PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - That Damn Check Swing

Episode Date: October 16, 2021

On this episode, Jesse and Derek discuss the series finale of the NLDS, what we have to look forward to in the next round, and what the D-backs team of former players from this year's playoffs would look like. 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.

Hello and welcome to the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, no longer occasionally known as the mayor of PHS. You're official, Derek. Just straight up officially known as the mayor of PHNX. We're so happy to have you guys here. Of course, this show is brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX and simply for making a $1 bet on

any NFL game, you will get $100 in free bets instantly, as long as either team in that game scores a point. You know what I'm going to say here. You know how long it's been since the last zero zero tie. No longer to beat, I don't need to beat it up anymore. You go do that, get your free money, make your money with free money. There's no better way than to bet than with free money. And I'm going to give you yet another pick of the week, even though yesterday I tried, I tried my best to tell you guys what to go bet your money on in the NLDS finale. Of course, I'm joined by the guy that picked incorrectly on who you should bet your money on. It's Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman.

I go by Vice Mayor. Oh, that is right. Excuse me, Thunderstick has been retired. It is the vice mayor of PHNX, my friend, Jesse Friedman. How are you, after watching that big Game 5? between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants last night. That freaking check swing, man. Oh, that damn check swing.

It was, I mean, let's face it. I think it was an 0 and 2 count. So like the odds, I guess it would have been 1 and 2, right? So the odds of like anything realistically changing if that goes the Giants way, which it should have is not really very likely. I mean, you're 1 and 2, you know, 1 and 2 2 2 outs runner at first against Max Scherzer. Like, let's face it, there's probably a less than 20% chance of the Giants coming away with a run there. But nonetheless, I mean, like, for as good of a series as that was, and Derek, it was good.

I mean, that was, that series was tremendously fun to watch, especially last night. I know there was talking about Thursday. I know there was a lot of, a lot of buildup going into that game, but it like so lived up to it. even though there weren't that many runs scored, there was just so much intensity in every moment of that game. And it lived up to it, Derek, up until that last moment when I was like, really? Like, we're going to end this that way.

And I think a lot of people were unsatisfied. And I was certainly among them. You're right. And I think the problem here is that realistically, what we were talking about was an overpowering pitcher in Max Scherzer, who, as I said in a tweet, probably made the decision himself to go out there and pitch. Dave Roberts had literally just said going into that game that it was like highly unlikely or

something like that. Uh-huh. It would be available. And Max Scher went out to the bullpen and sat there for a little while. And then when they called, he answered the phone and was like, no, I'll be ready and hung up. And Dave Roberts was like, well, I guess we're going with Scher. But Scherzer was dominant in that performance, even though he allowed a runner to get on. That runner got on by just it was an error Justin Turner right right exactly it's not on him

it's on Justin Turner got like and Turner of all people who's normally so reliable there at third base got ate up by a by a ball and and you know we had the not just the tying run but the winning run in this series the series that has been so incredibly good not just in this series but all season long between these two teams we're talking about a regular series season series that the Giants won 10 to 9. The Dodgers eventually evened it out in this playoff series. So when all is said done in 24 games, these two teams split the series 12 to 12. Wow.

It was by far the best rivalry in baseball, right? Two of the five games in the playoff series were decided by a single run. Los Angeles still outscored San Francisco by a ton because of some of those more out-lopsided victories right but yeah we saw Logan Webb just pitch incredibly in two of the of these games and you know

end up getting the no decision in this one after allowing one one run and four hits I tweeted this the other day I don't know if you saw this but Logan Webb used to be that guy in MLB the show that the you know an MLB the show at least like maybe like a year or two ago when the game was a little bit older at least this happened then all the time the opposing

manager just like inexplicably goes to like their worst bullpen arm like every single time at least like I don't know if that's just like a me quirk or something I have with the settings or something but the giants would always put in this random dude named Logan Webb who had a rating of like 64 or something and and it was so it was like honestly frustrating because I was playing as the diamond backs you know we were we were making big moves and and I would just feel like the the the video game manager would just hand me games by putting in Logan Webb in the fourth or fifth inning. And it's like, wow, I'm just going to pound this guy out of the park. Yeah.

And you're going to, you're going to pity me like this? You're going to put this guy in? Yeah. This is just insulting. And then, oh, gosh, I mean, I hope they don't put in Logan Webb in a more recent version of the game where his ratings have been updated because this guy is, you see how much his, like, his sinker has so much movement. It's, it's so stupid.

Like, and the thing is, is that, like, it makes hitters look so silly. but that pitch looks like it's coming in on you so much that it's going to hit you. That's the reason why you end up looking like such a fool. Like it's incredible the movement. Yeah. There was a time when there was a time when Catelle Marte, we also tweeted this out from the account, but Catel-Marte once like, like, he like backed away from a Logan Webb sinker

that actually finished on the outer third of the plate because it has that much movement. It has that much armside run. And it is, it is crazy. Maybe only to be matched by Blake Trinon. Yes. Just, oh my gosh. Another guy that was just pulling witchcraft out there on the mound, right? I mean, that's why this series was so good.

These teams are so good. And it's also this weird David versus Goliath battle as far as spending goes with the giants just, you know, proving that a team that spent half the amount of money as the opposition can still get the job done or at least be, you know, as good and hang in there. This was a battle. Neither one of these teams really won the NL West or anything. It really just came down to them splitting it with the Dodgers doing it at the right time and having the opportunity now to advance. And who's going to beat the Dodgers at this point? I don't foresee that. I think what really sucks, though, going back to that damn check swing is that

realistically it was you know Wilmer Flores who again another former Dback. I love Wilmer Flores Wilmer Flores is just such a soft like he is the same player every single year you always know what you're going to get out of Wilmer Flores and and that's

another reason why I'd it just it I wish the Diamondbacks would have hung on to him I really liked him more than anything it was the way that Metz fans like literally cried about him leaving New York to come here, right? Like that said something special to me about him without knowing much about him as a player. Yeah. Like it seemed like more than just a fan favorite. It seemed like the kind of guy that, you know, helps your club win ballgames and makes fans fall in love with him when he's doing it. but he was 0 for his lifetime against Max Scherzer in this at bat.

It was more exciting, you know, when late night Lamont was up there, getting ready to prove that he once again could do his thing against opposition late in the game. But I did not believe in Wilmer Flores. I had money at this point on the Dodgers, and that's all I cared about, Jesse. That's all I cared about was seeing Scher close out this game. game. Wow. When I saw it was warmer flas.

That is all you cared about is seeing X Diamondback Mack Scher shut down. Wow. Wait, Mac Scherzer now current Dodger shut down the team he's facing. I feel gross. Like I'm going to go need to take a shower. I think we're losing listeners as we speak. It's fine. Because of your absurd takes.

I will bribe them with part of the $157. and 20 cents that I won betting on the Dodgers. But you got to understand, again, this is the beauty of betting on baseball. Even when you don't really have a horse in the race, you can have a horse in the race, Jesse.

And I did last night. I had a couple of them, and they all came through for me as far as Julio Udius, throwing five strikeouts, even though he didn't start the game. The Dodgers and the Giants not having one of their blowout games because I just felt like that wasn't going to happen. So I kept the under at seven

and a half and I chose the Dodgers to win. When Flores was at the plate, knowing Wilmer from his time as a diamondback, I was, I was at 99% for my confidence level. It couldn't get any higher. I knew that Max Scherzer was going to, you know, just dominate this at bat. The problem I have with it is like Wilmer didn't even look like he was anywhere close to it, right? So it's easy to have the opinion.

He was going to strike out anyway. I felt like that was exactly how I felt. I didn't even think that it was going to be that controversial afterwards considering how just kind of how lost in the at-bat he already looked against Scherzer just in general, right? He wasn't up there giving a confident at bat. He looked like he was struggling a bit. But I will say, just to play devil's advocate, what a fairy tale that would have been to have a walkoff in the bottom of the ninth by a guy that's not your usual suspect,

by a guy that was 0 for the world against the pitcher he was batting against with one on, with two outs, he steps up to the plate and cranks a home run into McCovey Cove Giants win, right? like what a magical moment that that would have been that people would not have stopped talking about until the end of time like that you know it would have played out like a movie i think at the end of the day if i was a fan of the giants i would feel robbed of that by this check swing because yeah he probably would have struck out and even if i was a fan of this team i would probably be pretty confident that's the way this was going to go however with that fairy tale lingering in my mind I can't help but think how much we were robbed of that potentially happening, right? It is a fairy tale. I mean, those are some long odds there, but I know, I know. Like I said, I know, right? But that's how, that's how shit happens, right?

Sometimes that's, you can't even explain it. You don't even know why, but now this guy's, you know, Jersey's hanging up in the Hall of Fame, you know, 25 years later or something, right? Do you? That's, that's just the way things in baseball can happen because of it, being such a weird fickle sport that you can never predict. Okay. So speaking of the fickleness of baseball, do you want check swings reviewable?

I know this was something a lot of people were clamoring for yesterday. I'm like that you just can't. I mean, like, I want to get calls right. But like we, I mean, baseball is probably long enough. I don't know if we have time to review every single time one of those. You're not wrong. I think it's like everything, though. it's why it's why they review every touchdown in the NFL.

It's like anything else. They just want to make sure that they got the call right. They don't want to rob either team of, you know, a guy getting away with something that they shouldn't have gotten away with. In this case, a check swing, like robot umps isn't going to help a check swing. Reviewing it might not help a check swing. The problem here is that it's really up to the judgment of that first base umpire. What did he see down the first baseline?

because a check swing isn't always just whether or not you cross the plate, right? A first base ump is taught if he sees the head of the bat pointed at him in any way that that was a swing because that person swung the bat at an angle too far for it to be considered a check any longer. Some first base umps are more forgiving. Gabe Morales was not. I think the problem that I have is there was a delay in his call just enough to make. make me feel like he did not see it. So his judgment in the situation was to go with a strikeout.

That is so unfair because I feel like referees, umpires, all these officials are kind of taught to not let it come down to them at the end like that. If it was a call by the home plate umpire because the guy threw the ball right through the strike zone, that's different. Or if it was a questionable call because it brushed a corner or whatever, even that's different. because obviously the K zone that we see on TV is different than the actual stripe zone, the umpire is calling.

When it comes to this, though, it's another thing that you're not going to really easily correct. You know, you're not necessarily going to have a camera angle right there at what the first base umpire saw. It's not that easily reviewable. And again, it's down to his judgment. So I just don't know.

I think there's always going to be a human element in being an umpire and base. Yeah. Right? you're never going to get rid of that even with robot ums they're just going to call the strikes and the balls there's still going to be a home plate umpire that calls check swings and you know whether someone is out at home plate and all that they're you know nobody's losing their job as much as we want you know can you imagine if robots could you imagine if they had robots yes no i want they say it's just going to be like a camera bullshit i want an actual robot

wearing some sort of cool robotic like umpire mask to protect the camera and stuff behind it but I wanted to have like a little mouth and I wanted to make ridiculous strike calls like I wanted to do the punch out and stuff do everything right I want Johnny 5 out there just just punching motherfuckers out just ah yes that's what I want I want that from robot umpires

but would I mean I think the idea of them is that the umpire is still there and just and just makes the call themselves. Yes. But they just do what the machine tells them to do. But I'm with you, Derek. I would rather just, who needs someone there? Let's just make the robot the person.

Come on. We're all going to get replaced by robots one day. Even Jesse and I, okay? Artificial intelligence is growing at an exponential rate. So I'm sure before we get 10 seasons into this, you're going to be with 0-0-0-0-1-1-0. and his pal 1-1-0-0-0-0. But I want to tell you to go spend your ones and zeros on Draft Kings, on the Draft King's Sportsbook app.

Again, Draft Kings is the official sports betting of the betting partner of the NFL, and new customers can bet just $1 on any NFL game and win $100 in free bets if either team scores a point. It's just $1, and all they got to do is score a point. Use our code of PHNX to do so. you can also get into some same game parlayes, which I am going to give you our another, another draft king's pick of the week a little bit later. But yeah, you can get into the same game parlayes and just combine multiple bets from the same

game for a bigger payout. You can combine all sorts of prop bets for players, how many yards quarterback's going to have with the over or under. You can combine it with the line, everything, you know, all that stuff in there. draft kings is safe, secure, and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit and withdraw your cash whenever you want. And just a reminder, use our code of PHNX and you will get that $100 in free bets for betting $1 on any NFL game as long as either team scores a point.

21 and over only, Arizona only, gambling problem, dial 1,800 next step, new customers only, eligibility restrictions apply, see draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. And Jesse, we are, I will have an article posted with my thoughts on the Dodgers giant series, even though I know it's not D-backs related, because I feel like the series shouldn't come down to that damn check swing. This series between these two teams were too good, and I will give you all of the reasons why I think that is. I know, I know Diamondbacks fans, you probably don't care. however, I hope you take time to check it out. I promise you we will return to your regularly scheduled D-BAC's writing coverage soon, and you can get all of that coverage.

Jesse, I promise Jesse will never write an article like this. He's disgusted by me even doing it. That was a hilarious pitch you just gave to him. I did. You guys probably won't care, but if you feel sorry for me. I know. Well, here's the thing. I've seen some very negative reactions to us talking about.

this series being so good. I understand where people are coming from. I, as I have expressed in the past, still absolutely hate Robert Orie to this day. And I will never change my position on that. You can feel free to hate the Dodgers, the Giants, the Padres, even the Rockies, all at the same time. You can hate their owners. You can hate their players. You can hate the mothers of the players for all I care. That's on you. I just want to say, sometimes, you got to give credit where credit is due. And that's what I feel like I express with this article. No matter what you say about this series,

whether you hated these teams, whether you think that the check swing was or wasn't bullshit, the point I am making in this article is that this year, these two teams had the best rivalry in all of baseball. And it was probably what I don't, can't foretell the future, but I'm guessing we'll probably,

probably go down as the best series in this playoffs and possibly the best series in any playoffs over the last few years. I know that's a bold thing to say with how some of the World Series have gone and some of the more critical games, but I just can't believe the parity in these two teams and how close it came down to these, you know, to one of these teams ending their season and one of them going on to potentially become the favorite for the rest of the playoffs, you know, up until the World Series. And you can get that on go-PhNX.com. I hope you enjoy it, even if you hate both of those teams with all of your heart. You can become a member at go-PhNX.com either by getting an annual membership, which will get you a free t-shirt from

the phnx locker.com, or you can do the month-to-month option, and you'll get your first month for 50 cents. I've been told that I am selling you guys on the price of the month to month option incorrectly. And I've been telling you it's the price of a tall caramel macchiato. Apparently, it's more like the price of two tall caramel macchiados per month. So, oh, forgive me, it's two caramel macchiados a month. But pretend like you're buying Jesse and I each one every month. And we will just open up our brain knowledge to you. And maybe we'll even do some video series that we've been promising to do.

We have a lot of fun highlights from this season that we want to break down and kind of fun highlights. A lot of fun highlights. Yes. A lot of good highlights. See, do you hear him? You hear that. He's being disingenuous right there, right? You hear that in his voice. And the reason why is because Jesse doesn't feel the same way about this season. I think this was a

magical season that delivered lots of enjoyable moments, even though it was also like watching the Titanic break in half and sink to the bottom of the ocean. You don't even get your number one overall pick, Derek. I don't know how you're suddenly the positive one. Shut up, Jesse. Anyway, you see, look at all this that you're getting on co-phanx.com. I don't even need to sell you on it anymore.

But please become a member. This month's or this week's option for members or discount, I believe was to buy a cardinal shirt and get another one at 50% off. So just an example of the. the great things that you'll get as a member. You can also be part of our Discord. Just, I said it, I said it the wrong way.

Just say it, Derek. Stop thinking about it. It's like when they say a pitcher needs to stop thinking. It just needs to throw it. You just need to throw the pitch. Okay, hold on. Stop talking. Stop talking.

Let me do it. Join our members only Discord. Was that right? I still think you thought about it, but it was more accurate. It was better. Yeah. It was in the strike zone. It was, oh, God.

Gosh, here we go. I ain't getting there yet. But I will tell you, you can join our Discord. Discord. I'm saying it wrong again. But anyway, and get away from all of the other BS on social media and just talk sports with your fellow PHNX members, like my favorite member, Chris, who is on our Discord, I think, lately. And always sending us all sorts of lovely messages and lovely things on Twitter. I love you all.

I'm not just singling one person out, but I kind of am. Anyway, Jesse, we have the rest of the playoffs now to look forward to without the Diamondbacks. Again, it's like the meme we posted. We are Squidward looking out of the window at everybody else having a great time. But we have the ALCS now set with the Red Sox and the Astros and the NLCS between the Dodgers versus the Braves. So my question to you, as you have a podcast.

I've proposed to other people. Who's going to stop the Dodgers, Jesse? Who is going to stop the Dodgers? I don't know. I'm not so sure. No, I think it's possible, right? Like, these are some good teams. Here's some good teams that are left over.

I think the Rays were really the team that I was like, yeah, I really think, you know, I might even favor them in a series against the Dodgers. But the Braves are a little bit diceier. I will say that they're, they're, Their rotation for the playoffs is pretty good. In the NLDS, they just went with three guys. They went with Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Ian Anderson, who are all pretty solid pitchers.

I mean, I'm not going to say that that's the same as, you know, Max Scherzer, Walker, Bueller, and Julio Ureus. But, but it's not far, it's not that far away to the point where, you know, you couldn't even possibly imagine the Braves coming away with some of these games. And their, their offense, I think, also has a lot of things going for. people might not know that Austin Riley hit 303 this year with 33 home runs and drove in over 100 runs, over 100 RBIs,

and had an OPS of like right near 900. So he had a really good season. Freddie Freeman obviously is great. Ozzie Albies had another good year. Danesby Swanson finished the year really strong. So he, I mean, he wound up with almost 30 homers once the season was all set and done.

I really wish Ronald Lucuna was here. I would really feel like the Braves. You know, I mean, if he was there, then I think it's obviously a huge game changer. But you're going to pick the Dodgers. I mean, at least I'm going to pick the Dodgers. I think you kind of have to. But it's not, you know, it's crazy things happen in this game, right? And you really, you really never know what could happen.

It felt like the Brewers were going to be a really strong playoff contender. And they kind of fizzled out against the Braves. I think the thing about the Brewers is that they didn't have a strong end of their season. And it just goes to show. It's that you got to keep that ball rolling. It's better to catch that fire towards the end. But again, even that didn't prove to be very helpful for the Cardinals, who ended up in a one-game playoff, you know, wildcard playoff game

with the Dodgers who are still just a better team at the end of the day. All of these games have been very close, you know. Yeah. That's the difference is these good teams, they can hang with the Dodgers. The problem is that once you make a mistake, you know, once you get behind by a run, the Dodgers can just slam the door on you and make sure, especially with what Dave Roberts did in this game,

you have to give him credit for his ability to manipulate Gabe Kapler just enough to, you know, make him change his lineup and go do something differently because he had no idea really what Dave Roberts was going to do at the end of the day. You know, he brings in Kenley Janssen and the 8th, and he brings in Scherzer for the closing, you know, Yeah. It was a wild thing, but very reminiscent to me of what the Arizona Diamondbacks did to win a World Series.

Just going balls out and doing whatever you can to win what they probably saw as the most important, you know, series in this whole thing. You get past the Giants. Everything gets just a little bit easier for the Dodgers. I feel now at this point, their biggest obstacle is going to be not taking. any of these teams left in the playoffs lightly. I think it ends up with the unfortunate event of the Astros versus the Dodgers, which has a great storyline. It's very compelling.

I don't know how unfortunate that is. I mean, it's unfortunate from a Diamondbacks perspective. We never want to see the Dodgers in the World Series. Oh, yeah. And nobody likes the Astros right now, right? It's kind of fun, though. I mean, these teams kind of hate each other.

So they hate each other so much, Jesse. And not only that, right? but rightfully so. They did, these aren't like, oh, we got in a fight because our pitcher threw in. It's like, no, this is, you stole a championship from us. This is like when you tell somebody that it is on site. You know what that means, Jesse, on site? That means when I see you, we are fighting wherever it is.

We can be at a funeral. I'm going to fight you at a funeral. So that's what it feels like between the Dodgers and the Astros. Obviously, some time has healed these wounds a bit. They've played each other. so none of this is anything crazy, but it still feels like it's going to be a very heated situation if it ends up there.

And to be honest, that's kind of the drama I'm looking forward to. I think both of those teams are better than the teams they're playing in the championship series. I think there's a very high probability that we will see the Dodgers versus the Astros. And man, I don't know what Dodgers fans are going to do if the Astros beat them in the World Series again. That's all I just.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's a hard. It's a hard sell. I mean, the, the, the Astros are, are starting, you know, Framber Valdez in their first game against the Boston Red Sox. Like, it's just, it's just not. And Lance McCullors is hurt. They really need Lance McCullors back. I mean, he's probably the best starting pitcher they have. So, I mean, there's that Granky, but he's not really stretched out right now. And I think they're planning to use them mostly out of the bullpen. So the Astros are, I mean, it's honestly tough to really, really both Astros and the Red Sox kind of have a problem in their starting rotation is just not, it's just not quite to the same

level. I mean, the Braves is maybe right there with them. I kind of like their trio. But, but, I mean, no one's competing with Walker, Bueller, Max Scherzerzer, and Julio Urias. I mean, that's just, that's three Sigh Young candidates all on the same team. I mean, no one's competing with that. But yeah, I mean, there's some fun storylines here.

Don't count out the Red Sox. I mean, their offense is really, really good. And without Lance McCullors, the Astros pitching staff gets a little dicey. This is probably just going to be really high scoring and really fun to watch. I mean, both of these teams have unreal offenses. And, yeah, I mean, I'm just stoked to, after, I mean, as much fun as this Giants Dodgers thing was, I'm kind of stoked for like a, you know, like a seven to seven game in the ninth inning rather than a one to one game. You know, it might be, it might be kind of a fun change of speed.

Well, Jesse, we all know how the Houston Astros use technology to get what they wanted. And I just want to remind everybody how you can use technology to get what you want. How long you've been sitting on that line? Oh, like 15 minutes, Jesse, like a good 15 minutes. But you can use our code of PHNX over at Manscape. com and get 20% off of your order and free shipping. And we're talking about the whole package for your package. They have the performance package for your package over at Manscape.

And you can get that, again, with that 20% off coupon using our, as I like to call it, the skeleton key on the internet of PHNX, which you can just plug in at any website you go to and see if it works. But the performance package, 4.0 for Manscape, it's a great grooming and hygiene routine to make sure that the boys downstairs are as smooth as Max Scher in the ninth inning. You can get the lawnmower 4.0 to make sure your outfield grass is nice and trimmed. And also, as I keep telling Jesse, age will sneak up on you. So you're going to need that weed whacker to get the nose and the ear hair trimmed.

I mean, I swear to God, Jesse, I did it right before I left from Las Vegas. And I don't know if I missed it or what, but I get to Las Vegas. I'm trying to look cool and going out with my wife and my, my, my dund. and just some big old ear hair sticking out just reminded me of how old I actually am. So use that weed whacker with its ridiculously overpowered 9,000 RPM motor to get every hair. And also don't cut yourself, right? Keep all of yourself. Prevent those nicks, snags, and tugs with all of Manscape's products.

And Jesse, we're still going to talk about that ball toner. But I want to remind everybody that's PHNX at Manscape.com to get 20% off. shipping. Also, use our code over at Draft King's Sportsbook app, PHNX, to get that $100 in free bets for betting $1 on any NFL game, as long as either team scores a point. And I want to talk to you a little bit about scoring some points. So this week, I'm going to give you our Draft King's pick of the week, which is a pick I actually, actually made, not just something I think is a good idea, but something I committed my own money to. Wow. So you normally give picks that you don't even, you're not invested in. You're like, yeah, you guys should throw your money.

It's here or there. It's here or there. You know about my, you know about my parlay from last night. So I'm not going to say that. I took the, I took the Cowboys when I told you you took the Cowboys. I took the Cardinals when I told you to take the Cardinals. Those all won. A couple of the ones didn't work out for me. But that's what happens. You win some. You lose some. At the end of the day, the important thing is you come away on top. And you got your five strikeouts. I got my five strikeouts. Yes, even though there was a weird situation with Draft Kings last night, canceling the bet because Urius didn't start, they did go back and change that and gave me my money. So that was a beautiful thing. Draft Kings, sometimes, like they say, sometimes the computer does stuff and it just needs a human to go take a look at it and rectify it. But I'm going to tell you guys this. I am steering clear of the Arizona Cardinals this weekend. It's just, it's too risky. They have too many. key players out and the Cleveland Browns are just too good of a team. So I can't confidently go to the Cardinals. Jack Ertz can't play yet, right. Zach Ertz is ineligible until next week, correct. Rodney Hudson is out. Chandler Jones is out. There's just too many key players out for me to feel comfortable. So I am going to go with a division rival that I feel a little bit more comfortable

about. Again, I know you guys hate me for this. So I'm just riding that wave of hate and I'm picking the Los Angeles Rams this time. Wow. You're like, you're just a straight. up L.A. sports fan. Yeah, I'll put on the hat. I'll put on the hat. Give me the hat. You're wearing a L.A. Sports brand. Derek is wearing a Roscoe shirt right now. Yeah. He's not lying. I really am. You're not even from here. Who am I anymore? I don't know who I am anymore. But anyway, I'm taking a same game parlay on this because I think the Rams are going to annihilate the Giants. I took the spread at eight and a half. I took the under because I don't

think the Giants are going to score many points. And the under was kind of low at 48 and a half, but I'm still taking the under. And then I am taking the over for yardage on Matthew Stafford passing yards of 249 and a half passing yards. It is a plus 600. So again, nothing crazy. You want to go with a more crazier parlay. You can do multiple game parlayes. You don't have to just do the same game parlay. You can add more legs to a same game parlay. You can get crazy with it. I try to do my best to keep it within reason as far as winning. And I try to use, my limited knowledge of sports to do so. So you can do the same over on the Drafking Sportsbook app

and use our code of PHNX. Jesse, I want to talk really quick about what the D-BACs playoff roster from this playoff would look like. Oh, gosh. I know. It's sad. It's sad. But I was taking a look at some of, you know,

the teams that are out, the teams that are still in, I'm talking about all the teams that made it into the playoffs, whether they were a wild card, or whether they were a playoff team. But this is a pretty good team when you look at it, right? We got Max Scherzer, we got Zach Granky, we got Dominique Leone, we got Evan Marshall, we got Brad Boxberger. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, some of it plays out kind of like, I don't know, like I'm singing the song from Hamilton. It's like, Max Scher, Paul Goldschmidt, and a. Jay Paulick, you know, so I don't hear it, but there's still enough, Eduardo Escobar, J.D. Martinez, swoon. There was, there was a lot of good, there's a lot of good players in the playoffs that are

former debacks. And then there was Wilmer Flores, who, uh, has the controversial. Damn check swing. What are your thoughts, though, on this playoff roster? Uh, does it make you sad? Are you indifferent? How do you feel about the success of all these guys, the teams they're on? and the fact that they are no longer debacks. It's a pretty compelling lineup, unfortunately. I mean, yeah, you can almost make an entire team. You really can.

We need like one more outfielder, and that's pretty much it, you know? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, you've got a couple starting pitchers. You've got three relievers in there. Yeah, no, it's a decent group. But, I mean, of the guys who are still in it, who are we cheering for the most? I guess J.D. Martinez is kind of an easy target. I think we always love J.D. Martinez.

There is really no bad blood against that man here in the valley. Oh, God, you're not wrong about that. All he did was come here and hit the crap out of the ball. Yeah, and then want to come back, too. He wanted to come back. He really did. That's another story for another day. Zach Granke, I think.

I still find myself always just enamored with Zach Granky. Yeah. He was just such an enigma of a person. He was so weird at times. he was such a funny guys Yeah, in the best way possible. Yes. Yeah. Like, I don't know, man.

He was like an eccentric billionaire that drives a, you know, go-kart to work or something. Like, that's what he reminded me of. Just the kind of guy that doesn't give a shit about what anybody thinks, completely hated doing like media scrums and stuff. They always want to talk about his anxiety and stuff. I think he just hated doing it. I think mentally he's a different person that doesn't find the necessity in some of

this stuff that we do as media. It's understandable, you know, especially when someone like him doesn't really give us much. Then you see him give us something like the time that he called Archie Bradley a loser in front of me. And it's like, I'll never forget that as long as I live, right? Did you know that Zach Granky's contract is up this year? This is the last year of the six year contract that the Diamondbacks gave Zach Granky. Of course, now he's been with the Astros for the last couple years. This is the, I mean, this is the end, a contract that a lot of people saw being a huge disaster for this organization.

That contract is now over. And in retrospect, I'm sure we'll, you know, we'll probably talk about this someday soon on the podcast. But in retrospect, it's hard to argue with it, Derek. I mean, he was pretty good with the Diamondbacks. And they got a, you know, a decent collection of players in exchange for him with the Astros. And he's really continued to be good. I mean, Zach Granky has never not been a pretty darn good pitcher over the life of this contract. That's the one thing that remains to be seen as how good some of the return for Zach Granky ends up being for this organization.

It's pretty much Josh Rojas is really all that we know. Correct. That's all that, but still at the very, at the end of it, Josh Rojas's production mixed with the potential future production of the other guys involved in that deal still makes you feel like the Diamondbacks came out on top. it's not a deal that you question as much like the Paul Goldschmidt deal, but they are similar in the fact that, you know, they got the Diamondbacks out from these situations that they weren't going to be able to afford much longer. You know, Paul Goldschmidt wasn't going to be affordable by the Diamondbacks once he became a free agent. And Zach Rankies's deal was huge.

And the Diamondbacks could see that this was not trending in an upward direction at the time with him as part of this organization, you know. Yeah. At the same time, I mean, I'm sure we'll we'll talk about this more later, But also it's like, I mean, the reason you dealt Zach Granky in part was because you wanted to spend that money elsewhere, right? Like you saved that money in theory to put it elsewhere on the team. And like they haven't really done anything all that productive with, I mean, Madison Bumgarner is here. I guess that's the most direct like exchange that they made. But yeah, I mean, you'd rather. Which is weird because you just traded, you traded one aging former superstar pitcher for another one at the end of the day.

You know, and then you overpaid for another one better than the second one. Right. And that's and that's the thing that still boggles my mind. I don't, I don't, I didn't hate the contract because at the time I thought it was neat. I was so caught up in Madison Bumgarner wanting to come be a cowboy here in Arizona. And I, I really, I don't know why I, I thought it was neat that he structured his contract inward so that they could get out of the Yasmani Tomas. Right, right. You know, contract without it affecting their budget too much in that first.

year at the end of the day it comes down to what he can do for this team we saw this year Madison bumgarner return to what we know he can do what we've seen in the past in stretches yeah in stretches so the thing about it is if the diamondbacks can just make sure that they understand him better even if they have to handle him differently than they handle the rest of their pitching staff they need to do whatever they can to maximize his production and keep him at that level. I think he did well and he didn't even have good stuff, right? Like, he was just doing it by being a seasoned veteran pitcher. He wasn't blowing any way, I went away with his stuff. He was just locating and he was getting guys out. You know,

it wasn't striking many people out. He was just getting guys out. And yeah, we need more of that. And if we can get Madison Bumgarner a double digit win season, you know, that, that, that, would be a huge win, you know, to have him be somewhat of an ace, even if he's not going to necessarily be the best pitcher on this roster. Yeah. Yeah, you don't necessarily need him to be a number one. I think the team signed this contract knowing Madison Bone Runner is not a true ace at this point in his career. But the durability is what's enticing, right? The fact that he can go out there and theoretically should be giving, you know, about six innings a night, which has a lot of value on a team like the Diamondbacks that doesn't necessarily have, you know, a whole lot of

bullpen weapons and they're still very much figuring things out over there. You're absolutely right. Well, I want to thank everybody for listening. I want to remind everybody if you're watching this or listening to this on YouTube, please subscribe to us on your favorite audio podcast app. If you are listening to us on those audio podcast apps, whether it's Spotify or Apple or whatever, please make sure to jump over to our YouTube, subscribe there. sign up or hit the bell for notification so that that way you get all of the Arizona sports goodness that we're putting out whether it be from us the Cardinals gang the sons or anybody else follow us on Twitter I am at cap underscore caveman with a K of course Jesse is at Jesse

and Friedman not all roads lead to at pHNX underscore sports and that's on Instagram Twitter and Facebook Jesse who's going to win the world series is it going to be the Dodgers Oh man, are you throwing that question at me in like the last minute? I just wanted you to be miserable and I wanted you to think about that the whole time for the entire weekend until we get back together on Monday. I've been doing horrible things all day to Jesse and I am wearing a Rosco's house of chicken waffles. So you know what? Maybe I am a huge L.A. fan now. I don't know.

But I thank you guys so much for listening. And remember kids, baseball is fun. But it's so much more fun when you bet on it. Go bet right now. Thank you.