount and like i said we as a company at all city have done some amazing growth you guys know about how you know we were the second uh we were the second thing we were the ones that tried to show that dnvr could work outside of dnvr and prove that it did. And, you know, now we just opened Dallas

and we have so many other amazing things going on around here. So, of course, we thank everybody. But, of course, I got to give a shout out, of course, to, you know, our guy, Espo. As much as him and I are banging heads, we are thrilled to have Espo as well as our new GM around here, PHNX. And, of course, we know that we are in good hands with Espo.

And also, Saul will never stop keeping an eye on us at all time. So we are very, very. You better be careful. Derek. These these positive comments about Espo are bound to wind up in a political ad here before it's... You're right. You're right. Well, I'll tell you this much. I'd be careful. I do, I may have had a

Facebook post where Espo's wife called me Mr. Mayor. So I'm just saying that might be the most damning piece of evidence should we need to go there. But I think Groundhog Mama says it right there. He can't be mayor and GM. And she's right. We found our out. Jesse, we found our out.

So this might be it. But of course, we thank you guys. so much. And before we get out of here, I do have to remind you that I, as your mayor, I never lie. Kyle never lies. Jesse, Jesse's a notorious fipper. You know that. But of course, we know the numbers don't lie. Jesse, before we get out of here, what do you have for today's number that doesn't lie? Yeah, today's number is 191. And this is the number of home runs that the diamond backs have hit in 2024. That is the fourth highest total in all baseball behind only. The keys, the Orioles, and the Dodgers.

And just to kind of go full circle here, some of the stuff I was saying on the top, this Diamondbacks team rakes. And it's not just the buntz and the, you know, the stolen bases and kind of being scrappy. I think that was the team's reputation going into the playoffs last year. That is not this team. If you're still viewing the Diamondbacks is, you know, the team that's going to try to single and steal second and, you know, fun and then.

you know, score on a sack, fly. Like that's, that's not this team, right? Like, like, Gino's going to have 30 and 100, potentially. Christian Walker has a chance to get up to 30 home runs. You know, Randall Gritchick is one of the best hitters in the league against lefties, I think,

and we're starting to see his impact. We saw that again with a home run today. Jack Peterson has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball against right-handed pitching this year, and he's certainly not up there, you know, trying to dink and dunk singles. This team has a lot of really impactful hitters. And especially now that you have Catelmart,

back and healthy and looking like himself as he did in this game, as well as Corby Carroll, a very different version of Corbyn than we saw a couple of months ago. This lineup, especially when you think about getting Gabby back potentially here in about a week or so, I mean, it's already an excellent lineup. And think about, you know, thinking about October, like if I'm an opposing team, I don't want any part of the Diamondbacks lineup in the playoffs. There's so much depth here and there's quite a bit of top end town. as well well of course that is all we got but we have so much more for you tomorrow because tomorrow

is an off day so even though no diamondbacks game will be played we got you covered join us tomorrow at 1 p.m we will have more on this upcoming series against the milwaukee brewers as well as our power rankings and a lot of other fun stuff so make sure come back here tomorrow at 1 p.m. join us for that but of course in the meantime you can follow us on twitter i am at cap underscore caveman with a k jessey is at jesse and freedman k kyle you want to give you a Twitter K-Koop Sports That's right, it's K-Coop Sports and that's a good one And also if you check out his other stuff

Because his other stuff is incredible as well But he's ours now, okay? He's like you're you can go browse at how like what his skill set is like But you're not stealing Kyle away from us We are Kyle's kids Of course our show is at PHNX underscore T-Backs But all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports On Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

We thank you guys so much. Derek, do we have some super chats here before we jump out of here? That's my job, but I'm glad you're here. This is why Jesse always double checks my work. Stephen, Spanish, but I call him Stephen Bananas or Mr. Bananas. He says, here in honor of the 343 FDNYNY firefighters, never forget, thank you, Stephen for that. That is very important. That is an incredible thing.

It's obviously a traumatic day, you know, and of course. this is one of those days to just remember what our country went through on this day in September 11, 2001. So thank you for that, Mr. Bananas. And of course, Kevin Concasso, we got Mr. Bananas and Mr. Concezo. He says, Jesse, do more work than 69% of the starting pitchers. Nice. Well, well, we thank you guys for your super chat. You guys are wonderful.

We thank all of you for stopping by. We appreciate your time. I appreciate whatever's going on at Chase Field for giving us so many laughs. and I still think it's a double header. Still not convinced it's not otherwise, but they're still hidden back there, Derek. They're still going at it. Swing for your seats event. Like I think season ticket holders get to like swing or their seats and based on how long they hit it,

they can get like an upgrade or something for next season. I'm not sure. So yeah, maybe like wherever the ball lands is where you sit. So like the ideal is you like pop one up over the backstop and you're like right behind home plate. But, you know, the worst case scenario is you hit it over, you hit it like over the left field fence. Then you're like stuck in the bleachers. Yeah. Yeah.

That's not great. That's not great. But, uh, all right. Well, that still sounds like a lot of fun that we're missing out on. And I hate to tell you this, but me and Damon bought baseball gloves today and we kind of left you out. That's something I have to fill you it on later. But we're going to have to catch. Wow.

Wow. We're going to have a little left out. I'm sorry. It was it was a big day, a big bonding day for me and Damon dog. But of course, we'll be back here tomorrow at 1 p.m. so make sure to join us for that. We also hope you guys have a wonderful evening. Thank you again for stopping by.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's more fun when the rest of these teams realize that they don't want this smoke!