PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX D-backs Post Series: Oops they did it again

Episode Date: May 16, 2022

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing the D-backs losing two out of three to the Chicago Cubs, the role the bullpen imploding played in the losses, and looking ahead at the upcoming series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 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.

Welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as an apologist for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but we'll get to that shortly. Of course, I'm joined by my fellow non-apologist, the one and only vice mayor, Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. That was rough, Derek. All three of these games with the Cubs were close, and this Diamondbacks bullpen was just not able to measure up when it was all sudden.

But we'll get into it. It's fine. The Arizona Diamondback has died this weekend so the Phoenix Suns could live, and we'll get to that. But 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 now and get down on the NBA action. It's nonstop over the Draft King Sportsbook app. This week, new customers can bet just $5 on any NBA team to win their game.

And you will get $150 in free bets if they do. Close it out like the Celtics did on the former. champion the Milwaukee Bucks, tip of the cap to them, but hey, one less hurdle in the Sun's way should they move on past the series. So I am again trying to accentuate the positive. So there's going to be a lot of Suns talk here, but forgive me. I know it's a Diamondbacks podcast. Right now, the Diamondbacks did lose two out of three against the Cubs, ends their streak of winning series. More importantly, the Diamondbacks had an opportunity to win a series against the Cubs at Chase Field for the first time since May 2015, which I felt was eminent.

And it's, wow. So they did not get the deal done there. And in this case, it was once again, Jesse, the same story that we've seen when the Diamondbacks have struggled this season. Now we have, you know, the offense once again, kind of not putting up very good numbers, the bullpen, not holding up their end of the bargain, but starting pitching continues to be very, very good for this team. Starting pitching has been great.

Yeah, I mean, that's not, that's not the problem here. And actually, can we just, can we go straight to the numbers? Can we go by the numbers right now from the very beginning? I think we need to take a look at these numbers. Absolutely. Let's, let's look at these numbers. This is, this is kind of how things shook out this series. And as, as you said, the starting rotation for the Diamondbacks was very good, a 3.18 ERA.

I mean, that's sort of what we've come to expect. Zach Gallen was very, very good yesterday. Humberto Castiano, after a couple of, Homer's really bounced back nicely, had five straight strikeouts in a row at one point. And Zach Davies was pretty good on Friday. So that was not the problem here. And even the bullpen ERA, Derek, I mean, 3.60, the only runs that the bullpen gave up are all runs that we remember very vividly because they were the runs that ultimately cost

the team the game, Mark Melanson with three of them the other night. And then, of course, Ian Kennedy giving up a run in the ninth here and this one. But yeah, the Cubs, the Cubs bullpen just completely outpitched the D-Backs bullpen with a 1.08 ERA in the series. And ultimately, that was really enough for them to take the series two games to one. I think that when I take a look at these numbers, when I take a look at this series, once again, I feel like the Arizona Diamondbacks have already surpassed the point of us thinking this team isn't very good, right? I trust me, I know. There's plenty of people in our comments that have said the, those exact words.

This team is not very good. I get it. This team is, uh, still kind of outperforming our expectations. Yeah. You know, it's not,

it's not in every way. There's still a lot to, there's still a lot of room for them for improvement. But, uh, this series, the one thing about it was they kept things so close. Uh,

they had no, uh, They were constantly in these games, and it really came down to not only the bullpen blowing it after the starters were able to give a dominant performance, but the bullpen dropping it late. You know, that's the thing is, is these games have made it now to the ninth inning where the Cubs finally scored. And I don't know, what we were seeing from the Diamondbacks before, this was them able to convert on these close games to get those runs when they needed them and to win these one run games. Yeah. They did at least keep these games close, but they definitely turned on them quickly when the bullpen was the one that

Toy Lobolo was relying on. And I think that's the worst part here. We've talked about the improvements this team has made. We've talked about the free agents that they picked up. The one area that the Diamondback seemed to actually address was the bullpen. And I know offensively they didn't have a great day, but the bullpen really is the area that this, you know, that they expected them to, to excel at, that they had it locked down as far as Ian Kennedy and Mark Melanson.

Both guys have been very ineffective, but more importantly, Jesse, it's like you pointed out to me about Ian Kennedy. He just doesn't really seem effective. It's not, it's not that he's, I mean, maybe he's not hitting his spots. Maybe he's catching too much of the plate. but his pitch selection seems limited. He doesn't seem to have a great fastball that's super overpowering. And, you know, it's a bit, he's a bit limited on weapons to be a high leverage

back end bullpen guy. He really is. He really is. And I mean, he's kind of been doing this for a little while. I mean, Ian Kennedy has been very fastball heavy. I think it was like 85% fastballs last year when he was with the Phillies. So he has managed to have some success pitching with this really fastball-heavy approach that we've seen this season. But it's tough.

It's tough to maintain. And this year it's been maybe a little bit more 93-94 than being a tick above that potentially the last couple years. His velocity seems down just a little bit this year. And that's going to make a meaningful difference. It, like you said, is just not looked very effective for him. I ran the numbers, Derek, Mark Malanson and Ian Kennedy, together combined, right? This back-end monster that the Diamondbacks figured to be building this season with really two closers in one bullpen at the same time. It hasn't worked out.

In 27 in a third inning, those two combined have allowed 35 hits, 21 runs, 17 of those earned. 14 walks and 14 strikeouts, the exact same number of walks of strikeouts. and 14 strikeouts in 27 to third innings. I mean, if you're a starting pitcher, that's a very low number. If you're a reliever, that is an extraordinarily low number. There just hasn't been much swing and miss for either of these guys so far. And yeah, I mean, for people who thought Mark Malanson was the problem, Ian Kennedy's ERA looks a little nicer right now.

But if you look at some of the underlying numbers here, he has basically the same number of walks of strikeouts on the season. and neither of them have been particularly compelling this year. There's been a lot of comparisons to Fernando Rodney and the season he had for the Diamondbacks in 2017 when it comes to Mark Malanson. I think those are pretty desperate comparisons. But here's what, here's why.

Here's why is because both guys were veteran guys that came to this team with a reputation of being fairly dominant closers prior to becoming part of the team. Both guys went on a stretch here in the beginning where, They got some saves under the belt. Things look good. And then things went off the rails for them for a couple of, for a couple of appearances,

a couple of outings, right? It is, I think it is being more hopeful that things will turn back around and go back on, on the same track that Rodney was on when he, I believe he led the league in saves that season ended up. He ended up with like close to 40 saves for it. Yeah,

get a lot. It really wasn't that great of a team. But he was at the very least, you know, out there firing away and it's somebody that Toy Lavello just stuck with. And by sticking with him, eventually he got back on track. Lovolo, to a fault, we'll stick with guys. We talked about they actually have had a different philosophy this season where this seems like to the first season that Lovolo has managed this team, where he doesn't seem to be

giving guys that 100% leeway. Like no matter what, you're our guys. in the ninth. But we heard him say that about Mark Malanson. He said, you know, he's our guy. The ninth inning belongs to him. Now, I'm not, I'm not saying that if that's, that's how you feel as a manager and that's the direction that you want to go, then you should probably stay committed to it and not flip-flop, not go in the direction that we saw when Brad Boxberger wasn't working out and they started to go to closer by committee and then things really fell apart, not only for Boxberger, but for this. So this isn't exactly a situation where you want to panic and now

start going to other, you know, options just yet. I just think that the idea, especially of Ian Kennedy, being the setup guy, is probably not for the best right now. Joe Mantipli, again, leads the league in scoreless outings. He had another one today. And he just goes out there and just, just dominate. Like, he was dominant in his inning of work today. And he looked great.

I know that, again, I don't even like the idea necessarily. of Manseply being the setup guy because I feel like the set up guy thing situationally limits a manager's options and what they're going to do in certain situations you might just have a pitcher a reliever that has better numbers and again today he didn't go to Mark Malanson for the ninth and it still didn't work out for him but I don't think Ian Kennedy necessarily was the right option either right but that's again if things would have worked out we wouldn't be sitting here saying this about any of this. Right. And so far this season, things have worked out for the

Diamondbacks. They were, they're, they're now five and four on this homestan where, again, this kind of makes us, you know, settle back on our, on our excitement of, of the role that they were on because they should have really beat this Cubs team. They should have really ended this homestan with a more, with a better record, to be honest. These were teams that they, uh, could beat. They did beat the Marlins like they should. But unfortunately against the Cubs, just weren't able to take the series. And that that losing streak at home, as far as not winning a series against the Cubs since 2015, seems ridiculous. It seems crazy that they haven't won a series against the Cubs. Not only are they a National League team, so you know they're catching

them every year at home, most likely, at least right, for one series each year. But the Cubs have not been very good in that time frame at time. Well, they did. They did win a World Series in that time frame. I'm saying like they went from being very up to very down at times. Yes. Yes. It's not like they were great for that entire seven year run. But here we are where the Diamondbacks still do not have a home series win against the Cubs in seven years.

It's not, yeah, it's not ideal. The Cubs were good there for the first few years of that stretch. But you're right. They haven't been the same team the last couple years. And yeah, I think, I think in this. series, the Cubs were just able to get the big hit a little bit more easily than the Diamondbacks were. The Diamondbacks even had a shot in this one. I mean, it really looked like, you know, they were putting up a fight in the ninth inning and they certainly had a shot to at least

get this game even and send it into extra innings. First and second one out. And then, you know, David Peralta comes in and bounces into a double play to end the game. But yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks in the series hit 176 with runners in scoring position. And it's, It's going to be really hard to win a series when you do that. They even had an opportunity back in the first inning of this game, right? Cooper Hummel triples to open up the offense for the debacks. He's at third with nobody out. And, you know, the next three guys are unable to get him in.

Anytime that happens, you just feel like it's going to come back to bite you later in the game. And sure enough, it's a one run loss. And, you know, that run right there could have been the difference. their their offense really kind of has fallen back into a bit of a rut and in these close game you almost feel like not that they're playing down to their level of competition but they're remaining close almost due to a complacency because the game is close right like they were going on a stretch there where it seemed like they didn't stop putting their foot on the gas it's not to take anything away from the cubs because their pitching deserves all the

credit in the world for yeah their bullpen is pretty good the cubs have a solid bullpen. Right. Yeah. But the Diamondbacks really should have, they really had an opportunity here to pounce all over the Cubs. And it's not like these games got away from them. They just got away from them late temporarily. And the Diamondbacks didn't have an answer to come back.

So it's still encouraging, in my opinion. And again, that's why I'm the apologist here. It's encouraging for a couple of reasons. One, these games were close. And I think that this team is still staying in that realm. of competitive, being competitive in a way that we didn't really expect that they were going to be. Two, the most important thing is that if you believe that Arizona sports cannot all be happy and good at the same time.

Which many people do. Many people believe that. We needed the Phoenix Suns, needed this. They needed as many hamstrings as they could get. They needed as much, I don't know, underdog. They're not even the underdog. They're the best team in the world. That's what the suns are.

So they just needed every ounce of good juju and good luck in today's battle with the Dallas Mavericks. I'll be the first to say I underestimated the Dallas Mavericks. And I did not think that this would be as competitive as it has been. But if the Diamondback, if all it takes is the Diamondback sacrificing some games in May and June, you guys. I'm just saying, like, is it worth it? because I think it is. I know Jesse Jesse knows it is. Of course, you can go over at go phtonx.com

and not only get our wonderful writing, but the absolutely incredible writing from Gerald who covers the Phoenix Suns, get all of his stuff. Craig Morgan covering the coyotes and everybody here at PHNX, because we have an amazing staff covering sports in a way that hopefully

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It's definitely because of the shirt. But, of course, you can pick out whatever shirt you want. And you can get that over at the PHNXLocker.com. Get your free shirt for signing up to become an annual member. No matter what membership option you choose, you'll get members-only discounts over at the PHNXLocker.com, as well as access to our members-only Discord, where you can hit me up and ask me what hot dogs are going to be

at the Cubs versus Diamondbacks games and where you can get them. And that's the service that I will bring to you as members. Not only that, but all sorts of other perks besides that, but the hot dogs thing, that's the best one. Of course, speaking of that, unfortunately, Seth Beer was sent down to the miners today. He was sent down to Reno Aces to make way for Sean Poppins return to the injured from the injured list. And again, I think it's just the Diamondbacks in need of bullpen arms and see if Sean Poppin might be someone they can rely. And I still feel like Tori Lovalho is looking for that, searching for that. I feel like Noi Ramirez and Mantipli have done an excellent job at answering the call.

I don't think that's so much about Kennedy or Melanson. And I really do hope, I know it's not going to happen, but I really do hope that if they continue to struggle, we don't see this team sacrifice wins for the purpose of having the same guys be the setup guy and the clothes are going forward. Sean Poppin was good earlier this season. It wasn't much before he got hurt. But six innings, four hits, one run, two walks, three strikeouts, you know, nothing that necessarily jumps off the page a whole lot. But he was really effective.

And the diamond backs need every effective bullpen arm they can get their hands on right now. But you're right. I mean, I mean, Tori, it's well documented. There's this loyalty aspect to the way that Tori goes about his business. And it's the reason that so many players love him, really. I mean, it's one of his better qualities. in many ways. But on the other hand, there's this other side where, you know, you feel like you see guys coming

back in the same roles over and over and over again, regardless of how well they're actually performing day to day. I don't think we're quite there yet. I mean, I think that the vast majority of managers in baseball, if they had Mark Malanson as their closer and he'd had as rotten of a start as he's had so far, I still think that a lot of managers would. probably stick with him at this point. There's some that wouldn't.

I also feel confident saying that like Dave Roberts, if Mark Blancor was closing for the Dodgers, I don't think he's their closer anymore. But Toro Lavello at this point is not alone in sticking by a guy who, you know, led all of baseball and saves last year. I mean, he has a reputation doing this. I think the big concern, Derek,

and the reason that I'm a little bit hesitant with the, with all the connections to the Fernando Rodney's story that people are making is that Mark Millanson's stuff doesn't look the same. Sorry, I shot an arrow into my own ceiling, for those of you just listening to this on the audio podcast. He had to. He had to. Mark Malanson is throwing about two or three miles an hour less, depending on the day.

His velocities down. The spin rates on every pitch he throws are down a little bit this year. and I don't remember that happening with Fernando Rodney. I might be I might be not fully remembering what was going on there, but I think that Fernando Rodney just had a few rough outings, but his stuff was essentially the same. He would just be a little erratic at times. Whereas with Mark Melanson, there's a genuine question of, you know,

he's 37 years old now. There's going to come a point with Mark Malanson is no longer an effective major league reliever. And calm it down. And it's not out of the question that we're... Me and Oliver Perez are listening to you right now. Just say it's possible that we're getting close to that point is what I'm saying. And, you know, you'd hate for the Diamondbacks to wind up in that spot. A lot of people were excited about them spending the money that they did.

And I think Jesse is frozen. He'll come back to us, though. But yes, to pick up where he left off, I think we were... Are you back? he might be backed. Mark Malanson though, yeah, definitely wanted to see more from him based on the money that they spent. Not to mention the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks definitely did have, you know, again, a lot of positions to address, a lot of positional needs to address. And Malanson really kind of you hoped, you thought that he was going to be the answer that they needed as far as the bullpen. I think it's disappointing because of the fact that it's the only person, it's the only position the Diamondbacks really addressed through free agency and through that spending.

To build on what Jesse was saying before he froze like one of the bad guys in Superman 3, I will say that he has, Malanson has issues right now with locating. And really his entire game with his cutter comes down to locating. whether he, if he doesn't locate right now, like Jesse was saying, he doesn't have overpowering stuff. He doesn't have the ability to really get guys out, get a lot of whiffs, get a lot of, you know, swings and misses when, you know, his stuff specifically is missing in the strike zone like that. But Diamondbacks lose the game, and unfortunately, they drop.

We will say this, though. At least they still lead what we have. lovingly referred to now as the All-City Division. Diamondbacks at 18 and 17, still on top. Their record versus All-City now, versus those Dastardly Cubs, drops to 3-3-3. The Denver Rockies are right on our heels at 17 and 17 with a 3-4 record.

The White Sox, 16-17. And then those Cubs, 13 and 20, way back there. So, you know, I don't know. It would have been nice to beat up on the Cubs. I know the CHGO Cubs guys have a lot of trash to talk right now. They were very upset after that first game. And Jesse, glad you're back.

I'm here. We were talking Mark Melanson and everything that you were saying, I completely agreed with while you were gone, while you were frozen. But I will say that I think of everything, right? The biggest disappointment for this team has to be the fact that the one area that the team tried to address to improve, to make better, to make, to solidify is arguably what's costing them wins right now. You could say the offense isn't, you know, in this game,

yeah, the offense didn't put up enough runs, but, you know, the bullpen, their job is to come in, throw an inning of baseball, and keep the scoreboard at zero as far as the inning goes, especially when you talk about the guys that they're relying on in the back end of Kennedy and Malanson. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, the DeBacks bullpen gave up four runs and 10 innings in this series, which is fine. I mean, that's a 3.60 ERA. That's not the problem.

The problem, as you're talking about, is, you know, which guys were the ones giving up the runs. And all four of them were Ian Kennedy and Mark Malanson. Those are, you know, those are the closers from last year. I mean, that's the Padres closer and the Phillies closer, now on the same bullpen this year. And they're the two guys who have by far struggled more than anyone else pretty much. So, yeah, I mean, giving up four runs in 10 innings is fine. I mean, I wouldn't say the bullpen is to blame for losing this series. I think the offense is probably more to blame in the grand scheme of things.

It's just unity and Kennedy and Mark Melanson to be better moving forward. Looking at the starting pitching for the Cubs, the Diamondbacks definitely should have done more against the starting pitching. And if you want to say something that's truly negative about the offense, it has been how good this entire season they've made starting pitching look. I don't know if it's the fact that maybe it's maybe, maybe the fault is Diamondback starting pitching. Maybe because Diamondback starting pitching has been so good that the opposing team, just,

just conspiracy theory here, just a little conspiracy here, is that, you know, well, I mean, sometimes, right, you step up to the level of competition, right? So sometimes with the starting pitching, these guys might be seeing what, you know, Bumgardner and, and Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly are doing on the other side of the mound and doing everything they can to keep their team in the game, right? But if you want to place blame, yes, the Diamondbacks offense has at times made starting pitching on the opposing teams look entirely too good. Even in some of their bigger wins, they didn't really start racking up the runs until they got

into the opposing team's bullpen. So starting pitching, even for a team like the Cubs that didn't have great ERA, didn't have great starting pitching across the board, definitely is always, it seems to be made to look better against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yeah, I mean, Justin Steele had a really good slider working today. I think he was,

he was genuinely, you know, throwing the ball really well. But yeah, I mean, he had lost four straight starts. I mean, the D-backs definitely, you know, they didn't really do. their part in making him uncomfortable out there.

He had a pretty solid game plan. I think he only needed 90 pitches to get through six innings. So he was efficient. And, you know, the Diamondbacks really had very little going against him at any point in this game. It was a lot of easy one, two, three innings. There were some first pitch outs. And yeah, I mean, I think some of those things are bound to improve. Christian Walker has really looked a lot better at the plate lately.

some of his laser beam line drives have actually started to find holes and fall for hits. Yeah, which has been really good to see for him. But yeah, there are other, I mean, Pavin Smith looks pretty lost at the plate right now. He struck out three times in this one. And Josh Rojas hasn't really looked like himself yet since returning from injury. So there's still some things to come around there. Speaking of Josh Rojas, we have some apologizing to do because Josh Rojas made one of best plays I've seen a third baseman make all season long.

And he looked incredible in this game defensively. I thought, like he really seemed to be focused and locked in at third base. And I didn't see the mistakes that we've seen at times made by someone else playing at third, like Pardomo or when, when Alcantra was still on this team. It was just, it's just throws were solid, plays were being made left and right, even plays that like at times you thought things were going to be a hit. He was able to make a really good throw to first base and get guys out. Unfortunately, when you talk about struggling, like we talked about earlier,

Seth Beer was optioned to the Reno Aces. We love Seth Beer. Beer will not be denied. We've told you guys that before. You might have seen the tweet. Hopefully he can get back on track in Reno because that's a great place to go back and get your bat right to get back on track. and, you know, to come back up here,

or come back down here, I should say, and continue to rake like we saw him raking when the season started because the guy is really, really talented. And, you know, we wouldn't be making t-shirts of him if we didn't, if he didn't deliver us already some amazing moments early on in this season, including our favorite episode that we've ever done of this show, which was opening day, where some lady gave me a cold by kissing me on the cheek.

but he says here maybe things aren't going so great with him on the flip side some things that are going very great for a youngster's corbin carroll hit his 11th home run of the season once again went back to back with homers and back to back games he now has six home runs jesse in his last six games doesn't even make any sense uh corbin carroll i don't even really remember people talking about his power that right right exactly yeah it's got a nasty swing that hits the ball really really hard with a great exit velo and just it's a pretty swing to see the video of some of his home runs he's got a real nice smooth swing similar to what we've seen out of alec thomas at times alec thomas even though at times alec thomas literally looks like he's hitting the ball out of his shoes uh he just has a

real smooth swing at time. But Corbyn Carroll, man, this guy is becoming, you know, the next big thing very fast for this team. I was having a conversation the other day with a good friend of mine about Corbyn Carroll and just his future in the organization and really just the D-BACs future as a whole with some of these top prospects coming up. And he was talking about how the concern with the D-backs moving forward is like they've got some some great prospects coming up but like none of them appear to be like the next tatee so

the next juan soto or you know the next like true true superstar type player sure um and corbin carroll by you know according to what most scouts tell you is is in the same boat right he's supposed to be a very very good player but people don't necessarily view him as being like the transcendent perennial all-star type player at least not a at this point. And he's showing us that he might actually be that guy. I mean, like you said, people haven't talked about his power that much. And that's the one part of his game that you might knock and say that it's not quite

superstar level. But I mean, 11 home runs, Amarillo is a pretty hitter-friendly environment, not to the same degree that Reno is, but 11 home runs anywhere. I mean, it's incredible at this point in the season. I mean, he's played, you know, he's taken 110. at bats. That is, you're talking about like a 50 or 60 home run pace over the course of a full season. That's noteworthy for a guy who's listed at 510-165. There's not that many guys at that size you can do that. Seriously, like, I have met that man in person and he is very unassuming,

you know, I, I think I thought of it looks like a high school kid. Yeah, he looks like he's only a couple years removed. Alec Thomas looks young, but the last time I saw Alec Thomas, like I feel like his body change like he looks bigger stronger like he looks more like a major league ball player corbin carroll when he was up here for the debacks minor league mini camp um does not look like a guy that has six home runs and six games and that's not taking anything away from him but he's very young he's uh he's he's not a very very big muscular guy but again he just has this knack for baseball he has an ability to hit the shit out of the ball right I just, I'm very excited for the future of this team once again.

When you look, we talked about it. You just said it a little while ago. The parts of this team that aren't working are the parts that they went out and acquired, right? And not even all of them. Zach Davies has been excellent as a starting pitcher for this team. As a matter of fact, he's the one that got the win in the series, if I'm not mistaken.

But the parts that they went and spent money on, the parts that I think actually got, you know, recognition for the Diamondbacks picking, you know, players up are the ones that aren't working. The ones that are, are the guys that they had last season, guys that they've picked up off of other teams, trash heaps or whatever you want to call it, guys that came over and there wasn't a lot of excitement about them being acquired, but have, you know, they didn't even have numbers that would warrant you being excited about them. But now that they're here, they've done an excellent job at contributing to this team.

Noeer Ramirez is one of the guys I think of right off the top of my head who's just been him and Joe Manteply have been great out of the bullpen. And even knowing Ramirez had his struggles that, you know, for a little bit this season. It's not always going to go. It's not always going to be perfect. But, you know, he really has proven himself to be somebody that the Diamondbacks can rely on. Same thing with Umberto Castiano, who once again had an amazing outing in this. Yeah.

An amazing start in this game. And again, is not a household name, not somebody that the Diamondbacks ever expected to be a part of their starting rotation, but continues to do an excellent job. job in that role. I mean, he gave up a home run in each of the first two innings. And I think there were a couple other base hits in there. He really was kind of getting knocked around. And I think a lot of people when they watch him, Berto Castiano's there in a sense, they're kind of waiting, they're kind of waiting for it to blow up, right? They're kind of waiting for him to have that start that, you know, where he kind of shows that he's more of a back end starter than, then a pretty good starter like he's pitched so far this season. But yeah, I mean, once again, he does his thing, right? He allows those two home runs early

in the game. And then he suddenly is rattling off five consecutive strikeouts. And it's incredible how he was able to bounce back five in a third innings again. It feels like he's pretty much pitching into the sixth inning every single time out, which is something that we could only say for pretty much one Diamondback starting pitcher last year. I mean, Merrill Kelly was pretty much the only guy all of last season. He was doing that consistently. And then they're getting that from number five starter. I mean, it's, it's incredible what he's been able to do. And it seems like he really has staying power in that spot. Starting pitchers for this team have been incredible at bouncing back when they have a bad inning or give up runs early on. It's something we can

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I've taken too many now. I forget all the flavors. But they're perfect if you're in the mood for an uplifting setiva, maybe after a sad loss, or a chill indica to remain calm during a very, very tense game seven between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks. No matter what you're in the mood for, you should try the amazingly delicious variety of flavors

that OG's brands has to offer. And you can find those over at OGsbrands.com. that's OGEEEEZBrands.com to find OGs near you. And Jesse, you talked about the starting ERA and how good this starting, this starting rotation has been. Coming into today's game, the D-back starters ERA of 2.48 was the lowest in all of baseball. Wow, did they lower than the Dodgers, huh?

Yeah, lower than the Dodgers, ERA. The Dodgers have actually struggled a little bit. They have, yeah. So, I mean, yeah, it's close. And I'm sure that it might vary now after today's game. But they definitely have been up there as the best ERA in baseball this season. When you talk about last year, they have literally, they've almost cut their ERA in half. Their ERA through this many games last season was 4.71.

Their ERA this season is 2.48. Dodgers have a 2.51 ERA. Yankees have a 3.01 ERA and Angels have a 3.03. So aside from the Dodgers, the Diamondback starters ERA is actually quite better than the third and the fourth place. That's crazy. That's crazy. You know, fourth best in in baseball.

Well, just, just as everyone expected, right? I mean, when it comes to starting rotations, it's the, it's the D-backs. It's the Dodgers and then it's everyone else, right? Exactly. We knew, we knew this was going to happen. If you go back and listen to episodes during the off season, we talked about how the starting pitching was going to have the best ERA this whole time. We definitely said Madbom through seven starts was going to have his lowest career ERA, which is currently 1.78, incredible.

And he will be going up against a very difficult Dodgers team, which has taken some owls lately and is definitely not running away with the division just yet. So again, I mean, the Cubs series makes me, you know, pull back on my ambitions for this team a bit. But again, we talked about this Dodgers team that is really, you know, it really is the litmus test for this Diamondbacks team. I mean, this Dodgers team is really the team that the Diamondbacks need to be able to face and hang with. They have a four game series with them, which also features the first ever double header between these two teams. Wow, they've never. They've never had a double header.

According to the Arizona Diamondbacks PR department, this is the first double header between these two teams. team. So what do you expect in the sea out of this? Do you think that once again, obviously, starting pitching is going to be the key here for the Diamondbacks and the Achilles heels probably going to be the bullpen? I think the D-backs offense needs to come out and really make a statement here. I mean, it's been, it's been a rough go for the offense, pretty much the entire season. That's the one part of this team that's really never, that's really never shown itself to be all that great. I mean, I guess the bullpen, of course, that you could,

you could lump in there as well. But, but yeah, it's something that a lot of people have expected to bounce back, right? I mean, there's a lot of hitters in there that I think we still expect to bounce back at some point this season. And it just hasn't really happened yet. David Peralta's hitting around 200. Rojas, like I mentioned, is still struggling. Christian Walker's numbers are...

That drove me nuts. Yeah, it was... Jesse actually sent me a message saying that David Peralta wasn't a good choice here. He's a ground ball hitter and he hits right into the double play. It was like once again. It's a risk. Omnipotent Jesse showed up again and was like, oh my God, why are they doing this? Right.

So I guess the frustration there for me is if omnipotent Jesse knows that it's not a good idea to put David Peralta in that situation. I really wish omnipotent Tori would know that because it didn't work out. But I think I was more frustrated by him. I understand. Sure. I understand why he made the move. I mean, David Peralta is a better overall hitter than Nick Ahmed.

And it's not like Nick, Nick Ahmed never hits into double plays either, right? I mean, I think it still made sense to, you know, have a lefty at the plate with the right-handed pitcher on the mound. But it's just a risk. When you pinch it with a guy like David Peralta,

who his Achilles heel has always been that he hits too many ground balls and, you know, first and second one out in the ninth, you're in a situation where a ground ball could be pretty detrimental to the situation, and unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. I'm taking a look at their upcoming schedule. Like we said, they have this game with the series with the Dodgers, and then they get this Cubs team again, maybe a little revenge at Wrigley Field at the end of the week.

So a good situation for them, and again, a good test going up against this Dodgers team and having that doubleheader smack dab in the week. the middle of all of that. But before we go, of course, we did want to let everybody know that we do got to honor our king of the series. And of course, in this series, it's the guy that had a hit in every single game, Dalton Varsho. He went four for 12 with two RBI and two doubles. Not a lot of offense in this series to choose from, but Varsho, once again, going back behind the plate, still contributing offensively, still contributing at the dish, and still showing his versatility. He called, he had an amazing game behind the, behind the plate. He's a great catcher,

a great center fielder, and I don't know, just an incredibly versatile player that asked to really please Tori Lovolo, considering how much Tori loves guys that could do the stuff Varsho does. I mean, no other hitter in my mind, it really even comes close to what Varsho has done this year. I mean, he's just been, he's been the only stability, the debacks of. really had in their starting lineup. Other guys have been good for little stretches here and there. Christian Walker's coming around. Pavin Smith had a nice stretch about a week or two ago.

But Dalton Varsho, you know, pretty much out of the gate has been doing his thing. He's just a solid all-around player. Like you mentioned on the defensive side of the ball, he's really excelled both in center field and behind the plate when he's needed to. And he's just been a steady presence in the lineup. It seems like that OPS has been hovering around 800 pretty consistently through the entire season at this point. And the Diamondbacks are going to need other guys to follow through and do the same thing. Because, I mean, Varsho is a great hitter, but he can't carry the load for this lineup for very long.

And so, you know, we're seeing what it looks like when it's when it's just kind of Varsho and then everyone else. It's been it's been tough for them to score runs. But the Dbacks did have, I mean, they were six for 34 with runner. and scoring position in this series, which is a lot of opportunities. I mean, three games, 34 opportunities with runners and scoring position. It's not like the debacks didn't have their chances. They just weren't able to capitalize when those chances came. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Well, of course, we thank you guys so much. Make sure, speaking of the Draft Kings, King of the Series, to go check out our friends at the Draft King's Sportsbook. Get down right now. Bet some money on the Phoenix Suns because, of course, the Phoenix Suns are the best teams. team and the NBA, and hopefully they can prove it today against the Dallas Maverick. So get down on the Draft King Sportsbook app.

New customers can bet just $5 on any team to win, and you will get $150 in free bets if they do. That's promo code PHNX only at the Drafking Sportsbook. Existing customers can get down on the same game parlay options by combining which team will win. Total three-pointers made, total rebounds and more, assists over and under, point over and under. Shane Diefenlock loves the multiple combined rebounds, points, and assists kind of category. So you can do whatever you want. Create your own parlay over at the Draft King Sportsbook. The more legs you add, the more money you win.

Don't forget, new customers, existing customers, it doesn't matter if everybody can place the same game parlay with three or more legs. And you will get a free bet back up to $25 if one leg doesn't hit. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use promo code PHNX, bet $5 on any NBA team to win their game. and get $150 in free bets if they do. That's promo code PHNX only at the Draft King Sportsbook. 21 and over only, Arizona only gambling problem. Dow 1-800 next step.

New customers only minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. We thank you guys for taking some time, maybe even missing out on a little bit of the Sun's game. Jesse and I have a, we can't wait to get down and root for this Sun's team. So let's go Valley strong. I don't know, all Valley.

I don't know what the hell is that. it is that what people are saying valley strong valley something rally the valley that's what i know the valley sure let's get down on the sun's game of course we thank you guys for checking out the show you can follow us on twitter i am at cap underscore caveman with a k jesse is at jesse n friedman our show is at p h nx underscore dbacks but all roads lead to at p hnx underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook if you're watching us right now at p hnx sports's youtube channel please subscribe to us there sign up for notifications that way you don't miss any of the great content coming out from the HNX team. If you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting app,

please subscribe if you haven't done so already and leave us a five-star review. We would love you for doing so. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we thank you guys again so much for taking time to join us, lament about this loss, complain about the bullpen a little bit, and get over it. Because the Diamondbacks, as our friend Jacob said, he still feels that this team is special, and I feel that too. So believe in this team and what they can do this season. We thank you again so much for taking the time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when the bullpen doesn't blow it.