PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - How did the Diamondbacks become the hottest team in the National League?

Starting point is 00:00:02 Hello and welcome in to a fully loaded PHNXD Back Show. My name is Derek Montia, formerly known as the mayor of PHNX. It's still sad. I don't have an identity without that title. Oh, well, we came to a revelation today. That's right. This morning, do you know who currently is the active mayor of PHNX? Right now in this moment, at this time.

Starting point is 00:00:32 On what are we January 12th or January 12th? Or January, June 12th, 2003. Jesse Friedman. Yeah, the active mayor of PHNX. Wait, actually? How did that happen? Shane had his wisdom teeth taken out this morning. And as you may know, when a president undergoes like major medical things that are not, you know, completely there, like when presidents get colonoscopy.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Correct. While he's under surgery, they step away from the title. The vice president becomes the active president. Yep. So Jesse Friedman, you are the active president. You're active mayor of PHNX. Somehow, so I was the vice president all along. You were the vice mayor.

Starting point is 00:01:06 What do you mean? Oh, well, I sort of assumed that when you lost your mayorship, I lost my vice mareship. We protected that. Remember, it's like the way that Tochry wanted fucking burrito express biweekly and he didn't know what biweekly meant. Now he has to wait and get it once every two weeks. But welcome in to the PHNXD back shore.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Like I said, I'm Derek Montia. This is Mr. Electric, Sean DePaz. And that is your mayor of PHNX, Jesse Friedman. So it's a good day. And it's a good day to be an Arizona Diamondbacks fan. They continue to lead the National League West, completing the three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers and going undefeated on their five-game now road trip through DC and Detroit. And, you know, we were very impressed about what the Diamondbacks have done so far, especially considering their schedule. We knew that they did a good job.

Starting point is 00:01:53 We've talked about them doing a good job against opponents they should beat. This is different, though. This is a road trip. You know, you can kind of forgive losses on road trips. You understand, especially when you have. have a 8.35 a.m. start or whatever on a Sunday for Diamondbacks fans here in Phoenix. But man, this team just does not quit. Even when their ace, Zach Gallen doesn't have his best outing or possibly one of his worst outings of the year. I don't know. I just say that because

Starting point is 00:02:18 it's the Tigers, but the team still is able to have his back and somehow come back and answer back. Yeah, I mean, it was not a good day for Zach Gallen. And yeah, I mean, I kind of shuddered to think of what that day would have looked like if he hadn't been pitching against the tigers. He might have very well could have been knocked out of this game sooner and given up even more damage than he did. But yeah, yesterday's game, the Sunday game was like, all right, the debacks have had basically everything going for them for so long. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:48 At some point you were due to lose with your ace on the mound against a bad day, but just have one of those days, one of those things that just happens in this sport. And yet the diamond backs down five to two going to the eighth inning, storm back and score five runs as they have done a number of times this season and somehow we're talking about a sweep in a series that I think everyone would still be pretty content if the debacks had taken two out of three in that series and gone four and one on the road trip but the diamond backs right now seem content with with nothing other than basically winning every single game which is somehow what they've been doing for a little while now yeah does gallons downward trajectory over his last few games

Starting point is 00:03:26 concern you or do you think that I mean this is just kind of what happens throughout the season Yeah, I mean, it's not encouraging by any means, but I mean, he's, if there was anyone that you want going through tough times, or if there's anyone you have the most trust to come to bounce back from tough times, it's at Gallon. Like, so I'm not really, like, it's concerning in the sense that like you would rather him not be doing this. And it's, if he keeps doing it, it'll get to a point where it's concerning. But I'm not, like, I'm not worried that this is like the news at Gallin or anything

Starting point is 00:03:53 like that. Like, I just think this happens to expect him to be one of the best, the top three pitchers, basically non-stop for two straight years is unrealistic. They had a good game plan going against him. Zach Gallen has been attacking the zone. We know that he doesn't really walk anyone and of course that means looking for him to get ahead early

Starting point is 00:04:11 and that's what the Tigers did. I do like the fact that even though he blew up there early in the game he did continue to pitch and he settled in and he was able to be effective. He just early on they just jumped on him. He had 17 whiffs in the game which is actually really good

Starting point is 00:04:27 that's a pretty good game for Zach Gallen or for any pitcher really. But yeah, his stuff was clearly not the same. He averaged 92 with his four seam fastball. I went back and looked at his game log. I don't think Zach Allen's four seamer has averaged that low in a regular season game since September of 2021. So it's been a while since we've seen Zach Allen stuff down that much. Granted, it's not like it was 89 or anything. I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't alarming. It was 1.5 miles per hour lower than his season average. But yeah,

Starting point is 00:04:59 clearly something wasn't right. You wonder if maybe it was partially due to the fact that for some reason, we were playing baseball at 8.30 a.m. Arizona time yesterday. I'm not even normally awake on a Sunday morning. I oversle. Jesse was awake. I overslept.

Starting point is 00:05:13 I was the one who overslept this time. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, maybe that would mess with his rhythm to a certain degree, kind of mess with his preparation a little bit. He also has just not been good on the road, even as he has been really good this season.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Pretty much all of his clunkers have come on the road and that trend continued yesterday. We don't talk enough about, or we often let Zach Gallen off the hook when he has a bad outing and we say like, obviously this isn't Zach Gallen. And he does usually bounce back. But a guy that we constantly kind of are looking out for

Starting point is 00:05:44 to see if, you know, if this might be the end of his tenure in the starting rotation is Ryan Nelson. And Ryan Nelson was very, very good against the Tigers. And I mean, if you look at his outings this season, I mean, I know he's struggled at times, but Nelson has been a fairly competitive starter for this team. And he has given them more good outings, I'd say, than bad. I mean, he has his clunkers as well. And he's still a young pitcher adjusting to the major leagues. But I feel like Ryan Nelson is getting to the point where much like Tommy Henry, I'm starting to ease out of that, when are we going to possibly see a change and thinking these guys might, you know, be the solid back end guys for this rotation. Yeah, I mean, especially because we know that they plan on being aggressive at the deadline. If they get into the starter, then you'd have to assume that Nelson's probably the one that gets pushed out of that five-man rotation. But like, it is nice knowing that, okay, if something happens, you need another starter to come in there.

Starting point is 00:06:37 He's like doing okay enough where if he is your fifth and a half starter, like, it's not the worst situation to be in. So obviously, I'm not at the point yet where I'm like, we don't need to trade for anybody at the deadline if they want to win a World Series. I don't think he's quite there yet. But like I said, I think it's nice to have him kind of to know that you have somebody who, if anything goes wrong with anybody or there's an injury or anything like that, it's not going to be like, again, like I feel like I mentioned this last week, it's not going to be Madison Bunkarner where you're like, okay, that's probably a loss. Like he's going to get up five of the first day.

Starting point is 00:07:10 It feels like so long ago. The fact that it was this season. Yeah, the fact that it was this season is ridiculous. I mean, my God, the Diamondbacks have won 40 games now this season. And that's just crazy considering we. We were at a point where Madison Bumgarner was costing them, essentially, an opportunity to win a game every five days when his spot in the rotation would come up. And now even when we look at what Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry and even Brandon fought did in his time when he was up, it's still much better than, you know, what we were dealing with with Mad Bum on the mound. It's not saying much.

Starting point is 00:07:43 I know, I know. But, I mean, going into a game and thinking, okay, at least we have a chance and being like, okay. if we were just going to be an act of God. There's a big difference between a 10 ERA and even like a five ERA, right? There's a huge difference between those numbers. And yeah, I mean, we talked about in our show on Friday that this start for Ryan Nelson was important. You know, the debacks, even if they do make a move at the trade deadline, as you mentioned earlier, you know, there's some time between now and then. Like, we still have a month plus to go before the debacks could really get serious about a trade like that, most likely.

Starting point is 00:08:18 And in the meantime, even if Ryan Nelson isn't a long-term answer in the rotation this year, you still want to see him go out and succeed and give you a chance to win these games. It would have been nice if he'd been able to finish that sixth inning. He sort of ran out of steam at the end. But five and two-thirds, four hits, no runs, two walks, four strikeouts. I mean, you'll take that from your number five starter any day. Can I give you guys just a fact that I know you know, but I just really want it to resonate with you about how far. this team has come in such a short amount of time. They won 52 games in 2021.

Starting point is 00:08:54 That is 12 games away from where they are currently at on Monday, June 12. The way they've been playing, I mean, they could catch that in two weeks. They could easily catch the win total from 2021 in no time. They would have to go 12 and 85 the rest of the way to have the same. What do you do? What do you do? Derek, we're not. Why did you pull that?

Starting point is 00:09:16 I'm not taking it. That's the other direction. That is the direction I wanted to go. For that to be a curse. Oh, man. But this was, we talked about, whenever we do these wrap-up or recap kind of episodes talking about a series, we say that the series looked much closer than it actually was or whatever. But in this case, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:09:35 The Diamondbacks kind of took this series, I think, handedly, even with that last game being a comeback win that was fairly close. But let's take a look at the numbers from this series because you'll see here, Diamondbacks just kind of killed it in this one, right? I mean, starting pitching ERA significantly lower than the Tigers, relief pitching ERA. Come on, the bullpen. Give it up. Ladies and gentlemen, the bullpen, 2.83 ERA.

Starting point is 00:09:56 And they finally are hitting with runners in scoring position. I just, this was, you know, we've talked about them having complete games. This was a complete series. We're not only did they win games in the series by a wide margin, but that Sunday game is just unforgettable because that's the type of thing that makes the players. Not so much us as fans. Maybe it changes us as fans, but it makes the players believe they can win any game, no matter how much they're down by.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Yeah, and the bullpen played such an enormous role in that game, too. Scott McGuff, baby. Scott McGuff continues. Oh, my gosh. Continues to be just incredible at the back end of this bullpen for the D-Backs. And the bullpen was incredible this entire road trip, really. I mean, five games, the D-Backs bullpen did not. allow a run in any of those games except for one. And that was the game that they won 11 to 6.

Starting point is 00:10:52 So they had some, they had some leeway in that game. Outside of that, this bullpen has been completely lights out since what happened in that series finale against Atlanta. And it's really changing a narrative here for this for this franchise. I mean, the bullpen has been such an issue for this team over the last few years. And this season, it really has changed. I mean, I know the debacks have more upgrades that they can make at the trade deadline. But it's already, pretty decent. Like at this point, a lot of the guys

Starting point is 00:11:20 who really struggled in the bullpen this season are not on this roster anymore, right? There's really no one on the current roster that I think, you know, comes in the game

Starting point is 00:11:30 and you just feel terrible about, you know, what's going to happen with so and so on the mound. Even, you know, Jose Ruiz is maybe the guy sort of at the tail end of this bullpen depth chart right now.

Starting point is 00:11:40 And even he has a sub four ERA since coming over from the White Sox. And there's 2022 two Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star, Tomatipli who's not here yet. So like there's three enforcement's coming too. And I mean, the big thing,

Starting point is 00:11:56 I feel like there's just kind of this thread amongst the team in general and like individuals where it's like as soon as you start questioning them, they kind of just show up. Like the big thing, like the big criticism that we've had of them recently, I guess is them scoring with running and scoring position. And they did that.

Starting point is 00:12:12 And then even like on an individual level, you start, you ask questions about like, Pavin Smith. or Nick Ahmed and then they both hit home runs in the series. And it's like, yeah, every time the Diamondbacks fans are about to throw in the towel on Pavin Smith.

Starting point is 00:12:26 He hits like a big go ahead. Yeah. And like it's so the team just doesn't like any time you level a criticism against them, it seems like they answer it, which is obviously like incredibly encouraging if you're a fan of the team. But yeah, like they, the running and score the runners and scoring position is super encouraging too.

Starting point is 00:12:42 I get that it's a bad team, but the point I was trying to hammer home last week when we were talking about this, series is like good teams are supposed to do this against bad teams. Yeah. This is all you can ask for. You need them to dominate a bad team and that's more or less what they did. Yeah. And that's again, we talk about taking care of business.

Starting point is 00:12:57 We also talk about being satisfied at times with the fact that they're winning series against teams that they should be, right? You do have our favorite troll. Our favorite Dodgers troll has arrived. That's Moshebaer in the comments says a lot of averages will eventually get up to catch up to the D-backs and they'll come back down to earth. We thought that too, but that's not what's happening this season. By the way, Mo Schubert has offered me a very tantalizing bet, if you will, gentlemen.

Starting point is 00:13:23 He has offered me this, that if the Diamondbacks should win the NL West, he will purchase a diehard subscription for one lucky person that we choose on the show. Wow. But should the Dodgers win the National League West, he is requiring that I dress in Dodgers. For a full week, I believe. A full week. You didn't tell us that you were putting like our reputation. Yeah, no, I know. Here's the thing is, I don't even know where I would get that kind of apparel.

Starting point is 00:13:58 He was the only Dodgers fan that I would even befriend. So, and he's moved away. So I don't know where I'm going to get that stuff. That's like five foot. That's a Dodgers fan. That's not going to try. But we're going to consider that bet, Mo. So you're a negotiation powers, Derek.

Starting point is 00:14:13 They're not great. Not what I'm getting someone a year's worth of diet. I feel like that's worth it. But let's talk about Scott McGuff because God damn it, he's been so good. And we've talked, we bashed that man and he has turned it around. He is an international sex symbol, whether he agrees

Starting point is 00:14:28 with me or not. And when he comes into the game, you blow out the candles, you turn out the lights, and you get in a bed because Scott McGuff is putting things to rest. The man in the last 18 innings pitched has given up one earned run. He has a opponent batting average of 102.

Starting point is 00:14:44 He's given up seven walks and six hits total in that time frame, 23 strikeouts. And he has absolutely emerged as the guy that should be their late inning high leverage guy, aka their closer. Yeah. It's funny I meant to Domanciply because this feels very much like a like, oh, this would have been the like any other year. This is the D-Backs all-star.

Starting point is 00:15:04 Like they, oh, they don't really have like that team kind of sucks. You're just going to throw in like a bat or like a decent bullpen guy at the end of it, which so it's very nice to be in a different situation. where we're upset about someone not being a starter because they're getting robbed. But yeah, I mean, to have a guy like that, especially when there were, like, there are questions at moments early on in the season, like, is very encouraging. And I think it's a good, very bad outings. Like, just honestly, very bad outings where he wasn't effective at all immediately cost of Diamondbacks games.

Starting point is 00:15:35 But I feel like those stand out more again, like just like the bullpen in general. The losses, the times they blew it stands out more than all of the times so far that they've helped this team win games. and they've done that. The bullpen is just a different bullpen than last year. And even though I use that same damn meme, I still feel like they deserve credit when they are, you know, when they are locking things down and they were very good in this series. We've talked a lot about Ryan Nelson's fastball and how it has all this life on it.

Starting point is 00:16:05 I was doing some nerdy research yesterday as I like to do. That's how I spend my weekend. The only Diamondbacks pitcher with more carry on his four-seem fast. ball is Scott McGuff. There you go. I was actually, I was very surprised by that. Ryan Nelson is number two and Scott McGuff is number one.

Starting point is 00:16:23 He has a lot of vertical ride on his fastball. Well, there's one person we know that there's nothing wrong with any part of his game. And that, of course, is our king snake for this season. For this season. Wow. At this point,

Starting point is 00:16:36 I mean, honestly, that's not that crazy. So far. Prove me wrong. He's your potential MVP and he's pretty much locked up the, Roy. We're giving him the.

Starting point is 00:16:46 National League rookie of the year already. It's Corbyn-Karrow. King Snake, 429 average with those two home runs in the same game. This is even with an 0 and 4 game factored in here. You know, so like, my God, this man has been good lately. And he gave a great interview during the Peacock game where he was wearing the victory vest. And yeah, it was too big for him. And he said he was going to take it off in about 30 seconds. But I don't believe that for a minute. I think he wore that the rest of the afternoon. If you ask me on the flight home. Yeah, on the flight home. Yeah, definitely. You should.

Starting point is 00:17:17 That absolutely is a must. That absolutely is a bus. WW used to make their champions carry the belts and stuff through the airport. The DBAC should absolutely make whoever the last person that wins victory vest. They should have to wear that home. That was an incredible series for Corbyn Carroll. I mean, Friday, right, first career grand slam, first career multi-homer game. We won't talk about Saturday.

Starting point is 00:17:39 But Sunday. They didn't need them. Yeah, they didn't need them on Saturday. Sunday. day, Corbyn Carroll in 19 out of 30 Major League ballparks would have hit for the cycle. He single, doubled, and tripled in that game. And he also hit a fly ball deep to center field that did not get out of Camerica Park. Also would not have gotten out of Chase Field because it's impossible to hit a home run to

Starting point is 00:18:02 center field at Chase Field. But yeah, in 19 out of 30 ballparks, that would have left the yard and it would have given Corbin Carroll his first career cycle as well. Wow. My God. Could you imagine if that happened? You would have lost your. mind, Derek. You would have absolutely lost my mind. I lost my mind enough watching the game at home.

Starting point is 00:18:19 By the way, annoyed my wife with watching Game Day. So it's not just you guys. Yeah, because that's what that's how normal people would react to that. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it now. Somehow, though, inexplicably, Corby and Carroll is fifth in all-star votes for National League outfielders per MLB's first ballot update. Let's take a look at that. But as you see here, there's another player from the Arizona Diamondbacks up there in third place. I love how that's how that's how. That's how we're framing this being like, gosh, darn it. Corby Carroll's being robbed. Meanwhile, we have potentially an All-Star starter.

Starting point is 00:18:52 Lordus Gurriel Jr. is third and appears to be far more likely to start the game right now than Corbyn Carroll just based on that difference in voting. And we have to thank the wonderful Toronto Blue Jays fans for their participation in the All-Star voting. We love you. We appreciate your love of baseball. And more importantly, we appreciate your love of your players long after. They've left your organization. It's unlike any team we've ever seen.

Starting point is 00:19:17 Where's Gabby in the voting, though? Gabby is. He's seventh, I believe, in the country. Yeah, but they didn't have as much time to fall in love with him as they did. We need to work together on that Blue Jays fans. But for the most part, L. Jr. is a fairly commanding lead here. I mean, that's kind of impressive over Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr.

Starting point is 00:19:33 I mean, there's just a lot of Padres fans out there now. Those guys are really popular. And, I mean, again, Louris Gariel Jr., actually getting the credit he deserves what him and I have done this season together as a team. Yeah, I think the funniest thing about like Dback, like how the D-Bets get treated in the national media is like, I feel like ultimately if you're good, you're going to get your respect,

Starting point is 00:19:54 but then I know you were looking at like the, that Christian Walker thing like earlier. Like once you're in the margins, like then you're going to start getting completely disrespected. They're not going to pay you any attention. Yeah, Christian Walker is absolutely being disrespected right now. He's not even in the top 10. Yeah, which is pretty.

Starting point is 00:20:09 Jake Cronenworth has more votes at first base. The Crohn's own, maybe. But like at the end of the day, and granted, like, Canada probably just playing a role with it. But, like, it's hard to argue that Lordus doesn't at least deserve to be in that top five, if not a starter. Especially over guys like Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis. He's having a really good damn season. You know, deserves to be in there. That isn't getting the love they deserve.

Starting point is 00:20:31 Jerry P. Your risk king. Heraldo Perdomo. Jesse, how is this possible? Yeah. I mean, Geraldo Perdomo has a 396 on base percentage, which is insane. Like a shortstop who plays good defense, who gets on base almost 40% of the time. That's money ball written all over it.

Starting point is 00:20:49 First, first, first among NL short stops in OPS at 869. He technically is not a so-called qualified hitter at this point. He still is a little bit short. As long as the Diamondbacks continue to use him in this platoon role with Nick Ahmed, it's going to be hard for him to catch up on those plate appearances. So that might be part of it. People are looking at the number of it bats that he has and noticing it is. lower than some of the other short stops.

Starting point is 00:21:15 But he should absolutely be higher than eighth. Doesn't he behind a shortstop that only has like 100 at bats? Or no, is that? Yeah, well, Matt McLean has more votes than Geraldo Perdomo. And Matt McLean has about 120 plate appearances, I think, at this point. And they have been incredible. But 120 played appearances is like 30 games. When you're talking about like half.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Yeah, former Diamondbacks legend. Former Diamondbacks draft pick, never actually signed with the team. Matt McLean has. had a good start to his career. But yeah, Geraldo Perdomo is absolutely being disrespected in the voting at this point. I don't necessarily think that

Starting point is 00:21:52 like, oh, Perdomo has to start. I think there is some legitimacy to the case against him and that he doesn't have as many of bats. He doesn't lead in war. He's third in war among short stops in the NL. But he has a really strong case to be a reserve. And at least with how the fans

Starting point is 00:22:08 are seeing it right now, he would not at all be in that situation. Walker once again leads leads all first baseman in out above average right and defend I haven't checked but yes I mean I really have to defensive on saved out above average like you know again hopefully he gets that that nod when we get past the vote select or the fan selection obviously not a lot of fans outside of Arizona know him but they should and they should know our song we sing about him with the walker walker walker walker song we'll get we'll get a video out there is he at six yeah the fanio loha five.

Starting point is 00:22:43 Yeah, he's Christian Walker just continues to be incredible. Ketalmarte is eighth in all-star voting right now at second base, fifth among all NL's second baseman with an 812 OPS. So maybe right around where he should be. Like that's not that surprise. Yeah. It doesn't feel like he's being snubbed. It's not that egregious.

Starting point is 00:23:01 He's, I think he's ninth in war actually among NL second baseman. A lot of that is just he's kind of a negative defensively, which is certainly working against him there. But yeah, I mean, probably you feel like in general in when it comes to the all-star game people favor offense a little bit more than defense we're not you know you're not necessarily just looking at who has the most war and and putting that player in there like i think i think both danesby swanson and zander bogarts

Starting point is 00:23:28 are very high in in war among nl short stops and yet they also their offensive numbers are just not that good uh and generally that sort of thing isn't really rewarded in in all-star game voting So, well, we'll see how it, we'll see how it turns out. It is, it is just kind of a weird year in general, though, for All-Star Game voting. There's not really clear-cut candidates at a few different spots. Third base is also really weird this year with Mani Machado, Nolan Aronado, not being nearly as good as they usually are. Austin Riley hasn't even been as good as usual. We need to start.

Starting point is 00:24:01 We need to start the Emmanuel Rivera, right, in campaign. There you go. He deserves it's the only way it's going to happen. As Damon said earlier, look at that man and tell me that's not what an All-Star looks like. It's an all-star beard, that's for sure. If you hit 380, are you not an all-star? You absolutely don't.

Starting point is 00:24:15 I'm sitting there and I can't wrap my head around a different. Can't fathom it. It's no disrespect. You're going to get a gall of the fans. He's down to 356 at this point. So maybe that's what it is. Once he gets up to 3.95, then the voters will, uh, no, I mean, Rivera, in fairness, Rivera does have 110 plate appearances.

Starting point is 00:24:34 So he's even lower than Matt McLean. He doesn't frankly have enough plate appearances to really draw. But if Matt McLean is getting, votes and why can't manual repair that's true right it's true uh that gallon merrill kelly cannot be voted in but both have decent chances of making it in and the debacks should be well represented in the all-star game i wanted to ask you guys before we move on to the mailbag how many all-stars satisfies you with the way this team is playing how many guys from the team not not we don't need names we don't need specific but number how many guys would make you at least feel like they were

Starting point is 00:25:03 represented we need a what was it like 2014 or probably too early on that but the the Royals? Yes. The 2015, I believe. No, no, I like, oh, five or six. Like, because like, I'm trying to think, like, I do think at this point, Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly deserve to be all stars. I think that Josh, or Josh Rojas.

Starting point is 00:25:25 No. I think that that Lord of Scuriel and, and Corbyn Carroll deserve to be all stars. Sure. I mean, we start, and then you start thinking about, does a guy like Scott McGuff find a way in there? Does, does Christian Walker start in the respect. deserve. Like I feel like Perdomo, like after you get some like injuries and maybe some like people where it's not the fans choosing that these guys were all stars, I think you get, I think you end up getting one or two more in there. So I think around that five area.

Starting point is 00:25:54 Generally speaking, the teams that have the most have six. We saw a few teams last year with six. And the diamond vaks are tied for the best record in the National League. So it's hard to argue that they shouldn't have as many all stars as any team in the National League. I don't know if I don't know if I would necessarily say six, but yeah, I mean, I think based on how how this generally goes in the past, I think four or five is a pretty reasonable number. Whether they get four or five, I'm more leaning towards maybe three, maybe four is sort of where things maybe seem to be trending. Yeah, three is where I'm at. I think three as my minimum. So who gets left out in that situation?

Starting point is 00:26:33 Well, I can see Merrill Kelly getting left out. I could see Perdomo getting left out. I could see it being more. Well, Perdomo wasn't factored into my four. I could see it being... Carol and Correale seem pretty clear. And then Zach Gallin. Especially because it's in Seattle, man.

Starting point is 00:26:47 Like, I feel like they're going to figure out a way to get Corby and Carol. If Corby and Carol isn't in the All-Star game, I don't know what we're doing. I'm sad. I'm not worried about that, though. I feel like even if Corby and Carol misses the fan vote, I feel like he'll still make it as a reason. Yeah, he has very much like, he seems like a prompt candidate to win that like last man in vote that they do, where it's like they have like the five people to like, don't think. see that the last man invote or whatever? There is another, yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:13 This is like the first stage and then there's another phase to this that the fans participated. Everybody in the chat says four to five, it looks like. Like I said, I feel like there's four people that I feel definitely deserve it. And then do you think one or two that are fringe? Do you think that is Lordis allowed to concede his starting spot to Corby and Carol? Absolutely not. Probably not. But it's so awkward.

Starting point is 00:27:37 It's a contract year for him. He ain't conceded. That's fair. That's fair. I wouldn't seed anything. It's kind of hilarious, though. Like, if you have two players at the same position, you know, I think it's pretty clear that Corbyn Carroll, in pretty much every respect at this point, Lordis is absolutely deserving

Starting point is 00:27:53 a big all-star. But there's just no, there is zero argument to be made that Lordis deserves to star over Corbyn County. There's zero argument at this point. Even out of the emotional aspect, because it's in Seattle. Yeah. He's got to be there. There's so many reasons. He's got to be there.

Starting point is 00:28:07 We'll see what happens. Put him in the home run, Jeremy. You can bet on Corby and Carol, by the way, right now in the BetMGM app to win rookie the year. And you can also bet on him to win MVP. You can also get down on the BetMGM swing for the fences promotion. You can get this offer in three easy steps. Log into your sportsbook app on iOS or Android. Play the BetMGM MLB free to play game from May 27th through September 27, 2003.

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Starting point is 00:28:57 So just swing for the fences while you're there. If you haven't signed up for the bed MGM app yet, use bonus code PHNX. There's a few different offers depending on where you live. But for our Arizona audience, you will get up to $100 in bonus bets. on your first wager with bet M to GM. Again, just make sure you use bonus code PHNX. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane, talk about the disclaimer.

Starting point is 00:29:18 Disclaimer, 21 plus to wager, visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. U.S. promotional offers not available in Washington, D.C., Nevada, New York, New York. Gambling problem, call 1-800-800-N-Gambler. Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-N.Y or text Hope N. 367-369, New York. Call 1-800, Next Step, Arizona.

Starting point is 00:29:38 Kansas, Nevada, 1-800-327-50-50, Massachusetts, 1-800-Bets-A-O-I-W-A-1-7-1-7 for confidential help, Michigan. Well, we thank you guys for being here right now in the PHNX-Sports YouTube channel. Of course, if you haven't signed up for notifications or subscribe, please do so now. That way you don't miss whenever any of our wonderful shows go live. If you're listening right now on your favorite audio podcasting app, we thank you for being here as a listener. Please subscribe if you haven't done so on your app.

Starting point is 00:30:06 And leave us a review. We always appreciate that feedback. Most importantly, join us for PHNX diehard membership over here at go PHNX.com. Become part of the family. Not only will you get a free piece of merchandise from the PHNX Locker.com, but you will get a free $50 voucher from our friends at Mountain Mikes simply for signing up. So right there, it pays for itself. You get a ranch card from Dobson Ranch Golf Club and so much more.

Starting point is 00:30:30 You get access to our members-only Discord lounge, 20% off all future purchases on the PHNX Locker.com. you get Jesse's newsletter, full count, all sorts of stuff. So if you haven't signed up yet, join us, become part of the family today. And we love you for it. We appreciate you guys being here. And those of you that are already diehard members, thank you guys for doing so. Well, you know what it is. This is this guy's first Monday on the show.

Starting point is 00:30:54 You have to tell him. Okay. So around here on the podcast, because, you know, of course, you might not have experienced this yet. Every week is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day because we recycle. And every Monday, you, me, Megaran, Jesse, Damon Dog, we go to the mailbag. Damon, would you mind? My mailbox.

Starting point is 00:31:20 I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go, wow. It's Mailbag Monday. Let's go. What are we got? First question comes from Elizabeth. Elizabeth wants to know, how are you today? That's the nicest mailbag Monday question you've ever got.

Starting point is 00:31:39 I'm good. Boys, how are you doing? I'm doing all right. My nose is kind of runny today, which sucks, but otherwise, you know, I got a good. I went to bed at like 9.30 last night. Ooh, that's good night's sleep. Woke up early, fresh. Sex is great, but have you ever tried getting a full night's sleep?

Starting point is 00:31:55 It's beautiful. So I'm, you know, I'm doing all right. Yeah, what about you, Jesse? Three and a half game lead over the Dodgers in the National League West. How you feeling? Actually, the Oakland Athletics are the best few years. I'm, I'm, yes, the Oakland athletes. This is an Oakland athletics podcast.

Starting point is 00:32:09 Get out of here. Get out. That's my team. I'm doing well. I didn't go to bed last night at 9.30. And I have no regrets because going to bed at 9.30 is entirely too early. And how old are you anyway? Jesse.

Starting point is 00:32:21 Oh. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, my. Jesse Friedman. How old are you anyways? The oldest soul I have ever met. Oh.

Starting point is 00:32:31 It's honestly, Larry's because I think I think you and I are actually like almost identical in age. When's your birthday? What day of the day? October. Okay. I am slightly older than you. Remember, things of a lot.

Starting point is 00:32:42 Yep, that means that he gets to tell you what to do around. Yeah. All right. Who's the old soul now? Fair enough. We are great, Elizabeth,

Starting point is 00:32:51 to answer your question. We agree. What else we got? Albert asks, am I obligated to put all debacks on my all-star game ballot? Albert, no, you are absolutely not.

Starting point is 00:33:01 If you are a baseball, a fictional auto, you can feel free. I think, I think it's done. to blindly put all of your team's players on the ballot. I think that you should vote fairly. I think people deserve credit.

Starting point is 00:33:15 We have Payman Smith bashing going on in the background right as we're discussing this. But yeah, no, I don't know. I don't, what are you guys' thoughts on that? Do you just think that you should have allegiance? You say all due to that. No, I mean, I say that half in jest. I mean, it should be all outfielders and Gabby Moreno and Earl of Pardomo. I was just like, I was looking through it.

Starting point is 00:33:33 And I was just like, okay, they're honestly like, the debucks have a decent case set almost every position. Amanda Rivera is not on the ballot. Josh Rojas obviously does not deserve to be an all-star. Kattel does not at this point deserve to be an all-star, but... The third outfielder probably doesn't deserve being an outfielder. No, he's listed as the H-N-S. That is it.

Starting point is 00:33:54 So, like, realistically, no, but there's, I mean, this year, there's a lot of, there's a case that we made in a lot of the positions that it should be a debat. But no. like I you know yeah you probably should because like we're sitting here complaining about like we're not really complaining about it but like saying guys don't get their credit the Padres are just there because their fans are voting them and they don't deserve to be there over Corbin sure so like not only one of them was but like yeah and so yeah there's a lot of National League outfielders that deserve to be there over those guys that are voted we can't say here and be like people should vote for our guys because they just deserve it and then be like but you have to vote for debacks even if they don't deserve it the world would be such a better place if people would stop just mindlessly voting for all of their own players. That's all I really have to say on this. Like, yeah, the reason that we have problems in the All-Star ballot year after year is because fans don't do that. Fans just look at the ballot and they, you know, they, well, I guess in the in the old days, you would like, yeah, you would

Starting point is 00:34:55 like punch it out. People used to punch out the name of every single player that played for their team regardless of whether they actually deserved it or not. And people continue to do that to this day on the interwebs. And it is a big problem because, yeah, I mean, that's the reason. That's the reason why Major League Baseball just cannot allow fans to control all of the All-Star rosters. They can allow it. They can let the fans have their fun with the starters.

Starting point is 00:35:25 And for the most part, fans will do a good enough job with the starters. But beyond that, it would just be, I mean, it would be. such a mess every year if you if you didn't have you know players and coaches do the like what he was referencing the year it was the national league versus the royals right like that was a lot of them did deserve it like there was or at least you could make a case for but yeah Omar and Fonte did not exactly and he get cases where they definitely did and like I'm not like I don't I'm not he to judge fans for voting for their team do whatever you are a fan and they gave you that power so like yeah whatever who are

Starting point is 00:36:02 We need to tell you what to do with lead power. Ultimately, like, yeah, I'm like a large scale that is the problem with fans voting for all starts. Yeah, vote for guys you think deserve it. Right now, and I'm not going to say necessarily that it doesn't deserve it, but Adley Rushman is like 100,000 votes ahead of second place in the entire American League. Right. And it's like, okay, that's, is that fair? Probably not. It's a bit much, but he's a very good.

Starting point is 00:36:25 Adly Rushman is really. He is very good. I'm not saying it doesn't necessarily deserve to be leading, but the fact that, like, that's clearly a fan thing when a Baltimore or aureole as being, is outvoting people by 100,000 votes. Absolutely. All right. Well, else we got, Damon. Next question comes from Rick I, the beer guy.

Starting point is 00:36:43 Rick asks, with Kelly and Lewis coming back, who's most likely to get sent down? And I hate this question, but he's right with Kelly and Lewis coming back. Who is? Well, I feel like the obvious answer is Herrera. Can I butt in here? Please. Because the Diamondbacks three minutes ago just announced a series of roster moves that involve these exact players.

Starting point is 00:37:02 Oh my God. It's happened. So we don't need to speculate. We don't really need to speculate. Jesse, breaking news. Hit us with it. The Diamondbacks reinstated Carson Kelly from the 60-day injured list and optioned Jose Herrera to AAA Reno.

Starting point is 00:37:16 The D-BACs also reinstated Joe Mantiply. Oh, hell yeah, baby. Reinforce me. And option Kevin Ginkle to AAA Reno. Interesting choice there. Interesting. The Diamondbacks also reinstated Kyle Lewis from the 10th. 10-day injured list and optioned him to AAA re-na.

Starting point is 00:37:35 So Kyle Lewis's rehab assignment is over, but he is staying in AAA for right now. Didn't he just have a dinner last night? I think he might have. Yeah, honestly, his numbers, though, overall in AAA have not been relative to the PCL, have not been what you would maybe hope for. I don't have a huge issue with the Diamondbacks, giving him some more time and just kind of seeing how things pan out. I'm sure people will maybe be angry about, you know, Kyle Lewis not being up here and a certain other Diamondbacks outfield are not being sent down.

Starting point is 00:38:06 Man, fantastic. But, but, but yeah, those are the, those are the, that's the news we have. Carson Kelly, welcome back. Carson Kelly, welcome back, Joe Mantipa. Well, that's what I was getting at earlier. The team, the team in the last 20 minutes has just gotten, I would, are like significantly better. Like, I would say upgrading from Carrion Kelly to, or from Herrera to Carson Kelly is a pretty market improvement. I would say so. And Joe Mantipai was your all-star last year. The bullpen got better, although like you're kind of saying, the ginkl, making that ginkle move is a lot of, is really interesting.

Starting point is 00:38:38 That actually is really interesting. And I mean, I don't know people probably want to Pavin to go down, but let's be, like, like I was saying earlier, people on this team kind of just keep doing things at the very moment that you're questioning them. And Paving keeps doing that, like, he sucks. And then he hits a big home run. And it's like, okay. Like, it's kind of hard to keep to keep saying that he sucks. Like, yeah, at least saying it. The baby and Homer saved him.

Starting point is 00:38:59 Like it kind of feels like every time he gets close to be like, why is this guy here? It's like, oh, there's a. You can't beat that guy. He's on stop. Yeah. Dating back to the start of May, Kevin Ginkle has 2.12 ERA. He's given up four earn runs in 12 games and 17 innings pitched. He has a pony betting average of 219.

Starting point is 00:39:17 So he's been very good for this team. This might just be one of those situations where the reason why it's Kevin Ginkle right now is options left. Yeah. And that's really what it goes down. I think, right? Yeah, I think Jose Ruiz, if I'm not mistaken, yeah, Jose Ruiz has no options. So the debacks would have had to designate him for assignment

Starting point is 00:39:38 and probably risk losing him. And he's been very good since coming over from the white socks. But yeah, I mean, what does it say about the Diamondbacks bullpen depth that they just optioned to Reno, a guy who, as you were just talking about, like, over his last 15 games, Kevin Ginkle in 20 innings has a 1.80 ERA. And the Diamondbacks just sent him down to AAA. Reno. Yeah, I mean, at the trade deadline, they're going to kind of have the same sort of issue where it's like who exactly are you replacing in this bullpen. It's not that they're all stars. It's not that they're all back-end relievers, but they're all pretty darn good. And you don't want to give up a whole lot for some guy that's going to come in and give you similar production in the bullpen. Right. It feels like you want to give it up for an absolute lockdown closer or somebody that absolutely is killing it this year. And I don't know there's that many guys out there. Like, yeah, maybe a power. Our bat as as Hazen talked about was it not June last year where Carson Kelly was like the best player in baseball

Starting point is 00:40:34 He had a really good yeah yeah and I would I'm being a little hyperbolic but it like not that hyperbolic like he was He was hitting like 329 yeah he was back out of his mind at that one point so hey I believe he got injured like that's kind of what happens to carc and Kelly is like something pops up when he's having a good run he doesn't like necessarily just go into a slump but take another big huge been injured from cars and Kelly way too much so kind of well there's your answer to your question So we're not going to speculate. We're really good. I'm going to go on to live and say Kevin Ginkle. There you go. Good answer. What else we got over there, Damon?

Starting point is 00:41:08 Brian Bob would ask, is that Gallen struggles lately a cause for concern or just a minor blip that'll get around? We kind of address this earlier. But yeah, I think it's just a minor blip. I think that a lot of it is game planning. Like I said, I thought the Tigers just had a good game plan on him. And that's what's happening with Zach Gallant.

Starting point is 00:41:24 Zach, the flip side of him getting national attention means that, teams are going to be specifically game planning for Zach Gallen. They're trying to find a weakness against him. When you see a guy that doesn't give up a lot of walks, that is a guy that is throwing the ball in the strike zone a lot and usually getting ahead in the count early. And that's what Zach Gallen is doing. And that's what the Tigers basically jumped up, right? I mean, it's kind of that simple. Like you said, there's also the dip in velocity.

Starting point is 00:41:50 So that made his fastball not exactly that intimidating or hard to see. Right. Yeah, I do have some concerns here. I wouldn't say my concern level is zero. To me, it did not look like a really, really good pitcher just having a bad day. It sort of looked like, man, Zach Allen's just not right. His velo is down. He wasn't really throwing anything but fastballs and curveballs yesterday, which was really

Starting point is 00:42:15 bizarre to me. He only threw a few cutters, only a few changeups. I think the change up is really important for him to get guys off his fastball. So yeah, I'm not super concerned at this point. But to me, it kind of looks like Zach Gallen in spring training and in his first couple starts of the year, where in spring training, we were asking questions about, you know, his velocity being down. I was told that Zach Gallen was dealing with a dead arm in spring training, which is not something I heard until more recently. So, you know, hopefully he's fine. And this was just pitching really early in the morning, Arizona time.

Starting point is 00:42:53 That's what Gabriel says. He said, Gallen is also young. I doubt he was in bed at 8 p.m. before it's 8 a start. They were all clearly still asleep through the first inning. It could be, yeah, it could be that simple for sure. I don't want to overblow it, but it did look a little weird to me. It wasn't like Gallons throwing 94 and has all his pitches, but stuff just isn't working. It was like, this is not really the Zach Gellmer used to see.

Starting point is 00:43:15 But it's weird because you look at like all of the good out now pitchers from last year and like top five side young voters. Two of them, I believe, are on the injured list. one of the obviously the winner is sandy who his last start was good but has sucked this year and then you have that gallon who hasn't been great like it's so true it's like everyone kind of is struggling and it just so happens to be the year where a lot of rules have changed and then this yeah we kind of mentioned this one game was at 8 a.m. which is I don't say it's stupid a.m. here right? It's essential time. Yeah. Or no well you know what I mean it's 8 a.m. here but like when they had to start their days.

Starting point is 00:43:52 Like, yeah, it's very, very early. That's true. So, like, I mean, I'm only gonna,

Starting point is 00:43:57 I'm, like I, Jesse said, but it's not going to say it's much higher than like a little different. Yeah, it was kind of a weird timing.

Starting point is 00:44:05 And the other thing I'll say to what you were just talking about with the rule changes is, is I think it's baseball prospectus was working on a little research story about guys who are struggling and the fact that injuries

Starting point is 00:44:17 have been up significantly for pitchers this year. And it does seem to, be disproportionately affecting guys who were slow, guys who worked slowly. And Zach Gowan was one of those guys. So it's not just guys are hurt. It's that some of those guys are just not performing particularly well. Corbin Burns is another one who just hasn't really been himself this year.

Starting point is 00:44:37 So I think it's possible that the rule changes have have some part to play in this. But also, Zach Gowan was absolutely incredible like three weeks ago. Yeah. So I don't want to, I don't want to be too dramatic. Well, yeah, that's part of what I'm getting that. Like you look at. Yeah. we're kind of talking about a couple of performances from him where meanwhile like you look at everyone else on that list he's still probably the best of the top five vote getters for the sion last year so it's yeah all right here's the thing Zach gallon uh you know there's a lot of factors i think that that came into this game but to be honest this was a tiger's team that had kind of gotten embarrassed by the diamondbacks for two games consecutively they were home they were sleeping in their own beds they had a lot of advantages in this game and yeah they jumped on gallon early

Starting point is 00:45:20 But again, I'm not super concerned because it wasn't like Gallen needed to be pulled out in two innings. It's not like Gallen continued to struggle. He just got rocked early. He would have killed to have these problems last year. Yeah, exactly. I mean, and overall, they still won the game, right? Marcus, by the way, in the chat said any updates whatsoever on Cole Solcer or Corbyn Martin, none yet. Solcer's still on the 60 day IL.

Starting point is 00:45:42 Corby Martin will not be coming back this year. So that's pretty much. I wouldn't be surprised to not see either one of those guys this year, to be honest. but Cole Solcer could definitely be back this season at some point. I don't know if the debacks would have room for Cole Solster. That's what I'm saying. I don't know where you would factor in, and I don't know what exactly the Diamondbacks are going to do with this roster,

Starting point is 00:46:00 which is not a terrible problem to have. Let's get one more question on Mailbag Monday before we go to our commercial break here. Kind of a silly thought, Ryan Simmons asks, but does it even bother you how frequently the team's name is shortened to debacks, even on their own jerseys? If designers are having trouble fitting the whole name onto the jersey, Is it time to consider changing to a shorter name? I don't really like the D-Backs that much.

Starting point is 00:46:23 To be honest, the name, the deep, I like Diamondbacks better. Jesse and I were talking about that. Don't really know besides the A's, another team that like actually gets their name abbreviated. Technically. The Mets, yeah, because they're the, they're the. I mean, are they really the Metropolitan? They started at the very least, they short, they shortened their name. Like they were the Metropolitan.

Starting point is 00:46:43 Did people actually say that? I don't know. Originally, were they not? The reds are the redstock. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I'm with you. I kind of, again, some of the earlier designs that had the full Diamondbacks name on it,

Starting point is 00:46:57 I used to like those. I didn't hate that. I kind of like the one that had the diamond and then backs kind of as a lower line underneath it. But I think he's right. I mean, yeah, I do think that to a degree fitting it on the jersey is probably part of the problem. Let's just go back to purple and teal and copper and call it a day. And it doesn't matter how it's. Yeah, if you just put an A on it.

Starting point is 00:47:16 Just put the A. For someone who has an opinion on everything, I'm so wildly indifferent towards this. I don't really know why. I'm just like a big nickname guy, like a kind of like a, I always shorten things. Like this season I was calling the Buffalo Sabres, the Burrs, which is like not a thing anyone ever calls them. I just do that. And I also grew up like the Rochester Amer, or Americans, they just are consistently referred to as the Amherks. One of my which is crazy, it's a crazy abbreviation of Americans.

Starting point is 00:47:41 Yeah, one of my one of my best friends, Daryl, he pronounces the Arizona Cardinals as the Nalls. He refuses to call them cards. No, that's all, yeah, that's why I like the... We just have so, such little patience for more than like one... Yeah. The Washington Commanders or either the commies or the manders or the mandos. See, I'm with Ben. Can we just make snakes, the official short version?

Starting point is 00:48:02 I like calling them the snakes. I like that. I don't think we do that enough. I think that's definitely a way. Serpientas, great, great city name. I like the city connect name being different. I'm big on that. From a practical standpoint, it is a little annoying.

Starting point is 00:48:16 Because like, I don't know, like when I write an article, do I put diamond backs in the headline or D backs? I mean, that's the problem with doing the full thing is it is long ass name. It is. It is. And we did get a media guide on how to put it officially. And there's only one way to write D backs. Capital D-a-posh-free backs. That's it.

Starting point is 00:48:38 No apostrophe. I am very particular about that. They are, too, apparently. The apostrophe makes me cringe. Like, I just can't. So many people. I cannot with the apocity. On the peacock broadcast up in the corner at one point when they said Dbacks, they had like a little apotropy.

Starting point is 00:48:52 D backs. Oh, I hated it. Oh, yeah, that's the worst. I would rather know punctuation there. Yes. Well, before we get on to some more mailbag Monday questions, we do got to thank our friends at Mountain Mikes for always feeding us, keeping our bellies full. And again, they have multiple locations here in the valley and in Tucson. So make sure to check them out.

Starting point is 00:49:11 If you get that diehard membership, you will get that $50 voucher upon signing. up. So head over to Mountain Mike's Pizza.com or to their Mesa, Chandler, or Tucson locations to place your next order. And again, if you're a new diehard, get that $50 voucher upon signing up. They have gigantic pizzas that are one one pizza will feed your entire crew. I assure you that. They also have their lunch buffets at their locations, which we enjoy very much. So make sure to check them out all over the valley. And before we get on to more mailbag Monday questions, we have to thank our friends at more furniture for these chairs that we're sitting in.

Starting point is 00:49:45 Very, I like this. I mean, we upgraded Sean. We also upgraded to Studio A. And I feel like, you know, here we are sitting in the nice chairs. And there's still not the recliners over there, but very much enjoying all the furniture that more has provided us with here. Of course, you should upgrade your living room or wherever you watch sports at, most importantly, over at morefurniture.com. Say big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to morefurniture.com. And don't forget to get their white glove delivery service, which is the only.

Starting point is 00:50:15 way to have your, to have anything delivered to your house, to be honest. Don't go anywhere anymore. Have everything delivered to your home through delivery services and make your life a better life. We do have more mailbag Monday questions. And what do we have? And everybody's yelling at Daniel. So let's get to Daniel's question. What do we got? Daniel, he wants to know is Chris versus Mark, aka Don's Bread, the greatest rivalry in sports. Those are two of our biggest family members, I should say, most beloved. loved family members who just absolutely hate each other and we find it to be delightful. It might quite possibly be.

Starting point is 00:50:52 This is the greatest rivalry potentially in PHNX history. I'm new here, so I don't have any real context for this. It's odd. It's odd. They glare at each other at all of our takeover events. Deep down, though, they actually like each other. You think so? I think so. I think Chris likes Mark, but I'm not sure about Mark liking Chris Beck.

Starting point is 00:51:12 I think that seems sincere, but I could be wrong. What else we got? Next question comes from Ryan. Hanley, Ryan asked, have either of you had a close call with a foul ball entering the press box? And secondly, what are the top three wagons? That great question. Yes. I think Jesse and I have both had close calls with foul balls in the press box.

Starting point is 00:51:34 But you've never been hit. Never been hit. Like the York Yankees announcer got hit with a ball. did it bounce right off his head and he just kept plugging along. I've never seen anybody more professional in his life. It was it was a foul ball and he's like a foul ball gets followed back and then it just it like hits the thing and then it hits him in the head and he's like oh it's all it's all. It really hit me.

Starting point is 00:52:00 I didn't think it was coming back that far. Right. Jesse and I can attest to this. This is how every foul ball that comes into the press box actually is. So many of them you just kind of like a. Oh, way, is it? I don't know. The angle of it, too, and this is so hard to read.

Starting point is 00:52:15 It is because, like, especially with the Diamondbacks being a mid-level press box, right? You have the fact that it's the same levels of sweets, and it has a fairly high net that goes up behind it. So not a lot. Like, when I first started before they changed the nets at Chase Field, way more, way more foul balls came into the press box than they do now. But they have to be going at this certain speed and the certain backspin, like, to get them to clear the net, but then to make it. into the press box. So when they do, they're like a goddamn ping pong ball.

Starting point is 00:52:45 Once they get in there, just ping, bing, bing, all over the place. Like, it's crazy how, uh, how unpredictable it is.

Starting point is 00:52:51 I just don't want my laptop to get smashed by one. That is like, yeah, none of us, none of us care about hitting us. It's just about protecting your technology. I will sacrifice my own face to save my laptop. Are you shooting me?

Starting point is 00:53:04 I would let it hit me right in my forehead. Didn't someone give you that laptop, Derek? Yeah, he did. He did. And that's why I feel like I should protect it. at all costs because I can't afford a laptop like this so I couldn't afford to replace it.

Starting point is 00:53:16 But yeah, no, I mean, I think that that the we've, we've had our fair share of calls, close calls. Our friend Jack Summers was like this close to getting hit by one this season. He took a picture of it next to his head. There's still a baseball sized dent in the wall right behind us in the second row. He's only like one seat next to me. I wasn't there that day. but that would have probably spooked me a little bit too. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:53:43 He's very close to Jesse. He's very close to Jesse. And he also asked best wagons. Red Flyers got to be in there, right? Classic. Top five, top five, top three. G wagons pretty is for sure up there. G wagon, yeah.

Starting point is 00:53:57 What about the Oklahoma wagon? Covered, like a covered wagon? The Oakland Athletics? No. They are. No. The hottest team in baseball. No, we're not doing that.

Starting point is 00:54:08 I love how the ace of one, five, in a row and they're five and five in their last 10. Yeah. Still the hottest team baseball, but I think we all know the biggest wagon. A Subaru Outback? I was going to talk about the Arizona. Oh, that is a wagon, isn't it? Yeah. Nicholas went station or horse drawn Chuck.

Starting point is 00:54:26 All right. Well, that's a good. That's a good top three. I like that. We're giving other PH&X rivalries. Craig Morgan versus ketchup. I saw me versus tow tree. I mean, I have plenty of, I don't know if I have rivalries that I don't know if I have rivalries that they want to hear. Me versus the Antonelli's.

Starting point is 00:54:39 And you versus the Antonelis is going to get a shut down. Me versus Gary Sanchez. You have a problem with the Stanford tree? Me versus the state. Oh boy, oh boy, do I have a problem with the Stanford tree? We don't have time for you. You should have a unpack. We don't.

Starting point is 00:54:51 Leah versus fake maple syrup. All right, we got a lot to, we got a lot of catching up to do on some of these rivalries. What else we got, Damon? Jacob asked, how much longer can they hold on to Pavan? Fletch makes better contact, better speed, better defense. Would be a great leadoff hitter in front of Ketel, Corbin. He makes more sense for this team. Yeah, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:55:11 At times, I think, like, I almost feel like they're trying to get as much out of Paven for a period of time as possible, knowing that this is a long season and they're just going to need bodies as the season goes on. I don't mean that in a callous way. I just mean, like, Paveen has had some big hits for them right now. So he's not a liability. And he's been, you know, stepping up for them at times. So it just makes it easier for at least the time being to let the younger guy continue to work on stuff and get better. and then maybe call them up when they need that

Starting point is 00:55:41 a fresh body in like August. And I mean, yeah, like you said, he's not hurting them. I don't know. Is this like, could it be a like a service time thing? Like is there like if there's not a point. If like if Pavan is not hurting you

Starting point is 00:55:53 and he is getting some big hits, what's the point of burning time with Fletcher? I don't know if that really applies the situation. Not really. I don't think so. I don't think that's going to. Because they've already called him up. Right.

Starting point is 00:56:03 So that's, I mean, yeah, Fletch is not going to get a full year of service time this year. Unless he wins the, rookie of the year award, which at this, at this point, we already got another guy to handle it. So that's fine. We're fine with that.

Starting point is 00:56:15 I do think, yeah, I mean, he definitely has not been, he's not been a liability and he has had some really big hits. But I think there is also some truth to what a lot of people are saying and that Pavin Smith has negative point for war, according to fan graphs this season. He's hitting 209. He's slugging 385. Like, these are not, these are not tenable numbers for a guy only play. first base and right field, right?

Starting point is 00:56:41 Like this is just not a good team. Good teams generally don't have guys who put up those offensive numbers and don't play a premium position. So it maybe feels like the Diamondbacks are getting to, I don't know, it's been a few years with Pavin now. This is his fourth season in the league. The Diamondbacks might be getting somewhat close to a point

Starting point is 00:57:01 of moving on from Pavin Smith in some sense and they're kind of just trying to make sure that they try everything before, before potentially making that decision, he does have a really high walk rate and he doesn't strike out very much. So there are some positives there. He has underperformed a little bit

Starting point is 00:57:18 according to some of the stat cast numbers, but in the long term, I definitely understand the question. And even though I think Dominic Fletcher was not quite as good as his numbers suggest before he was sent down, just based on what he provides you defensively. I mean, I think he's a more well-rounded player at this point.

Starting point is 00:57:36 All right. What else we got, Damon? next question comes from Rick Rick asks once healthy and playing does Carson jelly we're calling him Carson Jelly all Carson jelly is amazing uh does he become debacks best trade ship a bunch of teams that are in cell mode have weaknesses of catcher and I don't I don't know if that's wrong but I just think that the diamondbacks are still going to need two catchers as the season go on Jose Herrera really isn't going anywhere we kind of I brought up the possibility of Jose O'Rare being a bit available, you know, or possibly on the table for a trade chip due to the fact that the Diamondbacks were getting Carson Kelly back.

Starting point is 00:58:17 But like Jesse said, they still need him in Reno. And they're still not very deep at catchers. So it's not like if something should have a guy who's coming back from injury and kind of keeps getting injured. Like it's not like Carson Kelly has been a picture of perfect fitness. Yeah, right. No, absolutely not. Carson has been injured quite a bit. And the Diamondbacks are always going, they're never going to carry three again like they did at one point, which was just ridiculous. But they will, I mean, always need to carry two catchers.

Starting point is 00:58:47 And I don't feel like Lavello is the kind of guy that's ever going to go with a catcher. Like he's always going to split time between guys. And with Kelly, he's going to give Kelly a lot of time now with Kelly being back. I feel like he might ease him into the roll a bit. But once we get in the July, we're going to see probably a heavy dose of Kelly over Marina. for a period of time just to give Moreno that break. Yeah, honestly, I just don't see the debacks doing that. It is interesting.

Starting point is 00:59:10 I mean, we suspected the debacks might move on from Carson Kelly right when the trade first happened to bring in Gabby Moreno because Carson Kelly is a pretty solid catcher defensively and he's had some really good times offensively as well. I think he could be like the primary catcher somewhere. I think he's good enough to do that. But yeah, the debacks, I think they really like the thought. of having both Moreno and Kelly. They also have played Moreno to this point in the season more than I think they really

Starting point is 00:59:40 wanted to. Oh, yeah. He has not caught more than about 70 games in a season in his professional career yet. And you don't want to have him catch 120. You don't want to increase it that much. So I do think it will be a balance between those two guys. We'll get to talk with Tori more today about what that balance is exactly going to look like.

Starting point is 01:00:02 But I think Kelly has two. big of a role here with the debacks for them to make that move. Jesse's probably bouncing off the walls. It's past 2 o'clock. He needs to get going to go talk to Lovolo and everybody over there. But no, I agree with that. And I think Moreno, that's the one interesting part about this team, about this starting lineup is there are a lot of young guys that are playing extremely well that I'm sure

Starting point is 01:00:25 the Diamondbacks would have liked to not, you know, play as often. But due to the way this team is performing and due to the way they specifically are playing, Some of these guys are seeing way more time than I'm sure that they wanted to, but they still have to balance that. They still have to balance not overplaying young guys and still worrying about their progression to being full-time major league players when they're still in their first year or first, you know, two seasons of playing baseball. What else we got, Damon?

Starting point is 01:00:54 Next question comes from Don's Bread. And Don's Bread asks, who do you think is the best settlers of Catan player in the clubhouse? Zach Gallon. I've never played it. Zach Gallon. You've never played Caton? No,

Starting point is 01:01:08 and I don't really know anything about it. Yeah. Where you have to, it's kind of like a video, it's more of a video game. It's like set up where you would, you build a settlement and then you have to like expand your settlement, trade. Yeah. I mean,

Starting point is 01:01:20 I don't have any like, opposition to it. I would love to. I don't have any friends. Yeah, no, I get you. Or friends that want to play board games.

Starting point is 01:01:28 Like that's especially. No, I'll be your friend, Sean. What do you? What did we trade for? I would love. you because we wanted to be friends with you. Oh,

Starting point is 01:01:35 Jesse likes me as the kind of guy that's played Catan. Let's go to, let's go to Stakeslates. Oh, I forgot. You guys, yeah, neither of you were here

Starting point is 01:01:43 when we discussed this on the show. When Danielle Cortez filled in a couple of weeks ago, we discussed favorite board games and I talked at length about my extensive history with Sellers of Catan. Let's go. And the fact that I can be just about anyone at that game. Let's go to Sakeslates. See,

Starting point is 01:01:59 I don't believe anything you say anymore after watching your ping pong performance. But I want you to answer this question, since you're an expert in the category, who do you think in the clubhouse would be the best settlers of Catan player? I mean, there are, there's some serious chess action happening in the clubhouse. Josh and Josh Rojas plays chess all the time. And he's never played chess before he said. I would love to play Rojas. I'm just, you know, a little humble brag.

Starting point is 01:02:26 I played chess team in high school. Oh, I have a chess team in high school. I have a chess trophy somewhere. You have a chess trophy. And everyone knows how competitive the Buffalo chess market is. Buffalo High School chess is like Texas high school football. It's just. Wow.

Starting point is 01:02:45 It's different out there. It's on a different level. Do we have one more question? I know I'd usually give Don's bread the last question. But I think we had one question from Instagram. Did we not? Yes. Clinton.

Starting point is 01:02:59 Welcome, Clinton. He says, this one is for the boys at the DeBacks Boots. D-BACS fan living in Kentucky. Howdy to you out there. Did I say howdy? Nice. Yes. I don't think howdy plays in Kentucky.

Starting point is 01:03:12 Kentucky, they just probably say hello like normal. It plays. It plays. It plays. That's a Texas. I say howdy all the time. I'd like to hear y'all's opinion on the new schedule and how much it has benefit the D-Backs this year.

Starting point is 01:03:24 The worst part about being part of the NL. West is the historical pitching we've always had. Anyway, love you all show. Listen every night. Go, D-Back. Well, we love you. Thank you for listening. And yeah, let's talk about that schedule because honestly, the Diamondbacks, we talked about how hard the Diamondback schedule was out of the gate, right?

Starting point is 01:03:40 So that was one thing that we were impressed by their ability to be a good baseball team during a time of the schedule where statistically speaking, they had the toughest schedule in baseball for one stretch, right, for a period during April. And so, like, I don't know. Like, we knew that if they could get through April, we hope that they could just kind of keep their head above water a bit. and get through April because we knew once May and June came along, it's not, it's not just, you can't just assume that there wins, but we knew this schedule got a lot easier. And I do think a little, a big part of that schedule being easier is the fact that they have to play the top teams in their own division less this year.

Starting point is 01:04:19 And they get to see some of the other teams in baseball that are weaker teams. I mean, let's be honest, they get to play, they don't have to play tough teams as often. And they do get to get some of those seller dwellers now, versus the opportunities that they wouldn't have got in previous seasons, right? Yeah. I mean, this schedule changes as a baseball fan is one of my favorite things that I've, like,

Starting point is 01:04:40 major change that I've seen any sports. It's so great. It's really good. And, I mean, it's also encouraging from a, like, I know we're talking about it,

Starting point is 01:04:46 like, oh, they've gotten, they've, it's made their lives easier. But, like, also,

Starting point is 01:04:51 like, the Padres have been, like, a very terrible, really outside of the Dodgers have been, like, a really terrifying team. So it's hard to say that it,

Starting point is 01:04:58 sure. The record would necessarily look that much different. If not maybe even better. potentially, but obviously the big one, the big one is the Dodgers, right? Like getting to avoid the dot having to play the Dodgers as much, even though the Dodgers are not even, they've obviously been doing the injuries, not the team that they have been necessarily the last couple of years. It's still the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing the Los Angeles Dodgers as much you have to play them,

Starting point is 01:05:18 especially at home when it basically becomes a Dodgers home game like that in and of itself, I'm sure is discouraging for players. So not having to deal with just everything that comes to playing the Dodgers as much. Yeah. I think that alone makes it a lot better for this team. Yeah, I agree. I think it's not as big of a difference as maybe we expected it to be, just because the NOS is not what we expected it to be in a lot of ways.

Starting point is 01:05:41 Even the Dodgers have walked through their share of trials this season or walking through a pretty tough stretch right now without multiple starting pitchers in their rotation. The D-backs have played a pretty easy schedule recently. I don't necessarily attribute it to that so much. It's just kind of the way things worked out, like you said, earlier, Derek. The debacks started out with a really tough schedule and then lately

Starting point is 01:06:05 it's been the Nats and the A's and the Tigers and... Oh my. And and... Give me those teams. But I mean, it kind of changes this week a little bit. This Philly's team, if you look at their record, you're not scared of

Starting point is 01:06:19 them, but they've played really good baseball recently. Trey Turner is really heating up. Took two against the Dodgers, correct? Yeah, I believe so. And the debacks are getting both Zach Wheeler and Aeronola in this series. and knows that gallon and knows that gallon so this is this is uh this is a different series that the debacks are about to play than what they've gone through over the last few weeks even that brave series if i'm not mistaken the debacks had both yeah gallon and kelly pitch in that series that's not happening here in a four game set with a very hot phillies team yeah and honestly the diamondbacks they do have a tough test but we've seen that the team has been stepping up in in other ways but uh yeah i think that this is one of the remaining teams in the month that are still a tough kind of tough battle against they still have the

Starting point is 01:07:07 raise at the end of the month but i mean again this there's still a lot of winnable series this month the diamondbacks are still going to lose at times and that's the one thing to keep in mind i know a lot of people were losing their minds over zack gallons outing on sunday i i saw your tweets i read them uh you know sometimes you just got to wait until an entire baseball game is is played before you freak out. This team, we have very quickly just adjusted to the fact that they're a good team, and we almost expect them now to win every game, especially games against weaker opponents, right?

Starting point is 01:07:40 Like, they're still going to lose some of these series. There's still going to be games like the game on Sunday where the tigers sneak up on someone like Zach Gallen, and maybe the Diamondbacks aren't able to come back in those games. But I'll tell you, man, the confidence level on this team has to be at an all-time high. They have to be feeling it in the clubhouse, and that again, that mindset that Tori Lavolo talked about a few years ago where you come into the clubhouse and you hope you don't lose versus coming into the clubhouse and knowing you're going to win is worlds apart. And right now I feel like the Diamondbacks come into the clubhouse every day knowing that they're going to win.

Starting point is 01:08:13 Yeah. But 40 and 25. 40 and 25. They're 40 and 25. They are 15 games above 500. I don't even understand how that's possible. But speaking of winning, you can win at Circle K because, of course, your local Circle K has. as the best coffee, beer, and snack selection,

Starting point is 01:08:29 premium gas, and also gas entertainment. You can stock up at Circle K, America's third stop. Don't forget to get yourself a polar pop, or I will be very mad at you. You can also get yourself iced coffee for just $1.89, 12 packs of beer for just $999, and energy drinks like Red Bulls for $3 for $8 and Monsters, three for six.

Starting point is 01:08:46 Make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff right now. Text PHNX to 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club and get a buy one, get one free offer on 32 ounce Polar pops. Do it right now. Do it right now. I'll wait. I'm going to wait. Go. Do it. Go. Do it. Go Go. Go it. Go one.com. Slash door-dash locator to find CircleK's near you. Derek, there's one person who didn't do it. I think we have to wait. We have to wait maybe five more seconds. All right, now they did it. Now they did it. All right. While you're at Circle K, don't forget to also get our friends four peaks. Get wonderful beer at Circle K. You can get four

Starting point is 01:09:20 peaks and also get four peaks wherever you get your beer. And they are the official craft beer of our Arizona Diamondbacks. Get that rattle on red ale so you can have it for celebratory drinking purposes after these wins. It is smooth as Carol's swing. They asked me to say that. So I had to because that's the. He also said it's toastiest gallons fastball. They're getting good with these adders.

Starting point is 01:09:41 Toastier. And if you're at Chase Field, make sure to check out the Four Peaks draft room. As many of our listeners and as people that have attended our takeover event can attest to, it's a great place to watch a game from. So you get a ticket, get in the stadium, even if it's a bad seat, or you got somebody that's like eight feet tall, like Fodge sitting in front of you,

Starting point is 01:10:00 you can go down to the Four Peaks draft room and get a great view of the game from there. Check out the events page in our show notes to find dates and tickets for our takeover events as well. Fodge is flipping me off. So again, see, like if he was doing that in front of me at a baseball game, I wouldn't be able to see it up field. I don't understand how someone's getting be tall

Starting point is 01:10:17 and then get hurt when you say that they're tall. Yeah. Oh, he lords his tallness over us all the time. Sorry you're tall. Anyway, oh, God, here it comes. Oh, no, no, we don't have time for this. We don't have time for this. We don't have time for this. We can't argue with you.

Starting point is 01:10:30 We got to tell people about FourPeaks for Teachers.org to nominate, donate, or reserve your kit, give your favorite teacher that blessing that they deserve and nominate them for an award. Nominations are due June 30th. Teachers that are listening, you can get, come over and get taken care of on Tuesdays at the 8th Street Pub. Every Tuesday through July, bring a ballot teacher ID and receive $4 pints, Kilt Lifter, Wow, Hazy, and Hopnott. And those are all the best beers. So check out at Four Peaks Brew or at Four Peaks Pub

Starting point is 01:10:57 to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy. And please drink responsibly. Well, we thank you guys for sticking with us for this marathon episode. We appreciate your mailbag Monday questions. And we appreciate you, as always. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K.

Starting point is 01:11:15 Sean is at Sean underscore to pause. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Damon is at Damon Dog with a little DAWG. and a little at the end. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I tried to steal this back earlier today

Starting point is 01:11:32 because Shane isn't in the office, and Saul's such a jerk. He just wouldn't let me steal it. Wait, that's fine, right? Give it to Jesse. You got to give it to Jesse. He's the acting mayor. Oh, man, but anyway.

Starting point is 01:11:45 We appreciate you guys joining us, and of course, on behalf of this entire crew, we thank you for your time. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Corbyn Carroll is on your baseball team.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - How did the Diamondbacks become the hottest team in the National League?

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