PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Pavin Smith’s THREE-DINGER DAY Powers Diamondbacks To Win Over Astros In Series Finale

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

We are all witnesses to the greatness that is Pavin Smith. Thanks to his contributions, the Diamondbacks were able to win the series finale against the Astros and avoid being swept. We have more on The Pavin Smith Game and his big 3-home run night in Houston, the D-backs starting rotation having a rough series, and a look ahead at their upcoming rematch with the Texas Rangers. We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday questions and more!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX 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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Go download the Bet365 app right now. Choose your offer. Use our code of PHNX365 when you do and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. Of course, welcome in to the PHNXDBACs podcast. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of this joint. This man next to me, he's a trader. It's the one only Jesse Friedman, but he's in front of the stick.

You switch sides way too much. I've seen you flip-flopping a lot. when it comes to this election. We weren't here last week. Yeah, right. And that's my future vice mayor over there, and only Archie Bradley. Of course, the Diamondbacks had a rough series in Houston,

but they did manage to win the finale in big fashion here with Pavin Smith having the game of his life. But the Diamondbacks do win that series finale 12 to 6. They lose the series two games to one. But they continue to lead Major League Baseball with 18 games where they've scored 10 runs or more. And they are still the, most potent offense in all of Major League Baseball.

Not a bad day for Pavin Smith, huh? No, not a bad day at all. And even the last stretch of games, look, we were the hottest team in baseball. We had to cool down at some point. Still hold a playoff spot. Don't panic everyone. We still control our future here. Right. And I think that's the thing is, is that it does feel,

it does feel like you should panic a little bit because of the fact that these teams are closing in on you. But, you know, if you look at it from, obviously, the advantage where the Diamondbacks are the one with the spot right now. Like the other teams have to continue winning in order to make up that ground. Whereas the Diamondbacks right now, I mean, obviously they also have to continue winning, but they're not in

that place of trying to make up that ground. Correct. It's always better to have people catching you knowing you control your destiny than vice versa trying to make things happen and hoping things roll your way. Yeah. Well, Jesse, like you said, Pavin Smith. Absolutely Diamondbacks legend. The Pave and Smith game, right? Yeah, I mean, Sunday night baseball too.

Like the Diamondbacks don't generally play a whole lot of games with that kind of spotlight. I know they had one game in similar fashions where the end of last year against the Chicago Cubs that was, I guess, flexed is the word, to Sunday night baseball. That was the case yesterday with the Astros game. But yeah, and for it not just to be a three-home or day, but for two of those home runs that come against Justin Verlander, a guy who is an obvious, no doubt, slam dunk hall of famer. Obviously, Verlander is maybe not quite what he once was. But Pavin Smith had seven RBI against Verlinder within the first three innings of that game.

That's just insane stuff. And I also thought it was very funny if you listen back to the Houston Astros radio broadcast in the seventh inning when Aeohenio Suarez singled. And Pavan had an opportunity to not just have a four homer game, but to have the first home run cycle in MLB history, something that has never happened once. No major league has ever done that. year week softball stuff. Yeah, it doesn't happen. Yeah. It's like there's, I mean, just even to have the opportunity to hit a grand slam, a three-run shot, a two-run shot, and a solo shot in the same game, much less to actually execute

that. Like, the odds of that happening are astronomically low. But Gino gave Pavin a shot, and I believe it was the seventh inning by singling to start that inning. Pavin comes up and in very anti-climactic fashion, he strikes out on three pitches. Hector Nairis had a nice splitter going and that at bat. But once that happened, the Houston Astros radio broadcast said finally Babe Ruth is retired. Those were their exact words and I thought that was amazing.

Oh, primetime paving is born, right? But interesting you bring up the radio broadcast because I know there's a lot of Diamondbacks fans here locally that were angry about the fact that you either had the debacks package and due to the flexing to Sunday night baseball, it was blacked out. Or because of the ongoing dispute between DirecTV and Disney, you didn't. have ESPN to watch this game. And I am in that camp with you guys. So I completely understand your frustrations. And I mean, it's just crazy that, you know, like so many people missed out on such a wonderful game for Paven Smith.

And I mean, I imagine from a player's perspective, you guys are like, this is crazy. Why are not giving people a chance to watch it? People have fake hearts. There's stuff on the moon and Mars. If we can't, like, there's still blacked out games. Right. Yeah, I just don't get that. Especially when you're paying for the whole package and you were going to get this game.

but then they decided to move it to Sunday night baseball. But you would think you should get that for free. Right. We're talking about September baseball here. And again, I'm always for the fans. When your fans can't watch games, we've got to clean that up. Right, right. I completely agree.

But I mean, what a game for Paveen. And honestly, it's not just this game. Paven has been very good for this team this season. I mean, he doesn't really get the credit. I believe he deserves at times. I know we went crazy for him at our takeover when we were in the pool area over there. But like, it's for good reason. I mean, Pavin Smith is now hitting 270, 3403, 562 this season with seven home runs,

three of which came in that one game, 26 RBI, five doubles, and 102 plate appearances. Could be a spark. And I've always said, you know, that's a moment outside of what's going on for the team that you personally like, you cherish that moment. Like you just said, man, three homer game doesn't happen very often off a first ballot, sure thing, Hall of Famer. And a game that really you get swept there. You come home with, you know, winning a game.

even though you still lost Sears winning getaway day to come home, sneak in and win out. It's like, okay, let's go home and regroup. But as a big, big moment we're paving. Hopefully it continues and you see some momentum built off of it. And like you said, swinging the bat better. Hopefully it continues. What do we have, 18 games left? 18 games left.

18. Yeah. What I have to ask, Archie, of course, yesterday's game reminded me of the day that J.D. Martinez Yes. Four home runs. That was at Dodgers Stadium against the Dodgers. I don't think it was on ESPN Sunday night baseball, but it was still at sort of a big moment.

for the team. What do you remember from that glorious day? I just remember well, it honestly gives me two memories, really bad memories and good memories, because I for sure thought we're going to beat the Dodgers in the NLDS, just because how we had played going into September. But that was the first time, like, leaving that series, I think it was Sunday night baseball too, or a Sunday night game, whatever, JD hit four. And I remember

coming back home and it wasn't like, I think we have a chance. It's like, we're better than them. I know we ended up losing to the Dodgers, but it was that confidence of like, we have JD, he's protecting Goldie, we have the pitching, we have the defense, like we're a good baseball team. Yeah. Well, and I mean that's, it's hard not to feel that way with this way this diamond back team has been playing, but it's once against the Houston Astros. Last year, the Diamondbacks needed to win in a very important series against the Astros in order to clinch their own, you know, spot in the playoffs, and they did not do that. They had to have some help in order for them to get in. But this is just

the Astros, right? Even in a game where the Diamondbacks were up, by a consistent. considerable amount, you still felt like that the Astros could come back and make this a baseball game. And I mean, for a brief moment, it felt like they actually did. Yeah, they kind of did. I mean, it went from eight to nothing and then it was nine to two and then it was nine to five. The Astros sort of started chipping away. Ryan Nelson looked a little bit human in the fifth inning, which is not something that we've seen lately. He's just been so, so good. But yeah, it was an interesting outing for Nelson. He came out throwing extremely hard. I think he threw the hardest pitch of his career in the first inning to Yorda

Alvarez 99.1 miles an hour. So you get the sense that like on ESPN Sunday night baseball the whole thing, I think he was pretty amped up going into that game. And I wonder if maybe that did him a disservice when all was said and done that he just sort of

not emptied the tank but maybe the tank was only about half full or so after the first couple of innings. And down the stretch of the game it seemed like his command wasn't quite as sharp. The Velo dropped off a little bit as you would have expected. So, yeah, an uncharacteristically not great day for Ryan Nelson.

Still win, though, and I think it's something you learn. Like, we forget that's probably his first start on Sunday night baseball. I remember I got to make a start on Sunday night baseball in San Fran against Bumgardner. Oh, wow. And you forget those emotions, they do get to you. And you get to the fourth or fifth. And you're like, man, I don't, I'm more tired. I haven't done anything extra.

But I think it's something you, you know, coming up in these bigger games, you channel that. You remember that. And it's like, I hate to say, every. game is the same because that's so cliche but there is a time where you're just like hey this is another game like it comes down to me executing and any extra effort or momentum wasted towards the hype of this is going to deter me later on in the game yeah i mean it it really is like as you go through the season like the hype might be there right it might be the opponent it might be you know who you as a starter might be facing on the other side of the mountain but it's still uh it's still like a same game every

single night that you go out there we've heard about brandon fought kind of being able to maintain that like even killed nature. I mean, we've even seen it a little bit. He listens to some very soothing music before the game. He's definitely not getting himself too amped up or anything. But I mean, with you personally, did you ever have a time where you're like your velocity was up and you were kind of like, you kind of knew you were pumped and like maybe needed to settle down? I mean, especially out of the pen and those roles I was someone like it was always like that. It was always like you've seen me throw. I've always been a hype, excited guy. So that's always been a challenge for me is like bringing hype and excitement but also being able to channel it calm down

and like I think the toughest thing in those moments is like making logical reasonable decisions when you're throwing pitches like you get so excited sometimes like you see it all the time this guy throws 102 and he gives up a homer it gets whacked and it's like you just get so excited that you don't even really think about execution you're just like oh let's let's rip it and you get hit and you're like oh man that was kind of reckless there you know so it's it's you do get a more journaling from it you do get an excitement, but you have to find a way to channel it. And like you said, understand that I need to channel this and last in this game. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I mean, Ryan Nelson has been excellent for this team. So, of course, you know, it's a little concerning when people see in a series like this, the starting pitching give up the runs that they did. The Diamondbacks did not have great starting pitching in this series. Four and two-thirds innings pitched with four-runs, four innings with four-and-runs, four-and-two-thirds innings with five run runs. So, like, not a great.

a great outing from the starting pitching in the series. And you got to tip your cap because that Astros team is very good. And they were also hitting some pretty good pitches. Like it's not like there were a lot of mistakes made. But if you make a mistake to that team, they'll make you pay for it. Of course, our King Snake is Ryan Nelson. No, I'm joking. It's Pavin Smith.

Let's throw that up there. Pavin Smith for his three home run night, eight RBI. He's just been absolutely sensational or he was sensational yesterday. And I just don't know where that comes from. Like, I mean, I guess like you said, though, right? Like, you're pumped as a hitter, right, that you're on Sunday night baseball and you're getting that national exposure and stuff too a little bit, yeah? Of course. And again, personally, I don't care.

We all grew up fans of guys. I mean, Paveham was probably an elementary school in Verlander was first. That's a great, right? And you can't help, but like, you always want to get someone, especially a guy like that. So, like, I mean, I think about the first one, you hit the first one. And you get the second one. And you're just, I mean, you could ask guys, you could come up to a guy in a round a BP and be like, hey, hit four straight homers. hit three straight homers.

Yeah. They might struggle to do it. So, like, every time doing a game, man, and like, it's almost like a not as big of a deal as a no hitter. I'm not saying it's not. But, I mean, in terms of talking about it, like, I don't know if that's a big deal. Like, oh, he's got three. Do we talk about him hitting four? Yeah, yeah.

Do you bring it up to them in the dugout? No, I don't, I've never really discussed that situation because you're not a part of very many of them. But either way, like I said, that's something. I hope he, I don't know if he has all those baseballs. That's something you need to get framed. and like that's when you put in your personal your trophy case thing you know what I mean especially off Erlander man right and that's yeah you date that one and you keep that one in a special place for sure well this is the Pavin smith game forever known as

that for how he did and like you said you brought up the jd jd game right same thing man like i always think of that performance that solidified him in the very short amount of time he was with this team as like a legend for the diamondbacks you know it's got i mean i'm biased that's top two, three best Ironbacks trade? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's up there. It's up there for sure. I mean, because he was not only, not only did he perform at the level, he was performing

before he came over here, but it's like he got better when he got here. He got better. It was the first time, at least in my time here, that we had someone actually behind Goldie with the presence or it's like you can't just pitch around Goldie. Yeah, sure. It did. It solidified our offense and gave us depth throughout our lineup. Yeah. It was awesome. JD, just dingers, baby. That was sick.

Pavin was eight years old. when Justin Orlander made his debut. I just, I had to look that up. That's perfect. Well, not trying to make you feel old, J.V. Yeah.

Good for you for still throwing that thing. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. Few, I mean, that's what we talked about. The great's in this,

in this game, right? Like, it's, you can be good at baseball and you could be good for years. But like the greats find a way to be elite for the majority of their career and have that guys like Gritchick and some of these other guys on the team have hit. Which I think that's like what I see from this D-BAC team going forward in this stretch. And I know there's been some articles about it.

But some of these guys are understanding their roles. We talked about that. But I think that's where like Gritchick, these guys coming back, man, you're going to have some very big played appearances, some defensive subs, some late-ending things that, you know, some of these guys are used to be in everyday players. But this is where, like I've talked about, what I see with this team is this all in. And we are where every game is a playoff game right now. The way this team needs to play and fight off and hold this wild. card spot because I mean technically you could still win the division but that's pretty much out of out of sight unless the daughters just completely blow up the podres are ahead now but

again control your destiny 18 games it's exciting it is exciting and again it's I think it's you know the Diamondbacks fans have kind of had that you know experience of of watching it slip away we watched 2018 2018 wasn't it wasn't great wasn't great yeah they still say that one right They still remember that. But let's take a look at the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union for this series. Diamondbacks get outscored by the Houston Astros 25 to 17. They get out hit by the Astros, 37 to 27. This is kind of remarkable to me.

The Astros had 38 opportunities with runners in scoring position in three games, which is just freaking wild. 14 for 38, Diamondbacks were 6 for 22. And then the numbers for the pitching, not really great for either side, but the Diamondbacks numbers look especially bad. starting pitching ERA 8.78, relief pitching ERA 8.48 to the Astros 6.75 for their starters and 4.09 for the bullpen. So overall, not a great series for the Diamondbacks, but again, it's good to at least get that series finale win and have something to kind of build on from here, right? Like the Astros, I mean, they're fighting for their lives too.

So these games are critical for both of these teams as far as playoff implications. It did. Yeah, the series didn't inspire a ton of confidence with the starting pitching in particular. That's obviously been a topic of discussion here for a while where this diamond back starting rotation is 27th in baseball and ERA. They have a 4.80 team ERA. I think it's the Angels, the Rockies, and the White Sox, something like that are the only teams behind them. So this starting rotation has really struggled all year. And you figured that once you got Merrill Kelly back from the injured list, and Eduardo Rodriguez, the things would start to turn, and that just hasn't really been the case. All three starters in this series in particular struggled with E. Rod and Brandon fought and then Ryan Nelson yesterday. I guess the silver lining is that Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly looked much

better in their starts against the San Francisco Giants, so you feel like those guys might be moving in the right direction. But yeah, I wrote about it earlier today. One of the biggest questions facing this team in these last three weeks is what is this starting pitching going to look like? Are they going to be able to find some semblance of a rhythm? Are they going to give you some confidence going into the playoffs that you've got four starters in a playoff series that you feel good about? Right now, it's hard to really feel that way with what we've seen recently. Well, let's take a look at the Major League Baseball standings

to see where the Diamondbacks are at currently, obviously. They're still in a good spot, right? And Jesse and I, if you've kind of joked, maybe just let the Braves and Mets kind of take over that second spot and fight for that spot. And we'll just stay right there at number three and take on the brewers when the playoffs come around. But things are very close.

Even the teams that obviously are out of it are still close. Right there, you've got the Cubs and the Cardinals and the Hunt, 7370 and 72 and 71, respectively. They're not mathematically eliminated. Not mathematically eliminated. Yeah, the chance is not. Yeah, crazy things happen. Yeah, which has happened.

With 18 games left, right. Yeah, the odds aren't in their favor. But, again, it all depends on matchups. I know the Braves and the Mets play each other here coming up. So that's going to be a big series. The Diamondbacks also play the Padres to wrap up the season. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be a crazy series.

Right. So you got the Padres, D-Backs, Braves, and Mets right now all in the wild card hunt or in the wild card spots right now with the Braves and Mets being tied at 78, 65. And then the Diamondbacks have a one and a half game lead on those teams. And the Padres are up two games. And then you still have your division leaders that hasn't changed pretty much all season long, Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers up there at top. But this is getting to be, you know, obviously it's getting to the point where you feel like there's four teams fighting for three spots.

Those other teams are still there. But it's mostly the Mets and what they've been doing. Archie, I have to ask you, do you think the Mets are going to met? They're going to do the Mets. Being a Philly for a season, I have to believe that. The Mets are going to met. The Phillies don't like the Mets at all. I think everyone knows that.

So in my belief, yeah, I do think the Mets are going to do Mets things and fizzle out. at the same time, momentum is hot. Again, I think from what I've learned, like from my time in these situations, as you truly do understand, like, saying back, we're a good baseball team. We control what happens here. We don't need to chase anyone down. We've got 18 games left. I think this is big to highlight.

11 of 18 at home. Yeah. That's a big deal. I don't, I should have, I meant to look this up. I don't know what our home record is, but you always feel better playing at home. I don't care. So again, for everyone watching, this is, I always talk about it, come out and support these guys. If there's ever a time you're going to take your family or playing a trip and go watch Diamondbacks Baseball,

we got 11 of 18 games left at home. And like, you talk about feeling support and needing it. Like this is the time where you show up and you let these guys know we're in this together. And he's not wrong because tomorrow is a great day to do that. We will be out. It isn't especially great thing to do that. At Chase Field with our D-Backs takeover. So make sure if you're interested in joining us, we are going to have a

pregame meetup at the Desmond. Food and drinks are included in that and that price has been slashed for that ticket. $35 for your food and drink to be covered at the Desmond and also for your ticket to a lower level seat at Chasefield. I can't put together a better value than that. I believe in our chat, Daniel asked, Daniel said that if you come to the Desmond, he'll buy your first three drinks. And then Elizabeth, who you know, you're friends with Elizabeth, she suggested that you take them up on it and make the order the most expensive drinks possible. I'm going to say, I might go three shots. Top shelf, you know what I mean?

If you're throwing them out on the table like that. Make sure you guys join us for that. We're going to have a blast over there for our final takeover of the year. And then we'll be doing some meetups for the playoffs for sure when that comes around. But of course, in regards to the yoffs, I got to ask, what's your current level of concern? I mean, are you guys both kind of minimal as far as where the Diamondbacks are at and them potentially losing their spot?

No, I mean, I feel good, right? I'm a believer. You don't play so well. Like the last two months isn't a fluke the way the debacks played. And like I said, you look at the last 10 or the last 15 and you get a little scared because we were playing so well. And some of those games where the pitching was bad, our offense responded and they kind of didn't do that this year.

But they're still hitting at an outstanding rate. Marte's back. Walker's back. Gabby, from what I know, hasn't started, baseball activities. Yeah, he's done some hitting. I don't think he's run the bases or done any catching at this point. So he still has a ways to go, it sounds like. But, I mean, again, Marte Walker are back.

Two big key contributors. Corbin's continuing to hit the ball well. I think the biggest thing for me, and obviously this is my end, is what concerns me a little bit going into it, is some of the back end, some of the shakiness and some of the runs given up from the middle to the back end where some of these games on the road trip, we don't give up some of those runs. I know it's easy to say sitting here on the chair,

but we don't give up. Some of those games are different. This road trip is different and you have a little bit more confidence. And I just want to see some of these guys get through some innings that are a little less nerve-wracking. Yeah, I mean, for as not great as the road trip as a whole was for the starting rotation, it was probably worse for the bullpen, really. I mean, there were a couple of really bad games in San Francisco.

Kevin Ginkle, it was just the, you know, the ninth inning and the finale of that San Francisco series where he winds up getting walked off there. And then obviously this weekend we just looked at the numbers. I think it was an 8.480 RA for the bullpen as a whole. Right now yeah, I mean it's it feels like it's AJ Puck and then everyone else right. AJ Puck

has been one of the best relievers in baseball, if not the best reliever in baseball since the Diamondbacks required baby. The beard is doing the work absolutely. But outside of that, you know, Ryan Thompson has really struggled lately. He has an ERA just over eight going back

to the beginning of August. Justin Martinez has been a little shaky at the back end, although he still has not blown a save, which feels remarkable that he's managed to avoid that. But, yeah, it really is puck just being rock solid. And then there's a lot of question marks in that back end right now for sure. I'm just sitting here thinking about mandatory beards for everybody in the bullpen. Could you imagine paving with the beard?

It does help with Velo. But that's for me, like, I don't know if Tori's talked about it or if they mentioned anything. but you have off day today, then two games set against the Rangers in off day. They talked about skipping any of these guys to get Gowan or Merrill, another start going into this last series or last couple. I don't know if they've talked about that. It's just in my head. Yeah. If you can squeeze another start out of one of those guys, in my opinion.

And then also, I mean, it sucks. I always look at scheduling. I don't know how this happens. But you have off day, two games off day. And then we play 13 straight. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah.

It's crazy. Obviously, it's the last like the last couple of year, but 13. those 13 games, regardless of what happens, Zsu, will determine the Diamondback season. And how those starters can bounce back, how the bullpen, and how you manage that usage over those 13 straight. Which, again, September, like, scheduling, I know it's tough to schedule, but, like, you got to have an off-day mix in there. Playing 13 straight in September is like, what are we doing? There's some things that leave you scratching your head. I mean, last year was the same thing where they played so many games against the Cubs so closely together.

Well, this year, it's the brewery. Yeah, we do the 10. 7-year. I mean. Brewers of their last 18? Like, that's crazy. Yeah, but the big 13 games, that's going to be, is how you manage that bullpen usage and keep guys that you need to throw critical innings, you know, and not chalk up losses.

But, you know, when you're out of games, like, hey, let's save these guys because, you know, we're going to need some of these guys to pitch two, three days in a row going into this stretch. And that honestly is the versatility of Jordan Montgomery. I know he's struggled, right? But, I mean, to be able to have him go in there and eat up four innings for you on a game where you kind of feel like it's a loss. Like I have talked about it. I don't really like the way that Tori sometimes manages games where they're down, especially when it feels like this team still has a chance to come back.

But if you're down by a lot and you're going to just basically, you know, have maybe three or four members of your bullpen have to go out there due to pulling a starter early. It's nice to have that order. I mean, I go back to 17 and even 18 those years, T.J. McFarlane was the best pitcher on our team. By numbers and stuff, you would never say that. But T.J. probably through the crappiest innings the whole year. But he would eat two to three to four innings on any given night, save the backing guy. save another starter or long guy from having a pitch,

and now we're going into the next two games fresh and ready to roll. And no one really talked. I mean, us baseball guys will talk about it. But having a guy like that, again, it's crappy. I know he got moved out of a spot, but that's, again, you suck it up. You'd be a member of this team. And you provide those innings, and they're invaluable. You can't put a price on what that means to save those guys and be fresh for the next day.

Right, especially those competitive games. T.J. had a, he had a two ERA in 2018 for you guys. I mean, dude, he is, like, that's what I mean. Talk about a selfless guy that could care less about numbers. Like, he was the MVP pitching of that team that year. He was our best pitcher. Well, and I mean, it is selfless, but at the end of the day, you are maybe potentially sacrificing your, like,

what you could get in a contractor or another team might offer you. I always, I mean, I had a few of those instances with the debacks in my starting, relieving closing days where they asked me what I wanted to do. Do I want to go back to starting? Do I want to become the closer? and I just always just in my head if you pitch well you'll get taken care of like you can't you can

you know maybe there's a couple of times I wish I to put my foot down and said no I want to be a starter again or hey I only want to save games but you are saccharacter but that's that's what is the most beautiful thing about sports in general is when a human will sacrifice the greater good of themselves for the team and it doesn't happen very often

and there's few times where you can actually look at it but if you want to win it takes sacrifice like that sometimes and it feels like that's what this team needs to do because you're not going to get Jock Peterson and Randall Gritchick and Jake McCarthy and all these guys, all the at-bats that they deserve, right? And that's where I hope like Jock,

Randall, these older guys, some of them are starting but they understand and they're, you know, I'm not saying they do understand, but they're spreading and preaching to these young guys how important staying ready is and not pouting, you know, because again dude, you're one play away from a guy going down and you're in the game. And

you've got to be ready and you got to not only be ready, but be ready both ways. Be ready as a teammate and be ready as a player because it's cheesy but supporting and being a team guy right now is as important as anything. Sure. Yeah. I mean that's what the entire you know like chemistry of this team right now is built on is that they're very close and that they are like a family and I mean that's almost I guess like Tori Lavallo manages that way almost to a fault. Yep. Where as a manager he cares too much about you know the players right. I don't know if you can say too much but there definitely is.

you know, it's weird because there's some guys that are just cutting dry. Tori is obviously the extreme on the other side. And I think young players really appreciate it, some older guys, not that they don't appreciate it, but sometimes they like a little more like, not saying grit because Tori has plenty of grit, but a little more traditional. Sure. You know, like, hey, we lost. We don't need a, you know, it's not the end of the world.

But Tori doesn't make it that way. But I think it's a great balance. I think ultimately what Tori does the best from guys I've played for is identifying who is going to lead these teams, like either via on the field or in the clubhouse and letting those guys and letting them know the importance of like, it's a simple thing. But like for me, even the days I wasn't pitching good, I was the music guy. Like when I got to the field, I started the music in the clubhouse. And like, it's such a stupid thing. But you walk into the clubhouse one day and the music isn't going. You're like, oh, what's up today? And it's a minor thing. But like,

even today, after this bad road trip, man, you come back in and you're still the best team. You still believe. you still do stuff, it doesn't matter. But guys continuing to maintain their roles. And even if it's as simple as like playing music in the clubhouse, you got to play your role. No time for pouting right now. How seriously did you take that role of music? Like, was that something you had to like pull out of music?

I could go through my Spotify. I think I have my seasons playlist. Yeah, like road trip, win. We just lost. Oh, wow. You got to get creative because, I mean, guys, exactly you have your Latin teammates. You have your country guys.

You got to know who's starting that day because you want to play music cater towards them. Or the starter. will come and put his phone on the ox or take over, but typically they're zoned in, and you have to provide a genre that everyone in the clubhouse can appreciate. That's a lot of pressure. It is. That's a lot of pressure.

I'm curious that the question you posed earlier about whether the Diamondbacks will look to get Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, maybe some extra starts down the stretch. We definitely saw that last year. I mean, down the stretch last season, it felt like Gallin or Kelly were starting every single game. I say that because that's what I want. I mean, I think Gallin goes tomorrow, right?

Yeah, Gallon tomorrow. He's got the off day, maybe, but let's get him on. that skip someone and put him in and maybe I mean I'm not always the biggest fan of bullpen days but I think they have their you know their purposes especially if you're trying to get down to Merrill you know another start which again Merrill's

plenty of left in the tank you know missed a lot of time this year but those are two horses those are two guys that I think you want the ball in their hand as many times as possible I guess the question there is who do you not start like whose spot are you skipping Ryan Nelson's been so good lately

you probably can't really go that route Eduardo Rodriguez has really struggled, but he's also Eduardo Rodriguez, and he's only made, what is it, six starts now off the injured list. And Brandon. Vaughn seems like a good candidate. Yeah. Yeah, Fought. I mean, I guess with Fott, you could make the case that he would benefit from just being skipped,

just for workload reasons more than anything. He's a young guy who's never worked this many innings in the majors. So I could see that. It'll be interesting to see what the debacks do. Gallin and Kelly have not, despite their outings in San Francisco, they haven't been at their best necessarily recently. Kelly's had his struggle since coming off the IL and Gallin's been a little bit shakier than we're used to seeing. But, you know, if both guys look great again on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Rangers,

then maybe you do take a closer look at like, yeah, we want to just get as many starts for these guys as we can down the stretch. Well, we thank you guys for being here in the PHN Export to YouTube channel. Of course, if you have not subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our shows go live. And of course, hit that like button. We love it when you do. Look at how pumped Archie is there for that.

Let's go. Of course, if you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you're subscribed over there as well on your favorite audio podcasting app. And leave us a review. That feedback means the world to us, especially those five-star reviews. And we will be right back with some more questions from you guys for Mailbag Monday. But first, we've got to talk about Empire today, which provided this wonderful floor that we're standing on right now. And I know home improvements can be something we all dread doing, especially when, you know, You have to go through the entire process of planning, having people come out, having people in your home.

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And, of course, they also service their own warranties. So if an issue does arise, you can just call Empire, and they will service all warranties themselves. You won't have to track down a manufacturer's phone number or any of that. Schedule a free in-home estimate today. All listeners can receive a $350 discount when they use promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply, see Empire Today.com slash p.nx for details. And that's Empire. Today. I just love doing that. That's something I've been listening. It definitely does. I've been listening to that since I was a kid. So I'm not a singer, but I do know how to have a good time. And of course, this guy over here definitely does. And Jesse, believe it or not, he's a party animal. We all have a good time at Heila River Resorts and casinos because no one does it better. They have their four locations. Of course, Wild Horse Pass that we have been at for so many of our events, but also Lone Butte, Vqueva and Santan Mountain to experience all the best.

the Valley has to offer. Check out Heela River Resorts and Casinos. Of course, you can check out their, everything the resort has to offer. You can check out their gaming floor with thousands of slots and live table games or catch all of the action at any one of their sports books. Of course, we had our Cardinals watch party. Damon looked like a blast even with what happened there at the end. Yeah, it was a good little turnout. You know, we thought we were going to hold the line out there at Healer River. And, unfortunately, we didn't really hold the line. We got about two catches for 14 yards out of that. Hopefully, you know, Marvin shows up a little better next week.

Yeah. And Kyler sees them. That's all. Kyler sees them. Well, head to Heela River Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what the next level is all about. You do you at Heala Resorts and Casinos. Visit play atheela.com for more details. And of course, make sure to join us for our cards and sons watch parties and so much more all season long.

So make sure to join us out there. Of course, today is our three-year anniversary. So I just wanted to say, I cannot believe we put up with each. other this long it's kind of crazy but well we had to add someone yeah yeah yeah normally he sits in the middle and that's for good reason because we need to be separated as much as possible but I do want to say I am so thankful to work with these wonderful people here and this has been an absolute blast over the last three years I can't believe it's it's both taken forever and passed in the blink of an eye

I don't know how that's possible but that's kind of what it's felt like so we really do appreciate every single one of you for being here for joining us, for being, of course, diehards. You guys are the best. And, of course, if you just are joining us for the first time today, welcome to the family. Make sure you stick around. But whether or not it's the three-year anniversary, it's still Monday. And of course, every year on this show is our year.

Every month on this show is Hispanic Heritage Month. Every week on this show is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day. And, of course, on Monday, is Damon. We go to the mailbag. Let's go. I'm trying to get to everything in my box. All right.

Well, what do we got here, Damon, for our first question from the mailbag? Our first question here comes from Travis Moore, and he says, Happy three-year anniversary. Love having this show to listen to most mornings. Thanks, Travis. 18 games left. How many does AZ have to win at this point to secure a spot in the playoffs, in your opinion? I feel like it's shaping up to where they need at least 10, just to guess, though.

It's a great question. Diamondbacks right now are at 80 wins. What do you guys think? What is it going to take to hit the playoffs? I mean, at one point we were like maybe 86, 87. I don't know if that's the case anymore. That doesn't feel right. Yeah, 18.

I mean, I think the obvious, you got to go 500 at least. Yeah. I mean, bare minimum, you got to go 500. I think anything above 500, 10, 11 is, you know, you can secure a spot for sure. Yeah. Braves' Mets are hot. I haven't looked at their schedules. I'd have to look at their schedules in X18. But bare minimum, you got to go 500.

Yeah, it's impossible. I have no idea. Yeah. I mean, that's my simple answer. Yeah, I mean, the debacks are, I think if they stay at their current pace, they would go 10 and 8. So maybe that's what you'd expect. And I think 10 and 8 probably gets you in the playoffs. It gets you to 90 wins.

But we just don't know. I mean, it's right. As you said earlier, it comes down to four teams for three spots. And it sort of just depends on how these other teams play. The Diamondbacks might need 14 wins for all we know to get in the playoffs. That's good point. That's possible, but it's obviously not likely. So I think if you're in the 10, you're in a really good spot, I think.

If you get to 11 or more, I'd be pretty shocked if that didn't get you in. But again, if the New York Mets continue to play how they have in recent days. And the Braves and Padres play fairly well, then, you know, you just kind of have to take it one day at a time. I'll say this is that it's a bit unbelievable that the Diamondbacks are in a position to win 90 games where we felt like that was like kind of a far-fetched, like, you know, kind of outcome for the. this season, right? I mean, they were 25 and 32. Yeah. Yeah.

At the end of May. So you're not exactly thinking 90 wins at that point in the season. But it also makes sense based on where they were at last year and where, you know, the additions they added and everything like that. Like 90 wins actually makes a lot of sense for this team. It's just there was a point where you couldn't fathom that being the case this season. Why you got to ride the roller coaster, man. You can't jump ship early.

You got to stay on it, man. It is a long season. I was just saying that about the. football day yesterday. Like that ride yesterday was ultimately for me ended in a whole lot of disappointment. But I still look back when I woke up this morning and it was like, that was still fun. It was a fun day of football. It was game one.

I watched all the games yesterday. And I like was watching Cleveland, Dallas yesterday late. And Dallas, I mean, was in, but I was watching some of their fans, comments and reactions. I was like, guys, this is game one. Yeah. Relax. Right.

But at least their season's only 17 games long. This one is 162. Sometimes we get that same reaction after a game. That's what I'm saying like, you know, don't panic with this latest little stretch. You know, pitching, whatever. It was bound to happen with how well and how hot the debacks were playing over the last two months. Yeah. All right.

What do we got next, Damon? Next question comes from Serpiente's magic. And they say, if Walker signs with another team, y'all good with Pavin as an everyday first baseman or we need another legit first baseman. If we need another one, apparently there's no replacement in our farm. So who could be the candidates for them other teams, free agency trade, whatever. That's a great question. I mean, I think you would probably, I mean, you'd probably want somebody else over there, aside from Pavin. But I'd only say that based on the fact that we've gotten very used to Christian Walker being there.

Christian Walker provides the excellent defense and the incredible offense. I fully feel like Pavan, after what we've seen out of them lately is capable of handling the offensive side of things. It's just a matter of his defense at first base, right? Damon, can we throw up Pavan's baseball savonage for this season? It's only 102 plate appearances, which is why it's like a little great out here. But yeah, as you can see here, like the underlying numbers totally back up what Paveen has done this season. He has, as you said earlier, a 905 OPS. Like that is, that is very, very good.

That will play at first base. That will play at any position. Granted, the debacks have protected him against lefties. he hasn't really faced lefties this season. I think if you did try to use him as more of a full-time guy, you'd want a platoon partner for him. So, yeah, it's all, I mean, based on how small the sample is here, my guess is that the Diamondbacks would still like to have other options at first

than just paving. You know, Josh Bell is another guy who's about to become a free agent and is on this team. Maybe the debacks would look in that direction. But, yeah, obviously bringing back Christian Walker is maybe the ideal scenario. I'm on the re-sign Walker page. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's for me and obvious. But on those, the savant there with pavement, I mean, that's 102 games dating back to last year or through.

That's all. That's 1002 played appearances. Oh, 102 play appearances. Yeah, hasn't really played that much. That's what I mean, because I don't think he's played more than 60 games in a season yet, right? Like something like that. I know it's a small sample size. So that's my only concern.

And you don't realize until you have a guy like Goldie and then Walker come in. But you have a few guys in between. You play elsewhere. Not as much since some of the rule change. But I would argue your first baseman is as important of a leader on that field as your catcher or anyone else. Like having Goldie over there and the way he approached playing first base took so many things out of your mind that you didn't know he took out of your mind and took things out off your plate until he's gone. And then you have a guy like Walker who's now doing the same thing, gold glove, hitting homers. It's a big hold of fill.

So I'm on the re-sign Walker page. I would be sick to my stomach if we went in the next season with uphaven Josh Bell platoon. Yeah. And nothing against those guys. Yeah. I think Seawalk, like a lot of guys, has solidified himself as a household name along with Marte. And like you're starting to see a little core group of guys that, you know, you can build your franchise around. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's the why I would like to see it is you have Marte locked up. Like, let's get another guy locked up and start to have a building block to build around for the next five to six seasons. It's that core that you build around and that core changes. It does. If you're a good team like the Astros, like the Braves, you have that core change. but then you continue to add pieces to it and you decide who are those crucial pieces

to your building block for the franchise. And I mean, that's why last season was so oppressive because it felt like last season they had just determined who their core was. And usually as a franchise, those next steps to getting as far as they got come later down the road, you know? And I think you have a great mix of young guys

and you solidify some of these, I say older, but more veteran established players with this team. You allow these young guys to, not saying they continue to look up to see you all. and Marte but it's like crap these guys are around now for the next couple years like I know going into my arbitration and into these later years of being a diamond back we have some base some pillars here yeah that worst case you know what I mean like these guys are here and we can build around these guys

well and I think the best example of that was Jake moving his locker over by jocks yes right like just I mean I Jake was over there with like Alec Thomas and Corbyn Carroll the happy jeweler's crew whatnot right but then he moved his locker over next to jock and I mean the two apparently bonded and not only that but he's like you can almost feel like if he is getting you know like help from you know jock and jock's being a mentor of sorts to him that that is reflecting on how well he's done this course right and there's certain guys that uh hold that and i don't know i know walk personally i mean obviously i don't know how he is with this team but walker is a guy that is a lot more lead by example yeah which a lot of guys want to talk you know it's easy to talk and

be the raw raw guy but walk it reminds me a lot of jt remuto those two or two of the guys i've played with where they don't say a lot but they lead by example and they lead by their play and like walk is a guy that i think a ton of guys could learn from and continue to learn from so yeah re-signed christian walker that's the important key there i guess just just real quick looking at i know the question included like are their trade or free agent options or whatever christian walker obviously being yeah probably the primary target if you're the diamond backs but paul goldsmith is also free agent. I feel like we have to feel like we have to mention. Oh, we have a chance to do something

on the last. We have to at least mention that. I'm just saying the Paul Goldschmidt Pavin Smith platoon at first base. I mean, things are rough in St. Louis right now. So Goldie might not, you know, he might be looking for, come finish your home back in a great place. From spring to living, it's, I mean, I love it here. So Goldie come back, but not for

Seawalk. I don't know. That's weird. We'll discuss that one later. Next question. You got anything else for who else? Yeah, I mean, like Pete Alonzo is also a free agent. I think if you were going to spend that kind of money, you might as well just do it with your own guy. He stays in New York, right? Like, he's a met.

Yeah. It feels like he returns. He's got to be a match. You just have those weird times where guys do leave, and then you see in another jersey. You're like, this doesn't even look right. This is gross.

And the Mets are not a team that's afraid to spend money. That's true. I'd be a little surprise. Not now. Like, sorry, don't catch the debacks, but I want the Mets to be good. Yeah.

Because I like the money being spent on teams. And these, you know, not super teams, but guys not afraid to spend this money and be aggressive at the deadline and go get guys. But not this year. You know, the one thing I think about that with baseball is that like a baseball career is so hard. Like from from the time even when you're in high school and you get drafted to the minors and everything it takes to get up to a major league level. Like guys that make it to that point where they are a superstar, an elite player in baseball for the path that they walk, they deserve every bit of that.

Yeah. And not for now. It's a longer subject. We can get into my arbitration. And like when you understand the business side of baseball, and not in a bad way, but how teams view you and not in a personal way, but you're,

there are guys that care about you in the system. And overall people do care about you. But it's a game. It's a business. And if you're not performing or if you're hurt, like, I mean, it's no different than if the car you're driving

won't get you into work every day. You eventually got to replace it. You know what I mean? It's just a way of the world. That's a great point. A piece of Yoshi sent us a super chat for $50. And I think he just might have slipped on a $5 super chat and sent $50 by accident. But I love you and I appreciate you for it.

And he says, Derek, I have an important statement to tell you, Derek Montia on behalf of the Pavin Smith fan club, I would like to inform you that if you choose Jesse Friedman as you're running mate, we believe that we cannot in good faith vote for you as mayor. Thank you. Noted, noted, is all I'm saying noted, considered and completely agree with that. I mean, we've already established that Archie's your running. That's correct. Yeah, that's true. I'm not in the picture. Look, I want to win, don't I? Right? And obviously, that's the case. Thank you, a piece of Yoshi for your super chat. That was amazing. Damon, what else we got?

Third question comes from Michael Rokickey, and he says, will Jesse finally and formally apologize to Pavin Smith now? Okay, Jesse, good question. You want to handle this one? I am not going to apologize for something that I never, I think my comments about Pavin Smith were maybe misconstrued in the past. People know that I'm the person on this show who likes the numbers. I like to look at the numbers and I like to do my analysis based on the numbers. And the numbers have not been so kind of Pavin Smith throughout most of his Diamondbacks career. He's been roughly a replacement level player since the Diamondbacks drafted him back in 2017, I believe it was. But that does not mean that Paveen Smith has not been outstanding this year. And I've been talking about that on the show as well.

We just showed a support page for goodness sake. They just remember the one thing. Jesse, Jesse looked at the bomb page up. He didn't even get in the tub for that one. He took that one up outside of the bad way. Like, not,

again, playing devil's rabbit. Outstanding. He's been better. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like he's been, he's been better than he has been.

But I still, I don't care what you say. I'm talking from when you're drafted and you have a tag on you, you're supposed to play above a certain level. Sure. Or people are going to talk about it and discuss you not being as good as you were supposed to be. Right. That's just,

again, that's the realism of when you're drafted, given a lot of money, you're expected to perform to a certain level. And it does. Personally, you learn like who cares. You know what I mean? Like you get past it.

But yeah, you should critique a guy or, you know, like talk about a guy if you don't think he's playing up to what he's capable of. And that happens in baseball a lot, probably more than any sport, right? Where a guy is like drafted very high. Like it's just such a crapshoot when you. It's such a crapshoot. Because no matter how good you are at a certain level, it really doesn't seem to translate over it. You're going to be good at the next thing. There's no secret to how many of bats or innings.

Like there used to be this like, oh, you need a thousand of bats and 500. Like, it doesn't matter. And if flip a coin and if you're going to get hurt or not, there's so many variables. But he's playing better, which is good. And sometimes I think it takes a while for guys to establish themselves in the big leagues and understand how to be a good major baseball player. Like sometimes it's not just talent, but it's there's a rhythm and a system to understanding how to be good outside of sometimes just playing good. And sometimes, like you said, it takes so long that the teams kind of give up on that. player and then they have those golden years with another franchise.

How do we let it go? Why did that happen? I mean on that note with Pavin, this is kind of a pivotal offseason for him because this is his last year with minor league options. So next season, the Diamondbacks are not going to be able to do the thing where they're constantly, you know, shuttling him back and forth from Reno. They're either going to have to keep him on the major league team or they're going to have to probably let him go elsewhere.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens with that. All right. Next question, Damon. Next question is something we kind of already touched on earlier. or the basketball and football guy asks, what should the playoff rotation be? Oh, that's a great question. I mean, I still am not shying away from obviously

Zach Gallin, Merrill Kelly being number one and number two. It just gets more complicated after that. Like, who's the odd man out? Is it Eduardo Rodriguez? I mean, do you still consider Ryan Nelson to have to prove anything at this point to be on the, you know, one of your guys during the playoffs? Like, you know, you have the way Brandon fought performed last year

is still in the back of your mind. So, I mean, you're not taking the big game, Brandon out of this situation. Despite how Brandon has pitched recently, it's hard to overlook what he did last year. I mean, like that game three start against the Phillies where he had nine strikeouts and went five and two-thirds innings, even though he, they only let him face two times through the lineup. They wouldn't let him turn it over a third time. He still got through five and two-thirds innings. Oh, they never let him see the line up the third time through.

Yeah, no, they were very, very careful with how they used fought last year. maybe they'd be a little bit more willing to let him go deeper this time. But, yeah, Gallin and Kelly are in there for sure, as long as those guys are healthy. I think it'll be, in my opinion, obviously these next 18 games, if one of these guys, Fad or Nelson or Eduardo, continue to get a hot hand. But it's going to be extremely matchup based. I mean, even you said numbers, I could even see it like Eduardo getting a start because it's a lefty matchup that they want. With Fatter Nelson ready to go immediately the sign, you know, get through, you know, something like that. But I think the third spot is tough.

I think it's going to be all these next 18 games and who they think they have the best chance. But I like what you said. You go back to last year, you dive back into that experience in some of those big games that FAP pitched in. And that, I think, weighs a lot of my decision. Yeah. Yeah, he was really good. And it just kind of seemed to come out of nowhere because he was, it's not like to say he wasn't good. He was good coming into the playoffs, but he just hit another.

Rise of the occasion sometimes, man. That's right. All right. All right. What else we got, Damon? next question comes from pcioshi and he asks uh ryan has a new walk-up song do i listen to his new walk-up song on ryan days or do i listen to the one i used to listen to the old one's done its job uh until last night do you think it's just an outlier here's an unrelated haven meme so jessie can apologize do you have the main paven meme i'll answer this first you know my right you got to ride the wave you can't get off a song just because one night it didn't perform right you know what i mean that's my thing like But if he changed it, though, we need to stay with our superstitions that we're doing what he's doing. Yes.

Okay. That's, you know, a player changes a song. That's his personal. But if it works for you and you think that's a song, you roll with that one. Is that crazy to change your song, though, when you're pitching so well? Yeah, I think so. Like that's really, yeah. But that's these new kids with the hype and, you know, it's the new where, like, I took pride in having the same walk-up song or walk-out song every time.

I mean, obviously, you go through downtime. But that was one thing I was very strict on. I was like, I'm not changing that song. I want people to know like, no, regardless. When I come, like, when you hear that, you associate that with R.T. Bradley. Yeah, that's electric. All right. What else we got?

Next question comes from Adam Fox. And he says, congrats to you all on being awesome for three years. Thanks, Adam. I was awesome before that, just for the record. Debatable. I really came online in year two, really. I wasn't awesome. They picked me off the street.

You want a question you say in the spirit of the anniversary what has been each of the crew's favorite D-backs meme or gift? Oh, see, I take this very personally because I created most of them, if not all of them. I will say my personal one based on how much work I put into it and how great it came out was Zach Gallen over Kurt Engel as the milkman sprang down. There was a lot of there's a lot of different angles of gallon that I had to cut out and grab and use in all of those situations. And the end result, I'm fairly proud of. Plus, it's hilarious to see Zach Gallen as the milkman going out there. And also with JR on the call yelling about the milkman and all that, it's perfect. I'm always partial to the ladies and gentlemen, the bullpen thing.

Although I know we associate that with like, negative things. Bullpen meltdowns for sure. That's sort of the reason it exists. But it's so good, though. It was so good. And it got to the point. I mean, I feel like you haven't used it as much in recent days.

and really had to because I don't really feel like we've had the bullpen meltdowns like we have early in the season or last year, right? Yeah. Like we actually had the team up in several instances where they blew the game and they lost it. Right. Right. So this has kind of felt like the losses this year have been kind of like a whole team effort in one way or another. But yeah, it's gotten to the point where when the bullpen would blow a game, there would be people that were like furious with us. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I was getting to. That definitely probably makes it an all-time, an all-time meme for sure. Yeah. All right, we got one more question. Damon, what do you got? Last question comes from Karen, and Karen asks, with all the campaign rhetoric going on, what exactly are the duties of the mayor of the H&X?

And how does he enhance the diehard experience? In other words, what's in it for us? That's a great question. I appreciate her just getting like to the point, being like, what's in it for us? Yeah. First of all, ESPO would have to go and start making all of those meetings with the mayor videos. and they're very complicated. And I don't think he has the time for that, if I'm being honest.

I also don't think PD knowing PD has the patience for it, the amount of self-doubt and PD needing to reshoot those videos and do them again. It's going to take three days for him to shoot one. I get it done in like 12 minutes, obviously from the quality. You can tell that. You're a good politician, Derek. She asks like, what's in it for me? What am I getting out of this?

And you've just been taking shots at your opponents the whole time. Oh, no. I wasn't meaning to. I would never want to take shots of my. upon it. I still have nothing to do with that whole campaign that's been going on that ESPO group or whatever they call themselves. I don't know anything to do with them. But Karen, in regards to that, I will say, better everything, better die-hard experience, more die-hard content, better like get-togethers. Like, look at what's happening. Tomorrow, we are

having food and drinks at the Desmond, and that is not have anything to do with me. But because of me being mayor, this stuff got done. Most importantly, though, there's one thing. There's one thing that I fixed here at P HNX, and it might not be for you diehards, but it's for a man you love. And that's the people's producer, Damon Dog. And I got Damon, his cartoon head, a cartoon head that this man has been looking to receive since day one of working here. I got that taken care of for him. And if I can get that fixed for Damon, imagine the problems I can fix for you all. That's all I got.

You can do anything there. That needs to be clipped. That was really fair. All right. Well, we of course love you guys. We thank you guys. Those of you that are diehards, of course, we appreciate you being diehards. If you are not one yet, and you're thinking about coming to that takeover tomorrow, you should grab your diehard membership first.

You'll get a discount on the takeover in all of our events. You also get a wonderful t-shirt hat of your choice from the PHNX Locker.com and so much more, including access to all of our diehard content, access to all of Jesse's premium written content. And of course, that diehard Discord lounge is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan. So make sure to sign up today. Of course, we will preview this upcoming series with the Texas Rangers and the rematch for the World Series from last year here shortly. The exact same pitching matchup, too. The exact same pitching matchup, well. But first, we got to talk, of course, about our friends at branded Bills.

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for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? It's game time. All right. Well, let's take a look at the series with the Texas Rangers, like Jesse said. We have a rematch almost, you know, player to play.

Zach Gallin against Nathanie of Aldi. That was the precise pitching matchup for Game 5 of the World Series. It didn't go so well. And you did not. Game two, we have Merrill Kelly going against Cody Bradford, who's been pretty good for the Rangers. But let's take a look at this range of. Rangers team at a glance. They've struggled a little bit coming off the World Series. They are 70 and 74 with a minus 39 run differential. They've been pretty good in their last 10. They went seven and three.

But their pitching has not been good this year. They have a 4.25 ERA, which is tied for 18th in major league baseball for their starting pitching. Their relief pitching has a 4.32 ERA, which is 23rd. And their OPS is 685, which is also 23rd in Major League Baseball. But defensively, they've been pretty good. They have 31 outs above average, which is good enough for second in major. League Baseball. Yeah, the pitching is less of a surprise for me than the hitting. The fact that the Texas Rangers have a 685 team OPS basically almost the entire way through the season.

It's kind of been a puzzling year for them. Jonah Heim looked like a really promising young player last year this season. He has a 597 OPS. Marcus Semyon, who was obviously instrumental in their World Series run. He has a 695 OPS this season. Corey Seeger has an 864. He is hurt right now and will not play in the series. We'll not miss him.

I'm going to say that's not a missed. Yeah, Corey Seeger pretty much single-handedly swept the diamond backs when they went to Texas earlier this year. He had just an incredible series and obviously it was pretty darn good in the World Series as well. Game one, that's still just, yeah. Yeah, me and Jacob were standing in the spot where he hit that home run and it was like two miles away from home play. But my God. It's good to miss him. and of course it's good to take on a team here really that doesn't have much to play for

I mean the diamondbacks have been playing teams lately that have a lot online and you know it's not to say that this is a team you can kind of take for granted but it's it's nice to play teams like the rangers and you know maybe the rockies I don't know the rockies have kind of been just spoiling things all I feel like it's more of again understanding with these vets and the run they went it's not taking advantage but you understand you don't say this a lot but you can out play these teams like out after these the there's Rangers. They're not going to give that max there.

Say what you want. A lot of those guys, man, they're still technically have a chance, but they're thinking about their vacations, their offseason programs, like you can out effort this, these games and win some games by not technically playing better than these teams if you want it a little bit more than they do, I think. They might have made some playing, playing, playing reservations. A hundred percent you do.

We can talk about another time. When you're old in September and you know you're not making the playoffs, boy, you talk to your wife, you get those, start getting stuff lined up. Because if you don't, man, you're paying so much more. So it's like, hey, let's book some flights early. Well, and you do. You have such a short off season too. I mean, you almost have to start getting, you know, ready right away.

So it's like it's a full year commitment. You take a month off. Most guys, that's on average. You take a month off. And you think about it from either playing, getting healthy, or if you want to make a swing change or like, it takes time. And, you know, if you realize too, there's, I forgot the number is, but 700 something major leaguers, like, if you want to continue to be one of those,

you better be working. If you don't have your stuff mapped out and planned and ready, you're going to be behind or be panic and struggling or not enjoy what the offseason meant for to recover to rest and some of it is you know you're out of the playoffs let's start getting this lined up and ready and get ready for next season

what are you looking for out of Zach and Merrill on this obviously to just continue the role that they were on from their last two starts right? Yeah yeah I mean especially with Merrill I mean his command was so much better in that game against the Giants than it was against the Dodgers we showed the pitch charts for each of those starts

and it was a night and day difference for him. So yeah, looking for Merrill's command to look better. Obviously, Merrill was outstanding in the World Series and really outstanding throughout the postseason for the Diamondbacks last year. So maybe there's something extra there for him facing the Rangers for the first time since then. But yeah, Zach Allen, you know, he still had the four walks in that start against the Giants. Other than that, it was almost literally perfect. He did not allow a hit in that game.

So yeah, you're just looking for those guys to continue to establish some sort of a rhythm here. I think they've each got probably three starts left. So maybe the D-back stretch that to four. I guess we'll see. What this guy wants. You're definitely winding down to the end here. So, yeah, I mean, the Rangers have had the D-BACs number, right? Between the World Series and a two-game sweep earlier this season in Texas.

This is, you know, these are not easy games for the Diamondbacks, despite what the record might show. Well, the benefit here in favor of what Archie is suggesting is that you do have Zach and Merrill both fairly well rested, right? Because of the injury stints that they had due to the time off and things like that. So like these guys could go hard down this stretch to try to give them that edge. And you could also simultaneously give someone like Brandon Fought, maybe even Ryan Nelson just one, you know, one day off in order for them to kind of get that rest and also be ready. But I also think that it's baseball. You have to kind of stay in a rhythm and in a groove. And sometimes you just don't really know how that's going to impact it.

I almost feel like Catelle Marte and Christian Walker being back as a little bit, is negatively impacted this team just from the perspective. Isn't that weird to say? But I was thinking about that on the drive and how. It's like getting back to baseball is always hard no matter. And in a weird way, you subtract some guys that did some different things than Catell and Christian do that provided value in other ways. Sure. Newman had plenty of multi-hit games.

You know what Josh Bell did. It's so weird to say that these guys. them back and it's like, man, obviously they're the best player and they should play, but it's like, this is a little weird. I kind of like so-and-so being in there, you know. Yeah. And that's where I think, again, there's 18 games left. That's why I'm so key on Gowan and Merrill getting another start because solidifying this wild card spot and allowing these guys to get in this rhythm and get this final push, even if they do get lit up again. It doesn't matter. It's exactly what you said. Staying in rhythm and staying in line to go into the playoffs and make a push like we should. Yeah.

Well, that's all we got for you guys today. We appreciate your questions. We appreciate you stopping by. Make sure to follow all of us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Kate Man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Archie is all over Instagram. Make sure to follow him in Archie Bradley 7.

Of course, the people's producer, Damon, is at Damon dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are all Damon's dogs. I was making sure Jesse was gone. We'll have to time that up better. Of course, our show that PHX underscore D-Ban. but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again for your time.

Have a wonderful day off from baseball. We'll see you back here for a postgame show tomorrow. Until then, we'll see you. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Pavin Smith hits three home runs for your team.