Speaker 1: Aaron Nola and welcome to the Philly Show.
Speaker 2: Ruben Amar Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todds, the Lucky, It's the
Speaker 2: Philly Show. It's Friday, August twentieth, twenty twenty six. Phillies
Speaker 2: have won a season high six games in a row.
Speaker 2: Fellas they win on Wednesday Night. Aaron Nola with a
Speaker 2: big performance. Some might call it a monster performance. It's
Speaker 2: time for our monster moment. Monster moment is powered by
Speaker 2: monster energy. How'd you like that little singe?
Speaker 3: I like to do it. I love when you do
Speaker 3: it well.
Speaker 2: Aaron Nola guys Wednesday, seven innings, one run. You know,
Speaker 2: a bunch of strikeouts, no.
Speaker 4: Walks, no walks.
Speaker 2: You can win a lot of games if you're doing
Speaker 2: that type of stuff. And Nola has been pitching great.
Speaker 2: I want to show you this real quick, his little
Speaker 2: bounce back. You know, he's got like what a two
Speaker 2: six ERA in his last five starts. But look at
Speaker 2: going back to July fifth, I think that says his
Speaker 2: last nine starts, Aaron Nola has a three point six
Speaker 2: y three e RA, so a longer body of work,
Speaker 2: not such a small sample size since July fifth. Jim,
Speaker 2: we were there that was that Sunday afternoon started. All
Speaker 2: started in Kansas City. Remember he threw his kind of
Speaker 2: didn't throw as many curveballs, that threw a lot more
Speaker 2: change ups, had some success. He's really kind of kept
Speaker 2: it going. And one hundred and sixteen pitchers have made
Speaker 2: six or more starts since July fifth. Aaron Nola is
Speaker 2: fifty fifth out of those one hundred and sixteen pitchers
Speaker 2: in era three point sixty three. If you're watching us
Speaker 2: on YouTube, you see Jesus Lozardo is tenth two point
Speaker 2: one one, and then behind Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez three
Speaker 2: eight three sixty fourth. Seventy third is Zach Wheeler four
Speaker 2: point zero two, and Andrew Painter has made four starts
Speaker 2: since his return. He's got a four to four to
Speaker 2: three EIRA. So encouraging in a lot of ways. I mean,
Speaker 2: because if if you don't have Wheeler sharp, we'd spend
Speaker 2: all last show, much of last show talking about that.
Speaker 2: If you don't have Wheeler sharp, If Sanchez is as sharp, man,
Speaker 2: it's huge right now to have Aaron Nola pitching well, Reuben,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 3: I mean we've talked about this a lot. I mean,
Speaker 3: starting pitching is.
Speaker 5: Still rules today, right, I mean really put you in
Speaker 5: a position if you have starting pitching depth that it
Speaker 5: puts you in a position to be able to win
Speaker 5: with the top three that they have. Even though Wheeler
Speaker 5: and Sanchez have not been as dominant as they have
Speaker 5: in previous parts of the season, they're still really, really good.
Speaker 6: It's what's buoying this team, right.
Speaker 5: But there's a lot of concern obviously about the fourth
Speaker 5: and fifth slot.
Speaker 3: Now, we all of us collectively, the.
Speaker 5: Three of us were hopeful, did not know whether or not,
Speaker 5: you know, they those two guys, the Nola's and the
Speaker 5: Painters of the world, could right the ship. The concern
Speaker 5: that I have about Nola is that why did it
Speaker 5: take this long to get the mechanics right? So we
Speaker 5: have all types of different ways to measure issues. And
Speaker 5: when I watched Nola pitch, his stuff was better, There's
Speaker 5: no question about it. But why, I mean, he hasn't
Speaker 5: had any arm issues. It's not like he's throwing harder.
Speaker 3: Why did it take this long to.
Speaker 5: Analyze and to get him to the point where he's
Speaker 5: throwing like he has been like the last eight or
Speaker 5: nine starts, As you showed his fastball and his breaking ball,
Speaker 5: the way the ball was coming out of his hand.
Speaker 5: When his breaking ball is not working well, it pops
Speaker 5: up out of his hand and you sort of can
Speaker 5: recognize it. Yesterday or Wednesday, his breaking ball was so
Speaker 5: tight and it didn't pop out. It came out looking
Speaker 5: like a fastball and snapped off. With all the edgitronics
Speaker 5: and all the the information and all the analytic tools
Speaker 5: and things that they have, why did it take so
Speaker 5: long for them to get to this point? And my
Speaker 5: feeling is this, in this day and age, many of
Speaker 5: a lot of the people who are teaching pitching understand
Speaker 5: the spins and understand that kind of stuff, but I'm
Speaker 5: not sure if they're understanding what it feels like to
Speaker 5: make the pitch. And that's where I get sideways with
Speaker 5: the analytics stuff. Great to recognize it, but how do
Speaker 5: you get him to get back to those mechanics physically.
Speaker 5: That's where I think the rubber hits the road. And
Speaker 5: I'm not trying to bag on anybody necessarily, but it
Speaker 5: just doesn't make any sense that it took this long
Speaker 5: for them to figure out why he was not getting
Speaker 5: to that point in his release points so that he
Speaker 5: can spin that breaking ball the way he has always
Speaker 5: spun it, because that has been his.
Speaker 3: Bread and butter.
Speaker 6: Why did it take so long for them to get
Speaker 6: to it when his doesn't have arm issues and that
Speaker 6: breaking ball was different than the breaking balls that I've
Speaker 6: seen over the last several weeks.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's fascinating commentary to which I don't know
Speaker 1: the answer. But could it be as simple as sometimes
Speaker 1: athletes perform well and sometimes they slump for lack of
Speaker 1: a better word, and don't perform well. I mean, if
Speaker 1: answers were that simple, would we know why Zach Wheeler's
Speaker 1: last five starts have been subpar? You know, I just
Speaker 1: don't know, but it's very interesting. But you're right about
Speaker 1: the curveball, and you know, the way I understand it
Speaker 1: comes up, it's a difference between coming out here and
Speaker 1: rolling or coming off the fingertips and snap dragon. And
Speaker 1: it just seems like that's what he's got going right
Speaker 1: now with that spike curve.
Speaker 3: Spiker, not knuckle curve spiker.
Speaker 1: And we know that because he said it right on
Speaker 1: our show and he showed it to us.
Speaker 2: Right's exactly right, And uh, you know, whenever he does
Speaker 2: throw a bad curveball. He always he always uses that word, Ruben,
Speaker 2: what you used it popped out, popped out, curveball, popped out,
Speaker 2: popped out?
Speaker 7: What about I mean?
Speaker 2: He's also his pitch usage has changed over those last
Speaker 2: nine starts as well. I know I've showed you guys
Speaker 2: this these charts before, but I got some updated ones.
Speaker 2: So this is before July fifth, knuckle, curve, spike, curve,
Speaker 2: throwing it more than a third of the time, thirty
Speaker 2: four percent.
Speaker 7: Of the time.
Speaker 2: You see his four seam fastball usage around twenty three
Speaker 2: and a half percent.
Speaker 7: Sinker.
Speaker 2: Okay, to keep an eye on the sinker boys, twenty
Speaker 2: point nine percent of the time, change up twelve point
Speaker 2: six percent now in the last nine starts since then, gegah, curve,
Speaker 2: the curveball now little less than a third of the time.
Speaker 2: Four seamers basically unchanged. He's throwing that the same amount,
Speaker 2: but the change up usage is shot up and the
Speaker 2: sinker has dropped off considerably. So you're seeing a little
Speaker 2: a lot more change up, a lot less sinker in
Speaker 2: the pitch usage. And maybe that's played a role.
Speaker 5: I don't know, and I've talked about this, honestly, Todd
Speaker 5: this is great, that's great stuff.
Speaker 3: And I've talked about this. I mean, he's had to.
Speaker 5: Make a sort of a paradigm shift and how he
Speaker 5: pitches because he doesn't he can't rush the pass ball
Speaker 5: pass guys consistently anymore. The vosity's just not there and
Speaker 5: the life of it is really not there. But he
Speaker 5: needs to do He needed to do a couple of
Speaker 5: different things. One, he has to keep the ball down consistently,
Speaker 5: show the fastball up every once in a while just
Speaker 5: to change the eye level his But his overall consistency
Speaker 5: and his success is going to be by driving the
Speaker 5: ball down in the zone. How does he do that.
Speaker 5: He gets on top of it with his fingers. He
Speaker 5: works that change up consistently, and we talked about it
Speaker 5: a million times, and I've talked about it on NBC.
Speaker 5: I've talked about it on the podcast. You have to
Speaker 5: drive the ball down with your change up. He's going
Speaker 5: to mix in more change ups and keep the ball
Speaker 5: down and try to get ground balls. And then he's
Speaker 5: got to get that breaking ball down, which he did extraordinary.
Speaker 3: Job of in both games.
Speaker 5: And the sinker has to work right, the sinker down
Speaker 5: And so when he's working down and he's staying out
Speaker 5: of the middle of the zone. They make contact on pitches,
Speaker 5: but it's ground ball contact or swing and miss in
Speaker 5: the case of the breaking ball, and it limits damage. Yes,
Speaker 5: he's going to make mistakes because he throws a lot
Speaker 5: of strikes and balls are going to get hit out
Speaker 5: of the ballpark.
Speaker 3: But if he keeps the.
Speaker 5: Ball down, then he can limit the contact on the
Speaker 5: ground as opposed to the ball going into the air
Speaker 5: and being driven out of the ballpark. Throwing strikes is
Speaker 5: a big one for him, and I think he's just
Speaker 5: a much better pitcher when he's driving the ball down
Speaker 5: in the zone. And that's that's why he's had so
Speaker 5: much success. And I'm sorry for stealing so much thunder
Speaker 5: during the course of this podcast.
Speaker 4: No, that's great stuff.
Speaker 1: He's always been, always been a guy that needs to
Speaker 1: pitch at the knees, as a lot of pitchers have
Speaker 1: migrated up in the zone and try to work that
Speaker 1: top border of the strike zone and get it above
Speaker 1: the bower. He's a guy that needs to be at
Speaker 1: the knees and has his entire career since he arrived
Speaker 1: in the big leagues and correct when he's not he
Speaker 1: doesn't have the gidda up to get it by somebody.
Speaker 4: He threw a two steamer last night.
Speaker 1: Late in the game, and he an umpire called it
Speaker 1: a strike. It was like he was so good last night.
Speaker 1: He was getting calls, you know, like you'd see at
Speaker 1: times with pictures back in just pre abs, like this
Speaker 1: guy is, this guy is dealing all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: Now the strikes sowed all of a sudden. The plate's
Speaker 1: now eighteen nineteen inches and he got one of those,
Speaker 1: and the umpire rang up the hitter and and the
Speaker 1: hitter tapped and it was two inches off the plate.
Speaker 1: But it was like even the umpire you could tell
Speaker 1: was buying into the movement on those pitches and the
Speaker 1: way he was executing. So I'm very I'm very happy
Speaker 1: for Aaron in the last two months. I really am
Speaker 1: knowing is more respected in that room. There's no finer gentle,
Speaker 1: no better competitor, no harder worker. And I think we
Speaker 1: all were wondering if he was headed for big problems
Speaker 1: earlier this year, and he has shown a lot of
Speaker 1: guts and getting back on track here and becoming a huge,
Speaker 1: huge contributor to this team that did not add starting
Speaker 1: pitching at the deadline, and all of a sudden, now
Speaker 1: it looks like they they've added another real quality guy.
Speaker 3: So good. Can I just add this?
Speaker 5: I mean, I know I'm happy that he's bucking the
Speaker 5: fans right now, because the fans out there are basically
Speaker 5: we're basically ready to trash him and throw them aside.
Speaker 3: And this is not a guy that just having known
Speaker 3: him over the years and know who the person is.
Speaker 5: To me, if there's somebody's going to figure it out,
Speaker 5: it's Aaron Nola and someone who is.
Speaker 3: Who doesn't make excuses, doesn't you know that's.
Speaker 5: Not that's you know, he's one of those guys that
Speaker 5: at some point is going.
Speaker 3: To figure it out. And uh.
Speaker 5: And I love the fact that he's bounced back for
Speaker 5: him and for the organization, but also you know, for
Speaker 5: the fans who doubt it, and so pooh pooh on
Speaker 5: those folks.
Speaker 3: He may end up having a terrible end of the year.
Speaker 3: But the reality of it.
Speaker 5: Is that he's working hard to I'm sure and I
Speaker 5: know that he's working hard to be a success and
Speaker 5: to help this team.
Speaker 4: Ruben full disclosure, I was worried. I was worried.
Speaker 1: I remember saying, of course, you know, he was having
Speaker 1: trouble getting through the early innings and I was I
Speaker 1: remember saying once what are they going to do? Because
Speaker 1: he would be good for a couple of innings that
Speaker 1: he sort of hit an early wall and I was like,
Speaker 1: maybe they have to piggyback him with someone. But I mean,
Speaker 1: he has just totally changed the narrative and he's had
Speaker 1: a lot of good ballgames with Garrett Stubbs.
Speaker 2: Stubbs caught that first game in Kansas City that Sunday, remember,
Speaker 2: and go to Miami.
Speaker 1: He's pitched three three really good ones against Miami and
Speaker 1: Stubbs has been behind there for all.
Speaker 4: Three of them.
Speaker 1: They've developed a really good chemistry. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that's a team within a team in the battery, and
Speaker 1: you know, Stubbs deserves a tip of the hat as well.
Speaker 3: I got a little bit of a theory about that.
Speaker 5: Stubbs is a smaller guy and he's got a lower
Speaker 5: target because he's a lower body, he's a smaller person.
Speaker 8: It's a great and perhaps him being lower and smaller,
Speaker 8: he has to dial into a lower target, which is
Speaker 8: where his success is going to be. Maybe that has
Speaker 8: something to do with it. It's possible. I don't know
Speaker 8: that for fact, it's real. Certainly can't hurt it.
Speaker 2: I mean conversely, Zach Wheeler loves throwing a j T
Speaker 2: because JT provides a bigger target.
Speaker 3: I mean, he.
Speaker 2: JT's going to catch Zach Wheeler. You know, yeah, all absolutely,
Speaker 2: that's Zach likes the target that he provides. So there's
Speaker 2: something real there, you know. So that's that's a great point, Ruben,
Speaker 2: excellent point. Okay, that was that right there. That's a
Speaker 2: monster moment brought to you by Monster Energy. Unleash the Beast.
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Speaker 7: Today.
Speaker 2: We're back, and we got some questions. We asked for
Speaker 2: some questions from from all you and got some good
Speaker 2: ones and let me fine, Oh here we go.
Speaker 7: Let's let's go big picture.
Speaker 4: You want to go big picture? Big picture?
Speaker 7: This is from Instagram.
Speaker 2: This is from Baseball thirty four fifty.
Speaker 7: Do you really believe.
Speaker 2: That this team can win a championship? They haven't proven
Speaker 2: that they can. Do you really believe?
Speaker 1: I mean, to me, though, I was all championship teams,
Speaker 1: so all championships teams have to do it.
Speaker 4: Once for the first time.
Speaker 7: So exactly, that was my first thought.
Speaker 2: Jim, the same thing is like, well, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: the Dodgers didn't prove that they could win a championship
Speaker 2: until two years ago. I know, Dave Roberts was almost
Speaker 2: going to be fired because they kept collapsing in the postseason.
Speaker 2: I mean, people, Dodgers fans hated Dave Roberts and now
Speaker 2: he's probably gonna go to the Hall of Fame because
Speaker 2: he's won two in a row with the Dodgers. So
Speaker 2: until you do it, you haven't done it. Doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you can't do it.
Speaker 1: The easy answer, the easy answer is to say they
Speaker 1: will not win a championship. Correct, that's the easy answer.
Speaker 1: But the real answer is who knows. Nobody knows. You
Speaker 1: got to get in and then you got to play
Speaker 1: your best three weeks. With baseball, you can't run into
Speaker 1: outs on the bases, you can't give extra bases, you
Speaker 1: can't walk people, hit batters, make errors. You gotta have
Speaker 1: timely hitting, good starting pitching, and you can't blow leeds
Speaker 1: early in five game series like the bullpen did in
Speaker 1: Game one the last two years. So you gotta have
Speaker 1: your best three weeks. If they do that, they could
Speaker 1: win a World Series. Did we think the ol White
Speaker 1: Phillies could win the World Series? I didn't going into
Speaker 1: that postseason, but they climbed on the back of a
Speaker 1: twenty four year old left hander and a really good
Speaker 1: bullpen that was peaking, and they did it. They had
Speaker 1: better teams later in that run and didn't win.
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think anything's possible, and I think it really
Speaker 5: depends on this, and I think that has a lot
Speaker 5: to do with it. Before August first, this team was
Speaker 5: last in on base percentage. They were twenty fourth in
Speaker 5: batting average. They were eighteenth in run scored. Since August first,
Speaker 5: I have the numbers right in front of me. They
Speaker 5: are second in runs only to Boston. Boston's going haywire right,
Speaker 5: They're going nuts. They are first, and on base percentage,
Speaker 5: they are third in ops. If they played closer to
Speaker 5: the last from the last three weeks than they do
Speaker 5: from the last three months, then they do have a chance.
Speaker 5: If they play much closer to what they did prior
Speaker 5: to August first, then the chances of them doing it.
Speaker 3: Are very slim.
Speaker 5: But I will tell you that for whatever reason, whatever
Speaker 5: paradigm shift was created, whether it was.
Speaker 3: Luis or Rise or their overall.
Speaker 5: Team philosophy of making sure that they have a better
Speaker 5: approach at the plate, whatever the case may be. They
Speaker 5: are a much better offensive team. Yes, they have not
Speaker 5: played like you know, number one starters and all that
Speaker 5: other stuff, but you have to play who you have
Speaker 5: to play. And for them to have been so much
Speaker 5: better now in the last three weeks than they were
Speaker 5: in the first three months or four months of the season,
Speaker 5: that's that's that's big, that's huge. And if they finished
Speaker 5: off the season playing like they have been this this
Speaker 5: whole month of August, then they have a really legitimate
Speaker 5: chance because of their starting pitcher and because of their closer.
Speaker 3: They're starting pitching and because of their closer.
Speaker 2: I agree, and they've they've what we're talking the other
Speaker 2: day about the Braves in the Analy East, and now
Speaker 2: they get another game on the Braves.
Speaker 5: Four and a half games back as of I guess
Speaker 5: Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 1: Right, you never know it's gonna I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be five because the Braves were winning on Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 4: Full disclosure, we're taping on Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Sorry, now that's all right, Okay, Yeah, that's all right,
Speaker 2: But I mean the point being that you keep playing
Speaker 2: like this and the Braves keep playing like that.
Speaker 3: As said, those.
Speaker 4: Six games are going to be those six games.
Speaker 1: You never never ever know Tony Montanas here, but those
Speaker 1: six games in September are gonna be ah.
Speaker 3: Against the Braves. That's what you want, right, That's what
Speaker 3: you want in baseball. That's what we're looking for. Absolutely.
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Speaker 2: We're working on some new swag. People don't Some people
Speaker 2: don't like the word swag. I love the word swag.
Speaker 5: Well guess what it's coming, brand new swag. It's gonna
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Speaker 2: If we can pull the right strings. There might be
Speaker 2: a Jim Salisbury gardening themed T shirts available soon.
Speaker 3: I will be the first to purchase.
Speaker 7: I cannot wait to wear it. That's all I can say. Buddy,
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Speaker 2: Oh my god, here we go.
Speaker 7: It's happening. Jim Talent's happening. Oh my gosh. All right,
Speaker 7: let's get back to some questions.
Speaker 3: Let's talk.
Speaker 2: Let's get some questions in the offense. This was the
Speaker 2: one for Ruben. Can you this is from Xander Hunt
Speaker 2: forty four. Can you explain the thought process of first
Speaker 2: pitch swinging, especially Alec Bohm, do you have any thoughts
Speaker 2: on that?
Speaker 4: Ruben?
Speaker 3: What's the thought right?
Speaker 2: Because it's funny guy swings at the first pitch, he
Speaker 2: makes it out.
Speaker 3: What hits it over the wall?
Speaker 7: It hits it the wall.
Speaker 3: I love how he ge attacked ambushed that fastball.
Speaker 7: He pops up to the shortstop with guys are moron.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the first first one is the only good one
Speaker 1: you get. I mean, you can see everything both ways
Speaker 1: in this game.
Speaker 7: Ruben, what's the thought process on swinging at the first pitch?
Speaker 5: I mean, if you look, if you look at the numbers,
Speaker 5: I believe, if I'm not mistaken, first pitch, first pitch
Speaker 5: swinging is like the highest percentage of actually getting a
Speaker 5: hit in baseball. I think it's still the first I
Speaker 5: do believe it's the highest percentage of getting a hit.
Speaker 3: I'm not quite positive about that.
Speaker 5: To me, for Bomb, it's always been I always felt like,
Speaker 5: if he's gonna first pitch swing, that he should be
Speaker 5: barreling it up to the pulse side or driving it somewhere.
Speaker 5: And there are times when he doesn't do that. But
Speaker 5: there are also times when he has a lot of
Speaker 5: success with it. I mean, he's been and this is
Speaker 5: kind of a.
Speaker 9: Crazy stat but he's over the last several years, he's
Speaker 9: had more RBIs than Bryce Harper and Bryce Harper's getting paid,
Speaker 9: you know, twenty seven million dollars a year, and he
Speaker 9: is highly extolled. But he's he does produce runs, and
Speaker 9: I know he's going he's going really well right now.
Speaker 9: I know he had a really.
Speaker 5: Tough start to the season, but I think he's looking
Speaker 5: for a pitch.
Speaker 3: He gets that pitch and he's hacking at it.
Speaker 5: And while sometimes he does roll into a ground ball
Speaker 5: double play, there are other times when he's really productive
Speaker 5: and you know, drives the ball in the right center
Speaker 5: field for a base hit or up the middle, and
Speaker 5: more lately you see him driving the ball into the gaps.
Speaker 5: I think that that's the thought process behind it.
Speaker 2: A lot of people, like Nola wanted to fire him
Speaker 2: to the moon about a couple of weeks ago, but
Speaker 2: they're lucky they have him in their lineup today.
Speaker 3: That's right. You know, he's been part of the resurgence.
Speaker 3: He's really been a big part.
Speaker 5: He instead had been a really big part of the
Speaker 5: resurgence of this team.
Speaker 1: Absolutuge, and they've brought some really necessary contact to the lineup.
Speaker 4: That's in addition to a rise.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of a rise, this is from Lil Sassy
Speaker 2: Mom on Instagram. What do you think will happen with
Speaker 2: a Rise and Boem in the off season? I think
Speaker 2: Boom's I think Boom will not come back. That's my
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's a prediction.
Speaker 7: Probably we all share it, right.
Speaker 3: I agree, I agree, I would agree with that.
Speaker 8: I don't know that that's necessarily going to happen, but
Speaker 8: if they were going to.
Speaker 5: Try to change things up, They're not going to change
Speaker 5: things up with the with the big contracts, I don't think,
Speaker 5: And so they're gonna have to change things up in
Speaker 5: a different way, and Bowe might be.
Speaker 3: Part of that, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's sort of the path of least resistance because
Speaker 1: he's a free agent. You're locked in with so many big,
Speaker 1: immovable contracts. So I think this is probably the end
Speaker 1: for him in Philly and to be somewhere else. But
Speaker 1: he has a chance to go out with a bang,
Speaker 1: and it's already kind of started. So that's good to see.
Speaker 1: And I would think long and hard about re signing
Speaker 1: her eyes, but I'm not going overly long. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to keep that too. I'd love to get him for two.
Speaker 1: That ain't gonna happen, probably maybe three, three.
Speaker 2: I would I would do three for a guy hits
Speaker 2: three hundred every year.
Speaker 3: What would you do, Ruben? You you've done that stuff. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a tough one. I like to stay of two years.
Speaker 5: But I mean, if if you really want to change
Speaker 5: the dynamic of your team and contact becomes something that's
Speaker 5: that important, and I think the industry is figuring out
Speaker 5: that this is actually a important. The fact that he
Speaker 5: was signed at a ten year, one year, ten million dollar.
Speaker 3: Deal basically a steal for me. That's a steal.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, this is a compared to some of
Speaker 5: the other players that are getting fifteen to twenty million
Speaker 5: dollars a year and multi year contracts.
Speaker 3: Luisa rises a steal.
Speaker 5: Now he's made himself a steal because he's made himself
Speaker 5: a much better second basement and someone who can play
Speaker 5: the keystone position and can do the things that he
Speaker 5: can do offensively.
Speaker 3: He's a plus.
Speaker 5: I would not put it past in this day and
Speaker 5: age where contact.
Speaker 3: Is going to be king. Imagine that that which is
Speaker 3: old will be new again.
Speaker 5: I gotta believe that he's going to get at least
Speaker 5: a three year deal, and he's probably gonna get somewhere
Speaker 5: in the range between fifteen and twenty million dollars per year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, that I could absolutely see that happen.
Speaker 5: And there may be some and every some of new
Speaker 5: school guys who don't think that that's a value at all.
Speaker 7: I feel like that's turned though.
Speaker 10: That's an advantage to the to a team like the
Speaker 10: Phillies because he's sort of he's sort of a guy
Speaker 10: they need to help round out their their overall team.
Speaker 2: I agree, but I think that's kind of We'll see,
Speaker 2: we'll see what the off season looks like in the
Speaker 2: next few years look like. But I feel like it's
Speaker 2: starting to turn that way in that you see what
Speaker 2: the Brewers are doing. Why do they have success? They
Speaker 2: don't strike out a lot. They put the ball in play.
Speaker 2: The Tampa Bay Rays are similar.
Speaker 7: You still need those guys. You still don't want.
Speaker 2: A Schwarburn Harper and the guys are gonna hit thirty
Speaker 2: forty year.
Speaker 4: But need somebody on base.
Speaker 2: You have a Louis Raise and a Bryson stop hitting
Speaker 2: in your lineup, getting on base, never striking out, walking
Speaker 2: a lot. That's uh, that's valuable.
Speaker 5: There is value to that, and the base hit is
Speaker 5: valuable still, is it?
Speaker 3: Always will be always is the hit means.
Speaker 7: Something it does?
Speaker 2: And this is this is a question from John Barton.
Speaker 2: Do you think the Phillies will try to extend Bryce
Speaker 2: and stop before he reaches free free agency after the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty seventh season. I think they would love to try,
Speaker 2: but his own thing. His agent's gonna let him do
Speaker 2: that if he keeps playing like this. His agent is
Speaker 2: Scott Scott Boris.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a problem.
Speaker 7: Close the book on that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think they'll just go year to year with him.
Speaker 3: Year to year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's it'd be nice. Hey, it'd be
Speaker 2: a nice problem to have. If you're sweating bullets at
Speaker 2: the end of the twenty twenty seventh season, Holy crap,
Speaker 2: are they gonna lose bryceon Stott? That means something good
Speaker 2: is happening for the Phillies, And that means that.
Speaker 5: Means that the man has performed, And you always want
Speaker 5: to pay for perform for for performance performance, I can't speak.
Speaker 2: Yes, there you go, So okay, let's here's let's that's
Speaker 2: those are some offensive questions. Oh, before we do offense,
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Speaker 7: All right, we're back.
Speaker 2: Let's say let's talk about some couple pitching questions. This
Speaker 2: got a lot of questions on this signing on Wednesday,
Speaker 2: so let's get your thoughts on an Esther Cortes. This
Speaker 2: is a Jeffrey hostetter. Hey, guys, love the show. What
Speaker 2: is a realistic expectation for Cortes Philly is of course,
Speaker 2: in case you missed the news on Wednesday, they signed
Speaker 2: him to a major league deal. He's down in clear
Speaker 2: Water right now pitching, or is going to be down
Speaker 2: in clear Water pitching, and I guess assumingly working his
Speaker 2: way up organizational starting I mean he's starting pitching depth
Speaker 2: they needed starting pitching depth.
Speaker 7: That was a big fear we all had.
Speaker 2: What happened one of these five guys goes down, they
Speaker 2: are screwed. So now they have a little bit of
Speaker 2: a security blanket.
Speaker 4: It's like Walker Buller last year.
Speaker 1: I think there's value if he can maybe in mid
Speaker 1: September and if you can go two turns through the
Speaker 1: rotation with a six man and he can get Wheels
Speaker 1: and Sanchez and Lolzardo a little rest. I think that
Speaker 1: would be great if if he could help get a
Speaker 1: little rest for some guys going into October. And maybe
Speaker 1: if he pitches well and he's executing, he's getting outs,
Speaker 1: that's what pitcher, just get outs, then maybe he can
Speaker 1: help in the bullpen in October. But who knows, he's
Speaker 1: got to He hasn't pitched in a while. They gotta
Speaker 1: they got to see what he what he's uh, what
Speaker 1: he's got.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the expectation is.
Speaker 5: But anytime you can get somebody who's been there and
Speaker 5: done it, I always believe in a team that's a contender.
Speaker 5: I mean there's no harm, no foul. I mean it's
Speaker 5: just money and you're giving yourself some depth. And here's
Speaker 5: the real question. Do you want Alan Wronghell pitching in
Speaker 5: an important game in September, or do you want Nestor Cortes?
Speaker 5: You tell me which guy you want to pitch. Okay,
Speaker 5: that's a no brainer. Now obviously Nestor Cortez has to
Speaker 5: be healthy and pitching, okay, and closer to Nestor Cortez
Speaker 5: of the Yankees than you know then the guy who's
Speaker 5: been hurt. But I mean no harm, no foul. I
Speaker 5: just don't know. Can he win one or two games?
Speaker 5: Can he keep you in a game? Can he help
Speaker 5: you win the one game that gets you into a
Speaker 5: playoffs or put you in a position to have not
Speaker 5: have to play, you know, to maybe advance in the
Speaker 5: overall standings.
Speaker 3: I'll take it. Why not?
Speaker 5: I mean, that's that's what veteran gms do. That's what
Speaker 5: Dave Nebrowski does. That's what he did.
Speaker 1: And can he eat ten or twelve innings down the
Speaker 1: stretch that Wheeler, Lizardo or Sanchez don't have to eat
Speaker 1: so they have a little more in sometimes in October?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Right? So a couple more here. One more pitching question.
Speaker 2: This is from Brandon Marshall. Lover, is there any scenario
Speaker 2: where Jesus Sozardo could possibly start Game one of a
Speaker 2: wild Card series if they get in. He's been the
Speaker 2: hottest pitcher on this team as of late. Interesting question
Speaker 2: because you know a few months ago, a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks ago, a few weeks ago he said, you know,
Speaker 2: Sanchez Wheeler than LOZARDA right, that's kind of how that
Speaker 2: the hierarchy I guess of the rotation, however you want
Speaker 2: to look at it, Wheeler, Sanchez, Lozardo. But Lozardo has
Speaker 2: been their best pitchers for for a long time. So
Speaker 2: if you and obviously it depends on how you line
Speaker 2: it up or how the season's ending, but as of today,
Speaker 2: if you could line it up how you wanted to
Speaker 2: line it up. Jim Rubin, how would you line it up?
Speaker 4: I don't know, because I will say this about Lozardo.
Speaker 1: I'd feel comfortable starting him any game, and he pitches
Speaker 1: very well on the road, and that would be something
Speaker 1: I would consider it because they've considered Sanchez's success at
Speaker 1: home in the past.
Speaker 4: So I don't know who you know.
Speaker 1: I want to see the hot hand, I want to
Speaker 1: see how rested people are, and I want to see
Speaker 1: how long it takes you to clinch, so because you
Speaker 1: might need to win on the second to last day
Speaker 1: of the season and that might affect your postseason rotation.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what I would do at this moment,
Speaker 1: but I would feel very comfortable giving the ball to
Speaker 1: Hazelu's WIZARDO Senior Sweeper any day of the.
Speaker 3: Week, any opponent, any series, all three of them, I'll
Speaker 3: give all three of them the baseball. I don't care.
Speaker 3: It's basically how it lines up.
Speaker 5: But if it lines up properly, there's only one guy
Speaker 5: who's getting the baseball, and that's Zach Wheeler. Zack Wheeler's
Speaker 5: getting the first start. I'm going to tell you that
Speaker 5: right now, unless they can line it up. Unless they
Speaker 5: can't line it up, he's not able to pitch. Zack
Speaker 5: Wheeler's getting the baseball unless he totally blows up. And
Speaker 5: he's not going to blow up. He's going to get better.
Speaker 5: I guarantee that as well, especially if he's healthy. If
Speaker 5: he's healthy, he's getting the baseball on the game one.
Speaker 2: Wheeler is one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball history.
Speaker 2: You know he's got one of the I mean, he's
Speaker 2: been asked.
Speaker 3: I'm giving the baseball. If I'm a manager, I'm giving
Speaker 3: that sucker. The baseball.
Speaker 2: Makes a understandable yeah, but it's a nice It's a
Speaker 2: nice conversation to have again because it tells you just
Speaker 2: kind of what you have to work with. It's not like, well,
Speaker 2: Lozardo and a bunch of nobody's, it's.
Speaker 4: All all things equally.
Speaker 1: You going with Wheeler. But I'd still I wouldn't bat
Speaker 1: an eye with any any one of those guys.
Speaker 2: I would feel great Lozardo starting any game. I'd feel
Speaker 2: great with Lazard coming in on two days rest, pitching
Speaker 2: on the bullpen like you did the stadium.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: A lot of reasons to be confident when when Wizardo
Speaker 2: was on the mound.
Speaker 5: Okay, very underrated trade boys, very underrated trade.
Speaker 3: That is a quick quality arm that they picked up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, fan trade ends up being a fantastic deal for
Speaker 2: the Phillies. All Right, we got some jim, we got
Speaker 2: some gardening questions, So it's time for look at that.
Speaker 7: I'm still happy in the garden.
Speaker 3: That. I love that jingle so much.
Speaker 7: It's such a happy jingle.
Speaker 1: We got to make these quick because I don't think
Speaker 1: people really like the gardening questions.
Speaker 2: Jim, they got they love the gardening questions? Love it
Speaker 2: if If you love the gardening questions, feel free to
Speaker 2: shoot Jim a tweet and tell them how much they
Speaker 2: love you love your garden.
Speaker 4: It just picked a nice bouquet of zinnias.
Speaker 7: Oh you go?
Speaker 3: Did you give them? Man? Yeah, they're on the kitchen table.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: Did you present them properly? Did you present them properly
Speaker 3: the way she deserves them? I put them on a.
Speaker 4: Nice in a glass or a vase.
Speaker 3: And okay, all right.
Speaker 2: You didn't just throw them on the countertop and say
Speaker 2: do something?
Speaker 3: No, no, I arrangee.
Speaker 7: I love it all right. Here's the first question. This
Speaker 7: is from.
Speaker 2: Pasta water enthusiast for Jim.
Speaker 7: How are those tomatoes going? Can we see some?
Speaker 3: We keep?
Speaker 2: I would I keep telling Jim to please take some
Speaker 2: pictures every tomatoes so we can put it on social media.
Speaker 3: Has Jim done it?
Speaker 7: Has Jim done it?
Speaker 3: He has not? He has not.
Speaker 1: I did so a couple episodes ago, I showed a
Speaker 1: couple of them, showed.
Speaker 2: A zucchini and live you showed us live.
Speaker 3: Oh you want me in the garden?
Speaker 2: I want you in the garden? Or I want you
Speaker 2: to take a picture so we can post it on something.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'll do that next time doing selfie, James.
Speaker 7: I know you know that the video is videos of his.
Speaker 3: Feet and my thumb videos, but his.
Speaker 2: Thumb you know spring turning has arrived when you see
Speaker 2: Jim's shoes on the video. Anyway, Jim, how are the
Speaker 2: tomatoes coming along doing well?
Speaker 1: I'm inundated with cherry tomatoes both, you know, the orange
Speaker 1: ones and the red ones. Got a lot of nice slicers,
Speaker 1: uh picked. I had one beat this year.
Speaker 3: I had.
Speaker 1: I had this package of beat seeds that were three
Speaker 1: years old, and I had like I used in the
Speaker 1: last few years, and I had like three seeds left
Speaker 1: in them, so I threw them on the ground and
Speaker 1: one of them came up, a nice, big honking beat.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Got a lot of nice basil green beans. Everything's going
Speaker 1: good and we're actually, you know, peak season right now.
Speaker 1: And my pablanos are looking good too, man. I love
Speaker 1: a nice boblano.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 3: Can you eat them? Can you handle alao? Oh? They're easy.
Speaker 1: I got nice cayenne and jalapenos too.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh yeah, they'll be afraid to bring them
Speaker 3: in James and Share Sharing is carrying Jim Sharing's.
Speaker 2: Car speaking of an over abundance of garden treats. This
Speaker 2: is a question from Jason McClain. Hey, Jim, it's the
Speaker 2: time of year where my friends and family are giving
Speaker 2: me piles of zucchini and squash. Got any suggestions on
Speaker 2: how to use it all or some favorite recipes?
Speaker 7: That does become an.
Speaker 2: Issue whereas people there the uh, the goods, the goods
Speaker 2: start Jim's Jim's gonna start coming to the ballpark with
Speaker 2: bags of tomatoes, right.
Speaker 1: My advice on squashes, don't a lot of people let
Speaker 1: those zucchinis get so big they look like you know,
Speaker 1: remember like on the Flintstones Bam bam, he had that
Speaker 1: that club.
Speaker 4: You don't want to let them get big. You want
Speaker 4: to pick them small.
Speaker 1: But if I let my zucchinis get a little bit bigger,
Speaker 1: I'll make boats out of them. And then you scoop
Speaker 1: them out and you can stuff them with like Italian
Speaker 1: stuff or Mexican stuff, beans and rice and hit him
Speaker 1: with a little enchilada sauce, bacon, cheese. So I grill
Speaker 1: them all the time. Zucchini and yellow squash. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Can get a lot of it.
Speaker 3: And some people makeoop process. I love that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, do a little scoop, make him make make
Speaker 1: boats out of them, you know, and then bake them.
Speaker 1: You might even want to maybe par bacon first with
Speaker 1: a little water in the uh, a little shot of
Speaker 1: water in the cookie sheets so it softens it.
Speaker 3: And then stuff them and put them back in. Get
Speaker 3: that cheese all melty.
Speaker 2: Oh man, what about your stuffed jlapenos? Those are a good.
Speaker 2: That's a good.
Speaker 7: Oh.
Speaker 1: I stuff those with like sausage and h and monterey jack,
Speaker 1: and then I wrap a little bacon, hit him with
Speaker 1: a toothpick, put them on the grill, let them get
Speaker 1: all singy.
Speaker 3: Oh they're good. Yeah, you don't see you don't stuff
Speaker 3: those with sausage. You stuff them with cha.
Speaker 4: What's that?
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a sausage type of thing, right, like salchica.
Speaker 4: What is that.
Speaker 3: Spanish of sausage? What is that? Yes, Spanish Spanish for sausage.
Speaker 7: It sounds tasty, doesn't it. It sounds good? Teach you.
Speaker 2: Yes, I love it all right. Those are our garden questions.
Speaker 2: We thank everybody. Jim Jim, Let Jim know how much
Speaker 2: you love his garden talk as well as as well
Speaker 2: as his baseball talk as well as all of our
Speaker 2: baseball talk. And we will be back, and we will
Speaker 2: be back next week.
Speaker 7: Guys.
Speaker 4: That was fun.
Speaker 7: Everybody.
Speaker 2: Enjoy your weekend.
Speaker 1: Big series to come on, man.
Speaker 7: Yeah, but Cardinals are I forgot to preview the series.
Speaker 2: The Cardinals are in town. Big series for the Phillies.
Speaker 3: Terrible, terrible series out there in Saint Louis.
Speaker 5: They need to bounce back and play quality baseball they've
Speaker 5: been doing the last couple of series.
Speaker 4: They should hear that thunder, big thunder here.
Speaker 2: They should have revenge on their minds against those Saint
Speaker 2: Louis Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I think the Cardinals UNI is my favorite. The Birds
Speaker 1: on the bat across the front. I love the look
Speaker 1: of that of that logo, you.
Speaker 6: Guys, Solid Uni, Solid UNI, great, solid, great uniform.
Speaker 2: I love the I love the Dodgers home uniform. That's
Speaker 2: a classic.
Speaker 7: That's Home Whites.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got you.
Speaker 2: The home Whites are solid.
Speaker 5: Talking about Tommy John, I'm still partial to the old school.
Speaker 3: I'm still partial to the old school.
Speaker 5: Phillies Away Blueshi Blues are tremendous.
Speaker 2: Those are my favorite of the Philly uniforms. Those are
Speaker 2: my of course.
Speaker 1: I wanted to say God bless Tommy John. I remember
Speaker 1: when Randy Wolf had had Tommy John surgery. I called
Speaker 1: up Tommy John and did a story talking to him about,
Speaker 1: you know, the surgery and what could Randy could could
Speaker 1: expect and things like that. And he was a real
Speaker 1: gentleman and I really considered it an honor to speak
Speaker 1: with him. So I was sad to see his passing.
Speaker 3: I remember him, well.
Speaker 1: Man two hundred and eighty eight wins and he still.
Speaker 3: Got a shot, and he's still got a shot at it.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's unfortunate that he's passed now that he's
Speaker 5: not going to reap the benefit of being a Hall
Speaker 5: of Famer, but I think he's should certainly be considered.
Speaker 1: And he pitched fourteen more seasons after the surgery. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that always stuck out to me,
Speaker 1: I remember watching this. I think it was like a
Speaker 1: TV story on on the surgery and whatnot, and they
Speaker 1: interviewed Frank Job and he did that surgery, like I said,
Speaker 1: in seventy four, and I think Cofax his last year
Speaker 1: was like sixty six. And Frank Job said, if we
Speaker 1: had had this surgery a little earlier, we might have
Speaker 1: been able to save Sandy Colfax's career.
Speaker 4: So pretty cool.
Speaker 2: You know, Tommy John had more wins after the surgery
Speaker 2: than he had before the surgery, and he had a
Speaker 2: heck of.
Speaker 3: Just like Jamie Moore.
Speaker 5: He had more wins after fifty than he did, you know,
Speaker 5: before fifty.
Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly right. Tommy John pitched until he was forty six.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 1: I saw him pitch f I covered some games at
Speaker 1: Fenway when he in the late eighties, when.
Speaker 3: I first started that that he pitched.
Speaker 1: And then he pitched that game in the rain, right, Ruben?
Speaker 1: And uh he beat the Phillies in seventy seven in
Speaker 1: the rain at the Vet.
Speaker 3: Was that the day after Black Friday? Now, I'm really
Speaker 3: I'm sorry that wasn't Yeah, uh, maybe one of those.
Speaker 4: Remembers, one of those heartbreaking years.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry to bring up your sadness.
Speaker 3: I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm.
Speaker 7: Rubin's gotten over it by now.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, all right, well that's my my tangent.
Speaker 3: At least it was related to baseball, all.
Speaker 7: Right, guys, that Phillies Cardinals. This weekend. We'll be back
Speaker 7: on Monday to talk about everything that happened.
Speaker 1: And we will smellulated boys.
Speaker 3: Smell you, Jimmy. If you made it this far, you'll
Speaker 3: love this next video.
Speaker 5: Check it out right here, and make sure you subscribe
Speaker 5: to The Philly Show for more Phillies coverage like this,
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