07-30-23 Baseball Brunch

Chris Sack and Gregg Murphy talk #Phillies series finale in Pittsburgh, the upcoming week against the #Marlins and #Royals, the #MLB trade deadline coming up in two days, and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
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
a mimosa while Phillies announcer Greg Murphyand Green Legion Radio's Chris Sack break down
your fighting pills and take you aroundthe league right now on Baseball Brunch,

(00:28):
Playball. Good Morning, Philadelphia,and welcome in the bud Light Baseball Brunch
brought to you by Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club, powered by Green Legion Radio and one
of two point five Fox Sports andAmber in Philadelphia, w DA. Yes
am around the rest of the DelawareValley, or for those that have listened

(00:51):
to the last three seasons, downloada Heart Radio app and you can listen
to us anywhere Crystal Clear worldwide.I'm Chris Sack of Green Legion Radio and
I'm broadcasting to you live from theiHeart Radio Studios in bally Kimwood on a
beautiful Sunday morning here into Delaware Valley, and from what I can gather,
it's equally as beautiful out there atPNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On

(01:14):
the other side, of the statewhere my partner in crime, Greg Murphy,
Phillies broadcaster Greg Murphy joins us,Murph, how are we doing this
morning? Well, we're doing fine, and you're right. It is a
gorgeous day here in Pittsburgh, uphere in the Visitors Radio booth here at
PNC Park. It's one of thebest views in all of baseball, and

(01:34):
on a day like today, evenbetter. It's gonna be just a spectacular
afternoon. Now, hopefully the Philliesoffense can match the weather. It certainly
has been partly cloudy at best overthe last couple of days, so it'd
be nice to see the Phils getout there and just kind of match today
against richill They need to win,you know, we joke about it every

(01:57):
Sunday. I feel like Zach thatwe say today they need to win because
they're here here, we are oneand one in the series, and they
need the series win. So we'llsee what happens. M We confidence in
Christopher Sanchos and we're going to talkabout him coming up, but they need
to score the runs for him,that's the bottom line. They just don't
score runs for Sancho's right now,So hopefully they can do that this afternoon.

(02:19):
Absolutely, we got a lot ofthings to touch on, especially last
night's to Bockle across the board.Um you know, offensively, defensively,
pitching wise, it's just, youknow, some of the manager decisions last
night we were in question as well. Um But Murph, I you know
that ballpark that you are in rightnow, PNC Park is one of the
most beautiful ballparks in all of MajorLeague Baseball, me and you over the

(02:40):
of course, in the last threeyears doing this show together, we've talked
on hand about, you know,plethora pretty much all of our the ballparks
that we've been to, h butthis one is is one of the creams
of the crop. It's right thereat the very top of everybody's wish list
bucket list to have to go toum Man panc Park, especially on a
beautiful day like the Sunday afternoon.It does not get any better than being

(03:02):
a part of that. Yeah.Well, I can tell you, Issach
that about ten thousand Phillies fans havecrossed it off their bucket list this weekend
because this place is rocket with Philliesfans. It's crazy. The whole city
honestly, we went out and Iwent out to the bus today from the
hotel and there must have been there'sa couple hundred Phillies fans just outside the

(03:23):
hotel waiting for a glimpse of theplayers, and you know, it's it's
just cool to see how the Philliesfans. You know, we've always traveled
well, but you know, youthrow in a weekend series in a city,
you know, not too far away, in Pittsburgh, you can get
in the car and drive out herein about five hours, a beautiful ballpark,
a team that's been playing well mostof the season, and you know

(03:46):
the Phillies fans are going to comeout in droves, and they certainly have
over the course of this weekend.Last night it was not valty was an
equal split between Pirates and Phillies fans, but the Phillies fans certainly were very
vocal, very loud, and youweren't exactly sure if you weren't locked into
the action on the field. Whenthe crowd started cheering, you work here
who they were charing for, becauseit was that loud. Yeah, speaking

(04:10):
of road trip across the state,we're gonna touch on that towards the end
of the segment because we got todive into it. I mean, what
a ride that must have been onThursday night. We'll talk a little bit
about that. This first segment isbrought to you by our good friends at
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(04:53):
Oppican, subject to State Farm underwritingrequirements. Normally, at this part part
of the program, we like togive away tickets, but we're not going
to do that this week as weare on the Fox Sports The Gambler YouTube
channel today, So you know,it's probably a little bit hard for people
to find us today on our socialmedia platforms is compared to Green Legion Radio
and having that done so we willbe back to it next week when I

(05:16):
am returning from Minnesota, which willbe ballpark number twenty one. I'll be
crossing off on Friday. Weather looksgood. I've been worried about the weather
the last few weeks coming into thisbecause I'm only going I'm in Minnesota for
like twenty four hours doing target fields, so I want to make sure that
I get the game in and I'mnot just going out there to, you
know, not see a baseball gameand Minnesota, so we're gonna be a

(05:38):
lot of fun. But we'll beback to giving away tickets next week,
so I appreciate you guys tuning inand trying to get aboard for that as
well. Murph, let's get outof the box as we want to talk
about our fighting pills because there's alot going on. This is a big
week, not only for the Philliesbut also Major League Baseball. Is the
trade deadline is on Tuesday. Youknow the clock is ticking. A lot
of teams are making moves. We'regonna go around the league. We're gonna

(06:00):
talk about a bunch of them.You know, teams that are selling,
what teams that are buying. Teamsthat you are looking to be selling are
now not selling. But our Philliesare definitely in buy mode and they should
be because this team, after comingtwo wins away from winning the World Series
last year and being where they're atright now in the standings, they are
in full mode right now because whenthis team is clicking, murph they are

(06:23):
in my opinion, the second bestteam in the National League behind the Braves,
and they are competitive with the Braves. I know the Braves are two
or four and two against the Philliesthis year, but you know, those
two games in South Philadelphia could havevery easily. The Phillies could have won
either of those games, and withoutthe rain out in that Wednesday night,
the Phillies are right there with theBraves this year. As far as being

(06:44):
the best team in the National League. They've got some moves to make.
We're gonna talk about that coming up. But you know, this past week,
last night kind of leaves a littlebit of a better taste in my
mouth. You know, four andtwo week they take two or three against
the best team in the National Leagueright now in the Baltimore Orioles. But
the last two nights they've had thebattle alongside the Pittsburgh Pirates and one run

(07:06):
baseball games. We're still waiting forthis team to explode. We're still waiting
for this offense to explode. Largely, it's been disappointing from the most part
this season. We have to getthese guys going, in particular, Nick
Cassianis has to get back on track, Trey Turner has to get on track
period, and j two Erlmuto hasto rediscover what made him special the second

(07:26):
half of last year and getting himselfin the top ten m MVP voting.
It's it's been largely hit or missedwith the Phillies offense this season, which
would if you were coming into theseason, you would not have thought would
have been the case. Yeah,no doubt about it. I mean,
you know, coming into the season, I think everybody around baseball, including
the two of us, thought thisoffense was going to be amongst the best
in baseball, scoring a ton ofruns. And we've seen flashes of that,

(07:48):
but we haven't seen the consistency thatyou need. You know, you
look at that Atlanta Braves offense andit seems like, you know, every
time you look up, they've scoredsix to seventy eight runs in annibation.
Yeah, it's it's really remarkable,but they but they also do it late.
You know, they're also a team. If they're down four two going

(08:09):
into the eight beating, you thinkto yourself, you know, they're probably
gonna win this game. So yeah, I would agree with your assessment.
I think the Braves are heads andtails above everybody else right now, and
and and again, you know it'simportant to it's not like the seed because
they're the best team in baseball rightnow. Um, a lot can happen
over the last of the next sixtygames and at all into the postseason.

(08:33):
So you just have to hope thatthe Phillies hit their stride much like they
did last year. Um, ifthe rites on and maybe the Braves come
back to the pack a little bit. So. But yes, this offense
has been a bit of an inod. You look at it on paper and
you just think this team's up anddown. They're just gonna they're gonna rate
And you know, Kevin Stalker talkedabout it a lot on the broadcast last

(08:56):
night. One of the big problemsthat this off intance face for most of
the season is their inability to besuccessful with situational hitting. You know,
in those moments where you need aguy to hit a sack fly, where
you need a guy to hit aball to the right side of the infield,
or you need a guy to workaccount. They have they have been

(09:18):
very spotting when it comes to thosemoments. And you know, good teams
figure out a way to get itdone in those moments and you know,
less than two outs and runner onthird get them home somehow. And the
philist have not been successful for agood part of the season in those situations.
I don't know why. Um,I certainly don't think it's a lack

(09:39):
of focus. I don't think it'sa lack of talent. Well, at
this point, perhaps you know they'reoverthinking it at this point, but early
on it was just a little bitof a headstool. They just weren't getting
the job done. And that hasto change. And it's it's that kind
of thing that's subtle switch that ifthey're able to turn that switch, it'll

(10:03):
make all the difference in the worldfor this office. And and so that's
what we need to see. Youknow, obviously you need to be your
big guys to be swinging the bat. Vetter, Trade, Turner and Cassianos,
you mentioned them, they need tobe more productive. But at the
end of the day, they justneed to be better in the situational situate,
in the in those situations, andif they are, we're going to

(10:26):
see a difference in this office.What I'm noticing too, and some of
these at bats that they're going throughright now, especially Cassianos and Turner,
uh you know, JT J JT. It seems like they're pitching him more
inside than they ever had before.Cassianos and Turner. The problem is they're
pitching them away and it looks likethey're trying to pull everything. It's like
if they're pitching you away off theplate over and over and over again,

(10:50):
and you can't pull the balls reallyto start serving it up in the right
fields. That's been the problem thatI've seen, and they're at bats so
far. Nick Cassianos on the season, he was playing it to all fields.
He could go to right, hecould go to center, he can
go to the left field. Itjust seems like right now. Trey Turner
said this after the game last night, you can't get everything back and one

(11:11):
at bat. You can't get everythingback in one game. Like It's not
like, you know, he's gonnahave one game and he's gonna be a
three hundred hitter again, you know, like or his power numbers or RBI
like that stuff isn't just gonna comeback with one swing of the bat or
one game. But man, like, if they could just, hey,
listen, I'm gonna take away yourability to throw me pitches to the outside
because I'm gonna start serving it upin the right field. If they start

(11:33):
doing that. You saw it withTrey Turner on Friday night there at PHC
Park. I mean, how manygroundballs did he have straight through the shortstop?
Three? And you know it's justhe kept on falling into bad habits
and that's something that they have toget back to. And that's like we
say with Bryce Harper, Bryce Harper'sas his best when he's hitting that ball
to left field, when he's usingall fields right now, I just think
that they're pressing and they're looking topull and they're looking to hit home runs

(11:56):
instead of just waiting for it tohappen. Reese Hoskins when he first came
up to the big leagues and twentyseventeen said home runs don't just happen because
you're trying to hit them. Theyhappen because you're you know, you're you're
having great at bats, and they'repitching you because they know that they can't
just pitch to you a certain way. That's what this team needs to get
back to offensive wise, and thephilosophy needs to improve for you know,

(12:16):
those guys, and for Bryce Harper, especially the big money Guy's got to
get back to that. Yeah,and you know again and we can talk
about it and talk about it.I like what Trey Turner had to say
after last night's game. I think, you know, they give him credit,
you know, talking to the mediaanswering the questions, and he said,
look, you know, of coursehe's disappointed that he get dropped in

(12:37):
the lineup, but he said,you know, started off the conversation by
saying, look, if I'd donemy job better, we would be having
this conversation. And I need toget back to that point. I think
he understands what he's doing wrong.Now it's just a matter of fixing.
I've had so many conversations with Scottjust about hitting, and and you know

(13:00):
just what a difficult task it isat the big league level to be a
consistent major league hitter. Guys likeyou and I we can't really have that
perspective because we've never done it.But you know, the guys that have
played the game, they understand thatwhen you get into a funk and you
get into bad habits, it isreally difficult to break out of it.

(13:20):
And I think that's what we're seeingright now. I mean, for Nick,
it happened pretty quickly, right afterthe All Star break was kind of
you know, downhill, very quickly. For Trey, it's been most of
the season, and you know,you just have to hope that at some
point it clicks and he locks backin, because we know what a good

(13:41):
hitter he is. I still believeI think he's hitting like two forty five
right now. If I had tobet right now, I mean, I
might not put my entire mortgage onit, but if I had to bet
right now, Tray Turner is goingto finish the season closer to two sixty
two seventy, you know, whenit's all said and done it And if
that's the case, that means he'sgonna have a pretty good August, so
you know, I do think he'sgoing to figure it out. He had

(14:03):
pretty good at bats last night.He was pretty pleased with the way he
swung the bat last night. Ithink most of our our analysts were as
well watching him take his swings lastnight. So let's see if you can
do it two days in a row. It's back up in the five spot
today. Yeah. Then we talkedabout the lineup before we came on,
and uh, you know, they'replaying a lot of the backup guys,
a lot of the reserve guys today, and the guys are in the top

(14:26):
five part of that lineup have tohave to produce. They have to go
out there today against rich Hill andthey need to score early and often to
make this offense feel better about itself. Another guy that's kind of just drowning
in shallow water right now is AaronNola. Um. You know, like
he's he's spotty, he's on,he's off, he's he's had great starts
like the one against Atlanta, andyou know, in those great starts,
he gets no run support, whichhas been like, you know, Aaron

(14:48):
Nola's MS since he's come up intwenty fifteen, but largely as a whole
with Aaron Nola, especially this year, it's just been it's just been disappointing,
and especially down that at bottom thirdof the lineup. I believe someone
had a statistic last night that they'rebatting two seventy six against him. And
you know, he gives up thatsolo shot last night, and yeah,
if you're gonna give up home runs, you want to give him up with

(15:09):
nobody on base, but to giveup a home run against the nine hole
hitter, and then he comes upagain and he gets you again for another
you know, a couple of ribbiesthere in that one spot, you have
a four one lead, one ofyour acess on the hill. He's out
there. I know he wasn't helpedby his defense. Okay, I'm putting
out there the Bryce Harper play andyou know, and Brandon marsh out there
in center field. I get it, I understand it. But as one

(15:31):
of the aces, one of thetop paid pitchers on this staff, he
has to buckle down in that situation. And I thought, I thought Rob
last night missed a little bit ofan opportunity. I know he's trying to
allow Nola to find his way outof that. You don't want to go
to the bullpen too early, butyou barely used the bullpen over the last
few days, especially with Thursday's dayoff. I would have had somebody warming

(15:52):
up in that instance. I wouldhave had Marte warming up just a little
bit, because what we've seen sofar this season with Nola is that when
things start to unravel, the unravelpretty fast, and you know, especially
in that fourth and fifth inning wherehe's kind of had his most struggles going
through the lineup a second time around. Your assessment of Aaron Nola from last
night and this season in particular,Yeah, you know, I guess I'm

(16:15):
not quite as down on him asperhaps you are or or others. I
mean, has he been spotting,Yeah, he certainly has. This has
not been one of his best seasons, but we have seen flashes of him
being really, really good. I'mnot a guy that thinks that Aaron Nola
can't get the job done. AndI know there are folks out there at

(16:36):
this point that that are in thatcamp. I'm not one of those people,
but yeah, I agree with that. You would, like, you
know, one of the top guysin your rotation to be able in a
situation more often than not be ableto work his way out to you know,
and you know, pick up hisdefense. Aaron wasn't able to do
that last night. You know,he's out of that inning if Bryce Harper

(16:59):
and Brandon marsh make better decisions.But the errors are going to happen,
and physical errorge are going to happen, and that's what happened last last night,
and Aaron wasn't able to work throughit. So, um, it's
been frustrating for sure. I mean, nobody's more frustrated than Aaronola with the
way things have gone. But youknow that said, in a big game

(17:22):
going down the stretch, and Iknow you and I have at this conversation
and we don't always agree, butin a big game going down the stretch,
I'm very comfortable panning the ball toAaron Nolda because I know that he's
capable of greatness every time he takesthe baseball as well. So he does
need to be more consistent and hopefullyhe finds that going forward. You know,
pitching out of the stretch has beena real issue for him when he's

(17:45):
got traffic on base. Yeah,it really it has been and I don't.
I know he's talked about it.I know he's trying to figure out
and they're all trying to figure outif if he's doing anything a little different
other than feeling rushed. Maybe whenpitching out of the stretch it's hot because
in season's prior it splits versus windup versus the stretch. We're almost identically

(18:10):
and this year through like this,and I don't think anyone's been able to
really figure out why what yet.But you know it's not for lack of
not trying to figure it out.They're certainly looking, whether it be a
video or the analytics, you know, the numbers and all of that.
So maybe they figure it out inthe next couple of weeks. Is real
quick. Before we go to breakto Zach Wheeler fantastic on Friday night,

(18:33):
the only thing that could stop himwas the rain. Um, I'll tell
you what right now. I pickedthem pre season. I picked them to
be my cy Young Award winner.And I know there's some guys that are
deserving, but if you take allthe statistics and the measurables, Zach Wheeler
is right there right now at thetop. And if you like gambling,
which some of us enjoy doing slashingmyself and I know MERV maybe you want

(18:55):
to put a little sheckle down onthe on this if you could. But
Zach Wheeler is plus two thousand andto win the National League Cy Young Award
right now. Looking at the Philliessecond half the schedule, with the last
two months of the season, Ilike his odds a lot. I might
throw a little bit on there.But Zach Wheeler on Friday Night, fantastic
job by him. Your thoughts,Yeah, I mean he was fantastic,

(19:17):
and had the rains Dot come inon Friday night, I think we would
have seen him pitch at least throughthe eighth inning. I think he left
with Billy what ninety pitches at thatpoint. So he was outstanding. He
was exactly what you needed him tobe and and he has been, especially
in the second part of the seasonmore often than not. So you know,
I agree with you. If hehas a you know, an outstanding

(19:41):
August September kind of thing, hewill absolutely be in the conversation for the
say, I've got a couple ofother National League pitchers that are having terrific
years as well that I'll be inthe conversation. But you know, for
a team like the Phillies, whoshould be in the hunt through the late
part of September and hopefully into thepostseason. When you have a guy at
the top of your rotation like ZachWheeler, certainly if he's pitching, well,

(20:03):
he's going to be in that conversation. So yeah, I like the
thoughts on that, no doubt aboutit. All right, So don't hang
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(20:26):
are at Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club where championsplay. Cheerleaders is open daily from noon
until two a m. All right, coming up in the second segment,
we're gonna talk a little bit morePhillies baseballs. I want to get an
update in Jose Alvarado to contribute moreto the one of the best, the
best bullpens in Major League Baseball andaround the Horn on what's happening around the

(20:47):
league with the trade deadline looming onTuesday. Right here, Budley Baseball Brunch,
brought to you by our friends atCheerleaders Gentlemen's Club. Why don't you
point five Fox Sports a game,Beloe. We'll be right back after this
spreads totals and all the prop that'sin between. It's the Gambler. Yeah,
packing, yellow packing, yellow packand yellow packing yellow. Yeah.

(21:11):
You know what it is, blackand yellow pack and yellow, black and
yellow, black and yellow. Yeah. Welcome back, Sevy segment here Sunday
morning, Delaware Valley, bringing youin the Phillies Pirates Oft P and C
Park this afternoon as the Phillies lookto take the rubber match in Pittsburgh and
the Keystone State rivalry. And thissegment is brought to you by our friends

(21:36):
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(22:00):
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dot com. That's we hate dirtyWindows dot com. Murph So Anthony Dominguez
returned for the Phillies on Wednesday.He got a blown save for allowing the

(22:23):
Inheritan runner to score and tying thegame, but because of the Phillies offense,
they were able to get him thewin. In his return on Wednesday
night, he looked electric. Helooked like he had his stuff back.
It was good to see him backabout a month and a half missing out
of the Phillies bullpen. But man, it adds so much more when the
depth is there between him and Sotoand Kimball and the way Marte and Hoffman

(22:44):
and some of these guys have beenpitching out there in the Phillies bullpen Jose
Alparado. I know you say youdon't have much of an update, but
is there anything on the horizon here? Are we looking at a rehab start
or him pitching the live hitters comingup here? What are we looking as
far as adding Alvarado back to themix. Well, I think we're a
little ways away from a rehab start. I mean, I wouldn't expect that
we'll see Jose Alvarado back probably untilabout mid August. Back in you know,

(23:10):
in the bullpen. He's still gotsome progression to go through. But
the good news is two days ago, throwing on flat ground out to seventy
five feet, he felt good.And then he got up on the mount
yesterday and through fifteen pitches and whatthey described as kind of a touch and
feel bullpen session. So now youknow, he'll probably do that again,

(23:30):
probably fifteen twenty pitches again in thenext couple of days, and then I
would imagine at some point they'll allowhim to to get a chance to see
some live hitters and then full bullpensand then rehab starts. So you know,
again there are some steps that he'sgonna have to go through, but
The good news is that he seemsto be heading in the right direction in

(23:52):
terms of getting the pain out ofthe arm and h and being ready to
pitch. And look, you know, as long as you have Oz Alvarado
for this stretch run, you know, I think healthy was the Alvarado for
the stretch run. I think you'regoing to be in good shape. But
yeah, you know, Stor Anthonygetting back to the back end of that
bullpen is great news. And youknow, you mentioned some of those other

(24:12):
guys that have started to really kindof step up and and and pitching these
higher leverage situations that had success.You know, Jeff Hoffman, you your
martte Um. You know, theseare guys that Rob Thompson trusts now in
the back end of games and inhigh leverage situations. So it's been good
to see the bullpen. The bullpenhas been rockstad and that and that's been

(24:34):
fun. The best era and MajorLeague Baseball in the month of July for
the Philadelphia Phillies, which is greatto see for sure, especially after those
years of twenty twenty and twenty twentyone where we didn't it didn't seem like
we had anybody like anybody out butman, has Dave Dombrowski really rebuilt the
Phillies bullpen and great form real quick. Christopher Sanchez has been really good for

(24:56):
the Phillies in that fifth starter role. Um. I know that they say
that they don't have to go outand get a fifth starter because of how
well he has pitched. But deathis you know, can come at a
paramount situation here, especially if there'sany injuries that might occur. Um,
you know, down the stretch runhere in the Phillies rotation. But Christopher
Sanchez, if it wasn't for thefact that the Phillies offense can't seem to

(25:17):
score him runs, yes, forSanchez would be in a really good spot
right now. But man, hehas performed really well for the Phillies in
a short amount of time. Speakabout Christopher Sanchez just a little bit here.
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I was looking up his numbers
this morning getting ready for the pregameshow, and the Phillies have scored in
his eight starts. They have scoredtwenty one runs total in those games,

(25:40):
not just when he's in the game, but he but twenty one total runs
and eight starts. It's an averageof two point six runs per game.
You're asking an awful lot. It'sbrutal, Dartie pitcher, Yeah, to
try and go out. So hisrecord is going three, but his era
is under three. U Sef Dombrowskiwas on our show Tuesday night and I
asked it specifically about that number fivestarter spot, and he said, look,

(26:03):
we have been very pleasantly surprised thatmaybe surprises at the very word.
They've been very excited to see whatChristopher Sanchez has done with the opportunity that
he has here in front of him. But that's that, he said.
We're like every other team in MajorLeague Baseball at the trade deadline that is
a buyer if starting pitching is available, and we think it helps our rotation,

(26:26):
it makes us better, We're gonnalook at it. And you know,
you mentioned certainly any one of thefive could get injured at some point
and you need depth at that point, or perhaps even you know, during
this final stretch, they think aboutgoing to a six band rotation for a
short period of time, just togive those guys at the top a little

(26:47):
bit of extra rest. I mean, I think we have seventeen straight games
right now without a day off.And you know, that's a lot to
ask of your pitching staff. It'sa lot to ask of the guys you
know, going out there every fivedays. So if if it's there and
it makes sense to Dave Dombrowski,yeah, he's gonna think about pulling the
trigger and starting pitching. It doesn'tmean that they're not happy with the way

(27:10):
Sanchez's fish, but they'll just youknow, to deploy him in a different
role going forward. So it'll beinteresting to see. I mean, we're
getting that right. We're two daysaway from the trade deadline, so Tuesday
at six o' five we should havean idea of what the Phillies have done.
You know, I think they're kickingall the tires for sure, trying

(27:30):
to figure out any way they canmake this team better, even if it's
just at the margin. Speaking ofthe trade deadline, one of our National
League East rivals has been waving thewhite flag the New York the New York
Mets with their you know, leaguewide the god whatever you want to say,
at all time payroll that they have, and they're they're selling firesale right

(27:52):
now. They traded away Dave Robertsonto the Marlins on Friday. Max Scherzer
went to the Texas Rangers last night. Rumors are swirling right now over the
last twenty four hours that Justin Verlandermight be going back to the Houston Astros.
Man, how the Mighty have fallen? Everybody wanted to look at the
New York Mets and what they didlast year and and trying to capitalize on

(28:15):
that by bringing Justin Verlander, andthen they almost had Carlos Correa and here
we are at the trade deadline andthey are falling back, you know,
into typical New York met form justabout yeah, thirty days ahead of schedule.
But man if if the World Serieswas one in April, the New
York Mets would normally win it.But you know, good thing for the
rest of Major League Baseball is that'snot the case. Max Schars are going

(28:38):
to the Texas Rangers. One brokendown New York met ace wants to go
there, and Jacob deGrom and nowwe got another one going there in Max
Scherzer. That's gonna be a heckof a plaque for him when he goes
into Hall of Fame. Six differentteams and now he's played for but New
York Mets Are you sad about thefact that you seeing the demise of the
New York Mets here? Uh no, I am not. Um, you

(29:03):
know me and my feelings towards theMets, but you know, I will
say this, I'm pretty darn surprisedthat it played out the way it did
this year. I mean, youknow, I thought they were going to
be a really good team. Youknow, you always had that question whether
or not the starting rotation was goingto be able to hold up. But
really it's been top to bottom withthe Mets. I mean, it has

(29:25):
been the rotation, but it's beena whole lot moreball Classic. Yeah,
that's huge loss for them, butit's it's kind of remarkable how it all
played out. You know, youmentioned the largest payroll in the history of
the game, and it was bya wide margin. And it just goes
to show you that you can throwmoney at players left and right, but

(29:47):
if you're not throwing money at theright players, um, then you're gonna
have issues. And you know,Steve Cohen and his first year as the
owner of the Mets, I thinkgot a hard lesson in that, you
know, it's not just the outspending the money and bringing him big names.
You really have to build a teamfrom top to bottom, you know,
in terms of you know, fittingpieces together, not just throwing a

(30:12):
bunch of guys into a clubhouse thathave really good stats on the back of
their baseball card. So it'll beinteresting to see their off season. I
would imagine they're going to spend againfor sure, but you know, in
the meantime, teams are going tostart to pick off some of those players
off that that that's roster. Ido think Orlando probably ends up in Houston

(30:33):
and trying to figure out his vestingoption I think at this point, but
he'll probably end up there, andyou know, whether or not he and
Scherer can help their new teams getto the postseason, that remains to be
seen. And then I had noidea that Ronald Kuna Junior had a brother,
let alone he was a top fiftyprospects. So now we get both
of them in the National League Eastfor probably the next decade. Hooray.

(30:57):
Angels owner Artie Moraine know earlier thisweek said that they're not gonna give away
that they're not going to trade awayshow Heotani and you know, looking at
them in the standings, right now. I mean, there's six games back
in the division race and five outin the wild card. But there's a
lot of teams in an American Leaguewild card race going on right now.
They traded away for Lucas Giolito toadd to their starting pitching depth. Who's

(31:19):
been a disappointment with the Chicago WhiteSox over the course of the last year
and a half, especially your thoughtson the fact that Otani is gonna stay
still in Los Angeles with the Angels. Man, I'm telling you, like,
I don't feel good about them makingthe playoffs, especially with the fact
that Mike Trout is out. Butyou know, you could get a lot

(31:40):
in return if you would give upOtani and then you open up the check
book for him in the offseason.But they're gonna hold on to him through
the rest of the season. Yeah. I never thought he was gonna get
traded. I never did, soI'm not surprised that they made that announcement
this week. You know, Iagree with you. I think it's gonna
be hard for them to make thepostseason. But you know, when I

(32:01):
give them credit for saying to theirfan base, you know, we're at
least gonna try. You know,we're not going to just wave the white
flag like other teams are doing anduh and get rid of our best players.
We're gonna We're gonna fight to thevery end and try to get into
the postseason. I for one,would love to see the Angels get in
the postseason, you know, notjust for Mike Trout's sake, because it's

(32:24):
been too long for him and hegot swept. It's unfortunate for his legacy,
right, yeah, it is.It's a shame. And then then
obviously Shohatani's easily the best player inall of baseball. He deserves that postseason
spotlight as well. So I'd loveto see it happen. I do think

(32:44):
it's gonna be an upfield battle.They need to get Trout back, They
need to get him healthy and getthem back, and if they do,
they've got a chance. Um andif Geolito can help them shore up that
rotation a little bit, then whoknows. Stranger things have happened. It's
certainly within their reach. But again, not surprised at all that the State

(33:06):
two teams that were looking to bebig time sellers at the trade dead line,
but now maybe buyers instead. TheChicago Cubs are riding an eight game
winning streak and now three games outof the wildcard race, and which means
they're probably gonna wind up keeping CodyBellinger and Marcus Stroman and then the San
Diego Padres, which murph, ifyou didn't know, they're one of three
teams this year major League Baseball theyhave not won four games or more consecutively,

(33:28):
along with the Kansas City Royals andthe Washington Nationals. Even the Oakland
A's have won four games or morethis season. Yeah right, it's insane.
But it looks like now with thembeing five and a half games out
of the wildcard race, and thisis what happens when you allow teams like
these to linger around and be into be involved in the postseason race.
Looks like Blake Snell, Won Sotoand Josh are gonna be sitting still.

(33:51):
The Cubs Padres, they're back inthe mix in a National League wildcard race.
Yeah they are. I mean,they're no different, I guess than
the Angels in that regard. Youknow, they've gotten a lot of work
to do, and it's they've gotsome teams to jump and it's going to
be. You know, it's alittle bit more difficult when there's three or
four other teams in front of you, because on any given night, you

(34:13):
might win and the other two outof the three might lose, but that
other team wins and you're not gainingany grounds. So it is hard at
disappointed the season to make up thatkind of ground. Certainly it could be
done, but it becomes difficult.Yeah, it's kind of un fortunate that
the Cubs. We've unfortunate from aPhillies perspective to the Cubs, we're able

(34:34):
to kind of keet their act togetherhere in the last week and a half,
because I do think they would havebeen an interesting trade partner for the
Phillies. But it doesn't appear thatthat's going to happen. Who knows,
I mean, forty eight hours isalong a long time. You never know
what's gonna happen. But it doesn'tsound like they're gonna try and make a
run. Are the chicane the Cubs? So the Padres, you know,

(34:58):
at this point I just don't believein them. They've got a ton of
talent, but you know, theyjust haven't been able to do anything this
year, and they should probably besellers. I believe in the Cubs a
little bit more than I believe inthe Padres at this point, just because
they played better baseball. But youknow, again, it's uh, it's
what I liked about the expanded playoff. You know, it does give a

(35:21):
lot of teams that that idea thathey, you know, we you know,
look at the Phillies did last year. Just get in and who knows
what can happen. So um,yeah, I think it's good for baseball
in that regard. Not good ifyou're trying to buy some talent, and
you know the Phillies are in thatsituation. But I do think ultimately it's
good for baseball. The road tripacross the state of Pennsylvania with Scott Franski,

(35:45):
Greg Murphy and Tom McCarthy happened onThursday night. Give us some highlights
from the road with the three ofyou guys out there. You know the
Big Time Phillies broadcast is why whyno Stock in that car with you guys?
Did he big time you guys andjump on the team charter on Wednesday
night? I mean, and Iwouldn't say big time. I see he
didn't get on the charter he wasactually the only broadcaster on the charter.

(36:08):
Uh this particular time, we allhad different reasons for not being able to
be here in Pittsburgh for the offday. Um. You know, for
me, I had a couple ofthings going on that I had to take
care of. So you know,it's an easy trip. Obviously, they
didn't come on out and jump inthe car and come on out here.
Um. I had decided like twoweeks ago that I was going to drive

(36:30):
out, and then I had wastalking to Tom about it and Tom said,
you know what, I think maybeI'll jump in the car with you
if that's okays of course, andthen just about two days before, uh,
Scott said, hey, do youmind if I jump in there as
well? So you know, yeah, it became a thing. Um,
we had a you know, Tom, Tom was the wheelman and he drove

(36:50):
us ut. Yeah. Yeah,he likes to drive, and uh,
most of the time I liked beinga passenger with him. He can be
what we like to call an aggressivedriver, but when you're trying to get
from here to there, he getsyou there quickly. How aggressive can you
be? When I saw that youposted the other night that you guys were

(37:13):
singing Barry Manelow. Hey, youknow, Barry will pump you up at
least called me up. I'm abig fan of Barry Mantelo. So uh
yeah, you know that kind ofgot us going. I think I think,
you know, Broe Rogers didn't slowyou guys down. Well, k
Rogers slowed us down in more waysthan one. But again, you have

(37:36):
to stop there too. So soI posted the picture of us stopping at
Roy Rogers and getting our food,and then I immediately got a bunch of
Phillies fans, you know, jumpingon and saying, hey, we're driving
out there tomorrow, We're gonna stopthere. And what do you know about
two or three Phillies fans set mepictures from that rest stop with twenty five

(37:59):
Phillies in line at Ry rod asthey waited for the You guys are Pitchman's
for Ry Rodgers. Now, Isaid, I really think that Roy needs
to step up. The sentis socalling. I mean, I mean,
it's a definition of being an influencerat that point, right, God,
Greg Murphy, Tom McCarthy and ScottFranskie were standing in this line last night.

(38:20):
Oh well, I don't know ifpeople are saying that, but they
are saying, oh, hey,bry Rogers, that sounds pretty good.
I hadn't had Roy Rogers probably ina decade. And uh yeah, so
so that was that was fun.And I will say it was very good,
but all at all good trip.You know, obviously you're not driving
a Florida next right, No,No, I think we're gonna We're gonna

(38:43):
hop the flight tonight in Miami's smartdecision. We did. We did have
a good time. You know,those two guys are to have my closest
friends and and uh we had alot of laughs coming out for sure,
love hearing it. Hey man,it's not just time for you guys to
hop on the team charter after today'sgame. It's time for you to make
your reservations for another amazing Eagle season. Head to green Legion dot com to

(39:04):
get signed up for Tampa, LA, Kansas City, Dallas in Seattle,
or get signed up for the daytrip games for the Jets, the Giants
or the Commodes. Make sure youcheck out the Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club bus for
those day trips as well. Also, London went live on Friday night for
the Phillies Matts series and also forBaltimore next year. Make sure you guys
hop on that as well. GreenLegion dot Com. We're called two one

(39:27):
five six six six five nine fourzero. That's two one five six six
six five nine four zero twenty oneyears and counting for the best Eagles road
trips around. On the other side, final segment, we're gonna get to
our picks for today's action, canyou believe it? And we're gonna look
at the week ahead for our fightingfills. Right here, I wanted to
play five Fox Sports a gambler,Green Legion Radios, bud Light Baseball Brunch

(39:47):
brought to you by Cheerleaders Gentleman's Clubwill be right back after this. You
can wager on it. We're talkingabout it. It's the Gambler. Her

(40:19):
name was Lola Girl. Welcome backthe final segment Sunday morning here in the
Delaware Valley as we listen to someLola from Barry Manilow, great jobs slash
way to pick up on that Murph. Murph is feeling empty right now that
he can't hear this. Yeah,yeah, I can't love Okay, can

(40:43):
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(41:06):
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(41:29):
City, Murph. Real quick,before we get to our picks, I
want to get a couple hitters inhere for year, real fast. Uh.
The the tarp debacle from Friday Night, How interesting was that in that
moment in time? You know it? It took me back to the Phillies
Rockies back in two thousand and sevenwhere they were having the issues. The
Rockies grounds crew was having issues getthe tarp on the field. And the

(41:51):
Phillies went out there and helped themout. This Phillies team didn't do so
on Friday night, but that onegrounds crew member thought that he was like
the Hulk when he was trying topull the tart by himself to get it
over the first baseline and home plate. What a disaster that was. I
posted this on Facebook the other night. The Pirates ground crew, much like
the Pittsburgh Pirates, are inept.Well. I blame mostly, and I

(42:16):
don't know whose decision it was,but at the end of the day,
Brian and or the crew chief,they waited too long to call in the
ground screw and by the time theycalled them in, it was raining so
hard. I mean, it wasjust sheets and sheets of rain. The

(42:37):
ground screw did not have enough guysgals to to handle the situation at that
moment. But had they just calledthe game maybe ninety seconds or maybe sixty
seconds earlier, I think it wouldhave been a different outcome. But you
know, for me, you know, sitting there and watching it and watching
the field take on the water thatit was taking on, all I could

(42:59):
think about was I'm gonna have tofill an extra thirty minutes of rain to
lay. You're gonna have to takefun calls. Yeah exactly, because yes,
there's all about got Frankie. Butbut yeah, it was like,
oh boy, this is gonna takea while. So but you know what,
I thought, they did a prettygood job getting the field back and

(43:21):
ready to go again so we couldat least finish the game in a timely
manner. So what you're telling usis the Pittsburgh Pirates don't only cut cost
with their with their roster, theirbaseball roster. They cut cost with their
grounds crew. They did. Iknow, I'm not saying that because I
don't know, but it didn't seemlike, you know, it seemed like
there were other folks around. Theyjust weren't there on the field to help

(43:43):
with the tarp at that moment.So, um, yeah, it was
a tough situation. Look that that'sthat's a hard gig. You know.
The ground crew is the cross baseball. They worked so hard. I'm not
thinking any shot for those guys becauseI know how hard they work. And
all you have to do is lookat this field right now and uh and
see how beautiful it is and whata job they do. Um, So

(44:06):
you know, it was a badsituation. It certainly wasn't helped by how
quickly the storm came in. Ithink it surprised everybody. So m yeah,
it was what it was. Butyou know, no harm, no
foul at the end. I can'tlet this one go. I know the
salties there live you know, golftour and there, and you know people
say blood, money and all thatstuff. Killian and Bope okay, was

(44:28):
offered a one year deal from alal allal um, did you hear any
of this? I mean, likeyou you just said words. I don't
even know what they mean. Allright, So Killian is soccer okay,
he's a he's a the French soccerplayer. Him and MESSI went at it
last year and or last year inthe World Cup. This guy was offered
seven hundred and seventy six million dollarsfor one season. That's sixty four point

(44:51):
six million dollars a month, fourteenpoint seven million a week, two point
million, two point one million aday, eighty eight thousand, five hundred
an hour and twenty four dollars persecond. And I've never heard, yeah,
I've never you know. Good forhim, God bless him. He
must be a pretty good player.I know nothing about him. I couldn't
even know. I have no commentbut other than good for him, seven

(45:15):
hundred and seventy six million dollar contract. Yes, yeah, sign me up.
Yeah, I'm okay with that.You know what you need to sign
up for better, better picks.So you went one and two last week
again, but two points from theOrioles. You're underdog Orioles taking down the
raise in Tampa. That puts youat twenty one and twenty one overall of
the season. You're back to You'reat five hundred with twenty seven and a

(45:36):
half points. I went two onone with nailing my favorite and the over
under, so I got a twopoint a week there. I'm twenty five
and seventeen with thirty one points onthe season. Murph gave me your first
pick for today, all right,and as a wise man once said,
it's all about the points. Sowe were even last week, so it
doesn't matter what the record is becauseI got them two points. So and
that's what we're planning on doing againtelling yourself that, yeah, well you

(45:59):
told me that, so I'm justI'm repeating what you said. All right.
So my favorite this week, theMarlins are Eric taking on Detroit in
advance of the Phils getting down thereto South Florida. Marlins lost yesterday to
the Tigers. Shut I think,yeah, I think big bounce back and
win today. They're minus one fiftyfive. They got Lazardo on the mound.

(46:20):
I'm gonna take the Marlins. Ismy favorite, this one, all
right, mur If, I'm gonnapull trick out of your book because me
and you both had the Marlins andwe talked about this before we went on
air. I'm taking the Phillies today, minus one forty five. Christopher Sanchez
is gonna get his first win ofthe season. I'm taking the Phillies.
I don't have to go any furtherinto that. The Pirates suck. I
mean, for love of God,do not lose this series. I know

(46:40):
in Pittsburgh it's never easy for thePhillies, but you cannot lose the series.
Do not lose it today. Philliesminus one forty five is my favorite.
Give me your dog, Yeah,I think that's a good thing,
all right, my dog. Thisweek, Rangers and Padres are getting together.
And I don't understand this because I'mnot a gambler, so I don't

(47:00):
really understand why a line would looklike this. But the Rangers are the
underdogs in this game. They're plusone seventy. I mean, they're they're
a hefty underdog in this game.Yeah, it's then't help. Look whit
snails on the mound for the Padres, But I mean, Witchdail has been
good, but certainly he's he's beatable. That Texas Rangers lineup is one of

(47:22):
the best in baseball, and yougot to think that at some level they
feel a little bolstered that their runnershiphas gone out there and going all in
for them to make the postseason.So I think the Rangers win this game,
and I think it's an odd underdog, so I'm taking them as my
underdome. Yeah, we both pickedthe same underdog today as well. And
I actually was thinking about making theCardinals my favorite today because it just didn't

(47:44):
feel right that the Cubs won eightin a row and that they're underdogs today.
But I've got the Cubs plus onefifteen against the Cardinals and it's but
it's really it's the pitching matchup.And I mean, Saint Louis stinks this
year. But you know, KyleHendricks today four and forward to three point
four five ERA against Stephen Matt's oneand seven with a four point three four
ERA, I'm gonna take the Cubsto win nine in a row. Give
me your over under all right,over under. I never get these right,

(48:07):
so I don't even know why Ibother it, but yeah, well
you know, hey, right behindyou, brother, right behind you.
Mets and Nationals over under today iseight and a half. Trevor Williams Justin
Verlander eight and a half. Ithink they scored some runs in this game
against these two pictures. So I'mgonna take the over in the Mets Nationals

(48:30):
game. So over eight and ahalf look at like a six four victory
for somebody I don't know who.I'm taking an over eight and a half
as well. And I've got anotherNew York team that's gonna be involved in
at the Yankees and the Orioles onSunday Baseball. I hit on the under
last week on Sunday Baseball. I'mgonna take the over even though they went
under on Friday night. They wentover last night. Uh Severino and his

(48:51):
six point four six ARRA against theOrioles and the Yankees have Judge back and
that judge is just to stir thathe's a he's a straw that stirs the
drink there and that offense I'm gonnago over again tonight. Can you believe
it? Pounds of water six tofive? And the wild things rbi head

(49:28):
Can you believe it? Can youbelieve it? Two things we found interesting
from this past week in Major LeagueBaseball Murph Partner, give me your first
one? All right? Last night, Max Munsey became the first player in
Dodgers franchise history since RBIs became anofficial stat way back in nineteen twenty to
record all his team hits and drivingall the team's runs in a win.

(49:52):
He was the only one that hadhits in the game, and he only
had two of them for three Idrove in all the runs. But the
Dodgers get the win over the Redsand next months it makes a little history.
I had that one as well,but I do have a couple extras,
and I normally keep around Jotani.We can name this segment after him
every single year. Became the secondplayer since at least nineteen hundred to throw

(50:13):
a one hit shutout or a nohitter and homer twice on the same day,
joining former Philly Rick Wise on itwho did it on June twenty third,
nineteen seventy one, who threw ano hitter and hit two home runs
in the same game. Pretty specialstuff, right there. Yeah, well,
I mean, as you said,I mean, he's special every week.
We can talk about him every everyweek, all right? How about

(50:35):
Marcello Zuna hit his twentieth and twentyfirst home run of the season last night.
The Bridge now have five players withat least twenty home runs this season.
They are the second team in MajorLeague Baseball history to have five different
players with twenty home runs before themonth of August. The only other team
ever to do that was the BlueJays back in two thousand. I mean,

(50:57):
can you name the guys on thatteam? I mean, Vernon Wells,
the Lyle Overbay have that done?Yeah? Yeah, I mean,
she's off to look at that rosterand check that out for sure. This
one right here is courtesy of ESPNStats and Info, and we kind of
alluded to it with the Marlins losingyesterday. The Tigers won five nothing over
the Marlins, which was their ninthshutout of the season. That's the most

(51:20):
for a Detroit team in a seasonsince the twenty fifteen team that featured Justin
Verlander and David Price, who've recordedtwelve shutouts that year. Looking at the
week ahead, we have the rubbermatch today, and I know you don't
like looking too far ahead, butthis next four days after today against the
Marlins, with the way they've beenscuffling in the second half here. You
know, the Marlins took two orthree against us in Miami last time we

(51:43):
were there right before the All Starbreak, but since then the Marlins have
just done nothing but a downward spiral. Looking ahead at the week that we
that we're looking forward to, andthen which goes right into a Royal series
which starts a ten game homestand thesenext couple of weeks are really big for
the phil But again, worry abouttoday first, Yeah, I mean,

(52:04):
I think that's that it has tobe the mantra. Rob Thompson was very
clear before this Pirates series started thathe wanted his team to focus on these
three games in Pittsburgh, not lookahead to the big series against the Marlins.
And uh, you know, awin today certainly would go a long
way in making this team feel prettygood about heading down in South Florida,

(52:25):
writing you know, two out ofthree here in Pittsburgh, but they gotta
win today. They gotta go outthere. They got to score some runs
for Christopher Sanchez, something that guyswe talked about has been difficult to do
so far. And then turned yourfocus to the Marlins. Three out of
four down there in Miami would befantastic. They are going to see Al
Contour, but they're not going tosee Lazardo. They will miss him.

(52:47):
So that's good news in terms ofthe matchups. But first things first,
beat the Pirates, who at thisafternoon absolutely all right, mur appreciate you
joining as always. I'll see younext weekend down and expanding live as we
are bringing you into Phillies Royals nextSunday. And so for Greg Murphy for
slash on the board, and fromMike Powers for setting up everything on the
Fox Sports to Gambler feed for ushere today on YouTube, I'm Chris Sacker,

(53:12):
Green Legion Radio, and like athree one pitch to Ryan Howard,
we are out of here. LikeHarry Carry always said after singing, you
know for the seventh inning stretch,let's score some runs let's go Phills