PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Merrill Kelly Gets ROCKED Early as D-backs Drop Opener to White Sox

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Things unraveled quickly in the series opener against the Chicago White Sox, as Merrill Kelly and the Arizona Diamondbacks found themselves in an early hole they couldn’t escape. We break down Kelly...’s rough outing, a costly defensive miscue from Nolan Arenado’s glove that opened the floodgates in the first inning, and how things only spiraled further late as Ryan Thompson and a Golden Glover combined to allow three more runs. Despite the ugly loss, Ildemaro Vargas stayed red-hot by extending his MLB-best hit streak to 19 games, while Corbin Carroll continues to search for his rhythm at the plate. We also check in on the latest performances from the young talent down on the Snake Farm, including David Hagaman’s 2026 debut. 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 James McCann pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth inning of tonight's game, which tells you everything you need to know about how things went. Merrill melts down early and the offense couldn't do much to back them up. We are talking about tonight's loss and we're doing it right now. Well, welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. No, there's no, there's no ski or any kind of excitement about this loss. This one was ugly from the get-go, and the Diamondbacks, unfortunately, couldn't do much to make up the deficit that they were left in by Merrill Kelly and some pretty bad defense there behind him in the first inning.
Starting point is 00:00:52 Welcome in to the PHNX Diamondback Show kids. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a man who was glad to be back for hosting the show until this game happened. I'm also joined by the guy holding it down while I'm gone. He's my dog. He's your dog. Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell, on the ones and twos. Hello. Bart bark to you, Damon.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Yeah, very sad barks today. Sad barks, sad barks for sure. But regardless of the barks, this show is still brought to you by the fine folks, to bet 365. Make sure to go check out Bet365 where winning is everything. Download the app today and use code PHNX 365 when you sign up. We're also brought to you by GameTime. Download that GameTime app.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Create an account and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. But maybe. avoid games like this one. I don't know. I don't know how to predict that. But really couldn't predict that today's game was going to go the way it did, especially considering that Merrill is usually fairly consistent for this team,
Starting point is 00:01:53 has been throughout the majority of his career, but still has his hiccups. And like many people said, tonight's start in this loss was reminiscent of one in New York that Merrill Kelly had last year. But regardless of that start, Kelly still was able to get, things back together and still be a very good starting picture for this team, which is what some people on social media websites currently do not believe is going to happen or think is possible.
Starting point is 00:02:20 But the Diamondbacks did lose this one by a score of 11 to 5. And again, a poor performance by Merrill Kelly early on mixed with another glove-related mistake by Nolan Arnato led to a huge first inning here from the Chicago White Sox that the Diamondbacks really couldn't recover from. And I mean, then things just kind of got worse in the second inning when it was just a home run derby for a brief period of time with Merrill Kelly on the mound. They dropped their second in a row by a lot of runs combined 21 and 9 in these two losses over these last two games. Not great.
Starting point is 00:02:55 Not great at all. But if you want to take a silver lining away from this one, the good here is that Ildemar Vargas does extend his hit streak to an MLB best 19 game total and extends his franchise record hit streak to start a season to do 16 games with a big home run there in the bottom of the ninth inning that didn't mean much after the diamond backs had just given up three runs in the top of the inning thanks to a golden glover and a lack of i guess a sense of urgency on lord is courriel junior's part but is the golden glover nolan aeronado is that who you're referencing i mean look i'm not going to docks the golden glover on this program like the broadcast did and say
Starting point is 00:03:37 his name several times, but it may or may not have been Nolan Arnato. It definitely was his goddamn glove in the first inning, that's for sure, because things weren't great for Merrill Kelly early, and Arnato's glove was a big reason why. Things basically became a disaster in the first inning after he gave up a lead-off single to Andrew Benintyndi, whose name is a lot of fun to say. And then a hit, if you want to call it that from Munataka Murakami. Don't get me wrong, his next hit was definitely a hit. That one, there's no doubt about.
Starting point is 00:04:08 But this one got stuck in the webbing of Nolan Ironado's glove. It probably would have been a double play otherwise and led to two outs being registered right away. Instead, it was first registered as an error. And then in the press box, they announced it was somehow changed to a hit. I guess when you hit the ball hard enough to get stuck in the webbing of the opponent's glove, they credit you with a hit. That's news to me.
Starting point is 00:04:34 But he then walked Miguel Varker, to load the bases. And again, instead of now, you know, having the bases completely empty, we got a huge two-run double to Colson Montgomery. That scores two runs at the time. Then a sack fly by the White Sox would plate a third run. And then you had an RBI triple from Sam Antanachi, which would put the Chicago White Sox up four to nothing
Starting point is 00:05:01 before the Diamondbacks would have a single at bat. I'm probably mispronouncing that gentleman's name. and I'm going to do that quite a bit in this one. He also had, I believe, was it him that had the inside the park home run later in the game, Damon? I don't know. I was too busy just laughing at the entire situation to have any idea of who was the one that hit the baseball or not. Oh, we're going to get into that. But then, then let's say before we get to that, we have to talk about the second inning happening
Starting point is 00:05:26 because it looked like, for the most part, Merrill had gotten things back on track. For those of you watching at home, I believe he struck out the two final batters of the first inning and then he gets two quick outs to two relatively quick outs to start the second and it just looked like okay merrill gave up four runs but he's locked in and dialed in and boy was he not boy he was he not um he immediately gave up a huge home run to miracami which it was his ninth home run of the season went 426 feet 113 mile per hour off the bat um and that man has now homered in four straight games in all respect to the plumber, right? That is that is the plumber and you cannot throw and actually to be fair, of these three home runs that Merrill Kelly gave up in a back to
Starting point is 00:06:18 back to back home run situation, the only bad hit really or the only bad pitch was like a sinker that was high in the zone that didn't sink to Miguel Vargas and that one barely cleared the wall for a home run. But then Colson Montgomery comes up and he hits the third home run for the White Sox in a row there in the second inning to put the White Sox up seven to nothing. And at that point, it was just pretty much, it seemed like it was a laffer. And of course, in a game where the Diamondbacks are giving up a ton of runs, their offense goes in the opposite direction and really seemed to struggle early. But for Kelly, what went wrong was really that he couldn't find the strike zone.
Starting point is 00:07:00 And he threw 101 pitches and he only threw 56 of them for strikes. So that sucked for him. And more importantly, he just couldn't land his changeup in the zone for a strike. He only landed two changeups out of 30 for a called strike. You can see here the change up, which is the pitch that, I mean, he threw his four seam 30% of the outing and he threw his change up 30% of the outing. But as you can see here, the green dots, a lot of them landing on the outside of the zone there to the left are where his changeups were landing. they were not super competitive, though he did get five whiffs on the change-up. So, I mean, he was still able to fool batters at times.
Starting point is 00:07:41 But again, he got three whiffs on the four seam, which he threw 30 percent, and two wifts on the curveball. Curve ball had 12 percent usage, cutter 12 percent usage, 9 percent sinker usage, and 8 percent slider on this night. But as you can see here, again, the change-up not really being a competitive pitch and not landing really anywhere close to the zone for a lot of those that he threw makes it really difficult for those to do their job at all.
Starting point is 00:08:11 And I mean, it's unfortunate, and it sucks to see two consecutive nights where our starting pitching falls apart and gives up eight earned runs. And there goes our starting pitching ERA. Damon, we actually did have good starting pitching ERA there for a while. And that's over after these two games.
Starting point is 00:08:34 Yeah, it was fun while it lasted. And I told you this, Derek, in confidence, but I guess I'll share it now with all my closest friends and family here in the chat. And yes, guys, I'm emotional because I've been crying because it was such a horrible game. But in reality, yeah, I picked up both, I had Ryan Nelson on my fantasy team. He threw the damn near yes hitter on Sunday. I lost that fantasy matchup with a giant lead going into that game, Derek, because in part Ryan Nelson threw a yes hitter.
Starting point is 00:09:09 And then I followed it up by saying, you know what? Let's get Ryan Nelson off the team. I know who just the guy to pick up. Merrill Kelly. Merrill Kelly. Hell yeah, you did. So now I get to start off my early portion of my next game with another guy who was out there trying to throw a yes hitter.
Starting point is 00:09:26 It's fantastic. You got to love the Diamondbacks pitching staff. Yeah, Mays Devil's calling you out once again saying that's what you get for drafting gambler son, aka the... I've had it. I have had bad karma since week one. Like, I've been leading all week for six of seven days going into the second and third, you know, final day of the week. And then I choke it on Sunday. Tough.
Starting point is 00:09:47 Yeah, it's tough. Well, I'll tell you, this game didn't really get close at any point. Like I said, the offense wasn't doing much. But it wasn't helped out late there. by that situation with Ryan Thompson and just everything that occurred once he came into the game. He immediately hits a batter, Damon, and then follows that up with an inside the park home run that was aided by a Golden Glover and Lorda's Gurriel Jr. who both seemed to collaborate together to ensure that that inside the park home run happened.
Starting point is 00:10:23 It was a weird situation, and I really don't get it. The broadcast brought it up. It's the second time in recent, in this homestand where a golden glover has interfered with a ball. This one was inexplicably unreviewable. The ball goes up the third baseline, goes right at this gentleman who, instead of getting out of the way, tries to make an excellent play on it. I get it. I would try to make a play on a ball when it's hit towards me. It's just instincts sometimes, Damon.
Starting point is 00:10:53 It's hard to let the game go sometimes. instead of diving out of the way like he should have because it was a fair ball, he did not. His glove did touch the ball. Eyes on the prize, Derek. What are your thoughts, though, about Lourdes just not doing anything? They're all together. Kind of insane. I understand Lourdes was close to the play.
Starting point is 00:11:16 He saw that the Golden Glover interfered. Again, we're not going to docks him like the broadcast did, but saw this gentleman interfered. and he just expected play to stop. And he was right. It did touch the glove of the golden glover. And it should have been, you know, stopped, I guess at that point, called the ground rule double. Instead, nothing happens.
Starting point is 00:11:41 The third base umpire misses it completely. Lourdes makes no attempt or sense of urgency to pick up the ball and throw it in. And we have it inside the park home run happen right before our very eyes. Yeah, it was it was pretty special to watch. I think, you know, from my standpoint as a Diamondbacks fan, Lourdes, it was such a minimal amount of contact that the Golden Glover, aka Nolan Aeronaeronado made on the ball out there that I think that you got to play through the play. You can't just be like, well, they're going to call it the way that it is.
Starting point is 00:12:18 It's like, well, I mean, there's an umpire going like this. I know he's probably not, you know, zoned in on the umpire. He's looking at the baseball. But for me, it's just like you got to like finish the playoff and works comes to worse. You're firing in a ball to Perdomo as you're cutoff man. And it's not a play that needs to be made. I mean, no calls being no on the field, right?
Starting point is 00:12:42 Like you're, you're taught to not stop and just play the ball. Like just like don't even get me started on why that. wasn't reviewable. Like, why was that not reviewable? Isn't that the, this is the exact situation that review is for to ensure that if there's interference in some way that they can go back and take a look at it and they say because there's no call made on the field, the call wasn't reviewable. I mean, the umpires immediately saying safe on the field. Yeah. He's, he's calling the exact opposite of what really went down. But like, that's what I'm saying, though, he made a call. So how is it not reviewable?
Starting point is 00:13:21 that his call wasn't incorrect, which it was incorrect, right? And it's like, I don't get it. Don't get me wrong. It was a bad umpire crew tonight. As, as Mays Devil said,
Starting point is 00:13:30 like, they were lost. The thing with Miracami was also ridiculous. Insane. He challenged the play and then he asked him to vocalize his challenge to a man that doesn't speak English. What, like,
Starting point is 00:13:45 he said he has power. What do you expect him to do? That was, that was electric clip. Yeah. That was amazing, but. Yeah, I mean, no, that insane.
Starting point is 00:13:56 And also just, you know, like, you don't, I don't think that the rule is that you have to verbalize it. There is a rule in there that kind of protects the umpires and is very ambiguous of like the umpire can deny your challenge if it wasn't done in time. Definitely. But it felt like that those were pretty simultaneous challenges from, you know, right after the pitch was thrown. So I don't really understand what was wrong there. But yeah, the whole ump crew kind of had a mayor tonight. I would be way more fired up about that inside the park situation if it didn't happen in the circumstance of which. it did, which was the game was already out of hand and it was already a laugher.
Starting point is 00:14:28 Because if that was in any way, shape, or form a close game and that's what went down, I'd be sick to my stomach. And I'd be a little bit more upset at Lourdes to too for, you know, kind of treating it so waxed as well. So there were a lot of things that went wrong. But definitely Ryan Thompson did not have a good night tonight and did not register an out. I gave up that one hit three earn runs because he did allow another. base runner and threw a walk who then scored because James McCann came into the game tonight
Starting point is 00:15:00 to clean things up for Ryan Thompson. Hashtag the closer. Well, and what sucks is outside of that, what really was another great performance from this bullpen, right? I mean, Taylor Clark comes in with two inherited runners. The one does score on a sack fly, but outside of that, he only gave up a one hit in an inning and a third of work. Loisaga gave up one hit, one walk, and struck out two in an inning and a third of work,
Starting point is 00:15:24 and then Ginkle, one strikeout, no hits, no runs, no nothing allowed in his inning of work. So the bullpen did their job up until that point with Ryan Thompson, and the game was 8 to 2 at that point. But, I mean, who knows how things go differently overall, especially in the ninth inning after Elamaro Vargas hits that three-run bomb, and this becomes an 8 to 5 game. It did really feel, though, even though like this game was put away early by the 7-0-0 deficit, created by Merrill Kelly and the defense. It did feel like this was the point where the game was truly over if you hadn't already put the nails in the coffin for this one.
Starting point is 00:16:02 But James McCann might, we might need to consider him in the bullpen. Maybe we, I don't know. Sexy man. He's a mechanical, right? He's a mechanical and he could do it all. but we're still deciding on who gets the king snake. So we're going to keep you guys waiting on that. Damon and I are still debating it.
Starting point is 00:16:21 We're still mulling it over. We have a final decision to make here. And we will do that before the end of this next segment. But we are going to take a quick break before coming back and talking about the offense or the lack thereof tonight and this loss to the Chicago White Sox. Don't you guys go anywhere? You are watching the PH&X Diamond Back Show. Well, shout out to APS.
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Starting point is 00:18:38 offense to speak of tonight i mean the final score being 11 to 5 does look a little less like the ass kicking that this game actually was. But three of those runs were added in the bottom of the ninth inning just to kind of pad the stats there and make things look a little bit better. It's not to say there weren't opportunities though, right? That was one of the most frustrating things that you and I discussed before going on air is that the D-backs had the leadoff runner-reach base in six of nine innings.
Starting point is 00:19:05 How does that not work for the Arizona Diamondbacks? You would feel that that would fit right into their plan offensively. unfortunately tonight, things did not work out for them. No, from the offensive standpoint, you're saying. Yeah, just in regards to having the leadoff runner reach in six out of nine innings and still not being able to create more runs than just five runs tonight. Yeah, it definitely felt like you had your opportunities. It also felt like you got a little bit unlucky at times.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Like I think that some of the more hard hit balls of the game were directly at your opponent. Yeah, that definitely happened a lot tonight. Yeah, and that happened with runners on base, and it left some runners stranded as well. So on the one hand, I think that you can say that there was some unfortunate batted ball luck in this game for the Diamondback's standpoint. But on the other hand, your pitcher got rocked so hard that the game was over from the absolute start. And so it's almost like it feels like a kind of a fool's errand to sit up here and be like, well, if the Diamondbacks just could have had a little bit. better batted ball luck tonight. This one could have been different.
Starting point is 00:20:16 And maybe it could have been, you know, it's fully possible, but it just really fell over from inning number one. And I can't help but feel that maybe that has an impact on the offense as well of like, you're not going to be as locked in on every single pitch of every single at bat if you're, you're feeling like, you know, it's, it's kind of an insurmountable lead from the get-go. Sean Burke did not look like he was pitching as well as the Diamondbacks made him look tonight. In fact, he only had three strikeouts and all three were of Corbyn Carroll
Starting point is 00:20:46 who did not look like he was right tonight. His back definitely looks like it still impacted or swing is impacted and that sucks definitely for sure. Offensively you're right. I mean, I don't even
Starting point is 00:21:02 think we need to discuss the concept of does this team kind of fold a little bit when they're starting pitching gives up a lot of runs. I think that's common for any baseball team. Baseball is such a weird game where a three-run lead sometimes seems insurmountable, right?
Starting point is 00:21:20 Depending on how things are going for you, depending on how the off, you know, opposing pitcher is going. You know, but it shouldn't. And honestly, even being down seven runs early, the Diamondback should have been putting together. I feel like better at bats than they were. But again, it's easy to say that. It's easy to say, you know, like this offense. has still been struggling.
Starting point is 00:21:43 They still haven't gotten everything together, but parts of it are still working pretty well. Nolan Arnato, even though he absolutely does need a new glove, and we need to get that fixed quickly. We're starting to go fund me according to our buddy Cornhulio up here in the chat. Like, how is this happen, Damon? How?
Starting point is 00:22:00 Like, how? How does it get stuck in the web of the glove? Oh, my God. And again, it's like early on, it doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal, but then what that inning turns into seems like it's a big deal. You got Merrill Kelly throwing over 30 pitches. I think you threw 34 pitches in the first inning.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Then you move on to the second inning, and despite things look like they're finally settling in for Merrill, just boom, three home runs in a row. And again, even giving up those three runs didn't seem like it should have been enough to completely demoralize you. You know, three runs is not that big of a deal, but the way it happened, giving up 1,200 feet of home runs in back to back to back jacks.
Starting point is 00:22:46 And all on different pitches too. When you go back and look at that, it was a four seam, a sinker, and a change up that he gave up those three home runs on. They're just all over everything that he was throwing. They really were. And again, Merrill just had himself a rough night. But again, so did the offense. Two for 12 was runners in scoring position.
Starting point is 00:23:04 But the White Sox were also two for 12. So they just hit a lot of home runs. tonight and got to Merrill. That's really what it came down to. And hit a lot, yeah, hit a lot of home runs, got the inside the park or late. I mean, it's just, it was kind of just a, it was a circus tonight. And in the last two games have been a circus. And Ernesto put it up here in the chat earlier, and I'm going to read it because it's entirely true. And I definitely feel, feel this exact same way. And you know what? I'm going to curse because I want to on this show, because it's debacks after dark as far as I'm concerned.
Starting point is 00:23:37 No, two games in a row. 10-20. Where I've been really looking forward to watching this ball game only to be met with some of the worst dog shit starts of professional team can ever have fucking lock-in. Yeah. And I think it's 100% true, Ernesto. Right. This fan base is hyped up about, what was it, 13 and 8 or 12 and 8 or whatever it was,
Starting point is 00:23:59 and we're feeling good and being like, yeah, this is one of the best teams in baseball. Power rankings have the Diamondbacks in the top five, six teams. and no matter what ranking that you look at, and how does the Diamondbacks reward their fan base by just getting what? You know, losing by, you know, 25 runs in the course of two games. It's really demoralizing, man. It sucks because I want to be hyped up about this team.
Starting point is 00:24:24 They still have a good record. They're still 13 and 10. They've played a really tough schedule. Like, you know, there is a bright side right now, but it's hard to feel that way when you lose in the fashion that you just lost because it just never really was even close in both of the last two games. It's been over from inning number one where you're like, oh my God, we have to watch eight innings of this game.
Starting point is 00:24:48 Yeah. When we are getting our ass kicked and we know it's over from the get-go, which it just sucks. It sucks. I've revealed this to you guys on the show before, but I go to the ballpark on a home game that starts at 640. Typically around 2 p.m. I park my little stupid car. I take my time walking over.
Starting point is 00:25:04 sometimes I stop at Bosa and get myself a coffee. Sometimes I go straight in. We have clubhouse access. It starts around 2.30. Get to chat with the boys. Get to see Tori at 3.30, Killer X's favorite guy. And then I have a significant amount of time to kill roughly about three hours before the baseball game starts. I anticipate the start of the baseball game as much as you do, especially in three hours of sitting there watching guys take batting practice.
Starting point is 00:25:34 and the roof open and the grounds crew lay lines. And I just can't wait. Let's go to war. Let's do this. I want to see a good baseball team. I was texting Damon in the first inning. What time are you getting back to the office? Because I want to come home.
Starting point is 00:25:48 I don't want to be here. I'm not having a good time. And yes, that sucks, man. And it sucks that it happened two games in a row. I think we could all kind of feel okay about Sunday's loss, even though it was what it was. There's some highlights that you take away there. Brandon Fott came in and did exactly what he has been moved to the bullpen to do and was brilliant in doing so.
Starting point is 00:26:10 And you'd already won that series against the Toronto Blue Jays. So, okay, we didn't get the suite, but we still won another series. And here we go to take on a White Sox team that my guy, Jack Summers, specifically wrote an article about how dangerous this team was coming into this, considering that they just played the athletics at Sutter Health Park, which is like playing at the God, damn park down the street from my house. It's not really a baseball stadium. And you tend to kind of get locked in and put up a lot of runs. And they did that in that series against the athletics.
Starting point is 00:26:44 So they came into this series with the Diamondbacks pretty hot. And you can say what you want about this White Sox team. But they've already beaten some good teams. And tonight, they were definitely the superior team here. This wasn't like, yeah, those three runs were bullshit there in the ninth inning with the golden lover situation, everything that happened, Ryan Thompson, but they still count. However, you know, you can look at the overall score and subtract those away and it's still an eight to five loss. You know, there are a couple of bright spots for Aldo Pardomo hit a triple there in the
Starting point is 00:27:17 fourth inning and scored on a Lois Gruriel sack fly for the debacks first run. And then you have Alec Thomas hitting his first dinger of the year. So that was good to see. That helped in the fifth inning there, cut into the deficit just a little bit and make this, I believe it was a eight to two game then at the time. But good for Alec Thomas. By the way, Alec Thomas knows ball. He knows the strike zone better than umpires.
Starting point is 00:27:40 And it was the first time all season that he challenged using the ABS challenge system. And he won not one but two while batting tonight, Damon. So Alex Thomas, you get free range to use the ABS system as much as you want. And I don't care if it's in the seventh inning or earlier. So there you go. But I guess the big story offensively is that Ildemar Vargas extends his MLB best hitting streak to 19 games.
Starting point is 00:28:10 It's his 16 game franchise record to start the season and did it with a big home run there that scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. So Vargas continues to do the thing. And now comes that time in our show where I turn it over to Damon so that he can once again apologize to Ildomar Vargas for the things that he said. about him in the beginning of the season. Yeah, do I mean, if you would. Do I need to... You can go ahead and take me out camera. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:28:36 I mean, I don't... I think I should probably get out of here for this one. This is not me. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll bemaro Vargas. I obviously said some pretty disrespectful things in the beginning portion of the year. I don't know where this franchise would be without you, brother.
Starting point is 00:28:52 And yeah, go look at that baseball savant. It really tells the full story. Not only is he a good hitter, he's an elite hitter. and he puts the ball over the fence and he does it with slug and he does it with, you know, elite underlying metrics. He's, Derek, I'm going to continue to say it. I want Ildemarovar Vargas to become the most unlikely all-star that we've seen in my entire lifetime. And I want this show to be the reason why and these apologies to play their part because I think that we all have a part to play here.
Starting point is 00:29:29 Beautiful. That was beautiful. That was really well said. And yeah, I saw Vargas today before the game, like showing Jose Fernandez stuff on how to like kind of pull the bat in. And I don't know what he was showing him. But again, it's like when you're that hot, you get to even tell a baseball god like Jose Fernandez. The next A rod how to hit. Yeah, basically is what that comes down to.
Starting point is 00:29:53 Right. But honestly, good for Vargas, man. I mean, he, he like, again, this is another night where look at where the contributions came from. They came from Elamar of Argus again. They came from Alec Thomas tonight on a two for four night with his first home run of the year. And hell, even though his error there might have sunk this team, Nolan Arnado, who is now hitting seventh in the lineup, was two for three and has continued to have multi-hit games. Perdomo was one for three with two walks, Arnato, two for three with a walk.
Starting point is 00:30:25 And a double and a triple there for Perdomo. You're absolutely right. And then Thomas, two for four. but obviously on a night where it definitely feels like nobody truly deserves the king snake. We got to give it to our guy Vargy. Damon kind of deserves it a little bit too for admitting he's wrong so many times. Well, I'd say I almost deserve it for, you know, creating Il-Demar Vargas into the player that he is today. Yeah, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, like this is a partial king snake for you, too, because, yeah, it's, it was your, I guess it was your inability to believe in him that woke
Starting point is 00:31:00 him up and made him decide like if I lost Damon, I've truly lost my way. And I got to figure some things out. And he did. One for four tonight with a home run, three RBI in this game. And most importantly, now he is at that 19 game hit streak dating back to last season. And again, 16 game hit streak to begin the year. So Vargy, keep doing it, man. Keep doing it. Love to see it. And love to see it from those like I said those six through nine hitters that's where a lot of the contributions came from tonight Jose Fernandez one for four are all season for three Vargas one for four with three RBI Thomas two for four with an RBI all season it feels like the guys on the back end of the lineup have been the the ones that have kind of been carrying the caring the steam or at least
Starting point is 00:31:50 coming up through with the the biggest hits and in you know moments of the game and and and even all throw in there like Jose Fernandez has has been hitting more recently towards the front of the lineup, but he's a guy that when he first came up was being very impactful on, you know, in one of those six through nine spots. So I'm thinking of the Eldemar of Argus is the Jose Fernandez is, the Jorge Barrosas even.
Starting point is 00:32:17 And today, Alec Thomas, you know, it feels like those are the players that are almost playing above their heads, whereas you need, you need, first off, you need Corby and Carol to be healthy.
Starting point is 00:32:27 You need Catell to be more consistent. you need Perdomo to give you more of what he gave you today, which is seeing a lot of pitches and then, you know, impactful hits when they do happen. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's certainly going to take a little bit more of a stepped up effort from your big three in particular. But yeah, you got to, you got to give plotts to the back end of the lineup for continuing to find ways to at least, you know, perform and, and help this offense. Because five runs is not a despicable performance. But as I said, the problem is that the, the, You know, the game fell out of hand at that point.
Starting point is 00:33:02 So it's not like it was, you know, the only cool thing about the home run was that Elamara Vargas hit it. Not that the dying back's clod back within six runs because it didn't really feel like that it really meant all that much. I don't care. It was my only moment of joy. I screw. That was a lethargic scream that I let out.
Starting point is 00:33:19 You needed that. And I couldn't have done that in the first box. Like a like a National League pennant. Oh, man. It's just I wanted it to happen for him so bad. and I wanted some piece of joy. Got to have some sort of joy after what Aronado's glove and Lordus and the Golden Glover did to us tonight, Damon, defensively.
Starting point is 00:33:39 Those two things account for what feels like seven runs. Seven runs by those two things, Damon. If those two things don't happen, you take seven runs off the board, and I do believe that the Diamondbacks win this game by a score of five to four. Oh man, I don't know what's going on with stuff getting stuck in the webbing of gloves, but that's weird and shouldn't be happening. And I mean, maybe I know there's only one magical purple glove from Carlos Santana, but he's a platinum glover.
Starting point is 00:34:12 Why doesn't, I mean, I'm a video game guy, right? So if as a gold glover, Carlos Santana has the magic purple glove, shouldn't Arnado have like the most powerful baseball glove in the known universe like similar to like Voldemort's wand or like it's like the elder one yeah like the elder one exactly how does he not have the greatest glove known to mankind thank you for that nerd reference I appreciate that a lot of people that are geeked out over that and then Lord is just sitting there what are you doing like again that's the kind of crap man that you wouldn't get out of a young guy
Starting point is 00:34:50 I got to say it. You know, you're not, Burroughs is not letting that ball sit there. Other guys that have played out there in left field. Jordan Lawler's not letting that ball sit there. They are running over and picking that ball up and I don't care what happens, but they'll let it work itself out
Starting point is 00:35:06 with no calls being made on the field and umpires just looking at you like this. You go pick up the goddamn ball and you make a play and then you wait until everything else is over. You don't sit there and watch it. That was the like epitome. of how tonight went. So many things.
Starting point is 00:35:22 I mean, so many things. I think when the Diamondbacks got doubled up on first base with a ball hit right to the first baseman, that was kind of gross and terrible. I think that was after Aronado got on base. But they just had a lot of bad luck. Like nothing was really bouncing their way.
Starting point is 00:35:38 And we've talked about it. There's been a few games this year that feels like, even though we don't get it much, that things kind of went their way in order to lead to a win, tonight it felt like everything was against them. Yeah, it was a really interesting. unfortunate night, Derek. Do I need to say it again?
Starting point is 00:35:52 I'm out on this team. 13 and 10. You lose a game like that to the white socks. See, you say 13 and 10. And every time you say that, I want to tell you to send Perdomo up the mountain, but we are not doing that tonight. Two games in a row or you're down and out by the first inning.
Starting point is 00:36:07 It's over. And guess what? So is this team's season. I'm out. Yeah. I'm out. Yeah. I think that's going to be good.
Starting point is 00:36:13 I think that's going to be good enough. That's probably good. That's probably sufficient. My friend Jared sent me a picture of a sunset. And then when I asked them, why he sent this to me. He said it's the sun setting on the deback season. This man doesn't even know ball. This he doesn't even know ball. He just came across the score. The thank you fans. Yeah. He's a rotten individual and I still don't understand why I'm friends with him. But
Starting point is 00:36:36 no, it was fun while it lasted. It was fun while it lasted. But assuredly it's over, right? So no, I mean, again, no way they win this series after that teeth kicking that they received tonight. Thank you. And then we have a weird week ahead. Right. We have. have the a lot of days off this week we were off yesterday as you know uh it was 420 so i was just i didn't and that was why you know what's funny derrick and this is this is this is something that i got that got brought to my attention because i wasn't thinking i wasn't i wasn't thinking straight when when i when i was told hey you know i'm going to be off we're going to we're going to just kind of gear the show around being off on monday even though we never miss mondays is that okay
Starting point is 00:37:16 with everybody here and then all of a sudden what was that oh yeah my other other co-host, Kevin Thomas, he just so happens to take PTO on Monday. So who's stuck at the office while both Derek and Kevin take the day off and kick their feet up on 420 of all days. Who could have possibly seen this coming? I don't even know what that number means. And then I'm just sitting here and I'm like, these sons of bitches. Justin Spears actually brought this up to me on the show yesterday. Spears did not call out on this day as well.
Starting point is 00:37:51 And I was, I was, Justin Spiers did extra work on 420, Derek. He called into the show and gave me an hour and 20 minutes of his time. What a good guy. The sweet, sweet man that he is. But I mean, it was, it was like a light bulb went off in my head of, of why the two men that I've tied my careers to. We're both off on the same day. Were we together? It's interesting.
Starting point is 00:38:14 Were we together at the aquarium? I don't know. Maybe we were. He was at the aquarium. I don't know. You know you was at the aquarium. We'll just move on. But anyway, I was recovering from Reggae Riseup.
Starting point is 00:38:27 That's what I was doing. But regardless, it's supposed to same thing. You really were. You really were. And you did an excellent job, as you always do. Much better than the pitching staff has done. That's for sure. Much better than our starters did over the course of the weekend.
Starting point is 00:38:39 So kudos to you. But again, this one sucked. And it sucked in part to some bad defense, some bad luck. and overall another unfortunate starting performance that ruins the fact that we at one time had a top five starting pitching rotation ERA. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to talk about some of the numbers from this game, even though I know we all want to kind of wash our hands a bit. But we're going to do it.
Starting point is 00:39:06 And then we're going to talk a little bit about how the youngsters in the farm system are doing, including David Hagamon making his debut for the Hillsborough Hopps tonight. So we're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere. You are watching the PHA Next Diamondback Show. Tonight is definitely a night for pure edibles, and that is because pure edibles can help you get over a loss like this in a variety of ways. They have mood elevating candies. They have candies that can help you sleep and forget about this one and so much more. Not only do they have a wide variety of effects, which are clearly listed on each tin, but they have a wide variety of candies and flavors, some delicious flavors. Starford being one of my favorites.
Starting point is 00:39:46 But of course, those flavors are listed on each tin, and you can find, like I said, a variety of candies, not just gummies. They have hard candies, choose their version of Starbursts that they call kicks, soft candies, and new stuff coming out all the time. Plus, their collaboration with the fine folks up north there. And one of the greatest, all in, or excuse me, one of the greatest IPA is in all the land, Tower Station IPA. You can now find this wonderful collaboration with Mother Road Brewing Company. It is an all-in-one THC device. You can get those same crisp, citrusy notes and piney hops that you get in that delicious IPA, but now in an all-in-one THC device.
Starting point is 00:40:24 So go find yourself some pure edibles products from one of over 150 dispensaries across Arizona, now including True Lead. Derek, I don't know if I told you this, but I actually was in Flagstaff last weekend. I saw the noble herb dispenser at Drove past it, and I was like, there she is. The place where they created the greatest edibles on ours. The home, the home, the mothership. Well, speaking of homes, if you are looking for a home, whether you are looking to sell or purchase a home, you got to check in with, of course, our friend Kim Caballero and her real estate.
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Starting point is 00:42:26 percentage. Their expected batting average was 326 for the White Sox to the Diamondbacks 277. And the only thing the debacks really won tonight is ABS challenges. Again, two for two, thanks to Alec Thomas. knowing the strike zone better than the umpires. Meanwhile, the socks were one for two, and they're still that one challenge that wasn't allowed that we still very much don't understand here for this team,
Starting point is 00:42:54 but whatever, baseball's stupid and sometimes so are umpires. This game, though, of course, is just one game. Diamondbacks do very much have an opportunity here in tomorrow's game with Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound to still pull things even, and possibly give themselves a chance to win in the finale. And this is still the White Sox, so even though things are going well for them,
Starting point is 00:43:18 you kind of like the way things line up for the rest of the series, Damon, overall. We got Michael Soroka going on Thursday, and we have Eduardo Rodriguez going tomorrow. Kurt Schilling and Randy Johnson, I think, is what you just told me. That's what you're hearing. That's what you're hearing. But meanwhile, Anthony Kay and Davis-Martin both have very good ERAs for the White Sox, And this is a young team that is dangerous.
Starting point is 00:43:42 It's dangerous because, you know, you look through the schedule once again. You have the Padres coming up, a very big series there. The Padres after the Dodgers lost tonight to the Giants, now share the lead for the National League West. And, of course, the Dodgers actually, believe it or not, have some bad things happening to them, including some news that they heard or that they had about. Edwin Diaz now that they may have lost him for the majority of the season. But again, you felt like,
Starting point is 00:44:15 you know, maybe it's easy to overlook this White Sox series with this big, you know, Mexico City trip coming up on Saturday and Sunday. A lot of things to take into consideration, a lot of time off. Like, it might be good for the Diamondbacks to kind of have this series happen when it's happening, you know, but again, a day off Monday yesterday, we all took the day off except Damon. And then we have a day off on Friday prior to the series starting in Mexico City. And then another baked in off day on Monday to return back home. You say baked? I did. I did. I did say baked. I sure did. But then they start the series in Milwaukee with the Brewers on Tuesday.
Starting point is 00:44:54 So a lot of days off, a lot of opportunity for the Diamondbacks to kind of use their bullpen quite a bit over the stretch due to the off days that they have. And maybe, just maybe, still pull out this series against the White Sox and do some. damage against the first place, at least tied for first place Padres this weekend in Mexico City. Damon and I are still extremely bummed out about not being a part of that trip. I have been trying to figure out ways for me to sneak on to like the team plane or something. I was told that that is very much frowned upon, even though I did ask about it. Damon, meanwhile, he's just giving up on the idea of watching Saturday's game due to how sad he is about not being in Mexico City.
Starting point is 00:45:36 and he's just going to go as close to Mexico as he can get legally, which is Tucson, and do some Wildcat stuff. But I'm thrilled to be with Kevin Thomas on Saturday and then back with Damon on Sunday. We're going to have a watch along for that game. And a lot of things to consider there, Damon, the altitude, what are they, 7,200 feet.
Starting point is 00:45:59 Like, it's crazy. The ball flies. The fans are crazy. It's going to be a wild series. So hopefully the Diamondbacks can get their offense going prior to going down there to Mexico City. Because if not, this could get ugly with a Padres team that is very hot right now and is swinging the bat very well. Plus, obviously with the way things are lining up, even though there are no listed starters right now for that series, it ain't going to be Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka.
Starting point is 00:46:28 And right now those two guys, as Damon mentioned, are our Randy Johnson and Kurt Schilling. So going into that weekend series, it looks like it's very much going to be Zach Gallen and Ryan Nelson pitching against the San Diego Padres there. Zach Gallen got hit quite a lot, even though he won his start against the Toronto Blue Jays. And we kind of know how things went there with Ryan Nelson. So hopefully both of those guys can lock in and give some better starts than their last two starts, even though Zax wasn't bad. He just gave up a lot of hits, I believe nine hits in that start. but you still feel, like I said, you still feel pretty good with Erod on the Mount tomorrow
Starting point is 00:47:05 and Michael Soroka going on Thursday. And again, if the Diamondbacks can find a way to win this series, even though they are now down 0-1, it would be impressive. They still have not lost the series dating back to the opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they continue to roll here. So it's not always pretty. The offense still has not figured out a way to be firing on all cylinders.
Starting point is 00:47:29 It also feels like every time Heraldo Prodomo produces in some way, it takes life force away from the pitching staff. But again, if this team can figure out a way to have all these parts that have been working well at times almost independently come together, this team could be a dangerous team and can win a lot of baseball games.
Starting point is 00:47:50 Also, got a chance to talk to AJ Puck today. AJ Puck, we have video over on Twitter. Look, nobody even wants to talk about this game or AJ Puck or anything else with this team. We're all disgusted and I get it. But AJ Puck did throw a bullpen today at Chase Field. He wanted to do it at Chase Field. Could have done it at Salt River Fields.
Starting point is 00:48:09 Could have kept going, you know, training the way that he's been training. But he just wanted to be around this team and wanted to be around the stadium. And things are trending in the right direction. I believe he said this is his fourth bullpen that he's thrown. He's got to get to 10. Then once he gets to 10, he can start throwing against live hitters. And shortly after that, the Diamond will once again have a left-handed option coming out of their bullpen, and he also happens to be
Starting point is 00:48:34 one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in Diamondbacks history. We were doing the math tonight on it, Damon. In history, in the history of this team, Andrew Saul-Frank is the third highest war in Diamondbacks franchise history as far as a left-handed relief pitcher is concerned, and AJ Puck is fourth. He's one and two. Greg Swindell is one. A little bit before my time. And Andrew Chafin is two.
Starting point is 00:49:06 Yeah. That, I should have been able to. And both of those guys, both of those guys had substantially more innings pitched to get to their war totals than either of these two guys. So, um,
Starting point is 00:49:18 again, it's very valuable to get, um, AJ puck back. It's just crazy, Derek, that you're sitting up there and you're like, you're,
Starting point is 00:49:25 you're saying things like, AJ puck is, is set to come back pretty soon and the dying backs will finally have a lefty to throw out teams as if it's like my like all-star team, my 11, 12 little league year when it's like, oh, we got a lefty on this team
Starting point is 00:49:43 is actually pretty good at pitching. They'll never be able to hit that. This is major league baseball. I know, man. Every team ever has had a lefty. And yet this team just doesn't do it with lefties. It's wild. The bullpen's not perfect.
Starting point is 00:49:58 And again, you know, we keep having these performances like tonight where both, you know, the starting ERA and bullpen ERA is impacted despite the fact that, you know, overall the body of work is much better than, you know, what the ERA and what the numbers look like. But I will say that, you know, this, this bullpen overall, that's probably been the biggest surprise is they've been successful without having that left hander in the pen. You really feel like once that option is there and quite frankly is potentially an elite left-handed reliever in the pen that things obviously get much better for this team overall. But I know that tonight pitching let them down, I just still feel like overall this offense needs to figure out a way to get going and putting out some more consistent performances. However, you're right though. Like a five-run night should be enough to win you a baseball game. and the way this team has been pitching so far this season, it has been on quite a few occasions.
Starting point is 00:50:59 Tonight just wasn't that night. No, it wasn't. You could blame it on Merrill Kelly a lot, but I almost feel like this is one of those nights that the minute that that ball got stuck in the webbing of Nolan Aronado's love, everything was going to go south for this team. Like it was just such a bad omen and a bad, you know, sign there early on,
Starting point is 00:51:18 and it truly became that for the rest of this. That's going to be my version, and this is for Mays Devil here in the chat. That's my version of Jaden Bradley getting his third foul call in the first half of the final four against Michigan that took him out of the game when Arizona was, I think, down nine points
Starting point is 00:51:34 and kind of had momentum on their side. Cook the game, game over from that moment. No one Aeronado, you know, getting the ball stuck in his glove. Game over. Yeah. You can never convince me otherwise. That doesn't happen.
Starting point is 00:51:48 This is a different game. We're celebrating a W on the post game. you can't prove otherwise. So I'm just going to continue to roll with that. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for that. Well, if you're here right now and you want a little bit of joy in your life, hit that like button for some inexplicable reason, it'll turn into a baseball. And that, that maybe that'll bring you a little bit of joy. Shout out to the fine folks at YouTube for setting that up. That's pretty awesome. But we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. We are going to try to improve the mood a little bit. I know I'm no
Starting point is 00:52:22 pure edibles, but I am going to talk about some of the youngsters having success in the minor league system on another edition of Snake Farm. So don't you go anywhere? Of course, you are watching the PH&X Diamondback Show. Well, that 365 loves a full nine-in-a-game, as do I, right? But sometimes, sometimes you got to check out early, Damon. Sometimes you don't want to stick around for the whole game because things aren't going your way, right? And there's 81 of these home games. So, you know, you don't need to be around for every minute of all of them. At least, you know, that's how some nights go. But overall, Bet365 Pennable leaves in this policy because they have their early payout offer with baseball where you're a winner where you're when your team goes up by five runs with
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Starting point is 00:53:36 Terms and conditions do apply in app only. And of course, you know that moment when you've lost your sunglasses, because I know that moment when I lost my sunglasses. I lose them all the time. In fact, even though I'm here talking about Shady Ray's, I'm sure these people hope to never hear from me again. And that's because every time you lose your shady rays the way I've lost them, you can contact them and have a brand new pair of shady rays. Maybe at a regular company, Derek, but not at shady rays, man.
Starting point is 00:54:03 They know they know the deal and they know exactly what they signed up for. And they know exactly what that lost and broken replacement policy is. I don't understand how it makes them money as a company, but it makes perfect sense as to why they will give you your brand new sunglasses. That's what they promised to do. That's a great point. That's a great point. But of course, they also make some amazing sunglasses, beautiful frames that make your face look equally as beautiful,
Starting point is 00:54:26 and polarized lenses that will protect your eyes from this bright Arizona sun. So head on over to Shady Rays because they are eyewear that has your back and use that code of PHNX SR for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. That, again, great offer, 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. You're like, Derek, why would I need two or more? You just need one pair of sunglasses. If you're like me, because again, you lose them and then you need that extra pair just because you can't go without sunglasses in this state. Am I right?
Starting point is 00:54:58 You just can't go without sunglasses in the state. It's a necessity. It's like walking outside naked, basically. That's how I feel. Well, we also have, speaking of being naked, some new merch in case you haven't seen it. We got some beautiful new shirts over at our locker. We got three new t-shirts, two new hats, a brand new hoodie and multiple colors. And of course, you get a free hat or shirt if you sign up to become a diehard today
Starting point is 00:55:23 with our special $32 intro offer happening right now and only valid while the suns are in the playoffs. So that means this is a extremely limited offer, Damon, extremely limited offer. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's probably ending on Monday. So get in there and get on it right now. Check your calendars. Yeah. Do the math.
Starting point is 00:55:47 That's about as much time as you got. Ernesto is asking who's getting naked. Well, it just depends on at what time we're talking about here overall. But the debacks here, again, another night where this team offensively really couldn't get much going until late with that big Vargas home run. But most importantly, gave up entirely too many runs early on with what Merrill Kelly was doing with that change up, which again was not landing in the strike zone. we do have some positive news from young pitchers in the diamond back system and it is time for another addition of snake farm so let's take a look at how a couple of young guys are doing and damon will not allow me to ever put these stats up without including brian waltzschmidt who is
Starting point is 00:56:33 currently hitting 338 i believe after tonight's game he's hitting 337 these numbers did change a little bit but waldi i think was one for three tonight with two walks uh does have that uh it's a 5663 slugging percentage. I know that's his on-base percentage, but a 563 slug, which is pretty impressive considering I think he only has two home runs this season. So he's just been getting a lot of extra base hits. He has 14 RBI. He's been walking quite a bit, but striking out, probably a little higher than you'd like to see. And he has that 10-10 OPS. Meanwhile, David, David Hageman, again, one of the three pitchers that the Diamondback stole from the Texas Rangers, you know, at the trade deadline here in the great Merrill Kelly heist.
Starting point is 00:57:17 He finally made his debut tonight for the Hillsborough Ops and had himself a pretty good outing. The good thing about the Merrill Kelly heist, Derek, is that Merrill Kelly doesn't even have to be good for it to be a heist. Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, overall it doesn't feel great that we're paying if he's not doing well. I mean, we are paying him a lot of money overall, you know, but that part sucks.
Starting point is 00:57:38 However, you are right about the Merrill Kelly heist overall because the three, young pitchers that we got from that could be very, very good. And honestly, even though he probably wasn't the number one, like number one part of that trade, David Hagamon might end up being the best of the three, five strikeouts tonight and two innings pitched. Uh, you did walk two, but again, no hits, no runs allowed. So great, great job there by David Hagamon. Another guy who the diamondbacks got there in the, at the trade deadline is Ashton Izzy. Uh, he's been having himself a good season so far. pitch he's allowed 11 hits for earn runs he struck out 14 uh he's only walked two batters uh and he has a 2.77 era this season with a 1.00 whip so again uh some some positive news but a lot of these guys
Starting point is 00:58:28 far off not walchmidt though not waldee uh is not far off and i think that he is a guy as the season progresses it is going to be very difficult for the diamondbacks to not consider. No offense to Lordus Gurriel Jr. We knew his recovery would be a little slow. We knew when he got back out there. He wasn't going to be, you know, 100% had a lot of rust to kind of shake off. But tonight was, you know, like I said, the kind of mistake that you wouldn't see out of a young player where they just kind of gave up on that play like that. And it's not like that changed the game for this team. But as Damon said, if it was closer, You know, that moment could have been pivotal overall.
Starting point is 00:59:15 It could have been a really, really bad moment for this team. So I just think that this is a situation where the Diamondbacks have enough depth in their outfield that even though Lordus is back and it's nice to have them back, they once again can't continue to potentially have a defender out there in left field that is not playing as well just to make sure that he gets back in the lineup against playing time. he could DH. There's other options that they could have for him, you know, but most importantly,
Starting point is 00:59:44 I don't think that anybody defensively should be costing this team games because this defense has been pretty solid so far this season. It's a big reason why we have a winning record currently. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, Lourdes, definitely it felt like the Diamondbacks, at least were waiting on Lardis. And that's why Ryan Walschman was not called up because, as you kind of brought up and I thought was a really good take out of you, Derek, which, you know, I write those down when they happen.
Starting point is 01:00:17 You said that Tim Tawa, if he's going to start in left field every day, why isn't Ryan Walshman on this team? Yeah. Because the allure of a Tim Tawa is that he brings versatility to the table. But if he's the starting left fielder, you could find someone who can be a better starting left fielder in the organization than him. Now, it seems a little bit clear now, to me at least. that the reason that they didn't make that move is because they didn't want to call up Walshment for two weeks and then hand that job straight back to Lourdes-Guriel.
Starting point is 01:00:47 So that's why I think that they're still waiting on Ryan Walshment. I think this organization waits a little bit too long for my taste, for a lot of people's taste when it comes to calling up these prospects and empowering them to make impacts on the Major League roster. They didn't with Jose Fernandez. No, they didn't. But that was kind of out of injury circumstance and not necessarily out of, out of, out of, you know, feeling like maybe they wanted to. But I do feel like it's, it's just not Ryan Walschmidt's time right now, as much as I want it to be Ryan Walshman's time right now.
Starting point is 01:01:19 But I think I would, you know, be like, hey, let's D.H. Lourdes kind of easing back in. The only problem with that is that Ildemar Vargas gets taken a little bit out of the lineup in that circumstance. And he's hitting so good right now. It's hard to do that. Right. Because he's deaching a lot, him or Kattel, right? I guess you could maybe take Aranaata.
Starting point is 01:01:39 out of the lineup more and play Jose Fernandez at third, Vargas at first, you know, Catelle, Jerry, Lordus, D.Hs, Ryan Waldschman plays left field. I mean, I'm just spitballing here, but it feels like to me Ryan Walschman's not on this team because they knew Lourdes was going to be back soon, so they were just giving Lourdes that spot
Starting point is 01:01:58 and essentially kind of paving the way for it. They have a lot of options, but they got to figure some things out and they got to figure out the right combination to set this team up for success. Most importantly right now, you know, again, they emphasize defense, and it felt like the combination that they put together defensively has been really strong and working well. It's odd that the one guy that seems to be making a lot of mistakes this season is the platinum glove winner at third base. And that's unfortunate because, again, like you said, you're getting locked in on you.
Starting point is 01:02:31 That was like the last thing we were concerned about with Aeronauta, right? So like that sucks overall. But I do think that, I mean, this team is going to be a work in progress for a very long time. And there's going to be ups, there's going to be downs, and there's going to be games like this that absolutely go sideways on them. Right. When you start believing that this team is putting out, you know, consistent performances, we get two of the worst, you know, starts of the year back to back from our starting pitchers. And I'm out. And Damon's out again.
Starting point is 01:03:00 So that's the way it goes. But things could be worse. We could be the New York Mets, Damon, who have now lost 12 games in the game. a row you could be yoshi is what you're saying the guy who's a fan of a team that got their ass kicked by football scores twice in a row and is somehow a met's fan yeah that's crazy um but what's crazier is that the met's had like a no hitter and a lead going in like the sixth inning and they still lost uh that game tonight uh here's another side note that was an interesting read on social media tonight no team that's won or lost 12 games in a row has ever made the playoffs no game no team that's had a 12 games losing streak as made the playoffs. We definitely remember that from our very first season of existence, Damon, because as Michael Roquecicki pointed out to us, the Diamondbacks had a 17 game, 17 game loss streak in that season,
Starting point is 01:03:51 and I believe a 13 game lost streak in that season. And Tori Lavallo, still the manager of your Arizona Diamondback. So fun stuff. To everyone's joy. Yeah, I mean, that one, that one's for one special guy in our chat, and he knows who he is. heart to you sir but anyway love the fact that you guys are here
Starting point is 01:04:12 even though this team lost tonight you guys showed up even though maybe the starting pitching didn't tonight but we definitely appreciate you guys for stopping by we will see you tomorrow with another post game show and then another post game show on Thursday then we are off on Friday and then bringing you two more post game shows on Saturday and Sunday and a watch along there on Sunday
Starting point is 01:04:35 as well. So appreciate you guys so much for being here. Of course, you can follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon dog with a DAWG. And as always, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. It's never been more over. Yeah, thank you. Our show is at PH and X underscore DVax. But as always, Damon is out and all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much. Love you. Appreciate you for by hope you hope to see you tomorrow and hope we are talking about better circumstances for sure until then have a wonderful evening and remember kids baseball is fun but it is so much more fun when your starter doesn't give up eight runs in the first two innings

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