06-18-23 Baseball Brunch

Chris Sack and Gregg Murphy talk about the red hot #Phillies looking for a series sweep against the Oakland A's and a tough week ahead against the #Braves and #Mets.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Summer Sundays are meant for freshly cutgrass ballpark dogs and the best baseball talk
you can find. So kick backwith your bacon and eggs and pour yourself
of a moosa while Phillies announcer GregMurphy and green Legion Radio's Chris Sack break
down here fighting pills and take youaround the league right now on Baseball Brunch,

(00:28):
play Ball Good, Good morning,Philadelphia. Welcome in the bud Light
Baseball Runch, brought to you byCheerleaders Gentlemen's Club, powered by Green Legion
Radio and one or two point fiveFox Sports, a gambler in Philadelphia,

(00:51):
where you can listen to us anywhereCrystal Clear worldwide on the iHeart Radio app.
This is Chris Sack of Green LegerRadio, broadcasting to you live from
the iHeart Radio studios in Bala,Kinwood, while Murph is enjoying the accommodations
in Oakland, California. Murph,Happy Father's Day, my friend. How
are you doing this morning? Brightand early? By the way, I'm
doing great. Yeah, a littleearly here, but the Happy Father's Day

(01:14):
to you as well. Um yeah, technically in San Francisco, not Oakland.
Staying here in San Francisco making theride over to Oakland for the games
tonight or today. Smart people,they're smart people. Yeah, Yeah,
it's it's a beautiful spot and Fillsare playing some great baseball. It's been.
It's been a lot of fun overthe last two weeks now riding this

(01:34):
wave. So hopefully they can keepit up. I get a sweep today
and we'll head on back home toPhiladelphia to face the NL East after that.
But so far, so good inthe month of June. Yeah,
absolutely that this West coast trip hasbeen a lot more kind than the others
have been. I know, Iknow, Murph, like, you know,
we're gonna dive full into this fullboard. But I believe it was

(01:57):
like last it was on last week'sshow, and and prior to that two
weeks ago, where we were lookingahead at the week that was to come,
and you know, like we doalways at the end of every show,
and we knew once we got throughthat week against the Tigers, what
was coming up with the Dodgers andthen having to go to Arizona. I
believe, I know I've said thisto many people leading into that week,

(02:20):
because you know, you can youcan win those games against the Nationals.
You can win that series. Youcan sweep that series against the Tigers.
You can handle your business against theOakland Athletics what they've donned over the last
week and taking five out of seven, three at you know, the three
games at home against the Dodgers andthen four on the road to go into
Arizona and take three out of fourafter losing the first one in a bullpen
game. Met What a phenomenal stretchof baseball the Phillies had in that week

(02:43):
between the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks.Yeah, no doubt about it. You
know, everybody wants to point towell, you know, yeah, they're
beaten bad teams. You have todo that. We talked about that last
week. Everybody plays those bad teamsat some point during the during the season,
and you need to beat them.You certainly need to in the series
against them. And if you canpull out a sweep against the team like
the Tigers or the A's or somethinglike that, more power to you.

(03:07):
But but yeah, you know,playing well against good teams is so important
and it's really how you separate yourselffrom the rest of the pack. And
early on in the season, thePhillies were not doing that. They certainly
seem to have turned a corner nowhere in the month of June and played
well against some pretty good teams.So they've got one more game here in

(03:28):
Oakland and two pretty good teams comingback to although the Mets are really scuffling
right now, but two pretty goodteams in the end at least waiting for
them back at home, So theygot to keep it up. Doesn't get
any easier, but certainly you feela lot more confident the way this offense
is playing right now, the waythe starting pitching has really stepped up,
and the bullpen has been terrific prettymuch straight on through. So it's it's

(03:51):
been fun. And you know,we were hoping this would happen. I
think it's what ten of their lasttwelve or eleven of the last tweat all
of the last fourteen m if wewere hoping something like that would happen,
It's happened. Now we just gottakeep it up, absolutely, and once
again, Happy Father's Day to allthe great fathers out there, and you
know that the jobs that you guysdo and and the children that you're raising,

(04:14):
you know, from my dad tomy friends and you know merse friends
and you know family members alike.We are extremely proud of the job that
you guys put in because being adad is not as hard as being a
mom. But you know, hey, it's it's it's certainly a lot more
fun than what they have to putup with on a daily basis. But
this first segment is brought to youby our good friends over at State Farm.
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two. All right. Last weekwe awarded tickets for Phillies Royals at the
beginning of August, and we're goingto award tickets now for the beginning or

(05:20):
for a week after that against theNationals on Thursday, August tenth, six
forty pm start time, which thePhillies have handled the Washington Nationals ever since
they put that tweet out about howhow difficult it isn't it is not to
beat the Phillies. I think thatright there they should take that tweet back
for sure. But last week onthe show, we went and we honored

(05:42):
the best deadbeat dad on TV ora movie. So this week we're going
to being that it is actual Father'sDay, we are going to honor your
favorite dad in movies or TV.In order to win, you must answer
into comment section on the Green LegionRadio YouTube channel, the green Legion Facebook
page, or our Twitter handle atgreen Legion. Our collective favorite answer will

(06:03):
win. At the beginning of thefinal segment of today's show, Murph,
start me off and give me oneof your top five my friend. All
right, Uh, pretty easy.You know, if you think about my
age and and and when I wasa kid watching television, there was one
TV dad that I think we allkind of would like. Oh man,

(06:24):
he's he's he's the man. Um. You know, he had three kids
of his own and then brought inthree more. Mike Brady on The Brady
Bunch. He was he was themost patient guy on the planet. And
uh so, you know, workfrom home kind of guy. He's had
the kids around all the time.I'm going Mike Brady as one of the
dads because that was one of myall time great shows. So all right,

(06:45):
sounds great for me. Last week, I think I think it was
Slash that said it was it waseven Slash a Chance and that said that
Will Smith's dad in uh and uhgot the Fresh Prince of bel Air.
Oh yeah, that he was thathe was the deadbeat dad. But the
great dad for me out of thatshow was Uncle Phil. Um. You
know what a great guy. Hetook in Will who wasn't his own um,

(07:06):
but helped raise him into the manthat he was. And that that
moment in the last episode of FreshPrince of bel Air where he where he
tells him he's like Sunday, youknow, because he was saying how he
wanted you know, he wanted Willto get him a call on Sundays just
like all his other kids did,and to have that impactful moment. And
it's it's one of the great youknow, the moment that they had when

(07:27):
Will's dad walked out him on again. It's one of the great moments and
uh in TV in my lifetime,very powerful moment between the two of them.
So Uncle Phil Fresh Prince of belAir. Yeah, Uncle Phil,
love Uncle Phil. And then Jansen, do you have one for me?
Um? I've read any good dadsrecently? He wants to know if there's
any good dads recently? Yeah,you you watch more TV than I do.

(07:48):
Murkh do you do? You doyou have? Um? I mean,
oh yeah, Well I don't wantto give away. I got two
on my list that are relatively recent. So why don't we save it that.
We'll save it for the final.Yeah, we're gonna save that because
listen, people die for your topfive at the end, so we gotta
make sure. Yeah, no doubtabout it. They hang on every word
of the top five, no doubtabout it. So guys, make sure

(08:09):
you go to our social media platformsand get your answers in today for a
shot at winning Phillies National tickets onAugust Set. All right, Murph,
let's get out of the box.Let's talk about these Fighting Fills, winners
of five in a row, twelveof their last fourteen, five straight series
wins, the coming off of sixand one week since the last time we
were together on last week's show atExfinity Live, and they're now a season

(08:30):
best three games above five hundred,with a chance to sweep the A's in
Oakland this afternoon with Zach Wheeler onthe mound. I don't know about you,
Murph, but I'm feeling pretty goodabout that. Yeah. I think
anytime you send Zach out there tothe man, you feel pretty good.
I had Zach on the pregame showthis week and we had a really cool
conversation about a bunch of different things. But one of the things we talked

(08:52):
about was the ability to pitch whenyou don't have your best fastball. And
I think we saw that the lasttime he was out in Arizona. He
you know, he was, hewas sitting well, look, I mean
his not best fastball is still ninetyfour ninety five, sometimes touch at ninety
six, right, but but we'veseen him obviously get up to ninety seven
ninety eight kind of thing. Andhe said, you know something, he

(09:15):
knows almost immediately even when before hedoes his bullpen for the game that day,
before he goes out to the bullpento get warmed up, just tossing
on the field, he has afeeling, Okay, I may not have
everything in my arm today, andHoward I get attacked this lineup. And
it was really interesting to hear himtalk about how you go about doing that,

(09:35):
and you know, he's becomes youknow, he was a thrower,
as most young guys are, andhe's become a pitcher. And to watch
him use all of his different pitchesand change speeds and use both sides of
the plate, pitch up and pitchdown, and you know, to watch
him do that, you know,I think he's certainly he's emerged as one
of the better pitchers in all ofMajor League Baseball. And so yeah,

(09:58):
obviously you send him out to themon any given day and you feel pretty
good about your chances. This A'slineup is not one of the best in
baseball, as we've seen and they'vereally struggled over the last couple of days
as well. So yeah, youknow, in terms of going to what
six and one on this road tripand keeping this wind streak alive, you

(10:20):
gotta feel pretty good about sending ZachWheeler out there to that. Yeah.
I mean, his last start againstArizona now wound up being a blowout,
I mean fifteen to three. Butyou know what he does for that starting
rotation, six ending pitch, fourhits, one walk, one earned,
and you know, the strikeouts arealways there with Zach Wheeler on one of
those starts. But at two pointnine six era ray since he signed his

(10:41):
free agent contract with the Phillies,like you just said right there, you
know, his velocity was down onhis last start, but he just has
a way of throwing those those secondarypitches, the off stu pitches now for
strikes. That sweeper has been amuch you know, welcome addition to his
arsenal this season. And I'll tellyou what this when history, you know,

(11:01):
when revisionist history comes around, likeyou know, when his contract is
up and he's no longer a Phillyor we extend his contract and he winds
up retiring in Philly. Somewhere downthe line, this free agent contract will
go down as one of the greatestin Phillies history, just based off of
how he has performed since he signedthat contract. It's such a damn shame
that twenty twenty was only held tosixty games that season, because think about

(11:24):
how much more he would be,you know, expanding on those numbers if
we would have had him for afull season as compared to that short and
season that year. Yeah, you'reright about that, And you know you
have to tip your cap to MattClintech, former general manager of the Phillies.
Easily the best move he made inhis tenure. And if you remember,
you know, there are a coupleof good free agent pitchers out on

(11:45):
the market during that time, andthe Phillies went after Zach Wheeler, gave
him a very good contract. Butthey were kind of betting on the idea
that he was going to be betterthan he was with the New York Mets,
that that his upside was significant,lead more than what he had shown
so far. And man, ohman, were they right. You know,
he has taken a step forward,um, couple couple big steps forward

(12:09):
over the last couple of years andreally kind of solidified himself in that top
echelon of pitchers in Major League Baseball. So yeah, it's it's was a
great signing. Um, it wasworth every penny. You know. They
got to a World Series, uh, in large part thanks to Zach Wheeler,
and hopefully they can get to anotherone before it's all said and done.
Um this season. So yeah,a great move. And uh,

(12:33):
you know that particular error of signingsand you know drafting wasn't the best,
but certainly Zach Wheeler was to dothem, no doubt about it. And
then speaking of another free agent signing, how about Taiwan Walker Over the last
week the two starts from from lastSunday against the Dodgers and then you know,
the first game of this series againstOakland, just incredible numbers, um,

(12:56):
you know, giving them eight inningson Friday Night, which is as
long as start in the last sixyears, he's only given up He's only
given up seven earned runs over hislast six starts, with a one point
five ear ray in the month ofJune. What have they done to course
correct Taiwan Walkers since that start inQueens where he looked like he completely fell
apart as of lasity was down.He just didn't have it. I think

(13:18):
what pitched three and two thirds orfour innings that day, you know,
against his former team that afternoon andleading to a sweep of the Mets against
the Phillies. What have they doneto get Taiwan Walker back on the right
track, because he's from phenomenal sincethat standpoint. Yeah, you know,
it's interesting. I asked that exactquestion to those assistant pitching coach Brian Kaplan

(13:39):
on Friday here in Oakland, andhe had a really interesting answer because what
he said was that he said itreally was all Taiwan. He came to
them after that Mets game, andyou know, this has been reported that
he just didn't feel like he couldget his body loose at that point.
He felt really tight, especially inin the hip region, and you know

(14:01):
where a pitcher gets a lot ofhis powers is down low with the legs,
and he just did not feel,as he said, like an athlete
that day. And Taiwan Walker,for folks that don't know, is a
massive man, right and a terrificathlete, and he just wasn't feeling himself.
And they to Taiwan's credit. Hewent to the strength and conditioning guys,

(14:26):
he went to the medical staff andhe said, I need to get
my body looser. I need todo things to loosen things up. And
one of the things that Taiwan suggestedwas that in between his starts, he
go out and play a little infield, play a little outfield, run around,
shagged flies, getting taking groundholes atfirst base, taking throwst at first

(14:48):
base, stretching, doing all thosekinds of things, just going out and
being an athlete and allowing his bodyto feel as though it was athletic.
And ever since then it has obvioussleep has worked. It is an awoken
the athlete inside. To Taiwan Walker, and I asked, Brian, yes
or Friday, I said, so, you know, it really wasn't anything

(15:09):
mechanical then you guys saw and hesaid, honestly, you know, you
can call it what you want,you know, maybe freeing up the hips
a little bit, allowing him toget around a little bit more, getting
a little bit more torque and gettinga little bit more power if you want
to call that mechanical. So big, but for Brian, it was like
Taiwan recognized he just needed his bodyto feel better and more athletic in order

(15:31):
to pitch the way he wants topitch. And that's what we've seen.
It really is kind of remarkable.Let's hope he can keep it up.
But he has been outstanding over thelast couple of starts. Has this been
something that he's done that previous stopswhere he's been at, Like, is
this something that he was doing withthe Mets? Was he doing this with
the Mariners? I mean, likethis is news to me, Like when
I look at Taiwan Walker and yeah, like you said, massive human being.

(15:54):
I mean I didn't remember when wewere Colorado a month ago. You
know, I was sitting he wasthat Friday night when he was starting.
I was sitting three rows behind toPhilly's dug out, huge guy. It
looks like a golf ball, likein his hands, it's a way he
can just palm a baseball is insane. But is this something that where like
he felt like this was something thathe used to do at his other spots,

(16:14):
like where he used to be astarting pitcher, Like, hey,
I want to get back to doingthis. This is something that I haven't
been doing since I've been here,Like you tell me, well, I
don't know the answer to that,whether or not he's done it before.
If I had to guess, Iwould say at some level, yes,
he's probably recognized that his body's notfeeling the way he wants it to feel,
so he went out and did whathe needed to do to kind of

(16:37):
get it back to the way hewants it to feel. You know,
at the major league level, youhave so much information, you have so
much help, You have so manypeople that are there for you to help
you get to the point you needto be. And he certainly relied on
our you know, outstanding strength andconditioning coaches and our athletic trainers and stuff
to help him get back quickly towhere he needed to be. If you

(17:00):
remember, it really was you know, he had the Mets game and then
he went and he threw a bullpen, and I remember after that bullpen him
saying he felt so much better.And then, you know, you take
that with a grain of salt untilhe gets back out there on the mound
and does it against an opponent.But then he did, and you know,
it was it was really a matterof two or three days that the

(17:21):
staff was able to get him feelinggood, and like I said, he's
been out on the field during infieldpractice, taking groundballs, playing a little
first base, just going out thereand as Brian said in our conversation the
other day, just going out thereand being a kid again and just like
playing the game like you do whenyou're a kid, running around and just
having fun in between and not takingyou know, that mentality of a major

(17:47):
league starting pitcher, and all Ican do is think about my arm,
and all I can do. Youknow, he's just out there enjoying himself
and while doing that, keeping thatbody fresh of his. And that's been
all the difference in the world praystar and pitching over the last couple of
weeks for sure. And you know, Aaron Nolan is in his own right,
had had had a really good startthe other day that I became frustrated

(18:07):
with that third inning and you know, given up the three run shot.
It's eleven straight starts now where Aaronhas giving up a home run, which
is one away from tying and tyingthe uh you know the franchise mark of
twelve in a row step by RandyWolf back in two thousand. According to
the Athletics Matt Gelb, what isgoing on with Aaron with these innings?
Why are they happening? You know, it just it just seems like that

(18:30):
one inning kills him every single start, and it's becoming frustrating for for fans.
And you know, the radio hostlike alike here, Um, I
know you've been a you know,a big defender of Aaron over the years
that we've been doing this program,in the last three years, and um,
you know he's had He's come upbig and big moments and big spots
and big games. But what isgoing on with the long ball this year?

(18:52):
Because I would assume it's got tobecome more frustrating for him than anybody
else. Yeah, I think that'sa fair statement. Nobody is is as
frustrated as Aaron Nola when those kindsof things happen. I think it's important
to remember that, you know,a home run, as Charlie Manner used
to like to say, a homerun is just the fly ball that ends

(19:14):
up over the fence. Right.The problem that Aaron has faced it isn't
so much allowing the home runs.You know, if he allowed eleven straight
solo home runs, we wouldn't evenbe talking about this. The problem is
that is that for whatever reason thisseason, he's allowing base runners ahead of
it, and either whether it's workingfrom the stretch or whether it's the timer,

(19:38):
um, whatever the case may be, he seems to kind of lose
his best stuff when there's guys onbase and he allows the home run then
and then a free run home runcertainly as a help. You know,
I have a lot different than athan a solo shot. So yeah,
it's been frustrated for him for sure, because nobody worked harder than Aaronola on

(20:00):
this team. That is documented thathe is a guy that just puts in
so much time and so much workon his craft. But I think it's
also important to remember that, youknow, if if you say before a
game that Aaronola is going to allow, you know, five hits and three
runs in eight innings, we wouldsign up for that almost every time,

(20:22):
you know, and and and justbecause it comes all in one inning or
it comes on a three run homerun, um, it doesn't necessarily mean
that he didn't have a good start. And his last start was a good
one. Yeah, you know,he for whatever reason that that one inning
he struggled a little bit but hewas able to, um, you know,
kind of get it back together andgive the Phillies length and keep the

(20:44):
Phillies in the game and the Phill'soffense able to put up I think I
think the final scores for three,if I'm at more five three maybe in
that game. So they were alittle bit enough to yeah, okay,
to to get the job done.So, you know, we'd like to
see Aaron be a little sharper thanhe has been. Yeah, I think
more a little bit more consistent,for sure, But I'm not too concerned

(21:07):
about Arnol. I still think heis a guy that you can count on
every five days. Certainly, he'sa guy that you can count on every
five days to go out there andgive you a chance to win. And
you know, it hasn't been conventionalthis year, but he seems to be
getting stronger over the course of theseason, much like Zach Wheeler, and
hopefully that continues. Don't hang outalone in the man cave for baseball this

(21:29):
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coming up on the other side,we're going to dive into a couple
of other things. I can saygoodbye to a Philadelphia Philly after nineteen years

(21:53):
because the best catcher in baseball finallydid something that no other Philly couldn't in
that timeframe. And I need toknow what's going on with Mrph's wallet.
We'll find out on one or twopoint five Fox Sports. A gambler will
right back right after this, TheGambler, Philly's home for all things sports
gambling. That one's out toward centerfield, going back on at his Carol.

(22:19):
It's over his head and it's offthe top of the wall. JT
will pull in a second base.He's got a cycle. It's the first
one for the Philly since two thousandand four. Welcome back a second segment
here on his beautiful Father's Day intoDelaware Valley once again. Happy Father's Day.

(22:41):
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(23:03):
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That's we hate dirty windows dot com. Yes, you heard the highlight

(23:26):
as we came back in with TomMcCarthy announcing that for the first time in
nineteen years of Philadelphia, Philly hashit for the cycle. Thank you JT.
Realmuto personally, because my friends havemade my life a living hell for
the last nineteen years of having tohear about David Bell, which, by
the way, the Cincinnati Reds areplaying great baseball under his leadership there,
and they weren't supposed to do anything, but they've won seven in a row.

(23:48):
But still I am happy to saythat he is no longer the last
Philly to hit for the cycle.Now we can turn our attention to a
great Philly, a true great Philly, with J two Muto being responsible for
that to distinction, which actually,Murph, it should not have a Lansted
this long, all right, becauseI believe it was about nine years ago.
Okay, Ryan Howard and Colorado hita ball to right field that they

(24:11):
called an error. It was asingle and a one base error where he
wound up on second base and heeven touched the ball, like if that
was in Philadelphia, the scorer inPhiladelphia would have said it was a double,
like they normally don't give any errorsto an outfielder at all. If
ever, like Trey Turner the otherday, how was that a double?
There was not a double. Ithink it had to be an error on

(24:32):
one of them colliding with each other. That's not a double. Score scoring
nowadays is just atrocious, And you'reright, so they would have scored Howard's
double back then, and he wouldhave gotten the job done. But um,
yeah, you know what it was. It was cool to see today.
The best thing, the best thingabout the J two real Minto cycle

(24:56):
was his posting in comments where hewas how cool was that, and he
goes, you know, it wasa cool accomplishment, but we lost,
so it kind of sucks. Andto me, that is just even when
he got to second base after hittingthe double and he looked in the dugout
and the dugout's gone crazy and they'rejumping up and down, you know,

(25:17):
eve one of these. But buthe knew, you know, here we
are, we're trailing in this game, and this is not a time for
me to pound on my chest andbe proud of an individual accomplishment. Had
they won the game, maybe hefeels that, you know a little bit
more. But that's what I loveabout JT. Realm Into is that,

(25:37):
yeah, that's great, but here'swhat I want. And they didn't get
the win that night, so forhim it was a little bit disappointing.
So, um, I just lovethat. I love it. I thought
your favorite part about that was thetext message I sent to you about how
I was thankful that Topper didn't listento my advice show about wasn't It wasn't
really advice. It was just moreor like, you know, get him

(26:00):
off his feet, you know,get him, get him away. It
was you demanded the top or shipJP removed those ass down and not play
him on that particular Monday, themonday that he hit for the cycle.
So yeah, yeah, yeah,that's what That's what some of us had
bad takes. That's probably that's probablymy worst one. Enough, that's that's

(26:21):
that's probably my worst one of thetwo and a half years we've been doing
this show. It wasn't great.It was not great, But I'm thankful
that he was not listening to theshow. Speaking of Rob Thompson, congratulations
to him on his one hundred winas a manager on this past Thursday against
the Diamondbacks. Like you said,it's kind of the opposite of JT.
Like JT's accomplishment came in a teamloss, even though you know, he

(26:42):
made it a close game just byall the things that he did in that
game, which was just absolutely insane. Rob Thompson actually got the revel in
it because you can't get a hundredvictories without having to win one, you
know, one to one hundred.First but that's great. That's a great
accomplishment by a great man, agreat manager got the I'm happy to see
leading this team and a guy thatI know you enjoy working with on a

(27:03):
daily basis. Yeah, no doubtabout it. And I think, if
I'm not mistaken, it was eitherthe exact same day or one day apart.
That was the anniversary of him alsogetting inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall
of Fame. So he got hisone hundredth win. I think, I
think three or four years to theday after being adducted into the Canadian Baseball

(27:26):
Hall of Fame, which is whichis kind of cool. But you know
that June third date for whatever,isn't as a magical date for Rob Thompson
and the Phillies. It's when hetook over last year and they started their
run, and it's when they startedthis particular run this year. So we're
all just, yeah, you know, we'll hang out in the month of
June for a while. It's it'sall all good, you know, for

(27:48):
hitters, for pitchers, for managers. I love it me too, and
that I'll tell you what a guythat is making a case to join the
Castianos in Seattle for this this year'sAll Star Game. Man Bryson Stott.
What a season he's having and ifyou want to look at it, what
he's done in the years since sinceRob Thompson has become manager, being given

(28:10):
the reins at the time to playplay shortstop position, and then he had
to jump to second base for JaneSigura when he got hurt, and then
he went back to shortstop finishing outthe year. And then they come to
Woman in the golf season they go, hey, listen, we want to
sign Trey Turner. What do youfeel about playing second base? And he
says, I'd like playing in themajor leagues. Consumman professional. What a

(28:32):
What a great kid, twenty fiveyears old. The sky is the limit
for Bryson Stott current day and inthe future. This kid is scrappy.
He's a gamer, a ball player. Uh. I'm happy to have him
on our side because yesterday he hadtwo big hits, won to tie the
game on an infield hit and thenthe sack fly that put the Phillies up
for good in the twelfth. Whata great player he's turning out to be.

(28:55):
Yeah, I agree with everything youjust said, and you know I've
said this on the air a coupleof times to both Kevin Stoker and Larry
Anderson on the postgame show. Itseems like every time Bryson Stott gets an
opportunity in a clutch situation, hecomes through. And I haven't gone back
and looked at his actual numbers andhigh leverage situations, but I bet you

(29:15):
it is well above league average interms of coming through. Whether it just
be what he did yesterday, andthat's hit a flyball in the outfield to
get the run home or you know, lay down a bunt to move a
runner, or get a base hitor hit a walk off home run.
He's done it all now in hisvery very young career, and it just
seems like he thrives in those moments. And you know, this is a

(29:40):
guy that they were trying to protectfrom left handers, and then still to
an extent they are trying to protecthim for left handers. But I think
we're getting to the point where youdon't even need to do that. He's
proven that he can hit lefties nrities and yeah, and his defense has
been terrificed since the day he steppedon the field in the Big leagues,
whether it he's shortstop or second Sohe is turning into an outstanding player,

(30:03):
and you're right, I think hedeserves small star consideration this year for sure.
I got a couple of injury updatesthat I'd like to get from me.
It's there anything to Minguez went onthe injured list surprisingly the other day
because he had that that bounce backeffort on Thursday, coming in getting that
big strike out against Christian Walker aftergiving up the three run shot the night
before. Um, you know theleft oblique strain. Is this the fifteen

(30:23):
day I l is this like duringthe course of it, like fifteen days?
We look in more time, youknow, I know with a with
a hitter, normally it's you know, it could be anywhere from like three
to four weeks. We saw itlast year with Cascianos late in the season.
What's the time frame looking like onSir Anthony's return. Yeah, I
mean, I think it's it's prettyearly in the process to really put a

(30:44):
timetable on it. But Rob Thompsonsaid yesterday they are hopeful and they think
that it will not be too muchlonger after he's avail he's able to come
off the fifteen day, I lthat he will be available, so they
don't think it's anything. It's verymild strain, but they wanted to knock
it out and take care of it. Right now, you have, Sir
Anthony a little bit of a breaktoo, right, you know, it's

(31:07):
it's not the worst thing in theworld in the middle of the season to
get him off his feet and givehis arm a little bit of arrest.
So, you know, apparently ithappened with like his third the last pitch
or second the last pitch in thatouting, and he was terrific in that
outing. Kind of a redemption kindof situation for him, and he was

(31:27):
able to get the job done.So tweaked a little bit. It doesn't
sound like it's very serious, butit is going to keep him on the
shelf for a couple of weeks.So in the meantime, you know,
some other guys are gonna have tostep up in those high leverage situations.
Andrew Paynter through a twenty pitch bullpensession just past Tuesday. He was slate
to throw another one on Friday.Do you have any update on his status.

(31:48):
Yeah, as far as I know, he threw it on Friday and
all went well. I didn't hearany differently. I'm trying to think back
to our conversations, but you know, the next step for Andrew Painter will
be UM at some point, well, they're gonna have to stretch them out
a little bit more. He's onlythrowing twenty five pitches in these full pens
and now, so I would imaginethe next step would maybe be, you

(32:08):
know, thirty five pitches or fortypitches perhaps, and then at some point
he's gonna have to start seeing somelive hitters as well. Andrew Painters still
a little ways away for sure frombeing out on the mound participating in a
game, whether it be in arehab assignment or you know, at some
point hopefully at the big league level. But you know, so he's still
we're looking probably at the month ofAugust before we can really have conversations about

(32:34):
Andrew Painter um being able to jointhis rotation perhaps. But the good news
is that he seems to be payingfree. He seems to be progressing really
well from that elbow injury, andthat's that's ultimately the most important thing.
Real quick, Yeah, I justwant your opinion on this, do you
think that at this point in theseason. I know we're you know,
we're midway through June here. Um, we still have plenty of time left

(32:57):
in the season. Um, Butis there going to get to a point?
I mean, I know they wantto have that electric law electric arm
somewhere on this staff. Do youthink there's any possibility that the Phillies might
do what the Rays did back intwo thousand and eight? It might just
kind of bubble wrap him, puthim into bullpen, maybe use him like
once every couple days, like neveruse him in the back to back spot.
But at least you have him availableand his stuff available, and you

(33:20):
don't have to worry about maybe puttinghim out there for too many innings and
high leverage situations down stretch. Yeah, I mean, I think anything's possible.
Honestly, I think in a perfectworld, in a perfect scenario,
they stretch him out and he becomesyour fifth starter. But that might not
be in the cards for twenty twentythree. So perhaps they look at him

(33:42):
as more of a two or threeinning kind of guy that they go out
there and pitch out the bullpen,And perhaps they look at him as an
opener. You know, I think, I think anything is on the table.
But until he proves that he isone hundred percent healthy and they get
him, you know, stretched outto a point where they feel comfortable using

(34:04):
him in game situations. You know, they're probably not even thinking about those
situations yet. They're probably just moreconcerned with let's get him back and get
him to the point at where hecan actually compete, and then we'll figure
out how we use them. SoI'm going to give you a chance to
defend yourself because after listening to thebroadcast a couple of times this week,
and you know, Scott Fransky andKevin Stoker do a phenomenal job together on

(34:27):
the radio broadcast, but sometimes youknow, they like to take shots at
my radio partner, and so youknow your your colleagues were talking about you
and your wallet. So from Franskyin La on Twitter the other day,
Kevin Stoker said there is an issuewith Murph and his wallet, to which
Scott Fransky responded, what, it'salways empty, which is falsehood because I
know I paid you last week fromquimby giving for these shows. But I

(34:52):
believe they brought it back up onThursday when I was mowing the lawn,
So what's going on? And canyou also provide us an update on the
away team radio booth possum? Washe ever caught? And did you see
the skeleton if you wound up dyingthere? You know what, it hasn't
even come up, to be quitehonest with you, because the booth here

(35:13):
in Oakland is actually pretty nice,and you know what, we haven't even
talked about it, or at leastI haven't talked about it with anybody.
You bringing it up, honestly,is the first I thought about it since
we've been there. So I don'thave any kind of update. But here's
what I can tell you. Nosmell and no skeletal remains that I've seen,
so you know, he's either beencaught or he moved to San France.

(35:36):
I don't know. Maybe he gota better gig or something like that.
I don't know, but yeah,and so no sign of the possum.
I'm sorry. I don't have anyupdate on that. As far as
the other thing, here's what Ican tell you. I sit in between
those two clowns while they're calling thegame, right, and they both have
microphones and I do not, andthey take full advantage of that, I

(35:58):
can't rebut anything they say, uhwhile the game is happening, Well sometimes
I do, I yell in thebackground, but um, but so they
like to take poetic license with reality, and you know it's it. Here's
what I can tell you. Iam totally comfortable in my own skin when

(36:19):
it comes to my wallet and howoften I open it up for those two
clowns and others. And here's whatI would say. They wouldn't take shots
at me like that if the oppositewere true, Like if it was really
true, I don't think they wouldsay they were cheap air exactly if I
was really cheap. So um,that's that's that's my only defense. But

(36:43):
you know, it's it's all good. It's all good what comes around.
You know, I'm gonna get achance to jump on that played by playing
Mike in a couple of weeks andyou knows, vacation, that's right,
that's right. So I have alist of things that I'm going a laundry
list of things that I'm going tocorrect those couple of days ago. The

(37:04):
thing is, is you honestly thinkScott's gonna be listening. Um, you
know what you'd be surprised. Heoften he often will. I mean,
he'll be on vacation with his family, so he's not gonna, uh stop
what they're doing to listen to thegame. But he'll often go back and
listen because I ask him to.You know, I don't get a chance
to do play by play very often. Um in my ten years of TV

(37:27):
and radio with the pills, Iprobably only have done you know, maybe
boardy games or something like that.So I always ask those guys to give
me their thoughts and critiques, anduh, you know, it's the only
way he can get better. Andso Scot's great with that, and he'll
go back and he'll listen and he'llgive me some thoughts. So love it.
Love it. Hey, listen.It's time to make your reservations for
another amazing Eagle season. Head togreen Legion dot com to get signed up

(37:51):
for Tampa, LA, Kansas City, Dallas, and Seattle and get signed
up for day trip games for theJets, the Giants, and of Commodes.
Make sure you check out the Cheerleaderto the Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club bus for
those day trips as well. GreenLegion dot com or called two one five
six six six five nine four zero. That's two one five six six six

(38:13):
five nine four zero twenty one yearsand counting for the best Eagles road trips
all round. All right, onthe other side, we finished things up.
Murph got that all important half pointlast week. But how did he
fair into standings. We'll find outon the other side right now. One
or two point five Fox Sports toGambler, this is bud Light Baseball Brunch.
We'll be right back after this spreadstotals and all the prop that's in

(38:37):
between. It's the Gambler Welcome Back, final segment, Found's day edition,
bud Light Baseball Brunch. One ortwo point five Fox Sports to Gambler.

(38:58):
I'm gonna wrap this puppy up andget Murf on that bus on his way
over to the beautiful accommodations of OaklandColiseum, which you can't get on that
plane any faster to get out ofOakland. You know, it's funny everyone
says that this Oakland Colliseum is itis absolutely not one of the five worst
ballparks in America? Are you serious? I mean, look, if you

(39:21):
can look at it from the televisionand know it's still awful. Nineteen years
after I was there. No,the plane surface is as nice as it
gets. The bowl itself, youknow, the out when you're out watching
the game, it's nice, it'sdecent. The concourse, yes, they're
old. They they could do witha little TLC and they're not gonna get
it because they're not gonna put anymoney into it. But but there are

(39:45):
a lot worse ballparks in America thanOakland Colliseum. Okay, all right,
here's your homework for next week's show. I want you to put together five
ballparks that are worse than Oakland Coliseum. Well, Tropicanada, for one,
is just it's not even close.I saw I saw the Phillies when we
Game one of the World Series there. That's why it's ahead of it.
It's an awful place to watch agame. I will tell you that Arizona

(40:07):
is none as good as as theOakland Council in terms of playing and watching
the game. I would give meOakland rather than Arizona. EJ Mobile Cigar
Lounge. They could be found onInstagram, Facebook, Twitter at EJ Mobile
Cigar Lounge. Their website EJ MobileCigar Lounge dot com. You can come.

(40:31):
They will come to you for anyoccasion or event. They are the
premier luxury mobile, cigar and hookalounge in the Philadelphia area. Call or
text EJ today two one five eightzero six three nine nine nine. It's
two one five eight zero six threenine ninety nine. Merph Let's give away
these tickets Phillies Nationals Thursday, Augusttenth. The best or your favorite movie,

(40:53):
TV dad, whatever collaboration. Giveme the rest of your top five,
because we got a nice list righthere. All right, I gave
you Mike Brady already. That wasfrom my childhood great dad on The Brady
Bunch, from a much newer errorguy that I I just I think he's
one of the funniest characters on television. And I think he's an awesome dad.

(41:15):
Phil Dumpy from Love Phil. Yes, Yeah, he's just he makes
me laugh every time he opens hismouth, and and he's and everything he
does is to be a great dad. So when him when when him and
his wife are role playing and he'sClive's trememdous. Everything he does is funny.
I love he's the best part.He's the best part of that show.

(41:37):
Like hand, like there's so manygreat elements to it. But he
like me and me and Rachel,we die every single time that he just
opens up his mouth. Okay,yeah, totally agreed, all right.
Um, Eugene Levy's character in AmericanY, yeah, he is the consonant
dad. Now, his methods arequestionable sometimes, you know, all comes

(42:00):
from a good place and you knowwhat he all he wants to do is
be the best dad he can forhis son. And uh so I give
him the nod. I almost putEugene Levy on the list twice because I
think his character in Shitt's Creek isequally a great dad. But I'm gonna
go with the American Pie. EugeneLevy as as all my lists a great

(42:21):
list so far as Sands Mike Brady, Okay, well yeah, but you're
too young for um Ted Lasso,who I think is you wouldn't think originally
great dad because here he is going, you know, leaving the country and
leaving his son in the United Statesto go and take over the soccer team
in England. But um, Ithink ultimately over the course of the three

(42:44):
seasons, you see what a greatfather he is. And I don't want
to give anything away, but uh, the season. You know the series
is over at this point, anduh so I think Ted Lasso, one
of the new modern dads, getsto watch I Gotta and you should.
Yeah, and you should. It'san outstanding show. And then finally,

(43:05):
to me, this really is theonly right answer. So if anyone said
this, in my opinion, theywin. Clark Grizzwold, I mean,
he is the greatest dad of alltime. I mean they just don't make
them like that anymore, No,they don't. Clarkwold is number one with

(43:25):
a bullet on my list. Youwould be in luck because that is on
the list. But I will godown the list here. Alan Matthews from
Boy Meets World, which is moremy era of watching television, Sonny Sonny
from Big Daddy, which is AdamSandler, Adam Sandler's character Danny Tanner,
Foolhouse, Carl Winslow, Family Matters, Clark w Griswold, National Lampoons,

(43:47):
Mike Brady, Brady Bunch, WalterWhite, Breaking Bad, George Bailey from
It's a Wonderful Life, Burgs areWhite? What George ever? George?
We're going over time today? Burgess, Meredith Pop from Grumpy Old Men,

(44:14):
Al Bundy who is also on theDeadbeat Dad portion of this program last year
last week, Married with Children,Homer Simpson, which should have been on
the Deadbeat Dad last week as wellfrom the Simpsons, and George McFly from
Back to the Future. UM Iwill not be voting for that because I'm
not that you know, I'm notthat big on George. We have a
twisted audience at some level. Youshould see the message board because it's it's

(44:36):
definitely crazier than that. Um So, all right, so you're going Clark
W. Griswold out of this list? All right? God, you know
I always like to be come.It's no burner. I want it to
be different. But you know,looking at the list, I'm gonna have
to go Clark W. Griswold fromNational Lampoons, which will they? I

(45:00):
don't those movies are classic, They'regreat, They're awesome. So congratulations.
I'll find out whoever the hell saidthat, and I'll get you the tickets
right away. But we have towe have to go get picks. Walter
White too, just for all right. Well, while you're giving me your
picks, I'll try and scroll upand down this board here because I don't
have Slash who just seems to beon vacation every Sunday, or or Super

(45:20):
Sam Brady who's now enjoying the accommodationsof Seattle City. So murph our picks
last week. Okay, so youtook the easy way out with getting a
half a point though you went twoand one in the standings, but you
got one and a half points becauseyou took the minus two twenty diamondbacks to
beat the Tigers. So that putsyou at fifteen, fifteen or nine.
We're allowed to do that, You'reyou're allowed, but you took a half

(45:44):
point, so I'm making it soundlike I'm not allowed to I wanted the
half point. I got it tothe half point. You didn't even know
that it was a half point.You were trying to do the cheap stuff
that you used to do two yearsago. But it's okay. Fifteen and
nine with seventeen and a half pointson the Sea season. I headed to
them one week, scoring two morepoints in the process. You know,

(46:04):
I avoid the half point at allcosts. So both of us missed out
and are underdog picks last week.So I went sixteen to eight and I'm
twenty one points in the standings,Murph, who is your first pick today?
Yeah? What am I? Whatam I? What's my marker is?
Seventeen and a half? Seventeen anda half. Okay, all right,
all right, I'm getting there.Um okay, first up for me
favorite. I'm thinking this. Thisline was weird to me, and you

(46:27):
know a lot more about this stuffthan I do. But I'm looking at
I know the Reds have played reallygood baseball over the last couple of days,
but the Astros and the Reds playingtoday, and the Astros are favorite,
but only at minus one fifty five, which I feel like it should
be. They should be a muchheavier favorite in this game, which probably
means I should pick the Reds.But I'm taking Houston minus one fifty five

(46:49):
as my favorite today. All Right, I'm gonna stick in the in the
American League West myself. I'm gonnago with the Rangers minus one thirty at
home versus Toronto. They split thefirst two in the series. Chris Bassett
or John Gray. John Gray issix and two with the two point three
two ARRA this year might be goingto Seattle for the All Star Game because
the Rangers been so good so I'mgonna take the Rangers of my favorite.
Who do you have as your underdog? Okay, my underdog? Again,

(47:13):
this is an odd one. Theline didn't make a whole lot of sense
to me, but again, Idon't know a whole lot. So the
Rays, best team in baseball allseason long, taking on the podres the
team that everyone expected to be oneof the best teams in baseball, the
Razor underdogs here plus one eight team, So I'm taking the Rays at plus
one eighteen over the Podres See I'mbehind. It's like fringe favorite. I

(47:36):
mean, like the Cubs. Theyseem to be a pain in the butt
for just about anybody, especially thePhillies. The Cups are plus one hundred
at home with a chance to sweepthe Orioles. Now, I've had the
Orioles is my favorite the last twoweeks, so I've been riding the hot
streak there. But they're the Oriolesare only minus one twenty with the better
starting pitcher. They have Dean Kramerversus Jamison Tyone, who's been terrible for

(47:59):
the Cubs. Why is that lineso low for the better team. I'm
taking the Cubs at plus one hundredto sweep the series, and you're over
under, all right, over underBraves and Rockies, and we're both picking
this game or on opposite sides.The line is nine and a half,
and I'm going over Braves and Rockies. I think they're gonna score funnel runs.
I don't. I don't see anyother way, but you have other

(48:21):
thoughts of it. Yeah, I'mtaking the under on nine and a half
here for Rockies Braves in Atlanta.Two former Philly grates on the mound,
Chase Anderson and Charlie Morton. SoI'm gonna take the under. I think
after the office of explosion by theBraves yesterday, I gotta I gotta take
the under on today's game. Canyou believe it? Thound of what a

(48:57):
sex to five? And while facev can you believe it? Can you
believe it? Two things we foundinteresting from this past week in Major League
Baseball, Murph, can me yourfirst one? All right? First one
has to do with JT. Realmuto. We know that he hit for the
cycle this week. How about thisin his career, JT is homeward in

(49:19):
the All Star Game, hit aninside the park home run and hit for
the cycle only one other player inMajor League history has accomplished all that,
and that is Louke Garrett. Howabout that? I had that one too,
Yeah, but I have this oneto go along with it. So
it's been a long time since VladimirGuerrero has hit a home run in Toronto.
He is yet to hit a homerun at Roger Center in twenty twenty

(49:43):
three. His last home run inToronto came two hundred and sixty days ago.
Now this was effective yesterday on Septemberthirtieth against the Red Sox, the
last time he's hit a home runin Toronto. That's interesting. Did not
know that? All Right, herewe go, joey Otani leading the Angels
insane hitting, batting average, homerun RBIs, on base percentage, slugging

(50:08):
ops, triples, stolen bases,wins era in he's pitched strikeouts, strikeouts
per nine, whip batting average,and b war whatever that is. But
he leads in all those categories forthe Angels. That's amazing. He's an
amazing play. Yes, he is. The only thing. He doesn't lead
them statistically in his saves and hecould probably do that too, no doubt.

(50:32):
This one is courtesy is Sarah Langs. So yesterday the Giants put a
whooping. It wasn't a great dayfor the Dodgers. They had they had
riot, they had protest, andthey had police and yeah, it didn't
look good on the field either.They lost fifteen to nothing, which was
the giants second largest shutout win overthe Dodgers in the history of the rivalry,
behind only July third, nineteen fortynine, when they beat them sixteen

(50:55):
to nothing at the Polo Grounds.Wow, flighton gay Cabolics. Yeah,
absolutely, Hey, they're playing well. That was my sleeper sleeper team this
year. So Murph, looking atthe week ahead, big week. We
have a chance today with Zach Wheelerto sweep the A's in Oakland. We
had the day off tomorrow three againstthe Brains, which the Braves are ticking

(51:15):
me off because we won six ina row when they won seven in a
row. We've won five in arow while they won five in a row.
So if there's any an opportunity forus to make up some ground,
it's this week against the Brains andthe Mets coming into town next week.
Decisions back and they're scuffling themselves.Yeah, yeah, they just got Pete
Alonso back. They just came acrossthe wire. Wow, that was fast.

(51:36):
Also, yeah, it was fast, much earlier than they anticipated.
So Alonso reinstated. That'll certainly helpthe Mets. They need him. But
you're right, you know, it'sgonna be a big week back to the
back park. Obviously, the Philsplayed better at home than they knew on
the road, or at least youknow, early in this season, so
hopefully they can make some hey againstthe Braves, are right, because the
two teams that have been as hotor hotter than the Phillies during this stretch

(52:00):
have been the Braves and the Marlins. The two teams Afhillies are trying to
catch um, so they haven't madeup a whole lot of ground. But
that's okay, that's okay. Theway this team is playing right now is
what you want to be seeing atthis point, especially with the way the
starting pitching has lined up going intothat series. The Phillies lined up,
you know, outside of Zach Wheeler, you know, pitching next week against
the Mets. It couldn't line upany better. And this is this is

(52:21):
now the time and the place forthen you Taiwan Walker and Aaron Nola,
you know, really gonna need themand Real Just War has been fantastic.
We didn't get to talk aboutout himearlier in the show, but h Murph
again, Happy Father's Day to youand your and your family and hopefully you
know we get a win today andenjoy the flight back and enjoy your day
off tomorrow. And h so forGreg Murphy, for John Jansen producing us
here today, I'm Chris Sack andlike a three one pitch to Ryan Howard,

(52:45):
we are out of here. Let'sgo Phillies break out the brooms today in Oakland