PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Corbin Carroll, Blaze Alexander POWER Diamondbacks Past Rockies

Episode Date: August 9, 2025

📬 Arizona sports in your inbox! https://gophnx.com/newsletterBlaze Alexander delivered one of his best performances in a Diamondbacks uniform, powering the Snakes to a series-opening win over the Rockies at Chase Field on Friday night. We break down Blaze’s standout night, Corbin Carroll’s 24th home run of the season, and Zac Gallen’s gritty path to a solid outing. Plus, a look at the new Players Weekend bats arriving for Ketel Marte and company—and why the D-backs aren’t missing the production from their trade deadline departures.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!Visit Mountain America Credit Union to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!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.

It still works. Look at that. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally not as your mayor of PHNX, and I am here to talk about the Diamondbacks winning a baseball game. That's right. The Diamondbacks beat the snot out of the Colorado Rockies tonight by a score of 6 to 1. Did a whole bunch of scoring early and then not much after that. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365 in Game Time.

Go download the Bet365 app and use our code of PHNX 365 when you sign up. Get yourself some bonus bets for following some easy steps. And also go over to game time and use our code of PHNX to get $20 off your first order. And save last minute on tickets with that app. I got my guy, Damon Dog, on the ones in twos tonight. A very excited Damon Dog. Not really. This is not a win that should necessarily be celebrated, more expected.

The Diamondbacks beat the Rockies by a score of 6 to 1, fresh off the Rockies getting beaten by the Blue Jays, 45 to 6 over a three-game span where the Blue Jays hit 63, hit the ball 63 times, Damon. But the Diamondbacks again win. They improved to 55 and 61 on the season. They are now 20 and 18 this season in season openers, which I feel like might be the reason why perhaps this season has been so disaffirmed. It does feel like the Diamondbacks win a lot of games, game one, and then you expect them to go on the way in games two or games three and win the series, and they don't. But hopefully they will do this against this weak Rockies team. Don't forget, by the way, tomorrow is Corbin Carroll-Bobblehead night, and not just any Corbyn

Carroll-Bobblehead night. It's Star Wars, Corbin-Carroll-Bobblehead night. So do not miss out on that. But again, the Diamondbacks are now 17 and 14 against their N. West opponents. It doesn't seem like the NOS has been the problem, Damon. It seems like it's been everybody else, especially bad baseball teams like the pirates. And honestly, even this Rockies team has given them trouble at the times. Yeah, they played their worst baseball and their easiest schedule stretch of the season. And it was unfortunate and it kind of killed this team. But

you know, now maybe that's just who they are. Maybe they're a team that plays up and down to their competition and we'll see a better version of the debacks in this final third of the season. Well, and I mean, again, I think we're far past the point of hoping about a playoff run or something crazy magical happening. That's not going to stop us from looking at the drunken orgy of violence that we call the NL. West. Nothing will stop us from doing that. But the debacks have not earned their infinity signs next to how far back in the division

and the wildcard they are yet. They have homered now in six straight games, 11 home runs over that span. and a big part of that was Corbyn Carroll and the man of the night, Blaze Alexander. What a monster game Blaze Alexander had for this team tonight. I personally love Blaze quite possibly almost as much as Ryan Thompson. And so it's great to see him after the ups and downs of this season kind of have this big breakout game. Blaze was great offensively. He was great defensively.

He was just all around great performance tonight from Blaze. Corbyn Carroll went yard for his 24th of the year, and Zach Gowan grinded through an outing to put up some good numbers for the win. But tonight, you know, I think the one thing that maybe other Diamondbacks fans were thinking along the same lines as Damon and I, but we did just see this Rockies team come back and win in a game where they gave up nine runs in the first inning. We did see this Rockies team prey on bullpens,

and we know that our bullpen isn't very good. So despite the fact that Diamondbacks had a pretty significant lead in this game. I don't know how safe it felt, but that lead was given to them by the offense very early with bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning in two outs. Blaze hits a three RBI double to give the snakes an early lead, put them up three to nothing. Then he would add to it with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. It was his second homer of the year. It was 100.3 miles per hour off the bat, 380 feet to right field. And I mean, again, it was just crazy, crazy night for Blaze. And when I talk about Blaze, you know, we had a chance to speak to

him after the game about, you know, his journey to the MLB, which hasn't been easy at times. And of course, with most minor leaguers, you know that there's a chance that they might not get an opportunity at playing time. This isn't an ideal situation. I don't think a lot of DeBex fans are happy about the fact that the Diamondbacks traded away Gino, but I do think a lot of Diamondbacks fans have gravitated towards being fans of Blaze, and it's great to see him get this playing time. Here's what Blaze had to say about his journey here, making it to Major League Baseball and to this night. Yeah, no doubt. You know, early in the year, you know, spring training, I was injured.

And it was kind of a little dark time, you know, you're like, am I going to come back the same? You know, I'm going to get an opportunity and, you know, things work out. Obviously, I mean, you never want to see a guy like Gino go, but, you know, it opened up playing time for me. And, you know, I'm happy and family's happy. and, you know, I'm just taking advantage of the opportunity, really. And like I said, Blaze also played some great defense out there tonight on the field for the Diamondbacks. Again, not perfect. Blaze is still finding his way over there at third base.

But, again, just a great night where you can really see him improving. And that's, again, something he talked about after the game. Here's what Blaze had to say about his defensive improvements. Yeah, so, again, it wasn't easy. You know, I showed up. I didn't do too much ground ball stuff. You know, in my rehab process at Salt River, I'd say, you know, only a couple days of groundball stuff. And then it was, hey, you're, you know, you're getting sent out.

You're out there. So, you know, again, like had that little bit of doubt. But then I got, you know, I got my guy, my guy is Roofie. You know, Ruffie, Sean Roof was, you know, my manager in AA. You know, I'm real comfortable with him. He's the infill guy. And kind of, you just let me know. Yeah, I got you.

Like, you're good. You know, don't kind of, don't press. And, you know, there's a little, like, growing period down there. you know, early, just coming back from, coming back from that oblique injury, you know, I had some errors, had some errors early, just kind of bad errors, you know, like real routine plays. And, yeah, just, you know, again, it was, hey, work hard every day, you know, your opportunity is going to come.

And, yeah, you know, thankful for, you know, Sean Rue for that, you know, Gardy as well, you know, Gardy's the manager down there. So I wouldn't say I worked too much like infield stuff with Garty, but I have in the past. And, yeah, just, you know, just the beliefs those guys have in me. and, you know, hearing him. I think the thing about Blaze is, again, there's an enthusiasm about the game. There's love for the game.

As you can see there, he's just a very likable guy, right? And again, that's kind of where you see Blaze being a fan favorite. But his play, I mean, there's just been so many things complimented about Blaze, about his arm, about what, you know, his potential could be. And it's great to see him get this opportunity at playing time. But it's not going to be given to him. He's going to have to earn it. Jordan Lawler is going to be making his way back to Reno very soon,

according to Tori Lobello, prior to today's game. And it does sound like the Diamondbacks will be calling Lawler up to get some time at third base. And Tori said that about Lawler. He said nothing is going to be given. All of these guys are going to be in competition for playing time. And I don't think that's any different right now for Blaze, considering that he was here, you know, when Gina was still a part of the team. And obviously, you know, there was difficulty for.

for him finding, you know, playing time over there at third base. But it does seem like it's a good fit for him. And he talked a little bit about playing third base and just how different it is from ranging at second and shortstop. Yeah, yeah. So it's definitely a reaction, reaction position. You know, I feel like shortstop, second base, you know, you're kind of, you're more ranging to your left.

And, you know, you kind of feels like a bigger feel. Third base, you kind of, I wouldn't say like in a box over there, but, you know, it's more, it's drop step or going in getting the ball. And yeah, just, you know, the early work with Sean Mark and, you know, it's big. We'll go out there with a, I think it's like a three and a half pounds baseball. It's kind of, it's one of our marg balls, a softer ball. And, yeah, he's about 15, I'd say 10, 15 yards away from me, you know, hitting bullets, just, just reacting and reacting.

And, yeah, slows the game down. And, yeah, I like working with Larkman. He's got a lot of belief in me. And, yeah, and I just really appreciate that. Well, Blaze, again, did the thing tonight. Big Night for Blaze, two for three with a home run, a double four RBI, and he was also hit by a pitch. I didn't like that. I'll come down there.

Don't make me come down from the press box. It's very hot down there on the field. I don't want to come down from the press box. Can I just say real quick about Blaze's last answer? He mentioned about Sean Larkin specifically, and I just think that in fairness of what we do on this podcast, you know, me particularly, I'm calling for Sean Larkin's job on my Twitter. And it's only fair to, I think, highlight the good things as well, like Blaze Alexander, basically crediting him for helping fix his defense, which we all know was unplayable at times, you know, the year prior in 2024.

Blaze, at times I think a Blaze is being a little bit like Justin Martinez, where there was a time where no matter how good his stuff was, no matter how powerful, you saw Justin Martinez as throw 104 miles per hour, but he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Same thing with Blaze. Like his arm is strong, his defense, his athleticism is there, but it's like he needed to figure it out. I mean, we've made the joke before I made it on Twitter tonight. People didn't get it because they don't remember what I did.

But Blaze has been compared to a golden retriever puppy by people more times than I can count. And I think it's the most apropos metaphor for him. Because, again, Blaze is like that. He's excited. He's got all this energy and he's ready to go. but he really just at times doesn't seem to like know how to control himself or know how to control things like his arms, his throws, things like that.

So again, it's experience, it's playing time. It's the reason why even though this season is pretty much a wash for them as far as making the playoffs and making the postseason and doing something fun there, it's still a great opportunity for the future of this team to come up here, start developing at a major league level because that's that next step. Once you become what we call that for a player like we've called. certain guys at times you need to come up to the majors and you need to make your mistakes and get your experience and honestly the team needs to assess if you're a true major league player or not

and from what we've seen out of blaze alexander he is but there was also a very fun moment where after his home run nobody came and talked to him in in the dugout he was very excited to come and get his high fives and instead they iced him out my guy had to go sit on the bench with the iPad very calmly and try to just watch his home run and then his teammates came over and celebrated with him. But I asked him about that moment. This is what Blaze had to say. Those guys give me a hard time.

I think I'm crazy. But are you? Probably. I'm out there. That's why we love him. Well, Blaze wasn't the only one contributing offensively tonight. Corby and Carroll had a big home run there in the, it was the bottom of the fifth inning.

Corbyn Carroll would add to the lead with his 24th home run of the season. With Catea on, he would hit one 424 feet. 109.5 mile per hour exit Velo. And man, I know Corbyn's not hitting a ton more home runs that he did in his rookie season or last year whenever it was that he hit the 25. I believe that was rookie season. But the power is there for Corbyn in a way that I don't think many of us imagine. And when I say that, I mean, like, this is 110 mile per hour exit Velo that went 424 feet. He is mashing some dingers right now.

And I think do we have the sound from it about Tori? We asked Tori after the game a little bit about his change in his stance. I know some of us were kind of concerned about the change in Corbyn's stance at the beginning of year. So here's what Tori had to say about the change and the results. Yeah, I had some concerns when I first saw it. But when I sat down with him and he talked to me about it, told me the reasons why I bought in because he bought it. And he knew that it was going to help him get into that slot with limited movement

and, you know, be more consistent. If Corbyn's going to buy into it, you know that it's going to be very well thought out, and it's not going to be something that's a very hasty decision. So when he goes out there and says this is the reason why, he broke it down for a lot of us at different points in time when we sat down in spring training, I thought, well, this could be something real nice. So I don't know, how many old ones does he have? 24.

How many do you have in 93? Did you have some? Was he alive? 23? A long year. 23, 25, okay. So on pace, push past that, clearly right? So, yeah, this guy's looking for him.

He's growing and learning, too. He's a young player just figuring this game out. He's just going to get better, better. Well, and that's not the only player that had a good night that Tori commented on. Tori did talk about Blaze Alexander's development and just what it's meant to this team. Here's what Tori had to say about Blaze. Well, we told him exactly what. what we see and what they need to work on.

It's up to them to go down there and take that seriously, serious enough to say, or trust the coaching. There's no mixed message either. So it comes direct from the staff here. And all the information is sent to the AAA team. And to AAA staff, in this case, it was up to Blaze to go down and continue working on his game. And since he's returned us, he's done a really good job

from becoming a more consistent. more consistent version of himself and the type of player that we're always looking for. He's tooled up. You can tell he's got a ton of tools and a ton of athleticism that's going to play out. But if you don't put that into the bag and mix it up and pull it out piece by piece, you're going to make a lot of mistakes. So he's limiting the mistakes, slowing the game down, and everything's in the right place at the right time right now. So I'm really impressed with a couple things outside of the offensive approach, and, you know, that's all gravy. Those are the things everybody wants. But it's him, you know, stabilizing things at third base.

A huge amount of range of balls that he's diving for and barely missing. He's going to eventually get his hands on, but his posture is great. His hands are out front, making a really good hands plays. The one to end the game was a perfect example of that. But, you know, hitting deep into counts, getting deep into counts, not being afraid to hit deep in accounts. That's the one thing that stands out more than anything else with Blaze. He's not afraid to hit with two strikes. Well, obviously, I don't think it's a secret.

Blaze Alexander is our King Snake for tonight's game. Again, Blaze went two for three tonight with that one home run, one double, four RBI. And he was also hit by pitch. So on base a lot. A couple of other guys were on base quite a bit tonight, too. Catelle Marte was one for two with two runs scored, but he did walk twice. So he was on base three times. Corby was one for four tonight with the two RBI and the one home run.

I don't, I won't admit. I don't love. I'm not in love with Corbin Carroll being a power. hitter. I don't. I would trade Corbyn's home runs for Corbyn at times to go two for four with three stolen bases. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know why that is. The Kyle Schwabber version of Corbyn Carroll is not my favorite version of Corbyn Carroll, no doubt about it. Well, one of the problems with the offense tonight is after Corbyn Carroll's home run, they didn't get another hit the entire game. That was it. They were held to six hits tonight. Despite the fact that they scored six runs and put it on the Rockies early,

they did the thing that we've seen the Diamondbacks do entirely too many times this season, get some offense going, and then have things freeze up on them. So not great overall, but it's still nice to see Corbyn Carroll getting on the board. And of course, Zach Gallen came one strikeout away from my same game parlay that I put out there on that 365 earlier. Yeah, that was tough, man. I thought you had that bag. I thought I had that bag, man. When Corbyn hit the home run, I was like, well, there's all that.

now I just need two more out of Zach. Got one in his final inning and then not. But oh well, that's why it's called gambling folks. But I will say defensively, Zach Gallen didn't look great early on. There were some concerns there when the very first batter of the game was able to get on and moved to second on basically a swinging butt and a throwing error by Zach Gallen. I'd have to admit that there were a lot of things that went wrong on that one. Did not love the fact that Tyler Locklear made an attempt to,

to catch the ball and then when he saw it wasn't really going it wasn't a great throw from Zach he kind of just let it go in between his legs which allowed the runner to reach second I also did not like to see that like kick it with your leg or something right drop down anybody talking about it online and I don't know if it's like a

kind of like a hey you know this is our sweet baby Tyler Locklear Tyler Locklear like no one say anything bad about him but I mean you 100% like like no excuses. You have to put your body in front of that at the end of the day. That's it. Even if it doesn't feel good, you're a major league baseball player. He like kicked his leg out almost and like let it go through, right? That's what was weird about it. It kind of elated. Yeah. Which is, you know, that that part of it is kind of unacceptable.

And yeah, definitely got to see some, some better defense, which I feel like we've seen decent defense thus far from Locklear, but yeah. Yeah. So far, good fundamentals. I've, I liked his at bats. I didn't like his at bats tonight to be, to be fair. I didn't think that he had very good at bats on in this game but uh again he's a young guy and just like with blaze it's it's the value of this period of time that sucks this this like you know kind of vague we don't like we care if we win we still want to watch the team win but we also know that no matter how much success they have they're they're most likely not going to be able to go on a roll enough to you know to kind of close the gap and give themselves a chance at the postseason, right?

So if they can't do that, then what we want to see is these guys coming out and getting this opportunity to play, to make mistakes, to get better. And that's what a game like this is like for Tyler Locklear. But if you want to talk about how close these two teams have been, and I know you guys don't want to talk about that at all. I know you do not want the Diamondbacks being compared to the Colorado Rockies. But we found a fun fact at the beginning of this game, Damon. And coming into this game, over the last 30 games played, the Diamondbacks and the Rockies have the exact same record. But it gets crazier than that.

Because when I say the exact same record, I mean the exact same record. Over the last 10 games, the Rockies and the Diamondbacks are 3 and 7. Over the last 20 games, the Rockies and the Diamondbacks are 8 and 12. And over the last 30 games, the Rockies and the Diamondbacks are 11 and 19. Make it make sense. I can't. I don't like it. Also, when this game started, there were some egregious calls by the home plate umpire that I'm glad we ended up getting past just a little bit. It seemed like those calls definitely went in the Diamondbacks favor tonight. However, he was not very good. It was Homeplate umpire Brian Walsh. So Brian Walsh, I want to give you like a D. But since most of your bad umpiring help the Diamondbacks out, I'll bump it up. I'll give you the curb. I'll give you a C plus. on tonight. But did you see Bob Brenley and what was going on tonight?

Over there are cold beers and cheeseburgers. I saw it with my own eyes. Did Bob Brenley eat the Randy Johnson? Is that what happened? Yeah, that was. The Randy Johnson is the cold beers and cheese burgers. It's free at Friday, by the way. It's the cold beers and cheese burgers burger that has the two grilled cheese

sandwiches as a top bun and a bottom bun. I've tried to conquer that hamburger myself and had regrets. I had regrets. I won't lie. Yeah, that sounds like one that's going to put you out for the rest of the day. No doubt about it. Not only that, but I mean, I believe I saw him like trying other food as the broadcast went on. So I imagine he didn't eat.

Caesar says he ate Randy Johnson. Nobody can eat Randy Johnson. You can't even, you couldn't even subdue him enough to put him in a pot like you would put Bugs Bunny. You know what I mean? Like, you're not eating Randy Johnson. It's a burger named after Randy Johnson. But anyway, nonetheless, it was a. a crazy effort from a man who we care entirely too much about his health.

So I don't like that. I don't like putting Bob Brenley's health in risk just for a gag, just so we could tee about him being up there, cold beers and cheeseburgers. I mean, all I will say is that Bob Brenley, he did have ice cream. And as Sean puts here, he tapped out and he gave it away to some of the fans near their section. The only person that ate more calories than Bob Brenley tonight is your boy right here. because I put down some Hawaiian barbecue. I got some Masubi.

And then I topped it off with some Coldstone creamery. Damon was eating his feelings tonight. While I was waiting for you, Derek, I probably put down about 3,000 calories during this baseball game. How does that make you feel? That feels pretty good. I mean, I ate a salad tonight. So it makes me feel really good about myself. We're in different places right now.

We are in very different places. We're in different places. But Tori has a message for you, Damon, I think, here. and that's Tori talking about players getting opportunities to prove themselves, which you might have done with your meal tonight. Here's what Tori had to say about the young guys getting this opportunity to prove themselves. In my opinion, for sure, there's probably six or seven guys on the team right now. You're probably referencing Mike's conversation with a group where he said,

this is your opportunity to go out and show me what you can do. Yeah, I credit Mike for saying that and being honest. We're totally honest. We smash these guys in the face with information, and they accept it. And when they heard that, I think a few guys jumped on it. Blaze 18. We'll see what happens. That was a really interesting statement, Derek. He says that there's six to seven guys basically that we're told that they need to prove it

or essentially some version of that. Like, hey, this is your opportunity to essentially prove to us that you belong as a starter or a roster spot here. He mentions Alec Thomas at the end of that. And he says, Blaze, AT, a bunch of guys are, you know, taken that running with it. I think that's interesting. Do you feel like AT has solidified

as playing time enough though? I mean, no, I don't. I just think that hearing Tori say that out loud is something that maybe we haven't really heard necessarily before. It's true. It seems like they're saying essentially to Alec like, hey,

you know, have a good second half of the season here or we're potentially going to be looking at upgrades in the off season. And, you know, I just find that that quote of things a little bit interesting. I think that might be obvious.

Like he's not going to, Blaze isn't a start. starter, but Alec is a little less obvious. I guess what you're saying is true, but I think the thing is that they've kind of flip-flopped between him and Jake McCarthy at times this season. So I don't think either one of those guys has solidified playing time. Right. Every season.

And that's fair, right? Because both guys kind of go through their slumps. AT is always valued a little bit more for his defense. Jake's always valued a little bit more for his bat. Both guys can do both fairly well, but both neither one of them. Like they don't like edge each other out where one is head and shoulders above the other, right? And again, I think I've heard this before, so it didn't give me pause like it might have given you. I think I've heard Tori say that, and this is when he was talking about his own job,

much to Killarex's delight, is he was saying nobody was safe. And no, but nothing here is just given, right? So there are guys, I think, that don't have to really worry about it. Kattel Marte, for instance, is a guy that's always going to be in the starting lineup. Whether he plays second base or DHS, that might be something to decide in the future. But, I think Catelle Marte, no matter what, if healthy is going to be out there playing baseball for this team. So, yeah, I mean, there are a lot of guys. And I wonder if when he's talking about those six or seven, if he's also meaning some of the young pitchers on this team as well, right? Like Andrew Hoffman, who I already love.

I mean, he's a young guy that's been given, you know, he's had a very minimal amount of playing time in Major League Baseball. But he could solidify himself as a big leaguer and make sure that he doesn't go anywhere by coming out and performing. I think really that's what it was. And we've seen this in the past where Tori Lavello has basically said in a press conference that I'm giving you, I'm showing you where the brass ring is. Grab it. And guys don't. And I mean, I've seen the frustration with Tori where he's like he wants these young guys that are being given an opportunity to go out there and, and, you know, shoot for it. There are guys that are currently on this team that aren't part of that group that did that exact thing.

I think someone like Geraldo Perdomo is a perfect example of that. Nobody thought Perdomo was going to be this team's everyday starting shortstop. And now not only is he that, he's extended contract-wise, and he's the captain of this team. So, like, things change as players develop and get older. And again, that's why you want to properly develop them at a minor league level. And then when the time is right or the opportunity presents itself, you call them up to the bigs.

And now that's what we're seeing from this team. But we have so much more to talk about, including Zach Gowland's outing tonight, the bullpen being pretty good. And we're also going to talk, we're going to do Killer X's favorite thing. We're going to spy on our exes and talk about Gino some more. So don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Well, NASCAR is one of my favorite things in the world lately.

And Phoenix Raceway is a great place to go take in a race, especially for championship weekend this October. And let me tell you, if you've never been to a NASCAR race, you've got to get out. You'll be as addicted as I am to the smell of the burnt rubber, the roar of the engines. and all the fun that's to be had. Honestly, NASCAR provides some of the best access for fans to the drivers to the cars that I've ever seen, and you can get that access of Phoenix Raceway during championship weekend there, October 31st through November 2nd.

So don't miss out on that. Of course, you get not with a small ticket upgrade, you're in the Desert Diamond Casino Infield Experience where we were up close in the garage, meeting drivers, walking the track, catching the pre-race concert. I think at one point I turned to Damon, I was like, everybody's just allowed to come down here?

Like you don't have to be media to get in here and get this kind of access. It's pretty incredible. So don't forget, our seasons are very aligned to the baseball season and the NASCAR season. After a grueling season that starts in February, it all comes down to this. A weekend of pure racing adrenaline for the championship in October. So don't miss your chance to witness NASCAR championship weekend in person coming to Phoenix Raceway, October 31st through November 2nd. Tickets for Sunday's championship race sell out every year. So move fast to get yours before they're gone.

And here's the kicker NASCAR is taking championship weekend on the road starting in 2026. So this is your last chance to catch it in Phoenix for a while. Tickets, hospitality upgrades are still available. Get yours at the link in our show notes. And I'm very mad that I didn't get a chance to compete in the ad read race that we had earlier about that. But I'm also sad that it's so hot. No way you were touching Tocry on that guy was on a different level. Yeah, he was on fire.

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Must be an APS customer and pay shipping and taxes. Other restrictions to apply. Go to Marketplace.APS.com for more info. All right. Well, of course, Zach Gallen had himself a great night tonight. And it wasn't like watching him on the mound didn't seem like that great of a night. It felt like Zach was in a lot of three, two counts tonight. It felt like it was a grind for Zach.

Like he really had to battle through. I get frustrated sometimes watching Zach because he tends to go up and counts 02 a lot like he was tonight. And then just kind of dances outside of the strike zone trying to get the batter to chase. While I appreciate a pitcher that uses their count and goes out there and doesn't, you know, doesn't necessarily want to just necessarily attack all the time. Let some of these batters be a little bit. over zealous. However, it just felt like Zach could have put guys away better. I felt like Zach could have helped me hit that seven strikeout number a little bit better as well. I won't lie. But he threw an insane mix of pitches tonight, Damon. He threw, I think, six different pitches tonight. He threw

his four-seem fastball, 30% of this outing. He threw his change up 23%. I think we have his pitch chart here that will show you the wide range of colors and variety of Zach's pitches tonight. He threw his knuckle curve nearly 20% at 19%. He threw a sinker at 13% of the outing. Or he called his sinker something else. We have it in video, but we'll get to that. He also threw his slider 11 times, and he threw his cutter three times. So Zach was throwing everything tonight.

It seemed like his change-up was working really well. But when asked about it, he said, no, it's not, which is just such a classic Zach thing to do to tell us that his his best pitch tonight was not working well for him. Here's what Zach had to say about his outing this evening. I feel like we used a lot of sinkers. Well, I like to call a sinker, but a lot of runners and changeups. But, yeah, I mean, Ken and I were on the same page all night.

I think I shook once. But yeah, I mean, I felt like we were just kind of established in the inner half and kind of opened up, you know, a way if we needed to or spin. They were at our time laying off the sink or so we just kind of kept going in there and, you know, taking a big contact, taking outs. Well, I'll tell you, like I said, overall, it's still pretty sexy looking line. He goes six innings, gives up four hits, one run in this outing. He walked three, struck out six. And of course, with those six strikeouts, let's fire up our Circle K strikeout meter, six strikeouts tonight for Zach Gowan.

Don't you forget. Tonight was a home game. So if you have not done so already, make sure you text strike to 31310 to start saving fuel, on fuel, food, and drinks after every DBAX home game. With every K, you win at Circle K. Tonight with Zach's six strikeouts, you get yourself a free any size hot coffee. So again, Zach delivering in more ways than one.

It's fitting. I mean, shouldn't it be a rocket protein? Shouldn't that be what the reward is for Zach Gallen 6 strikeout performance? I feel like it should be milk. I don't know. But here's what Tori had to say again about Zach and what he's kind of done here post-deadline for this team. Considering Zach took a little bit responsibility the other day and made a comment that because of how bad he's pitched, he's put this team in a bad position where they weren't able to move him at the trade deadline.

This is what Tori had to say about his pitcher. We deal with real stuff here. We talk about real things here. We don't shirk code anything. So for Zach to say that and be accountable, I like that. We're all accountable here for what's going on. And we aren't having the type of year that we want to have, not even close. So Zach has shouldered some of that responsibility.

In my own personal conversations with him, he shoulders the responsibility. And then the reality is I didn't know that he said something like that. So without putting my own words on it, I'm not surprised. I'm surprised by the fact that he said, look, I've put myself in this situation and it's reality. I've got to deal with it. And now he's gotten better. I mean, I think that there are a lot of reasons for Zach to be disappointed with his performance this season. I think that many of those reasons are personal.

But I also think that there is a feeling that you let the team down. Not only did you let the team down based on your inconsistency this season, but that inconsistency, despite the, the track record you've had throughout your entire career led to teams not even making the diamondbacks a reasonable offer to trade for you at the deadline. So I can understand where Zach is coming from. I'm feeling that. I do feel like, again, there is something to be said about these guys being human, right? They are human beings. They have feelings.

Some of it's business. But at the end of the day, even like in a business transaction where you're traded away, you still want the team that you were playing for to get, you know, to get something in return for you. And you want to see that your value is high and you want to see that your former team is satisfied with what they were able to trade you away for. There's probably a lot of guilt on Zach's part. It probably goes far beyond that, too. It probably goes to this entire season, right? So I don't blame Zach.

I think that Zach is a small, very, very small part of the problem with this team this year. But Gallen did have something very interesting to say about the way this team is kind of just playing a little bit more freer after going over that one in eight stretch. One and nine, I believe, one and eight, one and nine, whatever that terrible, terrible dark period was for this team. But, you know, Gallen just brought up that guys can feel a little bit more confident that when they come to the ballpark anymore, they're going to be in the lineup and that they're going to play. And I think also, too, that maybe the pressure isn't on any longer. Here's what Zach had to say about it. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, from a standpoint of the guys that are here, I think maybe for the young guys at least kind of a, I would say, lifted a weight off their shoulder to be able to play, but they kind of know that they're playing time a little bit easier to come by now with those opportunities. So I think that's kind of mainly what you're seeing is guys know, and they expect to be in the lineup now.

they're able to just kind of, you know, put their head down and play and show their, you know, ability. Well, after Zach left the game, the bullpen did their job, which was great to see for once. You had Kendall Graibman going out there and pitching one inning. He allowed one hit and struck out one. So did Andrew Salfranck. He pitched an inning. He allowed one hit, and he struck out one. And then you got Kelly coming in into the last inning of the game, Gacy Kelly.

He goes out there, gives the Diamondbacks one inning. and walked one. But aside from that, no hits loud, no runs scored. The Diamondbacks win this one fairly easily, six to one, right? So, and I got to say, too, this is probably not the best thing for me to admit. I am so unfamiliar with what Kendall Graveman looks like that he was on the field speaking, kind of to me, and I had no idea who this man was. Like, that's how little I've actually seen Kendall Graveman this season.

So it's great to see him now. Great to see him healthy. You can see him in a Walmart and just be like, oh, look, that was the guy who lives up in the same neck of the woods as me. Yeah, yeah, basically. It was odd. I think maybe it's because, you know, again, I don't know if I've actually talked to him once this season. But I definitely know that I've not seen him around too often. So, again, great to see Graveman, you know, contributing.

Also, what more can we say about Andrew Salfrank? This man has been very, very, very, very good since returning. He has a 0.79 ERA this season. And I know it's in a small sample size, but when you talk about bright points right now with the bullpen, it would appear to be Andrew Salfranx. So hopefully he can keep doing that. He can keep doing that for this team. Killer X, I'm just going to say it, you're an idiot out loud,

because yes, Gallen struggles suck, but Zach Gallen has not been the biggest problem for this team by any stretch of the imagination. So if you want to say I'm smoking crack, I will tell you Killer X that you are moron. So anyway, this bullpen, though, again, it's the Rockies. I don't want to get too excited about it. However, I do want to say that, you know, this is a Rockies team that just had one of the most incredible comebacks that we've ever seen in a baseball game. so I am fine. I am fine with the fact that the Diamondbacks did do their thing tonight against the Rockies. Just this series kind of sucks, right?

This series sucks because no matter what, there's not really going to be any credit given to the Diamondbacks for beating the Rockies. You beat the Rockies, you're supposed to beat the Rockies. You don't, then it's a disaster. I don't really think beating the Rockies is going to move the needle in any way for this team this year. It's, again, with the way that they've played this year, probably something that you're supposed to do. But regardless, you've got to take the wins and those wins come within a game as well. And when your bullpen can go out there and put up zeros, especially against a team that did just pull off a big comeback, then, yeah, it's good stuff.

It's good stuff to see. But what I will do is talk about more of this game. I can't stop. Most of the time, don't want to talk about the game anymore. I can't wait to talk about other stuff. But this time, I want to talk more about this game. And we're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere.

You're watching the PHA next time in Back Show. Well, obviously, I could use some pure edibles. All right. I'm fired up. I'm a little uppity right now. But what I will say is pure edibles can help you get some good sleep or they can help improve your mood. They have a wide variety. I only talk about those two things they do.

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Pure gummies are designed to be ripped in half or bitten in half to make them easily shareable or easy a dollar you're in your exact dose. Go find yourself some pure edibles from one of over 130 dispensaries across Arizona. And I've said it before, but what really pairs well with pure edibles is a trip to Circle K. You do those two things at the same time. You get yourself supplies, as I like to call it, and you have yourself a great night. Circle K is America's third stop, so you want to make sure to get yourself something to drink. If you join the Inner Circle for free, you will get those drinks for even cheaper. It's easy to download and get enrolled.

Then you just use your phone number to get Circle K deals, and you can save 25 cents off per gallon for your first five Phillips when you first sign up. Then you'll save 25 cents off per gallon when you buy three Coca-Cola, 20-ounce products. You get cookies for a dollar each. You get 79 cent polar pops, 99 cents. frosters and that is all for inner circle members only so sign up today join the inner circle for free by downloading the circle k app today terms and conditions apply at participating locations visit circle k.com for details well i've never actually wanted the ban killer rex before in my life until he said weed is poisoned damon get him out of here get him out of this chat i don't ever want to see

his stupid name on this chat ever again but what do you have to say about the the uh accusation of his that he's unarchaoable that's not something that that's possible. Randy Orton will be the first person to tell you that. You don't even know. It comes out of nowhere, Rex. That's the thing. It's out of nowhere. You don't know when it's coming. So no. Cesar says Derek, it's so a R-K-O-U. Yeah, I would. I'm pretty good at it. Ask my brothers. Ask Ryan Thompson. Ask Ryan Thompson. We're not allowed to talk about that. Ryan Thompson's injury may or may not be a result of horseplay in the clubhouse with me. So I don't know. There's no way to prove or deny that. But let's take a look at the numbers from tonight's game presented by our

friends at Desert Financials. Desert Financial Credit Union, excuse me. Diamondbacks win this one by a score of six to one. Can we talk about the Rockies logo really fast that you put up there on the screen, Damon? Because I saw it on a, like someone was in a Rockies team shop and they took pictures of the hats. And like they have this wide variety of cool hats with all sorts of different colors and stuff with this logo, the mountain logo, with the ball, sailing. out of the mountains. And I just for a moment stood and looked at it and realized how stupid of a goddamn logo it really is. Their logo is a mountain and a baseball. That's what your logo is for your team. Your team mascot is the Rockies. I mean, they're named after the Rocky Mountains. I mean,

it's, again, there's things in life that we don't really stop and think about. We just know that it's true and we just no one asked what a what a New York Metropolitan is you know the Met you know like what's a what's a knickerbocker right no we don't do these things we shorten the name up we give them a nickname we move on Rockies

Sean says honestly the Rocky's regular CR is one of the best I'm not going to attack any kind of lettering logos at all I like I can't lie I like Rockies I hate it I hate it so much I really like it it's there other

team, their hockey team, also a mountain logo. Avalanche. Avalanche. It's an A with snow on it and there's a puck coming down. We get it. There's mountains in Colorado. You've made the point. Do you have nothing else going on in Denver?

The Nuggets have a mountain logo. Oh, man. Don't they? Don't they have like the gold pickaxes with like mountains in between it? Yes. We realize. Colorado is very one-dimensional in their sports logo. Wait till they come after us with our cacti.

Oh, hey, hey, I love the cat. Are you kidding me? The cactus is cool. God damn it. How dare you? There's a bunch of pro-Rockeys logo in the chat. I had no idea I was on the wrong side of history here. I really didn't.

But do BFC wants a shade throwing segment on this. I don't have the energy for that or the voice tonight. But let's take a look back at those numbers tonight presented by our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union. Diamondbacks again win this won by a score of six to one. Both teams had six hits. The Diamondbacks were two for, or excuse me, the Rockies were one for nine with runners in scoring position.

The Diamondbacks were two for five. So not a lot of opportunities, but good. Extra base hits, Diamondbacks had three, two home runs and a double. Meanwhile, the Rockies just had the two doubles. And then expected batting average here, 265 for the Diamondbacks to the Rockies 163. Yeah. I mean, overall, just exactly what you would expect to see kind of out of this Rockies team, I guess.

I don't know. They just got beat horribly by the Toronto Blue Jays. Like, I can only imagine what, you know, what the vibes are like in the Rockies, you know, clubhouse after losing 45 to 6 over three games. I just, I don't know, man. I mean, I can, I give them a lot of credit because honestly, for the games. I saw Rocky's players out on the field, like playing catch with kids and laughing and having a good time. And I know no fan ever wants to really see that. But I think that since

we do this show five days a week during 162 game baseball season, I can relate a little bit to the drag of the season. So I just think honestly that they, you know, again, you kind of have to have kind of a smile on your face and a good attitude when you're going through the adversity that the team is going through right now and just come out and play this kid's game and have some fun right so I again

I give them credit but I also hope the Diamondbacks sweep them and do it thoroughly like the Blue Jays did and I said the S word so now we know that's not going to happen but let's take a look at the drunken orgy of violence that we love to call the N hell West around here Dodgers

to the top of the division currently still at 67 and 49. Blue Jays ran into them and realized what a real baseball team is like tonight when they lost. Padres here, they are 64 and 52. There are three games back in the division. I honestly hate to say this. I probably shouldn't, but if there was a bet I would make right now that I feel like would be a solid bet

that would probably win you a decent amount of money, I think they would be betting on the Padres to win the NOS. And that's just because right now it's such a short thing that the Dodgers are going to, that throwing a little money on the Padres doesn't seem like the worst idea, especially. I think they're at like plus 475 or plus 500 to win the division. So I don't really think the odds are that much against them, for sure,

sitting there three games out of the division, one game up in the wild card. And I believe they are one game up on the Chicago Cubs, if I'm not mistaken. So this is getting a little wacky. The Cubs have not been playing good baseball lately. Giants, meanwhile, they won again. They are at 59 and 57.

They sit eight games back. the division four back in the wild card uh diamondbacks 55 and 61 now 12 games back in the division only eight back in the wild card so a mere eight if we get if we get within five i'm going to start talking crazy again damon you know that i'm going to lose my mind i mean you know i'll be literally standing on the on the boat right next to you brother it's me and you we're going down with the shit yeah uh and sean is once again highlighting my love of the dodgers apparently here in the chat, but what's new?

What's new? Mookie with a home run tonight. Yeah, I did learn something interesting about baseball bats and that axe handle bat style tonight, but I'm going to share that later when we talk about baseball bats. So I did find out Mookie Betts was one of the first guys to have the axe handle style baseball bat. And because he was able to find success with it, a lot of players, a lot of players did. Ina Jackson has to come in here with her logic and say,

Baltimore is back eight games, Derek. Don't say that, I know. That's not, I don't like that. That's not great. Honestly, I still, I still laugh at the fact that we were here on this show in the chat. You guys, us, I wasn't, it wasn't just me. You guys were doing it too. We were like six games back and we were like, it's not that bad yet.

And meanwhile, when the trade deadline came around, there were teams far closer than the Diamondbacks were that became sellers because, man, even with you still being in shouting distance of the teams, I think. think there is a realization of like can this team compete i i i still don't think this team can't compete uh or i i don't think this team has has the personnel to compete in the postseason it would be great if they made it it would be a a definite you know uh feather in their cap for for making the postseason i just i don't believe that this team can be a true contender if they were to make it there so you know unfortunately based on that

I'm sure that the front office kind of feels the same way, right? Like even if you can get close, it's got to be more about does this team have the pieces, you know, to win? And the one thing I will say is we'll never know what they could have been had the Diamondbacks added at the trade deadline instead of subtracted. They definitely had a lot of closers available to them, apparently based on the fact the Padres have like three closers now and the Yankees have three closers. So again, it's it's one of those things. Walker, my friend from grade school, I think he was asking why, perhaps maybe you were asking why I was getting negative, why I was trying to say that the ninembacks aren't going to make it. I think that's only because, again, you got to look at bullpen, you got to look at other components. You got to look at what they lost.

And we're going to look at what they lost because we're going to spy on our exes here in a little bit. But I didn't want to let you guys know about the PHNX Cardinals residency at Heeliver Resorts and Casinos Wild Horse Pass. We are going to all be out there having a great time on August 28th. You guys should join us too. You can join Johnny, Bo, and the PHNX Cardinals crew with the NFL diehards for the residency night on August 29th at the Upper Deck Kitchen and Bar. They are going to be doing the live PHNX Cardinals podcast starting at 430. Then they are going to have an NFL season preview at 6 p.m. And then after that, the rest of us scoundrels are going to have our P.H.NX staff fantasy football draft at 7 p.m.

Bless you over there, Damon. Can't wait. Well, I'm blessing you now because on that night, I'm going to be extra mean to you. So that's the way that that worked. But all die hard to attend can watch me be mean. Did you get last place last year? Yeah, something like that. Some sort of Waffle House thing.

Remember when I stole Travis Kelsey from Jesse and then that cursed my season? I do. Yeah. That was a really scumbag move. It really wasn't. It really wasn't. It really wasn't. And I'm tired of defending myself about that because it wasn't.

Jesse has no business asking the other general managers in his fantasy football league who he should draft. Put on your big boy pants and make a decision yourself. Jesse doesn't know ball like that. I don't care. Don't blame me. It cursed me. That's why I ended up at the Waffle House. Travis Kelsey was terrible.

It's a gentleman's game, Derek. And you found that out the hard way. I am no gentleman. But again, all dire to attend will receive a free drink ticket for the event. So make sure to join us for that. It's going to be a great time. So do not miss out. Anyway, so before we get out of here, I did want to bring up the pieces the Diamondbacks have lost on another edition of spying on our exes.

And this time we have a whole lot of players to talk about. The Arizona Diamondbacks, of course, traded away, as you know, plenty of guys. And some of those guys have not been having success. Not that we're rooting against them to have success, but when you talk about whether or not the Diamondback should have kept them or shouldn't have kept them what kind of production they would have. Honestly, it's an alternate timeline that once again, we don't know what the real results would be. We don't know how Gino would be hitting or how Merrill would be pitching if they would have never left this team. There's a certain comfort level to where you're at.

And even though even someone like Swares went back to a team that he was familiar with, it doesn't mean that he is comfortable at the plate. And obviously not. But someone else who is very much not comfortable. Merrill Kelly tonight. He only went four in a third innings pitched for the Texas Rangers. He gave up five hits, four earn runs, five walks, and four strikeouts. So an uncharacteristically high walk night from Merrill Kelly and a night where the Philadelphia Phillies won against the Rangers in Texas for the first time since 2014. So there's that.

Also, Gino Suarez, he was 0 for three tonight at the plate. There you go, Killer X. There's your obsession, my obsession with Gino. He had a strikeout. Entering play tonight. I just wanted to say regarding that, too, because that started during our remote show, and it was a little bit more difficult for me to kind of chime in. And, you know, we're not in the same room. I can't necessarily make eye contact with you.

Sure. Killer Rex is the same guy who on our emergency pod night was saying, I'm a Mariners fan for the rest of this season. But then comes after you for talking about. about, hey, Gino hit a home run today. Shout out Gino. He also said that him and the person that did the short about Tori saying that he was pissed at Gino were on the same page.

That was me. That was me. I mean, Damon is the one that made it, but it was my idea. So it was us together. But anyway, no, Gino, again, entering play tonight was slashing 107, 133, 250 with a 383 OPS after going O for 3 tonight. He has a sub 100 batting average. again, that's probably not where he's going to stay.

However, I will say that overall, I am not extremely concerned about dyeing my beard. That's what I have to say about that. Josh Naylor, since joining the Seattle Mariners, is slashing 261, 320, 478 for a 798 OPS, just below league average. Randall Gritchick slashing 200, 259, 360 for 619 OPS. Why do I go over these numbers and why am I dragging these guys

that we love through the mud? simply to point out that you, this is what these guys are doing. Maybe they would have done that on this team. There's no way to really know, like I said. We don't live in that alternate timeline. But what I will say is that their production, at least for their new teams, isn't high enough to make us feel like the Diamondbacks gave up everything. And that's the reason why now they're in the position they're in.

There are so many things that are mixed into this stew of failure. that is the Diamondbacks 2025 season, that there's no reason to pinpoint one particular thing. I do think there's a whole lot of corn chunks in there that are injuries, for sure. I do think that a little bit of the seasoning is Tori's bad management at times. I do think that Zach Gallin's poor play impacted this year, but I just don't think those things had as big of an impact literally as the injury overall. But Ina says we are not looking back, so we aren't looking back.

We're looking forward. And at this point, let's look forward to next weekend because player weekend is here. Players weekend. I don't know how to even say it. Players weekend. But there is maybe not as much fun as we used to have. I still wish they would bring back the nicknames on the back of the jerseys because that was elite. I was speaking earlier today.

What would Blazes be? I mean, Blaze feels like just a nickname in it of itself. Yeah, it really does. I mean, I think I've heard him go by Blaz's. Blazer before. I think what's his name? There's a comedian named Blaze that goes like Uncle Blazer, and I think I've heard him be referred to as that.

But yeah, no, I mean, I almost bought the Brad Boxburger emoji jersey. That ended up in Cooperstown, so I really wanted that. God, it's so bad. It's too bad Broxburger was just a bomb, dude. Terrible versus steam. Yeah, it really was too bad. First player to have their jersey retired due to emojis being on the back, by the way. Players weekend bats arrive today.

at Chase Field and boy were they fire. Got a chance to see the guys from Victus handing out these bats. Look at these things. Heraldra Perdomo has a big old pencil. Alec Thomas's was especially fire. This was like a

kind of like a swirled, splattered paint pattern that was the same colors as the Mexican flag. And then the Victus logo in the middle was also the Mexican flag. But I don't think anybody had as cool of a two-bat combo as one Catele Marte. There also is Lordus Guerrille Jr.

He had himself a Pena power bat that was very aesthetically pleasing to the Perpientis jersey. Cotell had two bats. One was a crann that had El Piquet as the color on the crann. And then the other bat was this piece of artwork. It was purple roses with a picture at the end of Cotel and his mom. and got a little emotional. I got a little emotional opening it up, or not opening it up,

but being there while he opened it up. And it's just a really cool thing. I mean, honestly, the only thing I could think standing here, watching these players open these cool ass bats was, why is this just a one weekend thing? You know what I mean?

It's like MLB the show where, you know, you can use these bats all the time. You can use the silly bats all the time. And you do. And you do. And it's fun. and I do. And I mean, I think the other thing about it is like MLB, I was talking to one of the

Diamondbacks photographers today who was doing the pictures of the guys coming in. She got that amazing shot of Corbyn Carroll coming in. And, you know, again, that's a big part of what fans want to see. It's the reason why they do that. They do it for the Sons. They do it for the Cardinals. They do it for the Diamondbacks. Like, we love to see the fashion. We love to see these guys walking in in their street clothes, looking all dope carrying their little Louis Vuitton bags. And again, it's just a part of their personality that shows. shows. I understand players weekend is meant to highlight that and allow them to wear shoes with their charities on it and talk about, you know, people that impacted them coming up and use bats like

this. But I just think that baseball would be more fun if they just let this stuff happen all the time. Just like the same way that I feel like baseball would be more fun if we stopped throwing at each other for flipping bats and if dugouts could celebrate more and just baseball in general could be more fun. Maybe a little bit more like college baseball where we're just allowed to have fun there. and it's just different. So this is, I'll tell you, it was a special moment. We all know what Cotel has kind of been through. You know, we know how special his mother is.

So it was just very, it was very cool to see that. And also, I can't tell you how much I love the big crayon and pencil bats. I want one so bad. I might just go buy a little one in the gift shop because I want one so bad. But of course these are. Like when we bought our gloves? When we bought our gloves, we were just like, we need gloves. We have to have gloves.

It's glove week. It's glove week, of course. Well, you can see these bats on display next weekend. Players weekend is August 15th through the 17th, so a great time to watch the Diamondbacks play. They won't be home, unfortunately, so it was our only chance to see these bats in person. But I will say, I appreciate you guys sticking around with us tonight. I know it's late. I know it's Friday.

I know you guys have a lot of things to do going on in your life. But we appreciate you spending your time with us. Make sure to follow us on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. We're all Damon's dogs. Bark, 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. We love you guys, even you, Killorex. We appreciate you for your time. We will see you back here on Monday with another Mailbag Monday episode. Until then, enjoy your weekend. Have a wonderful night. Go get that Corbin Carroll Star Wars Bobblehead tomorrow. Hydrate!

Make sure you take care of yourselves out there. It's going to be very hot standing in the day. those lines. So take care of yourself, take care of each other. Have a wonderful night. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're watching Blaze Alexander play for the love of the game.