Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Phillies Show with Rupa Tomorrow
Speaker 1: Junior Jim Salisbury. I'm todd z Lucky. It is Monday,
Speaker 1: May thirteenth, twenty twenty four. The Phillies took two out
Speaker 1: of three this weekend against the Marlins in Miami. Ranger
Speaker 1: Suarez did his thing on Friday night, seven scoreless innings,
Speaker 1: Taiwan Walker one run six innings on Saturday, and I
Speaker 1: think everybody at Lone Depot Park they're calling it now
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and probably even including the people in the
Speaker 1: Marlins dugout thought that this is going to be a
Speaker 1: Phillies sweep. With Zach Wheeler on the mound on Sunday,
Speaker 1: they give him a three to nothing lead. Nick Castianos
Speaker 1: hits a three run home run in the first inning.
Speaker 1: Zach Wheeler goes ten pitches in the first inning, game over,
Speaker 1: and then Zach Wheeler just really struggles the rest of
Speaker 1: the way, gives up six runs in four innings. He
Speaker 1: did not look comfortable, he was not throwing strikes. He
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be on the same page with Garrett Stubbs.
Speaker 1: It was just a weird kind of start for Zach
Speaker 1: Wheeler did not pitch greatly, and afterwards he said, you know,
Speaker 1: the funny part is when I'm not throwing strikes, I
Speaker 1: can feel it on the mound and so I can
Speaker 1: kind of correct. He's like, but today I felt great,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't figure out what to do, and I
Speaker 1: couldn't correct it, and so there he goes is his
Speaker 1: game's over at four innings. So you're always happy to
Speaker 1: take two out of three. But man, I feel like
Speaker 1: I feel like this is a series the Phillies. The
Speaker 1: Phillies should have swept.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it tells you how good they're going. When you
Speaker 2: come out of you know, you win a series, take
Speaker 2: two of three, and you come out of it with
Speaker 2: a you know, not a foul taste in your mouth,
Speaker 2: but certainly a little taste of disappointment that you didn't
Speaker 2: wrap that up and and and get the three games sweep,
Speaker 2: especially when you stake one of the best pitchers in
Speaker 2: baseball to a three donthn lead before he even takes
Speaker 2: the mound. To me, that's a game. I think Zach
Speaker 2: Wheeler will tell you this that he needs to lock
Speaker 2: that baby down. There were other things I think that
Speaker 2: went wrong in the game. There was. They didn't really
Speaker 2: build on that lead. They had an opportunity with that
Speaker 2: leadoff double by Stott in the middle innings and then
Speaker 2: just a poor bunt and the poor base running play
Speaker 2: and they kind of run themselves out of an inning and
Speaker 2: it's a it's a quick inning. But I mean, you mentioned,
Speaker 2: you know, you mentioned he may maybe had trouble meshing
Speaker 2: a little bit with Garrett Stubbs. I mean that to
Speaker 2: me dovetails with another concern. Real Mudro doesn't play. He's
Speaker 2: got a banged up knee. Schwarber's got a sore back,
Speaker 2: he doesn't play. Trey Turner's already out. We've seen this
Speaker 2: team in the last couple of years survive periods without
Speaker 2: Bryce Harper, you know, crucial player. We've talked about their
Speaker 2: resilience and next man up attitude, but even those things
Speaker 2: have their limits. So you really have to come out
Speaker 2: of this series hoping that Real Mudo Schwarber are just
Speaker 2: you know, minor tweaks, and that we're going to see
Speaker 2: them pretty soon, because you know, even the most resilient
Speaker 2: teams I think have their limits when it comes to injuries.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no question about that. Here's my here's my
Speaker 3: thing I have.
Speaker 4: You know, my biggest thing about injuries is I think
Speaker 4: about the catching position a lot with the Phillies because
Speaker 4: you talk about it like a serious drop off on
Speaker 4: the Garrett Stubbs great energy, does a pretty good job
Speaker 4: behind the plate, dedicated.
Speaker 3: You know, they love them, the great teammate, all that
Speaker 3: stuff that said.
Speaker 4: You know, without real muto back there, you don't have
Speaker 4: a whole lot of light at the end of the tunnel,
Speaker 4: even behind Garrett Stubs, so you're not looking at a
Speaker 4: ton of depth. You know, Marshawn is a kid that
Speaker 4: has literally cannot get off the training table set. He's
Speaker 4: had all types of different issues.
Speaker 3: I think he's still on the il, not able to
Speaker 3: really do much.
Speaker 4: He's got back, he's got risks, he's got this, he's
Speaker 4: got that. And when you start thinking about, you know,
Speaker 4: where can the Phillies really get hurt, it would be
Speaker 4: behind the plate. And I know there's not a ton
Speaker 4: of teams that have that kind of depth. I just
Speaker 4: don't know that you know that they that'd be a
Speaker 4: tough one for them to survive. That would be the
Speaker 4: one spot where I feel like they don't have enough
Speaker 4: depth that they would have real trouble surviving. But I'm
Speaker 4: going to try to stay on the positive side of
Speaker 4: what happened in the last couple of games, last three games.
Speaker 3: Ranger Suarez is a king. I mean, the man is
Speaker 3: an absolute machine.
Speaker 4: Love the way he's going about his business, calm, cool, collected.
Speaker 4: I mean everything he does is just spectacular. And you
Speaker 4: know he's setting up everything with his fastball. I mean
Speaker 4: it's really it's a four scene fastball. It's a two
Speaker 4: seam fastball. It's really spectacular watching work and his other
Speaker 4: breaking stuff is really good, and he's throwing strikes with
Speaker 4: it and all that other stuff.
Speaker 3: But I mean that just the command and his.
Speaker 4: Ability to throw the pitch it pitches where he wants
Speaker 4: to is just spectacular. And it is eight again, and
Speaker 4: we've talked about it probably a million times.
Speaker 3: It's a testament to being able to pitch.
Speaker 4: If you can pitch and you can throw your fastball
Speaker 4: and throw your pitches where you want to, you can
Speaker 4: keep guys off off target and off timing, you can
Speaker 4: have a ton of success. Also, Taiwan Walker threw the
Speaker 4: ball well again. You know, you start thinking about the
Speaker 4: pitching depth and what the Phillies have pretty darn awesome
Speaker 4: that Taiwan Walker again not throwing ninety four ninety five
Speaker 4: ninety six miles an hour. He's cutting the ball, he's
Speaker 4: splitting it, he's thing different things with it.
Speaker 3: And it's it's a really cool thing to see.
Speaker 4: You got to give Caleb Coffin some love because whatever,
Speaker 4: you know, pitching plans they have and however they're you know,
Speaker 4: working it over, they're doing a really really.
Speaker 3: Good job of it. And they're pitching.
Speaker 4: There's not one guy on that staff that is that's
Speaker 4: blown people away with their stuff and the starting rotation.
Speaker 2: So Todd, let me ask you Wheeler's uh, his command
Speaker 2: just wasn't there. You know, I was watching him. You
Speaker 2: just miss in with what looked like a sinker. He
Speaker 2: missed away with the look look like a four steamer,
Speaker 2: and then you know he throws one right down the
Speaker 2: middle to Josh Bell and he just crushes it. What
Speaker 2: was Wheeler like after the game? What did he talk about?
Speaker 2: Where did he think he got off track a little bit?
Speaker 1: You know, it's maybe because he had a lot of
Speaker 1: time to cool down. Uh, he actually was in pretty
Speaker 1: decent spirits. He kind of just said listen, I did
Speaker 1: not have my good stuff today. He was kind of
Speaker 1: baffled by the way he threw. He didn't really understand it.
Speaker 1: He said, like I said earlier, he felt great, but
Speaker 1: he was he just didn't seem comfortable, you know. He
Speaker 1: he just seemed out of sorts. So he throws that
Speaker 1: that cutter down the middle to Josh Bell hits a
Speaker 1: three run home run. He immediately goes to home plate
Speaker 1: to chat with the umpire. There was a two to
Speaker 1: one pitch that he thought should have been a strike.
Speaker 1: His borderline was called a ball. He was thrown a
Speaker 1: lot of balls out, like a lot of balls out.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, they were high scene balls. I
Speaker 1: don't like the high scene balls. So every time I
Speaker 1: got a high seamen ball, I was throwing it out.
Speaker 1: You know, we mentioned the Garrett Stubbs. You know, he
Speaker 1: shook off Stubbs. I think in the second inning. It
Speaker 1: was in a bat with Nick Gordon like two or
Speaker 1: three or four times, and finally Stubbs came out and
Speaker 1: they chatted. So it's kind of a lot of different
Speaker 1: things going on. It was very un Zach Wheeler like,
Speaker 1: and but he did have some time to cool down
Speaker 1: It was funny because you remember a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago in Los Angeles, he was like five innings, but
Speaker 1: he was all over the place. He was not happy,
Speaker 1: he was very He was certainly got surly Zach after
Speaker 1: the game. More more more even keeled Zach after this one.
Speaker 1: But you know, going back to the stubs thing and Rubin,
Speaker 1: I agree, like if something would happen to JT long term,
Speaker 1: that would be that would probably be a devastating blow.
Speaker 1: Is just looking at some of the options, like Mark
Speaker 1: Shawn is coming back. He's supposed to start playing in games,
Speaker 1: maybe within the next few days, finally starting getting back
Speaker 1: to some health. But Ramas Garcia was a guy they
Speaker 1: had in camp in spring training that they thought, you know,
Speaker 1: they liked a little bit, could play some defense. You
Speaker 1: receive the ball pretty well behind the plate. He's betting
Speaker 1: one thirty nine and triple A three eighty one ops.
Speaker 1: Their other catcher, Jose Goadoi's betting one fourteen with A
Speaker 1: three twenty fours. So they're not getting anti production at
Speaker 1: triple A from any of their catchers. So and Marshawn's
Speaker 1: the only other catcher on the on the forty man roster,
Speaker 1: so they and the good news is they don't think
Speaker 1: anything with JT is serious. They said his knee was
Speaker 1: banged up. I asked Rob yesterday morning, could he play?
Speaker 1: He said he could play, He could play. We want
Speaker 1: to be careful with him because it's JT, and so
Speaker 1: they're going to check on him today. He said he
Speaker 1: could have played an emergency situation. So maybe he's back tonight.
Speaker 1: Maybe they give him an extra day. Kyle Schwarber, he's
Speaker 1: got a sore back. He felt it on his swing
Speaker 1: in the seventh inning on Saturday. Then he actually said
Speaker 1: he might have aggravated further running from first to third
Speaker 1: in the seventh thing, so he came out of the game.
Speaker 1: Talked to Kyle on Saturday. He does not think it's
Speaker 1: an il situation. In fact, he thought on Saturday he
Speaker 1: was going to try to take some swings at some
Speaker 1: point to see if he can pinch it if necessary.
Speaker 1: It was not necessary on Saturday. They could have used
Speaker 1: him though. On Sunday, Cody Clements came in late to
Speaker 1: pinch hit instead of Kyle Schwarber. Cody Clements popped up,
Speaker 1: so the bad the back is still not good to go,
Speaker 1: but they got to get those guys healthy. I think
Speaker 1: this is really the only thing that I think could
Speaker 1: kind of screw the Phillies up right now is if
Speaker 1: they have turned her down, real Muto down, Schwarber down,
Speaker 1: you know, the thank goodness for the starting pitching, it
Speaker 1: would give them a puncher's chance.
Speaker 3: But you know, no question these guys healthy.
Speaker 2: It doesn't necessarily scare me these injuries, but it concerns
Speaker 2: me because no one knows this better than Ruben. Guys
Speaker 2: getting North authority. Injuries happen, and we saw it, you know,
Speaker 2: a little more than a decade ago, with with you know,
Speaker 2: a great team that's continually got banged up, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden it's not a great team. How does
Speaker 2: a GM approach all this, Ruben, are you out there
Speaker 2: looking for not to slight anybody, but you're looking for
Speaker 2: more catching depth, You're looking for more organizational depth? Or
Speaker 2: what do you do?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: I'm looking for more catching depth because I think it's
Speaker 4: just too important a position. At the very least, somebody
Speaker 4: that I can know, that I know can run a
Speaker 4: baseball game for a championship caliber team, because if someone
Speaker 4: were to go down, you know your fellow one foul,
Speaker 4: tip away or whatever the case may be, and so
Speaker 4: you have to be prepared for that.
Speaker 3: That's one thing. I think. The other.
Speaker 4: You know, you're always sort of out out on the
Speaker 4: prowl and you're always peeking around to see what what
Speaker 4: can help you. You know, they made that trade for
Speaker 4: Ohapi and they moved to Ohapy for Brandon Marsh, which
Speaker 4: was a great trade for both teams.
Speaker 3: You love those kind of.
Speaker 4: Trades because you know you're getting equity to both sides
Speaker 4: of the of the of the trade, and it was
Speaker 4: an important one for both. But it also hurts you
Speaker 4: are catching depth and you know, you know that's that's
Speaker 4: one of the difficulties with moving that.
Speaker 3: Type of player in that position.
Speaker 4: That said, I think that you know Dave Dombrowski, he's
Speaker 4: a very shrewd man. He knows the game, he understands
Speaker 4: I'm sure that one either there feeling good about Marshawn,
Speaker 4: who I think can actually run won a game pretty well,
Speaker 4: but he hasn't played at all, like almost shoot, almost
Speaker 4: two years, he hasn't. He hasn't played, and that's a
Speaker 4: big big thing to get back into it and then
Speaker 4: and then to have the understanding if he has to
Speaker 4: play to have the understanding of how to run, you know,
Speaker 4: run the game with a staff that's had a lot
Speaker 4: of success.
Speaker 3: And you know, a team that you're expected to have win.
Speaker 4: That said, I'm sure that Dave Dombrowski's on top of it,
Speaker 4: and if there's an opportunity to add some of that death,
Speaker 4: I'm sure he'll take that chance and try to make
Speaker 4: that happen because I know he knows that that's a
Speaker 4: you know, really really important position. But that said, let's
Speaker 4: hope that doesn't doesn't that doesn't become a factor. J
Speaker 4: JT's super, super durable and knock Wood they're gonna be
Speaker 4: They're gonna be just fine.
Speaker 1: So the last two games with Schwarber out, Rob Thompson
Speaker 1: has had wit Mayfield hit leadoff, and I asked him
Speaker 1: why Wit over anybody else. He said, well, he's hit
Speaker 1: lead off a lot. I mean, he's hit lead off.
Speaker 3: Most of his career.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious for your guys opinion. Say the Schwarber
Speaker 1: thing lingers a few more days, Say the back doesn't
Speaker 1: get any better, and he goes on the injured list
Speaker 1: for ten I guess it's ten days, fifteen days, fifteen days.
Speaker 1: Do you like Witt Mayfield in the leadoff spot or
Speaker 1: would you take a red hot Bryce and Stott out
Speaker 1: of the five hole and move him up. There's two
Speaker 1: different schools of thought there, right, you go at the experience,
Speaker 1: got the top you don't want to except Bryce and Scott?
Speaker 1: Or do you say screw that. I want Bryson Stott
Speaker 1: hitting leadoff?
Speaker 3: What do you guys want to do? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I would go with Stott. You know, I always kind
Speaker 2: of read into how people, you know, act and talk,
Speaker 2: and Rob Thompson has con continually said over the years
Speaker 2: that he thinks Bryson Stott has all the tools to
Speaker 2: hit lead off one day and be pretty good at it.
Speaker 2: So he's done a little bit before. I think we'd
Speaker 2: probably see them see him there, but you know, who knows.
Speaker 2: I thought we'd see I didn't think we were going
Speaker 2: to see a ton of soda of Edmundo Sosa in
Speaker 2: the lineup, But he seems to have found something at
Speaker 2: the plate and he's out there all the time now.
Speaker 2: So I don't think it would affect going to leadoff,
Speaker 2: would affect Bryson Stott's hot hand. I think it, if anything,
Speaker 2: maybe could enhance it because boom, you're in the leadoff hole,
Speaker 2: and that would even to me, ramp up your concentration,
Speaker 2: you feel good about yourself, You almost like a little
Speaker 2: bit of a promotion, and go and do the job.
Speaker 3: I love the fact that stops swinging the bat again.
Speaker 4: I mean, I actually made the bold statement, and he's
Speaker 4: got a chance to win a batting title, and with
Speaker 4: Louisa rise in the uh in in the same league,
Speaker 4: it makes it tough. That said, it's nice to see
Speaker 4: him swinging the bat well after a very slow start
Speaker 4: for him.
Speaker 3: And I do think depending on that, like the structure
Speaker 3: of the.
Speaker 4: As long as as long as I think trade Turner's
Speaker 4: not is out, I think that they'll probably use a
Speaker 4: left right combination. Like against the left you probably see
Speaker 4: Meryfield leadoff, and then against the right you may may
Speaker 4: very well see Bryce and Stott leadoff.
Speaker 3: I just have that strange feeling if Schoreberd is not.
Speaker 4: Able to not able to go for a while, I
Speaker 4: just think that that might be the formula. That said,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm confident in Bryce and stop because when
Speaker 4: he's swinging the back the way he's swinging the bat
Speaker 4: right now and for a lot of the year last
Speaker 4: year and watching his growth overall, I got no problem
Speaker 4: with him in the one hole. It's great to have options, baby, Yeah, right,
Speaker 4: that's great to have options.
Speaker 1: So if if Schwarber is not right, Schwarber can't play tonight,
Speaker 1: Nick Castianos is probably gonna dh and which is kind
Speaker 1: of maybe I'm a nerd, but I like the idea tonight. Tonight,
Speaker 1: tonight you could have Brandon Marsham left, Johann Rojas and
Speaker 1: center and Christian Pace.
Speaker 3: And right field.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a defensive outfield that could be just
Speaker 1: for fun for one night, see them just track down
Speaker 1: literally every fly ball. H Nick Castianos this weekend. I
Speaker 1: don't I'm I'm never right on predictions, but I kind
Speaker 1: of hinted that he was gonna have a good weekend
Speaker 1: this weekend, just because he's home and he loves home,
Speaker 1: and he's a vibes guy, he's a feelings guy. Hit
Speaker 1: hit two home runs. And I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys saw the comments he made after Friday's game talking
Speaker 1: about getting on a roll lately, but he said he
Speaker 1: basically his entire career, he's never had a plan. I've
Speaker 1: never looked for pitch. Basically, the game's glorified bratting practice.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to get back to that. So it's
Speaker 1: very Nick Castianos type quote. And I asked him, I said,
Speaker 1: is this something that you kind of was there a
Speaker 1: particular moment where you decided that you're going to start,
Speaker 1: you know, stops thinking so much of the plate, And
Speaker 1: he said, naw, it's just kind of like ice, right,
Speaker 1: it just kind of melts away. So poets a poet,
Speaker 1: he is a poet.
Speaker 2: But it goes back, doesn't It go back to what
Speaker 2: we talked about in the early stages of this podcast.
Speaker 2: You know that there's so much information these days, so
Speaker 2: much analysis, and it's not for everybody. And you know,
Speaker 2: hitting you know, they say baseball is a thinking man's game,
Speaker 2: and yes it is, but it's also a reaction game.
Speaker 2: And there are thinking players and there are reaction players,
Speaker 2: and sometimes thinking can be an enemy of natural, organic performance.
Speaker 2: And Nick Castiano is a reaction guy, and he's a
Speaker 2: field I mean, you look at that home run he
Speaker 2: hit in the first inning yesterday. He either picked up
Speaker 2: that spin out of the hand or he was sitting
Speaker 2: breaking ball, and he demolished it and and you know
Speaker 2: he's swinging at the first first three at bets. He
Speaker 2: saw three pitches. I mean, so aggressive, sitting on something
Speaker 2: gets it. If you're not going to get that pitch,
Speaker 2: you're gonna be in trouble. But we could see him
Speaker 2: warming a little bit before the trip to Miami, and
Speaker 2: he's say, you know, he's a reaction player, you know,
Speaker 2: and he's reacting and reacting to pitches, and he's and
Speaker 2: he's warming up in it. It goes back to everything.
Speaker 2: I think all three of us has said. The track
Speaker 2: record is good and he's gonna get going.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's nice to see him get it going.
Speaker 4: He feels comfortable. Obviously, it's his home in Miami. That's
Speaker 4: his that's his space, that's his his space.
Speaker 3: Hopefully he can carry it.
Speaker 4: At some point, he's going to get closer and closer
Speaker 4: to the numbers on the baseball card.
Speaker 3: I did I agree with you, Jim.
Speaker 4: I saw him starting to swing the bat a little
Speaker 4: bit better before they left, you know, driving some balls
Speaker 4: to the right side, right center field.
Speaker 3: Pop it on over there, drove the ball. He's you know,
Speaker 3: he hip you know, ball off the wall.
Speaker 4: I mean he's got some when he's doing that and
Speaker 4: taking the types of swings that he took on that
Speaker 4: on that home it was like really free and easy.
Speaker 3: It was a free, easy swing.
Speaker 4: It was like, you know, tension free, like Charlie Nanuel
Speaker 4: used to say, a tension free swing. And I think
Speaker 4: when he's swinging that way and he's not thinking, he's
Speaker 4: just reacting as you said, and just letting his natural
Speaker 4: ability to.
Speaker 3: Hit come through, then he's going to be He's going
Speaker 3: to be effective.
Speaker 4: It's a cool thing to watch, like, uh, each player
Speaker 4: is starting to take his turn getting hot. And that's
Speaker 4: the beauty of this lineup is that there's some streaky
Speaker 4: guys on the team. There's no question about it. I
Speaker 4: mean Harper streaky at times and JT streaky at times,
Speaker 4: and Schwarber streaky obviously, And but if you get enough
Speaker 4: guys going at the right time, you can get two
Speaker 4: or three guys going, and which is what is sort
Speaker 4: of happening. It's like the perfect storm.
Speaker 3: Then that's that's the beauty of this The depth of
Speaker 3: this lineup is.
Speaker 4: It is that you can have those two or three
Speaker 4: guys carry you for a while. And it's really nice
Speaker 4: to see Johann Rojas starting to play and swing the
Speaker 4: bat well. I mean, no one's talking about Johann Rojas,
Speaker 4: and he's starting to grow as a hitter and as
Speaker 4: a player, and his confidence is growing. And he is
Speaker 4: not an out in that nine hole anymore. He's a
Speaker 4: guy that can do some stuff. And to turn that
Speaker 4: lineup over for Schwartz.
Speaker 2: Todd, you were you were mentioned that, you know, going
Speaker 2: to City Field, you're eager to see that defensive alignment.
Speaker 2: It's a big yard. Yes, Ruben coach the outfielders up there,
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit about playing the outfield.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had Conforto and Nemo out.
Speaker 4: There, and you know, at one point Jay Bruce was
Speaker 4: out there. It was it was a challenge because they
Speaker 4: didn't really have a true center.
Speaker 3: Fielder out there.
Speaker 4: And you know now they finally moved Nemo to a corner,
Speaker 4: which is where he probably belonged.
Speaker 3: I think it is a challenging outfield. You have to
Speaker 3: cover some space.
Speaker 4: It's a place where he you know, I mean, just
Speaker 4: like in any other big ballpark, you got to get
Speaker 4: people who can track down the baseball and and yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Totally agree with you. I love that defensive alignment. Man,
Speaker 3: Those guys. Can those guys can really really play? I mean,
Speaker 3: obviously Marsh can play center field.
Speaker 4: But but when you have Rojas out there in center
Speaker 4: and pot Jay and can play centerfield, you got three
Speaker 4: guys who play center field, and a couple of them
Speaker 4: at an elite level. And when you have that kind
Speaker 4: of alignment, think about what it was like when we
Speaker 4: had you know, Shane, Victorino, and Jason Worth out in
Speaker 4: the center and right. I mean those guys, I mean again,
Speaker 4: Jason Worth could play center field if he wanted to,
Speaker 4: or left wherever, and Shane obviously could play all three.
Speaker 4: When you start, when you start lining up, that kind
Speaker 4: of defense man makes life a lot easier for his pitching,
Speaker 4: especially with the ball in the air so much in
Speaker 4: this day and age, everybody trying to get the ball
Speaker 4: to the air.
Speaker 2: So can I can I geek out for one second? Todd?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about, you know, outfield, playing big outfields
Speaker 2: and tough outfields to play. Rubin also, you know, he
Speaker 2: coached with the Mets coach their outfields. He also coaches
Speaker 2: for two years with the Red Sox coach their outfielders.
Speaker 2: How tough is right field I mean, I can still
Speaker 2: see Dwight Evans making that catch in the seventy five
Speaker 2: World Series and doubling up at first base. Uh you know,
Speaker 2: go back and look at it on YouTube. Great catch
Speaker 2: at the three eighty signing leap. But how tough is
Speaker 2: it to play right field in Fenway Park.
Speaker 4: Well it's really super tough. But I mean, who better
Speaker 4: to play at than Mookie Bets and and then the man.
Speaker 4: You know, I have a little love affair with Mookie.
Speaker 4: He's one of my one of my favorite all time
Speaker 4: athletes and people, and I consider.
Speaker 3: Him a good friend.
Speaker 4: He is was one of the most hard working, most
Speaker 4: diligent guys in the world. And you almost in a
Speaker 4: lot of ways, just like in you know, just like
Speaker 4: in left field and centerfield and Colorado, you almost needed
Speaker 4: to center fielders to really play that position well or
Speaker 4: close to the ability to do that. So a guy
Speaker 4: like Jason Worth, and that's why I think Seane Victorino
Speaker 4: had success in right field over there, because he's a
Speaker 4: pretty darn good right fielder as well. So when you
Speaker 4: have you almost really have to have somebody who can
Speaker 4: not only you know, not only hit, but you want
Speaker 4: somebody who can can go get it in the outfield.
Speaker 4: It's a lot of space out there that corner, you know,
Speaker 4: wrapping around the pole. You have to have some athleticism
Speaker 4: because you've got to, you know, and some ingenuity and
Speaker 4: you have to be an intelligent player to sort of
Speaker 4: play that line and have to understand how the ball
Speaker 4: is going to come off the walls over there, and
Speaker 4: you've got to be able to cover ground in the
Speaker 4: right center because it's like, you know, it's like a graveyard.
Speaker 3: It's a graveyard out there.
Speaker 4: So so having the combination of Jackie Bradley and Mooie
Speaker 4: Betts out there was pretty spectacular, and they did it
Speaker 4: as well as anybody, and.
Speaker 3: They worked very hard at it.
Speaker 4: So I mean, and I love the fact that, you know,
Speaker 4: actually I watched Paco Figuo work with his outfitters and
Speaker 4: what a job he's done with with Nick Cassianos. Dude,
Speaker 4: I will tell you that this Castianos, before he came
Speaker 4: to the Philadelphia Phillies, was a well well below average
Speaker 4: right fielder, and he has made himself at the very
Speaker 4: least an average at right fielder. He's made some catches
Speaker 4: in the gap, he's made some ketches over his shoulder.
Speaker 4: He's made that unbelievable sliding play coming forward, and it's
Speaker 4: due to the work and the effort that Paco Figaroa
Speaker 4: put in with him, and the fact that you know,
Speaker 4: he was dedicated and making himself better. So you got
Speaker 4: to give Cassianos some love for that. Very easy for
Speaker 4: guys to just kind of fade off into the sunset
Speaker 4: as far as their defense is concerned.
Speaker 3: To watch that Manny Rumiers, he.
Speaker 4: Should have been a great, great outfielder and could have been,
Speaker 4: and was a pretty good one when he first got
Speaker 4: to the big leagues, but then you know, it became.
Speaker 3: All about the the bat for him. That's not happened
Speaker 3: with Castianols, and you got to give him some love
Speaker 3: for that. He's out there working all the time.
Speaker 1: You see Nick out there before the game with PoCA
Speaker 1: working on different trills and whatnot. So so Philly's Mets,
Speaker 1: it's a home and home. So two games at City Field,
Speaker 1: they come back and play two at Citizens Bank Park tonight.
Speaker 1: Monday night's Christopher Sanchez versus Sean and I, who's pitching
Speaker 1: pretty well. Tuesday it's Aaron Nola versus Jose Bhutto, who's
Speaker 1: one and two with the three point series are a.
Speaker 1: Mets haven't announced their starters for Lisa. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: him for Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday at home, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Ranger Suarez. Thursday's gonna be Taiwan Walker. Ranger Suarez
Speaker 1: has a one to five zero e RA through eight starts.
Speaker 1: The last Phillies pitcher to had a one point five
Speaker 1: zero ERA through the first eight starts of the season
Speaker 1: to open a season Grover Cleveland Alexander nineteen sixteen. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's crazy to put a little to put a little
Speaker 1: history on Ranger Suarez. That's how ridiculous he's pitching. He's
Speaker 1: the first Phillies starter to open a season with seven
Speaker 1: wins in seven or more wins in his first eight
Speaker 1: starts since Steve.
Speaker 3: Carlton in nineteen eighty one. Is that good?
Speaker 4: Wow?
Speaker 3: Is that that's?
Speaker 1: That's that's strong too, quite strong.
Speaker 2: I wonder how hard? I wonder how hard Grover Cleveland
Speaker 2: Alexander through the baseball.
Speaker 3: You know, it's so funny when it has that cast
Speaker 3: back then. I can't believe it, but they didn't.
Speaker 2: Because Todd Actually, you know, he's always cutting on like
Speaker 2: old time baby, like he thinks wouldn't have made it
Speaker 2: out of a ball these days.
Speaker 1: Do you remember when Adam out Of I think it
Speaker 1: was Adam out Of, you know right.
Speaker 3: He said, if Babe Ruth played it, I'd.
Speaker 1: Streck him out every time. Do you remember that. I
Speaker 1: think he was pitched for the Yankees at the time.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of.
Speaker 4: There, there's a lot of players who say that kind
Speaker 4: of stuff all the time. Let me just tell you something,
Speaker 4: at some point, these those players, if they were playing
Speaker 4: in this era.
Speaker 3: They would have made adjustments and they and they would
Speaker 3: have been just.
Speaker 1: Fine, totally and I and I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1: Like you know, you take you know, Chuck bedn Erik
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, he would get creamed against these guys.
Speaker 1: But if Chuck ben Erik was born in this era,
Speaker 1: he probably would be a stud. So that's my take
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 3: But I do kind of like.
Speaker 1: To poke fund at sometimes at the you know, Grover
Speaker 1: Cleveland Alexander's probably throwing seventy miles an hour, loading up
Speaker 1: the baseball with a bunch of spit, because I think
Speaker 1: that was legal back then. Ruben, how was your you
Speaker 1: were in Miami this week?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: For those that aren't watching on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Ruben's got his University of Miami cap on and.
Speaker 3: H representing, yeah, representing you. It was really terrific. My daughter,
Speaker 3: Sophia graduated. I think she graduated like a three seven
Speaker 3: or something something crazy from the what they call the
Speaker 3: business school, and I'm just really proud of her.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: It was my last one.
Speaker 4: My first one graduated four years ago and this one
Speaker 4: and Sophie graduates.
Speaker 3: Great weekend. My liver is struggling a little. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have to go.
Speaker 4: On hiatus a little bit there for a far too
Speaker 4: many alcoholic beverages.
Speaker 3: But great time, really proud their mom. Virginia had an
Speaker 3: awesome party.
Speaker 4: We had a couple of great dinners, just having My
Speaker 4: brother came down and surprised her with his uh with his.
Speaker 3: Wife and my sister in law and so Taco and
Speaker 3: Jen we're there. It was just really really cool to
Speaker 3: you know, to be able to celebrate that moment and
Speaker 3: couldn't be more proud.
Speaker 4: Can't wait for heard to come up here and live
Speaker 4: with me and start working here right over here in Addenfield.
Speaker 3: So pretty cool. Well, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Congratulations, that's very exciting, very exciting, so yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 3: You're welcome.
Speaker 1: So let's see if Phillies mets this week. I want
Speaker 1: to thank our partner, Phillies Nation. I think we have
Speaker 1: something we'll be announcing with Phillies Nation at some point.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we have the okay yet to
Speaker 1: do that, so keep your eye out for that little
Speaker 1: little intrigue for everybody. So thanks everybody for listening to
Speaker 1: Philly Show. If you are not following us on your
Speaker 1: podcast platform, please do follow us on YouTube, give us
Speaker 1: a review. It's very helpful. Follow us on all your
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Speaker 1: watch us as well as listen to us. So thanks everybody,
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you later this week.
Speaker 4: Smell your latter, I'll smell you, Jim