PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Jordan Montgomery Gets SHELLED By New York Mets As Diamondbacks Lose Fifth Straight

Episode Date: June 1, 2024

The Arizona Diamondbacks losing streak drags on in New York as the Mets take the first two of this four-game series. Jordan Montgomery may be giving the D-backs buyer’s remorse with his performance at Citi Field, giving up six earned and eight runs total in four innings. We have more on the loss and updates on Zac Gallen’s hamstring injury. Derek also says good bye to his mustache, which he is shaving off live on this episode. 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.

got nothing. I've got nothing. I've got nothing. I have nothing. What in the hell? I just, oh, I need a second. Welcome in to the PHNX Diamondback Show right here on PHNX. Of course, welcome in to flavoring Fridays presented by our friends at OGs. And I need the biggest bag of OGs that this company has to offer after tonight's loss. Of course, head on over to OGs brands.com to see their full lineup, including their two newest gummies, the OGs naturals, and and the big O'Gs and find out where you can purchase them. Whoa, that was a tough loss. Arizona Diamondbacks lose tonight in New York to the Mets by a score of 10 to 9.

That score may fool you into thinking this game was much closer than it was. And maybe it could have been had things not gone the way that they went tonight for the Diamondbacks pitching. Of course, my name is Derek Montia here in the Circle K studio, occasionally known as your mayor of Circle K. This man next to me is your vice mayor of Circle K, occasionally known as your thunder stick. Jesse Friedman. Jesse, this one, this one, this one hurts.

This one hurts because this one felt like it was over. Well, it felt like the Diamondbacks were finally going to have a lead and maybe get an early start, get their offense going. It did get going. But unfortunately, Jordan Montgomery was very, very bad today against the Mets. Yeah, this one, it felt like kind of a tease. There are some people in the chat calling it. had a sort of a troll job by the Diamondbacks here.

It absolutely was. I felt like when they were high-fiving in the dugout, the ninth inning, I was like, I get it. You high-five after a home run, but I really feel like you're just in my facing this to me. Like, oh, my God, I knew they were going to get close. They did get close, but not close enough. They come out. They score three runs in the top of the first, which is, I mean, that was big, right?

Diamondbacks have obviously struggled mightily over the last few days offensively. I think they've only scored three runs in a game once over the past week. And they came out, they scored three runs in the top of the first inning. You're feeling pretty good. And then Jordan Montgomery comes out and gives it all back. And then some, the Mets score four runs and the bottom half of the first inning. The Diamondbacks never led the rest of the way. However, they were down 10 to 5 going into the ninth inning.

And they inexplicably hit two home runs. One of them, a three run shot by Jock Peterson, a so shot by Christian Walker. Those came on back-to-back pitches and a 10-5 deficit turned into a 10-9 deficit. The Diamondbacks Derek scored as many runs today as they had scored in their previous six games and they still lost this baseball game. That is life as an Arizona Diamondbacks fan right now. I don't even know what to say about that. Thunderbolt 47 who literally only shows up when they lose to scream and curse says I say that every loss.

I do not say this every loss. This fucking loss was ridiculous just because of the fact that this one they felt like they were in, that it felt like they were completely out of. And then to have this happen here at the end after they were down by such a significant amount, this team still has only won one game this season when they have been down by two runs or more. And they're going to flirt with a comeback like this here at the end. I mean, there are some positives to take away, I guess, that the offense finally got going in this one. If the pitching would have been competent at all and held the lead, held any kind of lead, even if the bullpen would have been able to hold Jordan Montgomery's terrible night, the Diamondbacks might have still won this one nine to eight, but we know that that's not how this would have played out.

There's no way they would have hit those home runs to go up late. It had to be like this. This is how it had to happen with the way this team has been. playing baseball this year. Yeah. Yeah, Jordan Montgomery was not good in this game, Derek. He was not good in this game. He gave up eight runs on nine hits.

This is the first time. This honestly kind of shocked me. This is the first time in Jordan Montgomery's career where he has been charged with eight runs. Granted, not all eight were earned. He gave up six earned. He has given up seven earned in the past, but he had never given up eight total runs in a start prior to tonight.

He did not have it, Derek. And the Diamondbacks have actually fared pretty well in his starts. I think after today, there's still five and three in games started by Jordan Montgomery. He's gotten quite a bit more run support than a lot of other starters in this rotation. But it's, it hasn't been, it hasn't been great, Derek. Montgomery, after tonight has a 5.48 ERA. And he is sort of the last man standing, it feels like, in the Diamondbacks rotation at this point. I know Brandon Fott is technically in there too,

but you felt like you had this big four of sorts with Gowan and Merrill Kelly and Montgomery and Erod coming into the season. And Montgomery is the only of those four who is still healthy and pitching. And he has been, frankly, a shell of himself so far this season. As Derek is now, what is happening over here? Look, we grew these mustaches out of solidarity for the playoffs. Oh, this is the playoffs. Stash.

All right. Okay. This is absolutely the playoffs. And I think that it's been the most, forget the mistakes made tonight. Forget how bad Jordan Montgomery has been tonight. The real mistake has been the fact that I haven't shaved this off before now. So just out of frustration, this is what's happening now.

This is the mustache going away live on the show. Wait, I need it to be shorter because it's got to just completely go away. It's gone now, Jesse. No more mustache. You guys did this to me. The Arizona Diamondbacks did this to me. Do you think I want a little mustache? I like to have a mustache.

My wife liked it. Does this mean, Damon, are you losing your playoff stash too? I told Derek, I so help him God, if he approaches me with that thing. Okay. All right. My mustache is holding on tight back here, Jesse. Yeah. Okay.

I don't look good without a mustache. I'm going to tell you guys, I don't know, but it doesn't matter because this is what's asked to happen. This is what they pushed me to here. As we discussed the other night, I apparently am not at all observant about, like, your facial hair situation. but I am observant enough to say that it looks very different right now. As Derek tries to attack Damon and see if he can shape his mustache as well. Yeah, basically assault is what's happening over here. Yeah, this was rough, Derek.

It almost like, I'm curious for you, would you rather the Diamondbacks have not hit two home runs late in this game and just lost 10 to 5 and made it a little? little more straightforward, maybe a little bit less heartbreaking? Or do you feel like those couple of bombs at the end? Like maybe that's a, that's a sign of good things to come. Oh, man. I'm going to say that, uh, boy, you do look. You do look very different. It's bad. Yeah, it's a bad look. I'm just, you look young, Derek. I mean, I, I know. That's why normally I don't do this. Um, what do you like 32? I guess. I mean, you're, you're taking this in a good direction. I like this now. It's a big of me feel. Um, um, I know. Um, Feel better.

That's not your business, Tim, by the way. That may or may not be my only shaver. I don't know. I'll leave that up to your imagination. I'll say at the very least, if you want to talk positives, it's encouraging to see them not only finally break out of their home run slump, which would have been six games without a home run. They had not homered in a week, and then they homered three times a game

and twice in a matter of two pitches. That's, I mean, it's a positive sign. We've talked about how, when they do get on a roll, it doesn't carry over to the next game. So from that, I still want to see if this causes them to now kind of be out of, you know, this slump that they're in collectively as a team. But I don't know. I guess it hurts a little bit more that they got this close.

And then you watch Lordus Coriel have that absolutely terrible at bat. And it once again reminds you of how this team has looked at the plate at times. That was one of the worst at bats I had ever seen. someone in a big situation take, I swear to God. I mean, it was five pitches, none of which were even really close to the strike zone. And he swan, I guess there was one that was way far outside that Lourdes did lay off. And then there was another one that he laid off. But it was a check swing and it was very, very close.

The other three pitches that were out of the zone, he swung and missed at. So, yeah, not exactly the, an ideal at bat by Lourdes to finish this one off. I just, I think overall you have to start questioning about Jordan Montgomery. know he's had the offseason he had. I know he, you know, there's, there's a lot of stuff personally going on with him, parting ways, you know, with his agent, hiring a new agent, probably feeling the pressure, you know, like once again, it almost is like his particular situation is indicative of the whole team where the worst you start doing or some of the bad outings you start having, it gets

compounded by the fact that you're starting to feel the pressure and putting the pressure on yourself about getting things right. With Montgomery, I can understand with this being such a big year for his career that, you know, you start pressing a little bit. You start tonight was just bad, though. Tonight was the worst start of the season for Monty. I mean, he just. I mean, that Dodgers game was pretty rough too.

Yeah, but tonight he just, he could not hit the strike zone. Tonight, it was more about the fact that you really saw him struggle with both command and control at times. And he just, I mean, again, for what. He was supposed to be what he was coming in here from the offseason as being one of the most valuable free agents of the off season. He really hasn't lived up to that. He really hasn't. I mean, for all of the excitement surrounding the Diamondbacks acquisition of Jordan Montgomery entering the season,

I mean, this, what really looked like a behemoth of a starting rotation coming into the year between injuries and the fact that Montgomery has been not nearly the pitcher that he was last year, at least not to this point. I mean, that's a big reason why the Diamondbacks are in this position, right? I mean, Merrill Kelly's made four starts. Erod has yet to throw a pitch. Zach Allen, as we mentioned earlier, is now on the IL. We'll talk more about that later. It's a really tough spot for them to be in. And Montgomery, what's interesting to me is Montgomery, after his last start against the Marlins,

that's a game the Diamondbacks won. He didn't pitch extraordinarily well in that game, but he didn't pitch terribly either. And after the game, he seemed very relieved. He seemed to finally be feeling like himself after what he described as sort of feeling like his pitches weren't moving the right way up to that point in the season. And so quickly after that in his very next start for it to kind of revert to, as you said, maybe his worst start of the season. It's not exactly what you were looking for today. Jordan Montgomery's season so far, 44 under third innings pitched in eight starts, a 5.480RA, a 1.56 whip. a 14.4% strikeout rate and a 7.7% walk rate.

14.4 is extremely low. There's not very many starting pitchers with a strikeout rate that low. And he's never been like a huge strikeout guy. I can pull up what it was last year is probably somewhere in the low 20s. But you need to strike out more guys than that to be successful at this level. It just isn't. It's just not possible to get by on, you know, soft contact. with striking out one out of every six or seven hitters,

which is basically what he's done up to this point in the season. So, yeah, I mean, his fastball continues to be down velocity-wise. We saw, I think it was 91.6, something around there on average in today's game. Last year, it was a career high at 93.3. It ticked up to 92.3 in his last outing. Maybe that's, I guess that's part of why he was excited after his last outing. Part of it being that the fastball velo had kind of ticked up. But today it was basically back down to where we'd seen it before.

And I don't think fastball velo is like the most important thing for a guy like Jordan Montgomery. But it is at least a factor. And his sinker, as we'll get into a little bit more later, has not been nearly as effective this season as it was last year. Kellen in the comment says it's just a game. But God damn, I want to be proud of my boys, not dwelling on how they could succeed. And yeah, you're right. I mean, that's really how it feels. I think that that feeling right there that you describe was something that we got a chance to feel in the first inning.

And then you started maybe wondering if we were getting that feeling again there in the ninth inning, right? I think that, you know, there isn't. This is just frustrating because this team has had so many close games where they did hold the opposition, you know, to five runs or less. Like so for their big, you know, kind of breakout game offensively that they've been looking for for the past 10 days is here now in a game that they give up 10 runs is probably the most frustrating part about this. You know, their pitching hasn't been great, but it definitely hasn't been the biggest problem during this stretch. It was the offense. And the minute that the offense gets right, the pitching has one of the worst nights that they've had all season long. I mean, the Diamondbacks have not given up double-digit numbers often this season.

I think this is the second game. Yeah, something like that. I know it was the second time that the Mets have scored double-digit runs. That's the other side of this is that the New York Mets, Derek, we're not playing great baseball coming into this series, right? We talked about how they lost eight out of nine and 13 out of 16 and 15 out of 19 in that whole thing. Are we the get right team, Jesse? Are we the get-right team? You never think you're the get-right.

Are we the get right team, Damon? Oh my God. We definitely are. I mean, we're fodder. The Mets were sort of like, I don't want to say, I think laughing stock of baseball is going too far. But the situation with Jorge Lopez that happened the night before the Diamondback started this series with the Mets, it was a really tough moment for them. I mean, it was the 40-minute players only meeting after the game ended where they just felt like they had reached such a low that they needed to reset. And they have reset.

it appears and they reset against the diamond backs and you know the rangers weren't playing all that great coming into that two game series they sweep the diamond backs go back to the tiger series where the tigers were not scoring runs at all going into that series they came out and just obliterated diamond backs pitchers in that series Javier Baez had what felt like more hits than that weekend than he'd had in the entire season prior so yeah i mean get right team maybe that's a little hyperbolic Lendor's gotten out once, right? I mean, Lentdor, I mean, he got, like, thrown out trying to extend a single into a double,

but my God, they can't keep that man off the base path. Yeah, he's six for, he's six for eight in the series with a walk, and he entered the series with a sub-700 OPS, kind of similar to Corey Seeger, where he had been heating up, just as Lendor has, but Seeger came into that series with a sub-800 OPS, and, of course, really, really hurt the diamond backs in those two games in Texas. So yeah, I don't know. Maybe the get right team.

Maybe that's a little over the top, but not by very much. Gross. I hate that. Well, we have to give out a king snake to somebody. And as much as I want to give it out to nobody, we're going to give it to Gino for hitting home run number 250 in his career. Another fun side fact there from the broadcast was that Gino is the 250th MLB player to hit 250 career home run.

That's honestly really cool And you can never take that away from him No you can't never you can't I mean that's that's like What are the odds of that happen Of landing on that? Yeah Well hopefully we have some more

Things to be positive about But more importantly more than anything Hopefully me shaving off my mustache Which again should have been done a long time ago That's what this team needed there Well okay Let's think about this logically Okay I don't you know the purple hair thing last year

turned Lourdes into a super superhero. Can we explain it? Can Jesse explain it? No, he can't. We can't. I can't explain it. Jesse tried to. It actually drove him crazy that it was actually happening while it was happening. I've had that mustache all season long, right? We tried to do it. We did it right before the season. We tried to bring the playoff vibes into the playoff season. Playoffs? Playoffs? We shouldn't even be talking playoffs right now. So the mustache had to go and hopefully they'll turn things around. Also, I want to know, see, okay, piece of Yoshi just gave me a very important piece of information. Piece of Yoshi said, where's mine or Elizabeth's Kingsnake for sitting through that game?

Oh, because they were there in person. What you are telling me is that Elizabeth. We're going down this road again. Elizabeth was at that game? We know what. Color me surprised Wasn't she at all three games in New York last year when they got swept by the Mets?

I believe she was. Wasn't she a game one as well as today? I think we found her. You wanted to blame it on Burt. You guys want to blame it on Burt? Elizabeth is sitting right there. She's sitting right there. We're going to have a talk about this with her.

She just gets off, just gets off free. Yeah, well, I mean, he goes to, he attends wins. Sometimes piece of Yoshi attends wins. Elizabeth, known, cursed baseball fan. I don't know how to put it any other way, but we'll have to figure it out. See, Elise says the curse continue.

She knows where I'm going with this. Yeah, well, we figured it out. I'm going to contact security at the city field tomorrow. I'm sure they're not going to. They'll probably hang up the phone on me again like they did last time. But we'll see if we can get our ban from the ballpark. Of course, we thank you guys for being here. None of you are banned, except maybe Thunderbolt.

We'll see. We're going to talk about this. But thank you guys for being here in the PHN Sports YouTube channel. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our wonderful shows go live. Of course, we always appreciate it when you drop us a like. I don't think anybody should stop by to drop us a like tonight.

I don't think any of the – well, I mean, honestly, this isn't all the offense, right? Bless you. Corby was two for four, so let's get Corby out there. There you go. We always appreciate Corbyn stopping by. And more importantly, we appreciate you guys stopping by. If you are listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting. Podcasting app, please leave us a review. We always appreciate when you guys do that as well. Those five-star reviews mean the world to us. And of course, we are here in the Circle K studio. We got the mayor picture behind me, which is going to be put up, my understanding at every circle K in the valley that's going to be part. That's terrifying.

Well, they're like, we're incorporating their decor into the studio, but they're incorporating our decor into every single circle K around the valley. I think that's our decor. I was on stupid whatever. What are you talking about? That is an amazing portrait. Of course. Make sure to stop by Circle K. If you're thirsty, not only can you stare at that bad boy, but you can also get yourself a 79 cents polar pop of any size. That's any size drink you want. Make sure to grab that also. If you haven't joined the Inner Circle program for free yet, do so now.

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So join the Inner Circle for free today over at the Circle K. Also, shady rays, been talking about them for a while, world-class product, amazing sunglasses, very clear optics, and also the very, very good lost and broken replacement plan. You might notice I don't have my shady rays right now to, put on here to do this bit. Did you lose them again? That's because I may have lost them. I'm still checking my luggage before I make a call to Shady Rays, but I may have lost my

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they have hundreds of options to choose from, so you're bound to find the perfect pair to match your style. Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Raise is giving out the best deal of the season. Head to ShadyRase.com and use code PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the Shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. Well, let's take a look at the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union, because this one, this one's a little less infuriating there when you take a look at the numbers. The Mets really did put it to the Diamondbacks tonight. Again, it's just amazing that tonight is the night of all nights that the Diamondbacks are able to put nine runs up, but they lose 10 to 9.

Mets out hit the Diamondbacks 14 to 9. Runners in scoring position, Mets hit 429. They were six for 14. Diamondbacks, meanwhile, 250, they were three for 12. Met's had seven extra base hits while the Diamondbacks had three extra base hits and then hard hit percentage very very close

which is baseball is just crazy 46.9% for the Mets 46.4% for the D-backs. Jordan Montgomery wasn't good in this game and I don't you know I don't necessarily want to make a ton of excuses for what was obviously a pretty rough outing for him but technically Kevin Newman made a fielding air

in the fourth inning a play that had he made it would have ended the frame and the Mets went on and scored two more runs in that inning. There was a RBI single by Starling Marte followed by another single by Mark Vientos. Theoretically, Derek,

looking back on that, if Kevin Newman makes that play, the Mets wind up scoring eight runs in this game instead of 10. No, I told you, you can't do that. You know, because then they don't hit the home runs in the ninth inning. That's not how this works.

That's fair because, I mean, the ninth inning looks a little bit different, right? I think Carlos Mendoza probably plays that differently if it is an 8 to 5 game as opposed to a 10 to 5 games. So, yeah, it's not as simple as like, oh, the Diamondbacks should have one. They would have one for sure if Kevin Newman hadn't done that. But I do think it's worth noting Newman has still been, by and large, a really solid stop gap for the Diamondbacks at shortstop. But Geraldo Prudomo, it does sound is. getting pretty close. I believe he was out at the complex today.

Getting into a game there would have been his first rehab game, I believe. And then he should get out on a rehab assignment early next week down to Reno. He's going to DH today. He's going to play shortstop this weekend and then be on Reno by Tuesday next week. And so hopefully, like we said yesterday, we will see Perdomo back by next weekend. Now, we have also said this a few times, but the concerning part about this team right now isn't really that, you know, the injuries. The concerning part is that the guys that are here aren't getting it done.

Tonight is a night that you might at least, at least should as a fan be a bit encouraged by. I mean, at least for the most part, the offense was able to put up nine runs tonight. And yes, I don't want to get too excited based on who those were runs were put up against there in the Mets bullpen. But still, sometimes it's not about that. Sometimes it's more about this team that,

that has not looked good against any bullpen against a lot of teams late in games. Like this is the first time we've actually seen them mount any kind of comeback here late. We've talked about the numbers 1 in 28 now when they are down by two runs or more in this season. So this team just is not able to come back against teams. And at the very least, this should be encouraging. Remember the answer backs? No, what are you talking about? Remember them?

No, we remove that shirt from our store. I think I burned the two that I owe. Remember how cool life used to be? Yeah, well. There's rainbows and unicorns and butterflies. Life might be better when Perdomo comes back, big Perdomo guy over there. Jerry P. Back next weekend?

How do you feel about that? This game broke me. But you should see this man. But half a month now. Jerry's like pretty much the only thing that makes me feel better about myself. Yeah. I get it. I get it.

Well, you put this together. You put the vibes back together and maybe we get some better. performances out of some of these young guys. Like the one thing that you could say is as bad as Ryan Nelson and Slade and some of the other guys have been, they have not actually been as bad as Jordan Montgomery has been. Like Jordan Montgomery tonight was, this was one of the worst outings from any starting pitcher on the Diamondbacks roster this season.

And it just hurts that it is the guy that we thought was going to be such a big addition to the starting rotation. It hurts that it's a guy now with Zach Gallen's injury that we look to. almost as the ace of the staff. The ace of the staff went out there one day after we lost Gallen, one day after the bullpen was able to hold the Mets for an entire game to just three runs, goes out there tonight and gives up eight or six essentially earn runs and two more that are charged to the air.

But still, eight runs while he's out there. And that just, that's, you're not going to win baseball games like that. You can't, right? So this has been frustrating. Jordan Montgomery, I mean, the domenbacks, I'm sure, with Zach Gallin's injury probably don't feel buyer's remorse. They probably felt last night when they got the diagnosis of Zach Gallen and that they were going to have to place him on the injured list that like I'm glad we have

Jordan Montgomery. Then he goes out there today and gets sheled. Like that's got to be a terrible feeling for Mike Hazen in the front office to have to witness that after, you know, not only putting so much faith in him to bring him in here like they did right at the end of the off season, but also like counting on him to be the guy now that they've lost both Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen. I'm just trying to get it through my head that if the Diamondbacks hadn't signed Jordan Montgomery,

I mean, what would, so their rotation right now, the rotation would be Brandon fought number one. I mean, in whatever order. Brian Nelson, Tommy Henry. Yep, Slate Cicony. Blake Walsden. Yeah, yep, that would be,

that would be the rotation if the Diamondbacks didn't sign the guy. I mean, technically wasn't made official until the day after the season began. Kind of surprised to all of us. Yeah, I mean, it's just wild to think about. But again, Montgomery hasn't really been effective. So the ace of this pitching staff in its current state, Derek, is Brandon Fott. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation.

Fod is averaging more than six innings per start. He's been going deep in games all the way through the season. I know he wasn't great in his last outing. His ERA is a little bit over four. But you look at some of the peripheral numbers, Fott's expected ERA is below three right now. 2.88. His FIP, I think, is like 3.3 is X-FIP.

I think is 365, something in that range. All the peripheral numbers suggest that FOD has actually been pretty unlucky, or at least is sort of destined to maybe improve as this season goes along. So, yeah, I mean, that's the state of the Diamondbacks pitching staff right now. It's pretty wild. Maybe we would see Christian Mena as who there says with the way Mena has been pitching, but oh man it's just things aren't good right now things are not good for this team things are not good for injuries nothing's really good right now for this team uh and i'm not lying about that but you

know who also doesn't lie the numbers they don't lie uh and you saw very much how much they didn't lie there but jesse what do you got for the numbers don't lie tonight yeah going back to montgomery here uh today's number is 3.73 this is the opponent batting average on jordan montgomery's sinker which last season was one of the better, I think it was near the top of the league and run value for all sinkers in baseball. It was one of the better primary pitch sinkers that you had in the entire league.

And this season, Derek, opposing hitters have just absolutely destroyed it. I believe they were three for five against it in this game today. It is, I think part of it is a location issue for sure. We saw Montgomery make a lot of mistakes over the middle of the play today. But I think part of it is also the Velo

that I mentioned that we mentioned earlier, which is still around two miles an hour down from where it was last year. And I still feel like that's likely to tick up as he gets further into the season. And it's obviously been a really weird buildup for him, but I'm not sure you get back to 93, 93.5 at any point this year.

And I think he could still be an effective pitcher without that, but have to believe that's playing a role here. Now is not the time, Roger. I'm just telling you that right now. I'm not in the mood for your football slider. My numbers don't lie is 1005.7, which is the average exit velocity given up by Logan Allen tonight. Is that real? Is that really?

No. Completely made up Damon numbers, but it sure felt that way. The real number is 90.8. But yes, there was a fair amount of hard contact in this game against Logan Allen. But Allen gave up two runs in four. I mean, he was sort of the least. I don't know how he did it, but he was much more effective than Jordan Montgomery. He was sort of the least of their problems.

One other point I want to make Montgomery has to do with his change-up. If we can pull up the little chart that we have of Montgomery's change-ups in this game, he didn't throw all that many of them. It seems like he sort of lost confidence in that pitch. And you can see why here. Like this is the location of Montgomery's change-ups in this game. Were they all balls? I don't know off the top of my head.

It looks like a couple of these would have been called. strikes if they were if they were taken but yeah you see a lot of a lot of arm side misses here you see pitches at the top of the zone which is never what he's going to be looking for with that change up it just feels like that pitch has been kind of a shell of what it was a year ago and i think that's also a big part of why montgomery has struggled this year it's not just the sinker velo it's not just that the curveball we saw him struggle with his curveball command in this game as well but the change up has just been it seems like he's sort of lost confidence in it at times and he just doesn't go to it and based on this chart you can very much see why he's so all over the place in this chart that

i thought that the diagram showing change up in the top right was an actual pitch i thought it was one of them like i genuinely was like oh he missed bad he didn't he didn't miss by that much on any of these but yeah like i mean probably none of those maybe a couple of those were actually thrown where he where he wanted to throw them and montgomery's change up like when i was doing a deep dive on what made him effective last year with the rangers his change up was a big reason why. It had one of the highest whiff rates of any change up in baseball when it was in the

zone. He didn't even have to throw out of the zone to get swing and miss. He got a ton of swing and miss on that pitch last year, throwing it in the strike zone. And as you saw there, he's struggling to get it in the zone. He's struggling to get it out of the zone in any kind of a productive location. It just hasn't been

the same pitch this year. It's frustrating to watch because he locks in at times and you see him have he some glimpses see some glimpses of him looking really good he had some whiffs tonight that looked really good but it's just then then immediately I think we were watching immediately the next batter you you see him just immediately struggle again immediately struggle to find the sinker like right down the middle or a curveball that mostly it was the curveball on the outside that he couldn't seem to land in yeah in the corner man he tried he tried to land like the first pitch curve ball on the edge so many times he just kept leaving it just just a few inches arm side. So yeah, it's just, it's not just the sinker Velo.

The secondary pitches are not looking the same that they did last year either. It's not just the stuff. It's also the command. It's just it's a little bit of everything. Like Jordan Montgomery just has not been the guy that he was last year. And like many of you, we were screaming for

Tori Lavallo to pull Jordan Montgomery from this game much earlier than he did. But the realization was that this team just couldn't really have essentially two bullpen games back to back in a four-game series on the road like this. They needed to do everything they could to let Jordan Montgomery go out there and eat up innings. And it wasn't the best decision. And obviously the outcome was less than ideal.

It was dramatically worse than that. But, I mean, you just didn't, you just don't have the manpower. And baseball is a game like that where you can't really go out there and spend your bullpen. and then expect to have them in potentially, you know, bigger games that are closer games that might just be tomorrow or the following day, right? Yeah. They really were in a terrible position. But again, it's just really the disappointment.

I think with someone of Montgomery's caliber, Tori Lavello probably expected him to get it back on track. We've seen this out of guys like Gowan and Merrill Kelly before where they struggle early on. But then they dial in and the next thing you know, they give you six inings. strong. They might have given up three or four runs, but still, they went out there and gave you that length. And, you know, after the damage was done, they were able to get it to get it together, right? We didn't see that out of Montgomery tonight. Yeah, that's a good point. You have, and we've seen this with fought a lot this year as well, where he gets banged up a little bit in the early innings. Nicked up. Sure, Nick, Nicked up. You got to say the right term, Tori terminology.

The Tori terminology. Okay. I'll work on that. But yeah, and then Tori will just stick. Tori will just stick with thought even after some of those struggles because he expects him to dial it back in and be able to give you some productive innings. Montgomery was just continuing to throw pitches right over the middle of the plate and it just wasn't working. Elise said it best. The Monty start after yesterday was pretty much the worst case scenario and that's what we saw to do.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Justin Martinez has given you three innings yesterday. Incredible. Prove pretty big here. Incredible. Yeah. I love that.

for him with his family. His family was in the stands watching it for the first time. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't really expect Justin Martinez to throw three innings ever, frankly. Like, I would not have been surprised if Justin Martinez had gone his entire remainder of his major of the career without throwing three innings in a game. He's so good. You don't see guys who throw 102 miles an hour go out there and give you that kind of length.

But I guess he's been down for a while. My exact reply to Jesse yesterday was he can't keep going to J-Mart, can he? Like he was just like he can't keep having him do it's the ups and downs right it's the up and downs right It's the fact of like a lot of these relievers especially someone like Martinez hasn't really had the opportunity to go out there and pitch not it's not the amount of pitches he throws It's the going back to the bullpen or going back to yeah the up downs yeah you know and so I was I was surprised by that but it proved to be you know big obviously what's not so big is losing both of these games And now being down in this series oh two hopefully they can turn things around this weekend. What was a,

can I just ask Jesse real quick? What was J-Mart's like fastball velocity sitting at the end of that appearance there? Like in that third inning? Was he still pumping triple digits? I think you would, I don't think it dropped off significantly. I would have to, I'll see if I can find it a little later in the show.

He'll look for that. But I'll tell you guys that you could go ahead and get yourself a diehard membership right now while Jesse's researching that. If you haven't checked it out. too many tabs open. So it's going to take a solid 10, 15 minutes. It's going to slow down. It's fine, though, because I'll tell you about all the wonderful benefits for the diehard membership.

Not only do you get Jesse's wonderful research like this, which he does specifically just for diehard articles that he does for our website, you get all of our content, including access to our Discord lounge, which is the best place to be in Arizona sports fan. Not only do you get wonderful content there, you get exclusive episodes of this show just for you diehards over at the Discord lounge. Of course, you also get access. You get discounts with our partners. You get discounts on our events.

You get a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com and our little membership card, so much more. So make sure to sign up today over at go-PHNX.com, become part of our family. Of course, another great place for you to go save some money yet because that membership pays for itself. But once you do, you can save your money over at Desert Financial Credit Union. Shout out to them for sponsoring the count.

And also shout out to them for being Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union for more than 84 years here in the Valley. They have been dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and providing financial solutions for their members. I am a member of Desert Financial, and they got me started on my home ownership journey. They can get you started, hopefully as well. You can look to Desert Financial for checking and savings accounts, investment options, loans, credit cards, and so much more, including mortgages.

So join a credit union that's committed to giving back to the community and sharing success with their members. When you open a free checking account online, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. Well, not only are the Diamondbacks now making me get rid of my facial hair, but they are also keeping me from drinking my delicious celebratory Four Peaks beer after the game.

So I hope they're happy with themselves because I am not. But you can make sure to drink a Four Peaks, whether it's a win or a loss. You can get it all over the valley, including your favorite grocery stores, Also check out the Bad Burdy juicy golden ale. It has quickly become a favorite of everybody around here. Everybody loves the Bad Birdie. And of course, you can get it on taps around the valley as well as in stores. It's a collab between Four Peaks and Bad Birdie, super drinkable and the perfect companion at the tea box or in your fridge.

Visit 4Peaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite beers and events. Check out at Four Peaks Brew or Four Peaks Pub on social to keep up with the latest Arizona's hometown brewery. must be 21 or older to drink four peaks and please drink responsibly. J-Mart's last sinker was 99 miles an hour, Damon. So there you go. I just like I haven't felt this way when he was walking off of the mound yesterday. I haven't felt this way about the aura of a player since Catelle. And like I remember when Cattel first came up and he wasn't even like that that great.

He wasn't necessarily considered to be like a future star. But I just remember watching him play, watching. him hit and I was like this guy has it. Justin Martinez walking off the mound with his with his frosted tips and his chains and like he's just his flat brim hat like that's

that's a reliever. The swag is off the chart. And that guy is on my team. Well it's funny you say that right because a lot of that sounds like a joke but there is something to have a reliever be intimidating especially after you've been facing a starting pitcher all day that's been pretty good and you're hoping to crack into the bullpen and

have someone come out, have some chump walk out, and that dude walks out. That guy with his frosted tips. Reliever aura is absolutely a thing. Like if you're a hitter, and this is never going to show up on like the analytical side of things, but if you're a hitter in the box

and Mariano Rivera is going up against you, you're going to feel much worse about that than some random reliever. Like those, the names hold weight. And Justin Martinez looks like he could be like, an incredibly upper echelon relief pitcher.

I mean, I'm, I'm head over heels for this guy. I love him. He's great. He has a zero point four 80 RA. So that makes me, it's an easy guy to love. It's an easy guy to love, right?

Well, when he came out yesterday, I found myself saying like, all right, they've really, they've discussed a lot on the broadcast about how he, uh, his parents are here watching him pitch for the first time. I know he's going to be excited.

I just hope he doesn't go out there and just try to do too much because he's been so good lately. And that's exactly what he did. Out of the first like five, six pitches were him just doing way too much, not hitting the strike zone. I think he gave up a hit. And then I think the thing I was most impressed by was his ability in the middle of a game where obviously his emotions were high, excitement levels were high. He's out there, you know, wanting to impress his family's parents, getting him to watch them pitch in the first time in the majors in person.

And it was a great performance. It was an amazing ability to not only. only settle himself down and get back to what he's done well so well this season. It was also amazing that he was able to do it for the Diamondbacks considering the situation given that they lost Zach Gallen after just six pitches. And what a blow this is to a team that has already experienced so many difficult injuries that now we have to deal with Zach Gallen being placed on the 15-day IL. Yeah. And we don't know the severity of the injury yet because he was sent back to Phoenix for imaging today.

Yeah, I mean, he's going to miss at least two starts, right? I mean, being placed on the 15-day aisle, you know that for sure. This is kind of a thought I had in the back of my head. Like, Gallen, obviously, he was removed from that start against the Mariners back on April 26th. I believe it was the sixth inning. So we'd already pitched pretty deep into that game, but left early. Wound up being okay.

The debacks weren't planning to skip in, but then they did because of the B incident. so they had him skip one start, he got back in there. And then a couple of weeks later, and it started against the Tigers, which was obviously eventful for its own reasons with the whole mound situation. That was fun watching that between him and Jack Flaherty kind of going back and forth.

But he had mentioned, I mean, his explanation for why he wanted the umpires to rebuild the mound time and time again was that he had been feeling a little bit of tightness in his hamstring. and he wanted to make sure that he didn't overwork it or sort of alter his pitching motion in a negative way because of the mound not being just the way that he wanted it to be.

And when he had said that, I mean, he kind of dismissed it after the game. He said it felt fine. But I did wonder like, okay, this hamstring issue is still a thing, right? Like it hadn't come, it was apparent it had not completely gone away at that point. So something I had in the back of my head that they could maybe, you know, come up again and be an issue again. And sure enough, that's what happened yesterday. This time he said that it was more,

it was more significant than what he had felt against the Mariners, which doesn't tell you a whole lot because that wasn't very significant. He didn't wind up at least needing to miss time at that point in time. So, yeah, hope for the best here, but it's going to be at least two starts and figure it might be a little bit longer than that. What the hell do we do? Well, you got, What the hell do we do?

He got Slade Cicone, who apparently is now starting tomorrow's game. Toro Lavello said that after this one was over. It is no longer Blake Walston going in the Saturday game. It is now Slade Cicconi starting against Sean Mania. And then we have Brandon fought against Jose Quintana in the finale on Sunday. So Slade was was gone and now he's back. Now he is back. Well, I mean, it is, it is, there is some things here.

that the Diamondbacks like a silver lining to this situation, right? These are young guys that the Diamondbacks are sincerely hoping to be the future of this team. So all things considered, you know, this is trial by fire for these guys. I mean, they understand that with the opportunities and the way this season is gone, that their ability to stay in the majors is going to be based on how they perform. But, I mean, for the time being, they might need these guys for the foreseeable future, which it just is an indication of how bad things have gone for this team injury-wise. Like this is just a terrible situation for a team that tried their best to go all in one season

after making a fantastic run in the postseason last year. And, you know, it's funny because there were elements to last season that are similar to this year, including like we were asked yesterday about like, is this worse than July of last year. And while I will say it does feel like that, at the very least, what happened in July of last year did feel like the Diamondbacks had taken a wonderful season and they had completely thrown it away over the course of one month. This feels more like this season has never, they've never been on solid ground this year. I mean, opening day was such a wonderful moment and it's felt like pretty mediocre to bad ever since then. Right. So as much as, you know,

you want to say that this season might have taken a downward turn. It's kind of felt like this entire season has been like this. Some ups, but more downs than ups for sure. Yeah, that's fair. July did. It felt different because the debacks weren't just like utterly decimated by injuries. It was more just that they suddenly,

they were just suddenly bad. Yeah. And they eventually kind of found their way toward the end of the year. But people are starting to talk about that because people are realizing that, especially the offensive woes, aren't going to be cured by two guys. with a sub-700 OPS, right? Like, it's not like Heraldo Pardomo and Alec Thomas, once again, as we've said before.

It's not like that's Jack Peterson coming back or Christian Walker, Corbyn Carroll, or Cotele-Marte. It's no disrespect to those guys because what they bring to this team is in abundance. They bring a lot more than just what they do at the plate. However, it isn't like they are going to be the instant answer to the offense. The answer to the offense was what we saw this team due to not. night. Just do it on a night where the pitching cannot be so god awful, right? Like this, I at one point started screaming about the offense and the Diamondbacks here find a way to put up nine runs tonight. A loss, a lot of times, you want to put it on the offense. You want to

suggest that the offense, you know, does more. But I mean, again, I don't know if the ninth inning would have happened if the Diamondbacks weren't already down by a significant margin. It feels like the pressure was off. They weren't going to win so they could just kind of go out there and swing the bat and then this is the results. That's what's so frustrating about it though. This team has so much potential to be a team that can score nine runs regularly. And it just feels like every single player on the team is so tight at the plate. They're so nervous. They're so worried about, you know, like, or so frustrated, I could say. We saw Gino tonight after. an inning where the Diamondbacks put up three runs in the first, Gino slammed down his helmet and frustration in a way that we haven't seen him be frustrated all season long, simply because he was the final out in an inning that felt like it could have turned in to a massive inning for the Diamondbacks. Three runs was great, but it did feel like for a moment we might see a five or six run inning or maybe even more, right?

Gino was frustrated even when things were going well for this team early on, which just as an example of how much, you know, how much tension is for these guys that are slumping right now at the plate. I'm looking at Slade Sikoni's numbers from, from Reno. He only made one start. It hadn't been that long since we've seen Slate Cicone, pitching the majors. But that one start he made in Reno was very, very good.

Seven innings, seven hits, no runs, one walk, nine strikeouts. It's hard to do a whole lot better than that and your one start back in AAA. And looking at some of the other numbers is his fastball Velo ticked up a little bit. It looks like maybe there was a little bit less variance as far as that's concerned than we saw at times in the majors. He had 16 whiffs altogether, seven of which came on his curveball, which is interesting to me. We don't usually see him get quite that much swing and miss on that particular pitch. He was in the zone quite a bit. So, yeah, this is another big test for Sikoni.

And I mean, at times the Sikoni that we saw with the Diamondbacks was a very effective pitcher. And there were times where he was able to complete it. Like that start against the Seattle Mariners where he went into Seattle and had, I want to say, eight strikeouts over six innings, gave up one run, something like that. We've seen that from him at times. He's shown in flashes the kind of impact he can have on the mound. It'd be interesting to see what the debacks do tomorrow. Is it, is Walston pitching on back of Sikoni?

I don't know how much leash they're going to have with him, but it'll be interesting to see what he looks like after a really, really nice outing down in Reno. Thunderbolt 47, who rages against the machine, says this slump started in the World Series. Yeah, well, the D-BACs also scored 16 runs on opening day, so I don't know about that. And just think about what you said. The slum started when the Diamondbacks were in the World Series. So let's just remember that. I mean, again, it was going to be a tough road this season.

And by no stretch of the imagination is the door closed on the Diamondbacks postseason. people constantly come on the show and want me to give them a time of death on the season, Jesse, when the Diamondbacks have basically their entire starting rotation out injured and several key members of the staff. So I'm not going to do that. But I am going to tell you guys one last thing. And I hope, I hope even with how emotional I've been tonight, emotional enough to shave off my own facial hair live on the show, that you will be encouraged by this last bit.

The Diamondbacks right now on May 31st sit at 25 and 32. That's pretty bad. It's pretty bad, Jesse. But last season, there was another team, a team we know fairly well, a team that is having a great amount of success this year that was also 25 and 32, and that was the Philadelphia Phillies. On June 2nd, the Phillies sat at the same record the Diamondbacks have today, and they were able to eventually turn their season around and meet the Diamondbacks, as you may

member in the NLCS. So if you want to take an encouraging encouragement away from some early season struggles, there's that. And you combine the fact that any team can turn things around, especially even if there's seven games below 500, especially when they have key members of their starting rotation and their starting lineup returning, hopefully soonish. Hopefully the Diamondbacks can emulate what the Phillies did and turn things around next year.

But so they're going to win, they're going to win 90, 90 games then, right? That's what that means. And then to next year, and then that means that next year the Diamondbacks will win 40 games before June 1st, like the Phillies. Okay.

Yeah. So they're just one year, one year behind the Phillies. They went to the World Series the year before us, didn't they? As the six seed. So yeah. Yeah.

There is. Yeah, there you go. Footsteps to follow. There you go. So anyway, hopefully we don't just get, I mean,

I'd take an NLCS loss. at this point with the way this season is gone. I'm not going to lie. So who has, who's going to have the, the Ranger's Sourres breakout next year, right? Like Brandon fought. Brandon fought.

But I feel like, it almost feels like that's happening this year. Jordan Montgomery? But, yeah, I mean, there ought to be a player that has some years on him,

right? I was going to say that Jordan Montgomery probably won't be a diamond back next year, but I guess his struggles maybe make it a little bit, are you sure about that? Are you sure about that? Are you sure about that?

Montgomery could stick around. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Well, those options are going to vest. Let me tell you. And I'm telling you that $25 million might look pretty sweet with the Diamondbacks after it all of a sudden done for Mr. Montgomery. But we thank you guys so much. We have no money to give out to any of you guys.

But we do have our love and adulation. We thank you for being here on a Friday night. And, of course, we will see you guys back here on Monday with another mailbag Monday episode. You can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. And of course, the people's producer, Damon, he is a Damon dog. That is 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-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Well, we thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We hope the Diamondbacks can turn things around in this four-game series. Until we meet again, we hope you guys enjoy baseball, try to enjoy baseball, and really,

Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't try to grow a playoff stash during the regular season.