PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Carroll GOES YARD, But Diamondbacks’ Bullpen CANNOT Hold Late Lead in Series Loss to Padres

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

The Diamondbacks put together a strong effort in their series finale against the Padres, but despite holding a late lead, the bullpen faltered once again as Arizona dropped two out of three to San Diego. Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory joins the show to break down Anthony DeSclafani’s solid outing, Corbin Carroll’s 23rd home run of the season, and the ongoing struggles of an undermanned D-backs bullpen. We also take a look at MLB’s first female umpire working the bases this weekend and preview Zac Gallen’s upcoming matchup against his former teammate Merrill Kelly as the Snakes head to Texas to face the Rangers.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Damon, after you're done doing all of those graphics, I need you to also handle Cardinals, Sons, and the Rising stuff as well. We're a little undermanned around here. Sounds like a Tuesday. Sounds like a Wednesday. Sounds like the Diamondbacks bullpen. We're talking about the Diamondbacks not being able to hold on to any kind of close lead and why.

It's basically comes down to their, you know, roster. So we're talking about this in 30 seconds. Don't go anywhere. You're watching the P.H. Next Diamondback show. Well, ski to you all, even though the ski is not needed here. Remember kids that the diamond, the bullpen is so bad. The bullpen is so bad.

My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. Glad to have you guys here after another disappointing loss by the Arizona diving backs. Quite frankly, a game that they should have won where they did an excellent job for seven out of the nine innings. But unfortunately, couldn't quite hold on to a one run lead late, the bullpen. and just does not have the personnel to get the job done. And the Diamondbacks lose by a score of three to two to the San Diego Padres. They lose two out of three in the series to San Diego as well. Welcome in to the show, you guys.

Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365 and Game Time. Go use that code of PHNX 365. When you download the Bet365 app, you'll get yourself some bonus bets for following some easy steps. Then over at Game Time, use our code of PHNX. You'll get $20 off your first ticket purchase. And I'm not going to do this alone. and Damon just refuses to even talk about this team or this game anymore. So we got our guy, Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory here,

to break down exactly why the Diamondbacks just don't have the roster, essentially, to win games like this and asking, they asked a lot from Anthony Disclofani tonight. He gave them a lot. He gave them a good outing, Jesse. But unfortunately, the bullpen can't hold things late, a bullpen that has been taxed, a bullpen that is undermanned and quite frankly outgunned in this series with the Padres

that have the best bullpen in baseball. And unfortunately, once again, they lose a game that they had a late lead in and lose the series to the Padres. Derek, I am very curious if we had the opportunity to go into a time machine back to the middle of March and I were to show you what the Diamondbacks bullpen roster looked like on August 6th and got your reaction. No. I would be fascinating.

I don't think you would have believed it. I think you would have looked at Jake Woodford and, you know, John Curtis and Casey Kelly and the rest of this cast of characters. Don't you just smirch John Curtis's name. And wondered how on earth any of this was possible. I would have said, who? Yeah. Who are these guys?

What is this list? This must be a mistake, Jesse. you gave me cannot be the actual roster because that's where we're at with the Arizona Diamondbacks this year. And of course, again, I'm not going to let you ever talk poorly about John Curtis because he's always here. He's always watching. And we're going to make his Kingsnake again. And his head's going to be even bigger than it was in the last one. But Jesse, Diamondbacks now are 54 and 61.

And they manage only to get four hits tonight against Nestor Cortez. and the Padres bullpen. We had originally had information that Nick Povetta was supposed to start tonight, which would have even been worse. But when you saw Nestor Cortez gave you, we already wrote this one off as a loss with Anthony Disclfani starting in this one. But he had a great outing. He gave the Diamondbacks exactly what they needed.

At least he gave them a chance to win. But unfortunately, the offense goes really cold here, once again against Nestor Cortez and the Padres bullpen. And pretty much Corbyn Carroll. is is it i mean there there were contributions a little bit from other players but corbin carroll did hit his 23rd home run of the season in the first inning it was a monster solo shot 443 feet to center field 110 mile per hour exit velo jesse uh bert did not have the energy tonight to really call that home run on the home broadcast we needed more out of him because that was a huge home run but

it's like he knew what was coming he was like he knew no matter how much of the lead to the Diamondbacks had that this was the inevitability here at the end. But Corbyn, again, having a big year with the power, but just not much else offense. Much offense outside of that. Yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks started the game three for five, including that home run by Corbyn Carroll, and then they had one hit the rest of the way. The bullpen, you know, is probably going to get most of the headlines in a game like this. Obviously, the Padres bullpen is outstanding.

And so the contrast between what they have and what the diamondbacks have is certainly striking. But I think the offense is a pretty big part of the story for sure, Derek. I mean, this offense really did next to nothing after those first couple of innings. And they also didn't have a hit with the runner in scoring position for the second consecutive day. And it's really hard to win games like that. It's not only hard. It's disgusting, Jesse. Oh, for 17.

with runners in scoring position in their last two games now. And yet, like you said, we had a lead-off single in the second inning there from Tyler Locklear. Then two players get hit by pitches. Blaise Alexander and James McCann both get hit by pitches. I was ready to go down there and fight someone. I'm sick of watching Diamondbacks players get hit by pitches, especially as much as the fans are. But, Jesse, would you believe it in case you're wondering,

the Diamondbacks do not have the most players that have been hit. by pitches this season. In fact, they're not even in the top five. The Diamondbacks have been hit by pitches 55 times this season, which is good for seventh most in Major League Baseball. So no matter what we think is like an epidemic with opposing batters hitting our players, it's happening all around Major League Baseball, apparently, because the Diamondbacks are almost league average at getting hit.

It's a very little, a few less than they'd be right around league average. I wonder where they rank, though, in like times that a trainer has had to respond to a hit by pitch because it you know some hit by pitches are completely harmless and it feels like the debacks have not had all that many of those no no they're always like in the finger or in the wrist or some sort of broken bone or something like that and that's that's what's the case here right i think james mccan got hit in the pinky and it looked like there might have been maybe he might have left the game but he stayed in there Alec Thomas hits a sack fly that would score locklear

And outside of that, that would hit The diabetbacks would not get another run out of that situation Where they had bases loaded There's one missed opportunity Then in the fifth inning, Cotell Marte and Corbyn Carroll Hilariously walked. Cotel Martes was an actual walk.

Corbyn Carroll's was not. But they walked with two outs to get two men on. That would end Nestor Cortez's night. The bullpen for the Padres, we know is excellent Best in Major League Baseball. Perdomo would strike out. without bringing in a runner and there's your other missed opportunity but the diamondbacks didn't have any of those tonight so again the feud that they had were kind of squandered away and after the

early early runs scored the diamondbacks weren't able to put much together and again i think you and i've had discussions about this with last year's team uh the offense great numbers one of the best in baseball you just know it's not sustainable and much like last year when you look at the pitching staff and where their numbers rank this year. They're even worse than they were last year, right? But when you look at the numbers and where they're ranked, it's no matter how good your offense is, you can't feel like a team has sustainable success when the offense is carrying the load,

especially when you see them go on a night like this where they only put up four hits. And this is definitely a pretty different offense than what the Diamondbacks had a couple of weeks ago, right? I mean, without A.O.N.E.O.S. and without Josh Naylor, you know, you're, you're, you're getting to see Blaze Alexander play a lot. You're getting to see Tyler Locklear play a lot. I think those are good things for the future as the Diamondbacks try to evaluate those guys

and see what they have. But, you know, this is not the same group that has been top five in runs most of the season. So you're certainly not expecting the same types of results. And it's just kind of the reality of the situation here, Derek. I think this version of the Diamondbacks offense is probably around League. average and lately it's been probably worse than that because kattel marty has not produced a whole lot

here in the last month corbin carroll as you said earlier has kind of cooled off as well and so without those two guys really at their best there aren't really any other hitters in this lineup that that strike a whole lot of fear in in the opposing team one thing that bothered me that they talked about on the broadcast was that at least it appeared to them like the diving backs were trying to manufacture more runs. And they discussed, you know, not having the sluggers in their lineup that they've had all year.

Gino, Josh Naylor, obviously Randall Gritchick. But that kind of bothered me because I feel like if you're talking about this team, getting away from that kind of small ball mentality of getting on

base, creating chaos on the base path, handing the baton off to the next you know, player to your teammate, then that's what I think some of us and most of us actually have considered to be Diamondbacks baseball, right? So if you're saying that now they're resorting to that form of baseball because they don't have guys like Naylor and Gino any longer, I find that to be kind of ridiculous. And I mean, the Diamondbacks offense has been fine all season long, right? They've been a top five offense all year. So it's not like they need

much more offense. It's mostly been about how bad, you know, the pitching has been. But at the same time, there's been lots of games where they've kind of gone quiet like this, that if the offense is quiet, why aren't we trying to play that same form of baseball that brought us so much success in the past? Why aren't we manufacturing runs and trying our best to hand the baton off to the next guy and kind of play a little bit smaller version of baseball? It, I mean, it might not be true, right? Like, it might have just been the broadcast observation and then saying it when in fact they've not really changed their approach. But if they're noticing it, you know, especially after the trade deadline, then most likely

that's what the kind of, you know, coaching the idea there behind the team offensively is. And again, I'm just like that probably shouldn't have ever changed with this team and the way that they are comprised. Yeah, I, you know, I think that's been a hot topic lately. A lot of people wanting to see the debacks get back to. to the create chaos version of themselves that we saw a couple years ago. Sure.

I'm a little torn on it, to be honest, Derek, because I just feel like the players that brought that version of the team to life are just not really in the, I mean, some of them are still in the picture, right? Corbyn Carroll is obviously still here. But Corbyn Carroll had one hit today, Derek, and it went over the fence.

Yeah. And how many times have we said that this season? He just is not hitting nearly, as many singles this year. And naturally, there just aren't going to be as many stolen base opportunities for him. And outside of Corbyn Carroll, I don't know if I see another player on the roster who really has a track record of like, yes, that player should be aggressive stealing bases. You know, Alec Thomas has speed, but he's never really had a whole lot of success as a base runner.

Jake McCarthy, I guess, would be the other name that comes to mind here. He certainly has had success stealing bases in the past. but in the past, but Jake McCarthy is just not getting on base a whole lot right now. So it's hard for me to really point the finger at the coaching or, you know, the team not being aggressive enough. I think the team is doing reasonably well in that regard with what they have to work with. It just is a different roster than the team had a couple of years ago when that was really at the center of what they did. Well, and like you said, Corbyn really has not been getting on base. he has not been the same player that he was because the power is great.

However, you do feel like Corbyn getting on base more often and causing the chaos that he was able to cause with his speed was more exhausting to an opposition rather than him just going out there, hitting one solo dinger and then being fairly quiet offensively for the rest of the night. But I know who shouldn't be out there trying to cause chaos, Jesse, and that's James McCann. He needs to be back there behind home plate, helping pitchers be better and not trying to steal bases like he was thrown out trying to steal third,

or I guess not really stealing, but trying to advance on a flyout, which he had no bit. Most guys weren't going to reach third base on that flyout, let alone James McCann. But he did make an incredible defensive play there with Geraldo Perdomo there in the, what was that? That was the, I forget what inning that was, but runners on the corners and two outs. James McCann attended to get, I believe, was Jose Iglesias stealing second. Perdomo didn't even make the attempt to get him. Instead, he came home because Croninworth came home on like a double steal, and they got Cronoworth at home plate.

It was a great, great play. And at the time, kept the Padres off the board on the 262 put out at home plate. And then we had Blaise Alexander in the eighth inning, who both made multiple mistakes and then made an excellent play to kind of make up for his mistakes and still did everything he could. but a huge inning for Blaze there. He basically became the main character of the eighth inning with every ball being hit at him,

everything being either a mistake or as we saw, would he make the second out of the inning that diving the diving play to touch the bag and to get the out after the review. A lot of maturation going on when Blaze Alexander over there at third place or third base very quickly so far this season. that was that was blaze's defense in a nutshell right you just got a whole big a big old dose of it in one inning yeah there were a couple of misplays from him in that frame and yet as you mentioned also a really really nice play on a

squibshot up the third baseline by jackson merrill so and they're to in blaze's defense there's been a there's been a lot less uh a lot less mistakes for him this year yes we've seen a lot more of of blaze being sharp on defense than we have what we have what we've been a lot less uh a lot less mistakes for him this year yes we've seen a lot more of blaze being sharp on defense than we have what we saw for in a couple different plays in that eighth inning where you know things things didn't look so great it looked like he was he was maybe going to basically allow the Padres to score run just because of his defense but he was able to redeem himself and that's been a trend for him throughout the season he you're right and that's exactly what he can do he also walked there late in the ninth inning in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the

diamondbacks a chance to get the winning run home unfortunately they were not able to do so. Not a lot of offense from this one. We almost covered all of it. Corbyn Carroll, one for three tonight with a home run. He is our king snake because, honestly, nobody else really deserved it. Maybe Anthony Discliffeani, especially after the way that we went in on him on his last start, because he was very good for the Diamondbacks tonight.

But Corbyn, home run number 23. Can't say enough about his power this year. It just really feels like it's kind of being wasted. It feels like a lot of his home runs are solo home runs like Catelle. Cotell seems to not be very good with runners in scoring position or men on base, but when they're not, he's excellent, right? So you also had Pardomo going one for four tonight. Locklear, one for three with a walk himself.

He also scored a run. And then James McCann was one for two. That's it. Not a lot. Not a lot here, Jesse, tonight. So the Diamondbacks again, come up short, and a lot of it is the office. You know, the offense.

You hold the Padres to three runs and you kind of expect to have a chance to win a game like that. Yeah, I mean, it's odd to say, but I guess on the whole it was a fairly well-pitched game by the Diamondbacks. I mean, this Padres offense at this point, given all the moves that A.J. Preller made at the deadline. I know you and I haven't talked about that yet, Derek. Holy cow, AJ Preller went full A.J. Preller last week. Yeah. Just went nuclear on the farm system and decided to go all in on this season. And honestly, with the way that the Dodgers didn't make very many moves and the current state of the division, I thought it was a smart move for them to do what they did.

I really did. And then, but it feels like what the Padres do, Jesse, is very reactionary. You know what I mean? Even some of the moves they made, J.P. Sears gets brought in at the trade deadline. He has a terrible outing in game one of the series against the Diamondbacks giving up 10. minutes and five earned runs and they've already sent him down to triple a right so like they they they made some they you can tell there's a sense of desperation not only with what they gave up in order to get the pieces that they got including mason miller right which is just a devastating move for us in the

division considering how much time he has left on his contract how long you'll be with the podres it's just the the division is within their reach and and they really had a chance here to solidify their position as the final wildcard spot with a lot of the teams that were close in the race kind of selling and bowing out, right? The Cardinals and the Giants basically tip their cap and wave the white flag. So I get why they did it because not only did they feel like they have a pretty solid chance of making the playoffs, but whether it's the division or the wildcard, once they get in, if they're the hot team in baseball, anything can happen.

And they have, they definitely have the roster now, at least the pitching. to get the job done, not sure about their offense because you had what, you, you still have Fernando Tatis Jr. going 0 for six yesterday. Your team OPS is still one of the bottom 10 in baseball. So they have a lot of things still to figure out. But I know I know pitching wins ball games. And I think that's what makes them such a threat to actually win their first world series this year. I'd want no part of the Padres in the playoffs. If I were, if I were, if I were. were a team in there because this bullpen is absurd Derek. I mean, there should be laws against putting an all-star relief pitcher in a game in the fifth

inning, right? I know. I mean, that's where his name is- I called the cops. They were like, stop calling us about baseball stuff. And I was like, I want to press charges is what I wanted to do. And they just said, I can't do that. But yeah, no, there should be lost.

It was Jason, Jason Adam literally was an all-star and he entered the game in the fifth inning to get Nester Cortez out of a. jam and it wasn't like oh we're using our best reliever in the fifth inning because we think this is a big spot this is like yeah jason adams an all-star but he's also like our sixth best reliever so sure put him in a fifth inning i mean that's that's the state of this podres bullpen right now however jesse the diamondbacks almost beat them right and they they had to kind of pull out all the stops to beat what what could could be said is a pretty bad diamondbacks team so that does make me feel like the Padres definitely have a lot of things, like I said, especially offensively, to figure out between

now and the playoffs. But I agree with you. And it feels like this team could get hot at the right time. I also kind of knew that despite their ownership issues and infighting that they had, I knew, I knew from the, from spring training that it was only going to galvanize a team like this and make them come together and play good baseball. and that's exactly what it's done for the Padres this year. But the playoffs, so interesting, but not going to include the Diamondbacks,

especially now after this series loss to the Padres. We'll have more on the pitching, which, again, kind of takes the blame. I think Jesse was right. The pitching is going to take the blame. The bullpen is going to take the hit in this game. But really, it was the offense that came up short for the Diamondbacks in this loss to the Padres. But we were going to talk about the pitching on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere.

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Jesse, like I said, I threw some dirt on the good name of Anthony Disclofani when we saw probable pictures for this series. It was a TBD, but there was perhaps was going to be Nick Povetta. It ends up being Nestor Cortez. The odds increased a little bit in the Diamondbacks favored there with that with Cortez on the mound. But honestly, Disco was terrific tonight for the Diamondbacks. He gave them exactly what they needed from him. I guess he could have been a little bit more efficient and gone a little bit longer to use less bullpen arms. But you knew you were getting essentially into a bullpen.

end game here with with Anthony starting and he gave the diamond backs more than then you probably thought you were going to get out of him and and he did it without allowing a run his outings have been it feels kind of all or nothing like either he goes out there and does something like this where he puts up you know four zeros and then the the start of another zero in the fifth inning or it looks something like what we saw in his last outing in sacramento where he was just kind of a kind of a disaster. But the full body of work there, Derek, has been pretty decent. I mean, he has a 4-200 ERA this year in 30-innings, 28 strikeouts to nine walks. Opposing hitters are batting 241 against him. I mean, all those numbers are pretty decent. The debacks have had much, much bigger

problems this year than what they've gotten from Anthony DiScoffani in this long reliever, spot starter type role that he's been in. Yeah, well, his change up was really good in this outing night through a nice mix of pitches overall keeping batters a bit off balance 27% of his outing was four seamers through the slider 25% of the time and he threw the change up 21%. He also threw the knuckle curve and the sinker 11% of time, a couple times there, but overall great mix of pitches. I think we have his pitch chart here available. He had seven whiffs on the night, three on the change up.

A lot of people asking why didn't he go longer? Why didn't the diamondbacks leave him in there longer? And to be fair, he was limited on his pitch count tonight. He was supposed to only go out there and give the Diamondbacks around 60 pitches. And he gave the snake 71. So overall, I thought, at least in the moment, like I didn't feel comfortable with the lead. And I didn't feel great about the bullpen options considering the Diamondbacks just had the 11 inning game last night. But I do admit that when his night was over, I was surprised about what he was able to do.

And I was happy with the outing. I didn't really think that the Diamondbacks were going to be able to stretch him to a 90 pitch or a hundred pitch outing. And unfortunately, he's just not there, essentially, as a reliever. He hasn't been stretched out to that point yet. Yeah, I know Tori talked about this after the game. I think his pitch limit was 70, at least is what Tori said after the game was over. DeSklafani wound up throwing 71 pitches. And Tori referenced also that DeSklafani is coming off of all.

arm surgery. So I think that's also a factor in them kind of wanting to protect his workload as they build him up into this starter role that he's in now. So yeah, I mean, I've said it before. I don't, I don't think Tori Lavello has been perfect in 2025. I think there are plenty of issues that you can point to. But this game, I don't really know what else you were hoping for. I mean, I think it's pretty clear that it was just kind of dictated to Tori that he had to take Anthony DiSkofani out at that point in the game and the bullpen as we talked about earlier was I mean the usage there has just been crazy lately and Andrew Saul Frank was in a three out of four situation kennel graveman was in a three out of four I'm sure the debacks wanted to stay away from those guys Andrew Hoffman would have been

back to back to back if they had gone to him tonight so Tori's options were just very limited and as we also said earlier his options are not particularly good to begin with right i was shocked to see jake woodford out there jesse after the two innings he pitched for this team last night he basically had a start almost yesterday i think he threw what like 57 pitches yesterday or 47 something like that a lot i think it was maybe like 40 but yeah it was a lot and he gave up he gave up five runs right i mean it's not exactly the kind of outing where you're expecting to come back out the next day And I'm sure the debacks didn't want to use Woodford either. But again, I mean, that's just kind of the situation that the Tori was in tonight.

He probably didn't want to use Casey Kelly, the guy they called up from Reno today unless he absolutely had to. And of course, he did. It was the only way to get through the inning or to get through the game. And that's just the reality of that group right now. And speaking of that, I think right there, Pokemon card supplies says Merrill Kelly is going to be pissed that we imported a number. another Kelly from Korea, which apparently we did there. But yeah, overall, Jesse, the bullpen comprised of a lot of guys tonight. Like you said, a lot of guys that had you shown me this list, I would have called you an

outright liar. Where has Jalen Beeks been? I don't know. We were questioning if he was even alive last night, but he was pretty damn good for this team tonight. He got the debacks out of a jam in the fifth inning, thanks to that excellent defense we talked about earlier from Domo and McCann. He gave the Diamondbacks one in two, three.

thirds innings pitched zero hits allowed zero on runs two walks zero k our special boy john curtis gave up a solo home run to zander bogarts to make it a two run game that doesn't make us very happy uh but there he is we're glad to see him his line uh he still gave them an inning pitch one hit which is that home run no walks on a strikeout we still love him uh but jake woodford again couldn't really get much done he only got a third of an inning in there and one hit and then kyle backis gets brought in early. We were kind of glad to see that move made because of Woodford's usage last night, the results from last night,

and overall just the way things were looking for him. So Backus was a pleasant surprise, and Black, Backus gets out of the eighth, but then unfortunately gets nicked up, as Tori would say there, and the ninth, Jesse, giving up three hits and two earned runs, including giving up the lead. He was only able to strike out one. And, I mean,

a lot of these guys outside of Jalenbeaks have been used a lot. So again, it is what it is. It's unfortunate that it went down the way it was. It's unfortunate that they had to use Bacchus as much as they did in this game, you know, had to bring him in there in the eighth instead of letting him come in the ninth. And then Kelly, he gives them two-thirds of an innings pitched. He only allowed one hit. So that was nice to see.

But overall, the Diamondbacks, the damage was done there by Bacchus allowing those runs in the ninth and the diamondbacks lose this game three to two yeah it was it was a lot to ask of kyle bacchus too i mean he's another guy that they kind of just had to use today that i i'm sure tory would have liked to stay away from or at least like what would have preferred to to not have to uh you know bring back us out for for another inning uh he threw two innings in the game on monday that's not something we've we've really seen him do so yeah it was a lot to ask of bacchus it was a lot to ask of Woodford. The whole bullpen is just extremely taxed right now.

And this Diamondbacks team has a day off tomorrow, Derek, and that day off is going to be very much needed for this group. Caesar asks a great question. He says, are these guys being set up for failure? And I mean, that's a great question. And you could even say that in regards to Tori's decisions because he doesn't have good options here. He's playing the guys that he has.

He's doing what he can. But unfortunately, between the lack of having a fifth starter that can actually give you a full outing as a starting pitcher and the current state of the bullpen, this is where the Diamondbacks are at. This is the downside to the trades being made that leave you essentially leave your roster so decimated and so shallow. It's a lack of depth. It also makes me think about what it would look like right now if the Diamondbacks had traded Zach Gallen as a lot of people expected them to or even wanted them to. I mean, if Bryce Jarvis slides into that other rotation spot, say what you will about the season that Zach Allen has had. He's still giving the Diamondbacks about six innings every time he goes out there. He did that again in Sacramento the other day.

I don't know if you're getting Bryce Jarvis through six innings in, you know, the most. majority of his big league starts like you are with Zach Allen right now. So for as ugliest things look with the bullpen right now, Derek, it would probably be even uglier if the diamond backs had gone down that road. Well, Disclofani gives you four in a third inning to tonight, three hits, no earn runs, no walks, and four strikeouts. So that's four big strikeouts on the Circle K strikeout meter. And don't forget, with every K you win at Circle K, Tech strike out, or excuse me, tech strike to 31310 to start saving on fuel, food, and drinks

after every D-BACs home game. Tonight, his performance, Jesse, will get you free any size hot coffee. So that's something I think we can all use after the Diamondbacks had 3, 640 starts in a row, and now we all have to get up and live our lives tomorrow in the morning like normal people. So get yourselves a free coffee, and of course you should get something for watching this game. That's the most that I can tell you. You deserve something for making it to the end of this game.

And we love you for being here to watch our show. We appreciate you doing that. Also, from the other bullpen news, things don't get any easier, Jesse, because today, before the game, the corresponding move for Kelly, or not really a corresponding move. The corresponding move was that Kyle Nelson got sent down to AAA Reno. But part of that news was that Kevin Ginkle has now been transferred to the 60-day IAL, due to that right shoulder sprain.

We did know he was getting a second opinion on that shoulder sprain. So it looks like it will not result in, will not result in surgery, but it will result in him missing a significant amount of time, probably the rest of the season. And the diving backs, once again, being down yet another reliever. It's pretty unreal at this point, Derek. I mean, yeah, Ryan Thompson, obviously, he's been on the IL for a while. Kevin Ginkle already missed quite a bit of time on the IEL.

Now his season is officially over now. I mean, now that he's on the 60 day IL, he won't be eligible to come back before the end of the season. So the book is closed on that. And then, of course, A.J. Puck and Justin Martinez, you're not going to see those guys until the middle of next year. I continue to say, Derek, that while Mike Hazen clearly did not do a good job building out the depth for this bullpen. And that's a really big thing, you know, injuries are going to happen sometimes. want your next man up to at least be able to do an adequate job. D-backs haven't gotten that this year.

But at the same time, I mean, on paper, you know, if these guys stay healthy, I still think it had a chance to be a decent group. And there's really, in some ways, no ways to prepare for what that unit has gone through this year from an injury standpoint. What's interesting to me, Jesse, is the one thing we felt like we really needed, the one thing we would have wanted to see the Diamondbacks go out there and be buyers to acquire would have been a closer. And you look over at what the Padres now have.

They have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to high leverage late inning arms. But then you can also look at the Yankees. And the Yankees have an embarrassment of riches, but theirs has gone the other way. David Bednar finally was able to close the door on the team last night. But with those pieces they have, they have, you know, they have Deval, they have Devin Williams, they have David Bednar.

They have three closers. essentially. And this is like what the Diamondbacks wish they had and things still aren't working out for them with all of that talent. So I do think it's the right combination of pitching coach, staff, talent and all that stuff. But I don't necessarily know of going out and getting the biggest names you can get works for a team. But the Diamondbacks, again, they could have used just a little bit more depth than what they had. And it was really, it was relying entirely. too much on on a j puck and justin martinez to be those high leverage arms at the end of a game however you know again you don't also expect to lose both of those guys plus half of your bullpen you know to

season ending surgery and and have that be the reason why your depth gets tested so thoroughly throughout a year but you're right you're right injuries happen to every team and and bad luck also happens to every team as well look at like i said what's happening with the yankees so the diamondbacks just experience both of those things, both bad luck and injuries and just some terrible baseball being played at times from this team. But we are going to talk about the numbers from this series and see exactly where the Diamondback stand. Do they have little infinity signs next to their name for the division and for the wild card? Find out. Don't you go anywhere? We'll be back in two minutes. You're watching the PH&X Diamondbacks show. Well, game time is the place for you

to go for last minute tickets. And if you are like me, that is zero. only time you decide to buy tickets. I would love to say I'm a planner, but then I do plan and it comes out that I have three events on the same day and I bought tickets for all of them and I'm a big idiot. So don't be a big idiot, but be a big procrastinator and save up to 60% off by buying tickets last minute through our friends over at game time. They have a thing called game time picks, which will make the ticket purchasing process even easier for you. They will find you the best value with the best seat in the house and they will highlight it for you when you go in so you don't have to look through every available ticket.

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We have to take a look at the numbers, Jesse, presented by our friends at Desert Financial, because this one is entirely too close for the diamond. to have lost two out of three. They get outscored by the Padres 15 to 13. They actually hit more home runs in the series five of them to the Padres three. Diamondbacks awful, dog water, as bad as you can be with runners in scoring position. Four for 29. They went 0 for 13 in game two, oh for four today.

They were four for 12 in game one and just really bad, really bad, Jesse, for 138 batting average. Meanwhile, the Padres were nine for 33 for a 273 batting average. starting pitching ERA. Dinembacks win this one. They had some good outings. They get a 2.30 ERA from their three starters. Meanwhile, the Padres have a 6.58 ERA.

Padres got two, or excuse me, five earned runs in their first game, three earned runs in game two from E. Darvish, and then two earn runs today. And then the relief pitching ERA, the big story there. Padres continue to be excellent. Best in Major League Baseball, 1.89 relief pitching ERA in this series. 6.75 from the Diamondbacks. A lot of that comes from yesterday's seven earned runs in the 11-inning,

the 11- inning game. And yeah, that one was especially bad, considering that that was tied going into that 11th inning. But yes, Jesse, this one, I think this just illustrates how close this three-game series truly was. And again, if you want to say the Diamondbacks are a bad baseball team, then it really does feel like a team like the Padre should have beat up on the snakes much more than they did.

But the Diamondbacks had a chance to win in all three of these games, quite frankly, and unfortunately couldn't get the job done in two of them. I just continued a trend that we've seen through much of the season where the Diamondbacks just cannot pull out these 50-50 type games. You know, you're up a run or you're down a run in the seventh or eighth inning. Are you able to come through when it matters most? Is your bullpen able to shut the door?

Are you able to get those? big hits late in games that put you over the top and this team just hasn't been able to really do that for much of the season i think they're now 12 and 21 in one run games if i'm not mistaken what's their record when you're on the show what's their record when you're on the show that's what i need to know not blaming you sorry well yeah that's a whole other topic you continue to invite me on derr so i don't i mean maybe you're the problem i i don't know uh yeah but one run games have been a have been a bit of a bit of a problem. And it just feels like, you know, if they're up a couple runs earlier or whatnot,

it just doesn't mean very much right now, given the way they're hitting in those big situations. And of course, the performance of this bullpen too. Well, after this series loss, let's take a look at how it impacted the drunken orgy of violence we call the N. Hell West. Padres move a little bit closer in their division there. The Padres now two games. back from the Dodgers in the NL West.

The Dodgers currently 66 and 49. The Padres are 64 and 51, and they have a one-game lead now in the wild card. Giants, they won, they are at 58 and 57, they are still eight games back in the division, and five back in the wild card. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks now sit here at seven games under 500, 12 back in the division at 54 and 61,

nine back in the wild card. And then there's the Rockies, and the Rockies just suffered some of the, most incredible ass whoppings I've ever seen a team receive over a three-game series to the Toronto Blue Jays. They allowed 45 runs in those three games, Jesse. They lost one game 15 to 1 and one game 20 to 1. Not good. So it could be worse.

We could be the Rockies. I still say that. I know there was a brief moment last week where Damon and this audience started getting insane talking about the Rockies, passing us in the standings. we also thought we were never going to win another baseball game ever again so uh things were bleak things i kind of stand by that right now yeah i mean we do play the rockies next so i'm feeling like a sweepin coming from the rockies yeah as currently constituted for sure for sure uh well it's a big weekend series it's it's huge i mean all everything is on the line this weekend is the devx face the

raki so it really is it's about pride jesse is really what it's about it's about pride at this point do have a good divisional record still, which is crazy to say. But hey, this is another one of those series that just further confirms that the Diamondbacks postseason hopes are dead, right? I mean, I know that we weren't trying to get excited or get our hopes up, but I did say that it starts with a good performance against the Padres. And even if you want to say they did put up a good fight, they still lost two out of three. They still move farther back in the division and the wild card.

And I mean, this is, we've already declared their season over. But if you wanted to have hope, this just further steals that hope away from you. I think FanGraphs has the debacks at 0.5% playoff odds now. Seems generous. I've actually gotten in trouble on this show before for giving people hope. I've been accused of that multiple times over here. And I don't think that's going to happen today, Derek, because frankly, there isn't much. So, yeah, no, I understand.

Understand completely well. We're not going to talk about the Diamondbacks on the other side of this break. We're going to talk about other stuff, including MLB's first female umpire making her debut on Saturday, as well as doing a little bit of spying on our exes. And I guess we are going to talk about an unfortunate collision course we are currently on track four, which is a matchup between Zach Gallin and Merrill Kelly. So don't you go anywhere? You're still watching the PHA next Diamondback show.

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She is a 48-year-old New Jersey native who has worked spring training games this season and in 2024, and she will become the fifth MLB umpire to debut this year, but the first female umpire in Major League Baseball, and I'm sure baseball fans are going to act totally rationally and classy about it, too. There's no chance that this is going to be, this is going to get absolutely ugly. This does come 28 years after the NBA broke the, I guess, gender barrier with their first female referee, 10 years after the NFL hired its full, first full-time female official, and three years after the men's soccer World Cup employed a female referee.

So it seems pretty overdue for baseball to have a female empire. Yeah, I'm just kind of as you're saying. saying, I'm just sort of fearing the time when she makes a mistake because, frankly, no umpire is ever going to be perfect for long. And you kind of get the feeling that her mistakes are going to attract a little more attention, perhaps, than maybe they should. So hopefully, for her sake, I hope that's not the case, even though I kind of suspect that it will be. But yeah, I'm Surprise it's taken this long, Derek. Yes.

It really, you know, 20 years since the NBA doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. And, yeah, it's a long journey to become a big league umpire. So congratulations to her on making it making it all this way. Yeah. And not only that, Jesse, but it also comes down to, I don't know. I feel like females in baseball are like, like we watch college, you know, women's softball and things like that like baseball in the women's world is not uh something that doesn't exist right like it's it's it's very much uh part of baseball uh we we have a female manager as part of our

our female coach is part of the diamond back system right like there's there and i mean if a sport like nfl that's very very i guess a macho sport can have a female referee so long for melb i mean this is something that really uh needed to happen and it's good to see. But like some of you are saying in the chat, I'm sure, I'm sure that the internet will totally be chill, I'm sure. And it does also come one year before ABS has been put in a place. So I don't know. There might be a correlation between those two things. But Jesse, speaking of things that have been taking a long time to be discussed, we got to do a little spying on our exes because we have not had a chance to talk about Dalton Varshow and what he's

been doing for the Toronto Blue Jays, including lately, where he kind of went on a little bit of a historic run doing something impressive there with his teammate Bo Bichette having consecutive six RBI games, according to reports. That's the first time that that's been done in, since 1980 for the Toronto Blue Jays. But I also have a weird thing to bring up. I had a hard time finding, even though I saw articles about him having consecutive back-to-back six RBI games, actually finding the other six RBI game. In game one of this series, Jesse, went two for five with a home run with four RBI,

and then in game two, he went three, four, five, with two home runs, a double and six RBIs. So despite the fact that there were articles referencing it, I guess I was kind of lost in the sauce about what they were talking about there. But him and Boba Chet did both have six RBI's consecutive, or in, the game two and then hey if you want to complain about tori lovolo and his uh his lineup management after having all of those hits all of those home runs and all those rbis in game one and game two dalton varsh of sat in game three so there's that but uh varsh jessie despite the fact that he was kind of having some issues getting going there for a period of time i think he was injured

for a stretch uh he's he's really become awesome for a toronto blue jays team that now is is starting to go back and and their fan base is basically starting to clear a win on that trade, even though they had discounted it as a loss early on. Yeah, it's a, it's still, it remains a very interesting trade to keep track of over time. I know Dalton Varshot, is not really put up big offensive numbers since the deal went down. I think at least entering play today, he's at a 94 OPS plus since the Diamondbacks traded him to Toronto. So not great, but he's also such an outstanding defender that he's still on a, at least over a baseball reference, he's on a 4.8 war per 162 game pace since the trade went down, which is actually excellent.

I mean, 4.8 war in 162 games, you'll certainly take that. And of course, on the deback side, Gabriel Moreno has been very productive when healthy, but he's really had a hard time staying on the field. And Lordus Grayel Jr., you know, technically the debunk, only traded for one year of him as part of the trade. They went on to kind of separately give him that three or $42 million contract, which doesn't look great right now, despite the outstanding day that the Lord has had yesterday.

So, yeah, it's still interesting. And Varsho, despite the fact that he does have some flaws offensively, he's got a lot of power and he still plays the heck out of the outfield. So he remains one of the more fun players to watch in all of baseball. Sean brings up Gabby's injury being MLB's fault, by the way, and also just an update on that. Gabby Moreno is back to baseball activity.

He did hit in a cage and did not feel any pain, so things are trending in a very positive direction for Moreno's eventual return. He can't return, I think, until August 16th. So I don't know if he's on track to return by August 16th, but hopefully we'll see Gabby back in the lineup. before the end of the month. And I'm curious to see how that impacts starting pitching, Jesse, because not to speak ill of one Gabby Moreno,

but you got to admit that since the Diamondbacks picked up James McCann, they've been getting some pretty solid, consistent starting pitching performances. And I've just heard up, it's not like it's been a big focal point, but I've just heard a lot of the starting pitchers bring up McCann, his game calling and him being behind the plate as a factor in the success they've been happening. Yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at those numbers. I know that was a really big storyline for Zach Gowlin when he rattled off back-to-back really, really good starts earlier in I think it was July.

And we've seen Gowan kind of come back down to Earth here his last few times out. But it does still feel like McCann has had a positive impact on the pitching staff. Certainly Ryan Nelson has continued to be very good. and fought seems to have kind of turned a corner and he like exclusively throws cutters now which is which is great i love that it is yeah corbin corbin burns the moment that he decided to call up corbin burns and get his advice we knew it was headed for him to just like ditch all of his other pitches because that's basically what corbin burns does so uh yeah that that's uh that hold i think it's a good strategy i think it's a good strategy but uh speaking of zach gallon

He is now on a collision course, Jesse, with his old pal, Merrill Kelly. As it stands, we are currently on track if nothing changes for Zach Gallen to face off against Merrill Kelly when the debacks play the Rangers on August 13th. And that's going to be what feels like a very, very special night to watch baseball between two guys that love to play golf with each other. Yeah, I once talked to both of them about being golf buddies with each other. That is very much a real thing. They are very, very competitive with each other in that way. And I know Gallin said recently that they only live like 15 minutes apart. I don't think Merrill Kelly is like sold his Arizona house or anything in the past week.

So, yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the whole other conversation there, of course. The Diamondbacks was going to turn around and bring Merrill Kelly back in a few months. I think that's totally possible. But, man, it will be, it will be very weird seeing Merrill Kelly in a, Texas Rangers jersey. I know it was also, I'm sure, weird for him

facing Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor just the other day in Seattle. I was, of course, his first start as a member of the Rangers was against two of his former teammates. So it's got to be a weird time right now if you're Merrill Kelly, but certainly wish him nothing but the best down the stretch.

You didn't go very deep in that game. The Rangers did not hesitate to pull them out, but it was the only game that they won against the Mariners in that series. You went like, I think he went five and two thirds innings, which is fine, but he only threw 69 pitches or something. Like Bruce Bochy had a very fast hook for, I don't really know why. I guess it was a pretty rough inning for him there in the sixth. But, yeah, clearly Tori Lavello has managed Merrill Kelly differently than it appears Bruce Bochie is going to in Texas.

We knew that was going to happen. But, Jesse, we appreciate your time. We thank you for stopping by to talk some ball with us. do not miss out on following Jesse and Jack over there at Snake's Territory. You can find that wherever you get your podcast, wherever you watch this show. You can get Snakes Territory. You can follow Jesse at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, you can follow me at Cap underscore Kman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G at the end. We are all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Mark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Jesse, I know you're in San Diego now, so you were already telling us how terrible the heat was at 78 degrees. Can't you just see the glow on his skin?

We all hate you for it. I could just see the San Diego glow on his skin, and it makes me sick. It does. It makes me. I look forward to you sending me more pictures of your drive home that goes past the beach. But again, we appreciate you so much. Thank you for stopping by, bud. Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having me. Unfortunately, we both have to cover the Diamondbacks and do it for the rest of these two months. So we'll figure out a way to get through it. But we'll all do it collectively together as a group. So we appreciate you guys stopping by. We will see you tomorrow. We have a 12 p.m. show. Our guy, Jordan Schusterman, from Cespittus Family Barbecue,

stop him by to give his thoughts on everything the Diamondbacks did, including some of these trades with Seattle. We know he's going to have a lot of hot thoughts about the Seattle trade. Josh Naylor and he did wish Tyler Locklear hit a few home runs before we have a chance to talk. So at least he has one under his belt. But make sure to join us for that. Until then, have yourselves a wonderful evening. Make sure to behave yourselves and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when your bullpen has the personnel to hold a lead.