PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Shaun Larkin RELIEVED of Arizona Diamondbacks Third-Base Duties Amid Criticism

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

📬 Arizona sports in your inbox! https://gophnx.com/newsletterThe Diamondbacks announced after Wednesday’s game that Shaun Larkin has been removed as their third base coach. We break down why the move was made at this point in the season and who could replace him as soon as Friday. Plus, The Athletic reports that MLB and ESPN have reached a framework agreement to broadcast both in-market and out-of-market games over the next three seasons. What does this mean for how and where we’ll be watching D-backs games in 2026 and beyond? We also preview the upcoming series with the Cincinnati Reds and bring you another edition of Throwback Thursday.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Phoenix Raceway: Tickets, hospitality and upgrades are still available for the NASCAR Championship Series October 31st through November 2nd! Visit the link HERE to get yours now!Visit Mountain America Credit Union to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxAll Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's not mailbag Monday. It is a day, though, filled with questions. The Arizona Diamondbacks have some answers that they need to provide us, including who is going to play third base for this team, or excuse me, coach third base for this team, and where the hell are we going to watch Diamondbacks games in 20, 26 and beyond? We are talking about it in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere.

To another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio Day. I am your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia, and I'm thrilled to have you guys here to discuss a whole bunch of breaking news that we have today about the Arizona Diamondbacks, of course, welcome in. Thank you guys for being here. This show is always brought to you by our friends over at Bet365 in Game Time. Make sure to download that Bet365 app and use our code of PHNX 365. When you sign up, got to go through a few easy steps to get yourself some bonus bets.

Over at Game Time, of course, on your first purchase, use our code of PHNX. You'll get $20 off that first purchase on the last minute ticket deal. my guy Damon Dog on the ones and twos today holding it down for us and I need his support because of how much breaking news we have today about the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously yesterday was a day filled with joy and then I guess a little bit of sadness depending on which camp you're in, but probably more joy for most Diamondbacks fans who have been frustrated watching Sean Larkin as the third base coach for this team after yesterday's thrilling walkoff victory in extra innings. Tori Lavello announced that Sean Larkin has been relieved of his duties in case you missed that.

But we are going to talk about that here in a little bit. First, we have some breaking news today from our friends over at the athletic. Andrew Marshon tweeted out a story today about Major League Baseball and ESPN coming to an agreement, at least a framework agreement that would apparently give ESPN exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular season games digitally and in-market games for, five clubs over the next three years. This is per the athletic. Now, of course, when we talk about those five clubs,

guess who is part of that grouping, the Arizona Diamondbacks? They are one of the teams whose rights currently right now are held by MLB, along with the Colorado Rockies, the San Diego Padres, the Cleveland Guardians, and the Minnesota Twins. So those five teams would essentially now, if this deal is signed,

ESPN will have full rights to the in and out of market games for those teams. What that means is if you are a subscriber to ESPN and you are receiving their new ESPN and limited app as part of your package like many people are through their service provider, then you'll continue to watch Diamondbacks games unimpeded other than you will have to now do it on this app. It's going to be interesting to see how this impacts the broadcast team. If this does impact the broadcast team, obviously most things just like when Bally's went away,

and it transitioned over to MLB, a lot of, most of, you know, the personnel remain the same. So not much change over there. I imagine with the way things are set up, that could be very similar where we don't see too much of a difference. However, it would be nice if ESPN does take over to perhaps see some improvements on the broadcast, quite frankly. I mean, Damon and I were talking about it today.

This whole thing is interesting because of the way this could impact the Friday night baseball deal with Apple TV. But I, aside from, the complications with watching Apple TV and, you know, people not having it being frustrated about that as well as maybe the broadcasters not knowing the Diamondbacks as well as they should because they're national broadcasters. I enjoyed the Apple TV broadcast. I feel like overall it brought something new and different to the game of Major League Baseball. I thought that the camera work was clear. I thought that I like the win probability and other statistics that they put up

on screen, but this is a huge deal. Like, this is pretty wild considering that, you know, the head of ESPN and Rob Manfred were at odds not too long ago. And now it seems like ESPN is trying to do everything they can to really reestablish themselves as the sports network. Let's be honest. They aren't. They haven't been for a long time. ESPN kind of like joked about the Ocho at one point 15 years ago and then they became the Ocho. Like ESPN isn't even a place where most of us think to go watch sporting events any longer. And that's something that it appears that they are absolutely trying to change going forward.

They are out there. They're full force acquiring rights all over sports, including my beloved WWE, which is now going to be part of the ESPN unlimited. Their PLEs are now going to be available on that app. Derek, I heard they're also buying up this program, the PHNXD Back show and also your house. Boom, let's go. They're just going to buy everything that you love and care about. I mean, let's do that.

My dog, Cosmo is for sale. We'll put some advertising on him as soon as we can. And yeah, I mean, that's what I was saying. I'll put the comments here. Peace of Yoshi says the Apple TV broadcast is good when it's Wayne and D-Train. You're absolutely right about that. Knight's 23 says, yeah, the statistic. statistics on Apple TV is pretty cool.

So my hope is, is that if ESPN is getting involved, which, let's be honest, this is a money move for them. They are trying to ensure that their sports app is significant, like not just ESPN Plus, which they tried to do, and then they tried to package and just make it little, you know, less people didn't care. I feel like for the most part, the only people I know that have ESPN Plus are people that love combat sports and UFC. That seems to be the people that have ESPN Plus.

But outside of that, I don't really find people that are avid, you know, subscribers to ESPN Plus. This is going to change with this new ESPN Unlimited. There's a lot of things still coming out in regards to that, such as who will have access to it. It would appear for the time being like YouTube TV subscribers will not have access, even though they do subscribe to ESPN through their service provider, which is YouTube TV. So still some complications to figure out as far as what gets access. I know a lot of people are talking about, like, How is this impacting me personally?

We still don't know how this is going to impact, like actually watching Diamondbacks games. All that's clear here is that ESPN is going to broadcast more regular season games, just in general, on ESPN. They're going to broadcast 30 regular season games. This will not be Sunday night baseball. ESPN would move to a different night during the week. The games on the network would remain exclusive,

meaning viewers would only be able to watch these matchups through ESPN. The agreement would begin next season. So that would be very similar to. to the Roku deal or the Apple TV deal where if you do not have ESPN, even if you're still able to watch it in whatever other ways that you watch it, those games would be exclusive to ESPN.

But if this deal is signed, what it means for the Diamondbacks on those four other teams are fans would need to subscribe to ESPN either directly or through an operator, through a local provider. And then for an added price, they would be able to receive their team's local games. And it's that little caveat,

obviously is still not worked out. We don't have deals because we don't have details because this deal isn't finalized. But Andrew Marchand did a wonderful job of putting this information out there for us. ESPN and MLB have both declined commenting on this deal at all, confirmed denying anything. They're just denying speaking about it. But it's interesting because it's that part that I think concerns me and probably should concern a lot of Diamondbacks fans.

As it stands, if you do have a local provider, as many of us do, like DirecTV or Cox Cable, you probably pay a lot of money for that. And part of the reason why, if you're like me, that you pay for that, is to continue to receive Major League Baseball games. It's one of my main reasons for not cutting the cord and completely going to apps for all of the things I do. I feel like collectively it would make more sense and it would cost me less money. However, I'm old. I've to establish this on the show this week. 44 years old, not a 30-year-old man saying I'm old ingest like, oh, ho, ho, I'm so old. No, I mean it. I am old. And when I say that, I mean, I am too old sometimes to adapt to some of this technology of committing to cutting

the cord and going away from a service provider. This helps me as an old guy not try to need to do that, right? Like, it helps to keep me on my service provider. But I will say honestly that if it requires me to pay an additional fee on top of whatever I'm paying in order to Diamondbacks full season games, I much like many Diamondbacks fans, am going to be absolutely furious because right now, if you just have whatever on Cox Cable or DirecTV, you have access to those Diamondbacks games and the full season, right? So Caitlin Blumenthal and the chat says, for those of us that have an MLB subscription, subscription will that change yes because it sounds very much like MLB is might become ESPN like

there is talk that the the ESPN MLB deal could eventually include the MLB network as part of it so it's like MLB and ESPN will all be together but that is not set yet MLB network may be part of an add-on combo we're offering it could be included in an ESPN bundle but it sounds like they're just going to micro transition us to death on this situation. Even if you have access to ESPN Unlimited through a service provider, there's a good chance that you might be nickel and dimed here in order to have access to everything that we currently have access to just for our current subscription package through our television provider.

So that's the part that's upsetting. But again, we don't know the details on this. Hopefully they will do a better deal of announcing this than other entities have. Because when this was first announced and they announced what was going to be a part of it, A lot of people were upset because ESPN failed to make a big deal out of the fact that you will have access to ESPN Unlimited for free if you essentially already pay for ESPN in some other way. And quite frankly, if I was trying to put news out there that we're going to be charging people $29.99 for an app that they currently charge, I believe, $599 for or $899 for, I would put that as one of the very first things I said to the public. Right. So again, this all just kind of feels like me keeping my cable package or my television provider package made sense this whole time. It feels like eventually we're going to get to a point

where people are like, hey, did you guys know that you can just bundle all of these services together under one thing and like pay it to one company and then you'll just have access to like all of these channels all together on your television? You won't even need to log into the internet because you'll be connected through a corridor satellite. That sounds incredible. Isn't that amazing? Like you don't have to have 23 different apps. It'll just all you could literally seamlessly just change from programming to programming through a device that they call a remote control on any television, big or small. It doesn't matter.

It doesn't have to be a new television. It doesn't have to be HDMI. It could be one with a tube, you know, because they used to make tube TVs, Damon, back in my day. This is making, you're speaking a different language to me right now. None of this is making any sense. Yeah. So anyway, it doesn't really make sense for me. What it is is, once again, like I said, ESPN flexing their ESPN app right now

and trying to go out there and acquire as much actual sports as they can because that has not been what you've tuned into ESPN for. I'm not even joking when I say at times. I tune into ESPN just to see what's on. And when I do, they are showing axe throwing or cornhole. And that's why I joke about it actually becoming the Ocho. because you're not tuning in anymore to see the big NBA games during Christmas, you know, like there was at one point. Again, a big part of that is because, you know, the acquisition of ESPN or ABC and ESPN becoming one entity made it that ABC kind of became a priority to put those games on there instead of having it on their sports network.

And yeah, like they got in a weird spot. And yet here we are where now they have to kind of go out there and try to do everything they can to bring sports home. they bring my pro wrestling home. They removed AEW from their pro wrestling page, like as if it doesn't exist anymore. So we're not even doing things that make sense. We're just totally doing it based on partnerships and deals they made. But what do you?

That's kind of insane. They just don't even cover AEW. They pretend it doesn't exist now. Yeah, because because it's a competitor and because essentially WWE's entire thing is to squash out AEW's existence. I mean, I get the aspect of like, we're, uh, you know, wrestling is not it's it's scripted obviously it's a television show it's not like real sports necessarily in that way but it does feel like they're not doing their their service in terms of covering the sport and

all of the pageantry around it in general just by just completely ignoring like half of it yeah you're right and not only that but what happens when they still have sports crossovers and jason kelsey or somebody shows up on there and wants to wrestle and they're forced forced not to even even address it because it goes against their entire you know thing that they got partnership deal that they have going on so i mean this would be like the MLB deal impacting them with the savannah bananas and having rob manfred to be like that's fine but we want to squash out those damn bananas and we don't want you ever talking about the zavana bananas but we have a deal to broadcast their games no you don't not anymore because MLB is the only baseball that exists that's how pro wrestling is so uh just to give you a little insight into that world we will

have more on this by the way as uh as some you know as a situation develops. Of course, this is just big news because we know that the Diamondbacks were kind of in limbo here about what they were going to do with their television rights. To be fair, they've done an excellent job at the transition from Bally's over to what we've been watching for the last, you know, basically year, right? Like, I do not think that they've done a bad job at all. The only thing I could say is that they didn't do anything differently. They just basically kept it going the same as it has been since it was Arizona sports back in, or Fox Sports, Arizona, back in the day, right? So there is absolutely a way to maybe use this as an opportunity to

improve baseball broadcast and offer more to the fans through the broadcast, offer a better broadcast that perhaps is, again, just different and updated and new. But I doubt that'll happen. They'll probably just keep things the same. So we will bring you details on this as it develops. But again, the biggest part of this is that the Diamondbacks are part of that five-team group that will be all kind of the rights of those games will all be owned by ESPN should this deal get signed. So is Otani three batterers away again? Yeah, so he said that they want you to pay $26 to hear Stephen A yelling at clouds and the other hours talking about the Cowboys and Lakers.

And I said, don't forget that Shohey Otani is only three batters away. Yeah. And then Piziochi said, where is my John Curtis's two innings away alert? Well, it's funny. Bring it, Stephen A is a great example. Like, Stephen A is what people think of now with ESPN, right? And the reason for that is he's their highest paid employee. Well, he, and they put him on all the time because they don't really have other options. They got rid of so much good talent, right? They got rid of a bunch of people that we loved that have gone on to do some pretty great things. I mean, Pablo Tori is killing it with his show and his reporting. That whole lebitart crew. The whole levitart crew, right. Yeah, like that was a huge mistake. Because not to say that they were similar to Barstool sports or similar to what we do here, but man, they brought the fun to watch the sport reporting. It's a show that you wanted to watch the show. And you wanted to tune in for what the show was rather than just what they were talking about, which is first take is just the same show every day.

You could you could just rotate the topics. A little bit the same too. But they still brought a little bit more fun to it. But Dan and the crew just have always done an excellent job. he is a legend in the game when it comes to that. And of course, they just, they knew talent. Like, it's like if it was somebody, Bumani, somebody on that show, right? But lately, yeah, like Stephen A is just what ESPN is.

And that's because they don't have more to go on. They don't have more personalities and they don't have more sports to air. There was a time when I was a small boy decades ago when ESPN was the place you went to watch all of the marquee games. And that meant something too. Like there was a time in my life where if your game was on on, you know, Sunday night baseball or whatever, that meant something. It wasn't just pre-scheduled programming based on a deal made prior to the season. They adjusted things around to ensure that the marquee matchup of the week was moved from an afternoon start on Sunday to, you know, to the evening. So, but yeah, I definitely want more from ESPN when it comes to their broadcast.

And of course, if they're going to make customers pay more, they better bring them. more, quite frankly, if I'm going to have to pay an additional charge to watch all 162 Diamondbacks games through the ESPN Unlimited app, even though I already pay for ESPN and I'm getting the app for free through my service provider, you better, you better bring it. You better have quality broadcasts. You better offer me something more than just, you know, doing things the exact same way they've been doing them over the last 10 years. I don't, this is a little bit, you know, more just like on the ESPN pile on. But have you, did you see the rich eye? Sports Center that he did the other day.

No. So you know how ESPN is buying the NFL network? Yeah. Or is taking over the NFL network. Right. Rich Eisen, of course, you know, sports center legend. He led SportsCenter the other night for like the first time in forever. And they brought back the old music and the old graphics.

And Derek, it was incredible. And it just reminded you of a time when ESPN was truly the worldwide leader in sports. I hate to say this because, again, we're probably complimenting them far too much. But I sit here before you because of SportsCenter. SportsCenter was my favorite show as a child. Like literally, once I moved on from cartoons and I was still watching things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers Beast Wars while I was, you know, in junior high, I was totally watching ESPN SportsCenter every single night. I would watch it in the mornings before school. Oh, if I missed the section where they.

They talked about the Phoenix Suns game. I would lose my mind. If I, like, that's when I fell asleep or went to the bathroom. But luckily, they would just replay SportsCenter over and over and over again. So I would just leave it on my TV all night long and fall asleep to the sweet, sweet tones of Rich Eisen and the crew. You know, our guy, Kenny Main, of course, a very anti-ESpo guy, by the way, and so much more. So I love it. I loved it.

I loved it. I really did. And again, I truly believe it's a big reason why I sit before you here to this day. But again, we will bring you more details once those emerge. And of course, once this deal is finalized right now, MLB is a very popular, very popular, you know, product right now for suitors because of the fact that they have those team rights for those five teams. So ESPN isn't the only one that has been acquiring about those MLB rights, but it sounds like they might be the sweepstakes winner here. all is said and done. So, but we have some more news to talk about.

Of course, we still have that breaking news from yesterday afternoon where the Arizona Diamondbacks made the decision to dismiss Sean Larkin as their third base coach. We are going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, it's no secret that it's hot outside here in Arizona. Just step outside. It's miserable.

It's awful. And it costs us all a lot of money at times to keep our homes cool. But APS wants to help you out with that. They want to keep your home cooler for less. I'm not sure if you knew this, but if you raise your temperature, even one degree, you can save yourself 2 to 3% on your energy cost for the month. You're cooling, your heating. That takes up more than 50% of your energy costs every single month,

and we want to save as much money as we can. A great way to do that is with a smart thermostat. Not only with a smart thermostat, can you set your temperature when you're away, or have your temperature automatically change based on you not being in your home, not being near your thermostat, not having your app in your home. You can also check on how much energy your cooling has been using and so many more options if you have a smart thermostat. APS customers may be eligible for smart thermostats for as low as $0 when you enroll in the APS Cool Rewards program.

You already have a smart thermostat right now at home. See if it's eligible to enroll in Cool Rewards. Plus free installation is available at our link in the video description. Must be an APS customer and pay shipping in taxes. Other restrictions apply. Go to Marketplace.APS.com for more. information and if you want to get yourself some sick gear like look at this look at this ridiculous it's so amazing the shirt I'm wearing this is from pro standard sports which is just one of the

brands you can find at rally house rally house is the go-to spot for your local Arizona team gear with tens of thousands of products to shop from we have locations in Tempe mesa and Glendale right now go out there and get your shopping on the best part about rally house you're not going to go there and find a bunch of other team gear. You're not going to go out there and find, you know, entire section for the Cleveland Guardians based on those folks from Goodyear. No, you are going to find Arizona Diamondbacks gear. You're going to find Phoenix Sun's gear. You're going to find Arizona Cardinals gear and more. So make sure to check out the rally house. Every time you visit a rally house,

you're guaranteed to find something new, unique, and that matches your game day vibe. Find your local rally house location and shop their entire product assortment online at rallyhouse.com today. Get that little QR code there in the corner. Well, it's unfortunate but needed a necessary move made yesterday by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They dismissed Sean Larkin as their third base coach in case you missed it. It was weird timing, not when it happened in the season, because I think that a move like this needs to be made when you come to that decision that this person is no longer helping you win baseball games. I think the reason why it was weird is because it occurred after a hard game that was a pitching duel that essentially resulted in the Diamondbacks winning that game

three to two in extra innings over the Cleveland Guardians. Now, it came at a weird time because obviously it was a close game and every moment mattered in a close game like that, even though Lordis Gurriel delivered in the ninth inning. He might not have. And had he not, the Diamondbacks would have lost that game two to one. And that would have been a miserable outcome, I think, after watching what occurred in the fifth inning. We know that mistake there was made. The Cleveland Guardians being a professional baseball team did make an incredible play on a mistake by their outfielder

where he tumbled attempting to pick up the ball, but just kind of rolled with it and came up and threw a strike into the infield then was turned around and relayed to home plate to get Alec Thomas out at home plate by a mile. It would appear that Sean Larkin was going to hold Alec Thomas up at third and then he sent him based on Angel Martinez falling down, who, again, made a terrific recovery,

and the Guardians made a great play. And I feel like maybe seven times out of 10, they're not going to make that play that well. So again, I know I said it a little sarcastically, but tip of the cap to the Guardians for that play. However, it doesn't change the fact that Larkin seems to be second-guessing himself, just seems to be, you know, not comfortable making these decisions at times.

We joked about the stop sign and the go sign at the same time, right? But that's not something you really should see. That's not the level of indecision you should see from your third base coach, right? So Larkin has not been fired from the team. They announced that portion of it. He said, Tori Lavello said that he will continue to work with the infield and was proud of how far the infield defense has come along under Larkin. So for the time being, Sean Larkin will still be the end.

field coach defensive coach there but here's what tory had to say about making that decision about letting Sean Larkin or dismissing Sean Larkin from being their third base coach yeah it's very it's very difficult right you bring in a third base coach and I'm you know we all have known Sean here for a long time he was director of player development he's got he's got a great nose for this game and he works hard and those are those are all the things that I'm looking for every single day when I'm watching, watching people work. But coaching third base is a really difficult thing at the major league level. The ball gets reversed really fast. Infielders are quick. They try to embarrass people. And the fact that the center fielder's legs were up in the air, you know,

and he stands up, picks up the ball, and throws a strike to areas. There's another strike to home plate. It was an unbelievable play. But that's what happens here. So we asked him to take on a lot. He had never coached third base before at this level and probably didn't have done it quite some time. So we were going to give him a little bit of a runway. But it's just got to the point where I needed to make the institution. I think a big valid part of that complaint. And of course, Killarex has something awful to say. Why is firing Larkin unfortunate?

Well, because, for one, they didn't fire Larkin. They removed him as third base coach. He's not fired. And it's unfortunate because of the time that he spent with this team. And it's unfortunate that it didn't work out. That's what's unfortunate. You don't want to see people, you know, lose their jobs. And I say that from a perspective of being around those people.

You also don't want to see things not work out. Like so many people are hoping things don't work out for this team so that they fire Tori LaVolo. Like, Derek, you're not saying that it's unfortunate that they made a decision to better the team. You're saying it's unfortunate because these are real people, whether, you know, the fans of this team think about them that way or not. They, Sean Larkin is an actual human being with a family and he was trying to do a good job and he wasn't cut out for it. And it's it sucks, man. Yeah, it wasn't. It sucks that it didn't work out, but he definitely was not the person for the job.

He did not do a good job. As the third base coach, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have other things to offer the organization. However, it's unfortunate that it didn't work out. That's the thing that sucks is because you take a chance on somebody like this, just like you could easily say it hasn't worked out with pitching coach. Brian Kaplan either. Right. So if the diamondbacks make a decision like that, I'm sure a lot of people will rejoice in the same manner and they will also feel like that is the right decision. And it probably is another guy that they gave an opportunity to that a lot of people, you know, very much liked and had very great things to say about him in his time with the Phillies.

But another guy that didn't really have the experience of being a major league pitching coach, much like Larkin doesn't have the experience of being a major league third base coach. but the one thing we brought up yesterday was Tori Lavello being asked about the players kind of losing, I guess, I don't know how it was worded in the question. I believe it was basically like have the players lost faith in Sean Larkin, especially based on that example of, you know, Jake McCarthy's reaction to him in the game the other day that they lost. This is what Tori had to say about Larkin essentially losing the players. A little bit. a little bit. I see a lot. I saw the reaction of certain guys. I'm not an idiot. Pay attention. And I pay attention to the important things, things that matter most to me, that matter most

of the players. So that was a little bit of my calculus for sure. Obviously it was a problem. And obviously yesterday wasn't the reason why Kaplan is gone. It's just the straw, right? It was the culmination of the body of work. And you sit there being happy that you won a game. yet you go back and you review you review what happened and you know how close you were to losing that game especially if the Cleveland Guardians have a manual class A in there saving that game closing it out instead that's not who they had available yesterday and that's not who uh or that's why big reason why lordis gareal is able to hit that home run depends if Emmanuel Class A bets on the game or not though that has a lot to do with it I feel like I was tap dancing around that right and I I feel like

I've done that for two days in a row based on it just being accusations, but pretty damning accusations. So remember kids, don't bet on baseball if you are a baseball player. It feels pretty simple, but I will reiterate that, say it one time a little bit louder for the people in the back. Yes, Killer Rex, I know you're going to love this too much, but I know when he said that that he was speaking directly to you. Anyway, there are, there is something that obviously is pressing here. Lovelo said that he did not know yesterday who would take Larkin's spot,

would the team set to sort through both internal and external candidates? Not a lot of time. Not a lot of time to make that decision because it most likely needs to be done today. The Diamondbacks have a game on Friday, and that's what makes the timing of this kind of so weird. At least they did it before and off day, so they do have time to kind of quickly take a look at potential candidates and who they can slide in there.

I've taken a look at the candidates and I have a good idea, I think of who they're going to go with, but it depends on how quickly they make this move. First, Miguel Montero kind of falls into mind because Miggy has been there. He has just been like available. I don't want to say this in a derogatory way,

but Miguel Montero strikes me, he reminds me of the guy that graduated from high school, but he's still hanging out in the parking lot at high school. Because even though he doesn't have an offense, position with the team. He is at Chase Field quite a bit. And Tori Lavallo has discussed how much he's helped this team with coaching. So just based on the fact that he's there available, they go ahead. That could be an option. El Gaios says they already have one. Did a third base coaching change get made while I was doing the show? Because I would love to know that. I would guess that

if it is made, it's Sean Roof from the bench coach and the current third base coach for the Aces, but I don't know if they'll make that move that quickly or if they'll just need somebody to step in on Friday. If they need somebody to step in on Friday, it could be Miguel Montero or it could even be Jeff Bannister, right? Just in a, again, an interim role until a decision is made. But Sean Roof makes a lot of sense. Sean Roof, he has been in the organization for 10 seasons now. And he joined Arizona's organization, including spending six seasons as a manager. After leading AA Amarillo as a manager in 2023, Roof joined the Aces in 2024 as a bench coach and has been their third base coach.

The man comes from a baseball family. And again, I mean, he is a name. I feel like Damon that has been brought up within the organization. a lot of praise has been given his, given his way. Scott Meg says, call up the Reno third base coach in the interim. Yeah, well, I mean, I feel like if they're going to do that, it's probably not going to be in the interim, right? I mean, I don't know. I feel like if they go to a third base coach, like giving Sean Ruf a promotion, it's going to be for the rest of the year.

And it could potentially be just a job interview for him retaining that position in 2026 and beyond. Yeah, I mean, I really think. think the world is our oyster here, right? Like you have so many different options from a third base coaching standpoint. It really could be anyone in the organization. I don't really even know where to like to start necessarily because I feel like it's, we're totally just speculating. But the mascots were out there.

Any one of them would make a good third base group. Baxter? We talked about what a great baseball mind Baxter is and it really is the truth. It makes you think. I'm not, I'm not anti-Baxter replacing him. But as many people have said, I mean, it just feels like anybody. I mean, I don't know. I mean, third base coach is a hard position.

It is a hard position. Yeah, and it's one of those positions. It's almost like, it reminds me of like cornerback in the NFL where oftentimes like the best cornerbacks are the ones that you don't hear from ever, right? Like you prefer that the quarterback's not throwing the ball against that cornerback because he's just covering the receivers like a blanket the entire time. Yeah. The third base, third base coaching position is almost the same way. It's only obvious when there's mistakes being made. Sure.

And it was so obvious all season because Sean Larkin made so many mistakes. Well, and so much second-guessing himself. And that's something that Tori brought up. And I think that that is because that like every decision he seemed to make was the wrong one. Yeah. And then it seemed like he didn't believe in what like he would be waving somebody and he'd stop them like halfway down the base pack being like, go back. Right. Like nothing was filled with confidence after like the first mistake.

Well, not to mention the fact that Tori Lavello has also received similar criticism in regards to his decision making when it comes to the bullpen and other factors, right? Yeah. You've seen Tori not necessarily stick to one way of doing things. And while that might be good, while it might be good to adapt and not always be very, you know, very stuck in your ways as far as how you're going to manage a baseball team, it does seem like at times he tries one way and then it went sideways on them. So the next time a similar situation comes up, he goes. goes in a different direction, and then that doesn't work out for him either, right? So it really does feel like, unfortunately, you know, the lack of, lack of performance at times impacts coaches' decisions like this and makes them second guess themselves.

I imagine a good coach doesn't do that. Imagine a good coach just understands when a situation, you know, goes wrong. Like, without the body of work, I don't think yesterday's, you know, send was as grievous as some of the other sends or stops that we've seen this season. It still doesn't change the fact that it looked really bad, especially once you see the replay play out where Alec Thomas was when Martinez comes up with the ball and just the fact that it seemed like there was a lack of understanding how quickly that was going to come in to the home play.

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think a two BMC said it well when he said. I think a lot of third base coaches probably make yesterday's decision, especially with the outfielder on the ground. But it was a good relay. And sometimes you take your cap. But the problem is it's just been a collection of the entire season. And you see Jake McCarthy's face and you hear Tori's answer about the players and the lack of confidence in Larkin. Like, this was a buildup. And that was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Yeah. necessarily about regarding what yoshi said up here earlier a hundred percent you're meant to to wave guys and then hold them up but i don't think that we were watching that happen in like a normal way a lot of times this year i think like the way larkin was moving them around seemed like he was like it's like go go go go still swinging while he put up a stop well yeah of course that was that was that and yoshi said that here you're just not meant to do both at once that was the most egregious one but i definitely felt that there were times where he's waiting and way too long guys are already like a third of the way down the base path and then he's telling

him to go back and that it felt like he was changing his mind about stuff like while it was happening on the field i'll take it a step further and say that it's more of situational baseball in that moment and understanding that the bottom of your lineup just got on base alec Thomas and james mccann are what your eight nine hitters in yesterday's game yeah those guys got on the lineup is turning over to catelle marty or Geraldo Perdomo and Corbyn Carroll. There's no reason to send him because you should have the utmost confidence that those three guys are going to get the job done as far as bringing him home.

For sure. The way the inning played out, it's not like those guys had stellar at bats that made you truly regret Alec Thomas' decision. However, you still feel like two runs would have scored in the inning had Alec Thomas not been thrown out at home plate. And that would have resulted in the team having a lead and not needing to have the exciting bottom of the ninth inning. they wouldn't have had to have any ninth inning at all for their side offensively

because they would have won that baseball game. But again, Sean Roof definitely seems like a great candidate. I don't love the other candidates. I did not mean to make Miguel Menterro sound like such a weirdo with that. Comparison I made. I just think that I think it's cool that Miggie is around and available for this team. I just mean he doesn't have an official role. So he's not like hired on as a coach.

But he is there in coaching gear helping the team get better. And I think every Diamondbacks fan should appreciate Miguel Madero for it. And my point being is since he's there, give the man a job, let him stand over there at third base and be the third base coach. It feels like Sean Roof, though, is probably fairly qualified for it here. And he's probably the best decision to go with Roof. Not only could he fill that role for the interim and the remainder of the season, but I feel like he could be that coach for them beyond. And for those of you that don't like Tori Lovolo, Sean Roof also makes an excellent. candidate based on his experience and his time with this organization to eventually be a

successor to Tori Lavello as the manager of the Arizona Dynamback. So I would not hate that move at all. And I feel like of all the moves that they could make right now based on the other candidates, I think, is it Jamie or Jaime Del Valle? He's also with the Reno Aces. He's also been their third base coach this year. He could definitely be an option there as well. But I do think that Sean Roof would be a great option for them for now. and again, that's something that they could make happen fairly quickly. I feel like if they go external candidate, as Toyo Lavello discussed, that is not going to happen quickly enough for this team.

And they're going to have to do something in the short term while they interview those candidates and then go on and make a decision. So I'm highly skeptical that they will make an external hire, unless that external hire is bringing Miguel Montero, who's already just at the yard every day in. But anyway, we're going to take a quick break. and on the other side of this break, we are going to preview their upcoming series

with the Cincinnati Reds, and I am going to try to not call it a must-win series, but I'm probably going to fail at that. So don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHA next time in Back show. Oh, Damon, what time is it? Do you know what time it is? It's game time.

Oh, it's game time. I did not know that. I thought it was 1245. Well, of course, with game time, you can save on last minute tickets, and you don't have to buy them on a day like this. You don't have to buy them well ahead of time. You can wait until the last minute.

Procrastinators rejoice, because we are bringing you a service that finally caters to you, save up to 60% off buying last minute tickets for sports, concerts, and more. Game Time picks is another feature that GameTime offers, which allows them to select the best seat in the house for you for the cheapest amount, and they will provide you with that so you don't have to search through all the other available tickets. They also have zone deals, which can save you based on where in the arena or where in the venue you want to sit. They also have all in pricing, which allows you to toggle this feature on,

so there are no surprises at checkout. You will know exactly what you are paying with ticket costs and fees. So don't forget that your ticket purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry over at GameTime. And they want to take the guesswork out of buying tickets. Download the GameTime app and create an account right now. Use our code of PHNX and you'll get $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off.

Download the GameTime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. Damon, what time was it again? Game time, Derek. I don't know if you heard that the first time. I didn't. I didn't. Thank you for clarifying.

Did you guys know that if you're a Mint Mobile customer, Ryan Reynolds is obligated to call you and tell you what Deadpool's role is in the new Avengers movie? It's just one of the perks of being a Mint Mobile customer. While that part might be a lie, I will say that Mint Mobile wants to save you money off of your overpriced wireless plan and your jaw-dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages. Mip Mobile is here to rescue you, just like Deadpool is going to rescue the Avengers inevitably in the second portion of that film. But all plans do come with high-speed data over at Mipmobile and unlimited talk and text.

They're delivered on nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any MipMobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. Ditched overpriced wireless plans and get three months of unlimited service from MIM Mobile for just $15 a month. And I know cellular service because I used to sell pagers. Again, that's how old I am. And then one day we got this new thing called a cellular phone. I'm done dating myself at this point. But my point being is no matter if your cell phone is old or new, bring it on over to Mittmobile and you'll save yourself lots of money. This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your three month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at Mittmobile.com slash diamondbacks. That's mintmobile.com slash diamondbacks. Must pay an upfront payment of $45 required equivalent to $15 a month. limited time new customer offered for three months only speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees are extra seeming in mobile 3dals i wanted to ban people in this chat for some of the egregious disrespectful things they've said but i i i have never wanted to ban somebody more for kill a wreck saying that deadpool is overrated damon get him out of this chat get him out of this chat get him out of this chat and never let him come back derrick it feels like he's just taking shots at everything he care about everything he's everything he's

I love and hold deer. Tori Lavallo, Deadpool, baseball in general. He probably has something to say about stuffed animals. He's a monster. He's a monster. I heard he doesn't like a shoot. I'm trying to think of like a wrestler that you like. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. The Rock,

Dwayne Rock Johnson, C.M. Punk. We can go with lots of things. Seth Rallens. If you really want to get in the weeds, we could start talking about Jacob Fatu and other guys. But no, let's not do that. Instead, let's He said you're not one of the ooses. No! Yep.

It's not true. I'm an honorary use. But let's talk about the upcoming series with the Cincinnati Reds because it should have been more important. And maybe it is still important. I don't really know. I think that at any point we could see some sort of amazing collapse from any of these teams ahead of the Diamondbacks and quite frankly playing one of the teams ahead of them. If you want to say that they're still in the wild card race is impactful. However, it feels like so many things have to have to have. happen that the diamondbacks have earned that zero percent chance of making the playoffs that fan graphs is probably giving them at that point. And again, beating the Reds, even if they sweep them. Scotty Mac just said, do not say sweep, and then I said it. I said it. You're right, Scott, Mac. This whole loss is on me already.

But let's take a look at the Reds at a glance. They played some pretty good baseball this year, and they continue to be a part of the wildcard race where the Diamondbacks really aren't. I'm a excuse me, Cincinnati Reds are 67 and 61 this season with a plus 53 run differential. They are six and four in their last 10 games. They did lose yesterday. They have a team OPS of 710, which is just above league average. They have a relief pitching ERA of 3.93.

Again, right around league average as well as they're outs above average minus 1. It's 16 in Major League Baseball. But they're starting pitching ERA, very, very good. They have a 3.69 starting pitching. R.A., which is sixth in major league baseball, and they have a guy named Andrew Abbott that has been throwing the ball extremely well for them this season. The Diamondbacks will unfortunately get Andrew Abbott in this series, and he will be matched up with Nabil Kris Matt in the series. So, let's take a look at the probable pitchers and how things stack up here, Damon. We got Ryan Nelson

going in game one against Zach Little. Little is nine and eight this season with a three-point 5-2-ER and 103 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Ryan Nelson sits at 99 strikeouts, got 99 problems, but a pitch ain't one. He's 6 and 3 with a 3.58 ERA this season continues to be one of the Diamondbacks' most dominant pitchers. But their ace is going in game two, Nebele Krismat, who, by the way, had a chance to meet this man instantly fell in love with him. It's a great guy.

And hopefully he can continue giving the Diamondbacks at least what he gave them in his first start because if he can do that he'll give this team a chance to win he has that ridiculous 1.80 era that really doesn't matter but uh he's got five strikeouts this year meanwhile andrew abbott uh is an amazing lefty lefties in baseball have just been dominating this season despite the fact that there's just so few of them uh he is eight and three this year with a 2.28 era and 112 strikeouts for the reds and then going in the finale finale there's brady singer he is uh 11 and 9 that this year with a 4.18 ERA. And he is going up again, Zach Gallen, who is 9 and 13, and he has a 5.28 ERA,

continues to try to lower that, continues to try to bring this team some consistency. And honestly, I really do hope that Gallen can be that for this team. There's one similarity, Damon, that I've noticed between Gallin and Lorda Scurriel Jr. A little bit. And that is the fact that these two guys together, I think, they kind of, had, I don't know how I want to call it, but it's like being split away from somebody that they were close with due to the trade situation

really feels like that it's caused them to step up. I've seen Zach Gallin just being kind of a little bit, like kind of taking the situation well, but being a bit more of a leader in the clubhouse, even though his future with this team is uncertain. And Lordus Guriela hasn't been doing it verbally, but he's been doing it with his bat in some big situations for this team. I know it's just streaky Lordis.

don't want to talk about him negatively too much, but I do want to say that we need streaky lordis, good streaky lords, which we haven't seen much of this season. So we will take him. We will definitely take him for sure. But overall, I got to say, though, looking at those stats makes me just sad. Every time I see Zach Gowan's stats, it does, right? It makes me sad, man. It doesn't feel like he's really pitched that bad to have that bad of an ERA at this point

of the season. You think? Well, I think he's pitched. that bad? I don't know, man. The dude goes out there and loses against the A's and the Pirates and the Rockies every time that he plays a bad

team. The only time you ever see him have a good outing is seemingly when he plays like a playoff caliber team. He's 13 losses on the season. It almost feels like he struggles more with guys that he doesn't have as much intel on. Right? You know, like

that's what I feel. Or maybe he just isn't like locking in for those games. I don't know what it is, man. But he's completely lost right now you're right maybe maybe maybe maybe part of his preparation maybe part of it is taking the opposition seriously when it's a lesser opponent i don't know he's still giving up the most home runs in baseball uh or one of the pictures that's given up the most row home run i don't know where he sits but he sits atop of that list or very close to the top this should be his prime yeah this should be like maybe the best year of his entire career that's why again i know i should take the the my heart out

of it here but that's why it breaks for gallon when it comes to this situation this entire situation is only making it more likely that the diamondbacks could actually resign him, which seemed like it had a zero percent probability. Yet now here we are saying, do we even want that? Would we even want them to bring Zach Gowan back with the way he's pitched this year? I still think that he's a great pitcher and I still think that's inside of him. I think one bad year does not end your career. However, it's baseball. We just said it yesterday. Sometimes that is the end of your career, or at least it's the end of you being an elite player in baseball, where now it's not to say that you can't still provide something to a team, but you are not what you were, nor did you ever

really reach in Gallin's case, the potential that most of us thought he could reach. So that's, that's it when it comes to Gallin. And I think the reason why I said it's only a qualifying offer, really. That's like that or like maybe a two-year prove-it deal. Yeah. But I don't want him back on a long. Or like a five-year deal or something like that. Hell no. God no. Exactly. Because you just don't know that that future of what he is going to be is so uncertain now based on what we've seen this year. Right. What's odd is is that Brent Strom obviously took the fall for the pitching staff last year. And as we can see, that isn't really the case with this pitching staff. Right. But I do know that people like had problems with Brent Strom. And again, Maybe it's because Brent Strom wanted guys to do things in a way that would bring them success and they didn't.

Or maybe it just didn't work with them. But I definitely am confident now in saying that Brent Strom isn't the problem. I think all of us could say that. And I really do think that it sucks for Gallen considering everything that he's given this organization that now in the time when he needed to play his best baseball for himself, he wasn't able to do so. Right. So I still think Gallen has an incredible career ahead of him. I do not think that this is the end of the road for him. But like you said, I am with you. I don't know if I feel comfortable giving Gallen a long-term deal at this point. I don't know if many teams would feel comfortable in doing that. I don't even know if Gallin's going to get paid as much in 2026 from any other team as he's going to get from a qualifying offer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And again, I don't even know if I want him to accept a qualifying offer now at this point. With the situation they're in makes a lot of sense for him to be a part of this team next year just to help bridge the gap until those guys that got Tommy John surgery come back from the from their rehab. But again, that's a lot still ahead of us. And a lot of, we're just creating more questions. We were supposed to answer some questions. We're just

coming up with more questions. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to talk about throwback Thursday. And I'm not even taking a break. I'm just telling you guys go out to Heila River Resorts and Casinos. You can do that anytime. You're always going to have a great time out there. But more importantly, go out there on August 28th, Damon. Come out there with us. Damon knows he's going to be out there. We're going to be drafting our fantasy football team. Week from today, Derek. A week from today. Have you done any research, brother? Not one bit. Dude, I'm going to light you up in this draft. I don't even know who, what are, who are football players? What's, are we still, is Jamar Chase still number one overall? Or what are we doing?

I'll be like five fantasy drafts deep at that point. Oh, my God. I mean, you're, I'm cooked. Yeah. I'm cooked. I'm going back to the waffle. house again for sure but actually no max is going back to the waffle house but you can come watch us do that fantasy draft more importantly you can catch the phnx cardinals crew johnny bow all the diehards they'll be out there for residency night at the upper deck restaurant and bar on on august 28th like you said one week from today the cardinals live podcast starts at 4 30 p m followed by the nflis season preview at 6 and then the phnx staff fantasy football draft at 7 p.m what will i be wearing you're going to have to show up to see actually no you don't because you can

You could also watch it. We're going to stream it. But I probably shouldn't be saying that part if I'm enticing you with coming out for a night on the town. I will entice you with this, though. All diehards will receive a free drink ticket for the event. And if you want to stay the night, if you want to hang out and make it a whole trip, maybe stay over until Friday, get yourself a discounted room. Call 1-800 Winheila and use Cards F-F for 25% off a room for Thursday night.

There you go. We got you hooked up. Speaking of Thursday... You say 25%? That's fire. No resort fees for residents. Well, in the summer. It's also Thursday, so it's all pretty, probably a pretty cheap room.

Yeah. And in the summer in Arizona, you know, it's not like this is the time of year. People are necessarily traveling here to hang out. So all of those things considered, I bet that's about as cheap of a room you'll ever get at Healer River. Can I throw one more thing out there at you? One more. They got a 21 and overpool. That's the best thing I've ever heard.

here's another thing. You get that money you saved and you put it on red. Now you have double the money that you saved. Oh, man. All right. Well, now I'm sold on it. I'll be there. I'm going to get my room,

but we do got some throwback Thursday chatter to talk about before we get out of here because this team always had something going on. And during this week, some pretty historic things happened in this team's history, including on August 23, 2001, Randy Johnson became the first pitcher in Major League history to record four consecutive. 300 plus strikeout seasons. It's good, right?

That's good. Four consecutive 300 plus strikeout seasons. Whenever I see things Randy Johnson does, it feels like it's an error. Like it's a calculation mistake that didn't really happen or it doesn't really make sense. We are lucky to have that man as a part of our history and we should always be thankful that we do have him as part of our history.

Another guy that we should be thankful is part of our history, but I wish we had more of in our history. was one Brandon Webb who had his scoreless streak halted on August 26, 2007, Damon at 42 scoreless innings. And it was halted by a Prince Fielder RBI single in a game against the Brewers right away in the game too. It happened in the first inning. His 42 scoreless inning streak is the 12th longest streak in Major League Baseball

history. It's wild. And that's another one that makes me sad. And it just makes me feel like this organization is cursed from a pitching standpoint. Because Brandon Webb was special, man. He was special. It's like the it's the Vince McMahon. Yeah.

Also, this was kind of weird to me. On August 22nd, 2012, they, Diamondbacks hosted their first ever Chase Field doubleheader in history. And it took like 15 years. years, 14 years for them to have their first double header at Jaysfield? That just seems odd. I mean, I know we don't have to have a lot of games like made up here due to weather because we were smart enough to put a retractable roof on our on our stadium. However, it still seemed odd that this was the first ever ever double header in Diamondbacks history. It was a sweep of the Marlins three to zero, three to two and three to zero. I believe Gallin shoved in that and I also believe

that was the no-hitter. If I'm not mistaken by. No, I'm not, I'm wrong about that. I'm thinking of a different year. But yeah, they swept the Marlins, three to two, three to zero. Zach Gallen was not part of that team back then. I'm a dummy. August 24, 2016, Zach Gronkey, not Zach Galen, Zach Granke recorded his 2000 strikeout versus the Braves.

He became the 78th pitcher in baseball history to reach that milestone. Zach Granky is another guy who I don't feel like I give a credit enough to for his time as an Arizona Diamondback. I feel like I often disregard his time like it was on the other end of his career, which it was, but he was still very good at times for this team. And it was a whole lot of fun to watch him play, but more fun to interview him.

That was one of the best parts of my entire life, my entire time covering this team was being in the scrums whenever Zach Granky was the star. It was amazing. A couple of more things before we get out of here. August 22nd, 2018th, one guy, Guy that used to play here, guy that used to work here, named Paul Goldschmidt. He hit his 96th career home run at Chase Field,

surpassing the record held by one Luis Gonzalez at 95, cementing Paul Goldschmidt as probably one of the greatest offensive players to ever play for this team, and not sure if he'll ever be surpassed. Last but not least, Killer Rex is going to love this one. On August 26, 2003, Dback skipper Toy LeVolo, managed his 1,000th MLB game to become the 13th active manager to reach the feet and the 142nd overall in Major League Baseball. I know Killer Rex was there in person on that day,

wearing that in Tori We Trust shirt, just proud, prouder than he's ever been. It was- wearing his custom Toro-Volo jersey. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I still find it hilarious that, like, we at one point pointed out to Tori, how silly it was that managers wore a jersey in the dugout and then I feel like Tori stopped wearing it for a little while. I like almost like we bullied him into stuff.

Yeah, he doesn't wear the jerseys. Yeah. Did they get rid of that across baseball? I don't. It's a preference thing. Like you're allowed to make that decision. Yeah. I remember him giving us that answer.

But honestly, he doesn't wear the jersey ever. And he hasn't for about since last season pretty much. Just like you guys bullied him bullied him into getting rid of Sean Larkin. That's all. Well, it's bullying work sometimes. We did the Lord's work on that one.

It was necessary for sure. But we thank you guys so much for stopping by. We will see you tomorrow on Friday with another post game show. Make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon dog with a D-A-W-G at the end. We're all Damon's dogs, bark, bark.

Our show is at P-N-X underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at P-HNX underscore sports. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We will see you tomorrow after game one of the Red Series. And until then, behave yourselves. Have a wonderful evening and remember kids.

Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when we know how the hell we're going to watch baseball games next season.