PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ryne Nelson Tosses ANOTHER GEM But Diamondbacks Can’t Hold On, Losing Series To Mets

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

The Diamondbacks still can’t seem to figure out the Mets, losing another series to New York at home after dropping the finale by a score of 3-2. We have more on Ryne Nelson continuing to be the best... starter in their rotation, the limited opportunities with runners in scoring position in this series, and Geraldo Perdomo & Adrian Del Castillo struggling defensively.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer!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/Sanderson Ford: The Sanderson Ford Summer Sales Event is here and they are teaming up with the boys of summer for a final Playoff Payoff Sale. You get the payoffs like deals on 24 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend. Lease one today for as low as $299 a month for 36 Months with only 10 percent cash down.Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks.  $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.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!Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items.Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off!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.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:05 Well, welcome into Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. This, of course, is the PHNXDBACs podcast brought to you by our friends of Bet365. Make sure you go download the Bet365 app. Use our code of PHNX 365 when you sign up. And, of course, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. And again, this Diamondbacks team refuses to be ordinary, losing this finale to the New York Mets by a score of 3 to 2. This one was an unfortunate game.
Starting point is 00:00:35 Ryan Nelson once again pitched very well in another outing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And the offense just kind of went missing against Mets pitching, which has been, you know, at least the story in two out of the three games that they've played here. Of course, welcome it. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. That turncoat Jesse Friedman will be joining us from Chase Field here later. and of course the man on the ones and twos is the people's producer himself a man of truth justice and the Arizona way it's the one and only Damon Farrell we're going with your full name now
Starting point is 00:01:12 that's it's Damon dog but it's Damon Farrell it feels a little formal yeah I feel for I'm not wearing a hat today this whole thing uh is not great may or may not have been brought to the office a suit may yeah I might have my attentions tonight elsewhere when it comes to you know sports I have to suddenly know football, which that's something that I'm very good at knowing. I won't lie. I'm very good at it. I'm the champion of our PHNX league. I don't know if I've said that on this show before. I know I don't really talk about it a lot. I'm very humble when it comes to being the champion, but I did win our PHNX fantasy football league last year and the ring ceremony tonight. It's going to be gorgeous. Anyway, we also have our draft, so I hope to see some of you there. Maybe that
Starting point is 00:01:57 will make this evening better because this game certainly doesn't. Of course, it felt like this was a very winnable game for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We spoke yesterday about that feeling that you have, that gut feeling inside, that you think that they're going to do it. And today was another one of those days. At least they kept it close enough. This was a tied game there late in the game. Unfortunately, Justin Martinez faltered.
Starting point is 00:02:18 He gave up a run that allowed the Mets to go up on top. And of course, it happens one day after Jesse and I had a fairly significant conversation. and I think Damon too about Justin Martinez being the closer for this team. Now, of course, he's not perfect nor is he going to be as the closer, but it just once again shows that as much as we feel like he's lights out, he has his faults as well, right? Yeah, I mean, he proved, you know, that it's not, he's not infallible tonight. But really, to be honest with you, I know this is going to shock a lot of people, Derek,
Starting point is 00:02:51 because it's me saying it, but I think you need Geraldo Pardomo to make that play. You absolutely do. Yeah, no, I'm not blaming. I'm not blaming J-Mart, really. Someone said J-Mart fault. No, not J-Mart fault. It's just, it's just late there. You know, again, late there in the game, of course.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Things didn't go perfect for him. Honestly, the fault falls on the offense, right? The Diamondbacks offense was completely held in check outside of game two of this series by the starting pitching in this series. And, I mean, they allowed, they got, you know, three runs in the first game and two runs in the final. So the Diamondbacks offense that has been fairly potent lately didn't do much. They did get some hits in this one. They got some walks, but everything seemed mostly harmless.
Starting point is 00:03:35 It didn't feel like they could string much together to score or get themselves very many scoring opportunities in this game. The Diamondbacks were 0 for one with runners in scoring position today. So not only they just didn't have those opportunities, right? Of course, Randall Gritchick, he came through for them with two outs in the third. inning there. Perdomo walked and of course every scoring opportunity gets started I feel like by perdoma walking if I'm not mistaken but Randall Gritchick brings him home with a two run dinger which was good to see for Gritchick but the Diamondbacks just made some dumb outs when they were out there. You know what I mean? Like there was a couple of opportunities especially in a close game that I think that I would
Starting point is 00:04:17 disagree with Tori Lovolo's managing of this one. I mean you had Randall Gritchick getting picked off of first in the first inning. You had Jake McCarthy getting picked off in the fourth. And then you had Jock Peterson get caught stealing there in the eighth inning. And especially that last one. I mean, the first two were, I mean, understandable. They were a little egregious, but I mean, understandable. But Jock Peterson getting caught stealing there in the eighth felt like something,
Starting point is 00:04:41 especially with the importance of that moment, with how close this game was, something that the Diamondbacks didn't really need to go for. I mean, maybe it was a hit-and-run situation. Maybe that kind of sign. was on. Maybe they just gave Jock the freedom to go when when he wants to, but that definitely wasn't, wasn't the place to do it. Yeah, I think, you know, this is overall, you're right about the runners in scoring position, right? Like, we're going to look at the series as a whole, but that seems to be the difference there, the opportunities of which the Mets got versus what the Diamondbacks got.
Starting point is 00:05:13 And it really wasn't because the Mets were, you know, bringing those guys in at a much higher rate. It's just that they had so many more opportunities. The Diamondbacks offense. didn't get enough people on base. And, you know, it just wasn't the best showing, but like we showed in the Rays series, you bounce back in the next series. People will forget about it. You know, big series against the Dodgers coming up. If that, if you can find a way to get the better end of that series, this series becomes
Starting point is 00:05:41 kind of negligible. Yeah. Well, there's some comments in the chat. Of course, no in baseball GM. Elise said something that I completely agree with. She said, I think Jock lost track of the count. and the one was running thinking it was three two. You also have Jay Cuddy there said Tori on the postgame show, I imagine, said it wasn't a hit and run.
Starting point is 00:06:01 So, yeah, it sounds like Jock just kind of had a mental lapse there maybe about what the count was. But still just a big out in a big situation, especially in a close game. And, you know, the pickoffs like Ina says there, Ina Jackson says the pickoffs killed us. That was the case today. It really felt like the airs on the base path really more than just. obviously, you know, taking a runner off when they didn't have very money opportunities today. It felt like they just kind of killed the vibe, like killed any kind of momentum that the Diamondbacks were trying to build. And when you look at those, they were, you know, strategically
Starting point is 00:06:37 throughout the game. First inning, an inning when the Diamondbacks usually score some runs, fourth inning. And then again, in the eighth inning. And lately, this team has been very good late in games at coming back. So again, that's the reason why it felt. like this one was possibly within reach, despite the fact that the Diamondbacks weren't able to get that done. But of course, today, not a lot of guys that probably deserved it. I probably should give it to Ryan Nelson because he was excellent today. But Randall Gritchick is our King Snake for this game, two for three with that home run, those two RBI. And again, I think Gritchick does a great job for this team. I mean, he hasn't really had the power numbers. But I mean, in the
Starting point is 00:07:21 limited capacity he's used, which is obviously hard as a baseball player to stay kind of in a, you know, any kind of rhythm. He does a good job when he's called upon. Yeah, Randall Gritchick continues to, you know, just do his job, really. He's not really doing much more outside of that, but you like what you see from him in the limited playing time that he gets. And you're not wrong about like when you're not able to get a consistent at-bats going, that can really, really drop down like your consistency at the plate and it makes it makes it tough to get in a rhythm like you said right but really i what i need to touch on is i feel like every ryan nelson start recently derrick's like i need him to not be king snake and i will choose anybody but ryan nelson to be king
Starting point is 00:08:06 snake that might be true and it's not it's not it's kind of egregious at it's it actually is it actually is because ryan nelson despite the mistakes he made despite those home runs that he gave up. Ryan Nelson was excellent today and he absolutely gave the Diamondbacks an opportunity to win. He went six and third innings pitched, eight hits, gave up those two run runs, zero walks, 4K. A piece of Yoshi says, I knew Nelson should have walked Lindor. Feels like that anytime Francisco Lindor is hitting at Chase Field, he should be walked. And of course, it's, it's one of those things where like that's what Archie brought up, right?
Starting point is 00:08:42 As you mature as a pitcher, there are times where you have certain guys like a Lindor, like an Alonzo where you're not going to let those guys beat you. You would rather walk them and make the next guy beat you rather than give up those opportunities. Ryan Nelson was attacking today and he did not discriminate who he was attacking against. So maybe that's one thing that he could improve upon. And I mean, can't get much better than a two earned run outing, but still, you know, in a close game like this, it ended up being very important. Of course, Nelson has some pretty impressive numbers,
Starting point is 00:09:13 a 2.77 ERA over his past 11 games, which is 10 starts, dating back to July 1st. He's averaged over six innings per start in that span. Damon brings up the run support, and that's honestly something that the average is better because two of the games Ryan Nelson has started and won for this team. The Diamondback scored 17 runs in one of them and 12 runs in another, but he still only averages 5.1 runs of support throughout this entire season. Now, early on, that really wasn't, you know, enough for some of his outings. But lately, Ryan, you know, Ryan Nelson has been great.
Starting point is 00:09:53 And if this team can give him three runs, give him four runs, Ryan Nelson is going to get you the win lately. And I think it's time we talk about it because let's be honest. We had this whole discussion about Ryan Nelson, being better than Jordan Montgomery. Who are they going to go within the rotation? Obviously, with the way he's pitched since July 1st, anybody with a pulse that watches baseball and knows anything
Starting point is 00:10:20 was like Ryan Nelson, right? Right? Right? And then you factor in the things that we've discussed the contract for Jordan Montgomery, everything else going on with this team, and, you know, of course there was questions. Ryan Nelson might quite possibly be the best pitcher on the Arizona Diamond Base.
Starting point is 00:10:38 backs right now. Now Zach, that gallon just spun a gem the other day. So I'm still putting gallon up there at one. But right now with Merrill Kelly still acclimating back to pitching, you know, from that long delay, that long time off due to that injury. Edward Rodriguez, the same thing. And obviously Brandon Fott has had his struggles despite the fact he's been very consistent for this team this season, especially with his length. Ryan Nelson is just, has just been incredible and again he kind of deserved more run support in this one than he got and that's kind of the the story here again i i did blame justin martinez there earlier and it should really be a perdomo uh you know kind of blaming perdomo there a bit and he had a bad defensive series
Starting point is 00:11:26 he had a bad defensive series yeah i mean like like he's he's oftentimes we talk about him he's he's kind of a guy where it's like you don't really expect him to make those like crazy web gem plays that you see out of like maybe the top defensive short stops in baseball. Sure. But he's usually making all the routine plays. And in the first game of this series in particular, he did, he kind of got ate up on a few plays that he should have made. And then tonight in this ninth inning, like, yeah, it's a tough play, but it's a play
Starting point is 00:11:54 that you need your shortstop to make in a crucial game with the game on the line. You know what I mean? Like he hit his glove. He kind of misjudged where the ball was going to be on that hop. And if a better shortstop probably makes that play. So yeah, it's tough. I mean, I'm the biggest pro-domo guy ever. But, you know, he wasn't good enough in this series.
Starting point is 00:12:16 And he had been playing great baseball. So it's tough to, it's tough to see a little bit. And hopefully he picks it up in this next one. For sure. And we also saw Ketel Marte flash the leather at one point in a video we posted on Twitter. And he looks very. Made me feel giddy inside there.
Starting point is 00:12:33 Yeah, it makes me. it brought me a lot of joy in my heart. So I think the thing with Justin Martinez is when you look back upon his past few performances, he's been scored upon in three of his past four outings and five of his past seven. So again, as much as, you know, Tori sounds like an absolute maniac saying that he's not ready to anoint Justin Martinez this team's closer, it's a little understandable because he's still not lights out. as much as this stuff seems lights out, as much as he's been lights out at times in relief in the seventh inning and eighth inning.
Starting point is 00:13:08 In the ninth inning, there's just still a lot there. And again, it's one of the reasons why I love having Archie around here, because his perspective there about the game being a completely different game in the ninth inning is so true. And it's so, I guess it just describes why the Diamondbacks at times have these struggles
Starting point is 00:13:26 when it comes to finding someone that's able to come in and be a lights out closer for the, this team. And that's just not this year. This is throughout the franchise's history, right? We've held on to the ones that we, that were great with our hearts very much so. But even those guys weren't like consistently great for, you know, a number of years. It was actually a topic brought up to Tori the other day, just about closers in general. Like if you look around Major League Baseball, there are not those lights out closers that come in and dominate for years. Like there might be a guy that has a great season. Edwin Diaz, who the Diamondbacks faced in this series in two
Starting point is 00:14:05 instances is a very, very good closer. But as you saw in game two, uh, not lights out, not like somebody that like is pretty much unhittable when they come in the games. And it feels like baseball does kind of lack those guys now at this point. You got like Josh Hater and a few others, but for the most part, it's, it does feel like that's a harder thing to come to. Elise says it's basically a manual place and that's it. And yeah, you're right about that. I know even haters struggle this year. But I would liken it to playing cornerback in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:14:40 That's what it's like to me. Like a lot of times cornerbacks have very small shelf lives where you come in and you're great for three years and then you're done. Like it falls off quickly. And closers are very similar because the situations you're coming in are like so high leverage situations that I feel like once it really starts to fall down, it really starts to fall down. So you don't see that kind of extended peak out of, out of closers a lot of the time.
Starting point is 00:15:08 But you're right. The ninebacks have never had that guy. And with Justin Martinez's stuff in his age profile, you hope that he can be that guy. Yeah. In the future, you know. Yeah. Piece of Yoshi, you're not. Are you the grammar police?
Starting point is 00:15:23 I mean, it's, uh, that's, that's, that's. No one's ever been more than anything police than Yoshi. Yeah. He is the, he is. really the law of this show. Get them. It seems. Ina Jackson says, to be honest,
Starting point is 00:15:35 losing this series to the New York Mets who are fighting for wildcard spot makes this tough one to simply sweep under the rug. You're right. This is one to be angry about. This one is one to, again, kind of analyze this team. Now, the Diamondbacks are still missing a lot of parts.
Starting point is 00:15:50 We've talked a lot about the injury updates. You guys know who they're missing. It's still more impressive that they've been able to do what they've been able to do without a Cotel Marte, without a Christian Walker, and without a Gabby Moreno behind the plate. ADC today, of course, you feel like you can just run on him at this point, and I feel like that that information is getting out to opposing teams.
Starting point is 00:16:11 It doesn't feel. Yeah, that's concerning. I mean, like, you feel the drop off big time of Gabby defensively not being there. Like these last couple of days in particular, you almost lost yesterday's game because of it, right? Like, pretty much solely because of it. He steals second on ADC, Marte does. And then he comes home with that bad tag. Probably neither of those things happen if Gabby's behind the plate.
Starting point is 00:16:36 It was honestly a series of defensive mistakes. Like you look at the catching situation and you look at the shortstop situation. And that's kind of where you can point to and be like that's where things really went wrong in the series, despite the poor hitting as well. Elise in the chat says, Shoah going to get to 50 stolen bases this weekend. I'm not allowed to say anything. about the Dodgers ever, unless it's very negative because it gets perceived that I am somehow a pro-Dodgers person. So I have something to say about the Dodgers.
Starting point is 00:17:09 So did you see that 40, on the 40-40 home run, the home run that got Shoahita 40-40, that guy dropped the ball. Did you happen to see that? So there's a grown man, brings a glove to a baseball game. Then he proceeds to drop it, completely inexcusable. If you're a grown man bringing a glove to a baseball game, you can't drop the ball. You can't drop it. It's suspect to even be bringing a glove at all because you should be able to just use your bare hands.
Starting point is 00:17:33 But the fact that you're bringing a glove and then dropping it, really suspect behavior. That being said, I mean, no one is rooting for Otani to get 50, 50 more than that guy, right? Because then the 40-40 ball becomes, who gives a shit about the 40-40 ball? Like, the second that that becomes, there's a 50-50 ball. Yeah, that guy's going to be fist pumping, like the Dodgers just won the championship. Basically. Yeah. I mean, that's, that was just where my mind went to.
Starting point is 00:18:02 Like, that's, no one's reading. He cares more than Otani does. I brought my glove to the home run derby, which I felt like was acceptable, right? It's, there were more. I think that's the one place. There were more gloves there than you see at a regular baseball game. I think that's the one place where it's okay. I'm just going to be honest.
Starting point is 00:18:21 I felt silly. Yeah. And then I upgraded to a giant glove. It is a little silly. The giant glove is like, it's egregious. So that kind of like you're playing into it a little bit. It felt a little bit better. Yeah, it felt like at least if I'm going to, you know, if I'm going to be silly,
Starting point is 00:18:36 I'm going to be really silly with it. But of course, this one does suck and you're right. This is a tough one. The Diamondbacks can't really afford to lose games over this stretch. They have a tough four game series here coming up against the Dodgers. I'm sure they're going to make my prediction look very stupid by the end of it. But still, the Diamondbacks need to focus on the wild card. They need to focus on the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:18:56 and they need to try to get every win over the stretch. They have some very teams. They're very, very good teams left to play, including the Astros that can't seem to lose, and they're just going to be in the ALCS. They've already reserved their reservation for that. You at least have one series against the Rockies, but you play the Giants after that,
Starting point is 00:19:13 after the Dodgers, and you know the Giants are still going to play you tough. There's a lot of series ahead, even against teams that are out of the playoff race that are going to look to kind of spoil things for you late in the season. So the Diamondbacks need to kind of stay on pace. I mean, the Mets, this does suck, but the Mets have been playing good baseball. Let's be honest.
Starting point is 00:19:31 And the Mets have a lot of motivation there to beat the Diamondbacks in order to try to keep their playoff hopes alive right now. So that's where we're at. Ina says, okay, let's now cheer up. Padres lost one to four. Way to book ended, Ina. I appreciate that. That's a good point. So it could be worse.
Starting point is 00:19:51 And, of course, this is, it's going to be a dog fight. I mean, it's not going to be easy. The Diamondbacks were, I'm sure the Diamondbacks were not expecting to get to a point where they could just kind of coast throughout the rest of the season. And again, as fans, we should just be happy that they were able to stack as many wins throughout this period of time without, you know, their star players as as they can. And just look forward very much to getting those guys back, hopefully by the series there, like I said, with the giant. So we'll see. But of course, we thank all of you for being here in the PHNX Sports channel. even you, Thunderbolt, who wasn't here for the win, but of course is here for the loss.
Starting point is 00:20:28 We love you all. Make sure to subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever our wonderful shows go live. And of course, hit that like button. Drop that like. Make it maintenance the world to us, at least to me. Maybe not to anybody else, but it means a lot to me.
Starting point is 00:20:44 If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you subscribe over there on your favorite audio podcasting app. And please leave us a review. Those five-star reviews definitely help us out. course, we love that feedback. Of course, before we get to the count and talk about the series numbers, which don't look great, well, the bullpen does really looks great. We're going to talk about Bet365. Of course, Bet365 is the place to go bet on live sports. It's the place to go bet on all sports. Bet365 just makes watching sports more fun. They offer the widest range of games and markets
Starting point is 00:21:17 available for live in-game betting across 78 sports. And of course, they have 90 million users worldwide. and that's for a great reason. They offer some great offers. Right now, I think they just bumped their bet and get offer up. Was that right, Damon? They bumped it up to, is it $200 now? They did bump it up. Isn't that?
Starting point is 00:21:35 I mean, that's just insane. The good people at Bet365. Well, you know what it is, right? Those other gambling sites, right? Like we've seen it. They changed their offers and they kind of like reduce it down. Bet365 is like, no, no, no. Football seasons here, basketball seasons here.
Starting point is 00:21:49 We're giving you more money as a new customer. And right now you can. Sign up, use our code of PHNX365, deposit $10 and choose between two offers, again, a bet and get offer where you place a bet of $5 or more and get $200 in bonus bets or a first bet safety net offer where you can place up to a $1,000 bet. And of course, if you're qualifying bet loses, you'll receive a matched refund in bonus bets. There is the Bet365 baseball early payout offer, and of course you are a winner when your team goes up by five runs with an instant payout.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Parlay and same game parlay selections will be marked as well. winners as well. So download the Bet365 app. Use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up. Choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you're someone you know has a gambling problem wants help, call 100. Next step text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. Well, tonight is the night. I guess there's a draft going on over at Heathliver Resorts and Casinos, but more importantly, it's the night that I finally get crowned. champion of our fantasy football league look i'm humble about it i know i don't talk about it ever on
Starting point is 00:22:58 this show i think maybe no never mind i was going to say i think maybe i talked about it earlier but no you might be the most humble about it i'm told i'm so humble about it it's wild right like damon's like i don't know why you wouldn't brag about it more and i'm like come on what am i probably derrick's best quality is his humility i mean second only to my fashion sense right but of course uh you can take all of this in including this outfit that I won't be wearing because I have a whole other championship outfit that I'll be wearing tonight for the draft where I will be, it'll be my ring ceremony. That's what I want you guys there for. Wait, did you win?
Starting point is 00:23:34 The fantasy football league on the year? Yeah, I did. You didn't hear about it? No, I didn't hear about that. It's because I'm so humble about it. I never talk about the fact that I won our fantasy football league on this show. But of course, we are having our draft and my ring ceremony at the best place we could have it. That's at Heala River resorts and casinos, and no one does it better than Heel the River.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Of course, they offer an authentic and immersive experience. You can join us tonight. I think we had tickets, but weren't they free? I think you just had to just RSVP, but that still doesn't mean like we're going to kick you out. It's a big facility. They have over 800 slot machines, or as Lindsay said on yesterday's show, 4,000 slot machines, which that's not true. But they do have 15 blackjack tables, live game tables, and so much more, including Arizona's largest casino sports books. So head over to Hela River Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what next level is all about.
Starting point is 00:24:25 Head over there tonight and join us for our event. Of course, we will be there all year long with events for the Cardinals and the Suns, watch parties, and more. So stay tuned for info on that. And of course, you do you at HeelaRer Resorts and Casinos. Visit play atheela.com for more details. All right. Well, of course, let's take a look at the count for this series presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. Diamondbacks get outscored by the New York Mets 16 to 13 out hit by the Mets 29 to 23.
Starting point is 00:24:55 This is a damning stat for the offense in the series, even considering the Diamondbacks scored eight runs in game two. The Diamondbacks were only three for 12 with runners in scoring position. Three for 12. That's kind of wild over a three-game stretch, right? So they did not give themselves very many opportunities to score in this one. And obviously, the results reflect that. Yeah, from this offense as well, like, that's just not enough opportunities. I mean, I mentioned it earlier and I alluded to it.
Starting point is 00:25:26 Like, 241 to 250, obviously the averages there are pretty similar. Yeah. The difference being the Mets got more than twice as many people on base in those scoring positions. Like the Diamondbacks, that's just not good enough. Has to be better on that end. I agree. You can't be, I think, you know, it's, I like to see that we're hitting a lot of home runs recently. Like, that's, that's a nice development.
Starting point is 00:25:48 team's really been hitting it out of the park, which is in the playoffs, like a lot of times it comes down to can you be the team that pushes those home runs across the board. But in regular season baseball, we need more runners in those scoring positions. And being so home runner bust is just not, not ideal. All right. Well, starting pitching ERA for the Mets 4.42 to the starting pitching ERA for the Diamondback 7.16. The real thing there is that the Diamondbacks bullpen there, 0.84 for their relief
Starting point is 00:26:17 ERA to the 4.69 for the Mets and of course that 0.84 ERA very impressive. I mean, I know it's kind of skewed there a little bit based on the fact that somehow Jordan Montgomery was not charged with a single run when he came out. But those were all charged to Brandon Fought. Of course, though, this bullpen continues to be very good. As you see there across the series, they were not the problem for the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. It definitely, I mean, I know they gave up that run late. I would almost say that the defense was a bigger problem in this series, you know, than the bullpen. Yeah. That was great. I mean, the defense and the, and just the, the offense, just getting players in those scoring positions, I think is what, what it comes down to.
Starting point is 00:27:03 Like the, if you're better defensively, you can kind of get away with how bad the offense was at times in this series. Yeah. But the problem is they were, they were shaky on the defensive end. and that's still like the combination of the both is just a losing formula. All right. Well, of course, we are joined by the man formerly known as my vice mayor, currently known as an independent of some kind. It is the one and only thunder stick, Jesse Friedman. Jesse, this game kind of stunk.
Starting point is 00:27:33 I felt like Ryan Nelson deserved better as he always does. But Diamondbacks weren't able to do much against this Mets team. They weren't, no. And this really continues a recent trend. for the Diamondbacks where they've struggled to hit left-handed pitching. You think about earlier in the series against Sean Mania. You think about Jeffrey Springs, what he was able to do against them in the Ray's series. Obviously, it's not a huge sample of lefties recently.
Starting point is 00:28:00 But the Diamondbacks entered today, Derek, with a 594 team OPS against lefties going back to August 12th. And just a couple of days before that, of course, is when Catea got hurt. And Cotel Marte has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball against, lefties over the past few years. So, you know, the offense has found ways to stay afloat against Ritees. We saw that yesterday. They were able to have some success against Luis Severino, obviously came back toward the end and scored eight runs. But these games against lefties, it's starting to become a little bit of a trend when you're missing three of your key offensive players and all three of them bat right-handed. And, you know, Gabriel Moreno and Katel-Marté in
Starting point is 00:28:42 particular, I've had a ton of success against lefties in their careers. It's really tough to overcome. And it feels like we're really starting to see the effects of that. Mays Devil in the chat says Mets fans have quickly risen up my least favorite fan bases. Well, strap in because there are going to be 40,000 plus at the Dodgers versus the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. And they're going to remind you very quickly of which one we hate the most because that, there's going to be a lot of Dodgers fans out there.
Starting point is 00:29:08 It kind of makes me sick. But I will say, Jesse, that, of course, Ryan Nelson, he just, man, the guy continues to shove. He continues to be incredible for this team. Even on a day where he made a few mistakes, those mistakes are still limited, not compounded, got himself some double plays. We were kind of, you know, ragging on the defense. But Ryan Nelson doesn't get a lot of double plays, but he got some very timely ones today.
Starting point is 00:29:31 And it felt like, again, he just goes out there and gives this team a chance to win every five days. He really does. I mean, and really even more than that, I would say, I mean, Ryan Nelson, as a 2.77 ERA over the past two months at this point. Like, that's pretty good. That'll play for sure. He's been this team's best starting pitcher over the last couple months. And even though this game ended in a loss, it really wasn't Ryan Nelson's fault, I wouldn't
Starting point is 00:29:57 say. I mean, yes, he did give up the two home runs. He did give up two runs in his outing. But six in a third inning's two earned runs. That's a pretty darn good start. And it's really just more of the same for Ryan Nelson and what he's been giving, the diamond backs here lately. So yeah, I think the story tonight for the debacks is is the offense. It's you know, only managing two runs against Peterson, obviously, who again is a left-handed pitcher,
Starting point is 00:30:24 allowing him to pitch as deep into the game as he did. And then I know you guys have touched on this already. There's some sloppy play for the debacks in this one. Heraldo Pardombo, I think maybe could have made that play on Jose Iglesias's single that wound. That up giving the Mets the lead and proved to be the difference in this game. We'll get to Pardomo's comments on that here a little bit later in the show. But then, of course, it's the base running stuff, right? With two pickoffs and it caught stealing, just some things we're not used to seeing for this Diamondback's team.
Starting point is 00:30:58 I guess there was some chatter again because of the comment about Mets fans. And I want to reiterate, yes, Yoshi is also our favorite Mets fan. He's also our favorite grammar police officer. as well. So we appreciate him being here and keeping us honest on how to, you know, pronounce players' names. And this is coming from a guy that's been Derek Montilla for most of his life. So, I mean, you would think I would, you know, it broke me after a while. I was like, if nobody's going care about my name, why should I care about anyone else? I'm Damien. Everywhere I go. I'm somehow Jared when I say my first name. Derek. And they're like, Jared. I'm like, no, Derek. But it happens enough that I just know
Starting point is 00:31:41 I say my name, it sounds like I say Jared, which is one of my friends and I hate him very much. So it's like the worst person that I could be confused with saying my name was. A lot of people hear David sometimes when I'm on the phone too. And that's tough to deal with. Jesse's so easy. Jesse's easy. It's a metaphor for Jesse in general. Probably spell it wrong.
Starting point is 00:32:02 People, yeah, that's what I was going to say. People have no idea how to spell my name. I get G-E-S-S-Y a lot, which still puzzles. me. J.E.S. I.E. is probably the more common mistake. That one I understand a little bit more because it's like actually a spelling of like an actual name. But yeah, yeah, I feel bad for you guys. That must be tough. More importantly, how many people tormented you with singing Jesse's girl to you throughout your lifetime? I feel like that's a sentence worse than a lot of these things potentially. Yeah, far too many. That's all I will say. It's gross.
Starting point is 00:32:41 You should change it to it, G, Jesse. That'll confuse people even more. Well, of course, when we come back from our commercial break here, we're going to get more from Jesse here and more from the clubhouse at Chase Field. But, of course, first, we need to talk about our friends at Shady Ray's. Man, I've talked about their lost and broken replacement plan. But lately, it's become the topic of conversation
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Starting point is 00:34:44 Hey guys, take advantage of our lost and broken replacement policy that is better than all of eyewear. I'm just going to send you out an entire other box filled with sunglasses. That's literally how it works. That's crazy. They are great people. And of course, like I said, they have your back long after you purchase. So make sure to check out Shady Ray's.
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Starting point is 00:36:07 Is there any, it's still that time of the year. We have to put up with this. We do our regularly scheduled political advertisement. We have to play out. Let's do the thing. These are getting weird. When you elect a mayor, you need somebody trustworthy, somebody that reflects the values that you want to see in your community.
Starting point is 00:36:26 But ESPO, all he ever does is blame others. I offered to eat pieces of the shoe when Saul told me I was not allowed to. Give him one out. and that's what he's just going to keep rolling with that. He's going to put it on me. Derek Montia is a proud man of his word. When he makes a promise, he stands by it. Espo, on the other hand, he's always looking for a loophole or somebody else to blame.
Starting point is 00:36:48 Give him and out. And that's way. He's just going to keep rolling with that. He's going to put it on me. Espo, he's not just radical. He's dangerous. Ethical standards and PHNX officials is responsible for the content of this advertising. Really makes you think.
Starting point is 00:37:03 Really makes you think. I remember one time I committed to dyeing my hair purple. And as you guys may or may not remember, I fulfilled my end of the bargain. I don't know why you would suggest that you're going to eat a shoe and then not eat it if that thing happens. But, I mean, again, false promises. This is the same man that told our entire office today that he was going to buy them all lunch every Monday. Jesse, come on. This is like when-
Starting point is 00:37:31 He didn't say that, Jesse. Jesse. I mean, it's kind of swinging your vote, isn't it, Jesse? It's insane. He's not going to do it. It's an empty promise. This is like when the kid running for president of the student council tells you he's going to put chocolate milk in the water fountain.
Starting point is 00:37:44 He can say it, Jesse. He doesn't mean it's going to happen. Are you doing voiceover for your own political ads? That's not me. That is not me. That is absolutely not me. It sounds kind of like you, but not like all like you. I completely 100% verify that that voice you're hearing is not me at all.
Starting point is 00:38:13 Not actually me. Just saying. Speaking of fulfilling your debts, as conflicted as I am about this, Jesse, my good friend Tim, who used to write for ESPN and cover combat sports, he now works in Vegas covering poker. He contacted me through Twitter and made the absurd promise that if the Mets won the series, he was going to dye his hair blue like I dyed my hair purple. And despite the fact that I'm upset about this series, loss,
Starting point is 00:38:41 I can't help but at least smile a little bit that my friend has to dye his hair blue. That does seem like a nice silver lining for you, Derek. It is. It's like hedging your bets emotionally a little bit there. You know what I mean? Yeah, this was, there were a lot of Mets fans here, Derek. I will say that. I believe the attendance was 18,000 for this.
Starting point is 00:39:03 game and honestly not a not a great showing here at chase field over the last few days uh there just weren't very many people i think yesterday it was low 20s i want to say similar story on tuesday not necessarily what you're looking for for a team that is almost 20 games over 500 and in a very good position to make the playoffs with like a month left in the season so i mean i think debaques fans by and large they've showed up more this season the attendance numbers are certainly up but after winning six games in a row on the road trip you you figured it it might be a little better than that coming back yeah and i mean you expect that in may and june sometimes when the newness of the season kind of wears off especially if a team is struggling the way this team did early on but yeah like you said man we're getting down to
Starting point is 00:39:50 it there's not a lot of series left at home there's not a lot of homestands left and i know everybody's going to come out for the series with the dodgers so maybe that impacts it you know what i mean like we we the normal people of arizona sometimes times can't be like I'm going to go to every game over the course of a week that's at chase field. Jesse, he's a different animal. I know I have friends that have like the, you know, that that pass that they bought early on in the season where they can go to a game. Like they've been fully utilizing that and going to lots of games.
Starting point is 00:40:21 But it's hard to come out, especially if you have plans to come out for a big series like that Dodgers series. But this was an equally big series for the Diamondbacks. It really was. And that's why this kind of sucks that they lost. it. They let the Mets make up some ground. Luckily, they have enough of a cushion where it doesn't make it as substantial, you know, loss where you really feel like they're breathing down your neck.
Starting point is 00:40:41 Plus, you also have the fact that the Padres also lost to the St. Louis Cardinals today that kind of eases the pain of, you know, of this situation. But, you know, the Dodgers aren't going to stop winning. And the division is only going to slowly get a little bit further and further away. Not to mention that it's going to be a very tough series against that blue crew. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I would necessarily say the division is only going to get further away. I mean, I think it depends on what happens this weekend, right? On paper, like, do you love the Diamondback's chances when it looks like Walker and Marte are both going to be out for likely the entire series, at least most of the series, at least half of the series, I guess.
Starting point is 00:41:26 And you also are certainly not expecting Gabriel Moreno back anytime soon. So on paper, the Dodgers are maybe a little bit better positioned. I know Freddie Freeman has been a bit banged up. They've kind of backed off him recently. It'll be interesting to see if Freeman plays at all this weekend. But even without him, I mean, you've still got Mookie Betts now back with the Dodgers. Of course, Shio Otani is doing his thing and seems to have a very realistic shot at, you know, 50 homers and 50 stolen bases, which of course is a pretty, would be a pretty oppressive accomplishment. So, yeah, it's going to be tough.
Starting point is 00:42:02 This is a healthier Dodgers team than what the D-backs have seen recently, even though the Dodgers, of course, are still facing some injuries of their own. Well, what do we have from Tori here post-game, Jesse? You've got something on the base running mistakes they made? Yeah, yeah, let's go ahead and start there. This is Tori Lavello talking about. Of course, there were three base running mistakes, at least by my account. there were two pickoffs.
Starting point is 00:42:29 One was Randall Grishick that happened in the first inning. Then there was Jake McCarthy. It happened in the fourth inning. And then Jock Peterson, a sort of odd caught stealing in the eighth where he was out by a mile. Tori was asked about all three of those after the game. And here's what he had to say. We highlighted his move, a step-off move in particular. He doesn't like to throw to the bases with the traditional pickoff.
Starting point is 00:42:53 It's always a step-off. We talked about it. Video was seen by these players. We just got clipped. We got clipped a couple times by a good move. And that happens in this game. We give him an inning's worth of outs on the bases. We traditionally don't do that, but it happened, and it could have been the difference in the game.
Starting point is 00:43:09 We've got to make some adjustments. Yeah, then what happened on that job? Yeah, that's just a baseball play. I felt very good about Gurriel putting the ball in play 3-1. I didn't think it was going to be a slider. I thought he just bounced the slider that was paddled by the catcher, so I was thinking fastball, and Guriel likes to swing in those situations. wanted to create some action.
Starting point is 00:43:28 This is the team that we identified that we wanted them to play fast. We just never really got into that rhythm. But it was a 3-1 slider out of nowhere. It wasn't predictable. He took it and it was equal to now. I was just trying to make a baseball play in a baseball decision. It didn't work. Well, and I mean, again, this was a close one.
Starting point is 00:43:45 It's not like the Diamondbacks really had like a lot of room to make mistakes, right? And I mean, those things ended up costing them some pretty big base runners in those moments. and I said it earlier, but it felt like it just kind of killed their momentum a little bit when things started. It felt like when those guys were on was when action normally starts for this team. You had a guy in the first, you had a guy in the fourth, you had a guy in the eighth, right? Like those are times where all of a sudden the Diamondbacks get something cooking there. And I felt like those guys getting picked off just kind of let the air out of the offenses balloon. Yeah, and I think it was also the double plays in this game, you know, Josh Bell singles to start the second inning.
Starting point is 00:44:27 Jake McCarthy very quickly grounded into, I think it was the first pitch he saw, grounded into a double play. Suddenly you've got bases, empty two outs. And then in the seventh inning, I think that was also a hinge point in the game. You've got Corbyn Carroll up at the plate with a runner at first base and one out. Corbin hits a soft ground ball to the second baseman. Mets wind up throwing it away. It puts runners at the corners with one out.
Starting point is 00:44:51 You feel like you're in really good position to take the lead there. And then Kevin Newman grounds into an inning ending double. play. So just a couple of crushing moments there. And yeah, I mean, you know, with the base running mistakes, like, who knows if the Diamondbacks actually wind up scoring in the first inning or the fourth inning, if Grishik and McCarthy are able to avoid those. But at the very least, you're forcing David Peterson to throw a few more pitches. And the fact that the Diamondbacks, they just were not making him work. I know they made him throw 22 pitches in the third inning. It seemed like they were maybe starting to get to him a little bit. And then it was,
Starting point is 00:45:27 was 10 pitches in the fourth, 11 pitches in the fifth, 10 pitches in the 6th. He was just cruising from that point forward. And if you're able to eliminate those base running mistakes, maybe you allow yourself to see some more pitches and maybe you don't have Peterson pitching all the way through the seventh inning. Yeah, he went seven, seven innings, two runs allowed, definitely dominated the Diamondbacks today. But they did keep it, you know, close.
Starting point is 00:45:51 And of course, that big play there where Peraldo made that mistake late. We talked about it. Jerry just had a tough series, man. Tough series defensively. Yeah, he really did. Tuesday, there were several miscues that just seemed sort of out of character. He seemed like he was kind of a step slow going to his right. And then, of course, today it was a play moving to his left.
Starting point is 00:46:13 Not an easy play necessarily, but a play that I feel like we were used to seeing Perdomo make. Iglesias hits a ground ball up the middle with a runner at third and two outs. And of course, it winds up. I did hit Perdomo's glove, but he wasn't able to make the play, and that winds up being the difference in the game. We did talk with Perdomo after this one about that play, and here's what he had to say. Yeah, I think that was on me, too. I didn't throw my inties, and my auntie told me to move a little bit to the left side, and I didn't.
Starting point is 00:46:47 I don't know why, and, you know, that's a easy grand boy used to me before. So I feel like for me, defending hitting this year was a completely disaster for me, and I'm thinking I just need to move on and be ready for the next series. So you felt like before the pitch you shouldn't. You were thinking about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right before the pitch, you know. Everybody knows like just to throw 100 and 1002, and I don't think like a guy like Iglesia want to like pull the ball, like hard sinker.
Starting point is 00:47:19 And right before that's two pictures, like something told me like, oh, like move to the left side. And I don't know why I didn't. But that's why I told a couple of my team, like that wasn't me, saying like a couple days ago, too, it happened. And I didn't trust my instant right there. And, yeah, like, I just need to move on. I don't like to see Jerry P. said. That makes me, like, I can tell he's sad there. And it's like I'm not used to seeing kind of a toned down Herald Operdomo.
Starting point is 00:47:51 But he's such a leader. He really is. He takes that responsibility, right? He has a problem admitting that it was a disaster for him. Jesse, I'd like to have you know, I was the first one on the show to bring up Prudomo's mistake and say that he needs to make that play. If you want to win the game, your shortstop needs to make that play. Damon's growing as a person. It's amazing.
Starting point is 00:48:11 But it is nice to hear him go in and be like, hey, I told my team, I'm sorry and that that's on me and that I got to be better. Because that's exactly right. He does have to be better than that. And he's the leader out there on the field, right? I mean, he's the field manager, as Tori's called him. Yeah, and you can understand what Perdomo is talking about there. He's basically saying that he should have trusted his instincts with a guy on the mound who's throwing 100 miles an hour.
Starting point is 00:48:39 You know, of course, Perdomo knows what's coming there. He knows that Martinez is throwing a sinker. And a guy like Jose Iglesias is not someone you really expect to be pulling a ball that's coming in that hard. So he was feeling like he should maybe move more up the middle before the pitch even came, which would have put him in a better spot to make that play. And he just for whatever reason, as you heard him describe there, he just didn't follow his instincts. And I guess it winds up costing him.
Starting point is 00:49:07 And yeah, this was a rough series for Prudomo, not great at the plate. I know he did draw a key walk late yesterday that helps set the table for Corbyn to do what he did. but overall the the bats for perdomo have have been a little rough lately it's it kind of feels like either he's able to draw a walk or it's some sort of weak contact um which is certainly something that that we've seen at times with him in the past so it's a lot of pressure derrick i mean putting perdomo at the top of the lineup pretty consistently especially against lefties which you know historically prodomo has been better against right-handed pitching so this is a tall ask for him and defensively. He has been a little bit not quite himself coming into today. He was at minus one
Starting point is 00:49:53 outs above average at shortstop. Last year, I believe he was a plus four at the end of the season. So his range has not quite been what we're used to what we're used to it being. Well, our Mets friend, our Mets fan friend, Yoshi, he suggested not pitching to Linder. We have more from Ryan Nelson here talking about that exact at bat. Here's what Nellie had to say. Yeah, really tough at bat. I think there was some pitches where I didn't quite hit my spot, and I think that we could have been out of that a little quicker
Starting point is 00:50:24 and eventually not end up giving the homer. So, yeah, I think in that spot right there is just about execution. I didn't execute good enough. Was there one pitch there that you felt like you had him set up if you had me in the right pitch? Yeah, we were trying to go fastball down and away a couple times maybe to freeze him after a change up and end up yanking it across the plate in. So I think that those. Those spots right there.
Starting point is 00:50:47 They can be a big turning point in the at-bat. Especially against a hitter as good as Lundor. Yeah, Lendor is, he is so good. And he has been an absolute thorn in the Diamondback side this season. In the series earlier this year in New York between the D-backs and the Mets, Lindor went seven for 15. I know he was two for five with a homer in that Tuesday game. And then today, he obviously had a big home run as well.
Starting point is 00:51:17 don't remember up the top of my head what he did yesterday. But yeah, Lindor, I actually looked this up before today's game. Francisco Lindor has hit the Diamondbacks better than any team in throughout his career. He came into today with a 366 career batting average against the Diamondbacks and a 371 career batting average here at Chase Field. So I don't know if he just loves hitting here, whatever it is, but he has been an absolute Thorne for the Diamondbacks not only this season, but in years past as well. Well, the Diamondbacks again, I think Ina said it earlier.
Starting point is 00:51:55 This one's not one that you can easily just flush, but they do still have a lead. They still do have a playoff spot and they move on and they face another very tough team here in the Dodgers for a four game series at Chase Field. But things in Major League Baseball got a little crazy today with MLB's waiver madness being unleashed upon all of us jesse there's some quality players that have been placed on waivers including of course somebody i have my eye on tommy fam yeah it might not be quite as mad as we saw last year when the angels just like put their entire team on waivers yeah uh i believe randall grishick was one of those guys if i'm not mistaken the angels acquired grishick at the
Starting point is 00:52:39 deadline from the Rockies and then they put them on waivers shortly thereafter. So yeah, the crop of players this season, there's not any huge names. You wouldn't necessarily expect any huge names. But the idea here for people who don't know is that these players are basically just available to be claimed by anyone. The timing here is very intentional. This leaves enough time. All these teams that have put these guys on waivers, they left enough time so the players
Starting point is 00:53:07 could still be postseason eligible once they join their new team. And all you're really doing if you're a claiming team is you're just taking on that player's contract, whatever it may be. So you can't just look at the player's stats or, you know, how attractive they might be. You also have to consider what the contract situation is going forward. You're assuming all of that if you take on a player, which probably means that some of these guys who are on waivers are not going to be claimed at all. Teams are just going to be like, yeah, maybe we would like to add that player to our
Starting point is 00:53:37 team, but we don't necessarily want to be paying them, you know, two more years of arbitration or whatever it is. But there are a few names here that stand out to me as, as players that could be attractive for postseason contenders. One of them is Tommy Fam, of course, who you just mentioned. Fam has not had a great season. He was acquired by the Cardinals at the trade deadline and is not hit much. He has a 698 OPS on the season. You know what I want. But yeah, you want him to be teammates with Jock Peterson or the vibe. What, Jesse? Grow up.
Starting point is 00:54:14 What? No, I was, I wanted him for his better in leadership. That's what I wanted him for. I had nothing to do with fantasy football at all. It's not like, I just, I'm in total fantasy football mode.
Starting point is 00:54:25 I don't know if you know this, but I won our fantasy football league last year. I don't ever talk about it on the show because of, you know, the humility factor there, obviously. But, um,
Starting point is 00:54:34 so yeah, fantasy football's on my mind a lot. No, I mean, I do mean from a perspective of like Tommy Fam did something special when he was around this team last year. And I wasn't entirely what he did on the field. It felt like he did give this team kind of a tough, a toughness about them, an edge that they needed at the right time. And, you know, kind of going into the playoffs like they did, it felt like the team's, you know, attitude reflected his a little bit, right? which we know Tommy Fam is himself all the time. So you know a bit more about Tommy Fan,
Starting point is 00:55:10 but we also know that Tori Lavolo has a little bit of an edge to him too that he likes to, you know, manage using. And that's aside that most of us as media or fans don't really get to see, but we know it's there because Tori's an incredibly tough person. But yeah, Taylor Rogers, Jesse, Giants reliever, a couple of relievers here that have some pretty good, ERAs that might be a little tempting to kick the tires on if given the opportunity. Yeah, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:55:41 Yeah, I think in addition, Tommy Fam, who, yeah, I mean, the narrative, obviously, that would be a lot of fun, given what he meant to the team down the stretch last season. I don't really think the debacks need another outfielder right now, frankly. So I would be quite surprised if they made a run at Tommy Fam. But, yeah, from a reliever standpoint, there's a couple of guys that stand out there. Taylor Rogers, you just mentioned, he has a 2.45 ERA for the San Francisco Giants this year, has genuinely been very, very good and would be an asset for, I think, any postseason team. The Diamondbacks last year put in a claim on a similar pitcher in Matt Moore,
Starting point is 00:56:20 another left-handed reliever who is having a pretty solid year. But the catch here, Derek, is that the claiming process, it goes in reverse order of standings. So last year the Diamondbacks put in claims on four players, and they went 0 for four because their record was too good. And this year, that's going to be even more of an issue because their record is much better than what it was a year ago. The only way for them to get someone like Taylor Rogers is for them to put in a claim and for no other team in the league that has a worse record than them to also put in a claim. Because if they did, that team would beat them. So there is, Rogers is in kind of an interesting contract situation because I believe he's, he's under contract for next season as well for $12 million, which is maybe a little bit more
Starting point is 00:57:09 than some teams would want to pay for a left-hand reliever. You would be assuming that if you claimed him. And the other guy I'll mention here real quick, another left-handed reliever is Drew Smiley of the Chicago Cubs, who's also had a very good season. Smiley has an ERA of 2.91, another guy who could be an asset for a playoff team. He is not under contract firmly for next year. He just has a mutual option for next season that I imagine he will reject his side of that and become a free agent.
Starting point is 00:57:40 There's a $2.5 million buyout on that mutual option in addition to around $2 million or so dollars that he'd be owed the rest of the year. So if you do claim Drew Smiley, you're paying about $4 or $5 million, dollars guaranteed for you know about a month plus the playoff so i imagine some teams might be might be hesitant for that reason well of course the dimebacks uh don't have time to kind of soak this one in too long they got to get over it and deal with the dodgers uh coming into town tomorrow so we will have more on that we'll have a post game show tomorrow jesse will be joining us from the ballpark but of course before we get out of here we have to let everybody know once again uh
Starting point is 00:58:23 a few things. I won the fantasy football league and tonight's my ring ceremony. Of course, very humble. Oh, is that part of, is that part of tonight? That is part of the,
Starting point is 00:58:30 yeah, it's part of the festival. Well, the draft, it's like the all star game. That's the actual event. And then like the draft for our league is just an ancillary event that's also there.
Starting point is 00:58:41 I don't even know that it was planned that the ring ceremony happened. I think Derek's just forcing that into the itinerary here, Jess. I don't know. I know that's happening. And I know that's the main event. But of course, uh,
Starting point is 00:58:52 Jesse, Damon's lying. I'm not. I always tell the truth. We know the numbers. They also always tell the truth. What do you have for tonight's number that doesn't lie? Yeah, today is just three and nine. This is the Diamondbacks record against the Mets at home going back to 2021.
Starting point is 00:59:11 They obviously lose two out of three this season. They got swept at home last season. They lost two out of three at home each of the two seasons before that. So I don't know what it is, Derek, about the New York Mets in this ballpark. I guess I mentioned Francisco Lendor and how he seems to just utterly rake here. But yeah, the D-backs have really struggled to beat the Mets at home for whatever reason over the last few years. And obviously the Mets got them once again here in this three-game series. Just the second Diamondback series loss going back to two months ago, right?
Starting point is 00:59:47 It's just this series. And then, of course, the Tampa Bay Rays series. where they got swept a little over a week ago. So do with that what you will. It's gross. It's all gross, but they'll shake it off. And Diamondbacks, they have quite a whole month of baseball still to play in order for them to make the playoffs.
Starting point is 01:00:08 And of course, nothing is promised at this point. So they got to keep on the role that they've been on prior to this. But damn those Mets. Anyway, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, our producer, the people's producer, Damon is at Damon dog. That's D-A-W-G.
Starting point is 01:00:26 We are Damon's dogs. Bark-bark. You know, that happens to be the name of my fantasy football team. So Derek just admitted he's rooting for me. I mean, I won my championship. I'll root for you. I'm a good friend. If you're willing to sort of give me a helping hand as we're doing,
Starting point is 01:00:45 as we're going through the draft process tonight, Damon, that would be much appreciated. So I am one of Damon's dogs. It's crazy. This man comes crawling back on his hands and knees to us and my administration after turning on us and going with Team Espo. And now he wants the vice mayor ship back. Now he wants you to help him with his fantasy football team. This is insane, Jesse. You need to learn your lesson, I think.
Starting point is 01:01:10 Jesse, you'll have my people reach out to your people. That's crazy. I don't like. There's a lot of, I don't know. There's a lot of collusion going on and I don't appreciate it. But of course, we hope to see some of you guys out there tonight for our fun little draft party we're going to have at Wild Horse Pass. So make sure to join us for that and the events we're having there all season long. Of course, make sure to follow our account at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Starting point is 01:01:38 Look, I know it's a loss. We're not happy. But hit that like button before you get out of here. It'll make you feel better about us and yourself and this team. So hit that like button. and of course make sure to come back here tomorrow for another postgame show we will be here covering that game one of the diamondbacks versus the dodgers until then we hope you guys have a wonderful night we hope you guys enjoy yourselves and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you don't continue to lose at home to the met's

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