PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks’ bullpen cost them again in a series loss to the San Diego Padres

Starting point is 00:00:02 Not, I'm not, I'm not happy. Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNXTBACs podcast after dark right here on on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, officially known as a sad boy during sad boy hours after dark. And of course, this guy next to me, he cheers me up. He makes me happy, but I don't think it's going to happen tonight. It's the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Derek, the people want you to hit something with a.

Starting point is 00:00:37 that i have that thing on me jesse i have that thing on me and something will get hit don't worry but that's we're going to save that for a little bit later because i have um i have some issues to work out of course this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the draft king sports book app america's top rated sports book app and of course we are now discussing an arizona diamondback series loss to the san diego podres when we were so everything was so happy jesse last time we did a show it was what happened the happiness is gone it's all gone right it's just dried up the well is dried it is uh yeah it's pretty dry uh ryan nelson uh had all of us on cloud nine on monday with his outstanding outing arguably the best like major league debut ever uh by a diamond backs pitcher

Starting point is 00:01:27 and things were going great yesterday derrick for a while i mean people were still on cloud nine through four innings when meryl kelly was throwing a perfect game and, you know, the Diamondbacks had jumped all over the Padres early in the game and had a five-nothing lead. And then things pretty quickly spiraled out of control. We all know how the game ended yesterday. And then coming back today, just a rough one all the way around. I think this one is maybe a little bit more excusable just because you have U. Darvish against Tommy Henry, which is a very difficult pitching matchup from the Diamondback standpoint.

Starting point is 00:02:02 But all in all, it feels like this was a series that Diamondbacks, could have won, maybe even should have one. But unfortunately, that's not the end result here from San Diego. Yeah, I think that's something I can agree with. Like the Diamondbacks were there. They won game one, five to nothing, seemed to kind of have the Padres numbers in that way, not to mention the fact that the Padres continued a streak of lack of offense at Petco Park that carried over to game two until this idiot right here decided to tweet.

Starting point is 00:02:36 about it. And then everything ended right then. Of course, game two was a five nothing lead, just like game one that ended up becoming a meltdown. We're going to talk about the bullpen, but I'm not, I'm not pinning that entire loss on the bullpen. Like you said, we were kind of on cloud nine. Merrill Kelly seemed to be on cloud nine. And then he came back down to earth very quickly. And so did the Arizona Diamondbacks in game two. Game three, much more of a slug fest, kind of back and forth affair. Once again, I think the key, if you want to, want to accentuate the positives as we do on this show and try to, try to maintain that positive attitude is the Padres spent a shit ton of money on their team.

Starting point is 00:03:17 And the Arizona Diamondbacks led by Corbyn Carroll, who's 175 pounds soaking wet, and Dalton Varshot, who's 4'8, somehow almost swept them in this series, right? They were very close, but I'm not going to take anything away from our guys. They were wonderful. the young guys, Varshow, McCarthy, you know, Corbyn Carroll, obviously. They were all great in this series at times. And, I mean, again, they just showed how much they can contribute. Game one, we talked about Ryan Nelson so much that I, we don't need to touch on that anymore.

Starting point is 00:03:52 But game two, Merrill Kelly was sharp, like you said, in fact, perfect through four innings. And then once again, this guy tweets about the lack of offense. I think I also said something about, oh, my God, we're so. good. And then after that, but Merrill Kelly was sharp through four, but he really, he really lost his command after that. And that was one thing that was frustrating, I think, both for him and for us as fans to watch, because he was cruising. And then next thing you know, it was like, forget cruising. He could be, he barely knew how to, it seemed like he barely knew how to pitch, you know, and, again, that's not taking anything away from him. It just, it's just incredible how fast a pitcher can go from

Starting point is 00:04:33 being dominant to being essentially, I'm not even going to say figured out. His command just wasn't there. He was walking guys after that point. He was really struggling to get stuff in the strike zone. And then when he did, it was, you know, a meatball down the middle of the plate. So just an uncharacteristic, you know, kind of, I guess, you know, flame out there at the end of the of his outing for Merrill Kelly. And then the bullpen couldn't pick up the team or him. And once again, lost yet another game.

Starting point is 00:05:02 Ian Kennedy blows the save in the ninth. The Padres look like they were never going to stop scoring in that game, by the way. And again, I know, like I said, we put a lot of it on the bullpen because they did lose the game and it is another loss credited to the bullpen. They should be able to hold these games. The starting pitching should be able to hand it over the bullpen with two innings to go and have them be able to get them to where they win the game. Right. But that's not only is that questionable at this point with this team. It's,

Starting point is 00:05:33 uh, it, have we, have we lost Derek? Is this just me? Yeah. All right. I wasn't,

Starting point is 00:05:44 uh, I wasn't sure if I was the only one. Uh, Leah, our producer is nodding her head right now. Um, yeah, Derek,

Starting point is 00:05:50 he's at a loss for words, everyone. Uh, we'll just, we'll just leave it like that. Um, but yeah, I mean,

Starting point is 00:05:56 this series was rough for the diamond backs. Hopefully Derek can, uh, can join us again here shortly. I'll, I'll, I'll just kind of keep things moving along here in the meantime. Uh,

Starting point is 00:06:04 somebody that really out to me though. Merrill Kelly, frankly, has allowed very few home runs this entire season. And I'm not sure like how realistic it really was for Merrill Kelly to stay in that spot long term. I mean, he had allowed, I want to say single digit home runs entering his start yesterday. And yes, Charles Woodall Pike, I think you are spot on. The bullpen did finally break Derek. Hopefully, hopefully he's able to recover and join us again here at some point. But yeah, that was my thought with the game yesterday was just that Merrill Kelly has been, he's like really dodged the home run bullet in a pretty impressive way throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:06:45 And that's something that pitchers do have control over. But at a certain point, it becomes pretty hard to maintain the level of home run prevention that he had up until yesterday's game. So, you know, regression is regression is a harsh mistress, as they say. And I think that was maybe expected at some point that Merrill Kelly was going to allow a couple of home. runs and unfortunately the Padres really sort of went off all at the same time. But anyway, yeah, so yesterday's game was obviously rough. I know the bullpen is sort of what everyone is probably thinking about more than anything right now.

Starting point is 00:07:22 One thing I will say with regard to the bullpen is that unfortunately, hey, there he is, Derek is back. I have no internet. I'm on my phone right now, internet. So I have no idea how this is going to go. Please continue, sir. I was talking about how, so, and well, I guess maybe let's just pull up by the numbers right now, because I'm going to reference a number that's there.

Starting point is 00:07:47 We'll maybe jump into some of the other numbers a little bit later. But going off by the numbers, Derek, the Diamondbacks bullpen ERA in the series was 3.68, right? Not actually that bad. The Diamondbacks bullpen gave up only three runs in the series. The problem was two out of those three runs came at the, worst possible time, right? In the game on Monday, the Diamondbacks won five to nothing. The bullpen could have given up four runs in that game without changing the outcome. And in the game today,

Starting point is 00:08:16 you know, the Diamondbacks had already, you know, were already trailing by the time the bullpen came in. The bullpen could have given up however many runs without changing the outcome of this game, right? The Diamondbacks still would have lost because they just didn't get the offense that they needed. So really, the only time in this series where the bullpen really couldn't give up a run, was in that Tuesday game, you know, when they have a one run lead. And of course, that's when they give up the two runs. And, you know, they get walked off and lose the game. So unfortunately, that's a big part of how bullpens work is it's like, it's not just, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:51 what is your bullpen ERA? It's like in which games do you stumble? In which games do you allow those runs to score? And unfortunately, in this series, it was basically the worst possible outcome. Yeah, it absolutely was. And again, like I said, even though we do want to put all the bullpen mames up and scream about the bullpen, you know, they, it wasn't completely on them in this series. And honestly, the starting pitching ends up looking worse than it actually should because Tommy Henry really had a bad outing today. And I mean, Tommy Henry, yes, I did have to rage quit, Elizabeth.

Starting point is 00:09:28 I didn't even want to talk about the pull pen. I shouldn't have come back until we got, went on to the next segment. But Tommy Henry was once again ineffective in his story. start. His last two starts, as we tweeted out, eight and one-thirds inning pitch, 15 hits, 12 runs, 12 earn runs, five walks, six strikeouts, hit by pitch, and three home runs given up. So his last two outings have not been very encouraging. And once again, it's right now for the Diamondbacks. That's really what the tail end of this season right now is about, is feeling these guys out. They're going to have good outings. They're going to shine at times, right? But it's,

Starting point is 00:10:03 it's trying to figure out which of these guys is going to be a consistent contributor to the starting rotation, right? Ryan Nelson was excellent in game one. That does not mean he's going to be excellent in his next start, right? And that's more of what we're looking for. That's what we were looking for from Tommy Henry. We were looking for him to build and to get better, get more comfortable as he progresses at a major league level. And unfortunately, we're not seeing that from Tommy Henry. Yeah, it's just been a rough couple starts.

Starting point is 00:10:31 and I know I was sort of the, I was the guy that everyone was mad at a few weeks ago because I was showing some signs that I was a little bit concerned about Tommy Henry, even though some of the numbers for him at the time were, were pretty good. But yeah, now you've started to see things kind of come back into balance. You just can't get as little swing and miss as Tommy Henry

Starting point is 00:10:54 has gotten in his majorly career and have success. It's just not sustainable. And he was able to do that for a few starts. he was able to have a couple really good outings even without getting a whole lot of strikeouts. He did have an outing where those numbers bumped up. But on the whole, there just hasn't been much swing and miss for Tommy Henry.

Starting point is 00:11:11 The stuff is not above average. I'll just say that. The stuff is sort of average. And really what makes Tommy Henry good in the moments that he is good, is his command. Like he in AAA this year for a few months was the kind of guy who didn't walk anyone, you know, who generally put his pitch.

Starting point is 00:11:30 pitches right where he wanted to. And we haven't really seen that guy in the big leagues, especially in this game today. It felt like Tommy Henry was kind of spraying the fastball all over the place. You know, there were occasional good pitches here and there. He did throw a decent number of strikes when it was all said and done. But I don't think they were quality strikes. Like, I don't think he was hitting his spots. And he doesn't have the kind of stuff that really lets you get away with very much.

Starting point is 00:11:56 And so Tommy Henry totally could turn things around. I don't want to say this is in any way, you know, a sign that his major league career is over or he doesn't have a future or anything like that. But he needs that command to be pristine. That's what's going to make him effective. And we haven't seen that now in the last few starts. Chris, in the comment says this is the actually portion of the show brought to you by Jesse. We're going to title. That's what I'm here for.

Starting point is 00:12:20 The well, actually, well, actually, you know, here's what Jesse has to say. But definitely something we've noticed and something we saw with Ryan. Nelson as far as the other end of the spectrum. Ryan Nelson looked very comfortable. He looked very dominant. He looked like he was able to overpower hitters, full hitters at times. His stuff just looked good. And he looked confident in his stuff.

Starting point is 00:12:43 Like his stuff is genuinely good. His stuff is better than Tommy Henry's stuff. He can get away with more stuff than Tommy Henry can because he's throwing like 96, 97 with some consistency. 98.1 miles per hour. 98.1. Yes. All right. well. And he's not the only one of our young guys that we need to praise. Of course, we're going to

Starting point is 00:13:03 praise Dalton Varsho and everything that he's been doing for this team. But specifically in this series, our short king was our short king of the series going batten 400 in two games and one pinch hit appearance in game one. Three home runs, three RBIs, three runs, all solo shots. But we're not going to take anything away from him because his power has. has been surprising and more, more, I guess not surprising, but consistent, especially lately. He's just been able to power the ball. And I mean, you know, this was a guy that we were curious if he was going to hit 20 home runs and now this is where we're at. Yeah, I mean, the Dalton Varsho had never hit more than five home runs in a month coming

Starting point is 00:13:54 into this game in his big league career. He's never had more than five home runs in a month. still hasn't. But Derek, he already is five in September, and it is September 7th. So he is on a pretty good track for being able to do that in the month of September. He's just been... He's all the tools. He has all the tools. I don't know if you've heard that before, but all the... I've never, never heard that. No, never heard that. Somehow I've been following our Twitter account for several months, and I've just never come across that. I don't know how that's possible. No, Varsho has been just so good for this baseball team.

Starting point is 00:14:29 And in the last four games that he started, he's homered in all of them, including, of course, the two homer game today. He became the fifth player ever to have a multi-home run game against you Darvish. It hasn't been done since 2017. So it's been more than five years since anyone has pulled that off. You Darvish is a very good starting pitcher. So doing that against a guy like him is impressive. And Derek, he almost had number three against Josh Hayes.

Starting point is 00:14:55 in the ninth inning. So close. That was very close. I wanted it. I wanted it so bad. But of course, we can't have nice things anymore. And, you know, that's how this season seems to go. But we want to thank our short king for being the king of the series. And of course, if you haven't had a chance to do so already, download the draft king's sportsbook app. Football is here. College football, NFL. It's football time. You know, it's a pretty good time for baseball, too. So don't forget to get down on the baseball betting as well. But since it is the first week of the NFL season, Drafking Sportsbook and your friends at PHNX are hooking you up right now.

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Starting point is 00:16:17 That's the equivalent to this in football. So if your team win, leads by 10 at any point during the game, you win and get paid instantly, even if your team loses. That's promo code PHNX on the Drafking Sportsbook app. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. And Jesse, that's not the only sports gaming that we're going to do this week because we're also getting down with our new friends from Underdog. I just signed up for Underdog Fantasy. You can get me on there at, of course, mayor of PHNX. But it's the easiest and most fun way to spice up your

Starting point is 00:16:51 football season, especially if you're not looking to go with the draft king's route, you can get down on the fantasy in their pick-em game over at Underdog Fantasy. Look for your favorite players to just pick between two and five players for your pick-em entry, whether they will hit the stats or not hit the stats, higher or lower total than the stat in this week's game, get all of your picks right, and you can win up to 20 times your money over at Underdog Fantasy. Also, I look, I'm pretty good, Jesse at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, at, not having confidence in people. So on the on the underdog fantasy app,

Starting point is 00:17:27 I tend to go with the under I tend to go with the lower total than the stat. So, and, and I'm pretty sure that our friend Shane Diefenlock would call me, uh, uh, I don't know a hater. I think you'd say I don't like fun by doing that. I don't care. I play the way I want to play and you can to over at the underdog fantasy app.

Starting point is 00:17:44 Uh, just searching the app store or click the link in the show notes. Sign up with promo code pH and X. An underdog will double your first deposit up to $100. That's Underdog Fantasy, promo code PHNX, get in on the action today. And some guys, Jesse, that aren't getting in on the action, seem to be the guys that we would think would help this Diamondbacks team win the most. I'm talking about the vets.

Starting point is 00:18:08 I'm even going to throw Cotell Marte in there. Cotel has been struggling and in a slump. In this game, there were times at the plate where he was a detriment to this team. There was times in the outfield where his defense wasn't very sharp. but you also have the guys that a lot of people are talking about in Bumgarner, Malanson and Kennedy, guys that take up a considerable portion of this team's payroll, and in those three individuals at least,

Starting point is 00:18:33 account for 30, 30, Jesse, of the team's losses. So I guess, you know, I know we've brought this up before, but it just seems like the closer role not only is cursed for this team, but it almost feels like the veterans, you know, providing and producing for this. this team also seems to be kind of cursed at this point. I noticed some things that Bees has pointed out in the comments section. I think,

Starting point is 00:19:01 I think Bees is thinking some things that a lot of Diamondbacks fans are thinking right now. Can't help but wonder where this team would be with All Star Marte, all star Marte plus good bullpen equals wild card spot. Those are compelling arguments, right? Like Cattel Marte last year didn't play that much. He only played about half the season. but he was a really good player. And coming into this year, Derek,

Starting point is 00:19:25 we had a lot of questions about this 22 Diamondbacks baseball team, but Catelle wasn't one of them. Like he was one of the few sure things about this baseball team coming into this season. And what's happened is over the last two months, the Diamondbacks do not have a less valuable position player than Cotel Marte.

Starting point is 00:19:44 Cotel Marte has been the Diamondbacks' worst position player according to Wins Above Replacement, dating back to, like the second week of July, um, as Derek does the thing with baseball bat, that you all have been waiting to see. Oh!

Starting point is 00:19:58 No! Not you too! It's dumbfounding, right? I mean, Catella's had this like, this weird. I don't, I don't even know what exactly,

Starting point is 00:20:11 like, what exactly to pin on, like, how to explain this sort of thing that we've noticed with Cotel. But in 2019, he was an elite player. In 2020, you know, the pandemic season, he was sort of just okay.

Starting point is 00:20:25 And then in 2021 last year, he was hurt, but he was very, very good when he was on the field. And then this year, he sort of looks like his 2020 self. So I guess if the pattern continues, Derek, that means he'll be elite again in 2023. Maybe I don't know if that's a good thing to bet on, but the math checks out. It's bizarre, though. And the diamond and the fact that Ketel is not really playing great defense anymore. more. Although he did look better today. He made a couple nice plays in this game, but the fact that the defense seems to be on the down swing also brings some concerns about like,

Starting point is 00:21:01 you know, what, what is he going to be in two or three years when he's still under team control? All right. Sorry. I heard you said down swing and that just reminded me I didn't hit the top of it hard enough. Jesse, I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated because we were talking about playoffs, which just seems fucking absurd at this point. On Monday's episode, it's Wednesday night. Yeah. It's incredible how two losses has changed the complexion of this season, right? But the Diamondbacks really already are in a playoff race at this point.

Starting point is 00:21:38 So every loss, every win is critical for this team. If they have any hope at all of actually making the playoffs and actually, you know, succeeding, in that goal this season, right? It's so unlikely, and I'm sure even within the organization, they're not even considering it to be a possibility, right? But with them being so far out, that one single loss when they were up five to nothing seemed devastating enough to just let the air out of the playoff balloon, right?

Starting point is 00:22:10 And so now here we are a series that we honestly went into, hoping that we just wouldn't see the Diamondbacks get swept. they were close to not only winning the series, but sweeping it themselves, potentially at times, if you want to look at it from that perspective, right? They were close in game three. They were tied several times. They were even up in game three.

Starting point is 00:22:31 They were up in game two. They were up in all of these games. So there is, you can't say that they didn't have at one point a grip on this series and a grip at even potentially sweeping it, right? So the two losses now just seem to be so devastating. you know and again it would it really was a thing that we talked about where they would have to play perfect baseball in order for the playoffs to even be on the horizon and a possibility for them i just think the the the the inability to have that clutch factor in a game like they had in game two i'm not even mad about game three i mean we had corbin carroll hit his first home run that man uh got terrorized by his team when he came back to the dugout, Jesse. No one spoke to him.

Starting point is 00:23:20 Tori Lavallo, that menace, that sociopath. He's just over there chewing sunflower seeds while Corbyn barrels walks past him after he hit his first home run. I don't have the spirit for that, Jesse. I would have exploded inside trying to keep from hugging that man when he came back. So, I mean,

Starting point is 00:23:38 there was plenty of fine moments in game three that just, the Diamondbacks just lost that game. You know, honestly, it was kind of, of funny because Juan Soto got pulled out of the game due to getting hit by Tommy Henry. And I wasn't happy about it. Not only was I, you know, it sucks to see someone get hit, injured, and pulled out of the game. But Juan Soto was not doing very good. So I wanted to see him remain in the lineup.

Starting point is 00:24:03 But Jesse, you talked, of course, about the closer role for this team. Ian Kennedy, Mark Malanson. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do with Bumgarner. I don't know what to do with these guys. obviously the Diamondbacks have two out of three under contract still next season and I don't know where we go from there but it also just doesn't seem like the Diamondbacks can do anything right at times when it comes to that close a role even you know historically currently

Starting point is 00:24:32 throw someone that's young in there you probably would do bad too it just it doesn't seem like anything works out for them when it comes to the back end of their bullpen no not really uh They've tried some different things and nothing has really worked. I mean, I guess Ian Kennedy is sort of the one guy that they've tried. Tori Lavello said they were going closer by committee, but it really seems to have just been Ian Kennedy as the closer for the last few weeks. But it's hard, Derek. I mean, I don't know what direction you go when Mark Malanson's just been sort of a disaster all year.

Starting point is 00:25:07 Ian Kennedy's blown two consecutive saves. And Joe Mantiply is not throwing the baseball very well right now. He gave up another run in the game today. I believe over his last, so this is going back to August 21st, Joe Manciply has a 12.71 ERA over five and two-thirds innings. He's given up eight runs in his last five and two-thirds inning. That's not very good. No, no, it's not.

Starting point is 00:25:34 And so at that point, it's like if you don't have, you know, the two guys who were closers for their teams last year and Kennedy and Melanson, if those guys aren't, aren't viable options. And Joe, Man, apply your All-Star isn't a viable option. Reyes Maranta? Like Caleb Smith? I don't know. Is that your pick, Derek?

Starting point is 00:25:56 Is that who you're going with? Yeah. I would have left a bit in game two. Man was rolling. And I don't just mean that because he's round. I mean, he was rolling because he was on a roll. And I didn't see any reason to stop what was going on. But that's only because in hindsight, it always looks better.

Starting point is 00:26:11 if he would have blown it, I would have been screaming. Why didn't, you know, they put in Ian Kennedy. Yeah. If it doesn't go right, you can always question the manager. And that's something that we saw a lot of people do of Tori Lavallo this season. Understandably, it's sometimes. But at other times, I feel like Tori gets the brunt of the anger when it doesn't really seem like he can do anything, right?

Starting point is 00:26:33 You know, we were screaming about him doing something different from Alanson, and he did. And that really hasn't worked out well for them, you know? like I said, the bullpen has accounted for the most losses in Major League Baseball by a bullpen. And that is something that the Diamondbacks will have to think a lot about this offseason, you know, and I don't know what their answer is going to be for it, but it needs to be the priority they address, which is a good thing. The beginning of this season, they had so many other positional needs and such to address. and now it really feels like they filled a lot of those roles with qualified candidates that are exciting to watch and even have backups, right?

Starting point is 00:27:17 Like Emmanuel Rivera at third base has been great for them. Josh Rojas, he can still fill in and he's still very good. But to have an everyday third baseman that's capable of playing the position and capable of providing you with offense, it's something we had three guys that couldn't even make up one guy seemingly when this, season started. So things are starting to work themselves out, but the Diamondbacks will still have positional needs that they need to address. And for the most part, it's going to all be pitching, it seems like, because the team is really solid defensively otherwise. There's not a lot of holes there. What on Earth is wrong with Shane? What is this Jay? Leah, do you want to chime in

Starting point is 00:27:59 here? What's going on with Shane? Googling? She says no. She's staying out of this one. We need to talk, Shane. The audio people are left in the dark, Derek. Explain what Shane Defenbach put in the comments. Shane Defenbach put in the comments. Jesse Friedman shirtless picks. And then he said, oh, shoot, this isn't Google. And yeah, I get it.

Starting point is 00:28:22 I get it. Jesse's hot, but let's respect his mind. All right, let's keep it clean here, Shane. If you go to Google, though, you will find many of them. Oh, my God. You just went to the wrong spot. Nice. Well, I know what I know I'm spending my night.

Starting point is 00:28:36 but you can spend your night reading Jesse's article over at GoPhNX.com. It is D-Backs after dark, Jesse. Don't forget that. But check out Jesse's wonderful article while you're searching for shirtless pictures of him. He writes his brain is as big as his pecks, folks. But make sure to check out his wonderful writing because Jesse does do some incredible writing. And he covered this very topic that we're discussing about the Diamondbacks bullpen situation, now, then, and forever.

Starting point is 00:29:06 because it just seems like it's never going to be any better than it currently is. But if you're watching us right now on the YouTube channel at nearly 10 o'clock at night, we appreciate you being here. Thank you for staying up. I hope some of you are eating ice cream. That's the best way to enjoy DBAX after dark. Make sure if you're following us here, make sure subscribe to the PHN Sports YouTube channel, sign up for notifications.

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Starting point is 00:31:17 alone just for the access to the Discord. And of course, we'll hook you up with members-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker. Let's get an All-City update, by the way, Jesse. Of course, all-city, the only division that matters to us at this point. The White Sox still have quite the lead at 69 and 68. Diamondbacks falling back a little bit, but they still have the best division record, and I'm not too mad about finishing in second place, if that's how the season ends. But the Denver Rocker, the DNVR Rockies, they got out of the cellar there and the Cubs still hang out down there. But Jesse, any thoughts on us and our fellow all city teams? Well, first of all, Josh Hunt is very disappointed that there were no results when he tried

Starting point is 00:32:02 searching Jesse Friedman shortless pick. So I just want to send my condolences there. But yes, as far as the as far as the All-City Division is concerned, the Diamondbacks have, I still have a shot in this, right? And, you know, I know you were talking about playoffs earlier and the fact that things are not looking so good for the Diamondbacks at this point. I don't want to shut the door on the playoffs completely, Derek,

Starting point is 00:32:31 but we're getting sort of close to that point or the Diamondbacks now are now 10 games out of the wild card. That's a serious mountain to climb in about three or four weeks. But yeah, as far as the All-City division is concerned, there's still some hope. Speaking of which, not to cut you off,

Starting point is 00:32:46 but I think we found out that like in the wild card, as far as the wild card's concerned, no team has come back from a 10-game deficit or more. I think that's something, right? Isn't that? Yeah, that was, that's as of, as of September 1st, this is from the Ilius Sports Bureau, as of September 1st, which is granted a few days ago now,

Starting point is 00:33:09 no team has overcome a 10-game deficit to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. So that's just the wild-card era. So that's only covering about 30 years of baseball history. But in that span, no team was out by 10 or more games on September 1st and managed to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. So the Diamondbacks would be, there are 10 games out on September 7th, right? So it would be, they would be doing something that no team has ever probably even gotten close to doing in the past. All right. Well, let's take a look at that schedule that's

Starting point is 00:33:43 coming up and see how likely it is that that's happening. Diamondbacks have three games on the road against Colorado. Don't miss Sunday's game. That is Zach Gallen's opportunity to take Brandon, overtake Brandon Webb for most consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Then Jesse, Dodgers and more Padres. So I don't like this. This doesn't look great. And maybe if there were some more Milwaukee Brewers games left on the schedule, I might feel differently.

Starting point is 00:34:12 But I'm not, I'm not, I'm not feeling good about this. No, the Rockies, frankly, are the last team that Diamondbacks will play this year. That the Diamondbacks are better than, you know, clearly, just like looking at records. They do have some games against the Giants. those teams are obviously still pretty close in the standings. But other than that, I mean, it's all Padres, Astros, Brewers, Dodgers. It's a pretty tough schedule the rest of the way. And I know we've talked in the past about how maybe the playoffs is an unrealistic goal,

Starting point is 00:34:44 which I think at this point, we're pretty much there with the playoffs being pretty hard to reach. But 500 is still, it's ambitious, but it's still out there. Like, it's still something the Diamondbacks could do. There's 65 and 71 after the loss today. So they'd have to finish 16 and 10 in a very, very difficult stretch through the rest of the year. But I don't know, Derek, is that, is that possible? Like 16 and 10 over the last, no, okay, all right. No, nothing's possible anymore, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:35:12 I've lost all hope and all faith. And I just want this season to end now at this point. And that's how I feel after loss. Yes, I'm dramatic. I haven't had my OGs. And maybe had I, I might be taking this a little differently. So maybe you get yourself emojis. Maybe you can enjoy these losses a little bit better than I do.

Starting point is 00:35:32 I don't know. I hate it, but OGs helps me get over it. Find yourself some OGs at your local dispensary. They are, of course, the top selling gummy, medical gummy, marijuana gummy. It doesn't matter, whatever you look for. They have doses, variety of flavors, variety of strains, all that over at OGsbrands.com or on OGs brands on Instagram. I was the subject for some reason of their newsletter today, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:35:55 They wanted to interview the mayor. I was accused of being made of 60% water, 40% OGs gummies. That might be accurate. I don't know. But of course, get yourself some OGs gummies over wherever you get your local goods from, your local dispensary. And also make sure to check out our on go phnx.com. A little promo we're giving away some free gummies, some free stuff.

Starting point is 00:36:20 It's our OG's flavoring life sweepstakes. Enter over at go phtonx.com. You can win yourself in OGsg's gummies. three bags of Oge's gummies, including my favorite, the orange creamsicle, an OG's hat, PHNX T-shirt of your choice and a PHNX annual membership. No, open shirt, Derek, does not come with this particular promotion, but he still is in the running for closer next year.

Starting point is 00:36:43 And of course, must be 21 or older to enjoy our friend at OGs and enjoy responsibly. And that's not the only giveaway. Of course, we are always enjoying our time at Four Peaks. So make sure to join us on the final Wednesday. of every month where all of our beats will be broadcasting from the 8th Street Pub, Four Peaks. But join us this Saturday, starting at 3.30 for our ASU watch party as the Sun Devils take on Oklahoma State at the Fort Peaks 8th Street Pub. That's Saturday, September 10th

Starting point is 00:37:12 at 3.30 p.m. free entry into that. There's going to be food and drink specials. It's going to be one hell of a good time. Make sure to check out our link in the show notes to sign up for free. And if you don't get a chance to get out there, make sure to grab yourself some four peaks at your local grocery store must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly. B says let's be the best mid-team we can be. I like that. That should be our rally call for the rest of the season. There is some truth to that.

Starting point is 00:37:42 There is some truth to that, right? Like out of all the teams that are sort of on the outside looking into the playoff picture, the diamond backs are like right at the top of the list. Like they're one of the better teams in that group. So after winning 52 games last year, there are worse places for the 22 Diamondbacks to land when it's all said and done. You know what, though? The expectations are changed. I was talking with Faj today.

Starting point is 00:38:09 We were both talking about our disappointment of game two. And the one thing he brought up to me that I completely agreed with was we are at a point now where this Diamondbacks team that is completely different from the team that started the season would be a disappointment if they don't make the playoffs next season. Now, we'll see how things play out between now and then. Really? You think so? I feel like it. I'm not talking about dominating. I'm not talking about winning the NL.

Starting point is 00:38:33 West. I'm saying making the playoffs, right? And I think that this team right now is built to make the playoffs had these guys played the entire season, right? And I mean, of course, there's a lot of even the 30 losses, right? We talk about the 30 losses, Malanson, Bumgarner and Kennedy jointly have, right? But who knows? Who knows if the other person, if they're replacement, if they're, you know, whoever would be in their role, if they weren't in that role,

Starting point is 00:38:56 would be doing any better, maybe not, right? So it's just going to be interesting to see, but it's nice that that has changed. The eye level has changed. The expectations for this team has changed. This team is no longer a bad baseball team. This team is a team filled with potential, filled with excitement for the future.

Starting point is 00:39:15 And honestly, I think even your staunch, you know, critics would say, but this team isn't that far away from being a competitive baseball team. It's just not this season, right? It's not going to be, they're not going to compete with the Dodgers, you know, this season. And who knows what happens between now and next year, right? Who knows what pieces get added and how this team improves both talent-wise and in other ways, right? But I need to let you guys know what's going on at the office. I spent today, Jesse, installing an Xbox, hiding water,

Starting point is 00:39:52 wires. Sounds amazing. I was plugging in reclining chairs. It's exciting. It's exciting. But there's a lot of, there's a lot of moving pieces still going on. So we'll keep you updated on our office and what we got going on for this Friday. Also, make sure to check out our friends at more furniture that made our office look so beautiful. We can't, I'm not even going to hype it up anymore. I've hyped it up enough. There's a mural, Jesse. I can't wait for you guys to see the mural. Anyway, new studio, new furniture, all thanks to Moore. They hooked us up. So check them out at morefurniture.com. Also, I have to announce that I will be taking on, I guess, Craig Morgan this week on Southwest Bias. Really? Wow. This is going to be incredible. Let me tell you, I already know the stunts

Starting point is 00:40:43 that this guy is going to pool, right? He's already hobbling around on his walker, talking about how much he hates hot dogs with ketchup on him and IPAs. And like, he's just, he's underselling, you know, his true killer instinct, right? He's trying to make himself look like a feeble old man that's just right for right for the picking, Jesse. And I know Craig Morgan that he's full of shit. That man is a tiger inside. And I know that I'm going to be prepared for it. So don't think I'm taking Craig Morgan and his Walker lightly because that's all, It's all a scam. See, Leah says,

Starting point is 00:41:18 don't let him get you with the Walker. He's getting medically clear tomorrow. You see, he might fight me on Friday, Jesse. It's my get physical on Southwest bias. So you guys do not miss that because it's going to be a blast. And of course, until then you can follow us on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:41:33 I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at P. HNX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram,

Starting point is 00:41:42 and Facebook. We will be back on Friday. You guys, no show tomorrow. but we will be back on Friday with a live show at 1 p.m. So make sure to tune in there, join us, bring your lunch, and spend your Friday with us. We don't do this often, so we're excited. And yes, we might be spending some more Fridays with you once the season ends.

Starting point is 00:42:00 So looking forward to updating you guys on the schedule and everything like that. But of course, Josh Hunt says the tennis balls are coming off tomorrow. Craig's not holding back. Bring it on, Craig. Bring it on. But thank you guys. I will say you should be careful, Derek, because when I noticed watching, last week's episode of Southwest Bias was that Craig was 150%

Starting point is 00:42:21 reading from a script the entire time. He had his responses scripted down word for word, which is not a strategy that I think I've ever seen someone use in the past on Southwest Bias. People have probably jotting down bullet points, you know, like they got some notes in front of them or whatever,

Starting point is 00:42:39 but Craig is just like straight reading from a word doc that's probably like 1,500 words long or something. So you might want to do it. Do your research in advance going into tomorrow, Derek. I'm just warning you right now. He's going to outwrite me. Jesse, he's going to fucking outright me. That's the way it's going to go. But we thank you guys for joining us.

Starting point is 00:42:57 I need your support. So show up on Southwest Biosch, you guys. Of course, until then, we thank you guys for joining us on behalf of Jesse and myself. We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't lose.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks’ bullpen cost them again in a series loss to the San Diego Padres

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