"We Don't Care Who's Coming"

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hi, This is Chase Utley and this is the Phillies Show. Hi, everybody, This is the Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Zuleky.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Friday, July twelfth, twenty twenty four, the Phillies just swept the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was billed as the clash of two NL powerhouses. Phillies sweep them out. They now have a night six and a half game lead over them for the.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: Best record in the National League. They have a nine and a half game lead over the Braves and Allies. A fun week at the ballpark, a lot of great moments, a lot of great moments. We will get into that in a little bit. But it wasn't the only you know, the sweep yesterday was not the only big thing to come out of Thursday.

00:00:55
Speaker 2: Ruby and I read something yesterday that was shocking to me.

00:01:00
Speaker 1: Wip yesterday you said, and you were GM You actually called in and faked your voice and called in and talked to Phillies. Is it is this a radio Was that a radio bit?

00:01:11
Speaker 2: Or is that that was real? You did really do this?

00:01:13
Speaker 3: I really did do it. I really did do it. Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

00:01:19
Speaker 4: So I think it was either the twenty twelve or thirteen, or maybe even fourteen.

00:01:26
Speaker 5: I'm not sure which which one it was.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: And I can't even remember what name I used, but I definitely use something like Frankie.

00:01:32
Speaker 5: From South Philly or something else.

00:01:34
Speaker 3: Of course, I was like I called it and go.

00:01:37
Speaker 5: Yo, yo, this is Frankie from the South Philly.

00:01:41
Speaker 6: Yo.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: This is a moral guy. You gotta get him mad a here.

00:01:44
Speaker 6: You know, well, you you were yourself fired. You didn't defend yourself.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: I don't know why would I defend myself. I mean we stunk.

00:01:53
Speaker 4: Who was the host, no idea? I really don't remember. I know it was late night, it was after a game. I think we probably got our asses kicked.

00:02:03
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, and.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, I was just playing around, you know, because I'm playing around. I was just playing a joke. But yeah, it was it was I thought it was funny. I think I did it just one time. I thought about doing it again. I thought, you know, maybe that would not be a good idea. Somebody's gonna recognize my voice or something or whatever. But I can't even remember what year it was, but I remember calling in one time, just just just bashing myself.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: I love that you call it.

00:02:31
Speaker 1: I love that you went like an Italian American guy from South Villy that, oh oh, well.

00:02:37
Speaker 4: I think I went south just pulling out of the I think I was just pulling out of the game. I think it might have been more than forty five minutes after the game, or thirty minutes after the game. After I probably talked to Charlie Manuel or somebody or maybe even Ryan Sandberg, whoever it was who was managing at the time, and I was like, Yo, Yo, get this guy out of here.

00:02:57
Speaker 5: Let's go.

00:02:58
Speaker 7: So in a little bit bigger picture, is this proof? Is this proof that the people who run teams in this town and other big city, big sports towns actually do listen to critique from, whether it be newspapers or a talk radio.

00:03:17
Speaker 5: I listened to it sometimes.

00:03:19
Speaker 3: I didn't listen to it a lot, but I listened to it.

00:03:22
Speaker 5: I mean, I just believe.

00:03:23
Speaker 4: That for a long time, a lot of the stuff that Angelo and some of the others guys did, and you know, I have a lot of respect from a lot of it was entertainment.

00:03:30
Speaker 5: In the mornings.

00:03:31
Speaker 4: There's a lot of entertainment trying to entertain and they're trying to drive ratings and stuff like that. That's you know, I get it, that's part of the entertainment business.

00:03:41
Speaker 3: And so I didn't take too much of it to heart.

00:03:43
Speaker 4: There were times with certain guys that I thought they were They got personal at times, and that was what bothered me.

00:03:52
Speaker 5: That would bother me.

00:03:53
Speaker 4: But when when it came down to, like, you know, criticism stuff like that, that's a part of the job here in Philadelphia, I knew that.

00:04:02
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, you that coming in.

00:04:04
Speaker 6: It goes with the territory.

00:04:05
Speaker 7: You need to be able to take critique and you need to be able to share criticism. But when it goes overboard, I think it probably is hurtful to some And I've talked to guys who get upset by But you, and I've told you this before, you amaze me with how thick your skin is. Maybe it's because you were born here and it's you know, it's in your DNA and you know how to take it. But you have incredible thick skin. You don't hold grudges, Yeah, it's good question.

00:04:35
Speaker 3: Very very few grudges do I hold.

00:04:38
Speaker 4: And because I know things happen in a time, in a space right. Things happen, and I get it.

00:04:45
Speaker 3: I mean, this is sports, this is the life, this is what it's all about.

00:04:48
Speaker 5: I mean there's ups and downs. I've said this many times, man.

00:04:52
Speaker 3: I talked to my kids about it, like I knew I was going to be a hero for a while.

00:04:55
Speaker 4: But at some point, you know, we were going to drop off the table and life was going to change. So but that's part of the gig. I wish I had sustained it better. It made, you know, the better decisions, maybe a little earlier whatever. I mean, there's a lot of things that you sort of regret. But I was really proud of the work that we did. Man. We did a lot of great stuff for this city for a long time. And I was part of a really great era of Phillys baseball and I'm and I'm very proud of that too, and.

00:05:24
Speaker 6: You should be.

00:05:24
Speaker 7: You should be proud. It was a great era. And we're kind of getting that vibe again.

00:05:28
Speaker 6: Yes, in the in the stadium. But you know, this.

00:05:31
Speaker 7: Little anecdote about calling the radio station late at night as Tony from South Philly. It made me laugh because there's nothing better. I mean, it's a long season for you guys in the front office, players, but also in the press box. Some of these seasons can get long and a grind, and we we would love, we loved press box antics and press box hijinks, and we had.

00:05:59
Speaker 6: Some good one over the years.

00:06:01
Speaker 7: It made me think of a time, Todd, Do you remember this Once we were in Denver and I'm sitting up there in the press box typing away in the fifth inning, and I look up in my pictures on the scoreboard.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, yes, it was you. I took a picture of you on the field and I just said, wave Jim. So Jim's in the dugout. He's a very like kind of like.

00:06:23
Speaker 2: Google the gile.

00:06:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, before the game.

00:06:25
Speaker 1: He like waves and smiles and a lot of these ballparks now they say, you know, tweet at you know Rockies hashtag, you know Rockies fan or whatever, and on the on the jumbo tron, and so I had I have Jimmy's got this silly smile on his face.

00:06:40
Speaker 2: He's like waving like hello, and uh.

00:06:43
Speaker 1: Next thing you know, it's on the scoreboard, Jim. That was not the only time we did that. We did that the podres. I took a photo of you and Matt Gelbin the press box and I did, I did, I did the hashtag friar fan or whatever it was, right, and the best part, the best part is that Adam Hazley is making his major league debut and he's stepping in the batter's box for the first time in his life.

00:07:07
Speaker 2: And on the scoreboard.

00:07:08
Speaker 6: Is Jim and Matt Delp.

00:07:10
Speaker 2: They had like they had Adam Adam Hazley's photo.

00:07:14
Speaker 1: You know, major making, major le and right in the lower right hand corner or whatever it was, was Jim and Matt Guilp's photo underneathing.

00:07:21
Speaker 3: Did you take a picture of that? You have to have a picture.

00:07:23
Speaker 2: I do have a picture.

00:07:24
Speaker 5: I have a picture of that is h hilarious.

00:07:28
Speaker 1: Jim here, Jim, here's another one. How about the time in Arizona before the game. This was the best is they had a hashtag go d Backs. But it sounded like it looks what you look at it says God backs, right, So we started sending all these tweets saying God backs, godbacks, god backs, and next thing you know, apparently the social media person whoever ran the scoreboard was getting absolutely obliterated by Phillies fans. Using the hashtag godbacks or go d backs, And at one point they put a photo of Jim's tweet up there and said, like, why is god backs trending in Philly? And somebody wrote Jim Salisbury tweeted it or whatever, so it this whole thing. The guy from their fan of vision or their whatever their counter, you know, whatever their version is, came in and like told us, like, you guys just.

00:08:14
Speaker 5: Ruined my day.

00:08:17
Speaker 2: You guys just ruined my day.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: I can't get anything up on the.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: Scoreboard because our servers is getting overloaded with with god backs.

00:08:24
Speaker 6: I go d backs and listen.

00:08:28
Speaker 5: Now, I'm sort of on the side.

00:08:29
Speaker 4: But and I've been in the dugout with you guys as an executive, you know, and there are times I have to say this.

00:08:36
Speaker 3: I mean, I I know that my job.

00:08:38
Speaker 4: When I was a GM was to deliver the news and stuff like that, and I I always respected you guys. So there are times when I would get pissed off, sure, because you know, because we were not doing well and we were even questioning a question about you know, our jobs and what we were doing and decisions we were making things like that.

00:08:56
Speaker 5: But I always respected the job that you guys did. And I always felt like.

00:09:00
Speaker 4: Having learned from Pat Gillick and Ed Wade, that you know, you guys had a job to do too, and it's not an easy job to do.

00:09:09
Speaker 5: And you know, now I'm on this side, you know, think about.

00:09:13
Speaker 4: Asking questions that are like critical questions about the game, like why would you do this? And how come you did that? And what was the thought process here and there? And and it does I know from the from the askers point of view and an interviewer's point of view, those are not easy questions to ask because you generally like the guys that you're asking these questions too, and you're sort of questioning their ability to do their jobs.

00:09:40
Speaker 5: And so it's sort of whares on you guys too, And so I get that.

00:09:45
Speaker 4: I mean, I get that more now, but I also understood it pretty well when I was a GM.

00:09:49
Speaker 7: And and that's probably why. You know, it's like having a guy in a club ause who keeps the mood light. Sometimes we have little press box hijinks and they keeps me a lot hilarious.

00:10:01
Speaker 6: And I'm reminded of one of my all time favorites.

00:10:03
Speaker 7: We were talking about Matt Gelb and when he was younger and before he started going bald, uh, he used to have this little tuft of hair and he had these little ears, and he.

00:10:13
Speaker 6: Looked like a koala.

00:10:14
Speaker 7: So we started calling him the Koala and it stuck.

00:10:19
Speaker 6: We still call him the Koala.

00:10:20
Speaker 7: And so one time, it's probably seven, eight ten years ago in spring training.

00:10:28
Speaker 6: In Disney.

00:10:29
Speaker 7: Over at Disney, the braves were still in Disney, and I have to frame this story by Todd is a very funny guy. He does great impersonations JFK. I love as one of old time newsman when he does the old time newsreel him do those, Yeah, we're gonna have him do those sometimes. But he also does a great Australian accent. So rain delay in radio broadcast, Scott Fransky is killing time during a rain delay on the radio, and he's going to take some callers, so some questions, some calls from fans back home, and Matt Gelb is being interviewed with him in the booth. So it's it's the two of them in the booth during the rain delay in spring training. And now they start to take phone calls from fans and uh uh, I will leave the rest of Todd.

00:11:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Rubin, you know, those those rain delay calls are just brutal spring training, right, I mean, like, what are you going to talk about it?

00:11:31
Speaker 2: It's a Wednesday night and nobody, nobody's listening.

00:11:34
Speaker 1: So I'm literally in the next roomover in the press box, and I decide to give them a call. Let's go to Todd.

00:11:43
Speaker 4: Is it Todd?

00:11:43
Speaker 6: You're next up?

00:11:45
Speaker 1: I like to come from call him from Sydney, Australia. I want to know why they call Matt Gelb.

00:11:49
Speaker 4: The caller might.

00:11:52
Speaker 7: Thanks, can we trace that call?

00:11:55
Speaker 6: Yes?

00:11:56
Speaker 8: I think, uh, I think we should have.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: So that's really good man.

00:12:07
Speaker 6: It was funny, funny.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: I was, I don't know who recommended I make the call, but I said, I'm gonna call him do an Australian accent, and uh, I tell you what. I was sweating bullets before they picked up the phone. I was like, don't mess up this accent. You gotta nail it. You gotta nail it.

00:12:21
Speaker 6: You gotta nail it.

00:12:22
Speaker 2: But you know, it just made us laugh because we're all sitting there.

00:12:24
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be at this game. It's eight thirty nine o'clock on a Wednesday night. The Phillies are probably playing a day game the next day in clear Water.

00:12:32
Speaker 2: The game is meaningless.

00:12:33
Speaker 5: It's a rain delay.

00:12:34
Speaker 1: You're going, why am I here? So we killed some time by having some time.

00:12:38
Speaker 7: I love it.

00:12:38
Speaker 6: I love that he said, we gotta trace. We gotta trace this.

00:12:41
Speaker 7: Phone call, trace it eight feet away.

00:12:46
Speaker 6: That's great. Oh my gosh, it's funny.

00:12:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was funny.

00:12:50
Speaker 2: So let's get into this. This series against the Dodgers. The Phillies go in. They have a three and a half game lead.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: Over the Dodgers for the best record of the Nationally, it's kind of built up as two n L powerhouses, and the Phillies just sweep them out of the ballpark.

00:13:04
Speaker 2: And last night even Dave Dave Roberts said, they're they're clearly.

00:13:11
Speaker 1: A better team than we are right now. We really didn't know much well this series, situational hitting, getting hits, all that kind of stuff.

00:13:18
Speaker 5: We were out played.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: It's certainly I know where we are right now. I mean, pretty pretty convincing series victory.

00:13:25
Speaker 2: Is it too can you make anything out of is it too early?

00:13:27
Speaker 1: I know the Dodgers are also banged up, but you seem to send a statement of sorts.

00:13:33
Speaker 7: It gives them that, you know, advantage for the best record, which is important for home field. But you know, for me, the al what I what I The only thing I make out of it is that which is a nice advantage. This team, for me, is still going to be defined defined in the month of October. It's built to go to October. It needs to go to October. It should go to October.

00:13:52
Speaker 6: And go deep.

00:13:53
Speaker 7: That's that's what's going to define this team. That said, we talk about it all the time. You know, you can only play the games that are on your schedule that night. And they did a great job. They looked really good. The Dodgers looked sloppy, they banged up. I mean, they had a bullpen game last night because they lost another pitcher in gloss Now. But I also think the Dodgers have the same mindset. Their season is going to be defined in October. They're going to get there. There'll be a different looking team in the month of October. But certainly a hell of a series. I mean I was looking some of the Phillies hit three twenty with a nine to eighty six ops and seven home runs, and they averaged over six runs per game and the Phillies pitching staff had a one six three ERA and only allowed five runs. Dodgers sloppy, Phillies dominant fans are great. I mean I thought the Phillies fed off the fans like a like.

00:14:43
Speaker 6: An extra man.

00:14:43
Speaker 7: It was an incredible series, you know, great, great showing. Certainly something to build on on the way to the to the time that's really going to define this team.

00:14:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, I totally agree. I know they were shorthanded. They didn't have Mookie Beth, they didn't have Month. See they're starting rotation, you know, no Yamamoto, no Glass. Now, they didn't have you know, Kershaw, Bueller, those guys. So those are a lot of that's that's a lot of firepower, and it's going to be a different team in a couple of months. That said, the Phillies also missing some guys JT. And you know, Harper's just coming back, Schwarber's just coming back and getting his feet, you know, underneath him again after being out for a little while. Obviously, Turner's playing unbelievably well, and you know they don't really have a fifth starter right now, so you have to be impressed. I'm so impressed by the pitching. I have to tell you this, this Christopher Sanchez kid. For him to bounce back after having his worst outing, had his best outing, then had his worst outing, and sort of I don't necessarily like to utilize that excuse, but he did get up and down nine times and then have to come back another four days later, five days later and pitch again. And it was obvious that he was kind of off kilter in Chicago, and for him to sort of bounce back and to pitch the way he did against the Dodgers that front that you know, you can talk about the lineup, but that first four or five guys they can hit.

00:16:14
Speaker 5: Now they can hit. He gets some great hitters.

00:16:17
Speaker 4: And for him to bounce back and the pitch the way he did under those circumstances, big crowd, the whole nine yards.

00:16:23
Speaker 3: Just another level of his growth.

00:16:26
Speaker 5: They was fantastic.

00:16:28
Speaker 4: Obviously, Wheeler setting the tone, Nola finishing it off, Nola stepping up in the biggest part of the game and making his best pitches against the best hitter. He struck out in the second inning, the bass is juice. He struck out the guy who is arguably the best hitter in baseball, right now or most dangerous.

00:16:51
Speaker 5: And he did it with his.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: Hardest fastball and his best break and stuff. And I just that's one of the reasons why I love Aaron.

00:17:00
Speaker 5: He's been doing it for years.

00:17:01
Speaker 4: He's done it since I've watched him in the LSU, And that's that's who he is, man. And I used to I mean, I've even tweeted this out or exit out or whatever it is about, you know, how whether oh, we.

00:17:15
Speaker 5: Can't pitch in the big game.

00:17:16
Speaker 3: Really like Nola, it's not about whether he can pitch.

00:17:20
Speaker 5: In the big game.

00:17:21
Speaker 4: And sometimes he's just not effective and he throws too many strikes or leaves the ball out in the middle of the plate and heat.

00:17:26
Speaker 5: That's the reason why people at home runs off of him.

00:17:28
Speaker 4: But it's not about whether he can pitch in a big game or not, because he certainly can do that.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: How about the job Ruby, You talked about that at bat Nola Otani in the second inning. Just in general, their performance against Otani this series. Otani was three for ten, four strikeouts, one walk, all three hits for singles. Really, they really kept them in check, really.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: Good plan against him, and you know you got to give you know, Brian Kaplan, who is the director of Pitcher Developed Pitching Development and assistant pitching coach, and Caleb Cotham and the whole aft that the plan of attack on the guy and the execution right, you have to be able to execute it looked like they were going to try to rush him up and in and get him. You know, there's there seems to be a space up and then you let the ball get out over the plate.

00:18:15
Speaker 5: Man, you get him, get extension.

00:18:17
Speaker 4: Man, He's it's a little bit like Barry Bonds when he was younger, before he closed up that hole. That if you you know, you can get in on him a little bit and maybe miss have him miss hit a few balls.

00:18:27
Speaker 5: And then then and they were.

00:18:28
Speaker 4: Dropping some hammers on him, especially there and nolah those some of those curveballs he was stolen.

00:18:33
Speaker 5: We're just filth.

00:18:35
Speaker 6: E ten swinging missus on that pitch.

00:18:38
Speaker 5: Just filthy.

00:18:39
Speaker 4: And when he's get that, when he gets this action as opposed to the side to side, there are times when he gets underneath the pitch and he and it kind of and that.

00:18:47
Speaker 3: Doesn't have the same depth, but when it has depth, and when your.

00:18:50
Speaker 4: Left handed the right hand doesn't matter, man, I mean, your eyes just can't adjust.

00:18:53
Speaker 5: I couldn't have that pitch. And that's a tough pitch to hit. Man.

00:18:57
Speaker 7: You talk about the eyes of a hit. He had a little extra on his fastball last night. He had a little like a mile per hour hour, but just he had a little bit extra.

00:19:10
Speaker 6: And now you do that right, well.

00:19:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, because it puts into your mind, you know, it's not the ninety two, it's a ninety five, and now you got to get ready for the ninety ninety five.

00:19:22
Speaker 3: And and then you.

00:19:23
Speaker 4: Throw that pitch in the same spot basically, and the ball breaks off the table.

00:19:27
Speaker 5: It's hard to distinguish because he tunnels so well.

00:19:29
Speaker 1: That O two fastball he threw inside to a time in the second end it was ninety five point five miles an hour.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: That was tie for his hardest pitch of the year.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: I asked him after the game, you know, what were you trying to go inside there? Because he was it was it was inside, It was inside. He's like, I was trying to go on the corner. But if I was going to miss, I wanted to miss inside. Because he's like, like you said, Reuben, you don't want to get him extended. You don't want to you don't want to miss on the plate and have him just hit a grand slam. So uh, he had a little extra juice on that, on that oh too fastball, and then they broke off the breaking ball.

00:20:02
Speaker 3: But that tells you a lot about like Aaron Old is not afraid to get in there.

00:20:06
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, there's nobody like Wheelers not afraid to get in there.

00:20:11
Speaker 5: Those guys are not afraid in there. They're not afraid to pitch.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: They pitch aggressively with confidence.

00:20:17
Speaker 4: And you know that's the difference between this staff and every other staff I think.

00:20:23
Speaker 5: I mean, you can probably.

00:20:24
Speaker 4: Talk about the Seattle Mariners, and I haven't watched them enough to really break them down, but I know that these guys pitch and they pitch with confidence, and I think there's a whole set of dominoes that are associated with this. They believe that if they make a mistake and somebody gets them, that their offense can come back and pick them up, or their defense will make a play, or so there's a confidence there. So there's a lot of things, a lot of factors here in all this, and I think it all plays into one thing, and that's to win baseball games.

00:20:54
Speaker 5: And I think that's what's translating.

00:20:56
Speaker 7: That's a great point, Like it's they believe somebody will pick him up. So if I execute a pitch down on the zone instead of trying to blow somebody away up here, I'm gonna execute this pitch down on his zone because I have faith those guys behind me are going to pick it up and throw the first base.

00:21:11
Speaker 1: But Tony lost his helmet and a lot of swings that seemed like he was taking some really awkward hacks at some pitches, you know, throughout throughout the series against them. Yeah, they really did. Trey Turner continues to swing a hot bat. Johann Rojas runs down this ball and left center field. Last night, he covered a hundred feet one hundred feet to run down that fly ball.

00:21:30
Speaker 5: Uh, he was feeling it last night.

00:21:31
Speaker 1: He had some he had some good quotes talking about Yeah, he was, you know, the ball's in there. The only way I'm not catching it at the ball's hit out of the ballpark. You know, that's the only way I'm not catching the baseball. And you know, then he said, we don't care who's coming. We don't care who we're playing, We're just going to beat them.

00:21:50
Speaker 5: He was feeling good about his performance last night.

00:21:52
Speaker 2: But it's cool, is you know what, you know, get some honesty. Yeah, exactly.

00:21:57
Speaker 5: He believes in his defense. There's no question about that.

00:22:00
Speaker 6: I want to ask you about Trey Turner.

00:22:01
Speaker 7: I mean, he's on his home run binge and I love his swing because correct me if I'm wrong, But it just looks like he's.

00:22:10
Speaker 6: Staying on plane.

00:22:11
Speaker 7: He's leveled through the zone's so he's not launching through the zone.

00:22:16
Speaker 6: He's level for the zone. He finishes high.

00:22:19
Speaker 7: But that backspin, I mean, it's it's classic power hitter backspin.

00:22:24
Speaker 6: It's like Killer Brew and those guys used.

00:22:26
Speaker 7: To have, except he's not that body type.

00:22:28
Speaker 6: But the way he can.

00:22:31
Speaker 7: Not launch, not drop his backside, but come through the zone level spin, it finish high, and that ball just never stops, it goes. It carries eight to ten rows deep. Really, it's kind of beautiful to watch.

00:22:50
Speaker 5: It really is.

00:22:51
Speaker 4: And when we can talk about like the whole art of hitting and how things have changed, and there's a belief that since you know, since the ball has come at this angle, that you should work underneath the baseball with your barrel and try to launch the.

00:23:04
Speaker 5: Ball into the air.

00:23:06
Speaker 4: That's been like the physics of what why you're getting this big launch angle push for years, for ten to twelve years, whatever it's been. It also creates so little margin for error that you have to hit it at the perfect spot to actually get it. Now, the guys who can really hit and hit for average and have more consistency, they have a flatter playing to the ball because they expose their barrel in the hitting zone longer. That's physics too, and it gives himself a chance to barrel the baseball up and also the backspin the ball, and it's a matter of just hitting the bottom part of the ball right, hitting the bom part of the ball to create the backspin and the flatness of his swing. And it's one of the reasons why I think he's one of those guys that really doesn't need a rehab is because he works on a swing so consistently. Whether it's tea work, whether it's off a project, you know, image pitching machine, whatever the case may be, they work on those things and it's so consistent and it's so different. Also from the beginning of the season last year where he was underneath the baseball, he was not nearly as flat. He was also swinging a lot of pitches out of the zone then, because I think he was just trying to be a little too aggressive. But his flatness through the zone, Jimmy made a great point, is what creates his ability to make consistent hard contact and to create the backspin that is necessary.

00:24:34
Speaker 5: To drive the ball out of the ballpark.

00:24:35
Speaker 4: Not a big man, but he can really whip the bat through the zone because he's got great hands.

00:24:41
Speaker 5: I mean he's watching him.

00:24:42
Speaker 4: Got great hands, and he can really create bat speed with his hands with the ability of keeping the ball his barrel on plane longer to make more consistent countent.

00:24:55
Speaker 5: Hence the power, hence the power and the average.

00:24:58
Speaker 1: If trade turned Trey Turner stays healthy the rest of the way and he plays almost every day, he's going to finish with enough plate appearances to qualify for batting title. He could be the first Phillies player to win a batting title since Whitey Richie Ashburn nineteen fifty eight. Right now, Christian Yelloch leads the National League in batting average three twenty nine.

00:25:20
Speaker 2: Trey is batting three forty eight.

00:25:23
Speaker 1: So if he keeps on this pace, even if he doesn't keep at this exact pace, you know he he's got a good chance of winning a batting title. And this might sound blasphemous, but he also might be on He's not gonna have the overall numbers because he missed six seven weeks or whatever it was with the hamstring injury, but it might be the You can make an argument for it. Is this the best season by a Philly shortstop ever and Jimmy Rownds won the MVP in two thousand and seven. Jimmy had is gonna have about two hundred more plate appearance about the end of season, so he's gonna have more doubles, triples, home runs. But you look at Trey Turners batting average three forty eight, on base percentage three ninety three, slugging percentage five twenty nine ops nine to twenty two. Jamie Rollins had an eight seventy five OPS in two thousand and seven. Again, might you guys, that might be blasphemous to say, but I don't know's he's in the conversation right now. He's really having an historically amazing season for Philly shorts up however you want to look at it.

00:26:17
Speaker 7: No question, a big second half. He's going to finish in the top ten of the MVP even with the miss time. I think you know you're gonna have him and Harper both making strong showings in the in the MVP if they continue doing what they're doing.

00:26:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the big separator with Jimmy and Turner obviously is that one the durability, but also the defense. I mean, Jimmy, Jimmy is the best shortstop in the game for a long, long long time defensively, and he did not get enough love for that because there was.

00:26:46
Speaker 5: Other guys who were pretty good too. But I mean, he should have won about fifty Gold Gloves. I thought he only won four. And he only won four, which is, yeah, one.

00:26:54
Speaker 4: Of the reasons he may stay out of the Hall of Fame because the guy should have.

00:26:57
Speaker 5: Won about eight of them.

00:26:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, he was the best shortstop in the in the Nation League for me for the longest time. And I will uh, I will only say this, it's so fun to watch this guy play. It does bring back shades of Jimmy Rollins because of his smoothness, the way he runs. I mean Jimmy obviously smaller and stature wasn't as gliding, but that both ran super We just smooth players.

00:27:29
Speaker 8: He slides smoothly. It's just a gorgeous thing to do. His bat path is smooth. You know, there's so much smoothness to what he does that it sort of gives you the vibe. You know, who was it they called J Rowl J smooth. I think it was La used to call j smooth.

00:27:48
Speaker 4: And and it's just it's just really cool. It's the reason why he signed a big ass contract because he's a really super dynamic player.

00:27:58
Speaker 5: He's been that way for a while.

00:28:01
Speaker 7: Ruban, You're so right about Jimmy's defense. There are years he made like six errors and a lot of chance. The thing I loved about Jimmy's defense when he threw the ball, he had the same Really, he wasn't way back here. He threw right from here, almost kind of short OneD it, same release point every time, hit Ryan Howard right in the chest every time.

00:28:24
Speaker 4: He had the most accurate arm of a shortstop that I think I've ever seen.

00:28:29
Speaker 6: Now.

00:28:29
Speaker 3: Sean Dunstan strongest arm.

00:28:31
Speaker 5: He the wear back and fire.

00:28:34
Speaker 3: But Jimmy rollins Larry Bow was super accurate too.

00:28:38
Speaker 4: Man like Larry Bow was one of those guys kind of a low three quarter and he was and he faded the ball only when he only fired it when he had to, a little bit like my dad when he played. My Dad didn't use his arm unless he needed to. But the consistency of the throw was something to marvel at, whether he was doing the spin move behind and base and making the throw backhanding the ball, making the throw coming in routine. Uh. You know, Dallas Green talked about the two out shortstops all the time, and dude, you if you hit the ball to the left side of the infield and Jimmy Reynalds caught it, you're out oh th t every time.

00:29:21
Speaker 2: Well, Jimmy should be a Hall of Famer.

00:29:23
Speaker 1: We'll see if he gets there. We can get dig into that at some point down the road. Phillys Phillies A's this weekend before the All Star break. You got Ranger Sores Friday Night versus Hogan Harris. He's one of three three two two era Saturday. It's Tyler Phillips, South Jersey Kid Buship Eustas Kid making his first big league start at home at Citizens Bank Park. I mean that's gonna be You're gonna have a large Phillips contingent at that game for sure. I know he's excited about that versus He's pitching against Mitch Spence and then Sunday it's Joey Estes versus TBD.

00:29:58
Speaker 2: Rob Thompson said that if if they.

00:30:00
Speaker 1: Don't go heavy on the bullpen Friday, Saturday, could just go heavy, heavy, heavy bullpen on Sunday because he doesn't want all of his relievers not pitching for five six days, so it could be a bullpend game. And then I guess Friday Saturday, if they do need to lean on their bullpen a lot, they could always make a roster move potentially to kind of fill the gap on Sunday.

00:30:19
Speaker 2: I don't know what they're gonna do, but it's it's TBD for right.

00:30:22
Speaker 1: Now, so and then then the All Star break, so that will wrap it up for the Phillies real quick. If you're headed to the Phillies as game this Saturday, be sure to check out Shive Been to Sports is tenth anniversary tailgate starting at one pm in the end lot. That's the end lot. They have a bus fill of Philadelphia A's memorability on display, along with a brand new tailgate ale beer brewed especially for the occasion. So come celebrate Shibes ten years of reviving Phillies sports history and create a little of your own. More info at shivesports dot com. Guys, that was fun, Rubin. I appreciate the uh you want to You almost feel like you got a break out the accent and send us off here, won You don't have to do.

00:31:05
Speaker 6: It's a great being with you, guys. You know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying.

00:31:09
Speaker 4: You guys, have a good time, good time here podcast.

00:31:17
Speaker 2: All right, might shrimp on the Bobby.

00:31:18
Speaker 1: We're gonna gonna get out that go to the bowl game tonight, mate, you know, enjoy ourselves.

00:31:23
Speaker 2: Phillies a City series former city series.

00:31:25
Speaker 5: Game Mate.

00:31:27
Speaker 2: I gotta I gotta work, I gotta work on. I'm a little rusty, all right, guys, I'll talk to you all right.

00:31:33
Speaker 6: Smell your later, boys, Jim.

00:31:41
Speaker 1: This is the Philly Show. If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us A review, Tell a Friend, Catch Reuben, Jim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourism.

00:31:58
Speaker 2: New episodes Aaron out before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

00:32:04
Speaker 1: Replays air throughout the week, and on philliesmation dot com.

00:32:08
Speaker 2: Get more of Reuben's analysis during before and after.

00:32:10
Speaker 1: Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Rejim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the philliesb Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network