PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Torey Lovullo, National League COME UP SHORT In All Star Game Loss To American League

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

The American League continues to dominate the National League in the All-Star Game, securing a 5-3 victory over Torey Lovullo’s squad in this year’s Midsummer Classic. We have more on Ketel Marte���s day for the NL, the pre-show fashion, and Jarren Duran robbing us of seeing something special: an extra Home Run Derby. Jesse Friedman joins from Globe Life Field while Derek is coming to you live from Texas Live!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose between either:Bet and Get offer and place a bet of $5 or more and get $150 in Bonus Bets OR First Bet Safety Net offer by placing a bet up to $1000 and if your qualifying bet loses you receive a matched refund in Bonus betsDisclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Indeed: listeners of this show will get a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/allcity. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks. $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Chicken N Pickle: Head to https://chickennpickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location! PHNX will be hosting Trivia Nights and Pickleball Tournaments so stay tuned for info!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ski and welcome in to the shadow of Globe Life Field. Of course, this is the PHNX Debaks podcast right here on PHNX. I know that's the win music. I know we probably shouldn't be playing it right now, but I don't care. I got a home run ball from the home run derby. I got my cracker jacks. And we are here outside of where the All-Star game just took place. Of course, the American League wins.

and they continue their dominance over the National League. My name is Derek Montia. Welcome in friends to another edition of the PHNXTBacks podcast. What possibly the most beautiful one that we've ever brought you, of course. I'm occasionally known as your mayor of Arlington, and I will be joined here shortly by my vice mayor and your thunder stick, Jesse Friedman, from inside that big tin shed right behind me. Of course, I'm also joined by the wonderful Jacob Franklin on the ones and twos,

and I say wonderful Jacob Franklin because, this man These guys are demanding. This man has been making magic happen for this show while we are out here in Texas and I can't thank him enough for his efforts and of course, speaking of thanking people, we cannot thank Texas live enough.

This beautiful facility right here outside of Globe Light Field is the place to go anytime you're coming to a sporting event out here. And of course we, like I said earlier, just saw the American League beat the National League by a score of five to three Of course, Catele Marte was in this game.

He started for the National League. He was one for three with a run scored. He helped contribute to this team. His hit was originally scored in error, but come on, man, when you smoke a ball 105 miles per hour off the bat right at some chump, that's a hit. But, of course, the National League did take a lead. They took an early lead here in this game,

and it looked like, of course, it was the one chance for us Diamondbacks fans to actively be happy that Shohei Otani did something because he was on our team for once. Otani was one for two with a home run, 3 RBI, and a walk. But of course, this one is one of those games where pitching kind of was very, very good, obviously, from both sides.

And despite the National League being able to take that early lead, the American League surged back and the National League didn't have an answer for them. Juan Soto was one for one with a double and two RBI. Guardians David Frye tied the game at three with an RBI single that scored Juan Soto. So we had a tie ball game at three.

And then Red Sox, Jaron Duran, ruined everything by giving the AL the lead with a two-run homer. And again, potentially ruining something very special from happening. Since neither team scored the rest of the game, I need to remind everybody that if the All-Star game

ends in a tie, a home run derby takes place to decide the winner of the All-Star game. We got robbed by Jaron Duran's home run of an extra home-run derby. How exciting would that have been to see a home-run derby after this game? I'm kind of bummed out myself just thinking about it. It's the only letdown from this weekend, because this week, our time here has been incredible. and even though the results weren't as desired. Of course, our guy Bobby Witt Jr. lost to the finale last night in the home run derby to a Dodger.

But then, of course, today, the National League led by Tori Lavello comes up just short. Like I said, Cotell Marte did contribute in this game. He reached on a hard hit grounder that Marcus Simeon misplayed. It was originally ruled an error, but it was later changed to a hit, which, again, we thought that it's a no-brainer, right, Jacob? that hit from Cattel Marte was a hit. I mean, I know that it was played by Marcus Simeon,

but when a guy hits a ball that hard at you, it's a hit. It's a hit. Yeah, it's a hit. I mean, I said it the second it happened. It's the All-Star game. What are we doing, assigning errors? Yeah, what are we doing? Yeah, what are we giving guys errors for?

We're challenging plays, and we're giving guys errors, really. There was no pitch clock. So this game could have gone long. for as long as they wanted it to. But of course, it was still a speedy game. Not a lot of offense in this one, but Ketel Marte again, at least he helped his team. He contributed to his team scoring.

And, of course, the rest of the team did not pick up the slack. So that's who we blame. Kattel and Shohei, they partnered together and tried to get the job done. But Marte also rocked a robe tie on a suit jacket on the red carpet today. And that's a hard look. It's a hard look. He looked amazing. His gorgeous family looked amazing.

And all of that, the pageantry pre-show was a lot of fun. Jacob and I were out there. We got to talk to Ellie Dela Cruz. We got to talk to Ryan McMahon about his connection, Tori LaBello. So there was a lot of cool stuff in regards to the red carpet. It was very hot here in Arlington, Texas, on the red carpet. And we were out there for quite a while. So I know I was happy I was wearing shorts.

and I'm sure all of the players that were smart enough to wear the suits with the shorts, they were on point, but there were a lot of hot sweaty guys walking down that red carpet on a hot day here in Texas. But speaking of hot, of course, what, the third hottest manager in all of baseball, Tori Lobello, he was looking hot today with his family. He looked incredible walking the red carpet. We got to catch up with him briefly, and that was fun. He also had on some custom snakes alive Jordans, which a lot of you have seen.

maybe on social media, they kind of blew up a little bit there. Apparently his wife made that happen, and he looked incredible with his entire family. But unfortunately, Tori Lavello could not manage his National League team to a win over the AL, which is fine because the AL always wins. They always win. And when I say they always win, since 1997, the American League has gone 20,

22, 4, and that notorious one tie in All-Star Games. How is that possible? How is that possible? Even in the context of a great team playing a not-so-great team, I feel like the bad team would still eke out more than four wins over, what, 20, 27 years? Oh, my God. That's kind of crazy. So again, the American League dominates the National League.

They continue to dominate the National League. I'm sure there's some people that wanted Tori Lovelo fired from the All-Star game because that's just how some of you roll. But Tori did hilariously. They didn't win, Jacob. You got me there. That was so good. I did.

I mean, shout out, like, we love all of our listeners, but shout out Mays in the chat. He said, Tori's selling to clip even a lot. the All-Star game, LMAO. Come on, man. We're really going to do that to a guy. Nobody cares about the All-Star game and whether you win or lose. Like, he hilariously removed Christopher Sanchez

after throwing just two pitches. Imagine packing your family up and flying out to the All-Star game so that you can participate in it as a pitcher, all the excitement, all the joy, all the expectations in the world, and you just get to throw two lousy pitch. I mean, it means you did your job, but I feel like that leaves something to be desired.

Am I wrong about that? No, I mean, like, here's the thing. Here's the thing. It's the All-Star game. You're just trying to get some work in. All you got to do, like, what was he going to go home and tell his family? Like one day when he's got a family, he might have a family already, but one day when the kids are older, he's going to go back and he's going to say,

you know what, I pitched in an All-Star game, whether the box score said two pitches or 20. You pitched in the All-Star game. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. That's what it comes down to you. No one cares what your performance is in this game. Unless, of course, you get the MVP, which, you know, I definitely understand Jaron Duran from the Red Sox earning the MVP that he received tonight. But he's not my MVP.

He's definitely not my MVP because, again, he ruined the possibility of there being a tie game after nine innings and a home run derby happening. Would this game have remained tied had he hit that home run, not hit that home run? Who knows? That's an alternate timeline that we do not live in, and we'll never know how the outcome of that timeline happened. But we know we live in this one where he ruined it with his go-ahead two-run Homer against Tundar Green, but he is, of course, gets that big crystal bat, and congratulations to him. And all these guys, I mean, that's what the All-Star game is all about, right? the All-Star game is about these guys getting an opportunity to shine.

I thought they did a good job on the broadcast of certain things. I very much enjoyed the home run graphics, which were way over the top and ridiculous, and I think every single broadcast should incorporate a home run where it's like a spark following the ball and then explosions. That seemed way over the top. I loved it so much. I mean, it was good, but like where was it last night?

Yeah. No, that's a good point. I don't know because I didn't watch the ball. It's the same broadcast company. Where was it last night? They didn't do that on the home run derby. Yeah, that does seem like a miss. I do know that I still talk to people in the hockey world

about how much I enjoyed it when they implemented highlighting the puck on the broadcast back in the 90s, you know, because I'm an old man and this is when I was a kid. And apparently people hated that. So I might be alone on liking some of these graphics and things that highlight the ball and make it a little special. But one thing I did not like, one thing I very much did not like. was, of course, the attempting to speak to players about the home run derby and such while they're like in the middle of throwing a pitch, that seemed excessive.

It seemed excessive to be trying to talk to players while they're literally in the middle. The mic didn't even work. They're like, yeah, like Tariq Scoobles and his, Tarek scubles in his wind up. And they're like, hey, do you watch the home run derby last night? It's like, bro. The man's about to throw a pitch. Trying to pitch in the All-Star game, guys. Can you maybe, maybe, you know, give me a second here.

Let me have my piece. But of course, that's, any other things that you notice from the broadcast? Like, I don't know. I mean, again, I very much enjoyed the home run derby last night because I was in attendance, despite the fact that you might have gotten a different opinion of that. And overall, I did think that being there after a while, I did lose some interest in the first round. After that, I felt business picked up, and I really enjoyed the home run derby. It's the reason why I felt like the format needs to change and kind of go back to the head-to-head thing

because that's what captivated me, whether it was the high school kids or whatever. But I still had a lot of fun at the home run derby. And this All-Star game was still a lot of fun. But there were times where you just realized that you were seeing some outstanding pitching. And you're just changing guys out like Tori is, going out there freely changing guys after two pitches. Because, you know, he doesn't have to abide by any rules. There was no pitch clock. There's no three-batter minimum.

none of that. Tori's biggest concern with managing this team wasn't even winning. His biggest concern with managing this team, to be honest, was getting everybody playing time. Derek, I think me and the chat might have figured out what happened. What happened? And why the National League did not win this game. Oh, no.

Tori was managing a team of guys that he beat in the playoffs last year. Literally every guy on his team other than Shohei, who was not somebody that he beat in that playoff run, Giants, Dodgers, Phillies. They didn't be the giant, but like, you know, division rival. Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers. Yeah. Especially in the starting line.

They all craft the bed for them. Yeah, in the starting line. I think this was collusion to make sure Tori Lavello didn't win the All-Star game. Collusion. I am on board with a conspiracy theory. Let's go. Let's go. Maybe they're in with Mays Devil and try to get him fired.

I don't know. But, of course, I still very much love this game. loved one thing we talked about last night that I just want to reiterate is how much I love being around a baseball community like this where there are so many different fans from every team everybody's out here just having a great time getting along I mean this has been a wonderful week I guess five days of celebrating baseball here in Texas and I mean again even though the results in both the derby and tonight's game aren't what we hoped for This was definitely an incredible weekend.

And I hope that Tori, his coaching staff and Ketel all got a chance to really just take in the moment. You know, of course, these moments don't come often, right? I mean, Tori will need to get back to another world series if he wants redemption on managing an All-Star team. And, you know, who knows when that's going to happen or if that's going to happen. But I do. And it's this year. We'll see him next year in the All-Star game. And maybe he can get the National League to go five and twenty-two.

22 and 1 against the American League. That's crazy. Yeah, but what were we talking about? I mean, like, the American League dominates the All-Star game, and that's great. And it was, like, really horrifying when it determined who won home field advantage. Like, it's... Right, that's really stupid. It's bad shit crazy to think that that was an actual thing.

For sure, for sure. But... That goes it going on. Now that it doesn't matter, like, I would say over the last 10 years, and this is, chat, you can really, really get on me for this. But, like, I do. don't think that the American League has particularly dominated the World Series over the last 10 years or so. I mean, I feel like it's been fairly split off the top of my head.

You've got Dodgers, Braves, Nationals. Any other National League teams here that I can think of? There are a lot of national league team. Well, I know, but I'm saying that I've won the World Series in last 10 years. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like there is. The Giants, I mean, the Giants twice, 14. Yeah, you're right.

Even with that ridiculous rule that a certain... Win the All-Star game, I don't care. Well, like I'm saying, even with the home field advantage based on the winner of this, right, there's still parity in baseball as far as American League and National League winning the championships. That's what's so crazy about the dominance by the American League, right? And, I mean, this is a show Ae Otani used to be on that squad. You know, we have him on our team now as far as if you're a National League person. And I mean, he did his part, but again, you know, like, imagine show A being over there on the American League.

This would have been a route. This would have been a terrible game to watch. I still very much enjoyed the competitive nature of it, though, because with these guys, with this lineup, I mean, at any point, a two-run deficit could have been, you know, immediately. They could have come back at any point, right? So it did feel exciting in that, but at the other time, on the other hand, you're facing the elite. of the elite pitching in baseball and especially when you start getting late in the game like Tori was talking about

where he needs to you know kind of try to get everybody in you have more options there late because you are trying to get everybody in so you're not even some cases not even leaving a guy in for an entire inning but this one is what it is it's not great but it was a great

week this was like the dream managing job for Tori because Tori got to pull as many guys as he wanted whenever he wanted and nobody could quit like it was just like I know. Get him. I know. Get him.

Yeah. Can you imagine that? He doesn't have to worry about resting his bullpen for tomorrow. He's like, just put everybody in. Put them all in. Oh, yeah, this was a great, great one. But of course, unfortunately, the American League wins. National League loses by a score of five to three.

But now we get on to the second half. And the Arizona Diamondbacks will go to Chicago along with the PHNX crew to take on the Cubs. And I guess we're not taking on the Cubs, are we, Jacob? It's them. They're taking, I don't have to go. I don't know about you, but I personally have been asked to suit up and stand in the bullpen. I was going to say, you have to be a bullpen pitcher. Yeah.

Even if you're just like... I just really don't think the Cubs are going to see my 60 mile and hour fastball coming. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, the Eiffis? Oh, no, it's just, there's no lob to it. It's just going to be 60. Yeah.

How do you get it over the plate at that speed? I don't even understand it. I mean, it gets there. It gets there? Yeah. All right. Well, good for you. Good for you.

Elise in the chat. is asking the important questions, by the way. She doesn't care about the All-Star game. She definitely doesn't care about the home run derby. She just wants to hear about the barbecue. And I don't, what do we do here, Jacob? Do we just go ahead? We do actually.

There is video. I mean, there is video of the review. I just, like, you guys, like, we've been putting out so much content that I am, like, falling behind at this point. It's a weird brag. I am falling behind at this point. So much content. But, like, I know the people want it.

Yeah. The people want to know. review and and we have a full on can you tease it i'm absolutely sure but don't give the score we have a full on die hard vlog review of hertato barbecue what is hertato barbecue hertato barbecue is a wonderful little barbecue spot that we found here in the arlington area uh as much as we did want to travel to pecan lodge we found out it wasn't uh it didn't match up with our schedule we did not have a lot of time i've been having to drop jesse off at this building every single morning like he's my child i make sure he ties his shoes. I make sure he brings his bag. He forgets his mic. He forgets his

things. I always have to tell him not to get in a fight with the other reporters. And of course, I have to tell him to go drink water. So we did find a barbecue spot that just so happened to be a little closer to where we were at, a little closer to the stadium. And again, in a very, very cool part of town where the tipsy oak, where we were coming to you live from the last few nights is also located. And we also found out that Ertato Barbecue is the place to get food inside of Globe Life Field. So we had to go try it out. We did, and we have a special die-hard-only vlog

just for you guys with a review. And you'll never get to know if you're not a die-hard. Never, ever, ever. Yeah, that's why our friend that introduced us to Her Tato, she wanted to be in our video. And then we were like, oh, it's going to be for members only. And she was like, oh, pass. You know, because if it's not publicly out there,

she can't see it, then what's the point of even being in it? I respect it. But I respect you guys more for being here. We thank you guys so much. for being here in the Ph.N.X. YouTube channel. If you have not subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications.

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And please leave us a review. We always love to hear back from you guys. We love that feedback. We love getting those five-star reviews. They help us out a ton. and I want to give a special shout out to all of the people that we have met here. We have come across some incredible fans, some incredible Diamondbacks fans who actually listen to this show. I can't relate because I'm not a fan of the host.

But shout out to all of you that are here in Texas, that live here in Texas. A few people have come over, asked where we were going to be at, met up with us and things like that. And it's just been incredible, of course, to meet up with fans that listen to our show that don't even live in our show. state. You are wonderful, wonderful people. And of course, we thank you guys all for being here. We also would like to thank Betts 365 for sponsoring PHNX and, of course, for being an incredible app that has 90 million users worldwide and offers the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 sports, including e-sports, which I'm dabbling in now, dabbling in.

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choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at bet 365 must be 21 and over and physically located in Arizona if you are someone you know has a gambling problem wants help call 1 800 next step text next step to 533342 or visit problem gambling dot a z dot gov uh by the way as any have you have we heard from ryan reynolds yet uh jacob has he contacted you i have my people that contact his people and then we get lunch maybe every other weekend what do you what do you mean What do you Ryan and I are besties But you're not even a Wrexom fan I don't understand that How do you know that I'm not a Wrexom fan? Because

Damon and I talk Wrexom shop all the time And you don't ever come in any You guys never come include me Oh How the turntable turns Oh my God Well introduce me to your new friend

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Additional taxes fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. And if you know Ryan Reynolds like Jacob Claidens do, tell him I said hi and tell him I'm waiting to hear back from him. Speaking of, I guess, people I have a crush on, let's talk about Tori Lobello's National League team, losing in this game. The error, excuse me.

I almost did that thing. National League loses by a count of three to five. Let's take a look at the count, presented by our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union. Of course, National League, again, outscored by the American League three to five. National League out hit the American League 10 to 5. That's what I found the most crazy about everything.

I think I said it to Yoshi earlier while he was talking in the chat. I was like, hey, just wait until you see the numbers, He was like, the National League offense let Tori down. And I was like, well, they didn't have 10 hits. They just couldn't convert. That's true. And that's something notorious of a Tori Lavallo team.

Of course, with runners in scoring position, AL was 2 for 4 and L was 1 for 4. both teams had two extra base hits. And hard hit percentage was pretty much a plush, a push, excuse me. A.L had 47.8% to the National League's 50%. Should I give the people what I want? What they want, you mean? Yeah. What's that?

Well, I can't make you do the full show alone here. Oh. So I'm going to join you on the screen. Let's go. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Yes, sir. I don't know.

That might be too much handsome, but I did want to get your thoughts. I mean, overall, I know we've kind of talked a little bit about what happened here, but are you as devastated as I am that Jaron Duran robbed us of the possibility of seeing a home run derby actually determined the outcome of this game? Yeah, home run derby would have been nice considering, you know, you guys didn't like last nights. I can't say I was in that same boat. I'm like, it's funny because Jesse calls it a dud.

You enjoyed yourself. And I feel in the middle because the experience was great. We had great tickets from game time. I have no complaints about, you know, anything other than mostly the first round. But the first round went on for a long enough period of time that I felt like it really, like after the first couple of guys started hitting dingers, I was like, okay, yeah, I mean, Sure. You know, the drama was taken out of it.

And like I said, it didn't matter that it was two high school kids, to be honest, squaring off. I loved once we switched over to the head-to-head format. It didn't matter who was, you know, hitting home runs against each other. So I just, I really did think that it was a matter of that format in the first round kind of dragging on a bit. Plus, I mean, I wasn't a big fan of like the, you know, pitches thing, right? Like, guys couldn't even take a pitch. I like the outs that they used to do before where it's like, if, you know, you hit the ball and it doesn't, you know, go out, then it's an out, but you can take some bad

pitches from, you know, the guy throwing you BP because sometimes those pitches aren't great, you know, and guys are kind of incentivized with this format to just swing at everything. And that doesn't really get you in the good rhythm sometimes. I still think that they had it, they had it close, closer with the last format that they had. The head-to-head obviously helps, but I just liked letting a guy go, like give him some time and let him hack. Yeah. Give him time,

let them hack. Yeah. That's all you need, right? Like, all we want to see is guys that hit baseballs 700 feet, as many as them as they can. They gave them a lot of pitches. It wasn't like they just limited them to 20 pitches. But I promise you in the five-minute time frame of the previous format, they were more

than 40 pitches thrown in that amount of time. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, they were just hurling baseballs every two or three seconds. Right. But they also took a lot of them. They wouldn't necessarily sort of swing on all of them because they were looking for quality pitch to hit, you know? Sure.

Well, I guess we still have to give the King Snake to somebody, right, Jacob? And I guess we will. No? No? I don't want to. I know, but we're going to give it to the guy that ruined the extra home derby thing because he is the All-Star Game MVP, and he is Jaron. He is Sean DePaz's Boston Red Sox.

Yeah. One for two games. I don't like Sean right now. No? No. Didn't his birthday just happen? Yeah, but it's not his birthday anymore. Oh, yeah.

So screw him. Yeah, totally. But also screw Jared Duran, to be honest. One for two with a game-winning home run that ruined our home run derby. Two RBI. Fifth Boston Red Sox player in history to win the All-Star game, MVP, by the way. And that's, yeah, I mean, that's, look, I will say that even with my disappointment, I still very much enjoyed this.

I just, man, I remember when this was made a rule, the home run derby thing, and I've just wanted to see it so bad. It sounds like, you know, in football, in the Euros, right, when they go to the, you know, go to penalty kicks and things like that, like it really felt like it could have been exciting. And this, that's probably the one thing about this weekend. You know, it's like there have been a lot of letdowns in a way where it's like, yes, it's exciting, but then it's just a little bit of a letdown. I was very excited for the future skills showcase, right? and man, they just got the point in scoring system so wrong on that.

They're so close in concept. But like, you know, going from something in the first round that's fairly difficult to something that's much easier in the second round didn't seem to make sense. Plus, there was zero reason to not bunt in that first round. Forget trying to hit to the outfield for four lousy points. The bunting was so lame, Derek. I know you were like, but this is great.

I was like, no, it's not. It's, you know what it is? It was great. See, that's where you love to hit dingers. I love watching guys bleed out a wicked bunt, right? And like, I like bunting too, but I don't know if I like it in an event. Like, I don't know. The outfield ones were not, I think there's a way to.

What if it was just a round? I think there's a way. Here's a thing. Okay. I think there's a way to do it. Correct. I think that the way to do it is like, if you're going to put bunting out there, you can't make it the same weight as what's in the outfield.

Like, the outfield. field numbers were eight down the line and four in center field. Right. The points were what was totally off. The bunting was four and eight as well. So what's the incentive to try and actually make good contact with a baseball when you could just bunn right in front of you? There was zero.

And that's why maybe if you made that first round just bunting, right? And then you turn them loose in the outfield and put some targets in the outfield where you have to try to hit through the outfield. And then, you know, you have the home run derby there at the end for the last part. there's a progression there of moving farther and further out the field. Plus, again, if you're going to put it where it's very difficult to hit the ball exactly to the four and eight points in the outfield, then you're going to be able to bunt for 24 points here right next to you. That's where it was really stupid, right?

So again, if you add maybe some more targets in the infield and just make it a bunting thing for the first round and then swing away, I think they are very close to getting this right, though. And I think that once they do get it right, we will hopefully see this implemented at a major league level because I do think it's a very cool competition. And I think that, again, when you have guys, they're even better than just the minor leaguers. Yeah, they're getting there. They'll perfect it.

I mean, the Major League Baseball has the best All-Star weekend of any sport and, like, I'll just come out and say it. That's the God honest truth. I will say the only sport that used to rival it was the NBA. and I know the NHL Skills Contest was really entertaining and the All-Star format is actually really entertaining too. But back in the day, the dunk contest was the only, like, rival to the Home Run Derby for me. Right?

Like, the dunk contest when it was at its peak. Yeah. The Aaron Gordon, Nate Robinson, Dwight Howard. To be fair, I like the three-point shooting contest as well. Like those, that's the NBA is... Those were great events, but they've ruined them. I mean, like, the format changes, and I'm really worried the MLB is doing the same thing with the Home Derby. Stop changes the format, find something that works, and stick to it.

And I thought they had something. That's something very true. Like, I do not know exactly at what point they determined that the head-to-head format wasn't good. I gave my reason and Jesse very much agreed with it. I think it comes down to having a guy hit 30 home runs and lose to a guy that hit 31 in the first round and then having someone else eke by with 12, right? You know, you have Gunner Henderson and Pete Alonzo facing off against each other. and one of those guys is getting through, you know, Pete Alonzo was getting through with 12, right?

Like, if the matchups work out a certain way, and I don't even know, like, in some cases, right, somebody goes out there and hits 30, and then the other guy knows what he has to go for and has a target, right? Like, so maybe that impacts why sometimes we see those battles in the, you know, in the individual head-to-head competitions in the home run derby versus, you know, just the fact that, oh, these guys hit much less than they're around. These guys hit more. I don't know. I don't know what exactly causes that at times,

but I will say that, you know, we, I felt like we had something going. I felt like we had something good, solid. It kind of reminds me in a way of the jerseys, right? I saw a lot of people wearing the jerseys here in Texas. I saw, you know, I got a lot of, you know, I guess opinions one way or another. But I will say it felt universally like these jerseys were not. well received, well liked.

A lot of the problem with it was the colors. Yeah, those jerseys were not good. I mean, I didn't like the fact that there was multiple different, like, fonts, the name on the back was different, the National League on the front was different. Even the NL font that they had on their batting helmets was different. So I do think that, you know, again, they try to do something different. It doesn't always work out. But, like, I liked, you know, back when they had the jerseys kind of be a simple color.

A lot of people liked my Cotel Marté. jersey that I bought from Walmart here in Texas. And that was because it was just a simple like navy blue and beige color combination. A lot of people said it was a better. Yeah, no, yours was clean. It was clean. And there's not very many of those right now. It's the reason why I bought it.

I never like buying like clothing like that like sportswear at a at a store like that typically. But I mean, they had some incredible stuff here. And I will say that, you know, again, the overall feel of the weekend is that this was still a win. It's just, the jerseys, it's weird, but it's kind of like a metaphor, right? Like, the jerseys are cool, but people don't really like them that much. Like, don't get me wrong, you're going to find some people that absolutely love them,

but it feels like the majority of people don't, you know, we're a little dissatisfied, and you could say that, I guess, at least my opinion, about everything, except the people. Oh, my God. The people have been incredible. Elise says the AL jersey sponsored by skims because they were the color of the shape wear. that's what it felt like I really didn't like that that's a really good one that's a very good one

and I like again I don't want to rip on this because I've had so much fun here in Texas and again what I was going to get to was how wonderful the people have been the wonderful people at all of the places that we have brought you this show from have been incredible gracious they had no reason to put up with our nonsense

yeah our nonsense is the best way to put that it really is right I mean Jesse's nonsense especially But definitely, Jesse's a pain. My brand of nonsense. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

But of course, it's, and that's what's been beautiful about this weekend, honestly, is, you know, we have some more vlogs we're going to put up. We had a chance to talk to people here at the All-Star game. Who were they here to see? What animal they could take in a fight? You know, just normal questions. Hoping to have that. Hoping to have that one up tomorrow is the goal. But it's everybody just been really cool, whether they are from here in town, whether they

traveled here. And this is what I think All-Star weekend is about. We could get into the debate about what the best All-Star game is. Craig Morgan wrote a wonderful article on GoPhNX.com that you should all check out in regards to that. But I don't want to get competitive. I am done being competitive because I've kind of lost all the people I've rooted for and chose to win things all lost this weekend.

So I just want to say, good game is what I want to say. I want to say good game. I want to say I had a great time out of here. And I want to say that, again, a big thank you to the rackhouse, to the tipsy oak, and especially here at Texas Live, which is, again, an amazing facility. And there's a lot of people doing cool shows from here, right? So, like, it's been very neat that we are, we've been part of this here because, you know, what, you got, the foul territory guys are doing their show downstairs. They were doing downstairs. Yeah, you know, so we are in good company here at Texas Live.

But, of course, we're always in good company because we got our guy, Jesse Friedman. here joining us in global life field jesse get in here of course it's my thunder stick and you're vice mayor or something maybe switch like that how's it going pal my end can you guys hear me yes we can hear you we can see you we're a little delayed so it's fine it's it's not going to be easy but we'll figure it out yeah things look a little odd on my end but it's okay we'll roll with it yeah uh paul skeins uh did the thing uh he threw one-eight because that's what the All-Star game is all about. It's basically just a bullpen game consisting of a whole bunch of stud starting pitchers,

which is, which is great. The Nationally continues to just not be able to win this game no matter what they do. Granted, I guess they did win. They did win a year ago. Shout out Elias Diaz for, you know, coming through there big time for the NL. That's who we needed, Jesse. That's who we needed. Yeah, if Elias Diaz had made the NL All-Star,

team, Derek. I'm convinced that the Diamondbacks would have would have come way with a win here. Or not the Diamondbacks, I guess just to say the National League come away with it, would have come way with a win here. But yeah, it was still a fun game. I mean, it was at least close. It was competitive. The NL obviously took a lead with Joey Otani's three run homer. That that lead ultimately didn't hold. But it was better than last night, Derek. It wasn't, it wasn't a dud like the like the all, like the home run derby was. I knew you were going to bring that hot take right in here, that one by the way and I did want to say a big big shout out of course to game time which

Jacob and I have been absolutely using all weekend long go to the all-star game to go to the home run derby and go to the futures game it was incredible how much money we saved by the way with game time I don't I don't want it like this is going to be a brag there's no way for me for it not to come off as a brag but I don't need to buy tickets that often I don't need to especially for a big event where tickets can be very very expensive I was kind of shocked at tickets being available from the box office and how much those tickets cost. But shout out to Game Time, of course,

for saving me and Jacob up to 60% off by buying our tickets last minute for the All-Star game, for the Home Run Derby, for the futures game for everything. So make sure you do the same if you need to go to anything, including sports, sporting events, concerts, comedy shows, whatever you're looking to get out to. You can save more with exclusive in-app deals on select seats ahead of the game.

They have, of course, those blue check marks for the best deal that you can get at any event. So make sure to look out for that. They also have zone deals where you can save even more when you choose a section and let GameTime choose the seats for you. So get the lowest price guarantee where GameTime will credit you 110% of the difference if they do not get you the lowest price and take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime.

Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code P.H&X for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And of course, Jesse, we are heading on the road. We are taking a plane. We are not taking a car.

But I will still stop at Circle K and fill up. I need to find a Circle K. I don't know if Circle Ks are here in Texas. I have not seen one with my own eyes. But we've also stayed kind of just here in the neighborhood of the ballpark. But I would be very sad, by the way, if I couldn't get some snacks for the plane tomorrow on our way home from here. Of course, you should stop and get some snacks.

You should also stop and fill up your car. If you join the Inner Circle for free by downloading CircleK app today, you can save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Philips, and then you'll save three cents every day after that. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details, but get down on the Inner Circle and save not just on gas, but on those snacks that I was talking about and on all sorts of other stuff,

including those polar pops and those frosters, which right now are just 79 cents through September 3rd. All right, Jesse, well, this has been an incredible weekend. And I know you and I have spent a decent amount of time apart, at least enough time where we're not going to kill each other like Jacob and I are absolutely going to murder each other. But I wanted to get your take on things that you attended. I know you were out there for the breakfast this morning for the All Star Game with Rob Manfred and Tony Clark. What did what did those gentlemen have to say? Speaking of fighting each other, by the way.

Yeah, well, they didn't fight, although it would have been it would have been really entertaining to observe that, of course. Unfortunately, the way they do it is they bring in Tony Clark and then Tony Clark leaves and then Rob Manfred comes in. That's smart. That's smart. You know, talking with each other too much. But there was some interesting stuff from that. A few bigger takeaways that maybe stand out. There was talk of the ABS Challenge system, of course, which has been something we've talked about on the show here in recent months for sure.

Manfred talked about potentially testing out the ABS system. in spring training of next season, and then that could set Major League Baseball up for actually implementing a challenge system in 2026. That is at the earliest, so in no way am I saying that that is a guarantee. Even Rob Manfred himself sounded a little bit skeptical that that's how it would work.

But it does sound like testing it out in spring training is a distinct possibility. So, you know, if that happens, it'd be fun I mean, it would make spring training a heck of a lot more interesting just to see what that's like on a day-to-day basis. So I hope they do that. You know, you and I certainly are on the same page as wanting the challenge system to be implemented at some point here. And it continues to feel like it's a matter of when and not if. Players seem to agree that this is the best way to move forward.

The lead seems to agree that this is the best way to move forward. It's just a matter of kind of the finer details of the strike. zone and what's a strike and what's not and making sure that the system actually upholds that. So sounds like less of a technology issue, although I guess there have been certain, you know, like if there were a Wi-Fi malfunction or something like that, that could prove disastrous. So, you know, they might still need to do some work to make sure they have backup plans in place and that kind of thing. But, yeah, you know, there are a lot of pitches that are not regularly called strikes that the ABS system

would define as a strike. So Major League Baseball is still kind of working through some of those definitions and figuring out where they want to land. Well, I think when players get a chance to use it and they see the reaction, like a lot of players we spoke to have no idea really about it. It's not that they don't know it exists, but they haven't played at any point where they've actually used it. I think once players actually not only see the effectiveness of it, but also the way that it impacts the excitement of the game, It's an exciting moment. It's an exciting moment. The crowd gets hyped.

The dugout that wins gets hyped. There's a lot there. So, I mean, I just think that that's, it's better. It's a better system. And I think that it makes the game better. It's not, it doesn't bog things down. It's just, it's one of those things that the more people see it. Yeah, yeah, I think it, you know.

Absolutely will make the game better. And I'm a players, situations where players don't challenge where they theoretically we should have. I think that's going to become a big narrative within games like, oh my gosh, this guy struck out on such and such pitch and that could have changed the course of the game, but they didn't challenge, you know. So, you know, it's going to introduce some more storylines into the game, which I think is great. And as you mentioned, there's a certain excitement level, not just in the dugout, but certainly in the stands as well when a call is challenged. So it's it's the right move. I mean, this is what we want to see in Major League Baseball. It's just a matter

of, you know, MLB and the union, kind of putting those final pieces in place. Well, getting back to tonight's game, I know you had a chance to talk to Kattel and Tori after the game. What did Ketel have to say, especially about his one hit tonight that was originally ruled in error, and then rightfully so was changed back to a hit?

Yeah, let's get into it. So, yeah, I asked Ketel about that very play, and here's what he had to say about it being changed back to a hit. Yeah, I was thinking about it. That was not an error. I hit the ball 110 mile for hours. It's not easy to catch it. So I'm glad I got the hit.

Were you surprised that it was broken? Yeah. Yeah. 110 does not easy to catch it. It could be a grumble or anything. But, you know, I got the hit. God, I love Kattel. God, I love that man.

I mean, also. So another, we're proving our point about Gatel not needing the interpreter. That's for sure, Jesse. But I think that's how we all felt about that hit. 110 off the bat. How do you, I mean, you can't blame a guy for not being able to make a clean play on a ball hit that hard. Yeah, and it'd be one thing, you know, if it was sort of like a chopper ground ball or something like that. But it was, it was like a really tricky one-hop sort of a play, just a really, a really kind of in-between situation for,

for the second base. I think it was Marcus Semyon. So, yeah, I definitely thought in the moment that it was a hit. In fact, I had sort of chopped it up as a hit and tweeted out that Catel Marte had just singled and then realized, oh, my God, they actually called that an air. So I'm glad that I ultimately proved to be correct, even though I was wrong initially. But yeah, Tori said that he had the same thought there with it being 110 off of that, no doubt that that should be a hit. And it ultimately was.

Speaking of Tori, we asked him just about kind of how this experience was. And he had a great time. Here's what, here's what Tori had to say. I had a good time. It was like a baseball bender. And I didn't want it to end. About the 7th or 8th inning, I'm like, wait, the game is going to be over. I don't want it to be over.

What time is it? Is it day or night? I just was in this zone of like euphoria because this is this is like baseball heaven. And if you're a baseball fan, you got to love what was going on. Even though we didn't win the game, it was a really incredible experience for me. So baseball bender, I just made that up. Hey, that's what we've been on, right? A baseball bender here in Texas.

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, I haven't thought about anything other than baseball there. I don't know how long at this point. I mean, I covered every game on the homestine. It was on the road in SoCal. So it feels like it's been a long time since I've thought about really anything other than baseball. But I wouldn't have it any other way there. There's a reason that we do this and we love doing this.

So, yeah, Tori clearly had just the time of his life out here. Other stuff that we have from Tori here, let's go to him talking about Paul Skeens and, you know, potentially wanting to bring Skeens with him Chicago. Here's what I had a chance to get to know him a little bit differently than some of the other coaches. I spent a lot of time of them over the past probably 48 hours, maybe a little bit more. He's just a very talented kid that does it right. And like I said yesterday, he does it with a dose of humility. And I don't think he knows how good he is yet. And it was really fun to watch him compete the way you did.

I love the fact that Tori is already recruiting Paul Skeens. Future Arizona Diamondback, Paul Skeens confirmed, Jesse. Yeah, so I don't have video of this, but I did attend Skeens' press conference, which, of course, was mob with a bazillion people. And I asked Skeens what Brent Strom had to say to him before the game started. Some people might have seen the picture that I posted on Twitter of Strom and Skeens. Of course, they were together in the bullpen before. this game started.

And yeah, it was pretty funny. I asked him, like, what were you guys talking about out there? And he said that Strom told me to get my fastball into lefties. And at first I was confused because at first I was confused because in the bullpen, there's no one in the batters box. I was like, is he talking about like a mound visit? Did Brent Strom do a mound visit after Juan Soto was single in the first inning and I missed it?

And that was not the case. So I guess he's just talking about in the bowl. And just sort of envisioning a hitter being in the batters box and wanting to be able to hit that side of the plate. And, you know, he struggled a little bit to do that, I guess, in the bullpen. And we know Brent Strom a little bit here, Derek. And that is the most on-brand Brent Strom comment that you will ever hear anywhere. Just the general idea of throwing your fastball inside. That is, you know, I know that Strom is sort of, you know, throwing the ball up is kind of his calling card.

Throwing the ball in might be even more his calling card, something that he talks about all. the time. So that made me chuckle hearing that directly from Paul Skeen's. What the hell is Brentstrom doing? Like, is if Paul Skeens needs any help getting better, right? He's not on your team. Stop coaching him up. What are you doing here? This is insane behavior. We have to play the Pirates later this season. It's not even like he's going to, like, there was the whole thing about, like, Livy Dunn being like, oh, yeah, we were trying to get back to California so that he could play for the Angels. I know. There's been, there. Pirates fans are losing their minds today with what's going

on with Paul Skids, I'm sure. But I also kind of lost my mind there a little bit. See, when Tori Lovolo got to remove Christopher Sanchez after just two pitches. Imagine flying all the way out here to Arlington to just throw two pitches. Yeah, this is pretty hilarious. I can tell in the moment, just watching it, like, Tori doesn't look very comfortable doing this, and you can totally understand why that would be a weird thing for him to do. So I asked him about it after the game. Here's what, here's what Tori had to say about that. Yeah, it was a very awkward moment.

I ran out there and I said, hey man, this is just how it's falling right now. I apologize, but you had an unbelievable moment. He's like, hey, man, let me finish this. Are you serious? But once my main goal was to get everybody in the game. Of course, there was one pitcher that we didn't, and that was Finnegan. But we had designs to get them in the game if we went into that ninth inning. Tori said a couple of times that his biggest nightmare with managing this is getting everybody.

into the game. Yeah, 100%. He was very clearly, like, I mean, he had a number of guys just throwing just like pieces of innings in order to try to make that happen. And yeah, he wasn't able to get caught in again in the game. But when you've only got eight innings to work with, I mean, being the visiting manager in this game is harder because you don't have, you don't have the guarantee of that ninth inning. So with the NL losing, that's kind of the way it worked out. It didn't wind up being possible for him to get everyone in the game. And I think everyone would really be something that he would want to do. He talked about how all these guys have worked hard to get here

and are deserving of the opportunity to be here. And he wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to actually play in this game. And he was almost able to do that. Of course, we thank you guys so much for joining us here tonight. We will be off tomorrow because we are flying to Chicago. But we will be back on Thursday with a 1 p.m. show coming to you from Murphy's, the location of the Chicago Cubs or the CHGO Cubs 120 Club. I'm infiltrating their whole little club that they have going on over there.

So we'll see what we can figure out. But of course, thank you to Jesse for all of his hard work. And we will see him back at the hotel room tonight. We will see all of you on Thursday. So make sure to come back here. That'll be a 1 p.m. show Arizona time, so hopefully we'll have that up for you right then. And, of course, make sure to follow us on Twitter.

I am at Kapp underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, Jacob is at Jacob, Franklin 4 because he is the fourth best Franklin, Jacob Franklin, according to Twitter, but he's our number one, Jacob Franklin. Of course, you can follow our show at PHNX underscore DVACs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports

on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by tonight. We appreciate your time. We will see you back here, like I said on Thursday. Have a wonderful night. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Jaron Duran doesn't ruin an extra home run derby happening after the All-Star game.