Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Phillies Show with Ruben Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisburry.
Speaker 2: I am Todd the Lucky. It is Friday, May twenty fourth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. The Phillies are on this incredible run.
Speaker 2: They're thirty seven and fourteen. It's the best start in
Speaker 2: franchise history. They're in their best thirty five game stretch
Speaker 2: in franchise history. No team has gotten off to I
Speaker 2: start like this since the two thousand and one Mariners.
Speaker 2: So many good things going on, including this homestand they
Speaker 2: go seven to one on the home stand. They just
Speaker 2: swept the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. They had
Speaker 2: a packed house on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at Citizens
Speaker 2: Bank Park. And as I'm watching these games, and as
Speaker 2: I see them continue to rack up wins over and over,
Speaker 2: night after night after night, part of me is just
Speaker 2: sitting last yesterday afternoon, I'm sitting at home and I'm
Speaker 2: watching this and I'm going, is this is this really happening?
Speaker 2: It's it's it's almost kind of hard to believe the
Speaker 2: type of run that this team is on. I've I've
Speaker 2: never seen anything like this before.
Speaker 1: It is complete insanity though, I mean it's insane. I
Speaker 1: was there at broadcasting these games, and I actually don't
Speaker 1: typically do you know, the home games, that's Cruoky's job.
Speaker 1: But but I've got these last six games, and these
Speaker 1: guys are insane right now. They cannot lose. It's almost
Speaker 1: as if, you know, I think, I think it's a
Speaker 1: crescendo of a lot of things happening. But one of
Speaker 1: the big things, obviously is the pitching. The starting pitching
Speaker 1: has been extraordinary. But even when they're getting like mediocre pitching,
Speaker 1: when Taiwan Walker took them out, they still had success.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those things like I compare them
Speaker 1: right now to the team like the ninety eight, ninety six,
Speaker 1: ninety seven, ninety eight Yankees that literally, if you made
Speaker 1: one mistake in the game, the Phillies would take advantage
Speaker 1: of it and you get blown out and that's the game.
Speaker 1: The game's over. And even if it was even like
Speaker 1: the two run or the three run, they're ahead like
Speaker 1: two or three runs, and you still think it's sort
Speaker 1: of a blowout. I mean, it's just bizarre the teams
Speaker 1: that they're handling these teams in this way, because you
Speaker 1: almost feel it and sense it from the other teams,
Speaker 1: and you sense it from the home dugout the Phillies
Speaker 1: dugout that they're winning a baseball game and that's period,
Speaker 1: end of story. And that's an amazing attitude. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's a wonderful thing to see if you're a Phillies fan.
Speaker 1: I'm loving it because there's so many elements of the
Speaker 1: game that I believe in that they're doing really really well.
Speaker 1: That makes me feel like a man, this is really baseball.
Speaker 1: They're they're starting. Pitching is excellent, They're throwing strikes in
Speaker 1: an alarming rate. They are not walking people, they are there,
Speaker 1: their situational hitting has been off the charts, and I
Speaker 1: mean they're it's they're doing everything they're supposed to do
Speaker 1: to win baseball games, and they're doing it fundamentally better
Speaker 1: than everybody else and physically better than everybody else.
Speaker 3: Jim, Yeah, what a home stand. I mean, you go
Speaker 3: seven and one, the smallest crowd in that homestand was
Speaker 3: thirty seven almost thirty eight, thousirty seven plus four sellouts.
Speaker 3: This team and this fan base is crackling with electricity,
Speaker 3: and why not best record in baseball, best start over
Speaker 3: fifty one games in franchise history. They now lead to
Speaker 3: majors in era and starting pitching era they lead them
Speaker 3: and starting pitching innings pitched. I mean, it's really kind
Speaker 3: of an old school feel because they're getting so many
Speaker 3: innings out of their starting pitchers. They're getting six plus
Speaker 3: innings out of their starting pitches on average for the season.
Speaker 3: And you know, I've almost a couple things. One, I
Speaker 3: expect them to win every time they step on the field,
Speaker 3: so you might, you might I think they expect to win.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm watching that game yesterday from the press
Speaker 3: box and Zach Wheelers down one nothing, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: I still think, you know, when are they going to
Speaker 3: take control of this game. It's only a matter of time,
Speaker 3: it feels inevitable. And of course they did, and they
Speaker 3: went on to uh sweep the defending World Series champions.
Speaker 3: And I've almost forgotten. And I've covered the Phillies for
Speaker 3: a long time. I've seen a lot of losing streaks,
Speaker 3: but this team has not lost back to back games,
Speaker 3: now consecutive games in a month, so they haven't even
Speaker 3: had a little losing streak. I mean, that's to me
Speaker 3: an astounding stat They have not lost back to back
Speaker 3: games in one month. I mean, there's still that narrative
Speaker 3: out there. They haven't played anybody, they haven't played great teams.
Speaker 3: They have a soft schedule. You can only play one team,
Speaker 3: the team that the schedule, you know, mister schedule maker
Speaker 3: sends you that night. And they're grinding up those teams.
Speaker 3: I mean they would they would be playing, they would
Speaker 3: they would have faced more teams over five hundred, like
Speaker 3: if they hadn't beaten them, like the Padres and the
Speaker 3: Giants have been kind of treading water around five hundred.
Speaker 3: Little Phillies have beaten those teams and thrown them who
Speaker 3: thrown them under five hundred. But you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: this is not about strength to schedule. This is about
Speaker 3: winning ball games. And they got a hell of a team. Todd, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know who's a great team.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to know. Well, totally.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 2: I saw Matt Breen, a friend of the pod from
Speaker 2: the Inquiry, he put out a great tweet the other night.
Speaker 2: But like, I've never seen so much obsession about strength
Speaker 2: to schedule. This is not the BCS, This is not
Speaker 2: Boise State racking up wins again cupcakes to get into
Speaker 2: the college football playoff. Wins and losses all comp the same.
Speaker 2: So the Phillies against teams with losing records are thirty
Speaker 2: three and twelve. It's a seven thirty three winning percentage, right.
Speaker 2: I went back and I looked, this is what I
Speaker 2: do in my spare time. I went back and I
Speaker 2: looked at all the one hundred game winners this century
Speaker 2: from two thousand to twenty twenty three. Only they're thirty
Speaker 2: five one hundred win teams. Only four had a better
Speaker 2: winning percentage against losing teams. So the idea that this
Speaker 2: is what everybody does. They're only winning because they're playing
Speaker 2: teams with losing records. Even the really good teams this
Speaker 2: century have not beaten the bad teams at a clip
Speaker 2: like this. And I know you guys probably feel the
Speaker 2: same way. I don't watch these games, even against the
Speaker 2: losing teams and say, man, I'm telling you what, if
Speaker 2: they were playing the Braves tonight, they would have they
Speaker 2: would have gotten they would have won that game because
Speaker 2: they are playing clean baseball for the most part. They
Speaker 2: make a mistake here and there, but I'm not watching
Speaker 2: these games going man, they are so lucky they're playing
Speaker 2: the Nationals this weekend. They are so lucky they played
Speaker 2: the White Sox this weekend. They are doing exactly what
Speaker 2: they're supposed to do. And of those one hundred win teams,
Speaker 2: you know, five won the World Series less century. Eight
Speaker 2: made the World Series a century.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: But so they're they're they're not just beating bad teams,
Speaker 2: they're beating them at at a rate that really good
Speaker 2: teams have not even done over the past twenty four seasons.
Speaker 1: It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3: So the go ahead.
Speaker 1: So the one so, the one team that I played
Speaker 1: for that I felt like this as a player was
Speaker 1: the team in ninety five, the Cleveland Indians. We won
Speaker 1: one hundred games out of one hundred and forty four.
Speaker 1: Think about that. It was one hundred and forty four.
Speaker 1: That was the record of the team at the end
Speaker 1: of the season. And so they were fifty six games
Speaker 1: over five hundred and so that was one of those
Speaker 1: teams that they bashed. It wasn't a great pitching team.
Speaker 1: The Phillies have a much much better starting rotation and
Speaker 1: in a better bullpen than that ball club. That ball
Speaker 1: club had an amazing offense. You know, it had you know,
Speaker 1: Albert Bell and Kenny Lofton and many Ramier's, Jim Tomey,
Speaker 1: Eddie Murray. I mean, it was an amazing Carlos Bierga.
Speaker 1: You know, some guys you could really really rake, and
Speaker 1: they they racked up numbers, but it was like, like
Speaker 1: you said, Jim, the team took like a one nothing leader,
Speaker 1: two nothing leaders, like Okay, no big deal, this game's over.
Speaker 1: We're gonna win at nine to two or nine to
Speaker 1: four or whatever the heck, you know. And that's that's
Speaker 1: exactly the feel I have with this team that it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. They're gonna come back and do some
Speaker 1: damage and have grat at bats, and it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who it is. It's gonna be in Mondeseshosa or it's
Speaker 1: gonna be it doesn't have to be Brice Harper, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Cody Clemens, and it's gonna be you know,
Speaker 1: all types of guys up and down the lineup who
Speaker 1: are just going to do some damage and it's just
Speaker 1: an amazing run.
Speaker 2: I loved what Rob Thompson said the other day, I
Speaker 2: think it was after the win on Wednesday night. He
Speaker 2: was asked about getting off to the best start in
Speaker 2: baseball since the two thousand and one Mariners. And he said, well,
Speaker 2: what did they do, Well, they won one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty game. No, but what did they do at the end? Well,
Speaker 2: they didn't win the World Series? And I think that's
Speaker 2: I thought. I loved, loved, loved that answer because and
Speaker 2: I really truly feel that that is the attitude in
Speaker 2: that clubhouse. This is great, but keep your eye on
Speaker 2: the prize. They fell short the last two years late
Speaker 2: in the postseason, talking to players in spring training, they
Speaker 2: felt they should have won the World Series. Last year,
Speaker 2: they really felt that they blew an opportunity to win
Speaker 2: the World Series. I think that's hung with them. I
Speaker 2: think filling two wins short of the World Series in
Speaker 2: twenty two was hung with them. And I think beating
Speaker 2: the Braves in the NLDS the last two years to
Speaker 2: those hundred win teams is also another reminder that this
Speaker 2: is great, but keep your eye the price. And I
Speaker 2: feel so anybody that's kind of worried about any lack
Speaker 2: of edge or whatever, I think this play team is
Speaker 2: playing focused. And I also think that they're playing with
Speaker 2: an edge and a purpose that a lot of great
Speaker 2: teams have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Rob talks a lot about staying humble, and I
Speaker 3: think it's a sound message, but I don't think it's
Speaker 3: needed with this group because there is a palpable hunger.
Speaker 3: I still look at twenty twenty two, getting the Game
Speaker 3: six of the World Series is a great accomplishment, sure,
Speaker 3: but a little bit of a bonus. Last year I
Speaker 3: think is the one that was the gut punch for
Speaker 3: this team, and there's still sucking wind a little privately,
Speaker 3: quietly sucking wind a little bit from it. And that's
Speaker 3: the one that gnaws at them and is fueling this
Speaker 3: team right now because and I just I don't think
Speaker 3: they're gonna let I don't think losing their edge complacency
Speaker 3: is going to be a problem, because you know, the
Speaker 3: manager delivers the subtle messages. But I just think that
Speaker 3: the leadership in that clubhouse is fully committed and they
Speaker 3: have enough veterans to know that you've got to keep
Speaker 3: moving forward, and you know you're playing good right now.
Speaker 3: It's still technically springtime, but it's all about what happens
Speaker 3: in the fall for this team. So I don't have
Speaker 3: any worry about the intangible qualities in that clubhouse. I
Speaker 3: think I just think, you know, they are very, very
Speaker 3: motivated and very hungry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned about that. I think of the twenty
Speaker 1: eleven team, you know, after we lost in twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: I think that that next year. That's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I went out and got papal Bond and
Speaker 1: decided to add on because I felt like, I know
Speaker 1: that this team knows that they lost an opportunity and
Speaker 1: a little bit like two thousand and seven to two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, they were grinding at the bit to
Speaker 1: try to get back to it, and then the guys
Speaker 1: sort of fell apart. I mean, everybody sort of got
Speaker 1: hurt and then it kind of blew up on us.
Speaker 1: But in twenty twelve and then we sort of had
Speaker 1: to reverse reversed gears. But you're right about that there
Speaker 1: is a hunger in there and there is a drive
Speaker 1: in there too. You know that the prize is one thing,
Speaker 1: and I do believe that these guys believe that that
Speaker 1: it's World Series Champion or bust. I think that's the attitude,
Speaker 1: and that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3: You know, one thing they've they've they did well in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three is playover injuries,
Speaker 3: and they lost Harper for a time in both seasons,
Speaker 3: they lost Hoskins, they lost Wheeler a little bit down
Speaker 3: the stretch in twenty twenty two, and lo and behold,
Speaker 3: they're doing it again. I know it's not like a
Speaker 3: long injury for Trey Turner, but you know he's been out.
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna get back here soon. He's ramping
Speaker 3: up his workout. It's going to do another one today, Denver.
Speaker 3: But the way they've covered that loss, I mean they're
Speaker 3: fifteen and three without them.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. And listen, listen, listen. That's that's an MVP
Speaker 1: caliber player. I mean I picked him to be an
Speaker 1: MVP this year. And like, if you start thinking that
Speaker 1: the numbers that from when he started, when they got
Speaker 1: the applause, from the time that happened to now, I
Speaker 1: mean you think, look at his numbers, dur MVP type numbers.
Speaker 1: I mean the regally totally.
Speaker 3: We I think we need to show a little accountability
Speaker 3: here on the Todd Pod because when Trey Turner went down,
Speaker 3: I think all three of us to a man, said yeah,
Speaker 3: they'll probably slide stot over and give wit Maryfield some
Speaker 3: time at second base. That'll be their best lineup. Maybe
Speaker 3: you know a little bit with ed Mundo Sosa against
Speaker 3: a lefty at shortstop. Well at Mundo Sosa must have
Speaker 3: heard those remarks and said, screw you guys. He has
Speaker 3: been He has been flat out awesome since Trey Turner
Speaker 3: went out. He's hitting three forty two, six extra base hits,
Speaker 3: nine RBIs and a ten thirty four ops. Also playing
Speaker 3: excellent defense. Rubin that catch he made back pedaling yesterday
Speaker 3: going back into the outfield. I mean little plays like that,
Speaker 3: that ball drops in all of a sudden, that dugout
Speaker 3: on the other side becomes alive. There's another runner on base,
Speaker 3: you know, Wheeler, you know, you.
Speaker 4: Never know a play like that, a play like that
Speaker 4: is it can be a game shaper.
Speaker 3: And he's done a great job. So hats off to
Speaker 3: ed Mundo Sosa, you know, he you know, much like
Speaker 3: I think the Arizona loss last year, maybe is uh,
Speaker 3: you know, resonating or staying with that team and motivating
Speaker 3: that clubhouse. I guess he just you know, says I'm
Speaker 3: gonna show those guys on the Todd Pop.
Speaker 2: Who knew he was a listener who knew he was a.
Speaker 1: Listener, but yeah, I love him too. I love him
Speaker 1: as a player and I love him as a person.
Speaker 1: He is a great, great young man.
Speaker 3: Play with a lot of energy, A lot of energy. Man.
Speaker 3: I love the energy when you're winning and you're playing well.
Speaker 3: It's easy to play with energy. But energy is such
Speaker 3: a difference, making intangible really in anything you do. And
Speaker 3: it's just he is just radiating it and it's fun
Speaker 3: to watch him playing.
Speaker 1: Well. You think back again, go ahead time. I'm sorry, no, no,
Speaker 1: no go.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, you think back to when they
Speaker 2: got him a couple of years ago at the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: It was I don't want to say it was an
Speaker 2: under the radar move, but people are kind of going,
Speaker 2: all right, where's the neck, where's the real move coming
Speaker 2: in because he was struggling with the Cardinals. And listen,
Speaker 2: if you're in Philly, you don't know much about Edmundo Sosa.
Speaker 1: You just look.
Speaker 2: You go to Baseball reference page. You go, this guy's
Speaker 2: hitting two hundred. This is we gave up Jojo Romero.
Speaker 2: The guy throws ninety six. He's a left handed reliever.
Speaker 2: He smashes red bull cans on his head and we're
Speaker 2: getting a middle infielder that can't hit, you know, over
Speaker 2: two hundred and think about how valuable he's been over
Speaker 2: the passcal years, the energy, the defense, and think about
Speaker 2: just what he's done over these past you know, fourteen
Speaker 2: games in trade Turner's place, or you know fifteen eighteen
Speaker 2: games in trade Turner's place.
Speaker 1: And this is the beauty of what Rob Thompson also
Speaker 1: brings to the table because he gave this guy opportunities.
Speaker 1: He loved on this guy, he awardly. I really liked
Speaker 1: this guy. He liked his actions, he liked his energy,
Speaker 1: He wanted him on the field. He put him in
Speaker 1: situations to have success. And I think the kid like says,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for giving me that love, thank
Speaker 1: you for believing in me. You're giving me opportunities to
Speaker 1: play even with a team that's sort of stacked, and
Speaker 1: I'm producing for you. I mean, this is really really
Speaker 1: good stuff, man. This is this is like come full
Speaker 1: circle type stuff that that really makes a difference. And
Speaker 1: I think it gives you the brilliance of what Rob
Speaker 1: Thompson's about. We talked about, you know, the comments that
Speaker 1: you that he made about that winning that that that
Speaker 1: Seattle team and you know what they did at the end.
Speaker 1: And I think this pert the team has taken on
Speaker 1: the personality of this of this manager as well as anyone.
Speaker 1: And they're just going about it and grinding it and
Speaker 1: doing it in a confident but not cocky way, and
Speaker 1: they're enjoying themselves in a professional way. It's it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Very they're very steady, like their manager's personality, just
Speaker 3: you know, very steady. And that's something I think that's
Speaker 3: required in baseball because it's it's every day. It's not
Speaker 3: a bang your head against the locker sport and go
Speaker 3: out and take somebody's head off. It's it's you know,
Speaker 3: there's a there's a languid steadiness to it. And I'm
Speaker 3: not suggesting suggesting that it doesn't have intensity and passion
Speaker 3: and you know, I'm not suggesting any of that. It's
Speaker 3: it's a hard hitting sport, but in a different way.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I think it's fun about this run is that, as
Speaker 2: a from a baseball writer's perspective, is all the history
Speaker 2: that's being brought up, you know, best thirty five games
Speaker 2: stretched since the eighteen ninety two Phillies you know, Ranger
Speaker 2: Suarez is off to the best start of any Phillies
Speaker 2: starting pitchers since Grover Cleveland Alexander. You know, I think
Speaker 2: that stuff is a lot of fun too, and I
Speaker 2: think that stuff gets fans excited. Best best thirty five
Speaker 2: game stretches eighteen ninety two. Ed Dela Hanty, Sam Thompson,
Speaker 2: and Billy Hamilton were on that team. Can you guys
Speaker 2: give me any fun facts? But any of those three
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame outfielders, Let's see what jumps out at.
Speaker 3: Billy Hamilton his nickname was Sliding Billy right.
Speaker 2: Because he apparently was a fantastic slider.
Speaker 3: Like turner, like turner. And wasn't Ed Delahanty the guy
Speaker 3: that went over Niagara Falls?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: Yes? And who's the other guy? Correct?
Speaker 1: Sam Thompson? I got nothing, I got.
Speaker 3: An I'm not familiar with Sam Thompson.
Speaker 1: They're all in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: But Ed Delahanty, I think it's such a you know,
Speaker 2: such an eighteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundred story.
Speaker 2: He died mysteriously falling into the Niagara Falls coming off
Speaker 2: a train.
Speaker 3: But was that on a team trip?
Speaker 1: No, that wasn't that was not on a team that
Speaker 1: was an off season trip. But the mystery remains. You know,
Speaker 1: that's crazy.
Speaker 3: That is crazy.
Speaker 2: This So this weekend, the Phillies opened a three game
Speaker 2: series against the Rockies. Christopher Sanchez Friday Night against lefty
Speaker 2: Ty Block, He's one and two with a five one
Speaker 2: to four e RA. Saturday's Aaron Nola versus Dakota Hudson.
Speaker 2: He's one and seven with a five eight ninety RA.
Speaker 2: Sunday Rangers Suarez aka Grover Cleveland Alexander versus cal Quantrille
Speaker 2: three three with a three five niney RA six game
Speaker 2: road trip, West Coast road trip. They can always be
Speaker 2: a little hairy, but this team seems to be pretty
Speaker 2: well equipped to handle anything anything throwing its way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. It's it's obvious that the Colorado
Speaker 1: Rockies are one of the worst teams in the National League. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're coming off a super tough loss. They just lost
Speaker 1: a tough one. They were up like four to nothing
Speaker 1: a couple of times late in the game and in
Speaker 1: an extra innings this last game. And their bullpen has
Speaker 1: just really struggled. They just don't throw enough strikes. But
Speaker 1: you can't take any of these teams. Lightly, you're going
Speaker 1: into thin air here up in the you know, at
Speaker 1: cors Field, it's a whole different atmosphere. They're not going
Speaker 1: to have a lot of people at the ballpark. I
Speaker 1: don't believe it'll be interesting to see how well the
Speaker 1: fans travel here because it's a weekend and they're so popular,
Speaker 1: and usually the Philly fans do travel well, especially on
Speaker 1: weekends as they get closer to the to the summertime.
Speaker 1: But it's not going to be easy to win. I mean,
Speaker 1: San Francisco is playing a little bit better, they're a
Speaker 1: better team, they're they're a little hotter, they're they've won
Speaker 1: some late games and they're starting to get some mojo there.
Speaker 1: It's never easy to play on the West Coast. They
Speaker 1: had a really good West Coast run the first time
Speaker 1: through or and and and they've done well there. And
Speaker 1: you're right, I think they're well equipped to handle things.
Speaker 1: But they got to keep grinding, keep playing and uh
Speaker 1: and you know, show the rest of the world what
Speaker 1: they're all about.
Speaker 3: And coursefield can be, pardon me, a real test of
Speaker 3: your pitching, because not only the way the ball flies,
Speaker 3: but just from talking to pitchers over the years, everything
Speaker 3: feels a little different, often feels a little different coming
Speaker 3: out of the hand. Sometimes you'll talk to you know,
Speaker 3: reliever and he'll say, I really had trouble spinning it,
Speaker 3: or you have to sometimes you have to talk things
Speaker 3: a little different to get the spin you're looking for,
Speaker 3: and that can throw you out a whack a little bit,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you can feel the effects of it in
Speaker 3: the next series. I've talked to relievers over the years
Speaker 3: to say, I'm always a little a little more sore
Speaker 3: coming out of Denver, just because you have to. You know,
Speaker 3: you have to manipulate pitches just a little bit different
Speaker 3: to get them to do get the action you're looking for.
Speaker 3: Have you ever encountered that, Ruben or talked about that
Speaker 3: with guys.
Speaker 1: Well, I felt like that when I was playing in
Speaker 1: the outfield there, not only are you sort of sucking wind,
Speaker 1: you're literally sucking wind. You feel a lot more winded there.
Speaker 1: You're just not getting as much oxygen, And I think
Speaker 1: that everything is a little bit more of an effort
Speaker 1: for you physically, whatever you do, whether you're swinging the
Speaker 1: bat or running the bases or making a pitch and
Speaker 1: grinding it out as you said, The one thing that
Speaker 1: is that is really apparent here in field. They're such
Speaker 1: a vast amount of square footage to cover in the
Speaker 1: outfield that the fact that they have a much better
Speaker 1: outfield just defensively, I think that's huge. The fact that
Speaker 1: they have guys like you know, Johann Rojas, they have
Speaker 1: Marshian left, and they have Pache. I mean that's those
Speaker 1: are important pieces to have because you basically need to
Speaker 1: center fielders out there to cover center and left, and
Speaker 1: that's a big deal. If I was a GM here,
Speaker 1: I would absolutely have two outfielders that I know could
Speaker 1: be center field type range guys to cover enough outfield
Speaker 1: to be able to handle things. Because there's so much space.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily about the homers. It's about the rest
Speaker 1: of us. You know, there's the gaps and the space.
Speaker 1: There's just so much square footage. It's crazy.
Speaker 2: Well, Philly's got that. They got Rojas and marsh and
Speaker 2: maybe they threw a Pache out there. I'd still would
Speaker 2: love to see that. I love seeing that idea of
Speaker 2: those three guys out there at the same time running
Speaker 2: balls down.
Speaker 1: That would be fun for a game. Rubin, we got
Speaker 1: a we had a reader question.
Speaker 2: I want to go based off of something that you
Speaker 2: said earlier this week on the broadcast, want to I
Speaker 2: want to ask you about this. So Ranger Suarez pitches Tuesday,
Speaker 2: our good friend John Gonzalez, former inquir former NBC Sports
Speaker 2: Philly says, I was watching the game on Tuesday night
Speaker 2: and a ranger Swarez leaves the game, and Ruben says, quote,
Speaker 2: I would rub my whole body on him, just to
Speaker 2: the luck he's got going going right now. I was
Speaker 2: just wondering if Ruben could expand on that.
Speaker 1: Thanks.
Speaker 2: So, you know, let's help our friend out, Gonzo.
Speaker 1: So, so you know, you know that we are, as
Speaker 1: baseball players, are the most superstitious people on the planet. Right.
Speaker 1: You put your uniform on the same way you use
Speaker 1: the Saint bat, the same bat and gloves, whatever the
Speaker 1: case may be. You saw Bryce Harper take off as
Speaker 1: bat and gloves after having three really terrible at bats
Speaker 1: and then he goes walk home run. You know, you
Speaker 1: change things up when things aren't going right. Well, if
Speaker 1: a guy is hot and playing really well, you want
Speaker 1: a little juju from that guy. So you get a
Speaker 1: little body rub on him, you get you touch him
Speaker 1: a little bit, give me some of that juju. Man.
Speaker 1: I need to have some I need to get some luck,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh. And so that was the premise
Speaker 1: behind uh and the idea behind that. I think people
Speaker 1: took it a little differently. But hey, but I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. If I was his teammate right now, I
Speaker 1: would be up on him and I would be trying
Speaker 1: to get some hits.
Speaker 3: That's a that's a beautiful visual if you are yeah,
Speaker 3: well no it's not, but I mean luxuriating in his.
Speaker 1: But it is.
Speaker 2: It is so different because you see guys, you know,
Speaker 2: grab other guys bats, and you know, never forget all
Speaker 2: sorts of stuff.
Speaker 5: Never forget this story. Joe Blette is a short stop
Speaker 5: for the Phillies years ago, and I came up with
Speaker 5: him for a minute. I think it was ninety five
Speaker 5: or ninety seven, Who knows when it was. Uh, maybe
Speaker 5: it was ninety three. I don't know when Joe Molett
Speaker 5: came to the.
Speaker 1: Big leagues, but he was just had just come to
Speaker 1: the big leagues and bats were out. We were on
Speaker 1: the road anger we were Pittsburgh or Saint Louis or something,
Speaker 1: and he picks up Lenny Dykster's bat, and he's like, wow, man,
Speaker 1: this is a great bat. You know, the big leaguers
Speaker 1: got the real good wood. You know, you looked at
Speaker 1: the grains and it was a great you know. And
Speaker 1: so he's looking at the bat and hold the bat,
Speaker 1: and and Lenny Extra comes out of the dugout.
Speaker 3: Don't you ever e f and touch that bat again.
Speaker 1: You're the worst hitter I've ever seen.
Speaker 3: Don't ever put.
Speaker 1: That juju on my bat. I mean, get get your
Speaker 1: get that lug off. He's like, you dropped the bat.
Speaker 3: He was panicking.
Speaker 1: You know. It's so funny, so great. The dude due
Speaker 1: the dude. The dude was special. You talk about a
Speaker 1: guy who was superstitious. If he didn't get a hit
Speaker 1: in his first at bat, the dude would come back
Speaker 1: into the clubhouse and literally stripped down to nothing and
Speaker 1: throw everything out his whole uniform I'm talking about underwear, underwear, belt,
Speaker 1: the whole gig and would go right into the freaking
Speaker 1: trash and Frank Copenbarger would like, okay, he would like
Speaker 1: sneakily pull it all out, and he thought thought it
Speaker 1: was all gone. You know, you get all new new stuff,
Speaker 1: new ship right, but now Frank would Frank would retrieve
Speaker 1: most of it. But I mean, that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: how it went. Man. It's a superstitious game, and a
Speaker 1: lot of guys live a lot by some of those
Speaker 1: superstitious And that's why I was rubbing up on Ranger
Speaker 1: if I was gonna if that's I need some success.
Speaker 2: Uh So this this weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Uh don't
Speaker 2: forget to check out The Phillies Nation TV Show, which
Speaker 2: debut is on Saturday, an hour before first Pitch on
Speaker 2: NBC Sports Philadelphia. Greg Murphy, Sam Stafford and we will
Speaker 2: be making weekly appearances on that the Philly Show. So
Speaker 2: check that out again an hour before first pitch on Saturday,
Speaker 2: NBC Sports Philadelphia. Memorial Day weekend always a fun weekend.
Speaker 2: And I know my friend Jim Salisbury as well as
Speaker 2: anybody I know, you've got something going on the grill, right,
Speaker 2: You've got to have something planned this weekend. Gotta be
Speaker 2: you love he loves the like Jimmy. Jimmy will come
Speaker 2: back after like a long weekend like this and go,
Speaker 2: I just I just made these sausage stuffed halopenios.
Speaker 1: And they'll give me.
Speaker 2: He'll give me the blow by blow.
Speaker 1: Jimmy will give the blow by.
Speaker 2: Blow, and then I sprinkle a little this on and
Speaker 2: I do that. What do you got going on, jim
Speaker 2: I know, I know you've got something going on on
Speaker 2: the grill.
Speaker 3: I'll be doing the stuffed halopenos later, maybe in September,
Speaker 3: because I do the homegrown halopenos. And there in the garden,
Speaker 3: I got uh, I got halapenos, I got cayenne, I
Speaker 3: got my favorite pablano, and I have bel.
Speaker 1: And he'll be.
Speaker 3: What's up.
Speaker 6: He'll be a help afraid to like to help a
Speaker 6: brother out. Send some of the well they're you know,
Speaker 6: they're just they're just starting. Oh yeah, I love peblanos, man,
Speaker 6: They're so good stuffed. I just love pi banos and
Speaker 6: stuffed halapenos on the grill. You gotta stuff them with
Speaker 6: some cheese and some kind of brown the sausage and
Speaker 6: jam it all in there and wrap it in bacon
Speaker 6: toothpick put it on the grill so it's all blistery.
Speaker 3: Oh man, that's good. But I'm kinda for Memorial Day weekend,
Speaker 3: I might do a Monterey chicken sandwich on the grill.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I go get a nice.
Speaker 3: I'll go up to see my buddy Rich Hill at
Speaker 3: Colonial Village Meat Mark in Westchester, Ding, Ding, Ding, And
Speaker 3: that's not a great sponsorship. Oh sorry, I'll no.
Speaker 1: No, I'm joking. I'm joking.
Speaker 2: I just you really like this, getlity.
Speaker 3: I'll get some chicken dies. He's got nice big ones
Speaker 3: and uh, season those up. Put him on the grill,
Speaker 3: a little dab of barbecue and barbecue sauce and let
Speaker 3: it get a little singy, a little more barbecue sauce,
Speaker 3: and then I put Monterey Monterey jack cheese on it.
Speaker 3: Let it get melty. And you take that off the grill.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe a thick slab of bacon and nice slice
Speaker 3: of tomato, maybe some pickles and onions and nice soft
Speaker 3: roll round roll. That's a Moneray chicken grilled Monterey chicken sandwich.
Speaker 3: And that might be my that might be my go
Speaker 3: to for Memorial Day.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: That's fantasticis.
Speaker 2: We'll recap with you on Monday, Jim, What do you
Speaker 2: got going? You know what. I haven't figured it out yet,
Speaker 2: but one thing I do like to do is make
Speaker 2: an afternoon cocktail. So I've started making these things called
Speaker 2: cherry bourbon slushies. What, yes, cherry bourbon slushies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, give it up.
Speaker 2: It's frozen cherries, a little orange juice, concentrate, a lot
Speaker 2: of ice, a lot of bourbon. Put them in the blender.
Speaker 2: They are so good and they go down real nice,
Speaker 2: real nice, Yeah, real nice. I'll give you a recap
Speaker 2: up on that on Monday as well or early next
Speaker 2: week when we come back. So that was fun, guys,
Speaker 2: and yeah, we'll be back next week. Phillies Rockies. This
Speaker 2: weekend Phillies Nation TV. Check it out.
Speaker 1: Talk to you.
Speaker 3: Guys, Spelling Ladd. Guys, have a great weekend, Spelly Jim.
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