PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zac Gallen’s ROCKY Outing Raises Concerns for Diamondbacks’ Rotation Ahead of Dodgers Matchup

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

The Diamondbacks managed to take two out of three from the Colorado Rockies, yet it somehow the series win still feels like a disappointment. Dalton Feely joins the show to discuss what is wrong with Zac Gallen, what is going right for the offense, and the three-game series against the Dodgers. We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday questions, like who could eat more hot dogs in an hour? Josh Naylor or Eugenio Suarez? Join Derek, Dalton, 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/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! 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/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! 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! Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnx Carol Royse Team: To buy/sell your home, call Carol Royse at 480-776-5231 or visit carolroyseteam.com All Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate! 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. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Arizona Diamondbacks take two out of three from the Colorado Rockies, and I'd need someone to explain to me why I still feel so bad about it. We have our guy, Dalton Feely, here to hopefully help me figure it out, and hopefully we can figure out what exactly is wrong with Zach Gowlin. All of this in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast right here on PHNX, right here in Studio K, presented by our friend Circle K.

My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX, and I just got dropped off a wonderful present that further confirms my mayoral status, and you guys are sneaky. I'm going to figure out which one of you did this. The ones and two is we got our guy large, intimate Kevin Thomas here. Kevin, how are you doing on this wonderful Monday? Feeling good, feeling great, Derek. It's a good day to be alive in Phoenix on a Monday.

Yeah, baby. Well, I'll tell you, it's also good to be. the mayor because somebody just, Espo just comes in here and casually drops this off for me. That somebody in our diehard world made this for me a nameless, faceless hero, somebody who made my dreams and wishes and hopes come true. Look,

they even got my number right. They got my number right. There's a hat too. I need to brag about this. I need to figure out who did all this. I'm going to wear it kind of, I'm going to wear it like Jacob Fatu wears his, you know?

Like a real man should. fashionably. Yadda-a-a-meen? Yad-Dame! We're wearing it like this. And we're bringing in our guy, Dalton. Let's get Dalton-Ville in here because I want to brag about this.

Dalton, what do you think of my beautiful acrumans? I mean, I would love to be your Watson and figure out to your Sherlock Holmes who sent this to you because whoever did a very generous act. I mean, fantastic jersey, the hat, the numbers.

It's a work of art. Look at this thing. This thing, I already need. this jersey was beautiful. I never had any hopes maybe of owning my own with the mayor on the back like that, but somebody made it happen and whoever it is is a generous, wonderful, loving, caring person who's absolutely the best. And I'm going to get that on later. But we have a lot to talk about Dalton and the purple definitely reminds me of what we just saw this weekend. There was still a very confusing moment for me where both teams were on the field doing batting

practice, both wearing purple hats, both doing this is pretty. And then they both wore, you know, the military hats and that made it even more confusing later. But the Diamondbacks win the Battle of Purple, I guess you could say they take two out of three here from the Rockies, but maybe help me figure this out. Why do I feel so bad about only

taking two out of three? I said on Friday maybe on Thursday that if you don't sweep the series against the team that is in the downward spiral that the Rockies are, you can't really consider it to be a huge win. However, taking two out of three against any baseball team is a win.

And I should feel better about this. No, I'm going to be a pessimist here, too, because, Greg, Derek, in the fashion that they lost, to the team who's on pace to be the worst team since the expansion era of MLB history, it is infatheaval that they lost that game on Saturday, which I would like to point out, I've missed three, I believe, three games this year. The last two games that I've missed, I can get blamed for because it was the 14-12 game where the dimebacks lose for the first time in franchise history, scoring 12 plus runs.

The game prior to that was Gina Suarez's four home run game. Oh, no. Oh, no, Dalton. No. It's like a sign from God that if I miss a dime back's game, something bad's good. Well, and I think that's the frustration with a lot of people. Like, right, this team historically has not lost very many games

when they've scored 10 runs or more, and they've done that a few times this season. They do improve to 25 and 22. This is their seventh series win of the season, but it's that 14 to 12 loss on Saturday. It really is. Not only was it a Zach Gowlin loss, which we'll get to here shortly,

but let's look at when when Sarah Langs talks about a wee, this isn't what I imagine as a we, but let's take a look at that win probability chart from Saturday night because at one point at this very, very tip of the red side for the Diamondbacks down at the bottom, the Diamondbacks had a 96% win probability. of winning this game.

And of course, things took a dramatic turn. The bullpen blew up. Zach Gowland wasn't good in this one, but again, the Diamondbacks were able to battle back and put up enough runs. And the way that Dalton looks there is exactly how most of us felt watching that game. It was unbelievable how that game went.

And often, especially in a 14 to 12 loss, you have a lot of things to blame it on, right? I don't think that there is much you can blame it on besides the pitching in this game. You have to blame it on Zach Gallen. You have to blame it on the bullpen. The Diamondbacks defense, you know, hasn't been the stellar defense.

We know it to be, but they had four straight scoreless or four straight errorless games. So this wasn't a factor of making defense barriers. This was just the bullpen and Gallen both giving up a lot of runs. Yeah. And Tori post game was seen, had, you know, try to defend his guys by saying, like, you know, these guys get the Rockies, they can match, they can bang, they can hit the ball. around the park. Quite frankly, and the way Tori said it, he was saying the right things that

you say to the media, but that was the most frustrated I've seen him after a loss in a long time, even more frustrated than that Cubs game. Like it was like the most agonizing I've seen Torrey post game. It was heartbreaking. Cubs are a good team, right? The Cubs are good team. The Rockies are. And again, the Rockies can get ahead, but you know that they just, they're going to make enough mistakes that there's no reason for you not to be able to battle back into it. And they did battle back. They just gave it right, gave it right back to the Rockies there in the sixth and the seventh inning with seven runs in those two innings. I mean, it's a Zach Gallen start. You're going into the series with your three dogs on the mound and Corbyn, Zach Gallen, Naryl Kelly,

facing the worst team in baseball. You should be winning all three of those games. You should be winning all three of those games. That is the expectation. It's not like you were playing a team, a content, for a division title here or who's going to make the playoffs, like they had their previous, I think 16 game stretch where they went 8 and 8 prior to the Rocky series. That's a way different story. When you're playing teams like that, you want, like if you're 500 or above, you're totally fine. When you're playing a dumpster fire of a team, no disrespect to the Colorado Rockies,

but quite frankly, they are as big of a dumpster fire as one team gets, arguably just as bad as not worse as the 2024 White Sox. And all the jokes were being made about the White Sox because they were bad last year, just like this Rockies team. You have to win those games. to make Kevin ding me on Friday night show because every, I felt like I was, I was saying the Rockies were a bad team entirely too often. And I was like, I need to pump my breaks here. Make sure you ding me on this. And he had to ding me more than more than once because it's

hard not to witness the team that I witnessed on Friday night and not say, this is a bad baseball team. It was, it was to a point that watching them as the opposition in the eight to nothing loss in game one, that I was like, I, I'm frustrated for them. I'm not often. considering that I now do this as a job where I'm allowed to be a bit more of a fan, I'm allowed to be a bit more invested than I was when I was just, you know, covering for, you know, for Arizona sports, this is one of those situations where like I typically want the Diamondbacks to go out there and kick a team's ass. And after a while, I just, I was seeing a team that had completely given up. I saw a team that was not even trying in that baseball game anymore. And yeah, I mean,

it was also an eight to nothing game at one point. So you're probably going. to give up a little bit as an opposing team that only has seven wins this season and again hasn't hasn't really found much success in coming back against you know big deficits like that you're you're already waiting for this game to be over but it was frustrating to see how little of effort i felt like they were putting in on that game and then you go to saturday and they put in all the effort and and they win by a score 14 to 12 what's wild is let's take a look at the numbers here presented by our friends and this financial these are the numbers for the series the rockies got shut out in two out of these three games

Dalton two out of these three games and the final tally here for the runs in the three games series is 21 to 14. It's a football score. It's a football score. It's a crazy football score. You have the Rockies out hitting the Diamondbacks

in home runs five to three. Outrageous. The Diamondbacks once again absolutely awful with runners in scoring position. Nine for 41 in the series. That's what you expect out of the Rockies. for 14. They didn't even have a lot of opportunities and they did a decent job of converting the ones they got. Most of those were from that game though. You know, the Rockies here, actually there were five

for 18 on that one, five for 18, but five, they had 12 opportunities. They were five for 12 in that game two. And then again, starting ERA bad for the Diamondbacks, Relief ERA bad for the Diamondbacks. And not, wait, hold on, go back to that. Kevin, Kevin, we had a three ERA. these are switched. The D-backs out of three starting ERA and 8.48. I was like, wait, there was something mixed there. The Rockies were the ones with the 8.48 ERA

and the Diamondbacks were the ones with the three. The reason why is because the Diamondbacks had a shutout and two out of those three games, once again. Six innings pitch, seven innings pitched on the bookends of the series. But then we have Zach Gallen there in the middle, giving up six earned runs and five innings pitched. And is that gallon broken? I mean, what the hell was that?

I mean, I know obviously was having a hard time establishing his fastball, but it feels like that at this point, Gowan should be able to find ways to still pitch around that kind of issue. Maybe I'm being too judgy as a pudgy guy sitting here on the sidelines. Well, you know who I am. I got my two things. First off, if you're not pudgy, let me go back to that. Second off, I'm a fan at heart.

You know, my emotions, I wear the. them, quite frankly, on the screen for sure, whether it's through here or through social media apps. But I'm also a numbers guy, too. And I think a couple numbers that really stand out for me for Zach Allen and doing research. Number one, hitters have swung at 42% of Zach Allen's pitches this season. That's the lowest among qualified starting pitchers. So he is not getting hitters to swing at pitches when he's in the zone, when he's out of the zone to chase. That is a problem. That's why we've seen Zach Allen rise, his pitch count, go up and up and up. And I don't have the numbers in front me for this component of it, but when Gallin swings the bat, when one hitter swing the bat

against Gallen, it seems like they do big damage. He gives it four home runs on Saturday against a team that has seven wins at that point. The second number that's big for Zach Allen, first pitch in his own percent, 49 percent. That's second lowest among a national league starters. So again, he's not throwing first pitch strikes and he's not getting batters to swing at his early pitches at early counts. Those are two right flags. That's going to cause him to not go deep into this game, which means the bullpen has to come in earlier and we know how that bullpen's been since the month of May. It's been a problem and I really hope he's not broken. It's just been a brutal, brutal stretch for Zach Gallen and the Steinbex bullpen. And when those two line up, it ain't pretty. Mark in the chat says Gallen's curveball is his only

good pitch this year, but no matter how good a curve ball is, it'll get crushed if the guy sits on it. That's a great point. He threw the curve ball quite a bit in comparison to how much he normally throws it. He threw 25 curve balls in that outing and you're right. He only got six whiffs. Four of them were on the curb ball, two on the fastball. His fastball was maxing out at on average at 92.8.

The fastest pitch he threw was 94.9. But yeah, that that average there of 92.8 is definitely not going to cut it. And again, that's the big reason why he wasn't having success in the zone. He wasn't really, it didn't have a lot of induced vertical break on his pitches. is like this is just not this is not the Zach Gallen we know and obviously a big part of it is

establishing that fastball being able to get ahead and counts he's been behind in counts quite a bit and it's just there's just I don't know I mean a lack of confidence it feels like at times in Zach Gallum maybe just that fastball not being there for him is the biggest problem here yeah and it's funny that we mentioned that fastball for his gallon because earlier this season Brandon thought had a little bit of a problem commanding that fastball. And it's kind of lingered on into the early portions of May, too. So that's kind of been a stretch for the Diamondbacks pitchers. Corbyn Burns in April, I mean, he could have been dealing with that shoulder

information that he got treated with the quarter zone shot. But he was struggling with his cutter command too. So that's three of the five Diamondbacks pitchers that have had problems controlling one of their fastballs in the zone. And that's a major problem as a whole unit. And that's not even bringing up Eduardo Rodriguez, who has been quite frankly, Jordan Montgomery 2.0. the entire rotation, though there's been bright spots between Merrill Kelly, Corbyn's

bouncing back, Brandon fought outside of those two starts, those two blow-up starts he's made this season. Zach Gallen is the guy, shouldn't be the guy. He got the ball in opening day for a reason. There was respect there. He's been a really good pitcher, especially in 22 and 23. I don't know what happened. I don't know if it's fatigue.

I don't know if he's pitching through something. He just hasn't looked right. And like the Chad said, the fastball, something's not right with either. mechanical, mental, something. Well, and again, I think that we find out Erod was having some issues. There's a lot of debate, a lot of people in the chat, probably today still are going to say it was a phantom IL stint. But it very well might be. I'm not going to disregard that the fact that that is something that sometimes Major League Baseball teams do.

However, you know, again, sometimes you find out there's an issue and that issue is what's contributing to a player's lack of performance, right? especially when you're talking about a drop in his velo, an inability to control his fastball, maybe just a lack of confidence once again in it because of the aforementioned issues or something that doesn't feel right health-wise with them. But baseball players play through a lot of aches and pains, and I think that that's the biggest problem is that, you know,

these guys, unless they're legitimately injured, legitimately not feeling well, they're going to go out there and they're going to try to do their job until they get pulled or until something comes up that shows that they, you know, shouldn't be pitching. I think that Zach has had enough incredible starts this year to maybe suggest that there's not something medically wrong with him, but it could be something just like fatigue, like shoulder fatigue like we saw out of E. Rod, not exactly sure what it is, but I still believe in

Gallen and I think that this is still an incredibly important season for him. Perhaps at the end of the day, maybe the pressure of this being a contract. year for him is making things a bit more difficult, maybe just mentally on him. And, you know, again, a lot of expectations there and a lot of things on the line for him personally to perform well this season. Which, and you spend more time around him as a media member because you're in Arizona, you know, and I'm not. But like, we're both rooting for Zach Allen. Outside of us being fans of the team, like, Zach Allen is a really well-respected guy. Everyone wants him to do well. not just for the team and perform,

but also for him to get his bag and get what he deserves because he has been a pretty darn good pitcher over the last few seasons in the desert. And it just thinks that in terms of his worst season, statistically, excuse me, it's been this season, the season where it's not to say all or nothing, but you can lose a few million dollars if not, if not even more, pending on how he pitch.

So for the sake of the team, for the sake of him, for the sake of all of us as fans watching the Arizona of the timebacks, We all want Zach Allen to bounce back and be the guy he's been in the past. And I mean, again, you're absolutely right. I think deep down at the end of the day, that's how I feel for all these guys. As much as I want them to come back to the Diamondbacks, I want them to get the money that they deserve,

especially considering that we all know how difficult a baseball player's path is to those riches that are a little easier to access when you're in a different sport, right? kind of have to be with an organization for a long time and either get that payday through a contract extension or become a free agent and go out there and get that money, right? And so on one side, I want that for Zach and I feel like he deserves it. And I think that it sucks that this one season could impact the overall view on him as being an elite pitcher. However, I also don't hate the fact that if he doesn't perform well, this might impact perhaps the Diamondback's ability to reach. retain him. And at the end of the day, I want to see Zach Gallen shove, but what would really make my heart sore is to see Zach Gallen continue to shove for the Diamondbacks. I know at the end of the day that's probably maybe a little selfish. You know what I mean? Like that the fact that he's not pitching well might bring down his value enough that the Diamondback can afford him. However, I will say that Gallen has been a very special part of this organization. The Diamondbacks parted ways with Jazz Chisholm, a very special player to get Zach Gallen. And you could say that it has very much worked out for the Diamondbacks in that time frame,

considering what Gallen has done. But again, he's not the only problem. The bullpen also blew things up. And to be fair, it wasn't even like it was guys that Tori Lavello hasn't been able to trust this year. You had Jalen Beeks giving up, I think, four earned runs in that game. You had Ryan Thompson allowing another three earned runs. These are guys that typically so far this season have been fairly reliable. And guys that you wouldn't think would go out there and really blow it against the team.

like the Rockies. However, they are still a major league baseball team. They still have pride, and they did the thing against the bullpen for sure. Yeah, I'm very curious to see how the Diamondbacks use their bullpen over the next couple of weeks. With J. Mark coming back, hopefully next series, because he's not getting activated prior to Dodger's series. It has been the struggle bus. We have been riding on it, a 6.87 IRA over 50, on nearly 58 innings in the month of May. It's the worst year in the day. National League. It's not pretty. And like you said, Ryan Thompson, a guy who is so reliable in 2023 and most of 2024 has really struggled this year, something that we all know

Ryan Thompson has, is he's a guy who induces contact, gets ground balls, turns, double plays. The one red flag stat and siren that's going off my head right now, Ryan Thompson, with runners in scoring position this year, is allowing a near 1.4 OPS. It's the worst among national league relievers this season. For a guy who induces contact, that is not pretty, and that is quite frankly not acceptable and when you're pitching in a high leverage role. I know he's been the guy. I think if the results continue as they've been for Ryan Thompson, I think there's a world

where he's not pitching in those high leverage situations anymore because right now he's not getting the results. And then he just has these odd outings where he goes out there and absolutely saves the day. Yeah. And, you know, that's the thing about it is, is he can also be that. it just, you know, it's just not consistent. And like you said, at 2023, he was, you know, he was that reliever that the Diamondback seemed to add every year that is just surprisingly good, right?

And then you could say Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks were those guys for this team this year, but he was definitely that for this team in 2023. But we will need that. We'll need the bullpen. We'll need a lot from these guys for this upcoming series with the Dodgers. We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. So you stick around, Dalton, you stick around. Don't you guys go anywhere watching the pH next diamond back show.

Of course, LinkedIn is the place that you need to go. If you are a small business and you are looking higher, you have a lot of things on your plate as a small business owner. And of course, your business is on your mind, 24 hours, seven days a week. What you need is somebody to help you find qualified candidates to help your business be successful. And LinkedIn is that place. You can either post your job for free or you can pay to promote it.

Promoted jobs get three times more than qualified candidates. And at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of the candidates. With LinkedIn, you can feel confident that you're getting the best based on LinkedIn data. 72% of small businesses using LinkedIn says that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates. Find out why more than two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash debacks. That's LinkedIn.com slash debacks to post your jobs for free terms and conditions do apply.

Of course, game time is a life hack for unlocking amazing seats and experiences for a great price. The NFL schedule just dropped. And I know a lot of people want to not only get down on those home games, but you want to start scheduling maybe some road trip games as well. Game time makes scoring NFL tickets faster and easier than ever. With exclusive discounts, you'll find great seats for as low as $100. The game time guarantee means you'll trust you'll get 100% authentic NFL tickets on time and at the best price, plus fees are always included.

So what you see is what you pay. Also, of course, it's the official ticketing partner of the PHNX Diamondback show and use it to go get Diamondbacks tickets as well. You can make last minute ticket buying easier than ever by using GameTime picks, which will select the best ticket options available in the stadium for any given event. And of course, you don't have to just watch sporting events. You can get down on concerts and all sorts of other events as well. Game time ticket coverage, make sure that you know that your purchase is covered

with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. So take the guest work out of buying tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today.

Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Kevin, what time is it? Game time, ya, that I mean. Wow, that was a lot. I like that, though. I like that energy. Got to bring the energy for Game Time, Derek. Yeah, you gotta bring the energy for Game Time, Der.

Yeah. Yeah. got to bring that energy. This is game time. This ain't those other ticketing services where we don't really have no energy. This is a ton of energy. Yada what I mean? Yeah, we don't, we don't get ready. We stay ready around here. We need to because the Los Angeles Dodgers series starts tonight. And I know we already have a mailbag Monday question about it. But Dalton, I also feared the same thing that one of the people that wrote that wrote into us fears. And that is now that the Dodgers got swept by the angels, how mad are they going to be? How mad are they going to? How angry are they going

to play. I mean, is this a great opportunity for the Diamondbacks to go out there to take advantage of an overly aggressive team, perhaps? That might be a good game plan because it feels like the Dodgers are going to go try to put up three home runs in every single at bat starting tonight. Yeah, I mean, listen, their way I'm looking at it, the Dodgers got swept at home for the the first time since 2023. And it's to the Los Angeles, Angeles of Anaheim, who are not quite frankly not the worst team in the world, but not the best team either. And I think, I think I attribute that a little bit, maybe a smidgen, to the Dodgers looking past them knowing they have to play the dimebacks. I think they have some, I know they won the World Series last year, and it might be a little crazy to say,

I think they still have a bad taste in her mouth from the 2023 season being upset from the dimebacks. Right. Like the diebacks are still the last team to knock them out of post-season, which, you know, again, last year they won. They have a great taste from that, but there's still some bad blood from that 2023 series. and I think all these divisional games are going to matter. I know the Dodgers, you know, you can basically write them in Sharpie that they're a playoff team, but they have an Achilles heel right now,

and it's their starting pitching. I'm really serious. It has not been great. I believe Landon Nack tonight's starter is like their 13th starting pitcher. They've used this season already. I think we got a probable. We can take a look at that. Let's take a look at the probable pitchers starting tonight.

Yep, you're right. We got Landon Knack in Game 1, Yamamoto. In game two, who is there obviously their ace, but somebody who the Diamondbacks had a good game plan against when we played them previously. And then Dustin May, they're going in game three. His hair is currently defying gravity in that graphic. That's pretty good. Corbin Burns, Dustin May rematch match, right?

Didn't they face off last time against each other? And it was a little bit of a pitcher's duel. Yeah, Corbyn's. I mean, he's really looked good in his last couple of starts, especially since he came back from that brief, I guess, day, day, off, game off that he took. He's just been really, really good. But again, the Dodgers just always seem to have the Diamondbacks number a little bit here when it comes to, I guess, the pitchers you don't expect to have success against them, right? Like the Diamondbacks were able to get to Yamamoto and then like you said, it's a pitching duel with Dustin May.

Yeah. The big, it's going to be really interesting to watch because the Diamondbacks have their struggles, especially in Dodger Stadium. I'm very happy Merrill Kelly's not starting in Dodger Stadium because we know the struggles he's had in his career at Dodger Stadium, though he's been very good this year. The Diamondbacks, excuse me, the Dodgers Achilles heel has been the starting pitching. They have the fourth, fifth worst ERA in baseball. The bullpen is electric, but they've thrown the most innings in baseball. So maybe they're a little bit fatigued. Maybe they're a little bit tired. I'm trying to put this into the world, Derek. I like this. I like, no, I like this energy. I appreciate this. Like they are not this team that is, you know, 162 and O type.

Like this is a team that's had struggles in the rotation. Their bullpins being tacked so far. That lineup is a very good lineup. It's still arguably the best lineup in baseball. When you have guys like O'Connie, Betts, Freeman, Will Smith. And then you have Tommy Edmund contributing as he did towards the end of 2024. I'm excited because you know what? The Diamondbacks went 8 and 8 in that last 16 game stretch when playing all playoff teams going into the game.

like they are projected to be slotted into the playoffs. This is a challenge. And you're not going to have Kelly. You're not going to have gallon pitch in this series. So you're going to have burns. And then basically your four or five is going. So it's going to be very interesting to see how this team maneuvers and navigates versus Dodgers lineup.

Well, and I think that it's helpful that the Diamondbacks at least have the confidence, knowing they split the first four game series with the Dodgers. However, I also think that, you know, your little. looking at the fact that the Dodgers are going to probably approach this a little differently than they did the first time with the Diamondbacks. We know that the Diamondbacks bullpen right now probably don't have Jalen Beaks, Ginkle or Graveman available tonight, but they will probably have the rest of the bullpen available. Shelby Miller definitely will be available for this team if he's called upon.

But, I mean, this is one of those things that you think back about. I could tell Marte teeing off against L.A. so far. And that home series, he went four for 11 with a double three home runs. We know Marte seems dialed in. Hopefully he can keep that going. I just need the I just need the Diamondbacks to have a good showing here. You know, like this is the end of this stretch against the N.HEL West. Overall, they've done an adequate job.

Like, I'm not down on them about this. I think that they've won probably more than we thought. thought they were going to win, considering how they were playing when they entered this 13-game stretch against the NOS. But we do have our updated standings for the division. And again, you have this pack, right, where if the Diamondbacks maybe had some of those games back, I believe, somebody in the chat brought this up. It was a very good point. If the Diamondbacks have, you know, those three games where they scored a whole bunch of runs,

they get that game back where Gino hits four home runs and those are wins instead of losses. Because 9backs are tied with the Giants and right there in the mix of being a 19 lost team at this point. You know, those couple of games that kind of went sideways on them really are the difference between them being out and being more like right there in the middle with the rest of these teams. Derek, and this is why I will say this every time. When people get mad at fans, baseball fans, losing it for their teams blowing games and like having these bad losses. and maybe they might, other fans that aren't dime back fans might not have it as bad as we do in terms of these crazy 11-run games where they don't win. You're letting to freak out. You are allowed to freak out because every win does matter.

I understand it's 162 game series, but we saw it last year with the dimebacks. Every game matters, especially every game in the division two, where tiebreakers can come into effect. One of those games that we mentioned scoring 11 runs and losing was versus the Dodgers in a six-run ninth inning. Rotani did that freaking bat flip, and there's that pick. which is the worst thing ever. What I'm dreaming for this series, I want Corbyn Carroll, who did struggle in that four-game set versus the Dodgers earlier this month, I would love for him to hit a three-run, like a massive three-run home runoff of Tanner Scott.

Tanner Scott being one of the hardest lefties to face in baseball in the bullpen, Carroll being one of the best left-handed batters in baseball. It would be amazing to see Corbyn Carroll take him deep and have an Otani-esque moment and flip the script on the Dodgers. That's what I'm trying to put into this world, Derek. That would be electric. That's why the world needs you. That's why the world needs more Dalton-feely because you put that positive energy out there.

Also, then you leave it all on the court out there for the warehouse games. And you never, you know, you show the effort that everyone should be putting in when you're out there playing. Kevin. Speaking of John Boy and the warehouse games and just everything going on at that great media outlet, you know what I'm saying? Sean in the chat asked earlier, I'm not going to grab it. ETA on the lip reading. Do we got an update here? Everybody wants the Tori Lavala lip reading from Jimmy.

So I do want to say a little back end story for this. Derek, shout out to you for getting the footage of Tori saying that because I texted it to Jim, you text it to me. I texted it to Jimmy. And he's like, oh, damn, that's awesome. That was really nice of Tori to say that. It's awesome. Tori's been, is such a great guy.

I know him and Jimmy are like, you know, have a good relationship. But as for a ETA, I think he was working on it today. I don't know in terms of when it would be released if it's like tomorrow, Wednesday, whatever. He's probably taking extra care. He can't make any mistakes on this one. Tori's watching. The world is watching. This one, there's a lot of pressure on this one.

This is a big game for him. Absolutely. The whole state of Arizona is counting on him to get this right. Tori said he's not going to help him out either. His words, not ours. He said, I'm not giving him anything. So it would be awesome if he nails like everything. He nails it like to the team.

Me and this guy, me and Kevin are still fascinated by the fact of Jimmy texting managers to just double check what they said. And I'm sure it's not every manager, right? But still, the fact he has that kind of relationship with Tori and that Tori reciprocates the love. Like he really loves watching that stuff and he loves the stuff you guys do over there, man. He really does. I will say Jimmy Cross of that stuff. Like there are so many great content creators we have that cover the league of baseball. And so Jimmy with the lip readings, like he's the guy in that realm.

He's a legend. And so it's really cool to see other professionals in baseball appreciate the work that he does and our company does. It's really cool. And I'll tell you this, I got to give you guys a lot of credit because the most important thing you guys do, and it's something we try to do is you guys make baseball more fun. And baseball is a lot about stats. It's a lot about, you know, numbers and things like that, despite the fact that it's just this weird game of people hitting a ball. with a stick, right, and running around in a diamond-shaped pattern. But like they like to, you know,

almost make it very, very statistical. And like you guys do that too. You do a great job of that, but you always bring the fun and you always remind us that like this is a kid's game and we should all view it through those eyes at times. So we appreciate you very much and appreciate the fine work Jimmy's doing on that, on that lip reading. But thank you again for your time, man. We always, we always love having you here. Oh, likewise. I appreciate you. you letting me be on talk some snakes ball it's awesome i look forward every monday talking it's awesome thank you buddy we'll see you next time see yeah uh dalton's the best and those guys over there are the best i honestly i'm not joking when i say this like i i was a john boy fan a long time before i

got to work for this particular outlet and the thing that brought me so much joy was the idea of what saul and espo's vision for us was and that was very much in line with what those guys do over there So it's always always a very, very exciting thing to be able to make anything more fun, and especially baseball. Like baseball, I just, I've always loved baseball my entire life, but I do feel like at times all this numbers, all the statistics, they can get in the way of remembering that it's this ridiculous game that we love to watch. So we will talk more about ridiculous stuff. And of course, that is your Mailbag Monday questions on the other side of this break. you go anywhere you're watching the ph next time the back show of course if you are a brand looking to make your brand stand apart from the crowd you got to look to branded bills they have wonderful hats

so even if you're not a brand if you're just a hat a fictionalano like myself go out there check out the wonderful line of hats they have you of a as you they got sun's hats and all sorts of partnerships with sports teams but more importantly they can have a partnership with your company if you are looking to make some custom gear branded bills as you covered with the best custom headware can start your order and their dedicated team will help you create the exact custom apparel you need they are a local company from right here in mesa arizona and they are a wonderful company to work with head to brand of bills.com and use code bbh p h and x for 20% off your first order that is code bbh ph and x for 20% off your first order also circle k talk about wonderful brands circle k is the brand

it is the place to go uh circle k's snacks are superior to all other snacks i i i probably shouldn't be saying this, I probably shouldn't be dogging other snacks, but I can't help it because you pass by the Circle K snacks because you see the name brand ones you know you love you may have had before, but I guarantee you go to the Circle K version of those snacks and experience the delight that Circle K has to offer. I don't know, it's just a higher quality of snack under their own label. So make sure to check out all the wonderful things they have. Join the Inner Circle right now. If you haven't done so already, you'll get your first five polar pops for absolutely free. Also save 25 cents off per gallon on your next five fillups you'll save three cents per gallon every single day after that

they have inner circle fuel days where where you will save 40 cents per gallon and you can enter to win all sorts of contests plus right there in your inner circle app they have uh specific uh deals for you every single day all you got to do is join the inner circle for free by downloading the circle k app today terms and conditions apply at participating locations visit circle k.com for details Derek real quick on the circle k thing i'm touring townhomes i'm looking for a new place to live, right? So if you're looking for a roommate, no, I'm kidding. I was touring a place and they had a Circle K right across the street and I actually didn't love the apartment, but I loved the proximity of Circle K. So it's still on my list. I can't lie. Right, right, right. You don't mark that one off

because you're like, how often do you have a Circle K essentially in the lobby of the place where you live? I lived next to a Circle K in college and it was so clutch. Also a little dangerous, had a lot of snacks. Yeah, for sure. But I just, I missed it. Circle K is the place to be. Right. I will say like one of the things that made me feel the luckiest in the world is after I purchased my home, they built a public library very close to my home. And I was my, while my wife was pregnant with our daughter, can I tell you the joy as a parent that you get when you were like, they're building a public library right by my house? This neighborhood is investing in education. Yeah. Like, it's wild. It was wild. But yes, no, I mean, I, I tend to not leave the proximity

of my little world too often. So I love when stuff popped. up around me. And yes, if you're choosing a place to live, you got to choose correctly. Got to know the neighborhood. Got another neighborhood. And Mike Montoya, you're absolutely right. Circle K over 7-Eleven all day long. I don't even know if I'm allowed to say that, but I'm just going to. It's implied. I feel like why not just say it? You're not going to get any arguments. You're not wrong, but did you have to say it? I think we might have to say it. I don't think we had to say it. But what we do have to say is, you know what today is. And you know every year on this very good podcast, exceptional podcast, the number two podcasts in all of Arizona. We're coming for your

burns and gamble. But of course, what you get here is that every year on this podcast is the year of the snake. Every month on this podcast is Black History Month. Every month on this podcast is Women's History Month. And of course, every month, every single month on this podcast is Black Women's History Month. Every week is for the sharks because it's Shark week. Every day is for the earth because it's earth day but on mondays it's for you it's for the mailbag it is mailbag Kevin let's go. I'll have no box always something interesting in my mail box I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox and then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go wow wow wow

all right Kevin what do we got in the mail bag today can I kick it off with a fun one before we get to the baseball stuff let's go yeah in the chat we were having a little discussion about the kids game thing and how baseball is a kids game is it's a kid's game is baseball the best kids kids game. Ooh. I countered with kickball. Kickball is pretty good. But kickball still has all the,

yes, yes, kickball is more fun because of contact, right? You're not getting somebody that can actually pitch out there throwing or maybe someone throwing a softball entirely too fast. You're not getting someone

that can't swing a bat, like just wildly swinging away and not making contact ever. I think most people can make contact with kickball. I would, I would venture to say four square. Because four square was legitimately, there were lines at my elementary school for four square.

And four square, the simplicity of it, simply being able to smack a ball with two hands into some sort of bounded area is fairly simple. So that one is very good. But kickball definitely, kickball is definitely a good one for sure. And of course, yeah, tetherball is also great. The problem with tetherball is size. In elementary school specifically, a sixth grader can literally be four and a half feet taller than another sixth grader.

I've seen it with my own eyes. So you're not beating that person at Tetherball. They're just going to big brother you in that situation and it's not going to be very fun. I feel like heads up, seven up is in. Well, listen, I feel like it's in the playoffs as like a team that you know is going to get eliminated in round one. Yeah.

But it's in the players. Yeah, because it's in the playoffs. Yeah, exactly. It's a notorious game for cheaters. No physicality. Yeah, exactly. Like not a high level of skill. involved. Exactly. You'll have people trading off and picking their friends just because they can pick

each other. No, no, I'm not good with that. Quiet ball on rainy days wasn't terrible. Quiet ball was pretty good. Sitting on your desk, throwing a phone ball around. It's hard for me to be quiet. Trust me. I'm Puerto Rican. Look at all this Puerto Rican stuff. It's not in my DNA. All right. What do we got in the mailbag today? First up, Travis wants to know, how do we fix Gallen? Also, sorry for missing the past Mailbag Monday's job transition. Plus, prepping to moving the whole family to Minnesota. Oh, Travis. Minnesota. Home of the juicy Lucy.

Yes, I will say go check out first wrestling there. That's something I definitely would suggest. And also, yeah, I don't know how to fix that Gallen. I really think that Zach Gallen needs to fix that gallon. Perhaps an IL stint at this point wouldn't be the worst thing in the world

just to give them a rest. Maybe not an IL stint, but similar to what you did with Corbyn Burns, maybe a time off through the rotation. I don't know if the Donembacks necessarily have the players for that. Their depth has been kind of shrunk into a point that, and I know we have a lot of Zach Gallen questions here, but Zach is going to need to be in there as long as he's healthy. I really think that maybe I don't know if it's perhaps something you can do with the catcher catching him. I felt like the feedback that Zach Gallen

gave in regards to Jose Herrera was fairly positive, and it sounded like Gallen. liked working with Herrera behind the plate. So maybe that's, maybe there's a little bit of a key there. Moreno did catch Gowan in that game. So perhaps maybe, maybe pairing Herrera with Gowan. I don't know.

I want to say that it's, it, it really does feel like, like it's just him falling behind in the count and doing it consistently throughout the night. Like Dalton said, there's a, there's a huge difference in Gowan's numbers.

And every pitcher's numbers. I'm not going to act like, That's not the case. It just feels like gowns falling behind more than he ever has. Mark's a lot of you seem to agree with me. Michael says it's Gabby. Mark says, I think it's the combo of Herrera and mechanics. And then, yeah, Connor says, use your hair as Gowens' personal catcher.

See how that goes. I mean, sometimes that's the recipe for success. And if you've seen that relationship foster positive results, then you should go that way regardless of the fact that, you know, you might miss Gabby's bat in the lineup, right? that's something you sacrifice. Jose Herrera has been just fine this year. He's not been great, but he's had some pretty good games offensively, and I think he can still provide you with something.

But I think if Zach Gallen is on, you don't need a lot of offense. So perhaps you sacrifice that to get him on. And people seem to agree with that. I like that. We're all in agreeance. We all assess the problem. It's Herrera, right?

Get Arerera in there. All right, what else we got? Next up, Tan wants to know. Are you more concerned about Gallin or the bullpen going forward? I'm definitely more concerned about the bullpen. I am so concerned about the bullpen. Because right now as it stands, we don't know when we're going to get AJ puck back.

We don't know, you know, exactly how we expect, you know, certain guys to pitch. Right now they put a lot of pressure on Jalen Beaks on guys like, you know, Kevin Ginkle, on Ryan Thompson, on Shelby Miller. Those are guys that really weren't expecting to be, aside from Ginkle, members of this bullpen this year. And they have performed well. I mean, Beak still, even after giving up those four runs has a 3.52 ERA, you got, you know, Graveman coming in and pitching decently.

He has a three ERA. Like, there's some key components here that, again, were added late or possibly weren't going to be a part of this team that have helped. But they've also been kind of outperforming our expectations when it comes to that. So when those guys that have been relied on bonds so much kind of come back down to Earth, I don't know who's going to step up in this bullpen. Hopefully that doesn't happen, but it almost feels like it's inevitable. It feels like that's what we saw there on Saturday night for Jalen Beaks a bit

because he's been fairly, you know, outstanding for this team considering, you know, their need for a lefty and they're kind of dire straits they're in without Joe Mantipli performing this season. So I'm definitely more concerned about that because I feel like we've seen glimpses out of Zach Allen. It's just consistency, right? We've seen some great performances from Gowan, just figuring out how to get him to do that, or at least, you know, a little better than five innings and six earned runs on a regular basis, right?

So, and I think everybody expects Gallin to go out there and be able to give you six innings and three earned runs every single time or better. And right now he's just not able to do that. So I feel it's still inside of him. And I feel like he can get back on track easier than the bullpen, which right now feels like as they continue to lean on one, side, then that side kind of gets weak, and then they have to lean on another side. I just don't know how long it's sustainable. Hopefully the return of some of those guys from the IL will be a big lift for this bullpen when they come back.

All right, Kevin, what else we got? Next up, Drew Griffith. Do they trade gallon by the deadline? Also, shout out to the Andy Griffith show. Okay. Drew Griffith, Andy Griffith, you get it. That was not, I'm sure, like, that's something that I would expect to come out of my old mouth. Like that was pretty, that was pretty senior citizen level of game, no game.

Not only that, but it was identifying just some show with a random nickname like that. That was, that was. I used to watch that show growing up. I mean, most of us did, but most of us are also in our 40s or older. So that's a little different for you, Kevin. I will say that, I don't know. I don't know. I think that the big problem here is that what is Gallin's value going to be before the trade deadline?

What are you going to get in return for him? I do feel confident in saying what most of you feel, which is that I don't think, like, if I was a betting man, which I am, I would put my money on Zach Gallen not being a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks after this season, right? So from that aspect, what do you get by keeping him on? Well, you're a team that has, you know, some pretty big aspirations to once again get to the playoffs and go on a magical run. Can you do that without Zach Gallen? What's the return going to be? What's the replacement? going to be for gallon. Even if Gallon is inconsistent, the fact that he can lock in and give you what he's given you against every time he plays a New York team, for instance, then that is entirely too valuable

considering that he can do that at any point, right? So I just don't know if the return for Zach Gallon is going to be significant enough to make that move, nor do I know if you want to not have him be a part of your postseason roster, should you make the postseason? Now, I will say if the Diamondbacks

kind of dwindle in mediocrity and find themselves around 500 and not maybe close to a wild card spot or close to, you know, making the playoffs by the trade deadline, then that might be different. That might be different. But I do know that at this point, if the Diamondbacks do have any kind of dreams in their heads about playing in the postseason, Gallen is going to hopefully be a big part of that plan and going to be needed for those playoff series. So, but Stephen Bananas disagrees. He says, given Gallant's postseason, season record. I'm happy to trade him and get something for him. Yeah. I don't know. I still think that gallon is entirely too valuable to get rid of,

but we'll see. We'll see what happens as the season progresses because it's not, I don't think that that's off the table. Let's put it that way. It all depends on the offer. Let's get one more in and then we got to talk about the ball knower bonus over at PH&X. So what do we got, Kevin? Before the ball knowers, we got a ball knower. Jacob Schultz, should I be more mad we lost to the Rockies 14 to 12? Yes. Gino had four homers and we lost.

Or we scored 10 runs in an inning and lost the Cubs. Tell me how to feel. I don't know how to feel. I don't. I've never seen epic collapses like this from this team. It takes me back to that Brewer's game from last year. And that's the crazy thing about it, Kevin. That Brewer's game hurt us so bad.

That Brewer's game was so wild and such a, I guess, such an epic meltdown by this team. that like it's seared into our memory. Yet that was like a one-off last year. There were a couple of other times. I still think about that Brave series early on that the Diamondbacks were up, I believe in every game in that series.

I've been saying that at least I got to double-check that if I'm going to continue to push that narrative. But I will say that that one was so bad that I feel like we are going to think about it for a very long time. Those are happening entirely too much to this team, and I feel like that's what we had. just happened right now is we've had some epic collapses. I don't know if Saturdays was as much of an epic collapse. I mean, that one was just kind of messy all the way around. And despite the fact

the Diamondbacks did have a significant lead, that one was a pretty significant collapse too. Seven, eight runs in the sixth inning or later, I believe, is something you could categorize as an epic collapse. Yeah, eight runs from the sixth inning on by the Rockies, only one from that point by the Diamondback. So that one against especially a bad team like the Colorado Rockies will probably stick in our memory for the last time.

I don't want to rank those losses. I think they're all very bad, but I will say what I said earlier when Dalton was bringing it up and at least the Cubs team is a good Cubs team. This Cubs team has done it multiple times to other teams.

This Rockies team doing this to the Diamondbacks is an outlier for everybody. Well, not the Diamondbacks as much, but definitely an outlier for the Rockies And I think this one probably hurts the most, despite the fact that we won the series. I think that's what feels pretty bad. Mark says, Gino-4-Harmel lost felt like losing a no-hitter. Yeah, yeah, that's a great point.

It definitely felt like losing a no-hitter. And Mark is a ball-knower, and if you are a ball-knower, then you can get down on our ball-nower bonus, which is for this series for the Dodgers. Excuse me. Forget the Colorado Rockies there in the past. Now we're taking on the Dodgers. And of course, if you want to win a gift card to the PHNX merch store, all you got to do is make your pick correctly. It's very easy.

You click the link in our description and then you make your pick. And of course, all you got to do is place an order in the All City Store for $25 or more. And there are some great selections in there. This counts for sale items as well. The only requirement is that you meet a minimum of $25 or more. If you pick correctly, then you will get a gift card to the merch store for the same amount as your original. order. You must click the link in the chat, and I believe one of the first things that will come up will be the ball-noa bonus asking you which team you're going to select the Diamondbacks or

the Dodgers for tonight's series. So again, all ball-knowers make your pick, then place an order. If you pick correctly, you're going to get a gift card from us for the same amount as your order. That's the ball-noir bonus from PH&X. Again, all on-sale items are eligible for this promotion, so long as the total value of the order is $25 or more at checkout. Yeah. All right, Kev. We got some more questions in the mailbag, sir. A never-ending bag is what I got. Year of the snake, Yoshi, what is the likelihood the Dodgers are very angry tonight? And our run differential looks like a disaster after tonight. Yeah, I mean, first of all, let's start with the fact that I do feel like the Dodgers are going to be like a hornet's nest that kind of got prodded with a stick. However, I don't think that the Dodgers took the angels lightly. I think back to about, again, what fellow ball knower Dalton Feeley was saying earlier.

The Dodgers have just not had a lot of success with their starting pitching and their relief pitching. It's just been bad over this stretch. I mean, they do have some good components to that. Yamamoto being one of them, being one of the best pitchers in baseball. But outside of him, their ERA from their starters doesn't look great. And really what's keeping them in any of their games has been their offense,

their ability to score late. the Dodgers are just unbelievably clutch with the talent that they have over there. But yeah, he's right because right now the Diamondbacks have a run differential of plus three. And I'm going to just guess that after this series, it probably doesn't look great. But I still believe in the Diamondbacks being able to go into Los Angeles and take two out of three. I think that right now what the Dodgers are dealing with is reality, right, which is the fact that they have some guys that are injured, They have some guys returning from injury that aren't super sharp.

Their pitching hasn't been great. And again, they do have lots of options for pitchers, but it feels like at times that they have this ever-changing landscape of pitching for both their bullpen and their starting rotation. They have the assets to do so. However, it doesn't really feel like they've been able to solidify anything firmly this season. It's a good thing. And hopefully the Diamondbacks are catching them at a right time, right?

We kind of joked about this guy's cardinals and how hot. they've been and how of course this is one of the Diamondbacks will be catching them coming up However, maybe this is a good time to catch the Dodgers. Maybe it isn't the fact that they're going to be angry and that they're going to take it out on the Diamondbacks. Maybe they're just not playing good baseball right now and the Diamondbacks can take

advantage of that. I'm going to go in that direction and hope that that's the case. However, yeah, I tend to fear the other foot dropping at times, especially when you see the Dodgers get swept by their rival Los Angeles Angels. At least that one makes a little more sense.

What else we got in the bag? Let's go. You know, Damon Dog is not here, chat right now. I mean, he's here. He's back from his sabbatical, wherever they went. Mr. Vacations is back. But he did bring up a very good point before we went live today about during his trip to Los Angeles. And I don't want to step on it too much because he did talk about it on Wildcats.

And I'm sure next time he's on you guys will reference it. Well, you know, we're going to do. We're going to bottle this one up and we're going to talk about it on D-Backs after dark. But I would hope for you to give it a tease. Yes, great tease. Derek mentioned the rivalry of sorts between the angels and the Dodgers. I'm doing air quotes for those that can't see. Let's just say, in the Angels ballpark,

maybe the rivalry doesn't exist. Maybe it's a brotherhood. Who knows? Yeah, we'll find out more about that on Dax after dark. There's a lot of Johnny Merge, and Damon was furious about it, and I'm sure he's going to scream a lot of F bombs on After Dark about it, so make sure to not miss that for him.

But I don't know. I mean, that one, at least, what I will say is, at least it's not like you went to the Seattle Mariners game. And there was a lot of Otani stuff or a, you know, Mets game or something like that. He is a team legend. He is a team legend. And sometimes it's, you know, especially in the case of a guy choosing to leave for a billion dollars, you're like, well, we weren't going to give you that. So go on.

Get your bag. We appreciated you being here and we'll miss you. You know, and again, I think that it's hard sometimes when you develop. a love for a player to have that love die simply because they now change the laundry that they wear when they play baseball and which team they play for, right? But in the Los Angeles case, it's even worse because a lot of those people that might still somehow inexplicably be Angels fans deep down inside, they have to deal with him still being in their city. He didn't leave anywhere. He's just there. And they just have to watch and play for another team. So I can

understand how you still wouldn't be sad about that. Let's see. Still. Stephen Banana says we still sell Randy Johnson's jersey, even though he went to the Giants. I will say that Randy Johnson's jersey is still the most worn jersey. I see a Chase Field every single night, no matter how. He also won stuff. Yeah, he did. He won huge stuff. It's called the World Series.

Only thing show he won was his money line bets and his spread bets and his home run props. That's all he won, and I'm done being Damon for now. Good job. Well, I think Damon would appreciate you. Lock him up. Channeling the interim. All right, well, before we go on to more questions, I think we should make a, official declaration of overtime? Is it an overtime situation? I think we're going into overtime

because we are not going to get this wrapped up here by 3 o'clock. But if you are watching over on TV or your chosen app, make sure to join us on go phtonx.com. We'll be continuing the discussion with Mailback Monday questions. And there's a good chance I'm going to throw this. I'm putting it on. I'm putting it on. I'm putting it on right now. It's a good chance. I'm going to throw it on. I'm going to Throw it on. Yadotamine. Yadda-a-meen, chat. All gas, no brakes. This might be how I just wear it in general, hip-hop style or Chris Cross style.

What do we got? Let's go on the next question. JJ wants to know. Evan Longoria announced his retirement. What's your favorite Longgo moment as a Diamondback? Oh, man. First of all, that makes me sad because that is end of a road for a great baseball player that has been, I don't know, like I feel like the intense.

entire time I've been covering baseball, Evan Longoria has been like a legend in the game, not just playing the game, but the entire time I've been covering it, I feel like he's been, you know, he's been the guy. He's been a guy.

So, yeah, that's an end of a pretty great moment. But I will say, my favorite Evan Longoria moment besides, ooh, okay, this is a toss-up. First, I'm going to have to go. Game one of the National League Wildcard series in 2023. where he made the incredible diving catch and double play

to get out of the bases loaded jam there against the Milwaukee Brewers. That's it. That's the one, the catch of Milwaukee. You guys are all saying it. Connor says, got to be the double play in Milwaukee. However, as some of you may remember, after the Diamondbacks moved on to the World Series,

Evan Longoria was filmed in the clubhouse, not wearing a shirt. and drinking champagne, and I believe smoking a cigar. And shortly after that, one Damon dog, I'm not going to blame it on Damon, but I'm going to say he falsely advised me that it was a good idea while we played that clip from the clubhouse to take off my own shirt

and do the rest of the show shirtless. So that's an episode. That's the reason why we have the rule. That's rule number six on the wall here at PHNX and says hosts can no longer take their shirts off. during a live broadcast. That one's on me. That one's on me.

So for me personally, that one might be a little bit more of a favorite moment for me. But it's also just because my nipples were out, you know? That's why, Kevin. That's why it's a great moment for me. What else we got? Free those things, free those things. Flea ball.

Do we need to put super glue in Naylor and Perdomo's batting helmets? No, we don't. Question Mark, question. No, I love that their hats come off. I love that their helmets come off. I feel like it exudes emotion. I feel like it makes things more exciting. What about you, Kevin?

I mean, I feel like super glue on any sort of helmet would. What are we talking about? I feel like you're sending people up for not only failure but pain. So yeah, let the hats fly. Yeah, I'm down for letting hats fly. I do not want to, I don't want to chin strap these. I don't want to keep them on in any way specifically because I feel like, especially Corbin.

Corbin, when Corbin's helmet comes off, it doesn't really come off. It disintegrates the way that like a spacecraft disintegrates when it's reentering the Earth's orbit, right? It's just due to his speed. You see it like melt off of his face. You release the pod for proper aerodynamic features, yeah. It's great. And that's why we can't do anything about those falling off. My apologies to you for that, sir.

What else we got? Next up, Corbyn Carroll enthusiast, purple version. Who would win in a 100 meter race? Josh Naylor with a 15 meter start or Corvin Carroll. That's a ridiculous question. The answer is Corby Carroll. You could give in a 100-meter race, Josh Naylor a 50-meter start,

and Corbyn Carroll's still going to smoke him. 75? You could give him the same lead that the Atlanta Braves give fans to the freeze, and he is still going to defeat him in a foot race. Like, I don't feel like Corbyn Carroll would ever take an actual foot race not seriously. I feel like Corbyn Carroll is the kind of guy

that even if he was coaching a little league camp, he would still make sure he beat all of the kids in a foot race just because you need to show them kids sometimes, right? No, totally. Corbyn Carroll strikes me as a kind of guy who's been the fastest his whole life. Like whatever grade he was in, he was probably the fastest guy in the grade.

And I think we all remember elementary school. We were talking about the games earlier. Field day, whoever was the fastest had the most pride. Oh, yeah. So I think Corbyn Carroll probably calls back to his childhood and just those ingrained memories of being the fastest equals being the coolest. We tried to tear our ACLs for a ribbon, brother.

You know? For a rig. Why'd you go all like attitude era on me there? We used to tear our ACLs at Field Day, brother. You don't even know taking these easy bumps. I'm just saying the things we used to do for ribbons, you don't know about this stuff we used to do for ribbons back in the field day. Actually, like full on actual tug of war.

Like when I say war, I mean it was homeroom classes hating each other. over these points and over the tug of war. We once had like a kickball draft and like feelings were hurt. Like between classes, we used to do class versus class. Yeah. And then one class was clearly better than the other class. And so we like, we need to pick our best players. You know, the whole thing.

Feelings were hurt. But yeah, you got to take that stuff seriously. Pride is always involved. Feelings are always hurt. Feelings are always hurt. Shut up. Piece of Yoshi says, Derek, we get it. You idiot.

I'm not 43. I'm 44, you moron. So ha, ha, ha. The joke's on you. What else we got? Yeah, you got to get to your Matlock. Wait, let's go one more quick because I know the next one's very similar. Let's go one step back in regards to the Josh Naylor.

Oh, yeah, the race. Okay, here's what I will say. Josh Naylor has sneaky speed. That's why he's so successful on the base path when it comes to stealing bases. Josh Naylor knows he's going to steal the base of the whole tide. And there's no stopping him. There's no stopping him. He knows he's going to do it.

But he's just waiting for his perfect opportunity to pounce. Now, if Josh Naylor hit Corbyn with the surprise race and he had a 15 meter lead, then I think he'd have a chance. Like, I'd feel like Corbyn would need to momentarily stretch out a hamstring real fast or whatever. And then that would give Josh the advantage to, you know, to get the sneaky win. Yeah, no, he's like, hey, first one to the whatever is a rotten egg. Yeah, he takes that half seconds to be like, wait, wait, wait, am I raising? Oh my God, I'm racing. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

Last one to the bus is a rot egg is the only way that Josh Naylor is winning that foot race. All right, let's get another Josh Naylor-related question in here. I can't get enough. J-Mart enthusiast. Who could eat more hot dogs in an hour? J-Mart, or no, sorry, Josh Naylor or Eugenio Suarez. Okay, so the obvious answer is Josh Naylor here.

Is it, though? It really is, because I'm going to tell you right now that Gino would spend too much time. He's not going to take the hour seriously. He's not going to... Gino might step it up. up when he realizes that Josh has a lead late. That might be where Gino gets serious.

But Gino's going to joke with people. He's going to be like, like, Josh is going to take it seriously to a point that you're going to like fear for Josh's health afterwards. You're going to be like, Josh is going to be the kind of guy that isn't a professional eater, but he'll dunk his hot dog in water in this contest. He'll be one of those guys. Bad move, by the way. If you watch our Rising podcast, they did a hot dog eating contest with Reese.

Reese will tell you to this day it was the worst decision he's ever made this day. Dunked it in the water, immediately upchucked, disgusting. Yeah, no. Mark Salera brings up a good point. Is this on Canadian soil or American soil? American. Well, duh. I'm just saying.

This is a glizzy competition. Is it on night? I mean, it's not a Putin competition. On the other side of the, I'm just saying, on the other side of the polls. Do they even sell hot dogs in Canada? I don't even know. That's got to be racist. I don't know.

That's got to be something. Of course, everybody enjoy. You know who loves hot dogs besides Americans? Everybody. Okay, everybody. Correct. Correct. No, I will say that Gino would be surprising.

I think there would be a moment where Gino either let his hair down or ties it up. You got to go up, right? Yeah, well, because that's what I mean. He's showing up, relax. He'd be eating hot dogs, like having conversations with people, and then Josh would just be taking it seriously for the whole hour, like nonstop. Yeah. CWP is saying Leah is going to come get me over that hot dog take. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then we're going to put ketchup on it. I'm more so just saying like hot dogs, glissies. That's an American delicacy right there. Yeah. Kevo, Stephen Bananas has a question for you. Kevo, I have a mailback question.

Since Derek is 44, how many days off with load management does Derek need on this show? Oof. Honestly, I think we're looking at we have a set rotation. He goes five days a week. And if he can go on a weekend, we throw him. Otherwise, he's not an up-down. He's either fully on or he's fully off. I think we get the Saturday, Sunday off days.

You hit it on a Monday. Full energy for the mail bag. And then by Friday, he's throwing dust. You know what I mean? So we got to rest them on Saturday Sunday. You guys have heard the condition of my voice by Friday on a 10 p.m. postgame show? Like, it's non-existent, right? And yeah, no, Stephen, I need a medical expert in here to assess this because right now I just have the coaches pushing me hard every single day.

There's no days off. I'm trying to take a vacation to Puerto Rico. Who's going to fill in for me? Who's going to start? Who's going to be in the rotation? without me, it all falls apart. It all falls apart. So I don't know.

But I will be back. I will be back with another postgame show tomorrow. And joining us will be one Jesse Friedman to break down tomorrow game two of this series against Los Angeles Dodgers. So make sure to join us for that. We're going to have a blast doing so. Hopefully I know Jesse's kind of, Jesse's record isn't great for showing up on postgame shows. In fact, I think it's awful. Hopefully we can turn that around.

But I'll tell you this much, you guys turn my day around. whoever sent me this wonderful Serbientis jersey and i will i will find you i will hunt you down i will not stop looking until i figure out who did this and who's responsible which one of you monsters are so nice that you sent me this wonderful gift i appreciate it i appreciate you guys thank you guys so much for stopping by you can follow us on twitter we'll still be on there hanging out and getting into arguments about cereal i'm at cap underscore caveman with a k this monster is at kevo post. He's trying to still prove, like bring me any kind of proof. Listen, listen, listen, he brought me Damon. Yeah, can I throw him under the bus? Can I throw him under the bus? Oh,

please do. Chat, I just want y'all to know the Damon dog you love so much. The Damon dog, you can't wait to hear from again. He doesn't like cereal either. Your precious little baby so I would, I would maybe take your frosted flakes and shove them. And that's all I have to say today. That's all I got to say today. That's all I got to say today. I got Damon. That's all I need. I'm going to go eat a bowl lucky charms right now as we speak so of course we appreciate you guys stopping by i appreciate you for appreciating cereal and appreciating the arizona diamond backs of course like i said we'll be back with another post game show tomorrow night after the game so make sure to join us for that in the meantime have yourselves have yourselves a wonderful evening behave yourselves watch yourself

a baseball game and cheer on the snakes let's get the win tonight and of course we'll see you tomorrow until then have a wonderful evening uh behave yourselves like i said And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you know that Josh Naylor will definitely eat way more hot dogs than Gino Svarez in an hour.