WEBVTT - Wheels up, on to LA 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.880 Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Philly Show. 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.560 Hey everybody, and welcome to the Phillies Show. It is Monday, 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:30.800 August fifth. I am Jim Salisbury, joined by Reuben Tomorrow, 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.920 and we're coming at you this morning without our fearless 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:39.440 leader and kind of the backbone of this whole show, 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.120 the brains of the operation. Todd Zeleki is having a 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.960 tough travel day on the West Coast as he heads 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.960 from Seattle down to LA, the next stop for the Phillies. Ruben, 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.080 it appears you though flying first class charters with the 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.440 team and not commercial. Appears you have made it to LA. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.280 Where do I find you this fine morning. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.600 We did have a little bit of a travel issue also, 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.880 Actually we almost could not get here until super late, 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.639 but they fixed that a little mechanical action. But believe 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.720 it or not, I'm at the Beverly Hills four Seasons, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.760 which is where they filmed Pretty Woman, one of my 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.480 favorite all time movies. And yeah, in fact, they filled 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.040 it all of it in here, I think, I do 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.920 believe so. My man Greg Murphy informed me of that 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.520 yesterday when we strolled in and we were waiting for 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.720 our keys to roll into our rooms. But it's a 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:41.960 beautiful hotel and I'm going to try to scout around 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.360 a little bit in Beverly Hills here. Got a couple 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.080 of friends here that I'm going to see at an 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.320 old high school buddy who's a big time agent, and 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.840 hang out a little bit. But I'm also going to 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.080 later on. I'm going to and as you know, the 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.280 Philly Show is part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.320 going to scoot on with them a little bit later 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.440 on this morning to talk to the boys about this 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:09.440 upcoming Los Angeles Dodgers series with the Phillies. But excited 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:11.560 to be back on the on the West Coast. I 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.480 haven't been here too many times as of late, and uh, 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.440 it's gonna be an exciting series. Ship. 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.480 So that hotel, pretty Woman, I can still see those 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.960 scenes where she comes downstairs and she needs to buy 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:27.320 a dress and Hector Alisondo, one of my favorite character actors, 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.320 Hector Alexando sends her over to that boutique and then 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.359 they were mean to her. She comes back, he sends 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.880 her over to another store and and they they hook 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.920 her up with some uh some gear. But Hector Alexander 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.240 was in one of my all time favorite movies from 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.600 the eighties, The Flamingo Kid. Check it out. Yeah no, 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.400 I saw that movie. Yeah oh yeah, yeah, right, that 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:52.680 of age movie. And I always really liked his work. So, uh, 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.440 that's pretty cool. You're in in that hotel lounge when 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.480 her and Richard Gear meet up before jumping on the 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.520 airplane to go to the opera. That's the lifestyle you live, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:03.840 jumping on private planes going to operas. 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:08.720 You know, really really now, I've been on a been 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.880 on a private playing two times in my whole life. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:12.520 There was a rumor out there that I had my 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.640 own private play one time. I think they threw that 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:19.960 out there on on WIP. One time. I'm like, come on, please. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:21.560 I've been on a private playing. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.080 The dms don't do that well. 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.679 I was on a private plane once, and I think 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:28.840 you may know the story, but I'm not going to 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.000 reveal the story right now, but it's an awfully good one. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.359 We'll save that for another episode. 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.040 It has powder, save the powder gym. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.680 Save that power to keep it dry, like for the 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.320 trade deadline. Anyway, You're coming out of Seattle, and I 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:44.120 don't know if I've seen a team in a long time. 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.080 They needed a victory more than the Phillies. They got 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.160 one yesterday. What was it a six game losing skid 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:50.080 they snapped. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.040 Or yeah it was? Yeah, what sure was? And they 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.120 would really struggle. And I mean, and there's a lot 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.560 of teams that have had a lot of success. We 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.400 talked about it on the air about some other teams, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:05.200 you know, you know, eight, nine, ten, and eleven. Obviously 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.880 some teams like in ninety three, we had a long 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:13.000 time droughts. But they bounced back and I you know, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.640 it was a huge win for them yesterday. And the 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.280 man that stepped forward was Zach Wheeler. Man you talk 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:25.400 about being an ace and a stopper. I mean, he 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:30.159 performed in exactly the way they needed. They had blown 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.960 up there their bullpen quite a bit in the first 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:37.840 two games. Disastrous loss in the second game after being 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.680 up several runs. That was a tough ball game to lose, 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.680 but they showed some resilience and bounced back and won 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:49.200 a really huge game on Sunday before traveling here to 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:50.840 La Well. 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.960 I think we talked about that on Friday, kind of 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.839 off the cuff. We said something to the effect that, 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:57.679 you know, we're not going to see each other till Monday. 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.919 Zach Wheeler pitching on Sunday, coming off with difficult outing 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.720 against the Yankees. Team's not going so well, and we 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.800 thought that he might be loaded for bear on Sunday, 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.039 and he certainly was. Eight innings, shutout, I think eight strikeouts, 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:14.919 nine strike outs. 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.680 One, nine strikeouts, one walk, just two hits. I mean, 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.400 he was dominant. An amazing catch and let catch in 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.800 center field by Brandon marsh ball kind of caught him. 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.120 But it was also a great day to watch mister 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.680 Harper bust out because he did too, and he did 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.800 so in a huge way. Got a double the day 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.160 before in the left center. But he's hitting some milestones 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.160 that are just pretty amazing. Totally three thousand total bases. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.600 I mean, the things that he's doing are are amazing 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:46.479 in his career. But for him to bust out that 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:48.800 was huge, huge home run, a couple of bullets to 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:53.960 right field. You know, Schoreber started things off with a 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.520 bang with a bullet home run off of Logan Gilbert, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.039 who is outstanding. This guy can pitch man. Yeah, he 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.480 had a great day and then we got they finally 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.080 grinded him down, got to the bullpen and and they 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.680 did some did some damage to the bullpen there at 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.480 the end. But uh, but it was a big win 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.479 for them, and and I think just more than anything else, 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:15.440 great for their psyche. 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:21.840 No doubt you mentioned the psyche. The mind can lead 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.800 the body often in this game, in sports, in life. 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.479 I think there's an old ancient Buddhist saying to that effect, 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.960 if someone wants to put it in the comments, But uh, 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.599 the mind can lead the body. And you know, it's 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.039 amazing what a getaway win can do for a struggling 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.200 team as it gets on the airplane. I look, it's 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.440 been a tough, tough road here we we we we 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.440 all still believe in this club. It's a good club. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.960 They got track record. They didn't do what they did 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.880 the first three months or whatever by by mirrors and 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.599 with a mirage. But there's no doubt they've had a 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.040 tough stretch and I don't Obviously, one game doesn't mean 0:06:58.040 --> 0:06:59.320 you're out of it. They need to build on that. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.000 But I look at that catch by marsh and I 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.559 want to talk about the offense, but while the catch 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.800 is still on my mind, it kind of reminds me 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.080 of moments I've seen throughout covering baseball for many years, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.480 is you know, you'll get to the end of the season, 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.600 especially a successful season, playoff type season, and you'll write 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.160 about as a writer, you'll write about the moments that mattered, 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.440 the motive, moments that maybe right of the ship turned 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.600 it around, and that if they build on yesterday's win 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.640 and right the ship and get it pointed in the 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.880 right direction toward over the final two months, toward October, 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.560 we might be sitting down and you might be talking 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:41.200 about how symbolically you know, that moment meant something in 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.400 the turnaround. Now, Harper's three hits, the offense coming alive 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.760 late obviously is going to mean more. But sometimes symbols 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.040 mean something to me. And it just almost was like 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:58.080 that catch. That ball dropped from the heavens and landed 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.280 in Marsh's glove, and it kind of gave me a 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.200 feeling like, Wow, maybe everything's gonna be all right. 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.800 What do you think, Well, that's a really good point 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:08.840 because it was still in a pretty critical part of 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.440 the game. I think it was a one nothing game 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.560 at the time still, and they were hooked up, Gilbert 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.960 and Wheeler were hooked up in a very very tight battle. 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.000 You know, it may in a lot of ways. You 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.000 may be right, Jim, because everything up until that point, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.160 for like the last i don't know, three weeks, four weeks, 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.480 whatever the whatever you want to call it, it was 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.440 almost like Murphy's law. Things were like going wrong. Everything 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.080 that could go wrong was kind of going wrong, and 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.760 it was like the one moment where things actually went 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.200 right and they got a break, so to speak. So 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.640 it may have been one of those things. You know, 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:47.600 sometimes and we talk about it a lot in two 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:49.440 thousand and eight, sometimes you got to be a little 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.560 bit more lucky than good. And I mean you have 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.520 to obviously be a good team, but sometimes it is 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.000 better to be lucky and good. And I think you 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.960 create that mojo with with your attitude in the clubhouse, 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.319 And they did really stay very steady. He had a 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.000 lot of talks with obviously spend a lot of time 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:09.280 with with UH, with Topper during the course of this UH, 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.880 you know struggle, and you know, they keep the brave face. 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:17.040 Many the Clubhouse is not super down. I mean, obviously 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.960 they're frustrated, but I think that they still believe in 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.080 themselves and and UH and just the fact that they 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.120 do and they're not down on themselves. They know they're 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.520 a good ball club. They know they're a better ball 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.440 club than they've shown in the last you know, two months. 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.480 But they're probably not as good a ball club as 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.040 they showed in the first two months, and so they're 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.600 probably somewhere in between. But they're really a great ball club. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.640 I as far as Town is concerned, it's just a 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.240 matter whether they can you know, finish it off and 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.600 play good, solid baseball for the rest of the way. 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.240 Yeah, it's like that old saying. You never as good 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:54.840 as you are when you're at the top of the mountain, 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.120 You never as bad as you are when you're at 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.040 the bottom of the bottom of the mountain. And that's 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.000 and that's baseball over one sixty two. I think you 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:07.439 can toss away the peaks and toss away the extreme valleys, 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.000 and you know you're gonna find yourself somewhere in that 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:15.720 middle ground. And one, obviously, the offense has been a frustration, 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:20.800 a concern, you know, watching that series first two games 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.200 that they were if you can locate a you know, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:28.120 high fastball like that much, you know, half an inch 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.280 above the letters against this team, and it's a power fastball. 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.240 You're gonna have a lot of success because they have 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.280 a hard time laying off that, and anybody has a 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.280 hard time hitting that if you missed your spot with 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.160 that same pitch Bryce and Stott yesterday, Boom, that fastball 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:44.880 came down a little bit and he found it, he 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.160 jumped it. It was a really good thing to see. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.319 What did you see from the offense the end of 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.040 the Yankee series first two games in Seattle as compared 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.880 to yesterday, Was it in a in a wake in 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.559 your mind? Well? 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.320 I think a couple of things. I mean, obviously Harper's 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:10.040 success is pretty important, and and and the guy at 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.079 the top of the lineup, Schoreber, is an important one 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.640 as well. I mean, you start thinking about your ball 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.840 club and the guys that get the bulk of the advats. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.640 You're talking about Schwarber, Turner and Harper, and those three 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:25.160 guys are really the most important parts of this offense 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.760 if they can get things rolling more consistently. What I'm 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.160 seeing right now out of Turner, who's probably struggling the most, 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.559 I know Harper was, you know, oh for whatever. But 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.600 to me, even though Turner was getting some is getting 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.120 some hits he's not impacting the ball nearly the same. 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.600 He's sort of cutting across the ball. He's not staying 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.600 through it more as consistently and flat with his swing. 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.640 He's not using the other side of the plate, the 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.120 other side of the field, and they're throwing a lot 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.880 of breaking balls. He's chasing for strikeouts. And he's a 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.600 really important part of this offense. Now, don't forget man. 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.640 He was on fire. He was a at m v 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:08.120 P type numbers when he was playing and healthy, and 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:12.320 and so he's he is a critical part of this offense. 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.480 And he's been smothering a lot of pitches to third 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.920 base and topping them, and it's almost like he's not 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.240 staying as flat and through the middle as he has 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.319 in the past. The one thing that I have seen, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.800 and I think that the that the that the lineup 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:33.840 is can be exploitable because I think you can go 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.440 soft early on them and make them swing at pitches 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:38.840 that are out of the strike zone and then force 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.000 a lot of the guys to swing at pitches up 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.240 out of the zone as you as you talked about Jim, 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.839 and it's really about pate plate discipline. You got to 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.760 get him and This is what happens when you get 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:50.920 you know, frustrated, and you're not swinging the bat, well, 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.600 you want to swing your way out of it. So 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.200 you're swinging at pitches that are outside the strike zone 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.200 and you're and you're sort of guessing and just trying 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.560 to guess with pitchers. And I think more than anything else, 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.200 they just need to stay. If these guys just stay 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.000 through the middle of the field and have the mindset Okay, 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:06.480 I'm just gonna stay through the middle of the field 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.640 and get a strike to hit, I think they'll have 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.040 a lot more success. Now. It's it's hard when you're 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.160 at the plate and you're struggling. Man, I've been there, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.559 I've done it. I mean, you just your your body 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:21.000 just does different things because your mind's not settled and relaxed, 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.240 and so you're doing different things physically that you would 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.120 not typically do when you're going well. When you're going well, 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:28.680 you don't even think about it. You just see the 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.400 baseball and you hit it. And uh. And I think 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.000 when when you're struggling and they were struggling collectively, I've 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.280 never seen like a whole like nine guys go down 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.280 at the same time, though, It's kind of bizarre that 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.840 that very very rarely happens, but it was happening for 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.520 the Phillies. One of the really bright spots I feel 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.960 is Brandon Marshak. He's got these four for his last 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.960 four against left handed pitchers. That's huge because if if 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.880 they feel I think he's, they're comfortable with Brandon marsh 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.000 you know, hitting deep in the lineup, you know, eating 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.280 in a seven, eight or nine hole against left handers, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.120 and he can flip the lineup over with a couple 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.720 of base hits. That I think makes them sort of 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.480 a much better team overall, because you know, Johann Rojas 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.559 really has not done much offensively, and he's I think 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.080 he's gonna end up at the end of the day. 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.200 That allows them to like let him play the role 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.320 of what Pasche did, which was like basically come in 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:27.920 for defense or maybe against a tough left hander and 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.680 and provide a little bit more speed off the bench 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.080 and that sort of thing. But I like the development 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.960 of what's going on with marsh a little bit there. Obviously, 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:39.960 if you've got to get Harper going, which is what 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:44.120 he did yesterday. But Turner's the guy, like to me, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.400 Turner's the guy and uh and if he can start uh, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.320 you know, getting getting warmer and start hitting the ball 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.640 more consistently through the middle of the field and flatten 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:55.480 out that swing a little bit, I think that they're 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:56.480 gonna be just fine. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.360 We always talk about a million times over the years, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.520 what can happen to a team when you get multiples 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.920 of your big guns swinging it well, multiples of your 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:11.760 big producers hot. Conversely, you can really go in the 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.080 tank when multiples your big guns are cold. And that's 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.800 kind of what we saw. And I do agree. I 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:19.880 think this whole line up takes a lot of cues 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:25.880 from Trey Turner. He's essential, He's he's vital. Kyle Schwarmer vital. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.680 They might take all, you know, the most the bulk 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.920 of their cues from a guy like from Harper, and 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.160 it was good to see him. It almost looks like 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.400 he slowed things down a little bit yesterday, at least 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.200 on a couple of those hits, especially one maybe the 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.960 seventh inning before the home run. He kind of smoothed 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:45.760 it out there. You talk about staying in the middle, 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.800 and it looked like it looked like a less is 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.120 more swing. You did you sense he slowed things down 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:52.960 a little bit yesterday. 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.560 Yeah, He's always gonna be He's always trying to impact 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.240 the ball. He's a very hard swinger and he's always 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.520 been like that. That's that's never going to change. But 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.960 he was obviously a little extra hard with his swing 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.040 over the last you know, I don't know, maybe ten 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.680 to fifteen games. And so I think you're right. I 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:16.160 think he just I think he's probably relaxed a little 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.760 bit more. I think the fact that he got that 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.320 double yet two days ago to the left center field 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.680 that sort of got him going. Anytime. I was a 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.560 little bit like Bobby A Brain, you know, Bobby A. 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.600 Brady would go in like over eight or over ten 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.160 and then all of a sudden he'd sit back and 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.160 then flip one of the left field and all of 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.440 a sudden, oh he's back. As timing's back. Now he 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.920 can use the middle of the field. Now, now here he goes. 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.160 And I feel like that's the same sort of thing, 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:41.720 different type of hitter, but the same sort of thing 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:47.760 for Harper. And you know, I think that's one of 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.560 the things I think that they want him to try 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.880 to do, and it's it's tough when he ear in 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.080 the box. I want him to try to not swing 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.200 as hard. But that you know, that's a really tough thing. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.520 We've talked about it, like when you're slumping and you're strung, man, 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.800 I mean you you want to try to impact the 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.439 baseball in any way, shape or form. And he's not. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:07.840 He's never one of those guys he's going to back off, 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:09.760 like when he gets on the golf course. I don't 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.200 even know if he plays golf. He's not backing off 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:17.000 his swing man, He's whacking it and so uh. But 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.760 but I did feel like he had a little less 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.840 effort in that swing than he has had over you know, 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.000 the prior maybe eight or ten or twelve games or 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:28.600 whatever it. 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.119 Was I mentioned Scott, it was good to see him 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.800 hit an important home run with a nice swing. You know, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.240 it looked like it was a no strider, really simple, 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.280 bad head to the ball. Strong kid. He can he 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.160 can he can make that point. He can move that ball, 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.680 as Charlie would say, without being violent, and a lot 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:50.720 of movement in his head and his body. And that's 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.480 what he did. Kind of no stride boom. What what 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.399 means to this team to get him gone. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.920 Oh, it'll be huge. I mean, this guy can really 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:00.680 he's got a good eye, such a good sense of 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.040 the strike zone. And I do think that he's been 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.439 trying to impact the ball like way too much. I 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.359 see him going down on a knee at times. You know. 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.200 Last year, he really concentrated on getting his top hand 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.760 down to the ball. This year I see him sort of, 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.280 you know, working underneath the baseball a lot more, trying 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.400 to impact the ball in the air, trying to get 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.399 back all those hits in one swing. But when he 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.879 stays short to the ball, and he can use that 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.840 top hand to drive, especially on the high pitch, because 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:32.480 that's where they're trying to get him out, and he's 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.119 been real vulnerable. He's found them off for flying, you know, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.600 popping them up. When he's staying on top of it, 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.399 he can line it to left. He can drive the 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.800 ball out of the ballpark. He is a bigger kid 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.320 than you think. I mean, he's you know, six two, 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.200 he's not a small kid, sixty one six two, and 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:51.920 he can impact the baseball. He does, and he's got 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:53.920 the leverage to do it. He doesn't need to try 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.399 to drive the ball. He just needs to get his 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.399 hands going and stay on top of the ball a 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.199 little bit more consistently, and I think that all, you know, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.960 I think I'll have more success. He's been a little 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.840 bit of a disappointment overall, just because you felt like 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.840 he was going to really progress this year. But if 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:12.920 he gets going at the back half of this season, 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.800 which he can, I believe that in my heart of hearts, 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.800 that makes this lineup way deeper. 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.399 And JT's another guy. Real Mudo scuffled since the knee injury, 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.040 but you know, sometimes it takes a little time when 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.000 when you've been down. We've seen him go through these 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.480 spells before, but we've also seen him turning on. So 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:36.600 are you thinking he's getting a little closer from what 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:37.199 you're seeing. 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.280 He hit the ball to right center field for a 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.720 double yesterday and that's big. That was typical sort of 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.120 and it was a fastball in and he stayed through 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.760 it a little bit like Castanos has done. And obviously 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:49.760 Alec Bohm, who does that as good as anybody on 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.320 the ball club, where he can you know, he can 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.119 impact the ball to the middle of the field, but 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.440 doesn't have to necessarily be even if it's a fastball inside, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.320 they stay inside it well enough to drive it to 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:01.800 the opposite field him. Again, that's a little bit like 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.320 patent it. When JT's going well, he does that. 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:05.639 You know. 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.120 My theory on that is that when none of these 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.840 guys do rehab assignments anymore, And I really think that 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.080 that's and again, there's not that many guys that can 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.640 get out of bed like John Kruck could walk get 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:20.720 out of bed and put a bullet, put a barrel 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.240 on a bullet. There's not a lot of dudes like 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.560 Carlos by Erica could do that. I mean guys that 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.439 I played with where you can literally he didn't have 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.120 to pick up a baseball bat forever and he could 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:33.879 just somehow barrel it up. And I don't know that 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.119