Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Phillies Show from Ruben Tomorrow
Speaker 1: Junior Jim Salisbury. I'm todd z Lucky. It is Monday,
Speaker 1: May twentieth, twenty twenty four. The Phillies swept the Nationals
Speaker 1: over the weekend. They're off to the greatest start in
Speaker 1: Phillies history through forty eight games. Hi with the ninety
Speaker 1: three Phillies. I think the seventy six Phillies. They keep
Speaker 1: winning and winning and winning. They keep winning so much
Speaker 1: that last night, Reuben, I saw you had a little,
Speaker 1: uh sweep martini. You're calling it?
Speaker 2: What is this sweep martini? Man? We went back into
Speaker 2: our back into our little deck that we just finished
Speaker 2: off here and oh, that's your place, that's my place, baby. Wow,
Speaker 2: that's nice. That's right. So I had to go to
Speaker 2: a little sweep teeny. Uh, yeah, we were. We were
Speaker 2: thinking about going out and having a cocktail. Was well,
Speaker 2: let's just go hang out at our deck, all right.
Speaker 2: We had a little sweep teeny and uh celebrated a
Speaker 2: phenomenal series. By the by the fightings. It was just
Speaker 2: really spectacular.
Speaker 1: Are you a dirty martini guy?
Speaker 2: How what do you?
Speaker 1: How do you do it?
Speaker 2: Filth not dirty, filthy. I like the filth now it
Speaker 2: was I actually, you know, we shook it out myself.
Speaker 2: We've got a nice little uh we have a nice
Speaker 2: little speakeasy right off right as you enter our home.
Speaker 2: And then we we have we built a couple of
Speaker 2: decks out there outside. You don't get that too often
Speaker 2: here in Old City. But uh, we're very fortunate.
Speaker 1: You mean you're not a martini guy.
Speaker 2: I don't think no.
Speaker 3: I've never had one in my life.
Speaker 2: Are you a beer like a beer guy? You're just
Speaker 2: straight beer.
Speaker 3: I like to have a beer or a glass of
Speaker 3: red wine if I'm eating some pasta or pizza.
Speaker 2: But that's about you, Todd.
Speaker 1: I enjoy an old fashioned I will make old fashions.
Speaker 1: In fact, I make so many old fashions. I have
Speaker 1: the ingredients out of my kitchen counter upstairs. I make
Speaker 1: a big batch, throw the bottle in the freezer, so
Speaker 1: anytime I want it, I can just shake it up,
Speaker 1: pour it out of her thing ice and rock and
Speaker 1: roll from there.
Speaker 2: I love it. I'm actually a big fan of you.
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of bourbon. I've actually been turned
Speaker 2: over the last two or three years. I got turned
Speaker 2: on a bourbon, and it's just the brown water's gotten me.
Speaker 1: It's gotten me gotten.
Speaker 2: What do you what's your what's your favorite bourbon?
Speaker 1: Todd Well, right now, just to mix these old fashions,
Speaker 1: I do a little Elijah Craig, I'll just do some
Speaker 1: Makers Mark as well, usually makers Mark, usual Makers Mark
Speaker 1: for an old fashioned keep it somewhat somewhat simple, very
Speaker 1: very nice at the end of the night, come more nice, Yeah,
Speaker 1: very nice. Speaking of very nice, Cody Clemens, it's just
Speaker 1: crazy how how big he's been coming up the last
Speaker 1: couple of days. The game tying home run two outs
Speaker 1: in the ninth thing on Saturday, my colleague Paul Cassella
Speaker 1: said the Phillies have only hit three of those home
Speaker 1: runs two outs ninth inning, game tying home run. Bryce
Speaker 1: Harper hit one last year, Trey Turner who went last year,
Speaker 1: and Cody Clemens hit one on Saturday night. Then he
Speaker 1: hits the go ahead double in the fifth inning on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Cody's batting three to twenty one, three doubles, one home run,
Speaker 1: our one triple, three home runs, ten RBIs a one
Speaker 1: point one six six ops in his first eleven games
Speaker 1: this season. That is insane. I look this up. There's
Speaker 1: only been forty one players ever that's had a run
Speaker 1: like that to start, you know, their first eleven games
Speaker 1: to start a season. You were one of those players.
Speaker 2: Are you serious?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: I know I had a good week like you had.
Speaker 1: You came up and now this is not doesn't mean
Speaker 1: from the beginning of the season, first eleven games of
Speaker 1: the season with the team in ninety three, Rubin, Yes,
Speaker 1: you came up and you had Cody Clemens week. It's
Speaker 1: a fun list because you look at it. You have
Speaker 1: Chase Utley's on there, Bryce Harper's on there, Mike Schmid's
Speaker 1: on there, Pat Burrell, Dick Allen, Chuck Klein, and you
Speaker 1: got Ruben Tomorrow and Cody Clements. What do you guys
Speaker 1: think of Cody clements play. It's been ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Rubin Tomorrow and Cody Clements both second generation Big leaguers.
Speaker 3: That's right, you know. I what I like? I love
Speaker 3: his swing. He's so short to the ball, Rubin, do
Speaker 3: you agree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's got a really good swing to
Speaker 2: be able to manage off the bench. It's one of
Speaker 2: the tough things, you know, It's one of the tough
Speaker 2: things to do is to is to manage the your
Speaker 2: barrel and get your barrel to the baseball. When you're
Speaker 2: coming off the bench, especially in this day and age,
Speaker 2: when the velocities are taller, obviously you got to be
Speaker 2: ready for the fastball. But I mean, he's done a
Speaker 2: nice job on all the pitches. He's hit a couple
Speaker 2: of cutters, he's hit a couple of change ups, he said,
Speaker 2: a couple of you know, more seamers, a couple of
Speaker 2: sinkers piece. I mean, here, here's where I'm at on him.
Speaker 2: For him to have gone down, I know, the feeling
Speaker 2: like you get sent down. You don't feel like you
Speaker 2: necessarily should have gotten sent down because he had a
Speaker 2: great spring. The numbers don't work for you. You can't
Speaker 2: put twenty seven men on the on the field on
Speaker 2: a roster. You have to have twenty six. And you know,
Speaker 2: he doesn't sulk. He goes down and he plays. And
Speaker 2: you know the fact that he played so well in
Speaker 2: spring training that means a lot a lot, and the
Speaker 2: way you handle yourself in spring training means a lot
Speaker 2: when it comes to like making a decision to bring
Speaker 2: it guy back to the big leagues. So he was
Speaker 2: not super hot when he was playing down there in
Speaker 2: Lehigh Valley, but he played well enough and sustained it
Speaker 2: well enough that hey, we need a left handed bat,
Speaker 2: let's bring him. And he's done extremely well. Man, I
Speaker 2: got to give him some love, and he's handled extraordinarily well.
Speaker 2: Not only that, but I think he's played great defense.
Speaker 2: I'm really surprised by it. But you know, he played
Speaker 2: at second base and he's been very solid during a
Speaker 2: couple of double plays, he's made some range plays. He
Speaker 2: doesn't look nervous or disappointed or like disappointment wasn't the
Speaker 2: like just join it. He just feels like pretty natural there.
Speaker 2: And I'm really impressed by that too.
Speaker 3: Jim, Well, I've been thinking a little bit about him
Speaker 3: this weekend. You know, obviously, you know, you grow up
Speaker 3: wanting to play in the big leagues. You get to
Speaker 3: the big leagues, you want to be an everyday guy.
Speaker 3: Everybody aspires to be an everyday guy, but not everybody is.
Speaker 3: And there still could be a place for the guy
Speaker 3: that plays off the bench. And he looked so good
Speaker 3: in that role. But you mentioned his swing holding up
Speaker 3: to be a potential bench guy. I think you know,
Speaker 3: he could have a future as that type of a player.
Speaker 3: I mean, just what we're seeing here in the short term.
Speaker 3: And the defense is an important part of it, but
Speaker 3: the fact that he gives you such a good at
Speaker 3: bat when he doesn't get those consistent at bats, and
Speaker 3: I just think it starts with boom. He's right to
Speaker 3: the ball, He's really short to the ball, and you
Speaker 3: could have a nice career, you know. I know, pinch
Speaker 3: hitting is probably not as important as it once was
Speaker 3: now that we have d H in both leagues, but
Speaker 3: you know, these guys are still very important when you're
Speaker 3: you're thinking about team construction, and when you're constructing a
Speaker 3: good championship caliber team, sometimes your edge players are hugely
Speaker 3: important to where you want to go, like a Greg
Speaker 3: Dobbs to those great Phillies teams. You know, he had
Speaker 3: great couple of great years and was a big instrumental
Speaker 3: part that team. And you know, so far, you know,
Speaker 3: it's only what you know, forty five games or so,
Speaker 3: but forty eight games. But you know, Cody Clemens is
Speaker 3: he's helped them win ball games, and that's what it's about.
Speaker 3: They're getting contributions really from every corner of their roster,
Speaker 3: and good job by him and obviously big dramatic home
Speaker 3: run a few of them.
Speaker 1: Is there any way for him? We're really jumping ahead
Speaker 1: of ourselves here because you don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: You don't know how long a trade turner is going
Speaker 1: to take to come back. Could be sounds like he's
Speaker 1: getting somewhat close. He's running and he's fielding. He's going
Speaker 1: to hit take VP on the field this week. Supposedly,
Speaker 1: you don't know what's going to happen between now and then.
Speaker 1: But say Cody clements keeps playing well and hitting like this,
Speaker 1: is there is there any way he stays on this team.
Speaker 1: I have trouble seeing a way that he stays on
Speaker 1: his team. Maybe he gets optional. You just bring it
Speaker 1: back up.
Speaker 2: There's a way to stay on the team. Go to
Speaker 2: fourteen position players in twelve pitchers. There's no rule against that.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, we played seasons with nine pitchers. I mean,
Speaker 2: with the way this team and the length that they
Speaker 2: have in their rotation, it is not beyond the possibility.
Speaker 2: Now he does have options, and so you know that
Speaker 2: that's the beauty of what Cody Cleintman springs to the
Speaker 2: table as well as as a front person in the
Speaker 2: front office. You know, you're you're loving the fact that
Speaker 2: this guy you can kind of do what you what
Speaker 2: you want with him. I think there's a maximum of
Speaker 2: how many times you do it during the course of
Speaker 2: the season. Was it four or five times? And then
Speaker 2: you can't option back down? But that said, it got
Speaker 2: a lot of flexibility with him. But they can go
Speaker 2: to twelve. They can go to twelve pitchers because they're
Speaker 2: they're their starters are going. You know, they're averaging like
Speaker 2: over six innings pitched per per start and so at
Speaker 2: least I don't know the exact numbers. I wish I
Speaker 2: had them in front of me, but I think it's
Speaker 2: like a six and a third or it's more than anybody.
Speaker 2: I can't imagine that there's another team that has more
Speaker 2: average innings per start than the Phillies. I mean, if
Speaker 2: it's one team that can do it, it might be
Speaker 2: the Phillies. You can go to twelve instead of having
Speaker 2: thirteen pitchers. Just a thought.
Speaker 3: Well, as we like to say, and we've seen something,
Speaker 3: something will present itself, and that's right. I mean, this
Speaker 3: thirty four and fourteen start matches ninety three and seventy
Speaker 3: six for the best start over forty eight games. And
Speaker 3: obviously they're just I mean they're cruising at thirty five
Speaker 3: thousand feet, but you know, still a long way from
Speaker 3: the landing strip. One of the things that I think
Speaker 3: becomes very important when you get off to a start
Speaker 3: like this is the skipper, and is the leader ship,
Speaker 3: and is the messaging. And I just love the messaging
Speaker 3: that Rob Thompson is imparting, and it's basically stay humble
Speaker 3: and stay humble because they've accomplished nothing. This is fun,
Speaker 3: this is tremendous, but we all know where the big
Speaker 3: shiny trophy is and it's in October and you need
Speaker 3: to you need to stack the pennies along the way,
Speaker 3: and they're doing a great job at that. And I
Speaker 3: also think they have the personalities in the clubhouse that
Speaker 3: they're not going to come off the gas. I mean,
Speaker 3: Harper's not going to let you come off the gas.
Speaker 3: He wants it so bad. Wheeler wants it so bad.
Speaker 3: He's not going to let you take your foot off
Speaker 3: the gas.
Speaker 2: Schureber Schreber.
Speaker 3: For Sureber's nuts about it. I mean he was pissed
Speaker 3: when they lost one game two weeks ago. But I
Speaker 3: really like the messaging of Rob that Rob Thompson is imparting,
Speaker 3: what do you think of it? Tom? To me? To me,
Speaker 3: it becomes a good challenge keeping everybody Boom focused because
Speaker 3: things are going so well, keeping everybody realizing that Boom,
Speaker 3: we haven't This is fun, but we haven't accomplished what
Speaker 3: we're really here for.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Rob's talked about that quite a bit over the past
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, because you know, the script has flipped
Speaker 1: so much of slow start, slow start, how you're going
Speaker 1: to dig yourselves out of it to now how you're
Speaker 1: going to keep your foot on the gas. And I
Speaker 1: think another thing that is a helpful reminder for the
Speaker 1: Phillies as they keep playing well and just to keep
Speaker 1: them hungry, I guess you could say, is the fact
Speaker 1: that the team they dispatched of in the last two
Speaker 1: postseasons was the Braves, and nothing is given to you.
Speaker 1: You know, you win one hundred five games in the
Speaker 1: regular season, it does not mean you're going to go
Speaker 1: to win the World Series, So keep that edge. So
Speaker 1: I think that's another reminder. But Rob is ideally suited
Speaker 1: to handling his clubhouse and that's that's a big reason
Speaker 1: why the players like him so much. He's got that
Speaker 1: good way of communicating and talking to these guys when
Speaker 1: things are going well, when things are going poorly, keeps
Speaker 1: them on an even keel. And I think he's going
Speaker 1: to be able to keep this team motivated throughout the
Speaker 1: summer to really wrap things up.
Speaker 2: And so this is the cool thing about this ball
Speaker 2: club that I really admire. You said, you know, teams
Speaker 2: take on the personality of the manager. So if you'll
Speaker 2: notice the Phillies are the best team in baseball, you
Speaker 2: don't see these guys doing all this gimmicky bs ho
Speaker 2: When guys hit home runs and putting the hats on
Speaker 2: and putting cloaks on and putting all that shit on
Speaker 2: their bodies and doing all those they expect to do
Speaker 2: these things. When you're a champion, you expect to do
Speaker 2: these things. And Rob, that's not Rob's personality. I don't
Speaker 2: know what decisions. Who made the decision that you know
Speaker 2: you needed, You don't need a home run hat and
Speaker 2: all that crap that you do in the They literally
Speaker 2: just enjoy winning and they expect to win, and so
Speaker 2: they're going about their business and they're really you know,
Speaker 2: after the daycare guys. Afterwards they pour some stuff on
Speaker 2: guys in the interviews. That's about the extent of like
Speaker 2: the you know, the swag that you see these guys,
Speaker 2: and they have swag. Believe me, they enjoy it and
Speaker 2: they're having fun, but they know that at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, it's about winning baseball games and not
Speaker 2: all the other bullshit that goes on. And I love that.
Speaker 2: I honestly love it. You know, it's nice to celebrate wins,
Speaker 2: and they should, and that's important, but but for me,
Speaker 2: it's and and you should be enjoying your successes. I
Speaker 2: don't want to sound like an old hat, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't want to sound like the old guy that
Speaker 2: you shouldn't. But like they genuinely their emotions on the
Speaker 2: field are genuine and they're not planned and it's not
Speaker 2: like a show. They're there to win baseball games and
Speaker 2: they do it in a really business like planet. But
Speaker 2: they also are having a lot of fun with each other.
Speaker 1: Do you like the little shimmy they do when they
Speaker 1: get I missed the I missed the cradle cradles the
Speaker 1: cradle is very clever.
Speaker 2: They're very there's a lot of clever stuff. I mean,
Speaker 2: Marsh's got a lot of personality, but he's super respectful.
Speaker 2: You know. Garrett Stubbs is sort of the class not
Speaker 2: the class clown, but you know, he's a guy has
Speaker 2: has has fun there, keeps keeps it, keeps it light.
Speaker 2: But you know, the young guys are actually when you
Speaker 2: start thinking about some of the guys who were younger, younger,
Speaker 2: not not young anymore, Scott Boom, Marsh in particular, those
Speaker 2: three guys, they're actually they're not showmen. They go out
Speaker 2: there and do their business and they play baseball and
Speaker 2: they play it well, really well, and they don't you know,
Speaker 2: don't go they don't do all the bullshit. You know,
Speaker 2: they have fun, but they don't. It's not it's not
Speaker 2: about the chrome.
Speaker 3: Todd was a big fan of the home run hat
Speaker 3: when they had it that year, the sobrero.
Speaker 1: That is not true.
Speaker 3: The time I pissed off Bryce by asking him about it.
Speaker 3: So they did the home run You.
Speaker 1: Remember that town, Yes I do.
Speaker 3: They were down eleven to one and Harper hit a
Speaker 3: home run and somebody put the sombrero on his head.
Speaker 3: So now they're down eleven to two. And I just
Speaker 3: thought like, wow, odd time for a celebration again. Smoked
Speaker 3: eleven to two and I asked him about it, and
Speaker 3: he wasn't I forgot what his answer was. It was
Speaker 3: a legitimate answer that you need to celebrate the moments,
Speaker 3: but he was clearly irked. I asked him about it.
Speaker 3: But funny thing is it disappeared the next year.
Speaker 2: And should have I mean, I listen, I'm about celebrating stuff.
Speaker 2: That's cool. I like it, but I like it to
Speaker 2: have it be more natural. Yeah somebody, Yeah, somebody hits
Speaker 2: a home run when it really means something, and you
Speaker 2: pump your fists and stuff like that. Or you make
Speaker 2: a big pitch and you strike a guy out and
Speaker 2: you get out of the inning and the guy's fired up.
Speaker 2: Jose Aldo, there's nothing wrong with that. That's like emotion, Dude.
Speaker 2: That's not a planned thing where you have to do
Speaker 2: a show and I did. That's what I really dig
Speaker 2: about this team, man, And that's sort of it's sort
Speaker 2: of like Rob Thompson's personality. I think that's really cool.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine what's going to happen this
Speaker 1: week if they break out of Cheesesteak hat you guys,
Speaker 1: are heads are gonna explode.
Speaker 3: Not do it sparingly on big wins, big home runs.
Speaker 3: Just save it for when you're like a big cheese
Speaker 3: steak hat. Save it for when you're really hungry, not like,
Speaker 3: you know, when he's been snacking all day.
Speaker 1: Ruben, you mentioned you mentioned Stott and Boem. I was
Speaker 1: looking at Stotts numbers. I mean, he's on it. He's
Speaker 1: on another ridiculous terrors. Last eighteen games, He's banging three
Speaker 1: eighty two, four doubles, one triple, four home runs, one
Speaker 1: point two four to two ops. And then I started thinking, Uh,
Speaker 1: I started thinking, Man, I wonder if he could make
Speaker 1: the All Star team this year after that terrible start
Speaker 1: he had. He had a five point fifty nine OPS
Speaker 1: through his first twenty five games. And Scott, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna use war fangrafts war just as kind
Speaker 1: of like a baseline reference. Right now, he's third in
Speaker 1: the National League in war amongst third basemen. Kettle Marte's
Speaker 1: first Bryce terrank from the Brewers is second. So then
Speaker 1: I said, I wonder where everybody else ranks in the
Speaker 1: Phillies infield. Bryce Harper's first l in War amongst first basemen.
Speaker 1: Alec Bowm is first among NL third basemen, and uh
Speaker 1: Trey Turner is tied for third despite not playing for
Speaker 1: the past few weeks among NL shortstops. And I looked
Speaker 1: this up. The Phillies have not had three. They have
Speaker 1: not had two All Star infielders since two thousand and
Speaker 1: nine Utley and Ryan Howard. They have not had three
Speaker 1: All Star infielders since Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt Manny Trio
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two. Right now, we're seeing one of
Speaker 1: the best early season performances by any Phillies infield in
Speaker 1: recent memory.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 2: NBC Sports Philadelphia asked us to do the pre and
Speaker 2: post in the beginning of the season first game. They
Speaker 2: asked us to make some predictions. I predicted this guy
Speaker 2: to win a batting title Stott Stott. I think he
Speaker 2: had an opportunity with the way he was sort of,
Speaker 2: you know, don't no disrespect that Luisa Rise, because Thelisa
Speaker 2: Rise gets nothing but hits. You know, he's he's like
Speaker 2: the was the Bo Baschett of the National League with
Speaker 2: accumulating hits. But I mean this guy's he's getting better
Speaker 2: and better, and he's not you know, in the early
Speaker 2: part of the season, he was sort of collapsing on
Speaker 2: his backside. He wasn't standing tall, he wasn't used his
Speaker 2: hands as well down to the ball. One of the
Speaker 2: issues was last year that he changed was to make
Speaker 2: sure his top hand was getting involved. He's getting his
Speaker 2: top hand involved. His hands are working beautifully. He's got
Speaker 2: really good choices when he's when he's at the plate,
Speaker 2: he swings at strikes generally, and he's a really good
Speaker 2: two strike hit. Excuse me, it's a really good two
Speaker 2: strike hitter. And so all those elements can help you
Speaker 2: put yourself in a position to be a batting title winner,
Speaker 2: just because he gives himself a chance to barrel the
Speaker 2: ball pretty consistently. I love the way he's bounced back.
Speaker 2: You know, there were some whispers in there for a
Speaker 2: little while and that first month and he was kind
Speaker 2: of cruising along that you know, you know, is he
Speaker 2: is he developing? Is something that happened to him, do we?
Speaker 2: I mean I heard some whispers about you know, you know,
Speaker 2: he does have options to you know, there's other guys
Speaker 2: like Cody Clemens and others. I don't think there's any
Speaker 2: real discussion about it. But but he had a really
Speaker 2: really terrible start. I mean, people forget and then he
Speaker 2: became Rice and Stot again and made the adjustments and
Speaker 2: now he's he's just spectacular. And yes, I do think
Speaker 2: that he is All Star caliber worthy because of his offense,
Speaker 2: but also because of his defense, because a man can
Speaker 2: play second base, and I know he's playing a lot
Speaker 2: more shortstop or a little bit more shortstop, but man,
Speaker 2: this guy can do it. You can do it, you
Speaker 2: can hit, can play.
Speaker 3: And Alec Bohm too. I mean, you've got two guys
Speaker 3: that are like knock knock knock on their prime, you know,
Speaker 3: like the door is opening to their prime years and
Speaker 3: they've both built really really strong foundations and you know
Speaker 3: they're probably have one leg through that door, but we're
Speaker 3: going to see it. You know, it's very possible. We're
Speaker 3: going to see a really good stretch of you know,
Speaker 3: four or five six years out of these guys, because
Speaker 3: you know, you have that veteran nucleus on this team
Speaker 3: with the Schwarbers, the Harper's, the real Mudos, and this
Speaker 3: next crew under them is a terrific group as well.
Speaker 3: I love that they have that in their chemistry and
Speaker 3: their makeup. You got guys that are well into their prime.
Speaker 3: You got guys just just entering it, and they all
Speaker 3: you know, meshed together, I mean very well. The chemistry
Speaker 3: on this team is really a beautiful thing. I mean,
Speaker 3: winning will do that. It makes everybody happy. It's why
Speaker 3: you want to come to the ballpark. Losing is miserable,
Speaker 3: but you know they're they're really you know, bom is
Speaker 3: he's leaving the Major's and RBIs who to thunk it?
Speaker 3: And two years ago when he was you know, maybe
Speaker 3: ticketed for Lehigh Valley or who knows where.
Speaker 2: So let me just make one comment against about with
Speaker 2: Bowman and Todd. You can chime, but I so Alec
Speaker 2: Boom yesterday goes shackles fly to right man on third,
Speaker 2: less than two outs, sacrifice line drive to write another
Speaker 2: sack fly for two. RBIs and then is last at
Speaker 2: bad He gets a couple of guys on and someone
Speaker 2: throws a piece of cheese and the inside part of
Speaker 2: the plate and he smokes it to left for a
Speaker 2: home run. I mean, this guy understands and he understood
Speaker 2: hitting really really well when he first got to the
Speaker 2: big League is one of the reasons why he was
Speaker 2: almost a Rookie of the Year and probably should have
Speaker 2: been a rookie year in twenty twenty. And that's short season.
Speaker 2: But to watch him situationally hit and his approach and
Speaker 2: his and now he's starting to understand when he can
Speaker 2: get out front or you know, turn on some balls,
Speaker 2: you to see some more home runs. You may not
Speaker 2: see forty home runs out of the guy ever, but
Speaker 2: that's okay because he's gonna end up hitting it in
Speaker 2: a high two eighties and driving in over one hundred
Speaker 2: runs every year. And if you do that, my friends,
Speaker 2: that's like all star caliber winning baseball. And that's what
Speaker 2: I love about the kid.
Speaker 3: Sorryference between him a couple. He believes he can do
Speaker 3: it now, he believes he belongs. The mind is so
Speaker 3: important at all this. He believes he can handle that pitch.
Speaker 3: You know, he didn't try to flay that pitch into
Speaker 3: into into right field. He saw it and his eyes
Speaker 3: went boom and his bat head came out and he
Speaker 3: murdered it.
Speaker 1: Well, Rubin, you said on the broadcast yesterday, I can't remember,
Speaker 1: or sometime over the weekend he was in a big
Speaker 1: spot and Harper was at the plate, and it's like,
Speaker 1: are they get to pitch to Harper? And he said,
Speaker 1: pick your poison. You want to go with Bryce Harper,
Speaker 1: who's one of the best in the game, or you
Speaker 1: want to go with the guy that just puts the
Speaker 1: ball in play and gets an RBI every time he
Speaker 1: steps to the steps to the plate, you know. And
Speaker 1: that's the thing about Boom I think it was great
Speaker 1: is that he does not strike out in those situations
Speaker 1: runners in scoring position. He's always putting the ball in play,
Speaker 1: always putting the ball in play. He see him have
Speaker 1: a bad at bat. Ever, with runners in scoring position.
Speaker 2: He's going to make Bryce Harper better. Remember we were
Speaker 2: talking about who's going to effect him at JT back there,
Speaker 2: and Jac's was fine. But the growth of and and
Speaker 2: when he started hitting, and I was like, when is
Speaker 2: Rob gonna throw him into that four hole? And Boom,
Speaker 2: he tossed him in the four hole and forget about it.
Speaker 2: I forget about it.
Speaker 3: By the way, he also, in addition to leading the
Speaker 3: majors in RBI's leads to majors in doubles.
Speaker 1: Yes, a good hitter, Yeah, both fields. He's great. He's
Speaker 1: been he's been fantastic, so again about a month ago
Speaker 1: before a month and a half to go before all
Speaker 1: Star teams are announced. But it will be interesting to
Speaker 1: see how many of those Phillies infielders make it. Band
Speaker 1: vote obviously a big part of it team. You know,
Speaker 1: overall one player has to come from every team, but
Speaker 1: you have right now. If Trey Turner comes back the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks, you could have four guys in
Speaker 1: the conversation. That has not happened very often in Phillies' history.
Speaker 1: One other guy I wanted to mention real quick was
Speaker 1: something that jumped out the other night. Chris Sanchez is pitching,
Speaker 1: and uh, I'm not at the ball park. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in my couch and I look up and I go,
Speaker 1: holy crap, this dude just through ninety eight miles an
Speaker 1: hour in the sixth inning. So me being a geek,
Speaker 1: I go on Baseball Savant the next morning and I
Speaker 1: check it out and I go, that was the fastest
Speaker 1: pitch he's ever thrown in the Big leagues in the
Speaker 1: sixth inning on Saturday night, and seven of his ten
Speaker 1: fastest pitches ever in the Big leagues came on Saturday night.
Speaker 1: That's pretty amazing that he is, you know, added, I
Speaker 1: mean that was the talk coming in this season. He's
Speaker 1: added some muscle to add some strength. It makes them
Speaker 1: more consistent with his delivery. But man, he's throwing the
Speaker 1: ball hard. It's making the change up better. He's looking
Speaker 1: pretty good as the Phillies number four four starter.
Speaker 3: He must you know, there are days when it just
Speaker 3: feels good coming out of your hand, and he's to
Speaker 3: me in ascending talent. He's getting better all the time.
Speaker 3: They really you look at the improvement they've gotten from Stott, Boom, Sanchez,
Speaker 3: even Rojas at the big league level, it just tells
Speaker 3: you development doesn't stop when you get here, and the
Speaker 3: people here are doing a really good job with him.
Speaker 3: But he's he's a really nice find. I mean, that
Speaker 3: was a heck of a trade getting that guy. You know,
Speaker 3: he plucked him out of a ball. I think they
Speaker 3: liked his arm, they liked his v low, they thought
Speaker 3: there was something there. They you know, buffed them up
Speaker 3: and they got themselves a major league starting pitcher. And
Speaker 3: that's a that's a big commodity in this game.
Speaker 2: So he is one of the pictures that has the
Speaker 2: most development that I've seen in a long long time,
Speaker 2: in a very short period of time, this is the
Speaker 2: guy was when they first got him. He was a thrower,
Speaker 2: had no idea where the what was going, had a
Speaker 2: really good arm. He could throw forty six ninety six
Speaker 2: ninety seven miles an hour. He had a big arm
Speaker 2: with no idea where he was going with it. I
Speaker 2: know he got to start in Boston a couple of
Speaker 2: years back, and you know, they had he had a
Speaker 2: spot start, and you're like, what are you gonna get
Speaker 2: out of this guy? He doesn't have a secondary pitch.
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah blah blah. Right, this guy has become
Speaker 2: a totally different player. He has He now can command
Speaker 2: his fastball much much better. And he did that starting
Speaker 2: last year towards the end of the year, and you
Speaker 2: can see the confidence starting to grow. He had the
Speaker 2: best single pitch I think in all baseball last year
Speaker 2: as far as like stats, whatever you want to call him.
Speaker 2: That change up was just electric last year. And I
Speaker 2: think hitters hit like twenty off of it or whatever
Speaker 2: whatever the number was, but it was that outstanding. Don't
Speaker 2: let the numbers getting away of a good story. And
Speaker 2: and the fact that you know, he's starting to develop.
Speaker 2: You know, they tried the cutter during the course of
Speaker 2: the spring. That didn't work out for him because he
Speaker 2: lost the feel of his change up. So he went
Speaker 2: back to his you know, slider and change up combination
Speaker 2: as his secondaries. And now he's gained so much confidence
Speaker 2: that he's firing that fastball with the same velocity he
Speaker 2: used to have now because he could command it and
Speaker 2: trusts it, and he trusts his ability to throw it
Speaker 2: for a strike. And as you said, Todd, that's making
Speaker 2: that change up so much more effective. And he actually
Speaker 2: threw some really good sliders his last outing. So he's
Speaker 2: starting to gain all of this stuff and confidence. And
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, if you stand next to this guy,
Speaker 2: he's like six five, he's gigantic, he's tall, he's a big,
Speaker 2: strong dude, and he is he seems durable. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a great It was a great trade.
Speaker 2: I think it was Matt clintac him in that trade.
Speaker 2: Get some love for that.
Speaker 1: And what's funny about that trade is that they traded
Speaker 1: Sanchez for Curtis Mead, uh low level infielder, and Curtis
Speaker 1: Mead kind of shot off as a prospect, and there
Speaker 1: was a couple of years there was like Philly's messed
Speaker 1: that one, a big time, big time Curtis Mead is
Speaker 1: going to be a stud. Christopher Sanchez, his velocity has dropped.
Speaker 1: Now he's a he's maybe he's a long guy, potentially
Speaker 1: maybe a reliever. He's not very good, And now the
Speaker 1: script is flipped because of continued development and now they
Speaker 1: have a really good number four star Rubin, you weren't
Speaker 1: too off Sanchez a change up. They hit one forty
Speaker 1: eight against them last season this year one seventy four,
Speaker 1: but only a two seventeen slug so like if they
Speaker 1: hit it, it's a weak contact. His ground ball rate
Speaker 1: is one of the top ground ball rates in all baseball.
Speaker 1: Everything is on the ground because that change up. He's
Speaker 1: been phenomenal. So let's look ahead real. We talked about
Speaker 1: this last week when you're answering listener questions, Phillies haven't
Speaker 1: played anybody, blah blah blah. They're playing the Rangers this week.
Speaker 1: They're five hundred, but they are the defending World Series champions.
Speaker 1: They're a bit of a mess right now with injuries.
Speaker 1: So Tuesday it's going to be John Gray versus Ranger Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Taiwan Walker is most likely going to return or stay
Speaker 1: in the rotation make his start after taking that ball
Speaker 1: off his foot. It sounds like that's going to happen,
Speaker 1: unless there's something crazy that happens for the next couple
Speaker 1: of days. Rangers do not have a starter named yet,
Speaker 1: but it could be left handed Andrew Haney, who's zero
Speaker 1: and five with a four four three ERA. And then
Speaker 1: Thursday it's gonna be.
Speaker 2: It's maybe Date. I'm sorry, go ahead, no, go, go go.
Speaker 2: I thought, I what is Wheeler? Are gonna be pitching
Speaker 2: on Thursday? I think yeah, because you want to stay
Speaker 2: in rotation.
Speaker 1: Right right right, it's gonna be Wheeler, I think versus
Speaker 1: and then the Rangers don't know who it's gonna be yet.
Speaker 1: Could be Dane Dunning could be coming back from the
Speaker 1: injured list, he's got a rotator cuff. Otherwise, it could
Speaker 1: be Jose Urania Adulas. Garcia is kind of banged up
Speaker 1: right now after a collision the other day, but he
Speaker 1: might come back. But it's it'll be a good test.
Speaker 1: I mean, they have the pedigree, no doubt. They're the
Speaker 1: defending World Series champions. So that should make this that
Speaker 1: should make this series a little bit of fun for
Speaker 1: those people clamoring for a top talented team. For the
Speaker 1: Phillies to sink their teeth into.
Speaker 3: Well, the eye test, I know they their schedule has
Speaker 3: been soft, just because the makeup of you know, most
Speaker 3: of the National League has a lot of soft teams.
Speaker 3: But the Phillies have done what you do to a
Speaker 3: soft team, you put them through the wood chipper. But
Speaker 3: the eye test tells me the Phillies are a good team.
Speaker 3: And you know, even beyond what the records of the opponents,
Speaker 3: I mean, we've we've kind of gone through so many
Speaker 3: of what we're seeing on the pitcher's model, what we're
Speaker 3: seeing on the offense. They're a good club, and I
Speaker 3: just the tests will get harder, but I still think
Speaker 3: one of the you know, obviously one of the biggest
Speaker 3: tests is just going to be over the next four months,
Speaker 3: just staying consistent, staying hungry, and everything that I see
Speaker 3: tells me they can pass that test.
Speaker 2: Totally agree, Jim. And they have some depth, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously on the bench, they have some depth in their rotation.
Speaker 2: I think that they're really improving. I mean the last
Speaker 2: from May first on, their bullpen has been top tier.
Speaker 2: It really has been. It's a top five and almost
Speaker 2: every single cat or e ra a whip batting average against.
Speaker 2: Since May first, it's been really, really good. You know,
Speaker 2: there's always everybody's panicking about it. I know, Sir Anthony
Speaker 2: Dominguez is one of the pieces of it, and he
Speaker 2: hasn't been as consistent as you would want him to be.
Speaker 2: I think he's getting a little bit better. But you
Speaker 2: got Kirkering, You've got Strom who's been phenomenal, You've got
Speaker 2: so you know, you've got Alvarado and Hopfmin who been terrific.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think there's a whole lot of teams.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of teams are pretty envious of what
Speaker 2: they got in the back end of that. We've been too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, guys, we will be back later this week.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, thanks for watching on YouTube, and we'll
Speaker 1: be back.
Speaker 3: Have a great day, guys. Smell you later.
Speaker 2: Smell you Jim.
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