PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Did Torey Lovullo SURRENDER In Diamondbacks Game 2 Loss To Padres?

Episode Date: June 8, 2024

Despite falling behind early, the Diamondbacks made things interesting in game 2 of their four-game series with the Padres. But then everything fell apart. Is it possible that manager Torey Lovullo actively sacrificed a chance at a comeback victory to rest his bullpen? We discuss the turn this game took in the eighth and more. We also discuss which members of the Serpent Society deserve to go to Texas for the All Star Game.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Chicken N Pickle: Head to https://chickennpickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location! PHNX will be hosting Trivia Nights and Pickleball Tournaments so stay tuned for info!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, hello and welcome into another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. And this man next to me is actually here present and not at Petco Park. It's the one and only thunder stick Jesse Friedman, your vice mayor. But of course, he is still in San Diego. He's just not at Petco Park. Jesse, how you feeling, buddy? I'm okay.

Yeah, I'm okay. came down with a bit of a stomach bug situation this morning, unfortunately did not want to contaminate the entire Diamondbacks Clubhouse. I appreciate that. But yeah, I'm feeling fine. It should probably be good to go to cover the rest of the games this weekend. So, yeah, I'm fine, Derek, but D-BACs are fine. No, no, I don't know really where to start with tonight's game.

The Diamondbacks obviously didn't get a whole lot. of offense. The Padres did, but I did want to talk a bit about how close they were at one point and how this final score. I don't really is a great indication of how this game went up until the eighth inning where things completely spiraled out of control for this team. I guess a good place to start, though, would be with Brandon Fought. He didn't seem to have his best stuff right away, giving up back-to-back home runs

in the first inning and giving the first inning and giving the... the Padres a two-nothing lead there early. Yeah, yeah, Fought was, this was one of his worst starts of the year, frankly. I mean, five and a third innings, nine hits, five runs. We've seen Fott get bit by the beginning in some recent outings for sure. But today it wasn't, it wasn't just, you know, one big inning. There were a couple of home runs early, a tack on run, a couple of innings later. And then, of course, the two-run homer by Haasung Kim and the fifth.

I guess in the sixth that ultimately knocked Fought out of this game. So, yeah, three homers. This is, you know, one of the more positive developments for Fott this season is that he's managed to keep the ball in the yard, which is something he really struggled with when he first came up. But he did not do that. He did not do that in this game. Well, we were, you know, we've kind of talked a little bit about the fact that Fott has

an inning kind of go sideways on him almost in every start. it was looking a little bit like, you know, he just gave up those two solo home runs, which really in the grand scheme of things wasn't that terrible if he could just dial it in and, you know, essentially give the Diamondbacks, you know, five, six strong innings after that. But wasn't really able to do that. Didn't really throw his sweeper very much tonight. He didn't, no. We normally see FOT feature the sweeper quite a lot.

It's pretty clearly his best pitch, I would say, has been from the moment that he entered the league. But, you know, part of that I think was that the Padres had a lot of left-hand hitters in their lineup today, as teams often do against fought. I mean, it's no secret. If you look at his splits, lefties and righties, it's a pretty big difference. And a big reason for that, as we've discussed in the past, is that the sweeper is generally a split-heavy kind of a pitch. It tends to work a lot better against same-handed hitters than it does opposite-handed hitters because there's not a lot of drop there. A lot of it is horizontal movement and a left-handed hitter is just going to be able to pick

that up a lot easier than a right-handed hitter is. And we saw that in this game. It wasn't really all that effective when he did throw it. That's the, you know, the Haasung Kim, two-run homer was on a sweeper that was pretty much center cut. And when, you know, even beyond that, he wasn't throwing it all. that much in this game to begin with, probably in large part because of the Padres having so many lefties, I guess. And also the fact that it just wasn't, his command of it didn't seem to

be where it usually is. Jesse, we're delivering a lot of bad news in this game. Diamondbacks lose 10 to 3. So let me try to make things better and bring Cosmo in here. Now, he's not going to offer any kind of insight onto what happened with Brandon Fought and his sweeper tonight. But She's just going to be here making snorty sounds like this, which I really think adds to the audio quality a lot. And you're going to show us what exactly what was going on with Fought Sweeper location. Yeah, yeah. Is that just Cosmo breathing? Yeah, that's just.

It's not actually what it sounds like when he breathed. This is actually him talking when he is like when he's trying to express himself. He doesn't do it in like wines. He just does it in like a series of grunts. He is a small baby hippopotamus. And we'll bring him back here to bring the vibes back up after we talk about how much Michael King has dominated the Diamondbacks. But let's take a look at Fought Sweeper locations from tonight's start. Yeah.

Yeah, it wasn't pretty. If we can show that graphic, there's a whole lot of pitches that are in the middle. It's struggling a little bit here. I was struggling. It's going to be ready in about 10 seconds. I don't know if you guys can see it uploading, but it's really, it's really working at its own pace. Yeah.

We're at the will and the mercy of the internet tonight quite a bit. I'm actually shocked, by the way, that Jesse's hotel internet is holding up so far as well as it, as well as it is. Yeah, this hotel, man, I got to give, I got to give no free ads. I won't, I won't. Yeah, don't tell what's changing. I won't give the name of this establishment, but, uh, they, really nailed it in terms of the hotel Wi-Fi.

I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that. You probably are. That's the way things are. You can never be happy. You're just jinxing the future by being happy at any point. It's kind of like when we were talking about Brandon Fott being the Diamondbacks most consistent starting pitcher that he's been able to give it. You know, the Diamondbacks exact. Again, he has the one bad inning at times, but he's been able to give them length.

He's been able to give them consistency. And right when we started saying, that he has an outing like he has tonight. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not saying it was a disaster, but it definitely, it wasn't great. And, and nothing seemed to be really working really well for him. I mean, he did have his four seamer and his sinker working. He did. Yeah. Yeah, the four seamer and sinker, I thought were, were pretty clearly his two best pitches in this game. He had 20 combined called strikes between those two pitches, which is a lot. Granted, home play. umpire certainly did the diamond backs some favors uh just as uh the home played umpire from

yesterday's game did them some favors it feels like it's been incredibly lobsided between uh in these yeah i can't i can't say that the diamond backs haven't been getting calls in these games that's for sure because at one point uh it was fairly egregious jesse fairly fairly egregious yeah it was pretty egregious uh and and good on bert for having some some fun with that on the tv broadcast i i was i was sort but chuckling throughout the entire thing every time he talked about the, you know, fan club for either tonight's umpire or last night's umpire. It's pretty much the same story in both cases. But yeah, Fots, Fawkes, four seamer, his sinker, those pitches were, were effective for him

today, as I said earlier, mainly because of just how many called strikes he was able to get on those pitches. He got some whiffs with the four seamer as well. The change up also, I think it showed you kind of why it has the potential to be a very good out pitch in this game. His movement numbers were up a little bit on that pitch today. I think he had one inch more vertical drop as well as two more inches of horizontal run on that pitch today versus his season average.

So his changeup was kind of moving all over the place. It was a really nice looking pitch. But I think there were just a few too many of them that were just too far off the outside edge of the plate that weren't getting Padres hitters to swing. or I think they fouled off a couple of them as well. It's not really a pitch that he tends to throw in the strike zone very much. I think he threw maybe one, maybe two of them in the zone today. It's generally a pitch that he's trying to throw down below the zone

to get some swing and miss or some weak contact. And he just wasn't, I think he just wasn't getting it close enough to the zone to really entice Padres hitters and get them to, you know, either hit it weekly on the ground or swing over the top of it. I don't know how Cosmo feels about that. Pete wanted to know Cosmo's exit Velo today, 117 off the bat for this guy, but he's a power slugger. It's a little different for him.

Yeah, no, I mean, Brandon fought, like, again, I think right now, it just, it's not, it doesn't raise red flags because he wasn't very good against the Padres. The last time he faced them with Michael King on the. mound opposite of him, right? And Michael King, to be fair, has been very, very good against the Arizona Diamondbacks this year. Somehow, this man has kind of owned the Diamondbacks. He has, yeah. Michael King has kind of owned the Diamondbacks, and Brandon Fott has sort of gotten owned by the Padres a little bit. Although I think it was only three earned runs. Fogg gave up five runs, but only three of them were earned over six innings. And his previous start against the

Padres that was back on May 4th. But he gave up 10 hits in that game. He gave up nine hits today. So Padres hitters have really just seemed pretty comfortable in the box against Brandon fought. I'm not sure exactly what the reason is there. But I guess one silver lining from this game, Derek, could be that the last time that Michael King faced Brandon fought, the Diamondbacks lost 13 to 1.

And tonight, the Diamondbacks lost 10 to 3. That's no. No, no. That is not a silver lining, Jesse. I don't think you know how silver linings work. Of course, we do know that once the diamondbacks get down by two runs this year, it's over. So, of course, there's that whole thing to address in regards to their inability to come back. But we do have the graphic here to show you where on that sweeper.

I don't think I could hear you when that was up. Oh, okay. So we might have. For some reason, it muted, you. Oh, no problem. Let's, uh, let's throw that that back up there. We can't. It's muted us.

It's muted us. It's okay. But you guys all saw it. And the moral of the story is there were a lot of sweepers that were just right over the middle of the zone. Uh, fought normally has pretty good feel for, for sort of painting the lower outside corner, um, or getting it just off of that outside edge to right hand. and hitters. And he really just wasn't able to do that in this game. This Derek was the first

game in Brandon Fott's career where he has not gotten a whiff on a sweeper. His previous low was two. He had always gotten at least two whiffs on a sweeper that includes the playoffs, every start that he's ever made at the big league level, even, even, you know, the early days where he was really struggling. So, yeah, just a really kind of an uncharacteristic day from Fott where the sweeper command just really wasn't there at all. Uh, diamond backs were down five to nothing at one point in this game. Jesse, the Padres, uh, tacked on a run in the fifth with back to back to back to back two out singles. Uh, then they scored two more in the fifth on a two run homer by Kim. Uh, and of course, that diamondbacks looked, uh, things look bleak, right? But then they have that big seventh inning. They get their own back to back jacks. They get Cattell hitting a two run home run. They get Lordus Gurriel step. stepping in and pitch getting his, I think we got a notification, I think second career pinch hit home run or might have been his first.

I'll verify that. But they get the back-to-back dingers and they make it a five to three game at that point. Things got exciting. Things got interesting. A game that pretty much felt like it was kind of out of reach at five to nothing, no longer felt out of reach, especially with the way that this offense has been performing over the last week or 10 days or so. So the belief was there.

And instead, Tori Lavallo stuck with Humberto Castiano's. And I don't want to put any disrespect on his name. But he wasn't extremely sharp. He did give the Diamondbacks a couple of solid innings, I guess you could say. But there was just a point where you felt like if the Diamondbacks were going to come back, there in the bottom of the eighth inning, they needed to switch before. things went off the rail and they did not. The Padres scored five runs in the inning.

Tori waited very, very long time to go out there and eventually pull Castiano's. And I guess, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, the Diamondbacks didn't put up any more runs. And if the outcome would have remained the same, but he did swap, you know, a reliever out

and they were able to hold it, a five to three game, most likely, in this universe and this timeline would have ended as a five to three game. But I do have to question at one point, you know, it did feel like Tori wasn't trying to win this game.

It felt like win or lose he was going to stick with Humberto out there and use it as an opportunity to rest his bullpen potentially. I mean, I know that that bullpen has been taxed quite a bit And I know at some point, you do got to concede, you know, games, you got to not, you know, there's times where you're down by enough that you have to be a bit reasonable and, you know, manage it as a loss and try to just, you know, limit the amount of damage and limit the amount of

arms you use so that you're not putting yourself in a poor position going forward in a four-game series during a 13-game stretch of, you know, taxing your bullpen even worse. But this just felt like a definite, you know, kind of. of surrender, if you will. And that's kind of the theme of this of this show. Again, there's, there's an entire argument to be made about the fact that Diamondbacks didn't do anything more offensively. So this is a conversation that is meaningless in a way. But again, sometimes when you do see your manager actively doing things to try to, you know, win a game and you're able to keep a game close, it gives you a bit more hope than going out there after seeing the Padres give up

five or put up five runs on the board and trying to do something in a 10 to three game. Like at that point, it's truly over and you're just, you just want to get out of the ballpark as soon as possible, you know, and I just, I felt like that was a big moment where this team might have been able to muster up some sort of comeback, but instead they just kind of wave the white flag. Yeah, I think it's fair. Like the diamondbacks didn't, you know, they didn't do a whole lot offensively. And, you know, in the ninth inning, it was, it was relatively quick.

But, yeah, if it's a 5-3 game, are they a little bit more engaged? That kind of changed their mindset a little bit. 10-3 game. Like, yeah, it's over at that point. I think everyone sort of understands that. Yeah, like Castianos, you can totally understand when it was a 5-0 game. It was like, all right, this is a 5-run game. Castianos is here for a length.

He's been starting down in Reno. So you might as well use him to just maybe even just finish off the game and get you to tomorrow without having. to use any of your other relievers. You just give all of those guys a day off. But then, yeah, with, you know, Kattel and Lordus going back to back, then you've got yourself a two-run game. And Tori's in a tricky spot where he probably doesn't want to flip over to using,

you know, Mani, Ginkle, Thompson, all those guys, because you're still down by two runs. He normally wouldn't do that anyway. But you also don't want to put, like, you want to be in a position where you can give your offense a couple of more shots to try to make up those final two runs. And Castellanos, obviously, was. wasn't able to do that for them. So, yeah, at least, you know, maybe, maybe, like, send him out for the eighth inning, but maybe, maybe get him out of there a little bit.

I guess this was the seventh inning. Or no, it was the eighth inning. It was the eighth inning. Yeah, it was the bottom of the eighth inning. Yeah, like maybe get him out of there a little bit sooner. Once, you know, once it was six to three at that point, I don't think there was anybody out in the inning. There were still a couple of base runners.

You know, maybe you go to Vieira or somebody else to try to try to, try to at least give you a little bit better of a shot at coming back. Well, Tyago O'Irera did make his DBAX debut in this one. He was claimed by the Orioles this year. Actually, he was with the Brewers originally, right? Before going to the Orioles and then before coming here. How did that all break down? Yeah, he was with the Brewers through about 22 innings there,

585 IRA, not great numbers. He was DF8. he was claimed by the Orioles. He made one appearance with the Orioles, and I believe he faced four batters, I want to say, and three of them walked, and one of them had a hit. He did not retire a batter, and that one appearance of the Orioles.

Then they defayed him, and the Diamond Ducks picked him up. The selling point with Fierrez, certainly the velocity. You saw it in the game today, even though his outing was very, very brief, but he was throwing, yes, I think it was one batter, right? Yeah, David Broughton. There you go.

But he was, you know, he's pumping 98, 99 miles an hour. So you can see the appeal there. His control has been pretty shaky. Had a couple of nice seasons pitching out in Japan a couple years ago. So there's, yeah, you can kind of see what teams are thinking with this guy and why he could be effective. But he hasn't really put it together at any point in the majors. Well, of course, we do have to give our Kingsnake to someone. and that someone is Cotel Marte because Cotel Marte continues to be the heart and soul of this team for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Marte has been multiple multi-hit games as of late. This is another multi-hit game for him. Two hits tonight. It was two for five with that home run. He had two RBI. And honestly, like Cattel, he just, he continues to deliver. I mean, he might not always be the guy every single night. but this baseball team wasn't constructed for him to be the guy every single night.

It just feels like recently he's kind of had to take that on a bit. You know, Jack Peterson continues to be very good. He's two for three tonight. But, you know, Kattel just seems to always have those big hits. And I don't know, man. It's just really, really, really thankful to have him on this team and have him just seemingly getting better as his career goes on. Yeah, Kattel hit the homer off a Padre's lefty, Wadi Peralta.

And you kind of feel like the opposing team is sort of asking for Kutel to hit a homer when they bring in a lefty reliever and a lefty reliever winds up facing him. So I can't say I was exactly shocked by that outcome. I guess Mike Schill was okay with that because Padres were still up five to nothing at that point. So even if he did Homer, which he did, you know, they were still up by three runs at that point. still in a pretty good position. So Catelle just continues to absolutely destroy left-handed pitching. It is really unreal what he is doing in that regard.

So much fun to watch. And we're starting to see him pick things up against Ritey's as well. He went through a bit of a rough patch. I think his OPS going back to the middle of May against Ritey's. It was somewhere in the 500s. I tweeted that out a few days ago. So he was really doing pretty much all of his damage against lefties there for a while. But we started to see that come back into balance a little bit.

in these last few games. But yeah, Kattel against lefties, it's, you know, it's a pretty, pretty unreal experience. Well, Ketel coming into this game, had a 3.4 Boar or B-WR, whatever you prefer to say. That's the same, honestly. That's a crazy number for this point. Second in the National League and seventh in the majors, not to mention defensively. His 1.2 defensive B-WR leads the National League and is tied for second major league baseball. with old friend Dalton Varsho for the Toronto Blue Jays and behind Marcus Simeon for the Texas Rangers.

So Cattel just continues to be incredibly valuable for this team. And most likely we'll be heading to Texas as an All-Star, which we will talk about here shortly. But we wanted to talk about our All-Stars, which are our Die Hard members. Of course, we thank you guys so much for being die-hard members. We appreciate you guys a ton. there is a brand new diehard interview that I conducted with my pal Steve Zinsmeister, the pregame and postgame host for DBAX Radio. So that is available for you diehard members.

If you're not a diehard member, join us over here at go phtnx.com. You get exclusive content like that. You get access to all of Jesse's written content and all of our wonderful writers. I don't know if you heard, but Craig Morgan, he's just bopping around. He was just on the ASU show the other day. Craig Morgan's just doing writing for everyone. So, I mean, that alone should let you know that. Eventually we're going to see a fight between Jesse and Craig.

And that will definitely be televised only for diehard. So make sure to get your diehard membership now. You get discounts on our vents like that fight. That fight will probably sell tickets for. And you can get discounts on that. And so much more, including our Mercury takeover, which Kayla Cooper, let's fucking go. Mercury had a big win tonight over the link. So make sure to join us for that takeover for the Phoenix Mercury.

Of course, also speaking. of things to join us at come get these hands at chicken and pickle. I can't tell you, Jesse, how much I enjoyed going over to chicken and pickle. I had no idea it was such an enormous facility. It's beautiful. There's so much

to do. Even if you are not a fan of pickleball, it doesn't matter. There's a million other things for you to do there. They've got ping pong, Derek. They got ping pong. Yeah, come get those hands and ping pong from Jesse. I may or may not have gone to chicken and pickle

and just played ping pong the entire time. You did. That's sort of how I roll. And you didn't even eat a chicken sandwich, which by the way, I can't describe to you how delicious. I regret that. It was, they have a special, like, pickled chicken sandwich that's like, it's like brined and pickle juice and then grilled. It was out of this world. So make sure to check out the wonderful food they have to offer. It's an indoor, outdoor entertainment complex, includes a casual chef-driven restaurant. It's a sports bar. It's, you can bring your dogos. There's just all sorts of wonderful stuff to do.

including Pickleball with Pops, which is an annual event that is returning here on June 16th. So make sure to grab your favorite doubles partner. And by that, I mean, dad. And make sure to meet us on the courts. Check your first beer or non-alcoholic drink is included with your ticket on that. So register at reserve cnp.com. They also have so much more fun, including summer camp, junior pickleball camps this summer for kids to learn pickleball. When my daughter was really little, I used to take her.

to an outdoor pickleball court over here, and we had a blast. The people waiting on us to take our court, they didn't have as much fun, but we had a blast. So it's a great time to be had with the kids. Kids absolutely love pickleball, and it's just such an easy sport to pick up. So head to chicken and pickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location. Also, right here in the Valley, of course, for more than 84 years, Desert Financial Credit Union has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union. They got me started on my homeownership journey. That's how long they've been around long enough that at one point, I was a 20-year-old that had no place to live.

And they got me started down this wonderful path of being in this room I'm in right now, filled with these stupid video games behind me. But I'm so grateful that they did. Remember, Desert Financial is a financial institution you can trust with financial experts who are committed to their members and the community offering financial solutions that will help you achieve your financial goals. join a credit union that's committed to giving back to the community and sharing success with its members. Right now, when you open a free checking account online, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200 right now. I did want to give a shout out to one of our favorite viewers. He might be a part-time listener, but I know that he's a full-time viewer.

And that's our guy, Andrew Dang. He sent us a super chat yesterday that we didn't get a chance to get to, but he did send us one thing saying he thinks the devax can climb to second place in the National League West by next month. And honestly, with the schedule ahead, that is a very, very, very, that's very possible, right? The Diamondbacks have some easy games ahead against some opponents who have been losing quite a bit. Hopefully, they can take care of business against those opponents and not be that get-right team that we referenced them being at one point. also wanted to give a huge shout out to OGs because this is this is flavoring Fridays. And I mean, again, this is a great night for OGs.

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Jesse, the Diamondbacks, again, they still can't lose or win games or come back from games when they're down by two runs or more. I believe they only have, is it two victories this year? Or is it two victories when they are down by two plus runs? Yeah, yeah, I think that sounds right. Not answerbacks, no answer. That answer back shirt.

I'm making sure it gets pulled from the shop. I've said it before. It cannot exist because they cannot allow. They just can't have that name. They can't answer back. You can't have the answer back name. But you can't have the count. And let's take a look at the count presented by our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union.

Diamondbacks really got waxed in this one, Jesse. Out hit 14 to 8. Runners in scoring position, Padres were three for nine, which it seems like they were 10 for 11 or 20 for 30. It just seems like they kept scoring runs. Diamondbacks, 0 for 5. in that department. Those two home runs were the majority of their, actually those two home runs were all of their offense

because one was a two run home run. One was a solo shot. Padres had three home runs on the night. They also hit the ball very hard. Their hard hit percentage was 45.5% to the Diamondbacks, measly 24%. What is it? What is it about this man, Michael King,

that the Diamondbacks just can't figure out, Jesse? You know, Michael King, I was thinking about this during the game. Michael King is actually pretty similar to Brandon fought in a lot of ways, right? Like he's four-seam sinker guy with a sweeper and a change-up. The pitch arsenals are basically identical. I think King also throws a slider as well, which is a little bit different than his sweeper. He only threw like a couple of those, not a pitch he uses very often.

So their arsenals are really similar. King kind of has this weird cross-body thing going on. people probably notice if they if they watch this game as pitching motion is a little bit unconventional and yeah d-backs hitters just they just looked uncomfortable they were they were seeing a lot of pitches there were a lot of extended at bats there were some very good at bats through the course of the day for the d-backs but they just didn't always end very well king just did a nice job of staying out of the middle of the zone he had some some big misses which is i think a big reason why some of those counts uh you know were went

so long, why some of those abats went so long. But he didn't really make like any, any significant mistake pitches, at least not very many of them. Whereas as we showed earlier with Brandon fought, he had quite a few pitches that were sort of right in the middle. And I think that was a pretty big, pretty big difference between those two guys tonight. Yeah. And when you were talking about his sweeper, not to dwell on it too much, but was the bigger

problem being centrally located? I know he missed literally right down in the middle several times with it. But was it more about that or was it more about the fact that they were higher up in the zone? What was what was really the problem that was causing them to be able to pick up that sweeper and not miss it? Yeah. I mean, I think it's that's probably best used toward the bottom of the zone. But it's really what's important is that you get it on the outer edge of the place. I mean, I guess there could be room for like a front door sweeper in certain situations. That's a pretty hard pitch to execute. But all those ones down the center, essentially, whether they were higher or lower or all essentially misses.

Yeah, yeah. Any pitch that lands anywhere in the middle is certainly going to be a miss, even if it's at the bottom of the zone, frankly. Like I think Fought is pretty much always aiming for that outside edge or a little bit off the outside edge if he's looking for a swing and miss. And part of this is also not just command, but I don't think the pitch moved quite as much today. If I can find this real quick. Yeah, he was down two inches tonight in horizontal movement on the sweeper. So it wasn't sweeping quite as much.

And that also can help explain why some of these pitches maybe landed a little bit more more toward the middle than toward the outside edge of the plate to some of those righties. Well, this is very discouraging because. Because obviously with the way things have gone with Jordan Montgomery, now start to worry about Brandon Faud a bit, start to worry about this starting lineup. I mean, we have had at least a bit of news about Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, both being out to, you know, starting their throwing programs and such. But it does feel like, at least for Merrill Kelly, it's going to still be a while before we see him. It feels like Eduardo Rodriguez is going to be a while before we see him. And even Zach.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know with what we've heard about Zach, if it's very. encouraging that he's going to be back or he's just going to be missing, you know, one start or two starts. It does feel like it could potentially be more. I am proud of the job the bullpen is done, but just kind of, I guess, in going the opposite direction of what I was saying when I was accusing

Tori of kind of waving the white flag here on this game. Like there comes a point where you can only rely on the bullpen so much. when starting pitching is going to only give you like four solid innings, you know, most night. So I mean, I think that's my concern is that eventually all of this is going to catch up to them. And it could be at a bad time, right? It could be as soon as those games that I discussed earlier that are coming up with the White Sox, the Angels, and the Nationals, where it's a stretch that you should, you know, get a lot of wins in there. and you know, you just don't have the pitching essentially to get the job done.

Yeah, it's a great point. I mean, we really figured that Jordan Montgomery and Brandon fought were going to have to really step up during the stretch where they, where they don't have gown, they don't have Kelly, they don't have E-Rod. You really needed a lot of those two guys, and that just hasn't really happened, right? Jordan Montgomery has a 6-8-0-ERA. I believe he has the highest ERA in baseball among pitchers who've thrown 40 or more innings this year, at least that was the case as of a couple of days ago. And then now you've got Fott, who we've said it time and time again,

I think he's pitched better than his numbers would indicate. But at the end of the day, a 460 ERA is a 460 ERA, and that's where Fought stands right now. You've got him at a 460. You've got Montgomery at a 680. And the other two guys that are currently in the rotation, Slade Cicone and Ryan Nelson, their ERAs aren't very good either, right? Cicone as of right now is at 566.

Ryan Nelson is at 5.44. I mean, those are your four guys that are in your, in your rotation right now. We'll see what happens with the fifth spot on Sunday. But it's tough to win games, Derek, when you've got four guys or the ERA is that high. It's really not rocket science. Well, and I've talked about pressure,

and I've talked about how this team is handling pressure. You know, I think we've kind of made a fair point about the injuries. and that the injuries, the returning players are definitely going to help out the pitching side more than the offense, you know, because Alec Thomas and Geraldo Perdomo aren't bringing you a bunch of home runs, a bunch of power, and a really high batting average. I mean, they're going to do something for this team. They bring a lot more than just their numbers, their stats. I think Alec Thomas brings a swag that this team doesn't have, kind of a certain toughness. And I think Raldo Pardomo definitely brings, you know, some vibes that can definitely change not only the clubhouse, but just change guys headspace when they're out there on the field, right? But, I mean, again, really what it comes down to potentially is that Brandon Fought and Jordan Montgomery know the same thing we do, which is that the Diamondbacks are really going to be relying on them during this stretch. And maybe, you know, I don't know Jordan Montgomery.

and I don't know about his ability to handle pressure, but I know that the guy did a damn good job in the playoffs last year, and I know that Big Game Brandon was able to obviously step up and handle the pressure from last year. So, you know, part of this probably is that it's probably just a little bit of potentially hopelessness right now with this team. Like, I know that there's a lot of guys coming back, so you at least have that to rely on, that those guys will be back.

It's not like we lost them for the season, and it's not like this team as it's going to, constructed is how it's going to have to play out until the end of the year. It just feels like, you know, again, it's a lot that these guys are kind of a lot of weight that these guys are carrying. And right now, you know, not to be too judgmental of them, it doesn't feel like they're doing a great job under the pressure at times, you know. Certain guys are like Catell's thriving under the pressure.

You know, Catell, it seems like he's better. He's better. It does. It does. It feels like he's better under the pressure. He's had these amazing hit streaks. He had that historic hitting streak in the, playoffs last year and it feels like he didn't miss a beat from that stretch to this year i mean

katell hasn't been perfect but his numbers have been pretty damn good and again when compared to the rest of the team he's been the guy that's kind of been holding it down right but uh i mean it's hard sometimes when you are suddenly looked at especially someone like jordan montgomery that was expected to just kind of not be a role player but be one of a very good starting rotation and not be the guy, not even be number two necessarily, just be one of the guys in the starting rotation. And then very quickly, he's thrust into the role that everybody's looking at him, like, well, you're essentially our ace now, right now. And I mean, based on how he pitched last year, like, I don't know.

I mean, Jordan Montgomery is your ace on paper coming into this season. Wouldn't have sounded like a terrible thing. Not an ideal thing. Like, he's generally been more of a mid-rotation guy than a front-line guy. but he was really, really good last year for the Cardinals and the Rangers. I mean, he had basically the probably the best season of his career was obviously instrumental in the playoffs and helping the Rangers do what they did. So, yeah, it's tough, Derek.

Like imagining this team with Gallin and Kelly and Erod, I mean, what a different universe of baseball team this becomes, right? And I was thinking today about like how the podcast. The Padres aren't at full strength either. You know, they should have Darvish. They should have Musgrove. And then I realized, but oh, the Diamondbacks could have Gallen and Merrill Kelly and in Marta Rodriguez. Like, that's a pretty, you know, you could argue the diamondbacks are missing out on more than the Padres are. I think that's probably pretty fair to say.

So it's, yeah, it's just unfortunate the situation that this team is in. Well, I wish we were lying about the situation that they're in. And it's funny how different it goes from one night to the next because last night, it felt like we were kind of on top of the world because Diamondbacks were able to win game one and kind of get out to a lead in a series for once. And this is an important series. So, you know, you want to see them do a good job here. I think you are pretty satisfied with a split, right? But I'd be lying if I said I was satisfied with a split. But, Jesse, you know, I never lie.

Damon, huge liar. You occasional, intentional fibber. But the numbers, they never lie. So what do you have for tonight's number from tonight's game? Yeah, this goes back to Fott. The number is 358. This is the batting average for Padres hitters against Brandon fought this season. I mentioned earlier.

Oh, God. You have 10 hits to the Padres in his last outing earlier this season. He's last outing against them earlier this season. and then you have nine hits today. So Padres hitters are hitting 358 against Fought this year. That, Derek, compared to a 218 mark for the rest of the league against Fought. So I don't know. I don't know what it is.

Padres seem to have him figured out for whatever reason. They got his number, man. They have his number. But of course, we thank you guys all for being here in the PHN Export YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, we implore you to do so now. Sign up for notifications that we don't miss whenever our wonderful. shows go live. Of course, drop us a like. We always appreciate when you do that. We also appreciate when you subscribe on the audio podcasting side. Make sure you leave us a review. We appreciate the

feedback. We also very much appreciate those five-star reviews. They help us out a ton. Again, a big thanks to tonight's sponsor of OGs brands. OGs has a wide, delicious variety of gummies to offer edibles, wonderful, delicious, and in very, very significant effects, whether you're looking to midnight sleep, whether you're looking to just improve your mood, especially after a loss like this, or if you're looking, you know, just to have a good time. So make sure to check out all the wonderful things OG's brands has to offer. They have their big OGs gummies right now, which is a mega version of Pegs, Raspberry Orange RSO. And of course, for you vegans out there, they have OGs naturals, which are vegan gummies made with live rosin, available in a sweet

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A great way to spend a Friday night is with our friends at Four Peaks. Four Peaks has a wonderful variety of beers, including a variety pack that you can get at the grocery store that features a little bit of all they have to offer. So whether you're able to go down and check out their Four Peaks locations in person and try out their wonderful selection of beers on the tap or get like a variety 15 pack from your store, you can definitely enjoy everything Four Peaks has an offer, including that Bad Birdie, Juicy Gold nail, which I love so much. Look at those.

It's beautiful. The cans are beautiful. They're little tiny works of art. I almost feel bad drinking them because I feel like, you know, that they, they, they belong on a shelf like we used to do when we were too young to actually drink and we would just keep bottles and cans of that kind of nature. Maybe I'm just speaking of personal experience. But, of course, check out all the wonderful can designs and wonderful options. Four Peaks has an offer.

Visit FourPeaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite beers and events. Check out at Four Peaks brew or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest in Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or over to drink Four Peaks. And please enjoy responsibly. Well, speaking of Catele Marte and the way that he has been absolutely kicking ass this year, let's discuss the all-star candidates for the Diamondbacks for this year because we're going to be there live and in person in Texas covering Tori Lovelo managing the National League team. And obviously we'll also be very excited to be covering whatever representatives from this team happen to make it to Arlington or Dallas, whatever you want to call the area. I don't want to call it Arlington.

I just want to call it Dallas. Can I just say it's Dallas? That way people know which restaurants to recommend me to and which bars I need to go to. But we had the conversation, Jesse, about essentially voting for actual All-Stars or voting for just the guys on your team. And I feel like it's become a very popular thing to just vote for the guys on your team, for fan bases to kind of unite and just try to get their guys voted in. But I remember when the voting process first started, as a baseball fan, I took it very seriously. I wanted to make sure the right guys got in,

the guys who deserved it. And I still feel like that is the right call. And I'm guessing that's going to be the position you take as well. Yeah, I've always, you know, tried to do my best to kind of analyze, you know, analyze who really deserves even back, you know, growing up in Arizona and being, you know, being an avid Diamondbacks fan when I,

I was a wee lad. I would still do my due diligence and try to figure out who, who really deserved to be, to be, to be, you know, to actually be in the All-Star game. Remember punching out Chads? I do remember that. Chads everywhere. Oh, my God. My room would be littered with Chads. As far as the Diamondbacks are concerned, the obvious candidate here is Cattel, right? Ketel leads all, not only all National League, second baseman. in OPS. He leads all second baseman in the sport in OPS with a mark of 848, I believe. And yeah, second place is Dolan Gorman, who has had a good season for the St. Louis Cardinals.

But if you go over to Winds above replacement, which I know you talked about, Ketell's B-war earlier in the show, if we use FWAR, if we use fan graphs, wore there. The right one, the right one. Contell is at 2.5. and the next highest mark in the National League is Tyro Estrada at 1.5. Gorman is down at 1.3. It's really not even, yeah, it's really not even remotely close.

Not only has Cattel been better than everyone else offensively, he's also been better than everyone else defensively, or at least you could make a pretty convincing case for that. So Cattel, yeah, Cotel should start at second base for the National League, at least as of right now. Luis Arise, I guess is another name that we should mention here. I don't think he popped up on my war search because he's played some first base this season as well. So I guess he's another name that could be a factor there as well.

Christian Walker is a guy that obviously we all think of as an All-Star, but I know he hasn't been having the type of year we hoped to see him have. I'm sure it's not the type of year. He personally wishes he would have, especially in a contract year like this. But what is Christian Walker's chance? Do we have a chance of seeing him get the All-Star bid? I know he's kind of up there in the mix, but he has a couple of big names kind of ahead of him.

I mean, the big names are pretty obvious. It's Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman. I think you can pretty much lock in both of those guys right now. So if there were to be a third first baseman for the National League, then I think Christian Walker probably would have the best case for that. As of right now, he has a $799 OPS. Pete Alonzo has a 790. 92. So those guys are pretty close. There's a few other first baseman that aren't that aren't far

behind. You go by Winsbaugh replacement there over fan graphs. It's actually really close between Harper, Freeman and Walker. Harper's at 2.2. Freeman's at 2.1 and Walker's at 2.0. That, of course, having a lot to do with what Walker does defensively. He is the best, the best defensive first baseman in baseball. That's a pretty well-established fact at this point. So I don't think people really factor in defense as much when they're when they're casting their all-star ballots, although I think they should. Like I think defense, I think defense matters. But yeah, it's not a super convincing case.

I think you could, you could maybe get a third first baseman in there, but a 799 OPS right now for Walker. He's, he's going to have to bring that up if he's going to, if he's going to play in that game. What about the relievers on this team? I do know that Tori brought up Paul Seawald. earlier this week. He also brought up C-Tel and Christian Walker, obviously. But he brought up C-Walt, and obviously, I mean, C-Wald probably doesn't have the amount of time or the innings pitch to really qualify for that. But what about other guys?

Tori brought up Ryan Thompson, and we brought up Justin Martinez on the show the other day. Both of them seem like they are having an incredible year and could be, at least, especially Justin Martinez. as like just this an incredible like breakout moment where he goes from being a guy that we all know to a guy that everybody in baseball comes to learn learn his name. I mean, right now, J. Mart's it, I believe it's 21 and two thirds innings and one earned run. I mean, if we get to the all-star break and, and, you know, say he rattles off another 10 score list between now and then, are we really to say that Justin Martinez with a, you know, I guess it'd be like a sub 0.3 ERA at that point. Is that guy not an All-Star? Like, I know he spent some time in the miners and he's not a closer.

He hasn't really pitched in many high-leverage situations, but I at least wonder if there comes a point when your ERA is so ridiculously low. They're like, yeah, you're in because your ERA is 0.27 or whatever. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't, I'd be pretty surprised if J-Mart found a way to make it. I do think that the fact that he missed some time and the role that he's been in for most of his time, those are legitimate factors there. You know,

I don't know if he'll still have only given up one run by the time the All-Star break actually rolls around. Well, and do middle relievers typically get an opportunity in the All-Star game like that? I mean, you know, you have the starters that are going out there and just pitching one inning, right? So like it just doesn't feel typically like guys deserve or earn that chance, no matter how good they are as a middle reliever. If that was the case, though, Ryan Thompson should definitely be considered as well, not just because of his numbers, not just because of this 1.04 ERA and 26 in six innings pitch, Jesse.

But Ryan Thompson should be considered because what a story that is, what a story he is. And again, I'm not acting like he was terrible with the Tampa Bay race because he wasn't. We looked at the results from last year. We looked at the numbers. He really just had basically two bad outings that really destroyed his ERA. And then next thing you know, he became the expendable member of their bullpen.

Luckily for us, he did because Thompson has been incredible, not to mention on a personal note, how delightful he's been for you and I. We had him on this show. He was an incredible interview. He's a very interesting person to talk to with a lot of things. things going on in life, not just in baseball. And he's just one of the nicest people I've ever met. Like, when you see him in that puppy commercial rolling around with the puppies on the floor, that was legitimately just what he was doing. Like, yes, they captured it on camera. Nobody directed

him to do that. The man saw puppies and he melted into a puddle on the floor of the dugout. Like, how is that not a man you could get behind? Not to mention, what a wonderful story it would be from Tampa Bay Ray cast off to All-Star, essentially in over the course of a 12-month period. Like, that's an incredibly cool story, and that would be awesome to see. Yeah, he's, he's thrown a few more innings than Martinez. He's at 26. J-Mart, as I said, I think he's at 21 and 2 thirds. So I think from an inning standpoint, he's in a totally fine place.

I mean, he's obviously been pitching with the debacks whole season. He didn't miss any time or anything. And, yeah, he's given up three earned runs in those 26. innings, which is pretty darn impressive. He's been, I guess you could kind of fit him into the setup man category. He's been the Diamondbacks eighth inning guy for a while. I'm looking at, I'm looking at the rosters from last year, just as sort of a reference point in the American League as far as relievers go.

We had Kenley Janssen, Emmanuel Clase, Felix Batista, Yenier-Kinez, and Carlos Estevez, who are all closers, with the exception of Canoe, who I guess. guess was operating as the setup man for the Orioles at that point. And then in the National League, I believe you just had closers. It's Alexis Diaz, Josh Hader, Devin Williams, Camila Duval, David Bednar, and Craig Kimberl. So yeah, it does seem like, and I think if we were to look back at, you know, rosters from years past, years further in the past, I think you would see that it does tend to be closers and maybe like one set up guy or maybe two set up guys. So I don't think it's a guarantee, but, you know, given the role, but Thompson is, it's hard to argue he's not deserving.

I mean, three-earned runs and 26 innings, pretty much all of that high-levered situations, he's been so huge for this Diamondbacks team. Well, Jesse, tomorrow, the London series takes place between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. Yeah. I'm just rooting for both teams to lose, basically, is what I'm rooting for. There's been some pretty hideous clothing items that have been spotted by John Boy and others in the London area. A lot of Mets, Phillies, dual logo things where it's like a hoodie or a shirt. And it's not just like it's one thing to acknowledge the series and to have the logo like the London series with the Phillies logo and the Mets on it. this is just insane clothing where it has two division rivals on it like is if you can't decide

which team you like more one of your dad's from philly your mom's from you know queens and you can't decide so you're just i root for both teams like yay like that's really what's going on and i don't think that's fair to the people of england jesse i don't feel like they deserve to be confused and then later mocked by us americans that know better uh for buying those terrible items of clothing but I am yeah who would be like who would be the target audience for that because yeah it's it's someone who is attending the game they're from the UK or maybe Europe or something and they're just buying the like souvenir like they don't really have an affiliation with either team they don't care nor do they really understand how egregious it is that both teams are on the same article of clothing

jesse could you imagine if the diamondbacks and the dodgers had a shirt where it was just the d and the LA just running around together on a shirt together. Yeah. That's gross. I don't think Diamondback fans would be, would be wearing that anywhere. And also, like, people who are from the UK, they don't, like, don't strike me as being, like, neutral.

I'm just here to kind of have a good time. Like, I feel like those people attending the game in London, they have a team that they're rooting for, right? That's fine. They might not. But more importantly, if you explained, to them if you were like this would be like rooting for cardiff and then them playing rexom and then those teams playing each other which i very much got an melb rexum collab shirt that's

on its way just to bother owen and this is definitely becoming the most expensive joke i've ever been involved with ever but uh moving on from that uh yeah i mean like if you explain to them it would be like two teams that hate each other being on the same article of clothing they would understand that more than american sports fans like those people over there understand a rivalry They understand hating a team that is a direct, you know, adversary of yours. So I'm sure they would very much understand not to do that, not to buy those pieces of clothing. And I bet they won't sell anyway. Those are all going to end up on Fanatics website at half off.

So don't you worry. No one's buying those. But I am grateful that the Diamondbacks aren't playing in a series like this, Jesse. And it's not because, you know, if they were, you and I would definitely be flying to England. and that would definitely be a good time. I would, just like Megarrand did, the first stop would be for crumpets when I arrive there because that's what you have to do when you're there.

But what we've seen is these weird series tend to mess teams up. And I mean, I'm not opposed to that happening to the Phillies right now. I won't be honest. I won't lie. I won't lie. We know that this happened to the Diamondbacks when they went to Australia.

They had a horrible season that year. Yeah, and it was all because it was all because of those. It was all because of Australia that they played in Sydney before the rest of the season started. That's what I'm blaming it on. Yeah, it'll be, I mean, I still on a more serious don't. Like, I really think it's cool that Major League Baseball is doing this. They're trying to build, yeah, they're trying to get more eyes on the product. They're trying to get people excited about baseball in other countries.

And that's a good thing. That's something that absolutely should be happening. The matchups, as we've discussed in the past, have always seen. a little bizarre. We had the Astros playing the Rockies in Mexico City earlier this season. This at least is an actual division rivalry, right? Yeah, this is a division rivalry. I mean, the Phillies are a way better team than the Mets at this point.

Like, I don't think there's really any disputing that. I guess maybe that, you know, they probably schedule these things way out in advance. They don't know exactly how good each team is going to be at that point. Padres Dodgers was okay. Like that, you know, that's a decent division rivalry as well. We had that to open this 2024 season. But it would be like the most cool if you could have two teams against each other where it's just like a totally electric matchup, you know,

everyone wants to see. But yeah, it should be fun to watch. I'm looking forward to it. I wonder, are they considering this home games for one team or another? Do they each have a home game? Like, does one team get to be the home team? and then the next day. I think they would, I think they'd probably do it that way, right?

Where each team gets one. Otherwise, it would be pretty clearly a disservice to, you know, giving one team a clear advantage or the other team of clear disadvantage. This whole thing happening during the regular season, like I am completely with this, Jesse. I'm much like you. I love the idea of growing the game. I like the idea of holding it in cool different locations.

I would love to see them travel to Japan because of how much, you know, baseball is revered in Japan. But I also think like, again, I'm not joking when I say I'm grateful that the team I cover and I root for is not involved in this because it feels like just a huge kind of distraction in the middle of the season, especially a season where the Phillies are off to such a good start. And you don't really want to compromise that or you don't want to have something kind of make, you know, turn things in a negative direction. So it's a lot of travel. It's a lot of stuff. but I get it. I mean, things, we're in the modern era. Things are easier. It's easier to travel internationally than it's ever been.

But there's one, I guess one main point I want to make, and that's this video that I found. Damon, if you don't mind. Here's the race. You got Henry the 8th, the Loch Ness Monster, which, as it turns out, had nothing in the way of footspeed. You've got Winston Churchill, Cigar and all, and then Freddie Mercury. The freeze bit the dust earlier. But Freddie Mercury, he is the champion. Don't stop me now, Jesse. I'm having a good time.

I'm having a ball. Oh, my God. I can't believe they did this. I can't believe they brought over essentially a legends race to England. It's possibly the most important part of baseball. So I'm very glad they didn't forget it. But I am absolutely delighted by the legends that they chose to appear. We just talked about this the other day.

We talked about sprucing up our legends race, revamping it, getting some new blood in there, right? The Lochness fucking monster, Jesse? The Lochness monster? Are you kidding me? Winston Churchill? Freddie Mercury comes from the outside and takes the race? I loved every minute of this.

And the minute I saw this, I was 100% in for the London. series. Isn't, I would imagine that the flight from Philly or New York to London is probably not, that's not far. Not bad. Yeah, not bad. I mean, shorter than probably about the same distance as flying from coast to coast, I imagine. Yeah, the mariners are like, geez, guys, like we do, we do this all the time. When are we about to play the Marlins? Oh, my God, it's ridiculous. Yeah, they're having fun. with it, which is, which is good. I love it. I'm excited to see, I'm excited to see how it looks tomorrow. We've got Ranger Suarez against Sean Mania in the first game. Looks like the Mets are playing

role of home team on Saturday. And then Sunday, it's Jose Quintana against Taiwan Walker. Not exactly the most electric pitching matchup in that Sunday game. But yeah, it should be, should be fun to watch. Hopefully, hopefully there's some good offense, some good offense in that one, I suppose. I cover sports for a living. We've talked about this. Damon and I were just talking about this the other day. It's hard sometimes to have time off away from work and then still get as excited about watching sports as you used to as a fan. But I am pumped for tomorrow. I mean, we have early morning baseball in London. We got the Belmont sticks. I'm not trying to do an ad here for Fox, but I might as well just be. So I know

Max is going to yell at me for the free ad. But I mean, I'm watching Fox all day long. You got L.A. play in the Yankees, then you also have the Diamondbacks taking on the Padres later in the evening. So it is going to be a day filled with baseball and horses going around in circles for a little bit. So I'm very excited for that. But I hope all of you guys enjoy your weekend.

I hope you have similar plans. I'm also taking my daughter to see Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett and the Black Hearts on Sunday. And I kind of wish it was Father's Day because there isn't really a better way I could imagine spending a day with my 13-year-old daughter watching acts that I kind of grew up loving and now she loves.

She has a Lance Morissette record. She has stuff like that. So I'm excited about that. And I'm very much looking forward to having some family time this weekend. I hope you guys all get down on that as well. Unfortunately, it's going to be at an outdoor concert venue on a day where it's 112 degrees. So I might not make it back to this show. So if I don't, I bid you guys to do.

I love you all and I wish you the best. In the meantime, I would still appreciate it, whether I'm dead or alive, if you followed me on Twitter. I'm at Kappa underscore Kman with a K. Of course, this maniac recovering in San Diego next to me. You see how much water I'm drinking, Derek? You were drinking a ton of water, man, and I'm proud of you. I am so every time I want to like shout out or something, like we need a little water counter that Jesse's taking care of himself and hydrating.

But make sure to follow him at Jesse and Friedman. He will be in San Diego providing you with all sorts of wonderful information from the final two games of the series, along with postgame coverage. So do not miss out on following him. Of course, our producer, the people's producer, Damon, is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark Park.

Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-BACs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Like who said right here, go vote Cattel and Christian Walker before you go to bed. And it's 1108. I don't know how the times of things work on the voting website, but maybe just stay up for another hour and then vote for them again. And then you have that taken care of for tomorrow. It's one less thing to do tomorrow while you're watching baseball and horses race around in circles.

So take care of that. Take care of yourselves. Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. We'll be back on Monday. with our Mailbag Monday episode. So drop us some questions. Make sure not to miss that special interview I did if you are a diehard with our friend, Steve Zinsbeister.

And also, don't forget to have a wonderful weekend. We will see you guys back next week. Thank you for being a Diamondbacks fan. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't quit on the team in the eighth inning.