PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Eugenio Suárez Named NL Player of the Week; Ryne Nelson’s Historic Hit Aids D-backs Split

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

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Well, the Arizona Diamondbacks split their four-game series with the Cubs, and we are going to talk about all the reasons why maybe you should be happy that they won on Sunday. I brought this guy in to argue with me about stuff too. All of this, your mailbag Monday questions and more happening in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. To another edition of the PHNXD Bax podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Monti occasionally as your mayor of this joint. Welcome in to everybody.

Of course, I'm joined by the one and only game and dog here pulling up to me again. And you know it's important, like Michael says, when this guy shows up. Also on the ones and twos, we got our guy, large instruments, Kevin Thomas. Damon, good weekend of baseball, I guess you could say. Sure. Yeah, right? I mean, it wasn't the cleanest weekend of baseball that we've never seen. And I think there's a lot of room for growth and improvement.

But all things considered, you know, two and two, things can be worse. First, one narrative I saw on Twitter. I know we're going to get so many narratives that we saw on Twitter. But was that the Cubs are like some sort of weak team that the Diamondbacks shouldn't be losing to. Do you agree with that assessment? You know, I think that the Cubs were, are they not the division favorites in the NL Central? They absolutely are. I mean, the Central is clearly the, you know, the two centrals are clearly two weakest divisions in baseball and have been for some time now, Derek.

And I think you could probably make an argument that in a non-salary cap sport that it has a lot to do with coastal cities being bigger cities. The St. Louis Cardinals are currently 3 and O at top the NL Central. God. I would watch your mouth. Yeah, probably. I mean, if they stay undefeated. We're going to ask about a lot of stuff we're going to do. This is going to be a long season, Damon?

But is Kevin going to do, like, can I open my mouth about on the D-Backs podcast talking D-Backs baseball without this freak over here? To be fair, I only said that. I only said that because you mentioned the Cubs being like the tippity top and I was just giving you some, giving you some grit there. They were betting favorites preseason to win the division. That's true. No, no, I don't know. We're four games into the season.

We are four games into the season. We're probably still betting favorites because the odds don't change that fast. I'm going to yell a lot today. There's a little portion where we yell at each other. Yeah, definitely. But this is the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast. That's what we do around here. It's presented to you by Bet365 in Game Time.

Download the Bet365 app today and use that code of PHNX 365 when you sign up. Also go over to Game Time, sign up with $20 and get, sign up with PHNX and get $20 off your first purchase at game time. But first, let's bring in a moment of joy because today is an off day. Diamondbacks are off and that's going to play into our argument a little bit about starting lineups and sitting guys. For sure. On this day on March 31st, 1998, a very important thing happened. The Arizona Diamondbacks played their very first baseball game. A loss to the Colorado Rockies by a score of 9 to 2.

Not great, but hey, we began our little run. And, you know, it didn't take very long, three years there for the Diamondbacks to, end up in the World Series and winning it all. But we're going to talk more about it. Pretty good, right? Pretty good. Three years, right? Not bad.

And by the way, it's also the year of the snake once again. And Gino Suarez also hit as many home runs as Gonzo did in his first two games. So there's just some similarities. There might have been a bird that got killed at some point. Maybe I don't know. I hope so because that sacrifice needs to happen. But first, before we get to the big topic, which is Sunday's game. You hope a bird got killed?

Yes. I said sacrificed. I said sacrificed because Randy Johnson did that during the spring training of the 2001 season. We can only hope and pray that birds were harmed in the making of this film. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. But the Diamondbacks fans' feelings were harmed in the loss on Saturday. Yes. Diamondbacks lost a close one there by a score of four to three.

Brandon fought wasn't terrible. He wasn't great, but he gave the Diamondbacks some length, which is something they very much needed out of the starting pitching. He went out there and gave him six innings, gave up six hits, three earned. He walked one, struck out five, and gave up one home run. So not a terrible day on the mound for Brandon Fott, but the big story, of course, is that Gino continues his monster year already. He had his fourth home run in the season, a two-run shot in the ninth inning that made the

game a four to three game. By the way, Gino Swares was just named the NL player of the week, and that's pretty cool to see him getting that out of the gate, right? especially considering how he struggled last year, right? But the big story is that after that, the game was 4 to 3, Diamondbacks had no outs, Gabbyel Moreno singled and gets on with no outs, and Garrett Hampson comes in as a pitch runner

and basically becomes a problem, essentially. Marte walked with two outs, two on, so there were two on with two outs. Corby and Carroll singles, Hamson runs past third base, and was caught there by Dembsby Swanson, ending the game by a score of four to three. A dimeback should have bases loaded with two outs and a chance to potentially tie the game or win the game there in the ninth inning.

So a lot of people very understandably angry at Garrett Hampson for overrunning the base. You're in a tough spot when you're a guy like Hampson where it's like you're not going to get a ton of PT necessarily. So you have to make the most of your opportunities. And when you're first kind of like welcome to this new fan base that you're a part of. of is, hey, I'm going to get thrown out at home on the first Saturday of the baseball season when the most fans are out at the ballpark for the most expensive game of the year so far.

And that's how things are gonna end. Like that's a, you feel for a guy in that spot. You know, I don't think that will happen, you know, multiple other times this season, but, you know, that's a tough way to, you know, start baseball, but it definitely like kind of, I guess it's more of just a wake up call of like how important these games are, especially when you look at last season and missing playoffs by a game that certain

things like that can really come back to bite you. No, you're not wrong about that. And I think at least if you're going to make these mistakes, you want them to occur early on in the season so that hopefully they don't occur later. You have that thing that you learn from, right? And there's been a lot of mistakes made by this team. That's why, honestly, a lot of us should be very thankful that they split the series two and two with the Cubs. Because based on how things went, it felt like at times they were, you know, these games weren't exactly going the Diamondbacks way in any of them except game two, right? So, but Hampson overrunning the bag here, definitely is, is a problem, right? Because I think a piece of Yoshi up there asked if it was, you know, the new third base coach, Sean Larkin, that made. And that's something to keep in mind here. It's something that we'll talk about the mistakes Tori's made and kind of these changes to his team. But Tori has a new pitching coach in Brian Kaplan. He has a new third base coach in Sean Larkin. we all got very used to Tony Parrish Chica being over there. And I don't think, I mean, many of us learn to love and appreciate him.

And I think a lot of fans adored him. But it's like you forget how long he was over there as third base coach for the Diamondbacks. And just what a big part he was of the Diamondbacks playing such solid defense day in and day out. Right. True. There's a learning curve there for Sean Larkin who hasn't been a third base coach recently. He was a scouting director for this team. And it's just a new role for him.

think that you're not going to necessarily see him make the same moves maybe that Paris Chica would have. And we know at times even his, you know, coaching, even his direction there at third base, like telling guys to go and then telling them to stop and stuff is a thing that we kind of came to know and love. But there is definitely going to be some growing pains with this coaching staff, you know. Yeah, I mean, you would hope not in, you know, year whatever of Tori that it is. But unfortunately, you know, there was a lot of ins and outs this season. You lose a Brent Strom, and, you know, I think that Brent Strom is obviously one of the top tier pitching coaches in this league, but change was needed with the Diamondbacks pitching because

of how bad the starting pitching in particular was last season. So, I mean, Tony Parishika, he wasn't a perfect third base coach, but he was a great defensive coach, and I'm sure a huge part of the culture that Tori Lavolo has been building here, Derek. And so it's never an easy loss when you miss. guys like that and uh i i think from from larkin's perspective gaining that chemistry with the with the base runners of like when i do this that means this that's going to take a little bit of time for sure um but you know you got to do your best to to weed out those inconsistencies and those issues because you can't be losing games you know with runners being thrown at home again so because then then we'd be

having big issues so i mean it's it's it's uh definitely a mental error there uh rioma says the third base coach's hands signs were really confusing. Yeah, they weren't. We can't hear what he was shouting. But from hand gestures, I couldn't tell if he was telling Hampson to put on breaks or run home. That's absolutely the case. And yeah, we saw that. Like, we saw him pointing back this way.

We saw him pointing this way. There's a lot of stuff going on there. And I don't think that they ever intended to send Hampson. I don't think that was the case. But I don't know. Maybe just trying to push it, speed up the defense a little bit. Potentially. They make a mistake.

And Carlos says Tony P. was super conservative when it came to sending guys. I don't think Saturday would. have happened if he was still here. And again, I don't, I don't know if he was sent, but that game, obviously a lot of that blame falls, you know, again, on Tori there for putting Garrett Hampson even in the game, right? Morano gets the single. It's not like Moreno's a fast base runner, so that's the intention here to have a pitch runner in there. However, you know, obviously it didn't go their way. And if it did, then it would have looked like, you know, a genius move potentially. Then you have what happens on Sunday. Kind of is the opposite. It's like a lot of people,

perceived it as Tori trying to do everything to give that game away. And you could argue that was the case. I argued a lot on Twitter after that game. Did you? I did quite a bit. I didn't see any of it. No, no. I was I was civil about it.

I was civil. Did you know that, Kevin? Yeah, no. Yeah, it was civil. I actually saw it was civil. He kept it short and sweet to one reply. Yeah. And ended with a thank you.

So yeah, I was a beautiful. I thanked everybody. Honestly, I think another thing. And let me tell you. Let me tell you another thing. Don't put it in the newspaper. Yeah, don't tell anybody I was mad. Well, that was the responses I was getting from a lot of Diamondbacks fans after the Diamondbacks won on Sunday by a score of 10 to 6.

They were mad. And I mean, I don't know why when you go on this roller coaster, Sarah Lang's tweet, if you got that, Kevin, how can you be mad about this? Wee! That's a fun one. That is quite the change there in wind probability from the Arizona Diamondbacks. But I think the thing started with Garrett Hampson being in the lineup the next day. That right away was what really irked a lot of people about. Killer Rex put it up there.

Yeah, you know what I mean? You have why would you start Hampson the next day after he blew the game for everyone? I'm not going to, once again, I can understand Tori's thought process. I don't know if I agree with it necessarily. I'm not saying the Tori's in the right. I think that was what was confused about a lot of what I was saying. I was arguing with people about being happy after a win and not necessarily needing to go back and rehash the mistakes made and ask for your manager to be fired after you won a baseball game, four games into the season. I think that's a bit excessive.

I think the fact that there's so many people that seem to be okay with, do you want two of them on me? I don't know. I probably shouldn't be, you know, I shouldn't be amplified anymore. But no, I'm not, I'm going to pump my brakes a little bit on this. but understandably so. I was probably part of that crowd that was like, why is Garrett Hampson in the lineup the next day? I can tell you after thinking about it.

I know exactly why he was in the lineup. It's because we are on game four of a 162 game season. Garrett Hampson to the Diamondbacks organization to Mike Hazen, to Tori Lobolo, still has value, unlike he does to fans after he made a mistake like he did on Saturday night. Fans are super quick to want, what do you want him? To cut the guy, that's probably the answer that some of you actually have.

Tori and I'm sure the organization feel like there's still value in Garrett Hampsons. The reason why they decided to offer him a major league contract, they want to show him that they believe in him. Tori wants to show Garrett that he believes in him. He wants him to flush that mistake that he made on Saturday and come back and believe in himself. Because if he doesn't believe in himself in the game of baseball, he is worthless. and you might as well cut him if it gets to that point, right? That is the reason why he was in the lineup the next day. It might not be the right answer, right?

But it is the reason why he was in there. That goes to what some people have a problem with with Tori, where they feel like he's a touchy-feely manager and he's more about the vibes rather than he is about winning baseball games. It's not the case. It's just the fact that you have to believe in guys and you have to make them believe in themselves. Yeah, I mean, listen, I don't really have a problem with, you know,

a lot of the things that people are super fired up about. I feel like we were talking a little bit off air, Derek, and we tried to kind of stop things to not rehash too much of it. But like I'm legitimately not angry at all. I'd like to like preface it by saying like none of this makes me mad. Right. My team won in an incredible fashion. And it was a lot of fun.

And, you know, yeah, the team's two and two. They could be worse. They're not. They could be better. They're not. Like it's game, we're about to embark on game five, Derek. And this is a 162 game season. And here's the main thing that I wanted to bring up when you texted me if I wanted to be on the show.

Like, at the end of the day with Tori Lavolo, I am a huge believer in his culture that he has established with this team. Correct. And you can you can say all you want about Tori day to day, his lineups, blah, blah, blah. I agree with most of it. I think, for example, whoever put it up, Kevin in the chat, someone said like, The problem is more when you're resting guys, you know, right before an off day. And I agree with that completely. Why is Gabby Marino wrestling against a lefty before an off day?

I know you'll talk about that in a second. But why is Corbyn Carroll resting already in game four of the season? The guy's 24, 25 years old. He doesn't need a rest right now. Like rest could tell. That's fine. I get it. But I guess like I have problems with those lineup inconsistencies.

I don't think Tori always is always thinking of the short term because I think he's a very long-term guy. He wants the team to peak at the right time. We saw it in 2023. That's exactly what happens. And it's like I think that the locker room that is being established, the clubhouse aspect of things is so important in baseball, Derek. It's not a this isn't like, like in football, if you ask me, would I take a players coach or X's an O's savant? I'm taking the guy who's going to draw up the plays and, and, you know, take the other team to the woodshed all game long.

But in baseball, I kind of think culture might be the most important thing that you have going. Yeah. Just to get through the slog of an entire season. And that's something Tori is elite at, but it's intangible. And people will not see that unless you're in the room, unless you're around the organization. I know people have a problem with guys like you, other guys in the media that like seemingly always defend Tori.

And I don't want to put that on you because I think that you do criticize him from time to time. But part of that is because. Oh, I'm going to do that in this episode, too. Sure, but part of that is around the team is that, like, the vibes are so good all the time. And it's because of Tori Lovolo and the coaches that he brings in. And I just feel like, like, there needs to be more of a perspective about what Tori brings to the table. I understand he's not perfect.

I still think he's in, you know, when you all things considered, he's upper echelon. But I know that that pisses a lot of people off because they think that he's genuinely the worst manager in the league, which I think is crazy. It's crazy. like how they could how they could dislike the guys so much. But I mean, I do want to say that like if this comes back to bite us the way that, you know, resting, I know we won the last game, but resting guys on the off days and Corbyn's missing his first start going forward. That will be something I look back on the season and say, okay, that was a huge screw-up.

Yeah. But it's way too early to get to that right now. If the debacks make the playoffs by six games, are we really freaking out about Corbyn Burns missing one rotation to go around? Right. Like, I guess that's kind of where I'm out with the whole situation. Okay. And one thing that you said there is very untrue is that I will, I love Tori Lovallo as a person and I have no problem saying it. The narrative that has been bestowed upon you.

Oh yeah, no, that I'm like on the payroll for the dockback. So I assure you based on my bank account, I am very much not on anyone. I'm on the payroll here and that's about it. I do have other jobs, but they don't pay very well. I will say this in regards to Tori Lovallo. He does think about the future. And I think that's why a lot of his decisions in the now don't make sense, right? But also at the same time, that's because of experience. That's because one injury to a critical player on this team could devastate this whole thing that they have going on. Health is a priority for Tori Lobolo. It always has been, and it's the reason why his roster construction doesn't even make any

sense. Now, it's because it's his own process, and he has it, in some cases, he actually has it drawn out ahead of times as to when he's going to give guys a break or a day off, right? but there is a lot of things to criticize about yesterday's game, just like there are plenty of things to criticize about Tori LeVolo. I'll take a step back and say the Corby Burns situation is a debacle that isn't really discussed nearly enough. And that plays in to your problem with Gabby Moreno already having to sit. Gabby has to sit because most people don't know that Gabby played in an extra baseball game on the backfield just so that Corby Burns could stay in his schedule, stay on schedule for his next start, right? game ends up having a cascading effect.

Tori Lavallo botching when Corbyn Burns could start his season has a cascading effect on the reason why some of these guys are needing extra days off. They played in a backfield full nine-inning backfield game that most people aren't aware that happened just in order to keep Corbyn Burns ready to go, right? Yeah. That's a huge mistake. Then you go to tomorrow's game, right? Or yesterday's game, excuse me, I don't know about the future yet.

Yesterday's game. And you have several things that people had a problem with, right? I will go ahead and say that burning the DH and having Ryan Nelson have to step in there and take it at bat is a mistake. Well, Blake puts it here in the chat. We've had two years in a row now where we've had to do that. Right. But last time he admitted he made a mistake, right, with the Scott McGuff situation. And the Diamondbacks end up losing that game because Scott McGuff ends up not being able to get a hit in a critical situation.

This situation, while similar, is different because the Diamondbacks, one, had a lead and two, it was successful, right? I understand wanting to complain about decisions and mistakes your manager makes. But if every once in a while when it works out, you can just let it go. You can just move on. And that was my point with yesterday was people talking about mistakes that were made in a game that the Diamondbacks ended up winning by a score of 10 to 6. Not only was Ryan Nelson's RBI single, just one of those runs that added to that lead, but there were several other runs added. And the critical hits there were by Lourdes-Souriel with his home run. and Josh Naylor with his go-ahead, you know, double, right?

Those were the big hits of the game. There was a lot of talk about needing to bring guys in. Like, yes, Corby and Carroll added in the ninth inning, but that wasn't a run that was necessarily critical in the win overall, right? So, like, yes, Gabby Moreno helped by coming back into the game. And those decisions by Tori were good decisions to pivot and bring those guys in, despite the fact that he was resting them because he felt like he needed to generate some offense, right? Like, it ended up working out for them.

A lot of people were mad about Joe Mantiply, pitching over AJ Puck. Mantiply absolutely blew it. And yes, I can understand people's eye are there. Game four and your best reliever hasn't pitched yet is pretty unacceptable. But can I say? Can I say something in regards to that? Yeah, I love for you to say something. This is a podcast.

AJ Puck's their closer. A.J. Puck is their closer. Tori hasn't named him that. Tori hasn't gone on record is that. But there is a reason why AJ Puck did not pitch until the ninth inning of that game yesterday and we probably won't see him pitch unless it's another ninth inning situation. I know it wasn't a save situation, but he had to get work in because as so many people pointed out, he did not pitch for 36 innings this season. Like you said, your best pitcher, well,

there's a reason why. There's a reason why he went with Joe over AJ puck there early on the game. I will say that there needs to come a time where people need to start getting more mad about the performance of the goddamn player than the manager putting him in in the spot. That's something that Again, I know that at times Tori's trusted guys, just like he did with Garrett Hampson, who didn't deliver in this game, to come back in and get those opportunities when they've blown games. And again, the reason why is to show belief and hope those guys can get back on track and become an asset to this team instead of a detriment. The problem here is, is that Jomantipli, in theory, should have been able to come in and not blow the game like that, right? And I mean, you can't expect every reliever to go in there and not do that. technically making that caller is Brian Kaplan making that?

I mean, it's a, it's going to, it's a group decision. Tori goes to his coaches and asks them. Tori has always been very open about the fact that he does work with his coaches on decisions like that. Yeah. But I mean, all I'm saying overall is that like, yeah, things didn't work out for him. But at the same time, Tori only has so many arms in the bullpen, so many arms that are active that day that he can turn to. And if those guys don't perform, yeah, something. of it's on the coaching staff, but also a lot of it is on the pitcher himself for not going out there

and performing, not getting the job done, right? So, yeah, yeah, I'm totally with you from, from all of this perspective. I think that, you know, we agree, like, the resting guys on off days has always been kind of weird. And doing it in game four of the season, I think, is extremely weird. Yes. That being said, you know, is it that is, is it something that you should be seeing red incensed about online after you come back and win a game 10-6? Eight run in. He runs in the eighth inning. Like that it's more about picking and choosing your battles, I think. Like I agree that that stuff is all a problem.

I think sometimes Tori he overmanages in those regards a little bit where he's. I think Mark said he micromanages. Yeah. I think that's a fair way to put it. Yeah. And it's just like at the end of the day, I think that we need to value the intangible stuff that Tori brings to the table that keeps this team in good spirits over the course of a long season.

Here's another thing though that I will say, Derek. and I know that the injury bug bit bit them really early last season. And that's part of why Tori is probably giving all these rest days so early in the year. I think you can't coach like that because I think that you get yourself in a position where now if now you miss by a game and you look back and you go, wow, we really were not playing our best players for the first month of the season like half the time. And so I like I think that, you know, you got to trust your training staff and, what they're doing. You got in and think that this is not going to be a recurring issue type situation. We weren't, we weren't an injury prone team two seasons ago.

That was just a last season thing, really. And I think you just kind of got to let the chips fall as they will. And, you know, that's why you have guys like Jordan Lawler and, you know, Del Castillo in the in AAA that are getting everyday AB so that if something arises, you have them hot and ready to go and ready to play baseball. So I think that I just wish that the mentality was a little bit more. more aggressive right now rather than like maybe resting kind of and trying to yeah play healthy do it with kettle i'm cool with doing it with kettle everybody like i think corvin should

be like basically full go man uh carlos says i like tory but there are things that draw my higher obsession obsession with matchups over the hot hand resting dudes on off days putting up christmas lights before thanksgiving i think we can all agree with those things i'm with you on the last one for sure does he really do it yeah oh he's he's a crazy person he puts up mike hazins christmas lights Yeah. I also recently found out that he hangs the phone, the frame pictures in Mike Hazen's house as well, because he's very good at that. Weird, weird skills that our manager has. Brett says here in the comments, and I agree with him. I think there's a difference between being mad they won and still criticizing some choices that Tori made. Yeah, exactly.

Just because you criticize a move doesn't mean you're calling to fire him. Right. A hundred percent. Exactly. I, I'm in that. I'm in that group. Like, I consider myself part of that, the category with you and the other reasonable Diamondbacks fans. And that's where that's where I got thrown into being like, oh, you can't even criticize it to Derek. No, that's not my point. My point was the people that wanted to focus solely on that and not on the fact that Ryan Nelson is the first pitcher besides Shohei Otani, who I don't believe did it as a pitcher, but the first pitcher to get a hit since the rule was instituted for the universal DH. And that's impressive, right, that Ryan Nelson went out there and did the thing.

I think there's other reasons to be happy. I think you could have taken away the fact that the Diamondbacks had a huge comeback victory, hope that that, that, momentum carries over to their road trip to New York and gone out and enjoyed your Sunday instead of being online screaming about the manager needing to be fired four games into the season. I think your problem is more with the fact that people like you know how it's like you know tell me what my problem is. Hand on the shoulder and touch me hand on the shoulder is crazy. Let me tell you. Let me tell you what your problem is. No, are we muted? Tell me you. Let me know when we're muted. What's up guys? Welcome to the PHNXD back show. I appreciate David.

be in here today. This is a great day for him to be here. All I was going to say is that I think that, you know, like, you're, you are more so like, it's like that statement, like let the apologies be as allowed as the disrespect. It's not, it's, and it's not, that's not necessarily about that in particular, but I think that Mike's gone. What's it called? I think that we're looking at a spot where it's like, be happier that the team had a remarkable comeback win than Matt. matter about the the things that put you in a bad spot where you could have lost. I agree that we should be able to talk about the issues, but I just think that, you know,

I think you're trying to say that the positives outweigh the negatives in this sense because the team had a cool win that we should make all feel good about. Exactly. But ultimately with Brett and other people that are in that camp, I'm with you. I agree with you. I think it's just there's a certain subset of people that are like, they, they almost want Tori to make mistakes so that they can say we have to fire Tori. Right.

Because that's like their whole person. I actually saw a tweet about that because the tweet actually said, I wish we would have lost this game so that Tori Lavallo could be fired. And then I saw another thing about like, the judge crazy stuff, crazy stuff. But here's what I will say about, you know, this whole situation is that people. Kevin's losing his mind. Kevin doesn't stop laughing in four minutes. I'm sorry.

I actually am sorry. The chat is just on fire right now. You're getting called the 21-year-old. They're asking how Derek got some red. And Mark's saying that people on the audio side must have think that something's wrong. They went deaf. I'm sorry. I'll get under control over here, Dave.

That's fine. That's fine. The biggest problem I had, and we'll get to, you know what, let's get to my biggest problem on the other side of this break. You guys have to stick around. We're going to do that on the other side. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PH&X Diamondback show.

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They get more fun every year, Derek. We've done three of them now. Yeah. And I had the time of my I met some best friends last year Justin Spears Justin Spears Yeah do you know that Kevin I already love Justin Spears a lot so last year Derek got put in Justin Spears's ramble on like randomly and Nick Robinson yeah it was just it was just like a four a four-sum and uh and Nick Robinson is like David Robinson's cousin that's crazy yeah know that and he is like a like an Instagram like he's like a influencer and stuff on Instagram I all like a

You have like fireball shooters, Kevin. They're all cheering them. We had the best time. You could imagine. You could imagine. It was just duos, like just a pair. I think it's hard to find a more fun-loving pair than Justin Spears and Derek Montia. You know, it's even crazier about the thing, though.

Because Spears just wants to laugh. Derek was supposed to work. We all signed up for our jobs to help facilitate the thing. Someone backed out last minute. They said, no. Espo, Bood and Holzer got hired. That's right. We had to go to the emergency podcast.

We have breaking PHNX News every single time we do one of these. Correct. Got hired. Hopkins got traded at the one before that. So, like, it's always some crazy thing that's happening. And, and, and yeah, Derek, Derek was, he got the opportunity to play in a, in a, in a, in a group. Instead of working. And just, and just bailed on us.

But I will say, definitely an upgrade. I got to, and I, like, I will cause a scene if I don't get this same job this year. Golf cart guy. Golf car guy. Oh. It's the best job in the world. It's my profile picture for you because you're asleep in a golf cart under a tree. That doesn't sound like something that I did during our tournament.

No, not you, not you at all. Did I have to wake up at like 6 a.m. to be there or something? No, no way. It's a little siesta. Nothing crazy. Sorry. Wasn't me. Growing boy needs his rest.

Sounds like it might have been looked like me, but I don't think it was. Let's get to some of these super chats real fast. Michael Rokicke says Derek's dedication to doing an episode during Raw warrants of super chat. Thank you. I appreciate you. I appreciate the fact that I'm not getting watched live WWU wrestling right now. I am kind of sick of these European crowds the Cody really wait actually Cody Rhodes it gets old after a while you know you know what doesn't get old

stuff to it gets old when you do it for the two to the two of the like same champ for two different people you can't do the Cody Cody Rhodes and then Roman Roman Ray it doesn't work you have to be more creative we're there like once every eight months you can you have time to come up with yeah we need something else we need something else but anyway back to actual news I did want to say give you guys my real problem with what happened yesterday yesterday was baseball games, and you know this, are always their own entity. And while you might not like the way that Tori LeBolo coached in that game,

to manage that game, the idea that this is going to happen again and that this is going to be how he manages going forward is preposterous, right? Like it was a situation where here early on in the season, he's being conservative with his lineup. He ended up still going to some guys on the bench. He ended up making, you know, some moves that cost. them their DH spot. And I'm sure that it probably wasn't the thing he wanted to do, but he was trying to, I guess, pull out all the cards, pull out all the stops to try to figure out some way

to win. And he ended up kind of overplaying his hand. Luckily, the guys came through for him. It's this narrative, though, that the players bailed Tori out. Like, yes, the players did their job, and the players played the game, and they scored more runs than the team. And they won. And a lot of that is because of the players and not because of Tori. But the idea that they bailed him out is kind of wild considering that the players that he put into that game and the way he managed it still led to them winning that game, right? I do understand people's concern with some of the things that he does, like Carlos's list of his grievances, especially the one about putting Christmas lights before Thanksgiving. But I don't really think that what we're going to see

going forward is, you know, the same kind of stuff. You know what I mean? I don't think that this is how he's going to manage games. Games are just chaotic sometimes and sometimes as a manager you look to your bench, you pull out what you can and you hope that it works, right? Like, I get why people kind of at times get tired of Tori, but the people that don't get tired of him are the players themselves because that's who Tori cares about. It's the people that are around Tori all the time that are the people that are most in his corner, which I feel like should go for something. Like, I know, I know like people want to like turn this into like, oh, like you're, you know, shilling. People, people, to shill for the team type of situation, but it's like, no, it's, well, I'm talking about like,

you know, every, all the reporters and stuff that are around the players, the media people, everyone that's around Tori loves the guy. Yeah. And I, that should mean something at the end of the day. Yeah. But anyway, I will say that like we did learn from last year, every single game counts. And I think that's the traumatic experience we as a fan base went through together that makes people so mad about even a loss or a potential loss getting botched by the.

the manager on March 30th, right? Like, it's just a long season. And if we are going to get this upset about, you know, moves like this, it's going to be an even longer season. So we'll see what happens with this team going forward. But they have a day off and they have a big series coming up in New York. Yeah. William, I'm with you. Like he does do, it's the, I agree with you. The lineup stuff is the stuff that people get bothered by with Tori. But I could just as easily say, then he went into that postseason. And he didn't. miss once until the World Series. Like the guy was, he was King Midas, Derek. Everything he touched, every lineup decision he made, every pinch hitter, it was working out, right? So it's like,

we could, we could play that side, that from both sides of the equation. And like, I guess, like, this is where, you know, people get upset with you. So it's funny because, like, I came in here being like, me and Derek are going to argue. But now it's like, I, I can take a step back enough and be like, yes, Tori is not perfect. He makes a, there's a lot of things that bother me that Tori does. But at the end of the day, he is a positive influence on this organization. And I think that people, like, I, it sucks how many people in this fan base, the longest tenured manager in franchise history are like despise the guy.

Yeah. I don't get it. Yeah. Well, and I know that, I mean, you got other situations like what's going on with the Braves, where Brian Schnichter is already talking about not returning after this season and Braves haven't won a baseball game. So, I mean, again, there's, there's managers across baseball that at times don't have the same connection to the team that aren't the same kind of manager. Some fans want that. Some fans want less of a loving dad type with Tori and more of a baseball manager. And that I can

understand and respect, but it's not going to happen. It's just who he is. It's not going to change. So, you know, again, this is, and I think somebody here in the chat said it, but Tori's always been this way and he always is going to be this way. He did promise us that he is learning to not sit guys after they have a five hit night, but he just said that. He hasn't, like, actually done it yet. So we'll see if he actually sticks to saying that if he decides to sit a guy, he's not going to. But all that to be said, we're going to move on from these games because the Diamondbacks move on.

They have New York. And like somebody here said, the bowling pin. bats that have suddenly drawn the iron the torpedo bats have you had a chance to see exactly what they are looked at them and i saw that the yinkees are like the best team of all time now so they think it's like a placebo thing they move the no because they move it down to the like they're basically making the barrel of the bat where the like the label is like they're moving it down right to where you would you know apparently had something to do with anthony bolpe you know fouling off a bunch of balls or something like that but this is kind of a crazy thing

that's, you know, is going to drive people nuts when it comes to the Yankees or any, like the Dodgers of the Yankees do something like this and people are going to immediately be like they steroided their bats, right? And that's, that's what's the Yankees. Oh, man, but anyway, it's Monday. The Dodgers that they did do that though. I feel comfortable. They're corkin. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever accusations you can throw around. Probably, probably injecting it with some some sort of performance enhancer even though it's an inanimate object. I want the gold. I want the gold letters and numbers. tested. I don't know for what,

but I just want them tested. If it has real gold, is it heavier? You know what I mean? I just want to know what kind of advantage of this. While we're on Dodgers for a second, I actually got ripped this tweet off

right before we got in this show. Okay. If the fine folks, if you guys haven't seen it, go check it out. But Sasaki was like pretty emotional. Do you see that? Yeah.

Roki Sasaki, pretty emotional after his first, his first outing. He's struggling. How, what just what exactly did Shohey Otani say to him? after blowing his Dodgers money line bet in the in the in the in the dugout like it's like like i get it show hey you know it's it means a lot you know it's a it's a it's early in the season i'm

sure you're trying to get off into a good start right but like it's it's four of 162 you got 158 more of these guys to bet on the rest of the way so i mean cut a guy some slack rokey didn't mean to and he's going to try better next time and hopefully cash that ticket for you so i i know i know Otani was freaking out getting mad at him, but I just think you got to like, you got to take a step back. It's early in the season, Otani. You know what I mean? Yeah, you done. You're good. I just felt, feel bad for me like Roki in that situation. That's fine. I think we all do. we all do for sure. He should have made a better decision. But, uh, hey, we got Corbyn burn. So I'm good with that. Um, I will say, once again, I want to credit Ryan Nelson getting a first hit by a pitcher

not named Shoah Otani. Right. We got a Sarah, do we got the Sarah Lange's tweet about that? And we got I don't have that. I was at the Wii. Yeah, you just got the Wii one. But yeah, no, that was a historic moment there for Ryan Nelson. So that's all, that's all I want to focus on. Let's congratulate. Let's let's keep, I'm a very positive person, except when I'm fighting with people on Twitter. Then I take the load. He doesn't care about what he says to Rokey. He's not wrong. You just got here. You think I care? You think I care about you? I'm not even going to learn your name yet. Fresh meat. Hokey-pokey. Well, it's Monday. We're going to do a lot of trash talking because you know what we do around here. It is the year of the snake. And every year on this podcast, by the way, is the year of the snake. Every month on this podcast is Black History Month.

Every month on this podcast is Women's History Month. And every month on this podcast is Black Women's History Month. Every week is Shark Week. Every single day is Earth Day. But on Mondays, go to the mailbag. Kevin, let's go. My mail box. Always something interesting in my mail box.

and it's in it and then once in a while it's a letter that makes you go wow wow my mailbox I mean I'm looking at it's in there yeah I don't know why I wouldn't play in the thing but you can click on the playbook well I got you but it was by time we got there I just went you know I figure we need to get to the questions as soon as humanly possible like better Megarians version or the Kevin Thomas remix I'm a bit partial to the original but I also say I prefer the original I like live performances though so I got to give him some credit but hey I'm thinking and maybe ran remixes it with Kevin with a verse on the track. We'll get him in the studio.

He's got some new equipment for sure. Don't quit your day job. Zach says don't quit your day job. Zach, I don't want to quit my day job, man. These people know actually I'm not a big karaoke guy. That was pretty painful for me. Zach, we might be washed. You might have been right.

But what do we got? Do we have any questions in the mailbag? What's our first one? First question comes from Haley, who wants to know, what is your biggest takeaway from this series versus the Cubbies? My biggest takeaway is that nothing will make some of you people happy ever. some of you are going to be miserable no matter what good things happen to you in your entire life and you just can't find joy or peace.

I don't know. No, my biggest takeaway is that the Diamondbacks made entirely too many defensive mistakes. I am encouraged by the fact that I do think that they could have taken three out of four here. They were pretty beat. They were fairly, you know, overmatched in game one there. But outside of that, I felt like these other three games were all winnable. They definitely, you know, did that into. of them, but one of them, they really, you know, blew it there at the end.

But I will say that, like, again, you have to be encouraged by the fact that Zach Gallen, you know, did not have a good start and the Diamondbacks, you know, still managed to put up six runs and kind of come back from the four-run deficit that Gallen got them in. It was just the fact that the bullpen couldn't keep them in the game either, and it just kind of ended up getting a little out of control, right? I just think that there is a lot of encouraging things about the amount of offense that they've already put up this year. Yeah.

How good Gino's been. And the fact that they are two and two with playing some of the worst defense, quite frankly, that we've seen them play in probably the last two seasons. Yeah, no, 100% on all those things. My biggest takeaway is that I hate Derek and I want to make him the enemy, public enemy number one of this fan base. I think that that is. It's good.

I think that's where we need to be. I'm ready. I had someone standing at an intersection through a rock in my car. And I'm pretty sure. Because he said that's cap underscore caveman. I'm pretty sure with someone that recognized. Yeah. But, but yeah, I guess I would say the defensive thing, like you said, you know,

sloppy defensively, not great. Yeah. My guy, one of the big reasons is that. Perdomo can't have it. Like he's, he had kind of a rough defensive season last year. I'll fully admit that. Like, he wasn't as good as the season before. This year, I think he needs to prove again that he's an above average shortstop.

And it's been, it's a rough start so far. can't have that. And then on top of that, I think just Zach Allen's start. Like I don't want to read too much into it. I know you asked me on after the first game like how much steak are you putting into it. Kind of a lot because he was bad last year and he looked bad to start this year. And so it's kind of,

that's freaking me out a little bit. I think that, you know, Zach Allen and his from a negative standpoint, how will he be, how will he be able to pick it up? And then from a positive standpoint, Alex Thomas.

Right? incredible incredible he's been so good we need that so like i feel like he's the x factor of this team if alec thomas gives you 270 yeah we are all witnesses yeah if alick thomas gives you 270 with 20 bombs in gold glove defense you're all of a sudden you're we're talking about a different season for the arizona diamond backs that's wishful i know but i'm just saying like say he goes off this year we're in a great spot well we're going to get into alec thomas and jake mccarthy discussion but his bat so hot that that was the bat that ryan nelson used to get that hit yesterday is alec thomas's that. So again, I don't know. I think so far what we've learned is that this team is is good,

but there's been some changes that make it not the same team that we're used to. The absence of Christian Walker at first base is going to be noticeable. It's going to be a huge reason why this team isn't as good defensively as they were in the past few seasons, right? Not to mention the fact that Christian Walker is also probably one of the people that hurt Tori, right? When you talk about Tori kind of being managing scared and doing the things he's doing with the lineup, he still feels like it's on him to this day that Christian Walker experienced that oblique injury and then had it get aggravated again and then missed more time. And he still, in spring training, he felt kind of still responsible about it,

even though that injury is happening on another team right now for Christian Walker. So Tori has feelings. And he remembers when he did things that he thinks caused players to get. injured. I don't. I don't. That's why people can be so mean to do. Yeah, that's right.

That's why say whatever you want with Eric online. He actually doesn't get upset at all. I don't. I don't get angry. He's really level at his guy. What else we got, Kevin? Question number two, Tucson D-backs. That sounds like Damon over there.

What would qualify as a successful April, really tough schedule? So if we can sneak out of the first 26 games at 15 and 11, I'd call it a W. Oh, 15 and 11 would be a huge win. But then when you take a look at the schedule, right, we have an upcoming three game series with the Yankees. After that, they have three with the nationals. That, not going to overlook the nationals, but that should be a series win, even if you want to write off maybe the Yankees series as a potential loss, right? So if you go 500 in those games, you have three games against the Orioles, and then you have three games against the Brewers, three games against the Marlins, three more games against the Cubs in Chicago, and then you- Big ones.

Wrap up with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Braves, and then the Mets. So I don't know because some of these teams are playing pretty good baseball right now. The Brewers, I think, are a win. I think the nationals are a win. But I do think that, like, the Marlins, right, I've somehow walked off all three games or something like that against the pirates. You had, of course, the Rays winning some baseball games. Braves have not been good.

So I honestly, I don't know. I mean, the schedule is tough, but I think. I think 15 and 11 schedule. No, I'm not dying anything. 15 and 11 and Derek will die his hair again. I think we're on the right. We're all on the same track.

I think in this room. Mark says it's against the pirates. It doesn't count. Yeah, that's fun. Me, you, Kevin, and 135 of our closest friends in the entire world. Yeah. All agree, are all in agreement that 15 and 11, you'll die your hair. No, no.

Only, what if they get like exactly 15 and 11? Like, not 16 and 10, not 14 and like whatever. That'd be pretty funny. No, I'm not agreeing to anything anymore. Like, it comes down. Unlike Tori, I've learned my lesson. Whoa. Derek needs a loss on the last game and he's actively rooting for a loss to keep his hair in place.

You've never seen a guy be more unhappy after a win than Derek, even after this past weekend. People want my eyebrows? You guys are monsters. You guys are worse than the people that came from me on Twitter. Teal hair. Oh. That's not going to be a good look for me. I think eyebrows is like almost worse.

You'd almost rather. be like a purple hair guy than a purple eyebrow guy. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'll do is I'll justperman my beard so I don't feel so old. That's what I'll do. But I'll just do that just no matter what the record is. Let's get one more in, Kev, before we got to go to here.

All right. Next question comes to us from Jacob Franklin. Hey. Who says you're brave to do this. On that note, confidence level 1 to 10 going into New York. I'm actually fairly confident. I just don't know about those damn torpedo bats. Those scare me.

and I don't know what to really. This is a bad time to get the Yankees. Yeah. Like you could. We don't really know. Maybe they just, maybe it was the Nestor Cortez factor. And they're just like,

we own this guy. Yeah. Because he cost us a ring last year. So they're like, we're going to just. Yeah. We're going to destroy him 100%. But I like this,

it's a very uncertain time. Like there's a chance that we go into this next series and the Yankees win every game by like five plus runs. And then you're sitting there and you're like, yeah, We these torpedo bats are actually kind of a problem. Yeah, this is, but I think we might be on that train soon and out. It's too early, but I would say that it's like it's kind of extremely uncertain.

So I might even go with like a five. Okay. Just because like I want to go right in the middle there on Jacob's question. Like I don't I'm not confident at all. I'm also not like, you know, shape my knees aren't shaking over here, Derek. I feel pretty decent about this team. So I mean, somewhere in the middle. I'm kind of with Sean.

I'm at seven and I use. Ryoma's reasoning there is that with Burns on the mound, you got Burns going in game one. You're going to get Zach Allen in game two and Merrill Kelly in game three. Frankly, if the Diamondbacks... Aaron Judge, home run when Zach Allen's on the mound. Yeah. Cash it. Yeah.

I mean... We're making money. If your team's going to lose, doesn't mean you have to. Don't forget that. But if the Diamondbacks can't go into New York and put up at least a good showing with their three best starters on the mound, then yeah there's cost for concern that'd be pretty concerning right but because they have corbin zach and maryl going i'm confident i'm fairly confident Zach is going to be pitching on one of the biggest stages that he's pitch he's going to pitch on all year long in a contract year uh frankly if he goes out there

and doesn't have a good outing i'm ready to be concerned about him you know and i mean again it's not that the diamondbacks need gallon to be their ace now that they have corbin burns but my god i mean Zach Gallen is a huge, he's going to be a huge factor for this team. And if he does not have a good season, I don't know, you know, I don't know how far the Diamondbacks can go. I think they still have a strong starting, you know, rotation without him being a big piece of it. But, I mean, I also don't doubt that Zach Gallen will get back on track.

I mean, he has been one of the Diamondbacks most consistent starters and, frankly, in team history outside of a couple guys named, you know, Randy Johnson and Kurt Schilling. So, and he's been here for a while now. So there's all the motivation in the world for Gallon to go out in game two of this series and shove. Let's hope that that's happened. I like what Jacob says here, you know, we got Corbyn Burns on the mound against the Yankees five. I know it's so early in the season. So it's like it's weird to put expectations like this, but I think you almost kind of have to win that game.

Yeah. Because you're like, you have to set the tone in the series. I, you know, you could very well lose the next two going against the Yankees, better pitchers. Like that's a mismatch you just have to take advantage of. Yeah. this early in the season. And I like what Ryoma says, too, about like making the Yankees play baseball. Make them base run.

Yeah. Make them play defense. Like, they're not good at that stuff. If it's a game on the margins like that with Diamondbacks, I know the defense and the base running has been bad to start. Well, but I think that that's an advantage that we would have in that case. And I think that that's something you got to play into. Yeah.

Transonic says Diamondbacks are two and two and two and their best pitcher hasn't thrown yet. Yeah. Great point. Great point. All right. Let's go ahead and we'll get back to some more mailbag Monday questions on the other side of this break. We'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere?

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Next up, Britt and Bobbitt. Brighton Bobbitt? What's the level of concern with the defensive play after the Cubs series? Ooh, we were already getting into this, but I think high, right? I think that there's, there's talent. These are the same guys, right? But there are certain things to be said about the coaching, right? Sean Larkin being there at third base has a lot to do with defensive positioning and things like that.

So it's not necessarily just on the players that the defense has been bad. Once again, most like many of you want to do, we can blame it on the coaching. It's fine. But like, yeah, no, this isn't the Diamondbacks brand of baseball, frankly. They're their round of baseball. But like you said, is that's how they can win against the Yankees is making the Yankees play all the facets of the game and not letting them just go out there and hit 10 home runs. Yeah, totally with that. In general, honestly, my worries with this team's defense is not very high.

I think we know what they are. And that's that when Gabby's not catching, there's going to be some problems with that catcher spot defensively, which, you know, with Tori, Gabby sits quite a bit. And then I think with the outfield, you know, the arms are not good. We know that. We've known that for a long time. Me and Jesse, that's like our favorite thing. And then, you know, there's the, I think, the Pordomo situation, which in which, you know, I think that that's probably where my highest level of concern is, to be honest with you.

He didn't have a good year last year. It's the most demanding defensive position outside of catcher probably. And, yeah, I think I'm a lot. little bit worried about Perdomo with the defense. I'd say the panic button is like right. It's like right at the front of it. It's far enough away for me where like I would have to like really put some effort in to like reach over and hit it.

Like you wield your chair up to the desk that the panic button is at, but you're leaving the little case still closed on it. Yeah. You need Kevin to flick the other switch with you at the exact same time in order to like initiate the process. Yeah, you need the codes. I don't have the codes yet. I haven't gotten that far.

But I would say that, like, I have a medium level of concern about Pardomo and that shortstop position just because I think, you know, we've seen a sample size now where he hasn't been great. Yeah. So you need him to pick it up. And I mean, again, you don't know how that new contract is factoring into his, you know, his psyche. His psyche, right? Yeah, like his is just overall wanting to do too much. And that's a big problem for this team. We know in the past that their offense has gone cold because you can frankly see these guys trying to hit three home runs and one at bat.

And that's just not something that this team. has really hung its hat on. That's not their calling card. Their calling card is, you know, getting a hit, taking what comes to you and handing it off to your teammate, trusting them to bring you home

or get that big hit. We do have some breaking news here that you guys are talking about in the chat. Drixen Profar has been apparently tested positive for banned substance. I am shocked that the guy who was not good forever

was finally unbelievable. last year for the Padres. It was somehow using, juicing a little bit. Yeah, he's been suspended for 80 games according to reports. So, yeah, that's a big blow to a Braves team that already is kind of having some struggles here initially. And like I said earlier, Brian Snickter kind of made those comments about leaving after the season. Maybe this scandal, maybe this is one of the reasons why Brian Snickter made those comments. Maybe he's a little done with baseball after having one of his players that they just acquired as a free agent.

get pot for a banned substance. But anyway, moving on. I want a silver slugger last year. And after being like a bust for the majority of his career, pretty crazy. Never been more shocked in my life. No. All right. What else we got, Kevin?

Next up, Alan wants to know after seeing J.M.'s performance at versus AT's performance over the last four games, what are your thoughts on the center field starting job battle? Worth to note that Alec Thomas hit well on a start versus left-handed pitching. Yeah, I mean, honestly, the biggest thing that's. keeping Alec Thomas from having the majority of the playing time is bad. He really struggled in spring training. And then the season came around. And Alec Thomas so far has been outstanding at the plate.

His approaches have been great. He's been hitting the ball hard. His exit below has been great, even on outs. And, I mean, again, it's one of those situations where I feel like Jake McCarthy really didn't run away with the job in spring training. It wasn't like he did well enough that it was automatically going to be his job. but he did do better than Alec Thomas did and offensively specifically. I wouldn't say the two are a wash defensively.

I think Alec Thomas is a better defender. I think he is faster. I think he plays center field better. But I also think Jake McCarthy is a very, very good outfielder. And there's no reason for, you know, again, for these guys to lose a ton of playing time to one another or whatever. I mean, the outfield is going to always going to have Tories doing matchups and mixing things around. So, but I feel like right now, Alec Thomas is winning the job. Yeah, it's certainly early, but, you know, he's about in 700 right now, Derek.

And you got to tape your cap to that. And, you know, we've all known that Alec Thomas is, that's always been his issue. Mark here says, will there ever be a year where Jake and Alec are good together? No. And that's an interesting question, probably not. But that being said, I feel like I always have this conversation whenever I come on this show. there's like the weight and we were talking about with tory and obviously i want to rest guys a little bit less but there's almost four starting outfielders on this team in my opinion like i think

that there's enough abs to go around with the amount of rest that tory likes to give people where lordis jake aleck and corbin all get a starter's amount of reps same thing with the infield with last year with like a kevin newman where like he wasn't a starter on paper go look at the amount of at bats that that guy got. Like, I think that there's enough room for, you know, the depth players to get a lot of run. And that was part of my problem with why I wanted Jordan Lawler on this opening day roster is because I thought if he's the primary backup infielder, he'll get at bats all over

the place. So I tend to think about it in less of like, who's the starter between those guys because I really do think that they're going to get both enough play to prove who deserves to be the starter over the course of a year. But we didn't even talk about how. And Gritchick. I forgot about Gritchin, too. And there's Gritchick, too, right.

But you also have the DH spot, which they're going to be rotating guys in. And you know, they're just going to do that all season long. It's not going to be just for sure. Yeah. And Gritchick in the D.H. Or Lordus. Throw Lordus in there if you want a fast outfield in one of these games or whatever. So you also have the fact that like we kind of glossed over and didn't even talk about,

but Alec Thomas was huge in that win yesterday. I mean, he had a two out RBI. He had, you know, he was, what was he? two for three yesterday with three runs scored and two RBI. So, I mean, again, there's a lot to like about what Alec Thomas is doing. And right now he's one of the best players offensively on the team. You got Alex, you got Gabrielle Marino, and you have Gino all doing the thing right now. And Paven.

Paven Smith deserves his credit as well. He came in at the pinch hit situation and got the job done. He's hitting 571 right now. God bless our ginger Jesus. Carlos says we don't have enough undersized speedy left. candid outfielders. Well, we got news. Slade. Yeah. Can I interest you in one Slate Caldwell? Let's go. We got more in the pipe one. Yeah, we're not even done yet. All right, what else do we got there, Tim? Next up, James Sargent, yes, sir. Should Gallen get traded with how he pitched last year?

His opening day, Dudd, and now Corbyn is in the rotation as the true ace, are his best days already behind him? Well, I know Jacob Franklin's probably going to scream at me, but I do have to tell you guys that if you are watching on TV, which you're not anymore, go over to go PhNX.com and join us there. But Jacobs in the chat, he can't get maddy. He also has the time. He's part of the reason why I'm, it's going so long. He knows this show starts a time check. Yeah, like I should have had like, yeah, a little watch guy or something going on.

Like a little common fellas. Like it's 58 minutes. Yeah. Ooh, I like Ginger Avenger. That's good too. All right. So back to the question. I, you don't, you don't even consider trading Zach Allen right now because his value

couldn't be probably any lower than it is right now. right? Yeah. Oh, we're late on that. Yeah, we are. You're right about that. But what's the point, right? So you, but it is a consideration. It is something that over the course of this season in having conversations with Zach,

if something comes up that I just, I can't imagine a scenario where they give up on Zach Allen this season, right? But I'm just saying if something comes up and you know that you're not going to get, you know, and we've talked about this is probably in the case of a bad year, but you're not going to to bring Gallen back, you might consider a trade just to kind of, you know, get what you can with him because you know he's going to walk at the end of the season. The Diamondbacks have plenty of players to offer qualifying offers, too, that will probably reject them, that they'll be able to get those compensation picks or other picks, right? And he's one of them, so.

And he's the main one, really. So, yeah, I think with Gallen, you have to hope that he just gets better. I wouldn't trade him at all, especially given the fact that you're likely going to get a pretty decent prospect out of him, especially with Mike Hazen at the helm. I trust Mike Hazen making that pick. So, yeah, I wouldn't trade Zach Gowan. And I think that the ceiling of this team is very high with him on the roster. You just got to find a way to get him pitching right at the right time.

And it's way easier said than done. But yeah, Zach Allen is, you know, the ceiling of this team, Derek, and where we think this team can go this year is almost entirely based on that three-man rotation and what they're going to do in the postseason in my opinion so got to have gallon pitching well loved it we saw at a maryland start one and then hopefully corbin burns just continues to be who he is but yeah zach gallon i i certainly wouldn't trade him right now all right uh well we are going to get to some more mailbag monday questions on the other side of our final break don't you guys go anywhere you're watching the ph next diamond back show didn't realize we had a final break i didn't realize we were a

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Well, let's finish up. We got a few more questions in the mailbag. What do we got, Kev? Digging deep into the bag, ZZZZZ. Best unconventional way the debacks have ever won a game? Pretty sure Kevin missed like two Zs on the end of that one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I really didn't want to go Z, Z, Z Z Z.

I would have preferred that. See, now we're hash anyway. I just thought this guy was a big J journalist, you know? Yeah, I thought so. wrong is like top one rule you don't break but best unconventional way the diamondbacks have ever won a game because of bees i think it's or is was that the was that the question or was he asking if this past game was the most unconventional i don't know if this was the most unconventional win i think the diamondbacks have had um some pretty out there victories i can't the bees was pretty

crazy the bees was pretty crazy crazy for sure um i don't know i think that there was uh you said Carlos said, was it last year, 2023 that he had a period where he would give up a home run every start for like four straight starts? That's about exact gallon. Archie Bradley triple. Yeah, I think that's got to be my answer. I mean, I've never heard. That's the loudest. I think I've been in any sports stadium or arena in my entire life.

Yeah. Was that Archie Bradley triple. Right. That exact moment. I mean, it was shaking inside of Chiefsfield. Yeah. I was in the, I was in an auxiliary press box, which was set up basically where they do the, the dogs in the park,

bark in the park area over there in the left field behind the concourse. And yeah, no, that's absolutely a moment I'll never forget. And it's because of Archie Bradley, right? I was a sting sitting up in the nosebleeds at that game. I mean,

like no one's ever sat higher at Chase Field than what me and my parents sat at the Archie Bradley game, but electric nonetheless. The Ryan Roberts Grand Slam, that's a good shout. Jacob's right with the rally Haboob. That was a good one. I mean, that was so good that it ended up with one of the greatest giveaway items at all time,

which was that dirt snowglob, the Hibu's a black trick, yeah. But, yeah, no, I mean, I don't know. This team does win weird games in a lot of different ways. And, I mean, I think that I still think of the 2001 World Series victory of Luis Gonzalez, getting that hit off of Rivera. Like, that's such a, honestly, that's not unconventional, but that just still like, I can't believe that. Blown Moriana Rivera postseason saved. That's the most unconventional way you can possibly win a baseball game.

Ryan brings up the Seth Beer walkoff. That is still the most surreal moment for me in my life. We had such a chaotic night because that was opening day and we were out doing it remotely at a bar. I had a lady kiss me after that game. Wow. Wild stuff. Your wife was happy about that one. I still think of her.

I still miss her. All right, what else we got, Kevin? We got trouble for you on the horizon, but are we back to five shows a week? Are we so back? Also, as anyone ever told Damon Dogg, he looks like Ryan Nelson. Ryan, yes. People in this chat, I believe, I think Karen might have come up with that. It was, maybe Connor, it was definitely like one of our OGs here that was around here.

Do we have a shot? Oh, yeah. I can see it? That's, yeah. It's the eyes. It's the eyes, I think. It's the eyes. A little smart.

Mark, a little grin. A little bit of the facial hair, too. Yeah, a little bit. Like his might be a little bit thicker, but. I'll take it. He's got a little bit redder hair than I do. Yeah, yeah. You know, Ryan's, like, if I, if I was to say, hi, this is Damon Nelson.

Ryan's little brother, you guys would be like. I don't know how I ended up six inches shorter than him and not nearly as athletic. Genetics are. What's up? Damon Nelson, nice to meet, yeah. All right. Sean says Damon also looks like Jackson Merrill. We're not going to do that.

We're not doing that. Sure, whatever. All right, what else we got? Next up we got. Oh, Yoshi. Do you think naming my dialoga after Ryan Nelson was a good decision? First of all, I like the fact that you said that with a Latin accent. Like you were saying a word in Spanish.

I can't say it any other way. Dialga. Mira. No, I think that that's a perfect timing. Good job on that. For those of you that don't know, a dialogue is actually a Pokemon and not a curse word in Spanish. Yeah. Looking at him right now.

Yeah, it's pretty. I mean, I'll be honest. Like I'm kind of, I was a Pokemon guy. I would have known this back in the day. It did escape my memory, but I am, but I am visually, uh, reconciling with the dialogue here. And I love it, Yoshi. I think you should name every one of your Pokemon off after, uh, you know, obscure baseball

players. I think that'd be the best way of going on. That's a great. Not an obscure baseball player, but what Pokemon, I'm putting you on the spot? What Pokemon would you name after Cotel Martet? Hmm. That, no, that's impossible. There is, there is a lot of.

There's so many Pokemon. There are. Yeah. Which one? Multiple generations of them, actually. Yeah. I mean, I think that you're really looking for a flashy Pokemon, right? Like, this is what I think of.

A good one, right? Like a solid one that's not going to... He's just finding Pokemon. Mark says Gengar? I was trying to find if there's a Pokemon that holds a baseball bat. Yeah, probably. Maybe a stick or something. No.

I don't know. I don't know. What do you do? What are you got, Kevin? Not a Pokemon guy. What's the one with the, um, with the, that wears the, it's mom's skull is the helmet and carries around the bone. Oh, um, Keybone.

Yeah, I think maybe that one. Yeah. Like, I feel like he could hit hit a baseball. That's a pretty good one. Uh, I like Gruki because Grue key has a stick in his hand. I found that. So there we go. Grue key.

That's what we're going on. He's adorable. Yeah. Look at him. He's adorable. Yeah. Oh. I think Corby and Carol is what.

Whoa. Whoa. Let's clear this up here. Catelle is the epitome of cool. Like, I think of, I think of, like, suave, and I'm like, Catelle Marta. But are there, are there cool Pokemon? Corbyn Carol is adorable. Yeah, Cobra Cattle.

You know what I, like, I just want to pinch Corvin's cheeks. Yeah. Whereas, like, Catelle, I'm like, I want to dab him up. And my friends played, I told you this. My friends, when the debacks were in Vegas for the, you know, little exhibition thing, my friends played craps with. Catelle at the casino and like that's what I want to do with Catell. I won't play I won't play casino games with him you know yeah yeah I agree I

agree all right where is B. Calmsy clearly when you need him that's my question last mailback question certainly not the least Craig Jr wants to know what's the best P HNX office or baseball April Fool's Prang you've witnessed or been engaged in I almost feel like it's every single time that there's a trade in the middle of the night. It's not an actual prank, but it feels like a prank. It feels like someone, like when the Diamondbacks got Gino and I had to leave

a movie theater, it didn't feel like a real thing that had happened. I felt like I was being pranked. Do we think of any pranks historically? I went to Shane on this. I mean, I think of the numerous times that we left Emma somewhere as pranks, but that's only due to drinking.

Yeah, sure. What's it called? We don't talk about that, by the way. For reasons. But yeah, I guess I would say maybe April Fool's jokes are kind of dead. You think so? I mean, I'm trying to think of the last like good April Fool's joke that like somebody, you know, got me on. And I'm sitting here and I can't, not one is popping up.

So I'm kind of like maybe, maybe it's a dying holiday. You know what's part of this, I think, Damon? There are so many, like, I'm not trying to get too woke about this, but there are so many, like, NBA Centelles, like these fake accounts, they're trying to get you every day. Yeah. That when April 1st comes around, you're like, oh, this is just another AI image or, oh, this is just another fake quote from Catamarte.

Mr. Woke over here. It's just hard to, it's hard to fool people. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm saying, like, people like those accounts. They think they're funny. But I think they might have actually ruined the holiday at my point. Misinformation being as prevalent as it is has definitely made it.

Things are funny anymore. It's lost. It's lost. Yeah. It's not fun. I will say, finding out that Kyle Cooper was, in fact, actually eating cold food out of a can. Oh, yeah. It felt like a prank.

And I wanted it to be a prank. But it wasn't. But it wasn't. Just like, you know, chicken noodle soup, like opening up the. It's insane person's in here. And just scooping out of it. Makes no sense. No.

Yeah. That one friend that's too woke. That's Kevin, man. That's Kevin. Freaking can't have a conversation with this guy around. Yeah, not even a little bit. Well, we've gone way too long, and I've taken up way too much of this man's time. But we appreciate you guys for sticking around, and thank you for letting me scream obscenities at you for a short period of time.

I appreciate you guys stopping by. Of course, you can follow all of us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore Kman with K. Kev is at Kev-O posts. This guy is at Damon Dog. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. shows at PHNX underscore D-Bax,

but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And again, we thank you guys so much for stopping by. Appreciate your time in your civil discourse today. We will see you tomorrow with a post-game show. So make sure to stop by after that Yankees game and see if Diamondbacks can talk. Happy birthday to Glover Reddy's daughter.

Oh, yes. It's your daughter's birthday. Let's go. April Fool's is dying, but your daughter's birthday is certainly. No, it's not April Fool's Day. It's your daughter's birthday. well and alive and thriving. Yeah, absolutely.

And I think we have some super chats before we get out that I completely ignored. So Peace Vyoshi says Mantiply was off, but so was Puck. Great point. Thank you so much for your super chat

and for being here. And Michael Rokickey also thank you again for your super chat about me missing Raw. Appreciate it. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do in order to get the job done

and that includes missing pro wrestling. But we'll have plenty of chances for that. Thank you guys again so much for stopping by. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, Have a great night. Behave yourselves.

And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't get mad after wins.