PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Series of Brotherly Love

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

Austin Nola gets crowned King Brother against Aaron Nola in game two of the NLCS, and their father doesn't know what to do with his hands. Join us for updates on the MLB Postseason and the Arizona Fal...l League as well as some news from eliminated playoff teams. 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:07 Well, hello there and welcome in to another edition of the P HNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name, of course, is Derek Montia, your mayor, PHNX, and I'm joined, as always, by my vice mayor, the one and only, Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Go sons, Derek. What a game. What? No, this is the wrong show for that. This is a Diamondbacks podcast? We talk baseball here.
Starting point is 00:00:31 You go on the other show to go do that. No, go sons. Exciting win. And I am very, very thrilled. with the way they came back. But of course, this show is brought to you, not by the Sons, but by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app.
Starting point is 00:00:46 Jesse, you took some time away from baseball. I was there. You took some time away from baseball to go see that game. How did you feel when they were down by 20 versus when they won by two or one? How did they want to? Yeah, they won by two. They won by two. Yeah, I was, I'm really glad I didn't do this,
Starting point is 00:01:06 but I was fully prepared to throw a tweet out there about Damien Lee and how he was clearly not an NBA caliber player and I didn't understand why they were playing him as much as they were. And I'm very glad that I did not put out that tweet because as things turned out, Damian Lee, of course, was the hero. I didn't know watching the game. I'd forgotten that he played with the Warriors last year and, you know, as part of their championship run,
Starting point is 00:01:32 I don't know how big of a role he necessarily played in that, but he's, you know, he's been around a team that played in some big moments. And he seemed unfazed by the moment yesterday and against Dallas, which was a pretty big game for the Suns. I mean, you know, that game seven was rough, Derek. I kind of walking into the arena last night, I just got the sense that fans were a little bit uneasy. And just that people hadn't really recovered from what happened the last time
Starting point is 00:01:59 that those two teams had played in that arena. And the Suns. It was too soon. It was too soon to play the Dallas Maverick. It was. It really was too soon. But the suns made it right. And it, I mean, it doesn't make up for what happened. Obviously, there's a long way to go in trying to write that ship. But I had fun last night. There's no question. Not getting off too much on a basketball tangent, but isn't it wild that the piece that they added when they had as a team, they struggled so much against the Mavericks there in the playoffs and what happened at the end of their, you know, run last year. So it's wild to me that the piece that they added was what got them over the top here. Not only did he score the game winning shot, but his contributions helped this team win against Dallas.
Starting point is 00:02:44 And that was a whole lot of fun. Hopefully they can keep that momentum going. Let's get some momentum going here in the Valley. We got the Arizona Cardinals playing tonight on Thursday night football. Lord knows how I tried to abolish this before it ever happened. I tried to get rid of Thursday night football forever before this game took place. couldn't get it done even with my mayoral powers. So the Cardinals will be taking on the Saints tonight.
Starting point is 00:03:08 Make sure to join our Cardinals crew out at the Lola for a tailgating event today. If you're in the area and you want to check it out before, hopefully you're listening to this right when it drops. But it's today at one. So hopefully you're not listening to this three days from now and think I'm talking to you about that. No, this is Thursday night football, the one that sucks. And yeah, on Thursday you can go check out some hot, hot, hot tailgating action out at the Lola in Glendale.
Starting point is 00:03:36 But can I, can I relate the, can I relate the Suns Mavs situation back to baseball real quick? Because I actually, I would love it. I, actually think there's a connection here, which, which I, I talked about a few days ago on Twitter.
Starting point is 00:03:50 So we, we referenced the other day, I think it was Jeremy Frank, his tweet about, when we were talking about the MLB postseason and how some people feel like it's kind of set up to be against some of the higher ranked teams. And Jeremy Frank made the point that, you know, some people may be bothered by the fact that the Dodgers were 22 games
Starting point is 00:04:10 or whatever it was better than the Padres in the regular season and destroyed them head to head. And it didn't really matter come the postseason, right? And I feel like the Sons and the Mavericks is almost, it was another example of that. It goes to show that that sort of thing can happen in other sports. The Sons were, I want to say, 12 games better than the Mavericks in the regular season last year.
Starting point is 00:04:32 year and completely owned them head to head. They'd won like nine consecutive games against the Dallas Mavericks in regular season games. But then came the postseason and that didn't really matter. Right. I mean, the sons had a higher seed. So they were better positioned as the Los Angeles Dodgers were. You know, they got the first round, the first round by in this postseason. But you can see what happened to the Suns is sort of what happened to the Dodgers and that they were the better team. You know, they had the Padres number throughout the season. But when push came to shove, they just didn't perform well and they wound up being first round exits. That's a great point, because something that a lot of people may not remember now in retrospect was their feelings
Starting point is 00:05:19 on the Suns playing the Mabbs. It was going to be a wrap. It was going to be a quick four-game sweep of the Mabs before we move on to try to finally, vanquish our foes, you know, and get to the finals again and and get that crown, right? Like maybe part of the problem was that the suns looked past the Mavericks for that exact reason. The one difference here, though,
Starting point is 00:05:43 is nobody whined or complained about seating or the regular season, not mattering, any of that we got out of the baseball situation. And like, trust me, I'm with you, Jesse. I know that baseball is. isn't going to shorten anything at this point, right? They're not going to shorten the season.
Starting point is 00:06:04 Why? Give away that free money. They're not doing that. They're not going to shorten the playoffs. They're not going to dial back the number of teams in the playoffs. If anything, they'll probably expand it further at some point in the future, which will even convolut this discussion about 162 game season even more. But I will say that.
Starting point is 00:06:25 Basketball has been a sport where. even though it doesn't happen very often, a lower seed can beat a top seed. And everybody just finds it to be kind of cool, right? Like, oh, hey, that underdog overcame the odds, and they defeated the Goliath, you know, in that situation. Baseball is just weird, right? And again, the other weird part about it is acting like the Padres
Starting point is 00:06:54 or even the Philadelphia Phillies are some sort of underdog. in in in these situations when we are talking about the top five teams in spending in baseball yeah talking about teams that all spent over a quarter of a million dollars or damn near it in 2022 on their rosters so it's kind of ridiculous to think that the podrays are some sort of team that like just was gritty and came from the gutter and did the damn thing with this rag tag group of outcasts that somehow came together and beat this juggernaut that was the Los Angeles Dodgers. Get the fuck out of here with that narrative. That is not what happened. And the same thing with the Phillies. Like the Phillies are a team where people are somehow like even us. We've said it.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Like, oh, hey, they snuck in with the final playoff, you know, the wild card position. So it's a good thing because it just, it's very encouraging that any team can sneak into the playoffs and win. But can they? or do they need to spend a quarter of a million dollars in order for their team to be good enough to make that impact once they're in the playoffs? I don't know any longer. Yeah, I mean, look at, we talked about the Phillies the other day, but I mean, look at the Padres roster.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Like how much homegrown talent is on the Padres roster? It's basically Fernando Tatis, who's not currently playing. He's like the only guy, right? And of course they got him in a trade, but he did develop within their system. But yeah, Manny Machado. and a lot of, I guess Haciyan Kim was a really good signing for them from this past off season,
Starting point is 00:08:35 but the vast majority, yeah, Juan Soto, yeah, all of the, all of the, all of the best players on that team came from outside the organization. I think,
Starting point is 00:08:45 and I don't even think this is controversial, I'm very comfortable saying that the Arizona Diamondbacks have a much deeper plethora of homegrown, you know, drafted talent in the major leagues at this point than either. the Phillies or the Padres.
Starting point is 00:09:02 It's not even close. Yeah, no, you're right. It's not even close. And yes, I have no idea what reference you're trying to make. Yeah, no idea. Padre's name was being thrown out there. I thought it was a good time to make a three amigos joke. But again, the Padres did have a very exciting comeback win yesterday to beat the Phillies and even the series with Philadelphia.
Starting point is 00:09:23 It really did not help our theory, Jesse, on us being the kiss of death, considering that we changed. direction yesterday on a poll that told us that we should root for the Padres. And instead we said, no, we're going to still root for the Phillies. And yeah, sure enough, that pretty much sealed their fate. But Austin Nola won the battle. When wins this round against his brother Aaron Nola, as you discussed on the show yesterday, Austin was actually a big part of their offensive game plan to provide some vital information. on his brother to his teammates.
Starting point is 00:10:01 And based on the offensive output from the Padres yesterday, it seemed to work. Yeah, yeah, it did. Aaron Nola pitched really well in that game for a while. And then he sort of hit a wall in that game. I guess the second inning, he gave up a couple of runs. And then the fifth inning is really when the wheels came off for him. But, yeah, Austin Nola had a big RBI knock in that game. And of course, they, you know, they pan over to the.
Starting point is 00:10:29 the Nola parents who were in attendance. And it's kind of funny. Like they didn't know what to do. His dad wearing a Phillies jersey and a Padre's hat did not know what to do with his hands. He did not know. Yeah, yeah. It was definitely. I don't know what to do with my hands moment.
Starting point is 00:10:46 It definitely was. But I'm worried Aaron's going to see this. That's the, that was the reaction. It was pretty, it was a great moment in unbiased parenting is really what it was. I mean, they like, they're winners no matter what, right? No matter what happens in this series, they're going to see one of their sons play in the world series.
Starting point is 00:11:07 There's no way that doesn't happen. So on the flip side of it, they have to also console their other son on one of the biggest losses of their career and having to deal with the fact that their brother is better than them. Like, that's what that means, right? Whoever's team wins means that brother is now the favorite brother. I don't know if that's what that means. Yeah, he's a kid brother after that might. But that, yeah, no, the clip of the dad, not knowing what to do with himself was absolutely priceless. And, yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:11:34 That's the other thing, too, was the game continued to be exciting. The Phillies then came back themselves a bit. And it really, there's a lot of offense in this series. It's just, it's fun to watch. This, it's much more fun than the Astros and the Yankees, which again, maybe that's just because it's like watching Darth Vader battle emperor Palpatine. I don't know. It's like evil on evil. and whoever wins, we still all lose because of it.
Starting point is 00:12:00 But Justin Verlander, Jesse, is ageless. This man is going to be 40 years old in February, and he did not look it last night striking out the Yankees the way he did. It wasn't super efficient, but he still got the job done, and the Astros take a one-game lead against the aforementioned evil empire. Yeah, I mean, he had some rough moments early in that game. there was a little while there where I was like, yeah, he kind of looks like
Starting point is 00:12:29 a guy who's about to turn 40. He just, he hasn't pitched that well in the playoffs. Like, he just hasn't really looked like himself, obviously had a spectacular, regular season and is easily going to run away with the Cy Young Award in the American League. But, but yeah, he's settled
Starting point is 00:12:45 down nicely. Harrison Bader hit him, got him for a home run in that second inning. Harrison Bader's been a monster for the Yankees in the postseason. I want to say Harrison Bader is the first player in postseason history to have four homers in his first six postseason games. The man has been just an absolute monster.
Starting point is 00:13:04 And I also kind of have to take an L on this one because I was very critical of the Yankees making this trade with the Cardinals earlier in the season. They sent Jordan Montgomery to St. Louis. It was a very valuable pitcher that could have done the Yankees some good in the playoffs. And they got Harrison Bader in return. Harrison Bader has been like one of their most valuable players in the the postseason. So I guess I stand corrected on that from the Yankees perspective. But yeah, Verlander was a little shaky at times early, but he worked out of a couple of jams and really
Starting point is 00:13:36 settled in after that. Six innings, three hits, one run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. That's, that's just vintage Justin Verlinder. And I don't know how he says settled, settled in and hasn't had a great postseason. And he gave up one earn run and 11 strikeouts. Jesse, I think your bar is too high. I think well well he settled in he is 39 years old sir sometimes it takes us a little while to get our joints going in the right direction sometimes the glucosamine needs some time to work but I'm just telling you 11 strikeouts and one earn run six innings pitched in the fucking postseason is not an okay outing that's no no no no that's not that's not what I'm that's not what I'm saying the outing itself was spectacular when all was said and done a little rough really but settled in
Starting point is 00:14:24 spectacular outing. But his ERA in the playoffs is 6.30. Like he hasn't been good in the playoffs. He was sort of a disaster in his last outing. So that's more what I'm getting at there. Yeah, very, very true. There's a great side by side comparison on a tweet from David Adler, where it shows Justin Verlander throwing a 101 mile an hour fastball to the Yankees in 2006 at age 23 and a 98 mile per hour to the Yankees in the 2002 postseason. at age 39. Jesse, how old were you in 2006? I would have been about seven, give or take, depending on the time of year.
Starting point is 00:15:07 I do remember Justin Verlander, like way back in the day when he was an elite pitcher year after year with Detroit. I'm looking at this comparison that you're talking about, and it's funny how like his mechanics look pretty much exactly the same. And yet he's just like, Justin Verlinder's just a little bit thicker now than he was then. He was kind of a skinny guy when he first came up. And the video is in such better quality. It's such higher definition from 2000. Yeah, that's the, that's the biggest, the biggest point of comparison is that HD television has improved dramatically.
Starting point is 00:15:47 I guess they didn't have HD television. television back in 2006. No, no, no, no. You had to, it was very expensive back then, very expensive back then. But of course, make sure you sign up for a membership over at go phnx.com. If you haven't done so already, you can get your annual membership. You get a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com. You can't see it, but I'm wearing my Cardinals one right now.
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Starting point is 00:16:42 we are going to be having a meet-up at the home-run derby for the Arizona Fall League. So keep your eyes and ears to the ground. for that, not your eyes. Keep your eyes open. Keep your here to the ground. Stare at the ground. Stare down to the ground. It's going on the corner. Go on the corner and stay there. But of course, we thank you guys for always checking us out.
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Starting point is 00:17:38 Jesse, Arizona Rafters lost a game. Not super happy about that, but we are here. Who are the Arizona? Who are the Arizona Rafters? Did I get Arizona Rafters? Ah, who is that? That's what I'm calling them. That's, they're our team.
Starting point is 00:17:52 They're the Arizona Rafters. You say Salt River Raptors. I say, show me a Salt River near their facility. I'm just saying. But Salt River Rafters, of course, they actually had a lead late yesterday and lost it in the eighth inning. But, and unfortunately, a big part of contributing negative. to the game was Jordan Lawler who committed two errors in last night's lost.
Starting point is 00:18:20 Yeah, it looks like I wasn't at the game because, as I said earlier, I took a break from the last night to attend a very dramatic Sun's season opener. But yeah, you have no idea how high the dragonfly got. You have no idea how high where the dragonfly even is anymore. I think it was a grasshopper, but anyway. Yeah, so Jordan, Lawler did make two errors and the rafters did give up two unearned runs and those were the only errors that the team made in the game. So unfortunately, Lawler, you could make a case here that Lawler's two errors
Starting point is 00:18:57 were maybe the difference in this one. He didn't have a great day at the plate either, 0 for four, a couple of strikeouts and a walk. Numbers on the season for Jordan Lawler still look really, really good. So I don't think there's any major concerns there. He's still hitting 265 with like a very high OPS. So everything is all right in terms of his offense, not too concerned about that one. But yeah, we've talked about the defense and Josh Barfield told me in an interview a few weeks ago that the defense is a big thing that they're watching with Lawler here in the Arizona Fall League. And I think it is important to mention that a lot of the errors he made in the minors this year came in Visalia. He was actually a lot better once he got to Hillsboro and
Starting point is 00:19:43 Amarillo. So I don't think I've mentioned that in the past. So I think it's important to point that out. These are also two of the three errors that he's made in the Arizona Folly. So it's not like he's been making an air every game or anything like that. So nothing too alarming for Jordan Loller, but not a particularly great game for him last night. And like we said, it is a work in progress. And, you know, I guess that's what the Arizona Foll League is about for a lot of these guys. It's kind of like spring training. Sometimes when you go out there, really, they're just trying to work on getting better, but the results really aren't what their big focus is.
Starting point is 00:20:25 It's about getting the extra reps in. It's about getting the playing time against some of the other best, you know, top prospects in baseball. So hopefully we'll see him continue to whittle away and, you know, kind of tighten things up defensively. That's definitely where our concern is and not his ability. at the plate. But one of his teammates and somebody who he has quickly becoming friends with is Rockies. Is he, what position does he play?
Starting point is 00:20:54 He's an outfielder. Outfielder, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. They have themselves a stud in Zach Veen over there on the Salt River Rafters, who has continued to be one of the shining stars on this team alongside Jordan Lawler. He has a case right now being the most valuable player in the fall league. I mean, Zach Vien, I think we talked about him a little yesterday, too. He's 18 for 40.
Starting point is 00:21:17 That's a 450 batting average. He's slugging 600. He has eight walks against two strikeouts. He struck out twice in about 50 played appearances. And he also leads the fall league, Derek, with 13 stolen bases. The next closest guy has seven. So Zach Veen is just like literally running circles around everyone else in the Arizona Fall League right now.
Starting point is 00:21:40 We saw him do that. We saw him put that pressure. He stole third in their first win of the year. And him stealing third caused, you know, an errant throw. And then he was able to make it home. So he's able to do a lot of things, I think, with his speed, much like we've seen out of the Arizona Diamondbacks, current outfielders that they have, right?
Starting point is 00:22:01 Like we've talked about Jake McCarthy and Corbyn Carroll and all the speed on the base path that these guys have, that definitely puts defenders in a position to have to make a quick play, possibly a sloppy play. Of course, in Arizona Fall League, with playing against some of the inexperienced guys that they're playing against, it only helps,
Starting point is 00:22:22 right? It's only one of those things that's going to still, like, apply that pressure and, you know, what we've seen out of the defenses against this team is, is exactly what we've seen at times from the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's fun to watch.
Starting point is 00:22:36 And again, it's definitely something that everybody should take a chance to go out, uh, take, take a, a day to go out and check out in Arizona fall league game near you. There aren't many left just to kind of give you an update, right? The, uh, when we are doing our event, I think the final game is a week after that. So I think November 14th is the final is the championship game for the Arizona fall league. So just to give you an idea.
Starting point is 00:23:02 We got about, what, uh, maybe three weeks left of, of, of Arizona fall league play. Yeah, championship game is on November 12th. So that's November 12th. The last day of the fall league. Yeah. So make sure to make it out there for that. It is a ton of fun.
Starting point is 00:23:18 And they don't play on Sundays, except in a couple of rare cases, I think they're Fall Stars game. Yeah, the Fall Stars game is the only Sunday game they have. That's on the sixth. Yep. So join us on the day,
Starting point is 00:23:31 the day prior to that, November 5th. It's going to be out at Sloan Park in Mesa. for the home run derby. So join us for that. We're going to be having lots of fun. And of course, make sure to stock up on plenty of our friends from OG's gummies
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Starting point is 00:24:39 wow wheat, kiltlifter, their most popular beer. They have a wide variety of beers for you to check out either at their Four Peaks Pub, excuse me, the Four Peaks, 8th Street Pub in Tempea or at your local grocery store, wherever you get your beers. This spooky season, make sure to check out the Four Peaks 8th Street Pub. Haunted Brewery Tours, Monday through Wednesday, two tours per night. one's at 7 and ones at 830. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy their beer,
Starting point is 00:25:07 but I do believe that you can, before I believe 10, can come out with the family to the Four Peaks 8th Street Pub. So check out their website. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly when it comes to the Four Peaks Brewing Company beers. News from some eliminated teams, Jesse. Andrew Friedman from the Los Angeles Dodgers had some comments kind of defending his manager, Dave Roberts,
Starting point is 00:25:31 maybe not defending his bold prediction that they would win the World Series early on before the season started, but definitely had some words of encouragement or words of defense for his manager. He did. Yeah, he said these are his words. I feel like Dave and his coaching staff did an incredible job during the regular season to lead this team to 111 wins. I don't feel like it's a switch that was then turned off or the players needed a different voice in those playoff games. that's my personal belief. So, yeah, basically just making the case that Dave Roberts was just as good a manager in the postseason
Starting point is 00:26:08 as he was in the regular season. And, you know, sometimes things just don't work out, which I think is probably fair. Like, you know, if a team, like if the Dodgers had lost three out of four to the Padres in the regular season,
Starting point is 00:26:23 right? Like if there was a four game series, they lost three out of four. Like nobody's sounding the alarm bell, right? like that's just that sort of thing happens even to the best of teams and it's not like i don't think that really changes much in the postseason necessarily or i don't think it should necessarily change uh it's not like the podres aren't trying you know if if something like that happened in the regular season it's not like they wouldn't have been trying in that situation um they're trying then and they're trying in the
Starting point is 00:26:51 post season and those kinds of things happen to good teams both in the regular season and in the postseason And I'm not of the belief that after, you know, a four-game series like that, you can necessarily say that the Dodgers choked or that, you know, Dave Roberts needs to be fired or something. I know there's a larger narrative here. I mean, the Dodgers have been in the playoffs year after year after year after year. Right. So I get understand criticism.
Starting point is 00:27:17 It's about not getting the job done. You know, in the past, we have blasted teams for not being. able to get the job done, but get there, right? The Buffalo Bills from the 90s, right, are a team that comes to mind that made it to multiple Super Bowls, but then somehow became a laughing stock of the league just because they got there and just couldn't get the job done against the Cowboys. You know what I mean? Like, it became a thing that even though they were the best team in the AFC,
Starting point is 00:27:52 the fact that they couldn't get it done, but could get to the mountaintop so many times. made them somehow a like pathetic loser in you know football fans eyes that weren't you know that weren't buffalo bills fans right or maybe even in some buffalo bill fan fans eyes the dodgers are kind of venturing into that territory a bit but people don't really slap that label on them or make them out to be a team that chokes right this in this this particular year i think that they just met their match in a division rival that has been built for the sole purpose of beating the Dodgers. The Padres have been put together to beat the Dodgers. That is their sole focus, as it should be, right?
Starting point is 00:28:41 Because the Dodgers are the biggest mountain for the Padres to overcome. And if they are good enough to beat the Dodgers, then theoretically, they should be good enough to beat any team in baseball. That is why it should be a surprise to nobody that the Padres were able to beat the Dodgers because the Dodgers are trying to just build the best team period that can beat everybody. They're not focused on any particular rival that they need to outdo or overcome, whereas the Padres literally are the little brother that's trying to get out of the Big Brother's shadow.
Starting point is 00:29:12 And they finally did that by, you know, by achieving this goal, by knocking the Dodgers out of the playoffs. If the Padres can go on to win the World Series, it would be very cool for them. It would be fucking terrible for us. It would be awful for this division and it already is. It's like you were talking about with Patrick Lyons, you told me about before we got on the show, that we shouldn't really as DeBacks fans,
Starting point is 00:29:34 be too keen on the idea of this Padres team becoming another elite juggernaut in this division for us to overcome on top of the Dodgers, right? And like, that's what I feel is happening. Luckily, the Padres are in a situation where they're going to have some very tough, you know, very high-profile players, very tough contracts to bring back next year.
Starting point is 00:29:55 They're going to have a very high payroll if they try to keep this team together. So we have that going for us. The Diamondbacks time frame and the time frame for some of these other, you know, super elite teams in our division to maybe start falling apart might just line up in two years, right? It remains to be seen. The Padres have not gave us any indication that they're going to slow down on spending. And really, that's what they're going to need to do in order to keep up.
Starting point is 00:30:23 with the Dodgers or continue to, you know, put the Dodgers in their rearview mirror. I just, I do think that the Dodgers do get to a degree a really weird rap when it comes to the fact that they can't get the job done in the playoffs. Like they don't really get the flack that they should. They actually still get considered to be the best team in baseball year after year, even though they've only won one one world series since 1988, you know, the same amount, by the way, that the Arizona Diamondbacks have won in that time frame. But regardless, it's the 2020.
Starting point is 00:31:03 It's the 2020 World Series, right? Which everyone. The asterisk, Mickey Mouse Championship. It's the, yes, it's the Mickey Mouse Championship. There you go. But anyway, so now we also have coming out of the Cleveland Guardians that Jose Ramirez has apparently needed surgery for some time and held off on it until the guardians were eliminated. And now some are saying he maybe should have had that surgery earlier in the season
Starting point is 00:31:30 so that we wouldn't have seen the drop-off from J-Ram in the second half that we saw and kind of a lack of production in the postseason. Yeah, Jose Ramirez. So apparently Jose Ramirez sat out two games against the Dodgers in mid-June after suffering an injury to his hand. And he underwent an MRI, but it was just those two games. He came back afterwards.
Starting point is 00:31:57 And if you compare his stats before those two games versus after those two games, the difference is pretty striking. Before those two games, he hit 305 with a 397 slugging percentage and a 642, or sorry, 397 on-based percentage and a 642 slugging percentage. After those missed games, the rest of the year,
Starting point is 00:32:16 at 264, 329, 437. So there's a, it's still a productive player, but there's a substantial difference between Jose Ramirez before that injury happened and after it happened. And according to Zach Meisel, hopefully I'm saying his name right, he writes for the athletic. And he said that Jose Ramirez is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right hand in the coming weeks. And it was an option mid-season, but he would have missed substantial time and preferred to play through it. Of course, now people are wondering, was that the right decision? Should they have just
Starting point is 00:32:52 had Jose Ramirez, you know, have the surgery missed some time during the year? The guardians wound up having a pretty substantial lead in that division. They probably could have won the division anyway. And maybe they would have been, you know, better equipped in the postseason with a healthier Jose Ramirez. Possibly, but you know, you can never leave that in the hands of the players because they're rarely ever going to make the decision to stop playing. You know, if they can somehow have the pain numbed, if they can play through it, if they can live with it, you know, then they will continue to play.
Starting point is 00:33:27 So that's the reason why it really should be addressed by the medical staff. And I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was an option. Yeah. Versus it being a mandatory thing. where he could, you know, potentially cause more damage to the injury or to his body that, you know, that could jeopardize his future. Let's be honest. He's an exciting young player.
Starting point is 00:33:48 That's the last thing we want to see. So hopefully he gets right and hopefully we can continue to see that Guardians team do fun things in 2023. They're very encouraging for us as Arizona Diamondbacks fans. Let's let's not forget that. But before we get out of here, I wanted to give you guys my draft king's pick of the week. And I'm giving you guys an NFL underdog parlay, not an overdog parlay, Jesse. It's an underdog parlay. I swear overdog should be a word.
Starting point is 00:34:18 It should be a word, Eric. You can talk to Webster about that. But in the meantime, I'm going to still talk about underdogs. And for some reason, these are all like away underdogs, like visiting team underdogs. But teams I don't feel like should be underdogs. I feel like these are teams that should be. favorites in all three of these matchups. So that's why I'm giving them to you.
Starting point is 00:34:41 I got the two New York teams, Jesse, overcoming both the three, three point deficit and a one point deficit here. The New York Giants are three point underdogs to the Jacksonville Jaguars. And the New York Jets are one point underdogs to the Denver Broncos. I almost feel like the people that set this haven't been watching football. But what do I know? Because I'm wrong a lot.
Starting point is 00:35:06 I'm partnering those together with the Atlanta Falcons being six and a half point underdogs to the Cincinnati Bengals. I think all of those teams that are favorites are frauds. And the combined three pick parlay value is going to give you a plus 611 over on the Drafking Sportsbook app right now. $20 bet wins you $142.31. And I put my money where my mouth is with this one because I bet my $20 on it. We'll see what happens. Let's ride. and we will see if I am $142 richer or $122 richer on Monday.
Starting point is 00:35:41 We'll talk about that. But of course, new customers right now can bet $5 on any NBA money line and get $200 if your team wins over at the Draft King Sportsbook book using our promo code of PHNX. You can also boost your winnings up to 100% with Draft King stepped up same game parlayes. It's this simple. Download the Drafking Sportsbook app. Use promo code PHNX. That's promo code PHNX. on the Drafking Sportsbook app.
Starting point is 00:36:06 Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Jesse and I have a Arizona Fall League game to get out to today. We hope you guys have a wonderful Thursday. We look forward to seeing you guys. I will be out at the Cardinals tailgate for a little bit later this afternoon before I have to go participate in a Girl Scouts meeting, I guess. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:36:29 This is what happens when you're dad. You get told there's meetings. and stuff somehow. You have to attend them. And I don't know. I'm not a Girl Scout. So I don't know why I have to go, but we'll figure this out later. We thank you guys for checking out the show. Of course, in the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with Kay. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs.
Starting point is 00:36:51 But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys, again, for taking some time to join us today. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we always appreciate you. downloading the show, checking us out, liking, doing all this stuff. We appreciate you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you beat your brother in a playoff game.

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