PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks touch down in Houston and get rocked in game one by Altuve & the Astros

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

It didn’t take long for the Arizona Diamondbacks to be reminded of how potent the offense is in Houston as Jose Altuve and the Astros homer five times in a game one rout against Zach Davies and the D-backs bullpen.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly.  Bad Birdie: use code “PHNX” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Liquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. 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 another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX and of Four Peaks, by the way. I've declared myself mayor here. Joining me, of course, this is not Jesse Friedman. This is my friend Jack Summers. Those of you that know Jack, Jack has been covering the Arizona Diamondbacks for quite some time, right? Jack, I mean, I'm not. Years.

You've been around here for a while, but Jack is the publisher for fan nations inside the Diamondbacks part of the Sports Illustrated. network. This man knows more about baseball than I. He's forgotten more about baseball than I will ever know. And we appreciate you for being here, man. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yep, absolutely. Mostly came in for the free beer. The beers are, the beers are not free. What? The beers are not. The beers are not free. Jack. No, please stay. I'll pay for your beers, but that's fine. We don't want you going off anywhere. But you need a good beer. We hope you have a beer with you in order to watch last night's Arizona Diamondbacks game. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at

the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top rated sports book app. Jack, Zach Davies was not great last night. This could, his next start, or maybe even this start, could be his final start for the debacks. But you and I were talking, and as you pointed out, there's been some ups and downs for Davies this year. And I know a lot of Arizona Diamondbacks fans, I know even Jesse and I have been pretty quick to write him off that we will probably be seeing him. take his exit from this team during this postseason after the off season. But you think there might be a good chance, maybe the exact six round. Yeah, it's kind of the conventional wisdom that, you know,

there's a mutual option between him and the team. Sure, right. And it just feels like he's so, he at least had such a good first half that it felt like it was leaning towards him, probably wanting to leave and probably get a bigger payday than he could get here in Arizona. Exactly. At this point in time, it's hard to say. Like, you know, if the team turned around and said, hey, what about three, four million

instead of the 1.5 that's on the option. You know, he may consider that. Right. Talking to him a little bit in a clubhouse, I mean, he seems to like it here. You know, he doesn't seem disinterested in coming back. You know, it's been tough. The second half since his shoulder injury, right? You know, he's had a tough time going five.

I kind of quipped a little bit to you before we started. You know, the good news is he got a decision. The bad news is it was a loss. He's been unlucky. And, I mean, it's kind of like Zach Gallen, too, right? At times, like Zach Gallen had a lot of outings. but his final win-loss line did not reflect how many starts he had. And Zach Davy's been kind of been that guy for the team this year.

Yeah, well, you know, this is the second time in his career he's had a shoulder injury. And since he's come back from the shoulder injury this time, his pitch counts have been limited. So in the last dozen starts, he's not even gone five innings. Right. So it's a little tough to get a decision when you don't get five innings. You can't get, you know, other than a loss. What are they holding him to as far as pitch count goes? I think the highest number in his last dozen starts was like,

94, 95 pitches. Most of them have been around 80, 85 tops. So nothing drastic, but still trying not to let him get too high as far as, you know, some of his outings and such. Right. But last night's game, like, for example, you know, he had a high pitch count right away in the first inning. So you knew it was like it's going to be a struggle to get him through five.

They almost did. That first inning was incredible. Al-Tubei led the inning off with a home run. It was his 12 lead-off home run of the year. And the Astros sent seven batters to the plate in the, first inning and only scored that one run, which at the time seemed lucky. But yeah, that game just right from the get-go last night's game was just, it felt like a nightmare.

It felt like a disaster. And it very well ended up being. The Astros hit more home runs in yesterday's game than the Diamondbacks have hit, or the same amount, actually, that the Diamondbacks have hit in the last seven days. So it's, it was an offensive outpouring. It wasn't a great game for the Diamondbacks. but you were pointing out about Davies. He hasn't really had much run support this season when he's actually in the game.

Yeah, baseball reference, they have a measure. It's a run support for 27 ounce while the pitcher's in the game. Sure. So this is directly impacting that pitcher's time versus like the other metrics that could include just whatever runs were scored overall. For the whole game. And, you know, he's at the bottom of the table for the Diamondbacks. I mean, Kelly is at four.

six, gallons of four three, Bumgarner, three four are also quite low. Davy's only 3.0. Interesting. So, you know, basically they're only scoring a couple of runs while he's in the game generally. So even if he goes five, you know, the odds are he's given up a couple and it's probably a tieball game or whatever. He's not, you know, not in line for the win. Yeah. But it's really interesting. I was looking up on baseball reference stat, you know, stack search tool. And starters that have had 26 or more games started. He's only got seven decisions.

No pitcher in the history of baseball has had fewer decisions with 26 or more games started. Benzac babies? In history. That is wild. There is a little asterisk to that. There's caveat. Is that the Tampa Bay Rays of Use an opener? Sure, sure.

And so Ryan Stannick did that in 18 and 19. Right, right. But this is an actual starting pitcher, right? And I mean, obviously, like you said, the shoulder injury has been a big part of that. But it's just an interesting story because Zach Davies has shown at times that he is much better than his stats last season

definitely shows, right? And, you know, this year he even had a very hot start, but things kind of even back out, the shoulder injury happened, things like that. So I don't know, but what are your, what's your thoughts? Do you think that the Diamondbacks move on from Davies or do you think that he could be a valuable part

of this pitching, side of the diamond backs that really needs still still feels like it needs not only some work in the starting rotation but in the bullpen as well yeah i i think that it's likely that davies will get a two-year offer at least six eight million dollars a year somewhere else you know two 12 216 something like that i don't know um and so most likely that'll price him out of what the diamond backs want to do in that spot but if you want to stay here and you take say four million i can see him being valuable to this team. They're going to have a lot of young starters next year, right?

Right. And, you know, it's not like you're going to run out some of these, Jameson or a Nelson, somebody like that. And so here, go qualify for the ERA title and give me 162 innings. It doesn't work that way, right? Guys take a couple years to ramp up. So a guy like Davies could still have a lot of value for this team. Absolutely, absolutely.

And again, it's all about what he could get on the market. And if the Diamondbacks are willing to try to do whatever they can to keep him here, Jose Al-Tube, by the way, had a pretty unprecedented day yesterday. He hit two home runs against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Everybody knows that. Of course, our small man was doing big things. But here's the craziest thing. Jose Al-Tube is number 27.

And yesterday, he hit home run number 27 of the season, which was his 1,927th home run of his career on, you guessed it, September 27th. I don't know how these things happen. You can't predict. And we can always find something, right? We can always find something. But we alluded to this. The bullpen also remains very, very bad.

Zach Davies wasn't great in yesterday's game, but let's be honest. I mean, yeah, the offense didn't generate much. The solo home run by Geraldo Perdomo and by Dalton Varshot. But in reality, the bullpen just continued to not only give up runs, but make it so the Diamondbacks couldn't even realistically have a chance in the game, right?

Ian Kennedy especially gave up three home runs in yesterday's game. And when you talk about the amount of money that this team paid Ian Kennedy to come in and be not only a setup man, but let's be honest, he was a closer that they brought over. It felt like they had an abundance of closers and now here we are at the end of the season where that statement seems laughable by comparison to the beginning of the year. Yeah, it's been rough. I mean, you know, look, IPK, right? We always call him IPK.

The dude, he's always been a fly ball pitcher. He's always given up a lot of home runs. That's always been his MO. But he usually didn't give up a lot of hits. He didn't walk a lot of guys. He usually didn't give up a lot of hits. He didn't walk a lot of guys. Kept his whip down, so he was able to keep things under control.

But, you know, prior to coming here in his previous 70 innings, he'd given up 19 homers. And now in 48 innings with us this year, he's given up 11. That's wild. So, you know, it's 30 homers and 118 innings pitched. It's not workable. Now this year, it's given up 10 hits per nine, four walks per nine. His whip is, you know, skyrocketing.

So, you know, it's five plus ERA. I'm not even sure how high it got to last night. Yeah, right. You know, it's just not working. So there's an option on him. He's definitely not coming back. Right. And not only that, but, I mean, let's be honest.

You can't say that Diamondbacks didn't try to address the bullpen, but what direction do you see them? going for it to fix this bullpen because obviously i mean free agency jesse has an article about the free agents out there and about addressing team needs and and as he already said the the pickings are slim as far as free agency and other options that the diamondbacks might have there so i know you guys over there at a sports illustrated have been kind of talking about it so what are your thoughts well you know we we started working on the bullpen and ways to fix it because everyone's talking about how bad it is right i mean you know you know

There isn't one outlet, one pundit, one person that discusses his team that doesn't go, oh, man, there's bullpen. Right. And like we said, you know, the weird thing is, is that, like, the bullpen losses, not to cut you off, but the bullpen losses really are not as drastic as other metrics for other teams. Like, literally when you look down the number of losses bullpens have, it's like one team after the next, as far as, like, one number below them, one number below them, right? But when you talk about the Diamondbacks being on the high end near 40 or at 40 now or wherever they're at, I think they're 39, and you talk about other teams that are in the middle being around 20, like those additional 19, 18 losses that the Diamondbacks bullpads have really do make the difference for this year's team when you talk about a team that has 71, 72 wins. Yeah, I mean, you know, I've crunched the numbers on it. I think it's reasonable, say there should be a 500 team.

Sure, right. I'm not going to put him in a wild card, but just give them a mediocre bullpen and the newer 500 team. Right. But the bottom lines is how do you fix it? So my partner over at Fan Nation inside the Diamondbacks, Michael McDermott, he's been working on something really great. Let's look at the five avenues of how to fix the bullpen. It's not just who can go and sign as a free agent. Right.

That always seems to be the easy fix, right? Well, and you hope. But, you know, number one, to go. get the really high octane high end guys. Like an Edwin Diaz, who's a free agent this year, right? I mean, who's got $15 million to spend? I know it ain't Arizona. It ain't Arizona.

You know, so what do you start? So we're doing a five-part series, and we're up through part three now. And part one is who are guys on the roster right now that still have a chance to contribute next year? Maybe not in the high-leverage back-end roles, but they can still help out. Like a Kevin Smith. Caleb, Caleb Smith, Kevin Ginkl, even Reyes Maranta. Sure.

I mean, these guys can still help you in the middle, middle innings. That's absolute unit, Reyes Maranta, by the way. We need to get that right. Absolute unit. Maybe we need to get that in Spanish. I don't know, but he's an absolute unit. But go ahead. Sorry to cut down.

Then, you know, after relievers on the roster, which Michael already covered, then next was who were some of the relievers in the minor leagues? You know, minor league guys that might come up. Now, they just sent Luis Friass down. Yeah. And, you know, Friya's, he's in a high 90s. If you can never find a way to control it and get a handle on it, you know, he could help out. You have other guys like Mitchell Stumpo who's got really good stuff.

Yeah. And I saw him in the fall of the couple years ago. And, you know, he was blown guys away, but 31 walks and 41 innings. So, you know, it's a matter of getting a lot of guys like that, like over the hump. The third area is conversion of starting pitchers to relief pitchers. And that's kind of, for me, personally, that's an area I'm most interested in. Michael's article today covered that. And if you get a chance, go check us out online and see what he had to say.

Because he had some really good points about which starting pitchers might be most suitable, might pick up the most stuff, might fit better as a reliever. It's very hard for the team to give up on a guy as a starting pitcher because it's so much more value. They all want to be, you know, get the most value out of a guy as a start. Again, Caleb is a guy that comes in mind, right? Because Caleb is a guy that wanted it, right? He wanted it. He expressed it.

He had no problem saying it in interviews. He had no problem telling Tori. Tori had no problem saying Caleb wanted it, right? But at the end of the day, it was hard to argue with results. When Caleb Smith simply was better out of the bullpen than he was at a starting pitcher, it's kind of like, in a way, the Mark Melanson thing where you can't even explain it, right? You're like, I don't know why Caleb Smith is so much better out of the bullpen than he is. but his stuff plays better.

He's nastier. You know what I mean? He attacks batters more. I mean, maybe it's just how young he is still. Who knows, right? But there is an interesting thing about that when a guy just seems to be a better fit for the bullpen. But then he becomes so good that people start questioning like Caleb at one time.

Why is he in the bullpen? Why isn't he back in the starting rotation, right? Well, I mean, you know, I think the bottom line is right now the team has a lot of starting pitching prospects. opportunities, a lot of roles to fill, right? So they can kind of cut loose a little bit. You know, if you wait too long to put a guy into the bullpen, you're not going to get anything out of them before it's too late.

See Luke Weaver, as an example. You know, so that's getting tossed for having, you know, stare down competitions now with Robbie Ray. That was so bizarre. It really was. MLB, pick a lane, right? You either want to have fun or you want to police this stuff, but you can't have it both ways.

But anyway, of course, Arizona Diamondbacks have another game against the Houston Astros tonight. We'll talk about that big pitching matchup, of course, between Zach Gallen and Justin Berlander. But before then, we want to make sure that not only do you check out our friends over at sI.com, backslash MLB, backslash Diamondbacks. But also make sure you're signed up as a member over at go-PHNX.com. You don't have your membership yet. You can get an annual membership, which will get you a free t-shirt over at the pHNX Locker.com, as well as a, you know, the wonderful content that you get from all of our writers, including our

friend Jesse who we don't miss one bit. We don't miss Jesse at all. Jesse's in Seattle and I just want him to just know how replaceable he is with Jack Summer. Nobody's replacing Jesse. Nobody's replacing Jesse. But of course if you're watching us right now on the PHNX

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but members-only discounts over at the phnx locker.com. And a reminder that our office is incredible. And I'm not bragging. It's just the truth. But it wouldn't be incredible if it wasn't for our friends at Moore Furniture, who hooked us up with a wide array of furniture to make our office is one of the most comfortable places that I can go right at so and hang out at. So make sure you do that over at More Furniture. Check out their fall sale over at MoreFurniture.com. Well, Jack, if nothing more, this season has been an encouraging turnaround. But lately, what we've come to realize is it's actually even been somewhat historic.

Arizona is one of 17 since 1900 to lose 110 plus games. and then win at least 70 games the following season. We've talked about this before we got on air, but one thing that's very interesting isn't just to look at what happens the next year after the team rebounds, but look what happens subsequently after that. Now, this is the second biggest turnaround in Diamondbacks history.

In 2005, they won 77 games after losing a franchise record that year, or the 2004. The Orioles this year have been, at the top, they have actually won the most games in history after having 110 plus lost season when they're at 80 right now. So, and then we have the Expos in 1970, the Tigers in 2004, this year's team, the Diamondbacks tied with the Boston Braves from 1936 for that final spot as far as the seven teams that have won 70 plus after losing 110. you brought up, like I said, what happens kind of from here. And that's, I think, what most Diamondbacks fans are interested. Yes, we finally rebounded from this, right? We've come back, which is great.

But now, where does this road lead us? And how soon can we get back to where this team is one of the more competitive teams in baseball? Right. So one of the things I looked at actually towards the end of last year is how long does it take a team to actually bounce back towards playoff contention, get over 500, or win 90 games. It doesn't happen in year two after a bad season, or year one, I should say. So, you know, nobody's going from losing 105, 110 games

to all of a sudden being in the playoffs the next year. Sure. When we talked about the Orioles, you've got to remember, they've been this bad since 2018. Right, right. Something the Diamondbacks haven't had to experience. They had one really terrible year. You could argue 2020 being what it was was a bad year,

but everybody kind of throws that year in the trash, I feel like anyway, with what happened with the pandemic and the shortened season, right? So, but, yeah, realistically, the Diamondbacks have had one really bad year, whereas the Baltimore Orioles have had to suffer through this for three, three plus seasons before getting to this point, yeah. So I think, you know, for what the way I looked at it was I looked at teams that had under 350 win percentage, starting since the wild card era, right?

Because it's a little bit more relevant to look at what's happened the last 25 years since we've had the wild. Sure, than going back to 1900 for sure. And in year one, not one team that had a win percentage under 350 went over 500 the next year. The Orioles issue are going to be the first one that should have done that. Sure. But still, even with that being said, the Orioles still have suffered through these years for a number of years before finally being able to break out of it, right?

Right. Then you got the Astros, right? Well, Astros lost well over 100 games like a couple years in a row. I think three. Before they finally turned it around. So, you know, you can look, if you look at year two, of their three-year run of 100 losses. Sure, by year two after that,

because they finally turned it around. But I think the Diamondbacks are clearly on the right track, right? You know, the bottom line is you don't get too lost in the numbers. We're going to win 10 more games anyway just from Deadcat bounce, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, but we have all these young players. It's exciting. You see these, you know, what they call the no gaps outfield.

Steve Berthune likes to call it on TV. You see young starting pitchers coming up. So this is real. I mean, this isn't just a joke that they managed to win 20 more games. They got Colstaffield. They got to fix this bullpen. But it would not surprise me to see the downbacks arrive a year early if they can have a really good offseason.

I think the one thing that's wild to me about the bullpen and the way that it's held this team back is that it's almost like it's a franchise trait. Jesse dove into this and like it's incredible how long this team has had to suffer with having a bullpen. And it's the bullpen, right? Like, I mean, again, when you start looking and splitting hairs between other teams, even the best team in the league's bullpen isn't that much better than the next best team and the next best team. Like, they're so close.

It's like small amounts pulling them apart, right? But the Diamondbacks literally have the worst, as far as losing games and giving up runs, giving up leads in baseball. I'm laughing because every team's fans say, we've got the worst bullpen. Oh, yeah. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. Everybody fucking hates their bullpen. Every single buddy does.

Everybody has a reliever on their bullpen that blows every game. You know what I mean? But I think the frustrating part about this year's team is they have been fun to watch. They have had leads. You talk about Zach Davies earlier and the lack of run support and the lack of kind of bad luck he's had seven decisions. And over 26 or more games started like is crazy. Right. So like there are a lot of things that when you look at this team.

you can't help but feel like even if they weren't that even if they weren't the worst but they are like the worst in league I think when I try to defend Tori I think the idea there is at least there was a period of time where I didn't agree with what he was doing especially when he was sticking with Melanson in the ninth inning

regardless of the situation regardless of if it was a safe situation regardless if they had a lead or if they were down by one or whatever right it felt silly to just automatically have that, you know, like that you go in no matter what, with all the analytics and all the numbers we have. But you can't say the man hasn't tried different things this year. And unfortunately, with the pieces he's been given, the players he's been given,

nothing seems to work out, no matter who's in their time. When every button you have to push is the self-destruct button. Right. You're not going to look like manager of a year. Correct. And that's the thing is, is that Tori Lavello gets a lot of, he gets a lot of criticism. So does every manager, right? But at the end of the day, he doesn't control the roster.

The front office does. They decide what pieces they give them. And you can't say that he hasn't tried a bunch of different pieces there. But you also can't say that this team or this year hasn't been significant. You know, like you said in the bounceback, the second year after having a terrible season like they had last season is very important because it's about the trajectory and getting back on the right path. So as far as your numbers go, when do you see it happen? Do you think it's still going to be one more season out? Do you think next season could very well be that first year that they break into playoff contention,

even if just from a wild card perspective or something like that? I think to answer us, I've got to do it in a roundabout way because I do want to circle back to the bullpen. Sure. One important thing that I kind of looked at was in the Mike Hay's era since he's taken over the team, especially since 2018, the team consistently ranks at or near the bottom. in reliever velocity, which translates directly to at or near the bottom in reliever strikeouts. And so what that's happened, that's why they struggle so much in high-leverage situations. There are win percentage added and other metrics that measure how you do when the game is on the line

in a close and late situation. They're the worst, right? That's where they're really the worst, and that's where the losses come from. Sure. And the only way you're going to fix that is you're going to need some velocity guys that can get you a strikeout. a key situation. If you can't get that, you're always at the whims of baseball gods and a ball in play and the drop in and all of that. So how quickly can they fix that? How quickly have they identified that? Yeah. And will they fix that? They need a couple of high octane guys. If they can get a

couple of high octane guys in here, they can get them a key strike out and fire some strikes while they're at it, you know, not walk the house. Yeah. They could easily be over 500 next year. No, that makes a lot of sense because Melanson and Ian Kennedy are both, not going to say similar pitchers, but like you said, neither one of them is blown any way with their velocity. These guys are, like, accuracy pitcher. These are guys that try to mostly get you to hit what, in like a ground ball situation or something like that. Yeah, in the contact, right. What do you think about Luis Frias?

Because I know we've talked about him being a little bit like an old wild thing bond there, where if he throws 104. You need a drink. Yeah, you need a drink. Have a sip. because he definitely seems like a guy that has. He has the velocity, he has the power, but he can't control it, right? And it's like, I know he's still a young guy,

but then that's part of the problem, right? It's like there's guys like Duval for the San Francisco Giants that can throw 102-mile-an-hour, 104-mile-an-hour sinker, and have that son of a bitch land in the strike zone. Exactly. Whereas you have Frius, who if he throws over 100, it feels like he has no idea where it's going to land.

So he has to kind of, like, he can't throw his heart because if he does, he's not going to have any control. Well, he's got to dial it back. Or by the time he manages to come in the strike zone, he's down for he won an account. Correct. He's sitting on the fastball. Boom. Yeah. You can't be behind in every account like he is, right?

God, I hate to use this phrase, but, you know, a million dollar arm, 10 cent head. The other night watching him, you know, there was passball. Yeah. The last home game or the second last home game, Cooper Hummel had two passballs, right? And on the second one, you know, the runner rounds third. And he never came home. Like, he never even came home to... To back up the plate.

To cover the plate. Oh, to cover the plate. Yeah, I see what you're saying. You know, Hummel's behind the plate digging out the ball. Right, right, right, right. He picks it up and he sees that, you know, Frius never came home. And he had a sprint back to home plate. Yeah.

Fortunately, Humble's pretty quick on his feet. Sure. So, you know, the runner didn't try to make that play. So, you know, it's not just being able to throw strikes. He's having his head in the game. I think he needs a pretty big mental fix, and I don't know where that's going to come from. Yeah.

Do you think maybe that being on the major league roster might be part of that? Because, again, being around Brent Strom and company, seems like a good idea, especially for young guys, right, to have them kind of get that elite-level coaching. Yeah, but, you know, I don't know how much time you're actually spending talking to each other. Sure.

You know, I mean, he's got 14 pitchers to deal with. He's got a bullpen full of relievers. he'll speak English. Yeah. You know, so I don't know how much of Brent Strom's magic is able to get to him. Sure. You know, he needs a mentor that, you know, Spanish-speaking mentor that can really help him figure it out mentally.

Yeah, yeah, well, the Diamondbacks have had guys like this before in the past, and I know that that's kind of been the case as well, right? I mean, they've had a couple of guys that had issues outside of baseball. Yohn Lopez is one name that I think of that seemed like he could really, be just an absolute stud. But like you said with him, there was a lot of things outside of baseball. There was a lot of other things going on with him mentally.

And again, it's really about trying to find the right person to fit the job, right? I think the Diamondbacks still, I think they're going to be a much more desirable spot for people to land. And I think they will be able to get some guys maybe in free agency or whatever, but not guys that they spend a ton of money on. It's not going to be the league leader in closers like they did with Mark Melanson. And again, that's another reason why it's like as much as you want to rail Mike Hazen and Tori LeVolo and this entire organization for not doing something to address their bullpen.

They did go out and pick up the league leader and saves during the off season, right? Just didn't work out. And that's the part that's frustrating not only for us as fans but for them, but it's really why you can't place blame anywhere other than saying like it's something. It sucks. You know, I guess you could place blame of Mark Malanson, right? But even for him, I'm sure, this has been a nightmare. You know, this has been a nightmare, I think, for everybody involved when it comes to these acquisitions. Yeah, I mean, there's some bad luck there. Obviously, look, you know, you bring in consistently bringing guys in your mid-late 30s. I know. You're that much closer to the edge of the cliff and you don't know where it's at. Look, I get this with Jesse. I didn't fucking think I was going to get it with you, sir. All right. All right. Well, I will say this. If I was an agent of a flyball pitcher, yeah. I'd be a man. making a B-line for my case in front door.

Right? Because look at the outfield that they have. I mean, what a defense. It's so much fun to watch. That's a good point. That's a really good point. And of course, another good point is that I've been talking about this. You guys might not have been listening, but I'm getting the best night's sleep of my life, you guys. And that's thanks to our friends over at OG's Gummies, who, by the way, voted for me and backed me up in yesterday's poll, which I won.

Leah. Fake. I demand a recount. You know what? This woman tried to bury me by saying I was going to eat OGs and just watch gummies. She left out the whole part about getting high. I couldn't fit it on the graphic. Like specifically the Wu-Tang Clan 36 Chambers of Wu was very important there.

That was a critical aspect of that. And I still won. And you know what happens when I win? They're just like, oh, you have more followers than me. Oh, so what? So I'm more popular than you? Why is that my fault? Jacob and Leah.

Anyway, Jacob, by the way, has more family members on Twitter than I anticipated. So that wasn't an entirely easy battle to win. But I am thankful to my friends at OGs for helping me get to the finish line and beat these. She picked, listen to the Hamilton soundtrack twice in a row. My God. It's elite. I don't want to hear the slander. Here's what you should do.

In honor of my victory, go pick up some OGs gummies from our friend, wherever you get your local edibles at your local dispensary. They just launched their brand new sleep edition gummy that I've been talking about so much. It's how I beat these guys. I got a great night's rest. I was mentally sharp. I didn't even know that the Mandalorian had a runtime

of five hours and 15 minutes. I just pulled that out of my pocket, son. And that's what happens when you get a good night's sleep thanks to my friends at OGs. You don't want to sleep on these gummies or actually that's exactly what you want to do. They have a two to one THC to CBN and CBN is a compound that helps you not only fall asleep,

but stay asleep and that's the best part about it. We can all fall asleep. I mean, we all have, you know, plenty of things to fall asleep too, but it's the waking up in the middle of the night at 1 o'clock in the morning and being wide awake part that sucks at least for me. So get your friends over at OGs, get your sleep gummies. They have a brand new aqua berry flavor that's absolutely delicious. We highly recommend you check them out over at OGs online at OGsBrands.com

or on Instagram at OGs brands. Must be 21 years or older to purchase and enjoy responsibly. And of course, we're enjoying some beers responsibly. Cheers to you, sir. Thank you so much to Jack for being here with me. We are here at Four Peaks. If you guys are here at Four Peaks, too, congratulations.

You must be having a great time enjoying some beers. I had the fish and chips, which were excellent. I think I found my new favorite dish. But you can too here at Four Peaks, not only the A Street Pub, but they sell their beer anywhere you get your beer. So if you're not here, if you're not enjoying their food, not joining us here, we have this coming every month. We'll be here at the final Wednesday of every month.

And until then, you can go grab yourself some four peaks at your local grocery store, wherever you get your beers. You should be here, too, but we understand that everybody can't be. So we hope you're watching, hope you're having a good time. And also, hope you're enjoying some four peaks. It must be 21 years or older to enjoy that as well. We only got a few more games, right? We only got, what, seven more games left in the Diamondback season. And tonight might be the biggest pitching matchup left in the area.

Arizona Diamondback season. Zach Gallin on the mad going up against Justin Verlander, just some all-time stuff, right? So, I mean, if you like pitching, this is what it's all about. Not only that, but I mean, it's like, I'm not going to say it's a changing of the guard, right? But Zach Gallen really is, he has become one of the hottest pitchers in Major League Baseball.

Justin Verlander is just timeless. He continues to do it. And somehow he continues to do it currently at his age at an absolutely elite level. He's amazing. I mean, what, 40 years old, coming off Tommy John surgery. It's wild. You shouldn't even be able to do that,

like come off Tommy John surgery and be as good as you've been, and somehow he's better. Well, you know, you look at his career and everything that he's done, and it's just, he's our Roger Clemens, you know,

he's our stud, he's our Randy Johnson for this generation. And, yeah, it's just been fun to watch. It's a little different version. He hasn't ever complete game this year. Sure. He's averaging a little over six innings,

but it's like the highest potential quality, six innings that you're going to get 1. 1.82 ERA leads the world and whip. I mean, like, you know, he's just been phenomenal. 17 and 4. Yeah. You know, pitching like that on a good team, forget about it. Right.

You know, Zach Allen, though, I mean, here he comes. One more plug. Michael McDermott wrote a really good article today about where Zach Gallen might place in the NL. Cy Young race. Sure. And while it might be hard for him to overtake Sandy Alcantara. Hard for anybody to do that at this point. At the same time, I mean, Gallen's got a strong case for number two.

Sure. No worst in number three. Michael made a great case today. If you get a chance, check it out. Gallon's 8 and 1 with a 1.15 ERA in 12 starts since the all-star break. Of course, he had those scoreless streak, 44 and thirds. You guys covered all that. It's really fun to watch him pitch.

I mean, you can use all four or five pitches. So it should be a treat tonight. It should be really exciting. That's the one thing about Zach Gallen is, at times one of his best pitches, at least at times. I'm not saying lately or whatever, but at times his change-up has been one of his best pitches, and he doesn't even throw it seemingly anymore.

I mean, he's just back-shelping it. And I mean, I think I say that because his other stuff is so sharp, it's so good, that the change-up usually is just kind of, it takes people off guard. It makes badders look bad at times, right? But then, you know, again, there is something to say, say I think about it's curveball, right? His curve ball has been excellent this year.

A couple starts ago, I think he threw like 40 curveballs or 44 curveballs out of like, you know, 85, 90 pits and 95 pitches was incredible. It's like, wait a minute, what? Do you feel the game plan is getting better for the Diamondbacks? Because we saw that out of Dr. Jameson where he barely threw any sliders in his first start and then had a pretty equal, if not even a majority of his pitches thrown sliders in his second start. It feels like, I don't know. as a person outside of the organization that knows nothing about what I'm talking about,

that feels like a pretty good game plan to kind of like try to keep your opponents off balance like that. Well, you know, they have Dan Heron working in the background who helps them design strategy and game plans, right, for how to attack hitters. And if you remember, you know, if your audience remembers what kind of picture Dan Harron was. I mean, he moved the ball around, he changed speeds, he used four different pictures. Dan Haren is one of the smartest individuals I've ever spoke to in the clubhouse. I think him and Brandon McCarthy are two guys that had like such an incredibly high baseball IQ that at times when they started explaining stuff, you would almost see them stop and go, oh, wait, I got to dump it down for these guys real fast. Let me back up a second, you know. Well, he's like that.

But I mean, and that's a great point because that leads into what I was saying, where Dan Haren, ability to help a pitcher with a game plan has a lot to do with how smart is that pitcher? And does he have three or four pitches to work with? Right. You give Dan Haron somebody like a Zach Grinke or Zach Gallen, you know? I was going to say that makes sense why Zach Gallen is so, has come on so strong, right? Like, because Zach Gallen is that guy. So, you know, he's going to be able to help that guy a lot more than the two-pitch pitcher

who might have a fringy third pitch, you know, like how much can he game plan? Yeah. I want to get your thoughts on this. Zach Gallen one day in the clubhouse told us that he really didn't care. about a no-hitter. Like, he wasn't willing to go to an extreme pitch count or anything like that in order to accomplish a no-hitter. But he would for a perfect game.

Do you think a lot of pitchers have that similar, like, top process? I missed that particular quote. That's pretty interesting, actually. I mean, I think, Zach, again, he's very cerebral, right? And he knows that a no-hitter has a lot of luck involved, right? With balls and play. Exactly what he said. Pitchers can't control whatever.

happens to the ball and play. But if he's not walking anybody at all, right? He's not giving up any homers. He's not you know, he's striking out a lot of guys. Not even any errors. And he gets a no hitter. Then at that point, you know, he's controlling everything that he could possibly control. So I can see where that would

be pretty key. If he walked a couple of guys who cares if I give up a hit? Yeah. I think that's his mind. Yeah, that's absolutely. That's it. Like, yeah, I'm like not, I'm not doing anything that's going to potentially impact my season just to get a no hitter tonight on May 26th, you know, when there's still three, four months of baseball left. It's funny.

He asked me, goes, have you, like, hardly ever asking me questions? And I said, because a couple times I asked you questions, you looked at me like I had two heads. And I realized that I wasn't asking smart enough questions, you know, and, I mean, I like to think I kind of know what I'm talking about. But he's so smart that you really have to, like, bring your A game when you want to ask him a question. It's funny. You say that, though, because on the flip side of that, one thing.

thing, me being me, I've noticed, is he still is very laid back. Oh, approachable show. And he's still, like, one of the coolest, most approachable players in the dugout. And him and Merrill Kelly, the two of them. Like, considering that they are arguably the best players on the team right now, you could say that about both of them. They're both just very down-to-earth guys. When you're, especially they, I think they have lockers next to each other to clubhouse.

So you're talking one, the other one's giving you shit when you're asking them questions and stuff. I mean, it's so great, but they're also just very, like, I'd say Merrill Kelly's a little bit like that. At times, Merrill Kelly, like, he's got a very high baseball IQ. Meryl Kelly's, he hasn't been in the majors for a very long time, but he has so much experience in baseball that he's like a, he's like a 20, 30 year vet, even though he's been in baseball for like three, fours. He's also got a sneaky sense of humor. He does. He's so funny. They're both very funny individuals.

You know, a lot of people compare him. Chris Elliott, right? You know, doppelgating. Look, yeah, absolutely. When we were only doing Zoom interviews one time, Kelly comes out, and he's wearing the beanie hat. The beanie hat from Groundhog Day. I know.

And then at the same time, while he's doing the interview, he starts doing this with his beard. Right? And I asked him later, I'm like, dude, come on. You were doing that for us, right? He's like, no, not me. Yeah, you're a liar, Merrill. I still have that video.

I show you up for the show. Fantastic. Well, of course, you guys know we wouldn't be here without our friends from Drafking Sportsbook. Thank Jack for being here. New customers right now can bet just $5 on any NFL team to win. If your team wins, you will get $200 in free bets instantly as a new customer. But there's not just that. There's a stepped-up same game parlay is that you can get all season long over at the Draft King Sportsbook app. For every leg you add, you can boost your winnings up to 100%. Trust me, I do that. It doesn't mean I win, but I try my best to boost my odds as best as possible. It's funny because now I'm to the point where like a small payday isn't good enough for me, Jack. I need to win $1,000 every time or else it's not good.

I'm spoiled now. But to make things even sweeter, Draft King is offering you those stepped up same game perlays once per game day all season long. So make sure to get down on that. It's this simple. Download the Draft King Sportsbook on your app, on your phone, wherever you get your apps. Use our code of PHNX and sign up. That's promo code PHNX on the Draft King Sportsbook, minimum age and eligibility restrictions of see show notes for details.

And of course, make sure to continue to buy your tickets last minute. Don't buy them ahead of time. Don't be a planner. You wait. Here's a thing. You don't know what's going on. You're going to buy tickets for a show on February 26, 2023 today, and not know what's going to happen over that?

What the hell? You might not even live in the state anymore. So what you want to do is wait, buy your tickets last minute and do it over at game time. You can get 60% off of ticket face value when you buy. tickets last minute. It's great for procrastinators out there, but let's be honest, it's great for everybody. You want to plan? Don't plan. Wait, maybe you don't want to go. Maybe that night you had a long day at work. Your dogs are barking. You don't want to go stand at a concert. You don't want to buy tickets that far in advance. Be obligated to go. You know that feeling. That feeling when you want to

make up an excuse as to why you can't go with your friends to the show. Don't do that. Instead, show up and surprise your friends by buying tickets last minute. And then you can brag to them about how much you saved by buying your tickets at last minute, 60% off. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets through our link in the description on our show notes. And of course, we always throw those links up there as well. So we thank you guys, again, for doing that, for being procrastinators with us. I don't know about Jack, but me and Jesse always talk about procrastinating to buy tickets.

We get FOMO real bad, right? It's like you're not going to go, but then the last minute your friend, I want to go. I want to go to the thing. But thank you so much for being here. Get a note. Well, he's getting down the game time. He's getting his tickets last minute. But we thank you guys so much for being here.

Thank my friend Jack for being here. Appreciate you, sir. We got some more beers to drink. We got a Diamondbacks game to watch. So make sure you guys get down and do that. Start here shortly against the Astros' second game of their series. It's going to be a good one. Zach Gallen and Justin Burlander on the mound.

Of course, until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. This guy over here. He's at shoe at shoe wizard 59. You can get our show at PHNX underscore D-Dbacks, but of course all roads leads you at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys being here. We thank everybody that showed up here at Four Peaks.

On behalf of Jack, myself and Leah, we always thank you for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you watch a baseball game with your dad.