PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Slade Cecconi DEALS as Diamondbacks complete their first series sweep of the season

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

Bust out the brooms! The Diamondbacks complete their first sweep of the season! We are discussing the big series in Cincinnati, Slade Cecconi on the mound, Ketel extending his hitting streak to 10 games, Paul Sewald getting his first save, and more! We also take a look at out Power Rankings for this week and take a look ahead to the upcoming series with the Orioles. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Skiy and welcome in to another winning edition of the Arizona Diamondbacks podcast right here on PHNX. I don't know what this is like. This is a new feeling, this happiness that has restored here. Jacobs Danson, I'm having a good time. Jesse's quarantined. This is a great vibe for a Thursday. Welcome in to the PHNXD Back Show. Of course, I am your mayor of this joint, occasionally known as Derek Montia.

This man in the box next to me is your Thunderstick and my vice mayor, the one and only just Friedman and the Diamondbacks complete their first sweep of the season, the first series sweep of the season, taking today's game by a score of five to four over the Reds. It was an impressive game, a very fun game to watch, Jesse. This one was exciting. The Diamondbacks had a lot of the answerbacks in them today, and it was really good to see them get contributions, especially from the guys that have been struggling so far this season. It really did feel like yesterday and today, the big difference in these games and these

very close games was the contributions from those guys that have not been contributing so far. I mean, if this game had had ended four to one, if the Diamondbacks had just held that lead, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting or exciting, right? It's true. It's a fun game. You got to appreciate a little bit of drama at the end with the Redstein this game for Corby Carroll delivering a really big two-out RBI single that was against Fernando Cruz the Diamondbacks first two hitters of that inning got out and then a couple of walks and Corby and Carroll delivers that hit. Anormous moment there for the Diamondbacks to take the lead and then one Paul Seawalt. Our Lord and Savior. In the ninth inning and he looked like Paul

Seawald of old. There were a couple of location mistakes but by and large he was hitting his spots. He looked really, really good out there, a one, two, three, ninth inning. No drama in the ninth inning today. And the Diamondbacks come out with, as you said, their first series sweep of the 2024 season. Plenty of drama in this game, though, of course, the Diamondbacks had Slate's Coney on the mound today. Slade absolutely shoved for the first few innings, right? And that's what he's been doing lately. Slade's four seamer topped out at I have here 97.96 miles per hour. And he was doing things. He just unfortunately Slade

has this thing where he seems to kind of run through the starting lineup that first time, today he got through it the second time, but when he tried to get through it the third time, that's when it seemed like the Reds really had him figured out. And then, I mean, the Reds honestly got on a roll. It wasn't just against

Cicone that the Reds were able to start getting hits and they kind of singled the Diamondbacks to death there, tying the ballgame up at four and making this a much more exciting game than, you know, I mean, than it was appearing to be early on. The Diamondbacks seem to kind of be rolling in this one.

They did get some, again, offensive contributions from guys all over the place. But Slade, Slade was having himself a really good day. He really did. And, I mean, much like Jordan Montgomery, like you look at Slate's ERA, you're not necessarily going to be blown away. But his four starts, I mean,

three of them have been really, really good, right? It's really just that one outing against the Padres, where he also came out of the gate and looked absolutely dominant. Yeah. But, you know, got touched up quite a bit in the fourth and fifth innings. But outside of that, Slate has been really good for the Diamondbacks this season. And you think about all of the guys that they've lost in the starting rotation, Merrill Kelly being out, Eduardo Rodriguez being out, of course, Slade stepped directly into Merrill Kelly's spot. And he's been pretty darn good in that spot.

maybe not quite Mero Kelly, but pretty close. And five and a third innings, one run. There wasn't a ton of swing and miss for Slade today, only four whiffs. It was just kind of a lot of foul balls and a lot of fairly soft contact. He only gave up three hits. He was really good for the Diamondbacks, like all of their starting pitchers in this series, right? Zach Gallen was really good on Tuesday. Jordan Montgomery somehow some way, even though it wasn't pretty.

He came away with seven innings of two-run ball yesterday. and then Slade did it again today, just a really outstanding series from the Diamondback starting rotation. Well, things are happening around here, Jesse. And if you follow other local Arizona sports, you might know exactly what's going on. So I don't know.

I think we have to just wrap it up. So I appreciate you guys stopping by. No, we are coordinating. We are coordinating on the side over here. I'm doing my day job. Can I break the news on here? Can I say it? What just happened?

I don't know what you're talking about. Jesse, the sun's just fired Frank Vogel. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's all. I mean, I know this is a Diverbacks podcast, but I figure that's news that everybody watching this should probably want to know. So make sure to jump in the description here very soon.

Yeah, put it in the description for the show that we broke the news first on PHNX in regards to that. But Jesse, I think the big thing here today was, again, the offensive contributions from obviously, you know, the guys that have been struggling. Catell did his thing. Cotell extends his hitting streak to 10 games with that triple, which was his first of the season. But realistically, Corbyn Carroll had a huge hit in this game. I mean, you know, Jack Peterson was incredible and we'll get to him.

But Lordus Guriel had a big timely hit. Gino had a hit. Like there was just, it wasn't major contributions. We're not declaring anybody being back on that based on their performances today. It was just those guys getting on base, those guys getting those hits. those moments really helped this team get to, you know, five to four, right? And that's a big reason why they were able to to secure today's victory. Yeah, I think, I think it's fair that, you know, we need to see a little more before we're ready to declare that Gino Suarez is back or that

Lordus is back or, or even that Corbyn Carroll is back. Those guys all had good moments in the series. And you mentioned Lordus coming through with that RBI double today. That was a really big moment for him. So yeah, you need to see more there, but it's, it's a really good sign for the Diamondbacks, just that those guys seem to be at least trending in, in a positive direction. And you're right. It really was, there really were a variety of contributors for the, for the debacks in this game. Corbyn coming through with that big hit, Jock Peterson with three hits in this game, including a Bunt single and a stolen base. What? And then, you know, yeah, he, he, he, He pretty much did.

And then Gino, of course, had a really big day yesterday, but also came through in some spots today. Gino had a sack fly, which drove in a run in this game. So, yeah, you're starting to see the pieces come together offensively where it doesn't just feel like it's Catell plus Walker plus one other guy. Yeah, like one other guy who's sort of hot at that particular time. You're starting to see more contributions from up and down the lineup. And that's something that we expected from the beginning with this Diamondbacks team,

that they had a lot of depth, that they had a lot of different ways that they could beat you offensively. And there's still a ways to go on that front, but a positive step here in this series for sure. There were a couple of things that weren't great. Obviously, we know that the bullpen let that lead slip. Logan Allen was a big part of that. And it's unfortunate. I think that if you want to criticize anything, I think, I think Tori could have pivoted a bit earlier. from Logan, but of course, hindsight's

2020 when it comes to that. He ends up giving up four hits and three earn run uh, three earn runs. Ryan Thompson of course gave up that hit. But for the most part of the good news was Kevin Ginkle came in, gave a solid ending of work with only allowing one hit, uh, and striking

out one. And then like you said, Paul Seawald very much looked like the Paul Seawald of old that makes us all very relaxed. Make sure we get to the amusement park on time and safely. Uh, and and make sure we all have a good time because he looked very good today. This was, it's just occurring to me.

This was the first Thompson-Ginkle-Seawald game that we had in 2024. And that, I mean, how important was that trio for the Diamondbacks in August and September? And also, I guess really, I mean, Ryan Thompson wasn't even part of the team until a good portion of the way through August. But that trio was so big in September. That trio was enormous, of course. in the postseason as well. And this is the first time that we've actually felt the effects of that. And you mentioned Ryan Thompson did give up a hit.

Came in with two outs trying to get Logan Allen out of that jam. And the seventh wasn't able to do that, but he did get the next guy. And then Kevin Ginkle, a nice easy eighth inning, Paul Seawald, a nice easy ninth inning. That's always been. I mean, from the beginning of this season, those three guys coming together. And yeah, that's the way that you drop, like a close Diamondbacks win. win and this is the first time that they've actually been able to use all three of those guys at the same time. Let's take a look at some of our wonderful super chats from you wonderful people.

Jimmy Dean says the debacks are a motherfucking wagon. Let's go, Jimmy. Brett Johnson says big cockamas, jockamas is such a goddamn dog. And you're right, man, jock Peterson continues to be possibly the best hitter on this team. Kattel is obviously doing his thing and he's right there as well. But I think that Jock Peterson's at-bats have been very, very good. I said it yesterday that he's just a much more well-rounded hitter than I thought he was going to be. But today, he showed us everything that he could do, right? Including stealing a base. I bet you didn't think you were going to see that. But Jock has a stolen base. Jock's out there hitting home runs. And he was just a vital, vital part of the offense today.

We've seen that we've seen Tori put Jock in three hole and move Gurriel down a bit the last couple of days. And the early returns there are pretty positive, right? Jock has come in and he's been the D-BAC's most consistent hitter the entire season, frankly. I mean, I guess Kattel you could put in that conversation as well. But Jock has a higher OPS than Ketel-Marte does at this point at 9-50. Granted, he's, you know, he's a platoon guy. He's not going to be hitting third against lefties. but man, it looks Derek like the debaaks just totally nailed their designated hitter decision.

They really did. It's still too early to definitively make that determination, but Jock Peterson has been so good. I mean, this is, it's only a month, but he, I mean, he's basically having as good of a year as he ever has in the majors so far. And it looks legitimate. It's not like it's, you know, soft contact, you know, just dinks and dunks here and there. Like that home run that he hit in the first inning was a pretty darn good pitch by Hunter Green. It was a fastball painted at the upper inside corner. Somehow he's able to keep his hands in and drive that out to right field.

It was a really, really impressive swing. And that's just the way he's been the entire season, really. He's been exactly what the Diamondbacks were looking for in that DH slot. And the other thing I go back to over the off season, we were talking about who the deback should have a DH. we were kind of defaulting to what you probably want a right-handed hitter. And then Mike Hazen at one point, I think after the Guriel signing, said, we do want a DH, but we actually might want a left-handed hitter instead. And in retrospect, that totally makes sense to me now.

I mean, it feels like if Jock, if the debacks had gone with a right-handed hitting DH instead, they might have a few too many right-handed hitters kind of piled up in the middle of the lineup with both Ketel and Corbin generally sitting at the top. So still early, but it, It really looks like they nailed that decision all the way around. Jock is hitting 302 with a 415 on base percentage and a 950 OPS. He has four home runs and eight RBI this season. Not all of this was in one game because that would be some sort of record.

But for his performance today, Jock Peterson is, of course, our King Snake. Give it up. Three for five, one home run, two runs scored, and that stolen base. Of course, man, I mean, I couldn't imagine giving it to anybody else. else with the way that he performed today. The most impressive thing was the bunt, right? I mean, Jock, not exactly.

You know I went out of my mind for that. It's like he was, it's like he was channeling his inner L.A. Dela Cruz up there. Like he kept seeing L.A. de la Cruz, like, you know, get on base via walk or whatever and then wind up at third base like 30 seconds later. And Jock was like, yeah, if you're going to play your third baseman back, I'm going to lay down a bun. I'm going to get on first base. And then like a minute later, I'm going to be on second.

because you're not paying any kind of attention to me at first base. Why would you? That's just who jock is. There's a level of competitiveness there. There's just a, you know, that's just who he is as a player. He's going to find ways to, if you're not paying close attention to him, whether he's a base runner or you're giving him an opportunity to lay down a bunt, you know, he's willing to go through and play that game with you.

you as well and he showed that today. Andrew Dang, thank you for your super chat. He says, I'm going to Sunday Detroit series at Chase Field for my birthday, turning 24 on the 19th. Happy early birthday to you, sir. Orioles would be tough. My Yankees struggle with them.

And yeah, the Orioles are going to be a tough test. We'll talk about those probable pitchers for that series coming up here shortly. Easton says, thank you, Easton for your super chat. He says, I think right now, Sikoni is greater than Nelson and Henry. And I would say I would,

I would say I would agree with you so far. I think that, of course, there is the fact that those guys do have a longer track record. I think Ryan Nelson right now might be a little bit above Sacconi, but that's just based on experience and maybe length. I'd like Sikoni to be able to go a little bit longer in these ball games than the fifth inning. But you might not get that out of them. That might be what you're going to get out of them for now. And honestly, if one earn run and five innings is what he's going to give us, I'll take it. from him. And thank you also Mitch. Mitch said there was a time I couldn't stand jock but he's

grown on me. He's become one of my favorite players. Great game from jock today. Also great to see Corbyn come through. He's starting to get going. Yeah, these are all good signs and yeah, I think jock's an eccentric person that of course at times is going to come off a little weird because he's always doing his own thing. But there is something like there's something funny about watching jock kind of do the celebration that the diamondbacks have started. But like, half-heartedly. You know, other guys are like, yeah, zip it, throw it out. Jock's just kind of like, yep, yep, there's the thing. I did it. You know, like, I'm not going to do all of that, but I'll do it. I'm part of the team. So I appreciate that. A couple other notes from today,

Blaze Alexander botched a fairly routine looking double play in the bottom of the sixth and continues to just kind of be a problem out there defensively, which is frustrating to watch. Meanwhile, Kevin Newman has continued to make excellent plays that make you want to see Kevin Newman out there more than Blaze, despite what Blaze is able to do at the plate. Kevin Newman absolutely deaked Stewart Fairchild 1,000% on that play today where Stewart Fairchild just ran into second, slid in on a fly ball. And it was impressive. Kattel got in on it. there was a lot of pretending they had the ball and tagging him several people tagged him without the ball i could understand why fairchild was so confused but uh yeah i mean there's there's times like that

where you really see kevin newman making those heads-up veteran plays that you're not getting out of out of blaze yeah it it really does feel at this point like pretty much every time blaze alexander starts at shortstop something like what we saw there i believe it was in the sixth inning happens where it's a pretty routine double play ball and blaze's footwork i think uh maybe didn't look exactly the way that you would want it to and he winds up throwing wide to first base pulling christian walker off the bag fortunately logan allen was was able to pick him up and it didn't matter uh it didn't lead to it to any runs scoring but we saw blaze have a pretty rough game defensively against the podres as well a couple of routine double plays in uh in that game that he wasn't able to turn so

it's really tough right now. You know, Blaze is a young player who's done a lot of good things offensively for this team. But I have to wonder, Derek, given how much Tori Lavello values defense, that's really what Tori has been built on the moment he took over this organization. I wonder if we've just about seen the last of Blaze Alexander at Shortstop. Maybe we haven't. Maybe Tori's going to continue to run them out there for, you know, about a game every

series. If they like what's going on behind the scenes and think he's trending in a positive. direction, but the mistakes have been so consistent at this point that I have to wonder if that's at least on the table. A few people in the chat, Seth Harper in the chat says, do you think Blaze goes down when Domo comes back? I'm liking Newman more at shortstop than Blaze. I just, I like what Newman's able to give you defensively out there. And Blaze, I mean, he's not, he's not doing terribly at the plate. He was 0 for two today with a walk and a strikeout, but he's still, you know, he's coming back down to Earth. He's hitting two, like what is he hitting now? Like,

278 with an 845 OPS. And a lot of that is due to a very hot start. So I wouldn't be surprised to see the averages bring him back down. And at that point, you know, without his bat being as hot, you really would question, you know, starting him over Kevin Newman. You would definitely question having him as a backup behind Perdomo over Kevin Newman. So that all remains to be seen. But we're not going to do that right now. We're not doing this. We're going to do happy things. And when I say happy things, we're going to take a look at the count presented by Desert Financial Credit Union because this is good times. This is happy times. These are the numbers from the Arizona Diamondbacks first series sweep of the season. They outscore the Reds 15 to 9. They out hit the Reds 25 to 21. Runners in scoring position, kind of a push. Diamondbacks had way more opportunities going 7 for 31 to the Reds 4 for 16, 250 batting average for the Reds to the Diamondbacks 226. Starting people. pitching ERA here, Jesse. Just incredible for the Diamondbacks.

You know, you get six innings, no runs, seven innings, two runs. And then the day, five and a third in one run out of your starting pitchers. That's going to play. That's going to give you an opportunity to win ball games, that 1.47 ERA for the Diamondbacks to the Reds 3.94, which, again, is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. And then the bullpens were both fairly terrible. 5.73 for the red side, 6.23 for the Diamondback. So again, the numbers here, this looks like a three-game sweep where the Diamondbacks won each game by a very small margin.

But, you know, again, when we talk about the numbers adding up, that makes a lot of sense there. Yeah, I mean, they scored five runs today, which again is like a pretty normal number of runs for the winning team to score. They won three straight games. ball team again. Yeah, they won three straight games without scoring 17 runs in any of them, which somehow feels like a good sign. And yeah, I mean, the starting pitching is really the reason that they won the series more than anything else.

I mean, 15 runs over three games is good, but given the way that the bullpen struggled at times, I go back to the starting pitching is really the biggest reason that the Diamondbacks were able to win this series. And that's, again, a testament to the depth of starting pitching that they have. entering this season. I mean, for you to be out Merrill Kelly and out Eduardo Rodriguez and still have, you know, Gallin and Montgomery, which is a pretty formidable one-two punch, followed by Slade Sacconi, who's been pretty darn good in three out of his four starts. Brandon Fott has pitched better of late as well. You feel pretty good about him. Ryan Nelson has been better since

kind of getting a handle on this cutter. I think we're still kind of waiting to see what that looks like in the long term. But on the whole, you somehow still have a group of five starting pitchers that it's not, you know, it's not what it would be if Erod and Merrill Kelly were in there for sure. It's not a top five rotation as we felt the Diamondbacks might have entering the season, but it's still a pretty formidable group. Like the debacks can win series with their starting pitching, even though they're losing or they're currently out two of their best starters. And that's what starting pitching depth does for you. It's so big. And going back to that comment that was made earlier, I do think, yeah, like Slate Cicconi is pitched better than any of the other, than all the other

young starters with, I guess, the possible exception of Brandon Fott. He's been better than Nelson. He's certainly been better than Tommy Henry. So you have to, you have to be pretty impressed with what Sikoni has managed to do. And for right now, Derek, it looks like a really good thing that the D-Backs didn't move Cicone to the bullpen at the beginning of the season as they were thinking about doing because he's played a pretty big role for them here over the last few weeks. Bees is back. So we got to get the bee catcher back out here to get rid of bees.

No, happy to have you bees. But Nick Picoro, speaking of which did tweet out today. And Jesse, forgive me if you tweeted this out. I'm just ruining this. But there was good news on Erod and his MRI yesterday. It showed healing and he appears close to beginning a throwing program. So this team, again, getting pieces back. Paul Seawald already makes you feel good.

It's like having your favorite blanket back. But the more pieces that get back, the more the more Voltron can get its arms and its legs put back together and become a complete robot, the more dangerous this team is going to be. But it's very encouraging, not only knowing, those pieces are getting close to returning, but to also see the way that the guys that are here that have been struggling once again, not to harp on this too much. But the way those guys are performing, we really need those guys to be the key here. It's not just the returning players that are injured. It's the entirety of this team getting rolling again. By the way, I did see a

comment there from P-Dog-O-O-6, Jacob. If you wouldn't mind scrolling back a little bit. P. Dogg had a great question. He wanted to know it's more than that. He says, does Tori Lovolo mind having a second coaching job? Sons need a stud. This is an awkward day, Jesse, because of all days, I chose to wore my in Tori we trust shirt on a day where another Valley team is now losing their coach. Sons have no idea how to hire. I mean, this is what? This is eight in the last 10 or 11 years. I just want to once again put some respect on Tori Lovallo's name, by the way. Let's just remember just because just because things weren't great in April. Let's stop calling for this man's job because when he's gone, you'll be sorry.

That's all I'm saying. You will be sorry. But there is something to be said for for the continuity that the debacks have had in that regard, right? I mean, having Tori Lavello as the manager of this baseball team going all the way back to to 2017. This is now his eighth season on the job. He's the longest tenured manager in franchise history. He's the winningest manager in franchise history. This is something that's the longest tenured coach in the valley behind Bobby Hurley, by the way. Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. I mean, and this is something that the devax have gone through their share of managers over their franchise's history as well. You know, it's not just, I guess, maybe not quite to the degree that the sons have gone through different head coaches. It does

kind of feel like it's a new one just about every year. But yeah, I mean, the D-backs had, you know, they had ship hail for just a couple of seasons. They had Kurt Gibson. So, yeah, none of those stretches were all that long. Tori Lavello really is kind of at his own, in his own category here with the Diamondbacks. And yeah, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't seem like his tenure is, is going to end anytime soon. Welcome to the Valley JJ Reddick or Ty Lou. We'll take either one of you, I guess. I don't know.

JJ Reddick would be pretty fun. Yeah, I'm on board with that. Anyway, we do thank you guys, whether you're a Suns fan or Diamondbacks fan, for being here right now in the P.HNXports YouTube channel, we'll take all of you here. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss one. Emergency podcast about your coach being fired.

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We'll get it. We'll get it remotely, one of these days. And then we're going to drop the confetti and have the big celebration. But anyway, every day can be a celebration for you if you stop by Circle K, because you can buy yourself snacks there. And what better way is there to celebrate yourself sometimes than with some Circle K snacks? They have an incredible selection.

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I know you're thirsty. Jesse, before we move on from this game, of course, we know Damon lies. That's why he's not here today. Big fat liar. because he lied to us last night. He was like, oh, I'm your producer. I don't know why you guys would ask me why I'm not your producer. And then who do we have over here?

It's Jacob. The better one. The better one. Yeah, I mean, he's not wrong. But of course, I don't lie. And we know that. And of course, the numbers, they also don't lie. So, Jesse, what do you have for today's game?

Yeah, I have a couple of them. The first number is the number five, which is what we have here on the screen. Five represents the number of hard hit balls. by Diamondbacks hitters today, Derek, which is actually not very many at all. No. But that's sort of how it works sometimes. We talked in the last few days about how sometimes you can score a decent amount of runs, even if you don't hit the ball all that hard that many times.

There were a few exit veloes like right at 94 miles an hour I notice, which technically don't qualify as hard hit balls, but they would have been if they were 95 plus. So, you know, 95 is kind of an arbitrary. So that number five, clearly, given that the debaq still scored five runs and had 17 base runners in that in this game, it doesn't necessarily mean everything. But another number that I have, Derek, is the number 084, just decibel point 084, which is the OPS against Slade Sikoni this season the first time through the lineup.

which is wild. Okay. That is opposing. Opposing hitters, Derek, have gone one for 35 with a walk the first time through against Slade Sacconi this season. Trend of course continued today. Slade did not give up a hit in the first three innings of this game. He did allow a walk, although that runner was caught trying to steal second base.

It was Will Benson who tried to steal second and Tucker Barnhart threw him out. So Slade still faced the middle. minimum and yeah, 084, Derek. That's a pretty decent OPS for that. What are we good? What do we do with that? Like, do we, I mean, is slayed on the verge of truly putting it together based on that information in your opinion?

Or does that mean he might just be kind of a guy that that's only going to be good one time through the rotation? What do you feel like that indicates? I mean, I think what it indicates to me? more than anything is that if you put Slade in the bullpen, you might have, you might really have something. That's what I mean. That's what I'm alluding to, I guess, without really saying it, is like, do we start looking once, you know, once Slade does, is no longer part of the starting rotation, do we keep them stretched out as a starting pitcher and try to build on that? Or do you just

start looking at one of the nastiest relievers that, you know, can go out there and not only give you an inning but give you the long relief that sometimes this team is in need of at times that they're not necessarily getting consistently out of Bryce Jarvis and Logan Allen. And that's not to throw any dirt on Bryce Jarvis. He's been pretty good. Yeah, I mean, I think there will probably come a time this season. You know, I guess this would involve getting Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez back from injury, which you hope is the case by, you know, maybe sometime in July. At that point, the debacks would probably have the freedom to move Slade Sacconi out of the starting

role. And you have to feel like they would take that opportunity. I don't think they're going to send Slade back down to Reno. I think you have to put Slade Sikoni in the bullpen and see if you can turn him into a real weapon, which is from what we've seen this season, the way that he's just carved through hitters early in these games, there's a pretty strong case to be made there that Slade could be a very, very good relief pitcher. And that's something that the Diamondbacks very sorely need, right? Right now they need the starting pitcher more because they're starting pitching depth is obviously, you know, they're sort of on the fringes of that right now, given the

starters that they've lost to injury. But once you no longer need Slade in that role, he could be pretty darn good in the bullpen. And, you know, this number certainly bears that out. Well, the Diamondbacks get no rest here. They will immediately head to Baltimore for a series with the Orioles that starts tomorrow. Of course, we will be bringing you another postgame show tomorrow after that game. But in the meanwhile, we wanted to take a look at the rest of Major League Baseball,

including those Baltimore Orioles and where they fall on our power rankings for this week. Let's take a look at that listing. Of course, we got Carlos Correa and those twins showing up on this board after the last few weeks that they've had. But of course, we have the Dodgers moving up to number one. They were number two last week. We have the Dodgers at number one. Philly's moving up one spot from number three to number two. Braves moving down two spots to number three.

And then everything there in the middle is still right, right where it's been at. Four is Yankees that stay the same. Five Orioles stay the same. Guardian six stay the same. Royals, seven. They're still in the same spot. We have our two new teams adding to the power rankings this week, which are the Texas Rangers.

at eight and the twins at nine and then the brewers fall down two spots from eight to the tenth and that rounds out our list jesse plus 74 run differential for the dodgers going six and oh this week hard to deny them being in the number one spot yeah the dodgers at this point have just played so well the last couple of weeks that really really no choice there but to put them in the number one spot. The Braves have slipped a little bit. They're now a few games behind of the Phillies in the NL East, which is something I wasn't sure we would ever see this season. It felt like the Braves might just have a commanding lead in the NL East the entire way through. But things have flipped there. The Phillies just believe won a series over the Braves. Might have swept that series. I have to go

back and double check. But the Phillies are playing really, really good baseball right now. As we've said, the last couple of weeks, they're starting pitching, has been the best in baseball. And we've what that offense can do. They did just lose Trey Turner. He's expected to be out for about six weeks. That's a big loss for the Philly, something to watch here in the coming weeks. But that's a really, really good baseball team

that in my mind is pretty easy putting them at number two. And you mentioned the Minnesota Twins earlier, Derek, who have won 14 of their last 16 baseball games. They're up to 21 and 15 on the season. Granted, they play in the AL Central, and they did win a number of those games against the White Sox and the Angels. But any time you win 14 out of 16 games,

it's pretty dang impressive. Ronald Acuna Jr. really struggling for the Braves. I mean, not struggling. He's still a damn good baseball player, but he only has a 720 OPS with a 107 OPS plus. He has a 261 batting average, two home runs this season, and 8 RBI. I mean, again, he's still productive.

He's still a deadly hitter at all times. just not the consistency that we've seen out of them for the last few seasons. And, you know, I mean, the Braves, they have a lot of weapons, but they're kind of going through a little bit of what the Diamondbacks are going through, where it's kind of as a whole, their team isn't really producing as much, as well as you expect them to. Yeah. And I mean, they're still, they're still 22 and 12,

which is pretty pretty crazy that the Braves can be 22 and 12 when Ronald Lacuni Jr. Because you got an elite average hitter up to this point. It's just one of the many weapons that they have. You know what I mean? But yeah, everybody else there in the middle kind of still stacked in that same order. Just a lot of good teams in the ALE East. The Yankees and the Orioles were both 5 and 1 this past week with a plus 54 and plus 53 run differential, respectively. Like these teams are very good.

Luckily, they have to play each other a lot, but still not as much as much as we used to back in the day. Guardian's still hanging around at 24 and 13. And then the Royals there still at 22 and 16. So, you know, these teams are still winning. They're, you know, they're not having the week that the Dodgers have had, but they're able to keep their leads in their divisions. One note on the Texas Rangers real quick, who another team that jumped into our top 10 here

after not being in it for the last while. Yes. Corey Seeger has not really hit up to this point in the season. You mentioned Ronald Acuni Jr. not getting off to a particularly good start. Corey Seeger is in that exact same boat. So far, at least entering today, Seeger had a 613 OPS, a 76 OPS plus. I'm not really sure what's going on there if there's maybe an injury at play, because that is certainly not the Corey Seeger that the Diamondback saw in the World Series, Derek. No. That man was pretty good. No, he was very good. And of course,

The world right now has Paul Skeen's fever, Jesse, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who's going to be making his debut. I love everything the pirates have done with hyping him up. I don't think I've ever seen, I mean, rarely in baseball, like Bryce, you know, Steven Strassberg, a lot of nationals. But, you know, like rarely do I remember seeing like as much hype around a pitcher debuting as what we're seeing from the Pittsburgh Pirates? And I think it's cool.

Yeah, I, I too have Paul Skeen's fever, Derek. That's why you're quarantined. Correct. Yeah, that's what I, that's what I have. Skeens, I mean, the pirates have taken an interesting approach here, and he hasn't really pitched deep into games at all in AAA. He's made seven starts, and he's only thrown 27 in a third inning, which is an average of under four innings per. So they've, they've slow played him.

I imagine even once he's with the Pirates, major league team. They're still probably going to be really careful with his usage. Of course, we've seen so many injuries, especially among hard throwers already this season. And I'm sure the pirates want to do everything they can to get out in front of that and try to prevent that. But yeah, I mean, schemes this year in those 27 and third innings there, he had a 0.99 ERA and AAA. He had 45 strikeouts to eight walks, a 0.9 to whip. Just unreal. Just tops out at triple digits regularly, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, touches triple digits regularly.

And maybe even more notably, throws a splitter that's like 95 miles an hour, which is absurd. That's nasty. Yeah. So, I mean, the guy's thrown 34 career minor league innings. Like, he hardly pitched with the Pirates organization last year. He's only thrown 27 and a third of this year. But he was so good. He was so good in college, so good at Louisiana State.

And, of course, was taken first overall. less than a year ago was widely expected to be among those top few picks. And I'm really excited to watch and pitch. I mean, this feels like, you know, the Steven Strasbourg debut. I remember that big big event when it happened. Like when you have a really high draft pick where the hype was always there and the player follows through on that hype in the minors and they're making their big league debut, it's a site to behold for all of baseball, really.

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players making their debut the jackson holiday thing didn't go so great but he'll be back and i'm sure he'll be even better when he returns for now here are the starting pitchers the arizona diamondbacks will be sending out there and who they have to deal with we have fought versus Irvin in game one, Nelson versus Means in game two. And then the milkman, Zach Gallen going in game three against Kramer. And I say that because Zach Gallen is in fact the milkman, Kouser. Yeah, I mean, the diamondbacks, Derek, avoid both Corbin Burns and Kyle Braddish. We did it.

We did it. But, I mean, if we look at the graphic one more time, like, those are still some pretty good ERAs on the real side. Cole, Col Irvin at 286 ERA coming into that game on Friday. Irvin has not allowed a run in his last three outings against the Reds, six and a third, no runs against Oakland's seven innings scoreless, against the Royal six and two thirds scoreless. Those are his last three starts.

John Means just returned from injury. He was really, really good in his first game back. I think he might have made, I think there's maybe two starts in there. but as you see, he has not allowed a run yet. And then Dean Kramer, as well as on a nice little run here for Baltimore with a 357 ERA. And he, in his last four starts, has a 2.63 ERA. So this is a pretty, it's a pretty formidable group. I mean, we kind of looked at the Orioles before they made the Corbyn Burns trade.

And we're like, this rotation is kind of mediocre, even though the offense is going to be so spectacular. Not only has the offense been spectacular for the Orioles with basically every young hitter you can imagine, just absolutely knocking the cover off the ball. Colton Couser, Jordan Westberg, you know, Adley Rushman, of course, doing his thing. Gunner Henderson having an outstanding sophomore season so far. The lineup is potent. And even the three, three, five starters, Derek, have also been really good lately. So the Orioles are one of the best teams in the league. They're 24 and 12. They have one of the top few records in baseball. As of right now, it's going to be a tough series,

a big test for the Diamondbacks coming up this weekend. It's gross how good their team truly is and how young their team is. But we still got to the World Series first, and I'll just throw that out there. Also, I can't help but think of how good this series sweep of the Reds is for the Reds is for the. diamond backs. I don't feel this is a situation where the diamond backs are going to get too

ahead of themselves because they just beat the Reds. I think they understand that the Reds were struggling and I think they understand that the Orioles are a very different animal than what they just faced in the Reds. However, it's just encouraging for them to finally start putting things together. Even in games like in Game 2 that you could argue they didn't even deserve to win. they were able to find a way to win. Jordan Montgomery found a way to give the Diamondbacks what he gave them yesterday, even without striking out very many batters.

But he just found a way after giving up seven hits early to settle in and give them some length. This team has done that over the last few days. I think it's just a reminder that they can win baseball games in a myriad of ways, and they can actually be a competitive team. I think that when you struggle the way that they have struggled, so far this season, you do start to doubt whether you can actually, you know, win certain games,

certain matchups. And once that doubt creeps in, it can truly start impacting your performance. Yeah, the Reds, I mean, the Reds are a better team than the Rockies, right? I think that's pretty clear. The Reds are a decent team, and I wouldn't be surprised if they turn things around and are in the mix come the end of the season as they were last year, especially just getting Matt McLean back from injury would be really, really, really helpful for them. But yeah, at this point, I mean, the Diamondbacks have won four series this season. This was their fourth. And all of those have come against struggling baseball teams.

This Reds team, the Cardinals, and then two series wins against the Colorado Rockies. For the season, the Diamondbacks, Derek, are five and 13 against teams that are above 500 and 13 and 7 against everyone else. So they've really done pretty much all of their damage this season against subparties. against subpar baseball teams. This weekend against the Orioles is an opportunity to show that the diamondbacks can hang with the better teams in the league, something they really haven't proven up to this point. The Diamondbacks have only been swept by the Braves. And you and I, as we were leaving the building last night, talked about how wonky that series

with the Braves was. Yeah. That really was where it felt like the wheels fell off for the Diamondbacks. Like, that was the first series that didn't make any sense. That's the first series where. I believe they had a lead in almost every single game. They had the potential to win every single game, and they blew the lead in all three,

and they get swept by the Braves. But it was just somehow in that series, it was like still encouraging because you knew the Braves were going to be a tough time. You knew the Diamond Back or a tough team. You knew the Diamondbacks were missing some pieces. But when they were able to hang with the Braves or even go up as much as they did in one of those games, I think they were up eight to what, I think eight to one,

or maybe even 8 to nothing or whatever. But the Diamondbacks were, it's like everything bad happened to them in that series. And then everything seemed to kind of carry over for a while, right? This is this series against the Reds, this sweep feels like they finally shed a lot of that poor play. And they still had some today. We talked about Blaze Alexander. There were a couple of other mistakes made. But it wasn't as egregious as some of the mistakes the Reds made in the series.

And ultimately, with these games being as close as they were, Those mistakes were what cost the Reds potentially in more than one of these games. So it's just nice for the Diamondbacks to be playing once again, like we talked about yesterday, that mistake-free baseball, not mistake-free, but less, not as many mistakes in their game and playing their brand of baseball a little bit more. Yeah, that Brave series really is, that really was something, wasn't it? Just screwed everything up. They did. Yeah, I think the Sunday, I don't know if they had a lead in the Sunday game, but it was tied late.

I think Blaze Alexander made some sort of a defense miscue that gave the Braves the lead. And then the debacks would end up going to Miguel Castro and things didn't go well. The first couple games were more brutal than that by far. But yeah, the debacks have, they've at least shown signs of kind of hanging with the better teams. And we saw them play the Yankees at home during that first week. of the season and they emphatically won Zach Allen start in that game. I think that was a 7-0 nothing win for them. It was. But they lost the other game and then the

series finale was that extra inning match against the Yankees that was involved all sorts of chaos including Scott McGuff. Scott McGuff, uh, D.H. appearance. Yeah, including Scott McGuff, uh, being just utterly, uh, disrespected by the home plate umpire in that situation. Surely he would have gotten on base had that missed call not happened.

But yeah, they've been able to hang around against some of those better teams. They didn't hang around so much against the Dodgers last week, though. That's fair. So this is going to be big for the Diamondbacks to prove. Like, we're not just here picking on the teams that are scuffling and having our way with them. We're actually like going to come out and be one of the better teams in this league the rest of the way. and you're going to have to at least hold your own against teams like the Baltimore Orioles

in order to do that. Well, we will see you after game one of that series with the Baltimore Orioles. Make sure to join us back here for another post-game show and then we'll have your Saturday episode. Of course, your regular Saturday episode of the show that we always do, right?

No, we'll be doing our mailbag this Saturday. Of course, if you have any more questions, maybe get them to us very quickly. we might be recording that very soon. But make sure you consume all of that content. And we appreciate you guys, of course, for stopping by. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at K-Man with the K.

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Those other four are pretty damn good then. We might be moving up the charts. We might have to get his Twitter handle change to Jacob underscore Franklin three. Top three, Jacob Franklin, at least in my opinion. But anyway, our show, as you know, is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. And, of course, all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by. We appreciate you time.

We'll see tomorrow after the Baltimore Orioles take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. And you guys have yourself a wonderful night. We appreciate you again. We appreciate your time. We'll see you then and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you have a manager you can count on.