Speaker 1: I call Hamils. Welcome to the Philly Show.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow Junior,
Speaker 2: Jim Salisbury. I'm Todd's lucky. It's Monday, July eighth, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. Hope everybody had a good Fourth of July weekend?
Speaker 2: Did you guys have a good fourth of July weekend?
Speaker 3: Outstanding?
Speaker 1: Thank you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Tell me about your grilling, Jim, How did the gorilla go?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: I actually, pardon me. I did a little grilling, but
Speaker 5: the majority. I did some smoking. I got the old
Speaker 5: smoker out.
Speaker 2: That's right, you're gonna do the smoke, mates. How to
Speaker 2: turn out good?
Speaker 5: I did some wings. I did a whole chicken. I
Speaker 5: did some kilbosa. I did some charizo with some ribs. God,
Speaker 5: small small pork butt ate all this.
Speaker 1: I want to assume you ate all that.
Speaker 5: The whole neighborhood. We just took about three days to
Speaker 5: get through. But all the you know, the kids were
Speaker 5: here and they all took some so it worked out good.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Don't be afraid one time slide some over all? Right,
Speaker 1: you know the Mexican Cuban jew over here, he would
Speaker 1: like to have some some chariso.
Speaker 2: Well this this weekend, hopefully a lot of people got
Speaker 2: to listen to that Jeff Frank Core episode which we
Speaker 2: put out out there on Friday. If you did not,
Speaker 2: you got to go back and listen to it. It
Speaker 2: was so good. I mean a couple of things that
Speaker 2: French you said. I want to get your opinions on this.
Speaker 2: I thought a couple of things he said was so interesting.
Speaker 2: One was why he thinks why he knew that the
Speaker 2: Braves might have been in trouble last year during the NLDS.
Speaker 2: And he said, listen, you know, I play golf with
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys all the time. Before Game
Speaker 2: one of the NLDS, I'm playing twenty seven holes with
Speaker 2: you know, JT and Trey and Stott. And he's like,
Speaker 2: I loved it, because that meant they weren't tight. They
Speaker 2: weren't like, all right, the playoff start, guys, No more golf.
Speaker 2: You gotta get we gotta reac, We've got to dial in.
Speaker 2: I thought that was really interesting. And I thought what
Speaker 2: he said about Rob Thompson Brian Snicker was interesting, which
Speaker 2: is people get on him, they want him to get
Speaker 2: angry on the field, get angry in the clubhouse, throw
Speaker 2: to have team meetings. And what FRENCHI said about Bobby Cox,
Speaker 2: which is team meetings there for losers. I thought that
Speaker 2: was great. I thought that was great and what jumped
Speaker 2: out to you, guys, think.
Speaker 5: I loved the whole interview. The guy is so smart,
Speaker 5: so insightful, and he's very very funny. But you know,
Speaker 5: getting to your point about the two managers, Snicker and Thompson,
Speaker 5: I see a real similarity between the two. They were
Speaker 5: both as players, career monerorn leaguers, they're both longtime player
Speaker 5: development men. They both waited a long time to be
Speaker 5: big league managers. And they are so true to themselves.
Speaker 5: They are the same guy they were when they were
Speaker 5: managing in a ball and baseball you need to play
Speaker 5: baseball with emotion. There's nothing worse than a team that
Speaker 5: doesn't play with emotion, a player that doesn't play with emotion.
Speaker 5: Energy is good, but it's not the same kind of
Speaker 5: emotion and energy that you would bring to a football
Speaker 5: game or a hockey game. It's not you know, off
Speaker 5: the charts. Emotion has to be a controlled emotion, and
Speaker 5: I think you need to see that in your manager.
Speaker 5: So yeah, they don't break chairs, they don't tip over
Speaker 5: the spread, they don't call a lot.
Speaker 3: Of team meetings, and.
Speaker 5: The nature of baseball every day. Players want to see
Speaker 5: the same guy every day. They don't want to see
Speaker 5: chewing on your nails one day and doing yay the
Speaker 5: next day. They want even keel And that's what we
Speaker 5: see in those two guys. And I think I think
Speaker 5: that's what Jeff was basically articulating. And it's very important,
Speaker 5: don't you look for that? And you've probably played for
Speaker 5: both rub and you probably played for guys that were
Speaker 5: up one minute and then nervous the next, and it
Speaker 5: just kind of radiates through the dugout and good.
Speaker 1: It sure does your your you're spot on, Jim. It's
Speaker 1: about being steady and being consistent and treating being treated
Speaker 1: like a man right, being treated like a like an adult.
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's part of it as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and and actually having a real personal connection. And
Speaker 1: I think that Rob understands how important those personal connections
Speaker 1: and and and the player has to feel confident that
Speaker 1: when that manager puts you out there, that he actually
Speaker 1: believes that you're going to succeed. And I think that
Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing that I see now in baseball
Speaker 1: is that it's not necessarily like, Oh, this rookie is
Speaker 1: going to go out there, man, we'll see, we'll see
Speaker 1: what he's got. Let let let's see what he's got
Speaker 1: and let's see if you can handle it. No, it
Speaker 1: doesn't work like that anymore. And I think Rob and
Speaker 1: this clubhouse does a great job of embracing young players.
Speaker 1: And we'll talk about who's a Tyler Phillips a little
Speaker 1: bit later on about that whole process, because it's really
Speaker 1: tough being a young player and assimilating into a team,
Speaker 1: into a major league team. It's tough as it is
Speaker 1: to be a major league baseball player and to make
Speaker 1: the adjustment from the minor leagues to the major leagues.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, folks, it's the same They say
Speaker 1: it's the same game. Guess what, It's not the same game.
Speaker 1: Taken from a man who was a career minor leaguer
Speaker 1: who could really really play in the minor leagues and
Speaker 1: really struggle in the major leagues, it's it's not the
Speaker 1: same game. And I think that both Snip and uh
Speaker 1: and top are do a phenomenal job of handling those things.
Speaker 1: And they're not afraid to get on a guy now
Speaker 1: because again that Bobby Cox sort of thing, and Jim
Speaker 1: Fergosi as well, they'll take you into the into the
Speaker 1: office and get you if you're not doing what's necessary.
Speaker 1: Were what the expectation is of a winning team. And
Speaker 1: so I really like that about those two guys. And
Speaker 1: and uh, I think it's going to be a dogfight.
Speaker 1: I know, you know, we'll talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: this series, this last series with the Braves, but it's
Speaker 1: going to be a dogfight. And I know the a
Speaker 1: Phillies were a little short handed, but it's going to
Speaker 1: be exciting down the stretch as well.
Speaker 5: You mentioned I just want to pick up on something
Speaker 5: you just said. They're not afraid to get on you.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the sign one of the qualities
Speaker 5: of a really good leader praise in public, critique, criticize
Speaker 5: in private, behind closed doors. And and you know, just
Speaker 5: because a guy doesn't tip over the locker room and
Speaker 5: getting a guy's face and rip a guy in the
Speaker 5: papers doesn't mean he's not calling that player out. He's
Speaker 5: just doing it the way a good leader does it
Speaker 5: behind closed doors. And then you know, when the cameras
Speaker 5: are on. That's when you praise a guy. But he
Speaker 5: can't be fake. He can't be like, oh, he had
Speaker 5: a really good turn in the on deck circle. I mean,
Speaker 5: it's got to be it's got to be legit. It's
Speaker 5: got to be legit praise. But then that's when you
Speaker 5: that's when you build a player's confidence. So I think
Speaker 5: they both have that leadership quality.
Speaker 1: Let me make one more point. There are times, and
Speaker 1: I saw Jim Fergosi do it in ninety three, when
Speaker 1: he'll pick out a guy knowing that this guys sort
Speaker 1: of knows about it. Well, he'll publicly get on a
Speaker 1: guy one of the leaders of the team. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to say exactly whom. It actually may have been Dutch,
Speaker 1: believe it or not. And Dutch, you know, was the
Speaker 1: greatest leader of all time. But he took a hit
Speaker 1: so that the manager could make him an example, knowing
Speaker 1: full well that you know that that particular player was
Speaker 1: not going to be worried about you know what he
Speaker 1: said to him, and that it was sort of like
Speaker 1: setting a tone like oh my god, he can get
Speaker 1: on them, he can get on Dutch. That's crazy, Like,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, And so I think there are times
Speaker 1: when some of these veteran leaders can pick and choose
Speaker 1: a time when when they do have to blast somebody.
Speaker 1: I remember Charlie Manuel doing one time in the dugout,
Speaker 1: right mouse, mild manner guy in the world, but he
Speaker 1: saw something and he chewed him out in the dugout
Speaker 1: one time. And I think that that that when you
Speaker 1: don't do it very often, and you all of a
Speaker 1: sudden do it, then it hasn't much greater impact than otherwise,
Speaker 1: because you know, if you're just pounded and pounded and pounded,
Speaker 1: it becomes white noise after a while for a player
Speaker 1: pick spot.
Speaker 2: So Snickers Braves took two or three from Thompson's Phillies
Speaker 2: over the weekend. Phillies, like you said, Ruben, were shortanded.
Speaker 2: They scored one run in the last two games. But
Speaker 2: the news of the day is that, or the news
Speaker 2: tomorrow is that Kyle Schwarber is almost one going to
Speaker 2: be activated from the injured list, and there's a very
Speaker 2: good chance, my feeling is that he will be back.
Speaker 2: But Bryce Harper maybe on Tuesday as well. Bryce, so
Speaker 2: Bryce before Sunday's game runs the bases, he runs from
Speaker 2: home to second, walks over to third, runs from third
Speaker 2: to home, and then he ran from first to home
Speaker 2: to second again. And the reason why I think that
Speaker 2: he is ready to play is because he's did it
Speaker 2: a very aggressive slide in the second base after he
Speaker 2: and he ran that second and final time. Now, we
Speaker 2: asked him afterwards if he thinks he'll be ready. He says,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I feel good. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but I feel good. That's as far. That's as much
Speaker 2: as he would say. But Rob Thompson said, Bryce Harper
Speaker 2: is in play for Tuesday. He said, we will see.
Speaker 2: I don't do they need him to run one hundred
Speaker 2: percent a second time. My opinion is that he wants
Speaker 2: to play. He's definitely gonna be back before the All
Speaker 2: Star break. He definitely wants to play on the All
Speaker 2: Star Game. But getting Harper and Shwartward back, of course,
Speaker 2: is going to go a long way to kind of
Speaker 2: helping out this this lineup which has done pretty well
Speaker 2: without them for about nine games they have.
Speaker 3: You know, they played over five hundred.
Speaker 5: I think they're a game over five hundred former and Harper,
Speaker 5: they're also a game over five hundred without real Muda,
Speaker 5: and I think we talked about that when those guys
Speaker 5: went down, you will take that, and it becomes very
Speaker 5: very easy to take when you take into account the
Speaker 5: number of wins they have banked in their place in
Speaker 5: the standings. But you know, I think we've seen this
Speaker 5: weekend and the last few games offensively. We talk about
Speaker 5: it all the time, the next man up. Quality is
Speaker 5: a great thing to have, but there are limits. These
Speaker 5: guys are stars for a reason, and you need your stars,
Speaker 5: especially a team that is built on these on these
Speaker 5: big stars, and it's a great thing that they're getting
Speaker 5: them back, I would argue, you know, I mean, it's
Speaker 5: pretty clear it's gonna be these three guys are going
Speaker 5: to be their big July acquisition. I expect more, but
Speaker 5: probably tweaking around the edge these three guys. Imagine that
Speaker 5: adding those three guys to your lineup, it's it's a
Speaker 5: great thing. And you come home where you play great,
Speaker 5: big series against the Dodgers. Not to get off on
Speaker 5: a little tangent, but I'm really curious to see how
Speaker 5: this Dodgers series goes, because you know, all along we've
Speaker 5: seen so much talk about the Phillies haven't played a
Speaker 5: great schedule, the National League's week they've crushed the week teams. Well,
Speaker 5: you can only beat the team you can play that night.
Speaker 5: They've done a great job doing that. But three series
Speaker 5: on the road Boston, who is an improving ball club
Speaker 5: now in playoff contention on the playoff grid, Baltimore Are
Speaker 5: and Atlanta. They've gone on the road, played those good
Speaker 5: teams and lost each series. So I'm really curious to
Speaker 5: see how this series goes against the Dodgers and other
Speaker 5: or an elite team in the National League. The difference
Speaker 5: being you have them at home where you really thrive.
Speaker 5: No Mookie bets, of course, and I'm really eager to
Speaker 5: see oh Tani batting leadoff.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: It'll be a fun series, There's no question. It's also
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I got to believe that
Speaker 1: Harper is going to be pushing the envelope to try
Speaker 1: to get back into the series, because I think he
Speaker 1: knows how important he is, and I mean, he loves
Speaker 1: these moments. This is these are the moments for him.
Speaker 1: You know, a couple of things I think back and
Speaker 1: like when we lost a couple of our big boys,
Speaker 1: when we lost Lee and Howard at the same time,
Speaker 1: and I think about you know, you know, the Victor
Speaker 1: Reno's and you know, even Jimmy went down for a
Speaker 1: short period of time for a little while as well.
Speaker 1: When you start losing all of those big boys, yes,
Speaker 1: you can sort of stem the tidal of it, but
Speaker 1: the reality of it is for long term success, you
Speaker 1: just as jim said, I mean you you you can't
Speaker 1: expect Brandon Marsh to be able to you know, fill
Speaker 1: in in the fore hole or necessarily maybe Castianos who's
Speaker 1: kind of stepped it up a little bit. He can,
Speaker 1: he can help it. He's been there and done it.
Speaker 1: Brandon Marsh really hasn't, and they've sort of forced him
Speaker 1: into that forehole and moved you know, boom up. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he's done fine, and it just can't be just
Speaker 1: Trey Turner every single night. So it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a combination of things and it becomes a domino effect.
Speaker 1: As far as just overall production. I am I am
Speaker 1: excited about the fact that they're getting any break right now.
Speaker 1: I think this team really needs it pitching wise, and
Speaker 1: I'll and I'll sort of make a left hand turn
Speaker 1: pitching wise, you know, ranger. Suarez sort of hit that
Speaker 1: dead arm pier and I don't think he's not nearly
Speaker 1: as sharp with his stuff overall, crisp with his command
Speaker 1: and his stuff, and I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why he's struggled the last couple of times out.
Speaker 1: I think that Christopher Sanchez had that you know, complete
Speaker 1: game shutout, and then he comes back after that complete
Speaker 1: game shutout really hadn't reached those levels of innings and
Speaker 1: ups and downs, and so you know, he's started starting
Speaker 1: to eat up a lot of innings that people didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily think that he would be able to do. And
Speaker 1: so you start compiling all these innings and the fact
Speaker 1: that these guys have thrown so many of them, you
Speaker 1: start to, you know, see that there's going to be
Speaker 1: a dead arm period at some point. We've talked about
Speaker 1: this before a long time, great great trainer, Jeff Cooper,
Speaker 1: he talked about this all the time. There's going to
Speaker 1: be a period sometime in July or August. And I
Speaker 1: think it crept up on these guys a little earlier
Speaker 1: because they lost so many innings in the early part
Speaker 1: of the season where they're going to get a little
Speaker 1: bit of a dead arm period where they're going to
Speaker 1: have to get rejuvenated. And I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the beauties of having that All Star break is because
Speaker 1: I think the guys are going to get a breather,
Speaker 1: be able to get back and get refreshed and and
Speaker 1: then uh and then move forward. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a health thing. I just think it's a it's just
Speaker 1: natural order of progression for for pitcher's arms and uh,
Speaker 1: and a lot of these guys are starting to hit
Speaker 1: some limits that you know, they probably have never ever
Speaker 1: done in the past. And so I think that's why
Speaker 1: you're seeing a little bit of a drop off even
Speaker 1: though they're still they're still ranked as the best, you know,
Speaker 1: starting pitching in all baseball other than maybe Seattle They're
Speaker 1: pretty darn good too. But the Phillies are still really,
Speaker 1: really strong and and and I am excited about what
Speaker 1: I'm going to see in the second half real quick.
Speaker 5: Nola in the National League. Nola is number two an
Speaker 5: innings pitched, Wheeler is number three, Suarez number six, So
Speaker 5: they have they've logged some some frames.
Speaker 2: And Rob said on Saturday after Suarez start that you
Speaker 2: know they could go to a six man at some point.
Speaker 2: They've done each of the last two years, so that's
Speaker 2: something to keep an eye on. Maybe in August to
Speaker 2: go to a six man. Once you get Taiwan Walker back,
Speaker 2: you know you can you can possibly that. Yeah, maneuver
Speaker 2: it just for a little bit, just to get stretched
Speaker 2: to you know, give those guys a little bit extra extra.
Speaker 1: Everybody except Wheeled is gonna go five.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I actually I love that idea because the stakes are
Speaker 5: so different for this team. This team is going to
Speaker 5: play an extra month. This team must play an extra month.
Speaker 5: This team is built on the backs of Wheeler Nola Suarez,
Speaker 5: and you have to plan and budget for that, I believe.
Speaker 2: And they have the wiggle room too. As we said
Speaker 2: at the top. They they go into that Brave series
Speaker 2: with a nine game lead, they come out with an
Speaker 2: eight game lead. So if the Phillies would play five
Speaker 2: hundred the rest of the season, they would finish with
Speaker 2: ninety four wins. The Braves would have to go forty
Speaker 2: five and twenty nine. That's a six to oh eight
Speaker 2: winning percentage just to tie them for the division title.
Speaker 1: There right now, the.
Speaker 2: Braves have a five point fifty seven winning percentage, so
Speaker 2: they add, it would have to kind of play I
Speaker 2: don't want to say, oh, or their skis, but they
Speaker 2: would have to play at a much better clip. If
Speaker 2: the Phillies play five hundred, their us away so they
Speaker 2: have the opportunity there to go to a six man
Speaker 2: if they want to do it, because they have that
Speaker 2: nice cushion. So this is not like a situation where
Speaker 2: oh my god, you gotta throw these guys out there
Speaker 2: every five days. Otherwise the braids are gonna get you.
Speaker 2: The brads are going to get you. They should be
Speaker 2: able to maintain this lead, especially once they get Harper,
Speaker 2: Schwarber Ria Muto back, especially once they maybe get some
Speaker 2: reinforcements before the end of it, before the trade deadline
Speaker 2: on July thirtieth as well, because I think they're going
Speaker 2: to get something.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, there's no way they don't get something. Right
Speaker 5: handed hitting out a fielder and I think they need
Speaker 5: one totally like to see a bullpen arm. Maybe they'll
Speaker 5: they'll do something for reasons we've articulated in previous podcasts.
Speaker 5: You know, on a night nightly basis is up to
Speaker 5: Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nolan, Trey Turner and Rice Harper
Speaker 5: and j step up on July thirtieth.
Speaker 3: When you have a great team, it's up to the
Speaker 3: front office.
Speaker 2: To step up exactly. So they had seven All Stars,
Speaker 2: seven All Stars, franchise record seven all Stars. They've had
Speaker 2: five a few times over the years, but seven All Stars.
Speaker 2: Anybody that jumped out to you guys in terms of
Speaker 2: a selection for me and maybe it might be for
Speaker 2: you guys, It was Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strom because
Speaker 2: they were the players selected them and their non traditional
Speaker 2: All Star selections, and that usually for relievers is just
Speaker 2: who's got the most saves. These four guys have the
Speaker 2: most saves, they're going to the All Star team, even
Speaker 2: if they're not very good. Matt Strom does not have
Speaker 2: a single save, Jeff Hoffman has eight, but they both
Speaker 2: dominated in the first half, and players around the league
Speaker 2: recognized that. I thought that was pretty cool. Strom was
Speaker 2: a little emotional after the game yesterday talking about it.
Speaker 2: Jeff Hoffman said his body was shaking for an extended
Speaker 2: period of time after you learned he made the team yesterday.
Speaker 2: I thought that was awesome because you knew Ranger knew
Speaker 2: he was making it, Zach Wheeler knew he's making it.
Speaker 2: The other three guys, the position players already knew that
Speaker 2: they were in. Those two guys are like maybe hopefully,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but now they're in. That's that That
Speaker 2: was a kind of a fun moment post game after
Speaker 2: after a loss.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, super super excited for them and to be recognized,
Speaker 1: especially like in the early part of Remember in the
Speaker 1: early part of the season, people were like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is a disastrous bullpen. You know, if I can't believe,
Speaker 1: now you have. I mean, it speaks to a couple
Speaker 1: of things. One, it tells you how good their stuff is,
Speaker 1: because you know, that's when you go back to the
Speaker 1: dugout as a player and you go, holy smokes man,
Speaker 1: that guy was filthy, right, I mean, that guy was nasty.
Speaker 1: And that's and then word of mouth happens, and then
Speaker 1: you know, people see and then they have success. That
Speaker 1: that's one thing. And then and then to be chosen
Speaker 1: sort of by your peers. I always felt like I
Speaker 1: have made it in the big leagues when I know
Speaker 1: the guy next to me in that clubhouse believes in
Speaker 1: me as a player and thinks that I do my job,
Speaker 1: and I had that. I was really fortunate to have
Speaker 1: guys like Milt Thompson and Dave Hollins and those kind
Speaker 1: of guys who knew the type of person I was,
Speaker 1: knew the type of player I was, and had seen
Speaker 1: me in the past or whatever. And when you have
Speaker 1: that sort of validation, that's so so big, And for
Speaker 1: Hoffman even bigger because he's he's going to be a
Speaker 1: free agent. I mean, he's this is gonna be his
Speaker 1: free agent year. I do believe. I think he's got
Speaker 1: free agency. And so for him to be an All
Speaker 1: Star and a free agent year and a bullpen, it
Speaker 1: also talks a lot about what this game is about.
Speaker 1: Now it'll be bullpens mean a lot, a lot more
Speaker 1: than they used to meet for you know, one hundred
Speaker 1: years now, in the in the in the past, you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen years, ten years. Bullpens mean a lot. And you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily have to be a closer to be a
Speaker 1: really important piece of the club. And that's Those are
Speaker 1: just some of the things that I think about when
Speaker 1: when these guys are chosen, and it's just just great honor.
Speaker 1: I'm so pleased for them. Cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I love the player vote because, like you said,
Speaker 5: it comes from your peers, and it really should mean something.
Speaker 5: It's not some and I think the fans are a
Speaker 5: huge part of it. This game is for the fans.
Speaker 5: I love fan voting. I used to love to go
Speaker 5: to Fenway Park and punch out the little things and
Speaker 5: then hand him down the row and the guy would
Speaker 5: collect them in the bottom of the seventh. But I
Speaker 5: remember doing like one of them. Now people can hit
Speaker 5: the computer like twenty five times a day. It's it's
Speaker 5: a little like different way they It's a little like
Speaker 5: they how they elect the mayor in Chicago.
Speaker 3: You know, it's I love it.
Speaker 5: I like the way they I just loved the tip
Speaker 5: of the hat. When you get it from your peers,
Speaker 5: it really means something. And I love to see that
Speaker 5: underappreciated element of a ball club middle to set up relief,
Speaker 5: get a tip of the hat that they that they
Speaker 5: richly deserve.
Speaker 2: So, Jimmy, you were at Fenway just smashing Yazz, punching
Speaker 2: Yazz his name out over and over.
Speaker 5: It's kind of I savored my one punch out for
Speaker 5: you and doing what about Dewey, Oh Dowey, Freddie Lynn,
Speaker 5: Jim Rice Rico. I mean, I love those guys. They
Speaker 5: I would but it was just special to punch out
Speaker 5: that little hole. I think we call it a chat.
Speaker 5: I think we learned.
Speaker 1: So let me yeah, let me just say this about
Speaker 1: both Yass and Dewey. You talk about quality human beings.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I got a chance to be with
Speaker 1: them a little bit. But I've got a chance to
Speaker 1: be with Dewey when I was coaching, and we sort
Speaker 1: of brought him out as a you know, celebrity coach,
Speaker 1: and he was just fantastic to be around. Man, just
Speaker 1: great human beings.
Speaker 3: The way he used to rubin you as an outfield coach, The.
Speaker 5: Way I can still see it, the way he would
Speaker 5: get behind a ball when he was going to throw
Speaker 5: or throw the third he would get behind that ball
Speaker 5: and load and it would come.
Speaker 3: He would throw it on a Donalward.
Speaker 5: Plane at one hop to the catcher to punch who
Speaker 5: was built like a statue.
Speaker 1: And actually utilized him when we did our similar drills.
Speaker 1: And how important and how important that piece of it was.
Speaker 1: You know that we had some really talented guys. You know,
Speaker 1: we had Rookie Betts, we had Jackie Bradley, we had
Speaker 1: Andrew Ben and Tendee. We had some super talented outfielders
Speaker 1: and uh but but they also worked really hard at
Speaker 1: it and were real you know, they were real focus
Speaker 1: on it, and they really respected some of the things
Speaker 1: that some of the veteran guys like that. I would say,
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool.
Speaker 5: I have a confession to make out Todd. I had
Speaker 5: something I want to do the podcast for my garage. Okay,
Speaker 5: I probably shouldn't tell this, but I have a Yazz
Speaker 5: pennant in my garage.
Speaker 2: There is nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't say it. You grew up on.
Speaker 3: I've been here thirty years, thirty plus.
Speaker 2: Years, and that's your childhood.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I've got I've got a Robbing jersey signed, you know,
Speaker 2: in my in my office over here on the on
Speaker 2: the side that I won somehow years ago.
Speaker 1: Couldn't notice Robbing. My dad scouted him when he was
Speaker 1: coming out. Really yeah, my dad scouted and he said
Speaker 1: to me, he said to me, before he even got
Speaker 1: to the big leagues, he said, remember these, And it
Speaker 1: was him. I remember him distinctly talking about Robin Yea.
Speaker 1: I said, Ruben, he's going to go right to the
Speaker 1: big leagues from from from being an ice crust said,
Speaker 1: come on, Dad, I said please, And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: he did, basically right. And he came back to the
Speaker 1: after being rapid, and he said the other thing, and
Speaker 1: the other said the other. The other guy said, he
Speaker 1: went down to see Robbie Almar junior play in Puerto
Speaker 1: Rico in when he was like fifteen years old. They said, son,
Speaker 1: that is going to be a Hall of Fame. Second, wow,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. My dad. My dad's a pretty good scout.
Speaker 1: He was, He was a pretty good scout. I mean,
Speaker 1: those are great players, but it's pretty amazing that you
Speaker 1: can see certain things and guys. I mean I was
Speaker 1: the same way with Kim Griffory junior. Watching him, you know,
Speaker 1: as a seventeen year old was ridiculous. My gosh, Michael, I.
Speaker 5: Wanted to, uh, let me ask you two a little
Speaker 5: more relevant questions. One, do we think I mean Tyler Phillips,
Speaker 5: you know, he comes out, yes, and he strikes out Olsen,
Speaker 5: but that breaking ball is up and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 5: you know, even though he struck him out, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 5: and then he strikes out a slew of other guys
Speaker 5: in the breaking.
Speaker 3: Balls down down, down, down down, looking good.
Speaker 5: One My first question do you think he could get
Speaker 5: a start this weekend ahead of Mercado. And my other question,
Speaker 5: JT's gonna come back right after the break? Who goes down?
Speaker 5: Let me hear what you got to say.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that I think Phillips isn't play for
Speaker 2: Saturday based off of Mercado's performance and Rob. I think
Speaker 2: I asked Rob yesterday after the game, will Mercado make
Speaker 2: his start on Saturday? He said, we need to talk
Speaker 2: about some things. So anytime a manager leaves it open,
Speaker 2: you know they're going to actually talk about some things.
Speaker 2: He could have come out and said, no, Markayle's gonna
Speaker 2: he just was a bad start. Markale's going to start.
Speaker 2: So I do think Phillips has an opportunity, and I
Speaker 2: think Marshawn's going to go back down personally, but I
Speaker 2: could see somebody making a strong case for the opposit said.
Speaker 2: I think Rob said something the other day and I
Speaker 2: can't remember what we were talking about. He talked about
Speaker 2: how he really truly values the atmosphere and the vibe
Speaker 2: and the feeling in his clubhouse right now, and so
Speaker 2: for that reason, you know the fact that Stubbs is
Speaker 2: actually he's actually played pretty well he's gotten a lot
Speaker 2: of hits while he's been playing. But also that he's
Speaker 2: very cognizant. Rob is very cognizant of how this clubhouse operates.
Speaker 2: Leads me to think that it'll be Stubbs when Stubbs
Speaker 2: staying with the team when JT comes back.
Speaker 1: So here's my take on Phillips. I do believe, just
Speaker 1: to just with the way that Rob Thompson operates, I
Speaker 1: believe that Mercato would get another start. I do think
Speaker 1: that he'll have a short leash, just because I don't
Speaker 1: want him. Rob's got that mentality, that that development mentality.
Speaker 1: I don't think he wants to have Mercado think that
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe it. He's gonna get him out there again.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a short leash if he struggles.
Speaker 1: I think Phillips will then step in and then you know,
Speaker 1: and then they'll might might make a switch if they
Speaker 1: have to, if Taiwan Walker's not ready or what have you.
Speaker 1: I do believe that Mercado get one more start. I
Speaker 1: think it was just a tough day for him. I
Speaker 1: still think he's got good stuff. He's got great demeanor.
Speaker 1: If you saw Mercado after that inning, when he came
Speaker 1: out of the game, the entire team, he greeted the
Speaker 1: entire team and patted him all on the back like
Speaker 1: basically saying, hey man, I'm sorry, I screwed up and
Speaker 1: didn't have a good day, you know, said thanks for
Speaker 1: hanging in with me or whatever. That was super professional.
Speaker 1: I love this kid. I hope he pitches, you know,
Speaker 1: better obviously than he pitched his last time out. He
Speaker 1: just didn't really have his arm slot couldn't throw strikes.
Speaker 1: I mean he couldn't. You didn't have the ability to
Speaker 1: throw strikes. And he's much better than that. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the heat and the moment and whatever got
Speaker 1: caught up to him a little bit. But I think
Speaker 1: he's I think he's gonna be okay. I don't know
Speaker 1: who's a good dominate, but I do think he's gonna
Speaker 1: get his next start. And as far as Marshawn is concerned,
Speaker 1: this kid is a major league catcher. He's a major
Speaker 1: league catcher, and he could be a Number one catcher,
Speaker 1: he's that good. He's a switch hitter. He doesn't he
Speaker 1: doesn't impact the ball a lot, but so he's got
Speaker 1: some power and uh, he banks contact, he puts the
Speaker 1: ball in play, and if he can stay healthy, I
Speaker 1: think he's a number one type catcher. So I think
Speaker 1: next year there may be a change. This year, they're
Speaker 1: gonna stay with Stubby because he means too much to
Speaker 1: this ball club. He's done a really good job. He's been,
Speaker 1: you know, on the team for a few years and
Speaker 1: means a lots of the ball club, as Jim stated,
Speaker 1: and you want to keep as many guys as you
Speaker 1: possibly can. He's out of options. You want to keep
Speaker 1: guys on the on the field, and you want to
Speaker 1: keep as many options. So Marshawn goes down. He comes
Speaker 1: back in September. All's well in the world. See what
Speaker 1: do you do? Jim?
Speaker 3: Well, answer, doesn't Stubs have an option?
Speaker 1: I think he does have an option, don't I'm I
Speaker 1: don't think. I didn't think he did.
Speaker 2: I have to do I'll double check that, but you know, operating,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe he does.
Speaker 1: But I still believe even if he does have an option,
Speaker 1: I gotta believe it.
Speaker 3: Here's what I'm doing.
Speaker 5: And you talked a little bit about the psychology of managing,
Speaker 5: which I loved. You don't want Marcado to feel like
Speaker 5: he just lost that job. So maybe you piggyback him
Speaker 5: and Phillips the next time, and Mercado has to approach
Speaker 5: his next up in small bites.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go out and win the first inning. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna go out and win the second inning.
Speaker 5: I'm going to want win the third inning, and then
Speaker 5: you know, you get to the fourth inning, you shake
Speaker 5: his hand, you put Phillips in your piggyback, and that
Speaker 5: might be a great way to handle it psychologically. But
Speaker 5: as far as Stubbs march On, I'm bringing march On
Speaker 5: into the office and I'm saying, hey, you did a
Speaker 5: great job. You know, we're a team that goes beyond
Speaker 5: twenty six men, and you are really really important to us.
Speaker 3: Knock on wood. We can't lose JT again.
Speaker 5: If we would, if JT were to go down for
Speaker 5: another ten days, You're gonna come up and get seventy
Speaker 5: seventy percent of the time. So I need you ready.
Speaker 5: You need to go up to Lee Hi and catch
Speaker 5: every day. Stubbs is really important for this team chemistry
Speaker 5: the last three years, not just this year, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 5: twenty three, and twenty four, and that's your unit. You
Speaker 5: stick with him, but next year march On might be
Speaker 5: your regular backup totally.
Speaker 2: Tyler Phillips, we mentioned him. That was kind of a
Speaker 2: cool story. Yesterday it was seven strikeouts and his major
Speaker 2: league debut. He's a South Jersey kid, went to Bishop Eustace.
Speaker 2: He was talking the other day about how his grandfather,
Speaker 2: Frank was such a hardcore Phillies fan that every time
Speaker 2: the Phillies won, he would call his dad Phillips' dad, Dan,
Speaker 2: do you see Ryan Howard's home run? How about the Phillies?
Speaker 2: So that he had that he was in that atmosphere
Speaker 2: his entire life. His grandfather meant so much, and that
Speaker 2: he named his son Frank, so it was a big thing.
Speaker 2: Before the game yesterday, Phillips comes down to the left
Speaker 2: field line. He's coming in the dugout. He goes, Oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, so many Phillies fans at this game. You know,
Speaker 2: I was kind of huh. He's like, how do you
Speaker 2: not say an autograph for every Phillies fan. When I
Speaker 2: was a kid, and I remember being down the left
Speaker 2: field line or the right field line, I remember being
Speaker 2: so bummed when a player would walk by and I
Speaker 2: didn't get his autographs so he spent all Sunday morning
Speaker 2: signing for every Phillies fan he could because he remembered
Speaker 2: being a Phillies fan at the VET at Citizens Bank
Speaker 2: Park as a kid. And then he goes out and
Speaker 2: he strikes out seven. That was that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine nothing cooler. I mean, I I know
Speaker 1: from being a hometown guy saying, you know, I know
Speaker 1: the feeling. I now know how important it was to
Speaker 1: me to do those sorts of things, to be able
Speaker 1: to give back to the fans because I was one
Speaker 1: of those fans growing up as a Philly fan, and
Speaker 1: you know, someone with a dad who worked in the organization.
Speaker 1: So I know that feeling. It's great that he had
Speaker 1: that mentality. I think that's wonderful. I was super impressed,
Speaker 1: not just by how he handled himself on the mound,
Speaker 1: you know, getting the strikeouts. He had seven strikeouts, He
Speaker 1: didn't walk anybody, gave up you know, a few hits
Speaker 1: or whatever. But when he gave up the home run,
Speaker 1: which was a bomb on a fastball that was in
Speaker 1: the middle of the plate, I was My biggest thing
Speaker 1: was how does he bounce back from that? How does
Speaker 1: he return from that and he strikes out the next
Speaker 1: hit and so for me, and that's pretty impressive. And
Speaker 1: I was, you know the other thing, I was actually
Speaker 1: watching him and was on the monitor and didn't say
Speaker 1: anything during the broadcast, but but I was watching him
Speaker 1: and he was sort of He's one of those guys,
Speaker 1: pretty emotional. I talked to cisar Ramos about him later
Speaker 1: on because he had had him. He's pretty emotional. So
Speaker 1: he was like kind of screaming on himself when he
Speaker 1: didn't make a good pitch. I could see him like
Speaker 1: tucking himself, like go.
Speaker 3: Ahead, damn ball all the plate, you know, let's go.
Speaker 1: I mean, I could see him sort of being emotional
Speaker 1: behind the behind the the glove, and uh, it was
Speaker 1: really cool. Man. He was like, you know, pushing himself
Speaker 1: to go. You know, let's go. Let's go kick it
Speaker 1: in gear. And so, I mean, I I love those guys.
Speaker 1: I love faces. I love watching guy's reactions, and I
Speaker 1: love to watch them handle adversity. Gave up a home run,
Speaker 1: comes back, gets another punch out, does a nice job,
Speaker 1: finishes off and uh really impressed. Hey, this guy's had
Speaker 1: to work very hard to get back to the big leagues. Yes,
Speaker 1: had to get to the big leagues, and DJ bounced
Speaker 1: around a couple of different organizations. What have you changed
Speaker 1: his arm slot a little bit, according to Sessa Ramos,
Speaker 1: getting a little bit more sync to his fastball. And
Speaker 1: he's done some things to tweak his slider, which is dark,
Speaker 1: pretty darn good. They called a sweeper's a slider and
Speaker 1: uh and it's pretty it's pretty impressive and you know, hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully he can that can springboard.
Speaker 4: Them, and it gives the Phillies some depth, which we
Speaker 4: talk about all the time, some length and some depth,
Speaker 4: and so you know, you get breakdowns if you need
Speaker 4: a six guy in the rotation, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: You ah, he can never have enough pitching, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it comes from the you know, it was very shrewd.
Speaker 1: They signed into a two year deal a couple of
Speaker 1: years back, and you know they have them under control.
Speaker 1: So pretty darn cool.
Speaker 2: Phillies Dodgers Tuesday Night. We know Kyle Schwarber will be back.
Speaker 2: We think Bryce Harper is an excellent chance to be back.
Speaker 2: I do anyway, Uh, you got Bobby Miller versus Zach
Speaker 2: Wheeler on Tuesday Night, You've got Gavin Stone versus Christopher
Speaker 2: Sanchez on Wednesday and TBD versus Aaron Nola on Thursday.
Speaker 2: This should be a really fun series. It could be
Speaker 2: an NLCS preview. You've got sho hey, O'tani, Who's I
Speaker 2: mean unbelievable? I mean Otani Harper coming together? That will
Speaker 2: be fun.
Speaker 1: That will be fun.
Speaker 3: It's hot time, summer in the city and it's gonna
Speaker 3: be bright lights, sellouts. It's gonna be a great fun series.
Speaker 3: Can't wait.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be fun. Well, we will be back later
Speaker 2: this week to recap it. We will talk to you
Speaker 2: guys later.
Speaker 3: Smell you later.
Speaker 1: That's my Jim.
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