PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: D-backs' Eduardo Rodriguez SHOVES in All-Star Game, But the AL DOMINATES NL Again

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

The American League dominated the National League yet again in the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, recording the first shutout in the Midsummer Classic in 14 years. Fortunately for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Eduardo Rodriguez did his part, retiring the side in order with a perfect 1-2-3 inning. We break down Rodriguez's outing, Corbin Carroll's lone plate appearance, and what stood out most from this year's All-Star Game. We also react to Jordan Walker's thrilling Home Run Derby victory over Kyle Schwarber and discuss why Phillies fans completely lost the plot by losing steam in the final round, and deliver our spiciest Hot Take Tuesday opinions. Plus, we check in on several former Diamondbacks in another edition of Spying on Our Exes. 0:00 SkeeYee & Welcome in to the PHNX D-backs Show!  3:20 Most boring All-Star Game ever?  12:15 Phillies fans = frauds  23:45 King Snake  27:30 Easiest remaining schedules in MLB  40:15 Is Geraldo Perdomo hurt?  44:20 Hot Take Tuesday 🔥  58:40 Bring back home field advantage stakes for ASG?  1:07:15 Spying on Our Exes Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX 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/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes 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/ 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 40% 2+ pairs of 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! 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.

Well, the American League dominates the National League once again, getting the first shutout in the All-Star game in 14 years. And this would not have happened if you would have added more Diamondbacks to the roster. We have more on the Phillies, players blowing it, specifically them, and Eduardo Rodriguez shoving in his one inning of work, plus so much more, including the debacks having one of the easiest schedules on the other side of the break. Don't you go anywhere? We're starting right now.

Doing the lost music? Is the lost music? I mean, yeah, I guess that's appropriate. Ski to you all. And welcome in to another edition of the All-Star Game Post-Game show live right here on PHNX. D-Bax. Live! That's the most you're getting out of me.

I'm bored. We are live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. And I am your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. Yon! What an all-star game we all got to witness the American League. dominates the National League, winning all of them. They just win all of them. When was the last time we saw them not win the All-Star game?

This time they won it by a score four to nothing. I welcome it to the pH next time. I'm back show. I'm not alone. I'm joined on the ones and twos by my dog, your dog, and Jordan Walker's dog. It's Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell. Derek, I can't stop thinking about how big of losers the Phillies are tonight.

Oh, my God. That's very, that's very much a topic that we are going to discuss. I don't know who won the All-Star game, Derek, but I know who lost it. And it's the Philadelphia Phillies and all of their loser fans. It's Hot Take Tuesday around here. It is Spirit Week here at All City. And most importantly, you are watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. And we're brought to you by our friends at Bet365.

Bet365, we're winning is everything. Download the app today and use that code of PHNX365. We're also brought to you by GameTime. go download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNXP, but $20 off your first purchase terms do apply. And yes, like I said, it's Hot Take Tuesday. And I think people who don't use their blinkers should have their driver's license revoked. That's what we're starting out with.

And also, I'm going to go ahead and just co-sign on Damon's Hot Take that Phillies fans are frauds. And we're going to get into our hot takes here because it is Hot Take Tuesday. part of Spirit Week here at All-City. But first, we are going to recap the All-Star game, and we're doing it for our guy, Calvin, who says, couldn't catch the game, recap. You didn't miss a lot, Calvin.

You didn't miss a lot, pal. You missed the American League, scoring a bunch of runs off of Christopher Sanchez early, a guy who was absolutely dominated at Citizens Bank Park as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, and he got dominated tonight, giving up three early runs in the first inning, and putting the National League down by an amount,

an amount that was insurmountable for the National League, who only had three more hits in the game and were shut out, losing this one by a score of four to nothing. And yeah, if you're curious, Calvin, it felt a lot like a Diamondbacks game in 2026. It felt like the watch-along we did against the San Diego Padres. You get down in the first inning,

and you just do nothing for nine innings straight. and your offense is lifeless. It started with a one-out single by Damon's Dreamboy, Yordon Alvarez, and then Shea Langleyers from the Athletics Walked. And then Junior Caminero, was that when he got hit? No, that was. Yeah. Was that what he got hit?

Yeah. Because, no, he got hit in the, a little bit later. No, he got hit in the first inning. Did he get hit in the first inning? It was an absolute, no, he got hit by it. No, it was in the third inning. Was it? Yeah.

He grounded out in the first inning. for the second out and then Bobby Witt walked to load the bases. And then Cody Bellinger, who ends up being your Ted Williams MVP of the All-Star game, he singles and scores Alvarez and Shea Langalears and puts the AL up two to nothing. Ben Rice followed that up with an RBI single of his own. That scored Andy, excuse me, scored Bobby Witt.

That was two Andy Pahas and that put the AL up three to nothing. And from that point on, there wasn't much from either team. A bunch of striking out, a bunch of unproductive innings. You'd have a hit here or there, but for the most part, neither team did anything for the next nine innings. And like I said, it was like our watch-along where Damon and I had all of the offense happened in the first inning. And then we had to somehow entertain everyone for eight innings with our stories of pandas

not being real and pygmy hippos. That's pretty much how we bolstered the rest of that game. But this game didn't have very much action. And if we did a watch-along, probably would have been equally as boring. However, we did have our hero, our guy, our legend, Eduardo Rodriguez come into the second inning and pitch a eight-pitch perfect inning where you got weak contact on all three outs. Still through a nice mix of pitches.

And you know we do that around here. We're still going to show you. we're still going to show you his eight pitches on this pitch chart. That changeup missed a little bit. The four-seam fastball was up, but everything else was good. Through four-cutters, two four-s seam, a synchering a change-up. He did not get any strikeouts, any walks, any hits, any earned runs. It was just a one-inning pitch and zeros across his line.

And again, it wasn't enough. Maybe if they would have started Eduardo Rodriguez, and he went out there and gave them that strong first inning like this, He would have put the NL in a much better position. But Michael in the chat says almost unwatchable, to be honest, as far as the game. He said while talking to the players every 10 seconds, it sucked bad. They were definitely trying to make it more entertaining. And I guess this is the problem at the core of the All-Star game.

This is the reason why the All-Star game tends to be such a letdown. at the end of the day, you have the best pitchers in baseball coming out, throwing one inning. And most of them are starters. And then the others are electric relievers like Mason Miller that throw 104 miles per hour. So of course, you're not going to have much offense. Of course, you're not going to have anything in a game like this. But still wild that this is the first shutout in the All-Star game in 14 years. And thank God, home field advantage is not determined by this game anymore.

That's all I have to say. because dating back to 2013, the American League has now won 12 of the last 13 All-Star games. 12. I mean, it's almost like it's worth calling off the event altogether. And the overall record still isn't like that far off. So it just goes to show that NL has its stretches of dominance and the AL has its unexplicable stretches of dominance. But here we go. once again the American League winning this game. Corbyn Carroll did come into the game.

He did strike out in his only at bat and that sucks. Good news. He didn't strike out on a fastball up in the zone. It was a fastball down in the zone if that gives you any consolation at all. That helps you sleep at night. I was glad though that he got to be on the field for the sandlot bit for those of you that might have missed it. They put together a wonderful little tribute to the sandlot. You know, they had Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful. They had kids jumping on their bikes and getting their friends and riding to the stadium and kind of like a pre-taped bit.

Then the kids rode into the stadium and they all got to like go out to individual players and, you know, some kids absolutely took advantage of it. Saw the girl that was out there with Bobby Witt Jr. She brought a Bobby Witt Jr. card it looked like an appendicine very smart kid with freddie freeman was playing catch with freddy freeman i mean it was it was a cool moment it was magical there was magical and then there was the one kid there was the one kid who got paired up with yoshinobu yalamota i mean that was unfortunately doesn't speak very much english like you're gonna like you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna

pair me with the guy that doesn't i can't we can't talk they sit together side by side like this they did have a after after the after the commercial break it did show them dapping up and hugging so at least you got that from one of the best pitchers in baseball but yeah it you probably feel a little shafted when you see mike trout having a kid pick up his bat and take some swings and give him some coaching in that moment yeah and uh you're getting nothing from your guy you're getting nothing from this guy over here but uh again snooze fest overall and uh at least at the very least so boring. At the very least, Fox didn't cut Cody Bellinger's acceptance or, you know, MVP speech in the middle of it like Netflix did last night with Jordan Walker and his home run derby speech. So, who knows to Fox for still knowing how to do TV? Meanwhile, the home run derby was on Netflix and left something to be desired, let's just say. But, I mean, mid interview is crazy work.

Like, like someone had to make a conscious, I mean, I've literally. literally I do this job at a much lower scale than Netflix, but that tells you the resources that they're working with as well. Someone had to pull the plug on that production. Someone had to say, yeah, shut it down. Yeah. We're in the middle of an on-field interview with the winner. I thought something went wrong with my Netflix.

I think I did at first too. And one of my roommates was like, oh, my God, Netflix just shut off the entire broadcast. Like I tried to go back to it and it wouldn't let me go back to it. Yeah, because it said play again at the top of automatically. And it was like, play again. Isn't it playing right now? I'm still watching. Live broadcast?

I'm still watching. Man. And again, it was, you, you. Do you think that they finish out that interview to make it seem like they didn't cut it out? Or do you think that right after they went off air there? They were like, hey, hey, hey, Lindsay, we actually, we cut this. And then she was like, oh, okay, sorry, Jordan. and we cut the interview, no more questions.

Yeah, yeah. They try, try to make it the least awkward as possible. And Jordan, what was your favorite swing of the night here? Why is the red light off? Why is the red light off? Why is the red light off? No, it's okay. Jordan, it's okay.

What about your parents being in this stance? What did that mean to you while you were out there? I'm out of here. If we're not on TV, don't waste my time. But no, kudos to Jordan. Walker, man. What a, what a night for him. What a performance. Like, talk about a cold-blooded individual. And I mean that just like, I've never seen somebody so calm and so nonchalant when hitting balls as far as he did in that home run derby. And what an environment it was, right? You're in

Philadelphia, you're at the bank. You had Phillies fans booing everyone. They booed guys when they took pitches. They booed the kids on the field when they missed balls. They booed everybody. It got to the point you had guys. They boot us. You got guys like Wilson Contreras, contraris, just thriving in the moment as a villain. He was eating it up, loving every minute of it. It was making him stronger and grow more powerful. But meanwhile, Jordan Walker had like a force field around him, a bubble that was impenetrable that these booze could not get through. He looked like he had the finest of pure edibles before he went into that home run therapy, if I'm being completely honest with you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jordan Walker looked just relaxed. He looked like faded Ken Griffey Jr. up there and hidden bombs. It was awesome with the backwards hat. And I mean, this is a guy that as they talked about in the postgame interview that we briefly saw, that he slept with his glove since he was three years old, right? Like baseball is in this guy's blood.

And we've heard about him quite a bit just as a young prospect, a guy that really wasn't really putting it together but had a lot of power, had a lot of talk about him. And this has been a tremendous season for him already. The Cardinals are just an unexpected surprise. But this, delivering the first home run derby title in Cardinals history is amazing. Pretty surprising. And defeating Kyle Schwabber there in the final round to do it was something spectacular.

Spectacular, especially when Schwaber went up there and put up an amazing performance, hitting 11 bombs out of his 15 pitches. And then you had Jordan Walker going up there and hitting 12 and silencing the Phillies crowd. But when I say silencing, he silenced them before he was even done hitting home runs. these people ran out of energy before they hit the finish line and I don't even think it was energy I think they saw the riding on the wall they saw this stoic man at the plate Damon

mashing ball after ball after ball and they just saw the loss coming and it was inevitable and there was nothing they could do to stop it so they just stopped booing and watched him beat their guy and that's exactly what happened and that's a safe space Derek Please go. I had a Kyle Schorber bet last night that I placed.

I know you did. You're nearly as excited as I was about this win. No, and you know what? And I wanted to be because, you know how much I hate the Phillies? You know how much I hate their fans? And you know how much? I actually, these days, as much as Jordan Walker used to be my enemy, because Corbyn Carroll needed his rookie of the year award,

he has since become one of my organizational staples in my fantasy baseball line. So I very much am a Jordan Walker fan these days, but man, that hurt last night. I'll tell you the one thing that I do walk away from it thinking, though, and it's what we've already talked about. Philly's fans are such frauds. And that Philadelphia sports fans in general. I mean, oh, we're these big, tough guys, you leave us, we hate you forever. And yeah, we're scumbags because we're from Philly.

and that's just who we are. Except for when Jordan Walker is about to hit five home runs in a row to win the home run derby. But if he misses on a single swing, then it's over and your guy wins. That's when you cower. That's when you tuck your tail between your legs. That's when you actually lose all of that tough guy mentality that we have in Philly and only in Philly, except for then when the moment gets toughest. because Derek, when I needed Phillies fans most, they let me down.

It was like it was a church proceeding. It was like mass was ongoing. That tail got sucked between their legs real fast. You could hear a pin drop in that place for the final four home runs that Jordan Walker hit. I mean, Derek, they needed to get in his head for one of them. They did for contraris. But when the actual trophy is on the line, you guys are going to. piss your pants and cower and fear.

This is one hot take that you and I couldn't agree more on, Damon. It's just embarrassing. It's not just embarrassing. This is a town that prides themselves on the fact that they booed Santa Claus. So what? I booed Santa Claus several times when I didn't get the stuff on my list. You think you're the only one that booed Santa Claus and that's your whole identity? we get it you can be a jerk okay why not be a jerk when it matters when damon's bet is on the line

when your guy is literally up with a lead in the finals of the home run derby and all you have to do is make a 24 year old kid that's never been in this big of a spotlight shook with your booze and your harassment that you're so good at that you pride you pride you're yourself on that you're such a wonderful city about and you go quiet it was hilarious to me me and my wife were at our home in phoenix arizona laughing at each and every one of you and i want to i want you to know that that was a point in my household of hilarity how quiet that stadium got when your annoying booze were there all night you were booing people on the intros you were booing the kids missing fly balls. You were booing everybody. Everybody. You're booing guys for taking

pitches, but you don't boo the guy in the final round when he is about to take the crown literally out of Kyle Schwerber's hand and put it on his own head and say in front of every one of you, I am your king now. And you just let it happen? It's really unspeakable. Like I truly I think less of us planting the flag in that building now because I'm like, that town's not as tough as I thought they were. I mean, and now I'm never allowed to go back to Philadelphia as long as we live. It's, it's our ballpark at the end of the day.

So we can say whatever the hell we want about it. It's Chasefield East. Correct. It's the bank. And we own the bank. We own the bank. And so, you know, I don't get it twisted. We're allowed to say whatever we want about the things that happen in our own ballpark, Derek. So don't feel bad.

about it. It's, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's just all this tough guy talk, you know, oh, yeah, we, we, we stand on it here. You don't want to be against us. Can I give you another thing, too? They have a conspiracy theory because they went back and they were rewatching it and they're claiming that because the non-pink balls were thrown to Jordan Walker for his final bat, which was what they were saying all the guys were having problems with. No one could hit that final pitch. And the reason why that's important is because if you hit that final swing for a home run,

you get to continue swinging. Kyle Schwarber did it, as did Jordan Walker, right? But they were saying that all night long guys were missing it because they weren't able to pick up the pink ball. In fact, I don't think Schwabber hit it now that I think about it.

No, he did hit his one and then he missed the second one. He hit the top of the wall. Right. And, uh, meanwhile, Jordan Walker hit the top of the center field wall and it bounced over. It's just so funny to me that like, again,

I, do we really give a shit? Like I'm, the guy still hit the home runs. I don't care if there's a conspiracy theory there. He still hit the home runs. He still hit a baseball. He's 24 years old and Kyle Schorber has multiple home run derby victories.

Like if we're going to do like a whole like, well, it's, you know, like if you're going to make excuses, make excuses for the young kid versus the guy who's been there. before and done that. Yeah.

I get like, Yoshi's like, that's on Damon for taking Schwarber, but like it's his home stadium. He's, he's won a couple. Like, he's the best one run hitter in the game.

If you're betting, that's the guy to bet on. I felt like a pretty good bet. I wouldn't have seen Jordan Walker coming from a mile away, to be honest. Junior Camerro was a guy that I thought. Jordan Walker needed how many swings in a row at the end to win that. I mean, it was incredible home runner derby.

It really was an all-time home run derby. It was. The new format is pretty good. I like that. I like the new format. It makes every swing feel like it really could be the end of the guy that you're rooting for. Here's what I have a problem with is the rest of the Netflix broadcast. And I say that because it's slowed down, right?

And because of it being slowed down, the nature of it being slowed down means that you have more time to do the things that you should be doing for this type of event. No stat cast data. They're not like showing us launch angle and exit V. and all of those other lovely, delicious little stats that we like to dig into, they're not even giving us good camera angles of the home runs. And this isn't like past home run derbies where there was a timer and guys were hitting them so fast that they couldn't keep up with it. I know Apple TV would have given us the stat.

Oh, and it would have been a beautiful 4K shot and they wouldn't have cut the interview mid interview. And that's still something that I have a big problem with. This was a 24 year old kid. much hate, I think. His dad was, his dad was there. His dad was miced up all night long. They were going to talk to his dad. Like, they didn't even get a chance to do that. I hated the way this ended. Because again, I've said it time and time again, baseball does a terrible job at taking their stars, their new stars and making them into superstars. And that's what happened with Jordan Walker when he won the home run derby, yet you didn't give him his moment. Plus the sound was bad, Damon, and the shots were bad. And, all of it was bad. I'm so disappointed in Netflix because they are just, they are so worried about getting Will Ferrell to come down and make semi-racist comments about, you know, Miracami, rather than ensuring that the broadcast is tight and that they have all of the things that baseball fans

specifically love. We're a rare breed. Even me with all of my hijinks, I'm still a nerd that loves numbers and stats, and that's the reason why I love this game. So give me them and don't do this. especially when you had the time and ability to have all of that stuff as part of the broadcast. That's it. I didn't, I didn't see the Will Ferrell comment. Oh, yeah. He basically, oh, you would have hated it. He would have hated it.

He basically said like, you know what we could have instead? Show Hey, Otani here about Miracami. It wasn't good. As much as I like my guy, Will Ferrell. He also made some sort of a hand-eye coordination joke that I was a Dodgers fan. Oh, he's a bad guy. But that's, yeah, that doesn't. make me that doesn't make me very happy

Morikami is that was obviously me and you were both pulling for Marikami our boy that was our guy the plumber the plumber the plumber but we do have a king stink even though nobody in the National League really deserves it and we're not giving it to the American League so we're giving it to the EGod himself Erod slash EGod one inning pitch zero hit zero earn runs perfection as as God is I mean look at him glowing like they see i'm not scared of the afterlife anymore after looking into the eyes of that man

i'm ready to go damon anytime are you ready to go are you ready to go turns into a like a prayer hallelujah well we're going to take a quick break and on the other side of this break we have actual diamondbacks news to talk about and that is things are getting easier and that's good for this team that needs all the help that they can get. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamond Beck Show. Well, you got to do your research if you are ever involved in an accident or serious injury because the lawyer you hire does matter.

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land. My favorite IPA Tower Station IPA now in an all-in-one THC device. No pouring, no waiting, just a good tasting high whenever you want it. So go find yourself some Pure Edibles products from one of over 150 dispensaries across Arizona, now including True Leave. And Damon, we got some fun stuff that we got coming up. We got a takeover against the Cubs coming up. We have our D-Backs live. Like they just got done doing their wildcats live. We have our D-Backs live out at Heal River Resorts and Casinos.

So we're going to be having a blast. And we're also going to be having a blast watching the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second half. of this season because according to data from fan graphs, as well as our guy over at TJ Stats on Twitter, the Diamondbacks do in fact have one of the easiest remaining schedules in Major League Baseball. According to this report, their remaining strength of schedule is third easiest behind the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians.

The San Diego Padres also have a very easy schedule the rest of the way. They are right behind the Diamondbacks with the fourth easiest schedule. Meanwhile, on the flip side, the teams with the hardest strengths of schedule are some teams that we very much need to have a hard strength of schedule ahead of them. Some of these teams are very much in the wild card hunt in front of the Diamondbacks. We have here at the top we got the Brewers, the New York Mets, the Angels, the Phillies, and the Marlins with the top five hardest schedules remaining. Then after that we have the Cubs, we have the Pirates, we have the Reds, we have the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays all finishing up the top 10 hardest schedules remaining. And that's a good thing because both the Marlins, the pirates, and the Cubs and the Phillies, both all four of those teams, are above them currently in the wild card standings for the National League. And the Diamondbacks have had a really difficult schedule up to this point, and it feels like they don't really get relief.

So looking ahead at their schedule, you can see some pockets. Now, I still have my concerns, Damon. And the reason why I have my concerns is because I do feel like when we say the Diamondback should beat teams, they don't. And I don't really feel like that's, I mean, I know it's not all the time, but I do think that that's a fair thing to say, right? Like, yeah, there are times where. Except I don't know if it's this, I don't know if it is this year because this year,

they've gotten a lot of flak from people because they can only beat the Giants and the Rockies. which is they've handled business against two garbage teams that they've played a lot of games against. So I do think that in the past, especially recent years, this team has played up and down in the competition, as Sean says here in the chat. Like I think that's 100% that that has been the vibe of the team. But maybe this year is a little bit different. You know, granted, they just showed up for a really big series against the Dodgers and played up to their competition right before the break. Very true.

But yeah, I mean, it does feel like, you know, you have to take advantage of this schedule being easier than a lot of your counterparts that you're going to be fighting for these wild card spots with because, yeah, that's pretty much the entire crop of teams that you're in the wildcard competition with, minus the Padres who are right there with you with one of the easier schedules. Well, and what's funny is, is the Diamondbacks on the Padres, I feel like, are both adding to each other's easy schedule that they play each other. Because they still have seven games against each other. Well, they're both 500. That's what I mean. It's not as if, like, you're really helping or hurting your strength of schedule all that much in either direction with those teams. And that's, like, kind of the case. Like, they have six games against the Rockies.

Now, the Rockies have played really well at times. And the Rockies have had their kind of ups and downs. They're not like a complete dumpster. It just depends on when you catch them, right? And that's kind of the case with a lot of teams that are on their schedule, especially for the remainder of July, which is the most important stretch of that schedule, as we've talked about going forward, right? You have three games after the break against the Cardinals

and then that weird one-off game that we have to make up, which I still think should just be a double-headed made up at Chase Field because screw you, St. Louis, you had the chance to move the game up and you chose not to. Should be a win for the Diamondback. Yeah, it just should be an auto win. You got three against the athletics, right? At home, that feels like a very winnable series,

but the athletics are a good team and they score more importantly they score a lot of runs like yeah that's that's what i'm worried about is the diamond back's offense dragging against some of these teams that yeah they've lost because they're pitching sucks but is their pitching going to suck as bad against the diamond backs whose offenses you know really struggled during stretches this year right i agree with that i think that's the that is the formula for if you're a team that is maybe worse record wise on paper going into a deback series you know if you have bad pitch but good hitting and your lineup pretty much can get a few runs up against almost anybody, but your pitching staff typically is what is holding you back.

I could totally see a world where the Diamondbacks lineup just goes quiet and gives you two runs against the A's for, you know, three games of that series and you're sitting there going, this is a team that gives up like six, seven runs a night almost. Yeah, and that's why I'm concerned also about the nationals that they have a three game series. Yeah. And the pirates as well. Nationals are a bad like matchup for this team. They are.

They are. As much as like I, and, you know, maybe I should have saved this for the segment. But like, I think that the Dodger, the Diamondbacks are uniquely built to like go toe to toe to with the Dodgers. Yeah. Like I don't. That's what, that's, that's who they focus on beating. So the formula lines up well.

The pitching lines up well against their hitting. It gives us a chance to win. But the nationals are like that for us. In my opinion, based off of playing them, it was like, oh, I don't. I don't want to see these guys ever again. I know they're going to put five runs on the board every single night. So it's going to be whether or not the dying backs can match that. And sometimes it really, really like, you just know they can't.

You watch one innings worth of baseball and you're like, oh, we're not, we're not going to do the scoring thing tonight, are we? Right, right. Or you watch the first inning and they look like they're going to break through and explode and they don't. And you're like, it's going to happen next inning and then it never comes. But then they close out the month with the guardians. Then after that, August, it starts off with four games against the Padres at home, which it feels like the Diamondbacks and Padres are just destined to split every series for the remainder of the year.

Man, we got seven games, though. Someone's got to win this thing here. That's what I'm saying. We got seven games. Someone has to win it. Then we got three more with the Dodgers after that. Then we got three with the Rockies, three with the Braves, three with the Red Sox. Three with the Reds.

Like, their schedule does not, like, it's almost like the National League West being in here so much is a big reason why the Diamond's. Diamondback strength of schedule is where it's at. And this, it doesn't take into account win percentage. It's not a cheap, you know, build like that. This is this information in regards to what it's built on is this is data from fan graphs and they use a projection model for how the season is going to go for the remainder of these teams to determine the strength of schedule. So, again, that does tell you that they do feel like the Diamondbacks have a good chance to win.

you know, their games are at the very least that things are going to get easier for this team. But they got to come out of the gate hot when this All-Star break ends. And that starts on Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Where are the Cardinals on this list? The Cardinals on this list are 22. 22. So they have themselves a fairly easy strength of schedule as well. However, one thing you could say about the Cardinals is they're still outperforming their expectations.

So maybe they come back down to Earth and are that team that. we were expecting them more to be this year than they currently are. But wins against the Cardinals, again, are very important. And that's the reason why this series after the break is crucial, right? Hopefully we have Michael Soroka on the mound for the debacks in that series. And he returns because that would make me feel a lot better about everything. But speaking of the schedule ahead, you have to join me and Damon and all of our fellow diehards. our guy Ryan Hanley, I know for effect, is going to be out there.

Phoenix diehards, all of our friends. We're going to be out there at Chase Field for a debacks takeover presented by Circle K on Tuesday, August 25th versus the Chicago Cubs. Do not let Damon tell me this is another one of my favorite teams because that's another blatant lie, even though I might. Have been the reason that we picked this game. I don't know. Maybe I'll be out at the All-Star game next year because it's at Wrigley Field.

I just really want to go drink beers with Greg Braggs. That's really what it's about. Honestly, I wish I could go against you there because drinking beers with Braggs is pretty sick. It's one of the, at Murphy's. It's one of the greatest experience. I've never done it in Chicago, but I've done it at a couple Super Bowls. We're going to go next year.

You and me and this camera and our computers, we're going to go to Chicago. And Greg Braggs, damn it. We don't need insurance to go there like we did Mexico City. But I will say this. We're going to have a fun time. We're going to be sitting in the All You Can Eat section, and your ticket includes, once again, of P.HNX debacks, merch of your choice, a choice of shirt or hat, a game ticket in the bar as All You Can Eat section, and you diehards still get 20% off of this package. So go get your tickets

now at go phnx.com slash events. And again, that is on August 25th. We will have that link in our show notes as well. But we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. We have more to do because it is hot take Tuesday. And if you know anything about Damon and I, you know we're capable of dropping all of the hot take. So we're going to fire some off for you right after this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PH&X Hot Take show. Well, financial success begins with the right institution and the right account,

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and we still don't know anything about this. This was something that came up on social media today. There's been no talk of this. There's been no story or article written by the knowledgeable Steve Gilbert or Nick Bacoro. But according to Geraldo Perdomo's biggest, fan on line? No, it's a Geraldo Pardomo Stan. Stan, excuse me.

Bebeck's girl. She clicked on Perdomo's live and saw Perdomo with his wrist wrapped. Now, Derek is so delusional about this that he looked at it and started saying it's got to be someone else's hand, right? I'm not saying that based on the way that it looks. It looks like it's O's own hand on his head. but I was just literally like what's got to be Ronald Acuna right?

I see that says look it says Cone Ronald Acuna look it's Ronald Acuna no I'm not I'm just messing with you Derek it's because I it's like funny that you were like no it can't be Perldo Pardomo heard it must be no something else well first of all it doesn't make any sense there's been no talk of Perdomo experiencing an injury in any way shape or form and literally this one account

and this one picture is the only source of any information on this at all whatsoever. We can't even watch the live on TikTok any longer because they don't want you do that. Yeah. But again, it's gotten feedbacks Twitter up in arms. Don't go. Did you say up in arms?

Yeah. You said up in arms about that picture? What is wrong with you? I didn't say up in wrist. Oh my God. Get out. Get out. Well, no, I don't.

I need you here because it's hot take Tuesday. And of course, my hot take is, is that. I don't believe anything until I get some sort of reporter update officially. But maybe it's something small. Yeah, that's kind of the way I interpret it. Maybe it's like a procedure that he's just been waiting to have a few days off from to get done. Yeah, I tweeted it's not looking good because I'm just,

in a way I wanted people to see it, but also like, you're just the biggest doom and gloom gun. I'm playing into it. I exaggerate. It's what I do. I'm sorry, guys. My older brother had a heart attack and they fixed him in 45 minutes without even putting him under. And this this this this. Sob was complaining about wanting to go home later that

afternoon. Medical procedures can be done quickly and it can yeah fairly you know. It's possible there's something in there that they just felt they needed to clean up and that it will be like pretty much situated by the time that baseball is ready to be played again. It's possible that you know it's some sort of like sprain or bone bruise micro fracture that you know they're just having him wrapped for now while there's no baseball being played like I wouldn't necessarily look at it. I wouldn't necessarily look into it as perdomo's missing you know a bunch of time what are we going to do at shortstop for the next month guys it's like i don't i don't view it necessarily like that until we get more information shan's bringing up that little collision in the outfield that him and corbin almost had that they

might have made some contact might might be dealing with something um but yeah overall don't love to see that but yeah it's not great it's mostly just you know like i i like i said i i just thought it was funny, your reaction, natural reaction to me, Derek, was to be like, no. No. No, it's not true. That's not true. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's photo, that's AI. I still don't believe it. That, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the

downsides of AI, right? Show me the video. I don't believe anything anymore, David. I'm supposed to believe anything. Half of the pictures on my Instagram are AI. How could you believe anything? I don't. I refuse to. All of those stories on Facebook you read, you know, about Adam Sandler opening a dog clinic to save dogs. It's fake. Adam Sandler didn't do that at all.

It's all a lie. It's crazy. But that's just one hot take. And today is hot take Tuesday. So David and I are going to let some hot takes fly. Damon, do you want to go ahead and take the floor first? Or would you like me to kick things off? Oh, are we going to kind of, you know,

basketball pass this back and forth? Yeah, I was thinking some bounce passes back and forth. Three men, weave. A little catch. We're going to do a little. little catch. I saw you and To Tree were discussing how to divvy up money for the

tailgate college football tailgate you guys were putting together. I think you picked a catch. Did you pick have a catch or did Tootree think have a catch for three bucks? Yeah, you and your sprinter van and having a catch with chicken wings. At an OSU game, that sounds electric. With an Ohio State Oregon game

with chicken wings. Yeah, I'm down. I'm with you. I'm in your van. That's I mean that's, but that's why we rock together. like this. We don't always agree though. No. No, we don't. Do we? Well, when you have two fellas that go on on far sides of the spectrum like Damon and Derek, it's hard to get the boys to agree on everything. Yeah, we both might be on the spectrum though. But when it comes to the D-backs, one thing we completely disagree with, they don't need a starting pitcher at the trade deadline, Damon, and you're an idiot for thinking so. You're a big fat dummy, and I want to know where the

hell you think you're going to get all of these resources to trade for both Yordaun Alvarez and Terek Scoubel, you delusional fool! Well, you know what, Derek? Maybe just maybe I don't actually think we're going to get Yordaun Alvarez. Oh, really? Yeah. That's insane. So maybe I'm looking at it a little bit more realistically right now and saying,

And, huh, let's get a mid-tier first basement slash DH in a middle of the rotation starter who helps bring this team to the next level. Listen, I'll call- Bank accounts empty. Do you want me to get Jack Summers on this podcast right now? He is in Reed Detmer's FC. Oh, I know he is. And he'll go toe to toe with you for me. You and him are leading the flag to Reed Deadler's FC. And guess what?

And guess what? And it's 4.8 ERA. Screw you. It's like a 4.5 ERA. I'll have you know. And second, I don't even need to do the dirty work on this one. I will call Jack and he will join this show and he will argue with you right now if we call. No, I know that.

There's no doubt about it. But I will tell you right now that no matter what you want, there is no money in the bank. There's no cookies in the jar. There is nothing to trade. We have nothing. We have daddy Walmart. I don't know how many times are going to say that the money is unlimited at this point, dear. Where are we getting these?

Are you getting rid of Brian Wulchman? Are you getting rid of Lou James Gruver? Are you getting rid of some new little favorite prospects? I might get rid of Lou James. I called them not untouchable on yesterday. That is a mailbag, yeah. That is a hot take. Listen, Derek.

The way I'm looking at the rotation, okay, we got Soroka, we got E-Rod, we got Corbyn hopefully coming back, but we want to be in playoff contention by the time Corbyn Burns comes back. That is a first world problem when Corbyn Burns comes. back and we have to kick somebody from the rotation. We have Merrill Kelly, okay? And I want to add a fifth guy. I don't want to rely upon Mitch Bratt as much as I think that, you know, maybe he has

some potential, you know, I'd prefer to maybe slow cook development a little bit more. So this team needs another starter. I don't know where you could be talking about where they don't. You think Zach Gallin's coming back and no, I don't think Zach Gallin's coming back. I think Corbyn Burns is coming back. Brandon Fotz looks good. We got to hold the line. Fine, Damien.

Brandon Fotz looked good. I guess my trade thing would come down to, okay, so are you comfortable with somebody like Mitch Bratt being in the rotation until Corvin Burns comes back? Are we even in the playoffs at that point? Or do you believe that this Brandon fought resurgence is real? That one. That's the one. See, that's a hot take.

That's a hot take. I believe a big game, Brandon. I want nothing more than for Brandon Fought to be that guy. I want him to just be him. It would be incredible. I have a real hot take for you. Okay. Give me.

People that start the wave should be removed from the stadium in the same capacity that people that interfere with the game are removed from the stadium. I want that man found and I want him arrested and I want him trespassed. He's trespassing by doing the wave and starting the wave. someone's going to blow out their shoulder in the stadium thanks to him he's not thinking his actions through and he's not taking accountability for those injuries when they happen damon something must be done i we need like a picture of them outside or like at the security desk yes where if this person walks in we don't we don't let them inside the ballpark right because he tried to start the wave last time that he was here and had to be restrained and, you know, put inside of...

It was a three, two game in the eighth inning. Yeah. And they brought Juan Murillo in. And he decided to start the wave. Like... And he's wearing a Dodgers jersey and it's D back to Marlins. Felony. Threatening.

Yeah. What do you got? I'm with you. Um, I mean, this is along the lines of kind of the theme of what we've been talking about. We already kind of gave the people what they wanted from this perspective. But Philly's fans might be the best. biggest frauds. Frauds. Of all time. And it's not even just the Philadelphia Phillies. I mean like Philly fans in general. Sure. Such fake tough guys. Uh, they're coming to my stadium.

Eagles. Eagles fans screaming at the 49ers fans when they came into the NFC championship game at the link a couple years ago. Like just acting like zoo animals, Derek. And, and, and yet like when the, when the going gets tough, when the chips, where are these guys? When my, when Mike, uh, Dreckman is inside of your stadium holding holding up his D-Bax jersey like this showing you no fear. And a sea full of Philly's red. And he walks out of that ballpark looking as clean and dapper as he ever has. Not a hair touched on his.

Frauds. Frauds. Now, I'm not condoning a soul, but I'm just saying these guys don't stand on business. They're not these big tough guys. Oh, don't come mess with Philly as much as they think that they are. Yeah. And I'm just kind of sick of the whole like, AJ Brown messed with us.

And so we hate him. And also we're going to boo the D-Backs players in the All-Star game because we care so much. All right, man. You guys are chokers and you are the favorites to win every World Series every year and you stink. And it is what it is. I'm not condoning violence,

but at least I saw the entire city of New York beat up a man for wearing a Spurs jersey in their town. That's the kind of energy that I thought Philly's family. That's what I'm saying. And then guess what? Like I hate Knicks fans. Hate them. But I hate them for a lot of the same reasons.

I hate Philly fans. But Knicks fans, when there's cameras involved, they'll do anything. That's the thing about Knicks fans is that they just want to be famous and go viral. You know, so they'll beat up a guy if there's someone filming them. Yeah. Whereas, like, Philly's fans, like, if there's a phone out, I'm sure they'd be less likely to do it because they don't actually want any of the repercussions to come with that. The Dback swing is actually one of the best victory songs in all of baseball. I mean, is that a hot take or is that?

No, it's just a fact. It's the only opinion. I'm pretty sure that anyone could possibly have. I don't know how you can't. I know I hear it a lot. I know there's times where I am, I'm kind of like the owner in Major League when Wild Thing comes out. And she's like, she says that line about the songs I'm not going to repeat right now. That's me a little bit.

sometimes when I hear Dback swing just because I hear it so much. But then it dawns on me. It's a good song. Roger Klein and the peacemakers were in their bag when they made it. And we should all respect it. We should. We should torture people with the military should with that song. Yes.

Like play it 24-7 and you'd get every answer you could possibly imagine. It's just, it's just been played for 17 hours. Going, going, going, gone. It's a fact. And you're sitting there and you're like, ah, feel free to use that in Guantanamo. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You got any more?

Yeah, I got a couple more, Derek. This one is also Phillies-related. Rob Manfred stood on business when he went nose-to-nose with Bryce Harper in the Philly's locker room. Because this league needs a salary cat. We don't need bullies like Bryce Harper who are clearly so money-greedy, Derek that they signed $330 million contracts and then also need a cameo

on the side to take more people's money because apparently the multi-hundred million deal that you have direct depositing by annual or biweekly is not enough for you. And so you're like, yeah, I'll make some more money.

Bryce Harper, you don't need more money. He did it while he was driving on the goddamn freeway. That's my bigger problem. Someone's going to pay you that much money and you can't even be bothered to stop in front of a solid colored wall and shoot it and give it your full attention. Because my bigger problem is with the greed of it. Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean, you have all the money.

So why do you need to do camp, like charge that much for cameos or you should be doing stuff like that out of the kindness. I mean, obviously not with fan duel, but you should be doing the kind stuff like that out of the kindness of your own heart to like for kids and like people that like are, you know, big giant Phillies fan lifelong Phillies fans and stuff. not charging people for money for it, Bryce Harper, you don't need any freaking more money, dude. Piece of Yoshi's asking, is it confirmed that MLB pay is biweekly? Maybe he needed it between paychecks, you know what I mean? I guarantee it's biweekly, but all that to say,

all that to say, like, Bryce Harper is, he's in it for the top of the top 1% major league baseball players who sign mega contracts and get these big giant deals and the deferrals don't really hurt. them as much because it just gets invested and you know what I mean like it's so it's I just feel like him being one of the faces of the MLBPA is such a joke I've always felt that way like the MLBPA should be represented by as much as he wasn't the guy off the field the Tony Clarks of the

world are perfect because that's just like a long term MLB veteran who you know is like I feel like represents like an average player almost now again off the field that's a different discussion. I was like Tony Clark. I said off the field and a different discussion. Of all people. Ironically, I do think

that that's the type of player I want as somewhat of the figurehead. But when Bryce Harper is going nose to nose with the commissioner who's trying to save the sport, I like that Rob Manfred was like, no one will ever respect me again

if I cower and walk away out of this locker room. You know the only way that these players will actually ever view me as an authority figure? Because if he did that, they'd be like, what a beta male,

Rob Manfred. We can all walk all over him. Instead, he's like, no, Bryce, I'm not going to leave. No, I don't think I am going to leave the locker room. And he's getting all like chest to chest with Bryce Harper. I think it's awesome. I do too. And I think that it's good for baseball.

It's kind of insane that Bryce Harper did that in the first place. Going back to your original point. It's so disrespectful to it. Like the guy who runs the sport, as much as we all don't like Rob Manfred, like, Bryce Harper thought he could big dog him. And Rob Manfred was like, now I'll tell you something, buddy. You don't kick me and my 5-6 height and 145-pound body out of this, out of this locker room. I walk out with my own two legs. And it's just, it's great.

It kicks his heelies out to give himself a few extra inches, gets those little wheels out, and then wheels his way out of the clubhouse. Now, Derek, I have two more. Oh, God. Did you bring any more to the table? I mean, I can always facilitate another one, but no, I did not bring more to the table. Well, okay. Mine also was Philly's fans or frauds for not booing Jordan.

Walker in his final home runs of the derby. Yeah. That more than anything. Like, I know you said all the things you said. I was just more like, I found it hysterical that they had more energy for a small child not catching a fly ball than they did to try to actually, actually disrupt Jordan Walker at the plate. You know what I mean?

Like the fact that they truly didn't go into their bag and try to make that the loudest, most uncomfortable moment in that entire stadium. It's like if it truly was the ninth inning of a baseball game with the championship online and you guys just went quiet. That's crazy to me because it's one of those rare moments where it truly was a home field advantage for Kyle Schwabber. No, very few All-Star games are like that because very few fan bases are going to stick to the gimmick that hard during All-Star weekend.

And a lot of them are going to go and enjoy the festivities, smile, laugh, have a good time, enjoy seeing players that they don't normally see, enjoy all of the things that's just basically, you know, highlighting how much fun baseball is and you want to hijack it and make it all about your guys

and your city and your team. That's great. Why did you disappear in the biggest moment of this entire, you know, all-star weekend? You literally disappeared in the biggest moment. So you've never seen people fold. under the bright lights than that in your entire life.

I boo you. Boo. Boo. Yeah. Go ahead, Damon. Folding in the in the, in the biggest moment there.

All right. Derek, these ones are going to be a little bit controversial here. I brought two to the table. One to fire up everybody in and you. And this one, because we already talked about it and you already actually brought it up on the show.

But it is a hot take of all hot takes. Bring back. the home field advantage in the All-Star game. No, no, no, no, no. The answer is no. Did you not hear me say earlier that the American League has won 12 of the last 13 of these things?

Time for us to stop being losers. I'm tired of losing these freaking games. I mean, pretend like they mean something. Something needs to be done to motivate the goddamn National League. They're obviously not. Not taking it seriously. Yeah, that's kind of my point. We're treating this thing like a freaking all,

like exhibition game every year. What if it meant something? What if all of a sudden, Otani wanted all home field advantage and he's showing up and he's actually trying instead of making the clown show of the entire event? Take it back. I will back right now. Take it back.

It was one of the dumbest goddamn ideas they ever had baseball. I want to pay you with a bad way now. I want to beat you. When I. Give you a last one. When I, when I, uh, when this first got eradicated in the first place. Okay. Shut up, Siri.

When I, when I, when that got eradicated in the first place, Derek, I was happy with the rule change. Of course, because it was just preposterous. What is this? What are we doing? This is so ridiculous. Especially 162 game season. Uh-huh. Having, you know, that win loss record mean nothing when it comes down to the biggest.

moment of the entire season. And now as a guy who covers the sport who does a post game show for the NL&A All-Star game, I'm sitting there going, I wish that Jordan Walker collided into Shea Langleyers at home plate tonight and ended his career a la Pete Rose in the 1981 All-Star Game or whatever that was. Like I want to see some passion. I want to see some people acting like that this is game seven of the World Series. Sorry. I think it's fun. Why not? Let's go kill some people out there. All right. You got one more. Yeah, my last one is the worst one. Also going to upset me. Yeah, it's the worst one. Okay. The D-backs parking situation is not that bad. And everyone makes it out to be way, way worse than it is. What do you mean? Well, everyone's like, oh, I can't get to a game.

it's like $47 to go park downtown. Yeah, yes. Oh, the garage is like, inescapable. And it's like, welcome to being a major league baseball fan and showing up to a place that has a 48,000 person capacity, guys. This is the world that we live in. And you know what? If you don't want to pay 50, 40 bucks for parking, go park in the neighborhood where you can go find a spot for free. And you could walk 0.8 miles to the stadium.

or go find a different spot downtown with a paid meter where it won't be more than 15 bucks. Yeah, 10 bucks. There's so many options if you're creative and you are willing to park in places that aren't right by the stadium. Try, try. You can grab a lift. Yes. You can do the street car. You can go park down at the near the airport and the street car will take you over for free downtown.

Yeah. There are so many options to use instead of a $50. parking lot across the street from the stadium and you have so many people online all the time Derek who are always like it's just so like not a convenient for me to go to a debacks game and it's like honestly it really couldn't be more convenient you when it when comparing to the rest of major league and the other 29 teams in this league I agree I agree you just got to be smart about it and put some like actual care and in knowledge and you know like ask a around and see what the best spot for these again like as lando says parking is free if you know

where to do it yeah figure out where to do it and stop complaining about it all the time we need more people with butts in seats we need less dodgers fans taking over chase field regular season game in boston cost you $90 to park near the stadium 90 90 well do you think dodgers fans are complaining about our parking when they're taking over chase field for the not even the slightest bit because have you seen the way that their stupid-ass parking structure is over there by Dodger Stadium in the Hollywood Bowl where they have like the everybody parks on a line and you have to wait for the cars around you to essentially move for you to be able to get out it's most ridiculous shit I've ever seen so no I mean you're you're 100% right but I'm still going to complain about the parking I'm going to complain

about getting out of that garage I'm going to complain about the fact that it takes me 20 minutes to drive a distance that normally takes me five now after the game you're not going to get a That's the thing that where I'm not going to argue against it. Don't expect a speed run out of the garage when you're leaving it right directly after a game is over. It's going to take a second. There's a lot of people in the garage. And when you're with a crazy person like Derek Montia, it doesn't matter if you have people in front of you because he's going to drive on the sidewalk. He's going to drive on top of human beings.

Stop putting my personal business out of the streets. past cops over around road closed signs back into an area that's restricted back onto a legal street God damn right I am he's gonna do whatever it takes

I'm a professional whatever it takes I do whatever it takes this is a guy that knows his ins and outs you know your ins and outs of downtown though and that's kind of what

the people that are complaining about the parking prices and you know not being able to save money on games they don't beat the train they can beat the train you got to know the ins and outs

like Derek does that's true you really do That's true. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we still have a little bit more to talk about, and that is we're going to spy on our exes because, you know, what would first half of the season be without lamenting about how good some of our former players are? So we'll do that on the other side of this break.

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Copyright 2026, Anizer Bush. Mickelop Ultra Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. And I am going to crack open something superior as soon as we're done with this show, Damon. But the Window Depot also here to help you get started on projects. I am bad about getting started on my projects. You have to know yourself and admit that you are also bad at getting started on your project. So go to the Window Depot. They'll help you get started on your projects today.

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because as you know, we have some of our favorite guys. They've moved on. They're elsewhere. There's nothing we can do about it now except keep an eye on them and see if they are actually going to be as good as they're starting to become because Jake McCarthy is having a historic season. And I want to defend Jake just because I do say, I do think Damon and I far too often say the Coors Field effect about Jake McCarthy. Jake McCarthy is hitting 301 this season. George Merchant. Jake McCarthy has a 347 on base percentage and a 516 slug for an 863 OPS. He has 10 home runs and two of those home runs are lead off inside the park home run, something that has not been done at a very long time.

That's pretty cool. On June 21st against Paul Skeens, he had a lead off in the park home run. And it was his first inside the park homer of his professional career at any level. And then just the other day, on July 12th against the Giants, he opened the game with another inside the park home run at Oracle Park. The ball ricocheted out there in triples alley and McCarthy's speed allowed him to circle the bases. He said he saw his third base coach waving a bit and couldn't believe it. The play was initially ruled a triple with like a throwing error,

but then eventually it was changed to a home run. He's the first player since Ed Rush did it in 1929 to hit to, lead off inside the park home runs in the same season. Who could forget, Ed, with two D's rush. In 29. In 29. What a year, 29, 1929. The roaring 20s, Derek.

The roaring 20s. There was a lot of habitashries. I don't know what was going on in the roaring 20s. I feel like you're going to say something about me living in that time. I'm just going on. I'm pretty sure you know what was going on at that time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There it is. Fifty-three RPI for Jake, 15 stolen bases. And again, it sucks to see him not do it here.

Deep down inside, though, I think we all know he wasn't going to do it here. So it's just great to see him flourish elsewhere. And again, another guy that we're going to look at and probably regret not keeping as part of this organization. Unfortunately, we have a couple of more guys like that. One of those guys is Blaze Alexander. Well, can I say real quick on in regards to Jake? Please. In fairness to him, his splits have gotten a lot better recently. They have. He is now hitting at home 317, 351, 592 for a 943 OPS.

And on the road, he's hitting 285, 342, 438 with a 780 OPS. So it is. Still be the second best hitter or best hitter on our team. So 943 to 780 is obviously a pretty steep drop off. It's mostly due to his slug going from 592 to 438. at home versus on the road. That's the Coors effect for sure. But he's still hitting 285 with a 3.42 on base percentage in his road games in a 780 OPS.

As you said, Derek, would be number two on this team right now. So shout out to Jake. He's proved a lot of us wrong, myself included. Blaze Alexander, meanwhile, suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left hand after he was hit by 95 mile per hour from Kansas City's Lucas Eckridge. I think that's how you say his name, Erich. All I know is he's a dead man. He is a dead man. Coming after our boy.

Caused the benches to clear, Damon. So the Orioles felt the exact same way you did. You hit Blaze. You're going to have to deal with all of us. Did you see Blaze's reaction? Yeah. He was ready to kill a guy. He was ready to murder someone.

He did say afterwards that it was unintentional, but who cares? Your hands broken and it's hard to not get mad about that. But again, overall here, He's having a great, great season. Great season he's having. There's about five hitters in baseball, Derek, that we traded away for packages or, you know, not necessarily like headliners of deals that you're looking at and you're going.

Yeah, you know, he'd probably start for this team right now with the way things are currently constantly. He is leading the Orioles with a 312 batting average, a 368 on base percentage, 439 slug. He could he could genuinely win a batting title. in the American League. Like, he's not that far off of that, that category. I mean, it's just crazy. It's crazy. And not only that, but you know how Blazes.

You know how he is infectious. He's just that kind of guy. And then Vinny Pasquantino went on to say about the brawl between the Orioles and the Royals. He said, we had some up and in pitches the other day. To be honest, that's a guy who's hitting over 300 and is feeling good about himself, that feels the need when he gets hit that he can say something. So credit to him for feeling good about himself like that. But he's clearly not.

It's a one-two count. We're trying to get outs. We're not trying to give away free base renters. I think that's a bad baseball mindset personally because why would we hit a guy right there? It's just common sense. Basically that it was intentional. And Blaze quote tweeted that quote and said on Twitter, weird take, never thought it was intentional. But the two quick pitches to try to catch me off guard led to me now.

missing games. Thanks for the compliments though, Bigfoot. Because he's the pasquatch. I know. That's funny. Well, and again, he's like, that's a guy who's hitting over 300 and is feeling good about himself. Like, that's such a weird thing to say about a guy that got hit in the hand. Well, it's also a weird thing to say when you're hitting 222 with a 653 OPS as a first baseman that, you know, was considered to be like a 40 run home run a year type of guy. I don't. And here's, here's my thought on it, Derek. Vinnie Pasquantino is not feeling good about himself. So he feels the need to comment on things that have nothing to do with him because it had to do with Luke Urseg and Blaze Alexander,

not Vinny Pasquentino, but he feels the need to comment on it solely because he feels bad about himself because he has a 650 OPS as a first basement. Fair? Yeah, fair. Fair. Don't come after Blaze, buddy. I mean, we will murder you. That's how it is around here, especially the snake, because he came to really enjoy his company and their time together. But another guy that I think... He said he treated him better than we treated him. It was weird. Yeah, like he let him out of the cage and let him run around the clubhouse and stuff.

I'm kind of jealous because I don't get to be in there during non-media hours. So I can only imagine what he's seen. But Alec Thomas starting to put it together for the Oklahoma City Comets. He's hitting 286 with an 870 OPS. He had himself a pretty nice game. not too long ago on June 19th. And it felt like ever since that game, he's kind of really put it together.

He went four for five with a double a home run, two RBI, two runs scored. And he's just showing signs of improvement. Again, it sucks. It couldn't happen here. It sucks that we couldn't see. Alec hitting an Apo Taco home run, like since one, since one, right?

So just... I mean, he put up stats in Reno, though, Derek. That's why I'm kind of doing the whole... like, uh, exactly. And again, it remains to be seen. He might just be a quadruple A player. He might be. And with him being a part of that particular organization, it's hard to see him getting playing time at a major league level outside of an injury happening anytime soon.

I do think he would be a viable candidate for them to have him fill in considering he does have major league playing time and can, and is great defensively in the outfield. Right. But I don't want to see it, Damon. I don't ever want to see it. No, that would suck. ever want to see Alec Thomas reach the major league level with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. I never want to see him in that jersey.

I never want to see him playing against us. It's going to make me puke. Yeah. And I... You should have been a Debex legend. And he doesn't... If he worked out on the Dodgers, that would be... That would hurt about as bad as it possibly could.

I think that like Jake, for example, like, I would feel worse about Jake if he played for the Giants or the Padres. For sure. Him being on the Rockies is mostly harmless. It makes it where I'm like... That's cute. Jake. Good job, buddy.

Keep it up, buddy. We're rooting for you over here. Exactly. But if it was the Dodgers, I would like, I wouldn't be on this podcast anymore. I wouldn't be with us on this plane of existence. And then if it was the Giants or Padres, yeah, I would probably, you know, pee me off a little bit. So, you know, I do think that the team that you go to does matter. Alec Thomas, I would be rooting for him if he went to almost every single other team in baseball.

You know, BC, most of the time, I ignore your hijinks, but he said Alex's going to hit a walk-off home run in the playoff of the Dodgers. And I just want you to know, I hate you right now. I hate you. And we called you out. We were wondering where you were when we slept your precious Dodgers because you were nowhere to be found. I put you on a milk cart in BC. Where is this man with the brown avatar with nothing on it? Missing. Last scene.

Where is this man? And it's just a square with brown. Less seen after our loss to the Padres a few days earlier. Derek, there's one more spying on my exes guy that we must talk about. Who? Dominic Canzon. No. Have you seen these stats?

No. Derek, have you seen these stats? I have not seen these stats. Dominic Kinzon for the Seattle Mariners in 2026 is hitting 264, 335 on base. percentage of 529 slugging percentage for an 863 OPS with 15 bombs and 40 RBI at the All-Star break. Dominic Canzon is on pace for a 30 home run. Didn't we trade 80 RBI season?

For Paul Seawalt, though. Was he part of the Paul Seawall trade? I think he might have been a part of the Seawall trade. Yeah. with Ryan Bliss All right I just want to move on now I see this is my fault

for doing the spying on our exes thing like I was just like oh ha ha we'll have some fun and now you've hurt my feelings and now I'm done with this whole podcast so let's wrap it was

Kinzone Bliss and Rojas for Paul Seewald and I remember at the time we were like pretty cheap pretty cheap trade if I do say so myself

idiots yeah like we have like dumb dumb idiots smart baseball guy like Jesse Friedman on the podcast being like, you know, honestly, relatively given, you know, what you've seen from Dominic Canzon and how the way he struggled, this is a pretty good trade.

And now looking back on it, you're like, wow, wouldn't it be nice to have a left-handed hitting power outfielder slash DH who could have an 860 OPS in the heart of this order? At least we're not the San Diego Padres watching all of our all-stars play for the nationals in the all-star game today. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Okay. All right. Or the Mets.

Or the Mets. Like Juan Soto, too. You traded all those guys for Wonsoto. Yeah. Let's leave it there. Then you don't have any of them. All right. Well, we thank you guys for joining us. We'll be back tomorrow with the 12 p.m. show.

What are we going to talk about? I have no idea. Actually, we are going to talk about the Diamondbacks and how they can fix their problem at first base along with so much more. So make sure to join us then. We'll have another 12 p.m. show on Thursday. And then we are back to baseball. ball with a Diamondbacks postgame show on Friday following the St. Louis

Cardinals versus the D-backs here at Chasefield. Make sure you come back for all of that. Make sure you're subscribe to this channel, subscribe to our audio feed, hit that like button, and most importantly, follow us on social media. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG, but we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX,

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I'll have you been up for two hours at that point. Yeah, get in here. Join us. We're a good time. Hope you all have a wonderful night and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're on Netflix and you're doing an interview. and the interview actually gets completed and you don't get cut off mid-interview.