PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - How Long Can The Diamondbacks Keep Jordan Montgomery In The Starting Rotation?

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Things have been going well for the Diamondbacks, but they still have some difficult roster decisions to make as we move closer to the MLB Postseason. Will the Snakes continue to utilize a six-man starting rotation the rest of the season? And if they do not, can they afford to keep Jordan Montgomery as a starter over Ryne Nelson? We are discussing their starting pitching conundrum, our MLB Power Rankings for this week, and a look ahead at the upcoming series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-accou... Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer!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/Sanderson Ford: The Sanderson Ford Summer Sales Event is here and they are teaming up with the boys of summer for a final Playoff Payoff Sale. You get the payoffs like deals on 24 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend. Lease one today for as low as $299 a month for 36 Months with only 10 percent cash down.Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked.Indeed: listeners of this show will get a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/allcity. Terms and conditions apply.  Need to hire? You need Indeed.Gila River Resorts & Casinos: YOU DO YOU at Gila River Resorts & Casinos. Visit https://playatgila.com for details.Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks.  $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items.Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to https://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/all... and use code PHNX for 10% off!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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

and welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDBACs podcast right here in Studio K, presented by our friends at CircleK, of course. Welcome in to the PHNX DBACs podcast. We are also presented by Bet365. Download the Bet365 app and use code PHNX 365 when you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. Welcome in. Of course, my name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This man next to me is occasionally known as the people. People's producer himself.

It's Damon Dogg. When do we start using your actual last name? I don't know. I mean, has that ever been uttered on any show? I don't feel like I should just like... I think Craig Morgan is like the only person who calls me by my last name. Okay.

I didn't want to docks you like that. It doesn't that feel on brand for Craig Morgan? It really does. Yeah, that he would go out and put information in the streets that maybe he didn't approve of you because he just investigated it. I don't care at all. My last name is Farrell. That's, that's, you know...

But I mean, Farrell goes so well with dog, right? feral dog it's not spelled the same way but it could still mean the same thing of course uh welcome welcome in to all of you of course welcome in to our new producer kevin thomas what's up kevin happy to have you here with us of course i have to give a shout out even though this is making things far more complicated on him than probably need to you but welcome to the show man we are thrilled to have you thank you for having uh are you a diamondbacks fan that's the first question i have ask you well i'm from st louis so okay so get out uh shayne you can go ahead and take over on the show that was the end of Kevin's time on the PHNXDVax podcast.

Shane's a Mariner's fan. Yeah, that's true. No, that's right. I know. I'm sorry. My condolences probably deserved it, though, with the way that team has been playing. I know a lot of you have been coming for Tori Lovolo's head, by the way. So, of course, that's not on the table with the way this team is playing.

But the Diamondbacks do kind of run the gauntlet here coming up. We've talked a little bit about how difficult their schedule is going forward. It's the reason why, even though neither one of these scenes. series against the Marlins or the Tampa Bay Rays were actual must wins. They were kind of must wins, right? Like it's about stacking those wins against teams that have no business, beating you when you're on the role the Diamondbacks are. And of course, that does not count for the Tropicana, of course.

But, of course, the Diamondbacks did take care of business against the Marlins, sweeping the fishes in three games. And now they have 10 games in a row against teams with a record above 500. We're going to preview the series here with the Red Sox shortly in a little bit. But there's a lot of tough games ahead. It's not just these teams that they have ahead of them right now on the schedule. They also still have two more series with the Giants, two more series with the Brewers, both of which they don't concern me a whole lot, but they're just again,

those are those teams that kind of can all of a sudden hand you some losses at a very, you know, important time. Yeah, I'm looking at the remaining schedule here. You didn't even mention Astros. who are very hot. They are very hot right now. And are a really good baseball team. And, you know, at this point in the season in September, you do not want to play the Houston Astros.

Yeah, you're right. So, yeah, it's pretty tough schedule down the stretch outside of this one Rockies series that I'm looking at. At least they have that one. The Rangers stink. Yeah, but also I take them pretty seriously. I'm not going to lie to you because I kind of feel like they own us a little bit. They do.

They do. Well, and I mean, they did beat us in like a very important series last. year. I'm not sure if you were from that. I'd have no idea what you're talking about. I scrubbed that from my memory. Total recall there. I will say this, speaking of which we do have an upcoming takeover event when they play the Rangers. That's going to be a lot of fun. That's on September 10th. And a great part about that is we're going to have a pregame meetup at the Desmond with food and the whole nine. So make sure check out go phtonx.com, grab your tickets for that.

If you're interested in watching them come beat the tar out of the Rangers and get a little bit of revenge for what happened in the World Series last year. But I mean, again, this this trip like like i said jesse and i've had this conversation you and i have had this conversation where we talk about how like oh but that's a little bit of a daunting schedule ahead for this diamond backs team so far this season they've answered the call whenever we've said that like this is a test or this is a proving you know kind of proving ground for them yeah it doesn't feel like the tough teams on the schedule necessarily impact the diamond backs's ability to like go out there and win baseball games at least recently uh since they've started playing better baseball like

Like that Guardians' filly stretch really felt like pretty daunting. Yeah, that was it. That was like where it felt like you were going to go and get, you know, potentially swept by one of those teams, maybe both of those teams. You know, you just didn't really like it. The way things were going, you know, it wasn't like Diamondbacks weren't winning series coming into that stretch. But, you know, they would just have that one loss.

That one loss that kept them from obtaining a sweep, sweeping the pirates, keeping from sweeping the Cubs. It was just that one loss that kind of a lot of times in the finessex. alley that let let you down a little day, you know, it didn't leave you feeling that high that you would feel or that you should feel after they won a series. Sean says it in the chat here. These teams have to play us and we talked about it on yesterday's postgame show. I got pretty tough.

Yeah, where it's like, why should we be scared of these teams at this point? Because we're the hottest team in baseball since the All-Star break. They're looking at us on their schedule realistically and going, I don't, I don't want to play the Diamondbacks with the way that they're playing baseball right now. So it works both ways, really. I'm pretty excited to watch them play, you know, these, especially Red Sox, Mets. Like, I think those are good tests for this team. Yeah, I agree.

I agree. The Mets are playing really good baseball. Red Sox are playing good as well. It's just a tough ALE East over there that they're competing in. Yeah. And, of course, you know, it's also Fenway. So there's some history there. Diamondbacks, though, they played very well at Wrigley, and Fenway should be no different.

But let's take a look at the Major League Baseball standings so far because the Diamondbacks did make up some ground yesterday. The Padres lost. They didn't make up any ground on the Dodgers who continue to win, but the D-backs pool, even with the Padres. They both have a record of 72 and 56 there. Braves still hanging in there.

The Diamondbacks right now have a four-game lead over the Braves and then a five-and-a-half game lead over the next team out of the hunt, which is the New York Mets at 66 and 61. Pretty much after that, I mean, the Giants, the Giants are on the bubble there, but the Giants really, are on the cusp of being out of it.

I feel like if you are below 500 at this point, it's going to be really hard to catch up to the rest of these teams, especially if you don't play very many of these teams, you know, and give yourself a chance to make up that ground. I'm willing to put it out on the line here and say, I'm calling the Giants and Cardinals cooked. No chance.

Yeah. No chance. It's over. This is a four-team race for three spots, Derek. It really is. And it's interesting because the maneuvering there that could take place towards the end of the season might not, like if the Diamondbacks lose some games, it might not be the worst thing.

It's another thing that we brought up yesterday. But honestly, at this point, don't you really want to end up in that final wildcard spot instead of playing the San Diego Padres, even if it's at home? Yes. Right? Like, don't you want that? Yes. And you especially don't want to play the Padres in San Diego.

I mean, like, anyone that's saying they'd rather play the Padres than the Brewers is a crazy person. Insane. Yeah. It's insane. level of top end talent on those two teams is just incredibly different. And the, you know, the Brewers lost Yelich for the season. So they lost their best hitter.

But they also have. They don't have a good pitching staff. They have Jackson Shurio who's been damn good. Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying that they don't have good players on their team. They have a good record. They're about as good of a record as we have currently. But I just, I'm not like, they don't strike any fear into my heart.

Whereas, like, if the Padres get some players back and playing well on top of Jackson Merrill and Jerks and Profar are doing what they've been doing all this season. That's a scary team to play against. It's wild that those are the two guys leading the way for them. It is nuts. You know what I mean? And on a team that has Mani Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. And all these other.

Bogartz. Like those guys have been pretty underwhelming or just non-existent this season. And then you have like Jackson Merrill who's just like a rookie and he's just, he might even beat Paul fucking schemes for the rookie of the year award. So. Jesse was literally talking about, we were joking. looking about the Padres being down in a game and Jesse said, I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson Merrill hit a seven run home run.

And that's Jesse saying that. So you've completely lost Jesse when it comes to him being in touch with reality when it comes to that Padres team. So, I mean, again, it's something to keep in mind, right? I know we're going to have a lot of fun chasing the Dodgers down here, seeing if my prediction is right, if the Diamondbacks can somehow be on top in the NOS. But it really is going to come down to, I mean, to a degree, is that the best thing for them? And I just, I don't know if it is.

I mean, the Diamondbacks could use some time off, but the, the time off could be detrimental. You can say whatever you want to about it, right? Like, you could really say that that's loser talk. You can say that there's no reason why team having time off shouldn't be able to stay sharp, you know, but I don't know. There is something to it. Yoshi's right, though. That's a damn fact. Let's get, hey, this is the one seat.

I mean, it's on the line. We're not out of this race. No, we're really not. Look at the standings here. We're four games back from the Dodgers. Let's put the standings back up there, Kevin. I mean, that's, that's, I'm not, I'm not convinced that we're out of this race for the division. Not at all, not at all, especially with four games coming up against Dodgers.

You win three of those? Oh, I just, I don't know. Oh, baby. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I like the idea that baseball is a, is a sport that when you take a layoff in any way, we've talked. about it with injuries. We've talked about it with the All-Star break. You just have this weird thing happen where it takes, you know, a matter of time to get ramped back up to being able,

you know, to play. And I don't know. I mean, again, loser talk is what it is. But I will just say that the Diamondbacks just need to get into the playoffs at this point. Of course, a big part of that is what are they going to do with this starting rotation? We saw Jordan Montgomery have a rough day yesterday against the Marlins. And that's not a team. You should really be having a rough day against, right? At this point, Jordan Montgomery is not only giving up a lot of runs, but luckily he's getting a lot of runs in his start and support. The Diamondbacks are averaging over six and a half runs per game that Jordan Montgomery starts. So it's weird how there's guys like that, right, every year that it feels like. But then, you know, Brandon fought. There's always guys that are the

opposite where it felt like, you know, Brandon Fott would go out there and throw a three hit gem, but he'd lose because the dimebacks got shut out in that game. Meanwhile, he loses two. two to one or something like that. Meanwhile, Zach Davies last season was giving up, you know, had an ERA of eight and the offense was just insane whenever Zach Davies would pitch. I wonder if there's like some sort of mental thing that really goes on there with the lineup where they're like, hey, Monty's on the bump today. It means we're going to have to score a lot to win this game. Well, and you would think with the way that that pressure kind of made them struggle early on that that would make the opposite happen. But instead they're just like, got to pick up our guy,

I guess, you know. And I don't know. The Diamondbacks have been putting up these runs in these games like this. So it's just odd that, of course, Jordan Montgomery gets that run support when other guys could definitely need it. But I mean, as it stands right now, looking ahead, we have to ask if the Diamondbacks do just continue with the six-man rotation or if they should continue with the six-man rotation. The way it stacks up right now, the Diamondbacks fought in Montgomery would have five more starts before the end of the year, essentially, Galin, Kelly, and Erod, and Nellie would all get six with Nelson starting on Friday against the Boston Red Sox.

So, I mean, there's the idea that this is going to keep your starting rotation a bit fresher. And of course, they did say that they were going to do this one more time through the rotation. It didn't sound like they were going to do it until the end of the year. But we know that they lie to us all the time. Numbers don't lie, though. The numbers don't lie.

Tori Lovallo definitely lies to us. And the numbers tell us that George Montgomery stinks at baseball. Well, the numbers also tell us that they're invested basically $50 million in Jordan Montgomery over the next two seasons at this point. That is also true. I mean, I don't know. I'll tell you it's not even though he might be a problem, but the Diamondbacks have other issues in their starting rotation, including the way Zach Gallen has been pitching lately. Yeah.

Of course, Jesse had a wonderful piece on what he feels is wrong lately with Zach Gallen and how he can get things back right. So make sure to check that out. But I mean, yeah, Elise says a six-man rotation, makes the bullpen feel less fresh. Yeah, I mean, that's part of it too. I mean, I don't know because I will say that it feels the inevitable decision is still going to come down to Jordan Montgomery being the rotation over Ryan Nelson, which is just absolutely crazy.

It just goes back to what Jesse has been talking about for a while, though, which is like on a playoff roster, what does Jordan Montgomery bring to the table? Yeah. He doesn't, you're not going to start him. Right. You're not going to bring him out of the bullpen unless you're, you're down like six runs or something, right? Yeah.

I just feel like, I mean, he's just, he pretty much is just going to be there if he, if he's on the playoff roster. And so it begs the question, like, should he even be on the playoff roster? Because you could maybe bring in an arm who could be somewhat useful, you know, like a,

or Ryan Nelson out of the bullpen, you know, he'd be, I think, significantly better or a Slade Shikoni or something like that. Like, I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see, but at this point, the diamondbacks need to get there, right?

And that's a big reason why I'm sure we won't see any, you know, any kind of change here when it comes to that, that contract, unfortunately, does have an impact and is going to have an impact on what the Diamondbacks do with him in the future. Josh Hunt, Huntstar, if you scroll back up there a little bit, Kevin, he had a good comment. He said, in any other field of work, oh, you passed it. Huntstar, 05 right there. He said, in any other field of work, it would be extremely infuriating if someone got a job opportunity over someone else because they got paid more. Ryan Nelson has earned that fifth spot. And that's absolutely the truth. In most fields that actually kind of works the opposite,

usually when you get paid more, that's when they go part ways with you. No doubt. Contracts work differently in sports. I just think that, again, the Diamondbacks have at least proven to fans, proven to the players on the team, that they do not necessarily make these decisions

based on the finances. They go with the guy that's going to help them win, especially when if you look at the way that things are going for this team, they have a legitimate chance to be a World Series contender this year. Yeah, I mean, I don't think you could argue against that, right? A team that was in the World Series last year that's arguably gotten better since. Like, I mean, you look at the holes on last year's team.

I think you're better at third base. With ADC, you're better at backup catcher. You're better at DH. Yeah. Like all of those spots have improved. Hypothetically, your back end of your rotation is better as well because, you know, Brandon Fott's been significantly better than he was last. season through the regular season at least he was insane in the playoffs obviously and then ryan

nelson's been a lot better so i don't see how you could argue that this team is not a world series contender i i mean they have what it takes i said this last year but like when you have the top end starting pitchers and then you have a team that is top to bottom in that lineup pretty consistent right like you have your your your back end of your lineup guys are probably it's probably some of the best back end of your lineup guys in all of baseball i would argue And it really just comes down to can Zach and Merrill get it under control? Can they get back to what they were last season? Because if they can, I don't see any reason that this team can't go as far as they did last year and hopefully win.

Tiger Town says, Erod being healthy for you guys helps. He was awesome. Yeah. And I mean, yeah, you're getting glimpses of that. Again, the other day E. Erod wasn't exactly efficient, but he was effective. Jesse hates that joke. Look, I can't stop talking about it.

That's gross. It's like I miss him or something. I'm just concerned he's not drinking enough water, to be honest. That's the real problem here. I don't even care about him. No, not even a little bit. You didn't just come in here and ask me if he's okay. Did he make it to Canada okay?

But Erod, of course, like, yeah, I mean, that's the secret weapon right now for this team, to be honest. He is a guy that has looked fairly sharp. It feels like he's getting a little bit stronger with each outing. And, of course, we really don't know what to expect out of Erod. So far, I mean, so far he's been good. And so far he has been kind of as advertised. There's nothing extraordinarily, extraordinarily flashy there about him. But he is definitely not one of the guys in the starting rotation right now that there are concerns about.

He seems to be a pretty good lock. Like maybe he is, you know, obviously there's some concern about how deep in the games he's going. But he will build as he gets, you know, goes through this season. And as we get closer to the postseason. I was concerned about him a little bit. But I think the way Tori spoke about him when, when like he was about to come back. And when you guys were talking to him You meant concerned before he came back.

Yeah, for sure. I think we all were. Yeah, absolutely. But Tori, I think Tori kind of push those expectations up a little bit when he was like, he looks fantastic. I don't know if he threw a ball in his bullpen session that he worked the other day. So like,

exactly. I think the Diamondbacks are pretty confident that this version of Eduardo Rodriguez is here to stay. Like they think that he's, that he's, you know, this is sustainable and that this is a guy that they can rely on for the rest of the season, which if they feel that way, it inspires some confidence in me, no doubt. It's just wild that here we are looking at a Diamondback six-man rotation and the people we are concerned about in the six-man rotation are Zach Gallin, Merrill Kelly, and Jordan Montgomery, not Ryan Nelson, Brandon Fott, or Eduardo Rodriguez.

That's not something you would have imagined after the way that those particular individuals pitched in the postseason last year, but baseball's a fickle bitch, right? Yeah. You know. P.C.O.O. She making fun of the Orioles picking up Emmanuel Rivera, isn't that the same guy who's like a Jace Peterson and Pavin Smith stand? You mean we stanuel Rivera?

Like let's not forget what that man did for us for a stretch down. Where does the barometer? Yeah. Where do you? Jason's biggest fan? You start liking shitty players but then hate other ones. Like I thought that this was a thing where you liked all of them. I don't.

I'm confused now. Yeah. Well, anyway, at least we didn't have. No slandering pavement Smith. We know that. on this show, of course. Well, we're just excited for the postseason. We're excited to get back to some very, very exciting games happening at Chase Field.

However, unfortunately, we won't have one of those very exciting baseball games that we were looking forward to happening here at Chase Field because the schedule for the 2006 World Baseball Classic was released. And Damon, they stole it from us. They took it away. And they're not even rotating it like to different parks. I mean, they are because they're going to have it in Houston at Minutemate Park instead of here at Chase Field. But what infuriates me is it's still in Miami.

And everything's in Miami. They're having the quarterfinals in Miami, the semifinals and the finals all at Lone Depot Park. It is a mistake to not have Team Mexico play in Phoenix, Arizona. Oh, without a doubt. That is the most electric baseball environment you could possibly conjure up. It's infuriating. Last year watching, like, it made me want to, like, be a Mexico fan. Like, you're watching Randy a Roserina go out there.

You want an Alec Thomas to Mexico jersey? Oh, Randy a Roserina and Alec Thomas just repping Mexico when they're from the U.S. in Cuba and just, and then the fans just losing it, you know, like wearing ponchos and sombreros and stuff. It's just incredible. Like, you can't beat international sporting events. No, and I mean, the World Baseball Classic really has grown into something that was what I think all of us baseball fans hoped it.

could be. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty nuts. And a big part of that is obviously the participation of the players in it, right? Without Otani, without, you know, without the guys you mentioned there, like without us having Alec Thomas on Team Mexico, without us having Merrill Kelly pitching for Team USA. Yeah. That that world baseball classic is not anywhere close to the level of exciting that it was. And now obviously they're talking about adding baseball and softball to the Olympics in 2000, when they come to Los Angeles in 2008. But like, How? What ball players are going to participate that in the middle of the baseball season?

I'm kind of above the- July, right? No one, right? I'm kind of of of the opinion that if you have another major international sporting event that represents your sport, it probably shouldn't be in the Olympics. Like, I know like soccer's in the Olympics. Oh, you mean like World Baseball Classic existing and not having- Yeah.

So it's like that's the competition that people care about. So it's the same thing with soccer. It's like there's the World Cup. people care about the World Cup. Like Olympic soccer is all U-23. It kind of just feels like it's just outbeat. It's there to be there. You know what I mean?

It's not necessarily like the top level upper echelon of the sport like the Olympics is supposed to represent, you know? Right. So I kind of part of me is like if the World Baseball Classic is back and it's as electric as it was, I don't need it in the Olympics. But softball should be. Yeah. Yeah.

And you know what else should be? Breakdancing in Los Angeles. How dare you take breakdancing away from us? They took that from us. They took that from us. Can you imagine how electric breakdancing would have been in Los Angeles? My God, come on. That's awesome.

Well, of course, we have to take a break really fast, but when we come back, we will talk about the power rankings for Major League Baseball, as well as that preview series for the upcoming three-game series at Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox. But first, got to check out Bet365. Of course, Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide. they live streamed 780,000 events every year. And of course, they pioneered live in-game betting. You can get down on live in-game betting across 76 sports.

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Few or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help. Call 100 Next Step text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. Well, Jesse is not here, so you're forced to go on the boys trip with me to hit a river. Yeah. I finally figured out a way to do it.

This is the weekend. We planned it out. We got a trip to Healer River planned on, was it next Thursday? Oh, yeah. That's right. That's a big trip to Healer River because we are doing our fantasy league. I wish there was prop bets on this league chain because I would bet on Derek to go do what Saul did and go first to worst. I think I would.

Derek is going to have a diabolically bad season, I think. Loser Talk. This is loser talk. This is Talk from losers in the loser bracket. I don't even understand loser talk. None of this stuff kind of like I can't even hear it. It's like a different language to me, but that's because I'm a winner and that's why I hang out at Heal of River Resorts and Casinos. And of course, you can do you at Heal of Resorts and Casinos. Make sure to join us for our fantasy football draft. It's going to be a whole lot of fun. I might show up in a turtleneck and a suit. Who knows? I don't know. We'll see what kind of fit I show up in. But of course, we are going to be drafting our actual fantasy football teams. We're going to be have we have analysts. We have people breaking it down. It's going to be insane. I need to just say that Derek is like the worst case scenario for who could have won in this league.

Maybe outside of Saul, I will say. He's right. He's not wrong. Derek is just like the most like flaunt it in your face. Like like every time you say anything to him, point at the ring, do a discount double check with the bell. Like it's gotten out of control. Me and Saul are going to have a champions dinner. That's how good this is getting.

But of course, you could have a champions dinner at Healer Riversorts and Casinos with their dining that ranges from upscale to approachable. You can check out their rooftop restaurant. restaurant, prime Aschula steakhouse or grab a cocktail. And of course, do what I do. Get yourself as a winner with your championship belt on and your ring. Hang out by the pool. Get yourself a cocktail, specifically a pinia colada with extra rum in it and enjoy yourself. We will be hosting all sorts of events, including that fantasy football draft there.

But you don't even have to wait for us. Just head to Heela River Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what next level is all about. Again, you do you at Heal River Resorts and Casinos. Visit play at Heala. dot com for more details. And you're not wrong. I am the worst person that could have worn this. No doubt.

I love that place though. It's such a nice casino. Oh yeah, it really is. You had to tear us out of there when we like we have meetings and stuff there which is not the best idea because then we're supposed to leave and go be productive. And then I'm in Derek's ear like just a devil on his shoulder. Hey, let's, you want to put money on red? Let's go money on red.

A hundred on red. Yeah. Look, it's due. It is due. It was due. It was due. It was due. It was due.

He's not wrong. All right. Well, let's take a look. Speaking of what's due at the major. league baseball power rankings for this week. Of course, I'm in charge of things, and you can all blame me for the Dodgers being up at the top there. Everyone knew that you were in charge of things, Derek, when they saw this list, because they know that I have more respect for myself than to put the Dodgers number one.

Yeah, no, I know. I get it. I get it. The Dodgers just don't stop winning baseball games. That's the problem. They do have the best record in baseball currently at 76 and 52 with a plus 111 run differential. And again, they've just been, they've been good. The Diamondbacks have really struggled here with trying to figure out a way to make any, make up any ground in the National League West between the Padres and the Dodgers.

The way those teams have been playing. Of course, the Yankees still playing really good baseball. That Aaron Judge guy is having himself another really special season. He's at 74. Or they are at 74 and 53 with a plus 119 run differential. Then everybody's kind of in the same spot from that point on. You have the Orioles at three, the Arizona Diamond League. Coming back still at four, the Padres at five, the Phillies at six, the Brewers at seven, and the Guardians at eight.

All of those teams are in the exact same spot that they were. The Astros, even though they had a good week, it's kind of hard keeping up with some of those other teams there. They drop two spots. And then the Royals make their debut here. They finally blast past the twins. The Royals are seven and three in their last 10 games. They have the highest run differential in the AL Central at plus 110, and Bobby Witt Jr. is just an extraterrestrial. Yeah, he's insane.

I, yeah, Bob, it's hard to even put into words how good Bobby Wett Jr. is playing shortstop at a high level, hitting the way that he's hitting. What is his average right now? It's, it's something like absolutely insane. Let me see this here. Good audio, good podcasting. 352, Derek. I know. How is, like, that is nuts, dude.

An OPS of a thousand 20 when you're a shortstop, that guy is so good. if he was in the NL, he's the runaway MVP, I would say. But unfortunately, he plays in the same league as Aaron Judge, who's putting up Barry Bond's numbers. But yeah, the Dodgers, I just got to go back to that real quick. After yesterday's bench clearing brawl, I just like, there should be an asterisk that says Otani for prison on the top of that power rankings. Yeah, no, I figured you, I'm surprised you didn't say that earlier.

Like that's, that's really what my mind goes to when I see this list. We were going to have a Dodger as the picture to the right. And you know, people are losing their minds that the Dodgers are on this list at all, let alone, let alone, if I would have used a picture there over to the right. People are somehow criticizing the fact that the teams are still in the same spot. They're saying, I didn't do my homework. They were acting like I wasn't up at 6.30 in the goddamn morning today trying to research all this for you monsters. Well, let me tell you, right now, there's a lot of parody in Major League Baseball. You have one team with 76 wins, two teams with 74 wins, actually three teams with 74 wins,

a bunch of teams with 72 wins. Like these teams are all very close. Right now, I think the Diamondbacks and the Padres probably would be actually a little lower, if not for the fact of how they've been playing lately. They've been playing better baseball than the teams with better records before. Yeah, it's a current power rankings. It's not based off of the whole body of work on the entire season. But that begs the question, people are mad about the guardians not moving down,

because they haven't been playing very good recently. Well, the Guardians are still 73 and 53 and still lead their division. So what more do you want? Do you want them off the list when they still have like the fourth best record in baseball? Their eighth? I thought eighth was pretty fair, to be honest. I just don't know. Not a lot happened over the course of a week with a lot of these teams.

There's a lot of teams with bad records right now. That divide that we talked about is getting wider and wider in the National League. This used to be a, what, 12 team race there for the wildcard spot? and now, you know, this is not the case. Yeah, there was a time where only the Rockies were based in the Marlins. The Rockies and the Marlins were the only two teams out of it. Right. Literally every other team in the National League was in it.

And then it's hard to compare, you know, with what the AL is doing to the National League. There's a lot of good AL teams that have a better record that honestly aren't their third in their division. So what do you want to do? And the Astros, they have 68 wins. They are the only team on this entire list with less than 70 wins. but they have been playing really good baseball. They are seven and three in their last 10, and they have a five-game lead now in the AL West.

They're really good. And that's what they do at this time of the year. If I'm in the American League and I see the Astros on my side, like I'm matched up with them. I'm like, guys, should we lose games to get out of this spot? Like, that's the last team I want to play. Yeah. You, you, everyone knows they're going to the ALCS, right?

Yeah. It doesn't matter who they play. They will be in the ALCS. It's kind of disgusting, right? They're so good. Well, like, see, and that's the thing is, at least in the National League, the last few playoffs, the last few post seasons have given us hope, right? You have, you know, both the Phillies and the Diamondbacks making it all the way to the World Series from the final wildcard spot. You had the big dogs in the division that had substantially better records and everybody else getting knocked off, you know, fairly easily, right?

So, like, it does inspire hope and it inspires the idea here that this, you know, these playoffs, anything can happen. Of course, it infuriates some people, and it does kind of make the 162 games season meaningless. Again, that's why when we talk about these teams having, you know, like the Diamondbacks having four more games against the Dodgers, that's awesome. That gives them a legitimate chance at the National League West, or at least at catching up with the Dodgers if they can really put it to them in those four games. But in a normal season, years and years ago, when I didn't have this much gray in my beard, baseball teams, Diamondbacks probably. would have had like 16 games left against the Dodgers with this point of the fucking schedule left. Yeah.

Or the pod and the podgers. Right. So it's like one of those things where you used to play your own division so much more that if you were down, you could come back. If you were up, you could really widen that divide between you and the teams below you because you played so frequently. Right. So this is one of those cases where, you know, now what we have is, you know, the Diamondbacks

going into the playoffs some way somehow. And of course, we've already seen what they can do. So let's just get in. ESPN made a power rankings, Derek, that they released earlier this morning. And they move the diamondbacks down two spots. Right. Isn't that crazy? It's crazy.

It is crazy. And they move the Padres specifically above the diamondbacks. Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe I need a standings check, but I'm pretty sure. They're tied. Pretty sure we're tied. And technically we have the tie break. Right.

And right. Oh, there it is. Interesting. That's kind of how the we see things there is 72 and 56. That's funny. And that's the way MLB.com has it, right? But hey, what do we know, right? I will say in regards to the Diamondbacks, the, yeah, Ryan says it right there.

They probably freaked over the Ray's sweep. And, you know, if you know historically how bad the Diamondbacks actually are against the raise at the Trop, then that would be a little bit more. Have we won, like, three games ever there or something? Four. That's so crazy. That's so crazy. Yeah.

And they haven't played that many, though. No. Jesse will be the first to point that out. But still, it's like 14 games and they've only won four there. So not great. In regards to everything else, though, I don't know. I mean, right now, you know, the Diamondback, the power rankings that we do are meaningless. The standings right now are still somewhat meaningless until we get to like the last two weeks of the season.

There's really no reason to do anything but keep your head down and try to win as many baseball games no matter who's ahead of you. And right now the Diamondbacks have the Boston Red Sox. It's about us. It's about us. It's not about everybody else. They have ahead of them, right? Yeah. They have ahead of them, right.

Yeah, well, of course, we thank you guys for being here in the PHNX-N-X-You-tube channel. Make sure to smash that like button because Ryan and somebody probably Corbin barrels hit the thumb-down button. But everybody else can hit the like button. And I do not love the Dodgers. You guys are absolute monsters. He does. Make sure you also subscribe to this channel. If you don't do so already, sign up for notifications.

Like what you don't miss whenever, our shows go live. And, of course, leave us. on the audio podcasting side of review. Make sure you're subscribed on your favorite audio podcast as well. We are going to talk about that Boston Red Sox series here in a minute, of course, but we do have to take a break. We do have to tell you about Desert Financial Credit Union. Of course, they always keep our numbers straight on this show.

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He's hiking through BAMF right now is where he is. Yeah. I'm doxing you guys a lot today. I'm telling everybody's personal information. But I feel like... You didn't dox me with my last name, Derek. It's still... It's public information.

It's so weird that I just said it, that we said it out loud on this show. But I'll say this, that Jesse probably could use a rugged road cooler right now because... Just lugging it up the mountain? It's, you say lugging it. Like, you sound like it's like too heavy, but that's the great thing about rugged road. It's super lightweight. It really is. Yeah.

Unlike those heavy other heavy, uh, heavy dude. Coolers. Rugged road coolers are incredibly light, making them easy to transport on any trip without compromising your performance or without worrying about how much you can take with you. They also float, which is amazing. And of course, you know, I'm really not a hiker like Mr. Friedman is. I'm more of a go hang out in the beach, maybe in the water, maybe take a little river dip, maybe a lake dip, and I need a cooler that's just going to hang out with me. I have a dog that hangs out with me. it's the greatest thing ever, but a cooler that also floated and just hung out to me next to me would be best.

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Rugged Road, your ultimate outdoor companion. I know. I went on their website. He's already buying a hat. Their hats are sick. Their hats are sick, yeah. I need one of these hats. Right up Damon's road.

Oh my God. Also, I mean, tailgating season is right around the corner. And I mean, it does. Yeah. Like, you don't necessarily need this versatile of a cooler for tailgating. But why not? Get yourself a great cooler that you can take everywhere with you over at Rugged Road. Shane and I are going to get a rugged road cooler and hit the Salt River.

It's never going to happen. He just said it's never going to happen. But we're going to make it happen. Do you see how he always leaves me out of every trip? Oh, yeah, you're not invited. Like, it's just absolutely... I'll hit up Jesse, though, and see if he wants to go. God, I hate...

I mean, why... You're not... This is your day off. Shane... Why did I even ask you to be in here? Shane became my boss and now he doesn't want to be my friend anymore. Yeah, it's weird. It's a weird relationship.

But I think it's for the best, to be honest. I actually, I agree with Shane on that one. But I tried to not be your friend, right? And then you just made me, but then it's like a weird gaslighting situation where you just don't let me go on the boys' trips with you. Speaking of which, the Diamondbacks are on the road. They're taking a road trip up to Boston, shipping up to Boston. Let's take a look at the Red Sox at a glance this season.

They have a record of 67 and 50 with a plus 28 run differential. They are four and six in the last 10 games. Right now, they have a starting pitching ERA of 3.96, which is top. for 11th in Major League Baseball, a 4.39 relief pitching ERA, which is good for downbacks. It's 27th, not 37th, because I'm pretty sure there's not that many teams, but that's just a mistake. Wow, they stink. They really stink. They're below some of the AAA teams.

OPS, though, is incredibly good for the Boston Red Sox at 768. They are third in the bigs, and then they're out above average defense, not great, minus 19 for 25th. So they're kind of all over the place, but, of course, the OPS there. the big concern because this team is very good offensively and the Diamondbacks are going to need to be very good offensively. Yeah, this is, I mean, clearly their offense is pretty good. 768 OPS as a team is no Joe. That tracks. Yeah, that's really solid.

It might be another series, but we're going to have to attack their relief pitching. Yeah, I think that's exactly. And the Diamondbacks have been really good at that recently. So that's, I mean, I feel like that bodes well for this team. they match up well with teams especially you know the second half of the season that whose bullpens struggle like the pirates for example the pirates right they had a great starting pitching staff and then the diamond backs would go out there and attack the bullpen when they would when they'd go up against them so yeah i'll uh i'll it'll be interesting to see that that

match up and and see if that late inning heroics from this team continues yeah and i'll tell you also the diamondbacks match up pretty well on paper as far as the probable pitchers are concerned. Let's take a look at that for, do we have the probable pitchers? All right.

No, no problem. Here we go. We got a super chat here. Yeah, from again, it's just a constant test in... I'll read this one. Who's going to flinch first? I'll read this one. Yeah. All right, go.

Be calmly clearly. $2 super chat says Jordan has the flattest booty on the team clock it. Yeah, I mean... That's actually the most mild one, I think we've gotten from C-Com B-Com C. I feel comfortable saying that one, you know. Yesterday's, you know, I definitely didn't feel comfortable with those.

But today, you know, I- This one you'll handle. I'm man enough to say this one. And you're right. Jordan Montgomery, I mean, it's sad. Yeah. I think that's B-C-C- clearly measures the players on the team based off of booty.

Yeah. Or how attractive they are. No, yeah. I mean, that's right. Yeah, like, I mean, a flat booty is nothing to mess with. But, of course, we do have the story. We do have the story probable. Because we read this one, yeah.

B. Comcy clearly is definitely going to send in a really, like Ryan says, a more R-rated one next time. There's no doubt about that. That's inevitable. But let's take a look at these probable pictures for this series. I will say this, that a lot of the Red Sox pictures, names sound like they could also be Star Wars characters. Brain, Brian, Braen Bella. Yeah, that's a Star Wars character.

Right. Tanner Hoke. Tanner, is it who? That one's, that one's borderline. That one's borderline, but the first one for sure. Yeah. I mean, the first name, Cutter. Yeah, Cutter with a K is crazy.

That is crazy. Cutter Crawford. Cutter Crawford is fired. And his last name starts with C, it's insanity. I think if Cutter Crawford, if the C and Crawford was also a K, that's a Star Wars name. There's no. question about that that's uh that's elite but of course uh we are butchering names and uh what which

which names did we butcher i don't know which ones we butcher because we don't know these players names but uh we got we got ryan nelson here going in game one zach gallant in game two and merrill kelly in game three obviously this is a big series for the diamondbacks here uh as far as starting pitching goes i mean everything is lining up really well you got your two essentially your two aces the two guys you would want out there the most. And then you have Ryan Nelson who has been quite possibly, and not quite possibly, factually, the best pitcher on this team over the last like month. Yeah, I think since the All-Star break, basically, Brian Nelson's been money.

And, and, but I like this pitching matchup, honestly. Like, I know Gowan hasn't looked great. Merrill struggled in his last start, but he was decent before that. This is a, this is, this is a three matchups that I think that the Diamondbacks get the better end of here. and they need Zach Allen to obviously pick it up. So it'll be interesting to see. Gabriel Ferrer says, Jaron hates how connected this team is.

I've never seen any. I don't like the idea now that I don't like the idea now that people can like do something like say a slur and then get huge amounts of support. I'll say that. I'm okay with saying that. I think that's a pretty gross part of things. Even if you make a mistake, it's okay to make a mistake. and honestly it's okay to like support someone that makes a mistake. I don't have a problem with that.

What I do have a problem with is like being like, no, we're going to go out and make his jersey, the number one selling jersey on M. Well, it's like the Josh Hater situation, right? Yeah. Like when when people found his old tweets. Harrison Butker. And then the fans in Milwaukee were. Yeah.

Like. Yeah. It's true. It's true. Sometimes life kind of sucks. But life does not suck. If you're an Arizona Diamondback fan right now because this team is hot. And of course, they have this big series.

I mean, it's the Boston Red So. right this this isn't you know the marlins or you know the the rays who did what they did to this team but this is definitely a team that the diamondbacks can make a statement here against and finish this road trip off strong if they can win the series this road trip ends five and four and it doesn't look nearly as bad as it started you're right Derek we are playing the boston red sucks the question who is sean hollow would depose rooting for. Everybody's wondering.

It's a fine question. It's an absolutely fine question. The guy moved to Boston. He was originally a Red Sox fan his whole life. And then Derek, what did he always used to tell us once he moved out here and was working at this company? Oh, I'm a D-BACs guy.

This is my team. The Red Sox are on the back burner. The only thing he held on to was his hatred for the Yankees, according to his self-profession. Let's see it. I want to see it this weekend. This week, like in this series, let's, I want, I want, I want full body paint. I want like one of those rattles that, you know, sounds like a Maraca. Like, I want Sean to go all out.

Do you have what it takes, Sean? I don't know. We'll see. Can he get, can he find four other friends that are also Diamondbacks fans to like, like, wagon on their, on their chest and go shirtless out there? I just, there's just, I said it right when he was moving. He was going to turn his back on us. There's no question in my mind.

and yeah i mean corbin barrels i think sean stan i think that's shot it could be but i sean would have a red sox name as his as his youtube thing he's the guy's a socks guy he's not a snake's guy he he turned his back on us there's no question about it and uh he's going to prove that this weekend well we'll see where do your devotions lie mr electric sean to pause huh uh are are they with this team that's headed to the fucking yawks? Are you with a wagon? Are you still on the wagon? It's the yawks, Sean. I feel like when I say on the wagon, that's like not probably the way to phrase it. Am I, is that right? That's probably not. Are you a part of the wagon? Are you hopping it out still?

I was going to say hopping on the wagon. See, B-Com C clearly. I'm all read this one this time. He said, my love for bubble cheeks is undeniable. Go D-Bex. You guys can clip that one, by the way, because that may or not, may not be true for me as a person. Of course, we love you guys. We thank you so much for your comments. We thank you so much for being here today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-U-K-M-K-N-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-T-M-K-R-R-R-R-F-R-R-F. Yeah, you're not supposed to say it.

You're not your own dog. Of course, follow. Is it Kevin Thomas right? It's just Kev-T-T-T-O-M. Kev-T-H-M. There you go. Follow our guy over there, as well as follow our show at PHNX underscore Dbacks. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys stopping by.

We thank you so much for your time. We will see you tomorrow. We have another post game show left this week after that first game with the Boston Red Sox. So come back here after the game. Until then, have a wonderful evening and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't have a flat booty.