What's happening with Phillies offense, Brandon Marsh?

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Zach Wheeler.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Welcome to Philly Show.

00:00:09
Speaker 3: Hi everybody, Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jym Salisbury, Todd z Oleki. It's Monday, April fourteenth, twenty twenty five. The Phillies, guys, they lose two out of three in Saint Louis. They lost two out of three last week in Atlanta, two and four.

00:00:26
Speaker 2: Road trip.

00:00:28
Speaker 3: Not great, not good. A lot of a lot of issues have popped up on No Boy, No boyin Oh No Bueno road trip. Offense gets shut out on Friday Night, gets shut out Sunday seven to nothing loss. You know, Brandon marsh is in it. Alec bowm is in it. You know, the whole offense is really in it not producing. I looked up this up after the game, so you guys, look like this will kind of put everything in perspective because you look at runs scored right now, nobody's played the same amount of games. Phillies this season are seventeenth in baseball, averaging four point zero runs per game. Seventeenth, that's bottom half. But since the first two games of the season, they rank twenty fifth, averaging three point two three runs per game. So they've been scuffling for a few weeks now and it's really kind of catching up with them. Rubin, you were working this weekend in studio, you got to watch a lot of baseball, right, Yes.

00:01:29
Speaker 2: I did.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: Would you think.

00:01:32
Speaker 2: It was not pretty?

00:01:34
Speaker 4: I think the biggest thing that I see, well, it's obviously I think there's a few guys pressing with the big biggest thing that I see and I looked up some of these numbers they were.

00:01:45
Speaker 2: They are on the season.

00:01:48
Speaker 4: Twenty six per one, twenty five with runners in scoring position. That's a two zero eight batting average and it ranks twenty fifth. I've seen some man on third less than two outs futility. And it's not just one or two guys. It's plenty of guys who are struggling and they're not driving the runs and they're supposed to be driving in. They're getting on base, they're on base percentages in top what nine, top ten in baseball. They're getting some runners on they're not driving them in, and they're not slugging them.

00:02:28
Speaker 5: They're definitely gonna slug.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: They're slugging down as well.

00:02:32
Speaker 5: The two losses in Saint Louis three singles and three singles in those two games, right, and a total of over nine with runs in scoring positions. So didn't get on base that much in those two games.

00:02:45
Speaker 4: Not in those games, but they as a team, they've been getting on base, and you know, there's a lot of talk about them, you know, swing decisions, all this other stuff, but you got to drive them in when you got them on and they're not and they're certainly not doing that.

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Speaker 2: It puts a lot of heat on the starting pitching.

00:03:03
Speaker 4: You don't score runs and it's not like they're facing like rate pitching.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Schwellenbach was really good. I got to give him that.

00:03:13
Speaker 4: Beyond that, I mean, some other guys have pretty good stuff, but you can't really blame it all on the quality of the pitching.

00:03:20
Speaker 2: Sometimes you got to come through.

00:03:22
Speaker 4: And the boys have been scottling pretty much across the board, and I think that'll change. I know we talk about it being early. Was it to fourteen fifteen games in? But they got to swing the best better?

00:03:37
Speaker 5: Yeah they do, and you know you'll lose twice with Wheeler on the mound. That just stings. I know he wasn't great in Atlanta, but he was good enough on Sunday. That game could have been a lot different if you score him with some runs. But I just feel like we every year we talk about the performance with runners in scoring position, and then they'll have a bust out game when they go like, you know, eight to thirteen with runners and scoring position, and it feels better. But boy, they can put together some real droughts with runners in scoring position, and it's just, you know, it's sometimes it's not how many hits you get, it's when you get him, and you got to get him when the guy is standing on second base, and they just boy, they struggled to do it on this trip.

00:04:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, they didn't have a base runner. I think after the third inning on Sunday, Yeah, I think Harper had a single. They didn't get another guy in base the rest of the game. But yeah, Ruben, you right, this s plug is just has not been there Philly's overall the season, they're eighteenth in baseball three seventy one slugging percentage. So that means did.

00:04:40
Speaker 5: They have a home run in Saint Louis? I don't think they did.

00:04:43
Speaker 2: No.

00:04:43
Speaker 5: No home runs in Saint Louis.

00:04:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that pitting's just okay. It's not great.

00:04:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really not And you know liber Tour yesterday was that threw well. But I mean, I just feel like I feel like they're just not putting together enough quality at bats and the lefties are struggling against some of the lefties.

00:05:07
Speaker 5: What did you make out of Rob saying he didn't see a ton of energy on Sunday. I mean, this is a guy who was seldom critical, and that's really not critical, but it's a frank observation. Did you think it was a product of you know, we know that when you don't hit, you look like you have no energy. Was it a product of that? What is it a product of the late night and you know, not sleeping on Thursday going into Friday coming out of Atlanta catching up with him, was it just frustration? I mean, what did you get out of that, Todd?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Rob kind of alluded to the fact that they had that really late night on Thursdays, So who actually said Friday and Saturday he kind of thought the energy was lacking. He said he thought it was better on Sunday, which is you know, again, they got shut out seven nothing. They didn't have a base runner after the third inning, so yeah, you're right, Jim. I always remember, I mean, you guys know this. When the Phillies during the heyday of seven to eleven, we're struggling offensively, we would ask Charlie Bouman, you guys look dead out there if they're in a slumpy say yeah, you always looked at it if you don't have any runners on base and you're not knocking in runs and guys aren't scoring. But he seemed to indicate just overall, just like a not not so much an offensive malaise, but just a general malaise. Uh. This weekend so interesting, no doubt about it.

00:06:27
Speaker 4: Well, I think part of it is also because there's a whole lot of guys who aren't swinging the bats well, and I think there's a little bit of woe is Me going on. I think in the clubhouse with a couple of guys and uh, you know, Boom and Marsh and there those guys are been struggling.

00:06:43
Speaker 2: Finally got a hit on what Saturday, Saturday.

00:06:48
Speaker 4: After going you know, a long over, and uh, you know even you know, even the big boys, I mean they're having an occasional success, but not like consistent success that's earners. The Schwarbers Warber, I gotta give him a pass because you've been outstanding.

00:07:06
Speaker 2: Not as good obviously in this on Sunday, but I mean.

00:07:12
Speaker 4: Just really just you know, there's quite a few guys who've been struggling, and so it carries that can be that can be contagious too sometimes.

00:07:23
Speaker 3: So one of the hot button guys right now or hot topics I guess is Brandon Marsh and I know you guys have a lot of thoughts about him, and we'll talk about Brandon Marsh and Alec Baum, two of those guys you mentioned Reuben right after these words.

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00:08:37
Speaker 3: We're back, guys. Brandon Marsh We talked to him after the game today. He is hitless in his last twenty six at bats. He's betting one oh eight this season, seven walks, fourteen strikeouts of four thirty nine ops fourteen games. He was over three Onnths with two strikeouts on Sunday, and I look this up just out of curiosity. The last Philly player to play fourteen games with at least one played appearance in those games with a lower batting average was Mickey Moniac in twenty twenty one, he was betting one hundred, but that was a over a five month stretch of games. Roman Quinn. Earlier in that season he was batting seventy four from April first to twenty third, twenty twenty one. So it's been a while since a guy has struggled like this. And afterwards, I mean, you guys know Marsh, he's usually super upbeat, and he is really feeling it right now, said, I'm just going through it right now. I got to do anything it kind of help this ball club win. And not doing it, you know, you know, it stinks. I feel like I'm letting my guys down. I need to be better for them. I asked Rob after the game, what do you do with him? Do you sit him for a few days? Do you let him run through it? He says, I don't know. I have to think about that. So what would you guys do with Brandon Marsh?

00:09:55
Speaker 5: It's he needs to I think he needs to watch a little bit. You know, I'd even think of sending them out. I mean, I think we've thought about that in the second half oft times last year. These he does have options left. He does not have a hit in the month of April, right, correct, he does not have a hit in the month of April. That is like, you know, something T. S. Eliot would write about, because April is the cruelest month, and it certainly is for Brandon Marsh. You know, I don't know what the answer is, but I certainly would think about some time in Triple A if you feel like you can run with Rojas for a while in center field. I don't know, it might be early for Crawford, and then you get the whole left right thing. I mean, Rinconas is swinging it, but you really could use a right handed bat. I mean today would have been a perfect case in point to have a right handed bat and left field, and you could have at Kepler and Marsh on Sunday in Saint Louis if they had a right handed bat, well, Wes Wilson, that would have been a perfect opportunity for him. He's hurt, obviously, working his way back. That Otto camp is interesting, but he's not an outfielder really. I think he's played a couple innings over the years out there, but you know, not having a right handed bat is biting him. But more than that, just not having consistent you know, a consistent bat period left or right out there is hurting them in the case of Brandon Marsh.

00:11:36
Speaker 4: So yeah, the only one in the outfield who's really having some success is at Sianos, and he's not necessarily a guy who can carry the field and carry the team.

00:11:49
Speaker 2: Listen, I've gone through it myself.

00:11:50
Speaker 4: I've gone over twenty five in the middle of April after a fast start in nineteen ninety two, and then I went two for forty two. I mean twenty five and two for forty two, And that's a bad feeling.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: Now, I didn't strike out as much.

00:12:05
Speaker 4: Probably only struck out like four times, and I was hitting the bar at times to people and was just making.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: Outs a lot of outs. And it is a terrible, terrible feeling.

00:12:16
Speaker 4: To go home every day knowing that you have not helped your team in any way, shape or form. And I was playing every day in center field, and I was playing okay defensively, but I was not doing my job offensively at.

00:12:28
Speaker 2: The top of the at the top of the lineup.

00:12:31
Speaker 4: And it's a bad feeling, especially with the a person who's you know, was just talented as Brandon Marsh. He really has the tools to be able to be a really good player, and.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: He's had success in the past.

00:12:44
Speaker 4: And so this is going to weigh on you as a human and it's difficult, and I think we talked about it before. They just at some point you just have to start having fun with the game. I know it's more fun when you're getting hits and you're winning. Just have to go out there and go play and play with a little bit better energy, because it looks like it's a little lethargic right now.

00:13:06
Speaker 2: I don't see a whole lot of guys running balls out. I see some three quarter speed stuff.

00:13:11
Speaker 4: I see, you know, And I think that's one of the reasons why Rob Thompson may have mentioned that.

00:13:17
Speaker 2: But I got to pick up the energy.

00:13:20
Speaker 4: And again, you have energy when you're scoring runs and you were doing things offensively.

00:13:24
Speaker 2: But I feel for Marshie because I've been there and done it. But he's too talented a player to let that, you know, affect him. And hopefully he can bounce back, and you know, they do have options.

00:13:40
Speaker 4: I don't think that Crawford's quite ready yet. I don't gave Dombrowski's not afraid to bring a young kid to the big Leags. And there's a lot of talk out there, a lot of chatter out there about you know, Philly, he's not making moves and this, that and the other. Well, they'll make a move when a guy is ready. But you can't put that guy in jeopard if he's not ready to play in the big leags. That's that's not fair to the player who's still developing.

00:14:02
Speaker 5: But there are other guys you can consider if you start moving pieces around, if you know you wanted to.

00:14:07
Speaker 4: You know, he could use the breather you sitting down and just relaxing and taking a day or two might be a very good thing for him.

00:14:15
Speaker 5: It might what at what point do you like, this is a guy that was told, yeah, we're gonna give you a chance to play more against lefties. At what point do you say, okay, we gave you enough look and now we have to do something here because like you said, they look lethargic, which is mind blowing. On April thirteenth, how you could look lethargic. It's not even hot out season just started. You just you know, just got going. But when you don't score, But at what point does you know do you say, okay, we need to maybe maybe it is a couple of days off for I'm sure probably that would be the progression. A couple of days off before you did anything. Maybe that'll get them going. But sometimes you need to get people's attention a little bit.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: No, that's that's true too. There's no question about it. It's a production.

00:15:04
Speaker 4: I mean, you got to produce or you know, or you don't stay in the big leagues, you don't play. But you know, there that is a fine line. It's a tough type rope to walk when you're topper. I think it's exacerbated because the other guys aren't really swinging the bats all that well. So now so the lightning you know, lightning rods on Alec Bohm and Marsh and.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: When those guys aren't, you know, doing their thing.

00:15:31
Speaker 4: And there's a lot of talk about you know, Alec Bohm in the offseason obviously, and there was and now Marsh is getting the opportunity to stay in center field. There was no real big moves other than adding Kepler to the outfield there. You know, all these guys become lightning rods and other guys were swinging the bats well, and they were scoring some runs. The guys that they should be counting on the one through six guys. Then Marsh wouldn't be as you know, big Lightning Rode, I don't think. But but again, these are much better players in both cases, much better players than they've shown so far.

00:16:11
Speaker 2: But they got to turn it up a.

00:16:12
Speaker 3: Notch, yeah, Bryce said. Bryce said after the game, He's like, I don't want to be hitting two fifty. And I said, well, how do you think you've been swinging the bat? And he says, I've been. I think I've been getting close. He said, maybe like last week he talked with Kevin Lowney. He said, I feel like I'm about seven or ten days away from like really locking in. For whatever reason, I'm not in Bryce's head, but he said about I got about three days, three or four more days to go. So he's like, I feel like I'm getting close. He almost had a home run in the first inning on Monday. On Sunday, but uh, you guys mentioned like roster makeup right now and like Cody Clemens is the last guy in the bench. He hit today. It was this third at bat at all season. I think it was a first at bat since March. Left handed hitter, there's no spot for him to play. I wonder if you know, Weston Wilson's just getting his legs under him. I wonder if they kind of maybe accelerate that timeline in terms of him coming up and maybe bring him up before he's necessarily ready, just to give them a puncher's chance in some of those spots. But you know, like this was interesting today. I thought, so at Mundo Sosa starts at second base. And before the game I asked Rob, I said, okay, just why why Sosa at second as opposed to left field? Because you said you were maybe playing in left field and he's so to be honest with you, I don't want to sound negative, but none of those lefty bats right now, Kepler, Marsh, Stott or hitting left handed pitching really well. So in my mind, I'm going to go with the strongest defense with Wheeler on the mound. So you know that you're going to play Sosa because you want to play him somewhere. So you play him at second Where's which is you know, one of his better positions, I guess, and then you go with Marsh and left and Rojas and center. So it made a lot of sense. But it kind of tells you where Rob's mind is right now, is like Keer's. Kepler right now is hitting one fifty four against lefties, two for thirteen, eight strikeouts. I'm sorry, that's that's Marsh. Marsh's batting two for thirteen, one fifty four, three walks, eight strikeouts, Kepler's betting two hundred and three for fifteen. Scott is batting sixty three, one for sixteen. So you know, they're not getting much of any production from any of those guys that they thought. Remember going into the season, a lot of it was we think Stock can play every day. We really want to give Kepler some run every day. We think Marsh can play every day. Well, those three right now, fifteen games of the season aren't really aren't really doing the job.

00:18:30
Speaker 4: And the other thing about that, and I don't disagree, and it's you know, how much leash can you give the guys, and you want to again, it would be a lot easier to give leash to you know, some of these guys, some of the other guys were picking it up, but they're not and they're not getting the job done, so it makes it difficult. It also was surprising to me I watched, you know, we talk about the defense Marsh. There's a couple of plays in the outfield that that found him, and I think Marsh is like a really good defender on the corners, and maybe a couple of balls that he might have could have had had he had.

00:19:09
Speaker 2: Like the right routes and the right energy or whatever jump. Yeah, I was. I was a little surprised. I was a little surprised by the one that that got past him.

00:19:20
Speaker 4: He was kind of slid and missed it, and then one that bounced sort of on the line. I thought that they were for him, because I think he's a plus plus defender. For him, they were seen to be catchable balls. But maybe maybe the bats are affecting what he's doing out there on defense to who knows.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: I do know that mentally, you get screwed.

00:19:43
Speaker 4: Up when you're not when you're not producing with the bat, and uh, maybe.

00:19:48
Speaker 2: That's affecting him somehow.

00:19:50
Speaker 6: That's why just.

00:19:54
Speaker 2: Now for a couple of days, maybe he broke up.

00:19:59
Speaker 3: Right, So justin justin Justin Crafford a couple of days. Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, Jim, you mentioned Justin Crawford. For people wondering he is batting two fifty one six forty one ops with the iron picks. Now, he got off to a great start's first nine games, he's hitting three twenty five at a couple of triples. His last five is two for nineteen. So for those people going like, just bring him Crawford, probably too early. Dave Dombrowski has said that he's not afraid to call up young guys.

00:20:35
Speaker 5: But I think that's I think that is definitely on their twenty twenty five radar screen. I think that's the reason they've pushed him to triple A at age twenty one. But I don't know that it's here on April, the middle of the middle of April book. Yeah, I will point out he's played some left field too. Up there in Leon, he's playing almost as much left field as center field, so keeping options open, versatility, He's still you know, this is a player development situation. I've also heard from people they think he's a better left fielder than centerfielder. So it's gonna be an interesting puzzle that they have to figure out if they don't start getting some production from the guys that are here right now. I mean we're talking about possibly sending somebody out. It's probably it might be a little too early, but it's also getting to the point where you need to show something, right.

00:21:32
Speaker 3: This team has expectations. They can't.

00:21:35
Speaker 5: They can't. You're right about that.

00:21:38
Speaker 4: They were top five, they were top five offensively in so many categories last year was runs and ops and batting average, et cetera, et cetera, producing runs, and so you're not getting that now. And the expectation is that they'll that they would be better, if not the same, and you're certainly not getting that at them right now.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:22:00
Speaker 3: I don't think Rob's been real happy with just the abats in general, because a lot of guys are getting really pull happy right now. He told he said, he told he said this the other day. He said he's He's told Marsh a couple of times in the last few days. Start using the opposite field, stop trying to pull everything, use hit the ball to left field, left center field, because I guess he's just been you can you can see it in his swing. He's just rolling over everything, rolling over everything. Yeah, and the bats are just not good. Alec Boem talked on Saturday. He talked about his frustration. Says he feels like he's under a magnifying glass in a lot of ways after everything that happened last season. But he says he's at the point now where he's not letting it bothering him, bother him. But I think it's definitely bothered him. His start has definitely bothered him. He says. The thing that's killed him the most is that he has hit a lot of balls hard. They've almost all been outs. Ironically, then the last two games he has he did a lot.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Of balls hard.

00:22:57
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, since since we talked him on Saturday before or the game. But you know, they need to get him going as well. So uh, maybe this week against the Giants they get things figured out.

00:23:08
Speaker 4: But guys, well it'll be tough against the Giants because they have one of the best pitching staffs right now in Baseball.

00:23:13
Speaker 2: Our pitching wi and really really well, especially their bullpen.

00:23:17
Speaker 4: It's interesting, you know, in the beginning of the year, they were not hitting the starters. The Phillies weren't hitting the starters, and they were getting to the relievers.

00:23:24
Speaker 2: It's been like a flip over the last couple of days.

00:23:26
Speaker 4: I mean, there have been times when from like the fifth inning on, they don't even get like a couple of base runners. They haven't gotten any hits. I mean, it happened a few times.

00:23:37
Speaker 5: So how was how was Zach Wheeler after Sunday's defeat Todd?

00:23:41
Speaker 3: You know, Zach was. I've seen him saltier for sure after losses, you know, like I think he had enough time to cool down maybe, but he he expressed some frustration with the way he's pitching. He says he doesn't feel like he's in sync. He doesn't know why. He says his control command isn't where he wants it to be. He doesn't feel like he has his best fastball. We asked him, you know, why do you think that is? Is a mechanical thing? He says, I don't know, but we've got to dig into it. So that was He's given up that that Tuesday game in Atlanta when the ball drops in front of him. Those are three runs right there. But this is the first time he's given up four runs or more and consecutive starts. Sin's like June July of twenty twenty three. So this is, you know, kind of uncharged, not undercharted territory. But territory he doesn't get into very often, but all things considered, I you know, I did ask him, do you, guys feel that you need to be perfect? Are you feeling any pressure out there to be perfect because the offense is not doing what it needs to do? And he says, I try to be perfect every time. I don't care what the offense is doing. And I was like, that's right, that's why you're good. That's why you're good. Yeah, he's not gonna thrown anybody on the bus. And plus I do believe that. I mean, it's not like I don't know if they're score nine runs a game or new zero are runs of games acting to try to go out there and throw zeros. You know, he's he's got that mentality. So guys, it is the first show of the week, it's Monday, and so this might be a challenge this week, but it's Manco Manco Best Week by Manco Manco, the best of the best. This is where we pick our best Phillies player performance, play of the week. We just got done talking about this too.

00:25:30
Speaker 5: And for a road trip?

00:25:32
Speaker 2: Can I Yeah?

00:25:34
Speaker 5: Can I go with Rory McIlroy second?

00:25:40
Speaker 2: Can I second? Man I was very, very emotional for him. I mean the drama and that amazing.

00:25:47
Speaker 5: Back nine was amazing up and down, and I mean I thought he I thought he you know, I thought he kicked it. I thought he kicked it. I was gonna say something else. He choked it off. I thought he tinkled it away and then he grabbed it right by the throat again. And amazing drama. But you know, Manco, Manco best of the week. Can I go, like big picture? Can I go with the defense? On Saturday? It turned five double plays nice and they you know, go to I mean, you got to get a win and at some point, so they lose two straight series, but they, you know, they get a win Saturday afternoon in Saint Louis and you know, five double plays. I mean, good job by the pitching Christopher Sanchez to roll the ground ball and you know, make a big pitch in those situations with men on bass, and a good job you know by the defense to turn them. It's like, you know, it's like talk about their their inning changers. Those double plays they just change, you know, the momentum of an inning and the outlook of an inning for a pitcher and a team and they get you back on the bench in a Harris. So that would be my Manco and Manco's best.

00:27:03
Speaker 2: Go ahead, what do you got there, Zo, man boy?

00:27:06
Speaker 3: You know, I'm gonna go with the one outfielder is really hitting. Right now, I'm gonna say Nick Castianos this past week bet three thirty three, four doubles, fourbis, eight thirty three ops and six games on this road trip, and that included an over five with five punches, as the kids didn't. And that's and that's kind of why it jumped out of me. You know, he goes over five five strikeouts, and I'll tell you what, he took it very very well. He was kind of, I don't know, a little gallows humor less. So he was kind of like wondering, like how many guys have struck out five times in Major League history? Oh yeah, I'm number two hundred and thirty six, you know. Okay, you know, so as only Nick would and uh you know, then he has he has a big hit yesterday on Saturday, had another good game, and then of course the cool little moment, little fun little moment, he catches that ball in the right field corner. Philip Young Phillies fan gives him a high five, and then Nick goes back in and gives him a little dapt fist bump, and Nick said, hey, we're just we're all just having fun out here. I said, because said, why did he go back and give him the fist bump? You already gave him, like a h you already slapped give him five. He's trying to give him a little bit more love. So Nick cas is my best.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: And he tossed them the ball right on.

00:28:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, he tossed the ball as well. Absolutely yeah, So yeah, all that stuffy creating man, that's why. That's why I said to him, I said, you know, you just made that kid's day. Man, he's gonna have a great story now for the rest of his life. He's gonna be telling that story for the next fifty sixty years. And he's like, yeah, maybe Nick, my man goes week.

00:28:42
Speaker 5: Those things stay with you. I had those moments as a kid. I wrote a big story about it once thirty five years later after I had an encounter with Harmon Killerbrew at Famway Park, and it stayed with me all those years. And then one year at the Winter Meetings, I tracked him down. I told him the story and I did an interview with him, wrote the story about it. So those little things, when you connect with the kid, that really matters. He'll stay with that kid forever. When he's an adult, he'll tell his kids and they'll he'll play catch with his kid and turn his kid onto the game. It just keeps perpetuating and sustaining. It's a good thing.

00:29:21
Speaker 4: Gotcha, Well, my Manco Maco is gonna throw a little breaking ball. I'm gonna throw Chris Sanchez in there. Chris Sanchez, who's six and a third. He got all those ground balls. Yes, he gave up some hits. Didn't have to do with the strikeouts. He didn't want to do it. He talked about it afterwards. He wanted to be efficient, didn't care about the strikeouts. Just wants to get out to get the team back in pitch as long as he possibly cans.

00:29:44
Speaker 2: Pitches six and a third.

00:29:48
Speaker 4: Did a nice job in Saint Louis, and it's the first time he's really pitched well on the road.

00:29:54
Speaker 2: In a while, if I recall correctly, And for him to sort of get over that hump, that what was important for him.

00:30:01
Speaker 4: I think for him mentally, that is Zra down on what three one two, I believe, And I think there's a lot of comments about from the other team and from other people with the Saint Louis Cardinals about how good this guy is and.

00:30:17
Speaker 2: How good his stuff is. So I'll go with Chris Sanchez, Baby, Christopher Sanchez.

00:30:23
Speaker 3: That's a great one. You know, it was funny in spring training. I remember this, Rob Thompson. Sanchez started a game down in Bradenton and we were asking Rob about it after the game. He said, you know, he actually wanted to come down here and pitch down here. And we're like, why would he want to come to Bradenton And he said, he said, because he's trying to get as many road starts as possible down here. We don't know why he struggled on the road. He doesn't know why he struggled the road. So the only thing we can really think of is maybe just the timing of warming up and then sitting in the first top of the first inning and then going out there and pitching in the bottom half the first inning. So it's something he tried to work on this spring in a very I thought it was kind of a unique way like, Hey, I'm just going to go try to pitch as many road Greater League games as possible, just to because maybe this is why. Maybe it's not. Probably it isn't, but if it is, let's try to fix it, and let's get me more comfortable warming up on the road, so when I go on the road, maybe I can pitch a little bit better. So that kind of shows well.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: This is also one of the reasons why I've sort of fallen in love with Christopher Sanchez, because he's already signed his contract, he's got his money.

00:31:33
Speaker 2: He wants to get better. He wants to get better, and he.

00:31:36
Speaker 4: Wants to improve, and he's always trying to find ways to get better. And he's already made an amazing transformation or you know where he was when he first got to the big leagues to where he is now. But he still wants to get better every time out. So got a little place in my heart for old Chris Sanchez because he the accountability is high with that young man.

00:31:57
Speaker 5: I find it a little sad you have to even point that out. It shouldn't matter if you've signed. You should always want to get better. Anybody you know, any player should always strive for your best, no matter how many zeros are on your paycheck and how many years you have remaining.

00:32:14
Speaker 4: No, I don't disagree with you at all, but that's not always your case, James.

00:32:18
Speaker 3: As you well know, there's a lot of players out there with massive nine figure deals that didn't really necessarily grind it out the last few years in the major leagues.

00:32:29
Speaker 5: So sad, sad but true.

00:32:34
Speaker 3: Sad but true, guys. Phillots opened a seven game home stand beginning Monday night against the Giants. Monday, it's Taiwan Walker versus Landon is it Roupe. Tuesday, Hayes Lucizzarro versus Justin Berlander Wednesday, Aaron Nola versus Robbie Ray Thursday, Christopher Sanchez that we just talked about versus Jordan Hicks Ranger. Suarez is throwing a rehab start, his second rehab start on Tuesday, probably in clear Water, maybe somewhere else if the weather's gonna be nice. They don't want to send him up the Lehigh Valley if it's gonna be forty two degrees in drizzling, so he might go down there and pitch. Stay down in clear Water. And Andrew Painter is gonna throw his second start on Friday in Clearwater. So I wanted just to mention that for those people wondering.

00:33:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, what important, that Taiwan Walker is the guy to try to stop the flow a little bit.

00:33:25
Speaker 2: Imagine that he's a guy who said zero e RA.

00:33:27
Speaker 4: Now he hasn't logged a ton of innings ten and a third or something like that, but he does have a zero R and he's kept him in a couple of games, so hopefully he can keep on doing it. The Giants not putting together a ton of runs offensively a little weak right now, but hey, they need They didn't need somebody to stop it.

00:33:50
Speaker 2: Stop the blow.

00:33:51
Speaker 5: Just took a took a series from the Yankees.

00:33:55
Speaker 2: That's right. They're playing.

00:33:56
Speaker 4: Hey, they're pitching it, they're pitching well, and they're figuring it out. We had a couple of guys at the top of the lineup that are doing a little bit of damage there.

00:34:03
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens.

00:34:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, Philly's got to get it going, no doubt. We'll be back later this week to talk about the first couple games or so of the Phillies Giant series. Maybe it will be a little bit of a different conversation. We shall see guys, I'll talk to you later.

00:34:21
Speaker 5: Smelling Elata Boys, Smelling Jim.

00:34:23
Speaker 3: 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. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phly dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network