PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks SHOW LIFE In Series Finale, Beating The Giants To Avoid The Sweep

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Zac Gallen delivered one of his best performances of the season for the Arizona Diamondbacks when they needed him the most. Gallen struck out 11 and helped the Snakes avoid being swept by the San Francisco Giants in their series finale. We have more on the offense coming alive, Pavin Smith being the Diamondbacks best home run hitter in September, and how weather is going to impact the Wild Card Race. Join Derek, Damon, Jesse, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix 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 your offer! Disclaimer: 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/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! 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. Gametime: 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! 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. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast. Of course, I'm at home with this man next to me. Actually, he's on this side. It's in Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. The Diamondbacks win, and I guess they're still alive. Welcome in to the PHNXD-Backs podcast. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHN.

This man next to me is the People's Champ, Damon Farrell. And, of course, we have Kevin on the ones and twos. We'll also have Jesse Friedman joining us from Chase Field. here shortly. But the Arizona Diamondbacks find a way to win tonight and avoid the sweep against the San Francisco Giants, which is huge. They get a big win as they

approach their final three game series here against Padres this weekend that they absolutely needed. I know I got some flak for saying that yesterday's game was a must win. Damon, was yesterday's game not a must win and was today's game not a must win for this team at this point? I think yesterday's game was a must win in

today's game was I can't lose, Derek. Okay. You got to define those differently. You could not lose this game. No, yeah, you're right. By any stretch. You're right. You're right. They couldn't and they didn't.

And they got some amazing pitching from Zach Gallen, which we'll talk about. And the offense, you know, woke up. And that was just great to see from this team. Of course, the PHNXDBACs podcast is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Download the Bet365 app. Choose your offer when you sign up. Make sure to use that code of PHNX365. when you do and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet 365.

And I guess this one was a bit more ordinary, at least as far as the Arizona Diamondbacks are concerned. This is a bit more of what we have been used to seeing from this team. A lot of offense, the starting pitching from Zach Gallen or Merrill Kelly shoving, I mean, this is, this felt like old times. They, of course, win this one by a score of eight to two, which just felt huge that the offense had such a big night. but it also feels huge that Zach Gallen went out there and shoved the way he did.

And not just Zach Gallen, right? The team had 17 strikeouts as a unit, which is a season high for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And of course, they got some great pitching right when they needed it. Yeah, they did. I mean, I said it yesterday. I looked into the camera, Derek, and I'm pretty sure Zach Gallen was at home watching the post game show because I said, we need his best performance of the season. while our season's on the line.

And what did Zach Allen do? He went out there and he absolutely shoved. You know, I think people were probably a little bit concerned early with that second inning, going down one zero, especially after how the offense fared in the bottom half of that first inning, you know, getting a lead off single from Corbyn,

Cotel has a three-o count. Then it's a strike amount, throw them out, just to kind of lose all the momentum, flatten the team. And that was a flat moment. For sure. And then Gallen goes out there and gives up a, run immediately. And at that point, like the vibes pretty much could not have been lower.

And Zach Allen locked in and didn't let it, let it affect him really and pitched, like I said, the best game that he's pitched all season. Now, Damon, I don't mean to bring attention to it, but there's some discussion about your hat color being similar to the Atlanta Braves in the chat. I don't know if you notice that. I don't know if you want to address these accusations. That's a, that's a bold Arizona flag on the back. I'm pretty sure that the hat color is the state colors of this great state that we live in. Don't you dare come at me with no brave's colors? This is a state 48, baby.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. We got our gloves, by the way. We're ready to have a catch. And, of course, it's a great night for it because it feels good to see the Diamondbacks go out there, have a solid performance tonight. Of course, the offense was big there in the second inning. There were moments, Damon, where it felt like the offense should have scored.

more should have done more, but ultimately they win the game 8 to 2. That second inning was where they really started to get back to what we've been used to seeing out of them. Walker gets that lead off double, got the offense started. He scores on the Lordus Guriel RBI single. That was the Diamondbacks only extra base hit until Pavin Smith's home run later in the game, which we'll talk about. But Gabby Marano added an RBI single of his own that scored Jake McCarthy in that inning. the debacks did load the bases and then they got one more on a Corby and Carroll Sack Fly.

But again, it was another instance where they loaded the bases and they didn't really get that big, that big number. But they did, you know, put up three runs at that point. It did feel like the Diamondbacks offense was at least back. They added one run in the following two innings. They added another run in the third inning, added another run in the fourth inning. And for the most part, it felt like that offense was sufficient for how Zach Gallen was pitching because that gallon was absolutely. dealing in this one. And he was just outstanding when the Diamondbacks once again, when they needed him the most. He was killing the Giants with his knuckle curveball. He got

11 whiffs on 17 swings on his curveball. He threw pretty much the four seam and the curveball, the majority of the outing. And he wasn't even throwing the ball in the zone. Kevin, if you wouldn't mind showing the example, this was just after, I believe, the second inning. Jesse had tweeted this out. And this was just. incredible that he was getting the basically the swing and miss that he was getting by not throwing anything damon in the strike zone in the first through the first two innings just 10 of his 41 pitches were in the strike zone which is a 24% clip as jesse tweeted out that's the lowest in zone rate of gallon's career through the first two innings so i don't know if that was the game plan

coming into this game against the giants especially considering the way they walloped the Diamondbacks pitchers in yesterday's loss, but it was effective. It worked. He went out there and he got the guy swinging at a lot of stuff outside of the zone. Yeah, I think when Zach Allen's pitching his best, right, it's he's getting people to swing at that curveball low,

that one that's just in the dirt that they have no chance of making any contact with, but they try to because that it just drops out of a chair. So, and that's kind of, and when Zach Allen's bad, it's because no one is swinging at that. because every time that he throws that pitch, people just pause and let it hit the dirt.

So I think really, like you can kind of tell, I feel like with Zach Gallen, what kind of outing it's going to be based off of how that curveball is working. And boy, was it working tonight. Yeah. And Ina in the chat says San Francisco Giants can't hit the curve.

They definitely couldn't hit the curve tonight. And if that's the scouting report on the Giants, the Dott and Becks did a great job of going out there and executing that game plan. Zach Gallen did an incredible job. 11 strikeouts tonight is a season high for Gallin. He went six innings pitch, gave up two hits, one earn run, two walks, 11K. Just fantastic.

Another fantastic outing from Zach Gallen. And I mean, they are, they're further between than you would like to see them, right? But he has had some brilliant outings this year. This one, all things considered, may have been his best, just considering the timing and how good he was here against the Giants. Yeah. It couldn't have come at a more timely moment in the dying back season. Like backs against the wall, you lose this game. Yeah.

I think if you lose this game, it's over. Like I know it. I know it isn't. And I know we've, we've been doing the, you know, literally it's not over thing. They're on life support right now. They're on life support. Yeah. If you got swept by a giant team not playing for anything, like, and then all of a sudden

you were evened up with the Braves. I mean, I don't, I don't really see. an avenue where you all of a sudden make the playoffs. So I needed this win tonight. And Zach Allen went out there and he showed you why he's the ace of this team, why he's the guy that's going to get the game ball in the first game of the playoffs if this team makes it. Sorry.

I shouldn't have said that. But, but, you know, like it's he's, he's that guy for a reason. And there's Derek bearing his face in his new glove. It smells so good. It's also because when they come for you, you. I want them to come for you and leave me alone. But yeah, no, I mean, absolutely. Gallen proved once again. I know we've had those discussions. I know there's been talk of Ryan Nelson.

You know, we've joked about him being the ace of the staff, but it's not really a joke. Ryan Nelson was, in fact, the best pitcher on this team for a significant period of time, not just, not just like two weeks, not just, you know, a small sample size. It was a pretty significant portion of the season. And Diamondbacks will get Ryan Nelson back this weekend. Fingers crossed. Sounds like everything went well for Nelly. So it sounds like he will be pitching. We don't know in what capacity he'll be pitching in the series against the Padres.

If he will be coming out of the bullpen or if he'll be starting. But it sounds like he'll be available. And the Diamondbacks once again could use Ryan Nelson. And the Ryan Nelson that was pitching like the ace of the staff. But Gallen was that again for this team tonight. Of course, all hail Pavin Smith. because the Diamondbacks kind of, you know, dinked and got singles and RBIs and they got a run walked in. They loaded the bases and got a run walked in.

But, you know, this game still felt a little close. It still felt a little tight. Tori was managing the bullpen in an odd way where he was having Justin Martinez come out for more than one inning. Look like he was just going to try to get three innings out of a combination of Justin Martinez and AJ Puck, which would how unreliable the other. members of the bullpen have been. I can kind of understand that, but not sure how well that would have worked out. Luckily, Pavin Smith gave the Diamondback some breathing room with another home run. This is after the Giants added their second run in the top of the eighth, which again,

made it, made it feel a little closer. You know, it was five to two at that point. Pave and Smith adds that three run homer in the eighth, puts the game away, gave the diamond backs a chance to breathe, if not just for a moment, you know, just in a game, like the ability to take a breath. And of course, for that reason, that home run, very important is our Sanderson Ford, deep drive of the game. Shout out to Pavin Smith. He's been hitting a lot of those lately. And he tends to, he tends to come alive here in September for this team, Damon.

It's, it's amazing. Yeah. I mean, it felt like a game where the dying backs scored their runs. and they were done for the rest of the night. You know, I mean, we've seen that too many times. Yeah. Yeah. Did some early and then the offense kind of cruises.

And I mean, you see them, I mean, just make it easy for the opposition. And they didn't do that tonight. They, they continued late to try to, you know, put together some good at bats. And, you know, they played like a team that has already been burned by having that lack of offense, you know, late. Obviously, that Milwaukee game is still in their brains, whether you want to, uh, Whether you want to say they flushed it or not, I don't think many of them flushed it, but you want to make sure you keep piling on. You want to keep your foot on the on the on the on the gas pedal at this point.

And they did that tonight. Yeah. It it. Like it felt like I know I said it really like right right now, but it just it really did feel like it was like. Yeah, this this offense is cooked. And if we, if we let this game get close, it's really going to be scary hours right now. So. shout out the bullpen they you know for the most part they did their job tonight uh you know it was

they they they just had to keep the lead and the offense yeah shout out paven smith who you know made us all you know gave us a little bit of comfort at home watching that game because uh yeah you're right like it wasn't it did not feel like it was over even though it was five to two or whatever like it's he he he kind of he kind of sealed the deal there and that that's that's a type of of of hits that the dying backs have been missing a lot of this season. I feel like. Yeah, you're right. Michael Rokickey, thank you so much for the super chat.

Michael says a huge ginger homer for our goat. The agenda lives long live Pave and Smith. Thank you. Long live Michael Rokickey, by the way. Sean says it was scary hours when the Giants took a 1-0 lead. Yeah, Damon brought that up earlier, but it absolutely was. It was like not, it wasn't just the 1-0 lead. I think like, like you said, Damon, it was the combination of them once again blowing

an opportunity with a runner on and having it, you know, be a strikeout, throw them out situation. And yeah, that was, that wasn't great. But the Diamondbacks did enough after that. Then it wasn't one of those nights where that was kind of their only chance. They kept scoring and they scored in bunches in this one. The bullpen also, like I said, Tori Lovela managed it in an odd way. Of course, once they had that eight to two lead, he went to Kevin Ginkle and allowed AJ puck to get out of, out of there with just an inning pitch.

But what more can you say about AJ Puck? He goes out there, gives you an inning, strikes out to, has batters looking absolutely silly at the plate. Justin Martinez, meanwhile, struggled, you know, early on. Again, I don't know why we're not doing the mountain visit in the beginning, Damon. I don't know why we just don't start his outing with a mountain visit. Get everybody out there, get pumped up, get the vibes right,

and then let him go because he was an animal after Brent Strom went out to visit him, but I believe he gave up a single and then a walk before that happened. He still gave the diving backs, you know, plenty, though. He did, he did allow an earn run, but he gave him one in one in a third innings pitch, three hits, one earn run, one walk, two strikeouts. He's just still not flawless. You know what I mean? And right now, that's why it makes all the sense in the world to be going to AJ Puck,

regardless of pitching, you know, matchups late because Puck has just been outstanding no matter who he's facing. Yeah, and Justin Martinez might have thrown the fastest throw I've ever seen in my life to Christian Walker to get that final out that that ended up challenging. Yeah. I'm like I thought Christian Walker like broke his hand. I mean, did you see how hard that ball flew across the diamond? You know, it's wild.

I mean, watched him do PFPs, uh, Jmart, uh, the before game two. And yeah, no,

those paid off because he, that was a, that was a laser of a throw. and he nailed it right one. And needed it to be too, because it was a damn close play. And like it had to be thrown that hard. And he put it on the money. So shout out Jmart for making a pretty good defensive play to get himself out of that.

But yeah, you're right. He's not flawless. Like he does have, you know, the. And I think he's so young and seems like he gets a little bit flustered that when he, when we get, when there's one runner on, all of a sudden it's like, oh, my God, is it about to just completely fall apart right now? Right. Right.

But to be to his credit, you know, I feel like especially recently, like he hasn't had necessarily the cleanest of endings, but he has been working through them fairly well. And then, yeah, like you said about AJ Pock, like there's just like I don't even, there's not even anything to talk about. Like he's just, we have, we have a guy. We have a dude. And he's one of the guy. Yeah, he's, he's one of the best relievers in baseball and he's on my team. Yeah. Don't make me argue with you about whose team he's on.

But I mean, he entered tonight's game with a 0.36 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks. And that only went lower after tonight's outing. He's, it's just wild how incredibly good he is. So we could probably give him King Snake, but I think there's another guy who deserves it just a little more. And that is Zach Gallin. Zach Gallin, those are King Snake for tonight, six innings pitch, two hits allowed, one run run.

11K, again, a season high for Gowan, a season high for the pitching staff of 17 strikeouts total. And again, just at least a very encouraging win, a very encouraging step in the right direction as you go on to face a very, very tough San Diego Padres team at home. Diamondbacks have an off day tomorrow and they will start that series on Friday. So they need to be ready for that. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to, I think Sean puts it here in the chat. he says, I'm going to try to cherish the off day tomorrow. I think we all need that. Just sit at home, relax.

And, you know, maybe toss some nice smooth jazz on Derek, light a candle. Like it's, it just, just, you know, just wipe everything. Because after that, it's basically until the end of the Diamondback season, every pitch is going to feel like the, you know, it could make a break the season essentially. So, yeah, I mean, I'm, I think we're about to all be on that. edge of our seat and we have one off day tomorrow regroup and uh i hope everybody's ready to just walk in tory was talking about how he likes to go for a walk around his neighborhood just to kind of get his mind right and then when he comes to the ballpark he does a few laps around the concourse you know and you've been there during that time of the day the concourse is fairly empty you have

some vendors getting food prepared and such but it's it's a very peaceful zen like state you know he kind of takes in the the yard and everything like that and i thought for a moment damon i was like i would really like to join tory on one of his walks one of these times that sounds amazing and then that does sound fun in a moment of self-realization i was like no i'd ruin it i'd just talk his ear off the whole time you wouldn't get any peace and quiet with me walking next to him it wouldn't go well but Candace in the chat Is this guy ever going to shut up?

Yeah, I mean this was a big mistake This is a huge mistake Candace coined the phrase Pucktober in the chat We might have to put that on the shirt It might be Pucktober Hopefully the Diamondbacks can get there for that Of course we will have more on this series

As well as how weather is going to impact The Wild Card games And that Mets and and Brave series and how all of baseball will have to wait to see what's going to happen here shortly on the other side of our break. But first, I want to thank you guys, of course, for being here in the PHN Exports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications, that way you don't miss whenever our shows go live.

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bets. Download the Bet365 app and use code PHNX365 when you sign up. Choose your offer and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you're someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 100 next step, text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. I think we're going to, I'll, I'm going to talk to Shane tomorrow and see what we can do. Let's try to see if we can get some D-Bax boosts going on, VET 365,

our pH and X boosts that we've run a couple times now for Cardinals games with some big Diamond Vax games down the stretch here. And let's get that for San Diego. Yeah, we need to get that for Padres. Let's see what we can do. Yeah, that'd be huge. So I'll talk to Shane, see what we can do and see if we can get some boosts on maybe Merrill Kelly, maybe, you know, Catel Marte, Corby and Carole, some of the big names. So I love it. I love it. Well, of course, let's take a look at the count for this series presented by Desert Financial Credit Union. Of course, the Diamondbacks lose the series,

but they do avoid the sweep. They get outscored by the Giants, 1911, out hit by the Giants 29 to 24. They actually weren't bad with runners in scoring position. They were eight for 26, and they had more opportunities than the Giants. The Giants just flat out hit more home runs in this series. That's it.

The only home run the Diamondbacks had in this series came off of Pavin Smith's bat in the eighth inning of this one. And in fact, like I said earlier, the only extra base hit that they had prior to that in this game was the double by Christian Walker. 3.95 starting pitching ERA for the Giants, 6.75 for the Diamondbacks, which was impacted quite a bit there by yesterday's start, obviously, of Brandon Fott, only going two and two thirds and giving up four and runs. Also, you had Eduardo Rodriguez go four and two thirds to give up five runs. So that accounts for the starting pitching ERA being so high. Relief pitching ERA was not bad for either team, 3.65 for the Giants, 3.95 for the D-backs. So not a bad, not a bad.

I mean, considering they lost a series, not a bad showing there, you know, at least it looks better somehow than the fact that they got outscored, you know, in this entire series, or basically it was a tie between how many runs they scored in the series and how many the Giants scored in yesterday's game alone. But, you know, today's game is just very encouraging. It's a step in the right direction and at least makes you feel like the Diamondbacks have a fighting chance here going up against a Padres team that is putting up their own amazing fight against the Dodgers for the National League West Division. Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, not the best series in the world, Derek, at the end of the day when you look at it. Like 19 to 11, obviously first two games really sucked. salvaged it a little bit, but still lost a series by eight runs. Yeah, it's a little bit disheartening to see that against a team that had nothing to play for. But that starting pitcher ERA is really what needs to be under control when you look at that list, right?

Like the home runs that you mentioned that the Giants were hitting and that 675 starting pitcher ERA, Like, it's just completely unacceptable for a team that is where it is in terms of record, in terms of the playoff race. Like, it's that that can't happen. And Zach Allen salvaged that a little bit. Like, that's crazy to think about too, right? Zach Allen, yeah, they goes out there in a chubbed and he gave up two hits. Yeah, two hits and one earned. Yeah.

Yeah, it's wild. It's definitely wild. And I mean, honestly, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, wild that those bad performances came from the two guys that the diamondbacks were still looking to decide who they could trust in the postseason. And they got no answers. They got more questions now that answers when it came to their last two outings. And that has to be frustrating coming on the back of both of them going out there and having incredible outing the last time they both pitched. Right. So I don't really know what the diamondbacks are going to do. I don't know

how Ryan Nelson is going to factor in. And I don't really feel like the diamondbacks. really have solid answers. When Tori is asked about it for the most part, you've seen the videos, Damon. He tries to tell us, like, I'm being honest with you guys when I can. You know, I'm telling you guys the truth when, you know, this or that. We had the thing the other day where, you know, obviously kind of took the head for Catel Marte, you know, asking for the day off. And he said he gave him the day off. And, you know, made a lot of people, including both of us, very frustrated with Tori Laval as a manager, considering there was only like seven games left in the season at that point. You're six games and you're letting guys sit or you're sitting some of your best players,

you know, but it does feel like there are a lot of decisions still to be made and they don't have concrete answers. Like they probably have an idea. But again, until Ryan Nelson, you know, is out there pitching against actual major league hitters and showing that he's back and that he's

feeling okay, I don't know if they know it at all. what they're going to do with their starting rotation, Ryan Nelson, Jordan Montgomery, who's going to pitch, who's going to be, I mean, obviously Jordan Montgomery is going to be coming out of the bullpen. He loves the bullpen. I don't know if you've seen it.

It's his favorite place to hang out. But he's just, you know, that's most likely where he's going to be. And then it's a question of, you know, how does Eduardo Rodriguez or Brandon Fott fit in and Ryan Nelson? So there's a lot going on for this team, considering that there are only three baseball games left in the regular season. And again, their position in the postseason is not only not secure, but it's in serious jeopardy right now. They just did an excellent job tonight of trying to move themselves one step closer to making the playoffs.

I don't think Tori's given a straight answer on Ryan Nelson specifically and like what his role is going to be one time really all season. It doesn't. Oh, yeah. Like every time it's like, oh, you know, we have this guy coming back. who's going to who is Ryan Nelson going to leave the rotation and Tori will be like you know we'll take that one step at a time and get there when we get there and it's going to continue to be that way but I think on paper absolutely it would be great for Ryan Nelson to just continue to do what he's done over the second half of the season and just throw him in there and have him be a starter again but maybe that's not the most realistic thing in the world like he's not he's not a Zach Gowan Merrill Kelly type where you just unequivocally trust him no matter what. Like he hasn't completely earned that no matter how well he's pitched. Like I think the inconsistency gives you a little bit of fear there.

But I would be lying if I said I am not more confident in just throwing him in against the Padres over Jordan Montgomery potentially on this second to last game of the season that Jordan Montgomery's scheduled to start in. I like I would I think I would rather take my chances with Ryan Nelson coming. in cold. I don't know about you, Derek. I don't like that. I don't like that simply because we've talked about it quite a bit, but players returning from any kind of layoff are not, you know, 100%, right? They have to work their way back. And no doubt. You know, especially if you're not giving them any kind of rehab games,

if you're not giving them any kind of, you know, complex games or anything like that, like I don't know. I don't know how I feel about that. myself but of course at this point i just feel like i know what what i'm going to get out of jordan montgomery and that's five earned runs or more and i feel like i know you're going to get three earned runs and four and two-thirds innings pitch that's what you're going to get whether it's out of the bullpen or whether it's it's starting that's what you're going to get it's yeah i just i i i think the unknown of what ryan nelson could potentially do like i've seen you know semi recently him pitching

so well, that unknown to me is better than the, the, what is it the, the, I forgot the terminology, but like the, what the bad guy you know or something like that. Like, I, Jordan Montgomery is that. Like, I know what he's given me. I feel very, you know, the devil you know, the devil you know, the devil you know, is better than the devil you don't know. Yeah, exactly. So like, I don't know what Ryan Nelson's going to do, but there's a chance that he's as good

as he has been semi recently. I don't know. Yeah. No, I'm with you. I'm with you. I kind of agree with that. But you also have a great point about the unknown when it comes to what the hell is going to happen in that Mets Brave series, right? We do know that due to this hurricane, those games have been moved.

They've been postponed. They will now be played as a double header on Monday. And according to an article, Jesse referenced on Twitter, We, everybody, everybody's against us. Everybody just wants the Diamondbacks to drop out. Because apparently that just makes things easier. And you know what I say, Damon, you know how I feel about that. Let's not.

Let's make things as complicated as we humanly possibly can. Let's ruin their little stupid, precious Monday and everything going on by going out there and kicking the Padres ass. I can say ass. Yeah, there we go. He's up his ass, right? So I need a list. The world, Derek. It's the snakes versus the world, Damon.

That's exactly what it is. And that's what it's going to be if they can make the postseason. But of course, we have the one, the only thunder stick to talk about the weather. The one and only Jesse Friedman joining us from Chase Field. Bring Jesse on in here. Jesse, of course, we were just talking about obviously those delayed games. I know we'll talk about tonight's game and the win for the Arizona Diamondbacks. But a really crazy.

situation with these games being delayed until Monday for the Mets and the Braves. And it's going to be played as a double header, which really makes it feel like anything can happen. And we found out that apparently it makes it easier for MLB if we just lose and drop out of the race. So let's make it very difficult for them. Yeah, it is, it is really exactly what you said. I mean, the diamond backs have basically become the enemy of the entire league at this point.

certainly the Braves and the Mets. Like you already knew that. But now Major League Baseball, I mean, the league office is in a tough spot. I mean, this is a disaster scenario, right? I mean, you have the potential here for two teams who are in the middle of a contentious race playing for their lives on the day after the season. And I mean, it's a, there's tons of losers in this scenario. I don't think there's any winners. all losers. You can go down the line of like any team that is in any way affected by this.

And it there is a pretty substantial impact for some of them. So yeah, this is a disaster scenario for MLB and it would make it a whole lot simpler if the diamond backs would just bow out and make things easy on them. But this win was a step in the right direction for them, right? This win was not, you know, they still have a long way to go. But this win was the first step toward potentially the Diamondbacks finding their way in this thing after all. And tonight, if just for one night, things went to Diamondbacks way because obviously we also have talked about how we want the Dodgers gross to just win and clinch the NLS so that that Padres team doesn't have anything to play for this weekend.

The Dodgers did win tonight against the Padres. So let's take a look at the standings and where things are at right now. because, of course, this has a lot, still a lot of baseball to impact this, but the Diamondbacks sit at 8871. They still sit there in that final wildcard spot. The Dodgers pretty much, I mean, they're one game away from clinching. The NL West here, I believe, if I'm not wrong about that, Jesse. And then, you know, the Padres, they're in.

They've already celebrated. They already had their champagne shower, a champagne shower that our friend, Stephen Bannis, aka Mr. Bananas, is talking about, which we'll get around to his super chat here in a second. But yeah, I mean, at least, you know, the Dodgers won. They give the Padres, you know, that they have that gap now, looking a little bit more unlikely that the Padres will be able to catch up and win the National League West. So hopefully the Padres just kind of can take a little bit of a break. Maybe give Jackson Merrill a few games off. Maybe, maybe, maybe sit Mani Machado until the playoffs start.

I don't know. Whatever suggestions I can make help out. Joe Musgroves had some injury issues pretty frequently. I think it really would be pretty. Give him an extra rest day. Why not? Who says to them? Yeah, I really think that he needs that.

You'd be an idiot. You'd be an idiot not to do that. Yeah, I do think, I do think, like, the Diamondbacks are not going to face Dylan cease in this series, to matter what. And that's a big advantage for them, right? I mean, granted, Zach Allen isn't going to pitch over the weekend either. But Friday's game is Merrill Kelly against, I believe, Martin Perez. I don't think the Padres have made that official yet, but I believe that's who it lines up to be.

And that's a game that the Diamondbacks on paper have in their advantage, right? And yeah, as you're saying, maybe we'll see the Padres give Musgrove a day off. I believe that Michael King is scheduled to pitch the last day of the season. There's no way the Padres let him make that start if they're already clinched and, you know, in the spot that they want, which I think there's a pretty decent chance that they will be. So the Diamondbacks this weekend, they've got a shot, right? I mean, we talked yesterday about how, at least for me personally, that was kind of the tipping point where I didn't really expect the Diamondbacks to make the postseason.

their playoff odds over at fan graphs fell below both the Braves and the Mets for the first time maybe the entire season i don't think that we've ever seen that combination before uh and today the debacks basically put themselves right back in the middle of it at this point it's essentially three teams that all have a two-thirds chance of making the postseason which is a very bizarre situation to be in i mean you've got three teams who are all likely to make the postseason And yet, of course, one one team is not actually going to make it. So this weekend is going to be fascinating, and it is going to be all the more fascinating

because of this lovely weather event down in the southeast. Well, we will talk more about this game. We got some super chats here real quick. I wanted to get to before we do get to more about this game. But Benjamin Hunley, thank you so much for your super chat. He says if the Dodgers win today and tomorrow, or do we finally forgive them for being in the pool? I don't think you're going to forgive them.

Yeah, I was going to say. No, the answer is no. The answer, it's a hard no. Like, it's like, I just, it's, the no is so hard that I just hit it with my car and cost $500 in damage. A piece of Yoshi says, well, Jesse get to say what he wants to say today. I think that he wants you to apologize to Pavin Smith. but once again,

I'm pretty sure that piece of Yoshi is referencing what happened toward the end of last night's show when I was rudely interrupted and removed from the stream entirely. I've gotten multiple DMs about that today, Derek. I just want you to know

the people are speaking up about that and they are not on board. All right, that's probably the easiest way to handle that, right? I mean, that felt the right way to handle it. that, Damon? I mean, that might have been rude, but yeah, we can bring back in here. You let the power get to your head, Derek. Yeah, no, it's crazy. It is crazy. I don't, I shouldn't be allowed to have the buttons on stream yard. That's for sure. Stephen Bananas, aka. Mr. Bannis,

says, with the Mets and Braves being postponed until Monday, does that mean the D-backs won't get a champagne celebration if they can't clinch until Monday? Is that right, Jesse? Am I getting robbed of participating in a champagne celebration with the boys? I mean, again, the Diamondbacks control their own destiny, right? So if they win out, if they win all three games against the Padres this weekend, then yes, there will be a champagne celebration because they would be clinching here at home. And there are other scenarios where I think they could also clinch this weekend, even if they don't win out.

But that would, of course, require getting some help from the Mets and possibly the Braves as well. So, yeah, but there is 100%. 100% there is a chance that the Diamondbacks do not find out if they are making the postseason until Monday. I think there's actually a pretty decent chance of that happening with how this shakes out right now. And that would be bizarre. I mean, how odd would that be for a team to make the postseason and not have any opportunity to celebrate? I guess they could throw a champagne party on the airplane after they find out that they made the postseason. They're probably going to have to hop on a plane and.

get to wherever that is pretty quickly. Heck, I'm not even sure, like for us as journalists, how this would work either if we didn't find out until Monday night. Last year, the Diamondbacks, there was a full on media day. Right. The day before the Wild Guard series began. So I don't know how major baseball is going to handle it. And then they're all there together.

And then we can all spray champagne together if they. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe the Diamondbacks would invite the media out to the ballpark for a watch party to find out if the Diamondbacks are making the postseason and then there's a champagne party afterwards if they make it and maybe some media availability. But I don't think that's going to happen. I really don't know exactly what that would look like. But it would be,

it would be very, very weird for the Diamondbacks to make it and not have any opportunity to celebrate. I'm picturing a, I'm picturing a selection Sunday March Madness style like show where they have a camera on the entire diamondbacks team sitting down and then they're like you know like when when they when they when they're like this is the four seed in the in the west it's it's you know UNLV like I'm expecting it to be something similar to that the diamondbacks are all going to jump up in celebration like little watch party action there's been some rumors about us doing the watch party I don't know I've heard I've heard rumors about that there might be There might be an emergency podcast watch party.

I don't know. I don't know how any of this works, but we'll see what happens based on this series against the Padres. So, of course, we will talk more about this game, including some videos from the clubhouse and more from Jesse at Chase Field. But we'll do that on the other side of our break. Of course, we do have to let you guys know

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And of course, shout out to Sanderson Ford because they have asked us to once again, just make sure we give our heartfelt condolences to everyone impacted by Al McCoy's passing. And we will miss Al McCoy so much around PHNX. I know how much we all love to say. and we'll continue to say his catchphrases forever and ever. But we will miss you, Al. So again, shout out to, shout out to all of you, Valley Sports fans that also loved Al as much as we do. All right, Jesse.

Well, what do we have from Chase Field? I know the vibes might be a little bit better tonight than they have been in the last few days. The vibes were significantly better, no doubt. Yeah, we'll start with Christian Walker. He was asked a question about, whether the team maybe felt tense a little bit coming into this one. And then there's also a follow-up question in here about how this final week compares to the final week of last season.

We've talked a little bit about the similarities there. Here's what Walker had to say. You know, energy's high. There's a lot of, you know, pressure is not a bad word, but there's a lot of pressure in this clubhouse. We expect a lot out of ourselves. Our standards are high. And I think, you know, I wouldn't say,

It was tense. It felt normal pregame. There's a sense of urgency. But, no, I think nothing but confidence. And, you know, letting it fly these last, you know, few games is all we can really do. How does it compare to the last week and last year? It feels like teams are making a little bit more pressure on that guy.

Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, it's honestly, I was talking to a few guys. It's hard to sit here and remember exactly where our heads were and what the vibe was. at this point last year, obviously, a lot had to go right for us. But, you know, this feels a little bit different where, you know, maybe we control more of it at this point, or at least that's what we like to think. I think this part of the year is, it's fun to watch.

It's fun to scoreboard watch and all that stuff. Tori says you get to earn that. So we, you know, we're proud of that. But, you know, as far as controlling what we can control and worrying about the right things that contribute, you know, it's about this clubhouse and that's it. It feels like the fact that they didn't, have to score board watch tonight might have maybe eased a little bit of that pressure.

That's a, yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah, I'm not sure if that's necessarily how they felt. But in my head, that kind of makes sense. Maybe you're, you know, you talk a lot about trying to just focus on what's happening here and winning just the game that's in front of you. But the Diamondbacks were kind of forced to do that today because there weren't really any other games for them to watch. I guess Dodgers Padres did have some security.

significance for them. Certainly that was on in the clubhouse. We were in there. But yeah, there's no, there's no Mets Braves game to watch today. This was just the diamond backs going out there and taking care of business. And they were obviously able to do that. Well, what else you got first, Jesse? Yeah, Walker was was also asked, speaking of the, the Mets and the Braves, he was also asked about how, how bizarre that situation it is and the possibility of not knowing how this thing ends until Monday. Here's what Walker had to say about that. Yeah, yeah, more things for the end of the season. You know, why not?

I think anything to make it more exciting and some more fireworks. It's, you know, we very much feel like we control our own destiny in here. And, you know, if we just, we play our game and win some more games, you know, we'll be in a good spot. But, yeah, it'll be, it'll be fun to follow and watch for sure. The chat wants me to do something that I just, I refuse to do. You know, like you refusing to apologize to pay it. Jesse, we have a very similar situation going on where they want me to give credit to Mr. Bananas for coming up for Pucktober.

And I'm just not going to. I'm not going to. Sean sent a super chat. Thank you, Sean. He says, copped even coin fucked over. I don't care. I'm not changing direction now at this point.

I've committed to this being Candace's thing. And that's what I saw. And that's, that's how I know it just historically. Anyway, Jesse, this is one of those situations now where it still feels like a daunting task that the Diamondbacks could go out there and take three games from the Padres at home. It's just not undoable, right? It almost feels like the Diamondbacks have stepped up this season when the task has seemed too tall, too much, right?

It's almost like it's the games like the series against the Rockies that you expected them to win that they don't. It's sometimes when they play those lesser opponents that they don't really show up. But when it's a big deal like this particular series with the Padres, hopefully we can see the Diamondbacks show up and play their best baseball. I mean, this series was kind of a disastrous outcome for them, right? I mean, on Monday morning, I tell you guys the debacks are going to lose two or three to the Giants. It's like there's nobody who's happy about that, right? And it goes back to last week as well when the Diamondbacks lost two of three to the Rockies. Like that's a two and four record in the final two very pivotal weeks of the season against a couple of teams that you really should be able to beat.

So yeah, this was still, this was not the outcome that the Diamondbacks were looking for. But to your point, we talked about it a little off the air after yesterday's show ended that it would feel very on brand for the diamond backs to sort of give the illusion of a collapse and then come up big and rise to the occasion when they really need to win against the much better team. I don't really know how to explain that. Like I don't know if I have like great evidence for that. But for some reason, it just feels that that's something like what this team would do. Very on brand.

Very, very on brand from this team. Just like us not apologizing for the mistakes we made. You know what you said about Pavin, and you'll never apologize at all in any way. But we do have. Is anyone trying to get Damon to apologize for anything? For something? I don't know. I think, no, Damon's their sweet, sweet baby boy and he can't do anything wrong.

You know how that goes, Jesse. That has to happen naturally, Jesse. I'm sure that, you know, as I get more reps on air and I say more words, more things come out of my mouth, people will get angry at me for something. But as of right now, I. lot to apologize for i'm like a shite i'm like a shiny bright new toy you know yeah sure for now for now but uh speaking of haven smith we do have more from him in the clubhouse what did paven have to say yeah this is uh this is paven talking about his home run which you know i mean the debacks only allowed two runs that technically they they maybe didn't need this but it's still it's still

i think just made it so it felt like the diamond backs were going to to finish this game at that point right There was maybe at least a little bit of concern that might have set in when the Giants turned a 5-1 game into a 5-2 game. Obviously, with what the bullpen has been through this month, you don't really have a lot of faith there necessarily. So that was a really big three-run homer for Pavin to just kind of put this game away. And here's what he had to say about it. Yeah, I faced him a few times. So I've seen him. I just faced him the other day.

And the Giants have been throwing a lot of soft, like a little off-speed to me. so I wasn't necessarily sitting off speed, but I wasn't selling out to the heater either. So just got to change up kind of up and over the middle and put a good swing on. And he smashed it. He smashed it and he gave the Diamondbacks their first chance to breathe in a while. That's what it really felt like. Yeah, absolutely. It just, yeah, it opened the game and just made it feel like, yeah, this is a game.

The devax are going to win. You don't really have to stress out too much at this point. it did go directly into the swimming pool, which is always a fun thing to see. And yeah, I mean, Pavin Smith, obviously that the reps are going to be a little bit harder to come by for him

now that Lordus Gurriel is back. But on days where he doesn't start like this, where Lourdes is in there in left field, the ability to have Jock Peterson start at the DH slot and then pinch it with Randall once the opposing team inevitably brings in a lefty. And then to go back. Back to Pavin Smith when the team has a righty in there, it's a really, it's a weapon for this team. I mean, this DH slot is, as we've talked about it before, it's basically outside of Shohei with the Dodgers and Marcelo Zuna with the Braves, that the debacks have arguably the best DH situation in all of baseball.

And it's not just about Jack Peterson. It's also about the depth that they have behind him. Joe H.Otani should be in a cell. it's almost like it's a top 2DH position in baseball. There it is. He was looking for something that he would have to apologize for and there it is. And Steve of Bananas is losing his mind. Now he says,

Pavan number. No, no. The answer we were looking for was Pavin Ween is what we were looking for. Pave and wean. Jesse Torrey's bullpen usage today was a bit not odd, but kind of like what we would do in MLB the show. Like you know the guys that you want to use and you're going to try to stretch those two relievers out as long as you humanly can. Forget a closer situation.

I want to bring in these two guys to work four innings and that's what I want to do because it feels like Tori can only really rely on AJ Puck and Justin Martinez a little bit. Yeah, that was, I guess that's another aspect of the Pave and Span. Smith home run is I think if Pavan doesn't hit that homer, we probably get A.J. Puck for the entire ninth inning, right? And then you're talking about a three run game at that point. So Pavan did save Puck, you know, a couple of outs, you know, maybe five, 10 pitches, whatever that would have taken him. But yeah, it was it was clear while this game was still reasonably close that Tori's plan was to go one plus with Justin Martinez and then go one plus with A.J. Puck. He did not want either Ryan Thompson or Kevin Ginkle to pitch in this game.

At least that's what it appeared while the game was still close. And I think that speaks to, you know, the urgency of these games. And it also speaks to, frankly, the trust level, I guess the lack of trust with, Thompson and Ginkl, given how they've pitched this month. You know, both of those guys have ERAs north of seven. I guess on the, on the, you know, the silver lining there is the Ginkle did wind up pitching in this game. And he gave up a lead off single, but he looked really good in the next two batter.

was able to get a couple of strikeouts, you know, through that that nasty slider down in the zone that we've gotten used to seeing over these last couple years. So maybe this is the start of better things for him. Get your big ass in that ice bath because you are going to be used a lot if the Diamondbacks make the postseason. Like out there, two innings every single night. Like, I don't know. But, I mean, A.J. Puck has just been so damn good that I can't, I can't fathom the Diamondbacks not. wanting to go to him very often, you know, should they make the postseason. And, you know, I know there's going to be a lot of things to factor in.

And we have no idea how any, how any of these pitchers, I think, I feel like outside of Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, we have no idea who's going to pitch when they're going to pitch, if they're going to be starters in the wild card, if they're going to be available out of the bullpen, how any of this is going to shake up should the Diamondbacks make the postseason. But, I mean, again, it's getting to a point that you can tell Tori is relying on the arms that he can trust, and there's not a lot of them right now in the bullpen. We did have some other results, obviously, the kind of impact this weekend. Jesse, I know you were talking a bit about things, even on the American League side of

things, considering that we want the Royals to stay as competitive as they can in their final three-game series. Yeah, yeah, the Royals won today. The Twins also won today and the Mariners won today. And the important thing there is you want the Royals to have something to play for this weekend when they when they take on the Atlanta Braves, right? And the Twins and the Mariners, both of those teams, I think, are still two games back of Kansas City. So there is a there is a little bit of distance there. But if those teams keep winning and, you know, if the if the Braves do beat the Royals in game one and you get a win, another win from the twins and another win from the Mariners, then that really would push.

the urgency for Kansas City over the weekend. You want the Royals to pitch Cole Reagan's on Sunday. I think that's the biggest thing. The Royals right now are lined up to have their ace go on Sunday against the Braves. But you're not pitching Cole Reagan's in that game. If you've already got a spot locked up, you're saving him for the first game of the postseason. So that's a big narrative to keep an eye on outside of just, you know, Padres, Dodgers. And then, of course, how the Braves and Mets do this weekend.

Zach Gonzalez actually brings up something I wanted to discuss earlier, and I didn't get around to it. But he said, did we talk about what Jock was raising havoc about? Because there were some pitches inside, I believe. Maybe he felt, I think they got called to strikes that he felt weren't strikes or wasn't a strike. But I don't know. Was he barking at the umpire? Was he barking at the giants? What was going on there?

Do you know what? Do you have any more information on that? I really don't. Yeah. I wasn't watching the TV broadcast and obviously a little far away. I didn't I didn't notice anything like that. Yeah, like when he got after he got that single, he went down the first base.

He was still like yelling over and it didn't. It wasn't apparent if it was the catcher for the giants that he was like yelling at or the home plate umpire. But he kind of, it looked like he kind of got a warning there from the first first base umpire. And jock did one of these like, hey man, I'm cool.

It's cool. But, like, yeah, I mean, it was good to see jock fired up. It was good to see some fire in this team. That's what a lot of people in the chat wanted to see yesterday. They just wanted to see some life. Even if you lose, we don't, I mean, lose 11 to 4 yesterday. Lose 11 to 6, like put up some sort of fight. But, I mean, when your season is literally on the line, we want to see some sort of fight.

And that's at least what they were able to do tonight. They put up a good fight on both sides of the ball. They played their brand of baseball because they did it without a lot of extra base hits. They did get the home run from Pavin. So that does qualify this as being another home run win that had a home run involved in it. But still, it felt like for the most part, this was one of those ones that they did with loading the bases, walking in runs, getting singles. Yep. You know, they did it with the two extra base hits.

They were smart. They kept their approach. Like you could tell, you know, it's easy to, I think, press in a situation like that where you, it's basically, you know, I said, at the top of the show. It's a can't lose kind of situation tonight. And, you know, you want to go out there and just hit the ball over the fence. And this team has been so feaster famine when it comes to home runs, as we've talked about extensively.

But they really- And you're facing Mason Black, right? Like you just want to go out there and knock Mason Black around. But- Sure, yeah. They make pitchers that aren't very good look pretty good because they go out there and get pretty impatient with them. And tonight, they did a good job. They didn't let him get out of that third inning.

they kept their plate discipline really well. I mean, they, they, they, they, tons of pitches. There was a lot of full counts, especially in the first half of this game. Like, you know, Perdomo does his typical one, two count, turn it into a foul off three pitches,

end up walking, you know, bases end up getting loaded there. You score a run. So I, honestly, that, that was impressive to me is that that was a team that felt pretty locked in because they weren't pressing necessarily.

They, they did just kind of, keep their approach. They got down early and they just said, we're, if the pitchers, we're going to make the pitcher throw us strikes tonight and ended up working out for them pretty well. Yeah, I thought it was the first inning to me was so kind of indicative of just the state of this team coming into today. Oh, yeah.

It felt it was very quiet in this building. It felt tense. And in the bottom of the first, Corbyn Carroll, max a single on the first bitch he sees. You got a 3-0 count on Catele Marte. And it's like, all right, here we go. The Diamondbacks are back. They're about to score three or four runs.

And then I swear about 20 seconds later, the inning was over. And Cattel went from 3-0 to a strikeout. And not only that, but it was a strike three caught stealing. Corbin gets caught stealing second base. And then Jock Peterson strikes out on three pitches. And one of the worst bats I've ever seen, I think he might have swung at one of the pitches, but strike three and then a bat was a fastball that couldn't have been any more center cut than it was. And yeah, in that moment, it was like this team is a little tense right now.

At least that's what it looked like. It did not look like the diamond backs that we're used to seeing. And then in the second inning, you put up the three runs. It felt like Zach was really able to settle down from that point. His command was not good in the first two innings of this game. It looked like he was able to settle down. and obviously he went on a really nice run and wound up pitching one of the best games of the season. I would have started booing after that first inning.

I was really angry. And I was listening on the radio actually at that point. And it was so funny. Like it was actually really comical. It was the only reason why I didn't get incredibly angry. Chris Grasioa on the radio broadcast was like he was talking about how Corbin still has the green light to steal, even when Catelle has a three-two count because they trust Catell's bat so much

that, you know, like they, they, they, they're like, the Diamondbacks know he can foul off a pitch or he's going to put it in play or he's not going to take a strike in that situation. And then literally the next pitch, they were like, and that's a strike, him out, throw him out, Patrick Bailey just tossed out Corbyn Carroll. And I was sitting there and I was like, you can't write a script better than that. So you're right.

Justin, that was really disheartening and felt like the state of this team just encapsulated into like one play. But credit to them for being able to pull themselves out of that because that was a moment that, you know, as a fan, I was like, well, it's over. That was a fun season, guys. Like that felt like it just ended it. And, you know, they obviously picked that up. No, Kevin, Kevin, we're putting this one back up on the screen.

I'm going to take a picture of that one. Because Dante Ortiz says, if we make it in Monty, and Erod shove us to a title, I will get a self-deprecating $45 million tattoo to make up for my slander. We're going to follow through with that, Dante, so don't worry. I got that one saved, pal. But anyway, all right, Jesse. Well, we know Dante might be lying about getting that tattoo, but we know that the numbers

they never lie. What do you have for tonight's number that doesn't lie? Yeah, tonight's number is 17. And I didn't realize this until a few minutes after the game. game ended. The Diamondbacks had 17 strikeouts in this game. It wasn't just the gallon had 11. It was that all three relievers that came in after him had two in order to get the final nine outs of this inning. And I look back on like, when was the last time the Diamondbacks had 17 strikeouts in a game? And obviously it's happened a decent number of times, but a lot of those

are extra inning games. If you narrow down on just nine inning games, the last time the Diamondbacks have had 17 strikeouts in a game was September 14th, 2002. It has been more than 20 years since the Diamondbacks have had 17 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, and you'll never guess who is on the mound on that day. No, who was that? I tried. Randy Johnson, and it wasn't Randy Johnson for seven innings plus someone else. It was Randy Johnson throwing a complete game shutout, where he allowed three hits against the

Milwaukee Brewers and had 17 strikeouts. And it's funny because so not only, not only is it not happened since 2002, but it actually has happened a decent number of times. This was the 11th time in franchise history that they've done it. But the other 10 all happened between 1999 and 2002. And I didn't go through all of the other ones, but I'm, I'm willing to guess that Randy Johnson was the starting pitcher in like at least seven or 18 of those.

Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I thought, I thought that was totally wild. I knew 17 was a big number, but I didn't think it'd been more than 20 years since the Diamondbacks had done that. Well, I think somebody asked if the snakes won that game, that they did win that game. They did win that. They did. It's hard to lose when you throw a complete game shutout.

So, yeah, I think they, I think it was three to nothing or maybe five to nothing, something like that. Yeah. Diamondbacks can use him. He was in the booth the other day. How's his arm? You and I were already talking about Tony Peres. T.P. looks like he could still win a gold glove, right?

So, like, I'm just saying if we need to call some of these older guys in, we might need to get it, do whatever we need to do to get the job done. But the Diamondbacks, they have an off day tomorrow. We will be in studio. Our guy Archie returns from Oklahoma and will be joining us. Fingers crossed, I don't really know. It's like trying to lasso a tornado with Archie. You know what I mean?

Like, you should be just thankful that we were able to get him on the show. that we're able to get him on and that he still answers my text messages. But of course, we will be in studio tomorrow at 1 p.m. No game tomorrow. It's an off day. But then we will be back on Friday with a postgame show. And then who knows what the weekend holds. Jesse and I have basically put all of our plans for the weekend on hold for anything that might happen or even Monday.

So we have no idea what our schedule is going to be like. But we will be here bringing you as much Arizona Diamondbacks coverage as we possibly can. And so make sure to keep it locked right here to PH and X. Make sure to follow us all on Twitter. I am at cap underscore K-man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Damon, of course, is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G.

We are Damon's dogs. Bark, Park, Park. You weren't here for that last night. It was a weird thing. It was, I did. I saw that. I was still here waiting for you to let me back in. Yeah, no, I was committed to the bit.

To be fair, you did kick him out. Yeah, it's pretty messed up to then blame him for not being for, when you booted him. Facts are facts. He wasn't here for the bark last night. That's all I was saying. I wasn't saying it's his fault. He wasn't here for it. But anyway, of course, our guy, Kevin, is at Kev Tom writes.

That's T-H-O-M writes, W-R-I-T-E-S, because he writes, he also produces. So he's a man of many talents. But our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-V-X, but all roads do lead to at P-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You have anything else before we get out of here? I feel like I'm not letting you talk or I'm like I'm kind of railroading you a little bit.

Well, I do appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak at the end of the show, unlike yesterday, Derek. But I think we hit, I think we hit pretty much everything. This is a really big win for the Diamondbacks. And yeah, it's going to be a roller coaster ride the rest of the way. I mean, there's a bazillion different scenarios of how this could play out. I will make one note real quick, which is that if the diamondbacks win two out of three, or I guess I'll just say specifically two out of three over the Padres this weekend, then the Monday series has to be played.

So there's kind of this question of, you know, whether the diamond backs would be eliminated or not by Sunday and what they would have to do to make sure that it's at least pushed until Monday. The debacks win two out of three this weekend. It doesn't matter if the Mets and Braves both sweep their series. They still would have to play that series on Monday. If the debacks go 3 and 0, the rest of the way, of course, they're in no matter what. So that Monday series would still be played, but it wouldn't have any bearing on them.

Wouldn't the Mets, wouldn't it impact the seating potentially, though? Like, even if the Diamondback secure their spot, wouldn't the Mets need to play those games no matter what to determine who is the number two and number three team in the wild card? Yeah, that's a good question. And I saw Joel Sherman from the New York Post tweeted about this earlier. He said that it would be at the commissioner's described. whether the double header would get played if it's only to determine seating. And based on the article from Bridgeroli over at The Athletic, which is outstanding, I recommend people go check it out.

She said that there seems to be a consensus that nobody wants any part of that double header unless it is determining actual which teams are making the postseason. So I would guess that that series does not get played if it's just about seating. I think it only gets played if you're still trying to feel. figure out who's in the postseason, which of course directly involves the diamond back standing at that point. Well, remember, Brit is one of those people that's against the diamond back. So don't forget that.

Snakes versus the world. Snakes versus the world. Real quick, I know we're trying to get out of here, but I did want to just update everybody on the fan graphs odds to make playoffs real quick. Oh, let's hear. I mentioned it during the show. The diamondbacks have now jumped the Braves after tonight's performance. they are 67.8% to make playoffs.

The Braves are at 62.0% to make playoffs. And the Mets are at 70.1. So it's a very, very, very crowded group there with all of them having above 60% odds. But the Diamondbacks no longer the third of those three teams. Thank you, AZ Katz G for your super chat. Appreciate you so much. Also, old friend of mine, Johnny Walker. Thank you.

I didn't get to your super chat. We appreciate you. I love you. And I miss you. We should hang out sometime. Maybe after the diamondbacks get eliminated one way or another or whatever happens. We'll talk. Real,

you got anything, Jesse? Yeah, just real quick, I realized that we were talking about Joe Musgrove this weekend. And I just checked fan graphs as projected starters. I think Joe Musgrove is pitching tomorrow against the Dodgers. So this weekend is lined up for Martin Perez, U. Darvish, and then Michael King.

And again, whether we actually see all of those guys probably depends on what happens tomorrow with that Dodgers game. If the Padres lose that game, then they have really nothing to play for this weekend. I guess maybe it would be possible for them to lose home fields in the first wild card game or in that wild card series. So maybe that would be something they'd play for. But I think at least the majority of the weekend, they likely would not have anything to play for. So, yeah, again, that Dodgers-Podry's game tomorrow is really important. Well, join us tomorrow. Again, 1 p.m.

We'll be back here. And then we will have another post-game show for you guys on Friday. Until then, we hope you have a wonderful evening. We thank you so much for stopping by. We will see you tomorrow. And until then, enjoy your night. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun in Pucktober.