Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia Phillies struggle in series opener loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Up next Zack Wheeler takes the Mound. Jim Salisbury joins Jamie Lynch, Renee Washington, and Tyler Zulli discuss the game and other MLB updates.
Philly Philly with Jon Marks
PHLY Phillies Podcast | Ranger Suarez, Phillies struggle in series opener loss to Brewers | PHLY Phillies Podcast
the Phillies dropped game one in Milwaukee. Uh, but unfortunately there's a big football vein in this town and they suck too. Last night was not great in Philadelphia. Let's talk about the Phillies Brewers game one next here on the PH.L. Y. Phillies podcast. Hello and I wish I could say it was a happy Tuesday to all out there, but I'll be honest with you folks, right? You were there last night. Tyler. I know this is a Philly show and we're going to talk all Phillies. Jim Salisbury's coming up here at 11 30, but I'm pretty miserable this morning, guys. Um, especially when bet three six five took a lot of my money last night because everything went wrong, but you can find out why it's never ordinary at bet three six five, our presenting sponsor. And we, we love bet three six five even when they take, um, all my money on Dallas got her overs last night, which was very rude of them. Uh, but they provide a service and I was wrong. Uh, but they are presenting sponsor and find out why it's never ordinary at bet three six five use code PHLY three six five that sign up for $200 off. All right, Renee. I've, uh, I've watched the game recap now about four times this morning because had some dual duties last night. Unfortunately, our boy ranger, my sweet, sweet boy ranger. It's got me concerned. I know, I know. He's got me a little shook about heading into the playoffs. I'm beginning to think, what does he have ones or does he, is he going to get two in before the playoffs? Two more stars left to kind of get it right here. Not feeling overly optimistic about it. Um, if you had to, you know, kind of put a gun to my head right now and, and said who's starting game three for you in the playoffs. Uh, I'm pretty sure it's Christopher Sanchez. If you know, it's nothing else matters. That's a thing. So ranger has two starts as we mentioned. He's got Saturday against the Mets city field and then his last one will be September 27th down in Washington and gets nationals. And for ranger to have had another night where he just didn't look good. He did have, he was able to throw 104 pitches if we're going to try to find something something so they stretched them out a little bit more. But unfortunately, uh, that's only in five innings of work. And we know part of that problem is, yeah, they were, you were getting very behind in the pitch count, four hits, three runs, three walks struck out five in those five innings, uh, 12 swings and misses. We saw the slip and fall and the fourth inning gave up three runs in that, in that inning as well. And it just felt like like that slipping play, I feel like was such a moment of tang ranger, like down bad, you know, you just try and so hard to make a play happen and Bryce helped him out and recovered it for him. But I know he was talking post game about how, um, you know, what he needs to do and how he just has to go out. He's like, I'm not going to discuss, you know, things right now. Um, just going to go out there. There was many innings they can for my team and how he needs to execute better, especially in those O two, one two pitches to finish off those counts. But Ranger has, has been a concern because we are seeing time is not on his side. You only have two starts left. And with Christopher Sanchez pitching so well and Zach Wheeler pitching so well, my eyes are on air and Nola and Ranger Suarez because we know Nola has struggled in September in the past. So I kind of actually expect this, but we don't know what Ranger at this point of his season where he's already had a career high in innings. What to expect from him moving forward? Is he a five inning guy moving forward? Is he someone that's you're you're going to expect is going to give up three four runs. So it's extremely concerning because Rangers been one of the most consistent starting pitchers in the first half of the season and hasn't recovered since his velocity was still up a little, but still low compared to his season averages. I mean, it's like we're slowly moving in the right direction, but we don't have time. It needs to happen. Unfortunately, a little bit quicker. Yeah. I mean, you're right. Nola and Ranger really kind of because the bullpen's back, you know, they're they're back to being elite. The offense is back, you know, once Bryce's power returned. I think that was kind of like the final missing piece there a little bit. But the starting pitching is the one where you're looking at it now going like damn Nola Ranger two guys you thought for the good majority of this season were going to be horses for you in the playoffs. It's not to say that they can't go out and do it and reverse what has happened here. But you certainly don't have high confidence that they're going to be able to do it easily. And that probably is the thing that has me most sure cutting into the playoffs. Can you survive without Nola and Ranger being kind of what we expected? Maybe, but then your offense has to become kind of otherworldly. And I don't know if they can be that. I think they can be a good offense. I don't know if they can be an offense that carries you to a world series title. I think this team is kind of built on their starting pitching and getting getting the job done for you. And you know, we've talked about their record when a starter goes seven innings this year. It's like absolutely ridiculous. They've been built more or less on starting pitching. Everything else is good to possibly great at times around it. But the starting pitching I feel like is really the main vein of this team. Yeah, I think that has that's what also has me a little bit concerned because the backbone of this team has been there starting pitching as we've talked about countless times. And the offense has been up and down throughout the course of the season. We've seen stretches where they can't average more than four runs per game. We've seen stretches where they can average under six runs per game. You know, it's been a very up and down offensive, which is going to happen naturally in the course of a long season. The starting pitching and now and the bullpen. Let's be honest, we talked about some of their numbers yesterday of their ERA, you know, as a staff being top in baseball, starting pitching and bullpen around a three. They have been consistently helping the Phillies win games because you can count on even if the offense is unable to get going a night like yesterday, you get a solo home run from Brandon Marsh. You get the RBI from Kyle Sober. You can your offense tag. I think it was 11 hits they finished with. If you have your starting pitching able to get you deeper into the game. So they with going seven plus innings, that means you're giving up one, maybe two runs at the most, you know, that's been averaging like one or less run in all of his outings, which now with an offense that might give you two or three runs, the math is math. And you can still win that game. But if you're going out there giving up four or five runs in your in your stretch. Unfortunately, there's offense we can't count on to always deliver. So it's a shame because if the offense is doing their part, I feel like it wouldn't be as much pressure when they're starting pitching. But it has been all a lot on them to, yeah, if you keep this game low, we have a better chance of winning the moment that the Brewers hit six. I was like, and I wasn't watching the game to be transparent. I was at the link and I'm like, Oh, no, it's now it was like the two. And it Kyle Sober's RBI like closed the gap and I was like, okay, they're slowly playing themselves back in this. But then it hit six. And I actually, you just don't know. Sometimes they can explode and have a five run inning. Sometimes they are they go hitless. So Tyler, we'll go to the NRD for this next question, because maybe you have a more rational mind than I do this morning, which is filled with green envy and rage about the birds. And so I might be a little jumbled up here. Some of my brain waves might be so the Phillies do have the third best run differential in baseball at 115. Correct behind Milwaukee at 138, which is really shocking. The New York Yankees at 123 and the Dodgers are tied with them at 115. And then Kansas City. That's your top five. Why does it feel like at times it's such a struggle to produce runs? And I know it's 162 game season and it's a long year. And there's going to be games where it's a struggle, but why doesn't it feel like they're a top three team and run different? Well, am I making that up? It's not just between my ears. Well, yeah, I think in that sense, it is they went through an elongated struggle in July. That's I think that still is fresh in people's minds. And that's why I think that there there are times where you almost hyper fixate on on the one game being sure more than what it is. This team is also built to score in bunches. Yeah, that tends to happen. But they also have done a really nice job as of late of scratch and late runs out. They did it against the Mets twice. They did it against the Braves the last time those two teams met up. The thing recently to that point is it's been Cal Stephenson's and Buddy Kennedy's and Austin Wilson's. But rarely has been lately your star is kind of like pulling off these these resiliency wins. Well, I don't know if I agree with that. I think you only have to go back to Saturday, Bryce Harper at two home runs. You only have to go back to the Toronto series. Kyle Swarber will be to a win. I don't think it's as far back as you think. I think you're also in a bad mood today. Like I'm in a terrible JT had a big double the other night. So you're right. I'm probably getting to be honest. And you guys can tell me if you agree. It feels like every game. It's about rejecting into the play. Well, I was gonna say every game pretty consistently. It's one top one star plus the youngsters. Like it was JT and Cal and Weston. It was Trey and Buddy and Weston. It was Kyle. Like every game we're getting one of your top hitters that are that are breaking through was Bryce Harper with his two home runs. And they're kind of taken turns. Have we had a game? And so let's flip it this way. Have we had a game where it's two guys top of the batting order? You know, it's typically been it was Kyle's day. It was Trey had a pair of home runs. It was Bryce Harper with his two home runs. It was JT with the walk off single. Nick Cassiano's probably is the most consistent that Swase in and out of every game of being able to provide you with something to drive, you know, runners home to help you get on the scoreboard. But it feels like consistently every game we're talking about one guy that we are expecting to come through that delivers. And then he's getting the help from the complimentary pieces. The cow Stevenson's buddy Kennedy's Weston Wilson's Cody Clemens that are adding to that. That's what I feel like is happening with the Phillies offense right now. Or as in the beginning of the season, it'd be a few guys that were contributing, which is where you were going to be explosion of the offense. So to me, the run differential, that stat makes sense because of how much they score. They have scored at stretches. And it kind of has balanced out. It's not like it's if you average the entire season. Yeah, the second half is not the first. Yeah. But I do think that what we're getting now as the difference is we're not seeing enough of the top, their top group, like whatever that top five or six guys of Kyle, Trey, Bryce, Alec, of course, just he's working back. Nick JT. Brason, we're not if you want to put them in that group, we're not getting enough of them consistently on the same day contributing in a big way to the offense. Yeah. And I think can, you know, this is all look, the bottom line here is you just need to take one of these next two games in Milwaukee to ensure the tiebreaker over the Brewers. Yeah. This is not a overreaction to one game last night. This is, and I think what all Phillies fans have been doing all year here, because it's been evident very early on that they were in fact, they play off team, likely a division winner. It's, it's projecting your fears into a postseason series, right? Because they've been burned so many times. Yeah. And game six and seven last year at home, versus the Diamondbacks, probably has some severe scar tissue in my mind. And you know, people in the chats mind. Oh, yeah. So bad. So like, I don't know what would have fixed that. You know what I mean? Because the irrational, negative, Delphi and Hogi mouth in the back of my head is saying, well, this is just going to rear its head again in a playoff series. And they're not going to be able to get, you know, a game six and seven performance from Trey Bryce and Nick that they need. And it's kind of just like talking about the scary part out loud. And what can you do? If they don't get it done this year, there's probably going to be some sort of roster configuration change. Because how many times can you run back the same thing and expect a different result? But you know, it's starting pitching. You got two more games. Aaron Nolan, Ranger Suarez, go make us feel better. Offense, you know, isn't the biggest issue. I think starting pitching is we get a Taiwan walker start this week again, because on to your since now that I was working. So Taiwan, come on back. Apparently he was sitting 94 on the gun. So maybe he's getting a little bit of velocity back. I mean, this is where we're at now on September 17th, you know, two weeks left in the season, more or less. And I don't know. I'm a little I, they're one of the best teams in baseball, right? They're top four or five. They have a great chance to win the World Series. But game six and seven last year did serious damage to my psyche. It's natural to have concerns because also, despite how great this group has been, we know, and we've seen many times and not just in Philly, but just in sports where a team is a top team in the regular season and gets to the playoffs. And some of those areas, they were kind of bandaging and covering, get exposed, come post season time. And so when you look at someone like Ranger, there's some other numbers I just want to add because last night he had 16 two strike counts, and only five strikeouts. Like that's something that Ranger points to that has to be better. His ERA in the last nine starts now, a five nine six after having a one eight three ERA in his first 16 starts through June 25th. His ERA, the last nine games, a five nine six ERA. So those are things you can look at that are extremely concerning. I know Rob was mentioning pregame. He wanted to see if Ranger could get his velocity up. He was he was keeping an eye on. Of course, you know, the little things, but most importantly, his velocity and Ranger did say he felt good. He's like, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to complain. I feel good physically. He just has those, those errors like the fact you 16 two strike counts that you have to be better. There's that's that's something that's concerning. And so naturally, because the last season of the bullpen issues, the home runner bust issues and inability to play small ball and bunch, we kind of are now going into this season and the playoffs in terms of like our expectations of anything that can happen. But we know there are some areas that are concerning and this is one of them. The offense does concern me a little bit because there are some other teams right now that I'm watching their offense and they're generating just feels like they're doing more. But I don't know. It is easy to do. They have to play from behind a little too often too often and they weren't doing that before they were. This is two series in a row. They drop the series opener and this is another game where they give up. They are down the opponent scores first. That was those are two areas that they were doing well at the beginning of season. Well, you know who can work for you and assure you're never playing from behind. 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If we can flash that one up, it says for Jamie, what are your favorite RTJ tracks? How did you notice my RTJ? He noticed that from the beginning of the show. Oh, maybe because I was on Anthony's show. You had my run the Jules show on who I saw, I saw run the Jules once. That was a great concert. Favorite tracks. So it's a super chat, right? I have to answer this. Ula la really is a one legend has it, I would probably say, or like the top two that come to mind. But if you're unfamiliar with killer Mike and run the Jules and LP, very good stuff. Today, are you a run the Jules fan? I'm not actually I'm not. All right. I'll send you a little playlist later today. As you guys are talking to this, I was like trying to figure out who they, okay, I'm not gonna say more. I don't, I don't listen to their music. I'm gonna have to send you some tracks for an A. All right, I'll send you some music too. Yeah, I think I know most of your music. You don't. No, you guys want to play that game? No, you definitely don't. You definitely don't. I think I know like what you're into a little bit. What do you, what are you implying? Is it deeper than something I know here? I mean, like, we're you're like, we're like popular music, right? Like, no, what's like it? What's an obscure band that you're into that I wouldn't know? Well, it's not bad. So there you go. I don't listen to bands, performer, whatever you want to call a solo music guy. Obviously, everybody's on the Kendrick Lamar way right now. That's an easy one. Yeah, Kendrick's great. But I still love, I love old school music, like school, 70s, Frankie Beverly, like Jalen. Yeah. So there was a lot of the need to make your plan. Yeah, all be above. Okay. I do. Like old school, like, listen, a queen of pieces, music like that. But you kind of veering a little bit. But I'm more Beyonce Drake. I still like, I don't know. I listen to these obscure artists who like be you ever heard of Beyonce? Like, that's what you do. We all knew obscure bands. Tyler's going to win. He was just like, you know, the people, but you probably don't know the songs. So yeah, you know the people. Yeah, like I never got into Drake ever once. I was with Roy and Rich last night in a Drake song came on and Andrew was like, what is this? Do you know, like her and Summer Walker and Usher's new music. So like, you know, the people. I don't know. Summer Walker. Okay. Yeah. I would be able to name a lot of tracks from these people. Yeah, like Coco Jones. Don't know her. Okay. So now I'm getting a little deeper. Yeah. I started, I started real service. I'm getting a little deeper. All right. That's it. I'm not going to keep going. I noticed that I'm losing you here. Maybe we'll assume Salisbury is his favorite obscure band. Tyler, if there's a metal group with the most obscure band name in the world that you're into, that people have never heard of. Wow. Is it a pterodactyl, talon, fire breather? Listen, they're some wild metal man either that are like actually almost to the point where you go. How did you? How do you even like, how? How did that happen? Yeah. You know what I mean? I would. What's the death metal group that dresses up like Ronald McDonald gang? Max Sabbath and they are wild. I'm not sure how heavy they actually are because they played Black Sabbath's music, which, you know, is classic rock, classic metal type of thing. Pick an obscure one. Just give me something good. Oh, gosh. I'll get back to you on that. I'm going to try to rack my brain to get you crazy music. Rich Homie Kwan's funerals today. Do you know who that is? Yes. Oh, okay. Okay. Do you know any of the songs? No, I never really got into them like that, but I'm aware of them. Another great talent. Lost to you. Yeah. Pop Smoke, Rich Homie Kwan. Yeah. But yes, off the rails we go. There was our rabbit hole of music. Thanks to K Red's super chat there on my shirt. All right. So the rest of the series, Jim Salisbury Jr. is in about five minutes here. Rest of the series. All right. Zach Willard on the mound tonight. He need one of these next two to hold the tiebreaker over Milwaukee. Yeah. He's going against a fantasy baseball pitcher of mine that I seem to get every single year in Frankie Montaz, who's just like, if he was your number five, it would be a great situation. Like he's just a guy that can battle a little bit, keep you in games occasionally be great. But Zach Wheeler definitely has the advantage over him. And then tomorrow, Aaron Nola versus Freddie Peralta, two pretty evenly matched pitchers this year. Peralta with a little more K stuff than Nola currently, but they hover around the same ERA. I'd really like Zach Wheeler to take care of it tonight to just get that one because I don't want the season tiebreaker with the Brewers hanging on the shoulder blades of Aaron Nola. And it sucks to say that out loud, but you kind of are at a point with Nola where you don't really want him in the big game spot. You don't. It's the reality. Unfortunately, listen, you also have the reality that the Brewers are their magic number to Clint C and Los Angeles too. And they obviously are now also focusing on trying to get that first round by. It's a very, this is a playoff match. It's a big, it's a big one for both teams. So because the stakes are so high, most people are stepping up with the stakes being high. But we don't know what to expect in terms of what Aaron Nola is going to do on the Mount tomorrow. So absolutely agree with you that our trust is in Zach Wheeler tonight because that's a great opportunity. If you can take care of business, it's bigger than just winning this series. It's about locking in the tiebreaker for the season series. And you'll be able to do that if you went tonight. Aaron, I do not have the most faith in. So that I agree makes me nervous. Yeah, Tyler. How are you feeling with us? Zach Wheeler needs to get it done tonight because you don't want it hanging on in animals. It's almost unfortunate. John and I were talking about this this morning. So with the culmination of everything that happened yesterday, Mark showed 8 a.m. Everybody talk about that. It's good. It's kicking ass on it yesterday. And Tyler, you also look self remote. You got Penn State today. Yes, three o'clock today, special three o'clock Penn State show that I tell Pharaoh and Jason Cabinda. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah. It's yesterday was an unfortunate culmination of events where the Phillies lose a game. You know, listen, one game of 162. That one's the easier one to swallow. Sure. Obviously, the Eagles is a big one. Like there, there is a, who are the Eagles? It's a professional ping pong team. Okay. There is a almost unfair onus that is going to get put on Zach Wheeler today. Like, Hey, you're the ace. Get the win. Because you get the tiebreaker. You get the, you know, the game back from the one that you lost yesterday. You get to 91 wins. You keep the Dodgers at bay. You keep the, you know, your magic number goes down to at least four because the Mets won again last night. I think it's almost like an unfair precedent is going to get set on Zach Wheeler. But that's what happens when you're the ace of a staff. That's what happens when you are the, you know, probably the Cy Young runner up this year, right? Like you have expectations. He's going to break 200 strikeouts today. He's at 199. If he doesn't strike anybody out, something ridiculously wrong happened, right? So there's a lot. There's a, it's within the cons, the context of one game, there is a little bit of an added pressure to Zach Wheeler to win this game tonight. Absolutely. Here's a huge one. Here's some other numbers through. I had to find these really quickly before we get prepared for our buddy Jim joining us. So Frankie Montas in his last outing gave up no runs yet gave up two hits, two walks with eight strikeouts over six innings. He can show flashes of brilliance. He can. And then in his two career starts against the Phillies, he's one in one with a 506 ERA and 11 strikeouts over 10 and two thirds inning. I like that. Yes, he did only allow one run on five hits three walks back in April. So there's a huge match up here. Then for Wheeler, as we know, we talk, we talk about it as an NLSI young front runner along Chris Dale. So number two behind Chris Dale, but yeah, it's kind of time. But in his start to September, he's been really good in his two starts with 12 innings, 16 strikeouts, a two, two, five ERA. So this is a great match up. And the numbers on Aaron, I won't even get into. We'll talk about that a little bit more tomorrow. It has been a great match up. It is a great match up, I should say, and has a lot really relying heavily on on Zach. This is our investment for the future. 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Oh, what's the holiday that most people would reckon it? My birthday. Maybe Jim knows. Let's see. Jim Salisbury, a Hallmark Channelman. Hi guys. Can you hear me? Yeah, we got you Jim. Jim, are you a Hallmark Channel guy? It's a Hallmark movie. Hallmark. Definitely not. Definitely not. Matter of fact, that channel makes me cringe when I'm flipping by. That's great. Jim, welcome into the program. Let's talk about last night. Ranger Suarez. He's not the same as he was. His velocity was up a little bit. He was able to stretch out to 101 pitches, but the results are just not there. He has two starts before the playoffs come around kind of projecting ahead a little bit. Is he getting the ball in game three? Has Christopher Sanchez superseded him to get the ball in game three? How do you see this playoff rotation playing out here? Yeah, I think I'm having a little bit of trouble hearing you guys. So I hope you can hear me. Okay, but you know, in terms of playoff rotation. Yeah, I think Sanchez has definitely moved past Ranger and maybe even Nola. That's something they're going to have to discuss whether they want to pitch Nola in game two or Sanchez in game two. Obviously Sanchez has really good numbers at home, so that might be something you want to consider. You could pitch Nola in game three on the road. He's a veteran, hostile environment, should be able to handle it. That said, maybe you just want to keep it wheeler Nola because you know, been there, done that and why upset the apple cart. We certainly know that, you know, Nola's had a couple tough ones, but he can he can kick started at any time and look pretty good. He's done it before. So yeah, I don't think, you know, what we've seen from Ranger is just not the same Ranger we saw in the first two and a half close to three months. And we were talking a lot about wow all-star game. We were talking a lot about you know, is he a candidate for the Cy Young? And if you remember, I would always caution that you have to do it for six months. And this is case in point. You have to do it for six months while we've seen, you know, he's been on the IL, but five starts back. He doesn't look like the same guy. He doesn't look to be in great shape. The velocity has not been what it was. The location has not been what it was. The crispness, all of the above. And he threw an awful lot of pitches last night. Threw some good cutters in on righties. I thought that was encouraging. But a couple starts left for them to really decide where he's going to fit in that postseason rotation. But I do think getting back to your original question, Christopher Sanchez is probably moved by him from, you know, what we've seen from Sanchez has been really, really impressive. Quick on that same subject, Jim. If you mentioned it with Nola there, how much do you think they are going to weigh those home and road splits with Sanchez possibly bumping up? Is that like, is that going to be the bottom line deciding factor? Or do you think Aaron Nola just has the trust of Rob Thompson and they keep it as is? Yeah, I don't think the splits will be, you know, bottom line, they're going to put all their decision making in the splits, but certainly is got to be part of the discussion, part of the equation that Sanchez has been so good at home and so good lately while Nola has had a few blips. But no, I don't think that would be the totality of this discussion. I mean, you know, you mentioned the word trust and they do trust Nola, Rob Thompson, trust Nola, the firm office, trust Nola. Nola's been there. He's pitched in the playoffs. He's delivered big performances in the playoffs. And, you know, you got Wheeler in game one and Nola in game two, that's a heck of a place to start to try to go up two O. But Sanchez has pitched great too. So they might decide to flip flop it. And if you can get that game, now you got Wheeler in game, I'm sorry, Nola in game three on the road, that's a nice place to be as well. So they have a lot to talk about here. You know, I would hate to see them, you know, award Christopher Sanchez, the number two star, and him all of a sudden feel like he has to do more. He just needs to be Christopher Sanchez, just needs to do what he's done. But, you know, sometimes I think there is that human nature where, you know, you kind of get a little bit of a promotion. And I first try to do too much. So I think that's something they have to consider. It's kind of like when you take a number seven hitter movement to number four, all of a sudden he thinks he's got to be a different guy, when the same guy would be just fine. So I'm sure they're going to weigh all of those things. It would not surprise me either way. If they go Sanchez to try to capitalize on his hot streak and his numbers at home and feel good about having NOLA in game three or feel good about having NOLA in game two behind Wheeler and try to go for, you know, a real quick strike. So a lot of balls in the air there. But to answer your original question, I don't think it's going to be all about the splits. I think history is going to weigh into it experience and how they feel about NOLA in the big picture. He's built a pretty good body of work here. Yeah. And I'm curious, Jim, your thoughts going back to Ranger because we did see him able to throw a hundred and what was the final number, 104 pitches, 101 pitches last night had 16 two strike counts, but only struck out five and his era in the last nine starts has been a five nine six. So it drastically has changed. Of course, in the midst of that was his back spasms and different injuries. We know that Rangers not pitching like he was the first half of the season when he had a one eight three era through late June. Do you feel optimistic though, in terms of his velocity is getting higher, the pitch count is getting higher, two starts left. How how do you manage him and how optimistic are you him with his gradual progression with, you know, postseason plays so close? Yeah, you mentioned the O two or the two strike counts. I'm sorry. And you know, just not really finishing guys like he did early in the season. I just think that speaks to location and the crispness of his stuff and the overall life on his stuff. It just hasn't come back yet. It is, you know, picked up a little bit here, but it's still below his season averages. He's got two more starts. You know, I think it can turn around at any any point. I'm not, I'm not certainly not down on the guy. I just feel like right now you got three guys pitching better than him. If he could, you know, start dialing it in here and you can go, you know, four big ones deep again. That's only going to help you a big time in the playoffs. He's gutted in him, but it has been slow coming back. I'm not sure why it's been five starts now. They talk about the lack of a of a minor league rehab start or two. Well, it's been five starts at the big league level. He should be, you know, that's his rehab. We should start seeing better results. There were pockets last night that, you know, he looked like his old self. I mentioned the cutter inside your eyes, well, I thought it was a pretty good pitch. He just needs to keep building on it and needs to keep better and getting in better shape. I don't know if his legs are slow coming back or what, but I'll tell you this, they could really use them because, you know, starting pitching was the bedrock of how they built that best record in baseball. And it will be the thing that I think is their big difference maker in the postseason. So if they could go four deep instead of three deep, that'd be a really good thing. Jim projecting ahead to the playoffs. If you are, you know, look, you got to win one of these next two to hold the tiebreaker over Milwaukee to pretty much lock in, you know, a buy in the first round there. If you're looking ahead a little bit, do you think there's any actual conversations that will be had next week of one versus two seed or is getting the one seed in Citizens Bank park? They don't going to rule all. I say that because as it's currently constructed, you could either face the winner of the Brewer's Mets or the Diamondbacks Padres. I think I think one of those is an easier path. And I think that's Brewer's Mets. Is that something that's going to be genuinely discussed? Or is that just fodder amongst us talking heads? It might be discussed in passing. You know, I think they discuss everything. They have a large team in their front office. But if it was up to me, I'm focused on winning as many ball games as possible. And locking up the best record in baseball through the entire month of October and the World Series, because all along the World Series has been your goal. And Citizens Bank Park games six and seven last year notwithstanding can be a difference maker for this team. So look, I know everybody can come up with the 2011 and how they had to play a Red Hot Cardinals team. And if they didn't beat the Braves, they wouldn't have to all that stuff. But I just think you're getting way too complicated when you start, you know, looking and choosing your opponents. The only opponent to me that matters is the guy on the field that night and you got to go out and beat him. So I really don't care who they play in the postseason. I think if they play well, get good starting pitching, good bullpen, good defense, run the base as well. Don't walk people, don't give extra bases. I think they can beat anybody if they're on top of the game. If they start swinging and missing and chasing and trying to hit seven run home runs, then they could be a quick out to any team. But, you know, I will acknowledge, I think San Diego and Arizona are probably tougher matchups for the Phillies. But they can beat them. And I will say this, the Mets seem to have something special going and that would be a hell of a series with a lot of emotion. And they the Mets would not be an easy out. So it doesn't matter who you play at this time of year, you're going to play a quality team. And if you're not on your game, you're going to go home. Yeah, that's the truth, Jim. Honestly, the road to the World Series is never easy. And whoever you face is going to be difficult. But you talked about a difference maker. You know, there's one guy that would be a great difference maker in the Phillies uniform. We have heard the discussion of Juan Soto and what his future is going to look like at 25 years old still in the prime of his career. And Bob Nightingale put out a piece reporting that there are the top five teams that seem to be rumored and connected to Juan Soto. The Phillies were one of them along with the Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays. And then the 15 is the Giants. Yes, the Giants. Thank you, Jamie. You know, what are your thoughts on? I know we're looking way ahead now talking off season. Juan Soto reuniting with Bryce Kyle Trey here with the Phillies. Is it something you feel like it's going to happen? Is this just, you know, the Phillies have been very involved in previous conversations with guys like Guillaume Obiamamoto and going all in on that. So it's to me seems like a deal that they would actively pursue. How good would you look in a Phillies uniform? And are you optimistic that they can make this deal happen and lock in on Juan Soto in the off season? Well, I can give you a really short answer if you like. I don't see it happening. Yeah, I don't see it happening. I mean, he's going to be like 500 million plus. I mean, they already have what two, 300 million dollar guys. Harper has seven years left. Soto has nine. I'm sorry. Turner has nine years left. Look, Soto's a great player. He's having a great year. I think it's going to be held a lot of pressure on the Yankees to retain him. I think the Mets are going to be in it. I think there's a lot of pressure on the Giants to become relevant again. And you know, they have a kind of, you know, going back to Barry Bonds, a history of star players, Willie Mays. I think there'll be pressure on them to be in that hunt for a star player. I think it's natural for anybody to connect to Phillies to Soto because it's a great player and he's going to be very expensive and the Phillies have very deep pockets and they've been involved with superstar talents before. And a number of cases closed the deal. You know, his agent is Scott Boris. They have a history with Scott Boris of hammer and out deals. But I just, I don't see this one happen and I don't see him being a fit. I'd love to have him baseball wise. But you know, where their payroll is and and their, you know, that that tax as they continue to go up and up and up and it hurts you in a lot of different ways. I don't see, you know, I'm sure you're going to hear his name all winter long connected to the Phillies because that's good business for Soto and his team of handlers. It's also probably good business for the Phillies to find out what the market looks like. Kick the tires. Figure out what your rivals are trying to do. Maybe drive the price up. But I don't see it happening. All right, Jim Zach Wheeler. You just got to get one of these next two to hold the tiebreaker against a guy that I've seen the own in fantasy baseball every single year. Frankie Montaz. What do you, what do you think tonight? Zach Wheeler, get it done and just get this tiebreaker W for the Phillies tonight? What's your feeling? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'll always bet on Zach Wheeler. He's a great pitcher and he's trying to chase down that side young. I think right now he's in second place behind Chris Sale, who's leading him in a number of important categories, but with two starts left, you can believe, you know, Zach Wheeler's going to go out there and look to dominate and he's got the stuff to do that. And a lot of stakes on this game. They need to win one of these games in Milwaukee. I need to take, you know, take numbers off the magic number and he's the right guy to do. He's awfully good. And but, you know, this team's prize is going to be an October. That's where the big prize is. And they need Zach Wheeler to finish strong here with two two good ones and go into October and do a call Hamels act and put that team on his back and take him to special places. That'd be great. And you can read all of Jim's writing, had a great piece up with the Met series last week. And there will be another up this week on alphly.com. So make sure you're following Jim and his writing on all PHLY Jim. We thank you as always. And we will talk again soon, my friend. Okay. Have a great day, guys. See you, Jim. Good stuff there with Jim. We have a super chat, another one. Oh, yeah. From our man, Jay Flo. Let's see. It says, resident Diamondbacks, man. I agree. Hey, if he supports us with super chats, you're welcome here every second of every hour we're on. It says, range. Yeah, my old man eyes and the lights and lack of sleep range. Let's see how far I can get range. Your needs to step up. Arizona will be a horrible matchup. Not afraid of CBP and BP is shut down. That small ball of approach will hurt the fills. There we go. I did get a taxi the other day that I'm due back in the eye doctor. And how many fingers about the lights like blind me? Yeah, though, actually, that's he is very hard to do all the lights, but to just say it a little bit faster. So as Jay Flo was saying, Ranger needs to step up. Arizona will be a horrible matchup. He's not they're not afraid of sitting in his bank park and bullpen is shut down. And that small ball approach will hurt the fillies. So thank you, Jay Flo, for chiming in with the super chat. We appreciate you as always. But yeah, which we had a little bit more. I know Kaver's like, what's small ball? I just a little more at times, but they're getting some good singles and we've seen the good bunting attempts and things that have happened. They've tried to sprinkle that in as well. But for sure, Ranger doesn't need to step up. And I feel like with two starts left, we are getting the increase in his pitch count again. The hard part is that's only five innings of work, though. And we are also getting slight increases in his velocity. So hopefully with the two starts, they'll have some simulated if they can lock in on that first round by by you get some simulated games and things that maybe all of that will help ready to be ready for playoffs. What do you guys think about the question asked Jim about your opponent? If you do lock up a buy in the first round, what Jim said is right, like getting home field advantage is the most important thing. Citizens Bank park has been a true advantage for the Phillies. It's undeniable, right? I also feel like beating the Mets and Brewers is an easier path than playing the Diamondbacks or Padres who are both second half hot. Not that the Mets aren't and not that the Brewers haven't been all year, but it just feels like to me, I would still go for the one seed. Like ultimately that is my answer. Just go for the one seed, get home field advantage. You play who you play, but it does have me thinking a little bit of like, all right, if there's four games left to play and you've locked up the buy, do you start playing games with the Dodgers to some people out there probably would my issue with it is the Padres are hot. And look, I know that's what's in. Yeah, we went out there and dominated them in their own home park. I understand all that, but part of me does go. Hmm. Hmm. I know because to your point, I know Steven Garrison saying in the chat as well, you look at the Diamondbacks and the Padres, you do not want to face either of them. Chase field is a house of horns. Really? And the matchup is not your stadium is a home to the village too. Yeah. Like for whatever reason, the matchup definitely with the Diamondbacks is very bad. The Diamondbacks have the upper hand in the season. They have the, they've won the season series against the Phillies because they just for whatever reason, they can't play and they're against the Phillies and have this extra level of like confidence and swagger and everybody is playing really well. It's crazy. So for that, I would also agree with you that you want to try to avoid them. But the reality is once you get to that point, you're going for it. And, and I know we've seen teams, I've been on teams like this, where you think you had the quote, unquote, easier matchup. It doesn't matter when you get to the playoffs because everyone's gonna elevate their game and play with the chip on their shoulder. The difference is the Phillies have to bring that too. And we saw them do it at structures in the past two postseason. And when they get bounced is when they start getting a little bit complacent and not putting the team going on or winning the series and putting that team away. They had it last year in the NLCS. So I think regardless who they play, it's going to be a dog fight. They just have to be ready to step up. So Tyler, if you're Rob Thompson and David Dombrowski and you have this conversation locked up to buy what you what you're overruling. So here's my thing play. The amount of people that have complained about the buy and it being a faltering factor. I do think it's legit. I don't like taking time. But I don't know what else you would do. Here's my thing. Obviously the right decision. I'm not saying you don't take it. But I don't like after a year of 162 games taking three or four days because on the other side, on the other side. I'm so sorry to cut you off, Tyler. I'm going to let you finish Taylor Swift. But on the other side, if instead the number one seed had to play, let's say you add, you'd have to add another team or remove a team. You have to change the format of the playoffs. If they play in the first round and get bounced, now you have people complaining. We were the best team in the season and we lost the first. You always leave yourself announced to complain like any good sports. Whatever that number one seed loses, they are going to be complaining because they're going to blame the playoff format. So it's just not. All right. Go ahead, T Swift. Here's what I'm talking about with with the buy yourself included, Jamie, because you're a coward. Yes. If you if you are worried about the buy and worried about sitting around, not really. Here's my point. If you're worried about that already, you're going to be extra worried about taking then three, four extra games and taking your foot off the gas. Why don't you take your foot off the gas? If it's hard, if you believe that it's hard to like reengage because of the buy and you're adding an extra three games to that, you're like, if you're argument for like against the buy is that you are taking your foot off the gas, you're like extra taking your foot off the gas if you are trying to manipulate matchups. So if you get to stack your rotation the way you want it with the buy stack rotations a little bit different because you're going to get the buy anyway. So like I'm not saying on the last week of the year, if you have Zach Wheeler go 112 pitches, what I'm saying is with the buy, you're getting a couple extra days. Anyway, you can you can set up your rotation as is, you're going to have guys on full rest. You also have to be careful. We talked about this plenty. Zach Wheeler doesn't like to pitch on six seven days rest. You got to kind of figure those type of things out. So for me, if you're if you're concerned about taking the buy into consideration, you also don't want to add that extra step. The buy doesn't bother me the way that it does some, but I know that there are like if the argument is for the buy, then you have another three days of like playing half ass baseball. That's just another step in the wrong direction for those that are worried about the buy. Yeah, I think that's also the concern to me that is that rust or rest argument that we always have because whenever the Phillies lock in on that top spot in the NL, they are going to start managing guys, resting players. And even that is something that's always like that fine balance because there is such thing as too much rest, especially in baseball, but there is, but you also don't want to stretch scene and play every day. It's not like taking your foot off the gas. I don't know if that's the right way to say it. It's more just like falling out of your routine and it takes time to get back into that. Yeah. And I know you do simulate a game, but like in fairness, I said this last year, you know, when Brian Snicker was like complaining about it, I was like, I kind of get where he's coming from to a degree. I it's an advantage because you get rest. You get guys off their feet, you get to stack your rotation. You're going to have home field yada, yada, yada, yada. You also shut down what you've done for six months. Yeah, for four days at a most critical point of the year. And you know, I do think there's a little validity to it. That being said, like go get the one seat, you know, of course, of course, but it does enter my mind a little bit like, damn, at the end of the year, you got to just shut down. All right. We're on our way out here. But Triz, our man, Trizalini just shared this in our discord. And this does suck. Zach Wheeler. Look, this is our youngest Chris sales. I tried, I tried to put much for the thought about Chris Salen and potions out there. You see your doctors did nothing for us. I was trying the braids were the ones that like had this explosion offensively. Listen to this. Exactly. NBC Sports Philly just tweeted this out. Zach Wheeler in the month of August and the start since the start of August, excuse me, so that includes September. He is five and one with a one seven six e r a. And the man is not going to get another sayon. Chris Salen. Again, another guy that hasn't gotten a sayon deservedly, you know, deserves one baseball, but this sucks for Zach Wheeler. He should have wanted two years ago. This should have been put behind us. And the poor guy is going to lose out on the saiyeong to Chris sale with a spectacular close to the season again. Do you guys think that there's there's more there would have been more validity to or or more or more annoyance to him losing to Corbin Burns a couple years ago or him losing to Chris Salen this year? Because to me, the argument would have been much stronger the year the Corbin Burns wanted saying that it is this year. Chris Salen has been since. Chris Salen has been good, but like Salen has been just off the charts. And the thing that just made it the most frustrating is knowing he's going to fall short again. You know, this is like it's happening again. So it's tough when you have a guy with two six so e r a 109 and nine strikeouts over well now and over 179 and two thirds innings that that's not good enough to be an nl saiyeong winner because you have Chris sale who's been lights out and yet to your point, his numbers have actually continued to get better. There was a time he was all in three. I still remember that vividly. He had like a three e r a and was all in three. And the Phillies were giving him no run support. And here we are now talking the end of season. He he literally has gotten better as a season progressed. And still it's not enough because Chris sale has just been. Yeah. All right. We gave the NRD a homework assignment. And we said come up with the most obscure random metal band names Renee. I will present them to you as the final judge. I want to say, by the way, that there are. Why don't you put this low? Why you guys text on the side without me all the time? See, he was the one that brought it up. It was a fan name. So here's the thing. There are bad names that are insane that I'm almost uncomfortable. Just saying. So I gave you a list. I gave you a list that are kind of out there wild but better not correct. Not like I'm not even going to say the things that just came into my head because I want that. All right. Here they are, Renee. You judge, which is the most obscure. These are real men. These are all real from Tyler's ole catalog fit for an autopsy. Wait, what? Fit for an unknown. Yeah, they're from Jersey. Like, how do you come up with that? I don't know sat there and said brand of sacrifice. No, stop this. This is the these are the PG ones left like to suffer. What job for a cowboy? I'm getting one. And final one, signs of the swam. Why are they all sentencing? Whatever happened to me? How do you even say that? Welcome to fit for an autopsy. Not to be confused. Not to be confused with make them suffer. Who's an entirely different man? Why are they whole paragraphs of a name? I love like my groups that I used to like Destiny's child be 2k. It rolls. It's quick. It's pops. That's a little different animal than everything else. What is this? One of my favorite things to do with my buddy from college is somebody will attack something like random and I'll be like, there's a great band name for you. You know, and like you turn like attack a random text into a band name, like masturbating squirrels. I can see them being like a metal band. Right? Got to give like a metal band. It sounds like a metal band. I don't even know. Actually, I'm gonna say like I I kind of ruined your mind there with masturbating squirrels. We got to go. All right, that's going to do it for us here on the PH.O. I fill these podcasts to everybody that hung out with us today. We appreciate you and thank you to Jim Salisbury. Make sure you're reading his work on alphly.com. We're back tomorrow with the Arinola Post Game Show. What could go wrong? Get it done tonight, Zach. Please, please. We'll see you tomorrow on