Back on Top: First-place Phillies beat the Mets

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, this is our own Welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Hey, Rubin Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's Ale. It's the Philly Show. It's Monday, June twenty third, twenty twenty five.

00:00:16
Speaker 3: We're back. They missed us, they had to, Did they miss us?

00:00:21
Speaker 2: We hope they missed us.

00:00:23
Speaker 3: We hope we were missed.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: We I don't know if anybody's picked up on the pattern of the show, but usually we do a show on Monday.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: Today is Monday.

00:00:31
Speaker 4: We do a show on Friday, and then we have a midweek show.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: No show on Friday.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: We tried, We tried. We literally started.

00:00:41
Speaker 4: We were a minute and a half into it and I lost the internet at the house. Jim and I lost power on Thursday and we were without power all weekend.

00:00:50
Speaker 2: Jim, when did you get the power back?

00:00:52
Speaker 5: We were exactly fifty hours, okay, and we lose it all the time out here, and that was a halasious storm, and I thought we were looking at at four days. But yeah, fifty hours not bad considering some of the past outages we've had.

00:01:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got my folks know they both have generators, but they were generating other parts of their homes more vital ones.

00:01:14
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, not.

00:01:15
Speaker 1: All of them.

00:01:16
Speaker 3: For people who think that you guys are, you know, misfits, You're certainly not that.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: I felt like we tried to do the thought out.

00:01:24
Speaker 3: Of you guys. Felt badly for you guys. You could have piled in it, you know, in the city with me, but I had twenty seven other people there.

00:01:31
Speaker 5: We tried to do the podcast Abraham Lincoln Style by candle light, because I always heard that he studied by candlelight deep into the night April.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: We definitely could have done that.

00:01:43
Speaker 4: I got power backer on the fifth inning on Sunday Night's game, so the power came back. I fired up, watched the last last three or four innings of the Philly game. Had no internet, but we're back, which is great. I'm glad to have AC back at the house. No internet though, still, so I'm doing this from a hotel, believe or not really. I rented out, I booked.

00:02:04
Speaker 2: I booked it.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: On Sunday for the family because the house is getting so hot. I said, let's let's get a hotel. And then I woke up no internet this morning.

00:02:13
Speaker 2: Woke up my wife. I said, you haven't checked out of the hotel yet, have you.

00:02:16
Speaker 4: She's like, no, because they had come back last night. I said, good, because I'm going back. She's like why.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: I said, the internet's out.

00:02:25
Speaker 3: A difference maker. See, that's a difference You're a difference maker.

00:02:28
Speaker 2: I said, I gotta do the Philly Show.

00:02:31
Speaker 1: Committed you committed to the to the show, and the fans.

00:02:36
Speaker 3: Exactly appreciate it. I hope they appreciate you.

00:02:40
Speaker 1: I hope we do.

00:02:43
Speaker 4: We do. The Phillies, guys, they won two out of three this weekend against the Mets. They have they are now in sole possession of first place in the National League East. Big weekend for the Phillies, of course, and let's start right there with the Parks. First pitch, guys, big weekend, as I said, for the Phillies. They take two out of three from the Mets, sole possession of first place in the National League East, and now everybody's kind of like, you know, you know, are the Phillies the favorites going down the stretch? Is it too early to read anything into a series in late June? Where do you think the Phillies stand right now coming out of this series?

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Speaker 1: Too early?

00:03:31
Speaker 5: Too early to make any definitive reads. But I'll tell you what, winning a series is a lot better than losing a series. Because there had been this little narrative developing that the Phillies can't beat the Mets. So they kind of quelled that narrative for now with a really good series win. I don't care when it is. I'll always take a series win. But October is going to define this team.

00:03:52
Speaker 1: We know that.

00:03:55
Speaker 5: It's shaping up almost to be like a two team race in the National League East. You're starting to wonder if it's is gonna be a two team race. As the Braves take on some water here and you know the Mets they're gonna play the Braves this week, they have a chance to kind of step on them a little bit, and then the Phillies play the Braves. So this is a pivotal week I think maybe for the for the division race. I still think, uh, I think there's a good chance both teams Mets and Phillies play in October, very good chance. But you know, it's just nice to go out there and win a series. And if there was any lingering thing in there in the Phillies minds of me, because they didn't play well in getting swept up in City Field in April, and then there's October, which still smarts. But you know, maybe if there's any little seed in the back of their mind, they they destroyed it with a really good series win at home. Crowds were electric, electric Sunday night, Sunday Night baseball. That ovation they gave Lozara when he came off the mountain of the seventh inning was was the thing of beauty. So it was a really fun on weekend and a fun night at the ballpark. Always love a big series when two teams are gonna showdown for first place. I mean the Phillies eleven days, they've come from five games back in the division.

00:05:11
Speaker 1: Now they lead the division. So fun weekend.

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Speaker 3: So they win the rubber match on Sunday Night, and these are the guys that are in the lineup. Yeah, Johann Rojas, Buddy Kennedy, Otto Kemp and EDMUNDOSSA.

00:05:29
Speaker 5: Big right handed lineup against the lefty and we're going to see those guys again. First two in Houston, I think because they faced two lefties out of the gate. But I mean, you're right, they've they've had this really nice search here without Bryce Harper.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: They really have, and they've you know, they've done this before, like when Harper's been out in other occasions, you know, when he had elbow issues and he got hit in the face and he's had you know, time off. I mean they've It's a pretty darn resilient team for a player who is that impactful from the bound. Bounce back and to play the kind of baseball they've been playing is real positive, especially against the Mets. And uh, maybe a blessing to this guys that you know, these guys were playing because Peterson usually stuck sticks it right up there. It took us. I mean, he pitches really really well against the normal lineup. So nice to see obviously Schwarber do his damage with the home run against the left he seems to be doing it all the time. But a nice resilient type of bounce back. When everybody's like, what is Tofton doing with this lineup? Man, it's like a must win game and this, that and the other, they're like, okay, dude, relax, it's it is. You know, you're puting putting some ritings in there because Peterson's throwing the ball really really well. He's been one of the better left tenders in the game over the last month and a half, so great decision. Guys performed, and Mundos was a stud and uh it's good stuff.

00:06:59
Speaker 5: Play make managers look good. At Mundo Sosa made his skipper look good with that heavy right handed lineup. Had a big night, had big, big home run, three round home run. Schwarmer had really struggled in his career against Peterson, and he hit one halfway up the ivy off the batter's eyes.

00:07:16
Speaker 3: So little hangar, Yeah, he killed it.

00:07:20
Speaker 5: I mean, he's, you know, twenty four home runs, fifty four RBIs and we're not even at the halfway point of the season. And supposedly power numbers are a little bit down this year because the seams on the ball are bigger, I don't know, but.

00:07:31
Speaker 1: Pretty good showing by Kyle. Last few games.

00:07:34
Speaker 5: He's really you know, he had that little downturn, but the last few games, I mean I wrote.

00:07:37
Speaker 1: Down some of his numbers.

00:07:39
Speaker 5: Last four six for fourteen, two home runs, two walks. He's getting on base, he's doing a lot of damage.

00:07:45
Speaker 2: He gets started a little slowly in June, but maybe he's starting to pick up a little bit.

00:07:49
Speaker 4: But I mean the Phillies are. They're a good team, and I think, where are they going to finish in October? I have no idea.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: You know, they could get bounced out in the first round.

00:07:58
Speaker 1: Again.

00:07:59
Speaker 4: They also could go and win the World Series, and I think people need to remember.

00:08:04
Speaker 2: That, you know, the baseball. Baseball is a long season.

00:08:08
Speaker 4: I was listening to the other day Ken Rosenthal in the Fair Territory podcast, and he was talking about how the Yankees had a stretch recently where they scored seven runs in seven games, How they Podreys are under five hundreds since mid April, How the Diamondbacks are under five hundreds in mid April. How the Mets, Jim you mentioned it, how they had a lead over the Phillies just, you know whatever a few days ago, and now they've lost what eight out of nine, nine out of ten, you know, the Phillies had that nine out of ten stretch. Teams go through these types of things. So when the Phillies just, I guess, just kind of remember this. I feel like the next time the Phillies go through a they lose six out of seven and the bullpen gets blown up, and you know, turners in a slump and Schwarber's and a slump, and Castianos is struggling or whatever. Everybody goes through this stuff. But I think the Phillies are a good team. I think they're going to make the playoffs. I don't know what's going to happen. You know, are they flawed, sure, but we saw how the Mets are flawed. And mean, look at that starting pitching staff right now. I mean you would the Mets. David Stearns from the Mets would lose his fricking mind if Dave Dombrowski said he said, do you want to switch rotations? I mean, he would just do backflips. You know, every team has flaws in some way, shape or form. It's just you know, how well are you playing once the postseason starts, and what kind of and how do the a Phillies maybe address some of these weaknesses that.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: They have Before the July thirty first trade deadline.

00:09:34
Speaker 5: So you mentioned Mets rotation had really done a good job for most of the season. Lately, you know, the last couple of weeks really showing signs. They lost Senga, they have other injuries, Manaya Montass, somebody else's.

00:09:50
Speaker 1: Oh Taylor McGill Taylor McGill.

00:09:53
Speaker 5: I mean a lot of those, all those guys that are due back at some point, but they can still look for starting pitching at the deadline along with bullpen, along with center field. Phillies could go for bat in the outfield. It's a must they bring in another guy in the bullpen though. You have to like what you've seen from Orian Kirker and kind of blossoming a little bit toward the end of the game. So front office is going to have something to do with this, with this race as well. But I think ultimately it always comes down to the men on the field, right, And that that, my friends, was first Pitch. First Pitch is presented exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino Parkscasino dot com. You must be twenty one. If you have a gambling problem, please call one eight hundred Gambler.

00:10:48
Speaker 4: So it is Monday, guys, and Monday, of course we do our Manco Manco Best week.

00:10:58
Speaker 3: Hey, before we get going, I cry some Manco and Manco yesterday at the Crushed It. It was in our in our office there for the I guess they got a pie for the boys for the late night game, and I walked in there because I was getting ready to go and it wasn't obviously wasn't working because it was an ESPN game. But did crush a couple of slices.

00:11:23
Speaker 2: That sounds that sounded nice. That sounds nice.

00:11:26
Speaker 3: Nice.

00:11:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know.

00:11:29
Speaker 4: In fact, real quick, I do want to mention that we're doing another giveaway for a Manco Manco gift card. So simply follow the Philly Shaw on X for a chance to win a Manco Manco gift card.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: Check that out.

00:11:40
Speaker 4: So let's go though, Manco Manco Best Week. Who wants to start it off?

00:11:44
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start it off. I'm gonna lead off right off.

00:11:47
Speaker 3: Get it, Jim.

00:11:48
Speaker 5: I'm going to see some pitches though out of the gate because uh, I'm gonna go with my Mancom Manco.

00:11:54
Speaker 1: Worst of the Week.

00:11:55
Speaker 5: First last night in the press box, Ruben Tomorrow wearing pink pants.

00:12:02
Speaker 3: I am going it was delicious.

00:12:05
Speaker 5: I am going with a sartorial demerit for Ruben Tomorrow as the man Worse of the Week.

00:12:11
Speaker 3: If you guys would have seen my outfit, you would have been if Todd if you would have seen it, said Jim jim is one hundred years old, you know, younger than with his clothing game. If he, if he would have seen my outfit with the it was rather sweet. It was actually salmon pants, not pink, but that's okay anyway.

00:12:32
Speaker 1: I digress like love.

00:12:35
Speaker 4: I think I think Ruben is probably the the most well dressed broadcaster out there. He might be I Jimmy, I don't know. I'd have to see the outfit, but it was choices nobody.

00:12:46
Speaker 3: I'm sure somebody took a picture.

00:12:47
Speaker 1: It was quite summary and fitting.

00:12:49
Speaker 5: We've went into summer now and the weather is indicative that's supposed to be triple digits anyway, my Manco Manco Best of the Week. I thought about Bryson's thought. I liked that little comeback he's having at the plate. I think it's necessary, It's really needed for this team, more than necessary.

00:13:06
Speaker 1: I like what Schwarb's doing at the plate.

00:13:08
Speaker 5: But I'm gonna go a teeny bit off the reservation, as you know, I like to do now and then, and I'm going to go and give a nice Manco a Manco Best of the Week to left handed reliever Tanner Banks. And you know why that was a big series against the Mets, and he needed to take game one and it was hanging in the balance there a little bit on Friday Night, comes out and gets five big outs against pretty tough lineup, especially that top half of that lineup. Got some left handed thunder over there with Sosa and whatnot. Gave him five big outs on Friday night, and the Phillies, you know, took tone, setting game one of an important series. So Tanner Banks, he's you know, sometimes one little moment can really.

00:13:53
Speaker 1: Get things going in the right direction. We talk about sometimes with a hitter who's slumping, even a walk, I.

00:14:00
Speaker 5: Can sometimes turn him around because if he's taking close pitches, seeing the ball well, one little moment can mean a lot. And I thought Tanner Banks's performance Friday night meant a lot.

00:14:09
Speaker 1: So give that boy a piece of pizza.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: It I like that. I saw some kind of stat that he had, like his ratio strikeouts to walk so was like twenty five to one. Is that correct? That's insane, that's like Anna, I mean, I don't know, I'm not pulling up the numbers right now, but his ratio from strikeouts to walks is amazing. Now he's been knocked around a couple of times, but he takes the baseball and he's hurtches and he never complains, and every once in a while he'll leave some some breaking stuff up in the zone to get whacked a little bit. But he's actually done a pretty darn good job for this team. And I like that call to him. It's very thoughtful. But I'm gonna go with my man out.

00:14:54
Speaker 4: Thirty four stakeouts, thirty four strikeouts, good, go ahead.

00:15:02
Speaker 2: No, I was gonna say Tanner Bank's thirty four walks.

00:15:05
Speaker 4: I'm thirty four strikeout, thirty four strikeouts, five walks in thirty four innings, So a six point eight strikeout to walk ratio. I mean, that's more than double his best effort ever in the big league. So you're right, Rubin, he is striking out a bunch and not walking anybody.

00:15:20
Speaker 2: Pretty important for reliever. They need some strikeouts out of that bullpen.

00:15:23
Speaker 3: So let's go.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: What do you got, Ali Boum, I.

00:15:26
Speaker 3: Got Alec bow Man. I just I think Boehmer's just done such a good job of bouncing back after a very very tough start to the season, A lot of things swirling around him. His defensive game. I think he made one air that was, you know, an air that you typically don't see from him here recently. But his defense has been very good. He's getting big base hits, he's driving in runs. He's protecting the guy who's the most important guy in the lineup right now, in Kyle Schwarber. You know, his ops has steadily climbed throughout this uh, throughout these last two months. It's just been better and better, and and uh, you know, you got to give some love to this guy because he's a very good hitter. He uses the middle of the field a lot. Yes, he does not drive the ball out of the ballpark consistently for a third baseman. You like to see him do that more. But he produces runs and he's getting the job done, especially when they need him the most without the big boy in the lineup, without Bryce Harper in the lineup. So I'm gonna I'm gonna toss it to Alec Bohm.

00:16:30
Speaker 2: I like that. That's I mean, he's been fun big, he gets a big sack. People are out.

00:16:35
Speaker 4: On him a week and a half into the season, and now you know, yeah they're out.

00:16:39
Speaker 3: Baby.

00:16:42
Speaker 4: You mentioned Bryce and Stott, and he would have been a definitely worthy choice. I was thinking about him, but I'm gonna I'm gonna say, just because the week has been so interesting and so much fun, It's it's kind of the week you enjoy as a writer. I'm gonna say Nick Castianos is a Manco Manco best week choice.

00:17:00
Speaker 2: He gets better.

00:17:01
Speaker 4: Not because he said what he said to Rob Thompson on Monday. That was, you know, like we talked about the other day. It was more than just a quote inappropriate remark. It was probably something very harsh. But since then he has certainly backed up his play. He' patted three sixty this week, four doubles, a home run, five RBIs hope he has over a thousand made that great catch at the end of Thursday Wednesday Night's game in Miami, right up against the warning track there, So I kind of backed up his maybe trying to make amends, maybe more laser focused.

00:17:35
Speaker 2: I don't know what is going on, but he.

00:17:38
Speaker 3: Maybe trying to prove to Rob Thompson that he doesn't need to be taken out and he.

00:17:41
Speaker 2: Does not to be taken out.

00:17:42
Speaker 4: And you know, one thing I did want to talk about on Friday, guys before in Friday's episode before We Lost Power is how Nick Cassis he talked to the Inquiry and the Athletic down in Miami and said how he has asked Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies to give him the analytical readouts of his defensive play after every series, which I thought is just amazing. I don't know what that means, what is he going to do with this information? But I mean, oh my gosh, you know that's that's only Nick Castianos would go up to David den brows can say I want my readouts on my defensive play, my defensive metrics after every series.

00:18:20
Speaker 2: But that's Nick.

00:18:23
Speaker 3: Nick. So there you go.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: So that's Manco and Manco.

00:18:26
Speaker 4: Best week One guy I wanted to talk about guys as well coming off this weekend is Mick Abele mckable on Saturday. Three innings, six hits, four runs, four home runs, one strikeout. Now in two of his last three starts, or in his last three starts, he's given up seven home runs in twelve innings. Fastball command is an issue. How are we feeling about Mick abel right now? Because he's gonna be in this rotation for at least a few more weeks with Aaron Nola, you know, very slowly coming back from his ankle slash rib issue.

00:19:02
Speaker 5: I feel like he's learning. I feel like this is invaluable experience. I feel like he's not a finished product. He's going to have nights like that. Control and command of Ben his number one issue coming through the system.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: And Saturday night it just looked like he was up a lot up in the zone.

00:19:20
Speaker 5: And you do that at this level and cozy ballparks when the weather is warm, the ball is going to land in the seats, and I think that's what happened to him for solos.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: I believe at least there were solos. But yeah, learning.

00:19:35
Speaker 5: Experience, not a finished product. Stuff is still good. I mean, he didn't get a lot of strikeouts that night, but you know, you still, I still like the ingredients. I like that he's gaining experience and I'm not going to make any you know, just like I don't think he can make a snap decision when he goes out there and you know, Dazzles Dazzles against the Pirates. I don't think he can make a snap decision when he gets beat up by the Mets.

00:19:57
Speaker 1: He's good, he needs work, we'll see.

00:20:01
Speaker 3: I have a little bit of a different take on this. I like the kid, I like the arm. I don't like the deception. He's not creating any deception in his delivery and the fastballs up and flat, he can't drive the ball down. At a long talk with Kevin Stocker about this, and I like the kid a lot. He's focus, he's trying, he's doing his you know. I love the way he's handled things, very mature, pretty impressive, even getting after getting knocked around his last time out in an important series. But I don't see his ability. He has to drive the ball down on the zone. He just can't do it. And he's been working on it and working on it, and he can't get the ball down in his zone. So when you are up with everything and you are continuously using the top part of the zone, you better have so much life on that fastball and so much break on that breaking ball that it's that creates its deception. And right now he's not getting it. He does have a technically have a sinker and a slider, has not used it, and I don't know what he's gonna what he's going to have to do mechanically to drive the ball down in the zone so that he can have other quadrants that he can use. But he's going to have to do something, and he's gonna have to make an adjustment because you can't stay up in the zone with your forcing fastball against good hitters and unless you're throwing a hundred and he's throwing hard, but he's not throwing a hundred, and he doesn't have a whole lot of life in the zone. And if you don't have life in the zone, then the big boys are going to get to it. And that's what's happening.

00:21:31
Speaker 1: He had it that day against Pittsburgh, for sure.

00:21:34
Speaker 3: He did, except it's not consistent and the ball he hasn't been able to drive the ball down in the zone as it was also a Pittsburgh team. I can't hit right, but he was.

00:21:47
Speaker 1: He was up that day and it was had finish.

00:21:52
Speaker 3: But you know, I don't see it right now.

00:21:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's gonna be a big month for him in a lot of ways. You know, Can he do what you guys just talked about. Is he going to be in the organization five weeks from now? You know, the trade deadline's coming up to the Phillies trade him if if he continues to struggle, does that make it harder for the Phillies to trade him? If that's something that they might be interested in doing, knowing that they have Andrew Painter coming up down down the Pikes. So a lot of a lot of the big month for sure. For Mick Abel Jim. You mentioned earlier in the show how it was.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: Electric at the ballpark this weekend.

00:22:29
Speaker 4: If he did not get down to the ballpark this weekend, you could have swung by Rubin. You've done this before. You've watched a couple of games at parks casino.

00:22:38
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00:24:04
Speaker 6: You're a card collector. Even if you're not and you just want to find a new way to collect. Arena Club is the spot. AJ just opened up a slab pack he screened recorded on his phone so you can all see what he just experienced.

00:24:13
Speaker 3: Take us through it.

00:24:14
Speaker 7: It was simple I just clicked on which slab pack I wanted clicked by, now boom bought it card. Little pack starts spinning, you hit open and then it goes all psychedelic on you. It's at and then the card appears and I got a Robin Yelt rookie car.

00:24:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, you did it awesome.

00:24:31
Speaker 6: And then right after that experience, I saw the little buy back and you said, hold on to this.

00:24:37
Speaker 7: Now hold on is Robbin me outs in the Hall of Fame. He's not getting any more rookie cards.

00:24:41
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna stick with it for a little bit. See at the price might start just going up a little bit.

00:24:46
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00:25:06
Speaker 2: We are back Auto Kemp left field Sunday Night.

00:25:14
Speaker 3: That's right.

00:25:15
Speaker 4: How do we feel about auto Kemp and left field Auto Kemp has been such a great story, you know, for so many different reasons.

00:25:21
Speaker 2: And now and now he's moving out the left.

00:25:23
Speaker 4: Field, which he's only played I think seven games in his entire minor league career. They all game this season, very very little experience in left field. But he's he's hitting, he's hitting left handed pitching. You got to get his bat in the lineup. They need help in the outfield. So now he's going to platoon with Max Kepler a little bit in left field.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: How are we feeling about this?

00:25:43
Speaker 4: Is this a less risk averse situation than when a Phillies threw Reyese Hoskins out there? I mean he's more athletic, of course, but how do we feel about it?

00:25:54
Speaker 3: Oh, he's not Res Hoskins out there and left I'm sorry, I mean he's not. I mean he can move around. He had a tough play, very first play he had to make, goes in the left center. I thought that it was a ball that Johann Rojas should have gone and caught, but he sort of let him die out there and left wabble center field and he stayed with it. Made the play good for him. He is is I've had a kid there's no question about it. I'm a little surprised that he hadn't played a whole lot of outfield at all. I know, you know, most most of his life, he's been an infielder. All of his life, he's been an infielder. I'm just surprised that somebody hadn't thrown on the outfield glove on this guy earlier in his career, just to you know, mess around with it.

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Right.

00:26:35
Speaker 5: Well, he was, you know, he most in high school. You always your best player is going to play shortstop. So he was probably the best player on his high school team. And he went to a Division two team and he was probably the best player there, I'm sure, and they kept him in the infield, didn't you maybe diversify his skill sets? I mentioned on the last podcast, I think he would have been well served going behind the plate at some point as a young man, because I could see that positioning happening, as it's happened with a lot of players over the years.

00:27:03
Speaker 3: JT.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: Real Mudo, Carlos Ruiz.

00:27:06
Speaker 5: Rafee, Elmer John, all those guys were middle infielders. Anyway, I'm eager to see how it works out there. He did make that catch, last night over in the gap, and you know, if he can just make the routine plays and not become a liability out there, like the chance of that being a very positive right handed hitting half of a platoon with Max Kepler.

00:27:28
Speaker 3: I think this.

00:27:29
Speaker 1: Lineup's been begging for that all year.

00:27:32
Speaker 5: A productive right handed bat in that platoon, and you could have a pretty nice situation out there with Kepler and the right handed bat. For now, it's out o Kemp and I feel like he's going to get a decent lookout there before the trade deadline, at which point they'll realize they're determined if they have to address to Grant.

00:27:49
Speaker 4: So I was just going to say that you kind of asked my question, which was I believe last year, you know, Weston Wilson was out there a little bit in left field before the trade deadline and a you know, they would ended up going out and getting Austin Hayes anyway. So let's say for argument's sake, Auto Camp is fairly productive. He's not hitting you know, thousand ops or whatever, but he's been he's been pretty solid out in the left field. He's catching the balls he needs to catch, he's he's hitting left handed pitching solidly whatever however you want to define that.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: Do the Phillies then still feel like they need to go out or what would you do? Do you still go.

00:28:26
Speaker 4: Out and get a right handed hitting corner outfielder to pair up with Max Kepler, or do you just put all of your effort into upgrading the bullpen, well.

00:28:34
Speaker 1: The gym do so?

00:28:36
Speaker 3: I mean think a lot of it depends on the trajectory of the team where you feel they need to go. And as far as like the long term aspect of it, Yes, they want to win in twenty and twenty five, but they're going to have to give up a lot to get this reliever, and they don't have a lot to give up in their system, and so when you start thinking about getting two pieces, that's even more difficult. And if this guy can play left field well enough so that they can platune he and Kepler out there, I got to believe they're going to continue to put their their eggs in that bullpen basket that because it's a far more important piece of the pie. I think that they could probably get. You know, they'll find out whether or not Otto Kemp can actually play left field. They're going to find out this week because they're they're playing too left handers in a very very tough place to play left field. It's short, but it's weird. It's a you know, the very short left field with a strange angle in left center field. Uh So he's going to have a you know, Paco figure Rod is going to be working with him out there in that corner of the of the ballpark here at daycon Field, Dacon, is that what it is? Day something like that, Bacon, I better figure it out before I broadcast. But the but the reality of it is that they're going to have to find out. And that's a great way to find out. And it's a way to do it. You know. The the we're in June, the division is not in the balance. This is a good time for them to find out whether or not Auto Kemp can be that right handed back for them that they need to be able to help this team win.

00:30:17
Speaker 4: Right, They definitely have some decisions to make a couple more things real quick. I want to mention that Bryce Harper is traveling with the team. He is with the team in Houston. He has been hitting, you know, taking some swings in the cage. He's expected hitting the cage either you know, tomorrow or Wednesday in Houston. So he's coming back at some point. The fact that he's with the team, maybe they just activate him at some point on this road trip.

00:30:40
Speaker 2: We will see.

00:30:41
Speaker 4: And then Aaron Nola played catch in the cages on Saturday and Sunday. If he responds well, he can begin throwing again. His throwing progression this week on the field. So I did want to mention that Jim you know him well, Ruben, you knew him. Longtime baseball writer Scott Miller passed away way this weekend.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: Such a tremendous guy.

00:31:05
Speaker 3: You know.

00:31:05
Speaker 4: When I got on the beat into you know Scott. For people that don't know, Scott used to work at the he worked at the La Times, he worked at the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. He's been writing recently for The New York Times. He just wrote a book that came out called Skipper, about why managers in baseball still matter, are still important.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: He's written a lot of books and.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: Probably one of the nicest people I've met on the beat. And I say this as somebody who in two thousand and three I start to beat. I don't know anybody, and Scott Miller was a national writer, very highly regarded, could not have been friendlier, could not have been nicer. Every time he saw me, he came up and asked me how I was doing. And just a classy, classy guy, you know, So he will be definitely missed. Really hit me hard this weekend when I heard that he had passed away. So Jim, I mean, you know you knew him a lot longer, longer than me.

00:32:03
Speaker 5: It certainly hit hard because you know, when you say he was one of the nicest guys you ran into as we travel the country following baseball, he was, I mean just one of the nicest guys you ran into when you when you saw him in a press boxes, always smile on his face, always a big handshake, Always hey, how you doing?

00:32:22
Speaker 1: He always meant it.

00:32:23
Speaker 5: It's a really good hearted guy and and a tremendous writer. Loved reading him. He uh, it's hard to believe. And you're right, I mean, he he brightened a lot of lives and we just I was shocked when I heard it, and I'm very very sad, and I offered my condolences to everybody who loved him, including a whole lot of baseball riders.

00:32:47
Speaker 1: We can be u we can be kind of a grumpy old bunch.

00:32:51
Speaker 5: But when he saw Scott Miller, he put a smile on everybody's face.

00:32:55
Speaker 3: And yeah, we talk about reading faces all the time. He's one of those faces that you love to see every day. Right, Yes, he's one of those guys. When you look at him, it's always happy, it's pleasant. He'll be terribly missed. I didn't know him like you knew him, but I had an opportunity, obviously to interact with him on a number of occasions. And I think classy is a great way to describe him, Todd, because he's always been that way with me totally and was so God blessed her at his family.

00:33:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was always I mean, I just love seeing him, you know.

00:33:30
Speaker 1: I'll tell this story.

00:33:31
Speaker 5: And it was twenty twenty two, and I'm not going to get real specific, but it was twenty twenty two. We were in Atlanta. Scott was working for the New York Times doing sort of big picture national stories, and he called somebody in the Phillies organization to interview him. And this guy really didn't know him, and he asked me about him and the guy in the Phillies are said, this guy, Scott Miller told me about him. I said, you should return his call. You should return his call. You should talk to him. He will treat you fairly, he will get it right. You should talk to him. The guy talked to him. A couple of days later, say, I talked to that guy.

00:34:08
Speaker 1: He was great.

00:34:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's great because that really is him.

00:34:13
Speaker 2: I got it totally.

00:34:16
Speaker 4: He knew baseball, he knew how to you know, he was just a solid, solid baseball guy, tremendous writer, tremendous person. So anyway, I wanted to mention Scott because he was just one of the all time best.

00:34:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:34:27
Speaker 4: The Phillies guys open a three game series on Tuesday night against the Astros in Houston. Whatever we're calling the park, Rubin, you'll figure it out. I mean, be listening closely in the broadcast on Tuesday night.

00:34:39
Speaker 1: Don't call it by that name, Ruben.

00:34:41
Speaker 5: Don't call it like what was it called Dikon Radish Ballpark or something.

00:34:45
Speaker 1: Don't call it that.

00:34:47
Speaker 3: Dikon is d A I K I N isn't it?

00:34:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, but like a Dikon Radish I always see it on the Food Channel. Like I, I'm so tired of these ballparks changing their names. So I actually adopted a little bit of a personal.

00:35:03
Speaker 3: Philosophy.

00:35:05
Speaker 1: I know.

00:35:06
Speaker 5: But when I go to San Francisco, I mean, that place has had like five names.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: I never refer to it by its name.

00:35:11
Speaker 5: To me, when I refer to that ballpark into the Phillies one four to two last night at twenty four Willie Mays Plaza. When I go to Miami, it's not whatever they call it now, it's under the Big Top in Little Havana. You guys, come up with something, how about under the Big Top in downtown Houston. Enough of this with changing names every five minutes.

00:35:33
Speaker 3: Or the replacement of the Astrodome, how about that?

00:35:36
Speaker 1: How about the Astrodome's uh, the Astrodome's.

00:35:40
Speaker 2: Brother, a kid brother, the local Nines home field, but.

00:35:47
Speaker 1: The ratless Astrodome.

00:35:52
Speaker 2: I've heard many stories about the Astrodome back.

00:35:55
Speaker 1: Have you heard about the astro rats?

00:35:58
Speaker 3: You talk about them all when today?

00:36:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we so so Tuesday, I'm gonna run through the pitching matchups real quick. Tuesday is Ranger Suarez against Franbervaldez.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: That should be a great one. Tuesday.

00:36:11
Speaker 4: That's at eight ten pm Easternertouns back Man.

00:36:15
Speaker 3: They're both pitching great.

00:36:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean Rangers been one of the best pitchers in baseball. After his first start there Wednesday night eight ten Zach Wheeler against Colton Gordon and then the series finale on Thursday at two ten pm. That's an afternoon game, guys, Christopher Sanchez against Hunter Brown, who has been absolutely outstanding for the aster. Ye hear a under two, so the Phillies bats have their work cutout for him. Guys, I will talk to you later this week.

00:36:49
Speaker 2: Thanks later, Small Jip. The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network.

00:36:56
Speaker 4: Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports.

00:37:12
Speaker 2: Radio ninety four WYP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com.

00:37:18
Speaker 4: Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network