Aaron Nola joins the show: talks pitching, shoes, poker

00:00:02
Speaker 1: ISAs Aaron Nola and welcome to the Phillies Show.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, todds Aleki coming to you from Clearwater, Florida. Bake air Ballpark s gorgeous today. Sadly Ruben and Jim left. They flew back to Philly earlier this week. They will be back down in Clearwater in a few weeks. We hope we already missed them. But lots of talk about with the Phillies. Of course, a Wednesday, the Phillies are going to be in Dunedin playing the Blue Jays. Joe Ross, who was one of the team's offseason acquisitions, he's going to get to start now. Joe Ross is going to be in the Phillies bullpen this season, but the Phillies want him just to start one game, just kind of maybe get him stretched out a little bit, maybe work on a few things before he kind of slides into that bullpen roll. But Joe Ross is going to start on Wednesday in Dunedin, which is a great place to go watch a baseball game and a great downtown to go visit after the game. So if you're in Clearwater, definitely check that out and Thursday, Zach Wheeler is going to start here at home at Bake air Ballpark against the Yankees, and then Jezus Zzardo is going to start on Friday against the Yankees, I'm sorry, against the Red Sox here at Bake air Ballpark. Now kind of interesting because usually around this time, right the teams start getting their rotation lined up, So Zach Wheeler, then Jesus zarda Well, Rob Thompson has already said he wants to split up hazus Lozardo and Christopher Sanchez as three of the two of the three lefties in the rotation because they kind of profiles similarly. So potentially you could see an opening day rotation lined up like this, Zach Wheeler, Jesus Lozardo, Aaron Nola and then Rangers sworez or Christopher Sanchez in those four or five spots.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: So something they kind of keep an eye on.

00:01:41
Speaker 2: But Johann Rojas on Tuesday in Port Charlotte against the Rays, he DHD. And if you're saying why is Johann Rojas dhing, well, and why is he DH? Why is he DH twice in the first few Great for League games, Well, he jammed his shoulders sliding into a base during winter ball in the Dominican He had a great winter ball season, but he jammed his shoulder and they've shut him down for throwing for now. Now that throwing program is supposed to pick back up in about a week. And Rob Thompson like said, listen, relax, he's going to be fine. He's going to be throwing soon. We expect him to be ready to play in the outfield by opening day. But something to keep an eye on, you know, especially with Wes Wilson going down as one of the very few right handed outfielders in camp on the forty man roster, you know, having Johann Rojas, now they have two outfielders a right hand eight hitting outfields banged up, So keep an eye on that. But we're excited today because we had Aaron Nola on the show. You're gonna hear from him in a couple of minutes. Aaron Nola, of course, has been one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball for the past several years. And I actually earlier today I just kind of like looked up you're just basic stats. Wins from twenty seventeen to twenty four Aeronola, third innings pitched, first strikeouts second Erinola has been one of the more reliable, durable pitchers in Major League Baseball for years and years, so we're excited to have him on. We talked about his preparation, pregame preparation. We talk about his curveball, which of course has been his bread and butter over the years. I ask him about I asked him about he's wearing Sketcher shoes and why he decided to go to a brand like Sketchers because I geek out on equipment type stuff as Jim and ruben ken a test. And then of course I also asked him about a charity poker tournament that he's going to have at Citizens Bank Park in May, which is going to benefit veterans. So here we go, right after these words, is Aaron Nola this year.

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00:04:31
Speaker 2: Aaron, thanks for coming on, man, appreciate you doing this spring training. I don't know how many spring trainings has spent for you, But what gets you excited coming to spring every year?

00:04:42
Speaker 7: Like?

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Speaker 3: When do you start filling the juices? When of the juices start flowing for you?

00:04:45
Speaker 7: Yeah?

00:04:45
Speaker 1: First thanks for having me on.

00:04:47
Speaker 7: But I think the just being with everybody again, being with all you guys on my teammates, good weather before we have to head up north, right, So I feel like me, I just I really enjoy getting back into pitching and my craft and trying to work on my body to get my.

00:05:08
Speaker 1: My conditioning up.

00:05:10
Speaker 7: And don't I don't think I'll have as many games as I did last year just because I had the flu to start.

00:05:17
Speaker 1: Spring training off. Yeah, I'm getting back into it and.

00:05:20
Speaker 7: I'm just excited to get back and work with the guys and get some feedback again.

00:05:24
Speaker 3: So you've got to we'll get into this a little bit.

00:05:26
Speaker 2: But you've got a poker tournament, charity poker tournament called for team Team Red, White and Blue to benefit veterans May fifteenth from five thirty eleven Assistant Bank Park, where I can get in that in the bit. But I want to stand the spring training thing first. Every spring everybody kind of comes Every pitcher comes in going like I just want to get my work in or whatever, like do you have a specific goal this spring, because sometimes guys come in with new pitches. Sometimes guys are focusing on you know, love side you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean farmside. Yeah, I've never.

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Speaker 7: Really been somebody to to come in with a new pitch, but I mean I have my cutter has been. It's a few years old, so just to keep that sharp a little bit. But it's always my fastball command first and foremost, and I want to be able to throw the ball down a little bit better than I did last year and then move it around the zone consistently and see where I throw at the most. So for me, I'm a visual pitcher. I don't I like to be able to see where I'm going to throw the baseball, and you know, visually I wear on my throw it and then throw it to that spot. So that's always first for me.

00:06:35
Speaker 1: Is my fastball. My fastball compands, and then my change up.

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Speaker 7: Always working on my change up, I feel, like I said, every year and uh it's obviously it's a big pitch for me and I need it and I feel like I lost a little bit of command and feel for last year from the middle of the season on. So every spring training is always working on my change up in the command of that pitch.

00:06:56
Speaker 2: Well, I know, like everybody talks, you're obviously every picture is I guess you're super into preparation. You work out like a fiend in between stars. But we had JT on like two weeks ago, and he said something I guess I didn't know we were. He was talking about Zach and in the pregamings with Zach and it's like, you know, somebody's like, I don't even know if he's He's so relaxed and laid back. He doesn't really say anything. He just lets me and Caleb kind of run the show. And he said conversely, he said, you were very like involved in the pregame meeting. You ask a lot of questions, you kind of go over things. Can you talk about that a little bit? I find that stuff pretty interesting.

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Speaker 7: Yeah.

00:07:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously just in a different category. It does what works for him, and it works.

00:07:35
Speaker 7: But for me, I was I was talking coming up to look at video first pitch kind of taught me how to do that, and Rick Kranitz taught me how to do it kind of his his ways, and I enjoyed it. I don't I don't do it just because I have to. For me, it's like a studying matter, you know. I like to sit on the bench and watch the game. And look at some tendencies of guys and study study them before I go and pitch against them, and I'll go in the video room and do some other work against them. It just makes me feel a little bit better when I'm on the mound, knowing kind of what I want to accomplish and working with JT with it. And I feel like over the years, JT's called me a lot now right the years, and I feel like we work really well together.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: And if I if.

00:08:21
Speaker 7: It calls the pitch, I shake off. Most of the time, the second pitch is what I want to throw. Like we kind of have that connection now and understanding of each other and what's working in the bullpen and early in the game and.

00:08:35
Speaker 1: Stuff like that.

00:08:35
Speaker 7: So obviously always going with the plan, but sometimes it changes depending on how the game's going and what I'm commanding.

00:08:43
Speaker 3: So like in the pregame meeting, just I mean, think of it.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: You don't have to tell me the hitter because I don't want to give away any secrets, but think of like it maybe a hitter in your head in a pregame meeting and JT and Caleb maybe mentioned something, what's the question or what are some questions you might ask, or what are some ideas you might present to kind of make sure you guys are on the same page.

00:09:00
Speaker 7: Yeah, sometimes you know, Caleb will say something and I disagree with him, right based the guy, Yeah, thirty times. Sure, I kind of know, I kind of know what I want to try to accomplish with him. And I feel like, fortunately, because I've been healthy, uh for a decent amount of years, like, I faced a lot of guys at the same time, so sometimes I don't really need to do as much study and on them because I just kind of know. And I've thrown pretty much every pitch to him in every situation, and yeah, you know, we both know each other and so it's all come down to command.

00:09:31
Speaker 1: But yeah, sometimes it does get to that with Caleb.

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Speaker 7: Let's say something and I'll disagree, but I say, no, I'm gonna try to go with this pitch today and stuff like that.

00:09:39
Speaker 2: Interesting, okay, And then, uh, you know, I always find it fun to watch you pitch one because you go deep into games, but also because every time it's o to one two, I go, here comes the breaking ball and you throw it and they either swing and miss it or that lands in for a strike. How much you know can you explain to like the average fan out there or how hitters can kind of know certain pitch is coming. And why why do you think your curveball has been so effective over the years. Is it just the way it breaks? Is that the way it you know, comes out of the arm, out of the hand, what.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: Arm action in the command of it?

00:10:11
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, especially with two strikes, I've learned to throw that pitch.

00:10:16
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing it a lot.

00:10:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, obviously going to spring training and wanted to do something different with two strikes, you know, like times it just gets right. No, not boring, but kind of old on two strike curveballs all the time. But I've had a lot of practice with it. I'm obviously giving up my parshare of hits and Homerzo two with it. Uh, but I'm gonna go after you with the curveball for the most part. And that's why I always in spring training, That's why I like these times and these he's back in practice and games to try to work on how the two strike pitches to get those dialed in.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: Can you show like point of the like, show how you grip the curveball and kind of explain like how you start, how you throw it, When did you learn to throw it?

00:10:55
Speaker 3: And so yeah, yeah, so.

00:10:56
Speaker 7: My dad taught me a football curve and so like he told me just to throw it with my finger up and throw it like a football.

00:11:02
Speaker 3: Your middle finger on the middle.

00:11:04
Speaker 7: Fingers on the scene, way back, way back in my hand and when I throw it like a football, and my wrist is stiff and it just rolls off for team spin. And then when I got older, I just put my finger on it just like that and did the same thing. And then when I got to the minor leagues, the balls were a little bit different, so they didn't have as much seams, they were kind of low, and I was struggling throwing my curveball like this, and so I try to spike curveball, okay, and it was sharper, and it took me a week or so to get used to it, and I had better command with the spike kurball.

00:11:40
Speaker 1: So it's just the same, the same thing. Throwing it like a football.

00:11:45
Speaker 7: Pressure a lot of my thumb, so that's how I get from a lower arm slot to get it more depthy.

00:11:54
Speaker 2: So basically the index finger just goes from being flat to like spike.

00:11:58
Speaker 7: When index fingers on there it goes off that finger, but when it's up, it goes off.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: The middle finger. Okay, And it came to you that quickly.

00:12:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it took about a week.

00:12:09
Speaker 3: Isn't that crazy? How that stuff works?

00:12:11
Speaker 1: Through one curve ball in double A. I can't remember where we're at, but.

00:12:17
Speaker 7: Erie, Pennsylvania three one, and the guy buckled, okay, let's start and I started doing that and it got sharper and the command was better hit that one finger, uh rather than fingers?

00:12:31
Speaker 3: Interesting? Interesting? How that? How that? How that works out right? I mean, how what do you How good was the curveball?

00:12:37
Speaker 2: Do you think before that when he had both both fingers on it was good?

00:12:40
Speaker 7: It wasn't is hard. It was just kind of it was slipping out a little bit, right, you know. I wasn't commanding it as well, and it was popping up a little bit.

00:12:48
Speaker 1: And college it was fine because the seams were really big. Oh sure, And I probably could do it with these balls because these are different.

00:12:54
Speaker 7: But with the balls that we used to have, the seams were you know, pretty close to the leather.

00:12:59
Speaker 1: There wasn't much. Yeah, it's hard to get a grip, and.

00:13:02
Speaker 2: Then how do you throw your change up? Because I know you said that it's always kind of like a work in progress or.

00:13:07
Speaker 1: Thrown this one for a while. It's a change up.

00:13:10
Speaker 7: Okay, I've messed around with a lot of different ones over the years. I used to throw a four scene change up, and over time that just felt big in my hand, and then I switched to the two scene, which feels.

00:13:23
Speaker 1: Smaller in my hand. Okay, just the way the balls positioned.

00:13:27
Speaker 2: And we we were talking with Zach the other day and he was I asked him because same thing with you. I watch you pitch, and if you just if I just turned down the game, I wouldn't know if you're throwing a shutout through six innings or you have like bases loaded, no outs in the third inning, because you guys just show no emotion.

00:13:48
Speaker 3: I know you're pretty laid back.

00:13:49
Speaker 2: In general, but how do you kind of keep your cool in those moments where because I don't really see it drop your head.

00:13:56
Speaker 3: I don't see really much bad body like maybe I don't know.

00:13:58
Speaker 2: I can't even remember if I've ever seen really show any bad body language out there. It's just how do you reset how do you not let things spiral on you.

00:14:08
Speaker 3: To try to get out of an inning?

00:14:09
Speaker 1: Practice practice it over the years.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, my brother, My brother always did it when he was young and going up. I watched him and watched him in a coff in college, and I would I would watch games, and you know, he would strike out with the bases loaded and never bring it to shortstop and the next ball he would get and make a good play.

00:14:31
Speaker 1: And I just kept watching him over and over again, and he would always do that.

00:14:34
Speaker 7: He would never he would never take a bad bat to the field or a bad play to that bat is at bat, and that showed and he his his demeanor stayed the same, and that's what you know, has made him have a pretty good career.

00:14:49
Speaker 1: And it helps him stay focused on the task at hand.

00:14:54
Speaker 7: And I took that into my my game early on, and I have practice it all the way up until now, and I feel like it's It's helped me out a lot, and it makes me focus on the task that I'm trying to accomplish and not anything else.

00:15:10
Speaker 1: I feel like when when guys have bad body.

00:15:12
Speaker 7: Language, things start to spiral and they're not focused as much, and the other player can see that, right, So if I have that body language, the hitter can see that, and you know, now he had might have a little bit of an edge and vice versa. Hit her has that that kind of language that the picture can see that.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: What are you like on the mound during and mountain visit?

00:15:31
Speaker 1: Uh? That much? Sometimes with the pitch clock now, sometimes about having a long in and sometimes I.

00:15:41
Speaker 7: Kind of like the the break a little bit, not too much.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: Usually it's just.

00:15:48
Speaker 7: Hey, how you feeling good? Obviously you know what pitch you want to throw here?

00:15:55
Speaker 1: And just kind of stuff like that.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: Okay, And uh, you know last year was it?

00:16:00
Speaker 2: Last year's I kind of geek out on this stuff and I told this about it before, But uh, like equipment, gloves, bats, shoes.

00:16:08
Speaker 3: Do you start wearing sketchers last year?

00:16:10
Speaker 1: Last year?

00:16:11
Speaker 3: Last year? Okay?

00:16:12
Speaker 2: So you go to sketchers, they approach you, you're probably like sketchers, they don't really aren't really known for like baseball, you know, baseball.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: Equipment approach them.

00:16:21
Speaker 3: But you approached them because I know Clayton Kershaw was a sketchers guy. Can you tell us this?

00:16:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, so so Clayton's a sketchers guy. So you approach Sketchers and why.

00:16:32
Speaker 7: So I was talking with my agent and I always wanted a cleat. Obviously, that's like a picture's dream for a baseball player dream to have their own cleat, right and have it have it made to how they wanted right. And so I was talking with them and it's some guys complaining about their cleats, and I was like, man, I want to make a clete one day, a pictures cleat, and I want to. I want to do it to help help these guys out that that don't like the fleets and like cleat companies are kind of not as good as they.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: Used to be today.

00:17:05
Speaker 7: And my main focus was I want to help other pictures out and I want to make a good cleat. And we went to Sketchers and obviously Kirscher and Wade Biley I was with them, and they told me the didn't make a cleet for me, and you know, I kind of told them what I wanted and they added some cool stuff to it.

00:17:24
Speaker 1: And I really like it.

00:17:26
Speaker 7: Right.

00:17:27
Speaker 1: That's kind of how it came about.

00:17:28
Speaker 7: And we're trying to, you know, make the cleet get a little bit better and hopefully get guys to wear it, and I just want pictures to be comfortable, because that's the worst thing is when you're on the mound and your feet are hurting because of your cleats.

00:17:44
Speaker 2: Right, So you kind of so part of the story that I heard was that you actually flew out to La or something and like threw off a mound and they did they measure something.

00:17:55
Speaker 1: Okay, just when we played over there.

00:17:58
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So but you changed to the cleats that you have now, can you explain like the difference in them between what you had before, and like, you know, they're like the horizontal the cleats are going a different direction and one one cleat has one extra one in the middle, and what is that supposed to do for you?

00:18:16
Speaker 7: So two years ago, two and twenty three, I wore another pair of cleats and all the spikes were horizontal, good bottom, and they were in places that no other cleats that I had born were liked that and I liked it, but they were a little bit short, but the cleat was really comfortable and I really liked it a lot. But once we went too sketchers, I told him I liked the cleat, and they made a couple of changes to kind of like that and changed the bottom of it and uh, put their spikes on it, and I got to place the spikes where I wanted differently from the other cleats that I worked, and they did it and I.

00:18:54
Speaker 2: Tried it out, like and that's based off of what just you know, just what you thought you might like where they're like from prototypes and stuff in other words, like did they did you know that if you put the cleats in that specific spot that they would you would like that?

00:19:08
Speaker 1: Or kind of went off a cleat that I used to wear.

00:19:12
Speaker 7: And I liked where the spikes were then, right, So I was like, maybe if I can have this upper part of the cleat with these bottoms, right, it'd be great. And so they it was actually really quick how they how they made it and sent it out.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: To me and let me try and it was so they what are they are? They called like the Nola whatever?

00:19:31
Speaker 3: I don't know. I didn't know if they have the name yet. You gotta get.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: On that, right, yeah, so is that was kind of how the start of everything.

00:19:40
Speaker 7: I wanted to help out some pictures and were a good comfortable cleep that they don't have any.

00:19:45
Speaker 2: Problems have got have guys in there asked you a bottom, I imagine, right, because it means again, sketches isn't like known as you think of like the other name brands. Did they ask you bottom? And you think you're gonna maybe turn some guys over, And.

00:19:59
Speaker 1: I hope so some guys like them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're.

00:20:01
Speaker 7: Not too usual sketch your shoes that you know that people would think of.

00:20:07
Speaker 1: You know, they got a new logo, right, which is better, I think.

00:20:09
Speaker 7: And they're just getting into baseball, you know, they have got a few more guys now, Brendan Donovan wears Chris Taylor.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: They still wears them, so I feel like it's grown a little bit.

00:20:23
Speaker 7: But they're kind of they're new in the baseball area, but I think they could be really good.

00:20:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the baseball world.

00:20:29
Speaker 2: That must be a cool part of the job, right, I mean, like you know, just like you said, you grew up wanting to have your own shoe.

00:20:35
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I look at I look at some of the Bryce has. I don't know, Bryan the Bryce fifteen. Bryce has shoes since he you.

00:20:43
Speaker 3: Know, since they came up.

00:20:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'd be awesome to have a cleat.

00:20:47
Speaker 7: Then I get to make it how I want to and make a clete that's comfortable and that holds up throughout a season.

00:20:54
Speaker 2: So are you gonna do anything with like any crazy designs or anything like that, because Bryce gets pretty just some just.

00:20:59
Speaker 1: Not going to go that.

00:21:00
Speaker 3: You're not You're not putting a cheese steak on the side of your.

00:21:05
Speaker 2: You're not side colors. You're not that flashy. So no, no, he's got because I saw him out here today. He has like the orange under armours on, you know, for like Florida Florida oranges, I guess or something like that.

00:21:17
Speaker 7: I couldn't think myself seriously personally, but yeah, I got some other colors, okay, but nothing crazy. I'm just I'm not a crazy, crazy type guy that you know likes different colors.

00:21:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think some other colors that the guys were cool. Yeah, but that's just what.

00:21:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, you wouldn't describe yourself as like a flashy guy, right, Yeah, No, I.

00:21:39
Speaker 3: Just I remember this.

00:21:40
Speaker 2: So I went to your You and your brother had an als event and bad rouge a couple years ago. I went to it and I was talking to an aunt and I apologize I cannot remember her name, but she said, maybe it was her son or like one of your cousins had had a nice watch and and she said, now, Aaron asked me, like, you know how much that watch might cost?

00:21:59
Speaker 3: And it was like five hundred bucks.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: Like I ain't spending five hundred dollars on no watch or something like that.

00:22:04
Speaker 3: So you're watching, there you go, there you go.

00:22:09
Speaker 7: Yeah, there's uh, there's a couple of things I can spur drown and it would be cleats.

00:22:15
Speaker 1: Pretty low maintenance with just about everything everything.

00:22:18
Speaker 7: Yeah, once it comes to cleats, I'm not as little because it's my job and I have to be healthy and yeah, right.

00:22:25
Speaker 1: That's what keeps me pitching this being healthy.

00:22:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I don't exactly right.

00:22:32
Speaker 2: So before we get into this poker tournament, because I used to play poker, so I'm kind of curious about it. I just, you know, thoughts on this team coming into the season. You guys, have you seen the Lozardo throw a little bit? Because everybody's really excited. I think about this rotation. Obviously, we know that the first four guys, not a lot of guys are familiar as familiar fans aren't as familiar with Hazel's Zarto.

00:22:51
Speaker 3: What do you what do you think?

00:22:53
Speaker 1: I haven't seen him throw this spring, but I've seen him.

00:22:56
Speaker 7: He's a Miami Yeah, decent amount man. He's a he's a big editor. And it just slides right in with all our guys on the team. We're all competitors and he's gonna slip right in. And it's got good stuff too. It goes hard. I think he's a really good addition and I'm excited to see him throwing some danger soon. But yeah, obviously we have a great team. Yeah, and pretty much a similar team the past few years, which has been cool.

00:23:24
Speaker 1: To be able to be.

00:23:26
Speaker 7: Around the same guys with a couple of new additions every year for the past you know, three, three years through four years, and I feel like you don't see too many teams do that.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: There's always guys swapping down, and that's how Phillis used to be. When we're rebuilding. There's always tons of new guys in and how coming coming in. But I feel like.

00:23:47
Speaker 7: Good better talent every year and not just better talent, better guys, better character guys coming in every year, and uh, you know, we have the team to to win it, and we just got we gotta uh we got to keep having trying to have a good year and get everybody help from training and hopefully make the postseason again and win the Vision and get.

00:24:09
Speaker 3: That's the thing I always get.

00:24:10
Speaker 2: People ask me, like where they like in the clubhouse where they like I'm like, wow, it's it is a I mean, it really is a good group of guys.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: You know, like you know you talk to you.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: Guys are willing to move around in the line up this spring because they're like, I just want to win.

00:24:22
Speaker 3: I don't care where I hit. You know, guys are you.

00:24:24
Speaker 2: Know Kyle's taking ground balls at first base just maybe he can give Bryce off his feet one day. He's like, I'll go over and play some first base. Rob said, he float the idea of maybe J. T. Shagg and some fly balls and left field. I don't know if that's going to happen, but you know.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: What, Hey definitely.

00:24:42
Speaker 2: At Oh my gosh, I feel like he could play anywhere. Like you can probably throw him at a second base for a game and he'd give you a competent competent.

00:24:54
Speaker 3: You never know. I would bet against that, but that's something that Rob said. He float.

00:24:57
Speaker 2: All right, So let's I want to talk about this poker tournament because it's May fifteenth, five thirty eleven, Assistant Bank Park. It's Team Red, White and Blue, it benefits veterans. It's benefiting veterans. You can go to team URWB dot org backslash NOLA and like, what made you decide to do a poker term. I know you've been like supporting veterans for a long time. That's something that's that's been important to you.

00:25:20
Speaker 7: Yeah. I talked to my team and they've had some poker tournament charities that they've done before. It's a really good turnout. We've done bowling for years now and it's it's been a good turnout. Yeah, but wanted to try a poker tournament because a lot of people like poker.

00:25:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we think it's going to be a good turnout.

00:25:36
Speaker 7: So hopefully, you know, we can do what we've been doing and raise a little bit more money and more awareness to it and have a fun night.

00:25:45
Speaker 2: Do you have veterans in your family? Is that is that why? Or is it just something that you felt you wanted to I.

00:25:50
Speaker 7: Don't really have too much ties to the military part in my family, but yeah.

00:25:55
Speaker 1: I mean I met him.

00:25:56
Speaker 7: I met him years ago and thought it'd be a good one to to do. And I really like him and Mike Carew and the founder of It's awesome, you know, and he's a really good guy. And I enjoy doing it and getting to know some of the people over there and the.

00:26:12
Speaker 1: Organization and being able to hang out with them has been really cool.

00:26:16
Speaker 3: You know. Like my dad's a veteran.

00:26:17
Speaker 2: He was in he was in Vietnam, and so I know, anytime like anybody shows any appreciation terms, it's amazing how it kind of like makes the day, you know, like it kind of lights him up and makes them feel appreciated, which they which they one hundred percent should be. So do you play poker? Like are you gonna do you have any shot at winning this thing?

00:26:36
Speaker 3: I mean have you done? No, you would have no shot.

00:26:40
Speaker 1: So put on and make it look like I think I do.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: Any of these guys in here, you think it would if you had to predict, maybe like a couple of guys to maybe maybe JT. Is there anything that he's like not good at? Oh my god, he is. I mean he won the He's great at golf. I know he won, Like get the first pick last year in the Fantasy Football turn Fantasy football draft last year. Great catcher, maybe a great left fielder right left field too, So that's awesome. Well, okay, so May fifteenth, five thirty two eleven, Citizen Bank Park Team Red White and Blue teamr WB dot org backslash Nola, I mean that will be a good turnout because people do love it, and you have some teammates there, and I think they need to beat the stadium right, Yeah, it's the event.

00:27:36
Speaker 1: The place where we were at last year. It was awesome.

00:27:40
Speaker 7: I thought that the bowling Alley's first four and second four. Yeah, it was really big, cool, cool place.

00:27:46
Speaker 1: I think being at the field of people too.

00:27:48
Speaker 3: That's awesome. Well, Aaron, thanks a lot man. Good luck this season.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: It's gonna be I think that people are excited about this team, and certainly this rotation should be pretty pretty stout.

00:27:56
Speaker 3: So thanks all. I appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoyed that I did.

00:28:00
Speaker 2: Now, if you are interested in Aaron Nola's book, a tournament in Maya Citizens Bank Park, if you're driving the car, you couldn't write down the information. If you have a really bad memory like I do, you're like, I'm not gonna remember this website.

00:28:14
Speaker 3: Don't worry, We've got you covered.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: We have the link provided in YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get podcasts. You can just click the link. It'll take you to the website you can find out more information. Thanks as always for your support. If you like The Philly Show, if we sell Phillyshow t shirts at the Phillyshow dot com, Rubenjim and I will be back. Thanks everybody. 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 Ruben's 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 all pH l y dot com. Find me at MOLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network