NLDS preview: Phillies vs. Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Billy Show. Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Zolecki.

00:00:12
Speaker 2: It's the Philly Show.

00:00:13
Speaker 1: It's Friday, October third, twenty twenty five. The Phillies will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the twenty twenty five National League Division Series. Game one is Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park. It's time for the park's first pitch. First pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino, like my dramatic boy bro number one casino, trying to get dramatic for the postseason. Guys, it's big, It's it's finally here. The Phillies Dodgers. Dodgersmoke the Reds in two games at Dodger Stadium. What are we thinking about this series? Fellas talking to a couple of people today, Phillies fans, little nerves. Shohyo Tani pitching a game when we'll get to him in a bit, but just generally speaking, your thoughts.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: Well, they have a long history in the postseason, back in the seventies, again during the Ruby Tomorrow front office years and they're renewing old acquaintances. It feels like to me, the World Series because I feel like there's a chance seasons the two best teams in all of baseball. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong, right, but they feel like the two best teams in Major League Baseball, and they're gonna slug it out in the in the NLDS, the Dodgers are scary. And here's why they treated the regular like it was a layup drill, like it was a pregame stretch. And they are challenging the old axiom that in baseball you can't just flip the switch, because you know, they used the regular season, they had injuries, they use it to get their rotation healthy, to build up Otani, and they're really in September, they had a really good offense. They're pitching is healthy, their rotation is healthy, and it appears they have flipped the switch by steam rolling the Cincinnati Reds, though hey, the Red's backed in not really ready for prime time team. But nonetheless, the Dodgers look like a team that's clicking on all cylinders. Their rotation is fantastic, and you know they're bullpens a question mark, but oh by the way. Maybe they found a closer in Roki Sasaki. Dangerous team, but you know what, Philly's been waiting for this all year long. They didn't treat the regular season as a layup drill. They get after it played well, ninety six wins. It was a lot to like about the Phillies too, and I love the fact that they have the first two games at home and you know, get it on.

00:03:13
Speaker 3: Won't be easy.

00:03:15
Speaker 4: This is the matchup that I think that everybody knew was going to happen at some point. I had the feeling and at some point, whether it was going to be in the NLCS or whether it's good being in the NLDS, this was going to.

00:03:27
Speaker 3: Happen, and it's happening.

00:03:29
Speaker 4: And it's sort of unfortunate that it's just a five game series because it as it has to be a knockdown, drag out.

00:03:36
Speaker 5: I have a feeling in the next CBA that there might be a chance to shorten up the season and maybe expand this particular level. I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but it sure.

00:03:47
Speaker 3: Seems like it should be in some ways so you can really find out which teams are the best ones. Going into the next series to the NLCS that said, it's going to be a tough one because.

00:04:01
Speaker 4: Uh, and the guys that are pitching against them are gonna be tough.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: The guys that are pitching for the Phillies are gonna be tough. It's two of.

00:04:09
Speaker 4: The best teams in baseball, I believe, and Uh, I think.

00:04:15
Speaker 3: It's gonna be really exciting. I really do. Uh.

00:04:18
Speaker 4: There's gonna be some nerves in that in those stands, but uh, they those nerves can be squelched if the Phillies get out to an early lead.

00:04:27
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens. You gotta get the crowd into it, not nervous, but into.

00:04:32
Speaker 4: It, and hopefully, Uh, they played good, solid, fundamentally strong baseball.

00:04:40
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think Otani pitching Game one at Citizens Bank Park, I get it. He's great, But man, how much fun could that be? In your right rubin they at the Phillies could somehow scratch across a couple of runs in the first couple of innings against a guy like Otani. The crowd is gonna get into it.

00:05:01
Speaker 3: You know.

00:05:01
Speaker 1: The Phillies they played well against the Dodgers in the regular season this season and last season. I don't know if that means anything. It doesn't. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, probably doesn't. I don't know. It's the postseason. But they were four and two against the Dodgers this year. They're nine to three against the Dodgers the last two seasons in the regular season, so they played well against them. Again, totally different. I get it. The postseason is totally different. But I do think this is a great series. I was saying the same thing that you guys said today. I was talking with Ricky bow And on ninety seventy five and I said, I just wish this was a seven game series, same thing you guys said. I feel like this should be an NLCS matchup. I think that these two teams right now, the way they're playing, maybe the best two teams in baseball. No disrespect to the Milwaukee Brewers, but heck of a matchup and it is going to be a lot of fun.

00:05:58
Speaker 3: Hey.

00:05:59
Speaker 2: That was first pitch, presented exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. Parkscasino dot Com is the website. You must be twenty one to participate, and if you have a gambling problem, called one eight hundred gambler.

00:06:18
Speaker 1: I want to mention, of course, the Phillieshowshop dot com is now open get your gear for the postseason. We got it all. We're getting more every day, getting more. Scan the QR code on the screen or go to the Phillies show Shop dot com check it out. So we've got Shoho Tani against Christopher Sanchez on Saturday. Now, full disclosure, we're recording this on Thursday night before the Yankees and Red Sox game, and so we don't know if this game is at six oh eight. We don't know if the games at six thirty eight, but it will be in the six o'clock hour and it will be show.

00:07:02
Speaker 3: Well I do jim it will be showing shadows.

00:07:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, no shadows shows.

00:07:09
Speaker 3: That's totally other thing. That's another whole element of this. No shadows for these games.

00:07:15
Speaker 4: And that's important because at least it gives the hitters a chance against these two pitchers because.

00:07:20
Speaker 3: They're both swing and miss pitchers.

00:07:23
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so you know this shadow. So you got Christopher Sanchez, who, if I had to put money on it, is going to finish second for the nl CY Young Award behind Paul Skeins. That's my prediction. You have show Heyo Tani only the greatest player in baseball right now. Some people say maybe the best ever. I don't know. I didn't see Babe Ruth play, but he's pretty good. So what do we think about this pitching matchup now? Last month at Dodger Stadium, show Heyo Tani through five hitless, scoreless innings, walked one five strikeouts. I want to run through some of these numbers for you guys, just to give you an idea what the Phillies are facing now. They had never faced him before. Four seen fastball average ninety nine point two miles an hour, touched one on one point seven. He has a slider, a curveball, a sweeper, a sinker, a cutter. He threw a one splitter, so he's he's got it all. You know, he's got everything but a knuckleball. Really, and the Phillies definitely struggled against him in that opener or that game, I should say, at at Dodger Stadium.

00:08:32
Speaker 2: He's going to be a bear. I mean, they they you know, they kid gloved him all year, but he kept building that workload, of building that workload and all of a sudden. Now he's gotten deeper into games in September, like fourteen to two thirds innings in September, zero runs. I think he only allowed one run in like nineteen innings over his final four starts. You're right, he's the modern day Babe Ruth. And let's not forget Babe Ruth was a great pitcher who would have won at least one Cy Young Award if it was around in his day. So you know, they have a chance to ride O'tawi far. He has a chance to be a tone center against you know, both offenses were pretty good in September. The Philly struggled with runners in the scoring position last week. But you know, I think maybe the what was off the pedal a little bit in spots. But O Tony, he's going to be a bear. But Christopher Sanchez has a chance to be a bear against a very good lineup as well. He's coming off a couple really great starts, and you know his last thirty two starts at Citizens Bank Park, look up the numbers. He's got like a two and a half. The ra he has been great and I think his confidence is high. Fan Appreciation Day Sunday, had another good outing. But you know, this is a different kind of pressure for Christopher Sanchez. I would think, uh, he has pitched in the postseason before, but he's now pitching Game one. He's now pitching as the team's ace. That's different. How he handles it will go a long way to determining determining how they're doing Game one, and we know how important Game one one is in a short series, we.

00:10:17
Speaker 3: Have no question about.

00:10:18
Speaker 4: It's about controlling your emotions, and hopefully he can be that guy to do that. Obviously it would typically be Zach Wheeler's start, but this kid has matured tremendously. I think he believes in the stuff. He's got the confidence to do it again. You just don't know how emotional he'll end up getting. Hopefully he can handle himself in a mature way. He has been growing in front of our eyes from just a babe to a stud pitcher. And really impressed by what he's done as a pitcher over the last several years.

00:10:52
Speaker 3: Or the last couple of years. He's grown up in leaps and bounds.

00:10:56
Speaker 4: I will say this, one of the things that I was really impressed by with Otani was his ability to throw strikes with all of his stuff, and that's a concern. I do like the fact that the team has actually seen him throw, they've seen him pitch, they faced him, and.

00:11:14
Speaker 3: That is important. And I remember saying it.

00:11:17
Speaker 4: During the broadcast that even though he was dealing, at the very least they get a chance to see the ball come out of his hand. They can react to it and know the spins and understand what's happening with the baseball when it comes out.

00:11:30
Speaker 3: Of his hand. Doesn't mean that they're going to have success against him, but.

00:11:33
Speaker 4: At least they've seen it and had some level of understanding of what they're going to face. Phillies did end up winning that game between he and I guess it was on the sixteenth of September.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: They came back and won the ball game and beat up their their bullpen that day.

00:11:51
Speaker 4: But listen, this is different, and I will say this, the postseason is a totally different anem And if you don't execute, and if you don't play good baseball, you see what's happened.

00:12:08
Speaker 3: In the other series so far.

00:12:11
Speaker 6: Base running issues, making mistakes, misplays, not backing up you know the appropriate spots, not being able to move a runner, not being able to get in bunted down, getting a bunt down, and how the difference, how it changes all of a sudden, It's amazing.

00:12:31
Speaker 4: You actually have to play baseball again. And I think that the Phillies have done a pretty good job of actually playing baseball, doing some bunning, doing some of the small things, trying to move a runner.

00:12:44
Speaker 3: From time to time.

00:12:46
Speaker 4: They have struggled with runners in scoring position at times, and that's a concern. But you have to play clean baseball to be a champion, and hopefully they can do that. And if you're not playing clean baseball, then you're better be lucky and get a couple of hanging breaking balls and hit out of the ballpark.

00:13:03
Speaker 3: Otherwise you're going to be in a tough spot.

00:13:06
Speaker 1: So what like the the game plan for Otani? Like, what do you think Kevin long and is hitting staff is going to ask the hitters because I feel like a lot of times you hear this right or maybe in the outside you can go all right with Otani. You just want him to try to run his pitch count up and then try to get into that Dodgers' bullpen. But he throws a lot of strikes, so then a lot of times you see guys be really aggressive early in the count, right, and you're going, why are they doing They're not working the count, but they're like, well, you got to be aggressive early in the count because if you're one in two or two against this guy, you're screwed. So I don't know what the answer. I don't know if there is an answer, really, but it's it's I don't know. You know, it's gonna be fascinating to see what kind of game, how they try to attack him, what the game plan is to beat him.

00:13:54
Speaker 2: If he's over the plate early in the count. I think you've got to be ready to hit. You've got to be ready to hit, because it's he gets ahead and starts going you know, five and six deep. Like Rubin said, he throws everything for strikes. So it's a it's a difficult, difficult challenge.

00:14:11
Speaker 4: And yeah, if I'm facing him, if I'm in the box, I'm looking for a fastball. If I get a fastball to hit or something that's up in the zone, a breaking pitch that's up on the zone, I'm going to have to be aggressive on it early because you get to two strikes and now you're you're talking about six different pitches.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: You can't eliminate anything. Then you're just looking for baseball. And so you know, I think I think you're right, Jim.

00:14:36
Speaker 4: I think you have to be sort of aggressive in the early part of the count and aggressive in the strike zone all early part of the season.

00:14:45
Speaker 3: This is that they talked about.

00:14:47
Speaker 4: This is what they sort of prime themselves for to make good swing decisions early in the count, right, And so they suffered a little bit with their power in the early part of the season as a result of this, Now they got a little bit better with their power. Obviously a lot better with their power, and we're swinging more freely, more athletically later on in the game in the season, because I think that their thought process got better, their ability to distinguish hittable pitches from non hittable pitches got better, and they had a lot of success. Will that happen in a postseason. I hope it does, because if it can, they'll have a lot of success. If not, it'll be tough because they've got great pitchers that are pitching against him, that have.

00:15:33
Speaker 3: Swing and miss stuff.

00:15:35
Speaker 7: Blake Snell as absolutely filthy. It'll filter day night off speed stuff. He has a great change up and excellent curveballs and sliders almost unhittable. So how do you combat that swing at strikes and swing at the fastball. When you get that pitch to hit, you got to make good hard content.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: It would have been great if the Reds have squeezed out one win because now they would have to use show Hey in Game three and you wouldn't have seen him in Game one tone setter. You would have seen him later in the series maybe, So that was that was big them going, you know, hosting that series and getting the sweep. We had Kevin Long on the show the other day. He was fascinating, in my opinion, one of our favorite. To me, one of the best interviews we've had, one of the best shows we've had. I would encourage anybody to go back and listen to that Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long. But he was talking about how you know they have the machines in the cage where they can plug in that night's starter and get all his velocities, his entire pitch repertoire, all his locations, all his spin rates, and I have to imagine the Philly has been doing a lot of watching of a virtual whatever you want to call it show. Hey o Tani, Rightah, the.

00:16:53
Speaker 4: Traject system does a really good job of being able to simulate the spin rates and the spin and all that stuff.

00:17:01
Speaker 3: And uh, I mean.

00:17:03
Speaker 4: All you can try to do is simulate as much as you possibly can and and go from there.

00:17:09
Speaker 1: Didn't didn't Kevin also say that they'll juice up that machine like one oh five. Yeah, I mean you kind of have to write. I mean, if you want to hit velo, you might as well step up in the box an extra step and crank it up to one o five and just you know, so bad.

00:17:28
Speaker 3: You actually make it feel like it's slowed down in the game. If you actually go ahead and make it, you know, the velocity is harder and faster just to track it and see it.

00:17:39
Speaker 4: Because then in real time you actually see the arm motion and it's a little bit different. You have a better timing mechanism than you do with the traject machine. It's simpler because the video comes out with the arm action, but you don't actually see.

00:17:55
Speaker 3: The arm work. Right. But hey, the as much simulation as you can possibly do, it's a positive and hopefully the boys can make the proper adjustments when need be.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: I would just like to see, you know, for Phil you know, Philly's fans would love to see this. I would just love to see Otani get in a little bit of trouble early in the game, just to kind of see the crowd reaction. I would love to see. I would love to see if they could Bert hooton him a little bit. I don't think. I feel like Otani is just like a robot almost. He's like a super human. I don't think. I don't think he could be Burt Hooten. But you know, I think the fans got under cc sabathist skin in game two of the two thousand and eight and LDS. You never know, we've seen it happen. We've seen it happen. So I think that would just be a fun atmosphere. I know people are going to the game. They're like, oh, Tania, I said, no, no, you should be going, Oh, this is going to be great show, hey Otani. You know, especially if they get on him early, it's going to be it could be we forget.

00:19:01
Speaker 4: The Philly fan really does believe that they can impact the game, and I'm sure they'll be trying exactly.

00:19:09
Speaker 1: And you know our friend Charlie Manuel, he always he always liked to uh to quote one of his favorite people of all time, Rick Flair, he said, to be the man. You gotta beat the man.

00:19:22
Speaker 3: That's right.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: So joey Otani he is the man. Gotta beat the man if you if you want to win a World Series, you might as well do it by beating Shohey Otani in the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. So game one again is Saturday night. It's not the only sports going on this weekend, Rubin, you got it all. You can follow it all at Parks Casino or on the bet Parks Casino.

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00:20:54
Speaker 1: All right, so think about this series. Give me who's your X factor for the Phillies. Who's a guy you know? You can't say Kylish Schwarber. We know kyleege Ford and Bryce Harper. You know, uh, Trey Turner. I mean Trey Turner maybe with the hamstring he co'd say, I don't know. I'm not telling you guys who to pick. I'm just wondering if you guys have any X fact, I'll give you my X factor. I'll start it off Jim Ruben, I'm gonna say Oriyan Kirkring. I'm gonna say O'Ryan Kirkering because Oryan Kirkering really struggled down the stretch. He had two good appearances at the end of the season, including that last one strikes out the side scoreless inning. We talk a lot about the Dodgers' bullpen and how shaky it is, and the Phillies bullpen really should line up nicely with Juwan de Roun. But if they could get a good version of Ryan Kirkring in the sixth inning, in the seventh inning, however it lines up, man, that would go a long way for this bullpen because in the postseason, we know this, the way the game has evolved over time, You're probably not going to see Sanchez, Suarez and Lozardo going into the seventh inning going seven to the third, seven to That'd be great, That'd be great if it happened, but probably won't happen at least in one of those games. So if you could get a dominant Orian Kirkring and then you can get the ball to Strom and maybe face Otani, maybe face Freddy Freeman in the eighth or however it lines up, that would be absolutely huge. So that's my X factor for this series. Is Orian kirk Ring.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: Solid good one. I think I would go. I think you could have the entire alphabet you know of X factors. But I think it's important that the Phillies don't have like a strikeout of Thon offensively and put the ball in play. I'm going to say in that vein Alec Bohm becomes very important to me. He's a guy that can hit for some contact. He may hit behind Harper, and I think it's important that he become a tough out and be a tough out and put the ball in play and not strike out. So Harper sees some pitches. So I don't know what he's gonna do with the what Rob's gonna do with the bomb Bader, real, mudo triumvir at, who's going to hit there at four? But whoever does is going to be essential, and I think Bom might have the ingredients to be there. And you can't have high strikeout games. And this is a very talented fire loaded with firepower Dodgers starting pitching staff. That's not a good mix when you strike out a lot. So Phillies need to have a lot of good at bats and I think Boom becomes important in that in that way, So I'm gonna.

00:23:52
Speaker 4: Cheat a little bit here and I'm gonna have a double X factor, and I think it's gonna be I think one of the things that really made the team they nicely at the end of the season was the depth of the of the lineup. That the guys at the top part of the lineup, you know, you sort of they are going to do what they they're going to do. But if you get big at bats and base hits with marsh and Stott, who are probably going to hit somewhere between six and nine in that lineup, if you can get that those guys on base, particularly Stop to roll.

00:24:26
Speaker 3: That lineup over.

00:24:28
Speaker 4: He has the ability to get some big hits and make good contact in front of tournament, then you have a chance to have some real action on the basis you make it super difficult and lengthy and you put the stress on the pitcher that way. And I think having those two guys Stot in particular, it's a little different to have Stop back there as opposed to Johann Rojas, for instance, because you.

00:24:53
Speaker 5: Got a lot different at bats out of that guy than you were going to get out of Johann.

00:24:58
Speaker 3: So he's going to be my little X factor. I am a big a.

00:25:05
Speaker 4: Fan of his of Stotts, and I believe that he's gotten to the point where not only is in the right space with his hands, but is in the right space with his mental makeup.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: I love the player. I think he's going to be a big factor in this series.

00:25:20
Speaker 2: Especially the way he swung in the last two months after making that adjustment. Kevin Long talked about that adjustment and how he wanted him to, you know, get the ball in the air to the pull side, but you know, keep it down and keep it low to the to the off field, and Scott was struggling with it. Kevin Long said to.

00:25:39
Speaker 3: Him, do you really want to hit two thirty five? A great question.

00:25:45
Speaker 4: That's all I saw in the Cleveland Guardians lineup, nothing but two thirties and eighteens and two twenties.

00:25:52
Speaker 3: It's really amazing.

00:25:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, go jam No, you can, said Tom, I'm sorry, I was just it was just really amazing the Guardians got that far with that lineup.

00:25:59
Speaker 3: He just sextordinary. It's a great effort by Stephen Botman and.

00:26:04
Speaker 4: My man the train, Carl Willis, who is their pitching coach.

00:26:08
Speaker 3: I think they did a hell of a job of even getting into the playoffs and.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: Ate it a little bit by unbelievable swan dive by swan dive by the Tigers, who have writed themselves a little a little bit in the first round. But I wanted to pose a question something I've been thinking a lot about and Rubin you kind of touched on it a little bit saying, you know, you got to keep the nerves out of it. Todd you touched on a little bit by wondering if they could ever get out o Tani early and really get that crowd into it. And you know, when things don't go right, and we talked about this with Boa last week, when things don't go right, the crowd gets quiet and tight. Everybody gets tight. You can feel it. And in that kind of extending that, I think I don't think there's ever been more pressure on a Phillies team in one hundred and forty three years of competition than this one. I think the pressure on this team is more than any other Phillies team, including the eleven team.

00:27:11
Speaker 3: The eleven team had one hundred.

00:27:13
Speaker 2: And two wins, had a bad week against Saint Louis, got knocked out, but there were enough guys on that team that had won to oh eight and that kind of cushioned their fall. Nineteen eighty had enormous pressure, enormous three divisions. Ruley went in and said he's going to break up the team. They ended up winning. They responded to that huge pressure, But they didn't have a monstrous payroll like there are these days, like the Phillies are carrying this year, and they certainly the fans were different then. There was no social media, the players didn't grow up in the social media age. Here in every bit of disappointment and sometimes harsh, harsh criticism and even personal stuff, I just think, and now this team is big payrolls, record payrolls over the luxury tax, been there three years in a row, star studied roster, two three hundred million dollar guys and an agent core. I just think it's created a massive amount of pressure on this particular Phillies team, the most maybe on any team ever with the Phillies, and how they respond and handle that pressure is gonna go a long way to determine how this month goes. Am I off base.

00:28:28
Speaker 4: I don't think you're off base at all, And I think this is where you know and there's no criticism as to how.

00:28:37
Speaker 3: Rob Thompson runs this this ball club, and I don't have that criticism.

00:28:43
Speaker 4: People say that he's too mild mannered, and he's too chill, and he's too well. I think that his overall demeanor helped that whole process.

00:28:54
Speaker 3: He believes in his guys.

00:28:56
Speaker 4: He lets them play, he trusts them to do their jobs, and he stays positive with them.

00:29:02
Speaker 3: And I think that's all he can do because at.

00:29:05
Speaker 4: The end of the day, he might be able to make one or two moves in the bullpen or what have you with a pinch hitter. But the reality of it is the boys have to play, and if they played free and easy and with joy like Charlie Manuel was a master at being able to bring out of his players, then they have.

00:29:26
Speaker 3: A chance to go along all the way.

00:29:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Dave Dombrowski kind of touched on that the other day. He was asked, do you see this is almost like a last dance, last rass situation? So yeah, for sure, we can see some losing some guys. So obviously he knows that. Everybody knows that. But yeah, I do think there's pressure on this team, and you're right, I think the twenty eleven team, they felt pressure, but when that season ended as crushing as it was, they all thought that they were going to be good again the next year and keep it going for a couple of why would run But I mean, why wouldn't you have Like, you know, obviously Ryan Howard blows out his achilles, and you know Chase had his issues. But you're sitting there going, we still got Roy Hall, They've got Cliff Lee, We've got Cole Hamill's you know, uh, you know, we we we've we've got all these young players or all these all these good players. Still you had no reason to think that they were not going to be able to repeat. So there was a crushing disappointment for sure, but not not this sort of massive pressure like if we don't win it this year, we're we're done. But now you have if we don't win it this year, make Kyle Schwarber thinks the grass might be a little greener somewhere. I don't know, maybe JT. Real Mutto's has less of it.

00:30:46
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not going to.

00:30:47
Speaker 1: Think two year deal. I can get a four year deal here, you know, Rangers. So there's all those different factors. I do think there's pressure, and I do think that if they do get down early, you're going to see some clinched.

00:31:01
Speaker 6: I think.

00:31:04
Speaker 4: Yes, But you also have to remember this has been one of the most resilient teams in the world.

00:31:08
Speaker 9: They looked like crap one day and they and they literally are out of it, and then they'll bounce back like it never happened before, and they bounce back and play a good game of baseball.

00:31:20
Speaker 3: It really, again, the pro postseason really is a crap.

00:31:24
Speaker 4: Shoot, and it will be against the Dodgers because the Dodgers are such a talented team. But hey, you just got to play good baseball and try to enjoy yourself because it's this is the fun time. This is why you play sports for the postseason, to get an opportunity to put yourself in this position. And they have.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: So whatever, what's our predictions, let's close on that. What are we predicting.

00:31:50
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say Phillies. I'm gonna stay Phillies in five.

00:31:53
Speaker 4: I do have fear that that uh that that the Dodgers are rolling really strong right now, but I do feel like the Phillies will stay in it.

00:32:01
Speaker 3: And I'll say Phillies in five I'm.

00:32:04
Speaker 2: Going Phillies in five. They come home and they they went it in front of the home crowd, and the home crowd is give them that kick they need. Yeah, And I'm predicting a great series that people are gonna come away from saying that felt like the World Series.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: I agree with you, guys. I was gonna say Phillies in five, and so I will say Phillies in five, same thing. I think it's gonna be crazy. People are gonna be losing their mind. We're gonna be trying to talk people off a ledge a couple of times over the next week. Right, we're gonna get on in the morning. People are gonna be freaking out because something didn't happen.

00:32:38
Speaker 4: Right.

00:32:40
Speaker 1: But ultimately, I think I think the Phillies. I think that the most well rounded team I do. I think if you can get into that Dodgers' bullpen, and I know Sasaki in the ninth inning, he's looked, he's looked really good, and maybe he can keep that up.

00:32:54
Speaker 3: But never a CVP in Red October, my friend.

00:32:59
Speaker 1: Great point, Ruben, great point, great point.

00:33:02
Speaker 3: Get in it.

00:33:02
Speaker 2: Maybe he'll go, maybe he'll go to Jonathan Broxton for some advice.

00:33:07
Speaker 1: They should bring j Roll in and Matt Steers in the They could have played that on the Loop.

00:33:12
Speaker 2: They could have played that on the Loop.

00:33:15
Speaker 1: Two of the most all time moments for me covering this team. Oh my god, jim I was sitting next to you in the press box at Dodger Stadium with stairs set one deep into the night.

00:33:27
Speaker 2: And that place went hushed quiet. All you could hear was like, you know, the Phillies front office, like free boxes over going crazy.

00:33:35
Speaker 3: That was me, That was Ruby, That was me. I literally had I'm not lying to you.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: In the box. And the next year with the with the Jimmy double or whatever, it was a double right.

00:33:50
Speaker 3: Jumped on top of my desk in.

00:33:52
Speaker 2: The rayle OTAs in the shower to Scott Francis twitter clip.

00:34:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was all time.

00:34:01
Speaker 2: Whoever did that just serves an Academy award.

00:34:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that was fantastic. Well, maybe there will be some of those moments this week if you haven't checked out some of our episodes the past week, We've had Ryan Howard on, Larry Boa, Kevin Long, Dusty watthaon, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, which was a lot of fun.

00:34:21
Speaker 3: All those guys.

00:34:23
Speaker 1: I mean, so much great stuff. The behind the scenes stuff that Dusty gave is just the prep work that goes into being a third base coach. How they get videos of the visiting ballparks, and how you have a four minute video, two three four minute video, and just watching balls ricochet off the wall so he can get an idea of what might be coming. It's just cool stuff. Man. If you love baseball check, you've got to check out those shows. They were a blast. So we will be back on Sunday to talk about what happened in Game one of the National League Division Series.

00:35:03
Speaker 2: Can't wait.

00:35:03
Speaker 3: Smell your later, boys, Smell you Jim.

00:35:06
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.