PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Arizona Diamondbacks Drop SIXTH STRAIGHT as Offense Remains Silent in Loss to Athletics

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

📬 Arizona sports in your inbox! https://gophnx.com/newsletterThe Diamondbacks’ losing skid continues, now the longest active streak in Major League Baseball. We break down another lifeless performance from the offense in Friday night’s loss to the Athletics in Sacramento. Plus, we discuss why Anthony DeSclafani obviously isn’t the solution for the starting rotation, Mike Hazen restocking the farm system’s Top 30 prospects, and our thoughts on MLB’s Speedway Classic this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Phoenix Raceway: Tickets, hospitality and upgrades are still available for the NASCAR Championship Series October 31st through November 2nd! Visit the link HERE to get yours now!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxAll Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, kids. Today's letter is S. And you know what starts with S. Six game losing streak. Well, welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a man that has a pinched nerve in his back, thanks to this baseball team. I am not alone, of course, on the ones and twos. I got my guy Damon Dogg joining me tonight, and he is miserable as I am watching this Diamondbacks offense. once again, do nothing, put together no real threats, and lose a baseball game.

This time, it's a score of 5 to 1 to the athletics. We're not going to call them the Sacramento Athletics. We're not going to call them the West Sacramento Athletics. We're not going to call them the Oakland Athletics. That's definitely not what we're supposed to call them. But what we will call them is the winner of this game. And Diamondbacks now don't really know what winning is even like anymore. the Diamondbacks have indeed lost their sixth game in a row.

It is currently the longest losing streak in all of Major League Baseball after the San Francisco Giants won tonight, and their record stands at 51 and 59. And yeah, Scotty Mac says they are losing every series the rest of the season. And I don't even know if they are even going to win another game the rest of the season. It'd be interesting to see. They are one and nine in their last 10 games, and over that stretch they have been outscored. 50 to 14 So there's that

And the Diamondbacks have Seven runs in their last 65 Innings which is really the story of this team The Detroit Tigers really put it to the Diamondbacks So I'm not going to act like in that series At any point were they even close But it does really feel like Seven runs in their last 65 innings

Is a big reason why This team has lost as many many games as they have. Will they ever win another game again, Damon? I guess that's the question of tonight. If they don't win against the athletics, they do have the Padres coming to town next week, and that doesn't look very good.

After that, they have the Rockies. And I would normally say that there would be a good chance if they don't win a game by then that they'd beat the Rockies. But the Rockies just had one of the greatest comebacks I've ever seen in Major League Baseball against the Pirates tonight. They were down 9 to nothing, And they, in the first inning, down nine to nothing in the first inning,

and they still came back and won that game. And I don't know what that's like. Seeing some of the scores around Major League baseball tonight, I can't even imagine with the way the Diamondbacks are playing baseball right now. I can't imagine them putting up seven, eight runs. It doesn't even seem like it's believable, right? That is something that will happen. But this was another abysmal offensive showing from the snakes here tonight.

Just one run in this game, eight hits by the team. Lordus Gurriel had the best night of anybody going two for three with a double and a walk. Perdomo was one for four tonight. Cotel Marte was one for four with a double, Alec Thomas, two for four tonight. But at no point did the Diamondbacks really put together any kind of offensive threat. And again, this was against an athletics team that doesn't have a very good pitching staff. their position players and their ability to put up offences is just fine and has been all season long. But this is an athletics team that really their weakness is their pitching, much like when, you know, you play other certain teams and they don't have very good pitching.

You hope to see the Diamondbacks do something. And again, I, like, being beat is one thing. putting together the performances offensively that we're seeing this team put together ever since I guess you could date it back to Josh Naylor being traded away is pathetic, quite frankly. And again, I know that they've lost more pieces since then. Obviously, Gino being a huge piece, Randall being a huge piece of this team. But again, there are stretches where guys like Cite, Corbyn Carroll, and Geraldo Pridomo carried this team offensively, even when those guys were a part of this team.

And despite the fact that they did have some hits tonight, it just, again, this was another night we're watching the Diamondbacks out there on the field. They didn't look really engaged. They didn't really look like they were trying to win. They didn't look like they thought they were going to win. And this is definitely something that falls, you know, as many of you want it to fall.

And this is definitely true. It falls on Tori Lavolo. Because Tori Lavallo, not having this team prepared to play baseball, not having them motivated in any way. I mean, it's getting to the point where the seat is only getting hotter for Tori. And if the Diamondbacks want to make a change, a managerial change, that's something that, you know, they can do this season so that they could try to see what perhaps maybe Jeff Bannister as a interim manager would look like or whatever the case may be. However, I would also suggest that if Tori LaBello is on the hot seat, the guys that should be even on the hotter seat are the new addition to coaches, which have been screamed about possibly, probably not as much as Tori, but possibly louder than the anger at Tori. And that's Sean Larkin and Brian Kaplan.

But I don't really know what to say about this team offensively. Defensively, they were fine, I guess. I mean, we didn't see him make a lot of mistakes tonight. That really wasn't the issue with tonight's game. Essentially, the issue with tonight's game was Anthony Discofani starting and the Diamondbacks offense not really getting going in this one at all. In the good news department, Tyler Locklear did make his debut tonight. He didn't really get a chance to, I mean, you could say he put together some fairly good at bats,

but you could tell he was a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety there. He was 0 for 3 with a walk. He did have a walk, so that was nice to see him take that in one of his bats. He did strike out twice. but he also made an incredible play in the bottom of the seventh inning to end the inning against the athletics. And it does appear that we might have our next Christian Walker at home. So, I mean, again, that's me definitely being insane about prospects. But we are going to talk about the prospects and how the trades that were made by Mike Hazen definitely bolstered the Diamondback's top 30 prospect listing and improved a farm system that Vasily needed to be improved with the way that it has been depleted.

And again, part of the reason why it's been depleted is injury. The other reason why is because a lot of the guys that were part of the farm system not too long ago are now on this team making this team whole. But at this point, this was one of the worst performances, again, that I've seen, especially at a ballpark that's a minor league ballpark that you can really take advantage of the size of the ballpark, the dimensions, and the fact that it's a fairly, you know, a fairly large. friendly offensive part to play in, right? So this was just, I don't know, an atrocious offensive performance. The Diamondbacks did get a run. I was convinced that they weren't going to get a run in this situation when they had runners on second and third with one out.

I was convinced they were somehow going to botch it. I didn't know how, but I was like, even with runners on second and third, they're going to hit into a double play. But Corby and Carroll did get the sack fly, did score the diamond. The Diamondbacks only run of the game, and that's how the Diamondbacks get to five to one. But I'll tell you, there are a lot of problems with this team. We're going to talk about the pitching and how things went tonight. But, again, we don't really, it doesn't really matter.

It doesn't really matter how good or bad the pitching is because tonight's performance, the Diamondbacks could have gotten two runs allowed from their pitching staff, and they still would have lost tonight's baseball game. Stephen Banana says, why don't we give Christian, I'm guessing, Mena. Oh yeah, yes, Christian Mena, chance in the rotation. Who says Mena is hurt, I believe. Again, this is the problem. Gilbert Diaz was recently demoted from AAA Reno down to AA Amarillo, I believe, to make space for the new additions to this team.

But that's kind of crazy, considering that Gilbert Diaz was an option for this team as a start. at one point and now he's back down to AA Amarillo. There's been a lot of shakeup in their top 30 prospects because of the additions of those new guys. But that's the future. The now does not look good. The now does not look like the Diamondbacks are, like I said, ever going to win a baseball game again. I know that these pieces that they have can still do it. And I am glad that they are giving guys an opportunity.

Tyler Locklear getting the start today is a great chance for him to not only start getting that major league playing time under him so that he can feel comfortable, but a chance to truly assess him playing at a major league level to see if this guy is in fact the first basement of the future for this team. Tyler Locklear put up some crazy numbers in the month of July as in AAA Reno, or not Reno, excuse me, AAA Tacoma. So again, there is the fact that it's the PCL. It's not as hitter-friendly of a ballpark.

Damon and I were talking about it earlier. Yeah, actually, I did some pretty deep research. And by deep research, I mean, I asked AI. And chat GPT told me, Derek, that while, you know, Tacoma is a hitter-friendly park in general, as far as PCL standards, it's actually one of the lesser-friendly hitter-friendly parks. So, you know, I think that you do have to factor in that, yeah, you know, there is an aspect of playing in the PCL, but it's not as if he's playing in Reno, which is statistically. like the easiest park to hit in.

Absolutely. Tacoma is one of the less hitter-friendly ones in that league. This was at one point, this was 16 games into July. He was slashing 477, 532, 877 for a 1.409 OPS. I think he ended up with some more home runs than this, but seven home runs, 16 RBI, five doubles, five stolen bases. So again, some good things here. from Tyler Locklear and he's going to get an opportunity, as is many young guys.

The word is from Mike Hazen that when Jordan Lawler is healthy, he is going to be, which will be here shortly. He will be added back to the Reno Aces for a little, a few rehab starts. And then he is going to get called up as well. So it would appear at this point the Diamondbacks, as we know, have already kind of given up on the idea of being competitive this season. but we will get a chance to see a lot of the young guys play. And it's going to be painful. It's not going to be great,

but it's going to also be kind of cool to see these guys develop and adapt and see which one of them could potentially be our big leaguers of the future. There's a good chance it's not going to be all of them. There's a good chance it might not be Tyler Lockler. Blaze Alexander might not stick around. But 9-M-backs are giving guys an opportunity right now. Nobody is really grabbing that brass ring for this team. But again, there's plenty of opportunity going around.

Damon, how, how, when do we, when does this losing streak end for this team? Never. Never? I don't know if this team's ever going to win a game again. Yeah. I mean, let's just do it now. I actually just want, let's just get it out of the way. Let's look at the N-Hell West standings, Derek.

Oh, no, I don't want to do. Why are we doing that? Because I want to talk about. Oh, God. No, Damon, no. I want to talk about how the Rockies are going to catch the Diamondbacks. Okay, let's go. Throw it up there.

Oh, God. It's the drunken orgy. I told you. Oh, God. Last time we showed this on the show, Derek, at the NLS. You told me, no chance. I don't know, man. The Rockies have a vibe to them, don't they?

They got a little bit of a vibe to them. We might be at infinity now. I mean, we might as well be at infinity. I would rather look at infinity than the Diamondbacks being 13 games back. Now they sit at 51 and 59. Nothing's changed. They're still in fourth. Yoshi, I know.

Only 21 more. Yeah, we're only 21 games up, Damon. That's all we're only 21 games up. Only 21 more games until the Rockies tie us. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Well, because obviously the Rockies are going to go on a 21 game winning streak, right?

That's the way that that's going to work. I mean, we're definitely going on a 21 game losing streak. That's for sure. Stop it. Stop it. But yeah, no, I mean, some people are calling for a historic losing streak. Let's get the 24. Why not?

If we're going to be bad, let's be really bad. Let's get ourselves a good draft pick, right? Yeah, no, let's get the best traffic we can. Let's get the best traffic we get. We're tanking, baby. Yeah, it's tank season? Let's get the tank tops out and bring out the tanks. I will say, you know,

and drink. Tankeret? You made a comment about how the team is, you know, not going to factoring to be competitive for the rest of season, but Tori Lovolo made a comment pregame, Derek, that spoke a little bit to the contrary. He did. He did.

He did. He did make a comment. And I mean, there is pressure being applied. Like, this isn't a free ride for anybody at this point. And again, there's criticism and there is pressure on the players. These guys are, they're playing not only for pride, but some of them are playing for positions in the future, right? But it would be very, it's very apparent that Tori Lavello is well aware that his job is on the line.

And, you know, again, when you talk about that Rockies, that Rockies team, it didn't take them very long before they fired their manager this season. And they were really, really bad to start the year. But the Diamondbacks right now are as bad as I've possibly seen them since the, you know, 20-22 season, 2021 season, in fact, when we first started doing this podcast. It's come back around. So, yeah, and it should be. I don't think that he deserves to have a free ride just because, you know,

it's obvious that the team has given up, right? Like there was a period of time where they were playing bad baseball, but they were still winning games. They just, they were, they were hovering around 500 and losing the teams that they had no business losing to. Now it's different. Now this is like, I've used the word listless when I talk about their performances offensively entirely too often. But it's all I can think of. It's not like, oh, they're running into bad luck or, oh, they're being overly aggressive. No, in fact, now I think that they are.

being underly aggressive. I think passive aggressive is about as much as you can describe their approaches at the plate. And again, I do know baseball is like this at times, right? And I do know that the Diamondbacks especially seem to slump as a team, right? That's one thing that's been very annoying about this team under Tori Lavello's watch and, you know, Mather as well. like the fact that this team does slump all together. And again, you can't really explain that at times why they're just all bad offensively. Now seems to definitely be that stretch.

Like I said, these numbers are just kind of incredible to me when you really think about them. Being outscored over their last 10 games, 50 to 14, and only scoring seven runs in their last 65 innings of baseball. Mays Devil, thank you for your super chat. Let's take a look at the super chat statement while we got him up. I just want to talk to you guys. I don't want to talk about this baseball game. Mays Devil says, name what good thing about Brian Kaplan. He seems to be.

He's a good looking guy. I was going to say he seems to be in good shape for a man of his age. He's a handsome devil. He's a very handsome gentleman. Yes. I can't say anything else good about him and his performances as a pitching coach. However, again, there's a lot of things Like all you can really base it on is the results, right?

So Brian Kaplan might be a fine guy. He might be a great pitching coach for all intents and purposes and the way people in the organization think of him. The results are what they are. The catastrophic amount of injuries mixed with the subpar result. I can't even say subpar. The awful results of this pitching staff. is there's no reason why that you would think that he has done a good job at all as a pitching coach.

It's similar to Sean Larkin. Sean Larkin's job has a lot to do with the infield defense and the base running, and both of those have been very bad this year for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And not to mention the way that the calls have been working. Don't even get me started on doing this at the same time. My ex-wife is here in the chat. my ex-wife says, I'm excited for Clayton Toon to play some football. We're not doing that.

We're not doing that in this show. We're not getting excited for Clayton Tune on this show. Well, first off, Clayton Tune probably not even making the team for the Cardinals. So sorry to burst that bubble. But second off, we are in the D-BACs era of like when Clayton Tune was starting for the Cardinals for that one game where the Browns won like 30 to zero. That's what this D-Bax team feels like right now. not great not a great

I don't like that comparison one bit Damon I don't like that comparison one bit so I'm going to get out of here we got to go on we got to do a commercial break because I have to talk about the pitching in this game

and we're going to give King Snake out to somebody and you never guess who we're going to give it out to not in a million years don't you go anywhere you're watching the PH&X Diamondback show well tonight is a great night for pure edibles not only do we need to forget this game

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Ina says some decent starting pitching arms on the waiver wire right now that might do well with change in scenery. Yeah. Marcus Stroman. It's our chance to finally get him, right? The Yankees cut ties with him. I'd actually, why not at this point? Honestly, honestly, why not?

Because are we really going to watch Anthony Discoffani start for us every five days? Is that what you want? Is that really the plan here after watching what happened to him tonight? He was terrible in the first inning. And quite frankly, I've tried to, I've reserved judgment about disco. I wanted him to be good, and at times he's been very good as a member of the bullpen. But having him go out there and start, even though it was a great way to reset the starting rotation, when they did have him do it one time, is not a viable solution for this team.

It was one of the worst outings that we've seen since FOT's yes hitter. The A's just rocked him in the first inning. There was very little he could do. He was attempting a weird, I don't know if you noticed the statement, but he was attempting a weird, like, reverse aggressive, aggressive, approach where he was like going with like breaking stuff outside of the zone instead of going with the like first pitch fastball and I it was not fooling anybody it was not fooling anybody in the in the athletics dug out there two singles started off the inning then the first run scored on a sack

fly then with one out shee langilliers aka his nickname is mangoliers which is awesome that's awesome I can't hate on that one bit. He hit a three-run bomb to mangle the Diamondbacks and put the A's up four to nothing. That pretty much Descalfani went out, gave the Diamondbacks an inning and a third more after that. But again, his line, two and a third's innings pitch, five hits, four and runs, three walks, zero strikeouts. We don't even get to fire up the strikeout meter tonight, which is good because it's good for the planet. But not good for us. and not good because I can't remind you guys

that if you text to you just go out there and text yourself to strike to 313310 you can save on all sorts of stuff but that's only when strikeouts happen zero strikeouts that's not great the dimebacks did have three strikeouts at a team but none there

for Descal Fony but overall just not something again that the dimebacks can really do Damon they can't have a bullpen game every five days. This bullpen is already bad enough. Could you imagine actually trotting out a bullpen game

every five days? Get Bryce Jarvis up here right now. Get somebody else up there. Give someone else an opportunity. That's where I'm at. Yoshi is banging the table for some Bryce Jarvis ball. Why not? I'm 100% on board with that. A hundred percent. I just,

it's hard for me to even muster up the energy to be like, I know. This guy needs to be in the rotation. Like, how could you possibly feel that way with how this season is gone. Honestly, I'm more interested in in terms of what the future holds than anything in the current forecast, if that makes sense. Yeah.

I mean, well, yeah. And that's, that's at least something that you can have a little hope for going forward. But we still have to watch this game for two months. We have to watch this team play baseball for two more months. For a job. We have to. Bullpen. Kyle Nelson is.

back. He gave the Diamondbacks an inning of scoreless baseball, so that's nice. He did walk one, struck out one. Jake Woodford did what Jake Woodford does. He gave up runs, he gave up hits, two and a third innings pitched. He allowed five hits. Again, another stretch

where he felt like he was very ineffective, gave up one earn run. Jalen Beeks did come in to clean up a third of an inning there for Woodford. And then John Curtis gave the Diamondbacks two innings of scoreless baseball, one hit, at one strikeout. He also had the team's only

one, two, three inning of this entire game. So you know what that means? John Curtis, you're our goddamn king snake. David throw him up there. I don't care. I told you who never expected. You never saw it in a million years, did you? John Curtis, one, two, three inning, the only one for the devax tonight. I was going to give it to Gino on the Seattle Mariners, quite frankly. But unfortunately, he flew out in the at bat I was watching at the time. But yeah, why not? John Curtis, you're our King's Snake.

Maybe one of the, maybe the, maybe one of the only time John Curtis will ever get this kind of award. But hey, I appreciate him. I appreciate his efforts. Quite frankly, no one deserved it. There were multiple candidates and they weren't Diamondbacks players. So, but let's take,

let's take an awful look. Let's take an unnecessary look at the numbers from this game presented by our friends at Desert Fighters. financial because this is whatever. It's whatever. It really is whatever. The Diamondbacks get outscored 5 to 1 by the A's. They get out hit 11 to 8.

Eight hits, it doesn't even feel like they had eight hits. It doesn't feel like they put two hits together, even though I know that also happened. Bad. 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. A is 2 for 15. Not much better. I got to say eight hits.

did shock me to my core, Derek. When I was watching, when I put this graphic together after watching that game, the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks somehow mustered up eight hits, where, when? Yeah. Who? Who? Who? How?

Yeah. Why? In this game? All of them were in this game? Yeah. Proof? Two extra base hits. Both of them doubles.

One by Cattell. One by Lordus. Four extra base hits for the A's. A lot of those came in the first inning. And then expected batting average, of course, very, very close. 228 to 237. It's a ridiculous stat. And it's, again, once again, makes me believe I don't need to ever think about expected batting average or expected stats in baseball.

But again, it does show how close these teams were. Outside of that first inning, the A's really didn't do much to anybody besides descal Fonny and the Diamondbacks lose this one by a score of five to one. Let's see. What's going on, Damon? Just two BMC just said, never mind who or how or even when. Why is there no question? And then just screamed why.

Why? I don't know. I don't have an answer for you. I don't have an answer about this team. I don't have an answer about anything. I think that trades happen. I've seen people talk about this being a business quite a bit, right? slumps happened.

But this one definitely feels like it was caused by the trades that were made, by the Diamondbacks lack of success, by their failure to be a better baseball team by the time they got close to the trade deadline. Right. And I'm sure that the pressure of losing their teammates and their pressure of this thing falling apart instead of coming together has been weighing on their minds for longer than just the couple of weeks around the trade deadline. I have a feeling it was weighing on their mind in early July, a feeling it was weighing on their mind last month in June.

Or we're in August now. But yeah, Mays Devil, I don't disagree with you when you say they're mentally weak. And again, that's the part that I think definitely falls on Tori. And Killer Rex asks me a question about, hey, Derek, you put it in the form of a super chat. So you're making me acknowledge you and read you. But I wouldn't do it otherwise. I don't want to talk to you, Killer Rex. He says, hey, Derek, quick question.

Should we fire Tori? My answer is no. That's my answer. That's my answer. Clip it. There's my answer. Clip it. If you want to know, who else wanted me to get involved?

Pat Brown wanted me to get involved with his fired Tory article. And I was just like, nah, I don't want to be a part of this. And again, you guys know, as Killorex has said on almost every single podcast he's commented on, I'm a shill for Tori and the Arizona Diamondbacks, even though I don't make a dime off of that. But what I will say is that overall, I think that there are other pieces that need to go. But if Tori did get fired, I wouldn't be surprised. Nor would I really be like up in arms, I think, about the move. I think at this point, if the Diamondbacks continue to play like this,

Tori being fired, it feels inevitable, right? Because you can't have a team go on a 24-game losing streak. You can't have a team play this poorly when they still have the talented, pieces that they have right but uh again i i do think that it's it's going to be weird and it's probably not going to be something that we see happen we probably won't see anybody uh change their roles until this off season and again i wouldn't be tremendously surprised for it to be tori lovelo uh and i do feel like he is kind of to blame for this funk that this team is in and maybe they're just approaching it far too laxadaisically i don't know but like damon suggested

he absolutely knows his job is on the line here during the stretch. And honestly, at this point, again, if the Diamondbacks do make that change, then, you know, I would love to see how this team responds to that and how they respond to whoever is in charge at that point, right? Because, again, that it's almost like prospects. We wouldn't really know unless they did make that change if the team responded differently to a different manager. Here's what I'll say

I don't think Tori's getting fired Middle of the season at all I think that you guys can kiss that dream goodbye To Killarex's You know accusations about the direct deposits I'll put my hand up Toro Lovolo is paying me I have family dinner at the Lovolo's

Every Sunday night We break bread we eat pasta It's unbelievable You're telling them too much information now Yeah I mean Next thing you're going to tell them is how we help With the Christmas lights Yeah and Derek's there

But that being said, I will even put my hand up and say, if this team continues to play like this, you can't keep Tori. Because he has to figure out a way for this team to be competitive and play baseball. Otherwise, it's completely unacceptable. For sure. I would have said that that's his job. And I'm not disagreeing with any of the accusations here. When May's devil said the team is mentally weak, I was the one that said that that's on Tori. And I'm not alluding to anything different because, again, they take on the shape.

of their manager. They do. They do. And he clearly has gotten emotional about the trade deadline and losing players that he was connected to. And you can see it trickle down

to the players. Absolutely. And as much as I've said in the past, I do like the way he treats his players. I do think that a lot of that is the reason why young guys are able to come up and find success. It also thinks,

it also is the reason why that things like this get emotional, right? You guys are talking about Brad Pitt? Let's get Brad Pitt in here. Brad Pitt would be the first to tell you in his role as Bill. really being you can't you get even you got to cut these guys you got to trade these guys you can't

get emotional with him you just got to it's like me with the snake i just gave him the number for the Mets GM and we called it a day i shook hands with him and he's gone now that's what happened you know and now he's off on a podcast about the new york Mets probably in a grimace shirt or something having a great time and i will miss jesse jr. But unfortunately sometimes those things have to happen uh the the tough moves need to be made But the Diamondback is what Mays Devil says right here about. So if you don't fire him, you're accepting that he's bringing the team down. I think that it's a given a take.

You know, a lot of the time the team is more bought in and wants to play harder for a guy like Tori Lavolo. And then in a moment like this where there's disaster, it hits them a little bit harder as well. So I don't think that it's a completely positive or negative thing. But when things are going good, they're going really good. But when things are going bad, they're going really bad. Go back to his question because I just want to see it really fast. I can address it. So you don't fire him, right, which you're asking me to fire him, which, yes, I agree, you don't fire him because who are you going to bring in? You're going to have Jeff Bannister take over and I don't know how that's going to make things better. Maybe it does. But what I'm saying about him bringing the team down is what we're seeing out of the team is not acceptable. And again, it's not the fact that they're going out there and trying and not really seeing the results. I think, everybody watching this team is seeing quite a few components of it not really look like they are,

you know, like, like they're trying, right? I mean, that's the best way to put it. It looks like players on this team aren't trying, especially in there at bats. So I feel like that definitely is a reflection of Tori. But again, I also think it's, you know, overall, just one of those things that you have a lot of, a lot of bad things happen to this team. and I think a lot of guys might have been checked out for a while once the 10th and 11th Tommy John surgery happened.

That tends to be a moment where you just kind of give up. And it feels like this team has given up for longer than just this stretch where they're playing this bad baseball. But it definitely feels like it was compounded by the trades made and just a lack of life, a lack of life from this team right now. But do you want to put the NL. West standings back up there or no, not no. Probably not. No, this is gross.

I don't know why I asked for that. The Giants suck, too, by the way. The Giants do suck. They did win. Like I said, the Giants would have the longer losing streak if they would have lost today. But they did find a way to win. But I do, again, applaud the Rockies for this amazing comeback that they've had. And one thing that was hilarious to me was to hear our guys over at DNVR describing how it was literally pandemonium over there because of this one win.

and I don't know if the Diamondbacks fan base has that in them at this point. Maybe if they do go on a losing streak and we snap it at home, maybe then. Maybe if the Diamondbacks do get swept here by the athletics and then they now find a way to win a game against the Padres. Maybe we'll all lose our minds, especially if it was in a comeback as big as what the Rockies did tonight. But I just feel like at this point, we are very beaten overall. So this is where we're at. and the Diamondbacks are definitely not. Once again, not playing good baseball at all.

People are asking about Mark Grace being a manager, and I'm going to tell you guys right now, you don't want that. And that's no disrespect to Mark Grace. But also- That's just classic, like, well, what's former player that was on one of our best teams ever? Could he be in charge? And it's like, I don't know, maybe Craig Counsel should have been the move. Maybe Craig Counsel should have been the move.

Maybe Ken Kedric should have dipped into those pockets and paid whatever it took to get Craig Counsel. back in Arizona. Also, Bob Brenley is retired. Do not call that man. Do not bother him. He's busy calling games and judging other people and having a good time. Guys, Rob Brenley is so old that he doesn't travel to all

the away games. I don't think he's spry enough to be the manager. No, no. But all right, well, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to talk about things other than this game. We're going to talk about the Diamondbacks future and what they did here with their additions via these

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All right, Damon. Well, we know that the trades have mentally destroyed the Diamondbacks Major League team, but hopefully these trades will make the future of this team better. MLB Pipeline has taken into consideration all of the new players the Diamondbacks have received, and they are right now the team that has added the most players to their top 30 prospect list in all of baseball. Look at all these guys. This is a lot of fun. So all of the blue guys that you see there are all the new additions to the Diamondbacks top 30 list.

And here is where they all fall. Tyler Locklear, who made his debut with the Diamondbacks tonight, first baseman. He is the Diamondbacks number sixth overall prospect. Pitcher Cole Drake, he falls in there at number seven. Then you have pitcher Mitch Bratt that comes in at number 10. So the Diamondbacks added three prospects to their. top 10 prospects list, which I have to admit, that's pretty good, Damon. That's pretty good right there.

But then you factor in David Hagamann. He is there at 14th, Ashton Issey, a newest PHNXDVax follower, by the way. Big fan, big fan of Ashton Izzy around here. Our new sweet baby boy. Our new sweet baby boy, Ashton Izzy. He is 15th. Brandon Garcia also made his debut with the club already. He is ranked 20th.

Then you have Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos. Burgos made his debut with the Reno Aces tonight. He posted two scoreless frames in his debut. He is 25th, Hunter Cranton, 23rd. So again, some big additions to the Diamondbacks top 30 prospect list. D-backs did a great job here overall, even though they were sellers at improving their farm system, which between the injuries, the call-ups,

and everything else that's gone on, has been fairly depleted. They did the thing. They added starting pitching. They added relief pitching. And they added Tyler Locklear, who now could be the Diamondback's first basement of the future. Jonathan Mayo over at MLB.com ranked the teams that basically brought in the most prospects.

They did have the A's as the number one. They did the best job there after trading away Mason Miller, which is fairly incredible on the return they got. They got the number three overall prospect in all of baseball. The A's are building a dynasty. I'm convinced. They're going to be so good when they finally land in Las Vegas, which, by the way, there's reports now that their stadium is going to cost more than a Legion stadium.

My goodness. I'm envisioning a scenario where they're in their Houston Astros on Sports Illustrated cover era, where they just drafted Carlos Correa and, you know, they're predicting the Astros are going to win in like eight years. That's how I feel about the athletics right now. out. Like they're, they have so many good young players on their team. And also like how how Vegas would it be with how the Golden Knights jumped on the scene if they like went to Vegas and immediately just were like. Immediately became a winner. Yeah. It would be very cool. It would be a great way to make people not mad about this move, which is never really going to happen. I mean, that's one thing I do want to address is that watching seeing seeing that championship banner out there in the outfield for. an athletics team that should not be playing in that ballpark.

I don't want to attack it, but we all know what it is. It's just like the Tampa Bay situation. It's pathetic. It's really bad that Major League Baseball does not have a better remedy for this than this. And this isn't even just a temporary situation. At least what happened to the Tampa Bay raise was due to weather, right? It was poor planning. There was other factors as well.

but that was in a way an act of God. And what has happened here with the athletics is ridiculous. It's absolutely absurd. A team with this much history, these many championships, they just deserve better. They really do. Once again,

I said it when the Diamondbacks were going through their drama with Chase Field. But if this can happen to the athletics, it can literally happen to any team in any sport, it feels like. But back to the Diamondbacks adding to their prospects list, by the way, the Diamondbacks were ranked third as far as the top six teams that added to their farm system here with a robust group of new incoming prospects. So they did a good job there. Some notable changes to the Diamondbacks top 30 prospect list, though. Drew Jones is now ranked 17th in the deback system.

It's horrific. It's never been worse. It's the worst thing I've ever heard. Derek, it even looks worse when you look at it on this graphic. Yeah, and he's down there with Gilbert Diaz, who I said just got demoted to AA Amarillo. And just above our sweet baby boy corn, aka Uman Lynn, he's now ranked 18th. But Drew Jones has actually been having some much better at bats, reportedly his last 233 games, he's slashing 300 with a 598 slugging percentage. And he has 12 extra base hits.

So again, encouraging as far as that goes, I feel like, I feel like Drew Jones is going to be. one of those guys that we're going to kind of write off overall. And then out of nowhere, he's just going to, he's just going to come on. He's just going to come on out of nowhere. And he's going to start killing it. And it would be great for us for that to happen. I mean, that would be so huge. It would be huge because right now he feels like a huge flop.

And yeah, it wouldn't be, it would, it would just feel like the Diamondbacks finally had something go their way. But I think Mike Hazen really needs that, that top five. group of like Ryan Waldschmidt, Slade Caldwell, Jordan Lawler, like he needs those guys to actually start getting called up and start performing because as I was highlighting to you kind of during the game like a lot of the first round picks man outside of Corbyn Carroll they look a little bit funny when you put them up in the light Eric I feel like again I've said this about Tori as a manager like I think Tori manages better from an underdog position I think that

Mike Hazen might draft a little bit better when you're not trying when you're not in the top three, right? He did a great job here with the other guys. Like when you're talking about Slate Caldwell and Ryan Waldschmidt, those guys have kind of sped through the system already, and they are both having a tremendous amount of success in the minor league system. And these guys, again, it's, it really is about quantity sometimes with minor league additions like this.

It's trying to get as many young players as you can and kind of sifting through them and figure out which guys are going to actually be major leaguers. Such a small percentage of guys make that successful jump from minor league baseball to major league. So again, the dimebacks are trying to just find in this group of guys, you know, the next, you know, great, great picks. I think guys like Cole Drake, left-handed starting pitcher, he is a guy that has had a lot of positive things said about him.

And we are going to talk with our friends from DLLS next week to get their takes on the Merrill Kelly trade because there are a lot of people over there in Rangers land that are quite upset that the Rangers gave up as much as they did for Merrill Kelly. And so that should at least tell you you were a little bit of a little bit of a win there overall for the Diamondbacks, even though they did part ways with Merrill Kelly. Interesting that the Rangers though specifically went after Kelly considering he's the one that got him in the World Series, right? Like they were like they needed the one guy that got him.

But anyway, Uman Lynn, he's now ranked 18th, like I said. His ERA this season is 5.86 and 15 start. So he's not having a great year, but his ETA per MLB pipeline is still this season. And with the way things are going, would you be surprised to see Uman Lynn this season? Not even a little bit. I would rather see U.N. Lynn pitch at a major league level right now than Anthony Disclfani. I mean, I guess I worry that it's too early for human lind. We talked about his weight.

He's 160 pounds. He's only 22 years old. I hope he spends a little bit more time. It's been insane that he's jumped up in the minors as fast as he has. I was surprised to see his ETA at 2025. Yeah. Honestly. But, oh, well.

Well, the Diamondbacks again, need some help. And we'll see what moves they make. I still think Bryce Jarvis is a candidate to be. a starting pitcher for this team. He was for the Reno Aces, and I think he could be at least a little bit of help there with the starting rotation. But we are going to talk about what's on tap for this weekend

because MLB is doing something crazy. They are once again doing one of their big game spectacles, and this one is coming from Bristol Motor Speedway, and we are going to talk all about it. So don't you guys go anywhere? Actually, again, I did it again, Damon. Today, I set it up for an ad break. There's no ad break here.

We're just talking about the last day of the diehard sale, right? Last day, last chance, last few hours. I don't know if it goes away at midnight. But if you were thinking about it, if you are getting excited, I can't tantalize you with baseball season. That would seem silly at this point. So I feel like all I can really say is, is like maybe the Cardinals will save us. They're doing some fun things.

Have you seen Marvin Harrison Jr. lately? That's fun. So again, get all the stuff here for Cardinal season, get ready for sun season. And yeah, stick around with us too here. Become a diehard for basically the price of one of our T-shirts. You will get one of those T-shirts as part of your membership package. You also can save on events and so much more. And you also get added to our Discord. And if you are looking for another place besides our live chat to have, you know,

a group of people that understands your pain, look no further. the PHNX Discord. So again, head on over to go phnx.com. Tonight, last night to get in on that deal. Make sure you sign up for it ASAP. Like I said, this weekend, we have some fun stuff going on, Damon. Some really fun stuff. The first thing we're going to talk about is the MLB Speedway Classic,

which will be played tomorrow between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. And again, I've talked to you guys, but we've been talking about the Phoenix Raceway Championship weekend. I'm pumped for this. I am, I had become a NASCAR stand, and I'm ready to see baseball played at Bristol. This is going to be really cool.

Interestingly enough, it is set to break Major League Baseball's regular season attendance record with more than 85,000 tickets sold. And I think, Damon, do we have some shots from the field or what, what the field is going to look like here. This, look at this. This is incredible. This is what the field looks like. Is that the only shot we have of the field?

No, we also have this terrible shot. This is an actual view. Someone has purchased a ticket to sit here, and this is how they are going to watch a baseball game. I hope it comes with a couple beers with the ticket. Because that's the only way that would be. fun. Like this is one of those events, Damon, that like there's been things that have been ultimately very cool to be at, right? Like to be at the field of dreams game is, is amazing and just

like very once in a lifetime kind of thing. This is cool. I think this is going to look real neat on TV, but 85,000 people are going to be there and some of them are going to have a view that looks very much like this. Come on, Blue, that's a horrible call. That's a horrible call. That's a horrible goal. You called that a ball? It's obviously not a ball from where I'm sitting. I don't know. Also, here's another crazy thing for this race or for this game.

By September, Bristol will have to rebuild half of the infield garage building that they had to demolish in order to make the Braves clubhouse. What are we doing? What? Like, how much money does Major League Baseball truly? have when they can convince a legendary racetrack like Bristol Motors Speedway to just start

knocking down buildings that are in their infield so that we can play a baseball game here one time. I don't know. Way more than they let on, I guess. It's crazy, right? Because they act like they got nothing.

It's crazy. Also, there's other changes that were made. There was like a fueling station that was also destroyed. Yeah, like there's like they they demolished Buildings to build this baseball field on there It's it's just crazy to me

I do like the jerseys I like I believe the the reds have like a Finish line like a or a checkered flag on their hat And I think it looks a lot like the NASCAR hats you typically get as a fan And NASCAR race then the the Braves have like little flames on their hat then they have special NASCAR numbers. All of it's very cool. But again, it's just kind of like a weird spectacle.

Like I don't really feel like a lot of people are going to get great views of this game. And I think that it's all just going to be for the blimp shot. The blimp shot's going to be amazing watching this game. But I'm going to watch it. I'm going 100% watch it. You know how they could have gotten me to be all in on it, though? I wouldn't have even cared about this other stuff if they would have just had a goddamn race happening during the baseball game. They still have a track.

You mean to tell me they can't have car? Like even if it's not a real race, just have cars driving around on the track quickly. That's fun. That makes it better. I don't know. I just want that. I don't know how we're not having a race happening at the same time as the baseball game. Also on tap for this weekend, a couple of other fun things.

One of those being SummerSlam, two nights of summer slam, for those of you that know me, know I'm a huge wrestling fan. Welcome into the PHNX wrestling podcast. That's right. You be careful. You be careful. You keep mouth it off like that. There absolutely will be a PH&X wrestling podcast. I'll bring Kevin back too.

I'll bring, and I'll bring Max in here, and he'll bring a pizza that's half spinach and half green pepper. That's what Max will do. It'll be Max, you and Kevin, and you guys can just riff all night. I don't really want two nights of wrestling shows anymore, by the way.

I just want to throw that out there. I know you guys don't care about that. Brandon Chips, thank you for your super chat. Brandon says, here's an interesting one. Say Gino late in his life becomes a manager one day. Do you think him and,

Tories managing styles would be similar. A hundred percent. A million percent. Good vibes only, Gino? Which, by the way, I don't feel like we use that phrase enough when he was here. Because going back in Seattle, they've already made T-shirts that say good vibes only. They have had him say on-camera good vibes only at least 12 times I've counted. It's amazing.

Stephen Banana says pick any spot in the world to host a game. That's a great question. I think that maybe like a pitch, you know, like a Wembley or something like that, maybe or like where, haven't they done that? Have they done that? Didn't they do the UK game there or is that not? Was it not at Wembley? Oh, probably was.

They just usually do all of the like other sports like football games at Wemble. Yeah, like I mean they've got like the field of dreams. I think a lot of people. That was so cool. That was so cool. How can you top that? Like they're not naturally, right? like a sandlock game would be kind of fun

but how do you do a sandlock game? Do you have the beast in the background catching home runs in his mouth? Maybe he can be mechanical. I don't know. I have a lot of ideas for that one. But I don't know. Location-wise,

I don't think that there's a lot of, like I do feel like they've done a lot of cool things, which is why they've stretched it to doing it at a motor speedway. They tried their best to do something big and open. I mean, I don't know. Maybe like at the French Open, the clay courts play on clay.

Like the clay would be like the dirt. on the infield, I don't know. Like on an aircraft carrier maybe? Like how they've done basketball games? Yeah, that would be cool. I would be okay with that. That would kind of rip. I like on an aircraft carrier.

Yeah. Yes. Yes. Oh, man. But the most important thing that's happening this weekend is it is Damon's birthday. Damon dog is turning 21 years old again. And I'm so thrilled. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all of the wonderful hard work this young man has done

not only working with us here on the Diamond Bag Show, but for everyone here at PH&X. You do a great job. I'm very proud of you. And happy birthday, my friend. Thanks, man. We might have to go get a drink because we might actually get out of here at midnight at this rate. Right? I mean, it's it's tomorrow.

So that's why MLB is doing the Speedway Classic. It's an honor of Damon Dogg's birthday. Of course. It's the fifth anniversary of my 21st birthday. Good. Unbelievable. His present is that seat that we just showed you. That's where Damon's going to sit watching the Speedway Classic.

So happy birthday, pal. But hey, we appreciate you guys so much. We thank you. Again, thank this guy. He does some great work around here. Not only is his years of work with the Cardinal show, amazing, but now hosting the U of A show, doing work with me over here. Dealing with me.

that's the biggest thing is he deserves all the kudos for that but we appreciate you guys again so much for being here i completely understand that there is no reason to not only watch this team but to stay up late on your friday night uh talking more about this team after they lost five to one so i will once again say i know your time is your most valuable commodity can't not thank you enough for sharing your time with us on this friday evening uh we will be back on monday with another mailbag Monday episode. So send us all of your angry angry questions about Tori Lovelo getting fired and we'll do our best to answer them. Of course, until then you can follow us on Twitter.

I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. The birthday boy is at Damon Dogg. That's a DAWG there at the end. And we are all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, and happy birthday. Our show is at Ph.NX underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at PH&X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Emily Williams says debacks haven't been the best. I want haven't been their best. I want Dbacks. We all do, Emily. We really do. We want to see chaos again. We want to see this team going out there, score and runs. And most importantly, having fun playing baseball, which it very much does not look

like they are having fun playing baseball. And I don't think any of us are having fun watching them play baseball right now. But again, we do appreciate you guys so much for your time. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will be back. Like I said, Monday. We'll also have some more information out there if you haven't had a chance to check out on our YouTube channel about the prospects. We'll have that out there in short form as well. So make sure to keep you posted on the new additions to the organization. But again, have yourselves a wonderful weekend. Go enjoy some baseball. Maybe not watching this team, but watching it play at a motor speedway. And behave yourselves, kids. Most importantly, remember kids. Baseball is fun,

but it is so much more fun when your team can actually score runs.