PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zach Davies deals but Scott McGough implodes in heartbreaking Diamondbacks loss to Rays

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

Zach Davies had his best outing of the year for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but Scott McGough was unable to lock down the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game 2. We discuss Davies dealing, Brandon Pfaadt roaming around the D-backs clubhouse, updates on Merrill Kelly’s injury, and more!SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Manscaped: Save 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code “PHNX” at Manscaped.com. BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX (betmgm.com/phnx). Place a pre-game, moneyline wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price. You will receive $200 in Bonus Bets instantly regardless of the outcome of your wager! Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up!Swing for the Fences: https://promo.betmgm.com/en/promo/sports/swing-for-the-fences 3-Ball Challenge: https://promo.betmgm.com/en/promo/3ballchallengeGambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, DC, IL, IN, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA)21+ to wager. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS, NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI). Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in DC, Nevada, New York or Ontario.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I should be lighting this candle right now, putting on some shoday and putting the kids to bed, but instead I'm here to scream about trade deadline acquisitions with the rest of you. Welcome to another edition of the PHNX feedbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monta, occasionally known as your former mayor of PHNX. This guy's whatever, thunder stick. former vice mayor. I don't care. I'm angry now. This is Jesse Friedman. He's going to stay way more level-headed than I am, but I'm going to do a lot of screaming tonight. For the record, the candle

smells really good. Oh, it's not lit. It's not lit and it smells good. God damn it. It's much better than, of course, Scott McGuff's night. We're not going to talk about that yet. We are going to talk about that. But first, we got to talk about Zach Davies. We all owe him an apology. Most of you out there do. You just can't predict baseball, right, Jesse? This is. This is another one of those instances where you are both delighted and infuriated by the surprises that baseball can bring you. Yeah, it was kind of a weird day at the ballpark, right? Some guys who have been really good were not so great in this game and some guys who've really struggled were really good. Of course, Zach Davies was the main guy I'm talking about there, right?

He was very good in this game, seven innings pitched, didn't allow a single run, only two. hits and he was efficient. I mean, he threw 84 pitches through seven innings. He probably could have gone out for the eighth if the Diamondbacks had wanted him to. And yeah, this is another one of those games that the D-backs have had in recent days where felt like you were sort of set up to lose based on the pitching matchup with Zach Eflin, who's been really, really good for the Tampa Bay raised this year and was very good for them in this game against a Diamondbacks pitcher and Zach Davies, who has really struggled. The D-backs almost stole one here, Derek. They were really, really close to winning a game that going in, it did not seem like they would be favored to win.

Unfortunately, you know, Scott McGuff wasn't great there in the ninth inning. It wasn't great in his last appearance on Sunday against the Giants either. We'll get into that a little bit later. But yeah, Zach Davies really was excellent in this game. And you can see how it might have been a good thing that the Diamondbacks did not DFA Zach Davies when pretty much everyone was asking for that to happen. You all tweeted that to us every single one of you. And that's fine. We're not judging you, but, you know, when you take a look at what Zach Davies did tonight, it's fairly incredible, considering that this was against one of the best teams in baseball. We talk about seven innings, season high for Zach Davies.

He allowed no runs in a start for the first time since August 7, 2022 against the Rockies, and he yielded a season low two hits. Davies had 18 balls and 17 strikes through 35 pitches. It was so weird. How? like he was kind of dominating and yet he was throwing more balls than strikes through the first few innings of this game. By the end of the start, I think it was a little bit more heavily favored as far as strike throwing goes. I don't have the numbers in front of me. But yeah,

he was just kind of working the edges and, you know, there were some two O counts. But for whatever reason, the race just really were having a hard time squaring up anything against Zach Davies in this game. The average exit velocity of batted balls against him in this game was only 81 miles an hour. There's a lot of soft contact. I don't think it was a fluke that Zach Davies only gave up those two hits. And yeah, I mean, this has huge implications for the debacks moving forward, right? Merrill Kelly is going to be out for a while, and the debacks now, more than ever, needs some of these other starters to step up.

And Zach Davies did that in a big way here today. We do have an update for you in regards to Merrill Kelly, by the way. We also have an update for you on Brandon Fott roaming around the clubhouse today with his own locker just out of nowhere. but let's take a look at the last turn through the rotation for the Arizona Diamondbacks if you want your mind to be blown just a little bit. Zach Davies now, seven innings pitch, zero earn runs. Ryan Nelson, seven innings pitch, one earned run. Tommy Henry, six and two-thirds innings pitched, one earned run.

Merrill Kelly, five innings pitched, five earned runs. Zach Gowan, six innings pitch, four earned runs. I love baseball. It's so great. I love it. make sense. I don't get it, Jesse, but it doesn't make sense at all, right? I mean, the last turn through the rotation, those three guys who really have struggled in a big way this year have all really pitched well. Ryan Nelson was really good in that game closing out the Giant series. Tommy

Henry was really good in his start last week against the Washington Nationals. We'll see him again this weekend in Anaheim. And then, yeah, on the other hand, like Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen, we're not at all good in their last start. So it kind of feels like we were maybe due for those things to come into balance a little bit more, just the way, I mean, Merrill and Zach were pitching so incredibly well, and those other guys were struggling so much. But yeah, I mean, on the whole, this is still good, right? You feel good about Zach Allen moving forward the rest of the year.

You feel good about Merrill Kelly when he comes back from injury. What the debacks really need more than anything is for those other starters to step up. And this last turn through the rotation, you know, hasn't just been like five innings, three runs, give the team a chance to win. Those guys have been really incredible this last turn through the rotation. And yeah, I mean, if you're the debacks, you absolutely have to hope that those kind of performances continue. I was waiting for Jesse to finish talking because we have a lot going on in the chat. Domingo Hermann just tossed a perfect game for the New York Yankees in Oakland.

So it doesn't count is what you're saying. I mean, does anything in Oakland really count? We got a super chat up there from Armchair. I'm sorry, Arizona Armchair Sports, Super Chat $2. Thank you so much. So please acquire an actual closer, please. We will give that $2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks and make sure they put it towards their closer fund. I will promise you that.

I will translate that into my own cash. After losses like this, all Super Chats are donated directly to the Arizona Diamondbacks to fund whatever need. 100% of the donations will go to the Arizona Diamondbacks to fund. getting a new closer in here. With all that being said, we have to talk about Scott McGuff. When Jesse talks about balance, this was almost the balance that was inevitable with Scott McGuff. Yeah.

I know everybody is very, very angry with him right now. I am one of you. I have a pitchfork ready to go and we can go outside and mob up to Chase Field after this show is over. But in Scott's defense, he has been incredibly good. So it almost felt like we were waiting for this shoe to drop as far as him having a bad outing. His last outing was not good at all. He bent and when we say bent, it's like a permanent bending kind of like maybe not ever able to be straightened out again.

But he bent, but he didn't break. But this time he definitely broke. And he gave up three earned runs and the lead in the ninth inning. If I were to tell you that the Diamondbacks lost as that Navy start to the Tampa Bay raise, three to two without any other context, I imagine. that you would probably be very understanding about that and way less angry than you are right now. But I mean, his last two outings combined,

two and a third innings pitch, seven hits, three earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts, 69 pitches. It was not nice. It's not nice. I can't not say it's nice. But it's sexy Scott McGuff. So let's not forget that.

This man has been a local sex symbol for a while, and he deserves some credit for what he has. been doing up until tonight. Yeah, he absolutely does. Scott McGuff has been on an unreal run, right, like since the middle of May. We talked about that at length. And yeah, like, was Scott McGuff actually going to be like one of the top few relievers in the National League? I don't know if that's his true talent level, right? Like, it was probably somewhere in the middle. And on the season, you look at his numbers, he still has an ERA of three, he still has a whip of 0.95. He's still been a productive reliever for this team. I want to say something though. Sorry to interrupt you, but I want to say

it's bullshit that Tori says that he doesn't have a closer in it. He goes like to closer by committee because he once again went to Scott McGuff in a case where you absolutely wouldn't go to a reliever again after them having pitched the night before or honestly how many nights, the workload McGuff has had as of late, right? I mean, he hasn't pitched since Sunday. So he did have two days off coming into this. Oh, okay. That's my bet. I thought he actually. But he threw, I mean, in your defense, he threw 38 pitches in that game. And he did not pitch well. I mean, in that game on Sunday, an inning in a third, three hits.

It says no runs in the box score, but he inherited a runner from Andrew Chafin that he did allow to score. He walked two batters in that game. And one of those four outs that he got was because of a killer base running mistake by Blake Sable of the Giants that very much could have turned that game for the worst for McGuff and the Diamondback. So he's been, frankly, just really didn't have much of a feel for his splitter today. In his last game, he did get some whiffs with the splitter,

but he just wasn't nearly as efficient in these last two starts as we've seen him. And that's the interesting thing to me is that if you haven't, if Tori really hasn't decided mentally, even if he's not going to label McGuff as his closer, why do you go to him there? You know what I mean? Like, I mean, maybe the matchups were favorable.

Maybe there's things I'm not seeing here because right now I'm entirely too emotional to try to think through this clearly. But I don't think it made sense to go. go to anyone else, if I'm being honest. Really? The one... No, because the rays kind of rake against lefties. And he had the top of the order. He had, you know, basically one right-handed hitter after another.

I don't think it makes sense to go to Chafin. They already used Castro. He was good in the eighth inning. So obviously, he wasn't an option. We got some people tweeting us saying they should have gone to the flame-throwing 102 mile-per-hour man, Justin Martinez. You are not going to call up a 21-year-old from AAA and insert them into the game. with a two-run lead in the ninth inning against the best team in baseball.

That makes absolutely no sense. Justin Martinez was not an option here. I think Scott McGuff was the guy. The one criticism you maybe could have of Tori is, you know, should he have had someone ready? Should he have had Andrew Chieffen ready a little bit sooner in order to not, you know, get Scott McGuff out of this game a little bit earlier? I think that is maybe a valid point.

But yeah, the reality is, and a lot of people have talked about this in the comments, the Diamondbacks really could use a bona fide ninth inning guy at the trade deadline, right? Scott McGuff is a solid reliever, despite what we've seen the last two times. And to your point that you made earlier, he really has been great for this team. But that doesn't mean he is a true closer in the big leagues. It doesn't mean he is ready for that role in a playoff contending team necessarily. If you can go get a ninth inning guy at the trade deadline and push Scott McGuff to more of a seventh, eighth inning role, you know, push Andrew Chaffin to that role, push Miguel

castor to that role. Suddenly your bullpen just fits together a lot well if you can build it from the ninth inning backwards. Right now, the diamondbacks can't do that with what they have. Well, and much like we've talked about, the diamondbacks are trying to make a tough decision potentially about their rotation, maybe a tough decision about Zach Davies. And now when you look at the way these guys have pitched the last time through the rotation, it's hard to write for the time being, especially with their issues with bodies and still not knowing if they're going to be able to land a starting pitcher at the trade deadline that they need Ryan Nelson, Zach Davies and Tommy Henry all to be be able to pitch like this. They're not going to get these outings every time, but these have been

outings against good teams. These aren't even these aren't slouch teams that these guys got these, you know, put up these numbers against. But Zach Davies, again, deserves all the credit for his outing today's day. And he is our Kingsnake of today's game. Seven innings pitched again, two hits, zero runs, three strikeouts. And he gave the Diamondbacks exactly what they need. It was a close game against a tough Tampa Bay Rays team. The Diamondbacks absolutely had a chance to win it. And, of course, it just slipped away there. There's a lot of talk here about Pavin Smith.

There's always talk about Pavan Smith. That last at bat was like I wanted to put my fist through the wall with you guys. Like, don't get me wrong, the umpire strike zone was absolute trash. But when you know it's trash and he just called two previous pitches low as strikes, You just got to be swinging at that stuff. The fact that Pavey stood there with the bat on his shoulders in such a critical situation was fairly infuriating. And again, the Diamondbacks have a decision to make tomorrow about what they're going to do

with their roster spots. We talked a lot about, you know, them, which relief pitcher potentially is going to get sent down now that you have Brandon fought being called up. You also have Merrill Kelly returning shortly after the All-Star break, so there'll be another roster decision that needs to be made then. But the Diamondbacks might not. be looking to cut a relief picture at this point. Pavin Smith might be the guy sent

down and honestly, tonight's game didn't help with his case much, but it's going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow because for now, Brandon Fott was added to the taxi squad, but he will be starting in tomorrow's game, the finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. We have some more information on that.

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So go to Shady Raise and get up to 50% off single pairs of sunglasses during their Independence Day sale. Again, try for yourself the Shades rated five stars by a whole lot of people. Thank you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Nate wants us to throw shade. I wanted to. Jesse wouldn't let me tonight. He was like, no, we're not going to throw shade. I was like, I have a lot of shade to throw. Derek wanted to throw shade at everyone who has, who has said that Zach Davies is not a very good starting picture. And I feel like I think I would have had a new candidate for that. This office have been not so supportive of Zach Davies in recent days.

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Brandon Fott was in the clubhouse today. We walked in. There he was. He was just like a unicorn seeing him in person. But it was great to see him. He was in very good spirits. and Tori Lavolo said he was, again, added to the taxi squad today and we'll start for the debacks in their finale versus the raise tomorrow.

And Lovolo also had some interesting comments because obviously, due to the injury to Merrill Kelly and some situations with their roster, Brandon Fott is kind of needed. It's a necessity to call him up, right? But, you know, LeVallo kind of made a comment about how it's not just a necessity as they feel like he has a lot to add to their starting rotation. Yeah, clearly I know you guys saw Brandon Fodden there. So he's on the taxi squad today and he'll be starting for us tomorrow.

It'll be a great opportunity for him. He's been throwing the box really well. He took everything that he learned here, brought it down there, understand some of the improvements that needed to be made, and was executing at a high level. We were tracking that and we were very pleased with the progress that he's been making. You know, this came out of necessity, but he's ready for this opportunity. It's interesting because there is some, you know, again, he's admitting that like we probably would not have called Brandon Fought up at this time had we not needed a starting pitcher.

But what are your thoughts on that? I mean, it still feels like Fought is ready to be here. Yeah, I mean, he said he was just as excited getting the news that he was called up this time as he was when he got the call for the first time a month or two ago. So, yeah, he's really stoked to be back up here. He seemed to be more comfortable. That's what he told us that just being back up here for the second time, you can understand. You maybe have some jitters, you know, being in the big leagues for the first time and acclimating to life up in the majors. And you already has some familiarity with that at this point.

So, yeah, I mean, seven innings scoreless is last time out in Reno, seven strikeouts in that game. The numbers have started to look a lot better for him. It'll be interesting to see how it translates. and once again, the Diamondbacks are not at all helping him out with a soft landing. He made his big league debut in Texas against a Rangers team that has proved to be one of the best in baseball. And now he gets his next opportunity in the majors against the Tampa Bay Rays, who do have the best offense in baseball to date. So a tough situation for him to walk into tomorrow.

But I think everyone's excited to see what Brandon fought looks like the second time around, even though things did not go well at all for him to say the least in his first go of it in the majors, I don't think anyone believes that that's who Brandon fought is, right? I think there's still a lot of hope that this guy can become the mid-rotation type starter that a lot of people believed he could be and we'll see what it looks like tomorrow. The Tampa Bay Rays are not good against right-handers. So I think that's a reason why this is advantageous for them to bring him up. Obviously what we saw what Zach Davies did against them today.

I wouldn't say they're not good against right-handers. There splits are much worse against right hand. They're 12 and 4 against lefties. You probably don't want to throw a lefty against the race if you don't have to. Right. Which is another part of the, another question we had recently was about Tommy Henry. And Tommy Henry is not hurt. He is merely being pushed back one game so that he starts against the angels who are kind of the opposite.

They have a worse record against lefties than righties. So it made sense to do this. Which we suspected on the show yesterday. Right. Tori confirmed that today. Yeah. But Tori, you know, Like Jesse said, Brandon Fott sounded to be excited.

If I'm being honest, I thought that Brandon Fott looked much more comfortable today. He looked much more at ease with being there. He was joking around with Steve Gilbert from MLB.com. And we all joke. You know if someone's joking around with Steve Gilbert. Yeah, they're ready. They're really irrelevant. Nobody jokes around with Steve Gilbert.

But no, he looked much more comfortable. I did send some nerves last time when he was called up. And, you know, it was a much bigger deal. I think this, again, since it's not his debut any longer, since he's already had a chance to fail, he's had a chance to understand how to bounce back from this stuff. More importantly, Jesse asked him a question about basically being compared to some of the greatest pitchers that have ever played the game

and how rocky of a start they had when they debuted. It was a comment that Brent Strom made. When Brandon Fogg got sent down, we were told that Brent Strom basically had a conversation with Brandon Faw and was like, hey, some of the best pitchers who have ever pitched in this game, you know, had a rough few starts to open up their careers as well, go down and get right and come back up here and show us what you can do. And yeah, Brandon had some comments about his response to that. So he told me that too.

And I kind of, I took that in. And I think just knowing that there's a long journey ahead. and it's just a little bump in the road and kind of help me get over that, especially coming from Strami. So I feel like we're in a really good spot. Again, it shows the wisdom that Shrami brings to these young guys, but it's also a matter of respect.

Like he said, coming from, you know, Strom, that's a big deal to someone like him. So, again, it's just about, you know, doing what you do at a minor league level, at a major league level, whatever you did that find success there, that's what you need to use to find success. a major league level. We saw a thought pitch uncharacteristically when he was here, when he debuted. And that's the one thing that's encouraging is we know he's a different pitcher when he's comfortable and he's

pitching and he, you know, and he's dealing, right? So it's like, I think Tori said today that he was just kind of grabbing out of his arsenal instead of actually putting together a game plan where you stack your pitches in a certain way. Yeah. That lead to whiffs, that lead to strikeouts, that lead to the batters having a difficult time knowing what's coming next against them, you know. But he was also having struggling, he was struggling with hitting, you know, the edges. He was just throwing pitches right down the zone. And hopefully we'll see him rebound from that. And that's tomorrow.

So make sure if you don't get a chance to watch it live, you catch that game on TV. That's a 1240 start. We will be here tomorrow with another post-game show after that game. We also have an update for you on Merrill Kelly. Merrill Kelly seemed to be in fairly good spirits. It sounds like his injury isn't a significant one, but, you know, again, they are taking precautions with him because this is the second time.

He's had some sort of blood clot that has made him miss time. He said he was glad that they caught it early, and I think that's a big difference here between the last time. They had checked him because he had some swelling, and he had a flight. So just to be on the safe side, they decided to check him before his full. flight and they discovered the clot.

For those of you that don't know, flying with a blood clot is extremely dangerous. It can literally kill you. It's, uh, I was just watching a documentary on a, uh, on a pro wrestler who flot flew with Of course you were. Of course, but it was a blood clot and his leg and he flew with it and it caused his death, right? So it's like, and Kelly brought that up. He said the last time that he had the clot, the thing that was more concerning was that He flew a couple of times with the clot.

He pitched even in a couple of games with the blood clot. These are all things that are very dangerous. That was also that clot, you know, had to pertain to his thoracic outlet syndrome that he had a couple years back and had the big surgery and everything. You know, that's a different blood clot because it's not that far from your heart. Yeah, the danger zone as he called it. Yeah, very, you know, important organs and whatnot in your body. So, yeah, this was not, he didn't seem nearly as concerned about this one as he was. when he first found out about that because it was just in his calf.

It wasn't at all related to the thoracic outlet situation as far as we know. And it sounds like a really good catch from the DBAX training staff. He was basically about to get on this flight. And they were like, hold up. There's some swelling here that's not really easily explainable by anything that happened in the game or anything. And sure enough, they sent him for an ultrasound at a hospital out in San Francisco. And they confirmed he did have a small blood clot.

So, yeah, he talked with Ian Ken. Kennedy, who this situation has been closely compared to, it sounds like there's a lot of similarities between what Merrill's going through now and what Ian Kennedy dealt with in the middle of last year with the debacks. And yeah, as we talked about yesterday, Ian Kennedy was on the injured list for 16 days. So you might only be looking at two or three misstarts from Merrill Kelly here for the debacks. You definitely won't be back before the All-Star break. So, yeah, it's basically that's it. But here, Merrill is talking about the injury. And again, the different between this one and the previous one?

I'm good. Obviously, no one wants to have a blood caught in their leg and nobody wants to miss any time, especially with how much fun we were having as a team. But I'm about as good as I can be. The fact that I'm, the fact that I wasn't rushed to the hospital like last time, the fact that nobody's telling me to kind of sit and stay type mentality

kind of gives me a little bit of peace of mind. Nobody, I see the faces and I hear the tones of voice, is that I've talked to the people. You know, I've talked to the training staff. I've talked to some of the doctors. We're going to follow up a little bit more with it today. But nobody's given me the panic vibe and the fact that the last time when they found this one,

I was in the hospital that day, slept in the hospital that night. So the fact that I'm walking around and here talking to you guys, I'm taking that as a good sign. For those of you that are concerned about Merrill Kelly, as you can see, he looks great. Like, he was talking about Ian Kennedy telling him not to let him, not to let them put him on the IL. Yeah, that was funny.

After two days, he felt like he was ready to go. So it sounds like Merrill's going to be a little bit more cautious with this, and I'm glad he is because he's very important to the Diamondback starting rotation. And the last thing they need is something to come up that could potentially keep him out for longer stints in the second half of the season. What does suck for Merrill, a couple of things come to mind here. Number one is he's probably not going to get to 200 innings this year, which is a really big thing for him. He barely was able to reach it last season. If you talk to him about his year-to-year goals, I'm sure that he has other things in mind, too.

But he feels like if he's hitting 200 innings, he's probably doing pretty much everything right or pretty dang well if he's getting to that point. With this injury, it's going to be really hard for him to get to that point. The other thing is that the All-Star game is just about two weeks away now. And Merrill was sort of right on the edge. I think how to have a really good shot to potentially make the team. I guess he still could get that invite and just have to turn it down. Coming off the start he had in San Francisco, his case is not quite as strong as it was, maybe a couple of weeks ago.

So, yeah, you know, hopefully he still gets that invite. But either way, you're not going to see Merrill Kelly pitch in the All-Star game. There's really no way that's going to happen. And that's really unfortunate for him. He had a really good chance this year to appear in that game for the first time. And he brought that up. You know, there's all sorts of things that he wants to achieve. And you know when an injury like this holds you back that that, that,

sucks, right? But there's a bigger goal that is developing for this team. There's a bigger prize at the end that they are starting to potentially see. And I think that this is the smart thing, especially for Merrill to get right. This gives him some extra time

that he was going to have off anyway, and he should be straight by the time he returned. So best wishes to Merrill Kelly despite the fact that he mocked the size of my microphone. It doesn't, like the size of the microphone doesn't matter. It's the power. It's the power of the microphone. It's the volume of the microphone, if you will.

We use these little Bluetooth mics that are, they are very tiny in Maryland. And they have all those, you know, like big TV microphones and stuff. Did I talk about Justin Martinez holding mine yesterday? Because I don't know if I told that on the show. I was just holding it out. So Justin Martin, it's a very weird, awkward thing apparently. Brandon fought today was like, why are you pointing that thing at me? Justin Martinez just took it from me and decided to hold it and be my microphone person for the interview.

It was great. I mean, he's a great kid, so I appreciate it. But tell you what, you should watch this team at home, Chase Field tomorrow. You can also follow them on the road. And road trips are always powered by our friends at Circle K. Of course, you check out your local Circle K for the best coffee, beer and snack selection, and premium gas. Don't sleep on the Circle K branded snacks. I feel like I'm selling this to you unnecessarily.

You can go there and spend your money however you wish and Circle K will be happy with you. But I want you to understand that for your own benefit, The Circle K snacks are absolute fire and should not be slept on. The polar pops, obviously, Tiny Derek, trapped in the gas station pump screen, will tell you that they stay cold longer. And, of course, you should enjoy one. You can also get your ice coffee for $1.89. You can get Red Bulls three for $8, monsters, $3 for $6, and of course, 12 packs of beer for just $9.99. So don't miss out.

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You can get it at the Four Peaks draft room where we will be meeting up for all our DeBacks takeovers. If you want to join us for those, make sure to check out the events page in our show notes to find dates and tickets. You can also follow them on Twitter and social media at Four Peaks. brew or go to 4Peaks.com slash events to stay up to date on everything 4 peaks. Of course, Four Peaks for Teachers is completely in effect right now. Summer is almost over, believe it or not.

These teachers have to go back to work before we know it. In the meantime, teachers Tuesdays are here back at the 8th Street Pub every Tuesday through July. You bring a valid teacher ID and you will receive $4 pints of kiltlifter. Wow, hazy and hop knot. And also, if you want to thank a teacher, you can nominate them at 4Peaks for Teachers.org, complete the form to enter their chance to win. A bunch of different prizes, including cash grants, and one lucky winner gets a teacher lounge renovation.

So nominations are due June 30th. You only have a couple more days for that. Don't miss out. Check out Four Peaks Brewer at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink four peaks and please drink responsibly. Jesse, it would appear that the relationship between Diamond Sports Group and the Arizona Diamondbacks is not. not dead. It's on life support. It's, it's not doing great, but it's not dead because apparently

according to a tweet that came out today, uh, they have canceled a hearing that would have occurred tomorrow. We imagine that this hearing would have been the final decision in regards to Diamond Sports Group no longer broadcasting Arizona Diamondbacks games and then MLB would have taken over broadcasting those games on July 1st. Now, according to this tweet that we got, you can see here that things have changed. Yeah, this is a joint statement from David Pre-Shlack. Probably not saying that, right? He's a CEO of Diamond Sports Group.

And this is also from Derek Hall, of course, President's CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is what they said together. Diamond Sports Group and the Arizona Diamondbacks have decided to postpone tomorrow's hearing, tomorrow talking about Thursday due to ongoing and positive discussions toward finding a solution. During this time, Bally Sports Arizona will continue to broadcast debacks games and fans will have the same televised access they have been able to enjoy from the beginning of the season. So yeah, basically what's happening here is it sure appeared entering today that Thursday was going to be the last Bally Sports Arizona broadcast for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Things were certainly trending in that direction. However, I believe Bob Nightingale tweeted out that it has been extended for two weeks. So it appears this hearing could happen in another two weeks, but it is not going to happen tomorrow. And in the meantime, you will still be able to get Diamondbacks games on Valley Sports, Arizona, as you always have. And I know that that's a big concern for everybody, especially considering the way this team is playing right now. But it's an odd update. It's odd because one of the big things about this relationship, and the deal continuing was that Diamond Sports Group sounded like they wanted streaming rights.

And Rob Manfred basically had already said there's no chance to that happening. So I don't know if now Diamond Sports Group is maybe dialing it back and deciding that maybe they don't need the streaming rights or if streaming rights are now possibly on the table. Yeah, we don't know exactly the nature of the negotiations right now. We just know that there appears to be some positive momentum and at least enough momentum that like they feel. think maybe a deal could happen. And, you know, I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks how exactly this materializes, but it sure felt going into this week, like Major League Baseball was going to step in and be broadcasting Diamondbacks games by this weekend.

They do have the Apple TV broadcast on Friday. So we weren't going to find out on Ballet Sports, Arizona either way. But moving forward these next couple weeks, you're still going to find Deaback's games on Ballet Sports, Arizona. And as we've discussed in the past, Derek, I still think the ideal outcome here, is that the Diamondbacks stick with Bali, at least from just a personnel standpoint. There are so many people that we know that we get to interact with around the ballpark day in and day out who work for Ballet Sports Arizona.

They're just such quality people. It's amazing. They're pre-imposed game show people. They're cameramen. All of those people. I mean, we've worked. I have worked with some of these people for 11 years now. And I mean, they've been there the entire time.

I've been there and they were long before me telling me stories about the World Series and telling me stories about being around Randy Johnson and all of this stuff. So like it's kind of wild to me how much those people are family. And it would be very weird to be in that place without so many of those people that we consider family at Chase Field. So from that perspective, we're glad that this is continuing and we hope that a deal works out. I mean, in the end, we just want everybody to be able to watch this wonderful team, right? and be able to watch it, have access to it in every way that you should, and be able to watch it anywhere.

These blackout restrictions are ridiculous. Everything about these contracts and all of this money that gets passed around that prevents us from being able to watch our teams is crazy. That is the downside of the situation with ballet sports is that, yeah, I mean, as long as the arrangement looks like it does right now, that's where your blackout restrictions come from. If Major League Baseball did get the opportunity to step in, you know, we've already talked about how you would still have to buy like an additional MLB.tv subscription.

It wouldn't mitigate backouts entirely with the current setup. Which just drives me nuts. Like, I mean, I still understand why we're penalized for living in the city of the team and the market we want to watch. Like, that's just a crazy part of this. It's all about the money, Derek, right? It's all about the money. At the end of the day, the DBAX broadcast rights,

I mean, it's some of the most, that's like the most valuable possession they have almost. I mean, they make so much money off of the, the right to broadcast their games locally. And if you go and buy MLB.tv, you're not, you're not paying that premium. That's not included in that fee that you're paying. So there's still just kind of a revenue issue here. Like teams, it feels like they need to make this money one way or another, just with how the league is set up right now. So hopefully there's a day for, for blackout restrictions. end eventually, but as long as we have this set up with Ballet Sports, Arizona, we're probably

not going to get that. I just, I can't help but wonder if other cities regional sports network, even their version of Ballet Sports, wherever it is, has the commercials that they run, you know, because I can't imagine. Here we go about the commercial. About the catheters. Should I go on about the catheter commercials? I swear I have never seen a single catheter commercial watching a dime. Because Jesse doesn't pay attention. He just zones out on the old people commercials. What about the Fireplace commercial? The Arizona Fireplaces.

I don't, how do they have one? It's not a word is spoken, Jesse. I'm just saying that there should, it should be more of a premium broadcasting on your baseball games. That's all. You should ask for a higher dollar amount and be a bit more discerning. But who am I? What do I know? What do I know nothing?

But what I do know. I do know one thing. Corby Carroll starting in the All-Star game is a goddamn lock, ladies and gentlemen. I think it's a lock. I don't feel like enough movement. movement can be made by Michael Harris, the second and the Braves community in order to bounce Corbyn Carroll. Because as of today, Corbyn Carroll had 30% of the votes to start in the outfield alongside Ronald, Ocuna Jr. and Mookiee Betts. Michael Harris, the second, was with 19%,

Lordeus Curiel Jr. with 16%. So it feels like Corbyn Carroll is a lock. If you haven't voted yet, go vote right now. Get those votes in. Let's make sure it's a lock. And let's ensure that this young man gets to start in his rookie year in an all-star game in his hometown. What a beautiful, what an absolutely beautiful story. Pleasant pleasantly surprising, right? Coming into this, you're like, all right, here we go. Here we go. These Braves fans are a little crazy, you know, they pulled off some pretty crazy stuff already in the first phase of voting. So, yeah, you know, you wondered exactly how this was going to pan out, but it seems like people are getting it right. I think out of those four guys, it's pretty clear to me that Mookie Betts and Corbyn Carroll.

Not necessarily in the order that they're in so far. Corbyn Carroll should definitely be first over Mookie Betz. But as long as he gets in, right? I mean, that's really all that matters here. And as of right now, it looks like he's going to get that opportunity. Jesse gets accused of being a homer. That is not a homer statement. Jesse is doing that purely based on numbers.

And if you look at Corby and Carroll's numbers compared to Mookie Betts' numbers, there's no doubt about that. In fact, I mean, based on how they perform between now and the All-Star game, we could see him have better numbers than Ronald Acuna Jr. And that's... Ronald Cooney Jr.'s had a pretty crazy few days. I don't know. I don't know about that at this point.

But yeah, I mean, honestly, I think Juan Soto should maybe start over, over Mookie Betts. He's not even a candidate. Definitely should have been a candidate over Michael Harris and frankly, Lordis Gouriel as well. Thank you, Canada, right? Yeah, thank you, Canada. We love you, Toronto. We appreciate you. But the end of phase two is tomorrow.

So the final results will drop tomorrow afternoon. That's when we will know. who will officially be starting in the All-Star game, and we will all celebrate and rejoice. Corbyn Carroll getting that nomination because that's going to happen. Many of you are asking what's next for Lourdes and the rest of the players that do not get selected. Unfortunately for Lourdes, once he is not part of this conversation,

he just goes back into the pool. Yeah, he gets no special privileges just because he was in the mix to start. Correct. So now Lourdes will basically be voted on by the rest of the, we don't know exactly. It's a very shady operation they got going on. over there. Supposed to be the players and coaches voting on who would get in as reserves.

And the commissioner's office. And the commissioner's office. Oh, that's the biggest vote. Starting pitchers and relief pitchers as well. So it's going to be very interesting as that pans out. But Jesse, I don't know. I'm still hung up on this bullpen thing. I'm just, I still like, right when, you know, again, it's kind of like starting rotation.

You know they need to do something about it. These were great performances that we got out of the back end of the rotation. But like the Diamondbacks need to do something about starting pitching. And they need to do something about their bullpen. And like I feel a lot of this is all going to be based on how Brandon fought does tomorrow. In my opinion, could completely change. And I could be completely manic tomorrow. But what are your thoughts here on on what's going on with the team and especially the closer situation?

Yeah, the debacks need a closer like we said earlier. I know some people earlier were saying, you know, clearly Miguel Castro should be the closer. I don't know if you want to go there either. Like the debacks did that for a couple weeks there. And there were some pretty dang ugly losses for this team with Miguel Castro on the mound. There was that game against the Nationals at home where he really, really had a rough ninth inning. That one sticks out.

There was the game against the Atlanta Braves that he finished. I believe it was, I'm forgetting his name. Somebody hit a grand slam in the ninth inning in that game. And the Atlanta Braves came back and won. And frankly, every time the debacks have tried someone in the closing role, and I think we've had a period where Andrew Chafin was pretty clearly like, Tori's never fully named a closer, but Andrew Chafin was pretty clearly the number one option for a while. He definitely doesn't go based on the matchup, right?

Like, he goes off like the hot hand. Yeah, he's kind of what it felt like. And then that doesn't really seem like the best because we talked about. Andrew Chafin had his time and then it kind of ended. He had some rough outings. Miguel Castro had his time, and then it kind of ended. And they both got overused as far as their innings were. They also were being sort of overused at the time.

I don't know if I would necessarily say Scott McGuff has been overused recently. Yeah, Eddie Rosario, thank you. That's the guy who hit the Grand Slam for Atlanta. But yeah, and now Scott McGuff has kind of emerged as the hot hand, the guy that the debacks are trusting in this closing role. And now I don't think anyone really feels great about running him out there again in a close game in the ninth inning. The debacks need a closer, Derek.

I think it's pretty clear. All three of those guys are solid relievers, but I just don't know that they're the guys you want to be turning to in the ninth inning of a playoff game as we think ahead toward the end of the season. So hopefully the debacks are able to pull it off. Mike Hazen, we got $2 from a super chat for you. We'll kind of tally the rest of it up as well. Well, if you guys haven't checked out our friends at Pins and Aces, it is our official golf apparel partner, PHNX in All City. You can check out our friends over at Big Drive Energy. That is our golf podcast.

If you enjoy such things, you can get that wherever you get your podcast. You can also check out our Pins and Gase Ases gear, which we absolutely love. They made us our custom Phoenix polo, which I'm still waiting on mine, and I'm furious. I don't have one. I'm also waiting on mine. Yeah, we're both waiting on ours. So what's up with that? We got to figure out who we need to talk to you.

I have one. Shut up. Shut up. They make amazing polos. Is it an amazing polo, Damon? Because mine's amazing. Oh, man. Shut up.

age you. The one I got is really good. I love it. But they make hats, golf bags, all sorts of stuff, including our favorite thing, the beer sleeve. So make sure to check out everything Pins and Asis has to offer and use code PhNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping. That's Pins and Aces.com. Also, looking for something to do this summer. Not a lot of time left to spend with the kids. Check out Octane Raceway and Mavericks if you need some place to either drop them off and get rid of them or maybe to just enjoy the last time you have with them before they go back to school. Octane Raceway and Mavericks has all sorts of fun to offer.

They also have their summer engineering camp partnered with engineering for kids for ages 7 through 15. That is going on through July 31st. They also have a free bowling program all summer long through August 4th. Kids bowl free, children 15 and under are eligible for two free games each day. Bowling can be ridiculously expensive. Someone posted that his wife took their three kids bowling and the cost would choose, Jesse. was like $150 for like two games.

It was mind-blowing, right? So you're going to get much cheaper options over at Octane Raceway and Maverick. The shoes are where they get you. The shoes is where they get you. They'll charge you like six bucks a game, but then the shoe rentals like $25. That's why I bought my own shoes. People think I'm good because I bring my own shoes. No, it's because I don't want to pay $25 every time I go for.

Do you have your own bowling ball? I do have my own bowling ball. And yes, it does match my shoes. And that's why people think you're good. Yeah, all right, that's fair enough, fair enough. I can tell you for sure, Derek, is not as good as having this own ball. Bullshit, I beat Jesse. I beat everybody in this office.

None of them can talk shit to me. I didn't say you didn't beat me. I just said that your score while higher than my score was not necessarily professional level. I mean, that's decent. I'll give you that. That's decent. I still remember what it is to this day. And that was over a year ago.

Don't wait that long to go check out Octane Raceway Mavericks, book some fun this summer at Octane. Raceway and Maverick. I'm having a hard time with those words. It's Octane Raceway and Mavericks. Cart racing, virtual reality, laser tag, axe throwing, bowling, arcade, great food and drinks. So much fun. For you, your friends, your

family, everybody, tons of different events throughout the summer. Check out Octane Raceway.com and Mavericks.com to learn more. Well, that's all we got for you guys. We're sorry that this night didn't end on a better note. It's all your fault. We had some scrambling to do when it came to all of our stuff because we were just ready to gloat about Zach Davies, beating the best team in the

American League, but now we can't do that. But we thank you guys for being here. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-U-N-Fundersk-Mad-W-Mad with a K. This guy next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman, the maniac behind the Mac. Damon is at Damon Dog. That's DAWG with a little roar at the end. You have to bark or you have to type that in.

It's not going to help you get his Twitter handle, but it's funny if you do it. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-BACs, but of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. you got anything else? That's all I got there. That's all I got. Everyone wants to know who the Diamondback should acquire to be their closer at the trade deadline. And we will delve deep into those discussions.

We will reveal that soon. Yeah, there's only one answer and we'll tell you. That's right. We got the one answer and the Diamondbacks are going to listen to us. But we appreciate you guys stopping by. We thank you again so much for your time. Love you and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you are the starting left fielder

in the All-Star game.