Bye Bye, Baby

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Ah, this is Chase Utley and this is the Phillies Show.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, Welcome to The Philly Show. Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's Lucky. It's Friday, September twenty seventh, twenty twenty four, brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Jim and I Today. Jim. How we doing.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: We're doing good, doing well, well, getting ready for that final Phillies series of the season. And they keep checking off some of their goals here.

00:00:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they did one last night or Wednesday night. They clinched the first round by, which is something that obviously they wanted to do, even though the Braves have said that, oh man, that first round by was a killer for us. Are you buying the first round and buy stuff?

00:01:01
Speaker 4: Are you?

00:01:02
Speaker 2: Is that? If you're a Phillies fan, should you be nervous about the first round by?

00:01:07
Speaker 3: I think just as many teams have, you know, conquered that week off. I mean, Houston's had it a while and they seem to do pretty well, you know. But I do think baseball is an everyday game and you need to keep your sharpness in your edge and somehow don't play well it becomes a convenient excuse that, you know, we lost our edge because there was a buy. But I don't know if that's a perfect solution. I think you have to take it on a case by case basis. When I look at this Phillies team with a lot of stars north of thirty, a lot of stars banged up, you know, some really key starting pitchers and bullpen guys who've carried a heavy load on this particular team, I think the rest is going to be valuable.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too. But we kind of talked about this the last time when we got together, and Bryce mentioned made a point to mention that clinching the buy, and they say, and then we'll see what the lineups look like after that, almost saying like, yeah, I can maybe use a couple of days. He didn't want to name anybody else. He'said, a bunch of guys can maybe use a couple of days. Uh, those final three or four games to give them a little bit there. What's that?

00:02:14
Speaker 3: But they've played?

00:02:16
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, right, Well, I think I think it sounded to me like they wanted to make sure they locked up that buy. So it will be interesting to see what the lineups do look like this weekend in Washington.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: And with the bye they're going to get their rest. They're going to get their rest.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: That's also true. Yeah, that's also true.

00:02:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, would you be gonna I think they I think the rest will will do them.

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Well, go ahead, No, I was gonna say, do you Rob basically said, I'm not going to put guys in harm's way to get that number one seed. What would you do? How? In other words, how important is that number one seed to you?

00:02:52
Speaker 3: It's it's important to me, especially in the NLCS, But you've got to get there, So yeah, you have to prioritize. I think you always have to prioritize the health of your players because they're the guys who ultimately will deliver you where you want to go. So, you know, Wheeler and Nola pitch what Saturday and Sunday. Yep, I'm just monitoring if if if if you know, if if they're cruising and you're up six nothing, then yeah, I'm gonna protect them and get them out of there and try to save a little bit for a few bullets. If if, if, if you go into that game, you know, basically tied with the Dodgers and or a game behind the Dodgers, and you need that game, and they're they're losing or whatever. Uh, and and you're not and you're not stressing. These pitchers are not stressing physically, then they might ride them a little bit. So you know, it's kind of read and react as the game goes along. As the game goes along. But if I think they're in peril, if I think putting their their health and jeopardy or their performance over the next week, two weeks, three weeks, and you know, hopefully a month, uh in peril, then I'm getting him out of there. I don't think the home field it would be nice to have, really nice to have, but it is not the be all and end all. And we saw that in eight No. Nine when the Phillies danced off the field in Dodger Stadium. This team can win anywhere if it plays well.

00:04:12
Speaker 2: Agree one hundred percent. Now here's a dumb This might be a dumb question for you. But Saturday is Wheelers start, and I was looking at his numbers because everybody's talking about cy Young. He's at an one hundred and ninety three and two thirds innings, so he's got to go six and a third to hit two hundred, and I know everybody's gonna say, who cares. I think that's a number that means something to Zach. So if say he's pitching well, but the pitch count, I'm not saying he's getting in a danger zone area. Would you push him to six and the third just to get him two hundred innings if you're Rob Thompson, or do you go I'm sorry, buddy, I know you want to get there. And maybe maybe Zach would say, I don't, I really don't care. But two hundred innings. I think there's only been like one guy this year that that gets over that number.

00:04:53
Speaker 3: It all depends on the stress that he has pitched to that day, how stressful the inning are right inning one, two, three, four or five six. It depends if he's sailing and he's cruising, you know, yeah why not, because he's not going to put him in jeopardy because I need to, you know, I need to jump on his back in October.

00:05:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, he So he's not gonna if he's assuming he starts gaming one of the nl ds, that would be a week from Saturdays, have a whole week yeah, rest, So I don't know something that it jumped in my head when popped in my head when I was looking at looking at his season stats, and like, does he actually have a chance to beat Chris Sale? Interesting as close?

00:05:33
Speaker 3: I think you're one hundred percent right though. I'm sure two hundred innings means a lot to him because he's got that old school mentality, you know, finish for you start innings mean something, so you know, and you have to weigh in the fact that he's going to have five days off. I just can't go in with a script. I need to see how that day unfolds, how he looks, how the ball's coming out of his hands, what what the opposing team swings look like. The stress of his innings, the stress of his pitches is he is it, you know, high stress or kind of is it just smooth sailing? All that is going to go into it. And I'm also gonna talk to him between innings, so we'll see what, you know, We'll see how they how they do.

00:06:19
Speaker 2: We're talking about the Phillies getting a week off. You know who's not gonna get the week off is the Braves Mets. They get that came raigned out last night, so now they have to they're gonna play they They're probably gonna play a double header on Monday with Game one of the NL Wildcard Series on Tuesday. That's a wild situation.

00:06:36
Speaker 3: And the Braves have a tough final series against you know, Kansas City that needs every win it can get. Now the Braves have to I'm sorry, the Mets have to go to Milwaukee, and they got to cut out everything they can cut out. It's uh, it's amazing how many times we've seen this over the years. You know, we always talk about April weather, but September weather impacted so many things over the years. You know, I remember hurricanes. I remember a hurricane at the VET. They moved the time up once. That was chilling, going for three hundred strikeouts down in Miami and dodging a hurricane. And you know, it's crazy, September weather can because all of a sudden, Now it impacts what happens.

00:07:18
Speaker 2: In the playoffs totally. Maybe a couple of years ago, remember that in DC there was like well then they had like four or five games. It was some weird In.

00:07:26
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty two, there was so much marine and every played two doubleheaders, right.

00:07:31
Speaker 2: Every weather experts like they're not playing a single game. They got all those games.

00:07:35
Speaker 3: It's unbelievable how much Right there was a hurricane.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: Remember Ian, Yeah, they and everybody said there's no chance they play these games or there's gonna be a massively. They somehow got every single game in. It was amazing. And then they got to Houston, in Clinchton, Houston.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what New York is buzzing about. The Mets. Yeah, And you know I love stories of teams and players that finished strong, like Nick Cassis. He has a big night on U on Wednesday. He has really turned it on. Since the middle of May. The Houston Astros were left for dead. They have really turned it on. The New York Mets were left for dead. They have really turned on. Both teams. Were are they going to sell? Are they going to sell?

00:08:14
Speaker 4: No?

00:08:14
Speaker 3: There were you know ones in and ones ones right there. But New York is really buzzing. I before I went to bed last night, I flipped on the radio as I occasionally do, and uh, in Philadelphia it was Eagles. That was all they were talking about was Eagles. So I flipped up the dial to the New York station. All they were talking about was baseball Yankees.

00:08:32
Speaker 2: And the Mets.

00:08:33
Speaker 3: Really yeah, yeah, it's uh so, you know, and part of it was because you know, the Mets have been hot and now they're now they're facing this rain situation in Atlanta. What's that going to do to them? But you know, I still think, my god, you know, it would be unthinkable back in the back in the day because you know, back only the division winners went to the playoffs. But can you imagine a Mets Phillies playoffs series?

00:08:58
Speaker 2: If that would be so cool, that would be cool. It would be a nightmare logistically for us to cover, just because there'd be so many, you know, it's a bit the crush of people, but it would be a lot of fun. If you're a baseball fan, which which we are, that would be a great series. Two teams they hate each other.

00:09:15
Speaker 3: Yes, speaking of being a baseball fan, I uh, watching some of these highlights of them close the Coliseum in Oakland is kind of sad, kind of sad. I mean that, you know, when I was just coming of age as a baseball fan as a kid, was when the A's would winning those three World Series. And I can still see highlights in my mind of Gene tennis, hitting a bunch of home runs in the World Series and then bouncing up that staircase and left field at the Coliseum, and then you know the team. I grew up watching the seventy five Red Sox school in there and end there the as you know, dynasty, the three straight World Series, and then as a as a sports writer, as a baseball writer, working at the fill off your inquire. Actually remember the famous game where where Jeter made that great play and cut down and cut down Jeremy Giambi at the plate. I actually covered. I was at that game.

00:10:10
Speaker 2: Oh really, yes, sir.

00:10:12
Speaker 3: And it's kind of sad seeing that place closed and the fans be disappointed, but yeah, the world changes.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's Ricky Henderson's daughter throughout the first pitch of the game the other day, and that's that's where it kind of hit me. He's like, gosh, man, I think Ricky Henderson. I know he played for the Yankees and a bunch of other teams, but for me, he's Oakland, A's all the way kid coming up. I think he, you know, just running wild against my hometown Brewers.

00:10:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know that stadium, there was a kid we both know who actually pitched a high school championship game or got the save. He played shortstop, then he came in and got the save in a big championship playoff qualifier Inland, California, in uh prep, you know, high school baseball. And he actually threw ninety four miles an hour according to his high school coach who told me the story. And that kid's name was Jimmy Rollins. So that's right, you know, that's right. Now. I think about all those things when I see that that building gets set to close, and of course they started right here in Philadelphia. Now they're going to be moving for a fourth time.

00:11:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy. So Jim, let's let's let's break out some of them's fighting words. His Fighting Words is presented by Shibe Vintage Sports. Get unique throwback Phillies, teas hats, and sweatshirts from local artists at their shops in Center City, Wayne and Westchester, and of course you can always buy it online at Shibe sports dot com. Postseasons around the corner, everybody needs their fresh fresh Phillies gear. Jim them fighting words to me. One thing popped out, sure popped out to you too, which is Rob Thompson on what night did they clinch? Tuesday night, Monday night, Monday nightday night they clinched and Rob Thompson gives a speech. He brings in John Middleton and he drops, I want my bleeping trophy back. He's been saying for a long time. Maybe this is finally the year they're set up for it.

00:12:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, the history of that remark was they win in Oh Wait, and then they get back to the World Series and they lose to the Yankees and Yankee Stadium and he said that I think Ryan Howard in the clubhouse after that loss, and it's become this mantra. You know, it's become something you know, we all say and he jokes about, but deep down inside, John Middleton means that he wants his bleeping trophy back. And you know, he's an owner who backs up his words. If I'm a fan, he's the type of owner I want owning all my teams because he's gonna he wants to win and he's going to throw out the resources to back it up and try to make it happen. So, yeah, after they clinched, you know, in the history of it, we know the history going back to two thousand and nine and everybody knows. Even Gabe Kaplan mentioned it in his introductory press conference years ago. And then when they had the introductory meeting in clear Water in February this you know, this spring training, John Middleton addressed the team and he, you know, made mention of the famous quote and he wants to sleep the trophy back. And then before they popped champagne corks on Monday night, Ub Thompson brought John Middleton to the middle of the room and and said, John, we're gonna get it for you. So a lot of confidence, and they should be confident. They've got a hell of a team. I think they might have the best team entering the postseason tournament. But it's about the team that plays the best. And there are a lot of aspects of the game that they need to shine and darting, pitching, bullpen, defense, base running, offense. They need to be consistent on offense, avoid some of the some of the things that give him a lot of problems. We know what that is, chase and swing and miss. And they just need to be consistent offensively, defensively, get the starting pitching, get the bullpen. It's about the team that plays the best. And if they play the best, then they'll get his bleeping trophy back exactly.

00:14:24
Speaker 2: Well, he said this a couple of times now with the last year, and I love it. He's like, nobody really talks about owners who you know, made the most money during their tenure. He's like, you know, nobody talks about how much money do the Yankees make in the twenties and the sixties or whenever they had their runs. You know, he wants to be remembered as a guy who brought some World Series Championship trophies to the Phillies because people will very fondly remember him for that many decades from now. Jim, we got some We asked for some listener questions, viewer questions, So let's rat off a few. Let's start with this one. Everybody, it got a bunch of these because it's always on the always on mind. This is from thirty Ballparks on Instagram. What does the future hold for Taiwan Walker in Philadelphia? J? T. Nason on Instagram also asked why would Rob Thompson but Tywan Walker in with the bases loaded and two outs? He put him in the bases loaded in that second inning on Wednesday, Tuesday, basically because he said he needs to find out if this guy can come into a dirty inning and get the job done, and he showed he could not get the job and did not get the job done. He walked the first two batters he based, both of them were eight pitch at bats. And I think that that I mean, I don't see how you can put him on the postseason roster. I asked Rob after that game on Tuesday, that last bullpen spot. So if they the Phillies carry a twelve man pitching staff, four starters, eight relievers, it would give him an extra bench guy. Does he feel that he needs to have that eighth bullpen guy, that last bullpen guy? Does he need him to be somebody who if the game goes extra innings? Now, remember the current extra inning rules are not in play in the postseason, so you don't have the automatic runner, so you could theoretically have an eighteen inning game. Asked him if he feels like he needs somebody that can go four or five six innings in an emergency situation. He says he doesn't feel that they need that, that they have enough guys in there that can go multiple innings, and whoever that eighth man could be is going to be somebody that can go multiple innings. So I don't think Taiwan is going to be on the postseason roster. I don't know how you could put him on the postseason roster. I don't know who that last guy is going to be, Colby Allard, it could be Spencer Turnabull. He's gonna throw on Friday, And talking to a couple people the other day at the ballpark, they don't think it's a pipe dream or anything like that that he could be back in the postseason and right now, I mean, wouldn't you roll the dice on Spencer term if they feel that he's healthy. I would probably roll the dice on Spencer Turnbull if they feel that he's healthy.

00:17:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it depends how he looks Friday, but yeah.

00:17:10
Speaker 2: Right, if he looks good and if he's healthy, you know, Yeah.

00:17:13
Speaker 3: It's just the Taiwan thing hasn't worked. It just hasn't worked. And I think you did a great job answering uh part of that question about what do you do now postseason roster? You know, if you're going to carry him as a mop up man, he's going to come in with the team down. He's just going to try to get you to the end of the game, right, Right, I don't know that you're going to bring him into a tie game and extra innings because he's pitching. It ain't going to be tied much longer.

00:17:48
Speaker 2: Right.

00:17:49
Speaker 3: And as far as the long term, I've been saying this for a while. It's just for me, it'd be tough to bring him back. I just think it's been such a difficult year. I don't think he inspires the confidence of his teammates, you know, where he is in his career. I just I have a hard time seeing it come back. It might you know, maybe he camps out in Seattle at drive Line in the offseason and get something going, you know, I don't know, Maybe you can eat seventeen million. He's owned eighteen and eighteen. Maybe he can eat seventeen and seventeen and move him to a team where he gets a fresh start. I just think bringing him in it becomes sort of a distraction because you know, every bullpen session you know, is going to be scrutinized. Every outing in the grave foot League is going to be scrutinized, and poor outing is going to raise all these old questions again, it becomes a distraction. It's kind of like, you know what we're seeing right now with the Eagles. You know, they know it's kind of obvious that the team pondered a coaching change in the offseason right after their season ended. Last year, they did not make a coaching change. Well, all of a sudden, now the biggest issue surrounding this team is the head coach and is he calling the plays? Is he not calling the plays? Is he in charge? Is he not in charge? It never goes away. So and given what you've gotten from Taiwan Walker, I just I think and where you might be going and what you might be getting from in the future, knowing the way these things go, and kind of projecting what you think you might get from him in terms of on the mound contributions, it's hard for me to see them getting a positive contribution. I think they have to strongly consider eating the contract and letting them go. And you know, he's been a good guy and a good teammate. But I just think it's a tough game, and sometimes you're gonna make tough to see and I'm not even sure this decision is that tough but you know, we'll say and.

00:20:04
Speaker 2: Then now there's it hasn't happened a lot, but now there is some precedent of some teams eating big contracts like that. I mean it would be up there for sure. Pablo Sandoval, Madison Bumgardner, there's a couple other guys whose contracts were massive, and that team's just dfad him and said, you know what, we're not going to get anything out of this. And I feel like if we just talked about John Middleton, if there's an owner out there who's going to go this offseason, and like if Dave Dombrowski says, I think we can sign this guy and this guy for starting pitching depth, maybe until Andrew Painter is ready or whatever. But we got to get rid of Taiwan to do it, to get these guys to sign, you know, because they don't want to look at competition, whatever the case may be. I think I think Johnny goes all right. I don't think he's gonna love it, but I think he but he wants to win.

00:20:54
Speaker 3: So really, if you're not getting a contribution.

00:20:59
Speaker 2: That's right. So I think it's like, okay, sunk cost.

00:21:02
Speaker 5: And I just.

00:21:03
Speaker 3: Don't think he inspires any confidence with the people who play behind him. In that case, it might be auditioned by subtraction. But you know, there are so many issues that go with this. The inability to develop any organizational pitching depth is crazy. You need to figure that out and bring in some more. But I know what I would do. I would shake his hand and say goodbye. And I'm not sure it's the right answer, but that would be the way I would go.

00:21:34
Speaker 2: T Montgomery on Instagram, Cal Stevenson or Weston Wilson for the last bench spot on the playoff roster. And then yeah, I think his name is Cod Broad on Instagram. Who will make the postseason player cut for the postseason roster? It's kind of the same question. Do you have any thoughts on what that last bench spot would be? You know, they optioned they optioned Cal the other day when they activated Austin Hay, But that does not mean Cal cannot make the postseason roster. You have to you get position players ten days after being optioned when they're eligible to come back, so Cal can come back and make this postseason roster.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: So and you have Cody Clemens we think is gonna make it.

00:22:16
Speaker 2: I would think Cody right because they they seem to love. Is that bats He can play infield and outfield, so he's.

00:22:22
Speaker 3: A left handed bat. Maybe you carry West and Wilson. Maybe it comes down to the last day when you know who your opponent is and you bear down on the splits and all that stuff. Maybe it's a matchup type decision based on the opponent.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: That's what I tend to think it's going to be, you know, because because if Austin Hayes is back, is West and Wilson going to play much in left field? Probably not, because Austin Hayes's splits are so ridiculous righty as versus lefties. So I don't know that Austin sees any time in left field in the postseason and in a platoon split. But yeah, if there's a lot of lefties in the bullpen, maybe that maybe that Yeah, maybe that maybe it's West. So yeah, I tend to think it might come down to come down to matchups v. Twins two thousand and eight on X Do you think the Phillies will get the number one seed in the postseason? The Dodgers behind right now, Yeah, they're a half game. They own the tie breaker. Which is important. So the Phillies, of course have three this weekend against the Nationals Dodgers have they play when we're recording this. They have one more against the Padres and then three on the road against the Rockies. So they got all they gotta do is tie.

00:23:34
Speaker 3: All they gotta do is tie. I think they have a very good chance.

00:23:38
Speaker 5: Yeah I do.

00:23:39
Speaker 3: I think they have a very good chance.

00:23:40
Speaker 2: Yeah they got Yeah, I do, because they have They got Wheeler and Nola going this weekend, So even if they dial them back, they're going to be in a position to win the game. Even if they do rest a regular or two, they still have enough pop in that lineup to be at a Nationals team. Is yeah, thinking, thinking is already clearing out their lockers as we speak.

00:24:00
Speaker 3: I mean favorable, you know, favorable schedule for the Phillies. And we all know what. We all know what the last weekend of a season looks like in a big league clubhouse when you're not making the playoffs. There are those cardboard U Haul boxes everywhere. Somebody goes to the U Haul store and they buy packing tape and those cardboard boxes and they're folded up and the guys open them up and tape them up. And that's what the National's clubhouse looks like right now. People throwing stuff in the U haul boxes and taking it to the packing ship.

00:24:30
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And and all those players are going to the clubby's going hey, can I get another box? Or can you send this here? Can you send that? That's that's the entire conversation those that last weekend for the Nationals players.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: But you're still gonna go out and play, you got to say. And I think if you get early leads and stop them early, you really demoralize them. And you have them, you know, looking on their travel app on their phone to see when their flight.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: Is exactly right. And I think the Phillies also, you know, they certainly they have enough pride they're going to want to go out there and play well. And I think if they can get that number one seed, that's that's something that they're going to want to do. So I don't think the Phillies are going to go into this weekend coasting. I think they they know they have the bye week coming up. They want to go in playing well, They want to get there at bats, they want to stay sharp. So I don't think there's going to be any like, you know, we got the buye, we have the first round by let's just let's just let's just roll, let's just roll over.

00:25:25
Speaker 3: So funny. I got that same question yesterday from a buddy of ours. Rich Hopkins asked me, Oh yeah, he texted me.

00:25:35
Speaker 2: I was at the gym and he wanted to know.

00:25:38
Speaker 3: He wanted to know, and I think they have a pretty decent shot.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: Jim will be right back.

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00:26:44
Speaker 2: And we are back, Jim, We get this every week. But people want to know who do you think would be the best potential matchup for the Phillies in the postseason? And who would be the worst potential matchup? Do you want me to go over their season records head to head on these and potential nl while NLDS opponents.

00:27:05
Speaker 3: Uh, I think so. They they've they're game under five hundred against the.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: Braves, right correct.

00:27:12
Speaker 3: They have a winning record against the Dodgers.

00:27:15
Speaker 2: Right yeah, But they can't they're not going to play then the Dodgers though, until the until the NLCS. They're they're five and one against the pod Race, three and four against the Diamondbacks, seven and six against the Mets.

00:27:27
Speaker 3: You know what, you know what? I might just I like the Diamondbacks team. They can run, they got a little pop, they got some good pitching, starting pitching. But I might just all season long, it seems like and they scare me a little bit.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: But sure, any any.

00:27:49
Speaker 3: Team scares me if that team plays well and you don't play well. But why not, you know, open the mouth of the beast right out of the gate and stick head in and say, you know, we're not scared yet, why not bring them on?

00:28:03
Speaker 2: Bring them on, bringing that, you know what? I feel the same way. I feel like it's not like the Diamondbacks are a better team than the Phillies, or we're a better team than the Phillies. Last year, the Phillies just had a terrible five games and they swang out of their shoes. They got out of their game plan, they chased way too many pitches. Yeah right, well right, but I mean they were up to nothing and then they just you know, those final five were terrible. But yeah, those two games at home. I don't think there's a team if the Phillies don't win the World Series this year, or I should say, if they don't get to the World Series, if they would get knocked out in the NLDS. I don't think it's because they played a team that they don't match up great against. I think it's because they just played bad. That's my opinion. I think it's because they chased too many pitches. It's gonna be because one of their starters had a bad game or one of their bullpen pieces who has been They've all been really really good lately, they had a bad game or whatever. I don't think it's gonna because, Man, this is a team that they just can't beat. You know, they just don't match up well. When the Phillies are playing their best, they still can't beat the Diamondbacks or the Mets, or the Braves or the Podres. I think if they're playing their best or playing well, they can beat anybody in the nationally.

00:29:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:29:17
Speaker 3: Crazy, I'm more worried about you know, if I was the Phillies skipper, I'd be more worried about my own own club house than the other clubhouse.

00:29:27
Speaker 2: Right right West and Wilson fan on Instagram. Will the Phillies re sign Jeff Hoffman this offseason? That's honestly something I haven't really given a lot of thought to at this point. But he's a free agent after the season. Relief pictures are very volatile. He's going to cost a lot of money. They have Carlos Estevez is also a free agent. I don't know if you could resign both of those guys. I don't know if it makes sense to resign both of those guys. I think you would love to have both of those guys.

00:29:58
Speaker 3: It reminds me a little bit of back in, you know, the seven to twenty eleven outstanding period they had Number J. C Romero. He was actually, I think a release from Boston and Reuben signed him, brought him in and he had that great run, and then he became a free agent and then we signed him to a three year deal. I know the market was a lot different then. But do I think they'll resign Jeff Hoffman. I think they're gonna try. He's really a valuable piece. I think they're gonna try. He's found success here. I would think there'll be mutual interest, but he also has to look out for himself and make the best deal possible. But I think he's a pretty important guy down there, So I think this is a very good chance.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: If I wonder if it's like tigos of the runner. If you can sign only one of them, say, for instance, Estevez or Hoffman, I wonder how that comes into play. He just does the front office go, well, we gave up a lot to get Estevez, we'd like to keep him to show a little bit more something for the trade. Or does that not come into play? I guess it's just the best baseball decision. Probably.

00:31:02
Speaker 3: Yeah. I have a feeling they might skew a little bit more toward Hoffman, a little more history there with him. I mean, you gave up two good arms.

00:31:12
Speaker 2: But you know, if you knew that going in, you knew.

00:31:15
Speaker 3: It going in, And if you pick up a World Series championship here and keep packing that house, it's gonna be worth.

00:31:23
Speaker 2: And PERRENDOZI on X out of all the NL East clinchers, which one is your guy's favorite? Reason why?

00:31:30
Speaker 3: NL East Clinchers?

00:31:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, and l least Phillies NL East clinchers. I wasn't around for anything before seven, So I guess it's seven to eleven. And then this year I started covering, Yeah, right, ninety four, ninety four, Okay, so the year after, Yeah, you're I guess for me it's seven because that broke the streak, and there were I mean, I remember fans were you talk about the Mets fans going nuts, same type of vibe that year in seven, I was like, oh my god, finally fourteen years and so the excitement that day, you know, Jason Worth has talked about that a lot over the years, you know, walking on in the field a half an hour before the game and just fans going fricking nuts because they were watching the game on the scoreboard, the score change on the scoreboard and right field back when they had the scores on there, and just the roar of the crowd throughout that game was was so much fun and the team just had a blast celebrating that one. Yeah, that was cool. And then the only one, the other one for me would be well twenty ten with Halliday getting in and those guys remember that they waited. Roy was doing an interview on the field with Gary Matthews and they're all sitting there with the champagne bottles, and it was Brian Schneider and was it Mike Sweeney yep, Okay, two other guys that had never been in the postseason, and they waited for Roy to come in because they wanted them to be the first guy to pop those champagne bottles. I thought that was cool. That was down at Nationals Park.

00:32:53
Speaker 3: That was really cool. I remember that like it was yesterday. That tells you how much respect they had for Doc Yeah and O seven Yeah. I mean you're right on that whole lead up to the seven clinch because they hadn't been to the playoffs in fourteen years and they make this run and it was like every night you can't wait to get to the ballpark to see what's going to happen as they're chasing down the Mets. It was such a drama, and then you know, when they finally did it. I remember that day. It was the ballpark was packed and the white towels and uh you know, I remember my kids begging me to go to the game they were little, and uh yeah. It was just very very memorable. O seven and the Doc one was was very memorable. I remember the night day clinched in eleven. I remember you and I talking to Cliff Lee's wife on the field.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right about coming back and yeah, that's right, that's right.

00:33:48
Speaker 3: And I remember I remember you you talking about how his mannerisms. You're asking her about his mannerisms and how he's just like shrugging whatever, and he goes with him saying whatever all the time.

00:34:02
Speaker 2: That's right. I do remember saying that, yeah, because every time we asked him something, right, he was just chill whatever. You know, all nine World Series in game one whatever. This is from Evan. Two more and then we'll get rolling here. Evan j Nie on X. Do you see this period of Phillies baseball is finally making the transition to being perennial contenders like the Yankees, Dodgers or Braves. Given the changes we've seen in player development the front office, it feels like they are making all the right moves.

00:34:39
Speaker 3: Well, that's certainly what they want, and that's certainly what the owner wants. He wants them to be there every year. They have their financial resources to do it, to go out and get you know, that complimentary free agent or even that free agent to put you over the top. I mean, look at their roster right now, dotted with high priced free agents. But you know, I still think it's vital that you have the organizational infrastructure to bring your own players, because I don't think you can survive always by free agency, and I do think they've made great strides there and building the infrastructure of the franchise. And you know, they have some good looking players. Justin Crawford was in town on Wednesday night. Obviously, this Aiden Miller kid, Andrew Painter. So you know, it just it takes all aspects. You need to build your own guys and you need to be able to have the wherewithal to go out and add the key free agents. So do I think they can sustain yet? And I think you know, they're a big market. You know, that has to be almost not just the goal, it has to be the expectation, right, Look at the support they get in the stands every night. So if you keep putting winners on, you're going to get to get that support, and it's going to be able to kind of sustain and self sustain by the support you get from this market. So it's a great, great market, and it proves proves it to us, you know, whenever they win this year just another example, so I think, yeah, it should be the norm rather than the exception.

00:36:12
Speaker 2: Stretches like this Bryce. Bryce said on Monday night, he said, you know, people talk about windows he's like, there is no window here with with John in charge basically, you know, and Dave in charge, that they're going to try to you know, ring and I get what he's saying, you know, there is a window now.

00:36:26
Speaker 3: And then he also said at the end.

00:36:28
Speaker 2: He's like, this is our window right now, because he knows that there's only so many prime years left of Bryce Harper. Sure he hopes to be one of the guys in his late thirties early forties still hitting thirty bombs this season, and you know, I'm sure they hope that Tray Turner is still hitting three hundred whatever position he's playing in nine years from now.

00:36:46
Speaker 3: I do agree with the commitment you have from ownership in the in the infrastructure you've built in yea, all phases of the operation player development wise, you should be able to sustain that window and and you should be able to keep creating new windows. But that said, I think the window is now for this nucleus totally, the Schwarber Harper, Real, Mudo, Wheeler, Nola Turner, Castianos nucleus. I think it's right now absolutely, And you know, when the window closes on this nucleus, Miller Painter Crawford, maybe a different free agent, maybe a veteran bomb, a veteran Stot. They will still be here, but it becomes, you know, kind of a different window, if you.

00:37:33
Speaker 2: Will right last one. This is from Phil's Info ten on X. Does the Red October crowd have a similar impact on visiting beat writers as it does on visiting players.

00:37:48
Speaker 3: I don't.

00:37:49
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not screaming at Mark Bowman, Nara, my my colleague from MLB dot com or Braves writer. You know, I'm not intimidating him like like Phillies fans. I will say this though, it is is kind of cool to see visiting broadcasters and visiting writers come in and say, there's that was insane. That was insane. I've never seen a postseason crowd like that. I've never seen a postseason crowd like that. And I think, I don't know if I said this on this show recently or if I was talking to somebody about it. I think the big difference between Citizens Bank Park and the other twenty nine ballparks in the postseason is that every ballpark will get loud. You know, Petco Park will get loud. If the Phillies and Pottery's are playing, Dodger Stadium will get insanely loud. It will get as loud as Citizens Bank Park in the postseason if shoe Ohtani hits a three run bomb in the ninth inning to beat the Phillies nlc ASK game. But I think the big difference is that the crowd in Philly will get loud, will stay loud throughout. They will recognize a seven pitch at bat, We're going into a twelve pitch at bat. They will get louder and louder and louder. They will sense a rally brewing, and they will get on their feet and cheer for that. Where That's the thing I think the big difference is they can sense when a team is in trouble, the opposing team is in trouble, and they will get really loud to try to intimidate the pitcher. I don't see that at other parks. So that's it is cool to see that. It's not just me thinking that way, that it's like the other opposing writers and posing broadcasters like man like John Smoltz was in New York theater days, you know, I think he said it in an our show too. I've never seen a ballpark like that in the postseason before, and.

00:39:36
Speaker 3: It's happened for a long time, going back to the NLCS in the seventies. When the Veterans stadium fans rattle for Houghton, they can really rattle an opposing team. But you know, it's like chicken in the egg. I think it needs to be performance in from the home team Phillies as well, because that's what they really latch onto and build their kind of the kind of he comes like a wild far when the team is playing well, he gets louder and louder and louder. But uh, you know, I you know, I hear comments from guys who come into that stadium and say, well, this place is a madhouse. But you're right. I've seen Dodgers Stadium in madhouse San Diego in twenty twenty two. It was a madhouse city field. I would imagine there's going to be nuts, you know. I mean, I covered the Yankees in the old Ballpark. I covered there in all their postseason runs ninety six through one, and you'd sit in the press box and it would shake, it would shake, like you know, you think this thing is going down, so you know it's uh, but I do think. You know that Rob Thompson quote four hours a hell. It does mean something, but the team's got to perform it. It got quiet in game six and seven last year against Arizona.

00:40:52
Speaker 2: Remember what Jeff Frank Cory said when he we talked to him, and I don't know when that was in June. He said he was taking the car ride over were before game six, he's doing the game for TBS, and he could he could tell everybody was nervous. The guy that his driver, He's like, I'm a little nervous about this one. And sure enough they got down and the cow got really tense and really quiet. And it was like that in Game five of the eleven nlds too. They got down one nothing you could sense everybody wash.

00:41:23
Speaker 3: Was so tight. And that that in eleven, okay, is that game five?

00:41:27
Speaker 2: That was Game five? Yeah?

00:41:29
Speaker 3: And when I think of the postseason a citizens Back Park, I remember we were working together at the Inquirer and uh, the Phillies. I guess it was all seven because they finally got back to the postseason and the late great Jerry Fraley walks in the press box. Do you remember this?

00:41:47
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I do not remember this.

00:41:49
Speaker 3: Okay, you're gonna remember when I tell you, all right, late great Jerry Frayley, who actually worked in Philadelphia in the eighties, he comes into the press box, he's working in Dallas. He comes into the press box at Citizens Bank Park and says, what happened to the vat? Where's the vat?

00:42:06
Speaker 2: It's been such a long time?

00:42:08
Speaker 3: And I said to you, because you were writing like the main bigg there's your lead right there. How long has it been since the Philly has been in the postseason? And then quote this visiting writer, what happened to the vet? Remember that? Now?

00:42:20
Speaker 6: Yeah?

00:42:20
Speaker 2: I remember that?

00:42:21
Speaker 3: Now?

00:42:22
Speaker 2: Yeah? Jerry was an all timery Hall of Famer all went when in. All right, guys, we will be back next week. It'll be the bye week. We'll have a lot of talk about. We can really dig into the rastas and how they're gonna line up the pitching and how are they gonna stay sharp so they don't have to, you know, deal with those questions about the bye affecting him. And we'll get in all that stuff next week. So Jim, I will smell you later.

00:42:48
Speaker 3: Alrighty, smell you later, buddy.

00:42:55
Speaker 2: This is the Philly Show.

00:42:57
Speaker 6: If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us a review, Tell a friend. Catch Rubenjim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourism. New episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on Philliesnation dot com. Get more of Reuben's analysis during before and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Rejim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the philliesb Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network