PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Jordan Lawlar notches first major league hit in Diamondbacks win over Cubs

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Jordan Lawlar made his major league debut and got his first major league hit in a D-backs win over the Chicago Cubs. We discuss Lawlar’s superb defense in this game, the importance of this win in the Wild Card race, and more!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE 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 WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx WIN MONEY THROUGH SPLASH SPORTS: https://www.splashsports.com/phnx 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!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits of Creams. Go to https://theflowershopusa.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local The Flower Shop dispensary.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.

Let's go. The Arizona Dibingbacks are back, and they are 1 in the Jordan Lawler era. Welcome in to a very special edition of the PHNXD Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am once again confidently, your mayor of PHNX. And that sham, Shane, he's. He's not even in the picture anymore. He's not even in the picture.

He never even took it seriously in the first place, Jesse. But of course, I'm joined by my vice mayor and your Thunderstick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. What a win tonight, Jesse. What a big win at Wrigley Field in Jordan Lawler's debut. And this is one of those kind of all around performances where a lot of people deserve kudos for the way this game went. Yeah, I mean, one of the more complete games the Diamondbacks have played this year, all the way around. I know things got a little shaky there in the ninth inning with Joe Manseh,

Suzuki hit a pretty hard one-hop ground ball that Amanda Moore-Rvera made an incredible play on to end this game. But yeah, all the way around, this was a solid effort for the diamondbacks. And they came in against a really hot Cubs team, a team that I believe had won four games in a row coming into this series. And the D-Backs controlled this game from the very beginning. Tommy Fam hit a home run in the first inning. Debacks had the lead the entire way and they never lost it.

They didn't. And as interesting as it got there in the ninth inning, essentially it still wasn't in danger of the tying run coming to the plate or ever really getting into that point. But it felt there momentarily like we were going down that path. Luckily, Tori pivoted and went to his closer Paul Seawald there to close things up. He didn't mess around with a very dangerous lineup there that the Chicago Cubs have. But Ryan Nelson,

really had a had himself a day and i mean he got he got a lot of help from his defense he got a lot of help from the wind but uh he got a lot of help from the baseball gods right because he gave up eight batted balls with uh exit velo of over 95 miles per hour and yet he only gave up two hits in this game a lot of those were in the air too that those weren't just you know a bunch of bunch of guys beating the ball into the ground as he said i think the the wind might have been a factor to some extent tonight at rigley. Bob was talking about that.

Brenley was saying how you could notice it was noticeable due to the scoreboard there, I think, in left field that like if you hit it at the scoreboard, there was kind of like a gap of no win that scoreboard kind of helped out with. But otherwise, it was kind of pushing balls in. And we saw that. There were a lot of balls that we heard a lot of gasps from the crowd there at Wrigley. And they felt very, very close to the wall. but luckily for the Diamondbacks, they fell short, fell on the warning track, a lot of fly balls that went far, but didn't do any damage.

Yeah, I don't know if I was necessarily super impressed by Ryan Nelson tonight. In all honesty, he got, he only got three whiffs in this game. He didn't get any whiffs on the slider, which is the main pitch that, you know, pitching coach Brent Strom has been talking about as being big for him and something he's been working on during his time in AAA. So we didn't necessarily see that translate in a sense. He did get five called strikes, I think, on the slider, which was, which was good, helped him in some certain situations. It wasn't a useless pitch or anything in this game. But he still heavily favored his fastball, right?

I mean, he threw his four seamer almost 70% of the time in this game, which is something I know that debacks have been kind of trying to get him away from. So, yeah, all in all, I wouldn't say this was Ryan Nelson returning to form or, you know, turning things around necessarily. He kind of looked like the same guy that we saw a couple weeks ago. But in his defense, he was around the zone. He was consistently throwing strikes. I know he had a couple walks in the game early.

But after that, he really tightened things up. He was around the zone for the vast majority of his outing. And, you know, sometimes that works. Sometimes, you know, the batted ball gods are in your favor a little bit. And, you know, if you're getting a little too much of the zone at times, there's some hard contact against you. As long as you're consistently in the strike zone, you're going to make opposing teams earn it.

And, you know, the Cubs, you could argue, did earn more than what they got today. Fortunately for Ryan Nelson, I mean, they only had two hits and one run against him in this game. Five and two thirds innings pitched, two hits, one run, one earned, two walks, three strikeouts. And like you said, not a very impressive outing, but you have to factor in that this has been a Chicago Cubs team,

a lineup that has made a lot of noise against a lot of starting pitchers. I think that the way that the bullpen, and this is insane, this feels crazy for me to say, Jesse, but like the way the bullpen has been performing as of late, Tori could felt like he could put his trust in them instead of really letting Ryan Nelson maybe go through the, you know, lineup a third time too much there. that's why we saw him get pulled at five and two thirds. But I still think that, I mean, even if the, even if the baseball gods are in your favor,

you know, what he did was gave the team a chance to win tonight and didn't give up, he gave up one one. He gave up one run to a potent offense in the Chicago Cubs. And on the flip side, I think Dback's hitters were all over Assad. They're starting pitcher. They absolutely were. It was just, it was just quality of bad after quality of bat. I know Corbyn Carroll tried to stretch a single into a double at one point in this game.

There was a home run hit shortly thereafter. So the debacks could have had, you know, one extra run in there just because of that. But yeah, all in all, I mean, there, they're bats were really good against Assad throughout this game, I thought. And, you know, Assad was kind of an interesting, it was interesting, just kind of looking at his numbers coming into the series. He had a mid-two's ERA. But like I think I said in our show, earlier, the peripherals didn't really line up with that. It was sort of, I at least personally was kind of wondering exactly what was going on, what was allowing him to have as much success as he was having.

And, you know, we saw him have a little bit of an off game here tonight against the debacks. And I think that the quality of the at-bats, the patience of the at-bats against him, was a really big part of putting him in that position. Well, and in Ryan Nelson's defense, by the way, I think it was our very own DFA candidate, Cox who had said that or posted a screenshot of Ryan Nelson kind of I mean dancing around the zone pretty well but hitting the edges and hitting the corners and not getting the calls in this game so yeah that may have contributed also to the fact that he didn't have you know oppressive night numbers wise but a win is a win especially in this series that is so crucial for the

diamond backs and considering they have so many games against this Cubs team a start by Ryan Nelson that they win in a series where Zach Gowan and Merrill Kelly are both pitching. It's a very good start. It's a very good start. But you brought up the offense. And I mean, offense, defense, the main story tonight is Jordan Lawler making his major league debut for this team.

And Jesse, he did not look like a minor league player making his debut in major league baseball. He very much absolutely looked like a major league ball player in this game. I know there was questions at times. about his defense, but I saw nothing tonight that would make you question Jordan Lawler's ability to play shortstop. He was absolutely tremendous out there. He really was. Yeah, I mean, he was just smooth. It just seemed like he seemed comfortable. He seemed confident. There was a double play that he turned early in this game that was a little odd. I know he and Kattel at second base

and got a little crossed up on who was covering the bag. I think it probably should have been Kattel, but the throw was a little bit off. Jordan Lawler steps in and turned it into a clean double play. And then the highlight play of the game for him, I think came in the fourth inning, a Nico Horner ground ball, Loller ranging to his right.

It was impressive. You know, he was making a pretty long throw by the time he got to that ball. And he threw a strike to Christian Walker. It was, you know, it seemed like he had pretty decent arm strength. He had some zip on it.

And he was able to get the out. And Nico Horner, you know, certainly gets down the first baseline pretty well. So I was impressed with what I saw defensively, which made it a little weird late in the game when Tori Lavello replaced Lawler after his fourth at bat with Emmanuel Rivera had him take over at third base. Geraldo Prado-Prodomo shift back to short. Obviously, we're not there in Chicago. I suspect that was just a defensive replacement. So, yeah, kind of an interesting decision. it certainly seemed like Lawler was comfortable out there at shortstop,

but in those key late game situations in front of a big crowd at Wrigley Field, maybe Tori didn't want to put that much pressure on Lawler, you know, get guys in there of a little bit more experienced at this level. And let's be honest. That's a criticism Tori has received at times when it comes to a lot of, a lot of players. Like we've typically seen Tori, especially when it comes to like relievers and starting pitchers and stuff,

kind of leave them in longer than we would feel comfortable for. we feel like he is sacrificing potentially the results of the game for somebody's development. And you know, you kind of feel like this, at this point of the major league season, you know, we shouldn't be doing that. And he's not anymore. That's part of the managing games differently that we've seen out of Lavello over the last, you know, a couple of weeks, I would say. And he's been very vocal about that, that the way that he's, what he's going to ask of these

guys, what he's going to demand of them is going to increase. and they're really going to try to make a push here for the playoffs and beyond. So, I mean, it felt like a fairly good managerial move just to not put your brand-new starting shortstop in a high-leverage situation that might not only cause him to make a mistake that could cost the team the game, but also might crush his confidence potentially, right? So, like, you know, there's two potential pitfalls if, like, that were to happen late, know, in the game. Yeah.

And, and I mean, I don't, it didn't necessarily make any difference that Waller wasn't in the game at that point, uh, because Emmanuel Rivera was the one who made, uh, who made that, that big play at the end of the game to finish this game. And he was replacing Pardomo, right? Prado shifted over to shortstop. Rivera stepped in at third base. Obviously a position that Rivera has more experience with and then, then Perdomo does. I don't know if Pardomo makes that pick there, uh, on that say a Suzuki ground ball to,

to end the game. That was like 100 and 101 off the bat. Wow. It was like a it was a short hop. That was a pretty tough play. I don't know if I don't know if Perdomo is able to make that. That's such a good point. That's such an absolutely good point.

But Jordan Lawler also got his first big league hit on an infield hit. And that's it's nice to kind of get that monkey off your back early on. It just allows you now to start playing baseball. You got your debut out of the way. You got your first hit out of the way. I remember at one point, Corbyn Carroll saying how much. he was just glad to have that stuff behind him so that he could start playing baseball and focus. And I imagine that's that's pretty helpful to someone like Lawler.

I would I would think so for sure. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say he was, you know, super impressive at the plate today necessarily. He certainly took some pitches. He had, I think, some, you know, some decent at bats. But, you know, the results weren't, weren't necessarily great. There was a slow ground out in his first at bat. There was a strikeout.

there was a pop-up. His hit, I think, was about 75 an hour off bat, something like that on a ground to third base. But yeah, I mean, I think Lawler is primarily here to face lefties. I mean, I think that's why the debacks made this move is because they think Lawler could be an asset for them against lefties. We talked earlier in the show about his ridiculous numbers in the minors this year against left-handed pitching. So I don't know necessarily how many times you're going to see him in games against righties, like the Cubs. had out there today, Tori talked before the game about this just being, you know, kind of like you were saying earlier with getting the first hit out of the way, like just get him right into a game right

away. Don't have it just like sit in the dug out and just watch and have some of the nerves build up, just get him right into the action. So yeah. And this felt this this this this felt like a big game and a big environment being at Wrigley Field and everything like that. Like there was already a lot pressure I felt on him in the environment that he was in. So like, again, it's just a nice, a nice way to not have that stretch out. I feel like once you start getting into like four games, five games into your career and you still haven't gotten that first hit, it starts building up mentally and starts becoming more of an issue than it should. We've seen this kid absolutely rake at a AAA level. So hopefully we will see him, you know, start to do that here at a major

league level soon. But just congrats, man. I mean, congrats to him to come up to have this debut go the way that it did today and for the Diamondbacks to get a big win on this day. But a big part of this win obviously was the offense and the way that Diamondbacks were able to generate those runs today. And there were two guys responsible for that. One of those guys could tell Marte, who remains good at baseball, Jesse. His two-run Homer and the third made this win seem possible to me. The Tommy fam home run in the first. That was nice. It was a nice start, but it was a solo home run. Tommy Fam gets that shot, puts the Diamondbacks up one nothing. But we've discussed at length coming into this series how good this Cubs offense is. And I was not comfortable with any kind of one run

lead at any point in this game. But Cattell hits that two run to Homer. And that that's when it started to feel like maybe Ryan Nelson and this crew of misfits might actually get this game, you know, take, take game one in a very, very, very, very important series. But that home run was also more important because it interrupted a wedding ceremony going on out there. They actually showed the wedding ceremony, I believe, during Christian Walker's foul ball. But it was going on, obviously prior to this. And I just think it's hilarious that Kattel Marte hit a home run that went ahead and interrupted someone's wedding ceremony. look at that guy there, Jesse.

Look at that poor man on the right who just wants to watch a baseball game and instead has been invited to these people's wedding. I don't know if he knows the bride and groom, but I'm going to bet he doesn't. That's not the look of a man that's very happy that a wedding is taking place near his section. I mean, is he actually in the wedding? Or is he just unfortunately happened to be sitting right next to you? I think some people were just in the section.

I could be wrong about that. I could just be assuming, but could you imagine going to a critical baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs and having a wedding breakout in your section? The wave be damned. This by far is the most interruptive thing I've ever seen at a baseball game. I also love this man that is getting married. This man that is getting married is living his absolute best life. I don't know who his wife is, but I know she absolutely. deserves to have all, all, everything she wants in life given to her by her husband,

considering that she allowed him to have them get married at a baseball game with a tuxedo that had a Cubs jersey sewed in the back of the velvet jacket you were wearing. I love everything about this so much, especially after being at Wrigley, I get it. Riggly is a cathedral to baseball. So why not get married there? Why not get married there? Yeah. Gabriel says me and you, Gabriel, let's go. Let's do this.

I just want to make it clear. This is not an engagement, right? That happens at baseball games all the time. All the time. No, this is a guy going to our audio listeners. There is a wedding going on in the stands. And it is wonderful. There were women in like dress it like nice dresses.

Like there wasn't all just Cubs jerseys made into tuxitos. Like there were people there actually, you know, doing the damn thing but i think it was in the outfield too right it was like it was yeah it was a yeah it was a stand somewhere i mean that's a that's a pretty dang affordable wedding right there i might have to you are not wrong wedding at some point because have you seen how much it costs for like a wedding venue these days derrick stupid jessie i got married i don't what 2009 i got married 14 years ago and back then the price was outrageous i can only imagine with the price of retail properties going up and skyrocketing how much it costs these days.

But like, yeah, do you want to spend $20,000 on a hall to get married? Or do you want to get married at Wrigley during a game? I mean, it's probably pretty dang affordable. It's a simple answer. It's a simple answer. It's a simple answer. It's a ticket, something like that. Like, it's pretty dang.

I'd make the wedding party buy their own tickets. That's what I would do. Everybody's got, but I'm not buying your ticket. Like, I'll maybe pay for your tuxedo rental. I'll pay for you that you to have your jersey made into a Texas. but I'm not paying for your ticket. What a game, man. What a game.

But of course, we talked about the offense and not just could tell interrupting a wedding. But Tommy Fam also had two opo tacos with a 110 mile per hour lineout. So he was hitting the ball very, very hard. He had the solo home run in the first and then the big two run shot in the top of the eighth that really like that was when I just threw my hands up and said, we're back. We're a wagon.

It's back. We're back. You know, the Diamondbacks went up big. And they also did the thing that they did in that Colorado Rocky series where I felt like they kept their foot on the pedal. They continued to add on. And they knew it. They played the game.

Like at any point, the Cubs were going to be able to come back. And the Cubs could have at any point come back. So, I mean, this was, this was like you said earlier, a very,

very well-rounded win for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I mean, I think when Tommy hit that, that second home, I mean, it was a 3-1 game at the time. and it kind of felt like the debacks really had opportunities to score more runs than that at that point.

You know, it was one of those games where you feel like, all right, we probably should have like five or six runs right now. We've only got three. Is this going to be one of those games where if the bullpen scuffles a little bit, you know, things get sideways on you in front of a big crowd on the road. Tommy's home run was enormous for that. Just creating some distance, making you five, one. They then made it six to one.

Tori did ultimately still use Kevin Ginkle in the eighth inning. I think it was a five one game at that point. He still used Paul Seawald in the nine. He was awesome too. And why not, Jesse? Every game is important at this point. I mean, I know at some point you got to give the guys a night off. And Paul Seawald only pitched one third of an inning, but it felt pretty crucial because

it really did feel like the Cubs were mounting something there. And I mean, just I think just a change at the mound from Mantipli was needed at that point. But they got the job done. Yeah, yeah. And even, you know, Paul Seawald only through, you know, what was it like four or five pitches, something like that. So it's, it's not like you're concerned about him going into tomorrow or anything. I'm sure he could, he could still pitch tomorrow if the Diamondbacks wanted him to. However, why was he removed? Why was Tommy Fam removed there in the eighth inning? Any ideas? Tommy Fan was removed in the eighth inning. Um, interesting. Oh, no. I, I might have been wrong. about that. I'm sorry. Maybe you are right about that and I just I just did not catch that during the game. I didn't notice Tommy fan being removed in in this game, but it's certainly. I might have been wrong about that. Like I said, I have that. It might have just been a crossover on another note. I apologize. But the debacks did have three stolen bases tonight. And the last time was I just confirmed with the box score. Tommy fan was not removed in this game. So yeah, he stayed in. but the debacks had three stolen bases against yan goms the last time uh when corbin stole he failed to unleash a throw

yeah yon gomes is uh there might there might be some some something the diamond backs can exploit shall we say during the series had had three stolen bases um in in this game and uh yeah yon gomes in his last attempt when corbin carroll stole he was he was unable to even unleash a throw uh he tried to throw it and then it basically just bounced on the ground in front of him. So yeah, he's not a terrible. I mean, he doesn't have a terrible arm or anything. I think his pop times a little below average. He grades out.

I think he's at minus one and catchers caught stealing above average in this game. So or on the season. So, yeah, he's not he's not terrible or anything, but the Diamondbacks got him three times with stolen bases in this game. And you have to believe with how much speed is on this roster, they're probably going to look to continue that. Well, for our Kingsnake tonight, of course, it's got to be the guy with two home runs in this game. It's the one and only Tommy Fam.

Happy beginning of fantasy football season, folks. Tommy Fam is our Kingsnake. Two home runs, three RBI. Big night. Big night for Tommy Fam. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he's kind of, he's a really important hitter for this team because he's hitting

third basically every day. So you can't really afford to have a guy right in the middle of your lineup, you know, scuffling for an extended period of time. And that has sort of been the case a little bit in recent days. He has not been the same hitter that he was with the New York Mets. But yeah, I mean, two for five with a couple of home runs. He's looked a little bit better at the play overall. And as you mentioned earlier, he also had a line out in this game at well over a hundred miles an hour off the bat as well. So he's hitting the ball hard and he's starting to look a little bit more like the hitter that he was with with the Mets before coming over. Tommy Fam has an 801 OPS now this season. So not not terrible, not terrible in 262. So he continues to be a surprisingly

good asset for this team and continues to have a major role in the lineup when he's he's kind of slotted in there in that third spot in the starting rotation. And then that seems to be a spot. Tori LaVo Lovola likes them at. So, well, we thank you guys so much for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Obviously, we did a special show. We wanted to make sure we covered Jordan Lawler's first game and it did not disappoint. So if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications.

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But depending, uh, if you place your first bet MGM sportsbook wager through MGM sportsbook mobile application of at least $10, you will receive $200 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager's outcome. So make sure to sign up for bet MGM and use bonus code PH and X. Uh, all right, Jesse. Well, we talked about it really briefly. And I honestly, they deserve way. more than that with the way that they've been pitching lately.

This, how about this bullpen? How about this bullpen in this game? And how about this bullpen just lately for the Arizona Diamondbacks? Yeah, I mean, you always have to like kind of take it with a grain of salt when, you know, some of that recent success is against the Rockies, right? I refused to. No, absolutely not. I figured that wouldn't, that wouldn't go over well.

But, yeah, it's been, it's been better for the Diamondbacks. right. Ryan Thompson has really settled in to what is essentially at a high leverage role. I know that he has not been with the diamondbacks very long and was in the minor leagues as of about two weeks ago. But the diamond backs have inserted him into, you know, he's not the eighth inning guy. I think Kevin Ginkle has Kevin Ginkle and Paul C. Wald are clearly the two highest leverage arms in this bullpen. But Ryan Thompson is kind of right in there. He's kind of right in there. He's kind of right in. that mix. And he's looked pretty good for the Diamondbacks. Once again, a very uneventful inning from him in this game. Andrew Saul-Frank continues to look pretty good as well. He came in and retired Ian Hap in order to get out of an inning at one point. So, yeah, other than Joe Mantyply, who obviously wasn't fantastic in this one and gave up a

run on three hits, this bullpen was solid in this game. And that's huge for this Diamondbacks team. right as of late when they have been struggling it it really hasn't been because of the bullpen it's been more so because of the starting pitching which we've talked a lot about recently and how how rough that's been in recent days Ryan nelson obviously had a had a good bounce back outing today so it's going to be huge for this team going forward down the stretch i mean how many of these 50 50 games in the seventh eighth inning how many of those games are able to turn into wins that's really what season could could come down to and over the last few days it's it's looked pretty good for

for them. The, when you look at Ryan Thompson coming over as an Arizona Diamondback, uh, he has not given up a run since coming over here. He has given up a precisely one hit and four and a third's innings pitched. And his batting average, uh,

opponent batting average is like 0.8, maybe even lower than that. But, uh, he, he's zero point eight like point 0.08 like 0.08. 0.08.0.08. Yeah. 0.0.0.0.0. Yeah. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. Yeah. 0. 0. 0.0.0. 0.8 would be like an 800 batting. No, no, no. No, I think I said 0.08. I said it right. I think I said it right. But I'm usually wrong about these things and you're usually right. But I mean, yeah, it's just mantiply. Yes, made things interesting tonight. And I understand that. I think that right now the Diamondbacks have options that haven't really had the mileage put on them like that someone like Miguel Castro has. So now Tori is able to utilize these guys a little bit more freely.

We know we've seen them kind of open up to the opener kind of concept with the bullpen, kind of towing the load on a short outing by your starter or your opener, whatever the case may be. But I mean, right now, things, things feel pretty different. I mean, it doesn't, it just, it's so many new faces that it's literally not the same guys that this team has been relying on all season long. When you look at this, you know, Ginkle and Mantiply are the only names in this bullpen that have been here. At one point, Ginkle was in AAA. At one point, Mantleply was injured and wasn't, wasn't around. So it's like.

And Mantiply was in AAA too. And Mantleply was in AAA down there. Yeah, absolutely. So it's like at one point, none of these guys were on the roster. And this is the guys right now that are pitching pretty well for Tori Lavello. And like you said, Ryan Thompson has quickly become a high leverage guy that Tori Lavello feels like he can count on, even though he's only pitched four games now for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Connor says Derek definitely said 0.8.

So just to just to, we're really on point today, Derek. Did I'm pretty sure before when you were talking about Tommy fan exiting that game, was that me putting on our show rundown that Tommy fan exited this game when he did not? In fact, yeah, yeah, we're really, this is what happens when we do two shows in a day. We're just like, we're just like spewing off incorrect stats and like, like,

like theorizing about players coming out of games when they actually didn't. It's been a day. It's been a day. To be fair, I'm pretty sure that just got moved down, the rundown from the Jordan Lawler section. But yeah, Jesse and I, we're trying our best here, folks.

Be careful with bullet points, kids. You have to make sure that like the sub point is underneath like the right. People know what I'm talking about. This is where your teaching comes into play and it's perfect. Kevin Ginkle 2.93 ERA dating back to August, the first game in August that he pitched. He has an opponent batting average of 151. Is that better? Sorry about that other mistake.

But like, Ginkle, I mean, Ginkle continues to be lights out. I know you spoke to him. And I just was wondering, is there anything particular that's kind of sunk in and made him like just be a different guy. I don't even know if he was a different guy because when he got sent down, frankly, he was pitching well at that time. Yeah, I did talk to Ginkle for a while

the other day and yeah, he talked a lot about his balance on the mound. There have been some subtle changes and some of his pitch usage and shapes this year. He's throwing a slider a little bit more. His slider looks a little bit different. Last year, it was very heavy

vertical movement, not much horizontal. This year, it's still very heavy, vertical movement, but those two things have come into balance a little bit more, has a little bit more two-plane break than just being more of a straight-down pitch. But yeah, it didn't really sound like those were intentional changes in the, you know, in like a pitch-shaped sense or even a pitch usage sense. It sounds like the biggest thing for Ginkle this year has just been his balance on the mound. And he talked to me about, you know, when you watch a guy like Jacob de Grom pitch, for example, just like the, the, the,

sort of harmony of every moving part as part of your pitching motion, right? Everything just kind of works together and flows together and it just sort of looks good altogether. And Ginkle felt like he might not have been quite to that point. And this season, he's put some work in on that front. And it sounds like that's been a big part of his success this year. And that was a topic once again that Brent Strom brought up the other day when he was talking about working with Seawald and Zach Gallen.

and he was talking about, more importantly, you're like the balance, body kind of, you know, evening out. We brought this up, the glove side, glove side stuff being just as important because that's where you throw. So if you're kind of tilted like this, you're throwing up, if you're tilted down, you know,

and it makes sense. It makes sense. But it's also hard to remember at times that pitchers have so many mechanics that they have to perfect and have to remember to, to basically replicate every time they're out there on the mound, how easy sometimes those mechanics can slightly go off and then maybe keep going in a direction where maybe you're moving your glove down more and more.

You're a little bit off balance more and more every time. And you just, you know, that's contributing to the lack of success, especially with these guys like Zach Gallen at times where it just seems to be kind of a mystery, why he's a different guy on this day than it was the last time that we saw him out when he was so. dominant, you know. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of little, little things, right? The pitching coaches notice and a lot of people watching games have no idea what's going on, right?

A lot of times it's really subtle. And we've seen Zach Gallen. I mean, just like being up in the press box the last, the last few days when the team was here in Arizona, seen a lot of Zach Gallen, you know, kind of messing with that and, you know, trying to make sure that his, his balance when he's on the mound is where it should be. And like you said, he's not like tilting at all in any particular direction when he delivers a pitch. So, yeah, the debacks needs Zach Allen to be Zach Allen. And he gets the ball once again tomorrow. And it's going to be really big whether he's able to kind of bounce back from two pretty rough outings.

An early start on that one. Is that 1120? 1120? 1120. Yeah, 1120. It's the, it's the Wrigley field. thing one 120 local time 1120 arizona time and that will be the rest of the series so saturday and sunday will also be at 1120 i believe if that's correct yeah i think so well uh make

sure to join us we'll be back here for another post game show tomorrow after tomorrow's game of course we always appreciate you guys being here in the chat we appreciate you guys hanging out with us in the discord and we love you guys for being diehard members those of you that have already signed up If you haven't, come on over and join us. The Diard membership pays for itself. Get all sorts of wonderful content. You get everything that we have to offer. You also get access to our members-only Discord lounge,

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Join us over here and get yourself a diehard membership over at go phnx.com. Also, I love the clothes from pins and aces.com. Pins and aces is the official golf apparel partner of PHNX in all city, but I will tell you one secret I have. I don't play golf, not that regularly, but I still buy their stuff because I love it. It's lightweight, it's wonderful, it's comfortable to wear. They've got amazing patterns, all sorts of fun stuff that be had.

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That's the one thing about getting the diehard membership is you get the Dobson Ranch Ranch card. Then you get yourself some awesome looking gear from our friends of Pins and Aces. And then you just go and hit at the driving range at the Dobson Ranch, at the Dobson Ranch Golf Coulth. It's the best thing. I love, I don't want to walk a whole bunch, Jesse. I don't even want to get in a little cart and drive a row. round. None of that's appealing to me. I have a driver's license. I own a car. I don't need the little version of it. I like to just sit and drink beers and hit balls hard. And that's what's fun about

places like top golf. So yes, you absolutely need to do that. And yes, we do need to get a PHNX die hard top golf session going. That's on my list. I will add that to the list right now. But also, if you're coming out to any of our events or if you're just doing anything around the valley, it's hot, it's miserable. We still can't get away from summer. And you need to stop by a America's third stop, which of course is our friends at Circle K. They also have super cheap gas, but you can also get even better gas by joining their Inner Circle membership program. It's going to save you 25 cents per gallon on your first five Phillips.

It's also going to get you, buy five, get six free, get your sixth one free on a selection of Circle K products, including pizza, coffee, and ice cold fountain drinks. So join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the CircleK app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. Jesse, these wild card standings continue to get wilder. And I don't know if the Diamondbacks or if the Cubs maybe, maybe the Cubs weren't the ones that weren't ready for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I don't know. But let's take a look at where we are at on the Wild Card standings because things are looking good. Things are looking good. We are back. We are in fact back, y'all. We are in fact back. Yeah. I mean, the Diamondbacks are back in the third wild card spot for whatever.

that's worth, right? With a little over three weeks to go. None of this matters yet. Just keep winning. Just keep winning. We shouldn't scoreboard watch. We shouldn't look at this. But man, it's fun when the Diamondbacks are actually in the spot, though, right?

When they're in the spot, it's fun. It's not depressing. It doesn't feel bad. This feels good. This makes me happy. This turns my day around. Yeah. I feel like that like that's a real thing as a fan.

Like if your team is like actively in the spot where you want them to be versus like half a game out of the spot where you want them to be. I mean, that can be the difference between like you having a good day and you having a bad day right there, right? So, yeah. I mean, the Diamondbacks also, of course, gain a game here on the Cubs. So they're now only three games behind the Cubs. We obviously have three games left in the series.

We've got three games between these two teams coming at Chase Field next weekend as well. So that's not insurmountable. I mean, it's certainly not something. that you would expect. It would take a very dominant performance from the Diamondbacks over a Cubs team that has played really well lately. But it is possible with how many games these two teams have together over the next couple weeks, six of them still to go.

The Diamondbacks still have some serious opportunity to gain some ground on the Cubs and maybe even move up in the wild card standings, you know, if they were able to get hot here. So, yeah, I mean, you've still got the Marlins and the Reds both a half game out. So it's not, it's not particularly comfortable right now for the, for the debacks. The Marlins lost the day. The Reds had the day off. They, they open another series tomorrow.

The Giants are now two and a half back. So, yeah, it's, it's not comfortable, but the debacks are, are back in the playoff picture after this game. Now, as far as their playoff odds go, we do know, I do know on the betting side that they had the same odds as the Cincinnati Reds. I'm not sure if that changed today just because they have. have a half game lead on the Reds, but what do their odds look like besides the betting side of things?

Yeah, I have fan graphs open here. They update this thing pretty quickly. It is now updated after today's game. So they have the Diamondbacks with a 39.4% chance to make the postseason after today's game, which is the highest out of all of the teams that they're directly competing with. It's not higher than the Phillies or the Cubs, but it is higher than the Marlins who are at 29%. we mentioned earlier, they're a half game out. The Reds are at 23.1%.

They're also a half game out. And the Giants who are two and a half games back at this point have a 21.9% chance to make the playoffs according to Fangraph. So, yeah, I mean, these numbers are changing every day. But once again, I mean, this is about as good as those numbers have looked here for the debacks for a while, being right around a 40% chance in making the playoffs right now. I want to give a shout out to B.com C clearly. Thank you for your super chat.

that B. Comcy clearly said, there's my baby Ryan, good win, and good job. Hey, I don't care how he gets it done. If Ryan Nelson can go out there and give him near six innings and give up less than three runs every time, I will take it. And I don't care how he gets it done. But thank you for your super chat, not just now, but all the time. We always appreciate you stopping by with the super chat. You've been great about it.

So, and let's take a look, honestly, the rest of the probabilities for this series makes me start feeling a little confident, which is probably. a mistake on my behalf. But I am still super excited about this Justin Steele, Merrill Kelly matchup on Saturday, Jesse. That looks great. Brandon fought.

We still don't know what we'll get out of him in a start. And hopefully we get the Zach Gellon we want to see on the mound in tomorrow's game. Yeah. And I mean, him with him facing James and Tyo and like we talked about in the show earlier today. I mean, that's a really favorable matchup for the Diamondbacks. You mentioned Saturday with Merrill and Justin Steele.

Sunday with Kyle Hendricks and Brandon fought probably advantage advantage Cubs in that game with Brandon Fott having some struggles in recent days. But yeah, I mean, the game that they won today on paper is not really a game that they were supposed to win. So, you know, with your number one and number two starters going here over the next few days and the Cubs not necessarily having fantastic starting pitching outside of Justin Steele, debacks are set up really well here for the rest of the series. they have a chance to help Zach Gallin in the Cy Young race too right like Zach Gallin gets in a good

outing and they can beat up on Justin Steele that that helps things that helps things around the deal is probably yeah I mean Justin Steele is probably your frontrunner right now Spencer Strider had a had a big clunker the other day his ERA I believe is three eight three I want to say or high three seven something like that six runs I think in like three and yeah he's at the point where I mean he he really just like can't give up runs the rest of the year. Like he maybe give up like two or three runs the rest of the year. I know the strikeout numbers are ridiculous.

The peripherals look great. But you're just not going to win a Sy Young Award with an ERA that high when there are other guys like Justin Steele right now who are sitting right around two and a half. So yeah, Gowan is certainly still a mix. I don't know if he's, he's maybe not in the top three at this point.

It's pretty close. I think both Blake Snell and Justin Steele probably have an additional. advantage there. I think, yeah, I think Spencer Strider might be below him on the list now, although that probably depends on who you ask. But there's still some time left in this season, right? There's still some really pivotal games that the Diamondbacks need to win. And if Zach Allen is able to turn things around, he's able to get back on track, he absolutely still has a shot to make up that ground and come away with this award. We have some updates from the minor leagues, just a couple. Ivan Melendez, which is

everybody's favorite Hispanic Titanic, was placed on the IL, seven-day IL? Yeah, Melendez is on the IL. I have not been able to find out to this point what the injury is there. So we're just kind of in a wait-in-see mode right now, hopefully able to get some information on that soon.

But yeah, it's been a while since he's played. He had homered in, I believe, about two weeks or so leading up. to when he hit the injured list. So maybe it was something that, you know, would have been impacting his performance as well. I expected it probably would have. He's obviously had a, you know, a solid year all the way around in the minors this season,

working his way up to double A. But yeah, we'll hopefully get some updates on that soon. We got an important update from one of our favorite minor league players. And that is, of course, Jake McCarthy. Jake McCarthy, another four-hit night. The man is hitting 360 407, 680 in the month of August entering today. I guess this is September too, but is that in the month of September or in the month of August?

Are you broken again, Jesse? Did you forget what month it was? It's September. It's September. We're batting a thousand tonight, folks. He's hitting those numbers in September. I wrote so many notes on our show rundown today that are just egregiously false. So I apologize.

Yeah, those are his numbers in September. This is your precious Jesse? This is your precious Jesse, chat? The one that doesn't make any mistakes? All right. Yeah, I guess I'm human. But yeah, those are answering today. So Jake McCarthy went four for five in this game.

So, you know, those numbers even ticked up from there. He's hit really well in September. And I don't know about you, Derek. But I have to believe that Jake McCarthy is going to find his way back up to the majors before too long. Why isn't he here to take Payvon Smott? And I mean, again, it's hard to address these things respectfully sometimes

because, again, we are talking about people's livelihood, just like the thing, you know, with Nick Ahmed. But at the same time, too, it comes to performance. And it really feels like, if not Jake McCarthy, that the Diamondbacks still have other options that are better than Pave and Smith. It really just feels like Pave and Smith is, like a break glass in case of emergency backup that can serve at different positions

should something kind of happen drastically. But he's not in that role. He's actually getting playing time. And that's the part that doesn't really feel like this makes a lot of sense. I mean, yeah, I mean, the debacks have, they have four outfielders on the roster. They have Emmanuel Rivera on the roster who could back up Christian Walker at first base. Pavin Smith doesn't really, at least from what I can tell, he doesn't really need to be here. from a positional standpoint.

So yeah, I mean, he had a really good stretch in Reno, you know? I mean, I think it was a month or more where he was really, really hitting the ball well down there. The Diamondbacks called him up and, you know, trying to see if they can catch lightning in a bottle and if that success would translate to the big leagues. And so far it hasn't. I mean, Haven Smith has a 184 batting average on the season with a 629 OPS. As we've talked about earlier in the year, those aren't numbers that you can really

stomach at a DH spot when you're not really providing value in other in other areas around the game. So yeah, in my mind, you know, Jake just just would be a, you just adds more value, right? I mean, it's the bad is not necessarily a huge upgrade. You don't necessarily know how much of his success and Reno is going to translate, but you know that there are other ways that he can impact a game. That's it. That's it.

And he's cool as hell. That's the other thing too. And I think he shaved the mustache. So, I mean, this is a very serious Jake McCarthy that is ready to ball button. Again, we want to give a shout out to BetMGM. Don't miss out. If you haven't, we implore you to please check out BetMGM. Place your best first BetMGM Sportsbook wager through BetMGF Sportsbook mobile application of at least $10.

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beer to celebrate anyone. It's actually the perfect beer for everything. But make sure to check out our friends at Four Peaks and all their wonderful beers. This one is my favorite. Hopefully you find yours. You can get them wherever you get your beers at. You get them out of your grocery store, which I know people love how I pronounce that. And also, you could follow them at their on their calendar, events calendar at 4Peaks.com slash events to stay up to date with everything 4 Peaks. You can follow them on social media at 4Peaks Brew and at 4Peaks Pub to keep up the latest in Arizona's hometown brewery must be 21 or older to drink 4Peaks and please drink responsibly. Last but not least, I told you guys I lost my shady rays of sunglasses.

I have contacted the company. Jesse, I'm getting a new pair of Shady Ray's being sent out to me. And that's the way it works. Because Shady Ray's has the in craziest. lost and broken replacement plan in all of eyewear. And if you do something like I did, which I have no clue where I left them. I'm sure maybe one day I'll find them in like in between the seat and the middle console in my car or something. I will find them some crazy place three years, four years from now. It doesn't matter. I don't have to wait until that moment in time to get my new sunglasses back because I just called Shady Raise. I told him I lost them. And they said,

bro, we got you. No questions asked. They're lost and broken replacement plans. sends you out a brand new pair, even if you break them on day one. Again, no questions asked. They have your back long after you purchase, including if you don't like your Shady Rays or if you do not love your Shady Rays. You can return them for a new pair or you can get your money back within 30 days for free. No risk when you shop with Shady Rays. They also have a location here in town at Kierland Commons or you can shop their website

at ShadyRays.com exclusively for our listeners at Shadierrace.com. They're giving out their best deal of the season. Go to that website, Shadierrace.com. and use code pH and X for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 250,000 people. Well, that's all I got. It's been a long, long 48 hours for me and this guy, but we appreciate you guys being with us, sticking with us, having our backs, all of that stuff.

You guys are wonderful people. And of course, we appreciate you most of all for stopping by. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with the K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. Of course, the most important thing is even though you can't see him, even though we can't see him,

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And we wouldn't be here doing this thing the way we do it without you guys. So we appreciate you enjoying what we do. And we thank you guys so much for being fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the meantime, we appreciate you once again for being who you are and for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun. But it is so much more fun when Jordan Lawler is on your team.