PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - E-Rod BACK on the BUMP, Ketel Marte LEADS the CHARGE for Diamondbacks vs Reds

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Eduardo Rodriguez is set to make his return to the Diamondbacks starting rotation. Can he be effective and improve upon his inconsistent performances this season? We also discuss Ketel Marte starting to make his case for the All Star Game, updates on battle to renovate the Chase Field, and MLB proposal to institute the Automated Balls and Strikes challenge system for 2026.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!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/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: 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.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!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxCarol Royse Team: To buy/sell your home, call Carol Royse at 480-776-5231 or visit carolroyseteam.comAll Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate!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.#dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen#corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Arizona Diamondbacks look to take on the Cincinnati Reds. We have your series preview and why Erod is going to be starting for the Diamondbacks. We also have more on Cateel Marte making his All-Star bid this year. All of this in 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. PHNX Diamondbacks podcast on PHNX. My name is Derek Montefee. We know that you're mayor of PHNX. We got our guy, Damon Dog, on the ones and twos today.

And, of course, we are still riding high off of yesterday's comeback victory. I don't know. I had one of the best nights of sleep that I've had in a while, Damon. How about you? How you feel on considering your four and oh since returning to this podcast? I feel great about just this team, the vibes right now, the love in this room. It all just feels insane right now, Derek. It does.

There's a lot of people dressed up as furries walking around downtown Phoenix. It's a weird thing going on. I heard Anthony Totry was getting involved in that, potentially. I don't know. He's going to dress as a cat from my understanding and go to that thing that's going on downtown. but of course, Diamondbacks have to have some confidence after their 11 to 10 victory over the Braves and sweeping that team. We have more on why I could tell Marte just might want to stay in Atlanta or at least make some accommodations for next month and hang out there for the All-Star game. But this show is always, as always, is brought to you by our friends of Bet365 and Game Time.

Make sure to download that Game Time app right now. Use our code of PHNX. You'll get $20 off your first purchase. Also, download the Bet365 app. Use our code of PHNX365. You'll receive $150 in bonus bets for betting just $5, win or lose. But yes, the Arizona Diamondbacks, again, had one of the biggest comeback victories in team history. In fact, we do have a correction to yesterday's stats, thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau that has corrected that the Diamondbacks are now 1 and 418 all time when trailing by 6 plus runs.

entering the ninth so do we need to change that thumbnail i guess we're going to have to go back and fix that thumbnail david that's what we get for trying to use stats as our as our funny as our funny thumbnail title but regardless it does mark the first time in franchise history the diamondbacks have done that thing regardless of how many times they've lost it is one one is correct and that was because yesterday it was the first time they have ever come back when trailing by six or more runs in the ninth inning and of course it's a great time to kind of get things rolling here for the Diamondbacks. They do take on a Cincinnati Reds team. We're going to

preview that series here, but the Cincinnati Reds team is kind of mid. Not in a bad way. Just kind of mediocre. I think we have the stats for the Reds this season at a glance here. And the Reds

again, not a bad team. I am not making them out to be a bad team. They currently have a record of 30 and 33. They have a plus 23 run differential. They are four and six in their last 10. But when looking through their stats here, they are just kind of above average in everything in Major League Baseball, but not really great at any one thing.

They have a 709 OPS, which is 13th in Major League. They're starting pitching ERA is 3.64, which is good for 11th in Major League Baseball. Relief pitching ERA, probably their biggest weakness here at 4.04, which is 20th. And then they have zero outs above average. So they are basically the most average of average team. there when it comes to outs above average currently tied for 13th with the new york yankees and again this is still a reds team that is young is exciting and has quite a bit you know obviously uh quite quite a bit of like danger to playing them like this isn't a team you can take for granted but also

this is a team that you know the diamondbacks coming off of this series went over the braves have a good chance against. However, they do have Eduardo Rodriguez going on the mound tonight for the Diamondbacks. And I know that brings a lot of people pause. I know for sure Damon is very, I definitely couldn't say he's cautiously optimistic about tonight's game. But Erod does return to the lineup. And quite frankly, I know a lot of people aren't excited to see Rodriguez return considering his stats for this year. However, the Diamondbacks kind of need him. He kind of returns at a very good time right now.

If the Diamondbacks were down both Erod and Corbyn Burns, they would legitimately have to start looking into their, you know, AAA depth. They would probably have to put Tommy Henry maybe into the starting rotation or call up Bryce Jarvis. So even though I know a lot of fans aren't excited to see Erod return, it is better than not having a full. starting rotation and having the kind of scramble to figure things out. Landon in the comment says E-Rod better not get E-Rocked.

That deserves to be put up on screen. And we hope not, right? That's the big thing is, was Eduardo Rodriguez bad this year because of this injury? Was, you know, some of his poor performance due to him not being at 100%. That could be the case. But we do have our probable pitchers for this Cincinnati Red series. and of course, Eduardo Rodriguez goes in game one here against Nick Lodolo for the Reds. And Erod this year has a 1 in 3 record with a 7.05 ERA this season.

He also has 52 strikeouts. Lodolo 4 and 4 with a 3.10 ERA, 4 and 4 this year for the Reds. Then the Diamondbacks have Ryan Nelson starting in game 2 and Zach Gallen starting there in game 3. Nelson this year has been outstanding. Yeah, he's two and one with a 3.43 ERA. And again, another another member of this team that we should be very grateful we had for his versatility, for his ability to go to the bullpen, basically be stretched out, compete for a starting position that he had a good idea he wasn't going to win, lose that position, be the long reliever for

this team, and then still be asked to come back into the starting rotation and, you know, and shove. And that's exactly what he's done. And he's been really good in his outings as a starter. And again, another thing, Diamondbacks fan should be thankful for that we have someone like Ryan Nelson that's able to step up in Corbyn's absence. He goes up against Nick Martinez in game two of this series, who's three and six, but has a 3.89 ERA with 47 strikeouts this season. A lot of good pitching here from the Reds in game one and game two. Meanwhile, Brady Singer there going up against Zach Gallen in game three.

Gallin is on the road and Gallen had an outstanding start his last time out outside of that fourth inning. So hopefully Galen can keep on that same path of establishing his fastball early, getting a lot of soft contact and getting these reds to basically efficiently get out of this inning. But of court or out of the outing, Gallin is four and seven though this year with a 5.13 ERA and 70 strikeouts. Brady Singer, meanwhile, 4.66 ERA for the rest. Reds, six and four record this season. But again, the Diamondbacks have, you know, some issues here when it comes to starting pitching.

And really right now, the big question is, who is Eduardo Rodriguez going to be when he returns to this lineup for the Diamondbacks? Is he going to be the guy that at one time was very effective, even, you know, not maybe putting up the best numbers in his career, but very effective for this team over a stretch. So far, we haven't seen that version as a Diamondback from Eduardo Rodriguez. Last year, he finished the season with a 5.04 ERA. Just didn't have the great season, a 1.5-0-0 whip. This year, he currently has a 7.05 ERA with a 1.701 whip.

Just awful numbers for a guy that put up some pretty consistent numbers in his career. In his two seasons for the Tigers, he had a 3.58 ERA. And then at one point for the Red Sox towards the end of his tenure there in Boston, had a 3.82 ERA, 3.81 ERA. And in fact, started the most games in Major League Baseball in 2019 and was sixth in Cy Young voting. Does that register with you, Damon, that at one point, Eduardo Rodriguez, a short time ago,

was sixth in Cy Young voting. And now he, in his time with the Diamondbacks, currently has a 5.99 ERA and 19 starts. I don't even know what I'm supposed to say to that. That's the most Diamondbacks thing ever. It is. It's actually, it's just baffling. And he's unplayable.

I mean, we'll see. Like I said, I'm still doubtful that this injury was impacting his ability to perform, but maybe it was. And maybe it's carried over. Baseball is one of those sports where you just play through it, right? And it could be an agonizing injury. In fact, we saw Corbyn Burns miss one. due to what was it shoulder fatigue or whatever it was.

And then Burns comes back and was incredible since that start up until him leaving the game. And even then, it was four scoreless innings. So Burns hopefully gets a second opinion that maybe can be some good news for us. But for the time being the start, this is the starting rotation. It's going to be Ryan Nelson. It's going to be E. Rod. It's going to be Zach Gallen.

You're going to have Merrill Kelly and Brandon Fought in there. And there's a lot of question marks right now about, a bunch of these guys. Merrill Kelly probably the only guy that you don't have questions about. Even Ryan Nelson, who has proven himself this season, I feel like still has some questions. You know, again, if Ryan Nelson's fastball isn't on point, then at any time, his outing can be a disaster. And that's really what the key is for him. And that's easy to say about some other pitchers. But we've seen, you know, guys be able to abandon their fastball and still have a great outing. We know

Merrill Kelly does that. We know Zach Gallen can can do that at time. So it's not just that much more important with Ryan Nelson. And not to mention here with Erod returning, when, when do the Diamondbacks ever get the Erod that they thought that they were getting from the Detroit Tigers? So I don't know. Hopefully that's, you know, this is this is the point where you can turn around. We need these starting pitchers to kind of dig deep. You know, the last two outings for Brandon Fott have been utter disasters. And like the only thing right now that you can really be satisfied with is the fact that Merrill Kelly remains consistent and Zach Gallen seems to get back seems to have gotten back on track so if those two guys can be

again the two one the one and two that we know that they can be for this team even without Corbin Burns for an extended period of time this Diamondbacks team can can be fine they they really can be it's just a matter of of what does the rest of the starting rotation do to pick up the slack in Corbin Burns's absence quite frankly Ryan Nelson might be able to give them, you know, exactly what they need in his absence. It's just, can we get Ryan Nelson from that, you know, stretch that they had last year for sure? So anyway, we will take a look at some more things about this season. And when I say that, I mean, I could tell Marte on the other side of the break.

Before we do that, though, let's go ahead and take a look at the N hell West standings. I think we had some games played last night, Damon, if I'm not mistaken, after the Diamondbacks, came back and had this amazing comeback victory in the ninth inning. The Dodgers did win. They improved to 38 and 25. The Padres and Giants, like I said, they continued to beat up on each other. Both teams now with 35 wins.

The Padres with 26 losses sit in second place. The Giants with 28 losses sit in third. Meanwhile, the debacks sit right at 500, 31 and 31. Currently six and a half games back from the Dodgers in first place. And then there's the Rockies. They're also there. they exist. Wind streak.

I mean, yeah. I did. I believe in the Rockies, man. I did send a cute little meme to the Rockies. It was Mr. Rogers telling them that they were, that he was proud of them. And I don't know. That might have,

that might come back to haunt me. That might, that one might come back to be a freezing cold take when the Diamondbacks do have to play the Rockies again. Watch out, Mets. Watch out Mets. Landon says,

imagine Erod goes seven, strong tonight. That's what I would like to imagine. That is what I would definitely like to imagine. Landon, my guy, the journey says with Damon back Erot is going to throw a no hitter. Let's calm down. I know Damon has magical powers. Even

I think that's a little rich. Ernesto says no Corbyn Burns news so far, which is surprising. I don't know. Is that is it surprising? Because I feel like again, at this point, they're going to take their time with the diagnosis and just ensure that he's

is going to need season-ending surgery, right? And I think that's what you're trying to do is explore all avenues and make sure that you are not overreacting. There is a, there is, you know, an opinion at times that sometimes these surgeries are an overreaction, right? And that a guy might not have needed to lose an entire year of his career because of an injury that maybe could have healed with time. That's what we saw with AJ Puck.

All signs for A.J. Puck were pointing to him needing Tommy John surgery, yet somehow, some way he goes on the 60 day IL instead. And, you know, again, that that still remains a, you know, a volatile situation. We don't know if A.J. Puck is going to still be the same pitcher he is. Who knows after the 60 day IL how, you know, how healthy he'll be or how durable he will be. And if that injury might creep back up on him and eventually cause him to still have to have that surgery. I think that's maybe the reason why players tend to rush into it to just get it done, get it over with as fast as possible, so they can get back out there to the diamond.

In this case, I know Scott Boris is going to do everything he can to prevent that for Corbyn Burns, and I know the Diamondbacks want to do everything they can to prevent that. This is a very important season where the Diamondbacks are all in on this year. And, of course, you know, the way that the next month goes could really change what this team does come to trade deadline. So really, it's an important time. and we need Erod and the rest of the starting rotation to do their job. That was a theme. That was a topic that Tori brought up, everybody doing their job.

Well, we need guys to do their job right now, especially in the absence of guys that are injured. So what we're going to do, though, is we're going to talk about one guy that's definitely doing his job, and that is Cotel Marte making an absolute bid for the All-Star game this year. We're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX DeBack show.

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like I have I have blind still in my house and most of them are broken now at this point Damon so I really need to give all pro-shaped concepts a call but I will tell you somebody right now who has been killing it for the Arizona Diamondbacks has been Cotel Marte had himself an incredible series there in Atlanta in three games

Catele-Marty went six for 11 with three home runs, six RBI, four walks, and four runs scored. And, I mean, he might as well just look for a hotel while he's there because the all-star game is going to be taking place in Atlanta this year. And Cotel Marte is absolutely making his case to be an all-star this season. I mean, it's just incredible what he's been doing, Damon, and especially over the last stretch. Like right now, this season, Cotel-Marte is slashing 299, 4-22. 606 with a 1.028 OPS, which is outstanding. But in the last 30 days, he ranks as one of the best Major League Baseball players, period, offensively. He is second in OPS in the last 30 days with a 1.183 OPS.

He is second and runs scored with 23. He is third in home runs with 11, and he is sixth and on-base percentages with 442. Ketel hasn't been doing big things with his glove, but, he has been doing big things with his bat damon and i mean again uh i won't i won't criticize them too much considering how big he has been for this team but uh again if if if we have to move kattel to dh so be it but this man's bat needs to stay in the lineup you can feel that things have really turned around for the diamond back since kutel you know returned and and i know they had a tough stretch i know that there was times where even kutel wasn't very good in some of these

losses especially against the pirates and you know and and the nationals but He has now reached based safely in 18 straight games. And I mean, it just goes to show how big of a contributor, Cattel is to this team offensively. Over those 18 games, he has been hitting 329. He has two doubles, eight home runs, 14 RBI. He's walked 12 times, and he's even been hit four times by pitches. So Cotel Marte, an absolute all-star this season.

And again, this is with him missing a significant amount of time due to injury so far this year. Yeah, Catel Marte is a bona fide All-Star. It helps that he plays second base, right? Like, that's a position where I feel like what it takes to catch up to the rest of the pack from an offensive standpoint is a little bit lower than maybe the threshold for like, say, a first baseman or a third baseman or something like that. For sure. But I do think that, you know, he is just so far in a way the best second baseman offensive player in this league.

Yeah. It's not even close. And he proves that on a year by. year basis and yeah well i think i said it on a couple of shows ago yesterday like we will storm them will be offices if somehow they find a way to keep catel marty out of this because it wouldn't make any sense yeah well you don't want this guy coming down on you let me tell you that MLB because he uh he has a tremendous amount of luck strength power i don't know what but uh good good fortune follows damon and you don't want him against you you want him on your side as the diamondbacks have had him on on their side but uh jacobubert's

says Ellie is not starting tonight for the Cincinnati Reds. That helps. I don't hate that. Scott Mack in the chat says, Cotell needs to clean up his defense. Sometimes he's laxadaisal. And yeah, that's exactly what it is, right?

It's like I think back on that error where he just dropped the ball going to second base, right? I think about yesterday where he clanked the one off his glove. It's not, it's not athletic ability. It's not like he doesn't have the skill or the athleticism to get to these balls. It just, it does feel like he does the little thing, like take his eye off the ball because he's already moving on. You know, like when he dropped that ball going over to second base,

it felt like he was running to the dugout, which I understand. A lot of baseball players do that. When they know it's a sure thing and it's the end of the inning, they go over, they pick up the ball, they step on the base and they keep it moving, right? But yeah, no, there are times where Cattel's, you know, defense is questionable. However, he was great last season defensively. Like, surprisingly really, really good. And again, I think that a lot of it is a little bit of rust of missing time coming back. You know, again, it's it's baseball. And it's so ridiculous because any other sport when you're cleared medically, you might have lost a step or two maybe momentarily, but you're going to get it back once you get back out there on the field or the court for basketball or whatever. Baseball is so weird because it's like it takes you like six games to get back in any kind of groove of like playing condition.

And at least, you know, when you miss significant amount of time. And Catele, again, yeah, he is a little laxedaisical. However, that also is what makes him an absolute delight to watch out there. I love his hijinks, even though that sometimes they're not, you know, not always, like, purely focused on the game of baseball. Cattel is having a good time when he's playing baseball. Yeah, totally. It's one of the things that makes me love watching him play the game so much. It is what makes him one of my favorite players.

I've ever, you know, rooted for, right? It's because he does play it like a little kid. But unfortunately, just like a little kid, sometimes that focus, isn't that laser competitor focus that you, you know, really expect, right? You get moments of him joking around with the guy on second base. You get him dropping a fly ball on purpose to try to get a double play and then getting called on it.

You get him yelling at his bat to hit more home runs to left field. And then the next day his bat hits two home. runs to left field. So I mean, even though his hijinks might seem crazy at times, there's a, there's a method to the madness. Yeah. And he's, he does like, I believe last year there was some stuff about him preferring to be in the field. And I wonder if maybe there's a situation where, you know, part of that like lack sedesicalness for lack of a proper term is like for because partly because he locks in so much at the plate that he's like, he can't. lock in 100% of the time.

So half the time he's like a little bit here and there. Yeah. But that being said, like he does have the ability to make insane defensive plays. He's super flashy. And I think that that like it's a blessing and a curse, right? Like he makes there are times where and he's not super mobile. So it's not like his range is crazy. But there are times where he makes like incredible throws off of, you know, jump spots.

Yes. You know, in his momentum carrying him in weird places. And so like he does have the the bag to. make great defensive plays. But you're right. It does feel like a lot of the mistakes that he makes are very avoidable ones. And yeah, he just, he really isn't the best defender.

But when he's the number one offensive second baseman in the sport, you can deal with that. You can. And again, you see why the Diamondbacks were trying to figure something out with Jordan Lawler there, uh, to give him some time over there at second. And I think that was going to be the most critical spot that he played.

And considering that Lawler made those errors and made those mistakes that he made while playing second impacted the Diamondbacks decision because again they can't like you said you still need to tell to play and part of him staying locked in seems to be him being out there on the field defensively as well i remember pavement smith talking about all of the things that he did in between innings to stay sharp when he's when he's a dh and it's stuff that we don't think about we don't think about getting cold while sitting there we don't think about how long between at bats a DH can have just time-wise, right? One long inning, one lengthy inning from maybe both teams, you know, and you don't get to bat for that next inning after that. You miss that long inning. You could be sitting there for 45 minutes, an hour between, you know, swinging the bat. So when Pavin Smith was talking about going down to the cages a little bit in between

innings or during, you know, defensive innings and taking some swings and doing some stuff, it made sense. It made sense that you stay stretched out, you stay hot, you stay, you stay, you know, all of these things by also being. being out there in the field defensively. So whatever Cotel needs to do to continue to be hitting 300 with a 606 slug and a 1028 OPS is fine by me. That's what I say.

So I'll take some of his defensive mistakes right now for that. But as Scotty Mac said, he is definitely in beast mode right now. And of course, he says otherwise Marte is activating beast mode right down. He did bring up that Cotel does have two errors already this season. And he had five all of last year. So that goes to kind of back up what you were saying, Damon, about how good he actually was defensively last year. Yeah, it was kind of shockingly good. He was.

He was. And I think he can still be that. But it's about staying healthy. And he was very healthy last year this year, missed time. You know, again, he even brought that up. Like that was one of the things when he was speaking about being grateful for his nomination to the All Star game last year was because he said he was healthier than he's ever been. And that just goes to show how often these players are playing with. all of these nagging little injuries and all of these things that are keeping them from being

at their best, quite frankly, right? And so we saw Catelle at his best last year. He earned that All-Star nomination. And so far, it feels like with these numbers he's putting up, he's definitely earning it again for this season. And other guys are as well. So hopefully we'll see another season of the Diamondbacks sending multiple guys to the All-Star game rather than just one. But it was very fun covering Cotel and Tori in last year's All-Star game. And again, if you haven't had a chance to see those vlogs that we did. Make sure to check those out. Those are available on the PHNX YouTube channel.

But on the other side of this break, we are going to talk more about watching baseball and what exactly is going on with the renovations at Chase Field so that we can watch baseball there comfortably. Also, let's make sure that we keep our baseball team here in town for as long as humanly possible.

I kind of have a vested interest in that. Damon does a little bit. He has his foot in the Wildcats water, so he has an out. I don't. So again, let's make sure. It means everything. Let's make sure we don't have to change this to the PHNX baseball podcast. All right.

Let's do something to prevent that. Don't do it again. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX baseball podcast. Well, of course, shout out to game time because game time is the place to get last minute tickets. And let me tell you, I have friends right now scrambling today to go to a wrestling show that's tonight. I offered these people free tickets.

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It's game time, brother. Well, another great way for you to have a fun time watching sports is with the Bet365 app. Of course, whatever the moment it is never ordinary at Bet365. Download the app to do that. and use our code of PHNX365. You'll get yourself some bonus bets right now. They do offer the widest range and of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 sports.

They pioneered live in-game betting. And it's the way to watch a game. Sometimes things change. Sometimes you get the feel in the middle of the game last night. Definitely one of those games. I can only imagine what the odds were to bet on the Diamondbacks coming back and winning that game when they were down by six runs in the eighth inning. probably pretty good.

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If you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 100 next step. Text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. I'll tell you what looks good on the Bet365 app today. What do you got today? That over. The over. What do they got for the run total?

I mean, I'm just, I'm peeking here. I didn't even look at it. I'm just basing this off of Elrod pitching. Oh, yeah. But, no. Yeah. You're right on that. As I as I click through, it is over under nine and a half with our friends at that 365.

I'm taking that. I'm taking 10 runs being scored in this game. Probably the easiest smash over of the season. Erod might give that up himself. Literally. Just saying. Well, we do have some updates from Chase Field. However, we do want to first encourage you because we don't know, we don't know how many more times we're going to be able to do these Chase Field takeovers, right?

Let's just get do do do these chase field takeovers, right? I just want to do. I want to do. But again, tomorrow is not promised, Damon. You know that. I know that. We all know that because we once had a hockey team. And so if you want to enjoy some wonderful time with us,

want to watch a baseball game, watch the Diamondbacks, take on the Giants, you can do so on July 3rd. It is definitely not Shane's birthday party. It is definitely the date of our takeover. It's going to be happening from 5.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Do not bring Shane presents.

Do not bring Shane cards. Do not bring Shane anything. But bring yourself, bring a good time, bring a swim trunks because we're going to be hanging out in the pool. It is a PHNX pool party at Chase Field. There are very limited tickets, but you can get one right now. Game ticket does include your ticket to the game against Steinbex and the Giants, complimentary food, beverages during the entirety of the game, and a little wonderful towel that you get to take home with you. So make sure to join us.

It's a great time to hang out with the PHNX crew, and we're going to be having a good time. Elizabeth, aka Zabe, has a great suggestion in the chat. She says bring Damon presence instead. Yeah, because like that is an interesting idea. You know why? Because it's like an effigy to you. Like you're like the patron saint god of the Diamondbacks right now, or at least this winning streak.

So everybody is on board with sending you some presents. We got Shafe, I think. Send Derek some maybe some beard dying supplies. He could probably use some of those. No, because Gino hasn't hit a home run in what feels like ages now. I'm not worried about that. I mean, yeah, you could send beard dying supplies. It doesn't mean I'm going to use them.

Derek, where are those event details for the PHNX pool takeover? Oh, you can get those over at go phnx.com, I believe, slash events. If not, just go to go to go phnx.com. Go to our events tab, and you will find all the details on that under there. So make sure to come hang out with us. We'd love to see you there, Scott Mack. But we, again, I'm sorry to be a bummer. I didn't mean to do that to you, Zabe.

Zabe says, wow, Derek, way to be a bummer. Yes, I know. I know. I was trying not to be because it's actually good news. We might have finally made some progress on the Chase Field Renovation Bill, known as HB2704. This House bill was flying through, you know, the government through the state legislature until it hit the Senate and then all sorts of amendments and changes needed to be made to it. A lot of things that they didn't like a big, a big opponent to this bill was Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. She appeared on the Mike Broomhead show on KTAR this week and said she believes that the city and the Arizona Diamondbacks are closing in on a Chase Field renovation bill that will be more fiscally responsible. So this is very good news. At one point, Derek Hall said he believed that they were on the five-yard line.

and I really, really hope that when he when he said that, he meant like about to score is what I was really hoping for there. Because I need that. I need that in life. I need, I need the Diamondbacks to get this bill into the end zone. I hope he didn't mean it was on the other five yard line because that's a bad situation to be in. But it feels like here, according to the comments made by Gallego, that she does feel like this is moving in the right direction. everybody feels like it's moving in the right the right direction everybody feels like this will get done there was one thing she said that i didn't like i'm gonna start off with that uh she said on the mike broombed show and i quote i very much want the diamondbacks to stay in downtown phoenix and thrive i'd like a world series while i'm dreaming damon am i wrong in taking offense to that like as if as if she's almost classifying the diamond back staying in downtown phoenix as also a dream

Or am I just looking too deeply into that? It's that. It's the combo of that. It's the combo of like being like, hey, remember when you guys lost in the World Series two years ago? Right. But it's like, but it's your team supposedly. Yeah, if you would have done a better job, maybe we would have approved this bill the first time and not talked about how fiscally irresponsible. Oh, I'd love to see a world series if we could make that happen.

Well, we got pretty damn close, Kate. I don't like it. If you were a fan of the team, you would probably know that. Yeah. Yeah. It just feels like it's like it's like rubbing our faces in the in the mess of like of the you know the world series loss like I don't need that. I don't need that in my life. And I also don't like the way she makes it sound like the Diamondback saying in downtown Phoenix and thriving is a dream.

Like she's also like I would like a world series while I'm dreaming. And I'd like a million dollars. I'd like a billion dollars in my account. Like that's what it sounds like. Right. And I'm sure she didn't really mean it that way. But she went on to say the original legislation was deeply troubling to me. I believe strongly we have a lot of needs right now to take money from the uses like the Phoenix fire department to fund the Diamondbacks.

We really needed some caps and constraints and to recognize we have a lot of priorities. Now what I will say is she is not wrong about that. However, Damon, if you take the Diamondbacks out of downtown Phoenix, where does any money come from generated by that stadium? Where does any money come from generated by a baseball team that plays 81 games a year plus spring training games here? where does that go? Where is that money come from? It's not like that money is just still going to be there if the Diamondbacks aren't there playing baseball at Chase Field.

So I understand wanting to still have a cut, a portion of it, go to vital city services like the Phoenix Fire Department, which I am all for, considering that none of us know when we're going to need those fine, fine gentlemen to come save us, rescue us, or put out a fire in our home. However, it does feel like it's also a thing of saying like, oh well you know we can't just have this money all going to this team instead of the fire department well

if this team's not here then no money's being generated by that building except you know four times a year one of those being nickel back playing the hondo rodeo fest yeah i mean it's it's the same argument that went back to the the tempi bill right for the coyotes where it was like well all 20% of the tax revenue is going to go to you know the funding the big shopping center area and it's like well 80% is going to be given to the taxpayer go back into the city when you would get zero percent if it was not a thing it's just in fact you're paying money for the landfill so that was why that was crazy this is a similar situation where it's like ask qualcomm in san diego how they're doing financially now that the chargers don't play

there anymore i'm sure that they're just bringing it in as they do one concert every you know eight months or whatever it is like right right you're not you don't have a concert series where you're just hot every night. Like Crescent Ballroom puts on more concerts in a month than Chase Field does the entire year. So get out of here with the thought that you're going to use that gigantic, empty airplane hangar of a building for anything else if that team decides to go elsewhere. And to be frank, there are two other cities right now drooling over the possibility of this team being their team.

And we need to make sure that they go to bed sad every night and never have that dream come true, at least not with our goddamn Diamondbacks. But again, it says, Kate Gallego said, I think we are close to more fiscally responsible bill that has more controls in it. I'm hopeful that before the legislation leaves, we can have a bill that keeps the Diamondbacks in place, but has more transparency about public dollars and more accountability. And this is just talking head stuff to me because, again, there were problems that they had with this bill and a lot of the problems involved how much money was being contributed from the stadium. And we talked about in the past that a big part of it was that the income tax from people that worked at Chase Field was going to go back to renovating Chase Field. And while that is no, this is no slight to the fine people that work at all the concession stands and whatnot, those are not the people they are worried about. It is the people that make literally millions and millions of dollars and their income tax not going to the state versus it going to the Diamondbacks, you know, back to the team to pay for renovations to Chase Field.

They've been very deliberate in language where they cannot upgrade Chase Field. They can't add stuff to it. This fund, this amount of money is all supposed to be simply for renovating Chase Field and making it a better place. So there's been some problems in regards to that because they want to make sure that the Diamondbacks don't go out there and like add new suites to Chase Field with this money or something of that sort. It's supposed to be primarily for renovating and making the stadium, you know, more up to date, more, you know, safer. cleaner, all of that stuff. But sometimes those renovations do involve adding things to a stadium to make it more modern and there's going to come, I'm sure, a clash in the language or the verbiage in the bill over how the Diamondbacks can use those funds for that particular type of matter,

right? Like are people going to think that putting in a newer, bigger scoreboard is a, you know, is part of this or is a misuse of funds or putting in more scoreboards, which quite frankly, Chase Field absolutely needs. After going to Rigley, after going to Globe Life Field, all of those stadiums, they all have multiple screens and scoreboards so that when you're sitting in the outfield in other places, you can see it a scoreboard, just like you can see the big one in the outfield at Chase Field. So there's stuff like that that it's unclear, but the amendments made so far has been capping public contributions, removing income taxes being diverted back into Chase Field, like I said, and the sales tax revenue from outside of the ballpark walls also being kind of pushed back. So again, that's part of it as well, is that the Diamondbacks do kind of want to build a, you know, some sort of entertainment district that's right there on property close with more bars, more restaurants, more things to do.

And it seems definitely like not only do they not want to fund that with this bill, but they want to make sure that they don't even get funds from things like the Guy Fietti's right there that's on the same property as Chase Field. So the big thing. All those bars that are right there. And two BMC says it here, like down. downtown Phoenix in the summer without the dime backs. Imagine. It already kind of dies, right?

Like downtown Phoenix outside of Roosevelt Row isn't really a place that people spend too much of their time. And sometimes that's just on days like today. It's first Friday, right? Yeah. Well, and I love the, I love the venues down there, Crescent Ballroom. I am a crescent ball. You're a connoisseur. Connoisseur, a fictionado.

You know, Damon, they took the bean burritos away. They have to, they make them now in another place. and I've never been angry about anything than that. But I'm not going to go on that tangent. I feel like I'm giving away a free ad and Max might come out here and scream at me. What I will say, though, is there's not a lot of time for them to decide on this bill

because Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona's legislature must pass a new budget by July 1st, which is the start of the new fiscal year. And according to my calculations, that's less than 30 days away. So this bill being part of that would bring great peace of mind

to a lot of people to have this set in place so that we don't have to keep wondering about the Diamondbacks extending their lease at Chase Field and keeping that team here in Arizona. And again, quite frankly, based on my own selfish needs, I would like to make sure that that happens. It's really pretty simple. Derek, Elizabeth says it, Zabe, I should say, says it up here. Derek is the true mayor. Look, I know what's right for people. What's right for people is you running against Kate Gallego for election in this upcoming political cycle.

because I know for a fact that priority number one is keeping the diamondbacks in Phoenix. And that's what the people need. That's what we want. That's what we vote for. You're right. Sometimes you've got to step up, right, Damon? And you got Owen making campaign ads for you. With Owen as my campaign manager.

Unstoppable. I'm unstoppable, right? I will run on a platform of baseball, period. That's what I'll run on keeping the Diamondbacks in downtown Phoenix. but I don't know, man. I'll say that this is kind of like a lot of things, right? I have friends that used to live by me, and they moved so far away. And they did it primarily because they didn't want to fix their house.

They didn't want to put all sorts of money into renovating their own home. And in some cases, when you own a home, that's what you need to do. It sucks. It's messy. It takes a lot of money. And sometimes you've got to figure out how to get like a home improvement loan or you have to come up with the funds on your own or whatever the case may be, but these things are necessary in life sometimes for you to be successful and be happy, right? And those people that move far away,

they hate their drives so much. It's like an hour 10 plus anywhere they go in town. And if you live anywhere in Central Phoenix, you know, there's nowhere that's far away than 45 minutes. So being that far away is nonsensical. And again, it's something that they hate. And again, you got to sometimes do those renovations. You got to pay that fee for the place that you live. And trust me, like, as a homeowner, I can tell you there's a lot of things I don't want to fix. There's a, like, a rotting board on my patio that I have to fix, David.

And I don't want to, I don't want to fix it. I might call all pro shades, all pro, uh, shade concepts come out and like just remove it and put in a shade, a roll down shade there. That's one of those things that like you see it every day. And it just, it just like, it takes a piece out of you. Yeah. every single day when you see when you pee you have no idea the amount of time i spend looking at it wondering how i'm going to get it out and how i'm going to put a new one in right it's just one

board on my patio but it's uh it's rotting away and i need to do something about it chase field quite frankly in some places in some ways is rotting away and we need to do something about it so uh let's hope that the arizona legislature and kate kate hobbs uh can get this all taken care of because we need the diamondbacks to stay here but on the other side of this break we're going to talk about something else. It's probably a little boring and maybe a little, a little, a little, little bit of a housekeeping, but Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball is going to maybe propose that automated balls and strike system for 2026. And I am for it, Damon. So we're going to talk about why on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PH&X

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At least that's what they want to do. And of course, when Major League Baseball wants to make a change, there's a good chance it's going to happen. the challenge system for calling balls and strikes seems to be less than a year away at this point. For those of you that don't know or weren't out at spring training games, the automated balls and strike system is a little like what we've seen on the broadcast, right? The Arizona Diamondbacks broadcast kind of throws up when there's a questionable close pitch that was called one way or another. They kind of throw up a thing on screen that turns around.

It shows the strike zone. It shows the path of the ball. And we'll kind of highlight whether or not that ball was a strike or a ball. And this is very similar to what we will see with the ABS system or what we have seen so far in spring training. We've talked about it quite a bit. We previewed it. We actually covered it. We love it, honestly, on this show.

We thought that it was made to be in such an efficient way that you don't really feel like impacts the game. We know lately with the implementation of the pitch clock and a lot of the things they're doing with, you know, pitchers only having so many, you know, so many engagements that they can step off them out. all of that has meant to sped up the game and has been successful. Not only has it been successful, but the pitch clock and other things have just kind of been integrated into the game. Like it doesn't really feel like any of it was awkward or weird or didn't belong. And quite frankly, that's how this ABS system feels when you watch it in person. Honestly, it's kind of exciting. I mean, we've talked about my favorite part a bit, which is the fact that you get this reaction from one dugout or another.

It's going to be interesting to see how that works out in the regular season because umpires tend not to want to be shown up, Damon. So I'm curious how during a regular season game, how an umpire is going to react when they called a ball, a strike, and it ends up being a ball, and then the dugout loses their minds over it. Is it going to be seen as one-upping the ump a little bit? It's going to be seen as that celebratory crap. We already saw this year an umpire toss a baseball player simply because kind of as a joke. after a bad call, he tapped his helmet so that the ABS system would be implemented, even though that system is currently not a part of Major League Baseball. And the umpire did not like that one bit.

That's a great chirp. Tossing. Yeah. That's what he did. He did this. And the umpire was like, you got to go, pal.

And it was just like it was, I mean, yeah, I don't feel like he needed to be thrown out by, but it was also almost like secret code of saying this umpire sucked in this moment. I think the thing that refs and umps in particular, hate more than anything in the world is is admitting that they were wrong right so when they have to go to a

replay watch the review see that they were clearly wrong and then admit that they're already a little bit kind of on on edge you know what i mean yeah that's a good point a lot of these guys have egos and i come to learn to accept it don't you think like this the review system the challenge maybe in time but these old guys i don't think that they're i don't think that they're they're they're going to deal with it too well from the jump. Like, because I can see them start squeezing pictures after the challenge gets used because then they're like,

oh yeah, you know, like my calls? Watch this. You don't have any challenges anymore. We talked about them squeezing pictures because they feel like the catcher is trying to like, like,

well, I like that much. Yeah. I'm a big proponent. You love that. Yeah. Right. But I mean,

I don't know. I mean, I will say that the Johnboy breakdowns have made me feel umpires are far more reasonable than I ever actually thought they were, right? Because when you go down and we watch a manager get tossed. Usually it's because he called them like he said the F word 17 times and not necessarily the content of questioning the umpire's decision. It's usually how they said it, what they said

to them, what they called the umpires. Rarely do those, those instances where someone get tossed starts with the manager walking out and being like, hey, can we chat about that call very friendly and nicely? Like usually it's usually like a what the F was that? What do you, what are you effing doing out here, you know, it's stuff like that, right? So I will say that umpires, when you hear the way they respond in those moments, you know, you tend to hear them saying like he got, he looked at it. He saw it. He may, you know, he got the call.

We can challenge it. You know, like it feels like umpires do get a bad rap for how quick they are to be argumentative and nasty when we don't really give credit to how nasty baseball players and managers can be on their first initial approach. me and my wife getting lots of arguments over this, Damon. It's not what you said. It's how you said it to me, right? That's what it's about. That's what started the argument. I know you asked me to wash the dishes, but that's not how you asked me. Caviote here, though, you said it differently. Caviot, there is, this is all being recorded and you can go back and watch exactly what happened. So imagine now you and your wife in an argument and you go, let's put on the heads. Let's go to the replay. Let's go to the replay. In fact, I can't name it. Oh, right there. Right there.

Oh, that's where I said, do the dishes and you said you were going to. There's a very good series of commercials that addresses that exact thing. But I'm just glad this is happening. Of course, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told Evan Drellich of the athletic that the league will propose that change to go into effect in 2026 to be, and that goes to the competition committee. But realistically, if baseball wants this to go through, it's going to go through. So you could say all you could you could say whatever you want here. But even though they're proposing it, MLB is that they have the ability here to pass this. So if Rob Manfred and MLB want the ABS challenge system, they feel like they've done enough thorough testing on it.

And they think it's going to improve the game of baseball, then it's going to get implemented in 2026. And quite frankly, I love that. I think that there's been a lot of bad calls that have been crucial for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year. And I'm sure every Major League baseball team would feel the same way. I will say that we've seen the review system in all sorts of sports now, Damon, football, basketball, baseball. None of it makes me feel like it's ever bogging down the game. None of it ever makes me feel like, you know, it's just about getting the call right,

which is what we all want at the end of the day. Hell, I even want the call right when I'm watching two teams that I don't even care about. I just want to watch a game and don't want to see the game be impacted by the referees or, you know, the umpires. I want to see a game be impacted by the players playing the game. Ball lover. I'd say that you know what sport does it really well, I think is hockey. I don't feel like that they have like their challenge system and their replay review and I never have not that I'm like the biggest hockey connoisseur on the planet but I've kind of gotten the vibe that like they're very comfortable admitting that oh yeah we made a mistake here no worries we just want to get the call right whereas I feel that like in a lot of other sports it's just like when you challenge in in the NFL for example like there there are times where it is so obvious that the challenge flag was thrown because of the call was so blown and the coach the the

we'll go to the monitor and just come back and be like, nah, we don't think so. Call on the field stands. Yeah, it's like a power play almost. Yeah, no, you're right. Well, and I feel like I'm probably unsure about this or probably incorrect, but it felt like hockey was one of the first ones to implement it because of the speed of the game and just the necessity to make sure that when a goal was a goal that they were, you know, that they were calling it a goal, right?

So that that's basically what all of this is at the core of this is getting the call right, making sure they're doing the right thing. But I'll tell you, we can't wait to see this implemented and we want to get the calls right. So it's one step closer to robot umpires and you know I'm all for that. And we will see in 2026 if that actually goes through. But we thank you guys so much for being here. We got baseball to watch tonight. Arizona Timberbacks taking on the Cincinnati Reds.

And of course, got to get out there. If you're in Cincinnati and your Diamondbacks fan, go root for them and get on TV. Where are your finest Serpientis gear. We will be back on Monday with another Mailbag Monday episode, so make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. We are all, of course, Damon's dogs, bark, bark.

Our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you all for your time today. Again, your time is your most precious commodity. We thank you for sharing it with us. We'll be back on Monday. Until then, have a wonderful weekend. Go snakes. Behave yourselves and remember kids.

Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can challenge the empires.