Celestial Oddities

00:00:14
Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Welcome to another episode of the Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow Junior Jim Salisbury. I am Todd Solecki. It is Monday, April eighth, twenty twenty four. Does everybody have their solar eclipse glasses? Jim, I know you're gonna be in the backyard today, right in your garden, peering up towards the sky.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: I don't have any glasses, so I'm not going to be looking up there because you can. I mean, that's not a myth. You can hurt your eyes. So unless you have the glasses, be very careful.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: Ruben, you got your glasses.

00:00:47
Speaker 4: I have sunglasses, but I have special sunglasses.

00:00:50
Speaker 1: Don't be looking I actually.

00:00:52
Speaker 5: Would not be peaking at it.

00:00:53
Speaker 6: I don't know.

00:00:54
Speaker 4: We're right on the edge here in Saint Louis because I'm getting ready to broadcast these three games here, and that's t.

00:01:01
Speaker 5: L but.

00:01:05
Speaker 4: I think that we're gonna have special glasses on the broadcast.

00:01:08
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool, that's cool. I actually nerd it out today.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: I walked over the Saint Louis Library, well, the library see if I could get.

00:01:15
Speaker 1: Some, and they're all out, so I will now also not be.

00:01:19
Speaker 3: Where do you get them. Can you get them?

00:01:20
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll go get some any eyeglass store now, but I think as it's last minute, they're probably all all gone. So call your optometrist or whatever you call your eye.

00:01:30
Speaker 6: What is the actual when is the actual timing?

00:01:32
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I don't even know, but it's gonna be some point.

00:01:35
Speaker 3: Today's when it when it comes to you're closing schools and stuff.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: My son's getting out of school early.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: When it comes to celestial oddities, Haley's comments my thing. So I'm just gonna wait for that.

00:01:47
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fantastic. I don't know when that's coming around, but I'm gonna I'm gonna keep an eye on that. You did there, Well, that's oddities.

00:01:55
Speaker 2: Phillies take two out of three this weekend in d C. They lose this year finale on Sunday three two. They're four and five. I thought we should start with something that's kind of been a hot topic topic of conversation, which is the Phillies' base running. They have made twelve outs on the bases this season, which leads major League Baseball. It is four more than any other team. They've been caught stealing six times, they've made six other outs on the bases. Kyle Schwarber got doubled off at first base yesterday and I thought Rob Thompson said something interesting yesterday. Asked him what do you do about this? And he said, this is a tricky, complicated conversation to have with players because if you start hammering them on, you guys need to be smarter.

00:02:50
Speaker 1: You guys cannot start.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: You guys can't get thrown out taking extra bases. Then they lose their aggressiveness. So now tonight, what you don't want to happen is you have a guy stop at second when he could have gotten a third. So I guess I want to start with Ruben because you are the base running coach with the Red Sox and the Mets. So put yourself in Poco Figureo's shoes right now.

00:03:12
Speaker 1: You need to clean it up.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: But you don't want them to lose their aggressiveness.

00:03:17
Speaker 1: What what do you say? What's your message?

00:03:20
Speaker 6: Well, the hope is that they went over this stuff. You know, I talk.

00:03:25
Speaker 4: I'm pretty adamant and very It's something I'm very passionate about, is the base running, because I think it sets the tone for your organization.

00:03:34
Speaker 6: I think it sets the tone for your team.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: I believe that it can change the game in a lot in a lot of ways.

00:03:42
Speaker 6: And you can win championships.

00:03:44
Speaker 4: So Kennissey Rules basically Run won a championship on their base running in twenty fifteen.

00:03:49
Speaker 6: I think it was and.

00:03:52
Speaker 4: I think it's just a a sort of a mindset. It's one thing to be aggressive, it's another thing to be aggressive.

00:03:59
Speaker 6: And dumb on the base path.

00:04:02
Speaker 4: And they just I mean, they have some veteran guys in that on that team that are not making, you know, very good.

00:04:11
Speaker 6: Decisions on the base path.

00:04:14
Speaker 4: I always would want my team to air on the side of aggressiveness because getting that extra ninety feet means a lot, especially with as many strikeouts as there are on the on every game, if you can figure out a way to get another ninety feet somehow, that can translate into another run or two.

00:04:35
Speaker 6: So I think that's important.

00:04:38
Speaker 4: That said, and I know they have eleven bags, which is good, ranks them pretty high in the National League. But the fact that they have been thrown out six times not good. The fact that they've been picked.

00:04:50
Speaker 6: Off, especially on a left lefty a couple of times on.

00:04:53
Speaker 4: Like first moves I just feel like, you know, there's a level of concentration that's not quite there. I would assume that they worked on this stuff in spring training, but doing rob tops and did say something about, you know, this is sort of being on him. It's because maybe they didn't work on it, or they didn't set the tone. I know, every year when I was a player in the Phillies organization and then when I was a coach, we would go what we would call around the horn, and basically, you know, John Vukovich went through based from home plate all the way around the home plate, all the responsibilities you have as a base runner. And that was something that.

00:05:37
Speaker 6: Was really near and dear to me. And when I did it with.

00:05:39
Speaker 4: The Boston Red Sox, did it with the I did it with the Mets. The Mets they had never done anything like that, so they were it was like.

00:05:49
Speaker 6: New news to them.

00:05:50
Speaker 4: But I, Brian Butterfield and I were worked on the with the Red Sox, worked on the.

00:05:55
Speaker 6: Base running stuff.

00:05:57
Speaker 4: At nauseum in UH.

00:05:59
Speaker 6: In spring training, and we were all on the same page.

00:06:01
Speaker 4: Man, we were you know, old kind of old school about it, and and I think it's just repetition. I've seen I've seen. I've seen us do some things already this year.

00:06:13
Speaker 6: Fly balls in the.

00:06:14
Speaker 4: Outfield with nobody out and not tag up and advance, not make the right decisions going halfway or tagging up.

00:06:23
Speaker 6: That kind of stuff.

00:06:24
Speaker 5: That's stuff that's fundamental, stuff that should not ever happen, especially for this team that's been around a little bit.

00:06:32
Speaker 6: You know, these guys are you know, they're not.

00:06:34
Speaker 4: Oh they're not rookies. There's only one rookie in the lineup in Rojas, and I want that guy to be as aggressive as hell. So I just think it's a mindset. I think that they're not concentrating well enough. And you're right, there is a fine line because you don't want to you don't want to say, hey, uh, you know, got to be a little smarter. Well, I think it's more about just paying attention. You got to pay attention and understand the scoreboard and understand the score and do what you're supposed to do, and know where the fielders are when you check.

00:07:10
Speaker 6: Get on the base path.

00:07:11
Speaker 5: It's not about whether I got a hit or not, or you know what.

00:07:15
Speaker 6: The deal is. It's about concentrating on scoring a.

00:07:22
Speaker 3: Right Now, did you hear those two.

00:07:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, are those two?

00:07:28
Speaker 2: No, we're having technical difficulties somehow, Rubin had a.

00:07:34
Speaker 6: We had some realities. Yeah, it wasn't for me.

00:07:38
Speaker 3: So Rubin. I I remember those sessions with John Vukovich fondly because we're both very fond of the late great John Vukovich.

00:07:49
Speaker 6: Yes we are, but I.

00:07:51
Speaker 3: Mean they were they were like a signature day in Clearwater. Today is camp vuk Er vuke one on one right, and he would you know, start off, play first base, second base, I mean, where to hit the bag and stuff you learn a little league, but you have to you know, turns and stuff and where to look picking up balls. Stuff you learn as a kid. But you know, even at the major league level, it has to be reinforced. I like, you will always err on the side of aggression because I think it's not a good thing when an athlete, almost at any level, is afraid to make a mistake. All of a sudden, you're tentative. And when you're tentative, you actually make more mistakes. It becomes like they're reverse. So you know, the importance an extra ninety feet is huge. I think they stressed that a lot in spring training. I think coming out of spring training. It's on their minds and it sounds simplistic, but just you know, do it the right way. And I think this is a small sample size. I think it's going to level out. I think they're going to be all right there. But just don't lose your aggressiveness and don't be afraid to make a mistake. It's it's a really really fine line. I mean, the guy who's the most daring on the basis is Harper. Occasionally he will do something that you like sitting upstairs and you're like, you know, why did he do that? Clearly he's trying to do too much, being too aggressive, trying to carry a team on his all on his back. Remember that mistake that Travis Jankowski made a few years ago, Yes, on second bag. I always and I still feel bad for him on that because he hadn't played a lot. He was like, you know, a reserve guy. They put him in. I think the pinch run they you know, he needed to move up ninety feet. It would have really helped if they and he wanted to be aggressive. He read the ball down, it gets lost in the catcher's equipment, it blends in his dust, you're trying to do too much. You know, you're getting in the game for the first time in a while, you want to make a difference, and next thing you know, you're just a little bit over aggressive. But even though that was like his signature moment here, you know, he's.

00:09:57
Speaker 6: A good base he's a good base runner. Yeah, it happens.

00:10:02
Speaker 5: I just feel like it's a level of concentration.

00:10:05
Speaker 4: It's another level of concentration that at at least in the early part of the season, just.

00:10:11
Speaker 6: Like anything else.

00:10:12
Speaker 4: And I think it's part of like not getting enough reps in spring training. If you're not on base in spring training and then you're trying to do certain things that.

00:10:22
Speaker 6: You haven't done since last October, it's it's a little unwieldy.

00:10:30
Speaker 4: It's it's like you practice things and if you don't do them in a game situation and you don't get to do them a lot during the course of the spring.

00:10:39
Speaker 6: And a lot of guys, there's some guys you don't even get on base.

00:10:41
Speaker 3: During spring and Ruben tell me if I'm wrong, you got practice, You've got spring training. When the lights go on and the third deck was on, the game moves even faster so you're trying to take that extra ninety feet and that split second is the difference between you being bang out or safe. The game moves that much faster in the regular season. I just think I don't think it's gonna last all year. I think it's kind of an adjustment thing. But does the game move faster in regular season, Well.

00:11:13
Speaker 4: It does, And even more so with with you know, when you can make you know, calls based on the video, like those bang bang plays.

00:11:24
Speaker 5: You might have been safe, you know ten years ago, you're no longer safe.

00:11:28
Speaker 4: Right Well, you know there's replay and stuff like that that that that factors in as well.

00:11:35
Speaker 2: And I think everything that you guys just said you don't want you want guys to air on the side of aggressiveness is important to say because yesterday again social media. Rob Thompson has to send a message, he has to bench these guys when they make a mistake. That gosh, that would be such a massive overreaction.

00:11:53
Speaker 5: You know.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber after the game, I went up to him and I said, you know, can you tell me what happened that play? Just said totally bad read in my part, totally bad reading my part, and the second thing is I wouldn't have been able to get the third base anyway, so I don't know kind of what I was doing there. But he said, you know, I've got to you know, obviously, I've got to.

00:12:11
Speaker 6: Clean it up.

00:12:12
Speaker 2: And Rob also has said he's like, and I can't find these numbers, but he thought they started slowly last season too, in terms of making too many mistakes on the bases, and then they did clean it up as the season went on and they finished Abut they finished about middle of the.

00:12:28
Speaker 1: Pack in baseball and outs on the bases whatever that is.

00:12:31
Speaker 2: So they also put a lot of guys on the bases as well, so that might factor into those numbers.

00:12:35
Speaker 6: I think they got better and better.

00:12:37
Speaker 4: I generally view them as like a good aggressive base running team, but not when you're running into outs. I mean, we talked about uh, we talked about harp.

00:12:48
Speaker 5: You know. Sometimes he reminds me of Scott Rowling.

00:12:50
Speaker 6: I'm going to run till I'm out, and I you.

00:12:52
Speaker 4: Know, you'll you'll love the aggressiveness, but you also have to have to have some you have to have some prudence as well.

00:13:02
Speaker 2: Spencer Strider is out probably for the season, a huge blow for the Braves. Shane Bieber is out, but you know, the Strider one obviously has greater implications for the Braves and for the Phillies and mean, I guess I'm just wondering, you know, do you guys, what do you guys think about Strider going down and this uptick in UCL injuries over the past few years. You know, so the league and the Union going back at each other over the over the weekend. You know, I don't think it's any secret that the velocity going up and up and up over the years has correlated with the increase in UCL injuries.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: What do you guys think?

00:13:45
Speaker 3: Well, you know, the velocity is a product of guys training to throw harder and pushing their bodies further and further, and their body just their elbow, their arm up in able to hold up to the stress and the exertion level of trying to throw it harder and harder because there's pressure to throw it harder and harder. It's how you get noticed in the showcase circuit. It's how you get a college coach to come look at you. It's how you get a scout to drive two hundred miles and fill out a report on you. And it's the same for hitters. Power dominates the game. It's the reason we see the elevated or the you know, the the bat path with the launch type of angle. It's the reason we see less line drive approach, power, power, power. It's intoxicating. But you know, I, you know, the art of pitching has been replaced by the desire to just blow up by people. But I feel bad for Strider. I feel bad for the game. You know, I love the game. I love watching that guy pitch. I love watching him go out there with those Martin sant Louis thighs. You can look it up. Todd.

00:14:53
Speaker 1: Is he a hockey player?

00:14:54
Speaker 6: I like to call him Eric Heiden.

00:14:57
Speaker 3: Eric Heiden is a good get. Rubin nice. You were watching the Winter Olympics. I don't watch.

00:15:02
Speaker 1: Hey, how about Dan Janssen.

00:15:05
Speaker 5: Dan Jansen, he's a Wisconsin You guys remember Rick Kelling, right handed, big strong, right hander.

00:15:12
Speaker 6: What about Albi Lopez? How about those calves?

00:15:15
Speaker 3: So I thought, But Stryder drives off that rubber. He's fun to watch. Yeah, I mean last the last two years he led the majors and strikeouts, and he spent part part of that time as a reliever. A big blow to the Braves. I mean they were twenty six and six in his starts last year. It's a big blow. Uh. That said, I'm sorry to see him go down because you want your best players on the field. I'm sure that in that Phillies clubhouse they're sorry to see him go down because you know, any competitor worth his salt wants to bang heads with with another competitor who's at full strength. But yeah, I mean, you can't be naive. Braves have lost their best pitcher, maybe the best picture in boseball.

00:15:57
Speaker 5: You know.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: The Phillies' they're aware of that. They're gonna face him five less times this year, and it's it's it's it could be to their advantage. But that said, the Atlanta Braves are a professional unit. They know how to win. They really know how to win. And I'm not just talking about recent years. I'm talking going way back over the last generation really, so you're gonna have to be your best to beat him. But it's it's definitely a blow, and it's sad. It's sad to see Bieber go down. This epidemic of elbow injuries is really sad, and it's it's it's it's the crisis for the game.

00:16:37
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get on my stub box, guys.

00:16:39
Speaker 6: I might it might be a while.

00:16:42
Speaker 3: We get a stop watch.

00:16:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, here's the issue.

00:16:45
Speaker 4: I think people who don't really know the game have affected the game in a really negative way in this regard we drive, we have weighted balls, we have drive line, we have stuff that has created and jimmuted it and nail on the head.

00:16:58
Speaker 6: I mean, everybody's worried about.

00:17:01
Speaker 4: Velocity and spin rate and forgotten how to the art of pitching, and everybody's worried about trying to hit the ball in the air and drive the ball out of the ballpark. And we've lost our way with regard to what the game of baseball is supposed to be and how it really should be played.

00:17:16
Speaker 6: And we've got.

00:17:17
Speaker 4: People who are now taking over the game, who running the game at the major league level and all the way down, who don't really know the game and feel like the biomechanics of the game are you should be changed because you know that's the way to have success.

00:17:35
Speaker 6: Well, guess what, there's.

00:17:37
Speaker 4: A billion dollars of people on the IL right now because of it. The body cannot biomechanically take the sort of pressure that is created by the velocities and the spin rates and the way you're twisting your joints and your soft tissues in your ooints to be able to withstand any of this.

00:18:03
Speaker 6: And this is the result.

00:18:05
Speaker 4: And so we allowed people who don't really understand the game take over the game, and this is.

00:18:10
Speaker 6: What you're gonna get.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: And so it's so disappointing because you want the because the athletes in this day and age are better than they ever were.

00:18:19
Speaker 6: I mean, it's ridiculous from a decade ago till now.

00:18:23
Speaker 7: These guys are big and strong and fast and unbelievable, but they're not taught to play the game the right way because what's become more important is, you know, biomechanics and that kind of stuff, and not the game of baseball still a game of baseball that is unique to any other sport. And so maybe the cricket as close as you can get, and that's pretty damn popular too, but that that's a real problem because you want.

00:18:54
Speaker 4: To have the best athletes on the field that fans deserve, that you deserve it. And I think this has really created a situation where now when you go to a baseball game, you're not going to see Garrett Cole, You're not gonna see Spencer Strider, You're not gonna see Uri Perez, You're not going to see Bieber. And it's disappointing now for the Phillies on for their part, when you start looking at what you know, guys like Aaron Nola, who's as durable as hell, and Zach Wheeler, who is now learned over the last several years how to pitch without his great velocity, to move the ball, to cut the ball, to keep the ball off the.

00:19:40
Speaker 6: Barrel, to pitch.

00:19:42
Speaker 5: I love it.

00:19:44
Speaker 4: And the same thing with a guy like even Christopher Sanchez, same thing. I mean, they didn't have a great out in his last outing, kept the team in the game, but he was one of the most consistent guys because he's learned how to pitch and throw strikes.

00:19:56
Speaker 3: Wheeler still brings it. He's just kind of easy velocity, beautiful Anne's easy velocity and everything looks to He's got a big, tall frame, big strong man. It fits his frame. He's not a grunter and a groaner.

00:20:09
Speaker 4: No, there's so much maximum effort now in a lot of the pitchers that that maximum effort is causing real problems.

00:20:17
Speaker 2: I don't know if it ever goes back, because I asked Rob Thompson that I said, it's never going to change though, right because I don't know how you go from wanting a bullpen that averages ninety six miles an hour on your fastball, which is what you should want. I guess because you're going to get a ton of guys out. Is it ever going to cycle back to that pitch ability? And he says he thinks everything goes in cycles. I guess I just have trouble seeing a time where twenty years from now, we're going remember back in twenty twenty four when everybody was throwing ninety six miles an hour and Baseball just decided, hey, we don't want that. I mean, maybe it does cycle back, but you know, right now, for sure, it's just it's all it's all velo all the time.

00:20:59
Speaker 4: I've heard some interesting things over the last couple of weeks that the pitchers now are realizing that they're getting hurt, and I think that's going to it's going to make the players have to decide, you know what, what's best for me, what's best for my career? And the valuate The people who are evaluating are also going to have to understand the game a little bit better and say, Okay, what's best for our organizations. Should we have the picture throw as hard as you possibly can blow out or should we have him hang around for a while and build him up properly the way you do with long toss and leg work and all that other kind of stuff. And I think the players are starting to realize that the Tampa Bay Rays, while they have done a great job of maximizing players, they're taking a play who has a certain pitch, split, scutter, slider, whatever they're and they're throwing it seventy percent of the time and they're breaking. They're going on the il and they're bringing up the next guy to do it. That's kind of and the next guy is gonna throw a hundred and to cut that fastball or to spin it or to do whatever at you know, three thousand RPMs. And I think the players are going to have to realize for themselves, say this is breaking me, It's gould ruin my career, and they have to I think they're going to have to take a stand in some way, shape or form, And I think it's one of the reasons why you saw them sort of, you know, stick their chests out and talk about the pitch clock.

00:22:33
Speaker 6: That for me, is not it's not the reason. It's not the pitch clock. I don't care what you say.

00:22:40
Speaker 4: It's the combination of having to get on the mound more quickly and then still trying to throw a maximum effort pitch.

00:22:48
Speaker 6: That's the problem. And and so you know, we're gonna have to do a lot better job.

00:22:55
Speaker 4: Of developing guys who have stamina and pitch ability. And we don't do that, then you're this is going to be the result, and it's going to continue to get exponentially worse.

00:23:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's a topic that's I forgot about Garrett Cole as you mentioned Bieber, and it's a topic that is it's not going away, and it's uh, it's just bad for baseball and it's sad for baseball. I just wanted to shift back to something in front of we're experiencing right now. What are you guys thinking of Johann Rojas, what are you seeing You're seeing progress? And how long of a leash. You know, does he have or will the team give him before they I'm sure they're talking about which way to go, But how long does this thing last without getting better?

00:23:53
Speaker 2: Well, I when the season started, I thought, you got to give him at least a month.

00:23:58
Speaker 1: I thought, you have to give him.

00:24:00
Speaker 2: It's a month worth of at bats, just so he doesn't, you know, and get settled in.

00:24:06
Speaker 1: The bats have not been great.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: You now they will point out that he is chasing less compared to last season, and he is chasing less again, super small sample size.

00:24:17
Speaker 1: His chase rate is down. Is that good?

00:24:21
Speaker 2: Yes in theory, But he's also swinging at fewer pitches in the zone. So I feel like there's been some times where he will chase and then in the next step bat. I specifically remember this is a spring training game, but there was a game in Tampa against the Yankees where he's swinging at three pitches out of the zone. The next step bat, very next at bat, all three pitches were in the zone.

00:24:46
Speaker 1: Take take, take strikeout, see you later. Back to the dugout.

00:24:49
Speaker 2: So I wonder if he's he's I'm sure he's just pressing and thinking too much, and I don't know how long they go with him. But you know a lot of those, you know, he's swinging at the first pitch less, you know, like I said, swing swings, Uh, swinging pitches in the zone is down as well. So he's just I feel like maybe he's too tentative out there, and I don't know what you do to kind of get him get him going.

00:25:13
Speaker 1: But I think he needs more time in my opinion.

00:25:15
Speaker 2: But you guys might you guys might disagree on that, might think that you know this is going a bad way fast, and you don't want to kill the guy's confidence.

00:25:23
Speaker 4: Hey Tom uh Todd, you're what would you say to that biggest spot on?

00:25:28
Speaker 6: I see, I know that these it.

00:25:31
Speaker 4: We all know how difficult it is to hit already, But when you start thinking while you're hitting instead of just reacting as as Jim has talked about and being able to instinctively make the right decisions to swing, you're in trouble. And I see a tentativeness now because he is trying to, you know, stay in the zone with his swing where he's taking pitches he should be whacking. And I also see a less aggressive overall swing out of him.

00:26:03
Speaker 6: I mean he's he's he's he.

00:26:04
Speaker 5: Swings hard, always sort of.

00:26:06
Speaker 4: Has, and I don't see him having that swagger of confidence to do that now.

00:26:13
Speaker 6: In the clubhouse.

00:26:14
Speaker 4: He's been great, great kid. He doesn't seem to be wavering. But when you get between the lines and then I've lived it. I've lived it when I've stood in the box. And that was the one thing I did well as a minor leaguer was hit, could hit a lot.

00:26:29
Speaker 6: Check the numbers.

00:26:30
Speaker 4: Well I got to the big leagues, man, I didn't have a whole lot of confidence. And I and my decisions and my you know, and the pitches I was swinging at, not strikes. I mean when I when you're when you're struggling and thinking about things mentally, it makes it so much more difficult to hit when you're in the major leagues and you are in the spotlight.

00:26:52
Speaker 6: I don't, I don't. I just don't want the kid to get buried.

00:26:58
Speaker 4: And it may and I went through this myself, and it may just take him to go down for like three weeks to gain get his mojo back, get his get his act together again, and remember who he is to come.

00:27:13
Speaker 6: Back and help out this ball club.

00:27:15
Speaker 4: I don't know what the timeline is, but if I see another week or ten days of this sort of sane approach, I might think about sending him out.

00:27:29
Speaker 1: What about you, Jim.

00:27:31
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you both use this word, and it scares me. Tentative an athlete can't be tentative. I mean, you know, if you're tentative on the fall line, you're not gonna finish and it's not gonna go in the hole, you know. I mean, if you're tentative in football, you're gonna get your head knocked off. If you're if you're tentative in baseball, you're not gonna You're just thinking too much. You're not gonna You're not gonna be on time. You're not gonna be on time for any pitches. So if you're both seeing that, that really that really worries me.

00:28:03
Speaker 2: You know.

00:28:03
Speaker 3: I think though we focused a lot on their off to a slow start, there's still four and five as we sit here going into the what fourth series of the year. It would be a lot worse if they were like, you know, one and eight or or two and six or something, so you know the team is treading water. I guess you'd say around five hundred.

00:28:27
Speaker 6: It.

00:28:28
Speaker 3: It doesn't feel as glaring as it could be. It would certainly help if they were producing one through eight in the lineup, and they're not. But you know, their organization has a responsibility for this kid physically and mentally, and we all know the the mind leads the body in a lot of cases and athletics, and if if it's best to get him a you know, to take to exhale and go to triple A. But is it going to be that much better in triple A? I mean, there are a lot of veteran guys down there that know how to spin the ball, you know, not as sharp as up here, or they'd be here. But it's a really difficult decision. But I think the leash has to be maybe a little bit longer. You asked them to make adjustments. It's hard to make adjustments in real time, and it gave the speed in the big leagues. It's a really tough dilemma, one that I'm sure that they're talking about right Rubin. They're talking about this every day based on the four at bats they see that night, these.

00:29:36
Speaker 4: Four they're certainly talking about it internally. I will say one thing about is it different in triple A. Yes, I will tell you what's different about a triple A. You're not in the middle of the spotlight.

00:29:46
Speaker 5: Man.

00:29:47
Speaker 6: Triple A is like being in a different world.

00:29:49
Speaker 4: I will tell you that when I went down, it was almost like when they sent me back down.

00:29:54
Speaker 6: I was hitting a buck ninety or whatever it was, I was hitting.

00:29:57
Speaker 4: It literally released the albat tross off of me, and I said, I'm going to go back to just playing baseball and being myself. And then, fortunately for me and I got advice from John Kruck about this, it was great.

00:30:11
Speaker 6: When I was in the big leagues, you just got to be yourself.

00:30:14
Speaker 4: Right when I came back, I was way more myself at the end of that season that was ninety two. I think it was I just felt like so differently about my approach and my confidence, and I just said, you know what, screw it, I'm going to be myself and be my and play my game and that'll be fine. And it got better. I Mean, I don't know what all the numbers look like, but I guarantee you by the time I came back, I didn't finish.

00:30:43
Speaker 8: With a great you know, like two twenty that year, but I went from one ninety to one hundred to twenty or whatever whatever the number was. And it's just a different mindset and different feel and at sometimes that's what you need.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: When you mentioned one ninety, how aware were you of your batting average every time you stepped into the batter's box? Because I know players love to say I don't really look at the scoreboard. I don't really don't pay attention, but I know that that isn't that.

00:31:13
Speaker 5: Is a lot.

00:31:14
Speaker 4: That is a flat out lie. So you're on single person on the planet. I mean, this is a game of numbers. You can be sure that every single person are in your head. You don't want to say you're calculating your numbers as you're as you're running down the line. I mean that's life, man, And that's what I'm judged on your numbers.

00:31:38
Speaker 1: And that's what Johann Rojas's looking up there tonight.

00:31:41
Speaker 4: Unless you fifty, yeah, unless you're like, unless you're in the you know, big leagues for ten years.

00:31:46
Speaker 7: And even if even those guys, I mean, think about Trey Turner last year.

00:31:51
Speaker 3: Tree Turner, you don't.

00:31:52
Speaker 4: Think he was looking up there going You don't think kyleege Schwarber is going.

00:31:56
Speaker 6: I was in that under two hundred.

00:32:01
Speaker 4: I know I'm hitting home runs and I'm doing other damage. But you know, these are human beings man, baseball players. Everybody knows their numbers. Everybody knows their numbers almost to the te Sure doesn't.

00:32:14
Speaker 9: Matter now now that now that I know their numbers broken down, seven hundred thousand ways w r C plus my man, please, that will be the next episode.

00:32:26
Speaker 1: We'll get into some ex wOBA. Let's let's know will not Let's let's wrap this up.

00:32:34
Speaker 2: Cardinals Phillies beginning tonight, Spencer Turnbull versus Miles Michaelis, Zach Wheeler. Sonny Gray is going to make his debut on Tuesday. That's why Rob started, Rob Thompson started, Whitmerfield and.

00:32:52
Speaker 1: Hasha and you know, am I blanking on the other guy? And Mundo us had a big game.

00:33:00
Speaker 2: They started started him on Sunday because they're not going to face the lefty for a while, so they wanted to get them in there. And then Nola versus Lanceln on Wednesdays so Phillies can get back up to five hundred if they they win this series.

00:33:18
Speaker 3: That's what it's all about. Just win series.

00:33:20
Speaker 1: Man, just they win. They went too out of three every series.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: The rest of the way, they're gonna have one of the best seasons in baseball history.

00:33:26
Speaker 6: The World Series, exactly right. I mean, I know it's a slow start.

00:33:30
Speaker 5: I'm a little you know, their offense has been weak.

00:33:35
Speaker 6: It's been not good.

00:33:37
Speaker 4: They're supposed to be a better offensive team. They gotta get Castillanos going, They gotta get Turner going. Those guys, I mean, I know we're talking about Rojas, but those two guys, man, you gotta go get rolling.

00:33:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can get them rolling. Now. Some the focus a little bit is off Rojas, and I mean that was sort of the template from the beginning. They thought they were strong enough one through weight where they could carry him. If you're not going to be strong one through eight, his shortcomings are going to be magnified.

00:34:10
Speaker 4: They will at some point. It's just a matter of when I see some good signs.

00:34:19
Speaker 3: I was surprised that turn of strikeouts the last two years much higher than we.

00:34:26
Speaker 6: He's a swinger, He's an aggressive swinger.

00:34:28
Speaker 4: So he's also been a sort of a victim of some some umpire.

00:34:33
Speaker 6: That's been a little.

00:34:37
Speaker 3: They really, I mean, when he won his batting title. He was striking out like fifteen percent of the time. And now just I know, small sample sizes, it's like thirty this year, a very small sample size, but I mean, he, you know, so much more dangerous to putting in imply.

00:34:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, and interestingly, I mean he should be He's should be getting pitches of hit. He's hitting in front of Harper, you know, should be getting pitches to hit and doing some damage.

00:35:05
Speaker 6: And it's really more about.

00:35:09
Speaker 4: The pitches that he's not hitting, you know, missing the ones that are in the zone, than it is swinging the ones out of the zone.

00:35:17
Speaker 6: I've seen a lot of takes for strike threes.

00:35:21
Speaker 4: From both Turner and Cassianos because you know, maybe they're up there just maybe thinking a little bit too much.

00:35:27
Speaker 2: Right now, Well, guys, Jim go get your eclipse glasses.

00:35:33
Speaker 1: If not, do not, do not look at the sun. Do not look at the sun.

00:35:39
Speaker 2: Hopefully we will see you and you'll see us when we do our next show later this week. Thanks guys, and thanks for listening and watching the Philly show.

00:35:48
Speaker 6: The Todd Pot