PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX D-backs Post Series: Melancon Meltdown

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing the D-backs being unable to complete the season sweep of the Marlins in the final game, looking ahead at the upcoming schedule vs the Cubs and the Dodgers, and how expectations for this team have quickly changed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And welcome to another edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here at PHNX. My name is Derek Monti. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX. And I'm joined by my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Do you have fun out there, Derek? Oof, yeah, for a little while until that ninth inning. And then everything went to hell. I kind of laughed, though, there for a moment while all of that was going on.

because what I was seeing in the section that I was in with our fellow PHNX family was DeBax fans that were really, really passionate about what was going on in the ninth inning. I try to use the word passionate because I felt like saying fucking pissed off might have been a little bit more of an aggressive language than I needed to use. But what I saw, Jesse, was I saw people caring. And the reason why people care is because they believe in

this team and they believe in this team's ability to win games again. And that didn't take very long for that mentality to change. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app right now and get on the NBA playoff action. New customers can bet $5 on any NBA team to win and you will get $150 in free bets if they do. Yes. And Michael said he was at that game and it gave him emotional damage. Me too there a little bit. We were laughing. We were having a good time. We celebrated a really another fun game to watch for the Diamondbacks up until the ninth inning.

I say fun because Merrill Kelly had a rough first out inning. Once again, didn't look like he was going to make it very long in this game, but he once again rebounded nicely and was able to give a decent outing that gave the Diamondbacks a chance to win. The offense showed up. There was a tie game going into the ninth. and then everything fell apart in drastic fashion. But one run, eight runs, what does it matter? Loss is a loss, right?

So, I mean, realistically, it just got put out of, you know, being a feasible comeback for the Diamondbacks once, you know, the Marlins really ported on. I felt like for them, it was a bit of a cathartic, like, lashing out after what they've been through against this Diamondbacks team. If you look at it from the Marlins' perspective, they've been beat up in this series and this season by the Arizona Diamondbacks. And I think they're glad to at least squeak out that one inning of retribution before getting out of town.

They've lost to the Diamondbacks five times in the last two weeks. So I think it's safe to say that, yeah, they were probably, they were probably ready to put an end to that street. And I believe this is, I believe this was the last game that these two teams will play each other all season. Correct. It is. And the Diamondbacks had the opportunity to sweep a six-game season series against an opponent for the first time since 2012. And that is a very long time for them. Because, yeah, they've swept like Interleague series that they've had where they played like a three-game series or something like that. But when you talk about having more than one series against an opponent like this, the last time was 2012.

So it would have been nice to see them do that. But again, it's also, it spins my head a little. bit, Jesse, on how fast we got to this point where, you know, we're not not really satisfied any longer with them just taking two out of three against Miami Marlins. We really wanted to see them just keep their foot on the pedal and take it in a sweep. And I mean, honestly, if you would have told me that at the beginning of the season, I would not have believed you that we would already be at this point in the middle of May, you know? This says in the chat, if the tie didn't happen, I would tuck five, six in my pocket and been okay. Yeah, I mean,

I'm with you there, but it was definitely a little bit of a heartbreaking loss there at the end. It was still a great day, though. Alec Thomas showed up and showed out. Again, it was a nice rebound from Merrill Kelly. A lot of positives for this team outside of that ninth inning with two outs, too, by the way. That was partially painful. It is, I mean, it is really something to give up eight runs with all with two outs, right? I mean, that's not, that's not something that you see every day. And that was, that was unfortunately what happened for the Diamondbacks today. Mark Melanson is, is starting to concern a number of people and, and understandably so. He's not looked especially sharp this season. I know his last outing was rough, and this one was

also rough. And even in some of the outings before that, where he managed to leave the game unscathed, kind of felt like his stuff wasn't quite to the point that we've seen it in the past few years. And that was apparent today. He threw some 88, 89 mile an hour cutters. I think maybe even the majority were in the high 80s. He threw a few that were low 90s, 9091, whereas last season, Mark Malanson was pretty much all 92, 93 with the cutter. So that's a concern.

The Diamondbacks have had their fair share over the last few years of closers who, you know, where past their prime came in, Diamondbacks were kind of hoping to get them toward the tail end of their career and get out of them whatever they had left in the tank essentially. And it kind of looks like the same sort of deal with Mark Malanson where a lot of people thought that he was still at the top of his game. He led the national,

I think he led all of baseball in saves last year. But this season he does not look the same. I think that there is still a lingering injury right now with Malanson. I don't think it's. Has the team talked about? Has the team talked about any kind of injury that we're aware of? Here's the reason why I say that. In today's post game, when Tori was talking about it,

he was saying that Mark is still on his way back. And I don't know. I guess from COVID, right? He was on the COVID aisle. Well, and again, we don't know to the severity in which he caught it or had it, right? So, yeah, like he definitely made it sound like he's still not 100%. There was also a stomach bug going around in the bull. pen as well, and that is what got Middleton and

Joe Mantiplies, so they were unavailable today to come out. There was some talk about Melanson, obviously coming out during a tie game and not a save opportunity. You know, Lovallo said the ninth inning is his. That's how he views it. Tie game, they're up. That ninth inning belongs to Malanson, right? A couple of questions from journalists discussed how just historically, even with

dominant closers that they tend to have an issue when they come into games that are tied. It's like a different mentality that they approach the game coming into a tieball game versus coming in and doing their job as a closer with a lead, right? So LeVolo didn't sound like he was going to shy away from continuing to use Melanson. And he basically said he had no plans on even entertaining ideas of a different closer or closer by committee or anything like that that we've seen in the past. past. I do think pivoting away sometimes from a guy because he's had a couple of bad outings is something the Diamondbacks have done far too often in the past as well. And I think that

Mark Malanson, as long as he's healthy, is still going to continue to be your best option. I think my personal problem with it is just the fact that at times that set up man closer mentality tends to take the thinking too much out of managing a game. And in some cases, there just might be a better situational pitcher to put out there when you have an entire bullpen full of guys than to necessarily go to the guy that you've labeled your eighth inning and ninth inning guys. Right. So there's an argument to be made for both. I personally have always wanted to see the Diamondbacks have this consistency as far as being able to rely on a guy in the eighth inning in the ninth. I just don't know if Ian Kennedy is that guy. And I don't know

how reliable Mark Melanson is going to be. I'm just not ready to panic because he's had a couple of bad outings yet. This was concerning, though. I think that this was concerning mostly because the amount of runs that the Marlins were able to put up in this ninth inning was incredible. I mean, this series hasn't been incredibly close the entire time. The Diamondbacks have played them well. And you can't even completely blame it on Mlanson because J.B.

when Delkin came into the game and he couldn't he wasn't effective against this Marlins lineup at all either one of the things I like the most uh is when I was in the clubhouse hearing uh an unnamed player say that it really pissed him off that jazz chisholm got the home run there at the end because he had such a bad series and now it like takes takes it away kind of band a band aides up how how much the diamondbacks were able to keep him in check by having that one home run that now makes it look like he has. had a better, you know, series against the Diamondbacks than he did. Those guys, they don't like, they're not a fan of that guy. And there's a little bit of a rivalry there. And I dig it. I like,

I like this team having a chip on their shoulder. And I like them being in the position that they, that they're in right now. I mean, like I said, they've changed our perspective on this team really quickly. Merrill Kelly still had a great outing as far as pitching outings are concerned, right? I mean, the end result of his outing is not awful. Again, we talk about comparing it to last season. We would have absolutely taken a five-inning to run outing from any of our starting pitchers at any time. Ironically, though, you brought up how Brent Strom had the talked about Merrill Kelly not having a good bullpen, not really feeling great. He discussed today how he felt great today and how much.

That was the opposite of his good outing when he had the good. Interesting. Yeah. Actually, pretty good. I've talked to a couple of guys that's funny. Baseball is a funny game. The other day, obviously, felt way worse, and the result was a lot better.

Today I felt better, and the result was worse. So it felt pretty good. The ball's coming out of my hand pretty well. Other than that, just one of those days. Still able to get five innings in? Yeah, I was happy with that, especially, obviously, the two run home in the beginning. And then another run on the third.

look up when I have 50 pitches through two. I was happy that I was able to keep us in the game. And thank you, Merrill Kelly, for reminding me that you had three runs and not two. But still, again, not a terrible outing by any stretch of the imagination. And the Diamondbacks were in it, right? I mean, they were in it and they took that into the ninth. And like I said, whether it was four to three or 11 to three, they weren't able to muster up anything in the bottom of the night to get some runs.

on the board anyways so they they drop a what could have been a close game but ends up being a blowout in the finale of the series and i'm just i'm not i'm not really that upset about it i just think it's funny though that there is a part of me that already assumed jesse i already assumed that they were going to have some sort of fun miraculous comeback in the ninth inning and win the game it was it had been a very on-brand 2020 diamond back scheme game, at least from what we've seen the last couple weeks, where you know, you're, you're down three to one, your starting pitcher. And this case didn't necessarily have his best stuff, but like Merrill talked about, you know, still kept his team in the game. And then you get that late game,

big home run from Jordan Luplo. How many times have we seen the diamondbacks come up with the big, you know, seventh or eighth inning run, a home run, really, in order to, to either put their team in front or in this case, tie the game. And yeah, I guess from one standpoint, you're kind of like, if you're, you know, the bullpen is going to have one of those games, you might as well get it all out in one game. And, uh, you know, giving up eight runs is, is certainly that. Uh, it was, it was, it was, uh, quite a mess there in the ninth inning. Um, I mean, again, they, they gave up eight runs before they could get the third out of the inning. So it was, it was really quite a meltdown for, for a Lance and, and, and J.B. Welndale can, but,

yeah, yeah, we'll see what the diamondbacks do moving forward with, with, with the bullpen. I, I think you're right that we probably shouldn't be pressing the panic button. at this point in the season. I just, the, the absolute most frustrating thing. What is, what do you mean by that, Chirsten? I would be drinking a beer. How dare you. Go tell your wonderful stories that you have to tell, all right?

Leave me in my beard and mine. To ourselves over here. Chirson, can you bring me a beer, please? Yeah, yeah, bring more beers, Chirsten. That's what we would like. Anyway, I think, you know, the, like, again, the Diamondbacks just have had that. magic and I can't explain it because again we're we're now in this position where we find ourselves kind of surprise when we don't come back and have have that great outing or that that miracle

ninth inning and again Mark Melanson is going to be fine I think and I felt like that was the sentiment from Tori LaBullo. I don't think that there's any any cause for concern other than the fact that it's so frustrating to see him get two outs. And this is happened before. Yeah. Right? That final out that alludes them. And then just to watch the game kind of unravel like that, it was, it was rough,

you know, but what hasn't been rough has been watching this team this season. And again, wondering how far past Jesse the peak of Mount 500, they'll go. They're not going very far. But again, they're still above 500.

And that's all we can ask for, right? They are. They are. Yeah. I mean, yesterday they hit three games over 500, which felt like, I mean, they hadn't done that since 2019.

So there you go. Right. So you know what we do. We hit the button. Hit the button. Hit the button for the thing with the Baxter. The climbing, the mountain. I can't believe you didn't hit that faster.

You're dead to me. You just said hit the button. I was like, wait, what button? That was my fault. That was my fault. It's my fault. But anyway, the Arizona Diamondbacks again, continue to be good in a series. Let's take a look at the numbers that they had here against the Marlins. Again, two wins to one.

Marlins, the runs really got skewed there by that. Yeah. And starting pitching ERA and really, I mean, it by no means looks like the Diamondbacks were the team that beat up on the Marlins in this series and for five out of six against this team. But you know what? Hey, they still manage to be the better team in this series. with today being the one exception. Yeah, I mean, if you, 17 to 16, the final run totals for each team in favor of the Marlins in the series. But yeah, I mean, you take away literally just that very tail end of the game, literally two outs in the ninth inning. The Diamondbacks had outscored the Marlins in the series 16 to 9.

And then, you know, before the Diamondbacks could get the last out, they gave up essentially half of the runs that the Diamondbacks gave up in the season. series. They gave up with two outs in the ninth inning of the last game of the series. Somehow, somehow that's how this stuff goes. So there you go. It's stuff that won't make the numbers look great once again. But these are the reasons why we said that we'll probably see a lot of these ERA numbers level out. Unfortunately, the bullpen continues to not look great. I still think the Diamondbacks have some reliable pieces in there. And I still think Melanson is one of them, despite the fact that today definitely didn't go his way. But of course, we are going to be covering all this.

I'm going to have some stuff on Melanson's outings over on go p hnx.com, as well as stuff on Alec Thomas and his big week that he's had up here for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And you can get that over on go p hnx.com. If you haven't signed up to become a member yet, please do so. You can get the annual membership, which will get you a free t-shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. and I have a very special one that I want to share with you.

Let's share it right now. Dropping right now, get our brand new Seth Cervesa, world's hardest hitting beer shirt over at Go PHNX, or excuse me, at the PHNX locker.com. If you sign up to become an annual member at Go PHNX, you can use your free T-shirt discount and get this beautiful shirt in honor of Seth Cervasa breaking, I guess it's on honor of him getting a hit today. that's where it's at. Look, folks,

T-shirts take a while to make, and that's the way that happens. So obviously, Seth was much hotter to start the season, but we're still behind our guy, and that's something Tori Lavello talked about today, was that every baseball player at every level goes through this stuff, right? Goes through these struggles,

goes through these droughts. And again, it's something that they don't seem concerned about. I don't know what their thought process is. I've really enjoyed Seth Beer as a hitter. I think he's been a big addition to this team, but unfortunately, he's just, he's been in a rut, you know,

and unfortunately to break out of this slump, he got, at least he got the hit today, and that should end it, but it was the longest hitless streak by a non-pitcher in Diamondbacks history, and that's never good history to be setting, right? But that's done now. It's over, that streak's broken.

Seth Beer, back to hit and got his hit today. So again, in celebration of that, pick up that wonderful t-shirt over at p hnxlacker.com. If you're not interested in becoming an annual member, sign up for our month-to-month option. You'll get your first month for just 50 cents. And of course, regardless of what membership you choose, you'll get access to our members-only Discord, as well as our members-only discounts over at the phnx locker.com. So you'll get yourself that shirt anyway. And again, speaking of Seth Beer, big day for Seth just to, you know, get that monkey off his back and get that hit.

bigger day for Alec Thomas. Young guys getting it done, Alec Thomas gets his first home run. We were very, very excited in the stands for it, especially these delinquent gamblers out here that had money set on. You know,

wasn't that? Wasn't that like fairly close? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We had a lot of, we had a lot of home run action coming our way where we were at because the PHNX crew was out there and that's just what happens when we're out there. We, you know, it's the long balls happened. but it was again you take a look at what alec thomas has done and you know he continues to be

impressive everybody had nothing but glowing reviews to say about him they talked about how impressive he was at the plate there was a lot of talk about his maturity and just you know that he he looks ready to be here he really does he really does and that's why he's our king of the series i believe if we have there it is there is alic thomas king of the series four for ten that home run today, three RBI and three runs scored. He, again, just had some incredible exit velocities. The ball just zinging off his bat. And I mean, it's everything that we hoped we would see.

It's difficult to come up to a major league level and immediately make an impact the way that he has. I don't think I would have expected anything more than what he's given. He's far, much like the Diamondbacks this season, and he's far exceeded my expectations this year. Michael said, I said to my friend would be nice to see Thomas hit his first home run today. He hit it on the next pitch.

I have to say that our very own shot of pause said when he came out to Millie as his walk-up song, that it was no doubt that he was going to hit a home run. And surely on like the next, I think two pitches later, he hit the home run. So it was a beautiful sight to see. Or maybe it was even the first pitch home run. Not sure.

You have to give Sean all the flowers because he was, calling every single hit. It was ridiculous. Yeah, Sean. He was due. He's due. And they were hitting every single time. Yeah.

He was on something. You know what, though? They're not bringing up how he said that a lot and was wrong because he just wanted everybody to get hits because again, he's a delinquent gambler. He had a lot of money riding on this game. And basically he bet on runs scoring. He bet on runs scoring and a lot of run scoring. And he ended up getting his way because, yeah, they provided plenty of runs for the,

for the over, over at the Draft King's sportsbook for sure. They cashed in. So again, see, just because your team loses doesn't mean you have to over at the Draft King's sports book. But Jesse, they do have a good schedule coming up. We've talked about that. More importantly, what's looming on the horizon is a battle once again with the Los Angeles Dodgers that features a double header against our NL West rivals.

But as we see here, we got the Cubs this weekend here in town. Friday's game is actually a. exclusively going to be broadcast on Apple TV. And what's interesting, Jesse, and reading about it is no subscription is needed to watch Friday night baseball on Apple TV. Well, right now it's not. I think they're doing like the, they're doing like a trial period so people can check it out before paying for it.

It's, it's for at least, at least for this game. Yes. And the very lovely Katie Nolan will be, uh, calling that game. And that's going to be fun to hear. I love Katie Nolan. So I'm excited for that. And excited to see the Diamondbacks on the Apple TV broadcast because we've talked about how different it is. But then again, the Chicago Cubs there, big draw.

We have them this weekend and next weekend here and then at Wrigley. And then right in between those meaty games where the Diamondbacks should feast is going to be another difficult four-game series with the Dodgers. And I think at this point, Jesse, this is the litmus. test, I think, and how they perform against the Dodgers is really the time to see if this team is as good as they have been. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, right? I mean, the Dodgers are stupidly good. I mean, their run differential is like twice that of any other team in baseball right now.

So, I mean, it's a litmus test in a sense that like, you know, you're really getting a feel of how you really compare with the best. but honestly, no one compares well with the Dodgers right now. Even the best teams, the best other teams in baseball don't really compare very well with the Dodgers with what they're doing. I guess their record isn't necessarily far in a way the best in the league. But if you look at the number of runs they're scoring versus the number of runs they're allowing, they just appear to have basically no weaknesses early in the season. And yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks could lose three out of four in that series and still be a pretty darn good baseball.

team because the Dodgers are just that good. I mean, and is that the idea there as far as you saying that is that if they do kind of get beat up there by the Dodgers, that it's still not a big concern? I don't think you're a bad team. Like if you, if you get one out of four against the Dodgers, that's in some ways like the expected outcome. And if you split a series, that probably feels like a win. If you get swept, it's not great.

but it also is, they're the Dodgers. I mean, the roster is completely loaded. It's one of the best lineups that we've seen in a very, very long time in this game.

Freddie Freeman is doing his thing. They even have some hitters who haven't really woken up yet, which is probably the scariest part of all of that. Justin Turner's not really hitting. Max Muncie isn't really hitting. Cody Bellinger hasn't really hit much. And they're still,

you know, far and away, at least by run differential, the best team in the game so far. So, the six games surrounding that four game series with the Cubs is going to be nice for the Diamondbacks. The Cubs are, I think, 11 and 19 right now. They've really struggled lately.

And I think that's really, again, getting the job done against the Cubs is also part of that, right? Like, what they have here is two kind of easier series wrapped around a pretty meaningful series. You know, they did win the first series against the Dodgers. and I don't know. I would almost chalk that up to a bit of a fluke despite the fact that the Diamondbacks played very well in that series. And not only did they play very well, but I felt like that was a catalyst for them moving forward,

for believing in themselves beating the Dodgers series, you know. Yeah, that was really the start of it. I mean, if you go back to that Dodger series, that's kind of where things turned around. Up until that point, the Diamondbacks were just not playing good baseball. And then there were those last couple, couple games of the series where suddenly the Dodgers were the ones making the mistakes and not the diamond backs. And D-backs have still had their rough patches along the way. But by and large,

since that series, the diamondbacks have played like a different baseball team. It's, it's, again, Jesse, it's the OG's gummy effect is really what it is. It all feels, it was all a dream. I used to read Wordup magazine, but go get down on some OGs gummies. And that way, you can get over this loss. And you can write. on this feeling of euphoria that the Diamondbacks are currently providing for as long as possible, because it's who knows when it's going to end, and it very well could end in a four-game series against the Diamondback or against the Dodgers where, you know, they kind of remind the Diamondbacks who they are. I think that's what I'm looking for there more in that series.

But again, nothing makes any baseball game or any sporting event better than OG's gummies. So get down on some amazing Scratch made THC Gummys. from our friends at OGs at your local dispensary. Of course, right now, they have the three milligram microdose option that just dropped, if you're not interested in diving right into their regular 10 milligram option, all sorts of flavors, tropical flavor, pinocalada, cream skull, dark berry creamcicle or dark berry cream. It's blackberry cream, blackberry cream? I'm very good.

Sorry, it was, again, I've taken too many OGs gummies. I forgot what their names even are correctly. but if you're interested in joining me and enjoying some amazing scratch made gummies, get over to OGs.com and find OGs near you. That's OGEEZBrands.com, and you can find a dispensary where all of those will be available. The 3 milligram microdose is available at Zen Leaf locations through today, and after today you should be able to find them everywhere you can find OGs. Jesse, though, again, this Diamondbacks team has done.

some impressive things. I get it. It's a loss, right? But where are we at right now? And what do you think that we can expect out of this team moving forward? I mean, there's still 17 and 15, right? I guess on the run differential side, I know that's something we've been watching with them. And now I think it's minus 13. So the 17 and 15 feels maybe a little bit less legitimate after what happened today. I think the bullpen is going to be big for them, though, Derek. They've really struggled the last few years to have a reliable back end. And that can, that can really swing your season. I don't think we're talking playoffs for this team, at least not at this point. But, you know, that can be the difference between an 80 to an 80,

like you predicted and more of a 75, 87 situation, which is what I predicted, right? I mean, the bullpen will, will have a big effect in some of those games. And yeah, I mean, Mark Malanson coming back from, from COVID is certainly not, you know, that's, that's something that really can take a toll on people. There's a lot of fatigue that's associated with that. I've heard a lot of stories from people who didn't really feel the same weeks after, months after even from having that, including, yeah, including you. So it, I mean, and you're in the best shape of basically any human being on the planet.

So if it can do that to you, I don't, I mean, who knows what it could do to someone like Mark Malanson. But, yeah, so it's going to be really big because Ian Kennedy hasn't looked that great. He certainly got by. I don't think his ERA is, I don't have it in front of me. I think it's around four or five, something like that. He scooted along without it being too much of a disaster, but just the eye test for both of these pitchers, Derek, doesn't look good. Neither of them have been very impressive to watch. Mark Melanson has four strikeouts in 10 and two-thirds innings. And, you know, most closers are, you know, if you give them 10 innings, they're probably

striking out 12 or 13, right? Yeah. So Melanson's never going to be a strikeout guy. So that's not necessarily super alarming, but you do need some swing and miss in order to be effective. And that's something he really hasn't had the entire season. Malanson has a 6.75 ERA currently after today's game. And by the way, shout out to Caleb Smith, who actually did it.

He was good. He had a really good outing. He gave him three innings of relief after Merrill Kelly. couldn't, you know, exited early, a bit early, earlier than expected, with six strikeouts. And I think that's the part. When you talk about the swing and miss, that is what has been so alluring about Caleb Smith to this team. And that's why he was originally named one of their starters early in the season, right?

Caleb Smith has the stuff to be a great pitcher. And honestly, I think that he was taking direction from them and information. and he was putting it into practice, and they were seeing results with him. And I wouldn't be surprised, again, to see them go back to Caleb Smith. There is a lot of guys on this team that can get outs, like you said. Melanson is never going to be a guy that has overpowering stuff, but he does get outs, right? Humberto Castiano is another guy that doesn't have overpowering stuff, but he's effective and gets out. Caleb Smith's different.

Caleb Smith has the ability to be extremely good at times. And I think that the 9.64 ERA is deceptive of his actual abilities. And I think that he could still be a key component to this bullpen, especially as a long reliever. That seems to be, in my opinion, the best role for him. He has that starter, you know, link that ability to go long. But for some reason, it just continues to not. work out for him as a starter.

Meanwhile, Joe Mantiply leads the league in scoreless appearances. 15 out of 16 of his last appearances are scoreless, including 11 straight to start the inning. So there are, you know, some good things happening in this bullpen. And again, as this team kind of still continues to figure out who they can rely on and who they can count on, it's not to say that they don't have the talent. It's just, unfortunately, things have prevented the bullpen from shining and looking good. And especially with Melanson, you know, he's still six out of seven for save opportunities.

This isn't going to impact that because it's a save opportunity, but he's 0 for four on the season, which is something you don't typically see about a closer this early in the season. So it goes to show he's been out there and responsible for four losses, whether they were save opportunities. or not. We were talking earlier about stuff and, you know, just the ability to like throw stuff past guys that they just can't hit. We should probably tip our caps to Sergio Alcantara, who is a excellent starting pitcher. He was throwing close to 100 miles an hour throughout pretty much this entire game, seven innings, two hits, one run, three walks, six strikeouts. That's pretty much who he is. I mean, Sergio Alcantara versus Merrill Kelly.

You know, Merrill's been really, really good this season, but Sergio is right up there with him as being one of the best pitchers in the game. And someone who's been known as one of the best pitchers in the game over the last few years, Marlon's pitchers don't necessarily get a whole lot of name credibility just playing in Miami. But he was excellent today. And he is, that's sort of par for the course for a guy like that. By the way, Jesse loves when I talk about exit veloes. I do. I do. out of the top six exit velocities today, the top four were all Marlins players.

And then of those three came in the ninth inning. So they were just hitting the ball hard. Number five and number six, both belong to Alec Thomas. So again, Alex Thomas with 103.2 mile an hour single and 103.1 mile an hour home run. I mean, he was, this is,

we gave him king of the series. and this is the first full series he's played in the major leagues. I mean, this is, this is impressive. A lot of people, myself included, were a little bit, you know, certainly excited to see Alec Thomas play, but also understanding. Possibly optimistic. Sure, sure. Yeah, understanding that especially with his approach at the plate,

he has kind of a wonky load-up swing that some scouts have said could take some time to adapt to the majors. And he seems very often. balance, right? Like he's... Yeah, yeah. It doesn't... It is not your textbook swing. It is not the way that you, you know, teach the kids in Little League how to swing a baseball bat, but it's worked for him throughout his career. And, uh, and yeah, I mean, it's hard to expect anything more than I think he's at 385, you know, five for 13 to start the season. He has three extra base hits. It's looked really, really good for him. And he might not be batting eighth and ninth, you know,

for too long if he continues to do this. There you go. So, well, we appreciate you guys tuning in. We appreciate you guys staying reasonable. Again, our expectations with this team, I think, are all over the place. So try to keep your expectations reasonable. They're not going to win every game. But let's just be excited that once again, they won, what, their third series in a row. And that's way more, I think, than we expected to see,

especially considering how this season started. So they got things turned around, and hopefully they can get back on track against the Chicago Cubs before heading into Los Angeles against a very difficult Dodgers team, which it's tough enough, right? But then they also have that double header smack there in the middle. So it's going to be a tough series against the Dodgers. And we're looking forward to bringing you guys all of our coverage on it. Again, you can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore DBEX. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports. And that is on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you're listening to us right now, your favorite audio podcasting app, please make sure to subscribe to us there and leave us a five-star review because I feel like we deserve it. The Diamondbacks definitely deserve it. Also, go over to YouTube and subscribe to

the PHNX Sports channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss live shows like this one or any of the live stuff that we're doing. Sometimes we're crazy over here. We'll just go live randomly whenever and expect you guys to know. So sign up for notifications. That way you do. Of course, we thank you guys again. Check out all of our sponsors. Sign up for a membership over at go phnx.com. And of course, get yourself a t-shirt at the phnx locker.com. We got a pretty nice one. Let's see it one more time. Go get that Seth Cervesa, genuine world's hardest hitting beer. Let's get that guy back on track so we can all wear that shirt and have a good time. By the way, I got a chance to show Seth that shirt and he enjoyed it very much.

So if he enjoyed it, that means you will too. It'll make you hit a baseball harder. So we need to get that to all the guys. on the team as soon as possible. We thank you guys again so much for checking out the show. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we appreciate your time and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's way more fun when your closer can close the game.

Well, and I guess it's tied, so it's not a close, but you get my point.