PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Nothing Is Going Right For Diamondbacks As They Suffer Series Loss To Rockies In Game 2

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

We’re not sure what has happened to the Diamondbacks bats in Colorado, but they failed to put up crooked numbers and lose another crucial game as well as the series to the Rockies in game 2. We are ...discussing nothing going right for the D-backs defense in this game, Jordan Montgomery’s outing as a starter once again, Ketel Marte being given the day off, and where the Snakes stand in the Wild Card Race after another disappointing loss. Join Derek, Kevin, and Jesse for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Sanderson Ford: The Sanderson Ford Summer Sales Event is here and they are teaming up with the boys of summer for a final Playoff Payoff Sale. You get the payoffs like deals on 24 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend. Lease one today for as low as $299 a month for 36 Months with only 10 percent cash down. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks. $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details. Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:07 Welcome in and ski to you all live here from Studio K presented by our friends in Circle K. This is the PHNXDbacks podcast. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of this joint. And boy, this one sucked. And I don't know what is exactly going on with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they continue to tailspin in Denver. Of course, they lose another one of the Colorado Rockies, this time losing Game 2 and the series. to the Rockies by a score of 8 to 2.
Starting point is 00:00:40 The debacks are now 83 and 68. They can't seem, I mean, I don't know. I guess I'll ask you guys this. Are they ever going to pass their season total of 84 wins from next year? Who knows? But with the way they're playing right now, it doesn't seem like it. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends over at Bet365. Go download the Bet365 app right now.
Starting point is 00:01:01 Choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. Make sure to sign up using our code of PHNX. 365 of course welcome in to you all go ahead and just go off in the comments i'm going to let you guys all do that because tonight uh was just a bad baseball game for the irsona diamondbacks we discussed a little bit uh about last night's game and how kind of unlucky they got and that one was a close one where the diamondbacks did kind of have some some things not go their way and really their offense again didn't show up uh at a course field game and that definitely was the case tonight. The offense once again did not show up for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but I think
Starting point is 00:01:43 what I was most disgusted with, as maybe many of you were, was the defense tonight. I mean, Damon and I, we ordered some new baseball gloves from Wilson the other day. If you've been watching this show, you know about our gloves and how excited we are to have a catch on Friday. It was the glove bonanza over at Wilson. And I'm probably, this is probably a free ad that's going to make Max's head explode right now. But I do have a point to my story. And that point is, had we known that A. Hueneos Juarez needed a new glove because his had a hole in it, Damon and I would have gotten him one.
Starting point is 00:02:24 Just let us know, my God, because Gino played some really sloppy defense tonight. And it was terrible to watch. I mean, it started off with three players getting a ball lost in the lights in Colorado. Michael Toglia hit a pop fly that looked fairly catchable over there in right field. Corby and Lewis Giorme got close to it. Christopher Walker seemed to have no clue where it was, and the ball dropped in and ended up being crucial because he doubles. And then he comes in and scores the game's first run on that. I mean, Jordan Montgomery was not great tonight, but Jordan Montgomery,
Starting point is 00:03:01 actually was fairly decent and he gave the Arizona Diamondbacks at least a chance to win in this one and we'll get to Monty here in a minute but sloppy defense continued there in the second inning Payvon Smith fielded Jacob Stallings double cleanly and he appeared to have a play at second but this throw bounced midway to the base
Starting point is 00:03:22 Jared Beck's double was misplayed there again by Payvon Smith it was scored a double but could have arguably been a single and an E7. And then the sloppy play continued in the sixth and in the eighth. You had, of course, D-Backs had an easy cot stealing at third there on Nolan Jones on a double steel. But Gino just clanked a fairly accurate throw from Jose Herrera. That led to two Rockies run scoring. And then there was another fielding error by Gino there that allowed Tavar to reach and Doyle to get the third, who scored on an RBI single, the next batter in the eighth inning. The Diamond Vax, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:04:01 they absolutely win games based on their defense. And obviously the other missing part here is them not really getting much going on offense. And that's the inexplicable part at Coorsfield. The Diamondback scoring a total of this many runs in two games is kind of pathetic. But again, the Diamondbacks pitching did not give them much of a chance today. Jordan Montgomery, of course, he went out there. he got tons of swing and miss on his curb ball. He got 14 whiffs on 24 swings out of 39 total curveballs thrown in this game.
Starting point is 00:04:38 He only got four called strikes. And part of that was him not hitting the zone. Part of that was home plate umpire Rob Drake being fairly terrible tonight. There were a lot of miss calls in this one. And again, this was another part of this same officiating crew from last night that you just got a question where some of these baseballs miss. So, and again, this is no excuse because Jordan Montgomery, he just, he, he wasn't getting a lot in the strike zone, but he also wasn't getting the calls on the edge. And he had some spectacular pitches. I, Kevin can attest to this at one point.
Starting point is 00:05:12 I was, I was like, I was like, imagine throwing a pitch that good on the corner and having that man behind the plate just stand up and not, not call it a strike. just a perfect pitch right in the corner and him just disregard it as a ball. I mean, for those in the chat that I wish that everyone could have the privilege of watching this game with you like I did. Oh, I was, this was a meltdown for me. Yeah, no, I was not. I was not in a good place. I was not in a good place with this game because this is a very important baseball game for the Arizona
Starting point is 00:05:46 Diamondbacks. And of course, I mean, you got to give credit where credit is due. And I know many of you don't want me to do that. but this Colorado Rockies team is playing some very good baseball right now, and that is part of the reason why they beat the Diamondbacks. You can blame the Diamondbacks all you want, and I will allow you to fully do that. Blame Tori, blame the offense, blame everything.
Starting point is 00:06:06 We're going to talk about lots of that, of course. But you got to give credit where credit is due when it comes to the Rockies. They just beat the Cubs and kind of ended the Cubs chances at catching up in this wild card race by taking two out of three against them. And here they are playing the years on the Diamondbacks. very, very tough. And the Diamondbacks just didn't really come to play in the series. I don't know what happened to the offense.
Starting point is 00:06:27 I don't know why they can't score at Coors Field. Payvon Smith was the only consistent contributor. He got on base three times. He doubled twice. And of course, you know, I mean, in a game like this, we don't have a lot of options. So we're giving it to our guy, Payvon Smith. He's our Kingsnake in this one with that performance.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Because, again, not much else from the rest of the rest of the game. of this team. And I think that's the thing that's so frustrating is a few other key hits at some point and the Diamondbacks absolutely could have been more in this game. Well, the bullpen did not keep them in it though. And of course, you know, neither did neither did their defense. But we're giving, we're giving Piven Smith the King's name. What, what, what, what, what, what did we see tonight? Like, like, what, what happened to the team with the best offense in baseball at the essentially the one ballpark that gives up
Starting point is 00:07:22 the most runs and the most offense. You know, we were talking about this during the game, Derek. We were talking about the unpredictability of baseball and how it comes to bite everybody once in a while. And man, where we bit hard tonight and we were watching that game. We were just like, what? This is not the same group of people.
Starting point is 00:07:37 Like, it can't be the same group of people. Yeah. It must have something. You know, there's a Netflix show about a plane that disappears halfway through and 10 years later, it lands. Maybe the Diamondbacks plane to Denver just disappeared and this is like a version two. A completely different team.
Starting point is 00:07:51 These are clones. We gave King, we gave Kingsnake to a clone Pave and Smith, not even the real Pave and Smith. I don't know. But I will tell you that the other bizarre thing about baseball is no matter how much they look like they're out of it, the Diamondbacks still aren't.
Starting point is 00:08:05 They still have a playoff spot. And we'll talk about that more with Jesse Friedman when he joins us. And of course, there's still 11 baseball games to be played. I don't know when the Diamondbacks are going to win another one. Hopefully they can keep themselves from being swept tomorrow. But this game just, of course, didn't have a lot going on. We did have our Sanderson 4 deep drive of the game, of course,
Starting point is 00:08:29 and that was provided to us by Christian Walker, who hit a solo home run in the eighth inning that cut the deficit to 6 to 2. And then they scored more runs. So, yeah, I don't know really what to say here. I probably could have given it to Christian Walker based on Pave and Smith. terrible defense in this game. But Christian Walker also was completely lost. Everybody was lost in this one.
Starting point is 00:08:53 Game was terrible. There's nothing redeeming about this game. The bullpen didn't even give the Diamondbacks a chance, you know, to win it once Jordan Montgomery left the game. If the Diamond, if any kind of comeback was going to happen, they didn't allow for it. Of course, Jordan Montgomery, he gave him four and two thirds innings pitched, gave up six hits, three earned runs, two walks, four strikeouts. he had an average exit velo of just 80.4 miles per hour
Starting point is 00:09:20 but there were some costly hard hit balls that you know changed this game a little bit still gave up just the three earned runs and the bullpen allowed five more after he exited the game so the bullpen just didn't give the diamondbacks a chance to even come close in this one and and tory using the arms that he used I mean this was another one of those instances where Tori managed is the game where he's down. And he puts in guys like Scott McGuff and Blake Walsden, who was recently called up.
Starting point is 00:09:53 And both of those guys were not very good. Joe Manteply wasn't very effective. Scott McGuff in one inning gave up two hits, two and runs, two walks, struck out one. Blake Wollston absolutely fell apart there in the eighth inning. And things were just, I think the game was lost well before that because the offense really couldn't do much outside of Christian Walker's home run and Payman Smith getting on base a couple of times. But this team might have a playoff spot, as I alluded to, but they are definitely in danger of losing that spot. The only reason why the Diamondbacks are still in the spot is because the Braves keep losing.
Starting point is 00:10:33 And of course, the Braves and the Mets, those are the teams that the Diamondbacks really have to worry about at this point. I feel like the rest of the pack has faded away enough. And of course, like I said, we'll talk about that here shortly. But yeah, this was one of those games where you kind of scratch your head about the lineup. Cotel Marte got the day off today per Tori Lavello. He did pinch hit in this game, but he was not a starter in this one. And this is what Tori had to say pregame in regards to why he gave Cotel the day off. Yeah, Marte needs a day off.
Starting point is 00:11:08 You know, it's very well documented when he comes up here. when we try to full throttle them we've had some really mixed results health-wise so I need to get him off his feet and today's the day Oh, Thunderbolt 47 with a good point. Altitude. Yeah. Maybe the altitude got to him.
Starting point is 00:11:24 I don't know, but usually the altitude gets to the ball and not necessarily to the players. They look gas, though. They look gassed. They look lost at the plate. And I mean, a couple of guys still looked dialed in. Pavin, of course, looked dialed in. Corbyn, stayed downed.
Starting point is 00:11:40 dialed in. Uh, but yeah, no, spooky boy, I'm, I'm also tired. I'm, I'm so tired. I'm defeated myself. And I know, you know, part, I don't lie. You know, I know that was something that drives some people nuts is you guys want to see us get as angry as, as you guys are about this game. And let me just tell you deep down inside, I absolutely am. Um, but it doesn't make for great television. And I'm not allowed to use the F word as often as I did before. So, instead I will try my best to what what's that what you got over there I just wanted to be known you know for all the fans out there that love Derek as much as we all do here at pH and X he was he was depressed during this game yeah he pulled it together he's managed he's
Starting point is 00:12:26 mustered up the energy he's been out here K Fabe even though right now he is triggered he is upset it is not all good but he's got a smile on his face I'm show up I show up to perform I show up to play the game and not everybody did that on the diamond backs today and maybe that's why i'm so upset but uh this one's just this was a sloppy game and like i said there's times where we really do feel like we can blame it on one thing or another typically you could say at least the diamondbacks you know put in a good defensive effort they didn't do that today pitching wasn't great i'm not gonna act like jordan mcumry only going out there and giving them four and two-thirds innings pitch is is great but he limited the damage to three earned runs and considering the season he's had and that he was just stuck in
Starting point is 00:13:08 the bullpen and then brought back out to start. I don't feel like it's, it was a terrible outing for him. I think it really hangs on the bullpen and of course, giving up five earn runs that just let the game get away. Also, offense, awful. Awful performance by the offense. And I don't know.
Starting point is 00:13:28 Doug has a good question here. Why not put Josh Bell in for Jock? He looks terrible right now. It's a great point. And I mean, again, we've kind of talked about this a little bit where you did have guys like Kevin Newman and Josh Bell that were contributing quite a bit offensively to this team that are not in the lineup.
Starting point is 00:13:44 And ever since that's changed, you feel like the offense has slowed down. Now, of course, you don't feel too terrible about the people being in there, you know, that being Cotel Marte and Christian Walker. But when you have Luis Giorme out there instead of Cotel Marte, you are kind of questioning why Cotel needed the day off, right? Cotel got plenty of days off because he was injured and he wasn't playing. playing baseball, right? So I, these are reasons that go beyond us and I have come to accept it at times. There are actual reasons for it that we aren't being given. But I, I just like many of you,
Starting point is 00:14:23 would like to see the Diamondbacks putting the best players on the field and trying their best to win every single one of these baseball games that they have left. They can't do the thing that they did last year. They can't let another team lose to help them get in. Right now, that's what's keeping them afloat. Essentially, the terrible play from other teams is causing, like, that separation. Cubs lost again tonight, Braves lost to the Reds. Dodgers lost to the Marlins? What the hell is going on?
Starting point is 00:14:54 But, of course, you know, there is the one, there is one thing that I will say. And that is, so many of you wanted the Diamondbacks to end up with the third playoffs. spot and play the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round. And that is looking increasingly like that if the Diamondbacks do make the playoffs is where they're going to end up. So if you want some sort of silver lining to help you go to sleep tonight, there you go. But there are no silver. There are no silver linings from this game.
Starting point is 00:15:27 I am not. There is not one redeeming quality from this baseball game. I didn't even want to give Christian Walker's home run the Sanderson Ford. the drive of the game. He doesn't deserve, nobody deserves anything. No king snake, no nothing. I should take it all away with the way they play tonight. But there is tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:15:46 And the Diamondbacks do have to perform well tomorrow. They have to prevent themselves from getting swept. And again, that is something that they've done a good job at this year. They haven't swept a lot of teams, but they haven't been swept themselves often. And hopefully they can prevent that in the finale because they have to. They have to. So we thank so many of you guys for being here right now. the pH and exports YouTube channel.
Starting point is 00:16:08 Of course, if you have not subscribed to the channel yet, do so right now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our shows go live. And of course, hit that like button. It makes me feel like you still like me, even though you're mad at the Diamondbacks, because sometimes you guys come in here and you scream at me. And I know it's not at me, but it's hard to feel like it's not at me. So just drop a like, and that'll make me feel better.
Starting point is 00:16:33 R.A. says if they get swept, is it Jover? if they get swept it's never been more jover but we could also be back the very next game because that's how baseball works it's crazy this way and of course if they win tomorrow we're back and that's also how it works I don't know I mean at this point
Starting point is 00:16:51 the Diamondbacks are in a good position because they have a playoff spot and they don't have to win to get in right so that's one benefit there's also the fact that these other teams they play some tough teams before the end of the season So there is, they still have to perform. And, you know, of course, the Mets and Braves still having each other in a three-game set, you know, you're almost starting to lean in the direction of going, let's go Mets.
Starting point is 00:17:16 Because if they can, you know, I mean, if you need that separation from the Braves, you'd like to see the Mets win that series more than you'd like to see the Braves sweep it and then make somehow some, I don't know, it's going to get complicated. I don't like it. But we might be back tomorrow. We'll see what happens. That's how baseball works. We thank you guys again for being here. Of course, if you haven't subscribed on the audio podcasting side, whether you listen or not, just do it anyway in your favorite audio podcasting app.
Starting point is 00:17:43 We'd love it if you listen, but if you don't, you could still download it and it still counts towards our downloads. So we'd like that too. But I'm not gaming the system. I just want you to enjoy this show in whatever way you want to consume it. Of course, leave us a review. We always appreciate those reviews. Those five-star reviews do mean the world to us. And of course, we will have a bit more from this game.
Starting point is 00:18:03 even though I want nothing more to do with this game when we come back from talking about some of our wonderful partners. But first, I do want to give a shout out to Sanderson Ford, not only for the deep drive of the game, but for their wonderful customer service. Of course, they pride themselves on their customer service. They are a family-owned and operated Ford dealership through three generations. It's also the biggest largest Ford dealership in the nation, not just in Arizona, not just on the west. side of the country, no, in the entire country. And of course, they have, again, some of the most wonderful customer service you can ask for, some really great people over there.
Starting point is 00:18:42 In fact, you know, they come and hang out with us at our, like, tailgate parties and stuff. So come hang out with us, too, at those tailgate parties, and maybe you can meet some wonderful people from Sanderson Ford. They thrive on a no hassle, no pressure, and no nonsense. Sales approach. And right now they are pushing for the playoffs, and you get the payoffs like deals on a 24 Ford Broncos a sport big band just ranked highest in its quality in its segment by jd power plus zero percent financing for 36 months with no payments for 90 days on the ford f 150 ford escape for for ford edge
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Starting point is 00:20:29 If you were someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 next step. Text next step to 533442 or visit problem gambling.az.gov. All right. Well, let's take a look at the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union, even though I don't want to. I don't want to. And it has nothing to do with Desert Financial. They're wonderful people. And they always make sure our numbers are correct.
Starting point is 00:20:51 But this is ugly. This is gross. Diamondbacks lose 8 to 2. They get out hit 12 to 6. they were one for 11 with runners in scoring position that's just not going to get it done to the Rockies 5 for 14 or 357 batting average with runners in scoring position
Starting point is 00:21:09 extra base hits Rockies had three no that's that's that's got to be reversed and I'm pretty sure that that's my mistake there Rockies had six extra base hits and the Diamondbacks had three my bad on that one Kevin
Starting point is 00:21:23 I'm taking I'm 100% taking the bullet on that one. There's no way! They got more extra base hits than the Diamondbacks, because I know the Diamondbacks had just the two two from Pavin and the home run. Expected batting average is exactly what you would expect in a game
Starting point is 00:21:41 like this. Diamondbacks 167. I guess that's better than having like a 330 expected batting average in a loss where you didn't score very many runs like yesterday, but it's still, it's just still all gross. Get that off my screen. Throw out the trash.
Starting point is 00:21:56 Delete that graphic forever. I don't ever want to see it again. I don't know what to say about this game. I don't know what to say about, you know, the future for this Diamondbacks team. I understand people wanting to feel panicked. I think beyond the playoffs right now, beyond making the playoffs, right? Like, we are concerned about making the playoffs. We fear they're not going to.
Starting point is 00:22:20 I think there's a very solid fear in if they do make the playoffs, what are they going to do, right? This is an attitude that I had last year. This is something that I said where I just kind of felt like it was a step in the right direction for the organization for them to make the postseason. But I didn't have a very high confidence level in them going into playoffs and especially doing what they actually ended up doing. Right. So that's where the playoffs are so critical, right? That's why so many of us just to want the Diamondbacks to make it.
Starting point is 00:22:55 Right. That's why so many of us just want to see them get in. And they absolutely limped in last year. And they absolutely needed other teams to lose last year in order for them to make the playoffs. So this scenario is starting to become very familiar, very, very similar to last year. And I also will say that I feel the same way. I feel like watching this team play right now, I don't feel like if they do make it into the playoffs, that they're going to make a big splash, right?
Starting point is 00:23:24 not only that, but there's going to be a very familiar face, a very familiar foe that awaits them in the playoffs, whether they're in the second, third position, even if they make it up to the first position, the wild card. They're most likely going to be playing the Padres or the Brewers in the first round, and they will have played that team within the last 10 days prior to playing them again in the playoffs. And with the way they're playing baseball now, I mean, I'm sure like many of you, I don't. I don't feel like they're going to be able to do much against the way, against these other teams, right? But who knows, right?
Starting point is 00:24:03 Like, I mean, there was some talk about, from Brent Strom about there being an internal issue with their pitching. And that's something that Jesse is actually writing an article on. So you'll have some more on that from go phnx.com. But that kind of sent red flags up for me because it sounded like there is an issue with their pitching across the board. not a particular pitcher, not maybe a particular catcher, but there's something, there's something going wrong with the pitching staff as a whole that Brent Strom needs to adjust.
Starting point is 00:24:34 And I'm fascinated to find out exactly what that is. And I know as much as I just told you. So, of course, keep your eyes peeled for that over at go phtonx.com. And of course, we will be joined here by Jesse Friedman shortly from the clubhouse. But let's go ahead and take a look at the wildcar. graphic because the Diamondbacks definitely got some help from the Braves losing tonight to the Reds. Right now, the D-backs sit tied with the New York Mets for the second wildcard spot.
Starting point is 00:25:09 Of course, the Phillies, Dodgers and Brewers still all sit atop of this scenario. And here's an interesting thing is the Dodgers keep losing baseball games. The Dodgers right now are 89 and 62 while the Milwaukee Brewers are 87 and 60. 64. There is a chance that the Brewers could pass the Dodgers and the Dodgers could be the team that the Diamondbacks face in the first round of the playoffs should they be the last wildcard team in. Now I ask you, does that seem like a better proposition than playing the Brewers? Because I feel like it is. The Dodgers aren't playing as good of baseball right now as the Brewers. They definitely don't have the pitching staff that the Brewers do. And the Diamondbacks have, that's a familiar face over there in the Dodgers. So I don't really know. I don't really know. And El Gaios says we hold the last wildcard spot.
Starting point is 00:26:04 No, we don't hold anything right now because nothing's decided. The two teams are tied. So yes, I understand the Mets have the tiebreaker over them, but for all intents and purposes, the two teams are tied. And there's no reason considering that nothing is happening right now to worry about that. Right. But, I mean, yeah, I get it. you know, this, and if you're talking about matchups, yeah, I mean, you say that you don't worry about
Starting point is 00:26:28 matchups, but, I mean, that's something that's happening. That's something that that is evolving as this goes on. The Diamondbacks, where the Diamondbacks are at definitely changes things. Steve, but I call him Mr. Banana's says we'll show A-B pitching. I don't believe so, but who knows? I mean, I don't think so. I think that they said no matter what that Shohei will not pitch this year. Monty Back says Braves are in a bad spot. Yes, they absolutely are. One thing I do like seeing, I won't lie.
Starting point is 00:27:01 One thing I do like seeing is there being talk across Major League Baseball just in regards to who's going to make it in the Mets or the Braves, right? So at the very least, they're leaving the Diamondbacks alone as part of that argument for now. And they're letting them up there. Ernesto Esker says Who do you want the D-backs to face? Prime Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali That's a good one
Starting point is 00:27:25 I'm going Muhammad Ali Like I know he's the champ But Muhammad Ali kind of get the Ropa dope thing Where you kind of let you beat up on him for a little while But let you get tired And I don't know I think we have more of a chance than Nobody could beat Prime Mike Tyson
Starting point is 00:27:41 Who are we getting ourselves? I can't even be it in the video game Mike Tyson dead's dudes He just Yeah Fry Mike Tyson is A stone cold killer
Starting point is 00:27:51 But yeah Muhammad Ali will do a little bit of dancing around He'll hit you up a bunch jabs But Mike Tyson might You know Disconnect you from reality so Piece of Yoshi says Dave Roberts said there's a non-zero chance
Starting point is 00:28:03 The show hey pitches So that's an interesting situation But yeah It is what it is El Gaios says they are not tied It's interesting, because I'm looking at their records, and they both are 83 and 68. Calvin has a great point. Debecks peaked too soon.
Starting point is 00:28:24 The Diamondbacks might have got hot too soon, right? A lot of times baseball is about when you get hot, especially late in the season. And yeah, that's definitely a possibility. But a guy that we're going to talk to more about it coming to us from Corsefield. It's the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Jesse, this is a disaster. This game, at least yesterday we had some positives to take away. I have nothing positive to take away from this baseball game.
Starting point is 00:28:56 It's not great, Derek. I don't know if they touched on this on the broadcast, but apparently this was Ryan Feltoner's first win at home since August 9th of 2022. So it had been more than two years since Ryan Feltoner had won a game at Coorsfield. And I think that just kind of perfectly encapsulates the way that things are going right now for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Apparently there's quite a bit of history there where Feltoner has talked about, you know, just not really feeling comfortable here and, you know,
Starting point is 00:29:28 not really understanding how to get his pitches to do what he wants them to do at altitude and whatnot. So there's apparently quite a bit of history there. But he was very good against the Diamondbacks tonight. I know it was just two strikeouts, but the debacks made almost no hard contact in this game. This was not a situation where, you know, they got lucky if that's even possible at course field. They very much, they got the results that they deserved, frankly. And it was another puzzling day for the offense, back-to-back days at course field with two runs scored in each game. It feels impossible for that to happen to the best offense in baseball.
Starting point is 00:30:06 But we've said it a million times that baseball is weird and odd things happen. and it's been an odd a couple of days here for the devax of course field. I don't really understand because it's course field, right? Like I, and I feel like we talked about it a little bit yesterday. When you start getting through, you know, you had that early success. You have Cattell hitting a home run in the first inning.
Starting point is 00:30:32 Everything is as you would have expected it. And then stuff goes flat. And then it felt like, you know, about middle, middle of the game, they really start pressing. and that pressing did not stop today. Like they did not look good at the plate. Of course, a couple of guys did. Payman Smith had a good day at the plate.
Starting point is 00:30:49 I thought Corbyn looked fairly decent when he was up there, but the rest of the team just very did not look like their normal selves. Yeah, it turns out, Derek, that you don't really feel the coarse field effect if almost everything you hit is on the ground. Or I guess in some cases you just had a pop-up, straight up in the air. Those are maybe going to go a little farther than they would normally go,
Starting point is 00:31:15 but not all that much farther. There's obviously only so much the course field can do to help. But yeah, I mean, that was that was kind of the reality for the D-BACs offense today. I mean, I took some notes. I think this is as of the end of Ryan Feltoner's start. The D-Backs had 10 groundouts and six fly-outs against him. And I went through all those fly-outs,
Starting point is 00:31:34 and four of them were pop-ups. Four of them were balls that really did not have a chance to do anything. I know Gino Suarez had obviously a very deep fly ball to straightaway center field. Brent and Doyle made an outstanding catch there. But that was, I guess, another big point in this game is that the Rockies just outplayed the Diamondbacks defensively. I mean, they've made outstanding play after outstanding play in the series. Totally at first.
Starting point is 00:31:59 Tovar has made some great plays. Doyle, of course, in centers, I just mentioned. Debacks, meanwhile, we're kind of kicking the ball around a little bit today. and that's also obviously not something that we're used to seeing from this team. Well, of course, Jesse is on the road and of course. Dugged it a lot. Yeah. Someone asked me that the other day.
Starting point is 00:32:24 We'll get to that shortly. No, it's all right. That one's not on me. That one's on Kevin. But we'll get to all that shortly. Of course, we've got to do some more ads here. But when we come back, we'll talk about what George, Montgomery had to say from the clubhouse.
Starting point is 00:32:39 But first, of course, Jesse is on the road there in Colorado. We let him fly on an airplane, but the good old days, we would have sent him driving. And of course, if you want to take a road trip to Colorado or anywhere else, you should stop by Circle K to fill up. Of course, even after a game like this, you have a whole lot of sadness in your heart. And of course, a great way to get over that is with snacks from Circle K. You can also fill up your car. And, of course, you can also join the Inner Circle Rewards program for free right now.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Hold on one second. Kevin, that little thing keeps playing over the video, the clip. Thanks. But, okay, that's strike two for Kevin. One more, and he's a dead man. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of him. But then I'll have to produce the show and things get very complicated.
Starting point is 00:33:30 Of course, back to Circle, okay, we do have to tell you that you can stop by after a night like this. and it will at least make you happy to get yourself a froster or, of course, a polar pop. If you join the Inner Circle for free right now by downloading the Circle K app today, your first five polar polar pops are absolutely free. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. But of course, you also save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips, and then you'll save three cents every day after that.
Starting point is 00:33:57 So check out Circle K today. It is America's thirst up. Also, of course, if you want to go check out a baseball game, Here, the Diamondbacks have a few very, very important games that we would like to see them win at Chase Field. So you can check them out and you can get tickets over at GameTime. Right now, GameTime has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only the most incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. So check out GameTime Picks right now.
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Starting point is 00:34:55 And, of course, yeah, game time will get you some excellent tickets to Diamondbacks games, by the way. It's very aesthetically pleasing. And, of course, you know, it's, it, the way that that course field looks, Jesse, that course field was fairly empty during these two games. I actually talked it up quite a bit. I was like, hey, those fans are great. They come out all the time. And then, of course, yesterday they had like their second lowest attended game of the year. And that one, the first one was also a Diamondbacks game.
Starting point is 00:35:26 So not a lot of D-Backs fans there, Colorado. but of course with the way they played today, they weren't making any new fans in Colorado. They did not play good baseball today. Yeah, I guess it, I guess Coors has some, there's some similarities here with Chase Field, at least from what I'm told,
Starting point is 00:35:44 and that like the Cubs being in town this past weekend, this place is just inundated with Cubs fans. It's not just a D-Backs and Rocky's problem. I'm sure that that happens in other places as well. But yeah, I guess maybe the floor is just a little higher, course field where you're always going to get it at least like a decent number of fans but yeah i mean also i think yesterday was like 18 000 today was 20 000 so uh not not quite as many people
Starting point is 00:36:09 here to watch a couple of great games for the rockies not not so much for the devax well uh of course i know we have more from the clubhouse jesse what do you got for us yeah well i guess uh i guess you you saw a piece of it there we'll maybe go back to that video it was a teaser it was a teaser it was a teaser Yeah, it was a teaser. This was Jordan Montgomery's first start at Corse Field, and I'm not really sure how that's possible, and he's not really either.
Starting point is 00:36:36 So we'll start with that one. Dugged it a lot. Yeah. Someone asked me that the other day, and it's like, how have you not pitched here? It's like, it's on the wrong league, and then just missed it by a day. Or it was, yeah, it is crazy, but glad to.
Starting point is 00:36:58 get it over with. People talk a lot about the ball flying farther, but do you feel like it affects your pitches as well, the way that they move? Is that something you notice? Yeah, I mean, I think with a stat cast or whatever, like anything going left to right doesn't move as much. The sinker's not going to move as much, sliders.
Starting point is 00:37:18 But for semerism, curveballs usually do what they're supposed to. Well, I imagine he enjoyed the weather. Steve and beat me to it. I was setting that up for a good one. But he wasn't terrible today, Jesse. I mean, I know he didn't give them, obviously, the desired length you're looking for. But he, I mean, he wasn't the main reason why they lost today. He gave them a decent chance to win this ball game.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Yeah, you heard him there talk about how even in course curveballs, something about them where they still move the way that you sort of expect them to. And he favored that curve ball a lot in this game. I think he threw it about half the time. He got like a bazillion whiffs on that pitch. There was a ton of fling and miss today for Jordan Montgomery. But again, there just wasn't, there just wasn't really enough with his other pitches for him to have a successful day overall. You're still seeing the sinker, the four seamer get hit around a little bit as he heeled tovar obviously had that opposite field,
Starting point is 00:38:19 home run, which came on a sinker that just got too much of the plate. So his curveball was good today, but even very good today. But even against a team like the Rockies, it's going to be hard. to be successful when you only have one pitch that's really, really working for you. And it just felt like there were still some inconsistencies with those other pitches. Well, I think we have more from Monty from the clubhouse. What else did Monty? Yeah, Jesse.
Starting point is 00:38:44 Yeah, I need to provide some backstory with this one. So this is kind of funny. Jordan Montgomery watched yesterday's game from the bullpen, even though he is now a, at least for the time being part of the starting. rotation. He watched yesterday's game from the bullpen. That's something we discovered pregame, which is very bizarre. Tori Lavello said that that's not something that he's ever seen before. So apparently Montgomery is kind of taking a liking to at least watching games from being out in the bullpen, not to say that he would prefer to be a reliever as opposed to a starter.
Starting point is 00:39:19 I think he's very happy to be back as a starter. But after this one, Monty was asked where he'll be sitting the next few days. If he's going to make the transition to just sitting in the dugout like normal starting pitcher would or if he's set on continuing his run out in the bullpen. So here's what he had to say about that. I have fun in the pen. A lot of let's go debacks. So we score when to do that. So I'm sure they won't be back there.
Starting point is 00:39:52 Superstition, yeah. I like being down there. just hang out and look at the iPad and talk to Fed and be able to move around. The benches are kind of cramped. Was that kind of a revelation for you, never having been down there? Or was it just like you had never thought about what it was like down there versus in the dugout? Me and DeGrom would hang out down there in Texas sometimes. But yeah, I mean, the guys down there are really fun and keep it loose.
Starting point is 00:40:27 like he he seems in better spirits at least jesse and considering all that man has gone through it's good to at least see that out of him yeah yeah i think so uh yeah apparently as you heard him describe there when he chanced let's go dbacks from the bullpen the diamond back starts scoring runs so i guess they need i guess they need him out there tomorrow uh to find a way to score more than two against the rockies here at course although i guess it didn't work out that way yesterday. So I'm not sure exactly what the situation is there. But yeah, overall though, right? Like there's something about Montgomery that like obviously you kind of can put the pieces
Starting point is 00:41:09 together and kind of see why he's dissatisfied. Why when we're around him at times in the clubhouse and at Chase Field, like he's just seems kind of down, you know? And like there's things like that throughout the baseball season, I think that can. Like change your attitude and get you back into a better place of focusing on what's important. And right now it's the team. And like, I don't know, man. Even if it's not working, I still like him, you know, having that attitude because this is a man that was put into the bullpen and was basically told you weren't good enough to be part in the starting rotation.
Starting point is 00:41:45 And even though he wasn't thrilled about that, accepted that role went out there and did a pretty decent job as the long reliever that they asked him to be. And now when they had an injury, he's come back. And again, like today wasn't great, but that curveball looked great. And I think that, you know, it's, it's an encouraging step for Monty because we know, we know, like, you have to know deep down inside. He's still, he's still a good pitcher. He's still that pitcher he was last year. It's just how, how do you bring that out of him again, you know?
Starting point is 00:42:16 Yeah, I mean, you, you hope that that is in there somewhere. And I don't want to overstate, like, for as many curveball whiffs as he generated in this game. It still overall was not a great outing. It still did not look like Jordan Montgomery from last year. And we really haven't seen that almost at all this season. I mean, I think back to his first couple starts for the debacks where it looked like they got everything they paid for. You know, he goes seven innings, one run against the Giants against Blake Snell, oddly enough in his very first game for the debacks. And, you know, after those first couple outings that were pretty good, there just haven't been a whole lot of positives for him. So today, yeah, maybe a step in the right,
Starting point is 00:42:54 direction, good to see the curve ball as dominant as it was. But he needs the fastball to be sharper. He needs to be able to dot the edges a little bit more efficiently, throw more strikes, get ahead and counts more. And he's going to have at least one more star, right? We don't know exactly what the future for Ryan Nelson holds. But it's pretty clear that he's going to start this weekend in Milwaukee. And Cors is not an easy place to pitch. But against that offense at American Family Field, that that's not an easy place to pitch either. So Montgomery still has a big test here around the corner. Well, I know a lot of people in our chat would like to know or like to ask Tori one question. And that question is, how do you sleep at night? And I know you have more from Tori in regards to
Starting point is 00:43:40 this game and maybe how he's sleeping lately. Yeah, I feel like you're dropping a hint about one of these videos. I'm really not hitting onto it. So I'm just going to, I'm just going to go to one that's on my head right now. Tori did he was asked about the offense and the fact that the diamond backs obviously struggled in this game I asked after this one if maybe putting a little bit too much pressure on themselves if that's playing any kind of a role here and here's what Tori had to say about that I don't think so I think coming into this ballpark there might be a little thought to lift the baseball and the swing might get a little lengthy so if that's case we'll address that just be short to the baseball, go do your thing, what you normally do.
Starting point is 00:44:25 Just be aggressive pitches in the zone that you're looking for and fire when ready, not trying to hit a ball into the ballpark. It'll happen if it's supposed to happen. So from a mindset standpoint, you know, concerns there. You feel like you guys are in a good spot in this direction. Well, not necessarily. I mean, we come into Colorado and you score the type of runs that we have in consecutive games. Yeah, it's not what I'm looking for.
Starting point is 00:44:50 but I think it's just two games. Yeah, four runs and two games in Colorado is definitely a disappointment. Yeah, I said at the end there, we'll be fine. So, I mean, understandable, sort of the answer that I expected here. Gino, we also talked to Gino after this one, and he didn't think that the devats were putting too much pressure on themselves or anything like that either in any kind of lack of focus, at least with the media, all of those questions are being completely,
Starting point is 00:45:20 dismissed is no that that's not an issue it's just a a bad couple of games so yeah we'll we'll see i mean it'll be interesting to see how this team responds tomorrow right i mean that's there are still no like officially must win games but getting swept by the colorado ruckies wouldn't feel great here uh as the season comes to a close of the debacks try to hold on to to their playoff spot so uh it'll it'll be interesting to see how how they come out here tomorrow and edwarda rodriguez other guy who is who's not really delivered what the debacks were hoping for they need him to step up in that game we do have some super chats here jesse of course johnny walker a friend of mine that i'm not allowed to talk about how long we've been friends uh says go dbacks he still believes
Starting point is 00:46:06 uh benjamin hunley or i'm sorry stephen bananas let's go to steve uh mr bananas excuse me mr bananas with the super chat says jesse give me some good news before tomorrow's game what do you got you got anything? Oh no. Wow, this is a long gap before he says something. I mean, I guess I guess Lordus Guerrille Jr.
Starting point is 00:46:31 is making some pretty good progress. Hey, there we go. I think he's going to play in a continuation camp game tomorrow. He was running aggressively today, Tori said, as well as doing some fielding, and he took four live at bats as well. So he's going to play in a full-on continuation camp game
Starting point is 00:46:48 tomorrow and tori hasn't said this but it sounds like he's going to return from milwaukee uh for that series if all goes well so uh still some final boxes to check there but tory did tell us yesterday also that he was hopeful that guriel would be uh would be good to go at some point on this road trip so uh yeah there's there's some good news i think lordis griel jrcler might be might be back here in a couple of days and at that point i mean at least offensively you'd have walker back you'd have marty back you'd have Moreno back and then finally Gurriel, debacks could be whole offensively, at least for the most part. There's still some other guys.
Starting point is 00:47:26 I guess Jordan Lawler is back and Alec Thomas is also now back in Reno. So some good news with those guys as well. But this is about as complete as we've seen the lineup here in quite some time. If you could scroll back up there a little bit, Kevin, Dante Ortiz says was Elise right all along? No, she wasn't because she said they had to win every single game. and the Diamondbacks definitely have not won every single game. In fact, they've lost four out of their last five games, and that's not great. And, of course, they still have a playoff spot right now.
Starting point is 00:48:02 So, again, Elise was mathematically incorrect. We did have another super chat. I didn't get to you up there, Jesse. Benjamin Hunley, thank you for your super chat. He says, what is wrong with Jock Peterson? Jesse, he did not look good in this game. That's for sure. He did not look good at the dish. That's for sure. He did not. And I was also sort of asking myself the same question because, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:26 it's not, it's not just that he's putting the ball in play and it's being hit right at guys or whatnot. He just looks a little bit lost right now. I remember early on, maybe a second at batty missed at a Ryan Feltoner fastball that could not have been more in the center of the plate. So, yeah, it's hard for me to to explain. Tori was as specific. about Jock after the game. And he basically said that Jock spoils us. It's sort of one of those toriisms where he talks about how a player is normally so incredibly good that when they go through a rough patch, it's kind of startling in a way.
Starting point is 00:49:02 And I do think there's some truth to that. I mean, Jock has been so far and away above, frankly, the expectations that at least I had for him coming into the season. He still has an OPS north of 900. So I wouldn't be alarmed about this for the moment. but there is some validity to that point. He came into today with a 196 batting average and an OPS just under 700 since August 23rd. And that's almost a month ago, right?
Starting point is 00:49:28 So that's about a three-week stretch where Diamondbacks number three hitter, the majority of the time, has really struggled up there. So it'll be interesting to see what these last four weeks look like for him. Well, we had one more video from Tori from the clubhouse in regards to this wildcard race, Jesse. What did Tori have to say? Yeah, this is, this is Tori talking about the wild card race. And not to say that all of the wild card contenders are losing, I believe the Mets beat up on the nationals today, 10 to 1. But the Braves did lose today. The Padres were losing last act. I'm not sure if that game has gone final yet. But suffice it to say that not all of the wild card contenders
Starting point is 00:50:10 are winning every single day, which is what it felt like there for a while. And Tori was asked about that after the game. Yeah, I look at that probably more during the night before I'm going to sleep just to get an update as to where everybody is. But I don't want us to worry about that. I want us to play our game and do our thing and worry about our dugout and our clubhouse.
Starting point is 00:50:29 At the end of the night, see where we're at. You know, I'm grateful that nobody's running away with it. But that's a minimal concern with me. That's true. I mean, you're grateful that, that no one's running away with it right now and that you're still in it. But the Diamondbacks are in a position
Starting point is 00:50:52 to control their own destiny for the time being. They can win games. They can win their way into the playoffs and not require the assistance of other teams losing in order for them to get there, right? I kind of went off on it
Starting point is 00:51:07 a little bit earlier before you joined us, Jesse, but like there's a lot of similarities to last season, right? So it's like as much as I want to sit here, much like many people in the chat, and say, well, even if they do get into the playoffs, what is a team that's losing games like this to the Rockies really going to do in the playoffs last year or this year? That's exactly what I said last year. That's exactly what we said about
Starting point is 00:51:31 this team last year. We were just kind of happy to be there because this was the franchise making progress. And instead, they did what they did in the playoffs. You have no idea what they can do in the playoffs or what kind of team they can be once that time comes. But they have to get to the postseason first. And as it stands, they're not, they're not securing their spot. They're not doing much to help themselves with losing games to teams like the Rockies. When we looked at this schedule,
Starting point is 00:51:57 these were the games that we said they had to win. These were the teams that they had to beat, considering these are the teams that are completely out of the race. And instead, they have really struggled over these last, you know, two series against the Brewers and the Rockies. Yeah, I mean, once again, what this race comes down to is,
Starting point is 00:52:17 can the diamond backs stave off one of the Mets or the Braves? They don't have to stave off both of them. One of those teams could pass the D-backs and the D-backs still get in. You just can't have both of those teams pass you. And as of the end of tonight with the Mets winning, the Mets are now tied with the Diamondbacks in that wild card race. They, of course, have the tiebreaker. So I guess if the season were to end today,
Starting point is 00:52:39 the D-backs would have the third wild-card spot instead of the second, which they haven't been in that spot for a while. So I guess that's not a not a great development. But at the same time, the Braves are still two games away. So you can kind of put the Mets aside for a second and just ask the question, can the Diamondbacks, can the Diamondbacks avoid the Braves overtaking them by two plus games the rest of the way, right? The Braves that have to make up at least two games the rest of the season.
Starting point is 00:53:06 The debacks can check that box. Then they would be fine. They would still make the playoffs regardless of what Mets do the rest of the the way. And the Braves looking at their schedule, they do have some winnable games coming up here. I mean, they've got two more against the Cincinnati Reds. And they did lose two today, but not a great team there. And then they've got three at Miami against the Marlins this weekend, which is obviously a big opportunity for the Braves to go on a nice run. And then they finish their season at home. They have three against the Mets, which will be very interesting to see what happens
Starting point is 00:53:39 there. And then they have three against a pretty good Royals team also at home to finish things off. It's not a horribly difficult schedule, especially with the Marlins in there. But it's also not all that easy with the Mets and the two very motivated teams there in that last stretch. I think the Rockies are shutting your internet down as we speak, Jesse. But of course, the Diamondbacks do have a magic number, and it is down to single digits, even with this loss. Diamondbacks magic number is nine. So if they win nine of their remaining 11 games, there's nothing anyone else can do to take anything away from them. But are they going to win that many?
Starting point is 00:54:22 Probably not. Not with the way they're playing baseball right now. Jesse, let's take a look at the wildcard graphics, though, again, to see where they stand in this wildcard race. Again, Diamondbacks Mets are tied. And El Gaio wants to argue all night about that. But they both have the same record right now. and the playoffs don't start today. So you are right, though.
Starting point is 00:54:44 The Mets do hold the tiebreaker over the debacks, which I did say earlier, but apparently that wasn't sufficient enough for El Gaio. Padres have a three-game lead here in the wild card race. DeBacks Mets tied at 83 and 68. And then the Braves there, two games back at 81 and 70. And then there's the field. Everything beyond that, I think, is of no concern at this point. But the Braves.
Starting point is 00:55:10 They have a tough schedule ahead. The Mets have a tough schedule ahead. And then those two teams play each other as well. And the D-back schedule does not get any easier. I mean, outside of they play, you know, the Brewers again in a four-game set that's going to be pretty brutal. Because as I covered earlier, Jesse, this Brewer's team is within shouting distance of taking over the second place from the Dodgers and having a buy in that first round, right? that means that then if we end up with that final wildcard spot like we are currently kind of in position for, they play the Dodgers and not the Brewers.
Starting point is 00:55:46 And I don't know how I really feel about that, how that changes things. But I don't, after playing the Brewers, I don't feel like they're the team that, you know, we kind of want to play as much anymore. Yeah, it's a fair question. I mean, the Brewers are definitely still a motivated baseball team here in these last 10 days. or so like you said that those two those two first round buys in the national league are are certainly not settled at this point i think the phillies maybe have a slight advantage there but still some some important games to be played looking at the at the met schedule uh i think it's also i guess
Starting point is 00:56:23 you mentioned it earlier the metts also have a pretty difficult road ahead they have one more against the washington nationals and then to finish out the season the met's have four at home against the Phillies and then they finish on the road with three at Atlanta and then three at that Brewers team we were just talking about. So you're talking about, you know, 10 of these final 11 games for the Mets, all being against playoff teams that currently have better records than them or I guess in the case of the Braves, just, you know, just right there. So even, yeah, you can view it either way.
Starting point is 00:56:57 You can, you can set the Mets aside and just think about trying to not let the Braves catch up by two games, or you could think of it as just if the debacks win more games than the Mets the rest of the way, they would get in that way as well, regardless of what the Braves do. And the Mets have arguably the most difficult schedule in baseball, at least one of the most difficult schedules in baseball here to finish things off. Well, it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. And hopefully, I actually, I should say, hopefully it's going to be fun because it might not
Starting point is 00:57:29 be so fun for us if the Diamondbacks keep playing this way. And I'm not lying about that. And of course, I never lie. I am the mayor of PHNX for a reason. And that's because I always tell the truth. Of course, Jesse, a notorious liar, just pathological liar. But the numbers that Jesse brings us, they never lie. Jesse, what do you have for tonight's number that does not lie?
Starting point is 00:57:53 Tonight's number is 7.33. And that is the Diamondbacks bullpen ERA in the month of September coming into today, which is not great. That is dead last in baseball, as you'd probably expect. The next worst bullpen ERA in the league belongs to the Texas Rangers of 5.95 entering today. So the D-backs have been far in a way, the worst in that regard. And today's game did not help. Derek, the D-backs obviously went to their lower leverage guys, but Scott McGuff gave up a couple of runs.
Starting point is 00:58:28 Blake Walston gave up three runs. Only two of those were earned, but you're still talking about four. earned runs in four and a third innings for that group today. So the DeBax Bullpen ERA went up today, not down. So that continues to be a bit of a concern down the stretch. I mean, it's so polar opposite to last year when DeVax bullpen in September was excellent. And we kind of saw that continue into the season.
Starting point is 00:58:56 This September has been a very different story. Benjamin Hunley's trying to get me to dye my hair again And look, we're not doing that We made that mistake once in my life And I'm not doing it again But maybe Jesse will die his hair We'll see what we can get Jesse to do We did get Jesse
Starting point is 00:59:13 I will not I will not be dying my hair I knew that But we did get Jesse to go to a Buckees And like everybody needs To end on a high note tonight Jesse How is Buckees A.k.k.a the greatest gas station Besides Circle K
Starting point is 00:59:27 on the planet. Yeah. So first of all, I'll talk briefly about the experience. It is really one of a kind. Our buddy Patrick Lyons describes it is like Walmart meets gas station. No, it's just the Walmart. It's just like Walmart. It's not Walmart of gas stations.
Starting point is 00:59:46 It has a gas station at it. But so do a lot of Walmarts. They also have gas stations there. This is just a gigantic store with as many puddings and beef jerky as you could possibly imagine a store to have. The amount of beef jerky was truly, it was really amazing. But yeah, I had a pulled pork sandwich, which they were like making house. This isn't like normal gas station food, which is honestly so bizarre,
Starting point is 01:00:14 like going to a gas station and then eating something that felt like sort of home cooked, like something that was actually decent. So that was great. But the real story with Buckees that I wanted to tell, Derek, is that I was, discussing my Bucky's experience to one of the other reporters. And we were in the hallway sort of next to where some of the Diamondbacks coaches hang out. So we're having this conversation about Buckees. And Jeff Bannister, the Diamondbacks bench coach immediately, almost immediately,
Starting point is 01:00:43 when he hears Buckees, he comes out and he joins the conversation. And so we wind up talking about Buckees with Jeff Bannister for a solid, you know, 20, 30 minutes. Of course, he spent a lot of time in tech. Texas where there's a lot of them. Yeah. But yeah, the moment that he heard Buckees, it was like he had been summoned or something. And he just came right out and we wind up talking about Bucky's.
Starting point is 01:01:08 So yeah, that was pretty funny, Jeff Bannister, known Buckees fan. Did they have my Roosevelt shirt, Jesse? And did you buy me one while you were there? They stopped Roosevelt shirts and Buckees. This is where I get on that. Not where I get them exclusively. But sometimes on road trips, I stopped by Buckees to get a Roosevelt. shirt. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't see the Roosevelt's display. I didn't really wind up getting super
Starting point is 01:01:33 close to where most of the clothes were, but it was substantial. As you said, it does resemble a Walmart in a lot of ways. So it was an outrageous experience. The bathrooms were oddly like the cleanest bathroom, like I've never seen a bathroom kept better, which is really weird in a gas station environment. So yeah, it's too much. It's too much. That's why Circle K is better. That's how I'm going to pull it back. I'm going to say Circle K is better because, you know, you're, you're lost in there. I want, I, I need a convenience store, Jesse. I don't need a store store, I need a convenience store. I just need to focus on what I'm drinking, snacks I'm getting, get in, get out, gas my car up and go. Uh, and yeah, that's circle K for me.
Starting point is 01:02:19 But Bucky's impressive. It's impressive. You're there for one more game. I don't want you to be there for one more game. But I do need you. Maybe you're the problem. I don't know. Maybe you're the problem. But I need something to happen because I can't have the Diamondback score two runs in another game in course field, Jesse.
Starting point is 01:02:37 Yeah, I, you know, I do feel like I have a big impact on the results on the field. So I will try to bring my A game tomorrow, Derek. And we'll see if we can see if we can get a win tomorrow. Diamondbacks need it. They need it because this race is getting very, very, very. very close. Too close for comfort. But of course, you can follow Jesse while he's in Colorado on Twitter at Jesse N. Friedman. You can follow myself at Kapp underscore K-Man with a K. Of course, you can follow our guy Kev on the ones and twos. Kev, what's your Twitter handle at?
Starting point is 01:03:09 Kev Tom Wright, so K-E-V-T-H-O-M and then rights is if you write your name on a piece paper. Right with a W-Rite. Like not like... I'm not into politics. Yeah, it's not his, you're not worried about. No campaign over here from the production desk. But you should be concerned about his rights. His rights or maybe your rights. I don't know. This is a weird time of the year, and I'm feeling very political, and it's all Espos fault, so I don't know what to say other than. We appreciate you guys, of course, joining us. You can follow our show at PHNX underscore DBEX, but of course, all roads lead to at pH andX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Starting point is 01:03:43 We thank you so much for your time. We thank you guys for all being mad with us and voicing your opinion, and hopefully this team can get things turned around tomorrow. and of course we hope you have a wonderful evening. We'll be back here for another postgame show tomorrow in the afternoon. So join us for that. And in the meantime, sleep okay. And remember kids, baseball is fun. But it's so much more fun when you can score some damn runs at Coorsfield.
Starting point is 01:04:09 What the hell?

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