Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Philly Show. Hi, everybody,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philly Show. Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury,
Speaker 1: Todd Zuleki, part of the Foul Territory Network. It's Monday,
Speaker 1: August twenty sixth, twenty twenty four. Guys, big weekend for
Speaker 1: the fight in Phil's. They scored some runs last time
Speaker 1: we talked. It was a lot of doom and gloom.
Speaker 1: It's amazing what one weekend, one weekend can do. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to see a lot of the games. I
Speaker 1: was at Hershey Park this weekend with the family, running around,
Speaker 1: getting on the mosters, trying not to get sick. I'm
Speaker 1: getting old and I can't do.
Speaker 2: You need a vacation from your vacation.
Speaker 1: I need a vacation. It's no vacation.
Speaker 2: We're with little kids like that. Rushy Park's fun though, man.
Speaker 3: It is, it's fun.
Speaker 1: It was all about survival for me. The but the Phillies,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah again, like Friday, right, we're talking about
Speaker 1: how they can't go and get anything going offensively, their
Speaker 1: approaching the plate, they're swinging and missing too much. Friday
Speaker 1: does not look great. But then Saturday and Sunday, they
Speaker 1: put up back to back eleven run games, the first
Speaker 1: time they've posted ten or more runs in consecutive games
Speaker 1: since I looked this up. Yesterday, August sixth, seventh, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, they blew out the Nationals. They haven't done
Speaker 1: this three straight games since June eighth, the eleventh, two
Speaker 1: thousand and four, when they split a couple of games
Speaker 1: on the road against the White Sox and they won
Speaker 1: a big blowout win against the Twins at the Metrodome. Rubin,
Speaker 1: you were there, what was the big difference?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean it was pretty clear. I mean there
Speaker 4: was no question in my mind that the top of
Speaker 4: the order was really struggling. I think that Kyle Schwarberz
Speaker 4: sort of set the tone a little bit better, started
Speaker 4: swinging the bat a little bit better. There's a bunch
Speaker 4: of guys who who I think really started to turn
Speaker 4: it up a notch, and I was concerned about them.
Speaker 2: I mean, you start thinking about the guys that.
Speaker 4: You thought would move forward this season, Brandon, marsh, Bryce
Speaker 4: and Stott. You thought that those two guys were going
Speaker 4: to start moving things forward as far as the offense
Speaker 4: is concerned, and Brandon Marsh's strikeout rates was ridiculous. I
Speaker 4: mean close to fifty percent over the last you know,
Speaker 4: the last couple of weeks. Bryson Scott had not been
Speaker 4: utilizing the whole field, a lot of big swings, a
Speaker 4: lot of foul balls back trying to hit the ball
Speaker 4: out of the ballpark. Well, those two guys swung the
Speaker 4: bats pretty darn well. The last couple of days.
Speaker 2: You saw jt.
Speaker 4: Real Muteau finally get his foot down a little bit
Speaker 4: more consistently, had one big, really big day but a
Speaker 4: couple of good swings. And Bryce Harper I really hasn't
Speaker 4: gotten it going yet. I mean he hasn't at home
Speaker 4: in a long long time, like the most longest I think,
Speaker 4: stinting of his career. But it was a great sign
Speaker 4: because guys were doing like the little things, a little
Speaker 4: bit small ball. They were just making contact. They had
Speaker 4: struck out so many times in the Atlanta series that
Speaker 4: it was like embarrassing, and you know, the way too
Speaker 4: many strikeouts, weren't putting the ball in play, weren't doing
Speaker 4: what they had to do to just to just fight
Speaker 4: at the plate. And I saw a bit of a
Speaker 4: turnaround with that in the last couple of games, actually
Speaker 4: last three games, because I think they got eleven hits
Speaker 4: in the first game. The fact that Taiwan Walker pitched
Speaker 4: so poorly, I mean basically took him out of the game.
Speaker 4: Took him out of that game. But they started to
Speaker 4: swing the bats well in that series on Friday, and
Speaker 4: I saw much much better at bats. And you know,
Speaker 4: having JT and Garrett Stubbs and back to back games
Speaker 4: have huge games was really big, big for the Phillies.
Speaker 4: And you cannot dismiss you know, what Ranger Suarez brought
Speaker 4: to the table.
Speaker 2: The fact that he was.
Speaker 4: On the mound and pitching the way he did that
Speaker 4: was a particularly special moment I think for this club
Speaker 4: and pivotal in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: So that's my take.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, coming out of Atlanta used the right
Speaker 3: description dooming gloom Todd. It felt really doomy and gloomy.
Speaker 3: And to come home on Monday morning with you know,
Speaker 3: a split play a five hundred, you have a five
Speaker 3: hundred trip, I thought was a real positive because it's
Speaker 3: just seems to play five hundred on the road the
Speaker 3: way they play at home, they're going to be fine.
Speaker 3: Some of the big eye openers for me on the
Speaker 3: weekend were Stot the way he swung it and Suarez
Speaker 3: the way he came back on Saturday night, because I
Speaker 3: I just think both of those guys are so important
Speaker 3: to where this team wants to go, needs to go,
Speaker 3: and you know they both lengthen their respective units, the
Speaker 3: lineup and the rotation, so you need to see more
Speaker 3: but really positive steps on each side. I thought Scott
Speaker 3: swung the back great, particularly on Saturday night, but you know,
Speaker 3: basically throughout the weekend is it bats were very good,
Speaker 3: so you know there were other positives on the weekend,
Speaker 3: but just most of all, it just felt like just
Speaker 3: one of those another occasion where it felt like they
Speaker 3: were kind of riding the ship. Now it's up to
Speaker 3: them to extend it and do more with it, because
Speaker 3: you know, two good games over the weekend does not,
Speaker 3: you know, make up for two and a half bad months,
Speaker 3: and that's what they've had. Tailor two teams really good
Speaker 3: early and really mediocre after that, barely mediocre. So but
Speaker 3: coming home tough, tough home stand with Houston and Atlanta,
Speaker 3: two teams with a lot to play for, two teams
Speaker 3: with a big history against the Phillies, so it should
Speaker 3: be a very interesting week.
Speaker 1: You guys mentioned both mentioned Stott. So I'm driving home
Speaker 1: on Saturday night. I'm in the car listen to Scott
Speaker 1: Franski and Kevin Stocker. And in the sixth inning, I
Speaker 1: think Nick Castianos had a single, Bryson Stott comes to
Speaker 1: the plate, and Bryson Stott puts the ball in play,
Speaker 1: hits the lip of the infield or the cut of
Speaker 1: the infield back spins over the second basement's head, and
Speaker 1: I think it was the next batter, maybe JT hits
Speaker 1: the three run home run. And in the back of
Speaker 1: my head, Ruben, I remember you talking about this on Friday,
Speaker 1: about putting the ball in play. In the back of
Speaker 1: my head, as this ball goes over the second basement's head,
Speaker 1: I hear Ruben in my head, go, this is what
Speaker 1: happens when you put the ball in play. Good things happen.
Speaker 2: Good things happen.
Speaker 1: They struck out thirty three times against the Braves last week.
Speaker 1: They struck out twenty times this weekend against the Royals,
Speaker 1: So thirteen fewer strekeouts, thirteen more balls in play, one
Speaker 1: of them maybe being Bryce and Stott's little you know,
Speaker 1: crazy backspin hop Boom sets up a three run bomb.
Speaker 1: Everything is right in the world.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 4: This is interesting about that play is and I talked
Speaker 4: about it a little bit on the broadcast yesterday, is
Speaker 4: that they just put that new saw down. They literally
Speaker 4: just put that saw down like a week before. I
Speaker 4: think they're that series while they're on the road trip,
Speaker 4: and it was just a sod in the infield because
Speaker 4: they want to go to a different for some reason,
Speaker 4: they want to go a different bermuda grass or blend
Speaker 4: or whatever the case may be. They laid it down
Speaker 4: and that ball hit that lip, and I guarantee it
Speaker 4: had a lot to do with the fact that there
Speaker 4: was a new someone's in trouble.
Speaker 2: Somebody's gonna get one of these.
Speaker 4: And if I was a GM, going yeah, I will
Speaker 4: say this.
Speaker 2: They did it against pretty good pitching. They had, you know,
Speaker 2: they had to face some pretty good starting pitching. I
Speaker 2: didn't think Lugo was as sharp.
Speaker 4: But the fact that they beat up on Lugo, who
Speaker 4: has not been as sharp as the first half, and
Speaker 4: the fact that they've you know, swung the bats pretty well,
Speaker 4: that that bullpen's terrible for the UH for can't see Royals.
Speaker 4: I mean, the numbers don't lie. It's just not great stuff.
Speaker 4: But that said, you still got to get it done.
Speaker 4: It doesn't really matter how it gets done, just so
Speaker 4: that it does. You make a great point about just
Speaker 4: making contact, and you know, even a couple of times,
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, you had Johann Rojas hit again,
Speaker 4: a couple of infield hits to extend innings, just touched
Speaker 4: the baseball.
Speaker 2: Another thing that.
Speaker 4: I will actually say is that my feeling is that
Speaker 4: Howie Kendrick came in town and he's been around the
Speaker 4: ball club a little bit. I'm not sure if that
Speaker 4: was by design for a reason because they haven't been
Speaker 4: swinging the bats well, whether they just needed another voice
Speaker 4: in there. I mean, you know, who knows what would
Speaker 4: have happened over there, like if they would have continued
Speaker 4: to like be terrible, which was amazing to me. You know,
Speaker 4: they were literally as bad as you could be for
Speaker 4: the talent that they've had. So offensively, you know, you
Speaker 4: get started concerned about, you know, do they make changes,
Speaker 4: are they going to do something with the hitting coach
Speaker 4: and all this other stuff, because the two assistant hitting
Speaker 4: coaches were let go last year. Yeah, they had new
Speaker 4: hit assistant hitting coaches. Is that working? Was that working
Speaker 4: at this time? I mean you start thinking about, you know,
Speaker 4: how this is going to you know, affect you know,
Speaker 4: the hitting coaches this year, and they brought Howie Kendrick
Speaker 4: in on this. He came in I believe in the
Speaker 4: Kansas City. I'm not sure if he was in Atlanta
Speaker 4: and I can't recall, but just the fact that he's
Speaker 4: here and he also traveled with the team back to Philadelphia,
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if he's given him a little bit
Speaker 4: of you know, a little help, a little observation, whatever
Speaker 4: the case may be. I don't want to put it
Speaker 4: on him necessarily because the guys have to do it
Speaker 4: in the box and they have to commit to it
Speaker 4: when they're at the plate, but maybe it might add
Speaker 4: some positive effect. And uh, and it was just something
Speaker 4: I noticed that that happened.
Speaker 2: As far as the personnel is concerned.
Speaker 3: Well, that's very very interesting because he was a professional
Speaker 3: hitter who gives you a lot of good at bats
Speaker 3: and like he's not in the batter's box, but he
Speaker 3: can certainly articulate things around the cage and help with
Speaker 3: mindset and just help with a new voice. He's a
Speaker 3: been there, done that guy. He's got some uh, what
Speaker 3: would you call it, grit, competitiveness, toughness to him. He's
Speaker 3: you know, he ain't afraid to ruffle a feather or two,
Speaker 3: like Howie Ruben Todd. We you know, at the end
Speaker 3: of last week, I was actually speculating that it might be,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of opining that it might be time
Speaker 3: to send Marsh out his bats right that poor and
Speaker 3: then Friday night he just lights it up. Friday night
Speaker 3: he comes out, he's turning on balls, he's driving balls
Speaker 3: the other way. He had really good at bats. Do
Speaker 3: you guys get the sense that they were getting close
Speaker 3: there to doing something with him, because like, for the
Speaker 3: month he was like forty strikeouts.
Speaker 1: I know that ahead I was gonna say, I just
Speaker 1: know that there was a lot of frustration there with
Speaker 1: with Brandon Marsh and just the lack of productive at
Speaker 1: bats because, like you said, Rubin, I think they thought
Speaker 1: that he was going to take a step forward this
Speaker 1: year and they keep wanting him to prove himself to
Speaker 1: be the everyday player. And now it has gotten to
Speaker 1: a point where it's like when do you play this guy?
Speaker 1: Can you play this guy. Can you trust him? Is
Speaker 1: he going to give you a quality of bats? So,
Speaker 1: I mean he struck out only three times at a
Speaker 1: twelve at bats this weekend. But yeah, I think there
Speaker 1: was a lot of frustration. I don't know how close
Speaker 1: they were to that decision, but a lot of frustration
Speaker 1: I think internally about about his play.
Speaker 4: There may have been some rumblings. And you know, listen,
Speaker 4: it's a production based game. If you don't produce, uh,
Speaker 4: and you're a young player and you don't have like
Speaker 4: the track record and he really doesn't have like the
Speaker 4: track record like some of the other players do.
Speaker 2: You know, the tray turner's obviously.
Speaker 4: And and and the and the harpers, you can you
Speaker 4: can suck that up because you know at some point
Speaker 4: and even Castiano's you can kind of suck up, you know,
Speaker 4: a month or two of production that's not normal and
Speaker 4: still know that at this at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: you're going to get the kind of production that you
Speaker 4: just sort of need.
Speaker 2: And Castianos is a perfect example of that.
Speaker 4: Jimmy, you and I talked about that a lot that
Speaker 4: at some point he was going to get it right.
Speaker 4: He's been probably the most consistent guy they have, but
Speaker 4: Marsh wasn't there, and Marsh hadn't.
Speaker 2: Really built that equity.
Speaker 4: And you know, hopefully he continues to produce because he's important.
Speaker 2: Stots and and he's important.
Speaker 4: And we talked about the length of the lineup in
Speaker 4: the early part of the season, like those guys, they
Speaker 4: need to produce and if they don't produce, don't get replaced,
Speaker 4: Like Dave Dombrowski doesn't screw around. If you're not a
Speaker 4: productive player in the major leagues, you're not going to
Speaker 4: continue to play and you're not going to be on
Speaker 4: the club. And that's you know, I mean, listen, he's
Speaker 4: I love the person. I love all those guys. They're
Speaker 4: really great people and they're great teammates. At the end
Speaker 4: of the day, they're going to have to produce, and
Speaker 4: it was great to see them sort of bounce back
Speaker 4: and do some of the things that they have done
Speaker 4: in the past that they need to continue to build up.
Speaker 1: And we will be right.
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Speaker 1: Guys, I think we talked a lot about the good
Speaker 1: things that's happened this week, so I think now is
Speaker 1: a good time for the Philly of the Week. WILLI
Speaker 1: the Week presented by Shibe Vintage Sports, get unique throwback Phillies,
Speaker 1: teas hats and sweatshirts from local artists at their shops
Speaker 1: in Center City, Wayne and Westchester, and of course online
Speaker 1: at shib sports dot Org.
Speaker 4: Hey you guys were wearing you guys call each other
Speaker 4: today with the spectrum in the vet the old school venues.
Speaker 2: That's okay, awesome, Irene. I wore mind the whole trip.
Speaker 4: I was when my workout, I wore a couple of
Speaker 4: the Ben Franklin one.
Speaker 2: I have a picture of that Ben Franklin.
Speaker 4: I'll shoot it out there because Ben Franklin was at
Speaker 4: a coffee shop. He literally like there's like a like
Speaker 4: a pewter thing of him. Anyway, I'll tweet that out.
Speaker 4: At some point, I missed the Vet. I really missed
Speaker 4: the Vet. Yes, my my parking spot, players don't.
Speaker 3: My parking spot at the VET was so close that
Speaker 3: I'd often get blocked in if I was getting out
Speaker 3: of there quick, I'd get blocked in by the visiting
Speaker 3: team bus.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: We used to have wow parking spots. Media used to
Speaker 1: have parking spots at the VET. I forgot about that.
Speaker 3: We had him right underneath, like where the press entrance was.
Speaker 3: It's funny. I can still remember getting out of there
Speaker 3: really quick one night and walking out and the Giants
Speaker 3: bus was there, and Matt Williams was on his early
Speaker 3: cell phone. It was like a block and I can
Speaker 3: see him in the bus and I'm waiting for the
Speaker 3: bus to pull out so i can get out of
Speaker 3: my pocket. Spot.
Speaker 2: That's funny.
Speaker 3: That is so funny. I wrote, side of the vet.
Speaker 3: The foul balls, Oh my god, they would come screaming.
Speaker 4: So I wrote on my wall, I had the great
Speaker 4: fortune when I moved into the front office there, because
Speaker 4: I literally went from being on the field to the
Speaker 4: front office in ninety eight at the end of ninety eight,
Speaker 4: and when we ended up blowing it up just beforehand,
Speaker 4: I wrote on the wall of my office, I had
Speaker 4: Rouy Carpenter's old office, and wow, and desk, it was
Speaker 4: like the greatest desk and office ever. It just happened
Speaker 4: to be that I got that office and it was
Speaker 4: right across the way from Ed Wade's and I wrote
Speaker 4: something like on the wall before they blew it up,
Speaker 4: I wrote in a sharpie on one of the walls,
Speaker 4: I wrote something like, thank you so much for all
Speaker 4: the memories. I appreciate everything that you brought to uh
Speaker 4: to the US Philly fans or something like that. And
Speaker 4: apparently a cop before you know, when they were like
Speaker 4: making sure that everybody was out of there and make
Speaker 4: it and had to get make sure that there's nobody
Speaker 4: in there when they imploded. It took a picture of that,
Speaker 4: and someone has it. I've never seen it. I would
Speaker 4: love to implore people if there's a if there's a policeman,
Speaker 4: who who did take that? I remember somebody tell me
Speaker 4: that and I've never seen the picture. But apparently they
Speaker 4: took a picture of it. I never did.
Speaker 1: Let's put that out there. That would be pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that photo, man, I would love to be able
Speaker 2: to put it.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think I will put it out there
Speaker 4: when when we throw this episode out there online, I'll
Speaker 4: shoot that out there as well.
Speaker 2: So a shirt, that's awesome, said them.
Speaker 4: Whatever, man, somebody, somebody has it and somebody mentioned it
Speaker 4: to me and I never really thought it up on it.
Speaker 2: I'd love to be able to see that picture.
Speaker 1: That's very cool. So let's so let's do uh Philly
Speaker 1: the week? I started last week, so I can't start
Speaker 1: this week. I don't want to, you know, pick we
Speaker 1: can go different guys. Let's start with Jim. Jim, who's
Speaker 1: your Philly of the week?
Speaker 3: Wow? Who do you got? Bud? I got Garrett Stubbs
Speaker 3: because I thought it was really important that uh, you know,
Speaker 3: you got a nice win on Saturday night stop the
Speaker 3: skid a little bit, but it was very important that
Speaker 3: you build on that win. And he came out to
Speaker 3: play yesterday. I had himself a day at the plate,
Speaker 3: and uh, obviously JT with the big night the night
Speaker 3: before and you know, Sunday afternoon game ninety seven degrees,
Speaker 3: I knew JT was gonna sit and I knew people
Speaker 3: were gonna go crazy, but uh, Stubbs is play silenced
Speaker 3: a lot of people. So we're not listening to you know,
Speaker 3: everybody squawking about JT getting a day off after he
Speaker 3: swing it so well, and Stock comes in. He contributes
Speaker 3: like a member of the team. He does more than contribute.
Speaker 3: He he was a real difference maker for that team.
Speaker 3: So he got j T a day off. He helped
Speaker 3: him win, He helped him build a you know too
Speaker 3: modest two game wing streak. But they come home looking
Speaker 3: to continue to build on that. So I thought his
Speaker 3: performance was important on several levels. So he is, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, the Philly of the week for me.
Speaker 2: Great call.
Speaker 4: And then follow up on that, I talked to Rob
Speaker 4: Thompson after the game, I said, I said, awesome game.
Speaker 2: I said, Garrett stuff picked really really played. Well. He goes, yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Robert, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said,
Speaker 4: he said, he goes, he saved my ass.
Speaker 2: He was kind of kidd he said, I'm pretty smart
Speaker 2: and I had a hunch. I mean, you know, it's again,
Speaker 2: I know, I understand it.
Speaker 4: You know, he being a fan and an x GM,
Speaker 4: you start thinking about, you know, why in the world
Speaker 4: is this guy not getting it? You know, why why
Speaker 4: is he getting a day off? Well, there's reasons, and
Speaker 4: they need JT for this last month and a half
Speaker 4: or two months to be playing at a high level
Speaker 4: every day.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: The fact that he had that scheduled, that scheduled day off,
Speaker 4: that was rough on a lot of people.
Speaker 2: But you're right about Garrettuff's great call.
Speaker 4: I actually have j T as my as my player
Speaker 4: of the Week because I think JT had a phenomenal game.
Speaker 2: He's starting to come out of whatever funk he was in.
Speaker 4: He's getting his foot down more consistently. I think that
Speaker 4: he's just those overall at bats and approach. Obviously, having
Speaker 4: two three run home runs does not hurt but JT's
Speaker 4: my guy, did a nice job, did a super job
Speaker 4: where Ranger Suarez coming back.
Speaker 2: And managing through that. I thought that was really really important.
Speaker 4: And he's such an important part of their not just
Speaker 4: not just defense, but their offense as well. And when
Speaker 4: he comes on that really Lincoln's out the lineup. So
Speaker 4: I got JT as my player of the Week.
Speaker 1: I took Ranger Ranger on Saturday Night. Five innings, four hits,
Speaker 1: one run, six strikeouts. Jim, you talked about this a lot,
Speaker 1: like you know, when it's taken. It took a long time,
Speaker 1: such a long time for Ranger to come back. When
Speaker 1: he comes back, they need him to be Ranger. I mean,
Speaker 1: not full boar, I guess, but you didn't want him
Speaker 1: to come out on Saturday Night go four and two thirds,
Speaker 1: nine hits, four or five runs and then have him go, well,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got trying to shake off their cobwebs
Speaker 1: a little bit. He's got to get the rust off.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take him a few starts to get going.
Speaker 1: They don't really have time for him to get going.
Speaker 2: They need him to be pretty sharp.
Speaker 1: So I thought it was really encouraging and against a
Speaker 1: pretty good Royals team that he came out and.
Speaker 3: Threw the ball.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, he seemed to be throwing all four
Speaker 1: of his pitches, you know, with with commanding him and
Speaker 1: and you know, seemed to be keeping guys off balance.
Speaker 1: I saw a couple of the highlights and he seemed
Speaker 1: to be you know, dot in the corners again, like
Speaker 1: kind of like what he does with the sinker, which
Speaker 1: was encouraging. So uh, Rangers sworez for me Philly of
Speaker 1: the Week. It's funny that we've done this now two
Speaker 1: weeks in a row and we haven't doubled up on
Speaker 1: anybody yet. So the oh there's that, you know, so uh.
Speaker 3: I like I liked rangers body language too. I saw
Speaker 3: a little bit of Ranger, you know, the swagger. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's making a defensive play. Uh, and that told me
Speaker 3: that he felt okay. Definitely a good sign that the
Speaker 3: way he threw the ball something to build on. And
Speaker 3: you know, all of a sudden, if he's back, you're
Speaker 3: going four deep again. And that's that's the foundation of
Speaker 3: this team. That's where they built that great record on
Speaker 3: the backs of the starting pitching. I think that's what's
Speaker 3: gonna take them through October. If they have the October,
Speaker 3: they'd like to have the successful October. They're they're they're
Speaker 3: aiming for. You're gonna need that starting pitching. And in
Speaker 3: the short term, if you're gonna go four deep, you know,
Speaker 3: it allows you to really bear down on Taiwan Walker
Speaker 3: and say, can you know we're gonna are we going
Speaker 3: to see this through or we're gonna, you know, have
Speaker 3: somebody else go on that five spot, because you know,
Speaker 3: if you're four strong instead of it's a big it's
Speaker 3: a big difference being four strong than rather than just
Speaker 3: three strong, right, And I don't know if they can
Speaker 3: they can continue on with Taiwan. I think they're probably
Speaker 3: reaching a decision time. I don't know what that decision is,
Speaker 3: just simply to replace him in the in the rotation
Speaker 3: with maybe Allard, who threw the ball pretty well yesterday,
Speaker 3: kept him off balance, or it's time to say goodbye.
Speaker 3: I don't know whether they would do that because depth
Speaker 3: is still valuable, but you're not really getting quality depth there,
Speaker 3: So it's a it's an issue. I'm sure they're digging it,
Speaker 3: digging into up on the executive level, right Rubin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no question about it.
Speaker 4: I mean, how do you have not had that contract
Speaker 4: right now he's still load like forty million dollars or
Speaker 4: something crazy like that. So that's a very very difficult
Speaker 4: thing to just kind of walk away from. That said,
Speaker 4: I would not be surprised if at some point, and
Speaker 4: I don't know if they've gotten to that breaking point yet,
Speaker 4: it's getting close.
Speaker 2: I think of, you know, either either put him in
Speaker 2: the pen, which he.
Speaker 4: Will not be effective and he will not enjoy, and
Speaker 4: or just letting him go. And that's a really tough
Speaker 4: thing to ask John Middleton to eat.
Speaker 2: You know, forty million dollars is forty million dollars.
Speaker 4: That said, I mean, if they truly don't think that
Speaker 4: he's going to be a viable major league pitcher in
Speaker 4: any role, then uh, then it's possible.
Speaker 2: Anything's possible. You have to produce in this game.
Speaker 4: And uh, you know we've done it before, not with
Speaker 4: these kind of numbers this big, but you know the
Speaker 4: organization has done it before. We We did it with
Speaker 4: Jeff Jenkins one year when he had an eat six
Speaker 4: six and a half. We did with Adam eating. I mean,
Speaker 4: we've done these things before in the past, but I
Speaker 4: mean this that's a huge number, but that they don't
Speaker 4: feel like his arm is able to bounce back and
Speaker 4: do the things that needs to do.
Speaker 2: I think he might get one more shot at it
Speaker 2: might maybe.
Speaker 4: I think the fact that I think that they think
Speaker 4: that they have four strong now, I think they're gonna
Speaker 4: be very careful with a couple of things on Ranger,
Speaker 4: very careful with Ranger. He's not going to pitch on
Speaker 4: his normal rest. I think he's gonna pitch on five days'
Speaker 4: rest this next time. I think that they're concerned about
Speaker 4: his back spasms. They can continue to kind of flare up.
Speaker 4: And they know that they know they're not dumb dumbs.
Speaker 4: They know that without Ranger Suarez that puts them in
Speaker 4: a real heap of trouble to be able to manage
Speaker 4: through those playoffs and whatever role and and so they
Speaker 4: need to they need to have him available and to
Speaker 4: be pitching well. So it will be really interesting over
Speaker 4: the next this next turn of the rotation. They may
Speaker 4: be tweaking some things. I'm not sure they're at the
Speaker 4: breaking point yet on uh On Taiwan, but I will
Speaker 4: tell you that if he comes out and pitches the
Speaker 4: way he pitched his last time, or last two times.
Speaker 4: I think that might be it for them. That's my opinion.
Speaker 4: I don't have any I haven't talked to anybody about it.
Speaker 4: It's a very sensitive issue.
Speaker 2: But they're not going to stand for it.
Speaker 4: And you know, they're probably lining some things up in
Speaker 4: triple A to make sure whether it's Allard or whether
Speaker 4: it's Phillips, Phillips or somebody else, they need to step forward.
Speaker 4: You just you sort of have to give yourself a
Speaker 4: chance to win a baseball game. And if you don't
Speaker 4: have a chance to win the baseball game with your
Speaker 4: starting pitcher, that makes life real time.
Speaker 3: You can plug one spot, it's hard to plug two spots,
Speaker 3: and that's what they were doing. So with Ranger back,
Speaker 3: they don't have to plug two spots. But if Taiwan's
Speaker 3: going to get one more and I hear what you're saying,
Speaker 3: I think that's quite plausible. He gets another chance, it's
Speaker 3: gonna come at home and all of a sudden, now
Speaker 3: you're going to have you know, forty three thousand stockholders
Speaker 3: voicing their opinions in the boardroom, and you better pitch well.
Speaker 3: All those opinions are going to be loud and unpleasant.
Speaker 3: That's the thing.
Speaker 1: I just haven't seen anything so far that's said, all right,
Speaker 1: I see this coming around where he's going to get
Speaker 1: it figured out.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the same thing. You're just hearing the
Speaker 1: same things after start, Well, the velocity isn't there, but
Speaker 1: I think it's coming. Okay, Well, now it's been you
Speaker 1: know how many starts this season where we've been talking
Speaker 1: about after every start the velocities isn't there, but I
Speaker 1: think it's coming. I've been We've been hearing a lot
Speaker 1: about how the splitter it's it's not quite there yet,
Speaker 1: but it's getting better and it's going to come. So
Speaker 1: you know, you hear that after over the course of
Speaker 1: the season, how many starts has he made at least
Speaker 1: you know, ten twelve starts? Okay, what is it actually
Speaker 1: going to come? Or is this just something that you
Speaker 1: hear from a picture? You know, because I we've all
Speaker 1: been around this situation before, remember like when royality was
Speaker 1: breaking down, it was I'm just you know, this has
Speaker 1: to happen. I'm almost there, you know, all these pictures
Speaker 1: on the decline, you know, we're almost there. I just
Speaker 1: have to do this more. I have to get ahead
Speaker 1: in the count a little bit more and I'll be okay.
Speaker 1: But it's not happening yet. So that's the thing is,
Speaker 1: I just haven't seen any real true signs of encouragement
Speaker 1: from Tywan Marker to make it think that, you know,
Speaker 1: just give him a couple more starts, guys, and don't worry.
Speaker 1: It's it's going to be back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And how how good can the splitter be if
Speaker 3: there's no velocity?
Speaker 4: Seriously, right, there's no there's no separation with his pitches.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't see any arm speed.
Speaker 4: I don't see the arm speed that he once had,
Speaker 4: and I know that's something that they've been hoping would
Speaker 4: bounce back and that he would have some arm speed.
Speaker 2: You're right.
Speaker 4: I mean, he has to be absolutely perfect with his command,
Speaker 4: and he hasn't been perfect with the stuff that he
Speaker 4: has right now. And it's it's not like he's not trying,
Speaker 4: you know, he's trying to just he wants to perform.
Speaker 2: He just hasn't been able to do it.
Speaker 4: And I do think he will probably get one more
Speaker 4: start to be able to prove that or to try
Speaker 4: to turn things around.
Speaker 2: But we will see.
Speaker 1: So let's wrap this up. Phillies open up a big
Speaker 1: series this week against the Houston Astros. The Astros guys
Speaker 1: were twelve and twenty four on May eighth, they were
Speaker 1: the fourth worst record in baseball. They're fifty seven and
Speaker 1: thirty six since going into yesterday, it was tied for
Speaker 1: the best record in baseball. So they've been on a
Speaker 1: roll now for several months. Zach Wheeler versus Ronel Blanco
Speaker 1: on Monday night, Aaron Nola versus Justin Berlander on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and Christopher Sanchez versus Spencer Aragaetti on Wednesday night. So
Speaker 1: that's a big series, and then you have the Braves
Speaker 1: coming to town for four, so see if they can.
Speaker 3: People were talking about the Astros being sellers. I mean
Speaker 3: there were articles being written in June. Are the Astros
Speaker 3: They're done? People? You know they're gonna sell? I mean,
Speaker 3: it just illustrates how ridiculous it is to make these
Speaker 3: early pronouncements, especially for a team that has that type
Speaker 3: of talent. They're banged up a little bit and they
Speaker 3: know how to win. They've been there, they've done that.
Speaker 3: You can't write teams off too early. The teams to
Speaker 3: have some experience and the talent that the Houston Astros have.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a big series for the Phillies, a
Speaker 3: big test. Need to continue these build on these two games,
Speaker 3: and take it home where you're a very good team.
Speaker 2: I remember talking on the MLB network about this.
Speaker 4: You know, at some point they were going to turn
Speaker 4: it around, and no one stepped forward. Seattle ends up
Speaker 4: getting playing so poorly that they met fire their manager.
Speaker 4: You know, the Rangers can't get healthy. So there's nobody
Speaker 4: really to compete out there, the Angel stink and the
Speaker 4: a stink.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 4: I mean they step forward and they're starting to play.
Speaker 4: I mean they've they've got they've got champions there. They
Speaker 4: have people who know how to play and know what
Speaker 4: it is to be a champion. And and this is
Speaker 4: a great test. These next seven games, they are really
Speaker 4: important games.
Speaker 2: They're doing them at home.
Speaker 4: Hopefully they can play good, solid baseball like they did
Speaker 4: in the last couple of games, last three games. Other
Speaker 4: than the Taiwan debacle, the last three games, they've actually
Speaker 4: a little bit better.
Speaker 1: We'll be back on well Mill this week, maybe Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We'll answer some questions. If you want to send questions,
Speaker 1: we'll put out a tweet and respond to their Facebook
Speaker 1: Instagram shoot us a note if you want us to
Speaker 1: have any questions about the Phillies or you want any
Speaker 1: life advice, We'd love to give you some life advice.
Speaker 4: Yes, because we're lifers.
Speaker 2: We're lifeers.
Speaker 3: Don't come to me.
Speaker 1: Jim says, all right, guys, uh, we'll see you later.
Speaker 2: We'll see you later this week.
Speaker 3: Smelling later, boys, Jim.
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