Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome back to The Phillies Show with Ruben
Speaker 1: Tomorrow Junior Jim Salisbury. I am todd z A lucky
Speaker 1: It is Thursday, April eleventh, twenty twenty four. Guys, how
Speaker 1: are you doing well? Double Buenos? This is fantastic Philly.
Speaker 1: Philly's had a nice little road trip. They go four
Speaker 1: and two, They win two out of three in d C,
Speaker 1: they win two out of three in Saint Luis. Some
Speaker 1: good starting pitching, some timely hitting, not a lot of
Speaker 1: timely hitting. But what kind of jumped out at you?
Speaker 2: Guys?
Speaker 1: Do you think about this road trip.
Speaker 3: When series win series that jumped out at me win series?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you win two out of three the rest of
Speaker 1: the way, going to sell some records.
Speaker 2: Very succinct, Jen, very succinct.
Speaker 3: I'm striving to be succinct today.
Speaker 2: You don't want you don't want to be You don't
Speaker 2: want to elaborate. I'll elaborate.
Speaker 3: You know, Uh, got some good starts, Spencer Turnbull, nice
Speaker 3: job in that five spot, continues to be uh A
Speaker 3: nice little story here. Uh, and they're gonna need that.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think the last two days and
Speaker 3: you know, the offense is kind of doing just enough
Speaker 3: to be six and six. It's not you know, caught
Speaker 3: fire yet. I mean one of the things that jumped
Speaker 3: out on me in the last few days is, you know,
Speaker 3: sixteen singles. I think it was no extra base hits
Speaker 3: the last two days in Saint Louis, which is fine.
Speaker 3: I mean, it takes all different ways, but this is
Speaker 3: the lineup that has built the slog. I think the
Speaker 3: three game series they were twenty six hits, only three
Speaker 3: extra base extra base hits. Not a arming at all,
Speaker 3: but interesting, not alarming, because I do think the slug
Speaker 3: will come, and it's probably reasons why it is not
Speaker 3: there that some of them that I believe Todd articulated
Speaker 3: in a story on MLB dot com. But you know,
Speaker 3: six and six, twelve games in, I'm fine with it.
Speaker 3: No panic here, boys, no panic.
Speaker 1: So let's let's actually jump into this because I think
Speaker 1: in Ruben, you know you can jump in right away.
Speaker 2: So I thought.
Speaker 1: There were three very illuminating comments from players and manager
Speaker 1: this week. Starting Monday night, Joan Rojas had one hit
Speaker 1: all season. He crushes a double down the left field
Speaker 1: lines at first step bat one o eight point one
Speaker 1: off the bat. His hardest hit base hit ever in
Speaker 1: the big leagues and kind of following up what we
Speaker 1: were talking about in Monday, guys being tentative on the
Speaker 1: bases and and Johan Rojas also be tentative. I asked him,
Speaker 1: I said, do you feel like you've been a little
Speaker 1: tentative in the box as you've been trying to cut
Speaker 1: down your chase rate? And he said, I think that
Speaker 1: I was a little shy at the plate before. Right now,
Speaker 1: what I can do is be myself now. Tuesday afternoon,
Speaker 1: we're talking to Nick Castianos, and he said, we asked
Speaker 1: him how seasons going. He said, it's crappy, but he
Speaker 1: didn't say crappy. He said, can we say that? Can
Speaker 1: we say?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: He did say that.
Speaker 1: So he said, what was the worst part about her?
Speaker 1: What's the you know, the crappiestiest part about it? And
Speaker 1: he said, I think I that I put too much
Speaker 1: stress on my chase percentages and wanting so so much
Speaker 1: to swing at good pitches that I feel like I
Speaker 1: lost the whippiness and the looseness I had attacking the ball.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm not getting my swing off. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, get him in the zone. Get him in
Speaker 1: the zone. Oh, it's in the zone, and I take
Speaker 1: a soft swing. And then Rob Thompson basically said the
Speaker 1: same thing. He says, you know, we players have been
Speaker 1: hearing a lot about don't chase, don't chase, don't chase.
Speaker 1: You want to have a balance there. So that to
Speaker 1: me could be why this team is not slugging.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So here's here's my take on this thing.
Speaker 5: I see an indecisiveness of some guys, and I think
Speaker 5: that's the reason, because everybody's focusing on the swing decisions
Speaker 5: that we talked about a little bit before, like whether
Speaker 5: they're going to swinging a strike or swinging a.
Speaker 2: Pitch in the zone.
Speaker 5: And I do think that there's you know, you do
Speaker 5: your work and you get your work done, and I
Speaker 5: think k Long was talking about this a little bit.
Speaker 5: You get your work done in the cage, and you know,
Speaker 5: pregame and do whatever you gotta do. But when it
Speaker 5: comes time.
Speaker 6: To hit against a guy who's throwing a ninety four
Speaker 6: mile an hour cutter and a ninety nine mile an
Speaker 6: hour fastball and an eighty six mile an hour hook,
Speaker 6: you better just be concentrated on hitting the baseball and
Speaker 6: let your work sort of happen naturally and be athletic
Speaker 6: in the box.
Speaker 5: And I think if I see some guys not doing
Speaker 5: that just because, and I think it's casting and Johann
Speaker 5: Rojas in the early part of the season, but.
Speaker 4: I think there's more than just those guys who are
Speaker 4: sort of in between right now, a lot of in between.
Speaker 2: Even Harper's a little in between.
Speaker 7: I mean, Harper is not really other than a three
Speaker 7: home run day. Harper's not you know, he's not himself
Speaker 7: yet now. I think the reasons why he's not himself
Speaker 7: for a little different. I think the reason why he's not
Speaker 7: himself and we can go off on a Tangentlell go
Speaker 7: off on Tangentiera is because he's.
Speaker 2: Playing first base and it's a whole different deal being
Speaker 2: at first.
Speaker 5: Baseman every day, not dhing got another DH and Kyle
Speaker 5: Schwarber that I think that's a totally different deal and
Speaker 5: adjusting to that. But I think the guys just it's
Speaker 5: like a golfer, right if you start thinking about your
Speaker 5: swing and you're in competition, you better not be You
Speaker 5: better be athletic in the box, man, You better be
Speaker 5: athletic and just let your you got to let the
Speaker 5: work that you did, you know, happen and I don't
Speaker 5: see that happen name very consistently with a lot of
Speaker 5: guys in the lineup, not just Casti and Johann.
Speaker 2: But it'll get better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when we talked about this a couple episodes ago,
Speaker 3: the difference between a swing decision and a pure natural reaction.
Speaker 3: You want a pure natural reaction because if you're thinking
Speaker 3: too much, think long, think wrong, and it happens in
Speaker 3: all sports. Those comments Todd in your story, Matt Gelb's story,
Speaker 3: they really jumped out at me. Rob Thompson, Castianos Rojas,
Speaker 3: I just suggested that, you know, guys were thinking too
Speaker 3: much about the chase and it almost becomes paralysis by analysis,
Speaker 3: very defensive swing and you know, not yourself, and I
Speaker 3: don't know how. It's kind of only human though, when
Speaker 3: you consider this. They would bounce from the postseason because
Speaker 3: they chased a lot of pitches last season. It was
Speaker 3: talked about all off season. It was almost like the
Speaker 3: way the Eagles collapse is being talked about now and
Speaker 3: dissect it and it won't go away. Well, the Phillies
Speaker 3: collapse and the reasons for it didn't go away all
Speaker 3: winter and everybody talked about you. They stop chase and pitches.
Speaker 3: They gotta be more selective. It can't be so much
Speaker 3: free swinging. They heard it was on their mind. They
Speaker 3: got to spring training, and oh what happened. We've added
Speaker 3: two hitting coaches. Now we're up to three. So you've
Speaker 3: got three hitting coaches. Everybody's in each other's ear. How
Speaker 3: can you not think about it? How can you not
Speaker 3: think about it? You know? I just think it's another example,
Speaker 3: And I'm all for all the coaching and instruction and
Speaker 3: information you can get, but you can't over engineer the athlete.
Speaker 3: You got to let him be natural. And I mean,
Speaker 3: some guys want all that information and can process it
Speaker 3: and still be natural. But I think a few years
Speaker 3: ago on the mound, Aaron Nola there was a lot
Speaker 3: of information floating around his head and he was having
Speaker 3: trouble executing. He was more, you know, kind of just
Speaker 3: let natural take over. Stanos appears to be that guy,
Speaker 3: so I do, and Robi Thompson alluded to it. Just
Speaker 3: it's so much talk about it is bombarding them and
Speaker 3: and paralyzing them a little bit, and just you know,
Speaker 3: in terms of paralysis by analysis and just not not
Speaker 3: firing at the ball, not swinging at the ball like
Speaker 3: and I honestly think it's all going to mitigate and
Speaker 3: come together at some point and they'll get that balance between. Okay,
Speaker 3: since since synthesized the information, Sorry, I first streed with
Speaker 3: the new tongue, and you know, and then the natural.
Speaker 2: Well, you're a writer, you're not a speaker. I mean
Speaker 2: I'm not speaking. We know that. Yeah, now I think
Speaker 2: I think I think you make great, great points. Uh,
Speaker 2: no question about it.
Speaker 5: There is probably in in this day and age, a
Speaker 5: little too much information.
Speaker 2: Uh. There's a balance between being John Kruck and what
Speaker 2: rolling out of bed and take getting a.
Speaker 5: Knock and not knowing the picture but not really caring
Speaker 5: because you can adjust.
Speaker 2: And then there's a JD. Martinez who wants all.
Speaker 5: The information and he processes it all and he understands it.
Speaker 2: And you know, even a guy like the left fielder
Speaker 2: Albert Bell.
Speaker 5: That I play, I mean he used to write down
Speaker 5: every very meticulous. There's a balance, and each guy processes
Speaker 5: information differently, right.
Speaker 4: Everybody's just like you know, a teacher. Teacher has to
Speaker 4: sometimes you know, the kid's visual.
Speaker 5: Or the kids you know, oral or you know, whatever
Speaker 5: the case may be, but the people process stuff differently.
Speaker 2: I have a theory that I'm going to talk this.
Speaker 8: Is a.
Speaker 5: This is one of those takes that that may sound
Speaker 5: a little funky, but I think I think about the
Speaker 5: segmental psyche a lot. Nick Casianos has hit in the
Speaker 5: middle of a lineup his entire life, and he made
Speaker 5: a little bit of a comment about, you know, the
Speaker 5: protection and where he is in the lineup and getting
Speaker 5: pitches and thinking about he's sort of like, you know,
Speaker 5: a little bit of a deep thinker and a little emotional,
Speaker 5: and which is fine, it's cool. I think that there
Speaker 5: is something going on in his psyche. I don't know
Speaker 5: what it is, but the fact that he's hitting in
Speaker 5: a seventh hole as opposed to.
Speaker 2: Hitting in the four, five, six, three.
Speaker 5: Like for most of his career, I think that that
Speaker 5: I think that that sort of messes with him a
Speaker 5: little bit, and I think he is a I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, one of the things I did notice about
Speaker 5: him like when he when he's feeling really good and
Speaker 5: comfortable about himself, he plays much better right when his
Speaker 5: son's around and his families are near him, and stuff
Speaker 5: like that I think he plays better. I think I
Speaker 5: think when he is at peace with himself outside of baseball,
Speaker 5: I think he plays much much better baseball and has
Speaker 5: a lot more success. And I'm not sure that I'm
Speaker 5: not necessarily suggesting he should be moved up. I just
Speaker 5: think it's just another adjustment that he has he has
Speaker 5: to make, like, hey, I'm still an important part of
Speaker 5: this lineup. It's not I'm not in the seventh hole
Speaker 5: because Rob Thompson doesn't think I'm an important part of
Speaker 5: the lineup. I'm in the seventh hole because I haven't
Speaker 5: been as productive as I have been in the past,
Speaker 5: and there's other guys in this lineup who are productive
Speaker 5: and can be more productive.
Speaker 2: And that's maybe one of the reasons why.
Speaker 7: Plus Rob Thompson might be wanting to drop him back
Speaker 7: there to give that back into the lineup a little
Speaker 7: more punch.
Speaker 2: So that said, that's a little bit of a take
Speaker 2: that I have. I think it's an adjustment that he's
Speaker 2: going to have to make.
Speaker 5: Mentally and emotionally, and when he does, hopefully does soon,
Speaker 5: and he's starting to do it now. I lost I've
Speaker 5: seen some things over the last couple days where I've
Speaker 5: seen him start to become a little bit more of himself.
Speaker 2: I think that it's going to really length it out
Speaker 2: that line.
Speaker 1: It was interesting that he said that, and I can
Speaker 1: tell you that he was not happy when he did
Speaker 1: get dropped down. I think it was early early September
Speaker 1: last season. I think he dropped as far down as
Speaker 1: eighth in the lineup. Then he hit seventh. He's been
Speaker 1: in seventh open since opening day. I remember I asked
Speaker 1: him in spring training about that. I said, you were
Speaker 1: not happy when he dropped down. He's like, I was
Speaker 1: not happy. I did not like being dropped down, And
Speaker 1: he did make that comment. So it is an adjustment.
Speaker 1: The problem is is, boy, he's really gonna have to
Speaker 1: start hitting and making better contact to move up in
Speaker 1: the lineup because Rob talks a lot about how he
Speaker 1: likes Bom and Real Muto up higher, especially Boom because
Speaker 1: he makes a lot of contact with runners on base.
Speaker 1: So I it seems like it's a difficult path now
Speaker 1: that he's down there. How does he get back up?
Speaker 1: So you know, he's got to He's got to figure
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 2: Do you either either gets backed up or he just
Speaker 2: he learns to live bit and love it. Yeah right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's exactly right.
Speaker 3: I mean you talk about lineup balance and having a
Speaker 3: little bit of thunder down low and bottom third. There
Speaker 3: are RBIs to pick up in that seven hole. It
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be an unglamorous spot in the order.
Speaker 3: But so do you would you consider if you were
Speaker 3: a skipper, would you consider moving him up into the
Speaker 3: middle as a way to kickstart him and you know,
Speaker 3: make him, you know, feel good and ignite some confidence
Speaker 3: and maybe kickstart him by putting him in in that
Speaker 3: really meaningful hole in the in the middle of the
Speaker 3: lineup where he has been comfortable in the past, or
Speaker 3: do you make him kind of earn it? What's what's
Speaker 3: the take there.
Speaker 2: It's a great question, and for me it's a it's
Speaker 2: a super question.
Speaker 5: And I think if he starts hitting the ball a
Speaker 5: little bit better, I feel like that kind of a
Speaker 5: move to move him up and to move say JT
Speaker 5: back out to five or six or something like that
Speaker 5: would have less of an impact on JT emotionally, because
Speaker 5: I don't think JT gives a.
Speaker 2: Crap where he hits. And maybe it makes him a
Speaker 2: little bit better, maybe it makes him feel like he's more,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, more important in the line whatever,
Speaker 2: Maybe it makes him.
Speaker 5: I don't know the answer because I can't get into
Speaker 5: people's I don't have a crystal ball one and two.
Speaker 2: I can't get into people's psyche.
Speaker 5: But I do know that if JT got moved back
Speaker 5: and Nick Guck moved back, I don't think it would
Speaker 5: affect j T as far as the emotion of it comparatively. Now,
Speaker 5: you have to have a productive player in there, but
Speaker 5: you know that productive.
Speaker 2: That player is not.
Speaker 5: Productive, then what's the point we're not about. We're not
Speaker 5: making we're not making people happy. I wouldn't because he's
Speaker 5: such a much better hitter. He drives in runs with
Speaker 5: the he drives and runs. He's the best driving runs
Speaker 5: with two you know, two outs.
Speaker 2: He's he's he's he drove in ninety seven runs last
Speaker 2: year or whatever it was. Right, there's a lot of runs.
Speaker 3: Man, he didn't you know Nick drove in one hundred plus?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: He did, and and and in that seventh spot, I
Speaker 1: mean he did basically help carry the phillies past the
Speaker 1: braves in the NLDS. So it's not like you can't
Speaker 1: do damage in the seven hole. But I know he
Speaker 1: does not. Oh yeah yeah, So I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know if there's an acceptance that's ever gonna come with him,
Speaker 1: or if he's gonna if he's gonna hate that spot forever.
Speaker 1: But it seems like he has gotten past the obsessing
Speaker 1: over the chaser part.
Speaker 2: He's just he.
Speaker 1: Seemed like he was over it. You know, he's he's
Speaker 1: the other day he was. His chas rate last season
Speaker 1: was forty one percent. The entering Tuesday was thirty four
Speaker 1: point four.
Speaker 2: Is that good?
Speaker 1: I don't, you know, Like, what's the what's the number
Speaker 1: that they want him to get to? If they want
Speaker 1: him to get to that number, that's the thing. And
Speaker 1: I think he's kind of like kind of over it.
Speaker 1: He's kind of over it.
Speaker 2: The numbers are overblown. Man to see it and hit it.
Speaker 2: Seeing hit it if it's.
Speaker 5: A ball, try to take it. If it's not a ball,
Speaker 5: whack it. I mean, I don't know. Sounds ridiculously simple.
Speaker 3: He's a streaky feel guy. And honestly, one of these
Speaker 3: days we're gonna be sitting here and we're gonna be
Speaker 3: talking about him hitting a bunch of two hoppers off
Speaker 3: the wall. For about a week he's gonna get a
Speaker 3: no doubt, he's gonna go knots. He's gonna be standing
Speaker 3: on second base all the time because he's hitting doubles.
Speaker 3: And you know, it's when he flashes that bath heead
Speaker 3: you can tell he's really confident. You know, like when
Speaker 3: he flashes that bath heead, it's out there and the
Speaker 3: balls boom. He'll get going.
Speaker 2: And he's been killing a hitter for a long time. Dude,
Speaker 2: he can hit, and he can hit the ball out
Speaker 2: of the ballpark.
Speaker 1: You can hit two three hit games, he says. It's
Speaker 1: you know, and everybody's gonna forget about this. Or he
Speaker 1: had a two hit game that night after we after
Speaker 1: we talked to him pregame, and he looked over as
Speaker 1: he goes, should have talked to you guys about my
Speaker 1: hitting earlier, almost like we jinxed him out of it
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: He's a little eighth emotional.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's.
Speaker 2: Thinker, Yeah, no doubt, which is okay, Which is okay.
Speaker 2: I mean that's just who he is. Ruben.
Speaker 3: You're emotional. You cry at a sunset.
Speaker 5: I am very emotional, James, I am a woos no question.
Speaker 2: I cried at finding Nemo dude, with my kids, I
Speaker 2: am not I am not bashful about it. My friend,
Speaker 2: that's great.
Speaker 1: That's a good movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great movie. That was crying like a baby, I
Speaker 2: think a baby. Yeah, And they did a sighting on
Speaker 2: I P on I P because of it. Someone said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: we saw ruben of borrowings.
Speaker 3: That's what that's that's when they used to not like you,
Speaker 3: w I P.
Speaker 2: Now they like you. That's also, well, they never not
Speaker 2: like me. They ripped me, but they always sort of
Speaker 2: like me because I always used to go on there
Speaker 2: and say, go ahead and rip me.
Speaker 5: You know, how come you're not ripping me when you do.
Speaker 3: Have in addition to being emotional, you do have very
Speaker 3: very thick skin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it comes with the territory, dude.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're on a tangent.
Speaker 2: Let's go back to baseball.
Speaker 1: So I was really impressed.
Speaker 3: I thought.
Speaker 1: What I thought was really fun about yesterday's game was
Speaker 1: Aaron Nola's performance and just how he pitching in just awful,
Speaker 1: rainy conditions, just totally dialed gear back everything just to
Speaker 1: try to be competitive and got got them six innings.
Speaker 1: Is his Vela was so down early in the game
Speaker 1: because of the conditions. I was getting text from people
Speaker 1: not at the game going because of all the UCL
Speaker 1: stuff saying, oh my gosh, is this and is he
Speaker 1: about the something badgeting about happened? What were you guys impressed?
Speaker 1: As impressed as I was with why we kind of
Speaker 1: geared everything down the shortness stride and just tried to
Speaker 1: get the ball over the play yesterday. I thought that
Speaker 1: was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very impressive because I think that's what
Speaker 3: a good athlete does. He adjusts in the moment, depending
Speaker 3: on maybe what's working that day. Like let's say it
Speaker 3: was perfect pitching conditions seventy eight degrees and dry, but
Speaker 3: maybe something wasn't working something, so you adjust your game plan.
Speaker 3: He adjusted to the weather and the feel on the mound.
Speaker 3: He was very smart about it. You don't want to,
Speaker 3: you know, blow out your push leg or your land
Speaker 3: leg because the conditions are bad. So it was a
Speaker 3: smart athlete adjusting to what was in front of him
Speaker 3: on that given day. I once upon a time I
Speaker 3: covered David Cohn when I covered the Yankees, and you know,
Speaker 3: he would talk about I can distinctly remember him after
Speaker 3: games talking about almost like inventing pitches during the game
Speaker 3: based on finger positioning and finger pressure and where he
Speaker 3: was holding the ball and what was feeling good and
Speaker 3: how it was coming out. And he's like mutating pitches
Speaker 3: like in a laboratory in real time on the pitcher's
Speaker 3: mound because he's just so smart. And he was, you know,
Speaker 3: reading real time feedback that he was getting from hitters
Speaker 3: and hitters swing and how the ball felt out of
Speaker 3: his hand and making real time adjustments. And I think, honestly,
Speaker 3: that's what Aaron Nola did yesterday in the mud. Didn't
Speaker 3: worry about lighting up any radar guns. He worried about
Speaker 3: protecting his body, executing strikes, you know, getting some contact,
Speaker 3: getting some outs. I thought it was a really smart
Speaker 3: performance by him.
Speaker 2: I can't say enough about it.
Speaker 5: And it also it speaks to so many different things
Speaker 5: about the game that have changed for the worst.
Speaker 2: And when I see what I saw out.
Speaker 5: Of both of those two guys, both Wheeler and Nola,
Speaker 5: and I think Nola sort of didn't learn from him,
Speaker 5: but all he had to do is watch what Wheeler did.
Speaker 4: I mean, he wasn't down a ninety six mile an
Speaker 4: hour fastball. Wheeler was moving the ball, he was spinning
Speaker 4: the ball, he's putting where he wanted to. He wasn't
Speaker 4: dominating with like nasty, nasty, filthy stuff. Still have great movement,
Speaker 4: got guys off the barrel. He figured out ways to
Speaker 4: get through. You know however, seven innings, I mean, dude.
Speaker 5: And then Nola comes back and throws you know what,
Speaker 5: did what he did fantastic and very very very few,
Speaker 5: if any, young pitchers can do any of this because
Speaker 5: they have to rely on their stuff. They don't pitch,
Speaker 5: they have to rely on their stuff. And if they
Speaker 5: have to rely on their stuff and they don't have it,
Speaker 5: guess what, they try to throw harder, and then they
Speaker 5: try to spin it harder. And these guys went the
Speaker 5: other way, which is brilliant and pitched and got people out.
Speaker 5: And so for me, that is as good a performance
Speaker 5: from both those guys when they didn't have their stuff
Speaker 5: to be able to keep the team in the game and.
Speaker 2: Give them a chance to win a baseball game.
Speaker 3: That was was Nola's approach yesterday, all dictated by the
Speaker 3: wet grounds, right.
Speaker 4: I think so, because listen, he could not drive, he
Speaker 4: could not step, he.
Speaker 2: Couldn't do there's so many different things.
Speaker 5: I mean, you can put yourself in danger, not just
Speaker 5: with your legs, but with your arm if you're trying
Speaker 5: to you know, you never know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: When you're that slipper. Year. Base is so important in
Speaker 2: in sports. You know, whether you're hitting, whether you're pitching,
Speaker 2: whether you're you know, shooting a bow and arrow. I mean,
Speaker 2: your base means everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, j T was JT was saying that. JT said
Speaker 1: he saw him slip a couple of times during warm
Speaker 1: ups while he was throwing it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you a picture blows out his pusch side
Speaker 3: groin three months more, I don't know, maybe more.
Speaker 2: I mean, look what happened at dock in the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: great point San Francisco. I mean we didn't have a stuff.
Speaker 5: He had to try to free out, made a couple
Speaker 5: of mistakes in the costas. It wasn't because he wasn't
Speaker 5: trying to. I mean, Doc was being Doc trying to pitch.
Speaker 3: It's so important to your to your push off the
Speaker 3: rubber you're it grabs you every every pitch. And Clemens
Speaker 3: had a couple that he had to shut down when
Speaker 3: he had a growing problem Boom, he was sidelined. It's
Speaker 3: so important your core and everything. You look at Hoskins,
Speaker 3: he had a core injury and he just couldn't get
Speaker 3: through it. He had to have surgery a few years ago.
Speaker 3: It's boy, thank goodness everything they came out of that
Speaker 3: game in the mud okay, with a win. That a
Speaker 3: lot of health.
Speaker 2: That had to be Rob Thomas's biggest concern. I mean
Speaker 2: every pitch and I was watching from the booth. I
Speaker 2: got a good angle of it.
Speaker 6: I'm going, you.
Speaker 5: Know, these are bad, bad, bad conditions bad, like.
Speaker 1: It was really puddling up. It reminded me of Game
Speaker 1: five a little bit, a game World terrible, terrible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know JT's behind there catching every you take
Speaker 1: one in the neck the night.
Speaker 3: Before about it.
Speaker 1: What a tough dude.
Speaker 2: He's a stud. I don't care what dude.
Speaker 4: I can get canceled, but the man's a study.
Speaker 1: Well you know what was great about that is you
Speaker 1: know he is so tough that while he was on
Speaker 1: the ground grabbing his neck, Garrett Stubbs just sat there
Speaker 1: and watched because his he had every expectation that JT
Speaker 1: was going to get up and continue to play.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that?
Speaker 1: And at one point all the infielders are yelling at
Speaker 1: Stubbs he's coming out, and Stubs is like almost in
Speaker 1: disbelief that no, no, no, no, he's he's going to keep playing,
Speaker 1: and they're like, no, no, no, he's actually is going
Speaker 1: to come out of this game, because he never comes
Speaker 1: out of a game, never.
Speaker 5: Never, ever, and doesn't want to. And that's what you
Speaker 5: love about JT.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 2: I mean, I could not believe he was in a lineup.
Speaker 4: I will tell you that ninety every single other player
Speaker 4: in baseball, none of them would have gone and played
Speaker 4: the next day.
Speaker 2: That next morning. They would I have done it. They
Speaker 2: played it basically a morning Think about that for a minute.
Speaker 2: Twelve fifteen game basically a morning game for these guys. Yeah,
Speaker 2: back and play the next day.
Speaker 1: I asked he was walking by U yesterday morning. I said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna wear one of those danglee uh catcher things.
Speaker 1: He says, Now, Paul Bookeye, the trainer, always tries to
Speaker 1: get me wear them, and he's like, I would just
Speaker 1: get too much crap in the clubhous, So I'm not gonna.
Speaker 2: I'm not wearing it. He's a tough son of a
Speaker 2: bitch man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is that he really is. So the Phillies
Speaker 1: are opening up a ten game home stand beginning tonight
Speaker 1: against the Pirates. Got Jared Jones versus Ranger Suarez tonight,
Speaker 1: old friend, Bailey Falter versus Christopher Sanchez on Friday Night,
Speaker 1: Marco Gonzalez versus Spencer Turnbull on Saturday, and then Keller
Speaker 1: versus Wheeler on Sunday Friday.
Speaker 3: I hope Bailey Falter gets a nice ovation, because when
Speaker 3: I think of Bailey fall I think of the second
Speaker 3: half of twenty twenty two, after Zach Yefflin I believe,
Speaker 3: went down. He he filled in a bunch of starts
Speaker 3: and the team won a bunch of those starts. I
Speaker 3: think at one point he made like six in a
Speaker 3: row and the team won all six of him. He
Speaker 3: got him to the middle innings, did his job. So
Speaker 3: he did a nice job for a very good team
Speaker 3: that year.
Speaker 2: Totally agree with you.
Speaker 5: He was like Christopher Sanchez's version of twenty two. I mean,
Speaker 5: Christopher Chance did the same sort of thing in twenty three,
Speaker 5: coming in and filling in and doing it.
Speaker 2: I mean he was one of the most consistent guys
Speaker 2: for a while.
Speaker 4: So was Bailey Falter for maybe a couple of months,
Speaker 4: and so you got to give him, you gotta give
Speaker 4: him a little love. Now, at some point the team
Speaker 4: started to adjust on him and he was struggled to
Speaker 4: throw strikes.
Speaker 5: But but I mean he contributed, and it takes you know,
Speaker 5: takes a village.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was like remember Vance Worley in twenty eleven,
Speaker 3: he really stepped up. A fuss went on, right, Kyle Kendrick.
Speaker 2: And Blant and those kind of guys, I mean, you know, contributors. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Important.
Speaker 2: That Pittsburgh team is a good Team's surprising.
Speaker 4: Yeahburgh, they're playing baseball if they stay healthy, they are.
Speaker 3: And then the schedule, my gosh, there's some you know,
Speaker 3: some red meat on that schedule that coming into Philly
Speaker 3: after the Pirates. That I mean, you don't want to
Speaker 3: look ahead, and you never want a short sight or
Speaker 3: underestimate a major league ball club. They're major league players.
Speaker 3: But you know, the White Sox a lot of injuries.
Speaker 3: Rockies aren't really there yet. Kind of a chance to
Speaker 3: make a little hay no.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, and should listen. Let's let's call what it is.
Speaker 5: The Phildelpia Billies talent wise, maybe not as much with
Speaker 5: the Pittsburgh Pirates because the Pittsburgh parents have some.
Speaker 2: Talented young players, but they don't have the experience on.
Speaker 5: They're a better club than all these clubs, and they
Speaker 5: should do some damage against these clubs.
Speaker 2: But this is baseball. They got to play good baseball.
Speaker 2: One of the concerns I've had about all.
Speaker 5: These expectations is that sometimes, you know, mentally, you start thinking, oh,
Speaker 5: we're going to They're going to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: They're definitely going to the playoffs. Even before the season started,
Speaker 2: Oh this is a playoff team. Well, you have to
Speaker 2: play to be a playoff team. You got to play
Speaker 2: well enough to be a playoff team.
Speaker 5: And even though they have great veterans, it's a good group.
Speaker 5: There's something in that psyche. I think that sometimes people go, man, we're.
Speaker 2: Gonna be okay.
Speaker 8: Well, you gotta be okay. Before you're okay, right, you
Speaker 8: gotta play, and so that that, you know, that's you know,
Speaker 8: something that people have to be a little lerier.
Speaker 1: Friday n at the debut The City Connects. What do
Speaker 1: you guys think of those?
Speaker 2: You know what?
Speaker 5: I think the color scheme is actually not bad. I mean, listen,
Speaker 5: it's not I I didn't really understand the concept until
Speaker 5: I started to the now understand the concept. The concept
Speaker 5: is it's a connection to the city, not the team.
Speaker 5: And so there's no red, there's no maroon, there's no
Speaker 5: So the color scheme and all that stuff that's based
Speaker 5: on the city, the love patch, the writing about you know, constitution,
Speaker 5: you know, the font on it and stuff like that,
Speaker 5: and the flag, the Philadelphia flag and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: That's the color scheme. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 2: it in that context context, that's okay. You know, they
Speaker 2: have the hats are kind of cool. I like the
Speaker 2: love that.
Speaker 1: I think the hats are very.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, it's just an adjustment in your
Speaker 5: eyes and your thought process, you know.
Speaker 3: And the color goes back to the blue and gold
Speaker 3: when the Swedish colonized Philadelphia I think in the sixteen hundreds. Really, yeah,
Speaker 3: the Swedish folks were here. So in honor of that,
Speaker 3: I believe Matt Sundan is gonna throw out the first pick.
Speaker 1: This is the second week you mentioned a hockey player
Speaker 1: on the pod.
Speaker 2: He's a big hockey guy.
Speaker 1: Oh my lord, you.
Speaker 2: Can't take it out of the out of the hockey guy.
Speaker 1: I think people know.
Speaker 5: You can take him out of New England, but you
Speaker 5: can't take the New England out of jem people.
Speaker 1: I think people know this, Jim. Maybe not. But when
Speaker 1: there's Raindolay's at the ballpark, you'll look over and see
Speaker 1: what Jimmy's watching it. And he's a swear to guy.
Speaker 1: He's watching clips in like nineteen fifty hockey highlights on YouTube.
Speaker 1: He's just going through goalis with no masks or goalies
Speaker 1: with like a little like paper, you know, like a
Speaker 1: cardboard mask over their face. Guys just pularizing. When that's
Speaker 1: how Jim Salisbury spends his time.
Speaker 2: Jim, do you like fights in the NHL or do
Speaker 2: you not like that?
Speaker 3: I like him in terms of I don't like him,
Speaker 3: but I understand him in terms of account of you know,
Speaker 3: you know, almost like a pitcher taking.
Speaker 2: Control of the good.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think if you've got a guy running around taking
Speaker 3: shots at people, it helps. I mean, I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: lie to you. I growing up watching hockey in the
Speaker 3: seventies and eighties, and I used to I mean, I
Speaker 3: listened to Chris Nyland's podcast, I love it, and he
Speaker 3: was an enforcer for the Canadians and play with the Bruins,
Speaker 3: and uh, I think it was part of the game,
Speaker 3: and I think it can still serve a purpose as
Speaker 3: a way of policing the game. I'd hate to see
Speaker 3: it taken out, but fighting for the sake of fighting
Speaker 3: is I'm not in favor of that. And I'm also
Speaker 3: in favor of some of the new rules because it
Speaker 3: allows the smaller, speedier guy not to be uh, to
Speaker 3: have a place in the game and show off skill
Speaker 3: because you know, the skill level is incredible, and that's
Speaker 3: to me, where where the bread is buttered showing off
Speaker 3: the skill. So uh, you know, uh, everything in balance,
Speaker 3: Rube and everything in balance.
Speaker 1: I had a good fight every once in a while,
Speaker 1: A good fight every once.
Speaker 2: In a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like like when Stan Jonathan took out Pierre Bouchard.
Speaker 3: One of the highlights of my life.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go at the Google these guys. I have
Speaker 1: to see if I can find this fight.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So, yeah, Stan Jonathan took out Pierre Bouchard. Uh,
Speaker 3: I mean, and it sent a message. It was you know,
Speaker 3: I mean, Ruben's good friend, Paul Holmgren, you know, you
Speaker 3: know how to take care.
Speaker 5: Of business, Dicky Knowles, you know Buzz George Brett.
Speaker 3: George Brett, I did a story on that when I
Speaker 3: worked at the Inquirer, really dove deep at Todd likes
Speaker 3: to like.
Speaker 2: To say and talked to Bratt.
Speaker 3: I talked to Knowles, Bratt and uh boy, and everybody
Speaker 3: flat out said it changed the series. It changed it,
Speaker 3: took that series and turned it around.
Speaker 1: Speaking of writing, as we wrap this up, Jim Salisbury
Speaker 1: is going to be making a return to the press
Speaker 1: box next week, right, yeah, PHL Why I'm going to
Speaker 1: be a contributor to a PHL y. This is very
Speaker 1: very exciting to see you back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, doing a little writing, Hell yeah, with the cause
Speaker 3: just a little bit, just a little bit, you know,
Speaker 3: all right, all right, just to weep it. And but
Speaker 3: I still, you know, enjoy watching Ruben on NBC Sports
Speaker 3: Philly and hearing him on WP and reading all your
Speaker 3: stuff on MLB dot com. So it's a beautiful world.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful world. It's a beautiful game. Guys. We'll
Speaker 1: do this next week. Appreciate it. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening and watching The Philly Show. We are also
Speaker 1: on YouTube watching The Philly Show until next week. Thanks everybody.
Speaker 3: Smell your Lad Ruben smell yeah.