Clearing Benches, Answering Questions

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hi. This is Kyles s forber and welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Philly Show. Rubin Tomorrow, Juniors here, Jim Salisbury's here, I'm here, I'm Todd's a lucky It's Wednesday, September eleventh, twenty twenty four.

00:00:31
Speaker 1: Guys.

00:00:32
Speaker 2: How are we doing this morning? You guys? Good?

00:00:36
Speaker 1: Bien?

00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yeah? Is it bian or is it bueno?

00:00:40
Speaker 1: We be We'll be in, We'll be in, We'll be in, all right.

00:00:45
Speaker 3: Appreciate buino has a better ring to it, like bueno, but it.

00:00:49
Speaker 1: Is yeah or b yeah.

00:00:53
Speaker 3: So we're going to taught me a lot of Spanish over the years, some of the words I can actually say in front of people.

00:00:59
Speaker 2: Is this true, Ruben?

00:01:00
Speaker 1: Did you?

00:01:00
Speaker 2: Did you teach him some Spanish over the years?

00:01:04
Speaker 1: A little bit or now of course, and toss it out there once in a while. I love doing I love doing it. I love doing it before. I like rattling off stuff when I'm on set, either for your post or broadcast and I'm just babbling in Spanish and like faking like I'm doing broadcast in Spanish. It's pretty funny. One of these one of these days, they should they should tape it. It's kind of funny. I would be doing it a little deeps Dad, I was almost.

00:01:38
Speaker 3: You know that is spoken like a man who is huge on the streets of Caracas.

00:01:43
Speaker 1: That's right, you know, it's correctly. If Jim and I I was huge for a minute.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: If if Jim and I could take some Spanish lessons of the off season, we could do a Philly Show English version, in a Philly Show Spanish version, and we could take over the world.

00:01:58
Speaker 1: Nice.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: Yes, we got a global domination, global domination for the Philly Show. Those Philly Show, those Phi Show.

00:02:10
Speaker 1: Guys.

00:02:11
Speaker 2: Last night. A lot of action, A lot of action. If you were tuned in eighth inning, A little skirmish on the field. You know it was created some drama last night. Nick cast down gets hit. I don't know if you guys read the quotes or how closely you paid attention, but you know Nick gets hit first pitch after his edwin. Now, Okada, uh drills drills Nick?

00:02:39
Speaker 1: Is it? Yeah?

00:02:40
Speaker 2: Okay, you said that. Okay gets drilled. Nick drops the bat, gestures towards the mound. Bryce Harper takes off its helmets, starts stalking the guy at the mound. He gets on the mound gets intercepted by a couple of Raised players. After the game, they both talked about it. Said it was just no place for that in the game of baseball. Nick said he thought that he was going to get drilled. He just had a sense he was going to get drilled. Good show of camaraderie, I guess by the Phillies. You guys I love. I mean, I hate to say it. Well, I don't hate to say it. I love a good skirmish. I love a good bench is clearing. It is so much fun to write about. Guys are usually chatty post game Jim right, I mean, yeah, it's fun. Those stories are so much fun to write.

00:03:28
Speaker 3: There was there was a lot of testosterone flowing and you gotta love it. And you know, I do like a bench clearing skirmish. I like watching a lot of the old ones on YouTube, like the Pascual Perez one with Champs Summers. I mean those are great. I mean, you know, other than the Todd Pod, my favorite podcast is uh Raw Knuckles with Chris Nylon. You might have to look him up, but he was a former Montreal Canadian tough guy and he has a great podcast, and he talks a lot about his his skirmishes and I love listening to that podcast. Well yeah, I mean I think those moments can do a little camaraderie, bring a team together to show some I got your back and you know, you know, well placed now and then without anybody getting hurt. I don't want to see that happen, but I think they can be kind of galvanizing. How's that for a good word.

00:04:19
Speaker 2: Well, that's a great word.

00:04:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you know, it's obvious that we said I had done it on purpose. The fact that that was done so blatantly on purpose, you know, it hurts some guys. I you know, it's a difficult situation now because with the suspensions and everything, you cannot really get into a fight where you put yourself in a really, really tough position, like Bryce Harper back in the day. Had Bryce Harper been on second base and it was a different situation, he probably would have pummeled that kid. And he's the kid's sort of lucky that. I mean, no one really is coming to his rescue until he was basically almost on top of the mount. It. It's sort of a different deal now, but but for him to to have done that, that was pretty egregious. I always believed in, you know, the players have to have the ability or used to have the ability to set a send a message without without having it be dangerous. And in this day and age where people just don't really understand or and or don't have the command to be able to do that, I can't throw a pitch on the inside part of the plate at somebody's hip or somebody's uh, you know, in the inside part of the plate at their numbers and feel comfortable about it because one they throw too hard and two they just don't know where it's going.

00:05:44
Speaker 3: Was that I didn't even consider that message sending. I consider that a.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: That was not a message sending. That that wasn't that was it. I was pissed off because I got my ass kicked exactly and beating my ass, and and I was frustrated. And now I'm going to drill this guy instead of drilling Harper. Yeah, the guy said he threw a change up postgame.

00:06:04
Speaker 2: That was the most amazing thing. He's like, yeah, the change up got away from me, like ninety six point two mile an hour change up. Only crap.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: The only the only buddy, only person has a ninety six mile hour changeup was a guy we faced in Miami the other day in Cabrera, who's it's not really a change up. It's a sinker. Everybody calls it a change up, or stat cast calls it a change up. Yeah, but Edward Cabrera throws a ninety three or ninety five mile an hour sinker. It's not a change up. I don't care what you say, right anyway, The point is, I think for him to have done that so egregiously and so obviously, I mean, there's there's a difference between being pissed off and and and a difference between sending a message and that that's that that really wasn't right.

00:06:49
Speaker 2: Yeah. Then afterwards, Bryce of course said, you know, we're trying to make the playoffs here, and you know Bryce got hit on the face a couple of years ago. Remember that pitch hit off his wrist, hits off his face ninety six to my one hour fastball. The next year, Blake Snell breaks his thumb in Aaron pitched and so in his mind he sees that he's like, you could, I know, you threw at his hip and it actually hit the target, but you could injure one of my guys as we're trying to make the playoffs here and we're trying to win a World Series. So that seemed to get him especially fired up, despite other than the fact that he knew he was being thrown at intentionally, because it was so blatantly obvious that you.

00:07:27
Speaker 3: Mentioned that Harper, that ninety seven in the face. You know, when I think about remarkable moments I've witnessed over thirty years of covering baseball, that is right up there, ninety seven off the cheekbone walks away. You know, that could have done so much. I don't even want to think about what it could have createne I came off with such force off his cheekbone that it bruised his wrist when it clanged off his wrist. That's the most remarkable things I've ever seen, that that he walked away from that.

00:07:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Bryce got hit just the other day in Toronto off his left elbow. I mean, you know, guys are getting drilled a lot, a lot more than they have been in the past, because, like Rubens said, guys are throwing harder and they don't know where the hell the ball is going. This guy knew where the ball was going, he knew where he was throwing it. But that's it angered angered the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber last night, Kyle Schwarber keeps going. He's hot. He's hot in Toronto, hot in Miami. Comes on our show. He keeps it, keeps it going, sets a major league single season record. His fourteenth leadoff home run of the year last night gives the Phillies a one nothing lead. He leaves the game in the before the fourth inning with a hyper extended left elbow. He does not seem too concerned about it. But man, Kyle Schwarber, guys in that leadoff spot keeps doing damage, and nobody's asking about who's Rob Thompson should hit leadoff anymore. I think people like I think we mentioned this the other day, people have finally accepted the fact that he's the guy in that spot.

00:09:00
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a run producer man, That's what it's about. He produces runs and he creates a lot of a lot of angst early in the game for the picture. I mean, he puts he can put people on feeling the pressure early, especially starting pitcher. I mean, and I mean, you don't have to. The numbers don't lie. I mean, when you get ahead in a game, particularly when you're talking about being in the postseason, you get ahead of the game and your chances of winning or skyrocket. I mean, you don't have to take a genius. This guy can put you ahead in the game very very early with just one swing and when he's in one of those modes and he's just he's just spectacular. He's His balance right now is just so good. I was on the road with them when it sort of started, and it's just amazing to see the adjustment he's made as far as just pitch choices, his swings and the balance that he has right now in his swing. When he's balanced like this, I mean he literally can take a full swing and be like sit there and be statuesque. And he's so he's so his base is so strong that that he really puts the picture in a very very tough position early in the game.

00:10:12
Speaker 3: There's like for a starting pitcher, I mean, I know, you've got to come out ready to compete, but we've all talked to starting pictures over the years and they said, you know, you can paint yourself a little bit, but there's no coming out and seeing what's working. When you play the Chillies first battle, there's no ease and in process, you gotta be locked in and executing or else you're gonna get hurt.

00:10:35
Speaker 2: It reminds me, Jim, do you remember that time Jamie Moore gave up a first pitch home run to some no name Braves guy. I can't remember who he was.

00:10:43
Speaker 3: It was the kid who played He played in Houston for a while. He was an outfielder.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: I can't remember what his name is, but he gave up a first pitch basketball Ruben, And after the game, Jamie's like, well, you know, I'm kind of surprised. You know, usually that's a courtesy. You imagine throwing Al Schreberg courtesy strike.

00:11:04
Speaker 1: Could do uh uh to Jersey somewhere.

00:11:08
Speaker 3: Right Ash Bernaley, my man, that exists, Like when you played Rubin did the old courtesy strike?

00:11:13
Speaker 1: Was that no courtesy?

00:11:16
Speaker 4: What he meant was he thought that a kid, a young kid, who was leading off the game would probably take a strike to try to get the you know, get ahead in the count or make the picture work, or.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: That was really the thought process back then. So he just found grug going in there and the kid just jumped on it.

00:11:34
Speaker 2: Probably, so yeah, right, Harper came close again to another home run. He's can't come close to the last couple of nights. The first night he hit him off the top of the wall, did not thought it was gone, did not run, did not run at all at the first base. He apologized to Rob Thompson after the game for doing that.

00:11:53
Speaker 1: Uh, he was.

00:11:54
Speaker 2: He seems kind of stunned that he's not hitting it out, and somebody asked him, He's like, you know, the lack of power, you know, are you surprised, He says, I'm surprised these balls like getting out. He sighted the exit vila in the launch angle on one of those balls last night. He's like, you know, I just don't understand why these balls are not leaving the ballpark. I've never seen anything like it. So I think he's going to I think he's getting close. What do you guys think, Well.

00:12:16
Speaker 3: It's three games in a row. He's hit a ball off the top of the wall Sundry money on Tuesday.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Oh, Sonday, Okay, he's on top of the wall with an inches correct, it's just a millimeter getting under a little backspin.

00:12:26
Speaker 3: But I wouldn't fret. I know, it looked twenty eight games. I wouldn't fret. You're hitting the ball like that, you are squaring it up, you are hitting it hard. It's just, you know, you're just you know. I guess we're so conditioned with power these days that all of a sudden, now we take a line drive. For granted, three games in a row, he hit a screamer off the top of the wall last night. Had maybe a little more loft, but he's, you know, for a guy who's playing banged up, he's hitting. He's getting a lot of doubles, hitting for average. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, you know, go back to what Charlie used to say, Sister Wells struck fly ball that comes over the fence or goes over the fence, and he's just maybe just not under it enough getting that backspin. It'll come. Don't worry about it. I think he actually looks good.

00:13:13
Speaker 1: The dude had four hits yesterday and he's usually you know, I guess he's using his quote unquote little league swing. I think the home run thing maybe a little karma going on for him. After not running the ball out. I mean, those are things that just can't happen, and he I think he knows it. I think he just reacted because he thought he had a home run. But those are the kind of things that just can't happen. I mean, you're trying to win a championship, and he talks about this a lot, you know, trying to trying to you know, if you want to win a championship, you got to do things the right way, and that was a mistake on his part. He just those are things that can't be done. That said, as far as his swing goes, it's probably not nearly as aggressive as he He's a super violent swinger, super violent, one of the most violent swingers in the game. Is one of the concerns about his like overall health for me and his elbow, even the reconstructed one or the one that he had the brace on, but also his back and that sort of thing. But I think this is a good lesson. Like, dude, four hits for hits run scored RBI's production. That's all that really matters. Home runs are great and they put your team up a couple of points a couple of runs, but you know, that's not that big of a deal. And when I by the way, when I say points, people get all on me about social media. Point that's like a that's a slang. Okay, guys, just so you know, I know, yeah, well, well some.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: People don't know that it's run scored.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, idiots. Anyway, My point is, my point is he's producing runs and it's a and it's a very very good thing. And you know, at some point the ball it's going to go out of the ballpark, especially in the postseason when your adrenaline is flying higher, that ball is going to be lofted a little bit more. It's going to be out of the ballpark. Everybody relaxs and enjoy what's going on with the Phillies right now, because they're doing the damage it's necessary to be done.

00:15:17
Speaker 3: It's a good point, Ruben.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: Yep, it's great point, Rubert, and we will be right back.

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00:16:18
Speaker 2: And we are back. It's time for listener questions. Viewer questions asked for a bunch last night. If you're not following us on x formerly known as Twitter Instagram, we asked for some questions last night. Also give us a follow on TikTok and Facebook and subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. So first question, guys comes from Scott braun Our Palette file Territory. This is a good one because the Phillies have an eight game lead with seventeen to play over the Mets. In the NL East. They're one up on the Dodgers for the best record in baseball, the best rucker in the Nation League one up, but it's actually two up because they own the tiebreakers, so they're in a good spot right now. Which team looks like the toughest matchup for the Phillies in October? And then red JA eight eighty eight on I think this is on Instagram said rank your possible playoff opponents by being most worried one team you hope they play. So who do you think? Let's start with that. Who do you think is the toughest matchup? Who would scare you a little bit?

00:17:23
Speaker 3: I still think Arizona. The way they play, the style they play, confidence they built against the Phillies last year. They had a good series against them this year. That would be a little maybe a little bit of a concern. But I still think the Phillies can beat anybody if they play their game, If they if they're not sloppy, don't give extra bases, don't walk people, don't chase stuff off the play, you know, play the good brand of ball. They're very capable of playing. If they start chasing and swinging big, and anybody can beat you know, pressing and swinging big like we've seen at times. It's in there. It rears its head at times offensively. You just have to hope it doesn't. And when they're on top of the game, if they worry about themselves, they can beat anybody.

00:18:12
Speaker 1: And my head says the Dodgers probably the toughest team, but my heart says that Arizona and the Padres are the teams that I would be concerned about. The other team that I would be concerned about are the are the Mets just because they're playing such they're playing sort of hot baseball, They've played well, they feel confident. A lot of it depends on how these next several games they have with the Mets go down, because if the Mets beat them up a little bit, then I'd be really scared of them. So and you know, the Phillies haven't played great necessarily against the Mets over the years. I mean, they seem to step up and play pretty good baseball against the Mets. I'm not sure exactly what the breakdown is between the Mets and the Phillies this year. But I do recall that there's some there's some issues with them. I don't what do we know? What the what the I think I think they played in two series. I don't know. Maybe they split, I'm not sure, but I know that they have had some some tough goals with them at times. Anyway, my point is my point is, you know, sometimes it's you wanted to play the team that's not the hottest. And I mean we we saw that years ago in twenty eleven with Saint Louis Cardinals they were super hot. We saw that years ago with the Colorado Rockies who were super hot, and in two thousand and seven when they got knocked out by the Rockies and three they were super hot at the end of the season. I just feel like you just have that. That's part of it. But as far as you know, the way they're playing, the Padres are scary. Arizona's really scary for me because the Phelicias don't play well against them, and they've done a nice job and executed well against them. But I mean, talent wise, you know, we always have to worry about the Dodgers because they have so much, so much threat at the top of that lineup.

00:19:59
Speaker 2: I think the Diamond that's just you know, if they came back here, they ain't gonna be scared of the crowd because they they.

00:20:05
Speaker 1: Been there, done it.

00:20:07
Speaker 2: We've been there in the biggest moments, one of the biggest the only game seven in Phillies postseason history.

00:20:12
Speaker 3: The Mets have a lot of good mojo going they I know they lost Jeff McNeil, a tough loss, but you know, the Phillies are gonna see the Mets a lot, uh seven times in their final sixteen games, so they're gonna get a really good look at each other. Somebody's gonna have a chance to build some confidence. They're very The Mets are gonna be, you know, strapping it on and they're gonna be coming action because they have a lot to play for it. Nobody expected them to be in the hunt for this playoff spot and they're trying to cash it in and uh, it's a it's a heck of a race between them in Atlanta.

00:20:49
Speaker 2: Phillies are Phillies actually are four and two against the Mets this season, but that is almost a you can say like an entirely different Mets team than the one that is playing right now. That's around it. They were so bad at the beginning, they're playing amazing now. That's why they're in the in that third wildcard spot. Alex Hunt on x we got a lot of Ranger Suarez questions fr corb forty nine on Instagram. Level of concern with Suarez and dropping Velo. If Ranger keeps this trajectory and doesn't show you more, do the Phills need to go Wheeler Nola Sanchez in the postseason? Do you consider Ranger as a bullpen piece in the postseason? You know, Ranger last night gives up a career high twelve hits. His Velo's down, it's up, but it was up a little bit from over the weekend in Miami. He didn't have a good change up last night, so he kind of just you know, he was fastball, curveball, getting hit some hard hit balls, some that kind of got through.

00:21:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:21:43
Speaker 2: I mean, I was just looking at the numbers last night and it's kind of a mixed bag, but just not what you want to see. I think he's got a few He's got a few more starts to go before the postseason. But we were talking about this last night in the press box at the postseason starts today, as he I guess, how do you line up the rotation? If you can line it up the way you want to see your number four guy in a in a in a five game series, seven game series, he's not throwing great wheeler Sanchez, NOA thrown a lot better.

00:22:14
Speaker 3: It depends if I can get Sanchez on the mound at home, where his splits is so much better. It's probably something I'm I'm gonna consider. If it's a series you can get through with three starters, maybe Ranger goes to the bullpen. These are all good questions, all stuff I'm sure they're talking about. But it's a concern for me. And you can say, oh, he didn't have any rehabs starts in the minors, He's what is he four starts in and his stuff.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: Hasn't starts in.

00:22:38
Speaker 3: There's your rehab and the stuff is no better. Everything is sort of trending downward, and from vlo to spin, you just would like to see more. I wonder how good of shape he's in it Does it look like he's in tip top shape? And uh, it's it's gotta be a concern for that, for that coaching in that front office as they aligned.

00:23:01
Speaker 2: Thanks for the postseason, so Rubin Rob Thompson said before the game, he mentioned just kind of flow this. Maybe he's going through like a little bit of a dead arm situation right now, but he is healthy. Ranger said last night, he's healthy. Dead arm. Does that make any sense? Is that something he could be going through. I mean, he missed a month, so I guess usually you hear about guys grinding through and then they hit a dead arm midseason, but he had a month off and now he's four starts in and Rob mentions dead arm.

00:23:30
Speaker 1: See when I like the scout guys, I like to watch arm speed. I like to watch mechanics. I like to watch see the ball come out of the guy's hand. I want to see how the theal hitters react to him. Yesterday, everything was sort of blot everything. There was no finish to his pitches. I don't know that this is necessarily a health thing or an arm strength thing, but the arm speed, I do not see the same arm speed. I see a floating breaking ball that's kind of rolling up there. There's not a lot of sharpness and a tilt to it. I see that. I don't see the good finish on the change up where you know you're creating, where you're creating sort of a deception. And I don't see a finish on that fastball. I think he's trying to muscle through it. It's not smooth, it's not easy what he was doing in the early part of the season. I have some concern about what kind of shape he's into. I'm not sure you know where his legs are. I'm not sure you know if he's if he's driving with his with his lower half, if his core is is working. All those things have to be working. I think to get your arm speed to where it needs to be, and it may be a mechanical thing. Maybe it's just a small adjustment, staying over the rubber a little bit longer, you know, being able to drive with your lower half, whatever the case may be. The hitters let you know, and when the hitters take the kind of swings they always let you know. The that the reaction of the hitters and how they swing the bat is always that the you know, the telltale sign of you know what this guy's got going on, and right now the hitters are telling them I can handle anything you got. You're flipping stuff up there that I can hit, and so that is a concern for me. I I do believe that Sanchez is a bitter picture right now, and I would put him in the three hole. I would go Wheeler Nola and I would go Sanchez. And I know it's an issue with his splits at home. He put just great at home, not so well on the road. He's just gonna have to make that adjustment. I mean, listen, if they're and they're gonna have homes to field advantage, so the first two games are gonna be at home, I think, and so he's gonna have to adjust and pitch well on the road. Anyway, My point is, I just feel like this guy needs to get his body together. And I'm not sure if that can happen over the next month or so, but it's going to have to happen two weeks because it's here. And if I have to, then I will throw him in the bullpen and to make the bullpen a little bit better. But that said, because you've got the gumption to do and he's done it before. But but yeah, you know you want to have all four guys rolling, because when you get in a seven game series, man, you need to put Well.

00:26:10
Speaker 2: That's the advantage this team has is they're four deep. I mean, so many other teams are gonna be going like, who the heck do we start in game four because you know we've only got two I mean some teams only have two quality guys. That The advantage the Phillies have is that they have four legit all star quality pitchers. So you don't want to sit there in game four going we're gonna throw sores out there. But he's kind of pitched. You know, these seven starts he made coming off the I l he's got any of EUA and the fives or in the four's, and he's not looking real good. So you don't have a good feeling. You want to you want to take advantage of that depth that you have and does.

00:26:42
Speaker 3: Does the stuff right now? And I use that word right now because things can change. We know how good this guy can be. This is the stuff right now Translate to the bullpen.

00:26:51
Speaker 2: I mean that's another.

00:26:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think you make a good point. Maybe his legs aren't back yet. I don't know.

00:27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, Rob keeps saying, you know, this is a rehab, this is a rehab assignment. But right, you're right, Jim, Like this is his four start. If it was any other picture, he'd make three rehabs starts. You're going, all right, let's bring him back. He's ready to go, So rehab starts to rehab.

00:27:15
Speaker 3: Starts, right, you know, right whatever, I'm.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: Sure he should be better than he is right now. He should be better because he's got better stuff. And but right now I don't see it out of his hand.

00:27:27
Speaker 3: I'd be willing to bet they're having the same conversations over there.

00:27:30
Speaker 1: And no question, Oh there's no question.

00:27:32
Speaker 3: They're in the coaches rooming upstairs, so.

00:27:35
Speaker 1: They know what they're doing and they know what they're seeing.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, well answer this can be Chrissy v on X. Will Alec Bone be ready to play when his time is up on the il. He thinks he could be back, you know, before the end of the weekend.

00:27:49
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:27:49
Speaker 2: He says, there's gonna be plenty of time to get him right at the plate, get in sync with his swing and and all that. So he doesn't seem to be too concerned about it. I mean, there is enough time left in the sea and where it he comes back this weekend. He should be okay once the postseason starts. To you, guys see it differently. He'll be ready, He'll be ready. He's fine. Our good old buddy, Rob Hackash from you formerly from the Redding Pills, send us a note said. The last two octobers, Hi Rob. The last two octobers the fills with no buye seem to take advantage of teams the Braves that maybe got a little rusty during the bye. How do they keep their momentum this year if they get a bye? We just mentioned that they've got a game lead over the Dodgers for the top record. There are several games up on the Brewers now for that second seed. That will be the thing, right, that'll be the talk when they get the buye is Oh my gosh, how do they say sharp? Are they gonna play some games? You know, inner squad games. You know they're gonna they're gonna face the traject machine just see velo. Does any of that apply once the postseason starts?

00:28:59
Speaker 1: Though?

00:28:59
Speaker 2: Right to hear them say that, they but nothing's the same as getting in that box, you know, blah blah blah. So is there a way to stay sharp.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: You know, to me, baseball is an everyday game and you got to get out there every day to stay sharp. That said, this team is so banged up. I really think they would benefit from a few extra days and being able to line up their rotation. So what is the kind of the lesser of two evils? Or I would in this case, and there's times I like to keep playing. I think it really helped them in there with a wildcard team a couple of years ago. But I would opt for the for the days off in this case. And how do you stay sharp? You just you just get out there and in sim game whatever you got to do. But maybe the best way to stay sharp is to get a little rest. Maybe it would bring some of the sharpest back because they're banged up.

00:29:56
Speaker 2: Ruben, do you think that's is that a convenient excuse all the bids?

00:30:01
Speaker 1: And I think it. I think it's a little convenient. It is some to it, something to it, just because the teams that are that are grinding to win, sometimes there's a letdown, you know, when you're grinding, Oh we made it now, you know, exhale and then that's what happened in No seven with the Phillies. They grinded it, they made it. You know, the Mets went tanking and then you know, we got into the playoffs and boom, we got knocked out in three. Because I think there's a collective exhale that we finally made it or whatever, and oh, oh, we have to play another series. So I think that there's it's different for each team. I think it's a there's a different flow to it for each team. I think in this case, I agree with Jim that they have a veteran group of guys who've been through it the last two years. They know what it takes and what it's like to be in the playoffs. Most of the players, even with you Turners and the I mean everybody basically on this team has been through this, been through the postseason. They unders and what it takes and how to be sharp. I do think that Rob Thompson will do some things simulated games. Even talked about semi jokingly about piping in some noise and stuff like that, some crowd noise and things like that to be able to get get guys going. I'm not sure if they'll necessarily need it, but I'm sure they're thinking about all this stuff and preparing for all these things. I'm okay. I'm okay with them getting a couple of days off, if they get a week off. It's one thing. Now, I understand that MLB is trying to tighten up some of this stuff that if you know, there's a couple of blowout series that they're gonna you know, start series, you know, try not to let it expand to too long, and they might have to make adjustments. Now, it's all about TV and revenue and all that stuff, but I think that's a smart thing to do that. You know too, you know, a couple of series get knocked off quickly. I mean, you can't have those guys sit around for four or five days. You got to make them play. Plus you lose the momentum of the fan base. And so I think they're going to make some adjustments on that as well.

00:32:04
Speaker 2: I don't think that other teams necessarily like let their guard down, But I feel like if any team is going to have a sense of urgency in terms of being prepared, it's going to be this team. You know. John Smoltz said it last week on the show. He said, you know, the bitter sting of getting knocked out last year in the NLCS has this team so motivated and focused, so I think whatever they could possibly do, I think they're going to be all in on again. Not to say that other teams aren't all in on it when they get these first round byes, but I think this team is going to be really like, all right, guys, let's do whatever they need to do because they don't want to blow this and they go low boys, you know, and we were really rusty coming out of that buy and got knocked out. So John Maloney on x oh, do you think the Phillies will engage Kyle schwarberth a contract extension talks? And what do you think that might look like?

00:32:57
Speaker 3: I think about that all the time because next year will be his final year and it's been a great signing. How old is he?

00:33:04
Speaker 2: Thirty one, thirty one, thirty two? I can take a look at that.

00:33:09
Speaker 1: I think he's thirty one years old. I believe I think he'll be thirty two when we when they have to extend them with thirty two or thirty three.

00:33:17
Speaker 3: And so so good, such a good signing, and like I said, I think about that. It's I would engage him to see where it's going to go. But you know, his his agent. I mean he four years, seventy nine million dollars, they're going to be looking you know, it looks like almost like a bargain they're going to be looking for for a pretty significant deal, I would imagine, because I don't see that bat speed going away anytime soon. In that selectivity and his dh I think he could continue to do what he's been doing for for a few years. He's such a good clubhouse presence. I would engage it and see where it goes. I'd love to keep it to like three, but I don't think it would. I don't know if it'd be hard to imagine. You wouldn't want to go more than that, Ruben, You've done these things.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love to engage him for another three probably, And I was sure the better if you have to pay more money to do it. I mean we talked about this at nauseum. I mean, I'd rather be able to do shorter deals for more money. And you know you got that. You got that out of Wheels, right, you got three more years out of Wheels at a big, big time money. Top of the top of the ticket enough money. But that said, I think this guy would want to stay here. I think he likes being here. I think the you know, you typically don't want to negotiate during the season where the guy's having one of his better seasons of his career, so it's you you want to see him have a lull a little bit or whatever. But that said, there's a lot of factors here. Okay, So it's health because there's lower half. You know, he's had some knee issues, He's had some stuff going on. I don't think it's going to be necessarily a long term thing, but you'd have to factor that in. I mean, I went through that with Brian Howard when we extended him and he ended up, you know, blowing out achilles and his lower half didn't work anymore, and all of a sudden he was a different player and so and he had some knee issues as associated with that, So you have to be aware of that. That said, I mean, you sort of have to pay the guy for his presence because his presence is huge. He makes the team a better team by his presence alone and his knowledge of the game, his ability to pick things out from the picture, and his ability to work counts, and there's so many different other things that are associated that you sort of can't measure that an analytics person cannot measure. And when you're trying to win, you need winning players and winning people, and he is that. And if you do not keep guys like that, those guys don't come off of trees. They're not you know, the Darren Dalton's of the world, aren't you know, those are the Chase Utleys of the world. As far as leadership, they don't, they don't, they don't even exist because no one cares enough about their teams to be the kind of guy that Kyle Schworber is. And so that is a very important piece of this that I know that Dave Nebrowski understands.

00:36:13
Speaker 2: Well, go back and listen to the episode on Monday with Kyle schworbur and you can get a great sense of what kind of leader leader that he is in that clubhouse and the intangibles that he brings to this team. So let's let's finish off with some quick one. Steve Johnson on Instagram. If you gave Ruben a week to stretch his arm, what could he hit on the radar gun Ruben, What are you are throwing up?

00:36:34
Speaker 1: There? Some serious change right right, right handed or left handed? That's true.

00:36:40
Speaker 2: Let's go with your.

00:36:41
Speaker 1: Strip right now, right now. I don't have anything on my right arm right now. I mean they didn't even let me throw BP when I was you know, I was so bad with my vp uh in Boston that they said, okay, I can't, we can't do that.

00:36:53
Speaker 3: People don't realize. People don't realize.

00:36:55
Speaker 1: How difficult it is to well, especially when the three first the very first time I go to to throw b P. Davin Browski's behind the behind the turtle and I'm going, oh, Christ and I'm having to throw left handed with my right because my right arm was screwed up, so I'm throwing left handed. I'm drilling guys. Oh it was terrible.

00:37:14
Speaker 3: Who was the team gets like two hit that night and they blame you terrible?

00:37:19
Speaker 1: Totally right, Yeah, no doubt, but probably I don't know, sixty five miles an hour. I can't, you know, it would it would take a long time for me to get my arm stretched out to be able to throw, you know, seventy seventy miles an hour or whatever I did throw it, I did throw in a professional game though, when I played nine nine positions in a ball in at the King of California League just right, Bill Bill latch Bill Latchman. Bill Lashman allowed me to do it. He was our manager. He's the greatest god blessing me passed away recently or fairly recently. He let me play all nine positions. It was one of the coolest things. We had already clinched the first half and the very next game he let me play nine positions. It was that's awesome. I got a guy to roll over on. I got a guy oh two, and I just film a little sinker that rolled over to shortstop thing. I think it was just one hitter at that I think I faced just one hitter, maybe two.

00:38:17
Speaker 2: Luke keiesol on X. I'm a musician and used to play at the Continental in Yardly. Ruben came to us during a gig and requested Hoody and the Blowfish. Is Ruben still a hoodie guy? Are you still a hootie guy?

00:38:28
Speaker 1: Huge hooty guy that used to be my go to for karaoke. Yeah, Yeah, that's awesome. I love Hoodie. In fact, crazy story, I saw Hoody before Hoody became Hoodie.

00:38:40
Speaker 2: Is that right?

00:38:41
Speaker 1: I was in Dallas hanging out with a friend of mine there and uh, this is a thousand years ago, and she said that we're going to some hockey talk place in Dallas and some group called like Hoody in the Blowfish or Pluti in the blow Dumps or something, I don't know what it was. And I'm like what And we ended up going and literally Hoody ended up. I mean there's Hooty and the Blowfish on the stage. I was like, those guys are awesome. Boom. Right after that, they like they went nuts. And Darius Rucker, Darius Rutger and his group became like famous as hell. And I mean, I'm a huge fan. He's also like a huge baseball fan. I think, yes, so big sports god.

00:39:23
Speaker 3: Back in like ninety four or five, one of the Blowfish actually came to the Phillies Clubhouse. Not Hooty, but one of the Blowfish.

00:39:35
Speaker 1: And one of the blow Dumps.

00:39:38
Speaker 3: Because they were friends with Dave Hollins from University of South Carolina. That's one of the guys knew Dave Hollins and he came to the clubhouse so got to witness one of the blowfish up close and personal.

00:39:51
Speaker 1: What a huge thrill. I'm sure.

00:39:56
Speaker 2: Let's finish with this six though on X What were Jim and Todd's funniest inn actions with Ruben while he was an executive. I was thinking about this, and honestly, I couldn't think of like one specific funny moment, but there were I mean, there was just a lot of uh, you know, goofing around in moments that provided some levity. You know, there was there was a lot of laughs in the you know, because you had to be somewhat serious. But you know, you had to be serious a lot of the time because you were making big decisions and had to talk about struggles and whatnot.

00:40:26
Speaker 3: But there were a lot of serious moments. There were times when you're I mean, when you're a reporter and an executive, sometimes you bang heads and you get sideways. I mean, I had some cold wars with Ruben that lasted, you know, for months, and then you know, some some disagreements. But you know, Ruben always had really and still does, his thick skin. But there were times when you could lighten up the moment and have a laugh and break the tension and maybe end the Cold War and we had some laughs over the years.

00:40:59
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I do think about for these guys is that, you know, when I was a player and they were sort of Jim at the time I was a player, you were, or not Jim, but Zo. You know, there's a different relationship as a player, and you know, I goofed around a lot more as a player than I could obviously as an executive. So the dynamic that they have these guys had to deal with me is sort of different as a player as an executive. They're like, this guy was like a player a few you know, a few minutes ago or whatever back in the day, and and and so obviously a lot more playful now than you ever was. But but it was really sort of different when I was a player, was a little bit more playful. I think as a player, Jim, you would probably know a little bit more about that. I can mess around. But there were times when I was in this, when I was an executive too that we and some of this stuff can't we cannot air no, but but but some fun stuff that that did did still go on. I mean, I it probably was a different dynamic for you guys, and for most reporters that when I made the transition from being you know, on the field to being in the in the front office, that you had to we had to sort of deal with each other differently. Weird.

00:42:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't. It was a big change. The cat and mouse game before free agencies was always you know, it could elicit some laughs.

00:42:19
Speaker 1: You know.

00:42:20
Speaker 3: I you catch Reuben and maybe at the GM meetings and I'd be like, you know, does this guy do anything for you? And he said, I say, does this guy do anything for you? And you're kind of like talking on background. You know, as a reporter, you're trying to build your story and plan for two three four weeks down the road whether or not there might be interested in a certain guy. And you know, does this guy give you any blood flow? Ruben and blood flow? You know, moderate flow? Moderate? If no flow would have come up, I know, maybe there's nothing there but modern flow. Maybe a guy to keep an eye on. So you developed these little code words and and and but you never know, you know, I had a GM once tell me at I think it was the GM meetings or something, we are not signing x X player. We are not signing x player. And so that kind of shaped my thinking throughout the winter and then they signed X player. So you're never right.

00:43:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the one thing. The time.

00:43:27
Speaker 3: Once I was interviewing you at the Winter Meetings, Todd, I'm sorry. So at the Winter Meetings, we you know, you'd have a session with the GM every day, and I remember going upstairs to your room or you're suite actually where you're all your brain trust with the war room, and we had a camera and you know, you'd walk in, they turn around the whiteboard so you couldn't see the whiteboard with all the names they would get. And remember that Todd and had so I said, Ruben is going to do this little stand up interview with me. He said, we'll do it right here. We're right here. He was all business, you know. So you know, I remember saying, like, you know, I'm in the war room is where all the Phillies plans are behind this whiteboard. There are secret documents all over this room. And I held up an M and M rapper.

00:44:17
Speaker 2: So good.

00:44:19
Speaker 1: It was funny. We used to have to either turn the whiteboard around and we have to drape it with like a sheet or something like that. You know, we had a special sheet Mike go on to always set up the room. You know, our director of pro scouting who's still there, just still do a great job with them. Oh yeah, but uh it was fun. It was fun time, man, it was fun, uh doing that stuff, those devils at Nance.

00:44:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, all those little nuances you have to pick up on how what a guy's saying, Like Jim, that's so true. Like if Ruben, like I remember talking to you the Cliff Lee thing was about to happen. I remember I think you were in Arizona maybe, or I was in Arizona. Was Arizona, right, And I remember getting you on the phone and asking, like you know Ken Rosenthal or somebody says this thing is close and you're like, I'm not talking about Todd, I am not getting into free agent negotiations. And I said, just the vibe you're giving me, I was like, this guy is full of it right now. There's something going on. There is something. But just just from knowing you over the years, and if something was totally not going to happen, it was garbage. The tone in your voice was just different when you said there's nothing going on or I'm not going to talk about this, I don't beget in free agent negotiations. I don't discuss this stuff. I was like, hmm, I think there's something happening here. So I remember calling t R. Sullivan, who was our Rangers writer at MLB dot Com at the time. I said, I think something is going on here. And then he ended up breaking the story because I think he got word from the Rangers that Cliff said he's signing with the Phillies. So he ended up breaking that story that night on Twitter. But yeah, so that those are the little things that you pick up.

00:45:53
Speaker 3: So I remember, and sometimes we can help Ruben because I remember when so at one winter meetings, you guys were trying to make that Michael Young deal and it got really hung up, and I forget why he was trying to decide whether to wave his no trade or whatever. But I had somebody close to Michael Young telling me that he eventually is gonna wave his no trade close. It's gonna take a tay or two, but it's gonna happen. So I'm writing that this deal will happen. Michael Young will and I remember Ruben calling me and saying, do you know something I don't know? They they were not getting the word from Michael Young's camp whether he was going to accept this deal or not so and that created some laughs and it's great.

00:46:34
Speaker 2: I had never heard that story.

00:46:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny.

00:46:37
Speaker 2: That is great. All right, Well, thanks everybody for the questions. We will be back later this week.

00:46:44
Speaker 3: Smelly Lena boys.

00:46:46
Speaker 7: Yea, this is the Philly Show. 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 and hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on Philliesnation dot com. Get more of Ruben'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 allphly dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the Philliesbnewsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network