Serious Concerns: Zack Wheeler is sidelined indefinitely with a blood clot

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Is Sadara Nolan.

00:00:03
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 3: Rubin Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd z Aleki. It's Sunday, August seventeenth, twenty twenty five. I hope everybody is doing well. Jim and Ruben. I hope you're doing good. Jim Stone. Jim Stone is undisclosed location. He's on assignment.

00:00:24
Speaker 4: Yes, he's very secretive. And I just got a nice massage. You did needed it. I these are a lot of it very stressful for me down in what in DC. Didn't win a lot of games one and two. My record remains horrendous. Well, it's podcasting, but that's you know, it is what it is.

00:00:46
Speaker 3: You tweeted, you tweeted about it on Sunday. You're you know, maybe I'm not in the brooth today, maybe the win a game or something.

00:00:53
Speaker 4: I don't know what you said, but you all I needed to do is get my ass out of the booth.

00:00:58
Speaker 3: I think that's what it was. That's what it was. Well, the Phillies did win on Sunday, Ruben, without you and the booth. It was a little bit of an adventure. They won eleven to nine. Uh, they finished the road trip six and four. You know, good, they swept what they swept the Rangers that started. Then they lost to in a row to finish out the series in Cincinnati, and then they you know, they obviously split in DC. But of course the huge news, of course, really the only news right now is the future and the health of Zach Wheeler. So let's start right there with the Parks Casino first pitch. First pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. So after Saturday's game a loss, uh, the reporters go into Rob Thompson's office. You know usually how this works, right, you go, the game ends, you go into Rob Thompson's office, the interview, but instead at one point they have Dave Dombrowski in the in the office and Paul Buke, the head athletic trainer, and they reveal that Zach Wheeler is going on the injured list, not with a soul sore shoulder, but with a blood clot near his right shoulder. Very I mean, a very serious situation. I mean, forget the baseball side of it, just pure human health standpoint of it. And you know, they talked about that he's going to get more testing early this week in Philadelphia. There is no timeline for his return. There we can speculate as much as we want about you know, what it means when he could come back, when he might not come back. Certainly his health is first and foremost, but very very serious news for the Phillies and especially for Zach Wheeler.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: No question, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's uh, it's you know, it's a human concern. It's bigger than baseball when you hear something as medically serious as you know, a blood clot near his shoulder. So you know, all thoughts are with Zach as we await a prognosis, a timeline. But you know, the major concern here is you know, he's a young man with a family. You want to see him get well, get well soon, and hopefully get back and help the Phillies at some point. But you know, first and foremost, figure out what's going on and get healthy and uh be the man that you need to be before you can be the picture that the Phillies need.

00:03:39
Speaker 5: It's all about the person.

00:03:40
Speaker 1: Amen. Brothers was very concerned when I saw the news.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: I did get a chance to have a quick text exchange with him. I've known him for a number of years since since New York and really concerned about him. I hope he's doing just fine. And he did get back to me, he said, I think I'll be all right. But again, there's a lot of stuff that has to you know, be sorted out there as far as the medical piece of it, the diagnostics and such.

00:04:12
Speaker 1: Thinking of it. He and his family most important.

00:04:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, portant, Yeah, no doubt. So we'll find out I assume we'll find out more this week about Zach. But it was Rob Thompson, you know, you understood the gravity of the situation. Like I said, you know, when when Dave Denbrowse CA and Paul Bucheider giving the health update, usually it's just you know, and Rob Thompson said, He's like, this is not a hamstring injury or or something like that. So that that tells you how serious it is. His blood clot, not a hamstring, not a sore shoulder, not a sore elbow. So we don't know exactly what's going to happen with that. But you know, Zach obviously had been struggling with the sore shoulder. Last six starts he was one and two four or five four year lost him his velocity, it'd struggled with some of his command. So we let's let's talk now about the baseball side of this. And Aaron Nola returns to the rotation on Sunday, and before all this happened, it's like, Okay, they're going to go with the six man rotation. Aaron Nola's coming back. This is good news. They can see what he's got as they try to figure out how they're going to get set up for the postseason. But now Zach Wheeler's out, Now do you still go with the six man rotation? I would expect that to happen to Andrew Painter come back into the picture. He pitched Saturday in Triple A. He is eligible to make his next start, would be ready to make his next start on Friday. The Phillies have not said they're going to go definitely to a six man this week, but probably at some point still, So do you guys have any thoughts on just all these moving pieces and maybe what they might do or how they might handle this, you know, over the next several weeks. You know, if Zach can't come back and pitch.

00:05:50
Speaker 2: Well since you switched from the human side todd to you know, the baseball side and the pitching side. I mean, this is a very big loss one of the best pitchers in baseball.

00:06:01
Speaker 5: You know, he's been subpar.

00:06:03
Speaker 2: Recently, but you know, not having Zach Wheeler is a huge blow and you just don't know when you're going to get him back. And if you don't have him, you're a different team. I think it is really great timing for Aaron Nola to be coming back. He has spent his career pitching at the top half of the rotation. When he's good, he is very, very good. He represents a fresh arm on a rotation that, to me is getting tired. So there's a lot of pluses there. That said, he did not look good on Sunday, you know, and that just exacerbates the concerns you have for this rotation as they continue to mount. He just did not look good. He was ninety ninety one. A couple of innings he was nice and smooth, and then you know that that old one bad inning kind of rared reared its head and the you know, the common denominator in those bad innings in recent years for Aaron Nola is because he doesn't have that wipeout stuff. When he's over the heart of the plate, he gets hurt. And that's what happened in that third inning on Sunday as he failed to protect a six to nothing lead. I mean, they showed a great resilience in battling back. Top of the order was good. They got some big hits, Castianos with a couple of big hits, Harper, Turner was on base a lot West and Wilson at A lot of good things happened in that game as they scrapped back. But for a team that needs a boost in the starting rotation, Aaron Nola to me, didn't really you know, erase any question marks with his outing on Sunday.

00:07:44
Speaker 5: Rubin, No, it wasn't sharp.

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Speaker 4: You know, got through the first couple of innings okay, and then after that sort of hit the wall. My concerned is when he gets out of the stretch, he just doesn't seem to be able to finish innings off. And let's just you know, for me as a fan, you sort of hope that it's rust. But it was very similar to what we had seen in the early part of the season. So I mean, unless you know, he improves as he goes in the next couple of starts, it is some concern that that he's not going to be as sharp and he's just.

00:08:21
Speaker 1: Gonna have to be more perfect.

00:08:22
Speaker 4: He literally is gonna have to be more perfect in the strike zone, much like the adjustments that you see Taiwan Walker making, which has been fantastic. I mean, there's a plus if you want to look at the plus side of things. He has been outstanding and has been able to manage his inability to have the same stuff, but the ability to be able to pitch with it and pitch a little bit differently with his cutter and his split and that sort of thing. But you know, you know, I think Aaron OLA's gonna have to learn that as well, perhaps to pitch differently and to try to figure out how.

00:08:55
Speaker 1: To stay out out of those big innings.

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Speaker 4: My concern about the them going to the six man rotation right now is that I'm not sure if they have enough bullpen arms or depth. If you have several guys like Nola not being able to go deep in games, now you're now you're really taxing your bullpen. I will be fascinated to see what they do when Alvarado comes back.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: I would assume they'll stay with the six.

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Speaker 4: Man, or excuse me, I assume they'll stay with the uh with the five man.

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Speaker 1: Have Alvarado come and probably send down Lazarre.

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Speaker 4: I think it's gonna be the move. But at some point you're gonna have to make some really difficult decisions. Ross has not pitched all that well. Uh you know, uh, Lazarre has an option Romano. He has been okay and certain situations did blow up the one time, but has been a little bit better, a little bit more concer assistant, but used in low leverage. It's gonna be kind of crazy in the nineteenth when Alvarado's back.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: What they're gonna what they're gonna do.

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Speaker 4: I would assume right now they'll probably go to a five man rotation and see how that goes for a little while.

00:10:20
Speaker 1: But you know, painters always a factor. But the painters hasn't really pitched all that well, so so that's a little bit of the problem.

00:10:27
Speaker 4: So I'm fascinated by his next couple of these next couple moves are gonna be made.

00:10:32
Speaker 3: I am too, because here's the thing. About the six man they before the Wheeler stuff. Of course they're like, well, we need to give these guys a little bit of a blow going down the stretch because these guys are kind of wearing down. Now you lose Zach Wheeler. So, uh, Christopher Sanchez is approaching a career high in innings pitched, Ranger wrez Ranger Suarez is struggling down the stretch here and he needs a blow. So now though their importance becomes even more, they become even more important in terms of managing the workload, managing their health, keeping them sharp, keeping them fresh going into the final few weeks of the season, going into the postseason, because if you're not gonna have Zach Wheeler, you really need to make sure you have Christopher Sanchez sharp. You really need to make sure that you have ranger Surez Sharp and whoever that third guy might be in the rotation, if they would, you know, somehow get the first round by in the NLDS, or get to the NLDS if it's Nola, if it's Lozardo, whomever it might be. So you're right, right, it's interesting because you have the you have guys that aren't pitching deep but they do need the rest. So you go to a sixth man, you're gonna maybe put more pressure on those guys. But if you if you go stay in the five man with this long stretch of games going up, then you run the risk of maybe wearing down swore As a little bit more. Maybe you take your one lockdown guy that's left and Christopher Sanchez, and maybe he starts to fatigue a little bit down the stretch. So lots of big decisions that have to be made over the next week or so.

00:12:03
Speaker 4: So conversely with the domino effect that is created by Joan Duran helping out this bullpen and pushing everybody down, when you lose a guy like Zach Wheeler, the domino effect goes backwards. I mean, you basically have the reverse right, and that's really you know, it's fascinating and obviously it's all about Zach Wheeler's personal health. But when you break down the baseball part of this discussion, it becomes very fascinating and then somewhat daunting for the Phillies, especially if they don't swing the bats the way they should, because if they don't, then they're really in trouble because the reliance really all year long has been on the starting pitching.

00:12:46
Speaker 2: I was just going to say that Ruben, with the question marks in this rotation, you better.

00:12:50
Speaker 5: Score a lot of runs.

00:12:51
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:12:52
Speaker 2: I mean, it's kind of hard to believe what has happened in the question marks that have been raised in this rotation, because it was the best.

00:12:59
Speaker 5: In Bay Ball.

00:13:00
Speaker 2: It was the strength of this team. It was the foundation of this team. And now it's got cracks all over the place and we're not sure how they're going to patch him. It's a little hard to believe. And you know, I would even extend the crack to Lehigh Valley because Painter has not pitched like people thought he would. Nobody expected him to come here being be a savior, but he was expected to be here by now and hopefully well and be a contributor, right, and he hasn't pitched well enough for that to happen. Now, they might need him and he'd be a question mark coming here because he just hasn't delivered in Triple A. I know he's a young man, he's a developing player. He's got a bright future, but in the now, I think it probably a little bit more was expected from him this season.

00:13:47
Speaker 3: No, no doubt. I mean, yeah, I mean the way that I mean, Dave Debrowski did not shy away from the fact he you know, he said right away, I think it was that first press conference. We think julish. Maybe it was even earlier than that. He said juliash for for Andrew Painters. I mean, he put that on there. I'm not you know, it wasn't. Sometimes when you asked GMS and in people, player development people about prospects, right, they go, well, you know, the player is going to tell us when he's ready to go, and that's kind of the standard line. And I get that, and it's one hundred percent true. But Dave was like, julyish, you know, that could be June, it could be August. Julyish, though, is the timeline. And he's been very open about comparing him to Justin Verlander and Josh Beckett some of the prospects he had with the Marlins and the Tigers obviously, So yeah, I mean, I think they were certainly expecting much better him. Yeah. On Saturday, he gave up in five innings, four hits, three runs to earn, three walks, five strikeouts. He has a nine to four to five Earray in his last three starts a five to three to one Earray in and seventeen starts this season with the Iron Picks.

00:14:44
Speaker 4: So you want to say what, I don't want to throw anybody under the bus necessarily, but I get a little concerned about the player development developed pitching development, because if you have a guy that's talented and he hasn't really developed, and we haven't seen other pictures other than maybe Able who made the adjustment mentally to put himself in a position for the Phillies to be able to acquire a guy like John Doron, that's huge.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure what's going on down there.

00:15:18
Speaker 2: I have.

00:15:20
Speaker 4: Maybe a little bit of concern about I mean, because this guy, when you talk about can't miss prospects, he was close to one of those, as close to one I've seen, and for him to sort of work his way backwards right now, I'm not sure what's happening. Maybe it's him, maybe it's the way he's being developed, Maybe it's I don't know. I'm not there, I'm not watching it. I don't know what the plans have been for him. I don't know what they're trying to make adjustments to and make him help him with but doesn't look like he is developing the way he should be developed. And maybe that's just growing pains.

00:16:03
Speaker 1: But it will be interesting to see what happens it be does in fact come here to Philadelphia.

00:16:09
Speaker 3: Right, no doubt.

00:16:11
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00:17:28
Speaker 3: We are back. It is time for Manco and Manco Best Week. Manco and Manco Best Week because Manco Manco is the best of the best. Every Monday, every Sunday, every first episode of every week. At the Philly Show, we talk about the best Phillies, play player, performance, whatever we want. So the Phillies this past week from Monday through Sunday, they were in Cincinnati and Washington. Do you want to kick us off with your Manco Best Week?

00:18:03
Speaker 1: Yeah? You know what, I'm gonna go with Tray Turner. And I know Trade Turner because number one, he rakes there. He loves hitting against his team with the Nats.

00:18:11
Speaker 4: But you know he's getting on base, He's doing some things really well.

00:18:15
Speaker 1: His defense, we have been harping on this defense forever.

00:18:20
Speaker 4: He has vastly, vastly improved his overall defense this season. And you have to give this guy a ton of credit. I will be the first one to say that. You know, I would certainly consider if he did had another, you know, similar defensive season as he did last year, if he would have had it this year, I would have said, Hey, they got to really ask this guy to get to the outfield. Well, guess what, he is playing a really good, solid shortstop right now. I'm really impressed by the work that he's done, the fact that he's sort of had to break some habits with Bobby Dickerson with all the work that he's doing with him on the daily, starting offense spring training.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: And it's started up in spring training in twenty twenty four as well.

00:19:03
Speaker 4: He's he's taken you know, he's taking the done the work, and he's also getting on base and doing things and scoring runs and doing the things that the Villies really need him to do.

00:19:15
Speaker 1: If they don't have him doing those things and they're in trouble.

00:19:18
Speaker 4: But he's getting it done, I think right now, and I'm just gonna go with Trade Turner for the best of the week.

00:19:24
Speaker 3: I was just looking up defense. I know defensive metrics are so hot and hit or miss, but you know, fourteen outs above average for Trade Turner at shortstop this season, which is a huge improvement. Just tells you how great at defense he's been playing. So great great choice.

00:19:37
Speaker 2: It is a great choice, and I'm glad you focused on the defense. He has made some adjustments with his throwing. He's throwing overhand more, coming off that back leg a little bit more, getting a little more zip on instead of slinging it from the side where it tails a little bit.

00:19:49
Speaker 5: I think that's just a nice adjustment.

00:19:50
Speaker 2: And it just seems like everything has slowed down a little bit, footwork whatnot.

00:19:55
Speaker 5: At shortstop.

00:19:56
Speaker 2: I mean, he had that really tough era that came to the ninth inning back and was it May and we're all like, oh boy, and it was like, you know, for a while, everything was an adventure. But you know, that has gone by the wayside and he's become you know, the two out shortstop and we're not hearing much about that outfield talk anymore. It's really kind of quelled that for my Manco Manco best of the week. We're gonna go with Johann Durand on Sunday. He got it unsafe. You shouldn't have been in that game. Five run lead, you gotta close that baby out. But the fact of the matter is he got ready quick. You know, you're watching as that guy gets on second base and he's not ready yet, and they finally bring him in and he shuts it down, throwing a lot of splinkers. He's five for five and save opportunities. To me, he's changed the entire complexion of the team. I will acknowledge that Wheeler's health issue changes the complexion of the team in more of a negative way, right.

00:20:56
Speaker 5: But Doran has still made a great impact.

00:20:58
Speaker 2: To think said this earlier that I think he'll be the most impactful guy that changed teams with the trade deadline, and the Phillies got him and he's five for five, So a slice of the pizza for him.

00:21:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, great, great call. I'm going with Taiwan Walker. So Taiwan Walker two starts last week. Uh you know, ohen to one two point but a two point one three year right, twelve and two thirds innings twelve hits, three runs, three walks, five strikeouts, inducing a lot of weak contact. And I mean Taiwan Walker, I mean, what an interesting, great story he's been, you know, all season long from people just irate that he pitched I think in the first home series of the season at Citizens Bank Park. How can they start Taiwan Walker? How's even on this team?

00:21:41
Speaker 5: To now on the team now?

00:21:43
Speaker 4: Now?

00:21:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, why is he even on the team? You know? To to now it's like, well, thank goodness, they have Taiwan Walker throwing in competent. Thank goodness they have Taiwan Walker and stuck with him, and he bounced back in a major way. Because could you imagine where they would be right now if they didn't have Taiwan Walker. They would be you know, you know, they would be really digging down deep. You'd be talking about maybe moving Joe Ross back into the rotation or Alan roun Helb into the rotation, or or whatever they might need to do.

00:22:12
Speaker 4: But were pushing Andrew Painter too quickly to the big leagues, you know, one of those types.

00:22:17
Speaker 3: Of things exactly. So, you know, so Taiwan Walker has been a heck of his stories on a heck of a run and and he kind of helps. You know, he's not going to make up for the loss of Zach Wheeler, of course, but you need guys that can go out and give you five six innings every five days. And and Taiwan Walker has absolutely done that.

00:22:34
Speaker 5: So three straight quality starts.

00:22:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's owing. He's owing too.

00:22:40
Speaker 4: And his last seven starts, he's got this much run support two runs per They've averaged two runs per game in his seven starts.

00:22:51
Speaker 1: That's horrendous.

00:22:52
Speaker 3: He's got Cole Hamil's itis right there. Remember Cole had those runs.

00:22:56
Speaker 1: It's insane. And he's done a really good job.

00:22:59
Speaker 4: He had He should have were five wins out of those games, and and he doesn't have them.

00:23:02
Speaker 1: But listen, he's taking some more pressure off that bullpen.

00:23:06
Speaker 4: Which is helpful. It's a domino effect to that. And that's a great call, Todd. And I also want to say this on the Juan Duran thing, that's the reason why he pitched that day. That's the reason why he pitched on the day that he got the line drive office foot.

00:23:24
Speaker 1: The fact that he bounced back from that so quickly, that was awesome. He should get the award just for that.

00:23:29
Speaker 4: But the fact that you know that people were going crazy about him not pitching is the biggest joke in the history of mankind. And I will say it today and I'll say it to my grave. He had to pitch that day for a reason, and people need to understand that. And the folks that don't understand that don't know shit.

00:23:50
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought this up.

00:23:53
Speaker 7: I'm so glad you brought this up because I had this written down same.

00:23:58
Speaker 3: I had the same reaction on First of all, he hits, gets the ball off the ankle, He's getting car off Fielm Like, holy crap, this is like the worst case scenario. But then I start seeing how dare rob Why is even in this game? It's a four run lead. I'm going has anybody watched a baseball game like twenty years in the last twenty Let's look at it. They had a four run lead. That's not that big of a it's not a save situation. But it's a four rein lead.

00:24:24
Speaker 1: There.

00:24:24
Speaker 3: They have a three game losing streak, Rubin, they're trying to snap the losing streak.

00:24:28
Speaker 5: Oh he had not hit.

00:24:30
Speaker 3: He hadn't pitched Ruben since Sunday.

00:24:32
Speaker 1: Oh you got it at some point.

00:24:35
Speaker 5: You gotta keep sharp.

00:24:36
Speaker 1: You gotta keep sharp, and foolish.

00:24:38
Speaker 7: People don't know. So I I look this a whole lot real quick. I looked this up because I was just curious. I'm like, you know, like, you can't pitch him in it with a four run lead. It's not a safe situation. Mariano Rivera in his career seven hundred and thirty two save opportunities, pitching seven hundred three to two games with save opportunities. He pitched all over eleven hundred games overall.

00:24:58
Speaker 3: That means he pitched more than a third of his games when there wasn't a save situation. Trevor Hoffman almost the exact same percentage, more than the third of his games thirty four point five when there wasn't a save situation. Brad Lidge in two thousand and eight when he was forty one for forty one, you know how many appearances he made seventy two, So that means he pitched almost over forty three percent of his appearances in two thousand and eight were not in save situations. You can't just pitch the guy in save situations, or you know, you know what I mean.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: You have to pitch whatever.

00:25:30
Speaker 5: Right you have to keep him sure, I won't be able to do what he did today.

00:25:33
Speaker 4: Just for himxactly, just just just for him getting on the mound that day and taking that line drive, that means something for the next time he pitches, which was today meeting Sunday, and the guy ended up getting the same.

00:25:50
Speaker 1: Mount.

00:25:52
Speaker 4: Because you don't just sit around as a pitcher and just pitch. You have to get on the mound and pitch that. This is professional athleticism. It's professional athletes. They need to get out there and perform against the best, and they need to do it on the regular basis or there's going to be very difficult for them to perform.

00:26:13
Speaker 5: Right.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: This is everyday sport. I mean, hitters need to constantly be sharp. Relievers need to be constantly sharp, even on days they're not in the game.

00:26:20
Speaker 5: You know they throw in the outfield.

00:26:22
Speaker 2: But you know the fact that he got up the other night, warmed up in the bullpen, got in that game was probably a big reason he was sharp on Sunday and got the final two outs and thank you, went to five for five in save chances.

00:26:37
Speaker 5: So you need work.

00:26:40
Speaker 2: You cannot sit around and let cobwebs grow on your biggest bullpen weapon. He belonged in that game the other night.

00:26:46
Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's so great, Rubhen you brought that up because that really and I have a question, Yeah.

00:26:51
Speaker 5: Are you allowed to say shit on the Top pod?

00:26:56
Speaker 4: Well today I am because I'm passionate about that one, because people are out there saying stuff on social media and all types of stuff and I'm sorry they're wrong.

00:27:09
Speaker 7: All is he allowed to say it on the top We see now we have to put a disclaimer on the podcast that there's an expletive.

00:27:18
Speaker 3: But you know, we get a little saucy.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: The folks in foul Territory might be a little upset at me. But guess what, tough Italy.

00:27:26
Speaker 3: No, we'll put the disclaimer on there. It's all good, you know what I mean. Sometimes you got to get a little saucy, little uh, you know, mix it up a little bit. But anyway, so the Phillies for other things we want to get into. But the Phillies come back home on Monday. They open up a three game series against the Mariners. If you can't get down to the ballpark, they have a great little sports book out at parks Casino and I've been there, and Ruben's been there, and what can you tell us about what's going on in Parks.

00:27:58
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Speaker 5: I love it.

00:29:16
Speaker 3: I love it. That's great. So a couple of things before we finish up here. Alc Bohm returned to the lineup on Sunday in the series finale in DC. He makes his presence, felt goes two for four with a three run home run, and who knows what Alec Bohm is going to bring to the end of the season. But you're not going to get that every day, of course. But if they can get the production that he gave him the last two seasons going down the stretch in light of what's going on with the rotation, what a huge boost it would be. And I was kind of surprised to look this up today. Phillies cleanup hitters this season and he's been hitting clean up a lot this season before he got hurt. Phillies cleanup hitters this season had our twenty first in baseball with a seven to seventeen OPS. That's the lowest market Phillies group since twenty fourteen. It's the second lowest group by Phillies team since nineteen fifty nine. So their production in the cleanup spot. This year has been pretty pretty dreadful. So if you can get more games like this from Alec Boum, it would go a long way again, especially like I said, with the with the issues surrounding the rotation right now.

00:30:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great opportunity for somebody to step up and put their thumbprint on this team. Maybe it's Aaron Nola, I don't know, you know, he had a difficult start on Sunday. Maybe he you know, reels off five or six good weeks here. Maybe it's a guy like Alec Bohm who's kind of you know, he's had a quietly you know, okay season. But I think we all believe there's a lot more there and they could really use that right handed stick behind their two big left handed guys. So I mean, it's a really good thing that the Mets have struggled. The Phillies have maintained that you know, five ish game lead because the Mets just you know, have struggled pretty much an all phases of the game. So even though with their cracks, the Phillies have a chance to surge, continue their surge and put this thing away. But they're gonna need some different type of contributors. Maybe Castianos comes alive after a really good day on Sunday in Washington's got They got to get some more from the balance of their roster, not just Kyle Schwarber all the time.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: So I think about the I think about the offense, and I had a talk with Bobby Dickerson about this. I believe as he does. I believe in run production. Either score runs or you drive in runs.

00:31:39
Speaker 1: That's what it's about.

00:31:41
Speaker 4: And over the last several years, Alec Boma's driven in a lot of runs. Sure, he started off very, very poorly. This season, he bounced back nicely, kind of leveled off.

00:31:52
Speaker 1: Then he got hurt. He's been out.

00:31:54
Speaker 4: But he's really important to this team because he can drive in runs and they don't drive in runs.

00:32:03
Speaker 1: They're runners in scoring position. Situation right now can.

00:32:07
Speaker 4: Be dreadful at times, but the man over the last two years have been their best hitter with runners in scoring position with two outs.

00:32:15
Speaker 1: And one of the better ones in baseball. They need somebody to do that.

00:32:19
Speaker 4: That's why he's important to this team, if nothing else, to produce runs.

00:32:24
Speaker 1: And he can do it. He hasn't done it. That's consistently this year.

00:32:27
Speaker 4: But he's a guy that's if you look on the back of that baseball card, if you believe in that, Yeah, and then he's a guy that can be super important as well to protect the two left handers in Harper and sworebur in the lineup.

00:32:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, ninety seven RBIs each of the last two seasons, and last year I think he only had like three in the month of July, had a very quiet month. So I mean, you're driving it close to one hundred runs two years that are. He puts the beat on the ball and he doesn't speed up his heart rate with runners on base. I know he's not a guy who launches, and people get frustrated by that. But I'll take a double or even an inside out swinging. I'll take the double to the take a base with maymlosfield gat any day, any day with runners on base, and you know he comes back, hits a bomb on Sunday and they were what seven for fourteen with runners the scoring position. So good to have him back.

00:33:15
Speaker 5: He's important.

00:33:16
Speaker 3: Nick Castianos, guys, you know we talked about him on Friday. You know, maybe he's not gonna be platoon, but maybe rest a little bit more, and he did not play on Saturday. Rob called it a scheduled day off. He comes back on Sunday, goes two for five, a double, in a home run. That's his first multi hit game since August first. That's his first multi game, multi extra base hit game since June twenty second, only the fifth game this season where he's had two or more extra base hits. And you know, gosh, Alec Bohm super important. But if you could get Nick Castianis, if he's hitting sixth or fifth, sixth, seventh in that lineup and just be something close to what he has been over the past couple of years, that would go a long way as well. You got to get Nick Castianos going.

00:33:59
Speaker 1: And you wonder a little bit.

00:34:02
Speaker 4: I know he's been around a long time, but the fact that he's been out of the lineup a couple of times, does that spark him a little bit?

00:34:08
Speaker 1: Does that motivate him a little bit?

00:34:09
Speaker 4: Does does he say I better pick it up a notch? I mean, I don't know if that's really in his DNA, but I think in the back of your mind as an athlete, you got to be thinking, wow, if I don't start producing her come up with some stuff.

00:34:23
Speaker 1: Man, I maybe I may be not playing.

00:34:26
Speaker 4: Quite as much and uh, and I think maybe that has something to do with And that's okay.

00:34:31
Speaker 2: Here's a good motivator, better it, better has. He's a guy wants to play every day. He played one sixty two last year. So to miss just one game, when when one sixty two is your goal, to miss one just one game and be taking on a lineup one game.

00:34:46
Speaker 5: It should piss you off.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, should take it out on somebody, which he did on Sunday that at that hit head against the left when he hit the home run. Uh, he spoiled a couple of breaking balls. He looked extremely confident in the batter's box like Nick Castiano's when he's going good.

00:35:02
Speaker 5: So that was good to see.

00:35:03
Speaker 1: Good.

00:35:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he is a guy that I think when he's not in the lineup, when he's dropped in the lineup, I think he takes that personally. So not to steal that Michael Jordan line. That wasn't my intention there, but then I took that personally.

00:35:16
Speaker 5: Nothing wrong with it. I'll show you attitude.

00:35:18
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:35:19
Speaker 3: Go do it, go go hit three hundred. The rest of this season hit hitting, you know, fifteen double six weeks, go go ahead and do it. So all right, well, the we'll we'll we'll be back later this week with news expected news. I guess on Zach Wheeler and kind of what's going on with him again, best wis wishes to him. It's certainly more of a you know, you know, we're thinking more about the person and the family man. I mean, it was such a great He's a great guy. I love talking to him. He's you know, you know, the best wishes to him, and we will be we'll talk about the Seattle series which starts Monday night. Big Dumpers in town, So the Phillies have to contempt to Big Dumper, great nickname.

00:36:03
Speaker 1: Jumper in the shore Ba and the short Burian.

00:36:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a fun that's a fun little week right there sits the Bank Park. Yeah, it would be fun. I'll talk to We'll talk to you guys later.

00:36:13
Speaker 5: Smell Smelling Jim.

00:36:15
Speaker 3: 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.