PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - What does Jordan Lawlar bring to the Arizona Diamondbacks?

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

Now that it is official, we dive into what shortstop Jordan Lawlar brings to the Arizona Diamondbacks as they continue to fight for a Wild Card spot in the MLB playoffs. We also discuss the addition of catcher Seby Zavala, our Power Rankings, and a preview of the upcoming series with the Cubs in Chicago.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx WIN MONEY THROUGH SPLASH SPORTS: https://www.splashsports.com/phnx Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits of Creams. Go to https://theflowershopusa.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local The Flower Shop dispensary.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHMXDVAC podcast. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am once again, your mayor, PHNX. I got my sash. I got it back. I got the satch back today. This man next to me, of course, Mr. Electric himself, the one and only Shonda Paz. And Jesse Friedman is here in studio after doing some amazing reporting last night.

That's your thunderstick. He's my vice mayor. Of course, we are very excited to discuss Jordan Lawler now officially being. an Arizona Diamondback and according to Gambo and other reports he will be starting in today's lineup against the Chicago Cubs. There you go. But part of that was obviously the discussion we had yesterday with the Nick Ahmed being DFA'd and I just wanted to take a moment to say we absolutely went too far in our reaction

to that and I think a lot of it had to do and it doesn't excuse the way reacted but a lot of it had to do more with the excitement of Jordan Lawler. Obviously there's a ton of people. that are big Nick Ahmed fans. My niece is a gigantic Nick Ahmed fan. She was absolutely destroyed by this news. So it's not a great day because, you know, Nick Ahmed, the longest tenure, Diamondback, not, you know, part of this team any longer.

And Jesse, you actually had, you know, a very emotional video from Nick last night that, you know, obviously touched a lot of people and, you know, kind of showed how much this team meant to him. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you really see on days like yesterday, you really see. really see the the human element of of this game, right? That, you know, it's easy as a baseball fan to look at the back of the baseball card or look up the baseball reference page or whatever and sort of make your judgment about a player, which is valid, right? I mean, that's a part of the sport

is you're going to be judged off of your performance. And as Nick Ahmed learned yesterday, you know, there's some hard things that come with playing this game as a result of that. It is very performance base. That's just the nature. That's just the nature of the beast. But yeah, at the same time, I mean, these are, they're all human beings, right? At the end of the day, like Nick Ahmed, he was never trying to go out there and struggle against left-handed pitching. He was never trying to, you know, not have the throwing arm that he had a few years ago. The shoulder, the major shoulder surgery that he had a couple years back was a really big part of that. And, you know, I think was a pretty big deterrent of his career here over the last couple years.

But, yeah, I mean, you could just see so clearly in the videos that we posted. and, you know, comments from Tori Lavello that, you know, Nick Ahmed, the Diamondbacks meant a lot to him. And he certainly meant a lot to this organization and his teammates and whatnot. So, yeah, it was a tough day. I mean, Bryce Jarvis was also option yesterday. That kind of got lost in the shuffle. He threw two scoreless innings in the game yesterday.

I was going to say Bryce Jarvis. I'm not saying he is at the same level as Kevin Ginkle, but it's kind of like that that's the kind of move it was when it was like, really? Bryce Jarvis got sent down. I mean, I get, you know, one thing that we talked about on the show yesterday without you was the fact that sometimes it comes down to options and sometimes it just comes down to the moves you're trying to make in

order to yeah you know get guys on the 40 man roster or position guys how you need to uh it's you know obviously with omit a big part of this is the diamond backs are now you know in in the hunt and they want to do everything they can to make the main you know roster as competitive as possible uh they they absolutely if they were 10 games below 500 probably would have not done anything like this and like let Nick Ahmed finish up his season. I mean, that's the part I think that a lot of people seem to have problems with was like, you know,

being this close to the end of the season. Yeah. And parting ways with Ahmed. But obviously a lot of that is roster, you know, related. It's related to the fact that the diamond backs need to have as many open positions as possible and they need to try to do everything,

you know, they can't have someone like Ahmed like, you know, just kind of benched and, and therefore, you know, various, you know,

one off situations and not really contributing with, with kind of a roster that's, They're having issues with their roster spots. Yeah, another interesting aspect here. And then I'll let Sean talk because I don't think we let Sean say we're getting at the show. Another interesting thing is Michael just referenced in the chat. I did an interview with Nick Ahmed a month or so, I think before the season started, maybe a couple months before the season started.

And one of the things I talked to him about was the work that he did with Jordan Lawler. Jordan Lawler worked with Nick Ahmed, I believe, during his fall league stint last year, Ahmed, you know, was generous enough to lend his time and go out to the ballpark and work with Waller on defense. And, you know, the way that things turned out yesterday, it's, it's a brutal game we play, right? I mean, one day, Ahmed is helping lead the next generation of players in this organization and being generous with his time. And the next day, that player is, is taking his roster spot. I mean, that's the, that's just the brutal nature of, of this sport and, and just kind of what you're asking for when you become a professional athlete.

Yeah. I think one thing of it, and there's things that, uh, there's things that happen that, that I learned in baseball that I, like, still just can't believe at times. I don't know if I fully believe them, but like one thing I just,

you know, kind of found shocking was that Nick didn't know this was coming at all. And I get that you're not going to like prep a player for potentially being DFA. But at the same time, it felt like at times that they were sending, you know, a message that you know like they they needed to try to make this roster as good as they can and I mean I feel like all season they haven't really held back from making very difficult decisions like this yeah bum garner Carson Kelly now in the comment yeah yeah I mean it's it's the business of it and I mean he even acknowledged it in that interview like he hasn't really isn't been playing well yeah and I mean someone brought it up in the discord getting back to like him working with Lala and stuff like that like whenever his career ends as a player, like he would make a hell of a coach. And like he obviously is important to this organization. The organization is important to him. Whether that's like in the farm system

or on the major league, like he would make a hell of an infield coach or whatever. Like he would just seem like the kind of guy that would be great to have a part of the organization still. Just obviously not as a player at this point. So who knows what the future holds in that regard. But it is, yeah, you interviewing him and having to talk about mentoring Lawler and then Lawler coming to take a spot like that is the yeah the cruel reality of the of the the sport they play the the world we live in i didn't want to dwell on in too much but was is it is it awkward in those scenarios to to be there when like because this doesn't seem like something that happens very often where they have kind of a guy yeah somewhat like like an exit interview after they've been like released or dFA or or even

sent down yeah that's a good point yeah a lot of times when things like this happen we don't get an opportunity to talk to that player they're they're just gone um So yeah, I mean, I think it says a lot about Nick Omut as a person that he what he didn't want to just get the heck out of there. You know, we waited for him to, you know, have some some heartfelt interactions with some of his teammates in the clubhouse. And then, you know, after a while, once things had cleared out and he was the only guy there, we talked with him. And yeah, you have to have a lot of respect for a guy who's willing to have that conversation. And I wasn't surprised. I mean, Nick has has definitely shown himself to be, you know, available to the.

media and generous with his time and he is the longest tenured diamondbacks player you know i i think it was good that that we all got to hear from him at the end of all this mo is is is getting to the root of our real big fear yeah he's going to end up on the dodgers somehow he is going to be the best shortstop in baseball yeah that's probably yeah that's definitely what's going to happen moving on to the jordan lawler side of things uh he is officially an arizona diamond back and age 21. He is the second youngest D-BACs position player in franchise history. Justin Upton, man.

I still don't get how Justin Upton was a big leaguer at 19 years old. That's still absolutely blows. There's a good chance we could see that with like Jackson Holiday too right now for the Baltimore Warriors. I mean, I don't know because he's 19 right now, I believe. But he got promoted to the AAA level. He's in AAA, but I don't know if the Orioles are about to call him up to the big leagues. They don't even need them. They got plenty of firepower.

it be a tough time for them to make a move like that yeah but we've kind of been jealous of the progress that some of the Orioles players have made meanwhile loller kind of even with his injury moved through the system very quickly he really did yeah i mean it's not all that dissimilar from what corb and carroll did frankly yeah i mean luller had the same thing happen where uh right for him it was it was pretty soon after he was drafted he had the shoulder injury and the in the surgery because if you're a deback's first round pick is a position player You have to get your major shoulder surgery out of the way. I had mine in 2012.

Yeah, yeah. We've all had it, right? So, yeah, he got that out of the way. And then, and then 2022 and 2023, I mean, he started last season in rookie ball. And then he was in Vysalia. And then he was in Hillsborough. And then he finished the year in Amarillo, had some struggles there, went to the fall league and had some success. But then sustained another injury.

That was the scapula. the scapula injury that ended his fall league a little bit early. And then he came into this season and he struggled for the first month and a half or so. Jordan Lawler, it took him a while to kind of figure out that double A level. That's a big adjustment from high A to double A. But man, he eventually made that adjustment. And since the end of May, he's been, you know, one of the better minor leaguers in the sport. And there's a reason he's ranked as, you know, a top 10 prospect in the game by a lot of different outlets.

He has five legit tools. He doesn't really have any clear weaknesses. And you'll find a variety of opinions on him and kind of what the outlook looks like. We're going to get into that here. But I think everyone agrees that the ceiling for him is very high. The ceiling for him is that of a star level shortstop in this league. Not everyone's necessarily expecting that. But I mean, he's 21 years old, right?

He's got a lot of time in this league to figure things out. And this is one of the, you know, the most. I think exciting days if you're a Diamondbacks fan of the year, right? Jordan Lawler is a major leaguer and he's joining the team at a pivotal point in the season when the Diamondbacks are about to launch into the biggest series they've played arguably in, you know, five plus years at this point. So it's going to be going to be fun to see how it comes out. I have an opportunity to make a name for himself, like immediately.

Not all rookies get a chance to, I mean, obviously all rookies get a chance to do that because they're playing in Major League Baseball and not all rookies get to do it on a scale like this. Yeah, like it's a big stage. Well, he could, he could potentially. I mean, this is, again, be putting the cart before the horse a little bit, but he could potentially be a rookie of the year candidate next year, right? It's similar to once again, you talk, Jesse, about him following in the footsteps of Corbyn Carroll. You might literally do that next year, right?

I don't want to go too far with that because then people are going to expect Lawler to be an extremely good player immediately, which is what Corbyt Carroll did. And he could do that, but just know that's not the norm. That's not the way this normally, this normally works. You know what else isn't the norm? Slashing 423, 506, and 761 against lefties. It's pretty good. In 85 plate appearances this year. When Tori said that he will be in the lineup against left-handed pitchers,

that is exactly what he made. I mean, I know there were a lot of people that were concerned about that, by the way, because seeing your video from yesterday about him being in the lineup, it seemed like people's reactions were like he shouldn't just be in there against left yeah yeah we're gonna get him every fourth day or whatever yeah I'm just yeah it's just it's all potential like it's he like he has a chance to like significantly improve this team like that it was it was it's a major hole that he's potentially filling yeah and so like in the middle of a wild card race where there's three

four teams all just treading water like one player could be the difference. Like if he if he injects a little bit of energy into this team like I mentioned the other day the way like Ellie did with the Reds. Yeah. If they get hot for two weeks, that's the difference between them making the playoffs and them not making the play out. So it is not to put too much pressure on them,

but there's a lot of pressure on them. It's something that other teams right now don't necessarily have the ability to do is have that player come up at this point. Like you said, when things are kind of dragging on when a lot of the teams right now in the wildcard race aren't exactly killing it you know I mean the marlin was facing the loss and with Dodgers apparently the Diamondbacks are just easy money right now the diamond backs right now have basically the equal odds as the Reds to make the final playoff position as far as the betting odds are concerned and right now they're both favorite to win that final card

wild card spot which is odd the Reds have the one game advantage over the Diamondbacks right now they are both projected to win 83 games this year so it'll be be interesting to see how this plays out and especially how Lawler can impact this team at this point and impact that trajectory. Maybe the Diamondbacks get a couple more wins and at this point like we've heard from Lovela like we've heard from Brent Strom the other day, they both feel that this season is going to come down to one game. As a matter of fact, Brent Strom gave a scenario where it was like very specific, I believe. Yeah, yeah. He basically said, you know, I have a feeling that this season is going to come down

to Kyle Nelson in the sixth inning facing Yordon Alvarez or something along those lines. This could happen, right? The feedbacks their final series of the year is against the Houston after. It was that terrible. When he said that, I was like, go ask the Marlins how that turns out.

It's so over. It's, if there comes a situation where Yordaun Alvarez has a chance to end the Diamondback season with a home run, I'm sprinting to bet MBM and putting every dollar I have on the next I mean, I'll come with that at bat to be a home run. It's not the team you want to, you want to face.

That's not the man you want to face. Although, do you see him on Sunday Night Baseball, that weird fall he took? It was very, no? It was very, it was odd. But, yeah, I don't want to see that. No, no. Diamondbacks do have games against the White Sox and your favorite poverty franchise of New York Yankees left, but aside from that, and they're not even playing terrible

baseball lately. No, they've won five in a row. Yeah, like, well, yeah, that was going to say, That's exactly That's a more recent example of the L.A. La Cruz effect, right? And what you can hope from,

or not hope from, not expect, but you can hope for the best like that Lala can provide. You've seen it. Like, the Yankees were in the darkest of days. They really were.

That franchise was in a very dark spot. And then all of a sudden, he shows up and is just injected a new life into them. And obviously the Yankees are not, or the debacks are not this year's Yankees. I'm not trying to say that we're, better organization than the Yankees but they obviously this year are in a much better space in the Yankees yes we are and so if they can get that um then and obviously like I said could be the

difference between them making the playoffs and them not making the playoffs luller's uh prospect ranks around the league are fairly high uh MLB pipeline has him up to 10th baseball america has him at number ninth with a quote about him saying Loller struggled to begin the season and the Texas league but came alive in June in July when he showed the form that helped him star in his first full minor league season in 2022 and I know that one thing that that quote the other day when we talked about Mike Hazen and his comments to Nick Piccolo about Loller getting called up. Yeah. He basically said like his bat came around in a way. I don't think they expected to come around that fast. And of course, you know, with baseball, you kind of have to wait.

You have to wait to see if it's real. And then you have to wait a week longer and then you have to wait one more week. And then like even then you don't know if what you're seeing is just. just kind of a hot streak, a fluke, especially in the minor league system, a product of being in Amarillo, or a product of being in Reno, or if someone like Lawler is for real,

then I feel like now, especially with that 423 batting average against lefties, that's for real. One thing I will say, he doesn't get a lot of extra base hits that aren't home runs. And I don't know if that's a bad problem, but he really doesn't get a lot of extra hits

that are hard on. Yeah. And I mean, it's probably a product of the environment to some extent, right? Like that double in the gap is now is now a homer. So yeah, I wouldn't necessarily read too much into that at this point. It will be interesting to see just how the game translates.

It's such a wild card when a top prospect comes up because you just don't know. Like we talked about the other day, a lot of times you see guys come up and they kind of light the league on fire for a couple weeks for seeing that with Jason Dominguez. We saw it with L.A. Dela Cruz. There have been a number of prospects this season that have done that. But that's not a given. Sometimes guys come up and it just doesn't translate. And I mean, oftentimes when you see that, what follows it is pitchers figuring them out and then struggling for a little bit like quarter. Yeah, absolutely.

Finding out based on a scouting report that someone can't hit the change it. And then that's pretty much the demise, their demise for a bit, you know. Yeah. But when it came to Jordan, like he evaluators were very high on him. And then just based on like, again, I think maybe the injury and how he struggled a bit like in lower. Yeah, I think double A, the fact that he really struggled there when he got his first taste of AA last year and then coming into this season for about a month and a half, he really struggled as well.

I think his strikeout rate in AA was up over 30% this year through the 24th. He slash 168-298-336 for the first month and a half of the season in double A. Those are poor numbers, right? And that strikeout rate is pretty dang high to, you know, what he's done since. then since May 24th, Waller's at 325, 413, 565. He's almost cut that strikeout rate in half at 16.2%. The walk rate is still good at 10.3%. You know, he had a 1050 OPS after being promoted to AAA.

So, yeah, I think these last three months have done wonders for his standing in the league. And I saw Eric Longenhagen from Fangraffs wrote a story about some top shortstop prospects in their defense. and he raised Lawler's future value based on what he's seen from his defense. It sounds like there have been some really significant improvements there as well. There's hope that he can stay at shortstop in the long term once again, which is always always a big thing. So yeah, his status has kind of changed a little bit this year.

But as of right now, I think it is once again pretty dang high. What do you see the plan being? Where would he? So he would just split time with Pardomo essentially at shortstop? Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I did ask Tori yesterday about Lawler playing third base in Reno the other day, and he did say that's an option. So I wouldn't be shocked if you saw Lawler at third base at some point. He'll probably get some DH opportunity as well, I would think.

Yeah. You know, against the lefty, the debacks have kind of been cycling in some different guys into that spot. So that could be an option for him. But yeah, it'll be really interesting to see. I mean, they're going to give him every lefty at shortstop. And beyond that, we don't really know what it's going to look like. sounds like he's starting tonight. He's going to be in the lineup tonight. But, you know, this could be every other game that Lawler plays. It could be two out of every three games that Lawler plays.

We'll have to kind of wait and see how it turns out. The only way Lawler can be added to the postseason roster is as an injury replacement. Correct. That is, that is my understanding. Can you take any roster spot? Can it be any injured player? Yeah, it appears that the situation is very easy to manipulate. And the Diamondbacks, it's not like, oh, you know, Perdomo got hurt. And so the D-Backs need an injury replacement at shortstop. Right. It's like, oh, you know, Dre Jameson is on the 60-day IL.

So we're going to use Lawler as an injury replacement for a guy who might not have been a candidate to actually be on the roster anyway. It appears that that is possible. So if the Diamondbacks wanted to and if they made it, I believe they could put Jordan Lawler on their, on their playoff roster. Well, he's not the only addition. The Diamondbacks picked up catcher Sebi Zavala, claimed off of waivers from the Chicago White Sox.

They went ahead and sent Jose Herrera down to AAA Reno. Zavala doesn't have the best offensive numbers. Obviously, we know Herrera didn't either, but what do you think the idea here is about Sebi? We discussed a bit his baseball savant page and how some of his strengths look like they were obviously different. Yeah, polar opposites from Herrera. Yeah.

defensively, I think that that does seem to be the case. Herrera has graded out pretty well as a thrower this year. Not so much in terms of blocking and framing. Those numbers aren't as good. Zavala has graded out pretty well in those respects, but hasn't graded out quite as well as a thrower this season. The offense isn't great. You know, Jose Herrera, after a two-hit game yesterday,

was up to 212, 301, 263 on the season for his slash line, which is not good. but you know an on-base percentage north of 300 from your backup catcher Jose Herrera's obviously you know hitting has not really been a strength of his so I think that was pretty respectable given your expectations the debacks are replacing him with a guy in Sebi Zavala who's hitting 155-207 304 there's a little bit more power in there but he's his walk rate is about half that of Herreras this season his strikeout rate is significantly higher um he did have better numbers last year. If you look at Zavala's numbers last year with the White Sox, he was almost a

league average hitter around a league average hitter. So you have to believe the debacks are maybe buying into that a little bit that Zavala is a better hitter than he's shown this year. And you could make a case he's a better defender than Jose Herrera as well. And it really feels like this is a move to help the pitching staff. But it also feels like it's kind of there's not a lot of time. I mean, it doesn't feel like that. Yeah, it's got to be tough if your Seby's evolved and you're like, all right, I'm going to learn 14 pitchers. Yeah. And do three weeks left in the season.

That's a pretty tough spot for him to be in. So does that signal that Gabby Moreno is going to get most of the time here down the stretch most likely? I mean, I don't know. You know, I mean, obviously it feels like Zavala is going to be in the mix. But, you know, it does feel like it's going to, there's going to be a learning curve for him to get kind of up to speed with this pitching staff. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if they push Gabby maybe a little more the rest of the way like Tori's been talking about. with other guys, but you're not going to start

Gabby six days a week. That's just not realistic. So he's going to have to play some. And yeah, I just hope he's a quick learner, right? I mean, it's good. Maybe that's something we don't know about him that he is. Maybe that's why part of the appeal. And not to say that

it's not important, but like, we're talking about the backup catcher. Like, it's not like this is hopefully going to make or break the season if it doesn't work out or that Herrera was like you know, playing out of his mind like we just talked about the numbers so like yeah it does kind of feel like they're they're betting on whether it's last year's numbers or betting on the or making a preference

towards what he's good at versus what herrera's good at but ultimately it's like hopefully it doesn't matter because hopefully the backup catcher shouldn't matter too much yeah yeah especially once you get to the postseason there is not likely to be a enormous difference in performance between Herrera and Zavala at the end of the day it's not yeah they're not they're not playing every day and you're not expecting a ton of offence from either guy gabby is gaby is obviously the the main man back there for for the debacks i just i i still can't believe that jordan lawler is here like i really can't like that that seems so crazy much like last year it didn't feel real that corbin carroll was here like it's that happens so fast it was like yeah next thing you know there's

There's a rumor and that before we can even like sit there and dwell on the rumor too much. Boom, it happens. And we couldn't help but ask this question two shows ago when we were discussing, you know, a poor offensive night from Nick Ahmed. And meanwhile in Reno, Jordan Lawler was hitting two home runs. And like even when we were having that conversation, it felt like such a distant thing potentially that we were discussing. And it literally happened next day.

Yeah. So, I mean, it's going to be excited. And I know we touched on it a bit yesterday, but what an exciting absolutely electric atmosphere for him to make his debut in then Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field against a team that is Not only themselves in the thick of a playoff race, but like One of your potentially, I mean at this point obviously they have a little bit of lead, but one of the teams that you specifically are competing against for your play and you have a lot of games against this team too like every single pitch of this I feel like this is gonna have a very playoff off-esque atmosphere.

Outside the time that's a day game, or not day game, I guess not a day game. This isn't, today's a night game. It's a next three are day games. It's a day game for us. Yeah, it's a little earlier for us. But yeah, I guess tonight specifically, between Lawler's debut, being the start of the series, like it's got, it might have a little bit of a playoff atmosphere.

That's exciting. For sure. For sure. Well, we thank you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel right now. We always love you and appreciate you for being here. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live.

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at MGM.com for terms and conditions, U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York or Ontario. Well, it is time once again for our MLB power rankings and things, things have actually moved around on the board this time. Braves really skunked those Dodgers and really knocked them back in their place. And then, you know, the Marlins piled on right when they needed, right when we needed the Marlins to, of course, win. Yeah, that's what we needed. But taking a look at our power rankings, we have the Atlanta Braves in the number one overall spot, followed by the Baltimore Orioles at two, the Tampa Bay raise at three, the Houston Astros at four, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rounding out the top five at number five. then in the bottom half we have the Mariners at six Phillies at seven Cubs sneak back into the rankings

at eighth especially with the way they've been absolutely pummeling teams lately Blue Jays there ninth and the Brewers make up the last of our power rankings there with the 10th spot so let's discuss this especially the Dodgers making such a huge drop from the second spot there to fifth overall I mean that's not huge Derek let's not be overly dramatic they are they are

a worse team than the raise. Let's go. Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers, the Dodgers have won one baseball game since the Diamondbacks left LA. They lost three out of four to the Atlanta Braves. We ruined them. We broke them. Yeah, clearly it was the Diamondbacks doing.

It was a very competitive series. Yeah, the Dodgers have lost the first two against the Marlins as well. Lance Lynn was tagged for eight runs yesterday. He finally came back down to Earth. He has very much come back down to Earth. The home runs continue to be an issue. Seven earned runs in the game against the Braves. Yeah, so this would be back to back.

Yeah, disaster status for him. Lance Lynn is given up 40 home runs this year. That is a heck of a lot of home runs for a starting pitcher to allow. That just continues to be an issue for him. And obviously there's the Julio Urea situation happening right now. He's on administrative leave. You don't really know what the future holds there. Clayton Kershaw is pitching through a shoulder injury.

His fastball averaged 88. miles an hour in his last start. I believe the Dodgers are continuing to just have him pitch through this because I don't think there's really anything they can do to help it in a huge way right now. So yeah, this rotation is not great. They're trying to get Walker Bueller back. They've got some young arms in the mix. Ryan Pepio and Bobby Miller are guys they're going to have to rely on.

But yeah, it's not the Dodgers starting rotation that you're used to seeing from years past. There's some serious depth issues here. And I think a lot of people have questions about in a playoff series, you know, is it going to really hold up against other teams in the playoffs? And I don't know if it will, frankly. I mean, I've always been, you know, I've always been a guy who has respect for the Dodgers in the postseason, even though they've had some struggles there. They're a really good baseball team.

But this year, that rotation just doesn't really look like a playoff caliber rotation to me. On top of an organization that you kind of just referenced has not really been there. We got one ring in the last however many years. Yeah, no, they're notorious for not being very good. They have not lived up the expectations. They win playoff games, but yeah, they have not gone all the way nearly as much. I mean, the last playoff. We need someone else to take care of them.

That's all. In the last 10 years, they've won regular season games. They just don't win that many playoff game. But, yeah, I mean, again, right now when you take a look at, like you said, there's starting rotation and a lot of the issues they have, not to mention you know having one of your starting pitchers have have legal issues that obviously make him look very bad and and seem like a very bad thing that he did and it's not the first time he's been involved with something like this it's got to be demoralizing to the clubhouse as well you know

it can't feel great like when you're i mean we talk about a clubhouse that it's full of guys like mooky bets and freddie freeman oh man we've talked about how hard it is to hate a lot of the dodgers players but then it's very easy to hate some of them that do terrible. But I mean, my point is, to your point, those are like, it seems like there's a lot of really good people. Yeah. And so it probably that much more takes like, takes a toll on the clubhouse where it's like, damn, that guy might be a piece of shit.

Not to mention the fact that they don't really have, they have enough of a lead like we talked about yesterday where they're not really in a fight right now. I mean, it's not to say losing games. Especially they have to get their ass kit by the Braves. Right. But I'm just saying they're like, they have, they have, such a substantial lead that they just kind of have to be mediocre the rest of the way for them to lock up the NLS. So it's not like it's not like they're in a position where they are fighting

for the NOL spot. However, you know, this that I think that all kind of spells a little bit of a disaster for potentially their postseason. And it's a good thing for the Diamondbacks, obviously, if they run into those Dodgers. And I still am thinking about how Brent Strom got me fired up with his comments about like, you know, let's, Pressures on them playing a team like the Diamondbacks. Oh, yeah. And the playoffs,

there's not a shred of pressure on them, basically under any circumstance. Do damage, son, do whatever. Do as much damage. Exactly. Like,

and if you get, if you lose the two games, the first two games of the wild card, then like, oh, you still are out of schedule. So like it's all house money in that regard. Yeah.

That's true. At this point, it, the Braves don't seem like they're going to be denied, at least in the National League. Like, it doesn't seem like, especially like,

like everything we just talked about the Dodgers, but even if the Dodgers were the Dodgers, like the Braves right now, they seem inevitable. Yeah, they seem inevitable. But in the AL side of things, I mean, very interesting.

Yeah, obviously, you have, you have the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles fighting for the top spot, which are the ALEs. Two teams that are not, they're not the Astros. Like, they're not teams that, like, you get to the post scene and they're like,

that's an organization I trust, mainly because, I mean, the Orioles, it's been a while since you've seen them there. Sure. The Tampa, they're just a different team every time. Yeah.

Every time they're just, you don't know what to expect from them. I mean, Arandia Rosarena could be like the kind of guy that completely disappears or is also the best player in the MLB postseason. So it like. And they also had their own thing with Wander Franco, right? Well,

yeah. That's another thing that, you know, it seems like it galvanized them a bit because instead of seeing them go in the other direction, you saw this team start to play fairly good after he was removed from it. And I mean, in some cases, Maybe like that's well yeah I mean you honestly you don't know like I guess the Dodgers could also and it's arrogant like you're saying they aren't necessarily needing to win games as much right now but like it could be a similar like no this is not like it could be bulletin board material like oh fuck all them.

I think now that we lost as one guy we're not going to be yeah as good. Sure sure let's show him which I hope is not the case. Let's show him we don't need him. Let's I hope they do need him. Yeah. But yeah, the AL is fascinating to me because I don't think there is like the one team in the AL that is like when I look at them like that's a World Series team is the use of Astros and who knows what's going to happen in the ALS.

Yeah. Yeah. And the Mariners are obviously there to just kind of mess shit up. And then the Rangers are still probably like the deadliest roster in baseball on paper. Not even on the top top. They felt right on the power. So like who knows what could happen. in that, just that division.

Yeah. Like, it's, and the Red Sox are still there. And if the Red Sox make the postseason, I mean, they're not still there. They're five games back, I think. But the Red Sox somehow managed to make the postseason. No of a sudden we're talking about the Boston Red Sox and the MLB postseason,

which is like, I think like 80% of the time they make the postseason they make the World Series. So by no means do I think the Red Sox are a World Series team. But I'm just saying that's an organization that they get to the playoffs. That's a team that wins playoff games. So they're, they're five games out, Sean. I'm not saying it's realistic, but I'm just saying. Tell me you're a Red Sox fan without telling you. I'm just saying.

They're like the one other team that whenever they throw up the AL Wildcar graphic, it's like they're the only other team that could show another than the teams that are there. But my point is that the AL is a complete crapshoot. Yeah. Who knows? It really is. Yeah. Cubs are playing well, though, Jesse.

And that's not great for us playing them next. But of course, this is another tough test. They've played their best game in a long time last night. They really did. So they really did. And, you know, it would have been if they, if they didn't win that game yesterday, that would have been a tough day at the ballpark. Yeah. Oh, man.

I mean, between the Nick Ahmed stuff and then losing a three game series, the Colorado Rockies, that would have been a real gut punch coming into this series. I didn't get a chance to talk about the game yesterday because I was down in the clubhouse for four hours yesterday. But, yeah, I mean, Alec Thomas hitting that home run. The Diamondbacks coming back. in in that game after being down five to one early going to the bottom of the third I love Alec Thomas it was huge like a son it was just a little weird but it is it's because he's older than you I'm pretty sure but uh I think we might be the exact same age that makes it even weirder I don't know how but it does um he's 23 I want to say yeah uh I want to say that the thing about it mostly was

you know you start to not believe that this team can muster up the offense when they get down by three runs, four runs. You've seen it in the past. You've seen them be able to put up plenty of runs, but in different scenarios. I mean, I know that early on, they earned the answer backs moniker, but as of late, they really haven't. So like that is very true. It was very surprising to see them come back, but not just come back. This felt like one of those games that they would have just scored five runs or six runs to just give them that one run lead yeah yeah six five and then the bullpen's got the problem of the knife but now you know uh they that's that's that's like it was so

cathartic and i can imagine that it was very cathartic for the team to see them just keep their foot on the pedal continue getting runs just getting little dink runs here and there letting the rockies make mistakes having you know their relief pitchers load the bases and walk in a run all of those things are all just things that sometimes you just sit back and patiently let the other team kind of kill themselves, you know, like you let them shoot themselves in the foot and not have to worry so much about pressing or constantly making something happen. You just need to kind of take advantage of it and not be so aggressive yourself that you're out there swinging against the guy that clearly can't hit the strike zone. And we've seen that in the past where they're out there.

They're down by maybe more than one run. And they're not even thinking about just getting on base. they're just out there free swinging and trying to like homer their way to to a victory or homer their way to a comeback. Yesterday's game felt complete. It felt like they were doing all of the small things well. And you had several players that played well, including Tommy Fam and Alec Thomas. They both contributed in big ways to that win. But yeah, it was just yesterday between that, like you said, it went from a very what could have been a very sad day to at least a very encouraging day for the future of this team, including. the addition of Jordan Lawler on the positive side of things.

But had they lost, had, you know, that they would have been a focus so much on the negativity, including the loss of Nick Ahmed and how tremendously sad that that was, especially losing someone that has literally been there almost the entire time that I have covered this team. So. And the call up of Jordan Lawler would have felt a lot different, I feel like. Maybe desperate.

Almost. Like, and I feel like I'm joking about the pressure being on him earlier. but if that move comes off the back of a loss, it does feel a lot more like we're bringing him up to fix this, which is obviously not, wouldn't necessarily be the case. They're not expecting one player

to fix all the problems. But that's what it would definitely feel like. It would have felt all, everything that happened yesterday would have felt very different. Like you said, if the debacks had managed to lose that game. Or not managed because they,

they obviously had to work their way into winning the game, but I want to give a shout out to Elizabeth because I love Elizabeth. She says, don't question the dog and that I it has to be we are we are damon's dog so of course we don't we don't question uh our damon but also no it was not a real stat is more like over the last decade or over the last like 20 years it's been about 50% though of the time that they make the playoffs they've won

the world series he's so full of shit i'm not at all no i mean yeah you're probably right but i mean it's got to be very small it's got to be a very small over the last over the last two decades like they they last time they made the playoffs they lost in the championship round but then they won the Series. I have a car. Losses, World Series. Two losses, World Series, lost, World Series loss. Like, so I mean, it's a little less than 50%. It would be so cool.

It is like successful. They won the World Series four times this century. As an Arizona sports fan, I actually was pondering that the other day. Like, what would we like to just have a team that like won a whole bunch of championships? But I mean, like, would you just feel satisfied with your self all the time and also a Patriots fan? And also, I will say, I'm not by any means going to sit here and pretend that the life of a Red Sox fan is difficult, but it is a different kind of

like, as far as the Red Slash are concerned, it's been wildly inconsistent. Like they have gone multiple times where they have gone from being the best, they're winning the World Series to like the next year being the worst team in the ALE East. Yeah. So like they're not by any means the Dodgers either. Like the Dodgers have the, that's another thing.

Like what's like, what, what is it like being a Giants fan from 2000 and like 10 and 2020? My favorite thing about the Giants was there was like a six year stretch where Tim Linzacum either they won a World Series. Tin Lintacom had a a young war through a no hitter. And I was just like, that's cool, man.

That's got to be, that had to have been fun. Yeah, for sure. But anyway, big shout out to all of our diehards. We appreciate your guys' love and support. If you haven't checked out the diehard membership yet, join us, become part of the family. You can get a diehard membership over at go phtonx.com. It comes with all sorts of wonderful benefits,

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Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. Last, of course, make sure to check out our friends at OG's brands. There's an alarm going off. I thought we were about to blow up. Yeah, it definitely. If it goes black, nice knowing y'all.

We had a good run. We had a good run. And don't come anywhere near downtown Phoenix. Yeah, that would be definitely the case. But if you're stuck on what to do this afternoon, especially if you hear a loud ominous beeping down in your closet, just have some OGs. I would calm down.

Take OGs responsibly. I would say that if you have an ominous beeping sound and you think that you might blow up, taking OG is probably not the spot to do it. After you found out that the bomb is not real and you know, you got to bring me anxiety back down to Earth, you realize it was a false alarm. then you take those yeah the OGs is maybe the thing that makes you think it's an ominous yeah after the beach your alarm that you said earlier so that you had plenty of time to do the stuff

you want to do but of course if you're like max simpson you already know exactly what you love from OG's brands but he's wearing an OG shirt right now he's wearing an OG's shirt right now he's got OG's socks on it's incredible the man he loves OG's boxers it's amazing he had no jean he was he was in a fun place So was that at the same time as the box. Max loves his brands. Max loves his brands. Yeah, this is wild. We all love OGs.

Just not all of us. I'm not not about tattooing. I heard Max gets a tattoo for every advertiser we have somewhere on his body. He's like a NASCAR. Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah, that's awesome. Ask him to show you all of his tattoos sometimes. But also ask him to buy you a beer.

That's something that I heard Max is buying everybody. And ask him his favorite flavor. That's right. him that too because of course he knows what his favorite is but if you don't know what yours is make sure to check out their mixed bags of the fruits and the creams uh they have all sorts of variety in those bags and of course you can check out all those hall of fame flavors in one place and decide if you like one particular flavor or if you like the entire mixed experience uh the fruits and creams are available in both the sunny sativa or a mellow indica blend uh so make sure to check

out oh geez and customize your experience based on your mood or time of day uh being a p hnx listener It's pretty damn sweet. Of course, make sure right now to check out OG's brands at all Arizona, the flower shop locations. And of course, make sure to flavor your life with our friends from OG's brand. You can also follow them on social media at OG's brands on Instagram and Twitter. So check them out. But of course, we've talked a lot about this upcoming series with the Chicago Cubs, at least when it comes to me with a specific amount of dread in my voice.

when it comes to what I've been watching the Cubs do lately. And right now, when you take a look at this team at a glance, you will see that their numbers look very good, including that plus 101 run differential that has only seemed to go up more and more lately with their offensive production. Yeah, I mean, they're a pretty good team, which is why I've been on the Cubs train for like two months now.

We've been telling the people that they were coming and that they would not be denied. You were trying to tell, Craig? I was warning everybody. You were trying to get pretty excited. I got Craig excited. Yeah. And rightfully so.

The team is really good. And when I was doing it back then, Stroman was still pitching. Correct. The team looked different. So the fact that they lost a guy that was like a Sion candidate for the first half of the year and are still like just kicking ass is incredibly impressive.

They have another one in Justin Steele who's been absolutely incredible for this team. We talk about like the debacks get to the postseason teams you want to, you would want to avoid like. teams like this, the Cubs, the Phillies, they feel like the kind of, like they're the kind of teams, especially because you'd be playing them on the road, most likely. They're going, Belanger is going to hit a big home run and that Wrigley Field crowd was going to get into it and it's going to become a very, very hostile place to play. I do not want to see this team.

And tonight worries me because like I said, I feel like it's going to, there's a chance that it has a very playoff like atmosphere as long as, because Cubs fans are smart. I think they are aware of what the debacks are, even if they're not, you know, even if they're not the Yankees, they're not a big name team. They still know that the debats are competing for a playoff spot. Yeah. So it's going to be,

it's like, I'm with you, Derek. It's, I'm not excited about this series or not, I'm excited about the series. I'm not excited about the prospect of having to see this line up every night or I guess tonight and every afternoon.

And play seven games still against them. Yeah. Like it's not, it's not just one series. 23 left to play. Like that's almost a third of the rest of their season. Alternatively, it is,

it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a benchmarker. Like you, You're going to figure out a lot. If you want to have a chance to do anything in the playoffs, like obviously we went through this with the Braves and the D-backs as far as,

or the Braves and the Dodgers as far as like being a legitimate World Series contender. But I mean, if even we talk about playing with House money, you win a series like that you managed to or you just get out past the wild card. Like that's a massive accomplishment. And so this is a, you can manage to do damage against this line or keep this lineup and check more accurately. Like that's going to do a lot, I think, for this team's confidence. It's interesting as fans to know like, okay, this team might, it's not, if they make the playoffs, it's not just like backing into the playoffs.

And it's like, ah, this was fun. Like, it's like, maybe they could surprise people. They will, and they will, they will earn it for sure. Yeah, like, they're going to have, yeah, this comes to team does not seem to kind of, the team's not going to hand the devax the series. No. Like they are going to have their own thing going on. They're still trying to win the NL Center. Yeah, exactly.

They are within shouting distance of the. They're within a game and a half right now of the NL Central. That's become a very realistic goal for them. And like, they're all. Also, like, still competing with the Phillies for the first wildcard spot. Are they not? Yeah. So, like, there's a lot for them on the line there, too.

And Elise says, remember whenever you thought the Cubs were going to be sellers at the deadline? Yeah, I'm pretty sure we did a couple of their. I mean, I think the Cubs thought they were going to be sellers. Yeah. It wasn't until the last few days. They were like, you know, like Cody Langer. They win a bunch of games right at the NDA. Yeah, a lot of games.

And instead of trading away, Cody Bellinger, they not only kept him, but they added I'm her Candelario, who's been one of the one of the probably the best hitter who is who is added at the trade deadline that was so that was one of my big things at the deadline with this team I was like it seems good and they got they got better like that's the best third base but at the deadline I mean yeah one of the best position players at the entire deadline with there and Michael's absolutely spot on with his comments he says and let's be honest all seven are home games for the Cubs and that is true Nicholas says four and three against the Cubs would be good three and four is probably more likely though I'm I'm taking three and four right now against the this cubs team to be honest i'm not i'm not mad about yeah splitting yeah that wouldn't be that would be terrible yeah i think you just can't get embarrassed outside of that i think it would be kind of a disaster right i mean not disaster but i mean the diamondbacks would really have their playoff hopes yeah really hanging on i mean winning pretty much the rest of the series that aren't against cubs including what they have a two game series against the giants and then we covered they have three games against the white socks three games against the astros three games against the yankees

four against the mex four against the that's there in the middle yeah so i mean none of it's easy none of it's easy if the diamondbacks end up making this playoff uh these playoffs they they they've earned we know we knew going into this month that they were going to have to probably win some games that on paper they were not supposed to win

because they had a very hard schedule and like they've already coughed up some of those games with how the orioles and and dodger series went so like they're gonna start needing to win some of these games that on paper they might not supposed to be they might not be supposed to win. Not. No.

They might not be supposed to win. No, that's not right. That just doesn't feel right. Nothing about that. It feels right. I was very confused now. I don't know how to fix it. They're not to do.

There was a lot of games that they're not supposed to win. There you go. There you go. I think that means. I don't know what's going on. That one made better. I think a lot of this comes down

to starting pitching, right? The debacks have both Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly going in the series. The only debacks starter you won't see in this series as far as how things line up is Zach Davies. You're going to get Ryan Nelson in this opener tonight, and then you're also going to get, you know, Gowan and Merrill Kelly,

and then you're going to get Brandon fought in the finale as well. So the debacks have some good starters going in this series. The debacks need Zach Gallin to be Zach Gowan the rest of the way in order to get where they want to get. That's just the reality of it. He hasn't been good the last couple times out. He's also faced some pretty darn good teams, right, against the Dodgers.

and the Orioles. Those are, those are some tough teams. You see the probabilities here. The Cubs starting pitching is not necessarily what makes them good, right? Justin Steele is outstanding. He's probably the Cy Young favorite over Zach Gallen and some other guys in the mix at this point. But yeah, I mean, tonight it's Javier Assad. You've got Jameson, in game two. You've got Kyle Hendricks, who is somehow still a productive major league pitcher at this stage in his career going in the finale. I saw it as a 2.690 R.A, but you know, you look at his peripherals. I think his FIP is somewhere in the fours, and it looks like he's probably pitching overperforming at least a little bit there.

Tyone has an ERA of almost six, and Kyle Hendricks has a, you know, a 373. He's a decent starter. He's not necessarily fantastic. So I think starting pitching could be an advantage for the Diamondbacks in this series. If they win this series, it's probably going to be because their starters outperforms. the Cubs starters. But the Cubs offense is just very well-rounded. There just aren't a lot of breaks in that lineup with Cody Bellinger doing what he's doing.

You know, Ian Hap having another good season. Sayas Suzuki's really been on fire for them lately. Christopher Morel has had a pretty darn good year as well after coming up last season. So there just aren't a lot of breaks in this lineup. It's somewhat similar to the Orioles in that regard where it's a well-rounded lineup. They've got some bullpen weapons. The starting pitching is probably the one thing that you can, You could make a case the diamond backs could be better than the Cubs in that regard in this series.

So the one thing we haven't really brought up is that Zach Gallon is pitching tomorrow at 1120 local time. That is true. Obviously, that is something has been a problem. Yeah, another early away start. Hopefully, it's different than some of those early away starts have been. But the amount of early away starts he's gotten has really cost him the Syong Award. It's pretty crazy. It feels like it.

It's pretty not. It almost feels like it. Like, I mean, obviously that that 8-8. Am Tigers game we had was one of the worst but yeah what time was that game actually wasn't it like yeah I think it was like 830 right I think it was 11 30 Eastern time about 830 on NBC on Peacock right yeah everything about that was weird but hopefully obviously like it's that's that Gallin and you don't want to think that there's actually something like that that would actually affect them but obviously it seems like it has it has in the past so

yeah that's a little concerning but if you get a good outing from Zach Gale and that's that's really good because like everything is stacked against him in that in that regard. Yeah, there's a big time marque pitching matchup there on Saturday with Justin Steele and Merrill Kelly. Yeah, they and stay. Anybody check the temperature on? I think it's in

I think it's pretty cool. I think it's in the low 70s I think I saw in the clubhouse. It's nine even shut piece incoming. Yeah, it's going to be a complete game shut out. By the way, yeah, it's going to be a complete game shutout. It's how casually we're about that. The Diamondbacks

president, Derek Hall, was on Arizona Sports 98.7 and he was actually discussing Merrill Kelly's comments about the air conditioning and the heat at Chase Field. And interestingly enough, he discussed that the air conditioning system is part of a multi-building system that the Diamondbacks don't actually have control necessarily over like the output of it. But they did say that part of the stadium renovation would be to build. essentially it sounded like an additional unit that's similar to this one that currently cools multiple buildings that would also cool how does that work we're going to have to look into it more but that was absolutely the comments that he made it's it's an own it's its own building yeah it's like is it like

underground air conditioning that connected to the convention center or something i don't know what it's also connected to that's fascinating it was a multi-building system basically interesting um for the record highest 74 on Saturday, like you said. I mean, I guess that kind of makes sense, right? Because, like, if it was built like a house or something, there'd be an air conditioning unit on top, right? Or, like, somewhere on the outskirts. And for that big of a building, I mean, it would be enormous.

Like, we would know about this somewhere, right? And also, it plants on the other side of the train tracks behind the building. Yeah. And also, like, if they had control over it. They would just low, like, it would be cooler in there. Like, they would just. be unless it was broken which that's not saying I guess not the case like yeah they would turn it down so I guess it's home but like yeah Blake saying it does kind of sound like a cop out well he does

sound like it's like we got no control over it I mean in some maybe it's a case but I don't know in some cases it's weird because I mean the decisions they made all those years ago when they built that facility uh were kind of in a period of time where and I hate to make myself sound so old but like things were just different, right? Like, I mean, technology has advanced a lot since, what, like 95, 96 when they started. But that thing, you couldn't be online and get a phone call at the same time, right? I don't, I, like, I feel, I'm not, I'm talking about when I'm talking about, like, when I was, I lived in that time.

I'm not saying, I'm not saying this. I didn't say, like, the phone was invented back then, right? Yes, there was a period of time. Like, I was alive then, too. I'm just saying, like, you were taught, your point being, don't fucking, it wasn't a shot at you. Your point was that technology was different. And I was like, yeah. Technology was weirdly intertwined in weird ways back then.

It was backing off of what Sean said. What was your favorite dinosaur that you used? Oh, man. Did you, do you rise to the school? They were nice, like golden retrievers. Like, it was more about personality than, like, actual physical build, you know, but anyway, I was not taking a shot at you for the record. No, no.

But you're absolutely right. Technology was weird back then. I like the idea of, like, someone in our office, like, putting the thermostat down a few degrees and all of a sudden it gets just way colder in the Diamondbacks clubhouse. And it's just like, it's just connected for no reason. Yeah. Yeah. What if it was our building? Yeah, if our building was that's why it's hot. That would make a sense after 5 p.m. It's 90 degrees there. 90 degrees here. Everyone's suffering. It's crazy. I will say though, you're right though when it comes to technology. Like I live in a weird time frame where I do feel

like a dinosaur because I literally lived in the time that we didn't have internet. I lived in a day when we didn't have internet. I lived in a I brought up fucking like number bunchers and what was it was the other thing Oregon Trail to you guys and you were like you played it and school. Well yeah that was what I played it. That was more of a me thing. I just didn't know I didn't know that that was like used as an educational. Oh, it absolutely was. I had no concept of that.

But I mean like I was growing up Oregon Trail like that like that was my computer time. It was just that was like I was a good time. I was educational. We were having a good time. Don't get it twisted. We weren't in there like objectively. Like the computers were new and awesome and this game was incredible to us. And the graphics were groundbreaking.

So don't even get to start. I used dial up internet and aim. Like I'm not that young. Yeah. I mean, I'm not trying to see like I'm young. But like I'm done. I'm absolutely done.

I also remember a time when technology was like pretty different. Like I was I'm older than the touchscreen cell phone. Yeah. I used to have to press the button three times. Yeah. Wow. to see i'm not that i'm not that young you just have to push the button three times that shit was terrible you're just digging it deeper and deeper it's terrible you know since we're down here let's

just look at the all city standings because i i feel sad anyway so let's take a look at the lead the cubs have on us we do have a chance to make up sweep incoming we're we're coming we're coming back we're taking this lead back i mean are we going to have to go through a point where we have to figure out like the tiebreaker damon still has a version of this saved on his computer where We're up by like 12 games on everybody in the division. I'm sure. So why? That's just still crazy to me.

Yeah. We don't need it. But yeah, no, this is. At least it's only single digits. Like you're looking at 22 games back just looks sad. It is a battle.

It is a battle for the basement. Yeah. I mean, it's like somebody, we need to have a punishment for whoever ends up in the last place in the All City Network. Yeah, fucking the which it would be hilarious because this is like just an us thing.

So, CHGO White So we have like no interaction with really. They're just going to be we're going to show up one day and be like you guys have to serve this punishment. You finish last in all city. They're like what is going on? What are you talking about? But yeah, no, I'm not I'm not happy about this. We need to get this division back.

I've said this many times, but this is the only division that matters to be right now. It's on the line this weekend. It's really on the line. So can make us some serious ground. Well, it's going to be a fun series. And we have a very special, very fun post game planned for tonight. So make sure to come back here tonight after the game. That should be what, around like 730-ish.

So make sure to tune in. We will be talking about hopefully, you know, Jordan Lawler doing big things in his debut. We're going to be talking about Jordan Lawler's major league debut. It's pretty crazy. You still don't have a lineup yet? It's wild. He's hitting for the cycle of home runs. Wow.

Oh, of home runs. It's going to be incredible. He's going to do what Josh Rojas did, right? Is it the first time where I read those three home runs or they had that multi-home run game? I don't know if it's the first time. I get that first time to that series. It might be. I don't know.

Oh, man, how far. We do you have a, do we have a lineup? No, I kept looking for it. Oh, this is fascinating. Maybe this, maybe this is only on my phone. But when I open the MLB app, the Diamondbacks only have seven players in their starting lineup right now.

What do they have? That's a little concerning. Corbyn Carroll is leading off and playing right field. Gettel-Marte is batting second, playing second base. Phams hitting third and left field, Walker, first base,

Thomas Centerfield, Moreno, catching. at in the six hole Pavin Smith batting seventh at DH and then the Diamondbacks just they're just gonna play with seven players today and yeah it sounds like they're trying to decide who's going to play short

and third like like Perdomo and Lawler doing rock paper scissors being like I want to play short now we'll have an update shortly oh man that would be that would be an amazing telecast to live broadcast them playing

you know for for the spot. Now, Perdomo has been taking a lot of defensive ground balls at third base, but we really didn't think much of it because when they're out there, they're just kind of... He's played third base this year. He can play third base. I think he's a pretty good third baseman.

I would think they would play Perdomo at third base. And then we also have the Jordan Lawler thing about him playing third base in that final game. So, yes. We'll see what happens. Wow, this is really wild. People in the chat are having the same problem. Yeah, no, I have it on mine. I don't, they have they tweeted out?

Is there some, like, is there some rule in the CBA somewhere? Like, like, oh, wait, hold on. I just got a little. I just got a little bit of some kind that allows you to play seven players. I got alert with the full roster or the whole lot. Corby and Carole, Catal Marte, Tommy Fam, Christian Walker, Alec Thomas, Gavin Smith, Lawler batting at short, Perdomo at third. There, there we go.

There we go. Loller's betting eighth playing at short. There we go. There we go. Well, that's exciting. And, of course. I think that rock paper scissors, Waller won the rock scissors. Yeah.

Damn, we must have been going on right as we see. we're speaking about it. But of course, whether you're watching baseball games here or you're catching one at Wrigley Field, make sure you have yourself a premium pair of polarized sunglasses. Of course, you can get those from our friends at Shady Ray's. They make gear built to last. They're an independent sunglass company with a world-class product. It's not nearly as expensive as other sunglasses brands.

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I'm going to start cramping up. So, I mean, it's not going to just be Merrill Kelly around here. You have your little tiny bottle of water. Yeah, that's, I mean, I appreciate those. I would much rather have like a thirst, a big old, you know, pull a pop. Yeah. You know what I mean? It stays cold longer.

This isn't very cold. Not very cold or very big. Yeah, or very big. Derek, if you ever have to like walk off the set during a show because you have cramps because you're like dehydrated, we're going to have, we're going to have some problems. I'm so close to finishing right now, but I feel my hamstring going right now. Okay. So I don't know.

There goes. We got like less than five minutes left here, but I'm going to try to power through this. But Circle K is the place that I go to rehabilitate myself and to get myself back on track. not only are they America's third stop, but of course right now, they want you to join their inner circle. And you can become and become and become in, become and become and become in,

Judas and Judas and that's a wrestling reference. I know, and I mean, there's one guy in the chat that gets it and laughs about it, and that's the whole point of me. I know, I'm not, keep doing you. Okay.

You can join their inner circle over at Circle K for free by downloading the Circle K app today. They will not turn on you like Chris Jericho would. Terms and conditions do apply. participating locations visit circle k.com for details their membership program will save you 25 cents per gallon on your first five phillips and also get you uh five get by five get the six one free on things like pizza coffee and again those ice cold fountain drinks that i need one right now of uh on this set but i need to try i haven't tried circle k pizza before um and sometimes

gas needs a piece of ghost like something pretty fire yeah yeah it really is I mean we've talked about their snacks their snacks are well and I mean like they're hot food like the chicken tornadoes chicken tequitos hot dogs hot dogs go hard so me I think you can get the Dbacks dog over there at circle K as well so make sure to check them out of course but that's all we got for today of course like I said make sure join us tonight for our post game show otherwise we appreciate you guys being here in the chat and always appreciate your support you can follow us on Twitter I am at cap underscore caveman

with a K Sean is on X at Sean underscore de Paz Jesse also on Twitter. He is at Jesse and Freeman. Damon. Wait, why am I just on that? Well, Damon is also on X. It's personality based. But they all go to the same website. I will forever be on Twitter.

I will never be on Twitter for life. But Damon, he is the maniac on the Mac. We are Damon's dogs. And you can follow Damon at Damon Dog, D-AWG. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore DBEX and all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sport. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much again for stopping by.

We do appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you're making your major league debut.