Schwarbombs, Schwarbombs, Schwarbombs!

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, This is Kyle Skorber, and welcome to the Philly Show. Schwar Bombs. They're all over the place, guys. Kyle Schwarber's homered in five consecutive games. Zach Wheeler's throwing like three pitches in an inning. They beat the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Pac. Ruben Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury Todd so lucky. It's Wednesday, May thirteenth, twenty twenty six. Jim back up at Fenway Pac. Schwarber I heard. I was watching the postgame show on Tuesday night, and you know, I like how he says, you know, he was being asked about hit homering in five consecutive games, and I liked his answer about you know, he says he kind of says it all the time, but like that's something in a few years down the road, I'll crack a beerd and sitting on my front porch and do a little bit of reflection. What was it like seeing him hit that fifth home fifth straight homer last night?

00:01:07
Speaker 2: And right after you said that, when he said I'll crack a beer and on the porch and think about it, the cameras went off and I said to him if I were you, I have a beer right now.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: Anyway, Wait, wait, Jimmy, if that's one thing and the other thing, tell us about the nostalgia of you being back at the at the Boston's Boston's Mecca.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: I came here a lot as a kid. I don't even want to tell you what year I saw my first game here, But professionally I've been coming here for thirty plus years. You know, covered the four World Series here and many many many games. So but you know, schwar bomb he's carpet bombing. I mean, he's amazing. What a month of May. It started off on May first in Miami with eight straight strikeouts in eight plate appearance, and then now the streak is totally reversed. He's homered in five games. And it's like that great Brandon marsh quote the other day about you know, oh there's another, and there's another, and there's another. You expect it, and you know, thank goodness he got he hit that home run because he got them off to a good start. They hit two balls over the wall on Tuesday night. Schwarver hit home run. Bryce and Start hit the ground room double and that was your offense. And the pitching was really great, and it had to be because there wasn't a lot of offense that Brian Baos as the bulk guy, did a great job for the Red Sox. But eleven and three under Donny ball game and nine, they're up to nine quality starts under Don Mattingly in those in those fourteen games. I mean somewhere in Ontario, Rob Thompson is saying, where the hell were my quality game qualities.

00:03:00
Speaker 1: There? Yeah, Schwarber's been absolutely ridiculous over the last you know, several games, and you know.

00:03:08
Speaker 4: You know what's you know, you know what's been cool about what's kind of crazy about Schwarber is that you almost don't get surprised.

00:03:18
Speaker 5: I'm not even surprised by it.

00:03:20
Speaker 4: Right, He's he hits home runs with such regularity, and you know, he goes into these, as you said, cars starts carpet bombing, and it's almost like, well, you sort of expect it now because he's hot, and someone's gonna throwing over the middle of the plate and guess what's gonna happen to it. It's gonna be crushed and go out of the ballpark. And it's just weird that it's become. I mean, it's something that we should be really reveling, which we are in But I sometimes watch it and I'm like, he's just doing it again, which is which is something that is astounding because this is not how base fall typically works.

00:04:01
Speaker 1: Well, it's like there's a Sunday Mother's Day homers in his first two bats and in the back of your mind and going, I know this is a long shot, but maybe he can hit for hit and I have another four home run game. I mean, if there's a guy that could possibly do it, you gom, let's keep an eye on this one because he has been just absolutely amazing. I was looking at his uh stat cast page and just see a lot of like dark dark dark red. That's that means red means flow. There's i mean expected slug average exit v low, hard hit rate, bat speed, the elite bat speeds just so quick through the zone. It's so much fun to watch him swing and like the just how you know, a fishing he is with his swing. You know, there's no crazy movements or whatever. His hands there through the zone smokes every ball. It's just.

00:04:59
Speaker 5: Click.

00:05:00
Speaker 1: Yep, that's exactly right. It's a great way. It's like a gun going off with with Kyle Schwbard, so just you know he's on a role man. I was looking at that list of five Phillies with five straight home runs and o'double Herrera's on that list.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: Think of that. I don't.

00:05:21
Speaker 5: I remember what a rule five pick?

00:05:24
Speaker 1: What a rule five pick? Who drafted that guy?

00:05:27
Speaker 5: Mm hmmm.

00:05:30
Speaker 4: He had a he had a spotty, uh spotty tenure there at the Phillies. But I mean, look at those names, man, Dick, Allen, Schmidt a brave you, Chase Chase did it twice two times, and obviously Turner as well. But I mean, it's really really cool to it's really cool to line him up man. And there's more to come with this guy, because I don't think there's anything stopping him as long as he stays healthy.

00:05:58
Speaker 1: Knockwood, Yeah, you know else is cool. Starting pitching is cool. It's like that old commercial with Glavin and Maddox. You know, chicks do dig long ball, but starting pitching is pretty cool. And Zach Wheeler last night was that was pretty fun too?

00:06:16
Speaker 5: How was that upcoats? Impersonal? Jim?

00:06:20
Speaker 2: As he was working so quick and so efficient and throwing so many strikes. I wrote my story. He's pitching like he was double parked out in Kenmore Square. That's probably I thought we were going to be out of there in an hour and fifty minutes. He was get the ball, throw the ball. And that's a great stat from Cassela. He's amazing coming up with those those audities and those stats. That's a great one. I mean, so he was sixteen pitches three innings through one time through the order, and thirteen of them were strikes. He had four innings of eight or fewer pitches. It was just amazing. So when he did have that at one or two innings where the pitch count swelled a little bit and only put him up to eighty five pitches after seven innings, So, I mean, I was wondering if Mattingly was gonna take him out because the swings did get better. His last out of the seventh inning came off to the bat at one hundred and three miles an hour. The location just wavered a little bit. The looks were getting better at him. But you know, Mattingly gave him those first two batters to get to the left handers and Alvarado took over. But a magnificent performance from Zach. You know, I was thinking about this. He's nineteen days shy of his thirty sixth birthday. He's just less than eight months, eight full months removed from pretty major surgery, and after four starts, to me, he's answering that question, is he's still one of the best in baseball? I think yes, the answer last three starts are all quality. The stuff was up to ninety six last night. He might have been playing possum on that velocity thing in the minors.

00:08:01
Speaker 1: Well not Yeah, you have to conclude that, but he seems to be I think.

00:08:06
Speaker 4: I think one of the cool things that you know that he has become. He's not you know, there was a time when he.

00:08:14
Speaker 5: Was power power power. Now he really does pitch.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: I mean we referenced Greg Maddox a little bit just because of the efficiency of with which he was working.

00:08:25
Speaker 5: But he's now a pitcher.

00:08:26
Speaker 4: He's he's got great stuff, but he also pitches.

00:08:31
Speaker 5: He uses uses.

00:08:32
Speaker 4: All the quadrants. He breaks it up in the eighths. Actually, I mean he he does break up that that that strikes zone in a lot of different ways, maybe into ninths or whatever. But but he's one of those guys that has the ability to, you know, to place pitches where he wants to and with u with a complete arsenal. You know, he goes to the cutter and now he's got the splitter and the sweeper and curveball. I mean, he's you know, the four Obviously, the four seamer and the sinker continue to be his bread and butter.

00:09:07
Speaker 5: But he pitches man and that's that's the heat.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: That's the separator between he and the rest of the world, I think, and that's why he's one of the best pitchers in the game.

00:09:16
Speaker 5: And I always felt like even.

00:09:18
Speaker 4: If he had his velocity velos, he wasn't the same that he'd be able to pitch like he pitched yesterday, that he'd be able to get quick outs. And I can understand the process on on what Boston was trying to do. I mean, the best way to get to these guys is to try to get him early. They did hit some balls hard on him. They had like ten hard hit balls during the course of that game. That's a lot for Zach. But the defense played well enough and they made the plays they had to. Got a couple of double plays, which he's been waiting to see, like to see that number jump. I think, uh, you know, when when when the guy hits the ball in the place where he wants them to hit it in a double play situation, want to be able to turn those double plays. And that's what happened yesterday. A really good one to to Turner's right, the very first one where he planned and made a nice strong throat to stop. That was a big one right out of the shoot. So you know, that's the kind of stuff you need to be efficient. But he pitches man and he's one of the best pitchers in the game.

00:10:19
Speaker 2: Because of it, you got double plays in the big double plays in the second and third inning from Unner and Stott. And one thing that was interesting, you know, postgame in the clubhouse, is he admitted he had nothing in the bullpen. He said, I was lucky if I threw three strikes, had no idea which way the start was going to go. He actually said I was a little nervous coming out of the bullpen because I was so bad in the bullpen. That was something you don't hear from Zach Wheeler very often, but he quickly dialed it in.

00:10:53
Speaker 1: He seems to be so at easy of himself too, right. You know, he's almost kind of like joking about it, right, I mean, doesn't he seem to be like super comfortable with him? I mean, not that he wasn't necessarily before, but more so maybe at least in talking to us, like.

00:11:08
Speaker 2: No questions, Yeah, no question. He seems like he's stopping to smell the roses a little bit, you know, enjoying, enjoying the journey. Maybe it's comes with age and surviving a serious surgery, but yeah, he seems at ease. He's very quotable and insightful, and and really he's enjoying this ride. Not that he didn't always enjoy it, but I think you're right. He there is a real ease to how he is, uh, just kind of going through it all well.

00:11:43
Speaker 1: He said. As he was walking in from the bullpen, he said, he was telling Jay's, Wow, this is pretty cool. A lot of history here. This is pretty neat. I I want to pitch on the pitch at Fenway. Pretty cool after he just had the world's worst bullpen session.

00:11:57
Speaker 4: I mean, that's a that's a perfect example. We talked about it in the post game as well, that you know, what do you think about pitching and families that Wow, he looked out there and that he could feel the energy, he could sense the energy of It's pretty cool. Yeah, Hey, that does happen with age, and it also happens with a forty million dollar contract that you know, not that he wasn't comfortable before. But I think you're right. I think that you're right. I think that he's I think you hit it right on the head man. He's he's enjoying his space in the game right now, and while he is still super competitive, I think he's also getting a chance to really enjoy being a major league baseball player and being one of the best in the game.

00:12:41
Speaker 2: Hey, good for him, Good for him for doing that. Really happy for him. That attitude. I think they could use a little more of that in the postseason. Just enjoy where you're at and see what happens in set of grinding and stressing someone.

00:13:00
Speaker 1: You don't want those sphincters to tighten up.

00:13:05
Speaker 4: Great, great reference to the sphincter.

00:13:07
Speaker 5: I love it. Oh man.

00:13:10
Speaker 1: We have fun on The Phillies Show, and we appreciate everybody that listens and watches. If you're watching us, please hit the subscribe button on YouTube. We appreciate the support, and we've seen a few people walking around this season at Citizens Bank Park with Philly Shows swag. You can get your swag, your gear, your merchandise, your shirts, your hats, your stuff for your kids at the Phillies show shop dot com. And hey, there's lots of stuff going on this week Philly is up in Boston, of course, and then they go to Pittsburgh this weekend. But there's also stuff going on at parks.

00:13:56
Speaker 4: There sure are pars Casino. It's my you know of a choice, and you know why, guys. It's a great place for a night of headline entertainment and award winning dining. Make the night complete. Stay at the new beautiful Parks View Hotel. Great Spot. It just steps away from Park's Casino and offers a free shuttle service. Just announced about a week ago, Smokey Robinson, the Motown Legend. He headlines on September eighteenth, The smoke Sebastian Bach with special guest Steven Adler from Guns N' Roses in October twenty third, comedian Ben Bankas on August twenty second, magician Michael Carbonaro on September nineteenth, and tickets are still available for these headliners and they're coming up soon, so grab them. Parks Casino Thursday, May fourteenth, Jacob Dlon and the Wallflowers Friday May fifteenth, Country music star Bramtley Gilbert May twenty ninth, A night of yacht Rock with the Ambrosia and Pablo Cruz and the Long Island Medium Terre said Capudo on June sixth Saturday. On June twentieth, All McCartney Live, a tribute to Sir Paul McCartney, and then your favorite Jim, George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers on August twenty eighth. Do not miss these opportunities or some great concerts, some great stuff going on at Parks Casino. Parkscasino dot com. To buy tickets, you must be twenty one.

00:15:21
Speaker 5: If you do have a.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: Gambling problem, please call one eight hundred Gambler Rubina.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: You asked Jim about his Fenway Park memories, and I looked up your career numbers at Fenway, and how do you think you did at Fenway? You didn't play that many games, You only played like five games. But no, what do you remember about playing at Fenway? I'm gonna test your memory.

00:15:43
Speaker 4: So I remember my very first at bat ever at Fenway. I think I might have been playing. Was I playing for the Angels or the Cleveland Indians. Can't remember that.

00:15:53
Speaker 5: I don't think it was I home my first bat. I struck out on three pitches and it was a guy. It was a guy.

00:16:00
Speaker 4: I think it was an ambidextrous picture. It was a right hander, but he also threw left hand every once in a while. I can't remember really good at curveball. I was done, pitch is gone. It was Greg Harris. It's exactly who it was. I think he got me on three pitches and I walked back. It was a long walk back from that from that circle all the way to the dugout, and they just ate me alive because they, I mean, the fans just ate me alive.

00:16:25
Speaker 5: It was funny.

00:16:26
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if I was an Indian or I think it was an Angel anyway, but I actually won a game against Todd Froworth. I think I got a base hit to put us ahead in like the extra innings or something. When I was with the Cleveland Indians.

00:16:40
Speaker 1: Well, here here's what I looked at that. Yeah, you went two for four in your career at friend Way. But there was a game at Fenway. I think it was in ninety four with Cleveland. You came into the game in the ninth inning, eighth or ninth inning. You pinch ran four Hall of Famer, Come on, rubin, Eddie Murray, Eddie Murray. You pinch ran for Eddie Murray. You scored the game tying run in the top of the ninth, So I do it, and then and then you and then you got a base knock in the eleventh against Todd Froworthy scored Albert bell As an insurance run in like a fourteen to ten, fifteen to ten victory over the Red Sox.

00:17:23
Speaker 4: So, okay, I got an insurance run. Okay, Yeah, I thought I was a team ahead, But that's okay.

00:17:29
Speaker 1: You scored the game tying run, though, How you do it? Yeah?

00:17:35
Speaker 2: Did you give a lot of interviews after the game?

00:17:39
Speaker 4: I do not remember that, but I do remember Charlie Manuel, who was the hitting coach at the time. I remember Charlie Mannuell saying, hey, man, it's a great job. I mean, you you never get a chance to play and you still contributed to a win. I mean, I think I got like sixty at bats that year if that, and uh, maybe even less, but you know, with the opportunity, I wasn't going to get opportunities to play in that unbelievable outfield when you got Bell and Lofton and Ramirez. You ain't playing, you're sitting, and and it was it was nice to be able to contribute to you know, some some cause or some win. And uh and Charlie and I acknowledge that.

00:18:20
Speaker 1: That's cool.

00:18:21
Speaker 2: You're a big leaguer. That's special.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome, man. I mean, come on, pinch running for Freddie Murray alone would be a thrill.

00:18:28
Speaker 5: All right.

00:18:28
Speaker 4: So my very first, my very first pinch hit, pinch run, my very first appearance on a field was for pinch running for a Hall of Famer Dave Parker.

00:18:37
Speaker 1: Wow, that's cool. How about that the Cobra, that's right, the cobra.

00:18:44
Speaker 4: Okay, So Jim, Jim's book will have all that.

00:18:48
Speaker 1: That's right, Jim. Phillies are twenty and twenty two. Guys. They're just at the quarter mark, the quarter poll, whatever you want to call it. And they won eleven out of their last fourteen playing good ball. Show you what they're Phillies have the second best, second best record in Major League Baseball since the managerial chains are eleven and thirteen. Only the Rays are better. They're twelve and two. Right behind the Phillies are the Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs. So they're playing they're playing good ball right now, and I think they're like four games back in the wildcard l Wildcard. I know it's like it's only May whatever, but so here's my question. You guys that the the midway point of the season is going to be June twenty fifth, will be the eighty first game of the season. Will the Phillies be that third wildcard team? Will they have crept back in and made up all that ground in the next forty games. They have a pretty favorable schedule coming up. I think they've got like after the Red Sox, they play like including the Red Sox, I guess they play eighteen consecutive games against teams with Oh I'm sorry, the next eighteen actually are a little bit more challenging. The next eighteen games after this Red Sox series against teams with winning records, the Pirates, the Reds, the Guardians, six against the Padres, the Dodgers, and then things soften up a little bit. In June, they play the White Sox, Blue Jays, Marlins, Mets Nationals. You what do you see coming up?

00:20:36
Speaker 2: You know, I think they're going to play in October. I still do. In the world we live in with three wildcard teams, I still think they get there. Not sure about the division, and I wouldn't worry about it right now. The only thing I would be worried about, not even i'd focus on, is getting to five hundred. You were ten games under five hundred when they made the managerial change. You woke up this morning two games under five hundred. So I'm stealing a little bit of Rob Thompson's philosophy. When he took over in twenty twenty two. His goal and he told them, let's get to five hundred and then let's worry about or focus on, getting five games over five hundred, and then we'll focus on getting five more games, ten games over five hundred, small bites of the apple. That's the only thing I would be focused on, and the rest will take care of itself. So June twenty fifth, will they be on the wildcard grid? I'm going to say yes, Keep winning the series, keep taking small bites of the Apple.

00:21:39
Speaker 5: I'll say, yes, yeah, I totally agree with that.

00:21:42
Speaker 4: I mean, you're seeing the team be what we thought this team would be from the outset. I mean, this is basically what we thought we'd be seeing from this team. And in fact, I even thought that they'd be better as far as they're starting pitching.

00:21:55
Speaker 5: This concern.

00:21:56
Speaker 4: I really thought it'd be much better offensively.

00:21:59
Speaker 5: You just didn't know.

00:22:00
Speaker 4: You thought you got, you know, the back of the baseball cards and all that stuff would come through, but you just didn't know whether they'd be swinging the bats well all the way through. It's a little bit streaky, and you're getting a lot of contribution from guys that you weren't sure you would get contributions from, like marsh who's having a heck of a start to the season. I do believe that they'll be in that wildcard race and probably be in that right position at that time. Atlanta's sort of set up separated itself on Atlanta and the Cubs. A couple of teams there have sort of separated themselves, but especially Atlanta with in the division. But I feel like the concern how do you how do you make those incremental moves Jim, You've talked about it a lot. You continue to win series series after series after series, and can they do that with an inconsistent Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter? And if you have two guys in your rotation who are sort of inconsistent, and Lozardo's been sort of up and down, I feel I feel a little bit better about lazarticles is overall stuff, stuff is just so too good to to not be a little bit more consistent.

00:23:13
Speaker 5: And it will happen.

00:23:14
Speaker 4: But Andrew Painter, who's throwing tonight, is a guy that, uh, you know, you really have to get better contribution. You got to get good, solid five innings from the guy five and a third. You know, that's the guy that needs to sort of make some adjustments here to uh, to help them. Because if you end up having two guys that are going to just give you four and two thirds or four and a third every single time through the rotation, it's really good to take its toll on the bat, on the bullpen, uh, you know, and the middle guys and it's it's gonna wear them down. So yes, I think it will happen. I am a little concerned about whether Andrew Painter will make the necessary adjustments to get to that consistent five innings to keep you know, the team in the game, and we'll find out some more about how he handles things tonight because the fastball command hasn't been there. It's been on the trouble on the on the arm side last time, trouble on the glove side the time before that. Mechanically, he needs to get to the point where he's more consistent with his stuff, and that's tough with the guy that big and a kid that's probably got a little anxiety, even though he doesn't show it on the on the mound, a little anxiety about getting himself going here at the major league level.

00:24:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, good points about Nolan Painter.

00:24:39
Speaker 2: They need to get to that beyond that playoff by June twenty fifth, which we think they will. Consistency in the rotation and good health has to be one of them as well. They need those two things to happen.

00:24:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, payers fastball isn't getting hit hard, not getting a lot of swing and miss with that either, very little. Gotta figure that out, Okay, So and again, so let's go think ahead June twenty fifth All Star Game in Philadelphia's gonna be right around the corner. Who are we talking about as Philly's All Star selections on June twenty fifth. Who do you guys have?

00:25:21
Speaker 2: I got three of them in the in the regular lineup, Marsh, Harper, Schwarber.

00:25:28
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:25:29
Speaker 1: Look at Brandon Marsh's numbers over the last calendar year, the last three hundred sixty five days from May thirteenth, twenty twenty five to May twelfth. This season bet three thirteen, twenty nine doubles, one trouble, fourteen home runs, fifty six RBIs, eight forty three ops, ten stolen bases. Such a I mean, what a remarkable run he's been on.

00:25:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's sort of doing the things that I think as a as a prospect coming through the Angels organization and that this was sort of what was going to happen with this guy.

00:26:02
Speaker 5: And I remember this guy hit to eighty last year.

00:26:05
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, his his ops wasn't like eight fifty or nine hundred. But because he doesn't really he doesn't have a ton of extra base hits. But this guy can hit. Man, he can hit and he's also really improved. I looked up some numbers. He's really improved against left handers.

00:26:24
Speaker 5: This year.

00:26:24
Speaker 4: He's hitting like two eighty something against lefties. Last year it was in the ones. His ops against lefties this year's just shy of seven hundred, not quite there, but a lot better. I mean, his numbers against righty's are ridiculous. He's got over a one thousand ops so against righty's. I think he's hitting like three seventy against righty's or something like that, some crazy ass number. But the reality of it is he's starting to become the guy that a lot of people thought he would be. It's funny, I you know, I look at some of the numbers. You know, he's got fourteen home runs in that span, twenty nine doubles. Nowadays, in this day and age, people just love the homers, and they love, you know, guys hitting the ball out of the ballpark and the extra base hits and this that and the other. But to me, it's about productive and productivity. And I think, you know, he's third on the team in RBIs. I think he's got twenty one of them. Now he's you know, scoring runs not I mean the guy's behind him. He can't really control that. So I mean he's a good base runner, he's a good left fielder, he feels in the center. I mean, there's a lot of things that he does well and he should be recognized for that. I don't know if he will be in this day and age, because everybody wants to see the homers. But the guy's leading the league in the hitting and batting and I don't even know if that's even valued anymore in the game. It certainly should be because he's a really productive player, right.

00:28:00
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, uh, I love to seeing it. I mean, now it's so rare. Anybody that hits three hundred to me gets catches my attention. You know, anybody. Now, you know, he's certainly hitting well above three hundreds. So if he, if he continues to hit get opportunities against left handed pitching, I think he'll be you know, I think he'll be in that All Star consideration.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: Remember when Charlie many Will used to always say, if you ain't hitting three hundred, you've got a problem.

00:28:30
Speaker 5: Remember he used to say that, Yeah, just there's.

00:28:33
Speaker 2: A lot of problems in big league baseball.

00:28:35
Speaker 1: There's a lot of problems in big league baseball. I got Harper Schwarber, marsh In that All Star talk. You know, a month from now, forty games from now, Sanchez, maybe Doran's missed some time. You know, it'd be kind of if Wheeler goes on a run, gets on a heater, maybe he'll get into that, get into that mix.

00:28:57
Speaker 4: And it was amazing.

00:28:58
Speaker 5: We were talking about this before.

00:29:00
Speaker 4: Guys, like in the first two months, month and a half in the season, we're like, who the hell's could represent the Phillies in the All Star Game because they were all terrible. And then some guys have sort of picked it up. There's no doubt that they picked it up and put themselves in a much better spot.

00:29:19
Speaker 2: Like we're talking about the lack of three hundred hitters, and we've talked about this a lot. The stuff that guys are bringing that these pictures, you know, thirteen man staffs, they're going like eleven deep with guys who were throwing ninety eight. And the stuff and the movement and these pitching labs and the way they can craft a picture and develop a picture and build velocity and build spin and build everything. That the way the pitching curve has gone, the way it's grown, the hitters just are incapable of keeping up with it. You just wonder if discontinues to trend upward with stuff and the way they're these pitching labs are developing, these these not necessarily pitchers, a lot of them throwers, but just the way the stuff is arcing. Where does it stop? What's the game going to look like in twenty years. It's like it's like offensive linemen. You know, once upon a time, if you had two hundred and ninety five pound offensive lineman, you were a Monster's Now everybody's three and a half, three fifty or whatever. They never stop. Where where is it? Where's it going to go? What's it going to look like?

00:30:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right, So there's ebb and flows in baseball up like this, where you know, the pitching gets really good for a while and then the hitting gets really good. You know, you see these sort of trends happening. What is a little astonishing to me is that instead of instead of the on the offensive side, guys really concentrating on contact and putting the ball in play, that that's never hadn't caught up yet, that idea of just making contact with guys who have this you know, this amazing arsenal movement and spin and velocity. Why has the hitting piece of this not now trended the other way? They continue to care more about and I see it on the stat sheets, extra base hits, slugging, slugging, slugging, slugging. I mean, to me, it's about trying to make contact and putting the ball and playing, putting pressure on the team and getting guys in scoring position and putting the heat on pictures and making them throw strikes. And at some point, I think it's going to have to start flipping. Otherwise no one's ever going to get on base, no one's ever going to score a run. And the one thing about the one thing about the pitching is that I think that they're not necessarily caring that much about at the development stage where the ball is going. They're caring about how it is spinning. And so for me as a hitter, then I mean, to my advantage, I'm saying, I'm making this guy throw at me a strike and hit the ball, pitch pitch into the middle of the strike zone, because if he doesn't know where it's going, I'm going to look for pitches that are in the strike zone, especially now with the ABS as it stands.

00:32:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, what.

00:32:25
Speaker 1: One more for you guys. Forty games from now and when they reach the midway point trade deadline will be a little bit more than a month away. At that point, what do you think, well, the Phillies' biggest need today, whatever you think that is, still be their biggest need a month from now, or do you think they will have maybe solved some things internally?

00:32:48
Speaker 2: You know, I think that's going to keep evolving. And we talked about consistency and staying healthy, that those two factors, those two areas will factor into what their needs are are. So I'm not sure where things are right now in terms of that. I think I'd still be evaluating. I mean, it was a time when you thought, maybe, you know, maybe another outfield bat, and I don't know, depending on how the kid does in center field, but there's always the need in bullpens, depending on how Painter does, maybe in the back end of the rotation. Who knows, Reuben, I.

00:33:27
Speaker 4: Think we've been looking for a right handed bat and a bullpen arm pretty much every single deadline.

00:33:34
Speaker 5: For the last couple of years.

00:33:36
Speaker 4: You know, Adulas Garcia is doing okay in that forehole in the protection right now, can he continue to improve and make that a moot point. I don't know, but I was thinking in my head, my GM hat was was on. I'm looking down at that at that bullpen in Boston and looking at that left handed named Eraaldus Chapman and thinking to myself, can you imagine a roll As Chapman and Joan Doran in the same bullpen?

00:34:03
Speaker 2: Oh goodness.

00:34:06
Speaker 4: I mean, you're going to close out that game pretty quickly, and it's going to tighten up that game. It's going to be a you know, six six inning game. And I think, you know, I know it's a crazy thought, but if Boston, you know, drifts out of this thing, he's going to be a He's going to be moved and it's going to take a lot to get him. But I mean, you're talking about you're talking about now now, you're talking about a bullpen that is just ridiculous.

00:34:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I.

00:34:37
Speaker 1: Don't think that's crazy. I don't think that's crazy as well.

00:34:42
Speaker 4: I mean that's what I would be thinking if I was a GM right now. I mean when I when I dream about things and see whether that's a real possibility, and I don't know if they have the assets to go and do that for what would be a rental. I think he's just a one year deal. I don't think he did a two year deal, but I mean imagine that and then and then let the manager fight it out as to who's going to be closing games.

00:35:07
Speaker 2: Two, very physically imposing man at the back end of your bullpen with power, power power. I mean, that's a great thought. I mean, lefty, righty, boom, you know, close the door. All of a sudden, Alvarado is down on the seventh Keller, Keller's in the seventh.

00:35:27
Speaker 4: Keller and Kirkering are you know, pushed down. Kirkering is throwing the ball really well with great confidence. Now, I mean he becomes the primary right hand or at some point. I think it's maybe unless Keller starts, you know, being Keller again.

00:35:40
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:35:42
Speaker 1: The other thing is, you know, in a month at the end of June, is who's going to be this year's Harrison Bader or Austin Hayes. They could use a good right handed bat off the bench, you know. Yeah, tune situation, slide marsh over to center, have that guy play left. It's been Auto Camp and Felix Reyes right now, and I.

00:36:02
Speaker 5: Think they can do.

00:36:03
Speaker 1: They could do better than that, So we'll see a long way to go, Jim and Joey Boston.

00:36:11
Speaker 2: Yes, two more days here see if the Phillies can get a series win. That's that's boring, but that's what it's all about.

00:36:21
Speaker 5: You gotta go visit your hometown or what are you doing.

00:36:24
Speaker 1: Jim, No, I'm gonna grind and grinding.

00:36:29
Speaker 2: I might take a walk over to North Northeastern University and and see how they're coming on their new hockey arena.

00:36:37
Speaker 5: There you go, okay.

00:36:40
Speaker 2: Type of things I do.

00:36:42
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:36:43
Speaker 5: I love it.

00:36:44
Speaker 1: Hey, if you have a question for us, we'll maybe try to answer a few questions in our next show on Friday. So if you're watching us on YouTube, drop them in the comments or send us a note on.

00:36:57
Speaker 6: Twitter, Blue Sky Threads, Facebook, Instagram, and.

00:37:07
Speaker 1: We'll see you guys later this week.

00:37:10
Speaker 4: Smelling Little Boys, Smelling Boston James.

00:37:14
Speaker 1: 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.