PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX D-backs Post Series: Plead the fifth

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse (and Josh) are discussing the D-backs being unable to get Zac Gallen his fifth win, if it's time to move on from Dallas Keuchel, and why Mark Melancon isn't the right man for the 9th inning. 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.

I'm so mad. I don't even want to talk about it. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm so mad. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Hello and welcome to the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX. His name is Jesse Friedman, occasionally known as the vice mayor of PHNX, also known as Thunderstick.

We are here to scream and shout angry things about the Diamondbacks losing this series. series against the San Francisco Giants. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top rated sportsbook app. Go download the app now and use our code of PHNX. Get yourself a free $1,000 risk-free bet. It's not a free $1,000. You got to put the money in.

That would be risk-free. It's risk-free. We thank you guys so much for joining us. Whether you're happy, whether you're sad, we don't care. We'd prefer if you were sad. We'd prefer if you were angry because I'm angry. Jesse, you're never angry. I'm never angry.

I'm the even keel. He's slightly perturbed is what he is. Meanwhile, I'm furious because the Diamondbacks gave away another Zach Gallen start, an opportunity for once again for him to win a career high fifth start, which he did not do in a game that seemed very much so like this was the Arizona Diamondbacks game to win. First thoughts on this game, Jesse, is why is, why is it? it knowing what Zach Gallen's going through right now, why would you leave him in longer than 90 pitches? Why would you leave him in longer? He had a solid start, six solid, six solid

innings. Yeah. One hit baseball. I get he's pitching well, but he's coming close to the 100 pitch mark. You know he's not going to get through that seventh inning based on the fact that he has 11, 12 pitches left, you know, in his arsenal at that point. You don't want him going much more over than that. I get that he's having a good day. Historically, though, analytically, he has struggled in whatever that inning is where he reaches

that 80, 90 pitch marks. So why wouldn't you just pull him at that point and let him have that confidence of a great outing where he didn't give up any runs and just one hit? I honestly think that it was probably a bad thing. All things considered

that Zach Gallen got the first two outs of the seventh inning. Because I I want to say that's what Tori's thinking was here. Like he's already got two outs. You know, he gives up a home run. Fine. You've still got a two run lead. You know, you'll only need one more out to get out of the inning.

And then the next guy comes up and hits a single. That's where obviously hindsight is 2020. That's where I personally, if I had been in Tori's shoes, that's probably where I would have had Joe Man to apply ready to go from Mike Yistremski. He only had one out at that point. He did get the second out, but he only had one out at that point before he gave up those, those, a couple of singles, if I'm not mistaken, right? So, like, that's the stuff I'm talking about. But I'm also thinking, like, why is it that every starting pitcher, no matter how good

they're doing, I mean, it's not like he was throwing a no hitter, right? Where you're pulling him out and then you're risking the scrutiny of pulling him out in the middle of a no hit bid or something like that. Sure. It was a one-hit game, but you just know what Zach Gowland's been going through. So I'm just talking about building on confidence. I'm talking about not consistently putting your starting pitchers to a challenge for them to build on themselves and try to overcome this thing that they haven't been

good at. You know that so far in his outings, he tends to be pretty solid until late in the outing. Yeah. You know, why, why not just make that move to pull him? I think that's what I'm angriest about. You know what I mean? And I get it that that didn't give up the game. Don't even get me fucking started on Mark Melanson and once again using him in a non-save situation, which he has been terrible at his eighth loss of the season. That's a whole other thing I'm going to rant and scream about. I'm just, I'm pissed. I'm pissed that they love Zach Gallen. And I don't say that Tori LaVallo makes bad managerial moves as often as a lot of people think he does, right? I know that there's more that goes into it. So I understand sometimes his thought process, even if things don't work out for him.

If they went right, he looks like a good manager. If they don't, you look like a bad manager. That's the way decisions go when it comes to baseball. But, This decision was a bad decision. And I feel like people that watch this team, fans, people that are familiar with the way that Zach Gallen has been performing this season, we're all just, I guess we were kind of joking, but we were serious about like, why is he coming out for this inning?

Why is he coming out in the seventh? I get that he had a great day, but let's let him have a great day. He wasn't going to get to 120 pitches. They weren't going to let him go that long. So why even have him come out in that inning? Yeah, I see where you're coming from And you're right Is it a bullpen being taxing?

Like you're trying to get one more inning? I mean, do you really think you're going to get through? The D-back seven off day tomorrow, so I don't think that makes any sense. Yeah, and you're right. Zach Gallen didn't get two outs to start the inning. I misspoke there. It was just the line out with Austin Slater. Then Brandon Bell hit his home run.

Estrada singled. And then that's where I probably would have pulled him in. And you're right. I mean, Zach Gallen, this has been a recurring theme for him the last month or two, is that it's smooth sailing for four, five, in this case six innings. And then comes that last one, you know, where it gets into the 80, 90, approaching the 100 pitchmark. And that's when the wheels tend to fall off.

With the Diamondbacks having an off day tomorrow, with them having the All-Star break coming up, it is pretty dumbfounding why Tori was so hesitant to go to the bullpen in this situation. Obviously yesterday was a rough one. Dallas Keikle didn't go deep in that game. And the bullpen was a little bit tax coming in here. But the Diamondbacks had a game that they absolutely could have won. They were up three to nothing throughout the majority of this one. And to cough it up at the end really, really, really hurts.

Brian Brighton Bobbitt in the comment says in the end, the Gallen decision didn't lose the game. You're right. You're right. But the Zach Gowan decision did get them two runs closer. It might not have been the thing that put them over the end. edge. Right? And who knows? Who knows? Because that way that that ninth inning went, it didn't seem like the Giants were going to stop scoring runs against Mark Malanson, who again had no business

being in in a non-save situation. Tori Lavello has said that Mark Malanson has the ninth inning. Why? Why does he exclusively have the ninth inning when the track record so far doesn't back up or suggest, again, analytically, just like the Zach Gallant decision, why doesn't the track record back up you making a different decision? I mean, that's who Tori Lavello is, right? Tori Lavello is the manager who gives guys roles and believes in them to a fault, arguably, right? And this is a recurring theme that we've seen with Tori not only this season, but throughout his entire managerial tenure.

You can point pretty much every single season that the Diamondbacks have played under manager Tori Lavello. And I think every year you could pick out a reliever that Tori has shown a little bit too much trust in at times and it's backfired on him. And there are situations where he's looked right in the end. You know, he believed in Fernando Rodney back in 2017 when a lot of people didn't. And Fernando Rodney had an outstanding, you know, last three or four months of that season. But you're right. Right now with what we're seeing from Mark the Lansson, the stuff is just not quite what it used to be. The velocity continues to be a little bit down.

He's still throwing a lot of cutters that are around 90. miles an hour. And the location, more than anything, is just not what it needs to be. A lot of these pitches are further up in the strike zone that they should be. And I don't try to say people are washed up or past that point in their career, right? What I do try to say is that no job should be secure, right? I mean, really, every job, no matter if you are a server at a restaurant, here at this company at PHNX, a ball player on a team, someone that works at the ballpark,

everybody has a job to do. And if you can't do that job, you shouldn't exclusively be the person to do that job poorly, right? Mark Melanson, I'm not taking away from his ability to close games. And I also understand the concept that if the Diamondbacks don't have

a save situation for three, four weeks, that isn't good for Mark Malanson to not have any, time to come into a game or whatever, right? But I mean, throw them in in a fucking loss. Throw them in in a blowout win. Throw them in other situations other than when the Diamondbacks are tied in the game, I guess is what I would say.

Or if you're trying to keep the game close, don't throw Mark Balancet in unless it's a safe situation. That seems to be the shit. Neither one of us believe that that's a real thing. Neither one of us think like, oh man, the mentality of a pitcher where he, you know, thinks differently when he has a one run lead versus when the game no but it just hasn't worked out so if the shit doesn't work out it's like today with zach gallon you know zat galen can't go further than 85 90 pitches before he starts to struggle so why push the envelope on that why make that

a challenge that you're trying to get through it makes me feel and this could be the case like the you know like like like the advancement of the person as a as the player or whatever is more important than the situation, right? Like trying to get them through these struggles that they're having by letting them go out there in these difficult situations and work their way through it. But is it worth sacrificing wins, ball games? I don't know. And is that the purpose or is the thought process there that like you said, is it just trust? Is it just trying to show that player that you believe in them by leaving them out there? So hopefully that belief and their confidence in themselves gets them through that situation that they're typically not good at.

Yeah. Mark Melanson, Derek, this season has now eight losses on the year, and no other reliever in baseball has more than six. So the Diamondbacks closer Mark Malanson has taken eight losses. Sorry, I don't have my bat with me, so I have to do something. We're going to have to bring a bat into the studio for you. Although, I don't know. know how Jacob would feel about you hitting. He doesn't want them to do shotgun guns.

He doesn't want them to shotgun beers on these chairs. How is Jacob going to feel about me beating the shit out of them? I don't know, but we're going to find out. Of course, if you guys haven't signed up to do so, make sure to sign up at go phtnx.com for a membership. Of course, if you give us a follow on Twitter and all that stuff, that's great, but become a member. If you become a member, not only do you get members-only access to our Discord,

that's, like, better than Twitter. We reuse the same memes and stuff all the time. on there. In Discord, and the members only Discord, that's where we create these beams. That's where the action happens. So coming to the laboratory with us and help us get over this loss because it's going to take me the whole off day for me to get over this one. And yes, Charles Woodall Pike, I'm going to beat the shit out of my chair when I get home. It's not even going to be on video. I'm just going to do it privately. My neighbors are going to call the cops again. But of course, if you get that membership, you can get yourself an annual membership where you'll

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Like Jesse, who's writing an article about how good Joe Mantiply has been lately, even though Joe Manciply hasn't been very good lately. I'm sorry, everyone. I think it was my fault. I started working on this article about Joe Mantiply. And then the other night, there's the dinky double and single that somehow got in for base hits and a walk. And then today the big home run. A pitch wasn't even in the strike zone.

The Wilmer Flores home run today, that was a breaking pitch that was probably about four or five inches below the strike zone. And Wilmer somehow got it out of the ballpark. So I take full responsibility for everything that's going on with Joe Mani apply right now. Even though Jesse believes that it is fully his fault, remember we don't believe in any of that crap around here. When we say tweets about the team doing good and then they do bad, that's not on us. That's on the team. Remember that. But of course, if you're watching us right now on the PHNX sports YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe.

Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the shows going live whenever we go live. We go live post-series shows about 10 minutes after the final out of the final game. otherwise we're typically here around 1 p.m. Tomorrow, by the way, just a PSA, we are going to be doing an audio-only podcast because we're going to spend this time tomorrow shooting each other

here at PHNX with paintballs. Not in the studio, hopefully. We'll see what happens. It might start on the paintball field, but it might carry over to the studio. We'll see what happens. I don't foresee people getting over it very quickly, but of course, make sure to check out

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And of course, one of the discussion topics was not only about the big win by the Diamondbacks in game one, which kind of had us feeling on a high and riding high over this situation. But then the big gigantic loss last night, Dallas Keikle again had a very tough outing, his worst outing yet as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And I don't know. I think we've been kind of, I'm not going to say defending him, but I think people are quick to jump to conclusion. on him. I think he's been a serviceable starting pitcher. But after this last start, I have to ask, is it time to start considering moving on and looking at other options, especially considering the Diamondbacks youth movement and everything that they have going on right now? Is it time to start getting guys like Tommy Henry and Corbyn Martin up here to fill these roster spots?

I think we might be at that point. I mean, two and a third innings. The defense didn't do him any favors once again, but eight runs, seven of them wound up being earned. It was a pretty rough go for Dallas Kichol. And I mean, at this point, Derek, we've got the one outing, right? The seven-inning three-run outing, which I believe was against Colorado. The Rockies, all things considered at Chase Field are not, you know, not that difficult of an opponent to face. So he's got one good outing and it's against a team that doesn't hit that well away from their home ballpark. So the resume is, it's not looking great at this point for Dallas Kuykel to keep the job that he currently has. To my knowledge, I don't think they've made any decisions about his future just yet.

And I don't think they'll have to. I don't think Dallas Kichael will pitch again until after the All-Star break, I don't believe. So maybe the Diamondbacks go through and they have to make a tough decision here in the next week or two about him. But it's a tough sell, Derek, at this point. I mean, he struggled mightily in Chicago. And if you compare the numbers in Arizona with the numbers there, there's just not a lot that shows you that he's making a whole lot of progress. And he's had a great pitching career.

You know, he won a Cy Young Award. And I don't want to take anything away from what he's done as a big leaguer, but it just looks like those days might be behind him. I really think that's it. I think that, again, this kind of goes to the Mark Millanson decision where I feel like it's quick to rush to judgment on our part as fans, right? Because when we're watching this, it seems like a much easier decision, right? But we're also the same fan base that blasts this team for giving up on guys too early

who go on to be a pretty decent player elsewhere. There wasn't fucking people out there being like, why are they getting rid of Brandon Drury? Those people didn't exist, right? But now, I think Brandon Drury had like, he wasn't that good. But I think there were people who were disappointed to see Brandon Drury go at the time. Not to the level of Justin Upton or someone like that. I'm just using it as an example where in some cases it's it's kind of a not, you can't win, right? You either stick with the guy and then you have us saying, why are you sticking with this guy this long?

Yeah. Or you give up on him and you see them eventually go somewhere where someone shows a bit of patience with them, much like the Diamondbacks have showed with Joe Mantiply. You discussed before Joe Mani's path to being an All-Star and how many hurdles that he's had to get over, how many teams have given up on him, how much at times his career looked like it was over, right? How hard he fought to get to the point where he's at with the Diamondbacks now. So now the Diamondbacks are reaping the benefits from certain guys that other teams gave up on when you talk about Joe Mantiply, Noe Ramirez. and I think that's the same thing with like Dallas Keiko, right? They, not to say, I don't feel that way with Mark Melanson.

Nobody gave up a Mark Malanson. The Diamondbacks went out and actively pursued Ian Kennedy and Mark Malanson to bolster the back end of their bullpen. And so far, those guys just haven't worked out the way the Diamondbacks wish. But the guys that the Diamondbacks picked up off of other teams, you know, DFAs and trash heaps and stuff like Noeer Ramirez, Joe Mantepa, if you want to say trash heap, even though that's, Sounds awful. Well, you're the one who said it, Derek.

I'm just saying, though. Don't go blaming the listeners for that. I'm blaming Josh Hunt. I'm just going to throw it on Josh Hunt, you know, because it's easy to blame stuff on it. Don't blame Josh because I'm going to get him to come up right now. Did you see this comment? I know, I see it right now. Yeah.

He's outside the studio. Oh, God. Trash him and I'll get him to come up. Oh, no. Make sure security is aware that that man's outside. Anyway, the definitely there's this thing with the Diamondbacks. some success, especially last season with bringing in guys because they just needed those, they needed somebody to fill the space. They needed relievers. They needed guys that could play

at a major league level. And a couple of those guys have worked out to be some of the more reliable pieces of their bullpen and such, right? But yeah, you know, I mean, really when it comes to this situation with Dallas Keikle, it was a bit of an experiment. It was another one of those situations where they wanted to, you know, kick the tires on a guy and see if it worked. Yeah. It just doesn't seem to have worked out. No, it really hasn't. And it's, you know, it'd be one thing if the Diamondbacks had nowhere else to go, right? If they didn't have guys waiting in AAA and AA, who were about on the brink of their major league careers beginning.

But that's not the case, right? I mean, Tommy Henry, we've talked a lot about him. He continues to pitch very, very well for the Reno Aces. There are other guys in AAA whose names you've probably heard, Ryan Nelson, Drey Jameson, who have struggled there. and I don't think we're going to see them quite as soon as a lot of people might have hoped. But there are guys down there who I think are ready and are deserving of an opportunity. And so, you know, the All-Star break is coming, Derek, and we'll see what the Diamondbacks decide to do. But I think it is certainly possible that that's the last start we've seen from Dallas Keikle in a Diamondbacks uniform.

Do you think that some of the hesitation continues to be to a degree even though that's never going to be confirmed, you know, manipulating the service time and waiting until those guys, they can get maybe an extra year of those guys? Yeah, I mean, it's one thing to manipulate service time when, you know, Chris Bryant is coming up and you're the Cubs and you feel like you've found, you know, the next superstar of the game. Sure. I don't think you're trying to manipulate service time with Tommy Henry or, you know, not to say the Diamondbacks don't have some really good pitching prospects and I think he's one of them. But teams don't tend to be too worried about that when it comes to, you know, guys who aren't

necessarily those top flight prospects. Like Blake Walston is their highest rated pitcher, and he sneaks right in in the top hundred right at 99, right? So it's like, again, their pitching prospects definitely aren't the things so far that have been their, the thing to look forward to. I guess the players to look forward to for the future, but they do have some very good guys. And I don't know.

I think with the direction of this team and their dedication to rebuilding around these young players, I just. don't see a reason why not to start bringing starting pitchers up and giving them an opportunity. They tend to like to put them in the bullpen first just to kind of get their feet wet. And I don't know. Right. I don't know. I mean, I guess last year, I mean, they weren't always doing that, right?

And I think it was a bad thing. I mean, they were throwing guys in the starting rotation because, frankly, they didn't have a choice. This year. Warm bodies. Yeah. Warm bodies. We need a living person. Just get on the mouth.

Anyone with a pulse was eligible for the rotation last year, just given the nature of how many injuries happened all at once during the middle of last season. But I don't think they're in that position. Tommy Henry, I think is a guy who really is probably deserving of jumping right into the rotation. But there are other guys, you know, other pitching prospects who maybe they don't want to bring in directly into that situation. And hopefully, you know, hopefully they'll get Zach Davies back. and their pitching depth will remain relatively solid at the big league level, and they won't have to throw guys into those situations that they really want to avoid. Next week, All-Star Week.

Like I said, we have the audio podcast tomorrow, but make sure to check out our draft special on Sunday. We're going to be here covering the draft. We're not only going to be covering the Diamondbacks. We're going to be covering the top draft picks. We're going to be also covering the series, their final series with the Padres. So make sure to tune in for that. And also the Diamondbacks next week have a little promotion going on once they come back from the All Star Break.

Oh, we have the toast of the month sweepstakes, by the way. Make sure to get on this. You can win potentially a four peaks $50 gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, as well as one of those highly coveted annual memberships. So make sure to get on the toast of the month sweepstakes, you guys. I am drinking, by the way, a hot night. IPA. I have been all afternoon watching the Diamondbacks blow this game and it's the one thing that's made me happy over the last two hours. So make sure to grab yourself some Four Peaks Brewing Company brews. Josh has the bat. I'm going to contact security and make sure they don't

let them up. But again, grab Four Peaks Brewing Company beers. Oh shit. He's here. Oh, well, I have plenty of beer so I can barricade myself in this room and last for hours. I'll break that barricade. No? I don't like you. You're supposed to be on our side, Emma. I'm on Josh's side right now. You're supposed to be on our side.

I don't understand how this happened. Because Josh and I are teaming up as with graphics. I hate it. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. But of course, again, four peaks, get some four peaks near you, whether it's at a convenience store, supermarket, wherever you get your beer in the mix. It's 96 here in the valley.

And I don't trust Josh at all for. He's coming for the chair, Derek. He's coming for the chair. That's what you think. That's fine. That's fine. We can actually, it could be a handicap match against the chair, two on one. So bring the bat. We'll attack the chair. The question is what kind of chair is it, right? Oh, well, is this, you know, this is the draft from A.U. Isn't it? Shane killed that draft, by the way, if you have a chance to watch the H.U show. He absolutely destroyed that draft. Not only was thrown a solid draft pick. Throne was very solid, but first class, first class chair, first class airline seat. That was a good. That was a good thing. We're fantastic sleeper picks.

I just, I've never flown first class, I don't think. Oh, Jesse. Oh, man, we need to get you. It's not, now, see, now you're here. I expect that any, any traveling with pH and X, I expect will be first class. Styling, limousine ride. Yeah. Jet flying the whole bit, just like Rick Flair.

But of course, like I said, get yourself some Four Peaks brew. Also, check out our friend at OGs if you haven't done so already. Enjoy Four Peaks, by the way, 21 and over only. Enjoy responsibly. Check out our friends also at OGs. Enjoy them responsibly. Get them at your local dispensary if you haven't tried them out already. They have a wonderful variety of flavors, by the way. That is what OGs is all about.

They are the number one gummy edible here in the state of Arizona. And like I said, their flavors are what they pride themselves on. If you've ever tried an edible before, you know that they can tend to not, not really focus on that. But not only do they have a variety of strains and a variety of doses. but a wonderful variety of flavors. So check out OGs online at OGsbrands.com and on their Instagram at OGs brands. That's OGEEEZ brands.

Find their products at your local dispensary must be 21 years or older to purchase. Also, OGs is having another pool party at the Maya Day Club. Again, I cannot attend that one and I'm thankful for that, but you should. It's July 30th over at the Maya Day Club because I still haven't recovered from the last one,

but enjoy that and I'm sending Jesse over there. So make sure he goes because I can't be here to make sure he goes. Make sure he goes to that one. All right, Jesse. Looking ahead, obviously we just have this last series with the Padres. We were really looking for the Diamondbacks to close out the series with the Giant Strong. But again, this like we talked about, was a very tough stretch against the NL West. Should we look at the numbers from this series, Derek?

Oh, God. Can we bear to look at the numbers? Yeah, let's look at the numbers from this series because, Oh my God. That's what happens when you play a three-game series and you lose one of the games 13 to nothing and the other ones are pretty close. Yeah, things look a little lopsided. So Giants take two out of three. Their starting pitching ERA was 208 compared to 619 for the debacks.

Bullpen ERAs 257 for the Giants compared to 7.71 for the Diamondbacks. Granted Carson Kelly's ninth inning yesterday is factored in there. I don't care. I don't think if you took that out, it would look great. Carson Kelly is why I lost the under on that game. So thanks Carson Kelly for your pitching effort. Wait, you had the under on how many runs? Here's the thing.

On the drafting sportsbook app, Jesse, you can just jump in at any time. And sometimes once the San Francisco Giants go up by eight runs, that over-under changes quite a bit, right? It's a fluctuating live game betting experience. So you didn't bet the under on a half a run scored in the ninth inning. I've got the under. 12 and a half is what I bet the under. Oh, that is, that is unfortunate.

I got that at plus 110. I thought I was going to hit on that. And that was a good value at the time. What a fool I am now. But that was a rough game. And it was easily one that we weren't expecting to see because we've talked about this. But the Diamondbacks have at least remained competitive in the majority of these games. So that that loss there 13 to nothing was something special.

and something we weren't expecting to see. That's one word for it. Yeah, I mean, Logan Webb was on the mound for the Giants. So, you know, I mean, Dallas Keikl against Logan Webb, it was definitely advantaged giants in terms of the starting pitching matchup. But, you know, on the other hand, you kind of felt like, okay, last series, you know, the Diamondbacks, when they played the Rockies for four games, they lost three out of four, but they actually scored four more runs than the Rockies in that series.

Whereas in this series, they had an opportunity to get completely blown. out by the Giants because of the 13 to nothing loss yesterday. And still somehow, you know, come away with the series win. And unfortunately, they were just short of that today. Why can't Zach Gallen win a fifth game? Why can't Zach Gallen win a fifth game, Jesse? Why? Baseball gods, just they won't allow it.

They finally realized it on the radio broadcast today. As I was driving in, I heard Geriola say, you want to hear something crazy? Zach Gallaud hasn't won more than four stars. It's like, we've known that. We've been talking about that for weeks. Oh, it's heartbreaking, and I don't understand it. But of course, we still have a draft king's king of the series.

And of course, it is our young king, the one and only, Alec Thomas, had a 500 batting average in this one, three doubles. Not much else. Not a lot of offense there, unfortunately, for the Diamondbacks as a whole. Ketal Marte had his home run today. But Alec Thomas just remains consistently good, not only at the plate. but man this kid just is something special in the outfield like yeah it's it's weird to say this to be such i guess a baseball nerd about it to like watch him play even hits from the giants in the

outfield in san francisco but he already seems very familiar with how to play that outfield he just has incredible baseball instincts his his defense is is honestly ridiculous um and uh yeah i mean everyone of course is looking forward to corbin carroll being called up potentially this year maybe next year. And the big question is, you know, does Corbyn Garrell play center field and you move Alec Thomas to left? I don't know if you can. I mean, given how athletic Alec Thomas is shown himself to be some of the absurd plays that he's already made, you know, banging into the center field wall at Chase Field, which is not an easy place to play center field at all. It's going to be really tough for the diamond backs to justify moving Alec Thomas away from that position, especially when he's,

he's being used as a defensive replacement frequently. Like he was a. in this game. Alec Thomas isn't in the starting lineup. If it's a close game, the diamond backs are probably putting him in the eighth or ninth inning just to get his glove in the outfield. So he's been that good defensively. And as you said, five for ten with three doubles is

getting the job done with the bat as well. You're damn right. We mean future Salt River Rafter Corbyn Carroll. Get out to the Arizona Fall League and watch all these guys. Speaking of Corbyn Carroll, Jordan Lawler is going to be joining him in the futures game, which is very exciting as a replacement pig.

Again, Jordan Lawler had a really weird situation that a lot of people had questions about. We're still not 100% confirmed on it, but the Hillsborough Hopps had a game against Vancouver in Vancouver. So we imagine that the reason why Lawler had the quick send up and then demotion back down to Vassalia had something to do with traveling to Canada, whether it is vaccination status related or passport related. I think that's the reason why because he had like, what, three games. He didn't really do super well with the hops, but still like such a short amount of time. I don't think it, I don't think it was performance based at all.

There's no way that the Diamondbacks demoted Jordan Lawler after three games. Oh, no. Josh Hunt is here with him. He actually has a bat with him. Oh, my God. Oh, shit. We got to go. We got to wrap this up.

Can we, can we, oh, no. He's got an aluminum bat. Welcome, sir. The one and only guys. the one and only Josh Hunt. You know him from Discord. He's really been part of the show for several. He's been a part of the show for a while now.

But of course, we're excited to have you join us. You've got to move your mic closer to your face. But thank you for joining us, man. Are you as frustrated as we are with this entire situation? Yeah, you know, I listen to my sad music. But then I just got tired of listening to the sad music. I realized I just, you know, I've been playing it for too long, too often. And so I think it's about time to get angry.

Yeah, no, I mean, I try to be positive. again, but like the decision to leave Zach Gallen. And I know, again, that's not the thing that lost it for him. But it just felt like the wrong thing to do. And I don't, I don't try to be, I don't probably try to put on my managerial fedora too often. But this is one of those times. Do you have a managerial fedora? Oh, yeah, I do.

Yeah, it's got a feather in it. It's a big feather too. But I just feel like this is one of those times where it was a bad move. Zach Gallum, too long. Yeah. I mean, we already know 80 pitches and he should be good. That's it. You should just take them out at that time. Yeah.

But what options do they have besides, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Joe Maniply, I guess. But, you know, yeah. The Josh Hunt, by the way, Ramon Chavez. Yes, the one and only. So, but thank you for bringing the bat.

I'm going to use that to break some stuff later. What kind of bat do we have here? Oh, it's an Easton. Oh, yeah, that's a nice bat. Yeah, this is, this will do some damage to the chair. So I appreciate that. Have you hit some home runs at some point? in your life with this with this guy with that one now okay the stuff I normally

use wooden bats but that one's my that's my throwaway bat aluminum bat or wooden bat as far as the sound is concerned wooden bat wouldn't bat for you yeah all right pretty clear yeah okay that's a good sense there's like a little like a like a ding sound when you hit a home run or just when you hit the ball in general with a metal bat and it doesn't have the same but it's satisfying even the small even even a small single can sound big with an aluminum That's true. It all kind of sounds the same. Whereas with a wood bat, there's more, you know, you can really hear when you got all the ball with a wooden bat. Okay. I guess my last question about this game before we get out of here is, is it more frustrating to lose a 13 to zero game or this today's game? I think today's game. Today's game, because you had hope.

Wow. You know. Oh, yeah. So you could hold on to that all the way until the end. You think you had, you know, you might win the series. These guys had jokes around here when they were up 3-0. I was trying to be positive. Everybody's walking around talking about when they're going to blow it and stuff.

I don't like that. It was a lot of negative energy, Jesse, 13-0? There was. Yeah. I think I would probably go with this one. Honestly, it was a little bit hard to really pay close attention to what was happening in that game yesterday because it was not competitive. Well, it was done by the first inning, essentially, right, between the offensive output. I do enjoy watching Carson Kelly pitch, as weird as that is to say.

There's something, there's something amusing about that. But we've seen Carson Kelly pitch a little bit too much the last couple of years. Yeah, I don't like it. So hopefully we don't have to see too much more of that. Charles Little Pike says we had hope today. Now there's only rage. That's the best way to put it. But of course, going back to our draft king's king of the series.

Shout out to Alec Thomas. You guys haven't done so already. Make sure to sign up for the draft king's sports book. Of course, you use our code of PHNX and you on your first deposit can get a risk-free bet up to $1,000. Again, don't do the suggestion I had, which is like hop in there, sign up and then make a $5 bet. Go big. Swing for the fences with your first bet. Make sure you remember that that first deposit, after that you'll get a risk-free bet up to $1,000. That's promo code.

PHNX only at the Draf King Sportsbook. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Yeah, I was jumping in on late game yesterday and just betting the under. And I don't know if it's cheating or not, but it was working for me, except for the Diamondbacks game. That's the only one where I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar as far as betting the under on games.

And like eighth inning or later, based on what the score is, you guys know baseball doesn't really change much. Like those over unders fluctuate throughout the game. When you have position players who may pitch, Derek, you might want to be a little careful betting the under. I just expect everybody to give up at that point when it's an 8-0 game, and I was wrong. So, of course, I got caught. Don't get caught doing that.

But if you get yourself into a parlay situation, the more legs you add, the more money you went over the Drafking Sportsbook. And that is especially fun, especially when it comes to the same game parlay. So make sure to check that out on the Draft King's sports book. Thank you, by the way, so much for joining me. Thank you, Josh, for joining us for coming here, not only threatening me in the Discord, but then, like, actually, showing up with your bat. Now I'm terrified and I don't feel safe anywhere but you can follow all of us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse over here is at Jesse N. Friedman. This guy over here is at Hunt Star 05. That's right. That's right. But all roads lead to at PHNX underscore

Sports on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Also follow our show at PHNX underscore DBEX. We thank you guys again so much for joining us on behalf of Jesse Josh and myself. We appreciate your time. kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when people with bats don't know where you do the show from