Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Philly Show.
Speaker 2: Hey everybody, and welcome to the Phillies Show. It is Monday,
Speaker 2: August fifth. I am Jim Salisbury, joined by Reuben Tomorrow,
Speaker 2: and we're coming at you this morning without our fearless
Speaker 2: leader and kind of the backbone of this whole show,
Speaker 2: the brains of the operation. Todd Zeleki is having a
Speaker 2: tough travel day on the West Coast as he heads
Speaker 2: from Seattle down to LA, the next stop for the Phillies. Ruben,
Speaker 2: it appears you though flying first class charters with the
Speaker 2: team and not commercial. Appears you have made it to LA.
Speaker 2: Where do I find you this fine morning.
Speaker 1: We did have a little bit of a travel issue also,
Speaker 1: Actually we almost could not get here until super late,
Speaker 1: but they fixed that a little mechanical action. But believe
Speaker 1: it or not, I'm at the Beverly Hills four Seasons,
Speaker 1: which is where they filmed Pretty Woman, one of my
Speaker 1: favorite all time movies. And yeah, in fact, they filled
Speaker 1: it all of it in here, I think, I do
Speaker 1: believe so. My man Greg Murphy informed me of that
Speaker 1: yesterday when we strolled in and we were waiting for
Speaker 1: our keys to roll into our rooms. But it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful hotel and I'm going to try to scout around
Speaker 1: a little bit in Beverly Hills here. Got a couple
Speaker 1: of friends here that I'm going to see at an
Speaker 1: old high school buddy who's a big time agent, and
Speaker 1: hang out a little bit. But I'm also going to
Speaker 1: later on. I'm going to and as you know, the
Speaker 1: Philly Show is part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm
Speaker 1: going to scoot on with them a little bit later
Speaker 1: on this morning to talk to the boys about this
Speaker 1: upcoming Los Angeles Dodgers series with the Phillies. But excited
Speaker 1: to be back on the on the West Coast. I
Speaker 1: haven't been here too many times as of late, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an exciting series. Ship.
Speaker 2: So that hotel, pretty Woman, I can still see those
Speaker 2: scenes where she comes downstairs and she needs to buy
Speaker 2: a dress and Hector Alisondo, one of my favorite character actors,
Speaker 2: Hector Alexando sends her over to that boutique and then
Speaker 2: they were mean to her. She comes back, he sends
Speaker 2: her over to another store and and they they hook
Speaker 2: her up with some uh some gear. But Hector Alexander
Speaker 2: was in one of my all time favorite movies from
Speaker 2: the eighties, The Flamingo Kid. Check it out. Yeah no,
Speaker 2: I saw that movie. Yeah oh yeah, yeah, right, that
Speaker 2: of age movie. And I always really liked his work. So, uh,
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool. You're in in that hotel lounge when
Speaker 2: her and Richard Gear meet up before jumping on the
Speaker 2: airplane to go to the opera. That's the lifestyle you live,
Speaker 2: jumping on private planes going to operas.
Speaker 1: You know, really really now, I've been on a been
Speaker 1: on a private playing two times in my whole life.
Speaker 1: There was a rumor out there that I had my
Speaker 1: own private play one time. I think they threw that
Speaker 1: out there on on WIP. One time. I'm like, come on, please.
Speaker 2: I've been on a private playing.
Speaker 1: The dms don't do that well.
Speaker 2: I was on a private plane once, and I think
Speaker 2: you may know the story, but I'm not going to
Speaker 2: reveal the story right now, but it's an awfully good one.
Speaker 2: We'll save that for another episode.
Speaker 1: It has powder, save the powder gym.
Speaker 2: Save that power to keep it dry, like for the
Speaker 2: trade deadline. Anyway, You're coming out of Seattle, and I
Speaker 2: don't know if I've seen a team in a long time.
Speaker 2: They needed a victory more than the Phillies. They got
Speaker 2: one yesterday. What was it a six game losing skid
Speaker 2: they snapped.
Speaker 1: Or yeah it was? Yeah, what sure was? And they
Speaker 1: would really struggle. And I mean, and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of teams that have had a lot of success. We
Speaker 1: talked about it on the air about some other teams,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, eight, nine, ten, and eleven. Obviously
Speaker 1: some teams like in ninety three, we had a long
Speaker 1: time droughts. But they bounced back and I you know,
Speaker 1: it was a huge win for them yesterday. And the
Speaker 1: man that stepped forward was Zach Wheeler. Man you talk
Speaker 1: about being an ace and a stopper. I mean, he
Speaker 1: performed in exactly the way they needed. They had blown
Speaker 1: up there their bullpen quite a bit in the first
Speaker 1: two games. Disastrous loss in the second game after being
Speaker 1: up several runs. That was a tough ball game to lose,
Speaker 1: but they showed some resilience and bounced back and won
Speaker 1: a really huge game on Sunday before traveling here to
Speaker 1: La Well.
Speaker 2: I think we talked about that on Friday, kind of
Speaker 2: off the cuff. We said something to the effect that,
Speaker 2: you know, we're not going to see each other till Monday.
Speaker 2: Zach Wheeler pitching on Sunday, coming off with difficult outing
Speaker 2: against the Yankees. Team's not going so well, and we
Speaker 2: thought that he might be loaded for bear on Sunday,
Speaker 2: and he certainly was. Eight innings, shutout, I think eight strikeouts,
Speaker 2: nine strike outs.
Speaker 1: One, nine strikeouts, one walk, just two hits. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was dominant. An amazing catch and let catch in
Speaker 1: center field by Brandon marsh ball kind of caught him.
Speaker 1: But it was also a great day to watch mister
Speaker 1: Harper bust out because he did too, and he did
Speaker 1: so in a huge way. Got a double the day
Speaker 1: before in the left center. But he's hitting some milestones
Speaker 1: that are just pretty amazing. Totally three thousand total bases.
Speaker 1: I mean, the things that he's doing are are amazing
Speaker 1: in his career. But for him to bust out that
Speaker 1: was huge, huge home run, a couple of bullets to
Speaker 1: right field. You know, Schoreber started things off with a
Speaker 1: bang with a bullet home run off of Logan Gilbert,
Speaker 1: who is outstanding. This guy can pitch man. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: had a great day and then we got they finally
Speaker 1: grinded him down, got to the bullpen and and they
Speaker 1: did some did some damage to the bullpen there at
Speaker 1: the end. But uh, but it was a big win
Speaker 1: for them, and and I think just more than anything else,
Speaker 1: great for their psyche.
Speaker 2: No doubt you mentioned the psyche. The mind can lead
Speaker 2: the body often in this game, in sports, in life.
Speaker 2: I think there's an old ancient Buddhist saying to that effect,
Speaker 2: if someone wants to put it in the comments, But uh,
Speaker 2: the mind can lead the body. And you know, it's
Speaker 2: amazing what a getaway win can do for a struggling
Speaker 2: team as it gets on the airplane. I look, it's
Speaker 2: been a tough, tough road here we we we we
Speaker 2: all still believe in this club. It's a good club.
Speaker 2: They got track record. They didn't do what they did
Speaker 2: the first three months or whatever by by mirrors and
Speaker 2: with a mirage. But there's no doubt they've had a
Speaker 2: tough stretch and I don't Obviously, one game doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you're out of it. They need to build on that.
Speaker 2: But I look at that catch by marsh and I
Speaker 2: want to talk about the offense, but while the catch
Speaker 2: is still on my mind, it kind of reminds me
Speaker 2: of moments I've seen throughout covering baseball for many years,
Speaker 2: is you know, you'll get to the end of the season,
Speaker 2: especially a successful season, playoff type season, and you'll write
Speaker 2: about as a writer, you'll write about the moments that mattered,
Speaker 2: the motive, moments that maybe right of the ship turned
Speaker 2: it around, and that if they build on yesterday's win
Speaker 2: and right the ship and get it pointed in the
Speaker 2: right direction toward over the final two months, toward October,
Speaker 2: we might be sitting down and you might be talking
Speaker 2: about how symbolically you know, that moment meant something in
Speaker 2: the turnaround. Now, Harper's three hits, the offense coming alive
Speaker 2: late obviously is going to mean more. But sometimes symbols
Speaker 2: mean something to me. And it just almost was like
Speaker 2: that catch. That ball dropped from the heavens and landed
Speaker 2: in Marsh's glove, and it kind of gave me a
Speaker 2: feeling like, Wow, maybe everything's gonna be all right.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Well, that's a really good point
Speaker 1: because it was still in a pretty critical part of
Speaker 1: the game. I think it was a one nothing game
Speaker 1: at the time still, and they were hooked up, Gilbert
Speaker 1: and Wheeler were hooked up in a very very tight battle.
Speaker 1: You know, it may in a lot of ways. You
Speaker 1: may be right, Jim, because everything up until that point,
Speaker 1: for like the last i don't know, three weeks, four weeks,
Speaker 1: whatever the whatever you want to call it, it was
Speaker 1: almost like Murphy's law. Things were like going wrong. Everything
Speaker 1: that could go wrong was kind of going wrong, and
Speaker 1: it was like the one moment where things actually went
Speaker 1: right and they got a break, so to speak. So
Speaker 1: it may have been one of those things. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes and we talk about it a lot in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, sometimes you got to be a little
Speaker 1: bit more lucky than good. And I mean you have
Speaker 1: to obviously be a good team, but sometimes it is
Speaker 1: better to be lucky and good. And I think you
Speaker 1: create that mojo with with your attitude in the clubhouse,
Speaker 1: And they did really stay very steady. He had a
Speaker 1: lot of talks with obviously spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: with with UH, with Topper during the course of this UH,
Speaker 1: you know struggle, and you know, they keep the brave face.
Speaker 1: Many the Clubhouse is not super down. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: they're frustrated, but I think that they still believe in
Speaker 1: themselves and and UH and just the fact that they
Speaker 1: do and they're not down on themselves. They know they're
Speaker 1: a good ball club. They know they're a better ball
Speaker 1: club than they've shown in the last you know, two months.
Speaker 1: But they're probably not as good a ball club as
Speaker 1: they showed in the first two months, and so they're
Speaker 1: probably somewhere in between. But they're really a great ball club.
Speaker 1: I as far as Town is concerned, it's just a
Speaker 1: matter whether they can you know, finish it off and
Speaker 1: play good, solid baseball for the rest of the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like that old saying. You never as good
Speaker 2: as you are when you're at the top of the mountain,
Speaker 2: You never as bad as you are when you're at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the bottom of the mountain. And that's
Speaker 2: and that's baseball over one sixty two. I think you
Speaker 2: can toss away the peaks and toss away the extreme valleys,
Speaker 2: and you know you're gonna find yourself somewhere in that
Speaker 2: middle ground. And one, obviously, the offense has been a frustration,
Speaker 2: a concern, you know, watching that series first two games
Speaker 2: that they were if you can locate a you know,
Speaker 2: high fastball like that much, you know, half an inch
Speaker 2: above the letters against this team, and it's a power fastball.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have a lot of success because they have
Speaker 2: a hard time laying off that, and anybody has a
Speaker 2: hard time hitting that if you missed your spot with
Speaker 2: that same pitch Bryce and Stott yesterday, Boom, that fastball
Speaker 2: came down a little bit and he found it, he
Speaker 2: jumped it. It was a really good thing to see.
Speaker 2: What did you see from the offense the end of
Speaker 2: the Yankee series first two games in Seattle as compared
Speaker 2: to yesterday, Was it in a in a wake in
Speaker 2: your mind? Well?
Speaker 1: I think a couple of things. I mean, obviously Harper's
Speaker 1: success is pretty important, and and and the guy at
Speaker 1: the top of the lineup, Schoreber, is an important one
Speaker 1: as well. I mean, you start thinking about your ball
Speaker 1: club and the guys that get the bulk of the advats.
Speaker 1: You're talking about Schwarber, Turner and Harper, and those three
Speaker 1: guys are really the most important parts of this offense
Speaker 1: if they can get things rolling more consistently. What I'm
Speaker 1: seeing right now out of Turner, who's probably struggling the most,
Speaker 1: I know Harper was, you know, oh for whatever. But
Speaker 1: to me, even though Turner was getting some is getting
Speaker 1: some hits he's not impacting the ball nearly the same.
Speaker 1: He's sort of cutting across the ball. He's not staying
Speaker 1: through it more as consistently and flat with his swing.
Speaker 1: He's not using the other side of the plate, the
Speaker 1: other side of the field, and they're throwing a lot
Speaker 1: of breaking balls. He's chasing for strikeouts. And he's a
Speaker 1: really important part of this offense. Now, don't forget man.
Speaker 1: He was on fire. He was a at m v
Speaker 1: P type numbers when he was playing and healthy, and
Speaker 1: and so he's he is a critical part of this offense.
Speaker 1: And he's been smothering a lot of pitches to third
Speaker 1: base and topping them, and it's almost like he's not
Speaker 1: staying as flat and through the middle as he has
Speaker 1: in the past. The one thing that I have seen,
Speaker 1: and I think that the that the that the lineup
Speaker 1: is can be exploitable because I think you can go
Speaker 1: soft early on them and make them swing at pitches
Speaker 1: that are out of the strike zone and then force
Speaker 1: a lot of the guys to swing at pitches up
Speaker 1: out of the zone as you as you talked about Jim,
Speaker 1: and it's really about pate plate discipline. You got to
Speaker 1: get him and This is what happens when you get
Speaker 1: you know, frustrated, and you're not swinging the bat, well,
Speaker 1: you want to swing your way out of it. So
Speaker 1: you're swinging at pitches that are outside the strike zone
Speaker 1: and you're and you're sort of guessing and just trying
Speaker 1: to guess with pitchers. And I think more than anything else,
Speaker 1: they just need to stay. If these guys just stay
Speaker 1: through the middle of the field and have the mindset Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna stay through the middle of the field
Speaker 1: and get a strike to hit, I think they'll have
Speaker 1: a lot more success. Now. It's it's hard when you're
Speaker 1: at the plate and you're struggling. Man, I've been there,
Speaker 1: I've done it. I mean, you just your your body
Speaker 1: just does different things because your mind's not settled and relaxed,
Speaker 1: and so you're doing different things physically that you would
Speaker 1: not typically do when you're going well. When you're going well,
Speaker 1: you don't even think about it. You just see the
Speaker 1: baseball and you hit it. And uh. And I think
Speaker 1: when when you're struggling and they were struggling collectively, I've
Speaker 1: never seen like a whole like nine guys go down
Speaker 1: at the same time, though, It's kind of bizarre that
Speaker 1: that very very rarely happens, but it was happening for
Speaker 1: the Phillies. One of the really bright spots I feel
Speaker 1: is Brandon Marshak. He's got these four for his last
Speaker 1: four against left handed pitchers. That's huge because if if
Speaker 1: they feel I think he's, they're comfortable with Brandon marsh
Speaker 1: you know, hitting deep in the lineup, you know, eating
Speaker 1: in a seven, eight or nine hole against left handers,
Speaker 1: and he can flip the lineup over with a couple
Speaker 1: of base hits. That I think makes them sort of
Speaker 1: a much better team overall, because you know, Johann Rojas
Speaker 1: really has not done much offensively, and he's I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna end up at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: That allows them to like let him play the role
Speaker 1: of what Pasche did, which was like basically come in
Speaker 1: for defense or maybe against a tough left hander and
Speaker 1: and provide a little bit more speed off the bench
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. But I like the development
Speaker 1: of what's going on with marsh a little bit there. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if you've got to get Harper going, which is what
Speaker 1: he did yesterday. But Turner's the guy, like to me,
Speaker 1: Turner's the guy and uh and if he can start uh,
Speaker 1: you know, getting getting warmer and start hitting the ball
Speaker 1: more consistently through the middle of the field and flatten
Speaker 1: out that swing a little bit, I think that they're
Speaker 1: gonna be just fine.
Speaker 2: We always talk about a million times over the years,
Speaker 2: what can happen to a team when you get multiples
Speaker 2: of your big guns swinging it well, multiples of your
Speaker 2: big producers hot. Conversely, you can really go in the
Speaker 2: tank when multiples your big guns are cold. And that's
Speaker 2: kind of what we saw. And I do agree. I
Speaker 2: think this whole line up takes a lot of cues
Speaker 2: from Trey Turner. He's essential, He's he's vital. Kyle Schwarmer vital.
Speaker 2: They might take all, you know, the most the bulk
Speaker 2: of their cues from a guy like from Harper, and
Speaker 2: it was good to see him. It almost looks like
Speaker 2: he slowed things down a little bit yesterday, at least
Speaker 2: on a couple of those hits, especially one maybe the
Speaker 2: seventh inning before the home run. He kind of smoothed
Speaker 2: it out there. You talk about staying in the middle,
Speaker 2: and it looked like it looked like a less is
Speaker 2: more swing. You did you sense he slowed things down
Speaker 2: a little bit yesterday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, He's always gonna be He's always trying to impact
Speaker 1: the ball. He's a very hard swinger and he's always
Speaker 1: been like that. That's that's never going to change. But
Speaker 1: he was obviously a little extra hard with his swing
Speaker 1: over the last you know, I don't know, maybe ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen games. And so I think you're right. I
Speaker 1: think he just I think he's probably relaxed a little
Speaker 1: bit more. I think the fact that he got that
Speaker 1: double yet two days ago to the left center field
Speaker 1: that sort of got him going. Anytime. I was a
Speaker 1: little bit like Bobby A Brain, you know, Bobby A.
Speaker 1: Brady would go in like over eight or over ten
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden he'd sit back and
Speaker 1: then flip one of the left field and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, oh he's back. As timing's back. Now he
Speaker 1: can use the middle of the field. Now, now here he goes.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's the same sort of thing,
Speaker 1: different type of hitter, but the same sort of thing
Speaker 1: for Harper. And you know, I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the things I think that they want him to try
Speaker 1: to do, and it's it's tough when he ear in
Speaker 1: the box. I want him to try to not swing
Speaker 1: as hard. But that you know, that's a really tough thing.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it, like when you're slumping and you're strung, man,
Speaker 1: I mean you you want to try to impact the
Speaker 1: baseball in any way, shape or form. And he's not.
Speaker 1: He's never one of those guys he's going to back off,
Speaker 1: like when he gets on the golf course. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if he plays golf. He's not backing off
Speaker 1: his swing man, He's whacking it and so uh. But
Speaker 1: but I did feel like he had a little less
Speaker 1: effort in that swing than he has had over you know,
Speaker 1: the prior maybe eight or ten or twelve games or
Speaker 1: whatever it.
Speaker 2: Was I mentioned Scott, it was good to see him
Speaker 2: hit an important home run with a nice swing. You know,
Speaker 2: it looked like it was a no strider, really simple,
Speaker 2: bad head to the ball. Strong kid. He can he
Speaker 2: can he can make that point. He can move that ball,
Speaker 2: as Charlie would say, without being violent, and a lot
Speaker 2: of movement in his head and his body. And that's
Speaker 2: what he did. Kind of no stride boom. What what
Speaker 2: means to this team to get him gone.
Speaker 1: Oh, it'll be huge. I mean, this guy can really
Speaker 1: he's got a good eye, such a good sense of
Speaker 1: the strike zone. And I do think that he's been
Speaker 1: trying to impact the ball like way too much. I
Speaker 1: see him going down on a knee at times. You know.
Speaker 1: Last year, he really concentrated on getting his top hand
Speaker 1: down to the ball. This year I see him sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, working underneath the baseball a lot more, trying
Speaker 1: to impact the ball in the air, trying to get
Speaker 1: back all those hits in one swing. But when he
Speaker 1: stays short to the ball, and he can use that
Speaker 1: top hand to drive, especially on the high pitch, because
Speaker 1: that's where they're trying to get him out, and he's
Speaker 1: been real vulnerable. He's found them off for flying, you know,
Speaker 1: popping them up. When he's staying on top of it,
Speaker 1: he can line it to left. He can drive the
Speaker 1: ball out of the ballpark. He is a bigger kid
Speaker 1: than you think. I mean, he's you know, six two,
Speaker 1: he's not a small kid, sixty one six two, and
Speaker 1: he can impact the baseball. He does, and he's got
Speaker 1: the leverage to do it. He doesn't need to try
Speaker 1: to drive the ball. He just needs to get his
Speaker 1: hands going and stay on top of the ball a
Speaker 1: little bit more consistently, and I think that all, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I'll have more success. He's been a little
Speaker 1: bit of a disappointment overall, just because you felt like
Speaker 1: he was going to really progress this year. But if
Speaker 1: he gets going at the back half of this season,
Speaker 1: which he can, I believe that in my heart of hearts,
Speaker 1: that makes this lineup way deeper.
Speaker 2: And JT's another guy. Real Mudo scuffled since the knee injury,
Speaker 2: but you know, sometimes it takes a little time when
Speaker 2: when you've been down. We've seen him go through these
Speaker 2: spells before, but we've also seen him turning on. So
Speaker 2: are you thinking he's getting a little closer from what
Speaker 2: you're seeing.
Speaker 1: He hit the ball to right center field for a
Speaker 1: double yesterday and that's big. That was typical sort of
Speaker 1: and it was a fastball in and he stayed through
Speaker 1: it a little bit like Castanos has done. And obviously
Speaker 1: Alec Bohm, who does that as good as anybody on
Speaker 1: the ball club, where he can you know, he can
Speaker 1: impact the ball to the middle of the field, but
Speaker 1: doesn't have to necessarily be even if it's a fastball inside,
Speaker 1: they stay inside it well enough to drive it to
Speaker 1: the opposite field him. Again, that's a little bit like
Speaker 1: patent it. When JT's going well, he does that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: My theory on that is that when none of these
Speaker 1: guys do rehab assignments anymore, And I really think that
Speaker 1: that's and again, there's not that many guys that can
Speaker 1: get out of bed like John Kruck could walk get
Speaker 1: out of bed and put a bullet, put a barrel
Speaker 1: on a bullet. There's not a lot of dudes like
Speaker 1: Carlos by Erica could do that. I mean guys that
Speaker 1: I played with where you can literally he didn't have
Speaker 1: to pick up a baseball bat forever and he could
Speaker 1: just somehow barrel it up. And I don't know that
Speaker 1: there's that many guys who can do that. And since
Speaker 1: in this day and age, guys really opt, guys who
Speaker 1: have enough service time really can opt not to go
Speaker 1: to rehab assignments, I don't know if that's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing in the world. Now they can try to simulate.
Speaker 1: You know, they have different machines that can utilize and
Speaker 1: you know, velocity machines and breaking ball machines and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But it's not the same, man, it's not
Speaker 1: the same. And and and I think it's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that you don't see guys. Some guys can
Speaker 1: do it, but you don't see a ton of guys
Speaker 1: just come hop back and just be able to rake.
Speaker 1: You got to get your sort of your sea legs
Speaker 1: underneath you. You have to get your timing, you have
Speaker 1: to see the arm swing, you have to you know,
Speaker 1: get your timing load and all that stuff. And you
Speaker 1: don't really do that. I mean, you could create simulated games,
Speaker 1: which I think they're gonna do the Dodgers are going
Speaker 1: to do for a whole slew of guys that they're
Speaker 1: that are coming off the d L or I L
Speaker 1: right now here in a few days. But but I mean,
Speaker 1: I really feel like if you're not actually facing live
Speaker 1: pitching in a game, I don't know. I just like
Speaker 1: I'd like to see guys at least go out there
Speaker 1: and get you know, two or three you know, games
Speaker 1: of at bats before coming off the i L. But
Speaker 1: it's a different world out there now, man. You know, guys, uh,
Speaker 1: guys are more reluctant to do it.
Speaker 2: Well, put your GM had on. It's twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: It's next year and you're running a ball club that
Speaker 2: had guys come off the AL and scuffled coming off
Speaker 2: the al. Do you try to I mean, you can't
Speaker 2: really demand it, but you can strongly recommend it. How
Speaker 2: do you try to persuade guys that this is the
Speaker 2: best thing for you and the team that you need
Speaker 2: to We tried this last year. It really didn't work.
Speaker 2: I mean, would you have individual conversations with the player,
Speaker 2: with the agent? How would you attack that if you
Speaker 2: and your heart felt that a rehab assignment was really
Speaker 2: the right thing, and you thought you had a reluctant camper.
Speaker 1: The answer is yes, I would talk to everybody about it.
Speaker 1: I would talk to the agent, I would talk to
Speaker 1: the player, I would talk to our people about it,
Speaker 1: and I would talk I think it's so important for
Speaker 1: the player to have his heart beat in it, because
Speaker 1: if you sort of have to make it his idea, like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it is better for me to do it. You know.
Speaker 1: It's almost like when you're coaching. When I was a coach,
Speaker 1: you know, you wanted to build a relationship with the guy,
Speaker 1: and you talk about certain things that you may want
Speaker 1: to tinker with or change, and you would ask, hey,
Speaker 1: is there an area that you would like to improve?
Speaker 1: And if they give you that in you know you
Speaker 1: you can sort of make it their idea that hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe this is something I can work on.
Speaker 1: And I think that's important because if the guy's heart's
Speaker 1: not in it and he goes and takes rehab assignments
Speaker 1: in Reading or in Lehigh Valley and he's just there
Speaker 1: going like what the hell am I doing here? I
Speaker 1: think it's going to end up being more detrimental. But
Speaker 1: the guy really believes it will help him, and you
Speaker 1: can convince him to do or he can convince himself
Speaker 1: that it's the right thing to do. I think that's
Speaker 1: the way to sort of approach it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a believer in them. I've seen them for years,
Speaker 2: and I mean it wasn't long ago when everybody was
Speaker 2: doing I remember Bryce Harper.
Speaker 1: Did one, Yes he did, Yes he did.
Speaker 2: I remember driving up to Lakewood to cover Ryan Howard
Speaker 2: doing a few rehab games. Chase Suttley did some in
Speaker 2: Lehigh Valley, Roy Halliday did a couple out in Lakewood.
Speaker 1: So you know, Adro Martinez pitched us to several games.
Speaker 1: Loraula Banye has went out did a rehab a few
Speaker 1: times when he had that sports tourney or whatever. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: I just feel like getting the atmosphere and now and
Speaker 1: the facilities in the minor leagues now are like really good,
Speaker 1: Like the lighting's much better. They've really done a lot
Speaker 1: of different things to me. And I know there's a danger,
Speaker 1: you know, you get hit by a pitch or something
Speaker 1: can happen, but that could happen at any time. I
Speaker 1: mean it's happened stepping, you know, walking off a sidewalk.
Speaker 1: I think. So I just feel like there's I think
Speaker 1: that the facilities and the way it's set up, I
Speaker 1: think it. And it also causes him a spread of corps.
Speaker 1: I mean when a big time player comes down and
Speaker 1: plays in Reading or Lei Valley, he gets a big
Speaker 1: spread he you know, he gets to hang out with
Speaker 1: some of the minor league players. They get to you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's a cool thing. And I still think
Speaker 1: it's and but more importantly, I do think it's important
Speaker 1: for guys to just get that feel of being in
Speaker 1: a competitive, real competitive atmosphere, especially if it's been like
Speaker 1: a long eyel like if it's been a month or
Speaker 1: a month and a half, it's it's it's different, man,
Speaker 1: it's different. It's almost like going through spring training again
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: And you got somebody on the other other on the
Speaker 2: mound facing you pitching, and you know they're trying to
Speaker 2: get you out. Yeah, and you know when you're underneath
Speaker 2: against the high velo machine. Yes, it's a challenge, but
Speaker 2: you know there's not a heartbeat that's trying to get
Speaker 2: you out and trying to in your face. And that competitiveness,
Speaker 2: even for two or three games, I think can be good.
Speaker 2: But we're belaboring that. We both agree that we hate
Speaker 2: to see the demise of the rehab assignment. I want
Speaker 2: to look a little bit ahead. Maybe the Phillies can build.
Speaker 2: On Sunday, they move on to Dodger Stadium, one of
Speaker 2: my favorite play this is, I'm sure one of your
Speaker 2: favorite places on Monday night. Phillies are sixty six and
Speaker 2: forty five, still the best record in the National League,
Speaker 2: in spite of what they've had to go through the
Speaker 2: last really the last inconsistency the last five to six weeks,
Speaker 2: but recently a real tough stretch. So Phillies sixty six
Speaker 2: forty five, Dodgers' second best record in the National League
Speaker 2: at sixty five and forty seven, only a game and
Speaker 2: a half behind the Phillies for best record in the
Speaker 2: National League. It's important for home field seeding in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Phillies have already swept the Dodgers a month ago at
Speaker 2: citizens Bank Park. It was sort of one of the
Speaker 2: high points of this Philly season. The Philly sweep la
Speaker 2: over here at citizens Bank Park early in June and
Speaker 2: they go twenty nine games over five hundred that's in
Speaker 2: that sweep. Since then, though, Phillies are five and thirteen,
Speaker 2: five and thirteen since that sweep of the Dodgers. So
Speaker 2: we'll see if they can really build on this night.
Speaker 2: Terrific pitching matchup, a couple of guys who can strike
Speaker 2: out a lot of a lot of hitters, Aaron Nola
Speaker 2: and Tyler Glass. Now Game two of the series Christopher
Speaker 2: Sanchez and Clayton Kershaw, and then Game three of the
Speaker 2: series on Wednesday, Tyler Phillips against TBA. I'm sorry that so,
Speaker 2: you know, the Phillies. I think it's a great move
Speaker 2: that they you know that they can have Aaron Nola
Speaker 2: starting this series because he's an awfully good one. Glass
Speaker 2: now is awfully good. But to me, it's really important
Speaker 2: that you try to build on Sunday and you know,
Speaker 2: start a little winning streak here. And Nola is a
Speaker 2: good guy to have going. I gotta think Harper Schwarber
Speaker 2: Stott all being a better frame of mind after a
Speaker 2: pretty good showing at the plate on Sunday. You you
Speaker 2: thinking they can carry or build some momentum here going
Speaker 2: to Dodgers Dadium coming off Seattle on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I think they can. I think obviously again in that win,
Speaker 1: it was a big win that and was really it
Speaker 1: starts with the starting pitching. We talk about that all
Speaker 1: the time. Hopefully a Nola can keep things close. You know,
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are banged up. They've got a lot of
Speaker 1: guys on the I L fad think Freddy Freeman might
Speaker 1: be back after the illness with his with his son.
Speaker 1: I think the things, thank God and thank goodness for
Speaker 1: his family that that Maximus is okay. Shout out to
Speaker 1: his family, uh that they're they're okay. Freddie Freeman, I
Speaker 1: know he's been an enemy of ours, but one of
Speaker 1: my favorite all time players in baseball and people. They're
Speaker 1: really happy they I'm really happy for him. They don't
Speaker 1: have Mookie Best, they don't have Muncie, Chris Taylor is
Speaker 1: not not around. They're banged up a little bit. They're
Speaker 1: starting pitching. They don't have Yamamoto. They did pick up
Speaker 1: clarity he's not gonna be pitching in this in this series.
Speaker 1: But Glass now, I mean, he's got filthy stuff and
Speaker 1: and he stayed healthy so far. He's had trouble doing that.
Speaker 1: They signed into a big contract and it was one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why why they went on. They wanted
Speaker 1: to create some more pitching depth. But you know, they
Speaker 1: they're facing basically guys not that dissimilar from what they
Speaker 1: faced yet last night and logan yesterday in logan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: these guys big, long, lanky guys with big arms and
Speaker 1: big fastballs and nasty breaking stuff. And so at least
Speaker 1: they've seen this type of guy here recently. They didn't
Speaker 1: do a ton of damage against him, but hopefully, hopefully
Speaker 1: they can and and sort of build on that. And you.
Speaker 2: Got Otani over there, he's yeah, he's one of those guys.
Speaker 2: To me, you know, I mean, I'm sitting on my couch,
Speaker 2: so it's easy to be a fan. I would think
Speaker 2: sitting in the other dougout, you got to kick yourself
Speaker 2: a little bit. I gotta try to beat this guy,
Speaker 2: and not just kind of like go, wow, is he good?
Speaker 2: But he is really good. He's He's at thirty three
Speaker 2: home runs and thirty plus stolen bases, leading the National
Speaker 2: League rubin in runs, home runs, batting average, on base
Speaker 2: slugging ops, total bases.
Speaker 1: You know, he might be the m v P right now,
Speaker 1: no doubt, no, no.
Speaker 2: Primary DH has ever won the m v P. You
Speaker 2: are you okay with that? If a DH wins the
Speaker 2: m v P.
Speaker 1: Typically, I mean my old school thought process would be no.
Speaker 1: But the way he's swinging the bat and what he's done,
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, if they didn't have him in their lineup,
Speaker 1: they'd be done. I mean they literally they value Yeah,
Speaker 1: they literally would be done. There's no way that they
Speaker 1: are where they are without him and at being most
Speaker 1: Valuable Player. I think that means a lot to this team. Uh,
Speaker 1: this Dodgers team. I mean I can't imagine that they
Speaker 1: would be in first place without his impact in the
Speaker 1: top part of this lineup, especially having Mookie bets who's
Speaker 1: an m VP candidate almost every year down and others
Speaker 1: down in their lineup, like Munsey and others. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I typically would say no, but he's he's as unicorn
Speaker 1: as a gets man. I mean, this guy, I actually
Speaker 1: he had talked about this a lot in the past.
Speaker 1: I think this guy should just be all like a
Speaker 1: full time player. Let him play right field, let him
Speaker 1: play left field. He's an athletic guy. Obviously, he can run,
Speaker 1: he can play the outfield and maybe d HM from
Speaker 1: time to time. I know he probably wants to pitch
Speaker 1: because he wants to be the ultimate unicorn. But I
Speaker 1: would just let him go roam out there, out in
Speaker 1: the outfield and just rake and be, you know, an
Speaker 1: MVP candidate because he'd probably be a goal glove type outfielder.
Speaker 1: And so I mean that he's that athletic that said,
Speaker 1: I mean, the Phillies handled him pretty darn well in
Speaker 1: the last time they faced him, and he did not
Speaker 1: do a whole lot of damage. And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if they can do that again, but if they can,
Speaker 1: that will go a long long way to try to
Speaker 1: take two out of three from these guys at least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk about that MVP award. The middle name
Speaker 2: is value. And you know, where would a good team
Speaker 2: be without player X? To me? And if that really
Speaker 2: good team, and if that team is a really good
Speaker 2: team like the Dodgers, where would they be without O Tommy?
Speaker 2: They wouldn't be the Dodgers nearly where they are. They
Speaker 2: wouldn't have a chance to have the best record in
Speaker 2: the National League with a good series against the Phillies.
Speaker 2: I mean, Phillies don't want that to happen. They have
Speaker 2: to prevent it from happening. It's going to be a
Speaker 2: fun series. It's an important series for some October implications,
Speaker 2: home field and whatnot. It's also important for the Phillies
Speaker 2: to build on that last day in Seattle. One win
Speaker 2: does not a slump break in my opinion, I need two,
Speaker 2: you need three. You need to build on it. You
Speaker 2: need to get back to kind of what you were here,
Speaker 2: show some consistency. So hopefully they'll do that. When is
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium ranked for you, Reuben on your list of favorites?
Speaker 1: Okay, it's up there. I've had some decent memories there.
Speaker 1: I actually had a game winning home run against one
Speaker 1: of their set up guys years ago in the year
Speaker 1: ninety six when I actually had a pretty good pinch
Speaker 1: hitting year that year and didn't get a lot of
Speaker 1: hits in Dodger Stadium, but that was a big one
Speaker 1: for me. Uh, it's just a nic. It's an iconic place.
Speaker 1: It ranks up there in the top three or four
Speaker 1: for me. I love the Seattle's Ballpark. That's really really cool.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful obviously a beautiful setting, especially when when it's open.
Speaker 1: We had great weather there. We're gonna have great weather here,
Speaker 1: I believe as well. It's gonna be a little warm
Speaker 1: for l A, but we'll take it. And uh, I
Speaker 1: really like San Francisco. I guess it's Oracle Park. I
Speaker 1: love Citizens Bank Park and PNC Park. Those two ballparks
Speaker 1: are probably I mean, and then Camden Yards. I mean
Speaker 1: it's still has held it. I mean, it's been the first,
Speaker 1: it was the first retro one and it still might
Speaker 1: be the best one. And so those those are probably
Speaker 1: the best ones. Obviously, Wrigley and and and Fenway have
Speaker 1: their own feel to it and they're cool ballparks as well.
Speaker 1: But Dodger Stadium manders pretty darn iconic.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love Dodger Stadium. I love the way it
Speaker 2: sits on the bottom of that canyon, and when you
Speaker 2: drive in, you kind of go up these terraces in
Speaker 2: the side of a hill, and you actually enter high
Speaker 2: above the ballpark at the upper deck, and you have
Speaker 2: to take the elevator down to the press box. The
Speaker 2: view is spectacular. The Dodger Dogs are great.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I mentioned my favorite moments covering the Phillies over the years.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety four the home opener sixty five thousand at
Speaker 2: Veterans Stadium, John Cruck literally rolls out of a radiation treatment,
Speaker 2: doubles to the gap standing ovation still makes the hair
Speaker 2: on my next stand up. The other favorite moment Matt
Speaker 2: Stairs Dodger Stadium. Oh wait, deep into the night. Unbelievable
Speaker 2: that sixty thousand people or whatever it was, fifty eight
Speaker 2: thousand people in that ballpark could be so quiet. You
Speaker 2: could actually hear the Phillies dugout cheering up in the
Speaker 2: press box as Matt Stairs ran around the bases. So
Speaker 2: that was at Dodger Stadium. I can still I can
Speaker 2: still feel that moment, So it's a special place. I
Speaker 2: hope you enjoy the three game series Hey.
Speaker 1: Jim, Jim, did you hear me crying when that when
Speaker 1: it happened? Because I literally brought me to tears.
Speaker 2: Well, you you cry at a sunset.
Speaker 1: That's a good point, but I literally was. I literally
Speaker 1: was brought to tears.
Speaker 2: You guys, work it now. The press box is here,
Speaker 2: you guys, your box was like two, two or three down, right,
Speaker 2: So I should have said the stadium was quiet except
Speaker 2: for the Phillies box, which is like two or three down.
Speaker 2: We could hear you guys over there. And when that
Speaker 2: ball came off the bat, I hit my knee on
Speaker 2: like an electrical outlet under the press box. And do
Speaker 2: you know I still have a knot in that knee
Speaker 2: because I hit it at such fourth that ball came
Speaker 2: off the off that bat. It was unbelievable. And there's
Speaker 2: that great picture in the Hall of Fame Club at
Speaker 2: Citizens Bank Park. As it's coming off the bat, there's
Speaker 2: a picture above the Phillies dugout and you can see
Speaker 2: some of the Dave Montgomery is behind the dugout and
Speaker 2: you can see him rising and just follow it and
Speaker 2: then the looks of elations starting to explode on people's face.
Speaker 2: It's a still shot from the newspaper fabulous storytelling pictures.
Speaker 2: So Dodger Stadium. Man love that place.
Speaker 1: Sure dude, sure it'll be fun. Hey dude, Jimmy, do
Speaker 1: we have some people?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 3: Have some people ask some questions for this next pod?
Speaker 3: I guess we could probably do on Wednesday. We would
Speaker 3: have to have him to send in some questions for us.
Speaker 3: I think that's something that we were thinking about trying
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: We're gonna try to do that on Wednesdays. But I
Speaker 2: probably should run run that by Elmer. That's my Todd.
Speaker 2: I called Elmer because he's the glue he is. But oh, yes,
Speaker 2: people are watching this.
Speaker 1: People are watching this and send some questions in to
Speaker 1: us and into the Todd Pod, into.
Speaker 2: The Todd Pod. Well, I hope we uh, I hope
Speaker 2: we pulled it off without our backbone, our leader. And
Speaker 2: I thank you for you know, listening and watching the
Speaker 2: episode of this episode of The Phillies Show. And Rubin,
Speaker 2: I will smell.
Speaker 1: You later, spell you, Jim.
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