PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: D-backs Suffer EMBARRASSING Loss to Brewers in Road Trip Opener

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks got humiliated in their road trip opener, getting blown out by the Milwaukee Brewers in a brutal start to the series. We break down Merrill Kelly’s ongoing command issues and why Torey Lovullo left Andrew Hoffmann out there during a rough 6th inning. Despite the lopsided loss, Ildemaro Vargas continued to be the lone bright spot, extending his MLB-best hitting streak to 24 games and earning NL Player of the Week honors.Plus, we open things up to talk about anything other than this game. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube WHILE SUNS ARE IN PLAYOFFS Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $32: https://gophnx.com/suns-playoff-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 Diamondbacks absolutely get embarrassed by the brewers and look like they are the ones that have been spending too much time around beer as they lose this opener to their road trip by a score of 13 to 2. We're going to talk about it some, but we're also just going to open up the floor to other discussion topics so that we don't have to talk about this game. We're doing that right now. Don't you go anywhere? Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondback show presented by our friends at Circle K right here. in Studio K. And yes, my voice sounds the way it does because it is appropriate for a loss like this. This was a humiliating loss that the Arizona Diamondback suffered tonight to the Milwaukee Brewers by a score of 13 to 2. And we have more on what exactly happened, why it happened,

and our lone bright spot, which is Elamar Vargas, as he tends to be. But welcome in to all of you. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor, PHMX. I got my dog and your dog on the back there on the ones and twos. It's Damon Dogg, aka Damon Farrell. A little sickly bark to you back there. One of those little shame marks to you back there, Damon. I'm just going to let the music play.

Yeah, no, I know. We should just let this music play for the entire 60 minutes. Like, you know, when a wrestler takes too long and their theme song has to, like, loop back around, that's what I want. I want this song to just keep looping because the Diamondbacks again suffered an embarrassing loss tonight. to the Milwaukee Brewers by a score of 13 to 2,

and they drop to 15 and 13 on the season. They are flirting with the idea here of finishing the month of April and March after having put together such a wonderful stretch throughout the month. They are flirting with potentially being 500 by the end of the month, which would be, I guess, I don't know, okay,

from based on our original... Let it play all the way out, Damon. That'd be okay based on what we thought was going to happen to start the year, but not okay based on how we've seen this team play throughout this month and a half or a month and a week, if you want to call it that. Such a banger, though. It is a banger. I mean, it has no business going that hard with it being the lost music,

but it does get you in like a really sad mood. Oh, I'm absolutely in a sad mood. I didn't need to be any sadder than I already was after watching this game. You genuinely look devastated, which is funny because watching this game, I was the one that was actually truly devastated. you're trying to keep the vibes high going into a show. And I feel like things have kind of flipped here. Yeah.

Well, I mean, here's the thing. We got Thunderbolt in the chat for the first time in 47 years. Great to see him there. You know when Thunderbolt has been unearthed and brought out to join the show that things have gone bad. When it's Thunderbolt in the chat and James McCann pitching in the ninth, disaster has struck for this team. Wait, who's the third of this unholy trinity? Oh, it's got it's, it's, it has to be he who shall not be named. No, well, of course it's killer X.

I know that, but I'm saying it's Thunderbolt, it's killer X and who's number three, according to Mays devil. It could be, it could be Albert. It could be Albert. Oh, it definitely could be Albert. You might get an Albert appearance tonight. We'll see. I mean, he usually pops in to say debacks are shit after a game like this. That's very true.

That's very true. And let me tell you, there's lots of things to be upset about tonight. Merrill Kelly started the night. with just two strike he was just two strikeouts away from tying kirk shilling for sixth most in franchise history he got one strikeout and he had himself a terrible performance tonight nolan aronado had a five game hitting streak entering tonight's game that's over and we also had uh who else alec thomas had a hitting street entering tonight's game that's over too but regardless of how bad this team plays this show is still brought to you by our friends at

Bet365 and GameTime. Make sure to go download that Bet365 app where winning is everything. Download the app today and use our code of PHNX 365. And make sure you check out GameTime. Download that GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase terms you apply. Jose Fernandez had also hit safely in nine straight games that ended as well. Just all sorts of bad things happening here. The one bright spot, like I said, is that Ildamaro Vargas extended his hitting streak in this loss with a single.

They're late. And he still is doing the thing with the MLB best 24-game hitting street going on right now. We will get to all of that. But before we get to that, we have to suffer through what happened with the pitching tonight, Damon. We can't get to the good before we deal with the bad. And that was kind of everything that happened here with pitching. Merrill Kelly struggled again. in this start. And again, the Diamondbacks got humiliated by the Brewers giving up 12 runs over

three middle innings by Merrill Kelly and reliever Andrew Hoffman. And that pretty much sealed the Diamondbacks fate in this one. It was also a night where they were only able to generate two runs. And you had Catele Marte once again going 0 for three. You had Corbyn Carroll going 0 for three with two strikeouts. Lordus Guerriel going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. And even Jose Fernandez was 0 for 3 with a walk tonight. So there's, you know, there was a lot of, there were a lot of bad things happening in this game, but Merrill Kelly still has not looked like himself. None worse than Merrill. Yeah. Lots of bad things and none worse than Merrill. Well, and Merrill, I'll tell you, like the first inning, he got out of it, but right away, it was what we've already experienced

with entirely too many of our starting pitchers. I don't even understand how this is a thing, right like i don't understand how this pitching staff was so good until it wasn't and now collectively once again as a whole they are bad uh i i don't have an explanation for it merrill kelly obviously is still coming back from that injury still still trying to get himself dialed in early on that's looked like exactly what happened he walked the first two batters to start the first inning uh but in between those two batters our guy james mccann gun down garrarer Mitchell trying to steal steal second base there.

So that helped keep runs off the board in the first inning. He then gave up a single to Bryce Kerrang with two outs and then he intentionally walked Jake Bowers to load the bases. When you see him intentionally walking a guy there early to load the bases,

it's just, it just seemed like it was begging to be a disaster. He somehow does get out of the inning without a run scoring, but he really just could not locate his change up. That was the, Pretty much the tail of this game.

And he kept throwing it. And he kept throwing it. And he kept missing. And he just could not locate the zone. In the second inning, he gave up a leadoff home run to Sal Freelick, who apparently is going to be the guy this series that the Diamondbacks give up 15 hits two and gets on base every single time. There has to be one.

There has to be one in this time at Sal Freelick. He made it a 1-0 game at the time. And, I mean, Merrill just has not been throwing strikes, especially with his change-up. I think we have his pitch chart here, but Merrill, Merrill threw everything. And when I say that,

I mean, he threw his change up 32% of the outing, his four seam 25%, his cutter 13%, his sinker 13%, he threw the curb ball, 11% and the slider 7% of the outing. He threw everything.

But as you can see here, those green dots that I think maybe three of them hit the zone or touch the zone those are his change up that's what he threw 32% of his outing he just struggled to find you know to find the zone with his change up and he just refused to back away from it it is his best pitch so it's understandable that he was just trying to get a feel for it and he was trying to do something but he struggled and then again it was more the same he had another walk in the fourth inning and that walk eventually scored on a

Joey Ortiz, RBI single. And that was it tonight. Tonight was a frustrating night because the Milwaukee Brewers put up 15 hits against the Diamondbacks and two of them. Or three, excuse me,

three of them were extra base hits. Terang, Hamilton, and then Freelix home run. That's it. The Terang and the Hamilton, Hamilton had that ground rule, double RBI later, that double. But, I mean, the Brewers tonight literally just singled the Diamondbacks to death.

It was just one after another. And Merrill Kelly again. Some Bunts mixed in. Bunts mixed in at Bunts singles, where they got on base. You know, and so Merrill, you know, Merle gives up, again, the RBI single,

two RBI single to Joey Ortiz there. That makes it three to nothing, Milwaukee. And then in the fifth, he also gave up more singles. He gave up a Wilson Contreras single. and then Bryce Durang doubled Contreras to third, Tyler Black, RBI single,

and that made it put five runs on the board at the time with Contreras and Terang both scoring there. And that would be essentially at the end of the fifth inning, the end of Merrill Kelly's day. He did not give them very much length. He only was able to go five innings. And you could argue he probably had no business being left in that inning there in the fifth to give up those two runs.

I mean, he comes in, he gets Mitchell to ground out, but then he gives up to single to Contreras, and then the double to Bryce Terrang. That should have probably been the end of Merrill Kelly's day right there. He was already at like 92, 93 pitches. Overall, he went, he ended up throwing 104 pitches, 58 for strikes. Merrill continues to struggle to find the strike zone. And in this one, he was probably left in entirely too long.

He did get out of the rest of the inning. But at that point, the game was already five to two. Now we have to talk about what happened in the sixth inning because it was more of the same. And I don't know if bringing someone in necessarily would have helped, considering when the Diamondbacks turned to Andrew Hoffman, it became an absolute nightmare. Nightmare outing for Andrew Hoffman.

I hope the one thing that Hoffman, aka Superbad, takes away from tonight's outing, is that no outing in MLB baseball for him will, probably be as bad as tonight's. And no matter how badding, no matter how bad and out it gets, you're not going to die from it, apparently, because if so, this would have been that case. He came into the sixth inning, but Damon, it might have been the six, six, six, six inning for him, because it was hell. Did that, don't, don't, uh, dude, this is why you're in that seat and I'm in this seat there. Gave up four singles in a row to start the inning, including a

Bunt single. I don't know if one of them was considered a single. I think one was a throwing error or an error of some kind. I don't know. They changed it. But it was just a bunch of singles. Four singles makes it six to two. William Contreras comes up again. Two RBI single then makes it an eight to two game. And this is this is the bullshit that I'm talking about. And we're just cursing now on shows where we have losses like this. Yeah. I don't care. I kind of, I don't know. I feel like that's kind of been a demon call. So you can go ahead and blame me for that. Yeah, and you've already, I think you already crossed a line at one point in this episode.

And I'm encouraging on wild guts too. And I might say bullshit a lot in this episode. But William Contreras, two RBI single was a 73.8 mile per hour exit velo, with a negative four degree launch angle. Bang, the entire thing that got exact kind of hit that breaks open a game. Am I right? Lousy defense, guys not making plays. Jose Fernandez looked bad at shortstop.

I don't know what else to say, but this inning was terrible, terrible for Andrew Hoffman. Bryce Terang then walked to load the bases again. I don't even know why we're reliving this. Why am I doing this? It's like I'm a masochist. Tyler Black, RBI single to make it 9 to 2.

Jake Bauer, two RBI single to make it 11 to 2. Hoffman then got Lockridge to pop up. Yay, for the only out he would record in the inning. And then Sal Freelick would reach on catcher's interference to once again load the bases, and then David Hamilton would hit that two RBI ground rule double that I was talking about earlier to make it 13 to 2. They just let Andrew Hoffman sit in this game and take it.

Just take it and not, they just abandoned Andrew Hoffman out there. It was wild. It was wild, right? Am I wrong, Damon? I mean, I guess from the point that you make it an 8 to 10, two game, you as a manager have to start considering waving the white flag, right? Like, even though you know what this team can do and you've seen this team come back,

you have to essentially at that point say, well, screw it. Nothing at this point is probably going to be worth putting multiple relievers into this game when it's just going to be a blowout anyway at 8 to 2, 9 to 2, 10 to 2, whatever the case may be. However... You say all that and James McCann is waiting in the wings ready to shut shit down. I told you if he turns to the four seem more instead of the slider, he's going to have success. What did I say? Look at the job James McCann did out of the defendant. A little bit more Eiffis tonight.

I don't love to see it. I don't understand any of the managerial moves when it came to what was going on tonight. I don't understand letting Merrill Kelly, who was obviously struggling in this game, go up to 104 pitches. I don't understand leaving Andrew Hoffman in there. It felt like at times like, yes, when all is said and does, the Diamondbacks were only able to produce two runs. So all the stuff I'm talking about doing is all still in a loss theoretically because Merrill Kelly already gives up, you know, at least four runs before you pull them out of this game.

Maybe three runs. Maybe it's just three to two when he exits this game. Can't expect the bullpen to not at least allow one run with the way the Brewers were hitting tonight. And the Diamondback still failed to add to their total at all throughout this one. So perhaps everything I'm talking about now or going to talk about is a moot point. But I think there was a point to pull Merrill Kelly out of this game to keep this game closer. I don't care about how many of your bullpen arms are being put in there.

Like you have to actively as a manager manage the game. This isn't the end of a, you know, 10-game road trip. This is, yes, after a weird weekend series in Mexico City, but also a two-game weekend series where you had off days on Friday and Monday. I feel like throwing the kitchen sink here at this particular game could have been the move as a manager, something a good manager would have done, or at least a far more proactive manager than Tori. Tori always seems like he's managing for the long run, which is fine, except for the fact that in the long run you've already missed the playoffs by a few games that could have gotten you there,

had you focused a little bit more on the here and now during the season rather than constantly worrying about the long run. And like, again, with Merrill, Merrill approaching, you know, is staying in there after he's already 90 pitches when he struggled. What were you expecting out of him? Magic. You were expecting him to magically get out of that jam and not give up any runs. He had proven already that he really, you know, didn't have it tonight.

It definitely didn't have his change up. But then you leave Andrew Hoffman out there who comes in. again, let me relive this nightmare of an inning again for you guys just to make a point. Four singles in a row, Damon. Four singles. I know one of them was a bullshit butt single that allowed them to reach, but still, good on the brewers for using their speed and good on them for using small ball to put up 13 runs tonight with only three extra base hits. They wore our ass out, but they specifically showed that Andrew Hoffman, I know, that was probably

a bad term phrase, right? But you get what I'm saying. They wore our pitching. staff out. That was probably more appropriate to say. But, you know, the idea here that Andrew Hoffman should just stay in there when he wasn't able to register an out after four straight singles just felt egregious and just felt like at that point, you'd already been like, okay, well, it's six to two. Let's just give this one away. You know, it is a little bit of waving the white flag. Here's what I'll say about it. And I maybe defer from you a little bit in

like the level of which that, you know, like maybe that you care about this compared to me, which I know people in the chat fired up to hear you calling out Tori, Derek. They love it. They love it. I'm not going to love it on Sunday when I'm not invited anymore to dinner, but. Well, that's, and here's where I come. Sometimes that's the. Here's where I come in because I'm not missing out on Mrs. LeVolo's lasagna on Sundays. Oh, it's so good. I think that Merrill should have been taken out a lot sooner. It was, as you said, it was very obvious. that he didn't have it tonight from the get-go. Sure.

And when things started unraveling, it's like, dude, he doesn't have it. Yeah. Take him out before it gets too much. How is he throwing 104 pitches when he looks like that? Right. It's not like he was out there shoving. And he's throwing 104 pitches and he looks like that. I mean, that's pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

I don't really care about Andrew Hoffman. I know you're waving the weight flag probably a little bit too early. Here's what I will say. I think we reserve judgment. until the end of this series. If the, if, if,

if, if, if, if, if, if, coming back to, to help the diamond backs,

then I think it was, you could argue the right move. Yeah. But it's a little too early for me to say whether or not that was the right or the wrong move. I think it's, like I said, I, I'll reserve judgment on that one,

but Merrill should have been pulled a lot earlier. Meanwhile, let's talk about, James McCann's clean inning. Should we one inning pitch, no hits, no runs, no walks, no nothing? Future closer, perhaps.

He has what it takes to come in the ninth. He proved that tonight. Also, Ryan Thompson came in and got the job done there to at least get Hoffman out of that inning that he couldn't get another out on. And then Taylor Clark, one hit in his one inning of work. But James McCann does lower his ERA on the season to 15. And like you said, we- Watch out baseball. He's now pitched often enough that he actually has accumulated more innings than I believe.

Joe Ross did. So he is officially part of the bullpen now. And that's what I was saying. I was like, I don't even know if it's fair to take James McCann out of our bullpen at this point because he appears in one out of every nine games that we play. Yeah. Jason wants to know how we had a catcher pitch three times. It's not, man. He's not good. He's not good. I guess it goes to show that you've gotten blown out a few times so far this season. It's why the run differential looks like

the way that it does. And again, to be. fair, that's even kind of like, I say what you will about Tori, I did, but you know, at least throwing someone out there like James McCann in a blowout, get you through the inning without using another one of your arms that, you know, hopefully will be saved for another game in this series and the Diamondbacks still have a chance to continue this trend of not losing series other than two so far this year. But we are going to talk about the offense or lack thereof. We're going to talk more about big body James McCann, aka sexy man James McCann, aka the McAnimal, on the other side of this break, along with our hero, Ildamaro Vargas.

Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the P.HNX Diamondback Show. Well, the husband and wife law team obviously are here if you are ever in a serious accident or suffer a serious injury, but you have to do your research if that ever occurs. The lawyer you hire does matter. Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. They are huge sports fans and they know their stuff. when it comes to ball, but they definitely know their stuff when it comes to presenting in a courtroom

in favor of one of their clients, right? They know what needs to be done to prevail in front of a jury. They also know what needs to be done when it comes to hiring certified specialists in serious injury and accident. Their team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience with multiple certified specialists and personal injury and wrongful death. In Arizona, the state bar is certified less than 1% of all lawyers, a specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation, making them experts in the field. And they actually do go to trial for their clients. They know, once again, what needs to be done to prevail in front of a jury. Of course, nobody can guarantee the outcome of a legal case. However, they can make promises to you as their client, including that you can

cancel your fee agreement with them at any time for any reason, that you will receive as much in your pocket as they receive for their fee, even if they have to reduce their attorney fee to do so. And you may speak with one of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you wish to discuss, including Ildamaro Vargas' historic hitting streak. If you've had a serious injury called the husband and wife law team first at 602, 783, 8841, or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them PHMex sent you. And everyone needs a checking account, so get yourself a checking account with built-in benefits. Mountain America Credit Union wants to give you exactly that with their MyStyle checking account,

which has perks just for you. restaurant deals, mobile phone protection, telehealth access, identity protection, and so much more. And a lot of those things are things that we don't typically think about or want to necessarily pay for. So, of course, Mountain America Credit Union helping you with all of that, including that identity protection. They also have discounts on loan rate, offers on travel and events, and so much more. So make my style for your lifestyle at Mountain America Credit Union.

Visit macu.com slash my style to apply today. Insured by NCUA, membership is required based on eligibility. Some benefits require no cost registration activation, terms, conditions, and exclusions to apply. All right. Well, we don't have a lot in life, but one thing we do have is I'll be Margar Vargas. Am I right? I mean, again, on a day like this, we might have just wrapped this show up early. And we are going to go ahead and open up the floor, like I said, to your discussion topic.

So please go ahead and leave in the live chat, any discussion topics you guys want us to move on. All favorite some of the best ones. Yeah, please do. And then that way we can not talk about this game any longer. But we are going to talk about Ildamaro Vargas a lot because this man deserves his flowers. Late in this game in the eighth inning, in his final at bat, he extended MLB best hitting streak to 24 games with a single that at least will forever live in my heart as giving us something positive to talk about when it comes to this game. Vargas's 20 game hitting streak in this season to start a season.

is tied for the fourth longest in MLB history, dating back to 1940, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He is tied with Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had a 21-game hit streak to start the 1978 season going from April 7th through May 2nd back then. Ahead of him right now, going back to 1940, is a Joe Torrey streak from 1971,

an Edgar Renteria streak of 23 games from 2006 and a Ron LaFleur streak from 1976. Vargy is making some history, brother. And again, on a day like this, at least we have Ildamaro Vargas. Is 21 game hit streak as a Diamondback or is 21 game hit streak for this season is tied for now.

The third longest single season streak in club history. And it's very confusing. It's 24 games total, dating back to last year. And I might just said 20, but it's 21 games now for this season. 21 games total for the 2026 season, which is the third longest season, single season streak now in franchise history. He ties Cattel Marte and David Batista's, or Danny Batista, Danny Batista's 21 game hitting streaks. and now ahead of him is a 24-game streak from Tony Womack and the fabled 30-game hit streak from Luis Gonzalez

from back in 1999. And again, that 21-game hit streak now tied with Steve Garvey for the fourth longest since 1940. Incredible, impressive, and it also earned him at National League Player of the Week honors, which we will talk about here shortly. but not really much else offensively in this game. The Diamondbacks only had three hits total,

and of course one of those was from Ildemar Vargas, one was from James McCann, and one was from Tim Tawa, hero of Sunday's game. That's it, man. And again, this one is probably just as much about the lack of offense than it is about, you know, the pitching. Pitching was terrible in this game. There's a lot of things that you could argue are wrong right now with this team.

And it sucks because this season started off with so much promise, so much hope. We started with the Diamondback starting rotation, having one of the best ERAs in all of Major League Baseball, top ERA national league. And, you know, now things are crashing down around us. Things are crashing down around us when it comes to the bullpen ERA. which has been definitely sunk by some poor performances like today's performance by Andrew Hoffman. But now it feels like these bad starts, especially these disastrous first innings,

are almost a daily occurrence when it comes to the starting pitching, something that, you know, again, that this team just had so much, again, hope. Like it gave us, you know, again, we knew the offense was going to wake up, which it still hasn't. This offense is still inconsistent. This offense is still,

underperforming. And when I say that, I'm speaking to you, Citell Marte and Corbyn Carroll. We need Geraldo Pridomo back, who is still day to day with that sprained ankle. And that was definitely, he was definitely missed there when, you know,

Jose Fernandez missed a play to extend that sixth inning and keep everything going there. But overall, I mean, again, it's just a lack of offensive effort around the board. Arnato was eventually pinch hit for by Tim Tawa,

who came in to play third. base. I don't know if anything happened with Aronado. I haven't seen anything, any updates in regards to that. No, I, Derek, I think they just said on the broadcast that it was just Tori taking out some of the players that, you know, he was like, whatever, the game's over. Yeah. Yeah, very much. So, I mean, he brought Armas Garcia into pitch hit for Carol. He brought James McCann in to pitch. Could tell Martin. That's fair. And let's be honest, James McCann today, one of the few guys that delivered for this team. Yes.

Well, of course, yeah. I mean, yes, he was one for three, but he had both of the Diamondbacks two RBIs today. And as much as you guys probably aren't going to like this because, yes, Ilamaro Vargas does deserve to be King Snake. We're just going to give it to James McCann because why not? I mean, why not? One for three, two RBI.

He did have two, he caught two runners stealing. So that kind of put him over the top. And we didn't have time to factor it into the. the graphic, but he also had an inning pitched. So I'm just saying as far as Ildemar Vargas, Vargas did not have an inning of relief pitching with no hits. So there's that. But this was, this was a stinker, man. This one sucks. And I see people in the chat are now talking about, is it Doom Patrol? Wait, we got Jason. He's got a good topic here. He says, replacing the Reno Aces with the Saad Poodles just because their vibes and energy is much more

entertaining. Does he mean at like a triple A to double A level? Correct. He means flip them. Look. I think that that that wouldn't be possible because the Pacific Coast League is designed for like regionality as is the Texas League that the sod Puddles play. So you're saying that the Hillsborough hops could potentially be in Pacific Coast League. Maybe. And they got a brand new ballpark park too. Okay, now we're talking. Now we're talking, right? Let's go hops. Hops. Hops have one of the best logo on baseball, one of the best names in baseball. Our friends in Reno are not going to be happy. I hate doing this to the Reno Aces, but this isn't personal. This is business. Just taking back to Tucson. Sometimes in life you get sent down. And it's, again, it's more about your

development. And I think the Reno Aces have a lot of development to do. So I would like to call up the Hillsborough Hops to the AAA level. Welcome. you're here now, you're on the board. Welcome to the show. I don't know. I will say that I do feel like the Reno Aces in general have, as I've said, one of the most boring everything about them. But I do like their new hat.

Their new hat is pretty good. Sean says Daredevil and Indyxville are the best times. You guys are a disaster, a joke, and should no longer exist. But hey, that new hat you got is all right. I didn't say they shouldn't exist. I think you were alluding to them not existing. But let's see. We got Sean says, Daredevil, Invincible are the best topics.

You're not wrong. Invincible, one of the best animated superhero cartoons of all time. It's incredible. Daredevil is amazing as a television show. It's bringing into the lore of the Netflix days. It's doing a lot of stuff. And it's just showing how good one of those comic book shows can be. Plus, Vincent Vinoffrio is just killing it as Kingpin.

But we also have ESPN 2323 saying, if the coyotes were still in Arizona, we'd have a playoff hockey. True. I'm going to hit the X button for doubt. Doubt, doubt. Come on, man. You know why?

You know why? Because that means Alex Murillo would still be owner of this franchise. That's fair. And I refuse. I refuse to believe that Alex Marillo would ever be the owner of a playoff worthy hockey team. It did look like the coyotes were building something and this team that Utah has is very young. But what I will say that they have is that they have a consistent home and they feel probably very appreciated, which it's hard to do when you're in Mollett Arena.

So, you know, if they didn't figure out a better like situation for this arena, probably not. But if they did and there was hype around it, I genuinely. think that you could be seeing them in the playoffs right now. Yeah. It's unfortunate. First of all. Welcome into the PHNX hockey show. Yeah, like, hold on.

And also, Killer X is talking about top cats for back in the day. A, maybe in an S-tier, Hannah-Barbara cartoon about two cats that flew a fighter jet, fought bad guys. Amazing. I do want to say this before we move on from the hockey talk. I am extremely happy for Bill Armstrong. He is the GM of the Utah Mammoth. He was the GM of the coyotes when they were here.

And he is an incredible human being. He has always been very, very supportive of us here at P.HNX, but more than anything, he's just been a great guy that's always tried to build a winner with that franchise, no matter where it is. So I'm happy to see him succeeding. And for that purpose alone, I will say, you know, good for them to make the playoffs. Derek can't help himself, chat. he just has to, he has to say, you know, have Tori's back, have Hazen's back.

If you're the GM, if you're the coach, that's Derek's guy. Look, I just, I like being invited over to their houses for nice, lovely dinners and chats. That's all. That's all. What else we got? Is Sean's asking about the Zordon era Power Rangers? Definitely better than any other era of Power Rangers. That's without a doubt.

though it's still semi-racist based on the colors of their uniforms and the characters. Candace says, thank you so much, Candice, she has super chat. She says, for Vargas and Vargas only are hitting king. Yes, he definitely deserves a super chat.

He deserves all of the flowers, all of the credit in the world. May's Devil has an electric topic, Damon. And it's funny because I read this. And there's times in life where I get kind of a question that I'm not prepared for sprung on me like this and I'm not ready necessarily to answer it and I am so ready to answer this one Mays asked least favorite deback of all time time for me to come on screen because I was born for this question Madison

bum gardener that's a fair one I think especially as a guy that was in the locker room and that oh my god with these people yes a hundred percent I think that that is maybe the that's like a almost like an inside baseball answer of like, you know, people obviously know D-Box fan is a big fan of Madison Bumgarner, but I think that maybe he was so inconsequential in the grand scheme of the organization that people are probably like, don't even really remember the Bumgarner years that well. Madison, Kyle Bumgarner. If you had to deal with him every day, just being a curmudgeon and being being a jerk in the locker room, I bet I would I would be like this guy, dude, in his 5-7 ERA and his bad attitude.

Yep. Who the hell do you think you are as the worst starting a pitcher in baseball, pal? And I think that was it. I think it was the idea of coming on to a team that you were new to and trying to scream and yell at Archie Bradley for having, you know, trying to have good vibes in the clubhouse after a loss and stuff like that. Some weird behavior. But yeah, you're right. It was this aura about him, this negative, awful aura that you could almost feel. the air thicken around him when you had to go talk to him as a journalist. But more than anything, it was just the fact that, like you said, imagine being so bad, but then actually also such an ass to everybody around you.

And literally just coming to this team so that you could go live out your secret identity as a goddamn rodeo whatever. Sonders. Mason Saunders, the infamous Mason Saunders, go out here. That's the only cool thing he did while he was in Arizona. That's the only competition he won here. That's the only championship he brought here. That's not even a joke.

That's the genuinely the coolest thing he did while he was out Arizona. Fun fact. Fun fact. That was actually a secret. Yeah. Fun fact. Mike Hazen really, no, Mike Hazen really didn't know that Madison Bumgardner was out here

competing in roping competitions. Oh yeah. That's why he did it as an alien. Yeah, he didn't want anybody to know, which is crazy in like the social media era that he thought he could really even get away with that. And it's shocking that he got away with it as long as he did, it seems like. And that there's not like video footage and stuff. If he did that five years later, it would, I mean, just no chance. It'd be live streamed on Instagram live.

See, I think there's a lot of players. And again, you're kind of right. This is personally impacted for me from being around the play. Yeah, what about as a fan? What about when you were before you covered the team, like when you were just a kid growing up in the valley and you're Derek's in middle school and the D-backs are a thing and then you're growing up. That's cute. I like that you were like Derek's in middle school and the D-backs are a thing. That's good.

I like that. No, keep that going. I thought you said that that's when that happened. Yeah, no, that's why. Yeah. Let's pretend that's how old I am. Sure. I was in elementary school when the D-backs came around.

All right. Anyway. But I'm saying like, like, even better because then you had more time. to take in, you know, some of the early years of the franchise. Anybody in particular that comes to mind? Well, I mean, honestly, the early, the very early years of the Diamondbacks were very frustrating to watch when we talk about the very first season because you fear a team's going to be bad when they're new considering just in general the, the idea that any kind

of new franchise takes a while to find their footing, find good players, add to the roster, and make themselves good. and that I eventually found out was totally the Diamondbacks front offices plan until they found out that nobody in Arizona gave a shit to watch a terrible baseball team just because the vibes were good and you could go out to the park and hang out with your friends and family. True story, that is legitimately what the first ownership group thought was going to bring fans to the ballpark. Not a winning product.

No, no, no. They were going to come here to just hang out and chill at a baseball park. So there's that. But, you know, no, those first year roster was very frustrating. And you just, there were a lot of guys that you thought were going to be a big star. I think Devin White was a guy. I remember being like kind of a big star for us.

But then, you know, nothing, nothing really came of it. You know, like, I don't really remember hating anybody from those early years, though. I think it was as time went on, especially considering how fast we found success. It was probably like in the 2004 season that I started to get sick of guys, right? Because again, before you knew it, the Diamondbacks were winning 100 games. They won 100 games in like 99. Yeah, that's why I was confused as to what you were saying at first because I was like,

well, I feel like expectations were low and then immediately they were really damn good. But here's the thing is that that was a completely different roster. pretty much in 1999 it was a year a new roster like no doubt kind of flipped everybody but it was also I feel like like you're you don't expect to be like like set in the world on fire and in year one of a franchise necessarily it's more about like we're feeling out the vibes a little bit you know what I mean and I think I think that unlikeability sometimes comes along with expectations of like well I thought this guy was going to be really good and then we gave him a big ass contract and then he stunk it up for us like that's, I think, where a lot of people find, you know, like their most, you know, least favorite players of all time.

You know, okay, here, I'll give you my first player I remember losing complete faith in and going from loving to hating, Matt Mantae, the Iceman. He was the closer for this team. He was just awesome. Everything about him. Talk about ORA. He was like Dre Jameson, where he was just this badass. And he was not as good as like everything about, I mean, his name was the Iceman, right? Right? Like you're like, this guy has to be incredible. And I think by the time, you know, his career ended, he was posting like a 12 ERA and wasn't even like in the like he wasn't even at like high leverage situations anymore. So I remember Matt Mantae being a guy that like just kind of slipped off and went for being a complete superstar, at least in my mind, even if his numbers didn't say that to being somebody I hate. Dude, when I was like mad at him.

I think I think I thought Jose Valverte was like. Oh, yeah. I think I thought he was, he was like Trevor Hoffman level, like where he's just like, he not only is he good, but he's one of the best closers in the history of baseball. Because they do the whole Papa Grande thing. It was so sick. There'd be fire on the scoreboard. I was in first grade and I'm like, oh my God, is this, is this aura or what that I'm witnessing right now?

So I understand what you're saying, like, sometimes when a closer has it and you're a kid and you don't really like no sports as much, you're like, Closers stick out. You're like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. You must be the greatest of all time. 100%. They have zero ifs ands are butts. They have the entrance. They have the nickname. They always have all that stuff, right? Yeah. And like, that's what makes you just like love them. And then they break your heart because they're also the guy that's put into the game in the most high leverage of situations. So you get to see them single handedly blow it. And you're like, but why, Jose Valverde? How could you do this to me? I am but a boy. and you're here crushing my dreams and my hopes and my and my sports fandom you know yeah yeah well

here the chat we're getting seen some some Miguel Castro's thrown out there uh we are getting yeah a lot of Miguel Castro's from different people Rex Mays devil Ernesto all Scotty Mac all San Castro um we got uh Russ Ortiz from ESPN that was a big time disappointment we got a Villa Mays Devil says it's a vela number one for him. Sean said at first he had Yasmani Tomas. Then he went with Richie Sexton. So kind of along the lines of what I was saying of like, I think expectations play a lot into that with Sean,

where it's like he picked two people that were expected to be very, very good for this franchise and both were complete and utter busts. Yeah. Shea Hillenbrand from Ernesto. Good one. Killer X's Seawald. Are we ready to let me take over the floor for a second? Please, Damon.

Again, I was, I was born for this question. Well, I mean, have you already? And I can't believe this name hasn't been put in the chat. Do you want to roll this into your apology for Ildemar Vargas too? What? Were you going to say that the El-Demar, oh, so you're saying a one shot? No, I want to talk about this with you and then I can apologize to El-Marro Vargas. I cannot believe no one said this name.

A.J. Pollock. You scumback. You scumbed. You turned your back on us? Yeah. You talked on our name. Wow. You talked on our fan base.

Yeah. You went to, you, I liked AJ Pollock, too. You chose to go to the one place that you knew would bother us. And you, and you did so. And then you, and then you did the, the bob in monsters versus aliens rub the jello in our face as you're walking away. Shoving it in our face. Another one. David Peralta.

Like, I know that a lot of that's going to bother some people. I was a big David Peralta guy, but how dare you, sir? How dare you, sir? Tell me that 2023 is going to feel like another home game when you are a franchise legend in Arizona. We love you. We give you standing O's despite you being on the Dodgers. And you're going to come and say, it's going to feel like a home game. Did it feel like a home game when you were getting ran off the damn field, David?

When we were hitting back to back to out to back home runs in an inning, three and one inning, started by Geraldo Perdomo, of course. How dare you, sir, come after the fan base that treated you like a legend. And you know what? I kind of hate to see the Diamondbacks treating him like a legend after the fact when he retires. And they're like, awesome, David. We'll always remember the freight train. I'll tell you what always remember.

that double down eight runs in the seventh inning against the debacks right before you're about to get swept off the field. Electric. Electric. The best double of his career, most meaningful moment that I will always remember of David Peralta. So I get two Dodgers scumbags on there that turn their back on us, Derek. And then, yeah, there was, Chase Peterson.

I thought this was in the context of starting to hate them while they were still on the team. Oh, I just, the least favorite deback of all time. That's just where my mind goes to. So you immediately, you lose all of your points that you've gained with me as a diamondback. When you start talking on our fan base, that's the thing that bothers me is it's like, okay, now, now you're, now you're part of the problem as well where you're promoting this, this shit. And it's just ridiculous to me. So I, I, listen, you know, I get what you're saying. If it's currently, if it's like a player that was on the debacks, it's Chase Peterson.

It's not even close. I hated watching that guy play baseball. He seemed like a nice guy, so I feel bad about it. But there's genuinely not. one thing that he did at an above average level. And I like, I can't, like, he was bad at every aspect of the sport. And I can't believe we had to witness that for two seasons. All right.

Well, we are going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, Damon's going to apologize to Elmaro Vargas. And we are going to talk really briefly about the numbers from this series before we don't talk about this game. We're from this game. No, we're not going to talk about this game anymore. But we are going to talk about Thunderbolt's question here. which is, is there a more injury prone team than the Diamondbacks?

And the answer is, no, no, there's not. And we'll get into that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, shout out to Casa Amigos, ready to go margs, because sometimes after a game like this, you need a drink fast, and you don't want to take the time to have to make it yourself. So, of course, you can grab the wonderful ready to go margs from Casamigos,

and enjoy them anytime, especially during the World Cup, Bring your friends, bring your fans, bring your frenemies, like me and Damon. And together, one Casamigos marg at a time, you can all enjoy yourself, your favorite sport. So no matter who you're supporting, say cheers with a Casa Amigos Margarita. Pair your World Cup watch party with a delicious new ready to go. Casa Amiga's marg, whether it's the spicy flavor or the original. They got the classic lime and spicy, both made with simple ingredients, blanco tequila, lime juice, and natural flavors, just 110 calories per serving with real juice.

So Casa Amigos, the drink of the World Cup, whether you're at your favorite spot or stocking up at home, make it a Casa Amigos. And we could all use some help managing our energy bills every single month here in the desert. It doesn't matter whether you're in this part of the town or you're up north. It's either very cold or very hot. And particularly as the temperatures start to heat up here in the valley, we could use all the help we can get. June, July, and August can tend to be very expensive. but APS has several ways that they can help us do exactly that and save us some money. APS customers can check the monthly plan comparison section on their energy bill every single month,

every single month to see which rate plan could have saved you money or to just confirm that you are on the best rate plan. Rate plan options can help you save money and they're all right there in the blue type on your latest energy bill. Plus with budget billing options, you can average out your bill throughout the year. That way you don't experience those high peaks during the summer. months and you can know exactly what to expect when that energy bill comes each and every month. Find all your options to manage your bill at APS.com slash let's talk. Well, Damon, let's take a look at the numbers from tonight's game and then let's flush it and let's not get nicked up and let's say all the Toryisms that we can get in here.

Diamondbacks lose this one, 13 to 2. They had no extra base hits to the brewers. Again, just three, just three of their incredible. and what was it, 15 hit day, were extra base hits. The other 12 were just single after single, after single, after single. They were pretty insane when you think about it. Eight for 15 with runners in scoring position.

Wow. Eight for 15. 533 batting average with runners in scoring position. I don't know what that's like. Diamondbacks were one for three. It's a decent average. No, it's not. Shut up.

Hard hit percentage. 33.3%. Can you check me on that real quick? Because every time that it's inverse like this, I start freaking myself out. And I'm like, how? How did the Diamondbacks have a higher harder hit percentage tonight? I mean, how?

Because, first of all, because baseball's stupid. There's that. And you're right. No, they did. The Diamondbacks had a 33.3.3% hard hit percentage. And the Brewers had a 25%, 25% of their balls. that of the 15 hits that they had were hard hit. Yeah, I guess that.

Not even the, not even the hits. Lots of singles. Hard hit percentage also counts for just balls in play that you hit. They did not. I mean, it's, it's ridiculous.

It's ridiculous when you look here. The 107 mile per hour double by Bryce Terang, the 106.5 single by Garrett Mitchell and the 106.1 mile per hour roundout by Jake Bowers. Sam Freelix, South Freelix home run was hard hit and his single was hard hit. And then just a bunch of, you know, single 84.8 miles per hour, single 82.2 miles per hour, single 81 miles per hour, single 87.7 miles per hour. 73.8 miles per hour. They had a Tyler Black single that was a 64.9 mile per hour exit below. it's just absurd.

David Hamilton's single was a 42.1 mile per hour exit Velo. Oh man, it was just ridiculous. It was just ridiculous. It was a sad night where everything was getting through and the Diamondbacks had no answer, not an answer defensively, not an answer offensively. Nothing. Expected batting average for the Brewers was 314

to the Diamondbacks 234. and the Diamondbacks were one for one and ABS challenges where the Brewers were one for two. There's also a couple Bunt singles in there, so that makes sense as well. Oh. That would bring your hard hit down. Makes sense when you think about it, actually.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if some of these guys know that they can challenge or not. I would like to see them get back to being a little bit more aggressive with their challenges overall. But this one was a stinker, and it sucks to see this team. play this way after again they had themselves a good finale there in that Mexico City series their offense woke up late and you kind of just kept your fingers crossed

that that was going to be the start of something instead tonight Chad Patrick former Diamondback and Damon's friend from Scottsdale yep and the the the the Jason Peterson package part of the Jace Peterson package that the Diamondbacks gave the brewers for Chase Peterson I gave the A's, right? Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. Five innings pitched, one hit, two earned runs, five walks, five Ks.

He lowers his ERA to 2.57 on the season. Yeah, it's pretty decent. It'd be great to have that guy in the organization right now. Except he probably wouldn't even be getting starts. But yeah, no, I agree with you. I wish he was here instead of J.S. Peterson, that's for sure. Or we could have traded him for something else, maybe, or traded maybe not re-signed Merrill Kelly as two minikins.

268 puts here in this super chat. Derek says, Montia, appreciate the DR t-shirt. P.S., did we make a mistake bringing Merrill Kelly back? $20, by the way. Really appreciate that. Let's go. Thank you so much. And I don't know if we did or not. That remains to be seen. I think that if Merrill Kelly can find a way to locate his change up again, and like this is, we talked about this. Command versus control, right? What's the difference when you have no command versus no control?

no control is not being able to hit the strike zone at all with your change. So Merrill Kelly has a command issue and a control issue right now, and he has a lot to still work on. Do I think that Merrill can get things back on track? Absolutely. I also saw some of your comments in the live chat about a mystery IL stint being on the way, which would not shock me either. I don't know if it would be a real mystery IL,

because sometimes what you find is the core of these problems that pitchers are having sometimes is an injury, is health related. And they're usually trying to keep quiet about it because, you know, you have that whole, are you injured or are you hurt kind of thought process? And if they can pitch through it, they think they can go out there and do it. Right now, Merrill does not look very effective, even though he still gave this team five innings tonight. So I don't know. but I want to give him a few more starts before I make the determination if he's washed or not and determine if that contract is terrible. I will say that I know that some people were against it,

but for the most part, the majority of fans were very much in favor of bringing back Merrill Kelly. So again, it sucks that it's going down this way, and we should all be thankful that other guys like Michael Soroka and even Eduardo Rodriguez have been a pleasant surprise so far, because without those guys doing the thing, then this team really would be lost. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it remains to be seen. I'm not feeling great with how he's started this season.

No, if I'm being able to. The way he finished last season, the way he started this season. Yeah. Pretty, pretty bad way to get things going here. And you were hoping that that was just because he got traded to the Rangers and, you know, all of that change and everything. And yet, so far it hasn't really looked very good. So it's starting to feel like maybe the wheels are coming off a little. bit. I don't want to go out ahead of myself and say that that's the case, but I definitely have

waning confidence in, you know, a franchise legend in Merrill Kelly, a guy who gave this organization a ton. And I think, you know, they appreciated that. And, you know, that's part of their belief in him is, is who he is as a person as well. And that's part of why he gets brought back. But it's, it's been a brutal start here. And maybe that's why Brandon Fott needs to keep stretched out. Who knows? Well, I will say this much in regards to... Apparently, it's my fault, according to Coolbro. It says, blame Damon because he smack talks ASU where Merrill Kelly went.

I don't think that one's right. That one's not... Just like I'll blame every bad Kevin Ginkle performance on every ASU fan on Twitter in unison. If we can just... We can stay there and shake on that, then sure. This seems nasty. It is nasty. I don't want to be that guy.

Because guess what? I don't really care about what they did at ASU anymore once they're a part of the Diamondbacks family. That's all. I'm about winning. I'll take a roster full of 26 Sun Devils if we're going to win the World Series. I mean, that sounds disgusting saying it would never happen. But I would. I'm all about winning.

Let's see. Scotty Mack was asking, is Kelly's V-Lo down? He maxed out today with his force seam at 94.3 miles per hour. He's been averaging on the season 91.6. And he averaged tonight 91.9. So yes, his velo is down overall on his average for the year. Tonight, at maxing out in 94.3 seems right. But again, he still average 91.9.

So he's still not throwing his fastball very hard. And if he's not locating it, then it's not really effective. And if he's not complimenting it with the changeup, then it's really not effective. And the change-up location was basura tonight. That's basically what it is. And, you know, again, shows how important the change-up is to Merrill Kelly Damon, where when he was not able to throw it in the strike zone,

and he still kept throwing it. Like, he refused to stop throwing it because he can't. Because without the change-up, it's not going to be a good night. So it just begs the question again of why is he still in the baseball game? Right. When you're getting that information back to you, like this information is available to an idiot like me on online while I'm watching here not in Milwaukee. There's no way that they don't also have the same data in the bullpen or in the in the

dugout in regards to his him missing his location. That's why it frustrates me that they left him in so long there in the fifth inning knowing that he was approaching 100 pitches. Did you magically expect him to start throwing strikes in his 91st, 92nd, 93rd pitch? Because that doesn't see. seem viable. That doesn't really seem like a smart thing to think. But anyway, we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to praise Ildomarovargas more, and Damon's going to apologize. Don't you guys go anywhere. You're watching the P.HNX Ilteamar Vargas podcast. Well, Pure Edibles was founded right here in Arizona, and I love them. I love them for that. I love them for their delicious flavors, and I love them for the amazing effects

that their candies provide. And they do have a wide variety of candies. They have a full flitch. full-fledged candy company, not just gummies, but they do have gummies with amazing effects like sleep effects. They also have uplifting effects and each of those effects are clearly listed on each tin along with the delicious flavor. And like I said, they have gummies, they have their version of Starbursts that they call kicks. They have chews, which are soft candies like carmels and hard candies. So whatever you are looking to partake in, pure edibles has a candy for you. And their gummies are designed to be ripped or bit in half, making them easily shareable or easy to dial in your exact dose. Plus they have their collaboration with Mother Road Brewing

Company coming together to form Noble Road and bring you the new Tower Station IPA all in one where it's Hoppy Hour all the time. And it's that same delicious beer, one of the greatest IPAs in all of Arizona, bringing you that same crisp citrus and piney hops in a smooth THC twist all in one 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 if you are looking to have some hats on your head that look as good as Damon and I look at most of the time, go over and check out Branded Vills.

They have some amazing hats for both ASU and U of A, no matter which side of that rivalry you're on as part of their campus collection. And they also have some hats honoring our Phoenix Suns who just exited the playoffs, but should still be commended for an amazing season considering what the expectation were over there. But if you are looking to have your brand stand apart from the crowd, look no further than branded bills. Their dedicated team can help you get your order started right now and create the exact custom apparel you need, whether it's snapbacks, trucker hats, fitted hats, beanies, teas, they have you covered with both performance and with style. So head on over to brandedbills.com and use our code of BBPHNX for 15% off your first order.

And look, speaking of good time, speaking of me and Damon and things like we like, we like watching baseball, but more than anything, we like watching baseball with you guys. And we want you to join us this year to watch a couple of baseball games. We have our D-BACs takeover events out at Chase Field. We got two of them for you. One is on Thursday, June 4th against the Dodgers. The other is on Tuesday, August 25th, against the Chicago Cubs. And your tickets include not only the chance to come talk ball with me and Damon in person,

but it also includes your entrance to the bar, all you can eat section. And it includes your choice of a PHNX debax merchandise item. It's a choice of a shirt or a hat. You diehard still get 20% off the total on this event. So head on over to get your tickets now at go phnx.com slash events.

I love that it's in the all you can eat section, mostly because it gives us the chance to freely mingle about hang out with you guys and talk instead of all of us kind of rigidly in seats in a section. So of course, hope you guys can make it out for that. And hopefully by then, we're still watching Ildemarovar Vargas on this hitting streak,

which has reached, like I said, 24 games with his single tonight. And it just adds to a wonderful week for Ildemarovar Vargas. He keeps the thing rolling. He earned his first National League player of the week award in his 10th MLB season. He hit safely in each of his five games this past week at a 364 clip with a 1.4.4. with a 1.409 OPS, a double, a triple, four home runs, and a major league baseball leading 12 RBI. He ranked, he was tied for second with six extra base hits. He was tied for third with total bases at 23.

He was tied for second with four home runs, tied for fourth in slugging percentage at 1045, 1045 slug, Damon, and he was tied for fifth at OPS at 14.09. incredible week for Ilamaro Vargas. And like I said, he keeps it going now with a 24-game hitting streak. I like how the years keep getting extended. First, it was the third longest streak since 1998, beyond like Pablo Sandoval and Edgar Renteria. Now we're digging back into the 1940s.

Let's see how far. Let's see if we can throw that like the longest blah, blah, blah, streak in the modern era behind what Vargas is doing because it's incredible. And he deserves all the flag. hours. Also, he's doing so good that the Diamondbacks are offering a $20 ticket deal for bleacher and bullpen tickets for the series against the Pirates. That deal ends, according to the broadcast tonight at midnight. So if you're watching this show now,

you want to come out and watch some baseball. Of course, getting those tickets last minute with game time is always a good decision. But this is a pretty good deal. $20 ticket deal. I hope to see you guys out there to watch the Pirates. But now, of course, before, we get out of here is finally the time of the show where I once again turn it over to one Damon Farrell so that he can issue his daily apology to Ildemar Vargas for the things that he said about him before the season started. Damon, the Florsiers. Hello, P.HNXDBack's family and baseball fans all over the world. Elamara Vargas's family. If you so happen to be watching this and Ildamara Vargas himself, I would just,

like to take the time as I often do on these post-game shows. In fact, you know, scratch that. Not often do, but how about do every single time and say, I am sorry for the things that were said about you in the preseason. Thank you, Derek. The therapy snake, of course, which I need in these trying times. Ildemarovar Vargas is a hero. He's a legend. He's a potential all-star. people are thinking maybe even a Hall of Famer. And the fact that I said the things that I said about him, it's disgusting, it's wrong, and I can only strive to be a better man out of it. So I will continue to apologize.

I will continue to repent and do what I must to, yeah, I'll hold that right there, and do what I must to, you know, make sure that this relationship gets rebuilt because, yeah, This, you know, obviously, obviously you don't, you never want to talk on the star player, Derek, when you cover the team. And I spoke on our star player. And, and that was wrong with me. So I, I'm sorry, Aldemar. I'm sorry. Perfect. That's perfect. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. And I think that, again, I know you don't have your clown wig and your nose. I know that the car isn't parked outside with your 15 friends waiting in it. But I hope we illustrated at least enough there, the clown that Damon is for the first. things he said about Il-Damar Vargas. I am. Thank you for repenting, Damon, and hopefully we will have you do it again on tomorrow's post-game show. So hopefully you guys are here to see Damon.

Once again, apologize to Il-Demarvars tomorrow. And hopefully, we're talking about a win instead of this terrible loss. But shout out to Cool Bro, 297. He says, give him Sparky. I'll throw it in his pocket before we get out of here. But again, thank you for your super chat. Thank you guys all for being here. We love you guys.

Appreciate you sharing your time with us. after a terrible loss like this one. It's not always easy, and you guys are the best. Cool bro also says he's waiting for me to show up in the show hay hat. Oh, God. I don't know if you saw Derek. I found some new show hay hats that are being put out there. Oh, I've seen them.

They're bad. Yeah. I know you're excited about it because he's on your fantasy baseball team. Weird thing, though, not doing so great at the plate. So Damon might have been successful in his reverse curse that he was hoping to pools. So maybe that's going on, but we'll let you hold on to that one. He's Damon Dog. I'm Derek Dog.

You can follow me at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. You can follow him at Damon Dog with a DAWG. But as always, we are all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, except till tomorrow, Bark is. Our show is at PH&X underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at pH&X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much. We love you.

We appreciate you. You guys are the best, and we will be back tomorrow. So we hope you guys join us then. Until then, try to have yourselves a wonderful night and day tomorrow. And we'll see you back here tomorrow for another postgame show. But again, thank you guys again for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when games don't end like this one.