Noooooo-la: Aaron Nola’s struggles continue as Phillies postseason approaches

00:00:01
Speaker 1: How's it going. This is Jason Kelce and welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:09
Speaker 2: Our junior Jim Salisbury Todds A lucky It's the Philly Show. It's Thursday, September fourth, twenty twenty five. Big day in Philly. Of course, the Brewers Philly Series ends on Thursday, but also the Eagles open up their twenty twenty five season title defense. How are we doing, guysd be good? Great? A little broggy, old groggy, little groggy Rubins in Milwaukee. He was at the game last night. Phillies lose, of course to the Brewers, but they maintained their five and a half game lead over the Mets in the National League Eese. They still have the I think it's a two game lead over the Dodgers for that really really really important second seed in the NL playoffs. But we saw Aaron Nola struggle again on Wednesday night, and let's start there. It's time for the Park's First Pitch. First Pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. Aaron Nola Wednesday Night, five innings, six hit, six runs, two walks, six strikeouts, one home run the first inning. If you got up and fix yourself something to eat, and you came back a few batters later, it was five nothing. In the blink of an eye. He has an eight three to eight RA. In his first four starts back from the injured list, he has a six seven eight ERA this season. I look this up. It's the sixth highest ERA of any Philly starter minimum of sixty five innings since earn runs became an official NL stat in nineteen twelve, which is hard to believe considering how amazing he's been. The guys ahead of him on this list. Lee Sweetland had a seven seven zero ear A nineteen thirty and then after that our Calvin Maduro nineteen ninety seven, At Holly nineteen thirty four, Taiwan Walker last season, and then David Buchanan in twenty fifteen, and again you you know, you know, Taiwan Walker obviously has had some really nice years in the big leagues. But you know, Aaron Nola just so much a cut above. We're talking about one of the best players pitchers in Philly's history, and he's on that list. So Ruben, let's let's start with you. You know what, what do you see from Aaron Nola? What do you see from that first inning? Can he get it turned around? Is there enough time to get it turned around? Well?

00:02:40
Speaker 3: That is you know, that's a nine million dollar question, is whether he can turn it around.

00:02:45
Speaker 2: Well, what I saw from him, there were sparks of.

00:02:47
Speaker 3: Him having the ability to pitch like he can pitch, but he sort of has to be perfect with his stuff right now. My concern is his command of his fastball. He does not have command of his fastball, and particularly in the first couple of innings when he comes out, I mean the last you know, his first couple of innings of each one of his last starts, he just hasn't been sharp. I'm not sure if it's something's going on between his warm ups and he gets one of the time he gets to the mound and the first inning, or whatever the case may be. But something's happening, and adjustment is going to have to be made because he doesn't really get sharp or sharper until he gets into the game. There have been times over the course of his career, well he'll be cruising along and then he'll have like a blow up inning, like a three or four run inning, and that has been happening a little bit more often over the last couple of years, but right now you're seeing it happen really early in the game and then he sort of settles in. And that's what happened. The first five hitters got on and scored yesterday, And that's a big deal, especially with a team like the Brewers, who just keep, you know, poured on and they can put a lot of pressure on you and and create a lot of havoc. Something and their manager, Pat Murphy really believes in is putting heat on the picture in some way, shape or form, and you do that by running.

00:04:09
Speaker 2: The bases the way they do.

00:04:11
Speaker 3: It's clear that he is either struggling out of the stretch. He doesn't feel comfortable out of the stretch right now. He's gone through those stretches at times when he doesn't throw well out of the stretch.

00:04:22
Speaker 2: But the fact that he came.

00:04:23
Speaker 3: Right out of the shoot walk the first guy not a great sign. And again, it's really the fastball command. And this is a guy who has always had really good fastball command. I mean, his fastball command sort of made him the pitcher he is now. He regained it later on in the game, had some sharpness to his breaking ball. There was some positive that came out of it. There's also some defense that didn't work for him. I mean, basically went to center field, US run score with the bases loaded, kind of hit into no man's land. Pretty good pitch. It was flipped out in the center field. Bader makes a heckup of play because Contraras has to freeze at second base and it's a one hot throw at Alex Boma. He just flat out missed the ball, flat out missed the baseball, and if he catches it, it is a forced play a third base. There's man on first and second, there's one out, and the whole complexion of the of the inning may very well change. Now he does give up a home run later on on a on a change up that stays out over the plate versus columns, but it really does change the complexion of the game of the man gets an out there and uh, and then maybe he changes the way he pitches. You know, you don't know what's going to happen. There's so many different permutations of things that can happen, but you know you have to sort of play really good defense behind him. Because he's pitching the contact right now, not punching out as many people. And uh and if you don't play clean baseball, especially against a team like the Brewers, you're gonna get beat up. And that's what happened, settled in afterwards, and then by that time, I think guys were you know, they weren't able to get enough going offensively against Kaitana to be able to jump back into it. But it is a concern. He's got to get his fastball come on again. He's got to start staying over the ball right now. I feel like his like his wrist is sort of like on the side of the baseball and you see this kind of action. It's not downward downward movement and sink and I think that that might be a little bit of a mechanical thing. But whatever, whatever is going on, it's going to have to change because they really need him to step it up in the rotation because the playoffs are coming and there's steam rolling towards the playoffs and they don't really have a right handed starter and that's a real issue.

00:06:43
Speaker 4: Big issue. I mean, that confirmed it last night. They don't have a right handed starter. You know, last two starts thirty two and thirty seven pitches in the first inning. I mean, no, you're putting your team to sleep. You're falling behind early. It's uh, you know, and then they compound it, as you mentioned with the defense and a sloppy base running play, just a sloppy first inning, and like you do that against the Brewers who play the game so right, and you know, they kind of smell blood and they pile on a little bit. But you know, I'm very concerned about Nola. He gets away with nothing over the plate. He just doesn't have the juice to get it by people. There's no margin forever. If he's not really on the edges. Almost has to pitch like Quintana does. Who gives the Phillies fits because he can get him out off the plate.

00:07:32
Speaker 1: But yeah, very concerned about Iron Nola.

00:07:34
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, watching him pitch, I don't know, you know, why the trouble in the first inning. You know, does he need to adjust his warm up?

00:07:42
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:07:43
Speaker 4: After ten years in the big leagues, he knows how to warm up. I just wonder if we're just watching a guy kind of you know, run out of bullets a little.

00:07:53
Speaker 1: Bit here right before our eyes.

00:07:55
Speaker 4: It's difficult to watch because he's been a really great Philly and he is a great man, but I will admit it is difficult to watch, and at the moment, you know, maybe I'm getting.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: Ahead of myself. Postseason.

00:08:08
Speaker 4: He's got four more stars too, before they make a decision on what they're going to do in terms of the postseason rotation. I don't expect them to make a decision any time before that.

00:08:18
Speaker 1: You should run it right down to the wire.

00:08:21
Speaker 4: But he hasn't instilled enough confidence where you could say, yeah, he's going to get the ball in one of those postseason games. So your three best starters right now are the three lefties.

00:08:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's It is disappointing to see him kind of fade off like this. You know, you just again, he's been so consistent. You look at what did you just pass? Cole Hamil's in the all time Philly's strikeout list just in his last start. Maybe, so to see him kind of struggle is tough because you know, you know, he cares about it as much as anybody. A guy works his butt off. He always comes into camp in great shape, but it just has not been there. So Yeah, like you said, you he's got about four more starts to try to get this thing turned around. And you know, I don't know how many starts he has to quality starts he has to put together to kind of maybe nudge his way into that postseason rotation. But he's got to show some He's got to show much more than he's he's he's shown recently.

00:09:23
Speaker 4: First Pitch has been presented by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino.

00:09:29
Speaker 1: The website is Parkscasino dot com.

00:09:32
Speaker 4: You must be twenty one if you have a gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler.

00:09:36
Speaker 5: Ftfans, you want to have confidence when you go out in public. Absolutely, we can't all wear a backwards hat like me, but you can get some True Classic fit shirts. It almost looks like, oh wow, this shirt was tailored for me. Nope, it's every True Classic. This john is soft, it is smooth, and it makes you look a little jacked.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: I'm just saying.

00:10:00
Speaker 6: You are jacked and you are spot on. True Classic is the spot to go if someone's like, where do I get shirts? True Classic. The colors are fantastic. They've sold over twenty five million shirts to more than five million customers. Their shirts just win the feel, the tailored look, the price. We all wear True Classic on FT I mean cam maybe literally can't say enough about them too. Next time we have Camon, hit up True Classic dot com slash foul. Give it a shot, upgrade your wardrobe and save on True Classic at True Classic dot com slash foul. That's True Classic dot com slash fo u l.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: We are back. We are going to have another show on Friday. We're gonna be answering your Phillies questions. So hop on any of our social various social media channels and send us a question and we will try to answer. But I wanted to get back to Aaronola and this is gonna be something that everybody talks about until the playoffs start, until the Phillies announced their postseason rotation, whether they clinch a first round by and their first three you know they need they play in the NLDS or if they somehow finish behind the Dodgers and they have to play a team host a team in the wildcard series who are going to be the three starters. So I think if the season ended a day, it would have to be the three left handers, right, you guys correct? I mean it has to be. It has to Oh, it almost has to be.

00:11:25
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any question that the first three guys are Sanchezuarez and and Lozardo. I don't think there's any question about it. They're the most effective guys and they sort of deserve it. I mean, listen, you're pitching, You're pitching the best you should be pitching, and uh and I think that they're just going to have to They're just gonna have to go and roll with it and hope that, you know, not having the right hander in the rotation at least early is the way to go.

00:11:55
Speaker 4: Do we think Nola can pitch out of the bullpen with this early you know, first inning struggles? I mean the bullpen would be a shorter stint, so that would magnify his first inning and work with his problems maybe out of the stretch without the firepower, you know, I don't know, what do you think, Rubin.

00:12:17
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: I think that in that in that setting he probably could. I would think that he would still make the roster because he's got the experience. I think that that means a lot to Rob Thompson, I think that means a lot to this organization, and he does. And he also can be a guy who can piggyback if someone you know, breaks down early. He can jump in there and and sort of save some innings if they feel like he's not going to be one of the starters and not sharp enough to be one of the top three or four in that rotation. So, you know, I think that he's a guy that that can eat eat up some innings. He's still a fresh arm. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be effective, but I think that his experience and the fact that he's been there it he can at least, you know, provide some length to uh you know, to some of that to that bullpen and give it.

00:13:07
Speaker 2: A little more depth. Well, the interesting part comes into play. So say the Dodgers passed them, the Phillies finished with the third seed, and whoever they play in the wildcard series hypothetically and say they need to play all three games doing that wildcard series. Now, the NLDS, you need that four starter, right Who is the fourth starter right now?

00:13:29
Speaker 1: Is it? I mean?

00:13:31
Speaker 2: And the option is really it could be Walker Buehler I was gonna ask you that it could be Walker Buehler. Walker Buehler could be starting, you know, depending on how he does. The Phillies said that we talked about this last week, Walker Bueler joining the organization. The Phillies think they could maybe help him with a couple of things to get him maybe make them a little bit more effective. Uh, that would not surprise me at this point.

00:13:57
Speaker 3: If they use an opener that's a positive, like guy Max Lazaar or something like that. I mean, that's a possibility as well.

00:14:04
Speaker 1: Tywan Walker would like to be considered man.

00:14:06
Speaker 3: Taiwan Walker maybe and opener.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: There's no question about it. I mean there.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: And in some ways he's earned that spot. I mean he's pitched well enough. Again, he's a guy that's sort of changed his uh his you know, way of pitching and maneuvering around the strikes and with his cutter and his split.

00:14:27
Speaker 2: But he's a veteran guy.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: And again, I mean, he's not gonna scare He's gonna go up there and and try to perform it his best. It's not swinging this stuff, but you know, he can. He's been doing a pretty good job overall this year and you got to commend him for keeping guys in the game, so you might see Tywan Walker in that fourth spot.

00:14:48
Speaker 4: Now we're also getting into, you know, roster construction.

00:14:52
Speaker 1: How many spots do you have?

00:14:53
Speaker 4: How many spots are you gonna assigned to starters that you're kind of crossing your fingers on, you know, But you know, I could see them like they did in that game against Atlanta in twenty twenty two. He was like nine different pitchers and he struck out fifteen and walked zero. It was an unbelievable performance by those guys. You know, you can see them getting creative and Nola getting the ball and at some point and Taiwan getting the ball at some point, and who knows what they're gonna get out of Bueller. He's sort of an X factor. Has not pitched well, but you never know. When a guy smells October a little bit, they just unfortunately they're gonna you know, I say unfortunately because just Nola hasn't inspired confidence. Maybe things changed in the next four starts. He certainly has enough veteran know how to try to piece something together.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: I just worry about whether it's in there anymore.

00:15:48
Speaker 4: Right now, he had because he had that long reset, three month reset, and the results just are not there. That to me is a major concern.

00:16:00
Speaker 3: Thing was that, you know, I thought he'd have a fresh arm, which he does because does not.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: He didn't have any arm issues.

00:16:06
Speaker 3: There was no arm health issues, so I thought he'd be a fresh arm. And some of the some of the velocities that you saw were popping a little bit more, maybe in a mile a mile and a half, better than he had performed in the first part of the season before he went down. I saw some ninety threes and ninety fours in this basketball, this past start, this last start, probably in the ninety two, you know, touch ninety three every once in a while, I think, but didn't have the same zip that he had on some of his pitches in the first couple of stars that he had.

00:16:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the guys these days, they trained for velocity, They ate ninety two for breakfast.

00:16:43
Speaker 1: This is not you know, nineteen ninety five anymore.

00:16:46
Speaker 2: Right, Well, yeah, his his velocity had his previous two starts, he was showing some more pop because lat the start on Wednesday night, I think he only had four pitches that touched ninety three. So but you know, Walker Buehler. I was looking at some of his numbers on Wednesday night, just kind of thinking about this potential postseason rotation. And if you look at some of his metrics compared to Nola in terms of strikeout rate, walk rate, some of these expected metrics is basically just tell you the quality of contact against him. He's actually pitched worse this season than Aaron Nola, even though Aaron Nola has the higher AARA. You know, Ruben, you talked about some of the bad Lucky had in the first inning. He had some of that bad luck earlier this season as well. And I'm not saying I'm not saying he's pitched well or anything. What I'm saying is when we're talking about is could Bueller get a start? Could it be Nola? Could it be Taiwan? Walker Buehler is an X factor. But if you look at some of those numbers, his numbers with the Red Sox, there's a reason why that they let him go. They just cut him loose because they just weren't seeing what they needed to see. So it's gonna be really really interesting. And man, these are the moments when you go, ah, this would not even we wouldn't even be talking about this if Zach Wheeler.

00:18:06
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the whole Zach Wheeler thing is really unfortunate.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: It's part yeah, no doubt. I mean, it's just when we.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: Were thinking about this team in October, a big concern was, you know, the offense disappearing as it has in previous Octobers. And now it's a big concern is squarely on the pitching. Yeah, like you know it was. It's an unfortunate blow to lose the guy who can hand the ball to in game one. Now you've got Sanchez in Game two. Things are looking new, pretty good, and now it's a huge question mark.

00:18:36
Speaker 3: So we've had thirty we've had thirty of these shows or so or forty, however many we have this season, and all we've talked about is the strength of the starting rotation and that's what's kept them afloat and in you know, in their position that they are today.

00:18:52
Speaker 2: That took a major.

00:18:53
Speaker 3: Blow with Wheeler out, and yeah, it will be interesting how they rally around it.

00:18:58
Speaker 2: And it can be done. If when you guys mentioned bullpenning until I mean the Dodgers have bullpenned their way to two World series championships in the last four or five seasons. So the Phillies have the ability to kind of bullpen their way through a game if it ends up coming down to that.

00:19:17
Speaker 4: So any team can get super hot in the Phillies, we see what But right now they're they're you know, Schwarber and real Mudo have really cooled. And those were two guys who were so important to this, you know, second half and Schwarmer to the whole thing.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: Uh, they're human.

00:19:32
Speaker 4: They've had really good seasons, but you know they've they've cooled lately. But you know they can get sizzling hot. That lineup can get sizzling hot at any point. But they're gonna have to in the in the postseason.

00:19:46
Speaker 2: No doubt. Uh. The Eagles open up their season on Thursday night, right after the Phillies and Brewers finished their season in Milwaukee. Now would be a good time rubin to head that with Marks Casino, no doubt.

00:20:05
Speaker 3: The Pro football regular season is almost here tonight and the Birds are back and they are a touchdown favorite, hosting the Dallas Club in the Thursday night tonight's opener. The over underfour the game total is forty six points. Bet more than the score, though, bet passing and rushing yards layer touchdown so much more. My team at the bet Parks online sportsbook and casino as you covered with an amazing offer to start the new season, the bet Parks twenty five thousand dollars kickoff giveaway from bet Parks, the only online sportsbook and app that I would ever recommend. And here's how it works. New and existing bet Parks users. Just place a twenty five dollars bet on the Pro Football Thursday Night opener between the Birds and Dallas, and you're an automatically entered to win a share of twenty five thousand dollars in bonus bets from the team at bet Parks betparks dot com. As terms and conditions and winners will be announced on September fifth. It's a twenty five thousand dollars kickoff giveaway from my team at the bet at bet Parks, where there's always another way to win. You've got to be twenty one in Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland and Michigan gambling problem called one a hundred gambler.

00:21:21
Speaker 6: We're throwing a curveball at you this week for our Arena Club segment as aj has opened up a Pokemon flat pack.

00:21:28
Speaker 2: Did you said Pokemon flatman?

00:21:30
Speaker 6: Pokemon. Don't ask me to say what that card is, but we're doing with that card. I already sold it back, baby.

00:21:37
Speaker 5: I bought it, and then I got more money than I paid for the pack.

00:21:39
Speaker 1: So I sold us straight back.

00:21:41
Speaker 2: You bought it for two fifty you sold it for.

00:21:47
Speaker 6: And you can go get yourself something that you maybe know how to pronounce.

00:21:50
Speaker 1: Yes, I know what it is.

00:21:52
Speaker 5: I said it because I saw certain people opening Pokemon and they're making money, and guess what I got.

00:21:57
Speaker 1: Lucky made money off.

00:21:59
Speaker 2: Of it too, exactly.

00:22:00
Speaker 6: But of course, if you're into sports cards, that is something that you can find a ton of on the Arena club marketplace. By sell slab pack trade twenty percent off your first slap pack or card purchase can be had at Arena club dot com slash foul and use the code f o u L. That's Arena Club dot com slash foul and use code f o u L.

00:22:23
Speaker 2: We are back. You guys collect Pokemon cards, my.

00:22:30
Speaker 3: Son, that's crazy crazy for a while.

00:22:36
Speaker 2: Man, it still is a thing, still a thing they still sell. My son collects that as well as baseball cards. They'll come up to me and show me some card. No idea what it is, but I think I was talking with Matt Strom about this. Yeah, Pokemon, lea, you your sandbagging me? You know, yeah, you too. I have a card I carry.

00:23:05
Speaker 1: I have no idea what that is.

00:23:06
Speaker 4: But in this household, we had a lot of American girl dolls.

00:23:10
Speaker 3: Same same, same, same Chicago every time we went there.

00:23:16
Speaker 1: Oh we're still.

00:23:19
Speaker 2: That is amazing. They're all it's all collectible, guys. You can all get rich one day selling your American girl dolls and your shars aren't cards. I wanted to jump on something, Ruben. On Monday, the Phillies had that big, big comeback win against the Brewers. That was a super fun game to watch. I mean that game was about it was fun. That was a fun bat. They're buried early or sitting there going all right, you know. I went to they're gonna lose this game, and then they back and forth, back and forth, and then in the ninth inning. I wanted to ask you about this because you said this during the broadcast. Uh, Kyle Schwarber is on first base. I can't now, I can't remember how many outs there were, but you said, you know what, if they can get Kyle Schwarber NL MVP candidate Kyle Schwarber, if they can get him to second base, I might pinch run Garrett Stubbs take Kyle Schwarber out of the game in a tie game to give them a chance to win. Tell me about that your mindset there, because I thought that was an interesting and by the way they did it, and it worked, it sure did, it, sure did.

00:24:29
Speaker 3: And you know, Kyle, Kyle Schwarber obviously not really fleet a foot, pretty good base runner, but certainly not fleet a foot. I think that now you're playing games much like you would play games in the playoffs, and you got to win basically every baseball game. I mean, this is the playoffs now from September on, this is playoff baseball. And had they not had a guy like Joan Duran in their bullpen, they may not do this move. But since they have a guy that they have complete confidence in to get the last three outs of the game without another team scoring a run, one run means a whole hell of a lot in the eighth inning or the ninth inning, and so in that instance, you know, he's sort of you know, Kyle Schwarber, I think let off the inning at some point he was probably gonna get the second base, and you got to get somebody in there who can score the run on a base hit. And that's exactly what happened. Garrett Stubbs not super fast, but faster than.

00:25:30
Speaker 2: Than Kyle Schwarber.

00:25:31
Speaker 3: And I guarantee you that on that ground ball base hit, I don't think that Dusty Watten would have sent Kyle Schwarber had had he been on the base pass at that time and a lot more apt to send. Garrett Stubbs got a great jump and he was running as hard as little legs could could garry him. He's quick, he's quick, and he's got He does run a lot better than than Kyle does. And it ended up being in an important move. It was why and I think I mentioned it during the game, why I thought a guy like Joan Johan Rojas would have been called up other than than Stubby now that you're so limited with your call ups, just because you need that guy to be able to score that run in that situation. But the fact that Garrett Stubbs did it, that was big for them. It speaks to the possibility of a guy like Rojas maybe making a playoff roster. A lot of it depends on, you know, who you're playing and how they want to set things up. But I mean that's the move that they made, and it was a writing and you know, typically if you if you didn't have the confidence in your bullpen to be able to hold that run down and worry about whether it's a tie game and whether you're going to lose that bat, you know later on if his turn comes up in you know, extra innings. You know, I just feel like there's so much more confidence now with Durroan. There's so many domino effects that happened, and that was one of those. That was one of the dominant domino effects and the fact that it worked out that was big for Rob Thompson in the Phillies. A great, great win, maybe the best win of the year.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: Good win.

00:27:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hey, could you uh, because you you're in Milwaukee, could you hear Pat Murphy yelling at Jim Wolff when he argued.

00:27:21
Speaker 2: That, Oh yeah, you could could hear it. Yeah, you could hear a lot of things.

00:27:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, because he was pretty It was a pretty good one. That was an old schooler.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: He was pretty animated.

00:27:30
Speaker 3: And I had a chance to spend a lot of time with uh with Pat Murphy yesterday, went in and chatted with him a little bit.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: He didn't talk about that very much.

00:27:40
Speaker 3: I think that the reality of it is that that's a very difficult call. I know, but if the Phillies were on the flip side of that call, we they'd have.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: Been just as pissed off.

00:27:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question.

00:27:51
Speaker 3: I mean, it was very, very ambiguous, and it is an ambiguous thing, and I think at some point they're gonna electronically change that they are.

00:27:59
Speaker 4: He probably didn't talk about it a lot because he's an old schooler, you know, like Dallas and Boa, it's over.

00:28:04
Speaker 2: The next day, it's over.

00:28:05
Speaker 1: It's over over.

00:28:07
Speaker 4: He probably likes Jim Wolf, you know, the two baseball guys. But you know, you have a disagreement, you go at it. And it was a it was a pretty good one and and and Wolf held his ground. And I thought it was a pretty good argument. And I actually that call could have gone either.

00:28:21
Speaker 3: I missed those missed those arguments. I missed those, you know, I missed that part of the game. It's a really cool part of the game, and listen, they're trying to everybody's trying to win baseball games. Everybody's trying to do what they're trying to do to to have the best record, and all these games are important. And this is a great litmus test for the Phillies. And we'll see what happens this afternoon here in Milwaukee. But this is a really great matchup and I'm excited about watching it because it'll tell you a lot about both teams.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: Two things before we go, You guys, have any people not only tune in to hear our Phillies talk, but they love our NFL expertise, you know, Yeah, what's your prediction?

00:29:01
Speaker 7: Any hot hot takes? Gotta have a hot take on the Eagles. I got a hot take on the Eagles. I think they're gonna They're gonna win this football game. But I think Dak Prescott's gonna play really well. And it's I think that Dallas is gonna cover the line. I really do. What is an eight eight and a half right now?

00:29:19
Speaker 2: I just don't. I just listen.

00:29:21
Speaker 3: I'm not a big Dallas fan, obviously, I'm you know, Dallas sucks.

00:29:25
Speaker 2: I'm all over that.

00:29:26
Speaker 3: But the reality of it is this, But the reality of is this. It's early in the season. It's really preseason still for that offense, for the Eagles offense, and I feel like it's gonna be a much tighter game. I think it's a it's a three point win for the Eagles and a tight one.

00:29:42
Speaker 4: Ruby, do you do you think the Cowboys are a different team without Michael Parkins.

00:29:48
Speaker 1: Parsons Michael Parks.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: What what a what a s show over there in Dallas. I don't know what the owners doing. Jerry Jones, I don't get it.

00:30:00
Speaker 1: I'm showing my football knowledge.

00:30:01
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any question it's a different team. But sometimes teams rally around losing guys like that. Who knows, I mean, and then given someday, right, you just don't.

00:30:11
Speaker 2: You just never know.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: And I think it's gonna be a tough game for Dallas to win, but it's not going to be an easy, easy game for the Eagles to win. And I think I see the Eagles winning. I just see by a much tighter margin than the line.

00:30:27
Speaker 4: I think the Eagles to the Eagles have to contain Robert Neuhause and Golden Richards, and they won the game.

00:30:35
Speaker 2: I don't know the biggest thighs of all time, big cause, all I know is that I mentioned this the other day. This is my favorite time of the year. You got Pennant races going on, You've got postseason baseball, and you've got the NFL season going on. You got college football on Saturdays. Of course, I went to University of Minnesota.

00:30:57
Speaker 1: So.

00:30:58
Speaker 2: College football ain't that great usually list you like, guys, teams have finished seven and six all the time. But I want to end on that. What's the game? Well, I think they're gonna win. My hope is that there is an Eagles Packers NFC championship game. That's what I would love to see. That's what I would love to see.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: So fourth and twenty six, Hey.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: Alright, I was. I was in Washington, d C. With my brother watching that game.

00:31:29
Speaker 1: I covered that game. I was on the sidebar crew.

00:31:32
Speaker 2: Are you worried? I was. I was in Washington, d C. In a Packers bar watching that game, all excited, and then fourth and twenty six happened, and it was a long walk back to this to the metro. Jim, what do you got on the Eagles?

00:31:48
Speaker 1: I like them to have a great season.

00:31:49
Speaker 4: I think they're a good ball club and they're gonna, you know, keep us entertained right right until spring training.

00:31:57
Speaker 1: So I think they're gonna have a great year. Who I really like is that Jordan Mylotta. What a team guy he is.

00:32:04
Speaker 4: What a team first guy, big hulking Man has got everybody's back.

00:32:08
Speaker 1: Imagine having that guy on your side. So I'm ana. I like the the under the radar guys. I'm a big my Lota fan.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: Well he's not under the radar anymore because he's He's a line when.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: They don't get the lineman don't get the love.

00:32:22
Speaker 3: He's like Luciano Pavarotti with that voice he's got.

00:32:25
Speaker 2: I like that guy.

00:32:27
Speaker 4: And I like Cooper de Jene because, uh, when he becomes a free agent, I'm gonna sign him to play center field for the Phillies.

00:32:35
Speaker 2: He do with Michael Vick.

00:32:38
Speaker 3: I lost.

00:32:40
Speaker 2: I lost my voice during the Super Bowl when he had that pick six. That was absolutely amazing. I was I was loving that, all right. I want to finish on this, so I got it. We got a message the other day about it, maybe a week or two ago on Instagram, and I don't know if he wants me to say his last name, so I'll say Brian H. Sends us the message he goes love the pod. Often listen in the car with my daughters, ages five and seven, on the way to and from camp. And they got such a kick out of Jim's gardening tips a while back about spanking his tomatoes, so they've adopted that practice at home and would love an update on Jim's garden, and they says. I also asked chat GBT to produce an image of a baseball scribe spanking tomatoes in his garden for the girls to see, and AI did a pretty good job. And here is that image.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's awesome.

00:33:33
Speaker 2: So if you're if you're obviously if you're watching on YouTube, you see what we have. If you're listening to us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast.

00:33:42
Speaker 3: That's so cool.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: There is an image, an illustration of a man holding a baseball bat in his garden. He's waist deep into the mud, into the dirt, and he is I wouldn't even say spanking Jim. I would say more bludgeoning his teas.

00:33:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, striking straight.

00:34:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a there's a hard hit rate on that tomatoes head uh, Jim, I I imagine when you spank your tomatoes you're a little bit more gentle. It's just a light tap.

00:34:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like a light tap, like I take a stick and you hit the you know, the stem and because you're trying to get those little yellow flowers to like pollinate and talk to each other, so you get more tomatoes.

00:34:20
Speaker 1: And I've had a great year.

00:34:22
Speaker 4: I'm still cooking out there, still picking them cherries, big big slicers.

00:34:27
Speaker 1: And my peppers are absolutely going nuts right now.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: Don't be afraid to share the peppers.

00:34:32
Speaker 1: Picks a whole bunch of pole beans.

00:34:33
Speaker 2: The I mean you got you got guys over here looking for peppers.

00:34:36
Speaker 4: So I actually broke out the dehydrator the other day and I dehydrated some of my cayennes cayenne peppers, and I put them in the coffee grinder and I make cayenne.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: Oh man, that stuff's good. I'll get you some of that.

00:34:49
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do some oncho too, which is our dried peblano and a ton of holopenos.

00:34:56
Speaker 2: I love that. That's a great image.

00:34:57
Speaker 3: I think that that should be a lectures item.

00:35:00
Speaker 2: Right there, Jim, you know it actually nft exactly, Jim. This actually kind of looks like you, except the hair. The hair is a little bit darker. If you had a little dark image had been it had a little bit gray hair. Reminds me of the time that a former Phillies beat writer showed up to the clubhouse. I'm not going to name his name. He had gray hair. He showed up one day in Baltimore, Phillies against Orioles, and the guy had gray hair, gray hair, and showed up the next day with jet black hair.

00:35:34
Speaker 4: He he thought because he was crossing state lines, nobody had noticed.

00:35:42
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.

00:35:43
Speaker 2: Well, thanks thanks to Brian. I hope his daughter. I hope that his daughter's got the update that they were looking for.

00:35:51
Speaker 4: I'm glad they're paying attention to those gardening Teach your kids to garden at a young age and they they'll have it forever.

00:35:58
Speaker 1: It'll be a lifelong joy.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, we will be back on Friday. Don't forget to send your questions. We'll be answering all of your Phillies questions and maybe if you have a gardening question fired our way as well, We'll see you on Friday.

00:36:12
Speaker 4: Spankulator boys, Jim.

00:36:15
Speaker 2: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.