Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Amar Junior Jim Salisbury.
Speaker 2: I am Todd.
Speaker 1: Solecki, the Phillies Fellows.
Speaker 2: Uh just had an eight and two homestand but that
Speaker 2: is not why I'm excited. I'm excited, very excited because
Speaker 2: we have a pretty sweet logo.
Speaker 3: I want to talk about.
Speaker 2: If you're watching on you, if you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 2: you just saw a kind of float across the screen.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be everywhere now. I mean, you guys gotta
Speaker 2: be pumped. This is pretty cool. I feel like I
Speaker 2: feel like we went from like a Banana Republic podcast
Speaker 2: to like a legitimate podcast.
Speaker 1: Now we have a really really awesome logo.
Speaker 4: What do you guys, Todd, you got some nice blue hair.
Speaker 3: That's right, look good.
Speaker 2: I love it. I think it's so cool. So I
Speaker 2: gotta tell you a story. We got to give a
Speaker 2: shout out to Pat Kritz. He works at Thought Thought
Speaker 2: Tub and he reached out after the first or second episode,
Speaker 2: And to be honest, like, we threw this thing kind
Speaker 2: of gether together at the last minute, and my wife Ryan,
Speaker 2: I said, I'm in a panic. I'm like, we got
Speaker 2: to get this thing up on Apple, we have to
Speaker 2: have a logo, and she's like, well, how are you
Speaker 2: gonna do that?
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know.
Speaker 2: So my wife, with a one year old hanging on
Speaker 2: her bangs out this really simple, basic logo just to
Speaker 2: get us up on all these podcasts. Then Pat reaches
Speaker 2: out and he says, I'm a huge Phillies fan. Not
Speaker 2: only am I a huge Phillies fan, but I also
Speaker 2: I'm a fan of Phillies reporters and broadcasters. I love Ruben,
Speaker 2: I love Jim, I love you. I went to Penn State.
Speaker 2: I've dabbled in some graphic design. I've done some things.
Speaker 2: Would you be interested in me designing a logo for you?
Speaker 2: So I'm like sure. I check out his website and
Speaker 2: I'm like, this dude is legit. If anybody's been down
Speaker 2: the Pen Up Butter Aisle at any supermarket and they've
Speaker 2: ever seen Justin's Peanut butter Almond butter peanut butter cups,
Speaker 2: this is the dude that designed it. And he said,
Speaker 2: I'm going to design you a logo, and uh, I
Speaker 2: think it's just great. I think it's really cool. I
Speaker 2: love us in the bullpen car. It's got a retro field.
Speaker 2: We're kind of retro. I think we're fun. It's got
Speaker 2: some fun vibes to it.
Speaker 3: I dig it. I think if it's man, that's this
Speaker 3: is really really cool. I mean, I love the color scheme.
Speaker 3: I love the car, man, I mean, the bullpen car
Speaker 3: is kidding me, it's so it's so choice. I love it, yes, yes.
Speaker 4: And I love the exhaust coming out the bat for you.
Speaker 3: Of course you would.
Speaker 2: We took the governor off the bullpen cart and now
Speaker 2: we're moting her along.
Speaker 1: So but anyway, I wanted to give a shout out
Speaker 1: to Pat.
Speaker 2: If you like the logo, let us know if you know,
Speaker 2: if you like it enough, and maybe we'll make some
Speaker 2: T shirts at some point. That would be kind of
Speaker 2: fun too, to be walking around some Philly Show T
Speaker 2: shirts with.
Speaker 3: The sweet there's some sweet swag ideas too, man, Yeah, yeah, sweet.
Speaker 1: Some sweet swag potentially down the road.
Speaker 2: So thank you, Pat again thought tub check them out
Speaker 2: at thought tub dot com. Guys, let's jump into this
Speaker 2: just completed homestand the Phillies Go eight and two. I
Speaker 2: look this up Best Phillies homestand of ten or more
Speaker 2: games since June of twenty eleven. They went nine and
Speaker 2: two in a homestand pretty impressive. They're fourteen and eight.
Speaker 2: They didn't get to be six games over five hundred
Speaker 2: last season until June twenty ninth, two years ago. They
Speaker 2: didn't get to six over until July eighth. And here
Speaker 2: are the other six games over five hundred. You know,
Speaker 2: when you guys look back at this homestand Jim, let's
Speaker 2: start with you, what what kind of stands out to you?
Speaker 4: What kind you know, real A bunch of stuff stands
Speaker 4: out you mess in twenty eleven homestand and I guess
Speaker 4: the common denominator is starting pitching. Obviously twenty eleven, the
Speaker 4: rotation that's very good, starting pitching on that team, and
Speaker 4: uh this you know they what do they put up
Speaker 4: a one to five e RA in this series in this.
Speaker 2: Home Yeah, are in the home stand, yes sir? Yeah,
Speaker 2: the starters, starters, the start and.
Speaker 4: You know, I mean carried uh two times, they carried
Speaker 4: no hitters.
Speaker 3: Deep.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of timely hitting. You know, we
Speaker 4: sort of Trey Turner really come alive. I mean, I
Speaker 4: think that really stood out. Kyle Schwarber. You know, look,
Speaker 4: I know people are gonna say, well, it was the
Speaker 4: White Sox and the Rockies, and the White Sox is
Speaker 4: just brutal and the Rockies are very bad. But you
Speaker 4: there'll be tougher tests. There will be tougher tests, but
Speaker 4: you can only pass the one on your desk that
Speaker 4: that day or it presented to you that day. So
Speaker 4: I think they passed it. Eight and two. They passed
Speaker 4: it obviously in flying collars. So you know, to be
Speaker 4: what five what are they five over five hundred now.
Speaker 2: Six six or fourteen eight?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you know, goodbye slow start talk right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no, no more slow start start talk. And
Speaker 3: you know, when you look at the uh, you start
Speaker 3: looking at you know, what kind of schedule you have
Speaker 3: before the season starts. You look at some of these
Speaker 3: teams and you think to yourself, well, Colorado doesn't look
Speaker 3: like a real strong team. You got the White Sox
Speaker 3: coming in and they're rebuilding, so we got a chance
Speaker 3: to make some Hey. But the reality of it is,
Speaker 3: I mean you really have to play good baseball to
Speaker 3: do it. I mean it's still they're still major league teams.
Speaker 3: They're not. It's not chock full of talenty. They're one
Speaker 3: of these teams. But to go back to back sweeps.
Speaker 3: I mean that's almost impossible to do. You just don't
Speaker 3: do that often. And and I you know, I'm always
Speaker 3: and you guys know this, but I'm always about the
Speaker 3: starting pitching. It was just dominant. I mean they really
Speaker 3: they pounded the strike zone. They didn't off people. They
Speaker 3: you know, they pitched. It wasn't like they were dominating
Speaker 3: with you know, one hundred mile an hour fastballs and
Speaker 3: you know, ninety seven mile an hour cutters or sliders.
Speaker 3: They were pitching. Everybody in the rotation was pitching. Nola, Wheeler, Sanchez,
Speaker 3: Suarez was outstanding, I mean Turnbull, I mean all of them.
Speaker 3: And they pitched really, really well, and it's a it's
Speaker 3: a really good sign for the team. You don't know
Speaker 3: how healthy they're going to be. You don't know how
Speaker 3: factor they're going to continue to be. They're going to
Speaker 3: face tougher teams here here in Cincinnati coming up, and
Speaker 3: then they got to go to San Diego in LA.
Speaker 3: It's going to be a tough road trip. But they
Speaker 3: did make some great hay and I think they had
Speaker 3: contributions offensively from everybody. I mean, Alec Boehm had huge contributions.
Speaker 3: Even Harper had some base hits and some walks. Swarburg
Speaker 3: got on base, he had a couple of homers. You know,
Speaker 3: there's just a lot of you talked about Turner. He's
Speaker 3: just red hot. But it's uh, it's it bodes very
Speaker 3: very well for this ball club because they got a
Speaker 3: chance to you know, they had a chance to make
Speaker 3: some hay and they did it.
Speaker 4: Another little thing that another little thing that jumped out
Speaker 4: of me real quick was their work in the first inning.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know they're first at bat. You know, they fall
Speaker 4: down today and by two runs early Noliga is of
Speaker 4: the two and they come right back with three. It
Speaker 4: seems like they jumped out to so many early leads
Speaker 4: or retook the momentum immediately. You know, Schwarber with the
Speaker 4: leadoff home run the other night. They're you know, their
Speaker 4: numbers in the first inning as a team, schwarbro Is
Speaker 4: are incredible in the first inning. But you know, as
Speaker 4: a team, you know, they're they're in the top three
Speaker 4: or four in like every major offensive car category in
Speaker 4: the first inning, and they're just getting to these early
Speaker 4: starts and kind of riding that. Have you noticed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I've definitely noticed that. And I think today.
Speaker 2: It was a great example of it. You know, to
Speaker 2: see them Noah gives up that that two run home
Speaker 2: run and to see the Phillies come back and score three. Uh,
Speaker 2: they got a little bit of a gift there on
Speaker 2: that double steal. That kind of but but those are
Speaker 2: the those are the things that kind of go your way.
Speaker 2: I guess when you're when you're playing well. But I
Speaker 2: think it's a team that is you knew was going
Speaker 2: to score runs, and they show that they are going
Speaker 2: to score runs. And now, like like Rubin said, they
Speaker 2: just have to kind of keep it going through the
Speaker 2: on this next upcoming road trip.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you talked about the slug. You know,
Speaker 3: how come they're not slugging? You know, it was the
Speaker 3: first part they really did not get enough. I honestly
Speaker 3: believe this, and we've talked about it as plenty and
Speaker 3: I don't think they got enough reps. And now they've
Speaker 3: gotten enough reps and they're starting to screwing the bats
Speaker 3: and the slug is coming. I mean, these guys are
Speaker 3: just too good. They're there. Their talent is just too great.
Speaker 3: And uh, and it's nice to see them, you know.
Speaker 3: You know, if you're a Philly fan. It's nice to
Speaker 3: see him doing some serious dam The other thing that
Speaker 3: I will talk about a little bit is their defense.
Speaker 3: Their infield defense has gotten better. Alec Bohma is playing
Speaker 3: a very good third base. He did have like one
Speaker 3: air one or two airs, but he's played very very
Speaker 3: well defensively. He's gotten better and better. There's a lot
Speaker 3: of questions about whether the guy could even play third
Speaker 3: base on an everyday basis on a championship Calver club,
Speaker 3: but he can do it, and he's gotten better and better.
Speaker 3: His confidence is rising, and he's becoming at least an
Speaker 3: adequate or average third basement at this point, Trey Turner
Speaker 3: has improved a lot. I know, he struggled quite a
Speaker 3: bit last year, and he's starting to secure the baseball better.
Speaker 3: And stat's always been good. And you know what Harper's learning.
Speaker 3: I mean, he made a lot of diving plays. He
Speaker 3: picked a couple of balls today in the game or
Speaker 3: in the game on Sunday, And I mean he's starting
Speaker 3: to learn the position pretty well at first base. And
Speaker 3: the then obviously you got Johann you know, you got
Speaker 3: Johann Rojas doing doing, you know, amazing things in center field.
Speaker 3: It up really nicely defensively, and uh, and that's been
Speaker 3: an impressive part of the sort of the transition and
Speaker 3: what they've done. Dave Dombrowski and Sample and whoever else
Speaker 3: is in charge of sort of remapping that because two
Speaker 3: or three years ago we're like, this defense can't get
Speaker 3: it done, and they're playing pretty darn well right now.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you're seeing, you know, the pitchers that
Speaker 2: we talked about, the starting pitcher of the one five
Speaker 2: to one era, and I think just over all the season,
Speaker 2: I think they have the second best ear in baseball
Speaker 2: Philly starters, behind only the Red Sox.
Speaker 1: And a lot of that has to do with the defense.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like Zach Wheeler last season, I think
Speaker 2: he could have been in a stronger position to win
Speaker 2: the sag Or if he got a little bit of better.
Speaker 1: Defense the first two or three months of the season.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Zach Wheeler, I was wondering when it got
Speaker 2: to the seventh eighth inning last night. We were sitting
Speaker 2: there going like, how what what is Rob Thompson thinking
Speaker 2: right now? Because I'm sure he was nervous, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: he said he was gonna let me go to one twenty.
Speaker 1: But man, I wonder if you would is gonna let him.
Speaker 3: Finish that game if it got to that point in.
Speaker 4: The night before as well, or was it Friday night Turnbull?
Speaker 4: These guys carrying these deep no hitters, and it's early,
Speaker 4: it's chili. You're monitoring pitch counts, especially on a guy
Speaker 4: like Turnbull who's coming back, you know, he's a couple
Speaker 4: of years removed from the surgery, Especially on a guy
Speaker 4: like Wheeler, who you know, it's chili right, It's it's
Speaker 4: cold right now. Uh, they're pitching kind of chili weather. Well,
Speaker 4: you want Wheeler to pitch in chili weather again in
Speaker 4: six months, you know you you want them to, you know,
Speaker 4: if you can nip and tuck and save a bullet
Speaker 4: or two. That's why today Sunday I had no problem
Speaker 4: with Rob getting Nola, you know, with a sizeable lead,
Speaker 4: you know, a complete game. And it's great and it's nice,
Speaker 4: and we love them. We kind of at times long
Speaker 4: for the past when they were you know, they occurred
Speaker 4: with more regularity. But there's nothing wrong with saving a
Speaker 4: few bullets for the for the for the holy month October.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, so, so Rob was saying that before
Speaker 2: the game, and after the game is like, I I'm trying,
Speaker 2: I'm dying to get some of these relievers some work
Speaker 2: because they haven't pitched in a few days. So after
Speaker 2: the game I talked to Jeff Hoffman just for a
Speaker 2: few seconds, I said, out of curiosity, are you guys
Speaker 2: sitting in the in the bullpen after being worked so
Speaker 2: hard the first twelve games of the season going, Man,
Speaker 2: I could really you know, they're almost pitching too good
Speaker 2: right now because now we're not pitching. And he said, actually,
Speaker 2: we were kind of joking about it, like, man, could
Speaker 2: we get some innings here please? And then Jeff and
Speaker 2: I guess some of the other veterans told Ryan Kirkan like,
Speaker 2: enjoy this while it lasts, cause you don't know if
Speaker 2: it will happen again this season, because at some point,
Speaker 2: you know, we're gonna be going, oh my gosh, could
Speaker 2: we please just get like a day or two in
Speaker 2: a row where we're not working our butts off. So
Speaker 2: they're enjoying it right now. They they want to stay sharp,
Speaker 2: of course, but they enjoyed this little ten day break.
Speaker 3: They got no doubt. And in this day and age,
Speaker 3: you start talking about some of the bullpens and they're
Speaker 3: eating up almost forty or fifty percent of the innings.
Speaker 3: And when you're doing that, you're putting so much heat
Speaker 3: on those guys, and that's why it's tougher to go
Speaker 3: back to back early, you know, with guys. And you
Speaker 3: know why are you're not going back to back well,
Speaker 3: because you haven't gotten your starters past the fifth inning.
Speaker 3: And so that's the beauty of the domino effect of
Speaker 3: what this means to these guys long term. If they
Speaker 3: can put a couple of these in a row, or
Speaker 3: you know, two out of the three next starts for
Speaker 3: each one of these guys can get into the sixth
Speaker 3: and seventh inning consistently, Boy oh boy, does that say
Speaker 3: these guys later on?
Speaker 4: They've done a very very good job keeping their starters
Speaker 4: healthy over the last few years.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Paul Bukaid is a guy that came over from
Speaker 3: the Boston Red Sox. I mean, you know, it's interesting,
Speaker 3: what you know, we're one of the very first thing.
Speaker 3: You know, Paul was over there when I was a coach,
Speaker 3: and one of the very first things that I wanted
Speaker 3: to do with my outfielders was to do long toss
Speaker 3: and it was like the first time he had heard
Speaker 3: that from a coach in like the longest time with
Speaker 3: my out with the outfielders, and he was like, thank god, Ruben,
Speaker 3: thank god, I finally got somebody who wants to throw
Speaker 3: long toss. And it's like, you know, Paul's got sort
Speaker 3: of that old school mentality that you know, you gotta
Speaker 3: you gotta take care of your arm by working your
Speaker 3: arm and building it and and I think that that's
Speaker 3: sort of you know, his mentality too.
Speaker 2: Did you see, guys see the smile and Nick Cassianis's
Speaker 2: face on Saturday when he tripled, It was like the
Speaker 2: entire weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders.
Speaker 2: I know he went hitless in the series finale on Sunday,
Speaker 2: but you know, maybe that gets them going a little bit.
Speaker 2: Three hits on Saturday night. Have you guys seen better
Speaker 2: at bats for him? Is there any reason to be
Speaker 2: optimistic he's going to since Sinnati this week he's had
Speaker 2: he had a great couple of years in Cincinnati. He's
Speaker 2: comfortable there. Yes, I mean, maybe maybe this is the week.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I feel like he's definitely getting closer. You know, the
Speaker 4: track record has been too good to not think it's
Speaker 4: going to come. And you know, Cincinnati, like you mentioned, uh,
Speaker 4: give him a positive vibe, good ballpark to hit him.
Speaker 4: I just feel like it's really close for him. You know,
Speaker 4: he's a guy a couple of good games and confidence
Speaker 4: in building, and I think he can ride that.
Speaker 3: So so I did a little bit of a breakdown
Speaker 3: on NBC Sports during the during the pregame on the
Speaker 3: game on Saturday, excuse me on Sunday today, And what
Speaker 3: was pretty cool about it was that, you know, one
Speaker 3: of the things that I saw with him was he
Speaker 3: was his lower half was really turned at his setup
Speaker 3: so that he was almost had his you know, his
Speaker 3: left hip was almost pointing towards the umpire. He was
Speaker 3: that far turned. And I felt like, just like in
Speaker 3: any other just again, any other hitter or pitcher, if
Speaker 3: you're not going if you're going too far east west
Speaker 3: like rotationally, you're not staying behind the ball, especially as
Speaker 3: a hitter, not staying behind the ball, and you're not
Speaker 3: working through the middle of the field. And that's one
Speaker 3: of the things that he does extremely well is drive
Speaker 3: the ball the opposite way. He's one of the better
Speaker 3: right handed hitters to do that over the last several years,
Speaker 3: and that's why that's why he's making a big money.
Speaker 3: But I think what I did in the breakdown was
Speaker 3: that over the last couple of games, he's not nearly
Speaker 3: as rotational. He's almost straight on now. And instead of
Speaker 3: going you know, this way to get his bat head
Speaker 3: and to get his body in position to make contact,
Speaker 3: there's a no margin. There's no real margin prayer. He's
Speaker 3: sort of going straight or towards the ball, working behind
Speaker 3: it and through it, and I just think bats have
Speaker 3: been better. I don't know if that was by design.
Speaker 3: I don't know if kay Long they hit a coach
Speaker 3: was working on that specifically, but it's something that I
Speaker 3: really noticed. I mean, he's really twisted up before, and
Speaker 3: he seems a little bit more straight on now.
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like I it was about a week ago.
Speaker 2: I talked with Kevin Long and he said that they
Speaker 2: told him they stopped talking about chase rates.
Speaker 3: And all that stuff.
Speaker 2: They he said that maybe he said it might have
Speaker 2: ended in spring training. I'm not sure when they you know,
Speaker 2: he's last been told about his chase rates, but it
Speaker 2: seems like that that phrase has not been uttered nearly
Speaker 2: as much over the past, over the.
Speaker 3: Past couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: While we were talking about the rotation, and we talked
Speaker 2: about this last time. But now Spencer Turnbull takes a
Speaker 2: no hitter in the seventh inning, and man, I mean,
Speaker 2: I we know what's going to happen, right, I mean, but.
Speaker 1: You know, is there any do you.
Speaker 2: Guys have any other thoughts on how to handle this?
Speaker 2: And you know it's got to be Turnbull to the
Speaker 2: to the bullpen and Walker to start me. Walker made
Speaker 2: his final rehab start today in Scranton six and the
Speaker 2: third four runs, four earned fastball average eighty nine point five.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much effort he was putting into it.
Speaker 2: Maybe he was kind of like a final tune up,
Speaker 2: But I think I.
Speaker 4: Think they got to find out about him, and why
Speaker 4: not sooner than later. He's ready find out. And you
Speaker 4: protect Turnbull a little bit because he hasn't pitched a
Speaker 4: ton in the last couple of years, and you know
Speaker 4: he's still there. He'll help you as a long man
Speaker 4: in some way, shape or form. And all these guys
Speaker 4: are going to get the opportunity to contribute. It's just
Speaker 4: whether or not they actually do so. You know, all
Speaker 4: eyes are going to be on Taiwan. He's gonna have
Speaker 4: to have to deliver a little bit. But I think
Speaker 4: he deserves that chance because one hundred and seventy two
Speaker 4: innings was really meaningful for that team last year.
Speaker 3: Right. Yeah, I think the Jim, if I put my
Speaker 3: GM hat on, I mean, you got to give the
Speaker 3: guy a answers, Jim said, and and basically it at
Speaker 3: some point, it's gonna become a performance based thing. If
Speaker 3: he's not pitching well in like four or five or
Speaker 3: six starts, he got to kind of give him a
Speaker 3: little bit of leash. Uh. And also kind of depends
Speaker 3: if the team's playing well. If the team's playing well
Speaker 3: and then they don't and he's eating up innings, and
Speaker 3: that factors in a little bit too. I do know,
Speaker 3: just knowing Dave Dombrowski, at some point, if he's not
Speaker 3: doing his job, Dave's gonna make a change. Dave's not afraid,
Speaker 3: you know, Dave and UH and Rob Thompson, I mean
Speaker 3: they're not afraid to make Especially Dave is not afraid to,
Speaker 3: you know, put the best guys out there. But I
Speaker 3: think he needs to get an opportunity to do that.
Speaker 3: I think he deserves it. There's a reason why they
Speaker 3: signed him to that contract, and and we'll see, we'll
Speaker 3: kind of go from there. It's uh, you know, Jim Figos,
Speaker 3: he used to say this all the time, man, and
Speaker 3: these things. They have a way of working themselves out
Speaker 3: and and I think this is going to be the case.
Speaker 4: And as the Phillies Sco eight and two at home,
Speaker 4: I think the Mets and the Braves are both on
Speaker 4: an eight and too ye too Barner heater, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, they're they're they're they're playing great. Man. The
Speaker 3: Mets are really surprising, was a Carlos Mendoza, the new
Speaker 3: manager there is setting a totally different tone in the clubhouse.
Speaker 3: It's a different clubhouse now. I think their guys are
Speaker 3: sort of on the same page. They're playing good baseball.
Speaker 3: You're de Martate sterling Mortes. Sterling Morte is playing well.
Speaker 3: He had a very poor, difficult year last year and
Speaker 3: some injuries. They're playing pretty darn good baseball. And I
Speaker 3: guess Lindora hasn't done a whole lot so far. I
Speaker 3: know they lost their catcher, which is a big, big one.
Speaker 3: That was a tough one for him, But hey, this
Speaker 3: is a this it's pretty exciting for the for the
Speaker 3: Mets fans, I mean, it's good and it's good for
Speaker 3: the division. I mean, you would think that Atlanta and
Speaker 3: Philadelphia would be the once and at the end of
Speaker 3: the day they probably will be. But it's pretty cool
Speaker 3: to see the Mets staying in there when even with
Speaker 3: Cody's Cody Sanga not not really pitching. You know, he's
Speaker 3: hurt right now too.
Speaker 2: I mean, the Braves, would you know they lose Sean
Speaker 2: Murphy and Travis Darnaut, It's what two home runs each
Speaker 2: of the last two games. I mean, it's just like
Speaker 2: it's it's such a Braves thing. They have all that
Speaker 2: incredible depth and just they keep chugging along. Spencer Strider
Speaker 2: is not pitching, they keep chugging along. Man, they find
Speaker 2: a way to get it done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they've got a great team. It's a very, very
Speaker 3: complete team. I think it's gonna end up being a
Speaker 3: really terrific race, especially if the Phillies starting pitching continues
Speaker 3: to go as it is, It's gonna be a hell
Speaker 3: of a race.
Speaker 4: Do you think, you know, opposing teams, the Braves, the Mets,
Speaker 4: other teams the Reds Phillies are going into play the Reds.
Speaker 4: Do you think they look at the Phillies and go, wow,
Speaker 4: you know they're hot, they're pitching staff is dealing, or
Speaker 4: do you think they actually say, well, look who they
Speaker 4: just beat up on? It are what?
Speaker 3: You know, we talk about it that, yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Can only beat the team that you're playing that night.
Speaker 4: But what is it? What about from a player's perspective, Ruben,
Speaker 4: Do they way way that the fact that they've played
Speaker 4: weak opponents?
Speaker 3: You know, honestly, it depends on the makeup of those
Speaker 3: players and the makeup of that team. You know, if
Speaker 3: they're a confident bunch, they'll say, hey, you know what,
Speaker 3: we face these guys before we've raked them. I mean,
Speaker 3: we've done some damage against them. They're not. You know,
Speaker 3: it depends on like the whole mentality of the team
Speaker 3: and how confident they are, and you know, how confident
Speaker 3: you know the manager is. It's just like the tone
Speaker 3: that they have. But I did you know, these guys
Speaker 3: watch and they know and you know, I remember there
Speaker 3: was a time, you know when there's certain players that
Speaker 3: I played with, when a guy when a guy was
Speaker 3: coming in towns I go, man, I got no chance
Speaker 3: against this guy. I'm like, dude, I would look I
Speaker 3: would look at it, and I would go like that
Speaker 3: was Greg Jefferies. Jeffreys every once in a while, you know,
Speaker 3: he have tough well I can't believe. I don't know
Speaker 3: if he was half joking or what the deal was,
Speaker 3: But like, I never wanted to ever succumb to the pitcher.
Speaker 3: I always wanted to. I want to say to myself,
Speaker 3: you know what, if he got me last time, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna get him this time. And so I think it's
Speaker 3: a lot about the mentality of the You gotta have
Speaker 3: a little bravado, man. You gotta have a little Dave
Speaker 3: Winfield in that in that box. You gotta have a
Speaker 3: little Juan Soto in that about don't matter whether that
Speaker 3: it's Dwight Gooden out there pitching or it's uh Molly Putts.
Speaker 3: I mean it's it's it's it's a uh, you just
Speaker 3: sort of have to have the right mentality. I think
Speaker 3: it really depends on the makeup of the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder if like the Reds are sitting there
Speaker 2: because they played him earlier season. Man, they weren't even
Speaker 2: playing that great when we had him and maybe the
Speaker 2: Rockies and the White Sox breeze some new life. But
Speaker 2: it is funny though, you got, like I've seen this
Speaker 2: in my Twitter feed, people talking about, wow, they only
Speaker 2: beat that beat the two worst teams in baseball. But man,
Speaker 2: you gotta do that, you gotta do that. You know,
Speaker 2: last season, only eight teams finished the season with winning
Speaker 2: records against teams with winning records, you know, so it's
Speaker 2: not like it's hard to beat the winning teams.
Speaker 1: You have to beat these bad teams.
Speaker 2: And you know they didn't go for and too, they
Speaker 2: went six and oh and that you know, as bad
Speaker 2: as they are, they did everything that they needed to do,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: But so this weekend, let's talk about this. These matchups
Speaker 1: here Monday, Ranger Suarez versus Hunter Green, Tuesday, Christopher Sanchez
Speaker 1: versus Andrew Abbott. Wednesday, Spencer Turnbull and probably his last
Speaker 1: start for a while. You could be back at some
Speaker 1: point versus Nicklodolo, and then the series finale on Thursday,
Speaker 1: Zach Wheeler versus Graham Ashcraft.
Speaker 3: Should be a good series.
Speaker 4: I wonder if Spencer Turnbull is just gonna keep making
Speaker 4: it a little interesting with another beauty in Cincinnati just
Speaker 4: keep adding to the drama.
Speaker 2: Is it's got Does that make things uncomfortable for Rob
Speaker 2: Thompson or does he just know that, listen, we have
Speaker 2: to do this.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's not a big yeah right.
Speaker 4: I think he knows what he has to do. I
Speaker 4: think defensive Turnbull probably knows why he was signed here
Speaker 4: in what role and he if nothing else, these good
Speaker 4: starts he's had, I think solidifies his place on the
Speaker 4: roster and on the pitching staff and they know they
Speaker 4: have something there that that can help in a couple
Speaker 4: of different roles.
Speaker 3: It was interesting, it was it was cool to listen
Speaker 3: to to to him talk about you know, after his
Speaker 3: last start he said, hey, listen, I'm just grateful I'm
Speaker 3: getting opportunities and I'm pitching well, and he knows. I
Speaker 3: mean it was almost like his quotes were like, I know,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be back in the bullpen at some
Speaker 3: point probably, but he's grateful to be able to have
Speaker 3: this opportunity and a pitch with his team. He loves
Speaker 3: his teammates. I mean, he said all the right things.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously for him personally, we'd love to take
Speaker 3: continue to take the ball and you got to love that.
Speaker 3: And he should be a little bit pissed off about not,
Speaker 3: you know, uh, take having that role taken away. But
Speaker 3: that's what you want out of the player. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's what you want. You want to fight, you want
Speaker 3: those little a little uh whatever and vinegar. But and
Speaker 3: you want that out of out of those players. And
Speaker 3: uh and that's okay. But again, you know, these things
Speaker 3: have a way of working themselves out, and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: it's just great. It's just a great signing man. When
Speaker 3: you start thinking about, you know, the pro scouting people
Speaker 3: and the people that had the decision of bringing him
Speaker 3: in on this contract, I mean he's sort of already
Speaker 3: paid for his contract with his contribution in one month,
Speaker 3: which is kind of crazy, but that's true. When you
Speaker 3: start thinking about breaking down, you know, wins and losses
Speaker 3: and what it costs to win a baseball game and
Speaker 3: what the value of that is, he's already sort of
Speaker 3: paid for his contract in his first you know, three
Speaker 3: or four starts.
Speaker 4: Ruben got any memories of Cincinnati when you're a player,
Speaker 4: plny big games? There any good games? You know what?
Speaker 3: Uh you know what I remember about Cincinnati? I remember
Speaker 3: way way back when I traveled when as a bat boy,
Speaker 3: traveling with the team, I remember like witnessing this is
Speaker 3: way back in uh I guess it was Riverfront is
Speaker 3: Riverfront Stadium, way back when, and thinking to myself and
Speaker 3: watching the bat boys because I always keyed on the
Speaker 3: bat boys back when I was a bat boys. See
Speaker 3: how they did their job right. They always had two
Speaker 3: guys sitting, one ball boy and one bat boy right there. Dude.
Speaker 3: They were the fastest, quickest, best bat boys in the world.
Speaker 3: I mean, boom, it was like clockwork. Boom boom, boom.
Speaker 3: I mean I got I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I was in all of them. You know, they were
Speaker 3: just like robots. It was sure they did. I was like, man,
Speaker 3: I would never and I think I would thought to
Speaker 3: myself ever since that moment, as I set the tone
Speaker 3: for me, I was like, I'm not going to let
Speaker 3: these guys beat me. I'm gonna show these guys what
Speaker 3: kind of bat boy I am. I mean, I'm serious, man.
Speaker 4: Everything was you know back.
Speaker 3: In the day. You know they had uh, you know,
Speaker 3: George Foster and Conception. I mean, I had unbelievable teams.
Speaker 3: But but they did everything just so by the book man.
Speaker 3: It was just like clockwork, and I was That was
Speaker 3: the most impressive thing that I remember that. The only
Speaker 3: other story I will tell is that was kind of
Speaker 3: funny was when when I was a rumor that that
Speaker 3: I was going to become the assistant GM of the team,
Speaker 3: and I was still playing, and I think David Weathers
Speaker 3: was on the mound at Tobbins was behind the plate
Speaker 3: and it was like, I don't know, the eighth or
Speaker 3: ninth inning or something like that, and I and I
Speaker 3: had had a bad year that year, but boom, David
Speaker 3: Weathers comes in. I punch a base hit or double
Speaker 3: or something up the middle and scored. I drove in
Speaker 3: a run and aparently and Tommins he was like screaming
Speaker 3: at the plate when that Ren scored, like, I cannot
Speaker 3: believe that assistant GM just beat her ass. What the
Speaker 3: hell is going on? Here?
Speaker 4: Were you?
Speaker 3: You were?
Speaker 4: You were on the team in ninety eight, right, I was.
Speaker 4: Do you remember in the old stadium Mark Lewis was
Speaker 4: on the team. Yes, guys signed Mark Lewis for one year.
Speaker 4: He was from Cincinnati and his buddies were all sitting
Speaker 4: behind the dog.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, and one of them fell into the dugout.
Speaker 4: Mark Lewis todd there's a big.
Speaker 3: Fight.
Speaker 4: All his friends are getting a fight, and one of
Speaker 4: them tumbles into the dugout like head rest and he's like,
Speaker 4: he's you know, he's laid out on the dugout floor
Speaker 4: and Rex Hudgard goes over to him says, dude, don't
Speaker 4: roll over. Your head is right next to a giant loogie.
Speaker 4: There was a big there and looking his head out
Speaker 4: of the puddle of spit. And it was such a
Speaker 4: fun story to write because Oddler is so colorful, his
Speaker 4: quotes are great. He's described but Mark Lewis's buddies, one
Speaker 4: of his buddies fell into the dugout during the game,
Speaker 4: and it was unreal.
Speaker 2: Were they fighting each other or fighting somebody else?
Speaker 4: One of them selling the dugout.
Speaker 3: Buddy hurt, but I think they were cheering for the
Speaker 3: Phillies because he was Mark Lewis's buddy and against the
Speaker 3: Cincinnati guys. It was some kind of brawl and it
Speaker 3: literally fell.
Speaker 4: Over the dugout, over the dugout, down into the dugout
Speaker 4: and Brookie Bob brook Over when we're watching this from
Speaker 4: the press box and laughing, and we didn't know if something, sir,
Speaker 4: We were kind of laughing. We're looking down there, and
Speaker 4: Bob brook Over says, I come to a Reds game
Speaker 4: and Jerry Springer show breaks out and Hal McCoy from
Speaker 4: the Dayton Daily News used that quote and his lead
Speaker 4: of his story, Great Hall of Fair.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker 4: Another great Cincinnati story. Jerry Krasnik, our good buddy, Jerry
Speaker 4: Krasnik is covering the team for the Cincinnati Post and
Speaker 4: during the March March shot or era, and he writes
Speaker 4: a critical story about Marge shot which really wasn't hard
Speaker 4: to do. She gets totally. She gets pissed off about
Speaker 4: this story that Jerry wrote and sees him in the
Speaker 4: media lunch room before the game the media dining room
Speaker 4: and throws his ass out, won't let him have dinner,
Speaker 4: throws him out of the media dining room. It gets better.
Speaker 4: Word gets down to the Red's clubhouse. They didn't like
Speaker 4: March very much.
Speaker 3: The players.
Speaker 4: Word gets down to the Reds clubhouse that Marge has
Speaker 4: thrown Jerry Krasnick out of the press, out of the
Speaker 4: press dining room. Tim Belcher orders him like a cheeseburger
Speaker 4: and a slice of pizza and he sends it up
Speaker 4: to the press box.
Speaker 3: No, that is great, it's funny. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: I hope we get something that good this weekend.
Speaker 2: This week in Cincinnati, now nobody can fall into the
Speaker 2: dugout because they have the netting up, you know.
Speaker 4: I think it's a great thing.
Speaker 3: The two things. Two cities there that are great baseball cities,
Speaker 3: one of Cincinnati, the other one's Baltimore. I think that
Speaker 3: they're enjoying some good young players coming through their systems.
Speaker 3: I picked the Cincinnati Rants to win the Central Division
Speaker 3: this year and I picked the Orioles to win of
Speaker 3: the A L East. So but it's but it's cool
Speaker 3: to see, like, you know, the flavor of this city
Speaker 3: bounce back. I hope there's great crowds because it's got
Speaker 3: a chance to be a really good series here. I
Speaker 3: know it's I know it's early in the season and
Speaker 3: it's on a early weekday series, but hopefully it'll be
Speaker 3: out there in droves.
Speaker 4: It's would be a fun series. And you gotta love
Speaker 4: I think if you're a Phillies fan, you gotta love
Speaker 4: the idea that ranger against the ball in the first
Speaker 4: game because first game can be such a tone center.
Speaker 3: Yeah yep, especially for the bullpen. Right. They continue to
Speaker 3: save the bullpen even though they're rested.
Speaker 2: Well, guys, thanks so much. It should be a fun week.
Speaker 2: We'll check back later this week. Thank you everybody for
Speaker 2: listening to The Philly Show. Until next time.
Speaker 3: Smell you later, Ruben, I'll be smelling you. Jim loving
Speaker 3: to logo