PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is Series With Scuffling New York Mets JUST What Diamondbacks Need To Get Back On Track?

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

The Arizona Diamondbacks need something to go their way, and a four-game series with the struggling New York Mets might be exactly what the doctor ordered. But is this a must-win series for the Snakes considering the direction their season is going? We also discuss our Power Rankings for this week and Ryan Thompson getting a dish named after him at a local Valley restaurant.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Desert 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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.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.

and welcome in to another edition of the PHNXD-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Happy Thursday to you all. Of course, I am occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This man next to me, always known as your thunderstick, sometimes known as a vice mayor, but randomly, seldomly known as Jesse Friedman. Of course, we are here to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks upcoming series with the New York Mets that starts tonight, as well as some other fun stuff, including our power rankings and our boy

Ryan Thompson getting his own dish at a restaurant here locally in town. But if you think the Arizona Diamondbacks are down bad, let me introduce you to the 2024 New York Mets, everybody, because things are not going well for that team either, I guess you could say. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they've lost eight of their last nine games. They've lost 13 out of 16. They've lost 15 out of 19.

I like all those little. That's great. Yeah, I keep going. Yeah, they have really strong. struggled as of late and the Diamondbacks are a team that is obviously struggling in their own right and trying to turn things around. And it feels like a series against the New York Mets is sort of exactly what you would want at this point in the season.

But then again, Derek, like we saw them lose a series to the Marlins over the weekend. We saw them lose a series to the Detroit Tigers. It kind of feels like the Diamondbacks are capable of, I guess, winning a series against anyone and that they did win a series against the Dodgers last week. but also losing a series against anyone. We've seen them get beat by some pretty bad baseball teams so far this year. Ernesto puts it perfectly in the comments. Ernesto says,

today a stoppable force meets a movable object. Who will be claimed victory by default? I don't know. But of course, we do have a lot of information on this New York Mets team. Let's take a look at the Mets stats this season. Here are the Mets at a glance. They have a 22 and 33 record. a minus 37 run differential.

As Jesse mentioned before, they are two and eight in their last 10. They have lost eight of their last nine, 13 of their last 16. Starting pitching ERA right now for the Mets is 4.36, which is 22nd in Major League Baseball. They have a 3.79 relief pitching ERA, which is middle of the pack at 14th. Team OPS 674, again, also 22nd in Major League Baseball, and minus eight outs above average here, which is good for 23rd in Baseball. Not not a very good baseball team at all also minus 32 for defensive runs saved which is tied for last in the entire league This is a team that the diamond back should be able to get right against so of course

The Mets will probably get right against Diamondbacks that's usually it's probably how this works now this you know we talked about getting taking care of business right and so far the Diamondbacks haven't really taken care of business against those teams that at least on paper logically you would think that they would have the advantage against, right? This is another one of those teams that the Diamondbacks on paper are better than, however, how they're playing in their last seven games really isn't much better than what the Mets have done in their last seven games. Right, yeah. And I mean, looking a little closer at the Mets, like Francisco Lendor has not really gotten going at all this season. He comes in with a slash line of 21, 279, 372.

we just played a series, Diamondback just played a series with a certain shortstop that had numbers that seemed a little bit below what we're used to seeing. And that particular shortstop still had a pretty good series, of course, talking about Corey Seeger. So Lindor has heated up a little bit here over the last week or so. He has an 842 OPS in his past eight games. So someone the Diamondbacks are certainly going to want to be careful with despite what his season numbers say. of course jd martinez derrick landed with the new york metz uh he has a seven he has a seven 30 ops this year though he hasn't been uh nearly as good as i think people expected him to be granted um it's not a super big sample size 114 played appearances he was a little plus a really late start for him yeah really late start

for him he was injured out of the gate uh so that that could be a factor there uh peter lanzo took a pitch to the hand in yesterday's Mets game against the Dodgers. He is not in the lineup today and is day to day. So maybe the Diamondbacks avoid Pete Alonzo for the whole series. It seems like there's a chance he could get back in the lineup at some point. But yeah, I guess they dodge a bullet there in some ways, at least not having him in the lineup today. See, it's like all of these things that essentially even due to injury are going to the Diamondbacks way a bit makes me be that much more skeptical that they're going to win this four game series. And this really is an important four-game series because the Mets not only have lost some key pieces,

they also just lost Edwin Diaz, who was placed on the I-L with a shoulder impingement. What does that mean, Jesse? Did you figure that out? I think it seems like you could always relate to all of the years. Well, I can. Yeah, that's an impingement sounds like something I would very much call something happening to me in my knee or my shoulder, so I can relate when it comes to that. but I definitely can't relate to, you know, what Edwin Diaz has gone through

because he's had such an up and down season. And considering that the Mets missed him all last year, you know, that has to be a huge blow to this team. That not only was he not very good, but now here he is going back on the IL with any kind of injury at all. Yeah, it's been a tough year for the Diaz, Diaz bros, Alexis Diaz of course, the closer for the Reds. The debacks got to him a few weeks back.

Kevin Newman, of course, with the big walkoff hit in that game. That Diaz has not had a great year, and Edwin Diaz not had a great year either for the New York Mets. But yeah, he goes on the IL, I guess theoretically makes the bullpen a little bit thinner. And this is a Mets bullpen that hasn't, although they're kind of middle of the pack for the season,

they've had some bullpen meltdowns late in games over the last few days. We saw that yesterday. I think Adam Ottavino gave up four runs and their loss yesterday against the Dodgers. So this is a very beatable team, Derek. But given how the Diamondbacks have played lately, that hasn't, they've still lost to some pretty beatable teams. So it's hard to go too far down. I remain cautiously pessimistic when it comes to playing any series

that the Diamondbacks should win. But speaking of meltdowns, Mets reliever Jorge Lopez had possibly the biggest meltdown of all. He has been designated for assignment by the Mets after a complicated series of events, Jesse, you could say. This started out with the Wednesday's game against the Dodgers. Lopez was tossed by Third Base Empire Ramon de Jesus after arguing a check swing call in the eighth inning of Wednesday's game.

Then after he was tossed out of the game, he proceeded to throw his glove over a very, very tall net in one shot, which is impressive because that's not an easy thing to do, to arc it over the net and to get it to a fan, which has to be the coolest souvenir you could ever take home from a baseball game. Am I right? I mean, even a bat is cool, but the glove, a player's glove that was literally in the game? Come on, someone walked away with the best souvenir ever.

However, Lopez did not walk away with very good feelings or at least any kind of good relationship with his team. He threw his glove into the stands after that. And then Mets manager Carlos Mendoza discussed, you know, basically talking to him about that. The things got worse when we then talked to the media because I don't know. We're still unclear if it was a lack of a lack of understanding what he was trying to say. Maybe he may even misinterpretation of his words or maybe it was just him being emotional and saying how he really felt in the moment. But here is what Lopez had to say after the game in regards to that incident. Carlis Mendoza said that he understands the emotion,

but that particular action of throwing your glove into the stands was unacceptable. Looking back on it, do you regret doing that? No. No, I don't regret it. I think I've been looking at the worst team in, probably in the whole M-LB. So, you know, whatever happened, happened. So whatever they want to do it. I'll be tomorrow here if they want me, you know, whatever they want to do.

So I'm going to keep doing this thing, you know, so I'm healthy on whatever, you know, and whatever to do, you know, I'm ready to come back tomorrow. If they want me to be here, so I'll be here. When he said I'm going to keep doing this thing, does he mean keep throwing his glove into the crowd? I don't think so. I would hope not. I don't think so. And, yeah, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding this quote.

people wondering, did he say, did he call the Mets the worst team in probably the whole effing MLB? Or did he say that he has been the worst teammate in probably the whole effing MLB? Of course, those two statements have very, very, very different meanings. It sounded like he said teammate. It sounds to me also like he said teammates. And that is contrary to what I think talking baseball had it on their on their Twitter account. They said team.

And I believe that was after S&Y, which is the actual broadcast part. of the New York Mets that originally posted this clip. They also said they said the same thing on Twitter. They said team, not teammates. So, yeah, it felt like it felt like you probably should be pretty careful in these kind of situations and making sure that you represent those words correctly when those two different meanings are obviously so different. Right.

And also, this is someone who English is not his first language, right? I don't even know if the regret thing was properly, if he, and I, I, I, I, I, I, I, don't know this i i'm speaking just speculating here but i don't even know if when he was saying like no he doesn't regret it if he even meant that in that way right like i think that part was pretty obvious i know i pretty clearly was asked do you regret throat tossing your glove over over the uh the backstop but then his next statement would essentially be no that he doesn't regret it but he's the worst effing teammate you know the worst teammate and effing baseball right so like i don't know if he was just really down on himself there in that moment.

Like it didn't really feel like his answers really were making sense to the questions as much as he was just frustrated and emotional. And we probably did regret that. But I mean, that's the problem is in those moments, right, those questions are tossed up. And usually we get non-controversial answers, right? It's very easy for you to give the right answer typically after a game unless you're being honest. And, you know, it felt like he was venting there and being a little honest and not

just giving the canned answers of, yes, I regret my actions. I didn't mean that, you know, act out that way or whatever the case may be. But it definitely felt like what happened on the field was enough to potentially cause the team to consider moving on from him, let alone his answer afterwards being picked up one way or another. We also have another clip. Yeah, this is him, one of the reporters that was there tried to clarify. Like, did you actually just say that you play for the worst effing team in all of M.M. And this didn't actually really bring a lot of clarity to the situation.

Here's how, here's how Lopez responded. Just to clarify what you said, just because I didn't fully understand. Did you say, I'm on the worst team? Is that, is that what you had said? Yeah, probably. It looked like. And that they were embarrassed by you? Is that what you?

Yeah, they do. There it feels to me like he doesn't understand the question. He doesn't really understand the question. Yeah. And this is where. you know, you and I being in the Diamondbacks Clubhouse, some guys whose original language is not English, some of them want a translator and some of them are okay speaking to the media in English. But you can very much understand why a player, even if they are pretty comfortable talking in

English, how, you know, these little subtleties are really important. And you really want to make sure you get something like this right. So it gave me an appreciation for like, yes, it is okay if the player who, who knows English pretty well still wants to use a translator because it's hard to make heads or tails of this situation after the fact. And after the fact on Instagram, Lopez did kind of, I guess, blame the media there for taking it out of context, which, again, it does seem like he might have misunderstood. And then it got put this way.

He said, whoever hear me say, I said teammate and I said on to the, what I said on the situation, I've been the worst teammate. Thanks media for making it worse is what he's saying here. Yeah. And like, I mean, yes, media is going to make comments worse because media hears what you say and then puts it out there. Right. And they did try to clarify what he was saying afterwards. So it's not like they just took it for granted.

But it also like I was telling Jesse this beforehand. I speak Spanish, but not well. And sometimes I often act like I understood what someone said. even though I have no clue what they said. So, I mean, you know, sometimes when there's a language barrier, you might attempt to answer the question because you were able to understand some of it, or maybe just in general, you really weren't understanding. I don't know if that's to blame here or if it really is just the fact that Lopez was emotional in the moment,

just like he was when he threw his glove into the stands and made comments that, you know, are going to reflect poorly on you, especially if they were about the team and not yourself. I still her teammate. Gabriel in the chat says, I'd rather hear him say that than I gave 100% it's a long season. Which, I mean, those are the canned answers that we typically get at times whenever we do talk to guys after a game or especially after an incident like this. Like we have a lot of moments where, you know, things get heated in a baseball game. And when we go to talk to the player or Tori even afterwards, they try to give a much more, you know, a much more professional answer than I'm sure than they even want to, right? because it's part of the process. You don't want your comments to then become a situation the way that this has for Lopez.

Yeah, I mean, I think no matter what exactly he said after the fact, whether it was team or teammate, I think we can all agree that this isn't the proper way to respond to, you know, struggling in the eighth inning. And I think he had just given up a home run. It was obviously a tough spot. The Mets aren't playing well. But yeah, you don't want your reliever to be throwing their glove into the stands. You don't want him getting tossed, arguing a call with the third base umpire.

You don't, yeah, there was also some controversy about whether he had talked to Carlos Mendoza or not about this incident where he had said that he hadn't when in fact some people were saying he had. There's all sorts of different angles to the story. I don't think he dealt with this situation particularly well. He clearly was still feeling the emotions and was still kind of in the heat of the moment when the media was speaking with him after this. But yeah, at the same time, like, Jorge Lopez has been around for a while. There's an interesting story on Yahoo Sports where Jake Mintz, our friend from baseball Barbercast, talked to a number of different sources who know Jorge Lopez well.

And it seems like he has a little bit of a history of this of maybe like right after the fact having a little bit of a harder time controlling his emotions. But that at the end of the day, he's, you know, he's a really good guy and a good teammate. And he's also dealing with some or has dealt with some other. stuff over the years. In this story, it talks about his son who has, sounds like a really brutal illness that keeps him from being able to watch his dad pitch at all, or at least watch him pitch all that much.

And it sounds like it was his son's birthday yesterday, which was, I imagine that was maybe an emotional moment for him. Jorge Lopez also has talked about some mental illness, some mental health struggles in the past as well. So at the end of the day, he's a human being. and I think we can all kind of empathize with like we've all had bad, you know, bad days and, you know, doing what we do and that stuff happens to everyone. And it's not always easy to control your emotions. You're literally here after every show I do.

Jesse has to put up with two to three times a week, me talking about how much I suck once we turn this camera off. So, yeah, we're not always, we're not always happy with our performance and sometimes talking to someone right after, you know, the, the game. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's what we want, right? We want them hot. We want them emotional. And somehow over the years, they figured out a way to keep their answers very generic so that they don't give us that emotion, that they don't give us those talking points. And then when they do, it ends up potentially costing a guy his job because the situation spirals out of control. But that's kind of everything going on with the Mets right now. Nothing is going right for them. And we can relate. The Arizona Diamondbacks, of course, don't have a lot going right for us right now.

but at least they don't have this kind of, I guess, toxic kind of energy going on with their clubhouse right now and with some of their players. They had like a 40-minute team meeting after the game yesterday. This situation with the Mets is a lot bigger than just Jorge Lopez's comments after the game and him being getting designated for assignment as a result of that with also, of course, him kind of struggling on the mound recently. Yeah, it sounds like the Mets sort of reached a breaking point after the game yesterday, and they are, they are just. just really struggling trying to turn things around. I saw earlier someone had tweeted out that a whole bunch of their infielders are out getting early work in today, which is something that they're not used to seeing out there. So I don't know.

I mean, from the DeBacks perspective, is that, like, worry you that the Mets are really trying to, like, blocking it in right now? Yeah, this is supposed to be kind of their turnaround moment. I don't know how you would view that. Piece of Yoshi is saying the quiet part out loud. He says, so anyway, do we want to pick up Lopez? is the real question here. I mean, we'll take any bullpen help we can get,

even though our bullpen hasn't been that bad lately. Let's say, let's say that. It's a 376 ERA. I'm just saying. It's not bad. I'm in. I'm just saying.

Elise also said we've all had bad moments. Ours just usually aren't caught by a bunch of media members. Right. She also said something earlier on. Can you back up there? Damon. Elise said a little bit up in the comment. She said the media taking advantage of a guy speaking to them

who's having a terrible day and who's not native English speaker. I don't like that. And I think that is something to be said here for sure in regards to, especially when you listen to it back, you definitely, definitely hear perhaps some confusion there and answers not necessarily lining up to the questions. But regardless, the Mets, the Diamondbacks, both of these teams right now, they have to go out and they have to play baseball. They have to play four game series, in fact. And we have the probable pitchers for this series. Let's take a look at how things line up. We have the milkman going in Game 1 here against Christian Scott, Jordan Montgomery in game two against Louis Saravino.

We got Blake Walston going against Sean Mania. And of course, in game four, we had Brandon Fought going up against that diabolical mastermind TBD. You know what, Damon, why don't we have TBD stats? Where's TBD stats? No TBD stats, Damon? He's ignoring us now. He doesn't care. He hates us.

Anyway, this is a good, I mean, again, another situation where the Mets is. don't have terrible starting pitching. So considering the way that the Diamondbacks are hitting right now, I'm not, I'm not very concerned. I'm not, I'm not very confident. I'm very confident. I'm very confident. Okay.

It's the other way. Yeah, yeah. The, you know, the Mets made some interesting moves over the offseason. I think you and I were kind of puzzled by a lot of what they did over the winter. But to their credit, Luis Severino has come in and been actually really good for them. As you can see here, I'll start that second game of the series against Jordan Montgomery. He has a 3-2-2-E-R-A so far on the year. And Sean Maniah, another move they made that I was kind of puzzled by. He's coming and had a 3-16-E-R-A to start the year. He'll start

against Blake Walston on Saturday. So, yeah, it's, you know, the debacks are getting to the Mets two best starters in this series. Christian Scott has also been pretty good. I think he's just made a handful of starts. So from a starting pitching standpoint, they're not getting off easy here by any means. And this Mets offense is, uh, is interesting. It's, you know, Francisco and Dor, you know how good of a player he can be. You know how good Pete Alonzo can be. He's a little banged up as, as I said earlier, I don't know how much we're going to see him in the series. But Starling Marte still, D-BAC's legend, Starling Marte still plays for, for the New York Mets. He's been just, just kind of okay this year. It seems like a lot of their, a lot of their hitters have been just kind of okay to

to start the season. Well, and they will be without Pete Alonzo, at least for game one. We have no idea how long he'll be gone. But I guess before we move on, we have to ask the question. Is this a must-win series against the Mets considering their struggles? Does this, I mean, is this a point if the Diamondbacks can't take care of business against this Mets team with everything they have going on right now, is this the point where things start to unravel? And not to say they haven't already begun to unravel for this team, but is that the point where if you can't get it done against the team

going through what the Mets are going through right now and the way that they've played this season, do you really start to worry about the Diamondbacks season from here? I mean, I still have a hard time calling any series must win in May. I just can't bring myself to do it. But I will acknowledge for sure that the Diamondbacks need to turn things around. and the New York Mets, like if you, you can't, you know, hold your own against the New York Mets,

then, I mean, there's not a whole lot of teams in the NL that are, that are worse than the Mets right now. So, yeah, must win, no, but it's a series the Diamondback should at least be able to split on paper. Is a split of failure in your mind? Probably not. I mean, it's not great, but I think a series split on the road, I think in general is kind of a fine outcome.

I wouldn't be too dramatic about it yet. But I mean, maybe you would be. I imagine you would be. I would absolutely be dramatic about it. I think that this is one of those situations. Like we said, we've seen the Diamondback struggle against teams that were playing decent baseball. We've had our excuses. But when it comes down to the loss to the Marlins specifically, I think that's where people really started to, you know, start to worry.

about their ability to take care of business against the teams that they need to take care of business against. There's only so many teams on their schedule that right now you look at and on paper should be must-win series or should be very winnable series for the Diamondbacks. They, you know, again, they've taken care of business against the Reds and some other teams that they were able to do that against who were struggling at the time. We said the Mets or the Reds were a better team than we felt their record indicated and we felt that they were playing. at the time. And they actually are. Like the Reds aren't playing terrible baseball, just

struggling in the same way that the Diamondbacks are struggling right now. The Mets right now have a lot of things going wrong with them, not just injuries, but a lot of internal issues right now that should technically be a distraction. This should be a series of Diamondbacks should be able to take three out of four. I'm not going to panic if they do split it.

But if the Diamondbacks were to get swept by the meds, I'm going to be a basket case. warning you now like going to come back in Monday and it's going to be uh the season's over uh turn chase field into a parking lot all that kind of stuff all over again so uh i hope that's not the case but we do thank you guys of course for being here in the phn exports youtube channel right now if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet do so right now sign up for notifications that way you don't miss whenever our wonderful shows go live and of course uh drop us a like we always appreciate when you do that if you're listening on the audio podcasting side make sure you subscribe on your

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All right. Well, we are going to pivot here away from the Diamondbacks and take a look at the rest of Major League Baseball with our power rankings for this week. Jesse Friedman, what do you got for us? We got a new number one, Derek. That's what we got. The New York Yankees. Oh, my goodness. To the number one spot. They continue to inexplicably have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. even though Garrett Cole has yet to throw a pitch this season, which is wild to me. The Phillies drop down into the number two spot. They're still 39 and 18.

But they were three and four this past week. A little bit of a rough, a little bit of a rough go lately by Phillies standards. It's crazy when you play teams above 500, how that goes. It does. Yeah, I guess it does. I guess it can make a difference if you're not just like beating up on the Marlins every week. Yeah, the Baltimore Orioles are in the three spot that we've got Dodgers for, Guardians 5. Brave 6, Royal 7, the Milwaukee Brewers at number 8. We have a new team in the top

10 this week. The Seattle Mariners coming in at number 9. They've been playing pretty good baseball as of late in pretty big credit to several former Diamondbacks, Derek. Josh Rojas is playing pretty well. Ryan Bliss. Yeah, Ryan Bliss made his big league debut this past week. Dom Kanzone has been back from injury for a couple of weeks at a home run. believe yesterday. So they're in the number nine spot. Then we have the Minnesota Twins rounding things out at number 10. Devin says Phillies dropped a series to the Rockies.

So thus can the Phillies only move down one spot? I think that that alone should cause them to move down multiple spots. The Orioles went six and one over the last week. That's nuts. That's the reason why you see they're the biggest change. It felt like the Orioles were kind of dropping out of things and then they come right back with a six and one week. They have a plus 69 run differential. Nice.

Yeah, the Phillies, it is fair. I guess the Phillies just lost two out of three to the Giants after losing two out of three to the Rockies. So those aren't great teams. Although I will say the Giants by taking two out of three from the Phillies are now one game over 500. It's 29 and 28. So the Giants have kind of turned things around lately. They have. So the Padres and the Giants now kind of both of them sitting there above.

of 500 while the diamondbacks now have to deal with the fact that they have the Rockies creeping up on them with the way the Rockies have been playing. The Rockies creeping. I mean, the Rockies have had a pretty good week. I don't want to talk about the Rockies. They don't deserve time to be spoken about during our, you know, top rank, top power rankings.

But the Diamondbacks are much closer to the Rockies than they are to the Dodgers. That we can, that we can say. The Rockies are 20 and 35. You said that. The Rockies are five games behind the Diamondbacks at this point. You're right. That's a lot closer than I realized. Yeah, the Chicago Cubs, I will also say real quick,

the Cubs had a pretty brutal week. I believe they were one and five. And they just cannot hit. And of course, Diamondback's sort of in the same boat there. But yeah, the Chicago Cubs have very much struggled lately. Their run differentials down to minus eight. They're back to 500 at 28 and 28.

So they drop off the top 10 this week. And also Shoda Imanaga, Derek, proved that he was, in fact, a human being. Finally. And yes, finally. So he gave up, I think it was seven runs in his outing yesterday to the Milwaukee Brewer. So of course, you know, give up seven runs. Are you already still sub two? So that's the state of Shoda, Imanaga's baseball career at this point.

But yeah, a bit of a rough one, a bit of a rough week for the Cubs. I will say the St. Louis Cardinals are also. and maybe a little more relevant than we gave them credit for a couple weeks ago. 8 and 2 in the last 10, yeah, and they are at 500 themselves. Giants get up over the top of Mount 500, 29, and 28. And then you could give an honorable mention spot to the Rangers as well for sweeping the diamondbacks and getting the... Like they were almost, both of the teams that were in the World Series were almost in the same spot when this series started. Very similar.

Right. And now, yeah, things look much better for the Rangers than... the Diamondbacks. But of course, the Diamondbacks do have four against the Mets. And like we said before, if there is a team to have right now, to be playing right now, it's the Mets, unless they actually like take that stuff to heart, those team meetings, that early infield practice, and then maybe not so much. But things are just rough for the Diamondbacks right now.

I mean, this hasn't been a great season around baseball. Like we said yesterday, the National League is kind of a mess when it comes to teams. with an above 500 record. There weren't many, especially before yesterday or the day before, but this is just a situation where the Diamondbacks can't drop back too far. They're five games below 500. They have a chance to at least keep it close to 500 here with this series against the Mets. We discussed yesterday.

They have Geraldo Pardomo potentially making a rehab start early next week. So we could see Pardomo return as. as early as what, the following weekend, would you say maybe? Yeah, yeah. I think against the Padres next weekend, I think it's possible that the Pardomo is back with the debacks. Where do you think we would have the debacks if we were to add them, if we were to,

we were to, like, continue our power rankings down until we got to them. I guess the- Man, that's rough. I, I, the Giants and the Padres would have to be higher, right? They're both, they're both a game over 500.

Cubs. So that's 11 and 12. Cubs would be higher. Cubs are close because of how terrible they're playing right now, but I would still maybe put them higher. So, okay, so you've got maybe Cubs at 13th. Cardinals, they've won eight out of ten. They're a minus 35 on the season.

I'm still a little bit skeptical of them. Sure. But I think that's probably fair. Rangers would probably be. I mean, it'd be hard to put Rangers below them after they just swept them. Yeah. Red Sox I would probably put above the debacks there at 500 and have a pretty good run differential this year.

So yeah, that's what six teams that we just listed off. So that would have, that would put the debacks at number six. 17, I think. Not great. Not great. But of course, hopefully they can get things back on track, like we said. This is the series to do it. So I'm going to change what I said earlier and I'm going to be cautiously optimistic now and say hopefully they can get things back on track here.

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Ryan Thompson making waves. Not only is he the visiting clubhouse pop a shot champion for the Texas Rangers ballpark there, but Ryan Thompson now has his own dish here in town at Ancelotas called Thompson's Taco Sliders. fantastic. Do you think he made them? Like did he make these at home?

He did create them. Yes, he actually did create them. It includes a shrimp stuffed pineapple taco, a carneasada taco, and an Alpestore taco. And it was a creation by, of course, T-Time, Ryan Thompson. We are Ryan's dogs. So how does he have time to be like a major league pitcher? And he's also in seminary, as we've discussed. He's also a student.

And he catches pro wrestling three times a week. Avid pro wrestling viewer. And he's also making these tacos. He has to eat sometimes. Fresh at home every day. But he's to eat, Jesse. He has to eat. Do you think tacos are like that it takes time that he had to like trial and error it?

I mean, the man knows what he likes. And when asked what he likes, he was like, we're going to do my three favorites that I make myself all the time. I mean, he might be a professional. athlete, but he also is a human being that has to consume food in order to stay alive. Not everybody hates making

themselves a sandwich that they don't get to eat in that same moment. My co-host can't stand packing his own lunch. Can you understand how he's going to feel when he's a father? He has to pack a small child's lunch and then he doesn't even get to eat it? Oh, wait until those days

come around. Derek, what did you bring for lunch today again? Don't shame me. Look, I brought uncrustables and I am not on trial here. It's not about me. It's about Ryan Thompson. One cool part about this is a dollar from every one of his taco sliders sold. We'll go to Ryan's favorite foundation, which is JR98 Inc.

And JR98 Inc. It's a foundation, which its goal is to advocate for mental health and suicide prevention. It was started by a former teammate's parents. his teammate with the Tampa Bay raise, Gene Ramirez, who died by suicide at the age of 28. So a big part of that charity, obviously, is his connection to his former teammate. And, I mean, when you talk to Ryan Thompson about his teammates, you understand how much they mean to him. He has very much expressed to us how much his teammates mean to him. So you can only understand how much that this foundation means to him.

But I was just- I want to go try it. Yeah, we have to try. We have to go try it. We have to give it a review. I also wonder what other like restaurants and ideas can we get out there for other players, right? Because the one thing I want to really address here is what a fire name Thompson's taco sliders are considering that Ryan Thompson throws a slider. Right?

That's very important. Yeah, that's fair. He does. Yeah. It's a primary outpitch. There you go. Like I was thinking that subway could have a Marte Parte sub. Yeah.

Okay. Right. Yeah. Yeah, that feels right. And I mean, it could be like our little GIF where he comes up and he does a little dance in the commercial as you see. It's a three foot long party sub. Okay. I don't know.

What's on the, what is it? Is it ham? Is it salami? Like, what are we thinking here? I mean, that seems very, like I would, I feel like it would have some spice to it, right? It would be like a Chipotle mayo, perhaps. Okay. Maybe some jalapenos on there.

Bacon. I know avocado, definitely. Avocado, definitely. And then a series of meats. It's got to be very flashy. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Right? Yeah, is the bread like, can we make the bread teal or something like that?

Yeah. Yeah, with like a pinkish sauce on top. Yeah, we're really talking. What about Corbin's corn on the cob? There we go. Yeah. I mean, that's self-explanatory. Like, it could have some taheen or something.

Espo's giving me a thumb down for that. All right, Espo, I got another one for you. Jock stock. Coming to supermarket near you. Chicken stock, beef stock, it's about soups. How about jock strap and deep? Okay, let's calm down over there. How about the crabby-gabby?

You know, like a crabby patty, but if you mean, Gabby, it's a meatless burger made with seaweed. There's also drinks, Zach Gallens, milkman, milkshake, goes pretty hard, right? And then there's just the Lordus Goreal Jr. That's what it's called. It's a frozen beverage with a lot of alcohol in it. It's got like multiple umbrellas sticking out at the top. See, at least gets it, a lot-tay style with the Corbyn's corner on the cob. Yeah, now we're talking.

Should the Lordis have like some sort of pineapple thing? Yeah, that's crazy that I would be served in a pineapple. There you go. Yeah. Served in a pineapple. And it's a purple drink, right? Like it's like a frozen purple. I think, I think that they don't cut all the leaves of the pineapple off.

They leave some on the sides. Nailed it. Hallow it out. Nailed it. I mean, why aren't we need to be selling these all over the valley? You want to talk about how we get these guys out of a slump? There's the answer. Look at how well Ryan Thompson is pitching. Case close. That's all I'm saying. Get these guys some product endorsements. Get them some dishes around the valley. And we'll fix this team. We'll fix the problem. We'll figure it out one way or another. Of course, we do get to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play the New York Mets today.

We have to. That game is good. Yeah, I was going to say. I'm kind of surprised you worded it. to have to watch the Diamondbacks play the New York Mets. But of course we will be around for that. You can join us tomorrow. We're going to do a postgame show tomorrow on Friday so make sure to come back here for that. Jesse also has a preview of the series

on the record as well which will dive a little bit more into this more so than we did today. But you got anything else before we go? Yeah, I think that's about all I got. Let's watch some more baseball Derek. This team's very very entertaining over the last

the last week or so. Shane had the audacity to ask us that the Diamondbacks played next Saturday. They just, they play every day almost. Like, the season doesn't stop. This is baseball. Can I,

can I ask you real quick? So the Diamondbacks haven't hit a home run in their last five games. Who, who breaks the, who breaks the trend? Cattel. Cotell? Today.

Jock. You say Jock? Damon says Jock. I say Cotell. I think Cotell gets the shit together today. Okay. So you think it's happening today? Yeah, I think it's going to happen today.

Yeah. I think it's going to happen today. It has to. It has to end today. I'm putting money on it. I might just go put some money on it. I'm not so sure anymore. We'll see. But, of course, we thank you guys so much for being here.

Shout out to Andrew Dang. Thank you so much for your sticker. He says, pair character with love... Is that just emoji? Okay, that's an emoji description. I'm not going to read that. No, you have to read it. Okay, I'll read it.

All right. Per character with lovie-dovee eyes blowing red hearts in the air. Thank you, Andrew. To you, Andrew. Groundhog Mama says, I'm wearing my lordish shirt today to bring him luck if he swings at the first pitch and it isn't a hit. I'm taking it off. All right.

Let's go. All right. We're figuring out ways to break this slump. But of course, we thank you all for being here. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kapp underscore K-Man with the K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, the people's producer, Damon, is at Damon dog.

That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs. But, of course, all roads do lead to at P-HNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for being here today. Wait,

Elise says, Let's be real. It'll be Payman. She's right. It will be payment. That'll be who breaks up the... Jesse, let's get a prediction from you. I think Lourdes will hit.

I'm going to go with Lourdes. There we go. I thought this guy knew ball. That's crazy. Anyway. Lardis. That was disrespectful. The man hit.

I think he homered in each. of the Diamondbacks first three games. Like, Lordus, when he gets hot, he can, I mean, he hit 24 home runs last year, Derek. Yeah. I don't know why you're being so critical of that decision. I think I'm, I think it's fair that I'm being this critical right now. Shout out to Devin for being here the first time live.

He says he usually listens on Spotify at work. Thank you for being here. Happy to have you. Do you think that the Diamondbacks are, it has felt over the course of the season, like when they've had an elongated hitting slump, they eventually respond by scoring 37 runs in one game or something like that. Do you feel like that's what's going to happen this time as well?

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow. It feels like tomorrow is more of that day. All right. Luis Severino then. Severino. I said Saravino earlier. So at least I...

Clearly you don't have very much respect for him. Not even a little bit. Not even a little bit for Sebi. And Yoshi made sure he let you know about it too. You did. Yeah, I noticed that. At first, it was. When I pulled up the graphic, so I thought that I, like, misspelled it.

And I was, like, checking over my graphic just because Yoshi, just, like, every time he says anything, it just scares the shit out of me. Like, I think I screwed something up. Yeah. Sorry. I'm not, look, I don't say names well on this show. You should know that by now. It's part of the gimmick. He's not only just the grammar police.

He's just, like, point fingers guy. Yeah. Like, he just loves pointing fingers. Yeah. What are you doing to get the diamondbacks out of the slump? Yoshi? Huh? What are you doing?

That's what I thought. But, of course, again, we thank you guys, again, so much for being here. We will see you tomorrow. And in the meantime, go snakes. Hope you guys have a wonderful afternoon. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you get to take home a reliever's glove that he threw into the stands.