PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Gabriel Moreno & Diamondbacks Open Second Half With Massive Win Over Cubs

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

The Diamondbacks kick off the second half of the season with a big win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. We discuss Ryne Nelson getting a career-high nine strikeouts while throwing nearly all fastballs, Gabi Moreno being unstoppable in the two-hole, and what it’s like attending a game at the Friendly Confines. We are live from Almost Home in Chicago and are joined by Cody Delmendo from CHGO Cubs and Jesse Friedman with more from Wrigley Field. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose between either:Bet and Get offer and place a bet of $5 or more and get $150 in Bonus Bets OR First Bet Safety Net offer by placing a bet up to $1000 and if your qualifying bet loses you receive a matched refund in Bonus betsDisclaimer: 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/Indeed: listeners of this show will get a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/allcity. Terms and conditions apply.  Need to hire? You need Indeed.Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks.  $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Chicken N Pickle: Head to https://chickennpickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location! PHNX will be hosting Trivia Nights and Pickleball Tournaments so stay tuned for info!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

ski and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here in Chicago, right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monta, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX, and we are thrilled to be here after a big Diamondbacks win over the Chicago Cubs by a score of 5 to 2. Diamondbacks kick off the second half of the season with a very important win. They get themselves just a little bit more over 500. And more importantly, I have bragging rights over all these CHGO losers that are

over here booing me and giving me a hard time. But of course, we thank you guys all for being here. Jesse Friedman, still in Wrigley Field. I was sitting there next to him, eating Cracker Jacks, taking in all of this baseball wonderment over there at that beautiful ballpark. But he'll be joining us here shortly. Might be joined by some guests, some fine surprises here. And, of course, we got Faj on the ones and twos.

One's and twos. Jacob Franklin, this was your first time at Wrigley Field. What are your thoughts? I think there's only two words to describe it, Derek. What's that? Beautiful and historic. And historic. Yeah.

That was three. That was a beautiful historic, yes. And you could also say they definitely were the friendly confines because as much as these people told me to go back to Glendale, they also welcomed me into the watch. Yeah, they did. They specified Glendale. They didn't even tell me to go back to Phoenix. I appreciate that.

They did their research. But of course, the Diamondbacks win by a score of five to two. And this was, like I said, it's a big win. The Diamondbacks ended the first half on a pretty good note, even though they didn't win the final game of the first half. They just ended it above 500, and here they are getting their roll back on here in the second half. They are currently at 50 and 48. This is their 50th win of the season.

Don't let the snakes get hot. Don't let the snakes get hot. Don't let us turn into a wagon. Today was a good all-around team win, I think, even though things got a little dicey there at the end. We'll talk about the bullpen, but you've got to give credit where credit is due. Take a bow Nelly. Ryan Nelson was tremendous for this. team today and I still don't understand how he is as effective as he is when he is throwing as many

fastballs as he does. Today he threw 68% forcing fastballs. He threw his slider 18% of the time and then 14% other cutter curveball other things that he threw but of course Ryan Nelson still just incredibly effective with that fastball and I mean we've said it we've said he is better when he has just a little bit of a mix and today he had that slider working just enough for him to record a career high, nine strikeouts over five and two-thirds innings. It's not the depth that we would want to see, but again, you can't really expect, you know, Ryan Nelson to go out there and be giving you seven innings every single outing when he's throwing 68, 70, 75 percent forcing fastball, right? It's just not enough of a mix. But it's impressive what

he was able to do today. He maxed out at 97.9 miles per hour with his fastball. He average 95 point two. And again, it's just an incredible outing from the young guys that the diamondbacks kind of need to take over here a bit. And, you know, honestly, do do a little bit more until, you know, we get these other starters back to the, you know, to the starting rotation here from injury. Hey, I mean, look, we've all probably criticized Ryan Nelson at some point or another over the last two years. For sure. He's had some moments where, man, he did not look like a big league pitcher. And this is why, right? I mean, still. I mean, you're still not. like looking at 70% fastballs and thinking.

The numbers don't really add up in this situation. But the numbers don't lie, Jacob. They don't lie either. However, Brent Strom has a knack. And I've just like learned this over the last two years for making these small, minute changes in a pitcher's delivery. For example, Brandon Fott moving him to the other side of the rubber, adding a sinker into his mix so that he could get a little more run

and make that fastball a little bit more deceptive. Ryan Nelson shortened his extension. And since he did that, he's allowed six runs in his last 25 innings. And let me tell you, man, it's been impressive so far. He, today, again, I think the thing is we've had some outings here with Ryan Nelson, where he has, of course, you know, the pitch mix has kind of been the key to him going a little bit farther. But, yeah, you're right. I mean, you know, when he can throw that slider 18% of the time and get it in there just enough to be a little deceptive,

to be a little bit, you know, to keep batters a little bit kind of off, off tilt. Then, you know, obviously it works out where today he had nine strikeouts against the Cubs. Excuse me. It marked the fourth time in his career recording seven or more strikeouts over five innings. His line today, five and two-thirds innings pitch, three hits, one earn run, two walks, nine strikeouts. So, again, take a bow, Nellie. You did a great job. The offense also did a great job.

I think Gabby Moreno hitting in the two-hole works, Jacob. I think it works. Is it? I think it works. Is he back? Is Gabby back? Well, is Gabby back when he's hitting in the two-hole? The answer is yes.

And 51 at-bats in the two-hole. Gabriel-Mareno is hitting 4-12 with seven doubles, one-home run, 10 RBI, and four walks after today's game. It's working. Gabby is back. I mean, he didn't even waste any time in the first inning today. Like obviously they didn't get anything out of it But Cateau gets on with a lead off walk And Gabby's like first pitch smack it the other way

Like yeah He's starting to drive the ball the opposite field With some authority which is exactly What Gabby does when he's good It really is and I think the thing about today With the Diamondbacks offense Was they took what was given to them They did not hit the ball very hard today

But they hit the ball a lot I mean the Diamondbacks today Had 12 hits Scoring five runs We're going to get into the run in scoring position, which is absolutely bonkers, the opportunities that they had today. And even in that case, they didn't even come close to capitalizing on those opportunities as often as they should have. But before the game, Tori did comment on Moreno hitting in the

two-hole and how effective it's been. This is what Tori had to say. I do. I really do. You know, he's a young hitter and he sees that he's hitting second, and I think he inspires him. And he's, you know, I know he's probably not a seven-eight hitter where I put him at times, but sometimes the lineup, shows up that way. But when you're hitting second, there's just a little more hop in your step, and Gabby certainly fits that category. He absolutely does.

And again, he rewarded Tori today by going three for five. Gabby was absolutely on fire. And, you know, I think the thing about Gabby is, like, he is one of those guys that we've talked about being here in the lineup and not contributing in a way that we expected him to, based on his performance last year, right? There have been several guys, and those guys not performing early on

was the reason why the Diamondbacks were bad in April and bad in May. But when you look at Lordis turning it back on, you took it Gabby, you see even Gino now kind of coming to life here recently. By the way, today was the official 10-year service mark for Ahuenio-Swarez playing professional baseball, and that's very cool as well.

I mean, these guys, by the way, have been grinding. They've been trying to kind of work it, their selves out of the slump. Unfortunately, Corbyn Carroll, I mean, he had the kind of day that I was talking about prior to today's game. It's not something that you're very excited about. You're a little disappointed. But he still found a way to get on base and he still found a way to contribute. He stole a base today. I mean, he got hit by a pitch. We're going to erase his last bat from our memory, but he was definitely productive. Oh, do you mean the one where he just sat there with the bat on his shoulder for three straight consecutive curve balls? That all landed. I mean, that was a hard watch.

I would very much like to erase that one. But that didn't happen. He drove in a run with a sack flight of the morning track. That's exactly right. And he stole the base. Yeah. Well, of course, we have some offense today from Gurriel, Gritchick, Walker. These guys all contributed.

And of course, you know, that's what got the job done. Guriel was two for five with a run scored. Gritchick was two for five with an RBI. Christian Walker, one for three, two walks. Walker, Walker, Walker, Walker, two RBI. But I'm very excited to be joined by this man right here next to me. Actually, you know what, before we get him in there, let's talk about A. UNio Swares. Again, before the game today, Tori talked about Suarez getting to that point in his career.

And what that means as far as longevity goes for a guy to make it 10 years in Major League Baseball? Yeah, it's such a great accomplishment. Not a lot of players have done it. I think there's 1,000 players. There's 1,000 people in the world that have played 10 years in Major League Baseball. It's a little bit over that. it speaks volumes about his work ethic, his consistency, his ability to prepare, his ability to stay healthy. It's who he is.

He's just a very tough player that wants to go out there and win, and it's added up into 10 wonderful years. Yeah, look it. I'm joined by this guy now, of course, who welcomes me in and also booed me at the same time, which I appreciate. Cody from CHGO, buddy, what do you think about the Cubs today? I mean, it's just been a never-ending story, this offense. It's so inconsistent, man. So inconsistent. It's frustrating on your end, because they had some great opportunities there.

We got very, very nervous with the bases loaded there late and obviously. I do want to say this. Me and Jacob couldn't believe the ovation that the team got from inside of the, because we were walking out to come over here and set up inside of Riggily when they scored their first run. Like, I don't know. I know that's silly because they're down five to one. But, like, we actually are people that were like, man, that's some great baseball fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That excited about what's getting going to have hit Homer. Yeah. We here in Chicago are built different. Like, that's not, like, to, like, slander the rest of the other 29 fan bases. But, like, we, like, I think the beauty of being a Cubs fan is that no matter what, we always find a way to, like, at least have some hope, some belief. Like, that's what the, like, we used to be called the lovable losers. And, like, people still say that because they haven't made the way.

playoffs and going on six years now but like that's like I think that's why in some ways I became a cubs fan a long time ago is just because like we there was always some some sort of optimism you always tried to find some sort of optimism and it may in some ways it makes it fun to be a cubs fan but also at the same time when things aren't going well it's also the worst to be a cubs fan because then everyone just blames everyone and I yeah oh yeah and it's like It's like we will support the team no matter what, but also will be the first to ship someone out of town too. It's never the other team's fault or whoever.

It's always this player's fault, whatever. That's how I view it it feels like at least. But yeah, I mean, today's game, I don't know about you guys, but the umpires didn't help. No, no, that was. We were laughing about how atrocious that call was, right? Are you talking about the one against Morel? Yeah, Morel.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was a good six inches probably below it. And it's like, yes, I mean, obviously we don't feel it the same when it's against our team, but we have had that happen to our team and we know what that's like. And it's also like, I don't know, we don't like, yeah, we'll take it to get out of it, but we don't want that. Like we want them to make good calls. We want this to be like, we want it to be a situation where he strikes them out with a good pitch.

We don't, you know, you don't necessarily want it. You'll take it. But, I mean, we've talked about it lately. It's like the impiring is just so bad in baseball. And, I mean, it just begs for the ABS system or something, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, I've been like, I'm one of those people that when there's a really bad call, I'll be the first to tweet out the screenshot from MLB bad app of just how bad it was. And like there were two or three times today I did that.

And I did that from the bleachers, you know? I'm not usually wanting to do that. That's how bad it was. I don't, I'm not saying that like the umpires were the reason the Cubs lost. They got to get hits when they need to get hits. They left plenty of guys on base. You know, Steele wasn't, he wasn't as good as he's been today, all this stuff. So, again, I'm not here to say that the Cubs lost because the umpires,

but they certainly didn't help them. No, they did not. They did not. There were some big moments there, especially against Diamondbacks bullpen. Kevin Ginkle came out. He did some good work after Ryan Nelson left. But Justin Martinez had his worst outing of the season, which is when the Cubs had their biggest opportunity.

opportunity to kind of chip away at that lead. Martinez couldn't find the strike zone, couldn't get a single out. He gave up one hit, two walks. He gave up an earn run. Luckily, our dog, Ryan Thompson, which, by the way, Jacob got to see today, me and Ryan Thompson nerd out. They have a love of wrestling. It's very apparent.

It's very apparent. It's very deep. And, I mean, it's funny because I love to look, whether it's Jesse or Jacob or anybody with me, I love to see the bored-ass look on their face when I turn around after I've been talking to Ryan. I have no idea what you're talking about. I just sit there with my camera down. We were talking about storyline stuff and Liv and Ria coming back.

There was all some great stuff in there. But Ryan Thompson mop things up there. He came in and got one inning of work, one hit, one strikeout. But Paul Seawald, our Lord and Savior, we've been struggling with our closer there. Must be nice to have us close. Oh, I don't even, like honestly today he was pretty damn good, even though he did give up those two hits. But, man, I mean, it's weird because he's just one of those guys.

He has two pitches. you know what's coming. He'll be the first to tell you, like, you don't know what's coming, or you know what's coming, and you just still, like, somehow he's still effective. But, yeah, he's had his struggles. I mean, and again, it's something I think that a lot of teams have gone through, but he added a tremendous amount of stability to our team last year. And it's a big reason why we were able to make the playoffs, right?

So it's like, when you see him start falling apart in some of his outings, it's like, oh, man, like nothing's really going good for us. It's actually kind of nice to hear this because for Cubs, like the Cubs have like 18 or 19 blown saves this year. Oh, my God. Like they quite literally, if they didn't have all these blown saves, they'd probably at least be 500. So it's nice to hear a team that actually had a closer coming into the year that was proven, like, to hear someone, like, have like some pessimism against the closer that you have. But yeah, he did show up today. And the Cubs had some chances that ninth inning didn't work out, of course.

The old fashion fake rally, I'm used to it. I watched your corner hit a ball that was basically at his shoes. Yeah. And I get that that's him. Yeah, that was wild. That was like, oh, man. That was the moment. I was like, he's going to give a home run on the next batter.

This is where it crumbles. To me, the Cubs lost today because they couldn't get to Nelson. And I was looking at Nelson's numbers before today or before the game. And, like, bright-handed hitters hitting like 3.40 against him this year. And I was like, okay, set up Seiz, Suzuki, Christopher, Morel, Nico, Niko Horner. like two hits through like five innings like to me that's where they lost the game more than anything else well and he threw like we were talking about it before you got here he threw 68% forcing fastballs like i know his fastball is good but like when he's been like when he's had the

most successes when he's able to mix other you know off speed stuff at least in there and like he's always going to have around 50% fastball usage but uh it's incredible he got a career high today on nine strikeouts with throwing that many fast balls in the in the cubs like you usually say this and I'm like oh of course that's why because the Cubs have been one of the worst teams in baseball against the fastball this year there it is one of the worst teams like ian hap is ian and michael bush have probably been their best fastball hitters but like danesby swanson we're talking about him in the bleachers yes he was drafted by the diamondbacks like he's historically been a really good fastball hitter terrible this year not just against fastballs but just in general

you know and uh yeah other guys too like they just they just haven't hit the fastball as well as they should. Based off the back of their baseball cards and based off historically what they have done against the fastball. This team, this Cubs team this year, man, like, it's the most head-scratching team in over 10 years for me.

Yeah. So you guys came, I got, the Cubs are playing well going to the All-Star break. And then the biggest fear for me was like, all right, you got a break now is, are we going to cool off again? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a little bit similar for the Diamondbacks.

They beat some really good teams. They didn't have like a winning street going on necessarily, but they won a few series in a row. They beat the Dodgers in a series. They beat the Padres. These were all, like, very big things for a team that really was struggling what feels like just a few weeks ago. You know, I mean, they really were. And they still are.

Like, they still are struggling to find, you know, some stability with their starting rotation and everything like that. But it's kind of weird because I did want to get your take on it. One of the popular things that we, like, kind of get, like, kind of blown away by is the amount of the fan base that already want Tori Lobolo fired. Do you guys already have the people coming for Craig Counsel yet? I wouldn't say so. I think it's more about the front office more than anything else for the Cubs. Because I think we all, all Cubs fans acknowledge that Craig Counsel is better. He's in a Braggs walks in.

Braggs walks in. And the first thing he uses his football. I think all Cubs fans acknowledge that. He's going to hit me with his crutch. Call the police. I think I think all Cubs fans acknowledge that. this roster was flawed coming into the year. They acknowledged the roster was flawed coming into the year.

I think, like I said, when I first jumped on, like we all try to have some optimism and some hope. Sure. Maybe we are just a bunch of delusional idiots here on the north side, right? But at the same time, the team won 83 games last year. Like, we thought that maybe this year this team would be taking a step, but maybe they still could. It's just, it's been a mix of just either they're really good or really bad. And I think for counsel, the biggest things I have complaints about counsel, at least,

is the fact that this team was one of the best defensive teams in baseball last year. And this year they haven't been. They also had, like, lead baseball and outs on the bases. And it's like, I feel like the only person I can really blame outside of the players is the manager on that. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't think he's worse than David Ross or as bad as David Ross, because I like the way he makes a lineup.

It's pretty consistent. And considering the roster that it is, he's put the best one out there that I think he can put out there. And I like the way he manages the bullpen. But at the end of the day, to me, this year's team, guys they relied on have underperformed. And they're hurting themselves more often than not every single day. That's what the Diamondbacks were doing early on. And that's the exact thing with the Diamondbacks. It was like, you know, the guy, like even when we were missing players due to injury,

it's understandable to talk about the starting rotation. but realistically the main guys we were missing were is Perdomo and Alec Thomas and neither of those guys have an 800 OPS. It's not like those guys were the savior to the offense when we were really struggling offensively. The guys are here on the team that need to get it done, but they just weren't early on. And I mean, you know, that's what's frustrating is when you know you kind of have the talent, but it's not, they're not performing well.

You also have the one guy that really breaks our hearts in Imanaga. When it comes to who we, like we talked about a lot of players. You guys really wanted Shoda? Oh, we wanted Shoda. And, like, I guess the one thing is, at least it makes us look smart because he's been having an excellent year. He's an incredible dude. Like, we saw him out there at the All-Star game on the red carpet.

He was just super gracious, super nice to all the fans, to all the people. Like, he just seems like a guy that's really enjoying being here. That's actually, it's nice to hear you guys, like, feel like that because I think when the Cubs signed Shodi and I got a lot of Cubs fans were kind of, like, they were like, oh, okay, like, he's replacing Marcus Stroman, but, like, no one really. felt like the team was any better or worse. Sure. And it's almost like based on the other, you know, big-name Japanese players that were free agents,

it felt like you kind of got the consolation prize in a way, right? Like, we were looking at him as being like a more affordable option than the other guys that were going to be able to. And I think a lot of Cubs fans wanted Yamamoto. Right. And once the rumors about him making $300 million on a contract of, you know, however long and the Cubs not being on that and then being the big market team that they are, a lot of Cubs fans were discouraged.

But, and this isn't to say that, like, them signing Shoda over Yamamoto was the bad move. Like, long-term-term-wise, I still feel like Yamamoto will work out because he's young. Sure. And he probably has better stuff than Shoda, and Shoda is 30 years old. However, in the moment, Mike, let's go, Mike. Right. And, like, that's what makes this year so disappointing and frustrating to me, because you're getting an incredible season from a guy in his first year coming over from Japan. Yeah.

And the Cubs are five years or 500. Yeah, your big offseason edition is working out. Unlike some of the Diamondbacks haven't. Obviously, we talked about Jordan Montgomery in the stands a bit. And that was our guy that we felt like the Eduardo Rodriguez things people were good on, but they were like, all right, well, let's see how he does. Like, it wasn't that big of a deal. But, man, when we got Jordan Montgomery, it was like World Series, here we come again, right?

When you guys signed him, I will attest that a lot, not only me, but a lot of Cups fans were disappointed. that the Cubs weren't more aggressive in like adding to the rotation. Not that the rotation's been bad. That's been the one thing that's been good for the Cubs this year. Sure, sure. But at the time, you know, a lot of people wanted Montgomery. And, you know, I mean, maybe they dodge a bullet. I still think Montgomery could figure it out at some point over this course of his time.

It's with the Diamondbacks, with these free agent pitchers or whoever it is, when they sign these big money deals, it's like always that. It feels like it's always the first year where they struggle, but then after that they're better. Yeah. Like last year, James and Tyone was terrible for the Cubs first three months, three and a half months. Second half, a lot better, but not enough to where you're, like, convinced that he's back this year, an ERA under three. Yeah, he's like, okay. Yeah, he's been really good.

You know, a guy like Jordan Montgomery, he's just a guy who eats innings. He's been healthy for a large part of his career. I don't know what he is going to be with you guys, but I would still have a little bit of hope. But, like, in the moment right now, I don't blame you. Like, you're paying him all this money, and he hasn't performed for you. for sure. I get. And I mean, it's also just been a rough year as far as the starting pitching goes.

Outside a gallon. Outside a gallon. And I mean, even gallon, honestly. The Diamondbacks recently had this young guy Yilbert Diaz that kind of blew through the minor leagues. Like, he was literally in double A like two months ago. And now here he is. And the two starts he's made for the Diamondbacks this year have been incredible.

You know what I mean? Like just amazing. And, like, again, you're satisfied with that. And it makes you very happy that you have a young player up pitching like that. but we're going to get some guys back soon, including Jordan Montgomery. And I think, like, there's going to be a lot of pressure on these guys to perform well, because if you have a minor leaguer that just came up and essentially went two and O and outside of a blown saved by Paul Seawald and a really, really nice-looking array of pitches,

like people are going to want to see him back here fast if any of these guys don't work out. And, like, I think that's one thing right now. Like Diamondbacks fans, based on the success we had last year, feel very reactionary lately. like everything like they don't want to give somebody like more than three games before they're ready to call for their head at times. Baseball fans in general. It is right, right? But I mean like one thing I think about is like I can't believe the audience, the crowd you guys have. Not only have you guys at CHGO done an amazing job with this Friday 120 club, but just in general, that stadium being packed on a Friday afternoon for a day game.

Like it's an amazing atmosphere that like is unlike anything else. Dude like for everyone listening, watching whatever, like if you've never been. to Rigglyfield. I would say this if I wasn't a Cubs fan. Like, there is no atmosphere like coming to beautiful historic Rigglyfield as Pat Hughes puts it, especially for day game. A day game at Wrigley Field, if I were to tell someone like your best experience at Rigglyfield, it's to come to a day game, send the bleachers like you did with us today. It was awesome. It was awesome. Like whether they're good or bad, like it's always a fun vibe. And like that's what, I think that's what puts the Cubs over everyone else in terms of, like, game D experience in baseball.

Yeah. It's just like, it's even better when the team is good. It's just so frustrating how things have been. It's been so frustrating since, like, the core that won the World Series has been gone. And we're trying to be patient. We're trying to grow some of these guys that we got. And, you know, like, Cubs fans aren't patient anymore, man. When you win the World Series in 2016, there's a standard that you set.

And the Cubs haven't been meeting it since 2018. So that's six years. Going on six years if they don't make the playoffs this year, man. It's so funny you bring that up because Tori Lobolo before the season, he tried to reshape the question he was getting from the media so often about expectations. And we're trying to say we're not about expectations. We're about setting a standard, right? But it's like you can call it all you want, whatever you want.

It doesn't mean that those expectations aren't there because now you made it as far as you did and now people are going to expect more. Right. Why are you the way that you are? I don't know. I don't know. I hate everything that you choose to be. I understand.

I appreciate it. I do love your shirt. Right. I do appreciate. I'm going to put you in a sharpshooter if you're not careful. I'm going to fight this guy before the day is done. I do appreciate Derek showing up here. The lead host of the Diamondbacks of the Diamondbacks podcast, one of the best Diamondbacks podcast, probably the best Diamondbacks podcast.

Let's get it right. It's the best. And he's wearing a hairy character. sure. I respect it and I also love it. Yeah, I mean, I will say that Harry Carey will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know. Like, announcers in general, I have to credit very much with my love of baseball. Like, I just think about how important, like, broadcasters are in getting you into the, especially a game like baseball, right? Like, baseball can be very boring when you sit there and watch it on TV. If you're not a fan of the game and you're a kid watching it, you know, watching some other team on

WGN because your state doesn't have a baseball team, but like the Cubs are important to me because they are the team that I used to watch. Them and the Braves, they're the teams that we had in Arizona before we had a baseball team, right? So, but like also I get jealous of this. Like being here and seeing this atmosphere, even that roar based on them scoring just one single run, one down by five, like that's, it's amazing. I love it, though, you know what I mean?

And I really do appreciate you guys because being down there in the bleachers was probably like my best baseball moment of this weekend or this week and i went to the all-star game like it was so cool to be there but it was definitely a vibe that's that's the thing about the bleachers too is like you can be an opposing fan and we might heckle you a little bit but we're very welcoming yeah if you're cool brags was going to fight some guy from this they liked the st louis cardinals yeah there's a guy out there in the cardinals jersey but bragg and brags was uh heckling him a little bit but you know you know it's it's it's all in good fun it is it is it's love and i love the people of chicago for that because because people have been very cool when giving me a hard time or just in general,

just being very welcoming. Did you guys go to sluggers yesterday? We did go to sluggers. Did you do the batting cages? We did do the batting cages. You don't even want to know. You don't even want to. I may or may not have like hurt my thumb a little bit.

Yeah, Derek got hit by a pitch. And then what's wild is, all I wanted to do was get back in the batting cage again and like take my revenge out on the baseball. So like, yeah, this has been an amazing. Yeah, like that's the thing too. If I could explain, like if you're in Arizona or wherever in your Diamondbacks fan right now. And you haven't been to Wrigley Field or a Cubs game.

You come to Chicago, go to a day game, go to Sluggers before the game or go the night before. That way it's not too packed. Do the batting cages and sluggers. It's really awesome. Then go to Murphy's bleachers the next day before the game. Oh, man. And pregame before you go to the game. And then my recommendation always is to sit in the bleachers like we do.

Yeah, that's the way to go. Well, thank you for the invite, my man. I appreciate you so much today. We had a blast out there with you guys. And, of course, I'm going to be out there again tomorrow. Are you going to be out there? I am not going to be out there unless, like, my bosses at C.A. show decide to give me a free ticket.

Or if you guys find a free ticket, let me know. I'll get you up. But, yeah, no, I will not be out there. But, you know, guys want to meet up after the game, you know. All right. Try, you know, you're looking for recommendations in Chicago or whatever. This is the guy to do that. And we are here at Almost Home right now, which we also want to thank you.

thank for being so hospitable to us. This is where you guys are doing your post-game. Yeah, party hanging out. Absolutely. There's a lot of green shirts in here. I need to still get one of those green shirts. The Friday 120 club is a special thing. It's legit.

Yeah, I mean, again, I'm jealous. We need to Diamondbacks fans, I'm doing you a disservice by not somehow figuring out a way to make us a club in some way. Before I go, I just got to say, when I went to Arizona last year, and in September, everyone, I'm sure everyone listening remembers that series because, like, you guys swept the series. Very important for us. Yeah. And the first, like that second game, that Saturday game, it went to extra innings. It was just chaos.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That game was chaos last year. That was the point that broke you. That's the game that broke me. Like every, like everyone, Cubs fan will talk about that game against Atlanta where Seas Suzuki drops the ball. The game, that second game against Arizona in the middle part of September is the game

that broke me. Not only because I was there and I had to witness it, but like I just felt like the Cubs had every chance to win that game. They didn't do it. And it was just, it's just like my life. I got to watch the Cubs and they find a way to hurt me. That's just what it is, you know? You needed an extra special big order from Taco Bell that night.

Oh, me and my friends, I went with my friend. Shout out to my friend Dave who lives out in Gilbert, I believe. He, me and him and his wife, we went through Taco Bell that night. At least 50 bucks. At least. That's hard to do with Taco Bell. I know. I know.

But like that was what we, that's what we need. All three of us, him and his wife live out there in Arizona from Chicago. And so we're all Cubs fans. We went out there and like after that game, it's like, dude, got to give a time. Yeah, let's go. Let's go destroy our stomachs. Oh, my man. I appreciate you.

Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you all for coming out here. And, you know, whether you're Cubs fan, Diamondbacks fan, whatever, like all city, it's where you get your coverage, man. Like, there's no different. That's right. That's probably the best Diamondbacks podcast out there. That's right.

He said probably, but it is. It is. I'm confirming for you. I mean, I don't know on any other one, but like I don't want to be. That's actually it, though. I was trying to humble you a little bit. That's fine. All right, man.

All right, man. You all have a good one. All right. Well, you guys got to check out the CHGO Cubs podcast. I don't want to blow his head up anymore, but they are the best. And they are the source for Cubs news. So make sure to check them out. And of course, we got Jesse still joining us here shortly.

So make sure to keep it locked right here until Jesse gets here because I know, I know he's really all of your favorites. And I'm fine with this. that. I've grown accustomed to that, but we thank you for being here in the PHN Export's YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications, that way you don't miss whenever our wonderful shows go live. And of course, drop us a like. We love when you do that. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, I hope this background noise is not too loud for you because we love our listeners and we care about you as well. So make sure

you're subscribed on your favorite audio podcasting app and make sure you also leave us a review. those five-star reviews help us out a tremendous amount. Speaking of helping out a tremendous amount, Bet365 can help you out if you're betting on baseball with Bet365 with an early baseball early payout offer. This is one of those games. Yes, the Diamondbacks won, but maybe it didn't go our way. Maybe, maybe it didn't.

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As you can see, the CHGO people are stuck with Cody. You know what I mean? Like sometimes that's the way things go. But if you are looking to get yourself a new candidate for a job you are hiring, check out Indeed.com. Indeed.com is driven by the search for better. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global.

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visibility at Indeed.com slash all-city. Just go to Indeed.com slash all-city right now and support our show by visiting, by saying you heard about Indeed on the PH&XDback show. Indeed.com slash all city. Terms and conditions apply you need to hire. You need Indeed. Well, let's take a look at the count from this game presented by Desert Finlay. financial credit union because of course this one's this one's a little impressive diamondbacks

outscore the Chicago Cubs by a count of five to two they out hit the Cubs 12 to 8th but here's the key the diamondbacks were five for 19 with runners in scoring position to the Chicago Cubs two for eight five for 19 Jacob five for 19 they had a lot dear lord they had a lot of A lot of guys. I mean, it started in the first inning. First and third. Nobody out. Yeah.

You're right. Yeah, it started right away. And yet you look down here, I don't mean to jump ahead too far, but an 18.5% hard hit rate. I don't produce a ton of your guys' shows other than on this trip, but that might be the lowest I've ever seen that number. I want to say that's the lowest I've ever seen that number too, right? I mean, that's baseball, though. You out hit the other team and you had an 18% hard hit percentage. 12 hits tonight, and they hit the ball hard 18.

point five percent of the time it wasn't a lot of hard contact no home runs by either team both teams had two extra base hits both teams had two doubles i believe is that that's the count on the extra base hits so this one i mean this one really was i guess a complete win by the diamondbacks on a day where they weren't hitting justin steel extremely hard jacob did look at me before the game today and said like he thought the diamondbacks were going to have a good day against the lefty because the Diamondbacks tend to do well against lefties. Well, they did, but they didn't, like it wasn't, they weren't abusive to Justin Steele. Yeah, they never made it hurt.

They never made it hurt. Yeah. But, I mean, five runs is five runs against the guy that had given up one in his last 16. No, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. And the bigger thing here, obviously, is the bullpen. We talked about how the bullpen wasn't perfect, especially Justin Martinez today. But, I mean, you got to credit the guys that did do the thing.

You know, you had Kevin Ginkle coming in finishing up that. sixth inning for Ryan Nelson after he got pulled, then giving them one more inning of work, only allowing one hit with the one strikeout. Justin Martinez, even with him falling apart, you still have Ryan Thompson, Paul Seawald coming in, getting the job done, and this team was able to close the door on yet another fairly close victory.

Like, even though it was 5 to 2, I feel like this game was much closer, especially considering how the Cubs had the bases loaded there late, and even in the ninth inning, the way that they had two runners on against Paul Cee, And essentially brought the tying run to the plate. But the Diamondbacks get the win. And it's important.

These wins, these are big wins for this team. I mean, the Cubs right now are in a very similar position, even though their record isn't the same as the Diamondbacks, where they're kind of hovering right around, you know, this group of teams that are all fighting for one of these wild card spots. And this next stretch is very important for teams like the Diamondbacks and the Cubs to decide. at least to push the front offices one way or another

on how they're going to react here at the trade deadline, whether they're going to be buyers or sellers. I feel like this is going to be one of those seasons where a lot of teams, there's a lot less sellers than we thought that we were going to see, right? I think that this is one of those seasons where, because at least in the National League, how many teams are there close to a wild card spot,

even if we don't see teams necessarily go out there and try to be aggressive at the trade deadline, we might not also see them part ways with too many players. But of course, the one guy that we talked about earlier that really got the job done today is our King Snake, and that is Yo Gabby Gabby, our guy Gabriel Moreno,

three for five today with an RBI, double two runs scored. He just seems to be making magic happen in that two-hole. And I feel like that's something that Tori Lavalas should definitely not change, Jacob. No, he definitely shouldn't. If it's working, do not fix it, right? If it's not broken, don't fix it. If it's broken, don't fix it.

But we are also joined by a guest. Who are we joined by? I think it's the one only. The only Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman? Let's get him in here. I want to see his beautiful face. I haven't seen him for a whole hour and a half now. Jesse Friedman, my thunder stick, your vice mayor.

What a win for the Diamondbacks here today over the Cubs. We talked a little bit here about, you know, the hard hit percentage in this game, not being anything you're going to write home about with the Diamondbacks only having 18.5% hard hit percentage, but they still felt like a fairly complete win from this team today. It did, yeah. I mean, it was a game that they arguably should have won by a lot more than they did. Yes, five for 19. Five for 19 with runners that scoring position?

19 opportunities with runners in scoring position is kind of outrageous, frankly. You know, to only come away with five runs is maybe a little bit of underwhelming. I took some notes throughout the game. And the first inning, they had runners at the corners with nobody out. they didn't score. In the fourth inning, they had a runner at second with nobody out, didn't score, runner at second, nobody out in the sixth didn't score. And then they had first and second, nobody out in the seventh and didn't score. And yet we're still talking about a five two diamondbacks win because they had a whole bunch of traffic on the bases throughout this

game. I know you guys were talking about the devax getting to Justin Steele earlier. Second straight time, they've gotten to steal. He had two starts in September against the debacks last year. The first one, I think it was seven innings one run. He was very, very good. And then the second start, the debacks kind of got to him and put up six runs against him over six innings. And today, five runs against him in four and two thirds, nine hits, you know, a couple of walks. I think he hit a batter as well. That's 12 base runners against a guy that came in with a whip under one. So Dback's offense certainly should get a lot of credit in this game, even though, again, they probably should have, you know, should have put the Cubs away

a little bit earlier in this game. Well, of course, our numbers are presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. We thank them so much for making sure they're accurate when Jesse isn't available to make sure the numbers are accurate. But for more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union, dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and providing financial solutions that make your lives better. Of course, I miss my house very much, and then Desert Financial got me started on my

home ownership journey. I can't wait to get back there because I am sick of sharing a bed with Jacob. But with that being said, it's not been all bad. He's a good big spoon, you know what I mean? For somebody who's six, seven, I feel like I take up a very small portion of bed. Yeah, you're like a little mouse. It's kind of incredible. But, of course, if you want to sleep in your own bed and not have to share one with Jacob,

make sure to get you started on your home ownership journey at Desert Financial Credit Union. You can look to Desert Financial for checking in savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and so much more. When you open a free checking account online right now, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. I've had some incredible beers here in Chicago and in Texas, but of course no beer beats four peaks, and they are going to be widely available here sometimes soon in the future. But in the meantime, if you are in Arizona, make sure to try four peaks wherever you get your

beers at, local grocery stores, tap lines across the valley. It doesn't matter. Four Peaks. You can head over to their main location, have their chicken tendees. Then you can thank me and Jesse for hyping up the chicken tendees and B, you can tell us like, yes, the chicken tendies were as good as you guys have been hyping up for multiple years

and we'll say, we knew, no big deal. But also check out the wide variety of beers they have to offer. And of course, check out the Bad Birdie Juicy Golden Ale, which is an amazing collaboration between Four Peaks and Bad Birdie. So visit Four Peaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite beers and events. Check out at Four Peaks Brew at Four Peaks Pub

to keep up with the latest in Arizona's hometown. Brury must be 21 or older to drink four peaks and please drink responsibly. Jesse, one thing that was kind of interesting was we did have our guy Cody from CHGO on the show a little while ago, and he was talking about the Cubs being a very bad fastball team. And had I known that earlier today, I would have smashed that button on Ryan Nelson getting the win maybe because we know Ryan Nelson is going to throw a lot of fastballs and he did exactly that today. Yeah, he absolutely did. I don't know if I'm allowed to do numbers,

don't lie this soon after that point. I lie, did lie. Jacob lies. We all lie. Numbers don't lie. Jacob, let's get to the numbers. It's time for the numbers. Yeah, so today's number is 68% and going along with what you were saying. That is the percentage of fastballs, percentage of pitches that were fastballs for Ryan Nelson in this game. It is a very, very high number. that is the second highest fastball usage rate this season. And if you look at his three, his three games this year with the highest fastball usage, it is his last three starts, which of course have all been very, very good. So we're seeing a trend where Ryan is relying more on that fastball than he has in the past.

And he already relied on it quite a bit. I mean, 70% usage. You're getting in like, you're getting in pretty crazy territory there. Right. Not really any starting pitchers that are using one pitchers. that are using one pitch that often. So what is he doing so well with it that allows him to be so effective?

It's a little hard for me to say, honestly. Like on one hand, I feel like using any pitch that much couldn't possibly work. Right, right. It's working for Ryan Nelson, and I think a big part of it is his command of the pitch. He's able to throw it in different locations, you know, on the inside part of the plate,

the outside part of the plate. It's been especially effective up in the zone, but occasionally you'll see him try to dot, you know, the bottom of the zone as well. So it can feel like, yeah, it can feel like different pitches if you're kind of walking it around the zone. You know, 70% usage to me still feels like like more than you ideally want. Yeah.

But it's it's continuing to work. And it's a testament to the fact that Ryan Nelson has a really, really good fastball. And there's a reason that when you're, you know, when you're scouting pitchers, when you're looking for starters that will have staying power in the big leagues, and effective four seamers are really, really good place to start. Because as we said, you know, you can walk it around the zone. It's effective and it can be effective in a lot of different locations depending on the hitter. It's a good weapon to attack kind of the weaknesses of a hitter, whatever portion of the strike zone that might be.

And he's got an electric one. It's got a ton of upward carry. I have really good life in this game. It averaged up over 95 miles an hour. So I can't really explain it, Derek, but it's working. Well, and he also seems to kind of be switching up. what he relies on as a secondary pitch. Today he threw 18% sliders.

And I know in the past we've kind of seen him kind of rely on the cutter a little bit more as a secondary pitch. So, I mean, it almost feels like he just throws one other pitch just enough to like keep batters off balance when he's throwing that fastball. Yeah, you're right. He was really focusing on the cutter for quite a while.

That seemed to be the main pitch off of the four seamer. In this game, it was the slider, which is a similar pitch, but just a little bit softer, 84, 85 miles an hour, as opposed to the upper 80s, low 90s that we see with the cutter. So, yeah, I mean, he's got a variety of weapons. It's not like he only throws two pitches. It's just that none of the others outside of the four seamer have really been consistently their form.

And tonight, or I guess this afternoon, what he was able to do is just throw those pitches just enough, you know, to keep the keep hitters off balance, to keep them thinking, to get them in situations where they're not just able to guess fastball every time and be right all the time. And the command is obviously a huge part of this as well, staying ahead of hitters, you know, making sure that he's that he's hitting those spots and he did it really well in this game. Our other big topic, Jesse, was that Gabrielle Moreno and the two holes seems to be working out very, very well for this team. He's currently hitting 412 with seven doubles, one home run, 10 RBI, four walks, and 51 at bat. That's what has gotten into Gabby's hitting second in the lineup.

Have you guys played that video for a pregame yet? Yeah, pregame video already with Tori already talking about Moreno hitting there. This has been like transformative. It's like Gabby is back. I know you're not a big fan of when we declare that because we declare it around here way too often on very little merit. But it does feel like Gabby is back. Yeah, he really has come on strong. for this team here over the last maybe, maybe month or so.

I know he hit a slight skid kind of heading into the All-Star break, but by and large, he's looked a lot better here over these last few weeks. And he's very much justified, you know, hitting in that number two spot in the lineup. I mean, looking at the numbers for Gabby in the number two spot. I tweeted them out earlier. I believe he is 20 for 47 at this point after today's game in the number two spot. That's a batting average of well over 400. that's an OPS of 1089, which is pretty decent.

So, yeah, that'll play. That'll play, Derek. You know, an OPS of around 1,100. Maybe the deback should keep him in that spot. Yeah, it seems to be working out okay. We had a little bit of a struggle deciding on Ryan or Gabby for Kingsnake, obviously. Ryan Nelson, I think that he, it's kind of understated, right? like Gilbert Diaz, for instance, he's kind of like the hot.

He's the hotness, right? He's the new hotness, right? But Ryan Nelson, I don't really think he gets credit for what he's been doing. He set a career high today for nine strikeouts, and I feel like we would have been, I think it would have been fine to go either way here with Gabby or Ryan Nelson. But we do have more from Ryan Nelson on his start today and how he felt after going out there and performing the way he did it against the Cups.

I feel like we were getting ahead guys and fastball command felt really good. You know, part of the plan was definitely hard-end, soft away, as Steve likes to say. But yeah, it's just like keeping them a little off balance, you know, sprinkling in some sliders here and there, keeping them honest. And then fastball at the top just felt like it was consistent and I was able to get it there pretty repeatedly. and then, yeah, just Gabby working back there. He was great all day. Some really good plays behind me as well.

So, yeah, and then offense giving me a little bit of a buffer there. I think it all just kind of came together. How good are you feeling right now? It just seems like you're half a bunch about it, consistently good. Yeah, I'm trying to just take it one outing at a time, one day at a time, and I feel like in the past I had kind of gotten really down

know myself if I had a tough one or like felt really good after a good one and I'm trying to just be able to find a way to get back to even and go about the week just as any other week you know go to a bad just like I got five days to get my work in and then get back out there and I feel like keeping that level-headed mindset and even when I'm out there pitching it's one pitch at a time just trying to be present and I think that that mindset has really helped me a lot and yeah I mean Ryan Nelson again when the Diamondbacks kind of like yes things weren't great you know at times this season but it really feels like lately when the Diamondbacks really needed Ryan Nelson he's you know quietly been a consistent source for them as a starting pitcher what's wild to me Derek I mean just just hearing and talk there about trying to not not be too high or too low like you can very much understand why that would be a challenge for Ryan Nelson this year I mean looking through his game log almost every start that he's made. made this season has either been extremely good or extremely bad. Yeah.

There's been very little in between. There's a few times he gives up like three earned and like, you know, five innings, but he had to leave her. Like, yeah, it's all or nothing it feels like. Yeah, I mean, looking through his game log, so there was the obviously very good start today, five and two thirds, one run. Last start seven innings, three runs before that six and two thirds one run, five innings one run.

And then the start before that against the twins was three and two thirds. and six runs, and they gave up 10 hits in that game. And then to start before that is seven innings, two runs, where I gave up three hits all games. So you can go back all the way through his game long for the entire season. It's basically how his year is gone. And you can understand a young pitcher like him kind of going through those ups and downs, trying to stay even keeled through all of that.

It seems like he's gotten better at doing that. Well, and he seems to somehow, like you would think as a pitcher progress that they would start, implementing their secondary stuff more, mixing in that secondary stuff more. He seems to be more and more confident as the season goes on with his fastball and relying that on that pitch as his primary pitch. Yeah, we touched on it earlier. I asked Ryan himself about it, and here's what he had to say about using his fastball so much. I think it has a lot to do with just being ahead.

I think that when I'm behind throwing a bunch of fastballs, that's when I run into trouble. And I think being the quality of the off speed, maybe it's not quite as much, but the quality of the off speed has been better. And I think that that's just had to make them, like, stay, like, keep them honest almost. And obviously I like to throw my fastball. So I think that if I can find ways to use it and it's beneficial, that's, that's what. I would want to do. It's his ex pitch, right? On MLB, the show, like, I wear out my ex pitch too.

Sometimes that's not even a pitcher's best pitch, and I just because where it lands on my thumb, I throw it a lot, right? But if you can pinpoint your fastball, you can be very effective, right? Like, and he, that's the thing he's really been doing, is locating well and throwing the ball where he wants to throw it. And when you're throwing it on average at 96 miles an hour, it's hard to hit. It's a hard ball to hit.

Yeah, Ryan just clearly has so much confidence in that pitch and you can understand why. But it has been a narrative for Ryan for a while to use a variety of pitches as we were kind of touching on earlier. And that's, I mean, Tori has revisited time and time again when Ryan's not pitching well. A lot of times it's, well, he's got to throw more secondary stuff. He's got to do more to keep hitters off balance. And I asked Tori about that as well. I mean, Ryan's throwing his fastball about 70% of the time over his last three starts combined. and he's gotten as good results as he ever has.

So here's what Tori had to say about Ryan using his fastball to this degree. It worked today. I know that. That was a very aggressive fastball. Like I said, with a lot of carry, and there was a lot of swing and miss with it. But I think his fastball can be used in three different spots

and it's three different pitches. So if he's landing it there, he's tough. And then off of that, he can throw the slider and the cutter. Yeah, certainly it's a heavy usage, fastball usage, but it's working. We're going to continue to get them. to that next level of being an all type of pitch pitcher. But it's going to take a little bit of time, but he's been fine.

11 whiffs today on that fastball, Jesse. So, yeah, he was getting some swing and miss on it. But I think obviously the other thing, too, here, is that, you know, he maxed out today at 98 miles an hour. His slider was sliding. And I think that was that pitch like he spoke about where he just needed something, just something to keep batters a little honest. And aside from that, fastball just worked really well for him today. Yeah, and you can hear Tori kind of be honest there and say it works today, right?

It worked today. And I think there is some hesitants. Yeah, I think there is maybe some hesitants of like, okay, I don't know if this is going to, if 70% basketball is going to work for the long haul. So, yeah, I mean, it is a work in progress. No one's here saying that Ryan Nelson is a finished product just because he's, you know, he's been really, really good over his last five to 10 starts. but it is still a step in the right direction. The command piece is huge. I mean, it's amazing how much just throwing strikes and getting ahead of guys can do for you.

That's something that can get lost at times. And we're, you know, talking about pitchmix and all that stuff. So, yeah, really impressive stuff from Nelson overall today. And over the last few starts, I mean, he has a 2.22 ERA, a 0.6 whip over his last four starts. We go back to his last 10 games. which I think is eight games started. There were a couple of opener situations in there as well. Nelson has an ERA right around three.

And that span 3.29 is what I have in my notes with a whip of one. That's really, really good over the course of, you know, 10 games around 60 innings. Like this is not just a couple of games that have been good for Ryan Nelson. This goes back a lot harder than that. So who knows, Derek? Like who knows what this looks like moving forward? I mean, I'm a little hesitant to say that Nelson

is, you know, like a number three starter, the rest of this career or something, but sometimes these things kind of go in phases where progress is not linear and it seems like Nelson is really on to something right now. I'm fairly certain you unplugged your microphone again and we're listening to you through your AirPods, but that sounds right. Yeah, it sounds about right. We came out of that video and Jesse was like, I am him. I am him.

You know, who wasn't him today was Justin Martinez. The bullpen did a decent job today, but Martinez obviously had one of his worst outings of the entire year. So I don't really know what to say in regards to that. Obviously, it's just a bad day. I don't expect this to be, you know, indicative of J-Mart. But again, there's been a lot of people clamoring for Justin Martinez to potentially get a bigger role in the bullpen to get a, you know, a higher leverage role to get a maybe even a closer role and it's it's it's it's days like this that might show he's still maybe not quite there yet yeah I think that's I think that's fair to say

we've talked before about how J-Mar has been so good for the feedbacks but he hasn't been a whole lot of high-level situations and Corey talked about one is an opportunity way this is a tough environment 40,000 fans here at Brigley field they're they're making a lot of noise. You've got a decent cushion for sure, but this game was not over by any means when J-Mart entered the game. And he struggled. I mean, he loaded the bases. There was nobody out. Ryan Thompson came in the game and was able to get out of a pretty tricky spot there and only allow one run. But yeah, for all of the people who have been hoping to see J-Mart in, you know, in a closing role in a high-leverage eighth-inning type role, this is maybe a reality check of like

it's really different pitching in those situations, especially in a ballpark like this, with fans like this and all the noise that they're making. So it's not to say that J-Mart hasn't had a good season or that he couldn't develop into that guy in time. Correct. He just hasn't looked great. He just hasn't looked great in those situations so far.

Do I sound normal again? Yeah, you're great. Yeah, you sound great. It sounded like we went through water there for a little bit, but you came back on the other side, sounding clean and beautiful. And, yeah, like, yes, J-Mart might be the close. of the future and that's an exciting prospect.

It really is. It really is. But it's not now. And I mean, honestly, the Diamondbacks are actually in a good position because Paul Seawald's contract expires at the end of this year, right? It allows J-Mart some time to develop into this guy that we want him to be. Or maybe Kevin Ginkle or maybe Ryan Thompson, who knows.

But I mean, for the most part, Diamondbacks aren't committed to Seawald outside of this year. So, like, let's let that happen when it happens. But for now, Paul Seawald got the job done and I thought he did a great job, even though he gave up those two hits. It's still impressive that that man is able to go out there and get two strikeouts, throwing essentially just those two pitches, going back to Ryan Nelson.

I mean, he's much like Ryan Nelson, where you know exactly what he's going to throw you, and he still somehow figures out a way to beat you. Yeah, it was a little sketchy for Paul Seawald. Sketchy for sure. It was a good way to call it, yep. But at the same time, I mean, Paul Seawald just hasn't allowed very many base runners this season. I mean, there have been the few occasions where he has. He's had his blowups here over the last couple of weeks for sure.

But on the whole, I think his whip entering this game was under one, maybe well under one. So, yeah, guys are going to give up base runners from time to time. Not every safe situation is going to be a one, two, three inning necessarily. Seawald early in the year really did. It felt like it was one, two, three almost every single time for him. There's going to be days like this where you do still convert the save, but you let a couple of base runners in the process. he was able to find his way out of it and continues to inspire a little bit more confidence

coming out of that, that rough stretch where he blew three in a row. Well, Jesse, I am vastly outnumbered by CHGO guys over here at Almost Home, so I need you to come over here and join me and bring a Kendo stick because Braggs keeps trying to hit me with one of his crutches and maybe a steel chair, I don't know, but very excited, of course, to still be out here. We got two more games, two more postgame shows for us to bring. bring you before we head back to Phoenix. So keep it locked right here.

Jesse and I will be out at Wrigley Field. Of course, with the people's producer, Jacob, joining us out there as well for all this wonderful content. I did find a lot of diamond ball. I don't know. Should we call it a lot of Diamondbacks fans? I found more Diamondbacks fans here in Chicago than I thought I was going to find. And that was

awesome. So a special shout out to all of you, to my guy, Doug, who bought me a beer today. I love you. We're best friends now. And of course, I do want to shout out all of the wonderful Man's in the bleachers here at Wrigley Field that not only booed me, but they also embraced me. It's been a wonderful time, and I can't wait to get back out there tomorrow. Make sure to follow us, of course, if you don't already.

My Twitter handle is Cap underscore K-Man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, the People's Producer for this trip is Jacob. He no longer wants to be called the People's Producer after this trip. But just for this trip, just to piss Damon off a little bit more. We're calling him the People's Producer on the On the Ons and Twos. He's also the fourth best Jacob Franklin. He is at Jacob underscore Franklin 4.

Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but of course, all roads leads to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by. We will see you tomorrow with another post-game show. And until then, have a wonderful Friday evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you beat the Cubs.