PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is manager Torey Lovullo to blame for the Diamondbacks current downward spiral?

Episode Date: August 4, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in a bad patch to say the least. We are discussing who is to blame and what the D-backs need to do to kick out of this slump. We also take a look at our Power Rankings for MLB, Corbin Carroll being nominated for the Heart & Hustle Award, and more!SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up, everyone? It's Tori Lavellov manager. Beers on a Diamondbacks. Thanks for checking in. I hope everybody's doing great. It's time to kick off happy hour. And Clue Haywood says it's time for Friday beers. Yes, it is.

Lori, welcome in. Cheers to you. We're rocking, baby. We are rocked in here at the FetMGM Sportsbook out here in Glendale. This is the PHNX. Backs podcast. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of Phoenix. I am far out of my jurisdiction here in Glendale. This man, though, still Mr. Electricity wherever he goes. I run the west side. Yeah. And of course, we do have to address Jesse not being here today.

We gave Jesse a tremendous amount of grief about the weather in San Francisco. Even though, it's so cold. Oh, really is it now, Jesse? Yeah, we told him to go fuck himself, I believe, several times about the weather. There were a lot of, uh, we threw a lot of shade at Jesse, if you will. And I know we're going to get to a Shady Raise ad read later, but let's just go ahead and tip of the cap to them right now because we're going to throw shade at ourselves, I guess, for getting Jesse sick because Jesse is a little under the weather due to his time there in San Francisco. He did not dress warm enough. He did not take care of himself, of course. Didn't drink enough water. You know, he didn't drink enough water. You know I'm devastated by that.

I always tell him to take care of himself. Kind of failed as a father, it feels like. I did. I feel like I failed as an authority figure. I feel like I failed as somebody. I'm just the fun younger brother. So I got no, yeah. Right, like, yeah. No, your job is just to egg him on and torment him, right? But, like, no, in my case, I feel like a manager of a baseball team, if you will, that let one of his players down.

And as we know, the manager is 100% responsible for everything that happens and is at fault for everything. Is that the way that this works? Well, I guess we're just... According to a lot of people that we show up in our chats is. According to many of you on Twitter, on Instagram. Well, it's your fault and it's Saul's fault because he's the GM and he put the roster together. That's fair. That is absolutely fair.

I'm going to blame the front office on this one for sure. But we are discussing, of course, who's to blame for the Arizona Diamondbacks' current direction, their downward spiral, if you will, that they're currently in. Things aren't great right now. And I mean, obviously, the Diamondbacks being, having the worst record in baseball going back to July 1st, not good. Not ideal. Not ideal. And honestly, there's a lot of things about this team that people are starting to question. I mean, again, we talked about how at one point in the season, nothing was working right all at the same time.

but they always had something working right enough, going well enough, that it could kind of propel them to some of these unlikely victories that they had. But, I mean, is that really the thing that's missing now? I mean, when you take out that factor when this team would obviously, you know, like in some cases it was the starting pitching

was excellent on the night, and it was enough for the offense to, you know, win the game. Sometimes the starting pitching wasn't good enough, but the answer back's answer bad, right? So there seems to be that missing, you know, I guess answered back factor and people want to essentially blame Tori Lebello for that. Yeah, no, of course they do. It definitely does feel like there is a, just like that X factor

that was there for the beginning of half of the season missing. And I mean, I feel like if we're being honest about it, they obviously there was no pressure on this team in the beginning of a year. No one was expecting anything from really anybody. Kattel had had a bad year. No one was necessarily expecting him to come back to being the Ketel that he is right now. No one could have reasonably expected Corbyn to be as amazing as he's been throughout this year. Obviously, it's been a little down recently.

But it's the way that works, right? There comes a point where no matter how good you are, even Ellie Daler Cruz and some of the top, you know, we've had our jokes about Damon over there being on patrol and taking out any potential rookie of the year threats. And he has done an excellent job at that. But I'm afraid that at some point he might have crossed paths mistakenly with Corbyn Carol. I need Corbyn to hold his end of the bargain. Yeah, yeah.

You can only do so much. No, I know. You can only do so much, right? But all of these, I mean, that's why, like I think we said that on yesterday's show. It's the reason why, you know, being a rookie of the year candidate is so hard to transition over into being a rookie of the year winner. It's because there's a lot of expectations there. There's a lot of pressure. And it's really hard when you're making your debut in Major League Baseball to make that transition.

Yeah, to be an everyday MLB player is not an easy thing to do. Which Corbyn absolutely is. And I want to take a moment to just make a comparison here. This man next to me could quite literally be the quarterback. I've said he's my MVP, but he's doing the work today for sure here at BETMGM. I mean, just he doesn't even leave the seat. I mean, he didn't even have time to repeat between episodes. But I mean, it's it's because he's young.

He puts in the work. And I mean, you know, the results are there. He's been incredible here. But I will say that there is a lot of blame being thrown Tori LaBolo's way. And I'm not going to say that it's not rightfully so in some cases. Tori, in fact, would be the first person at times to say that he has made some bad decisions, right? But I know you played this on TPSP, and I know we played it last night. But just one more time, just to soak it in.

Let's take a look at Tori LaBello's reaction to what the Diamondbacks are currently going through in the current offensive woes. Yeah. It's what makes sports so great, professional sports so great, and then it just rips your heart out. I don't know what else to do. I want the guys to focus on the right things, relax, and keep things simple. Now, that doesn't mean don't try hard. I want everybody's absolute best effort. But if you got the Bunsen burner out there and you're building rocket ships in between pitches and at bats, we don't need that.

I want you to simplify things and go out there and execute to the best of your ability. and that's where we're at right now. The effort has been fantastic, but I think we're just over-analizing everything. That is not Friday Beard's story. That is not Friday Beard's story. Not at all. That is a man of concern.

Like he said while we were watching it, that pause, that pause in between him talking about, it's why sports are great, and when he just admits he doesn't know what's wrong with this team. There could be a lot that you could say is wrong with Tori Lobello's managing. And it's not really something that is a recent thing, right? Yeah. I mean, Tori is notorious.

Sorry for using that. But for, you know, doing things like taking guys out of the lineup when they're hot, when they're hot, just because it was their time to have a day off. He switches guys around as their positions on the field. Nobody can really feel comfortable. You know, I mean, you have your guys that kind of have certain positions locked down, but we still see Corbyn Carroll move from a corner outfield to center field. We still see, you know, a manual.

Rivera, D-Hing, third base, first base. We see, you know, Geraldo Prudomo moved around the diamond. There's a lot of things there. And I mean, these are things that a lot of teams do. This isn't exactly just something that Tori does. But it seems like baseball being a game of consistency, a game of, you know, habit. Yeah, 100%. That's the one thing that at times Tori doesn't really adhere to.

Yeah, I mean, I, as I kind of hinted that near the beginning of the show, I think Tori shoulders an unfair amount of the blame. Like that we talked about before, guys need to do their jobs. That's, yeah. And right? Accountability, right? So it's at a point where, like, you want to criticize his, how he utilizes the bullpen. Well, it's like, okay, but is there anybody you can trust coming out of the bullpen?

Like, everyone's kind of sucked at points. Right. That being said, like, he definitely does shoulder some of the blame. There have been instances, like, you've got at, like, where he, in the, instances where he does have an ability to affect the game. There's been a lot of times where he's done it in a negative way. He's left pitchers in too long, or like you said, has taken guys out of lineups that when they're on.

Like, that stuff shouldn't happen. And it's one thing to happen during the regular season. But as I've said a bunch of times, it's really concerning if this team does make the playoffs or if they get there next year, like, those kinds of mistakes will be amplified in the regular season. And so that's what concerns me. but I think as far as the regular season goes

and particularly this recent cold streak, Tori definitely deserves some of the blame, but at the end of the day, he's not doing much different than he did in the first half of the season. It's the players that are not performing. And they definitely deserve their, at the very least, an equal share of the blame that Tori is getting. Ultimately, it's a question of,

is this the case of a bad managing, or is this a problem more with the roster? You, for instance, have been furious lately at not only who's in the starting lineup, but where they're hitting particularly. And it's, again, it's like Jesse said, it's not a very intimidating lineup. You're not looking, especially with some of, you know, no knock to Jace Peterson, but with Jase Peterson hitting like fifth in the lineup, you know, when Christian Walker was out, that definitely. It looks like a lineup of a team that is the worst team in baseball since July. Yeah.

Like that's kind of what the lineup looks like. And again, again, though, like, as far as Tori's concerned, you have to play the players on your roster, and that's not something he is the control over. And B, like Jesse said yesterday, the reason he switched the lineup as much as he did yesterday is because he's got to try something. Like, it's gone completely cool. And he had a relatively consistent lineup there for a little bit. And obviously they were winning games for a while. And then they stopped. And so he started switching it up again.

And then I can't really blame him. Because, I mean, my biggest issue with Tori is what we saw in that video, where he just seemed completely out of answers. And even if that's the case, I don't think you can present that as a manager of a baseball team. Like you're a leader of the club. Well, to be fair, Tori does put on a brave face at times. Yeah, no, 100%. He says his to Tories.

He always tries to keep, even right there. You know, he's like, it's what makes professional sports great, right? It's amazing and then it's heart-wrenching. And like this has been a heart-wrenching stretch for this team. But this isn't the first time in Lovolo's tenure, where like the team looks collectively lost. And I think for me, personally, that's the bigger thing that concerns me.

I don't know if what's going on right now with the offense is more of a reflection of Tori, the front office not getting, you know, really much more than Tommy Fam and Jason Peterson at the deadline, or maybe even Joe Mather, shouldering some of the blame here as the hitting coach because it seems right now

that the team collectively as a whole is fairly cold outside of Cattel and Geraldo. So I really don't know what the answer is. But I know that the question that a lot of people have, I know a lot of people are screaming for Tori's head. And I mean, honestly, the one thing that I would say was did maybe the Diamondbacks extend Tori Lovolo too early? They extended Tori Lovolo through the 2024 season on June 4th.

And to be honest, the team has not played well since then. They have a 21 and 28 record since LaVolo was extended. Why? What's with that little note below that? What is that? The next note was that they have a 23 and 30 records since Shonda Paz joined the show. And that's like, all right, look, I'm just saying, like, if we're going to put the facts on the table, we have to put all of the facts on the table because you did join the show before Toro Lavello got extended. And it's just something it's worth noting.

That's all. I mean, I don't think it's really that worth noting. It's really, it's not. I didn't notate you as Sean DeLoss in there like I was originally going to. That's crazy. Yeah, because I was like he's going to see this. But hold on, hold on, hold on. No, no, no, no, no.

I'm not letting you do this. No. Because, okay, Tori 21 and 28 since Lavello was a. or the D-BACs 21 and 28 since I joined. So that's four more games. Yeah. And they were two and two in those four more games. Exactly.

So, I mean, what are you doing? It's Tori's fault. No, I'm just saying that there's two things are there at the same time. It's Tori's fault. They were not good in June. And that's when you joined the show. That's when Tori got extended. What I'm saying is I've seen you on the ASU podcast a lot, and I've still got my sashback from.

I've been on like five times. I just, I feel like I got the law end of this deal. When you talk about a trade deadline move, I feel like I lost. The day that I joined, Corbyn Carroll hit his first career walkoff. Okay, that's fair. Don't come at me with this. Blame Tori for that. But also, I don't think Tori for that.

I can call him the MVP just like five minutes ago. So I am very quick to react to myself. Getting to your question. Yeah, about extending it. Do you feel like this is, I mean, obviously that's not really an impact here. I don't think that that has gone the way that, that, I don't think, I don't think that's like when a player gets a long-term deal. All of a sudden, they just can't hit the ball anymore, they don't care.

But I feel like, do you, with the way that this season has gone, do you think they would have still extended him? Or do you think maybe that this team maybe you would have moved on at the end of the season? I think it was the right decision still. I mean, especially considering how young this team is, and that's kind of his M.O. is helping develop that young talent. Again, this was not, the expectation was not for them to be this good

or to really be present for the playoffs, right? Yeah, for the first two months. So I think if you're the Diamondbacks, you're looking at this, like, okay, this year, Tori's going to develop these guys. And because that's what he's good at. We're going to let him do that. And then next year, we should be in a position to make noise in the playoffs. And if he doesn't do that, well, then, okay, there we go. So that's why I'm fine with extending it to do next year.

And Mike Hazen is on the same time frame, apparently. And we don't know how many other members of the front office, but it sounds like multiple people kind of have their contract deals through next year. Because this off season and next season is real, make it and break it. Right. obviously it depends to a certain extent on how much Kendrick is willing to invest in the team but it seems like he's going to be willing to more than he has in the past I guess

and so you have this off-season you know what the team is, you know what you need now go do it and now go manage lead that team to the postseason at the very least because now it's all on the table you've had the time you have the resources you have to do it now this off season they do need to add free agents

and they need to come with better free agents than veteran guys like Evan Longoria and Tommy fan. Yeah, so it's kind of similar to the Sons, what they went through with Monty. Yeah. Like, I think after last season, like, yeah, you had to get rid of him. You needed a change.

Season before that, people were calling for his head too, and I just wasn't of the, I just didn't think it was time yet. Yeah. I think this is the year, our next season, really, is the season where... If the results aren't there, then you should ultimately move on.

Because at that point, the window is open. You should have the roster to be competing for a World Series or at the very least the division, the playoffs, whatever. Yeah. You can't waste time. If Tori is not that guy, you cannot waste time on him. I've never missed words about my feelings on Tori.

I think he is a great person. Yes. I think he's a great man. I think he is the right man for the job. I think ultimately what we're talking about is a team that is still developing, right? I feel like Brandon fought is almost like almost a perfect metaphor for, for being patient, right? Brandon Fott got called up.

Things sucked. He was bad. He was flat out awful. The results weren't there. But the team continued to work with him. They didn't really want to jeopardize his future by letting him make more starts that would shake his confidence. So they did send him back down to the miners. Things weren't perfect. There were ups and downs.

But like, again, when we talked about our trade deadline packages, Brandon Fott was a piece in many of those packages. And if we would have seen Brandon Fott go off and produce for another team last night, like he did for the Arizona Diamondbacks, we would be losing our collective minds about it, right? And that is the problem here is that sometimes development of players takes time. And there's a certain level of patience that we have to get through. Corbyn Carroll is one of those guys that has very quickly made us forget that he is a first year rookie playing this game.

He is by far one of the best players on this team and has no business being. this good this early because most players, no matter how good they end up being in their career, are not this good this early. So there's a lot of positives about this team. And the Diamondbacks are doing their best to try to sift through the guys they have, sift through the bullpen arms they have,

sift through the starting pitchers they have, and find guys that they really should be putting that effort into to develop as this season progresses. I mean, we've said that the trade deadline, if they didn't make a move for a starting pitcher specifically, that that was a very worrisome thing. And I like the way the move they made for Paul Seawald, but let's be honest, the fact that they didn't make that move for that starting pitcher really signifies the direction that they feel they're going, which right now is that they are waiting. And I don't think that they're worrying about this season as much as they are preparing for going on.

Yeah, that's what I keep saying, what I kept saying is I did think it was a white flag. They were surrendering on the season, but I still think it was the way they approached their deadline was the right way to approach it. So we'll see. But I mean, I understand going back to even my favoritism for Tori that I understand people wanting to hold him accountable. And I mean, I think your assessment is the way I feel too. I think that this season, they played a little bit above their level. They came back down to earth. And we'll see what the results are once the season ends.

If the Diamondbacks make the playoffs, I don't think there's any arguing with the fact that at least, you know, right now he is the right man for the job. And the reason why I say that is especially his development of these young guys like Corby and Carolyn Brandon. I mean, if they make the playoffs this year, then absolutely because that would be one hell of a managerial job to pull this team back out of the deep, deep depths that they're in right now. Because as much as we talk about and as much as I think the fans are like this is not good, like I don't think we have really done a good job at fully expressing the extent to how awful this has been. Like we keep talking about this team being like, oh, they're ruining their playoffs. They're the worst team in baseball. They are the worst team in baseball right now. The worst team in baseball.

I would rather be the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics are winning more games than the Arizona. They are the worst team in baseball. It's a fact. It's not good right now. So if Tori Man had to get this team to the playoffs somehow, that is one hell of a managerial job. James Randall in the comments says they have been terrible since Carson Kelly came back as well. Yes. I will say this.

Zach Gallin's first 12 starts, two home runs allowed. Zach Gallin's last 11 starts, 13 home runs allowed. What's the difference there? Gabriel Moreno. Yeah, no. Gabriel Moreno. It's, I don't think you could. I mean, we talked about it a lot, or just like, I guess baseball,

they was talked about a lot within baseball. Like with the Cardinals this year, they lost Yadir Malina. And obviously, Gabby Marino was not Yadier-Melina. I'm not trying to suggest that. But like, they lost their catcher. I mean, maybe he is. But they lost their catcher and all of their pitchers. struggled a little bit.

Obviously, Wainwright has just not been good at all, really, since he lost Yadi. So the catcher makes a huge difference. It can make a huge difference. It really can. Especially when you have someone struggling the way Carson Kelly is

in every possible way. I mean, Carson Kelly's struggling behind the plate. He's struggling at the dish. He's struggling, letting balls get past him. Like, there's just, everything is going wrong lately for Kelly. Yeah, 100%. And And it's obviously not good to have any one player doing that,

but when the guy behind the plate who is kind of controlling the game is struggling in every way, that's a major factor. I don't think you can really understate how important that could be. And all of this, it's because, like, reality is it's a team sport, obviously, and baseball is a unique team sport, but it's still a team sport, and it's a well-oiled machine in the sense that, like, one thing goes wrong, it's easy for that to kind of leak into every other facet of the team. And I think that's, it seems at least that's what you're seeing with this team.

where, you know, the bullpen struggled, and then the offense kind of disappeared because their production wasn't really meaning anything when the bullpens blowpun was blowing it, or you weren't getting good starts. And now the pitches are kind of figured out a little bit, but now the offense has gone ice cold. So it seems like it's all kind of connected, and hopefully that means if one part of them can figure it out, they can all kind of figure it out. If Buck Showalter could keep his job. And like Elise said, if Tori can survive 2021, he could survive this.

He can survive anything. But we are here out at BetMGM Sportsbooks in Glendale. This place is incredible. The food is incredible. The drinks are incredible. We need to wrap the show up so I can eat. Yeah, I know. That's all, this poor guy.

He's just, it's like a sort of weird Jerry Lewis telethon for this guy where he has to be on TV for 24 hours straight. Oh, 1-800 help me. We're taking your calls now. Give me off air, please. No. But it is Nerfie Friday, by the way. Yeah, yeah. We went in on the Nerfee.

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Speaking of things that are going to make us fight with people at our power rankings for this week. Well, let's be clear, your power rankings. I don't want, I don't want any. This is our, our collective. This is our collective power rankings as a whole. Maybe Jesse did it. Maybe you did it. Maybe I did it. Who knows who did it? Who's behind this? But taking a look here,

the Orioles continue to lead that really tough AL East Division. And that team just, I mean, honestly, I feel like they deserve to be up there. Obviously, the Braves, they're kind of running away right now with the National League. So I feel like That's why the Braves deserve to be above and beyond.

And their run differential is just crazy right now, too. I might put the Orioles first right now. Yeah, I mean, the addition of Jack Flaherty is wild. It is huge. And, I mean, that just, that team will not be, it would just not stop. The one thing about the Orioles is they still have the Rays right in their rearview mirror, and the Rays continue to have. I mean, exactly, in their rearview mirror.

The Rays have been leading that division all year. I mean, they still have a lot of games to play against the Rays, is what I mean. And I think for right now, that's still a pretty cool. close to vision as far as the Braves go. The Braves have kind of run away with, you know, things just a little bit. But, I mean, the Philadelphia Phillies are still, right? I mean, they're still the Phillies, right? I've been trying.

If they get into the goddamn playoffs. People all year. Yeah. All year that it was coming. They were coming. The Phillies were not going to be denied. They were in the whole series last year. And here we are.

I'm not ready to go crazy about the Rangers in a bad way yet. I still think the addition of Scher is going to be very valuable down the way, even though he kind of didn't have the greatest. Even if it's not, like the team is still amazing. You know, you know a pitcher is good when he gives up three earn runs and you're like, well, that was a shitty day for him, right? Exactly. I mean, that's what we do to Zach Allen, right?

And Scherzer got rocked at like the beginning of his first start with a new place. Yeah. And then he kind of figured it out. Yeah. We also have the Tampa Bay Rays there, like I said. But the National League is when you look at things with the National League, they're kind of, I mean, that's one thing that's beneficial to the Diamondbacks, even though they fell off the power rankings this week.

they're still very, very condensed. Yeah. And I mean, so if you look down at the bottom half of these rankings, you kind of see here that we got, you know, the Dodgers, which haven't been playing great yet, you know, as essentially the second best team still in the National League. And then the Giants who, you know, I mean, the Giants have been playing some good baseball,

as we had to watch up close and personal. Yeah, I know. We were there. Listen, I'm putting the Cubs above the Giants of the Phillies. With the way they're playing lately, Yeah, like the Cubs finally make it in the power rankings. Today withheld. They're an unstoppable juggernaut, as you said.

They're on their, they're on the path to the National League Championship. If this is like a what have you done for me lately ranking, then the clubs are top five. Because, I mean, genuinely, they're one of the hottest teams. They might be the hottest team in baseball right now. Well, again, excluding what's happening right now. I think, yeah, right now the Braves are handling business against Cubs. But, yes, the debacks have fallen off our power rankings. And do you blame us?

I mean, I feel like any of you would be. team. You'd be furious with us if we still had them on the power rankings and I don't know any other way to be. But speaking of records and records and someone impacted a team, the Cubs are 23 and 16 since I visited Wrigley Field. And I just want to throw that out there for any of our CHGO peeps that might be watching right now. I need to say this every time the Cups get brought up. I got, if the Cubs suck now, I am definitely to blame for it because I'm all the way in and I got Craig all the way in. Yeah, we did. We got Craig Morgan completely in. this and Craig is furious at us because right now they're getting their ass whooped by the Braves.

And so he's kind of, he's kind of blaming us for, I guess, I guess, because he was protecting his home. Yeah. Well, he literally, we were like, put your heart out there. It was a very fragile protection, I guess, because literally he was just like, ah, I can't do it. I can't get bought in. Not yet. And I was like, Craig, get bought in.

He was like, okay, I'm bought in. And then literally every day now he brings up the Cubs to me. The other day, he just walked up to me. I just had looked up the Cubs logo on his front. phone and just showed it to me. Yeah. It's just like. Has it as wallpaper probably. He's one of those shirts and says the best baseball

game ever played was on a Wednesday. I root for two teams, Chicago Cubs, and whoever's playing the insur arrival here. Yeah, exactly. That's what our job is. Our job is to get these people back all in on baseball. And as you've seen, it's working. We're, us, the pitch clock, there's a lot of factors

at play. But of course, we are very excited for the excitement of Craig Morgan for the Chicago Cubs. But again, when you talk about all of this stuff. We want to make sure that we give a shout out to a friend at Circle K. I stopped at Circle K on the way over to get a coffee. I was dragging my behind today a little bit. I think that these late night games and then these transitions and it does kick your ass a little bit.

So, I mean, there's a lot to be said there. But I will say this, that you need to check out your local Circle K for the best coffee, beer and snack selection and premium gas. And when we say snack selection, we are talking about specifically the CERP. C. Branded snacks. I thought you're talking about the guys that they have on the gas station pumps. No,

the guys that they have on the gas station pumps are sexy as hell. I mean, those are the snack. Those are the real snacks. But the Circle K branded snacks, they're all right, too. Actually, better than most of the other snacks.

They're better than us. They're in the shop. Yep. Polar pops do, we're pretty cold, but polar pops do stay cold longer. Don't miss out on Power Aides, four for five dollars.

You'll also be entered into a competition to win a 2023 Ford Big Ben Bronco SUV. And remember, you get to fight him. as the final emboss for that truck. He can't wait for his opportunity to drive that thing. Also, buy two, get one free Monster Energy drinks, and buy two, get one free, beat box hard tea.

I love the hard teas. I love the hard teas. I love the hard root beers. I love the hard lemonade. I'm a big hard orange soda guy. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah, so don't miss out.

Don't miss out on the hard teas for sure. But make sure you're not missed down on all of this great stuff. Right now, text PHNX of 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club, and you will get a buy-1. and get one free offer on 32-ounce polar pops. Head to circlek.com slash store dash locator to find CircleKs near you. Of course, when you're there, if you need some beer,

the best beer to grab this Four Peaks. You can grab your Four Peaks beer, your Wow Wheat. That's a big fan favorite around here. They have all sorts of official beers, including the official craft beer of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rattle On Red Ale, and so much more. You can find all of these beers at Chase Field at the Four Peaks draft room where we will be for our upcoming takeover event.

we are metering up. We are eating chicken tennies, and we are drinking Four Peaks beers. So it's located on the sweet level at Chasefield. So make sure to join us for that. DeBacks takeover events. You can check out our events page in our show notes to find dates and tickets for that. Of course, for Four Peaks, you can make sure to stay up to date on everything,

Four Peaks.com at Four Peaks. You can also check them out on social media at Four Peaks brew or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. yesterday the MLB teams all revealed their nominees for the Heart and Hustle Award, the MLB Players Alumni Heart and Hustle Award. And baby boy, Corbin Carroll, is the Arizona Diamondbacks nominee for the MLB Players Alumni Heart and Hustle Award.

And I don't know about you, but I can't think of a better player to dominate. It makes sense. It's an award presented to an active player who demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirits, and traditions. of the game. And I mean, come on. Corby and Carroll does it all. He's great defensively. He's turning into some sort

of power hitter that we never saw coming. He can, you know, obviously he's just, he's good at everything, including being a good guy, right? I think he was baseball, but yeah. No, well, baseball, but we saw him steal a base and run over his on Diaz the other day and then he just, what did he do?

He immediately calls time at third base and goes back to check on Diaz. And like, I don't know if that is not a better example of who Corby and Carol is as a person. Yeah, I mean, when people talk about like playing the game the right way, quote unquote, that can be pretty loaded it sometimes. It really is. But I mean,

racially loaded for sure. Yeah, but like Corbin is the prime example of like playing the game the right way. I mean, he plays it with like, I mean, like we said, a passion and like a love. He always got like a big smile on his face. And he's really good at it. And he's just like, he just goes about his business and is just a professional baseball player. He's a professional baseball player. Obviously, then you add like the way he plays the game with the speed and like literal hustle. Like I talk about this. Someone, like he's one of the only players in baseball like every single time he hits a ground ball. No matter where it is in the infield, you're like, oh, here we go. Like this, this could be if it's a double play opportunity, it's not. The other wild thing about Corbyn is he is the one guy that fans from every fan base that I am friends with or that I know know about.

out. Yeah, exactly. Like, he is the guy that everybody in Major League Baseball is aware of. Yes. They know what he's doing. And, like, I mean, outside of Paul Goldschmidt, I mean, you have to almost go back to, like, the, what, the Chris Young days? Yeah, I mean, Coteel was an MVP candidate and people didn't talk about him. Yeah, right.

So, yeah, I mean, one of my good friends from college is a Mets fan. And I hadn't talked to him for a few years, really, since college. And all of a sudden, I get a text early on. on in this season, he's like, should I buy a Corby and Carol Jersey? I was like, I was like, yes. Yes, you should. Absolutely. And yeah, like literally, I'm obviously from the East Coast.

I have friends from the East Coast. One thing I say a lot about Arizona Sports is obviously when you live here, you know about it. But people on the East Coast really just for a long time essentially were just did not care about sports out here. Yeah. And, and. Our games are played so late that they might not happen.

I can stay up to say West Coast, to watch West Coast sports for a lot of times. So people really didn't. pay attention to it out here. So it's really, it's really some kind of sign when players out here, especially like LA is a different animal, right? But like, people don't care about Phoenix sports by and large outside of Phoenix. And we're one of those markets I would put in the same category as like Minnesota and Cleveland and a couple of those other ones that they have the major teams.

And yeah, you know, they make noise every once in a while. They're good. You mean losers? Oh, fucking Damon. I will fight you. you right now. Like Miami? Like Miami?

Yeah. Like the entire city of Miami. People just don't really care unless you're there because they don't win. Or like a loser's school that needs to change conferences. I know. But yeah, no. The reality is that people don't, if you're, you got to do something special to get nationwide recognition out here. Yeah.

And Corbin has clearly, clearly done that. He is absolutely doing. He slashing 276, 354, 525. than 880 OPS. He currently has a 4.1 war, which is 16th in Major League Baseball, 8th best for offensive war. And he's just a good dude. Yeah, he's an incredible man.

He absolutely embodies this. There's a really good chance. I mean, he's still currently the betting odds favorite to win the National League rookie of the year and kind of remains in the driver's seat for that. Like, his production as of late really hasn't been good. I believe Michael Rokickey in the comments had said something about that he was hitting like 236 or something since since he injured his shoulder.

I know he also referred to it as 232 since Shouldergate. And then Nicholas Gruderd's responded prominently, Brost said Shouldergate, which is all we'll be calling it from now on. But again, I know you talked about it. I know we've talked about it. I know I've said it. I know I've said it.

Looking at the Probables for this upcoming series with the Minnesota Twins, it feels like we're in playoff mode. And I mean, again, I know Jesse, If he was here, would say we're being drastic. I know Jesse would say we still have two months of baseball. And so at least we have that. So if the Diamondbacks do not do good in this Twins series,

I can walk it back and I can jump. I can hide behind Jesse. They could get swept here, but if they win that two games, if they win both games on the Dodgers next week, then it's like, oh, we're back. We're a wagon again. Oh, I can't wait to say we're a wagon. One day.

But to be honest, here, looking at these starters, this is, again, the reason why we feel like I other, like this is it. I mean, you got Merrill Kelly, you got Zach Allen, you got both of those guys going in the series. You have Ryan Nelson on the road who has flat out been incredible. Yeah, I mean, that's all you could say as far as his home road splits are concerned. He has been incredible on the road. So if they can't walk out of this series winning two out of three and like Sean said, I mean, I really feel like it needs to be a confidence boost of winning two in a row that just makes you feel like you can win baseball games again.

100%. I mean, that really is the biggest difference. and it's so crazy. It's been a theme this season. It was one of the first things that we talked about back in April that this team was walking around with a chip on their shoulder and a different attitude where they were kind of coming into games with the attitude of we are going to win tonight.

And if they lose, they come in tomorrow with the attitude that we are going to win tonight. That's got to be gone. Yeah, I definitely feel like they have slipped. They have to have slipped into the I hope I don't lose tonight. Yeah, and yeah, like you said it all. They have to at least win two of three. especially when you look at who they have pitching.

I mean, at this point, especially when they're on the road, I would say they have their two, they have their two best pitchers, and then Zach Gallen. Oh, and by the way, the Dodgers series is coming up after this, and I just did the math on it in my head. Did you do the math? Because that's going to be a Slate, Cicconi, and a Brandon Fogg. Are you sure?

Because we'll have an extra day of rest. We have off Monday, correct? So, I don't know. Who knows exactly what's going to be? Maybe it's Brandon Fod and Merrill Kelly. Potentially? I mean, I feel better about that. I would feel a little definitely better, but I mean, I'm not going to feel like.

It's a Dodgers, man. I don't know. I'm feeling good about it. But yeah, this series is huge. Obviously, the season's not over if they lose it, even if they get swept the series is not over. But it just every single loss, it feels like they're digging. I mean, obviously in the standings, they're digging a deeper hole. But just from an energy perspective, like you mentioned that they're the mindset that we're going to win as seems to have disappeared.

And that kind of mental hole is just getting deeper and deeper with every loss. And it's going to be harder and harder to climb out of. By the way. They said on the broadcast yesterday that Tommy Fam is here and that he holds his teammates accountable. And we know he holds his fantasy football opponents accountable. So I almost feel like maybe Tommy Fam is here to smack some life into somebody that ain't acted right. I don't know. We'll see what happens.

That hand is strong. I will also say that shady rays are very strong. When I see that, I mean they are gear built to last. They have polarized lenses, which if you, you. If you don't have polarized lenses, I mean, I know this might be a thing where you're like, oh, let's go get yourself some polarized lenses. It'll absolutely change your life and get them from shading rays. It's an independent sunglasses company, world-class product, and they have a crazy broken and replacement plan. If anything, lost and broken replacement plan, if anything happens to your sunglasses at all, including losing them on the first day, breaking them on the first day, I sat on mine and they sent me a new pair.

Like, they were just wonky. They were just that the arms went out too far after that. And I contacted Shady Ray's. They gave me a brand new pair. No question to ask. They were like, oh, you're the mayor from Phoenix, right? We got you. That's all.

I didn't have to give them an order number. You don't even have to be the mayor though. Yeah, you don't have to be the mayor. But that helps. It helps what? No, I am the mayor of the city of Phoenix. It's not the mayor of Ph. Check in with Heidi Watney at Apple TV Plus and see what she has to say about that.

But of course, they do have a shady raise here in town. It's at the Kierland Commons. You can go check out their wide arrays. sunglasses, of course, you find yourself a pair. You like them in the store or you find yourself a pair online and you don't know what they're like until you get them and you don't like them. They will exchange them for you for a new pair or return them for free within 30 days. No questions asked, no risk when you shop. So, of course, check out Shady Raids exclusively for our listeners.

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It cannot be a Dodgers home game as, I mean, it probably will be anyways, but just make it less so than normal, please. We need to be out there strong, folks. And the way to get there is by getting your tickets through game time. Of course, if you're going to hear us say that a lot between now and when those games take place, if it's the last minute and you think, you know what, Sean was right. I don't know about that Derek guy, but Sean was right. We need to be out there.

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Right. It was his first fray into it. And I think the thing is, is that sometimes, like cannabis, for those of you that are unaware, is like a, it's a diminishing kind of effect, right? The more you do it as me and this guy contest. We would love your tolerance level, new users. We would kill for it. Be cheaper, that's for sure. Yeah, that's for sure.

But, of course, if you keep your tolerance level with something like Wink, which just often, offers a balanced two and a half milligram or five milligram can of THC to CBD. You can keep your tolerance low and still enjoy all the wonderful benefits of drinking. A wonderful drink that has no calories, it has no alcohol in it, and it's just great. Like that's the wonderful thing. It's like we're always trying to find ways to stay healthy. Yeah. Avoid drinking artificial sugars before drinking all that stuff. And Wink is available for you.

It's available again, neither in two and a half milligram and five milligram can. You can find Wink right here in Arizona. look for wink at all Sunday goods dispensaries in the valley and Botanica. Have you been with Sunday's good? I love Sunday goods. Sunday goods are incredible. They're so nice. They're so nice.

Like it's such a nice. Like I mean, I've been to plenty of dispensaries. And at no point have I ever been like, it's one of those things you didn't know you needed, like a nice, like a dispensary to be nice and welcoming and stuff like that. Sunday goods has that.

It can be varied, it can be a varied experience with one dispensary to do the next. Some of them very much feel like you're going to like a... It feels illegal still sometimes. Yeah. It feels illegal sometimes. That's on their goods. They got Wink, so you got everything you want.

And Wink, of course, they're now in 12 states nationwide because of legality. And even recently launched online ordering and home delivery to about a dozen others. So to find the fastest way to get your hands on one, go to drinkwink.com. And Wink is spelled WynK.com. Well, we thank you guys, of course, for being here. We have food to eat. We have bets to place here at Ben. I'm true.

I need that little ticket, that little ticket, my hand, a little ticket. it. We got the Nerfee Friday, $50 insurance going on. So don't not miss out on that, of course. Make your way out here. There's rumors that there's some sort of bonus bets promo that they're handing you while you walk in the sports. So if you want some mystery bonus bets action, get down here for free money. And also put $50, hopped into the promo and put $50 on Nurphy. Ride with the boys. Donembacks are not producing offensively right now. Twins are not very good. They got swept by the Royals. Come on. Let's get down on this. And we got Merrill Kelly on the mountain. So let's go. Of course. The defense is going to come alive and they'll score 18 runs in the first inning. And that's fine.

Catell's hitting home runs. Yeah. If he wants to do that, I will live with that. That's worth my $50. Yeah. Plus they got the insurance. We can get that money back if they do do that. But of course, you can follow us on Twitter to see how we do on these bets.

I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. This maniac next to me is that Sean underscore de Paz. I'm not going to say the loss. The maniac behind the Mac is the one and only Damon. We are Damon's dogs. And you can follow him at Damon Dog, D-A-W-W-V-W. there at the end on Twitter. And of course, before you follow them,

you have to say X is going to give it to you. And then you can do the dog door. But of course, our shows at PHNX underscore Dax and all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for joining us. It's a beautiful day out here at the, at the BETMGM Sports.

That it is. It's always a fun. Come join us. Watch us play some corner. It'll be a fun time. Regardless if you make it out, we thank you again for joining us. And remember, kids, baseball is fun.

But it's so much more fun. when you take accountability for your actions.