PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Geraldo Perdomo ROBBED in Final At-Bat as Team USA Eliminates Dominican Republic

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

The World Baseball Classic delivered an instant classic as Team USA edged Team Dominican Republic 2–1, but the game ended in major controversy. Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo was at the center of it all after a questionable strike three call in his final at-bat that helped send Team USA to the finals. Was Perdomo robbed, and is this the latest example of why baseball desperately needs the ABS challenge system? We break down the controversial moment and the reaction from fans and players. We also dive into the latest D-backs Spring Training updates, including Corbin Carroll’s return, Merrill Kelly’s Cactus League debut, and Brandon Pfaadt’s dominant outing against the Padres. Plus, it’s Mailbag Monday, and we’re answering all of your biggest questions about the D-backs and the WBC.   0:00 - Intro 1:30 - Controversy in the WBC 16:00 - WBC Semifinals and Final preview 23:00 - Spring Training Updates 40:00 - Mailbag Monday   Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube   JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4   An ALLCITY Network Production   SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube   ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports   MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker   ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix   PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/   ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/   Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!   Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes   bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!   Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/   Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.   Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.   Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!   When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.   #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, the world baseball classic semifinal between Team USA and Team Republica Dominicana was an all-time classic, but not without its controversy. We are talking about Jerry P. getting robbed, and we're doing it right now. No ski, no ski today. Welcome in, though. Happy Monday. This is another edition of the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast. We are live from Studio K. My name is Derek Monty, occasionally known as a supporter of the Dominican Republic team. I am thrilled to have you guys here, but not thrilled to be talking about the way our guy, Jerry P, got robbed in the final at bat of that all-time classic there between Team USA and the Dominican Republic. You guys are going to be disappointed. And, of course, I hate to do this to you. He hates to do this to you.

But Damon Dogg off today. We got Shane Diefenbach on the ones and twos. He's going to attempt to bring the same kind of fire and fury that Damon would have. But it's hard. Let's not start with unreal expectations. I know. You're right. That's a high bar.

I can't. It's legitimately impossible for me to do that. You're right. And I got Damon texting me right now. There's no chance we're going to keep him off. It's his off day and there's no chance we're keeping him off the show. So we have a lot to talk about today. It's Mailbag Monday.

We got your questions. Plus we have your spring training updates. I did want to wish you all a happy 316 to those who celebrate. May you all stomp a mud hole in Monday's ass and walk it dry. And that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so. But we thought we were going to see a bit more stomping yesterday. Instead, what we saw was a very, very tight game between two of the best teams in the World Baseball Classic. That game delivered all of the drama and all of the excitement we thought we were going to see, of course, here.

But without necessarily the end result we wanted. Team USA, well, some of us. This is a weird thing because we feel very anti-American here. here with rooting against Team USA and that's not our intent. We were very pumped about Team USA, but this is a Diamondbacks podcast. Let's be honest. So we root for the team that has the most Diamondbacks players on it. And that was the Dominican Republic. They made it easy to root for them because not only are they incredibly good, talented team, but man, that team was very, very fun to watch. It has been fun to watch. And unfortunately, their run is over after losing by a score of two to one.

And yes, it was an all-time classic that was ruined in the final at bat by a human umpire behind the plate. But the Dominican lineup, one of the most explosive offenses in the tournament gets on board first here with a junior Camerro home run, a solo shot there in the second inning off of Paul Skeen. And I can't help but honestly say that everything this Dominican Republic team does is just more exciting. It's just more exciting. They hit a home run. And again, people have asked, and that's been a subject of. This world baseball classic, obviously, it's been a matter of why, you know, how do you act during a baseball game? How do you celebrate?

How do you do this, that? This whole thing has kind of been ridiculous to me. This team, I don't know how you couldn't watch this Dominican Republic team and be very excited about them, watch them, enjoy them, playing the game of baseball. And overall here, we had ourselves a battle between these two teams. The USA had Paul Skeens on the Mountain. Paul Skeens was just incredible. Let's be honest about that. Paul Skeens is so damn good.

But now there is no Paul Skeens in the championship game. There is no Terrick Scoobal in the championship game for Team USA. This did feel, though, like the most important game that they needed their best pitcher on the mountain, Shane. I think that, you know, no disrespect to whoever they meet in the championship, but getting past the Dominican Republican in this particular world baseball, baseball classic felt like the biggest hurdle. Yeah, by far, this was the championship game. I just don't see a world where, I mean, look, Japan's Japan.

Like, if they would have, if they would have won that game against Venezuela, then maybe we'd be talking about it. I mean, we definitely would be talking differently about this. I just don't think Venezuela had the horses to compete with either of these, these teams. But Italy beat the U.S., you never know. It's crazy. I mean, it has been a crazy world baseball classic.

And you have team Venezuela beating. Team Japan, which we'll talk about here momentarily, but yeah, I mean, there's been a lot of surprises. It's a tournament. It's the reason why March Madness is so much fun in the NCAA tournament. At the end of the day, it's a single elimination tournament where anything can happen in any given baseball game. It's depending on matchups. It's depending on how good the guy on the mound for your team is going out there. And Paul Steens was very good for this team. He gave him four and a third innings pitch. He allowed the one run, six hits. He limited damage. But it was nice to see there, like Cotel Marte was two for three at the time.

He helped knock Paul Skeens out of the tournament. And, you know, again, it just, or not tournament out of the game. And it looked like, to be honest, Dominican Republic was going to have an opportunity there to capitalize on Team USA's bullpen. They did not. Got to give a lot of credit where credit is due. The U.S. bullpen locked it down with scoreless work for several relievers from that point on. and I'm going to talk about the Heraldo Pardomo thing, but as has been discussed online quite a bit,

the Dominican Republic team had tons of opportunities, tons of opportunities with runners in scoring position that they did not capitalize on. So this game does not necessarily come down to just Heraldo Pardomos at bat there late in the game. But what sucks about it is it was such a high leverage big moment. And I don't care what side you're on. I've seen people that were rooting for the USA.

I've seen people rooting for the Dominican Republic. I've seen people that were just rooting for, you know, Geraldo Perdomo in this moment. And I think everybody kind of universally agrees that it sucks that it ended like that, right? But again, there were tons of opportunities in this game and no baseball game is defined by one moment. This just shows, though, how important certain netbats are for you to feel like a game was, was justifiably ended, right?

It ended with the right call, and that's all everybody wants at the end of the day. I was talking about it with Shane, but again, it's the reason why I kind of hate the way that they've implemented this ABS challenge system. I do understand how in football they have their own challenge system as well,

but football really does, they have made steps to try and get the calls right all the time, and most importantly, they want to get the calls right in the final two minutes, right? That's where things get to a point where you don't need those challenges and those calls are going to be reviewed and it feels like that's something that baseball should consider here. Because when you look at this moment, again, this is the world baseball classic. There is no ABS challenge system implemented in this tournament. But again, I don't know why.

It's a major league baseball driven tournament. They are in a ballpark that has the technology. It just seems silly to me overall. But anyway, before we get to that, I did want to give credit where credit is due. The team, Team USA did a wonderful job there. of flipping things really quickly in the fourth inning after they were down. Gunner Henderson, the young guys too. Gunner Henderson, Roman Anthony. PCA wasn't in the game, but he's another guy

that had an incredible tournament for Team USA. These are the guys that are getting it done and they are the guys that flip the game back to Team USA's momentum there in the fourth inning. And then there were some huge defensive plays made by Team USA, by the way. Stop trying to run on Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge, look at his baseball's Savent page.

disgusted on this show before. The man is incredible defensively and does not get the credit he deserves because he's a giant. He's seven and a half feet tall and he looks like a giant out there in the outfield. He looks like the ball is too small for his hand when he throws it. Like he's throwing a marble. But it doesn't matter because the man is very talented. He has a great arm and a huge put out there when I believe it was Cotel Marte had a single. We saw Fernando Tatis Jr. try to stretch, you know, stretch it around to get to third. He gets thrown out a third base. That impacts the game going forward because then you saw later on an opportunity where Fernando Tatis Jr. could have probably extended or reached third and he chose not to based

on this defensive play. So just some huge defensive plays there from Team USA. And, you know, again, you also had some huge defensive plays for the Dominican Republic. Julio Rodriguez robbing Eric Judge Mahon run and then giving one of the most electric screams I've ever seen out of an outfield or once again, just further confirms for me that Dominican Republic was the most fun team to watch. Also, I have to laugh a little bit at Aaron Judge, Shane, because Aaron Judge did not like smile or laugh really at it. He had a big time boo-boo face over getting robbed from a home run. Now, I understand that. I would be upset about getting robbed too.

But in this context, in this particular environment, it just feels like the kind of situation where especially considering, you know, these guys all know each other, they played together. Like, I just don't know why you just can't like tip your cap to Julio and kind of laugh about it. Maybe it was because they felt like he was showing him up with the way he screamed and stuff. I don't know. I don't know. Judge kind of did. He did a little bit. He did a little bit.

Yeah. I mean, it just looked overall. Again, also, Julio's just electric and that was an electric catch. And, I mean, it might have overshadowed the moment in general. Horrible. Horrible. Oh, yeah. No.

And you could say that about a lot of guys on that team as well. I mean, the WBC is hard, right? Because guys are still trying to get into regular season form, but you have the added pressure of these being high leverage games in situations that they're not necessarily used to being in this early in their season. We'll go over the Diamondback stats, but yeah, not a lot great from the WBC overall from the Diamondbacks players. But again, the big story, the big controversy,

this goddamn call, Shane, if you wouldn't mind, Geraldo Pardomo here in, would, two outs, bottom of the ninth, just a huge at bat, a huge at bat here against Mason Miller, and the tying run is right there on third base. You just can't make this bad of a call there. Like, Perdomo is such a good hitter with two strikes. He's such a good situational hitter. He's so clutch.

He's so good in these moments that it infuriates me that they did this to them. Like, I know every Diamondbacks fan probably felt the same way I did when they, see their guy up there in this big moment. We want them to succeed. We want them to not fail. We don't want them to look embarrassed in this big moment. This freaking pitch was four inches below the strike zone. And Elise is right, right here.

He put up such a great AB. Typical Pardomo and the umpire robbed him. And that's what sucks about it. Like it just sucks because this is not a game where USA was leading by seven to one. so that bad is irrelevant. That was the most important at bat of the game. Momentum felt like it was on the DR side. Mason Miller was really struggling to find the strike zone at times.

So this just wasn't a given. It wasn't a given that this was the direction it was going to go. All right. Perdomo, maybe he walks and Fernando Tatis Jr. gets out as the very next batter. But wouldn't we all have loved to at least see that, get that moment, have that chance to have that chance to have such an elite batter at the plate against an elite closer who are on the same team,

right? Two Padres teammates facing off against each other. I felt like there was a lot, a lot robbed. A lot was taken from us by that umpire making the wrong call. But again, this is what's so crazy to me about this entire situation with the human element of the umpire behind home plate. We have made such advance such advancements in technology that why, Why are we doing this any longer? Why are we doing this in a situation where it was such a big at bat? And quite frankly, it sullies the team USA's victory. It adds controversy and makes it, it puts it in doubt that it, you know, isn't a real win, a true victory over a team that many people consider to be its equal.

The amount of all-star appearances in these two teams and silver slugger awards and gold gloves was unbelievable. This was a matchup for the ages. And it just, it's really unfortunate that it came down to that call being missed in such a big moment. And so egregiously too, right? But I will give credit where credits do, Will Smith. Veteran catcher knew exactly what the hell he was doing there. And let's be honest. This is the reason why a lot of people are against the ABS challenge system is the human element of not only the umpire's eye,

but the catcher's ability to frame properly and make a ball that was that low in the strike zone somehow look like a strike to the umpire and that was a magic trick accomplished by will smith so again this is another situation where if damon was here he would blast me for praising a dodgers player but this is one of those situations where you got to tip your cap i don't to the umpire though i don't to him because i'm so sick of this crap and i'm so sick of even the ABS challenge system, to be honest. I have said this time and time again on this show. I think it's ridiculous,

and I think baseball needs to prioritize. Getting the goddamn call right. Getting the call right. I had the weirdest justification in replies to this. One guy said, oh, well, Perdomo hit that ball earlier. The hell does that matter? What does that matter? Or other people showing me screenshots of what it look like.

There's a system here. There's statcast. There's data. It's shown that the ball was indeed low and out of the strike zone. I will not defend umpires at any point, considering we have the technology to improve their job. I don't know why we have to make it a challenge system where it once again bruises the umpire's ego to prove them on the scoreboard

that they were wrong, when instead we could just quietly tell them when a ball was in the strike zone with a little beep, a little soft beep. It doesn't have to be a beep. It could just be a pleasant-sounding person's voice. It's like, that was a strike and you're so good looking. You know, whatever it takes for the umpires to be okay with a system that helps them do their job.

But again, the idea that we're still relying on the human eye and people think that that's part of, you know, this process is ridiculous. I will argue this time and time again. I think that this situation just proves in this huge moment. And it was it was disheartening to have to see Geraldo Perdomo arguing with the umpire while team. USA celebrates. And again, like I said earlier, it kind of sucks for Team USA that on the broadcast, they had to be talking about that call being bad

instead of just turning to the delight of that team celebrating, making it to the finals. So, but again, great game, all-time classic. And I really can't have it come down just to the Prudomo at bat, but it's hard to not sit here and wonder what the alternate universe looks like of him walking and giving Tatis Jr. that next to bat. But they will go on to face the winner today

of a semifinal game between Venezuela and Italy. Two teams that nobody expected to be here in the semifinals and two teams that have done some pretty exciting things, including Venezuela, taking out Japan on Friday by a score of 8 to 5. Venezuela knocks out the defending champions in impressive fashion. Their lineup, once again, should not be slept on. And we've said that time and time again. They just have the right pieces there.

good players, kind of underrated guys. And I mean, even their stars, right? You got Ronald Acuna Jr. crushing a lead-off home run off of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Yamamoto to give the team Venezuela a 1-0 lead. Shohei Otani, of course, answered in the fashion that he does with a lead-off homer of his own in the bottom half of the inning. And then this was just kind of a slug fest,

but the game really flipped for Venezuela in the fifth and six innings when McKeel Garcia hit a two-run homer. That cut into the deficit that Japan had. had a lead currently and then Willier-A-Bray you, three-run home run, gave Venezuela the lead for good. So shout out to their bullpen for holding Japan late, especially in some very big situations.

And they advance, again, to the final or semifinals here against an Italian team who could roll over Venezuela like they've been rolling over everybody else. And then what we'll have in the WBC finals is a rematch of USA versus Italy, which again, that's another fun dynamic storyline here that we could have in the World Baseball Classic and again, just some fun there. You also had a little extra drama afterwards

when Akunia celebrated by yelling, We eat sushi, which did spark some online controversy, as you imagine it would. But Venezuela, they now want the espresso, I guess, as you would say. But some WBC performances here, pretty much everybody outside of Eduardo Rodriguez's WBC is over now

Perdomo ended up going three for 13 with an RBI and three stolen bases for the team Dominican Republic. He slashed 231 474, 231 slug, not great for a 704 OPS. Cate was Catell. he was 5 for 19 with a home run and a double for RBI. He had an

897 OPS. He slashed 263, 423, 474. Sam Tanna went four for six, or excuse me, one for six. You also had Christian Robinson going one for nine with a stolen base and a walk. Aronado for Puerto Rico, not a great WBC for 19. Two runs bad and in, but zero walks and four strikeouts. He hit 211 with a 449 OPS.

Gross, not good. Hopefully, again, some of these poor performances are just these players getting the rust off. and perhaps, you know, this early action that was high-leverage games that meant something, better prepares these guys for the season. Alec Thomas returned on Sunday to the lineup. He went four for 15 in the World Baseball Classic with a home run. He had six RBI and walk. He had a pretty impressive WBC here for Team Mexico.

267, 313, 467 with a 779 OPS. Standard Alec Thomas kind of numbers. But again, if the Diamondbacks were to get this out of Alec, over the course of 162 game season, you don't hate that. And you think that he can really contribute here offensively for this team. You also had Drew Jones, had a nice WBC. He went four for 10 with two RBI, five walks, six strikeouts.

So a lot of strikeouts, a lot of walks, but still four for 10 slash 400, 563, 500 for the best OPS of the World Baseball Classic for a diamondback. He had a 1.063 OPS. Small sample size, though. Meanwhile, pitchers Michael Soroka had a 4.76 ERA and 5 and 2 thirds innings pitched. He gave up three run runs, three walks, and had three strikeouts. And then he rod 10.13 ERA. Catell didn't help with that with his home run.

In two and two thirds innings pitch, with all he's done so far in the WBC, it's giving up three earned runs, two homers. He walked one and on the bright side has struck out five. So that's how your diamondbacks are doing in the WBC. But we have, of course, spring training news to discuss, including the team getting things back on track a little bit after a pretty rough stretch here in Cactus League play. We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHA next time in Beck Show.

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Well, spring training does roll on. I know most of us have forgotten about that. But after worrying about the results for Diamondbacks over their last, what was it, nine games on Friday, the debacks have not lost a game since we discussed being concerned. So there is that. They beat the Royals by a score of 11 to 5 on Friday. They beat the Giants by a score of 8 to 7 on Saturday. And then they tied the Padres by a score 4 to 4 on Sunday,

which they probably shouldn't have. Let's be honest. But Merrill Kelly made his spring training debut on Friday. It was great to see Merrill returning to the mound. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination and a little bit of a rough start for Merrill. He gave up a pair of singles in the first inning but didn't allow a run. And then in the second inning, he gave a little bit of a run. gave up a lead off ground rule double, followed by a triple that scored the first run,

and then a sack fly that scored the triple, which gave the world. So two to one lead, he gave up two more singles before being removed from the game. Merrill Kelly goes one and two-thirds innings pitched. He gave up six hits total, two earn runs, did not walk anyone, and struck out one batter. And afterwards did say that he felt good overall and does feel good to just see Merrill make it back out there. again, as we discussed on Friday, when we wanted to panic about spring training results, none of this really matters, right? So really what it's about is Merrill Kelly getting out there facing live pitching and just getting a chance to once again kind of get that work in before, you know,

opening day comes back around. I think we had a question, which we didn't get in for Merrill, mailbag Monday, that came from our friend Karen with the C, and she just wanted to know in general about Merrill Kelly missing time. As it stands, like I said, the Diamondbacks are, I guess blessed to at the very least have five starting pitchers available to go when opening day comes around and they can afford to have Merrill Kelly at least take his time with coming back and getting ready. This is less about Merrill having still any issues with that injury in his back, but it has more to do with him trying to get ramped up and ready to go build up to enough innings and a big enough pitch count where he can go out in a Major League Baseball.

game and start and give the Diamondbacks at least, you know, four to five solid innings in his first game out there. But my concern overall is if Merrill does miss time, there's this kind of drop-off in competition level. It's not a huge drop-off, but he would be facing guys in like, you know, a back lot game or a simulated game versus, you know, facing actual major league pitching as he would going out there during, you know, spring training game. So that would be the case if he misses any time. You would have to continue you getting ramped up. I mean, he could go to Reno, potentially for a rehab start.

That is something that's been discussed for Lordus Gurriel Jr. As well, that we could see Reno. We could see Lordus in Reno just get a few games in before he returns to the starting lineup. So Merrill going to Reno maybe is an option. I know that when it comes to like those kind of those situations that they can allow them to pick where they want to go. I believe last time Merrill rehabbed in like minor league games,

he chose to go to Hillsborough instead of going to Reno. So there could be that in his future as well. But again, just good to see Merrill back out in a live, live spring training game and good to see him getting those reps in. Also, very good time to see Erica Day in the chat. Love to see Erica in here. Ben McLaughlin, by the way, infielder, third baseman. He played first base for the Diamondbacks yesterday.

He continues to have a solid spring. He's a guy that I believe has been reassigned to minor league. camp already, but he's hitting 368 with a 941 OPS and 6 RBI, and so far everything I've seen of him looks very solid. So he is a player whose name could come up here in the future for this organization, and I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, that's probably a key in regards to this entire situation with spring training and these young prospects getting as much playing time as we've seen. Tommy Troy continues to look solid. Jacob Amaya hit a grand slam in the Diamondbacks win over the Giants.

He has made six starts at shortstop and two starts at second base. So again, just some young players really looking nice. He was two for four with a home run and five RBI in that win on Saturday. Corbyn Carroll returned again. He had a second outing there. He went one for three collecting his first spring training hit in the fifth inning on a line drive there to left field. Tim Tawa in that same game also two for three with a double walk, three runs.

He has made five starts at second base and four at third. so it's looking like Tawa could be that utility and probably will be that utility infielder backing guys up for the Diamondbacks. James McCann was two for four in that win. And again, another bright spot. Juan Murillo is scoreless in six appearances with two walks and five strikeouts.

I kind of laugh that the one game that he had a horrible outing was against Team Mexico in an exhibition game that doesn't really count. But that game doesn't count, so we don't care about that. Outside of that, he's been awesome. Six appearances, six innings pitched,

two walks, five strike. out for the big man. So good, good, good news for the bullpen and not really receiving a ton of good news when it comes to the bullpen for the Diamondbacks. In fact, probably the worst piece of news that I myself could have received, as you guys know, we got a roster move update. Dre Jameson was optioned to AAA Reno. And you know, I hate that. Jameson really struggled in his last outing, as have a few guys. And unfortunately, it's those guys that are on the bubble, you know, those guys that are kind of still in competition for a spot. Everybody in the bullpen is probably in competition for a spot.

But again, there's a lot of experience here with the guys, the non-roster invitees that they have in camp that they sign the minor league deals. The young guys really do need to play really well in order for them to solidify that spot in the bullpen. John Curtis also reassigned to minor league camp as well as our big fellow, Luke and Baker. And that kind of hurts, but also not surprising at all. As we roll on to spring training, the teams have to get their rosters down and these moves have to be made. And unfortunately, this competition is very close for these guys.

And again, the Diamondbacks need some guys to step up. One guy that they need to step up that struggled is Brandon Garcia. He did not have, he had another bad outing, his second consecutive outing in a row where he really struggled. This was the Diamondbacks game yesterday against the San Diego Padres. They end up tying that game. and Brandon fought looked like big game Brandon. Forget big game Brandon. Brandon fought looked like an ace in that game.

Five innings pitched in a spring training game already. Zero hit, zero-walk six Ks for Brandon Fought. Fire me up. This is the exact thing we need to see right now. And again, as much as we probably don't want to lament over the negative results, we can't get too excited over the positive results. but again, the Diamondbacks need somebody. They need somebody in their starting rotation, really step up.

Things look very, I mean, unsure right now for the start of the regular season. So having someone like Brandon Fott be dialed in and playing, you know, or delivering some of his best baseball is very encouraging right now. Meanwhile, like I said, Brandon Garcia struggled for a second outing in a row. He in two-thirds of an innings pitch gave up two hits, three earned runs, two walks, and zero strikeouts. And I am concerned. I am concerned.

Things are not looking great for Brandon Garcia. And there is a lot that's kind of riding on him as far as left-handed pitching in the bullpen is concerned. Now, the Diamondbacks do also have, you know, Philip Abner. This is a guy that could factor in and somebody who I have thought looked, I thought he looked very good at times last year. He had an incredible debut. And again, was kind of thrown into the fire.

when the diamondbacks needed him. But I don't know if anything is guaranteed right now for Brandon Garcia. It was easy to overlook the one outing due to illness. And outside of that, he looked solid outside of these last two outings. And these last two outings have been bad. His ERA has ballooned up to 15.43. And again, it's really about him being one of the limited only options the diamondbacks have for left-handed pitching to come out of the bullpen.

So you hate to see him struck. and again, there was a lot writing on him. Now, it's still spring training, so that still don't put a lot of stock in this, but you wouldn't be surprised here shortly to see if Garcia is potentially optioned to AAA Reno, and perhaps they go with Abner because of these recent struggles.

I, you know, this competition, there's not a lot of time for the front office and for Tori Lobello to see these guys and make decisions. I don't know. I'm worried. worried. Burosa, one for three with a triple and two RBI and the tie with the Padres. Alec Thomas returned to the lineup. He's one for two with a double and a run scored. And honestly, Alec Thomas continues to look great this spring. And even though his WBC performance

was a little bit of a dip, his spring training number still look outstanding. He's hitting 389 with a 1.143 OPS in Cactus League play. Corby and Carroll, O for three, with two strikeouts in the tie. So we'd love to see Corbyn kind of get locked back in, but this is the reason why him trying to get into 10 spring training games was so important. We have been told that the biggest problem with the haymate bone is the way that impacts, you know, the power in your swing and also the pain it causes when he swings. So hopefully what we can see is Corbin, heal up and perhaps get a little bit more dialed in here before we hit opening day. But between now and then we have a lot of heat to deal with, as I said there, talking about APS.

This is going to be a record week for heat. There's a heat wave here in the valley. And that's saying a lot because I don't even know if we actually classify anything as a heat wave when it comes to being hot in Phoenix. But it's going to be very, very hot this week, so hot that the Diamondbacks, in fact, have moved their spring training game. The game on Friday against the Brewers has been moved to a 610 start. Actually, the 110 games on Thursday and Friday have all been moved.

So those, if you were planning on going to those games, those games are now a 610 start. And that is no surprise at all. Gates will open at Salt River Fields on Friday at 4.30 p.m. for those of you attending. But yeah, now the Diamondbacks, of course, they have an off day tomorrow, and today they take on the Reds. The Diamondbacks have Ryan Nelson making his second straight start at home. Il-Domaro Vargas is in the lineup. He's hitting 361. Tim Tawa currently hitting 303.

And Jordan Lawler has hit safely in five of his last six games and has made 11 starts at Centerfield. So far, there's been nothing but glowing reviews about Lawler in Centerfield. And it feels like that is his home. That is where we're going to see Lawler this season. I'm sure we'll see him still back up Geraldo Perdomo at times at shortstop. But for the most part, that is where Lawler will be.

So exciting stuff for this team and exciting stuff for the Valley. I mean, exciting. I mean, stay hydrated is what I mean. It's dangerous out there this week. So we need this heat to go away and we need to get back to normal temperatures. On the bright side, though, maybe this will drive some snowbirds away. I don't know. I probably shouldn't be saying that when it comes to my audience on this show. But this heat, ridiculous and so is waiting in traffic. So I'm conflicted. But we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we are going to do what we do on Mondays. And you know what we do. So stick around. You're watching the PHNX time. The Back Show. Well, Circle K is America's third stop. It's Derek's third stop. It's absolutely Shane's durstop. And it should be your third stop, as well. Make sure you stop by and save on drinks. It doesn't matter whether it's the morning where it's briefly cold and you need a hot beverage or the rest of the day where it's incredibly hot here in the valley and you need to stop by, get yourself a polar pop, a froster, or a number of other drinks. And you will save if you join the Inner Circle for free right now. It's easy. You just download the app. And then you'll

just have to enter your phone number when you make purchases at circle k the same on all sorts of amazing deals including right now where you can buy three coca cola 20 ounce products and you will save 25 cents off a gallon on gas which can be very helpful during these current times of course they also have their meal deal matrix where they will feed you from dawn till dusk and they got you covered in there with affordable meals of course everything is more affordable when you join the inner circle so do so right now by downloading the circle k app today terms and conditions do apply and participating locations, visit circlek.com for details. And the major league baseball season is almost here and a great way for you to save on those tickets is with our friends at game time. You can get down

on the game time app and it gives you the advantage of constant innovation. It is a aesthetically pleasing app, of course, but it also has new things that they're adding all the time to make the game time ticket purchase experience for MLB tickets more accessible, more fun and just get you there in a few taps. The game time. guarantee means you get 100% authentic tickets on time at the best price with no last minute surprises. And those fees are included in the price you see. What you see is what you pay, period. No extra fees at checkout. They got zone deals, which will save you more simply by picking an area of the arena where you want to sit or, of course, the ballpark where you want to sit and they

will find you the best deal they can. And you can also see what your view is going to be from that seat with a panoramic view. That way you know exactly what you're going to be experienced. at the ballpark. So do not miss out. Take advantage of the guest work. Uh, excuse me, take advantage of game time. Take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets right now with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use our code of pH and X for $20 off your first order. Again, that is pHNX. Plug that in and you'll get $20 off your first order. Download the game time app today. Well, our guy Day Walker 3Z in the chat says don't leave the game up to the ump tough. I'm late to the party. And look, I mean, this is a hurral

Prudomo podcast, so we're not going to accept the tough part of that. But we do understand what you're saying. And he went on to say, an imperfect game. Unfortunate ended the way it did, but it was exhilarating game regardless. That part is correct. And like I said, I tried to preface this with saying that obviously the Prudomo at bat was not the end-all be-all here. The team had plenty of opportunities here to score. Dominican Republic was, you know, won out with runners in scoring position several times throughout the game. Hats off to Team USA for holding them. those situations. And, you know, again, this isn't at bat that it does kind of ruin a really exciting game, at least for those of us that are fans of Geraldo Perdomo or just fans of getting

the call right overall. I saw plenty of people rooting once again for Team USA that thought this was a terrible call and didn't want to see the game end like this. And I think that's probably the appropriate response. No matter who you were rooting for here, I think the end of the day, we want to get the call right. It's just still why I struggle so much. with this ABS system. And it's the reason why me and Ryan Thompson are going to argue about it probably until the end of time. But you know what we do around here on Mondays. And you know, of course, what we do around here all the time.

Every year is our year on this podcast. I don't care what stupid horse the year it is. It's the year of the snake is. And it's always the year of the snake. Of course, every single month on this podcast is Black History Month. Every single month on this podcast, also Women's History Month. And of course, every month on this podcast is Black Women's History Month. Every single week is Shark Week.

Every single day is Earth Day because Shane and I retire. But on Mondays, what did I say? Retire? Excuse me. Me and Shane, recycle. We're, we're, I'm sorry, I'm tired. I would love to retire. I'm ready to hang it up.

I am ready to be done, honestly. I was out in downtown Phoenix for three straight days. So it's, I'm over it. But we recycle on this show. That's what we do. That's why it's Earth Day. But on Mondays, we go the mailbag. Shane.

mailbox i try to get to everything in my mailbox and then what so something all right well shout out to uh of course uh grammy nominated artist megaran for bringing me downtown for three straight days as he does but uh what do we got in the mail bag today Shane you got a bunch of good stuff Derek I mean the the the the the UPS driver came he was smiling oh he was like I got I got big bag of letters for you chucking stuff and I'm like hey dude there's something fragile in there Stop it. It's our listeners and our viewers. Yeah, our listeners are fragile.

How about Flea Ball? Flee ball 27 saying, the home plate umpire was American. That doesn't seem fair. Feeba and FIFA would never allow that. Also, can we send Mason Miller to the American League? First, yes, yes, we can send Mason Miller to the American League. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. He's probably going to be a Padre until we end of time.

And we're going to have to deal with him there. But I mean, I don't know. I don't disagree with this. I don't know how to take it. I mean, I think that being important, Partial is important here when it comes to this, but it also feels very weird when it comes to a, you know, a tournament that is put on by Major League Baseball. So many of these important games are taking place in the United States. Like there's a lot of things that you could say is probably pretty unfair when it comes to the situation of this tournament and the way it's set up.

But, oh, I will also say that based on me watching that game yesterday, did not feel like either team had a home field advantage there. It felt like there was many Dominican fans in the stands as there was fans. from Team USA. And I don't, I just think this was a crappy call from the umpire, really at the end of the day. I, and again, it's the reason why I gave credit where credit is due for Will Smith fooling him, pulling the wool over his eyes like he did. But I will say that the reason why you have impartial umpires in a national, or excuse me, an international tournament like this is so that you don't have these weird accusations that

an umpire might have favored one team over the other, right? Like it's, you know, it's probably a thing you could argue about baseball in general. All umpires are supposed to be impartial, and I don't really think that that greatly impacts their ability to get down there and call balls and strikes. When you have a situation like this go the way it did, though, it's hard not to feel like there was some, you know, bias here, you know, some sort of impact from the umpire being an American and wanting Team USA to advance. I don't believe that as much as I just think umpires sometimes are bad at their jobs.

And I think that specifically in this case, that ball was so low that I have a hard time understanding him calling it a strike other than watching the replay several times and seeing the way that it was framed. And again, in that big moment, it was a big at bat. I just wish that, you know, again, that we got the call right. And it's the reason why I don't even want just a BS system. Like I was telling Shane, I think in the ninth inning, if it's a close call like that, it should just be reviewed. I don't even think either team should tap. I think we should just make sure that the biggest moments in baseball games are, in fact, getting the calls right.

And that's all I really want. I think that's what a lot of people want. What else we got there, Shane? Next one up from JJ, saying, why was an American umpire in the D.R. and USA game in the first place? That's not rig. I don't know what is. The next three years may Corey Blazer never find toilet paper when he needs it, even when it's blowout diarrhea.

Thank you, JJ. That is very eloquent. I mean, when you talk about like wishing bad upon somebody, I think he nailed it. He nailed it in a way where, quite frankly, it wasn't vulgar, even though it kind of was. And it still stayed within the, no, no, he stayed within the guidelines of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, I don't disagree. But I also think, like, again, umpires have a difficult job. and that's what we hear time and time again from baseball. And I'm fine with that.

I know it is. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard to make these calls for any official in any sport in a split second with their eye to see what's going on and to make an accurate call and 100% be right about it. But the point of what so many sports are trying to do these days is to get the calls right by whatever means are necessary. And I still like challenging calls. I still think that you cannot go back and review. Every single call throughout a baseball game that might be borderline, I get that.

But again, you have a system in place where you know kind of instantly whether a ball was in the strike zone, touched the strike zone or didn't touch the strike zone. I still, and probably will for a very long time, hate the idea that we made it into a game within a game and make it a fun little situation where we're going to give you a couple challenges. and if you get it, then you get your challenge back. And you can just give this technology to the umpire. And again, I don't know why umpires would be opposed to this, right? I mean, I know we all need a bad guy.

We all need somebody to hate. In this case, it's Corey Blazer, right? We all need somebody that we can focus our hatred on instead of focusing it on Dominican Republic versus the USA. See, that's international strife. That causes conflicts. No, we have an umpire here to hate. in the middle all this.

So again, it's great to have that, and it's great to have a villain in any story. What we need, though, is to give these villains, at the very least, the proper technology so that they can make the call

as they see fit, but still, and deep down in their soul, know that a little thing buzzed in their ear or didn't buzz in their ear, letting them know that that ball was in the strike zone or not. And I still think that that is the proper route to go

versus whatever the hell all of this is, you know, of this, but they didn't even have ABS here. So again, this just proves why the ABS challenge system is going to be so popular in Major League Baseball this year. This exact moment. This almost felt scripted.

It was so ridiculous and so egregious that it was like an advertisement for the ABS challenge system to be like, see, this is why we need this thing. And I think everybody agrees. But some people that were rooting for Team USA might agree a little less than those that were rooting for the

Republic of Dominicana. All right. What else we got, Jane? Can I just say something? So I would love to hear me a little bit. I know people don't give a shit about this. I had a, first of all, I had the, the DR to win, like really early when they were still the third, the third favorite. Sure. But I also had a junior Caminero, WVC MVP ticket that I just know was going to cash at plus 3,000. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I love the people just finding out about this guy, like, like he didn't hit 45 home runs last year. Right, right. But when you play for a crappy team, no one knows that he exists, right. So, but no, you're right. And what's crazy is on a team filled with all stars like this, on a team filled with elite hitters, he still somehow rose to the top. And it just goes to show what an elite hitter he is. So shout out to Junior Camerro. He did everything he needed to do to get the DR to the finals. He just needed a little bit of help, just a little bit of help. All right, what else we got?

The next one from her, although Perdom's biggest fan. I'm going to send Damon into a tizzy, this guy, once again. What are we doing to defend Prudomo's honor? That man knows the plate better than anyone, and he had a typical amazing domo at bat that should have kept the game going, SMH. Like, there are so many things. There's so many things that runs through my head here.

Like, I think that's why I was screaming. One of my tweets last night literally said, abolish all human umpires. And I stand by that. I still don't take that back. I might take it back in a few days, but I'm not ready to take it back now. That's the part that hurts the most about this. Our sweet, sweet, Jerry P, being the victim of this situation, being the one that was left standing there,

looking down at a ball that was obviously a ball. He knows the strike zone. He's hardly ever wrong about this stuff. Also, I will say, in Pardomo's defense, he also never argues calls. Like you don't ever see Perdomo argue calls. You might see him talk to the umpire. But what we saw when Team USA was celebrating there on the field, um,

he was arguing that call. And I think that sucks overall. Like Perdomo's favorite place, as he once told our friend Steve Zinsmeister, is to be down 02 in the count. Or that was the thing he missed most about being healthy and being back on the baseball team when he was injured last season. So you know this guy loves these big moments.

he lives for them and he knows that that when you're down 02 in the count that's when the real at bat starts right but i mean i in regards to the question we have so much that we have to do here to defend per domo's honor and again he even admitted it dame jane cannot bring the kind of fire and heat that our baby boy damon dog can so i guess in regards to this question we got to bring in the one the only Damon dog to talk about Perdomo absolutely being robbed here we've been talking about it all episode long

Damon we're in mailbag Monday now at this point but all the questions have been what do we do how do we get revenge on this man how do we how do we fight for both Damon and Perdomo's honor what an incredibly horrible situation with this miscall Derek you're so right

obviously I've had a lot of pent up aggression, a night's rest I don't think did any service to me in terms of calming me down, making me feel better about the situation. Of course not. This is, I'm only angrier because guess what? I woke up to a flurry of replies of people telling me, no, it actually wasn't that bad of a call. No, no, no. That's actually a fine call and he should have swung.

And it's like, wait, in no way. shape or form was out of strike. These things are trackable in the year of our Lord 2026, believe it or not. Go on baseball savant. I'm sending people, Derek, 3D renditions of the pitch, the entire plane of the way it crosses the plate. Yeah, we talked about being told them. Yeah, you're doing the thing where you're showing the whole time, like it didn't start and then go. It was never a strike. It was never, ever a strike. And for you to do that to Heraldo Pardomo in particular is disgusting, because here's why. That is a superstar major league baseball player

that is not getting a superstar whistle. It's gross. Yeah. It's disgusting. It's because he wears this uniform, Derek. It's because he wears this uniform. Because that guy, if he says it's a ball, I promise you, it's a ball.

He knows the strike zone better than any human being a lot, basically. A hundred percent. Yeah. I know. It sucks, man. And it sucks that he was left there in that moment. I think we were just all robbed of whatever was going to happen next, right? It's not like he singled and the run came in and there was a controversial call at the plate or whatever, right? I will agree that all this was was a walk. It did not, it would have just put Fernando Tatis Jr. at the plate. But man, we get robbed of that. We get robbed of that moment to know what would have happened with Tatis at the plate and one runner at third and just everything that could have happened. to not only tie the game at two and perhaps send it into extra innings. Could have gotten extra innings out of that game, but we could have gotten a walkoff in the bottom of the ninth, potentially, and I think that that sucks.

Plus, like I said earlier, right? You know, me and this guy, we're no Padres fans by any stretch of the imagination, but wouldn't have been cool to see teammate versus teammate there in such a high leverage situation to have Tatis come up against Mason Miller, like just so many things we were kind of, that was taken from us by that bad call. Yeah. And I mean, throwback to Trout and Otani in the last world baseball classic, teammate versus teammate. And that was electric when that happened. And another rendition would have been great. But you know what? I walk away from that, Derek. And I know that this is like the most

Homer, this guy, you know, loves Pardomo. He says that Pardomo could never do anything wrong type of take. But I walk away saying my guy still has it. My goat still got it. Because he battled back in that AB. Yeah. And only a fashion that Geraldo Perdomo could. And I walk away with more confidence in my guy after that AB, even though he struck out looking, being like, you know what? Perdomo is effing nails.

Nails. Yeah. In that moment. Against that guy. Up against the guy who throws, 102. Yeah. 102 being thrown your way. And he's fouling off pitches left and right, taking, you know, sliders that are barely

making it out of the zone and then he gets screwed on that final pitch like herardo heraldo perdomo is is genuinely like has the best eye i've seen in baseball on a really long time and and you know what credit to him for that at bat because it didn't end the way that it should have but um you know it was a it was a great a b all all things considered i know none of this impacts of diamond back seasons but in a positive way looking at it cautiously optimistically right like yeah what a huge at bat from perdomo in such a high leverage situation and even though it went the wrong way, we know that Perdomo wasn't on the wrong side of that. And at the end of the day, in all of our heads, we know that Perdomo actually did walk. The outcome doesn't change and it

probably isn't going to help any of us sleep at night. But again, he did do an incredible job in that at bat. And that's why it feels like he was robbed. And Zabe says it in the chat, Damon. And she says, I'm mad it ended on Jerry instead of someone else. And I think there's that too. Absolutely. I didn't want it to be Cattel and I didn't want it to be Jerry making the final out. I just wanted it to be well anybody else it felt like for a second there because I was kind of doing that math in my head as well

what Catelle was hitting second no so if if Tatea somehow gets up what Catelle? Yeah or no no you're right Catell was hitting second I'm sorry yeah I was thinking Prudoma yeah yeah so if Prudoma walks there it's first and third say Tatea draws a walk all of a sudden now it's Cotel base is loaded two outs game on the line

and yeah i'm feeling very similarly about like yeah i really hope that this doesn't land on my guy here in this situation but um i wish it is heartbreaking a pop out pop out with bases loaded oh i would i just would have liked to have seen that that play out like you said derrick like he might have gotten robbed of free baseball and that's that's the part that hurts because this tournament is so fun these guys care so much about it seemingly and you know i i i you hate to see end with your favorite player being the guy who gets the final out, especially when it feels like he should not have been the final out whatsoever. He was robbed. He was robbed. But you go back to enjoying your day off. You work like 14 days in a row. So I appreciate you. We all thank you for stopping

by. Damon Dogg. You know where to follow him at Damon Dogg. And we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, bark. All right, man. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you tomorrow with our watch along. We got a fun watch-along plan for the championship game. Whoever makes it through the semi-final today, we're going to be sitting out there doing a little watch-along. So make sure to join us for that. And then we're going to have a post-game show after the watch-along. No 12 p.m. show tomorrow. Instead, Damon and I, along with Emma, are going to be out experiencing all of the new food that Chase Field has to offer. So make sure to join us after the championship game for our post-game show tomorrow. But we're going to take a quick break. And then we're going to do some more

mailbag Monday questions. Don't you guys go anywhere. you're watching the PHA next time in Beck Show. Well, everyone needs a checking account, so make sure you get a checking account that gives back to you. That's exactly what Mountain America Credit Union wants to do with their My Style checking account, which has built-in benefits just for you. I know your checking account always takes your money away, but get yourself a checking account that helps you save some money or get some back. You can enjoy restaurant deals with the My Style Checking Account.

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for our watch party on March 26 for opening day. Make sure to join us out at Crybaby. We got huge TVs. We got us doing a little pregame show. We have so much to offer. So make sure to come join us. If you do not have plans for opening day, now you do. You can RSVP over at our page, at our events page.

P-HNX.com. It's free. We just want to know how many people are coming out. There's food options, there's drink options, and so much more, Crybaby, and downtown Phoenix. So a few blocks away from Chase Field right across the street from the Churchill. So very exciting. I cannot wait to see all of you guys out there for that. And I think we got a couple of more mailbag Monday questions before we get out of here. Shane, what else do we got? Oh, yeah. Let's go ahead with J. Army Strong. While the A squad was in the World Baseball Classic, there was an Assad poodles led by Fodd that a halfway, did halfway decent yesterday and a tie with the Padres.

Are live baseball tournaments a better skill builder, or is spring training better for preseason practice? Oh, man, this is such a great question. It really is because obviously what we've heard so far, time and time again, is that the World Baseball Classic is great. Guys get, you know, high leverage games right away that means something. They go out there and pool play.

After playing a couple, you know, exhibition games together, against regular MLB teams in spring training, they go to pool play, and they're just instantly in competitive games. Now, I think this is great in theory, but at the same time, this begs the question, why don't we just start,

why don't we just do camp and then start the regular season instead of having guys play spring training for a month? If getting guys into games that matter right away is going to somehow prepare them better for the regular season, then let's just start the regular season, right? I don't think this really does, prepare guys better. I do think it's based on the player. I think some players are going to take

the world baseball classic for what it is. They are going to take it as a fun tournament that they are using to ramp up and get ready for regular season the same way they would spring training games. And then there's guys like the majority of the Dominican Republic roster that looked like they were going out there trying to light the world on fire in every game with every event. Right. Now they didn't necessarily yield the results they were looking for. Shane said, you know, Julio really struggled this tournament for the Dominican Republic. A lot of guys that are superstars did. They didn't put up great numbers, but again, you can credit that or you can write it off to this being an early time of the year. I will say that when it comes to spring training,

the one beautiful part about it is the results don't matter. You got people in our chat calling it fake baseball. And at the end of the day, these guys are free to go out there and work on things that they particularly might not do when the regular season comes around just to see if those things that they change mechanically at the plate when they're pitching, what side of the, of the, you know, rubber they pitch from as a pitcher where they're positioning themselves in the outfield, maybe trying just where they position themselves in general. Like there are so many things that players kind of work on just to see if it yields different results during spring training. And at the end of the day, uh, they, they can make that decision. They can go out.

there and test and have a, you know, a theory and see if it works. And if it doesn't, they can go back to the way they were doing things. You know, Alec Thomas is a perfect example of that. His leg kick has decreased dramatically and the results have been there so far. It's still a small sample size. It's still against spring trading pitching. So there's plenty of, I guess, qualifiers to add in there to Alec Thomas's success. You could probably say something similar to Jordan Lawler. The point is, though, these guys, which are facing the exact same pitching that other guys who are struggling are is is you know a part of the you know overall is is part of their preparation and and getting ramped up for the season so that's why I would

I would I would feel like spring training is the better thing to prepare them for the year but I don't think that you know being around a roster like some of these guys were around and participating in a tournament like they participated in is detrimental either I just think that you know it causes maybe some of those guys to try to be at their best and perhaps push too hard or try too hard to make things happen instead of letting things come to them naturally. And, you know, again, that's probably not yielding the results they were looking for in a tournament like this. Might, you know, might just be too high of leverage too early on in their season. All right. We also got some questions from our Discord and our diehard. Shane, what do we got from the

Discord? Yep, two questions real quick. Rayoma, which DeBack is going to win the most ABS challenges this season. My bet is either Gabby or Domo. And yes, I feel I need therapy from all the rage. I felt watching that game last night. Matt, respect to Team DR, I wouldn't have been able to keep my cool. Oh, I wasn't. I was saying crazy things on social media, and that was even with a small filter. But it's going to be Gabby. Gabby not only has the opportunities behind the plate to call for those, but as far as as a hitter, I do feel like Gabby is going to have the ability to just kind of know the strikes on a little better. Perhaps even maybe he is given the green light a little bit more than other guys. I don't think he's going to be given the green light more than Domo, though. So if you're

just talking at the plate, then yeah, I feel like it could be a split. Either one of those guys, I would probably, if you're just talking about calling, you know, for the ABS challenges as a hitter, I would probably lean towards Domo. But overall, because Gabby's going to be behind the plate as well, we're just going to see him get more opportunities. Plus, again, he might just have that green light a little bit more from Tori and the staff. So there's that. Let's get one more interesting. Last one from Brandon, honest opinions on the likelihood of Tori getting an extension. If he doesn't come back, what kind of manager do you think the organization should look for? That's a, man, that's a tough one.

Because as you know, Damon and I have dinner over at Tori LaBello's house every Sunday. And it's going to be heartbreaking to not experience that anymore. No, jokes aside, I think that Tori Lavello has been a tremendous manager. I think that he has done a lot with the roster that he's been given, but he's not perfect and he has made plenty of bad calls in his time, a manager. I do think his back is up against the wall and I do believe that in my opinion the Diamondbacks are going to have to do something pretty outstanding this season in order for him to still be the manager come 2027. That's just because he's at the end of his contract and I do

feel like if the results end up being something similar even if it's not his fault, right? Even if it's not to the fault of Tori. But if we finish another season at 500 or a few games below or a few games out of the playoffs, then I can't imagine this organization wouldn't want to try to change to a new manager that they feel could get them those extra five wins that they needed in order to get into the playoffs, right? So I think the results of this season do matter. In my opinion, I think the Diamondbacks are very capable of reaching the playoffs. And should they do that, I think we would see Toro Lavello return for 2027. And maybe not a crazy long deal. But if Tori didn't return, I would imagine that this organization would probably pivot to someone that was

perhaps experienced. I don't know if they're going to do the thing that like the Giants did or some of these teams are doing to just look to like a new fresh voice, someone that was like a bench coach for another team or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised to see them give Jeff Bannister a shot as the manager if they moved on from Tori LaBalo. I think that is a strong possibility as well. Not only does Bannister have, you know, the relationship with this team and the years of being a part of this organization, but he also has the managing experience. And just a certain level of toughness, I think, that you need as a manager. So maybe that's the direction they go should they move on from Tori at the end of this year. Let's hope not because I love the big Ziti over there. And again,

I don't know what I'm going to do with my Sunday nights should Toy Lovolo not be the manager of this team anymore. But you're going to have to deal with Damon on that one should that happen because he takes that dinner much more seriously than I do. We thank you guys so much for your time. More importantly, we thank you for your questions. Your questions help this whole mailbag Monday thing keep on the rails. So we appreciate you for that. We will be back tomorrow.

Like I said, we're going to be doing a post-game show after the championship game, but we're also going to be doing a watch-along between Team USA and the winner of Team Italy versus the Team Venezuela. So make sure to join us for all of that action. We're going to be having a bunch of fun and also bringing you our favorite items from the Taste of Chase event that's happening tomorrow at our normal time. So, of course, until then, you can follow us on social media.

I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Shane is at Shane Deef. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. But thank you guys so much for your time. We love you. We appreciate you.

We'll see you back here tomorrow night. Until then, have yourselves a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't rob Horozo Pardomo in one of the biggest moments of his goddamn career.