My Little Honey Hole

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Chase Utley and this is the Philly Show. Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Philly Show. Ruben Hmar Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's lucky. We're part of the foul Territory Network. Friday, August twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. Guys, how are we doing today's had Phillies had a big win last night. Nick Cassi is feeling good. Nick Casti came out the other night post game. I'm sure you guys saw it. He comes out, he's got his CP ranking had on. Not that we're we're not there, We're they're not a sponsor of ours, but he must they must be a sponsor his and comes out without a shirt on, does his interview.

00:00:55
Speaker 2: He's getting at roofwork done and he's getting a little chess war. Yeah yeah.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: And then last night last night though, he came out, came out with the shirt on, so he's a little bit more modest last night. I mean, it was a big home run, but it wasn't. It was a two run shot versus a three run shot. So yeah, yeah, we.

00:01:17
Speaker 2: Had to go with like a tank top.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly right, exactly right. But I mean they're having fun obviously, you know, uh, Brandon marsh with a big home run in the sixth inning, Nick cast now is big home run, the seventh thing, go ahead? Big win last night, I mean one of the biggest of the year. I mean I I I you know people say that all the time, right, is this the biggest win of the year or one of the biggest wins of the year, And it seems like there's a million of the million of them. But I feel like it's maybe true.

00:01:48
Speaker 3: Last night important, super super important, you know, because you know you maintain or you go to six games up day comes off the schedule against your big rival who's trying to chase you down. You lose that game, you're down to four. It's just and it you know, much like the Schwarber Grand Slam game ten days ago, emotional win with a big dagger type hit that it's one of those wins you can build off. I think you get a couple more because of the momentum. So I thought it was just an amazing, huge win because you know, they left like they left seven men on base through the first five innings. You're like, uh, oh, one of those nights. And then two big home runs, two big daggers, and it lifts everybody and you build on it. The bullpen was great, Like they didn't really go up good throughout this entire home stand against Houston. They were good that first night against Houston. I think they had four shutout and last night three plus shutout. I mean, just great job by the bullpen locking that baby down. But I mean, home runs are so important to this team. Look, they're important to every team. And you can say, you know, the Phillies win when they hit home runs, most teams when they hit home runs.

00:03:01
Speaker 2: Home runs have an impact on all teams.

00:03:03
Speaker 3: The thing about the Phillies is they don't, you know, have a lot of ways to win ball games when they don't hit home runs. Other teams do. So you know, they need to slug the ball. And last night was case in point. Castianos right now, I mean, the marsh home run was fascinating in the strategy employed by Brian Snitker kind of blew up in his face. Then I noticed he said the ball was wind blown. That was a little and then Castianos is not missing if you throwing, if you make a mistake over the plate. Right now, he's in such a good groove. He is not missing it. He is smoking it.

00:03:37
Speaker 2: He is Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw the post game, but I was on post game last night and I had to apologize to Dave Dombrowski. I left after the fifth inning to go back to do that seventh inning hit back to the studio, and I basically had my camera or my phone in my face as I was looking at something, and I said something like these guys don't have a chance against the Braves or something like that, and Dave Dombrowski came walking out of his office. He's like, well, that wasn't very optimistic. I was like, oh my god. I literally stuck my foot into my mouth. But I mean, listen, you were right, Jim. They were dead in the water. I mean, they had opportunities left and right and just did not get it done. But it also shows a lot about the resilience of the team. I mean, listen, I'm a fan too, so I was. I was disappointed because I thought it was gonna be one of those games where they missed opportunities, they weren't going to be able to bounce back, and they did so great job of resilience. You mentioned the bullpen. They've been outstanding. Great job by Rob Thompson, and hey man, you need everybody to step forward. And you know, Marshi had three really poor at bats. He had a couple of strikeouts, and then you know, you know, all of a sudden, there was a breaking ball and was hanging in the middle of the plate for him and he crushed at the left center field and God bless him. He had a big home run. And then you know, Castianis has been We talked about this, he's been their most consistent offensive player. Man, he's been really outstanding. What I thought was really interesting about that at bat he got a first pitch fastball from Holmes, and he felt it's sort of surprising because I think he was looking for like an off speed pitch, much like you know, the very lander at bat. I think off speed pitch. And he fouled it back and he thought to himself, you know what becomes with another fastball, I better not miss it. And he came with another fastball and it didn't get in enough and he stayed through it and hit it out of the ballpark. It was a magical moment for the fans of a magical moment for the team, and that lockdown bullpen was just spectacular O'Ryan Kirkering has taken a couple of steps forward over the last couple of weeks where he is now throwing his fastball with conviction. He's trusting it. He's got a ninety seven min out of fastball. Sometimes you can sink it. Sometimes he gets it up to ninety eight. But he's starting to command that pitch. No walks out of the bullpen, five strike three and a third, great effort, super super huge win. I believe that it's the biggest win of the season, no doubt.

00:06:13
Speaker 1: It's good that you mentioned Ryan Kirker and I think he's been really stepping up lately. You're right, Rubin, and then you mentioned Castianos. He did say exactly what you said, which is he missed that first fastball and he's he looked back to his it was I think it is his first at bat in the first inning against Charlie Morton. There was runners runners on first and second, I think, and Morton threw three straight fastballs to him, so in his head he's like, I think they might I better be I'm not missing this fastball. I cannot miss this fastball. If there's another fastball, sure enough, fastball crushes it. Nick Castianos since May nineteenth, batting two eighty fifteen home runs, fifty six RBIs, eight seventeen ops. That's why he's hitting fifth again, gentlemen.

00:06:58
Speaker 2: And probably hitting fourth today if Bom can't bounce.

00:07:01
Speaker 1: Back, right, Yeah, we should mention that. Yeah, Alec Bohm hurt his left hand on a swing in the first inning. State in the game, went in the tunnel, tried to hit, was uncomfortable swinging in the bat, came out of the game in the third inning. X rays word negative. Rob Thompson said, there is just some soreness there. So we'll see if he's in the lineup today. So yeah, you would think Nick would be hitting fourth if if Al can't go, that would be a.

00:07:28
Speaker 3: Big That's he's an important player. I mean he can't start with some players and hands and feet are so.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: Important in this game.

00:07:37
Speaker 3: Immediately about hands all the time, Ruben, you know, just you know, he's the way he winced. It was like, oh.

00:07:45
Speaker 1: Boy, Yeah, I thought I was like, oh my gosh, handmaid man, don't be a handmaid.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: That's the very first thing I thought him when I saw him, and it looked like on the swing it was like a two strike swing. He was protecting, and I think he was sort of looking for an off speed pitch and he had to like throw us back to the into the zone and had had to kind of flip it. And I've had that you fouled it off. I've had that happen to me, Like have those stingers where you know, you pull some sort of there's so many little muscles and tendons and stuff in your hand that maybe like tweak something, so he may be down a day or so. I don't think it's an il situation, but I've been through that and then. And in fact, that happened to me just before I got traded to the Phillies way way back in ninety one. I was playing in winter ball and I took it like a weird swing one time, and I was sort of on the on the shelf for like a day or so in winter ball, and that's when I got the call. I think it was in December of like ninety one that I got traded to the Phillies. And I said, well, my hand's been bothering me. And I said whyt you just shut it down and come home, And that's what I did.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, you Ruben go Jim.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: Now, I don't want to, I don't want to ruin you train of thought, but I will. I just was curious, like, were you surprised that Brian Snicker didn't bring in a lefty to face Brandon?

00:09:09
Speaker 4: Really surprised all the talk, all that's been written and talked about Marsha's struggles against left handed pitching, it almost seemed like a textbook moment for lefty.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: One hundred percent agree. Bummers started warming up a couple of batters earlier, so I assumed that he was going to come into the game, and I wrote this letter, Brandon marsh against lefties this season, betting two hundred and five thirty two ops. These numbers are obviously wave flipped and improved against against right handed pitching, So it was it was definitely a head scratcher in the moment. I don't know, I.

00:09:43
Speaker 2: Have a feeling that we went with his field right there in that in so much that then I say feel, I mean, the first two at bats, didn't he punch him out twice? Yeah? He did strike out, made him look not very good. I mean, I mean he was not on him at all. And listen to his credit, to to Marsh's credit, I mean he stayed in me. At bat, he got a breaking ball and he got it over out over the plate and he smoked it to left center field. Now, after the after the game, he talked about that that particular pitch or that his you know, his uh you know, best path to this to the swing is to drive the ball to left center field. He called it his honey hoole. Yeah, my honey holes and left. It was funny as hell, but you know it's true. Like certain guys like they have to understand themselves. Charlie uh Manuel used to talk about this all the time. You have to know thyself and understand what what what you're really good at, what your what your pluses are, and what your minuses are and understand those. And for Brandon Marsh, his you know, knowing thyself is to drive the ball to the left center field. Because he's got great backspinn he can drive the ball. He's got good power that way. He's got a few home runs that way. I think he hit a double that way as well early in the game. But when he's in the middle of the field and driving the ball to left center field. That's what that's that's his money.

00:11:07
Speaker 3: It's just an example that in this ball, in this game, really in all sports, you have a tough moment early in the game, you can't give up on yourself because you still have a chance to make a huge contribution later in the game. And if you're beating up yourself and pouta on the end of the bench, you are cooked. He strikes out twice, comes back with the hit of the game. It was, you know, a really nice bit of perseverance and triumph for me.

00:11:33
Speaker 1: Brandon Marsh from July twelfth to August twenty second is betting one fifty two four eighty seven ops and thirty two games, striking out over forty percent of the time. His last seven games betting three forty six ops over one thousand, strikeout rates down to thirty four percent. So he's putting the ball in play a little bit more. He's hitting the ball to left center field.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: I actually, I actually, when they were on the road, I actually asked Thompson, like, how how long is Brandon Marsh's leased? Because he was striking out at like a fifty percent rate for about two weeks. I was like, Yeah, she's oh man and to his credit, Man, he's bounced back and really helped this ball club and they need him. They need him to lengthen out that lineup, and they need some protection for the other guys, guys like Castianos and others in that lineup. I liked them.

00:12:21
Speaker 1: In the ninth inning, how wrote Rojas came into the game and played some center field and moved marsh over to left And I feel like they haven't done it too much of that, like late defensive substitutions and mean, it's a no brainer for me, but that was nice to have be able to slide marsh over to left field, have Rojas play center. Jeff Hoffman pitched great, locked it down, So yeah, guess what, guys, We'll be right back.

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00:13:45
Speaker 1: And we are back and I think now is a good time for Minor M's Fighting Words presented by Shy Vintage Sports. Get unique throwback phillies, te ats in sweatshirts from their local artists at the Shopton Senate City, Wayne and websteris dot com guys. This week's Them's Fighting Words comes from Taiwan Walker quote after his start the other day Wednesday. It's obviously not the best times. I feel like I've never really struggled like this, Like I just segue to get into the decision that the Phillies made yesterday. Hinted strongly at it on Wednesday night that he is going to move to the bullpen for the remainder of the season. Say he's can be a long man, basically a mop up man. I'm going to assume that none of you guys are surprised unless one of you two guys thought that he was going to be dfaid on Thursday.

00:14:45
Speaker 3: I'm not surprised he's out of the rotation. It was the only move you could make. It had to be made, and I'm not surprised that he was not dfaid because I think you can you can get them through the final month on the roster. You can make it work without booting him out the back door, and you can make a decision on what's going to happen in the future in the off season. I said it the other day, I'd be surprised to see him in clear Water. I'm not saying it won't happen, but I'd be surprised. I think I think you know, there may be an exit strategy.

00:15:18
Speaker 2: Here, but not right now.

00:15:21
Speaker 3: And you know what, I'm glad they did in DFAM.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: You know why.

00:15:25
Speaker 3: I thought he showed a lot of class sucking up those two innings the other day, those extra two innings when he had nothing, when a lot of guys would have come in the dugout and complained, my manager's leaving, leaving me out there to die and embarrassing me. And he said, I'm going to suck up these two winnings and help save the bullpen before before a big series against Atlanta, And oh what happened last night? The bullpen pitched really good. So I thought that was I thought it was. It was honorable, and it was good teammate behavior and showed a lot of class. I could we beat the crap out of the guy. Let's tip our hat to him when when he did something pretty pretty honorable.

00:16:06
Speaker 1: I could not agree more. I mean, that was he and he said it, Jim. Right after the game, he said, I wanted to wear it because we have a big He came out and said, we have a big series coming up against the Braves. I want to be I wanted to keep the bullpen fresh, so I want I wanted to go out and pitch the next coupleings. He's like, I would have gone out and pitched the seventh that if you know, if I could have gone out and pitched the seventh. So yeah, I mean he's getting murdered. He's getting killed Phillies. Fans don't like him. I get it, he hasn't produced. But that was a that says something about him and his willingness to try to help this team, that he sucked it up after getting rocked in that in that fourth in and going out and pitch a couple of innings. Hey, maybe they had to pitch Ryan Kirkering or one of these guys. Maybe they're not as effective last night, maybe they give up a bomb and maybe they don't win that game. So you don't know, but it was that was that did say something about him.

00:16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely agree with what you guys are saying. And I was a little taken him back by the fact that he you know, he's a prideful guy. Man, this is a guy who's never been there before. And when he was saying, you know, we were trying to you know, our game plan was trying to get quick outs and and you know, soft contact well, there's no self contact happening. He just has not pitch well. And you know, I sort of wish he would have just said, listen, I've been terrible and I got to get better or I have to do something different, or whatever the case may be. But that said actually speak louder the words. I was very impressed by the fact that he stayed in there. Number One, guys don't do that in this day and age, and they don't wear it, as you said, Jim, and the fact that he did sort of save the bullpen. The other thing is, as far as the DMVA is concerned, I'm not surprised that he didn't. Obviously the money is a big factor, but I mean, you got to try to salvage. This is too much money and there's so few starting so little starting pitching out there that you've got to sort of try to salvage the guy. I actually think he's going to come back and be in clear Water next year. I think they're gonna put him on some type of program to try to strengthen his arm, or he's going to have to do something. I mean, I got to believe that he has enough pride in himself if he wants to continue to pitch that he's going to come back and try to do something in the off season to get him to the point where he is a more effective pitcher, because he has to be able to separate that fastball from the split. And if he can do that, then he's got a fighter's chance to least help them eat some innings next year. And that's really all you can ask from a guy like that who's starting to you know, obviously starting to decline as far as his arm speed is gone. It's concerned.

00:18:33
Speaker 3: When I think about next year, I just think about like you come to spring training and it becomes a big story again. It's like, here we go again.

00:18:40
Speaker 2: You know.

00:18:40
Speaker 3: You know, as a front office guy, those things can be they can be a real pain in the ass. They can be a distraction. Here we go again. Okay, can he build an off arm speed so we can maybe trade him or maybe he can help I just think at thirty with he's thirty two and what we've seen. I don't know if it's coming back, you know, but I guess in this day and age, with all the technology based ways to you know, dive into a body and maybe strengthen I don't know, maybe he goes in camps out of drive line for two months. You know, I don't know what what what can happen, But I just feel like I've seen enough baseball at these stories.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: Often.

00:19:25
Speaker 3: I don't know, it's just it's hard to get it back when you when you headed headed downhill at that rate of speed.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: Damn, my heart says that the guys, you know, basically or my head basically says that he's just not going to bounce back when my heart says, you know, maybe he's got something left in the tank and then they can try to tap into it.

00:19:46
Speaker 1: All right, Let's let's say he wasn't owed thirty six million and he was owed a lot less. Do you think they would have DF if it wasn't just if the money wasn't so huge. Do you think they.

00:19:59
Speaker 2: We you know, I actually have a feeling like if they feel like they've clinched or they've gotten to the point where they're like have home field advantage, whatever, they need somebody to start gains. They're gonna need him to start a game. They you know, they made him for a long, you know, long stretch. They might get blown out one game. They need somebody to go in there and pitch, and the Mercados of the world aren't getting it done. I mean, that's that's terrible. I feel badly for that kid, but you know he's right now, he's not a major league pitcher, and so you don't want to put that kid in that position, and you don't want to do that for the team. So I mean a guy like having a guy like Taiwan Walker around, you know, it's least as durable enough to maybe get through somebmittings. You got to have that kind of have those guys around.

00:20:47
Speaker 3: The depth factor for the rest of the season is huge. Telling somebody last night, is he ever gonna start again for the Phillies? I actually said that. I said, you know, they clinched with six games to go. I could see them pitching him with four to go and saying, just give us three. So but it I just don't know that I want to go down this road again next year unless I say some dramatic evidence that he has found something in the offseason.

00:21:11
Speaker 1: So to no, I was gonna say. People ask me the same thing, like why not just dfam get rid of He's not gonna help in the bullpen and I was thinking this, like maybe they're just trying to protect themselves against like thermal nuclear war where all of a sudden, you know, you don't want to get too cocky, right and go, there's no way he's pitching again next year, guys or this season. There's no way you're ever going to start him again, and not even in a clinch situation. But what if Rangers swores his back X up again. What if Kobe Allard gets hurt? You know, Rob Thompson always likes to talk about Shinburger's. You know, a guy takes a ball off the shin, he's got to you know, he he gets injured for a few games, and all of a sudden, you're going, holy crap, why did we get rid of Taiwan Walker when rosters are expanding on Sunday with a month ago? I mean, you know what is there.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: We couldn't have sucked it.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: We couldn't have sucked it up for one month. So that was part of my my thinking is that, you know, just just protect yourself for one month and he's not going to pitch in the postseason, he's not going to make the postseason roster, but just protect yourself against from against some sort of like massive calamity.

00:22:18
Speaker 2: And I think you got to do it for the team like that. For me, you you don't start him because you don't want to affect the team negatively. You don't start him anymore unless you absolutely have to. And if you have to, then you go ahead and throw him out there. You know he's going to be avail.

00:22:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's If they would have released him, dfad him that he was owed, he would have been outed around thirty nine million dollars.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: That's it.

00:22:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it. That's not jeh Mel thing.

00:22:45
Speaker 2: He would have been like the second that would have been like the second most in the history.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: Right.

00:22:49
Speaker 2: I think Pablo Sandoval was like forty three or something like that.

00:22:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, Pablo Sandoval and own twenty seventeen, the Red Sox dfad him. He was outed about forty nine million. Uh Robinson Cano, the Mets dfa him in twenty twenty two. He was owed about thirty seven point six. Jose Breier this year, astros Ode thirty, Madison Bumgartner, Madison Mungbar last year was about thirty four. So yes, Rubin, he would have been the second biggest DFA ever. Not get down to thirty six. If you wanted.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: To season, go big or go home. It's a rough ticket.

00:23:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a rough ticket. So we had a couple leftover questions from last week. We got so many questions on Wednesday and we went long. We went real long because there were so many good ones. But you guys want to answer a couple more here before we get out of here.

00:23:38
Speaker 2: Before let's do it.

00:23:39
Speaker 1: Let's make it tight, all right, let's do it. So we'll just do a couple Uh. Does Rob Thompson rely on analytics or does he ever use his gut instincts? This is tim on X. I think he uses got instincts all the time, all the time.

00:23:55
Speaker 3: He's a blend guy.

00:23:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:23:56
Speaker 3: I think leading up to the game he takes all that analytical information and then I think during the dugout he's processing it all and it's coming out his.

00:24:05
Speaker 2: Gut boom right agreement, Okay, Yeah, if the fills more more gut than analytics, I think. Yeah.

00:24:14
Speaker 1: I think there's the way he handle the team and the lineup.

00:24:16
Speaker 2: I mean he uses all the time, but he's prepared like he's already prepared, like the different scenarios man before he gets into the situation like, Okay, this is my guy. He's a plus guy. This is my minus guy. This is where I'm let to use him in this pocket and that pocket. I mean, he's pretty well prepared. Now, you have to make adjustments as a game goes on because the game changes. But he's very, very well prepared, believe it.

00:24:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, if the Fills end up in the one or two seed, who do you guys prefer their opponent to be in the NLDS. This that's from Manny faces on X.

00:24:49
Speaker 3: I don't care because they can beat anybody if they play good crisp baseball, make plays behind their pictures, get seven innings from their stars. It's all about how they play. They can beat anybody at anytime if you play good. Situational hitting is good, base run is good, don't give extra bases. I worry about my own clubhouse more than I worry about the or my own lineup card and my own bullpen more than the other teams. They can beat anybody.

00:25:17
Speaker 1: I talk to somebody, a scout that both of you guys know. I won't name him, but the other day in the press club he made a great point. He said, this is the best team in baseball, hands down, from top to bottom. The Phillies are the best team in baseball. So you know, it's funny because they've been playing terribly for a couple months, and a lot of people here think they're not very good. He's like, no, they are the best. If they get it going, they are the best roster in Major League Baseball. I've seen all the other teams. They're not as good. They're not as good. So if they had the good pitching and they're hitting, they're gonna win. They're gonna win.

00:25:55
Speaker 2: So you gotta play well. You just when it's time to play well, you gotta play well.

00:26:00
Speaker 1: All right, Well, guys, that was fun. We'll be back early next week. See we'll wrap up the rest of this brave series three big games coming Friday, Saturday, Sunday night.

00:26:10
Speaker 2: Smelly guys, Smady Jeff.

00:26:17
Speaker 8: 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 an 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, Phillies b Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network

00:27:11
Speaker 2: M HM