09-24-23 Baseball Brunch

Chris Sack and Gregg Murphy are LIVE and discuss the opportunity the #Phillies have to clinch a playoff berth as early as Sunday! The series finale against the #Mets during a dreary, rainy weekend was pushed to 6:05pm Sunday. Chris and Gregg discuss the week that was against the #Braves and #Mets, look to the #Pirates and #Mets regular season finale, a chance to set the pitching rotation for the playoffs, and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Summer Sundays are meant for freshly cutgrass ballpark dogs and the best baseball talk
you can fight. 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
here fighting pills and take you aroundthe league right now on Baseball Brunch play

(00:29):
Ball in Philadelphia. Welcome in theBaseball Brunch brought to you by Chiliers Gentlemen's
Club Power by Green Legion Radio onone to two point five Fox Sports The

(00:50):
Game Learning Philadelphia w d A sam around the rest of the Doware Value.
Nice shirt there, slash and downloadthe iHeart Radio app anytime that you
can listen it was anywhere worldwide.We're broadcasting to you live from the iHeart
Radio studios and balat kim Wood todaybecause I woke up this morning and found
out that the Phillies game had beenpushed back to six oh five. We
were hopeful to be back down andit's Finny live today, but hey,

(01:12):
it's the first time in over amonth I get to see my partner in
crime. I'm Greg, I'm Chrissack of Green Legs Radio. You are
and this right here is my copilot, Greg Murphy. Murph, it's
been a while, it has beena while. Good to see you in
person. Birthday, by the way, birthday was on Friday. Yeah,
celebrated another trip around the sun,so that was good. But yeah,

(01:33):
thank you. But more importantly,much more importantly, celebrating a couple of
back to back wins to begin thishome actually back to back to back wins,
and it's it's one game away.I mean, it's one win away
for the Phillies to celebrate a chanceto get back to the postseason for the
second straight year. So hopefully thathappens tonight with the game being pushed back

(01:56):
to six o'clock, which, bythe way, thank you Major League Baseball.
Brilliant move, smart move, becausewe're gonna be able to play this
game more than likely uninterrupted. Andnow the Phillies will have an idea whether
or not tonight's game will be aclinching game, because the other games that
matter will be over by then,so Phills will know. And I think
that makes it a little bit easierwhen you're kind of not keeping one eye
on the scoreboard. And one eyeon what you're doing. They're gonna go

(02:19):
into tonight's game knowing, all right, if we win tonight we can clinch,
or if things don't go their wayearly, you know, we win
tonight, win tomorrow, and weclinch. So it's crazy to think about,
I mean, how things have unfoldedover the last week. I mean,
you know, you're kind of teeteringon the edge, you know,
at towards the end when you whenyou lost that final game in Saint Louis,
and then you're going into that seriesagainst the Braves and you know,

(02:40):
hey, the Cubs are right there, the Diamondbacks are right there. But
it feels like this is like thethird week in a row where you know,
like the Phillies have had a greatweek, like from a record standpoint,
they didn't the previous two weeks.But no matter what happens, no
matter where things go, the Philliescontinue to just you know, pile on
and just put teams away in thestanding. It's it's been insane these last
three weeks. Yeah, And youknow, when we looked at the schedule

(03:02):
about two weeks ago and you kindof try to map out where they was
headed. I think I think youand I had the conversation about with twenty
five games left that they went thirteenand twelve. You know, they were
probably gonna get in at that pointwith medi eight wins or something along those
lines. And then you looked attheir opponents and you thought, okay,
there's there's certainly a map to thirteenwins out of those twenty five and that's

(03:23):
kind of right where they are.There, maybe a game or two ahead
of that because they stole a gamehere or there. But uh, but
yeah, you know, I feellike coming into September, it was almost
a foregone conclusion the Fills were goingto be in the postseason at that point.
Yeah, I don't think there wasany real concern that they were going
to miss it. But but now, you know, taking care of business,

(03:46):
it's certainly has been great against thematch's you mentioned, you know,
two out of three against the Braves, that was was terrific. So you
do that, You take care ofyour own business, and then you can
breathe easy for a little bit,right, you know, So if it
doesn't happen today, it happens tomorrow, you know, or or excuse me,
on Tuesday, or could happen tomorrow. I don't haven't looked at the
schedule for I mean, we're stillthere's still that half game with the diamond

(04:06):
Backs, so I think the diamondBacks diamond Backs, actually they are making
up that game that they had yesterday. Bring up, they're making that up
tomorrow. Yeah. So if theywere to win today and the Phillies lose,
but then Arizona loses tomorrow, thePhillies clinched with not even taking the
field, so there's well, no, they'd have to win tonight. But
regardless, there's scenarios all over theplace, but the scenario of the Phillies

(04:28):
missing the postseason is almost mathematically impossibleat this point, and that's fun.
And then you can kind of setyour pitching in the final couple of days.
I like the fact that you're ableto set your pitching in the final
week. I like them. We'regonna talk about this a little bit later
on in this in this segment,or maybe at the beginning of the next
one, but you know, II like the fact that it's gonna be
a little bit more comfortable. Ijust don't want them to lose their retch

(04:49):
going into that Wildcard series because likelast year, like the Phillies and you
know it. I mean, youguys were living out of a suitcase for
three weeks in a row, andthey wrapped it up on a Monday and
then they had to dive right intoit on Friday. But you know,
it was nice to be able tokind of all right, give our guys
a little bit of a rest onTuesday Wednesday. Last year. Uh,
this is a little bit of adifferent beast. You know, you're sitting

(05:09):
there that you're taking the you're takingyour foot off the gas for about a
week heading into a postseason series.And that's the that's kind of the advantage
that I like if if the Philliesget into the you know, obviously at
this point they're going, like yousaid, it's mathematically impossible really for them
to miss the postseason. But theBraves have had to take their foot off
the gas the last two weeks.Yeah, and we kind of see them

(05:30):
puttering towards the finish line here,and that right there is for as great
as they've been, there are ninetynine wins, how how great are they're
going to be after you know,really taking their foot off the last off
the gas, the last two anda half weeks and then they have to
sit for five days waiting for theiropponent to come to Truist Park. You
know, sometimes it's good to clinchearly. We saw, we've seen it

(05:54):
before, but a lot of timesgoing down to that wire. I mean
the eight team had to go downto the wire, the OH nine team
had to go down to the finalweek. When you have a little bit
too much comfortability there. You know, I'm not saying that the Phillies were
playing for one hundred and two winsin twenty eleven, but you know,
the Cardinals were fighting to just toget into the playoffs at the end of
that season. Sometimes you don't wantto have to take your foot off that

(06:15):
gas. Yeah, I think yousaid it perfectly. You want to be
able to set your pitching, butyou don't want to lose your edge.
And it's a fine line. AndI will say this, I think most
of that will lie on the players, as it often does in sports.
You know, it's it's almost alwaysabout the athletes. It's almost always about
the guys playing the game. ButI do think Rob Thompson is very well

(06:40):
suited to handle a situation like this. He had been He's been in those
situations with the New York Yankees foryears, right, you know, where
they've clinched very early, where they'veclinched late. And he saw what worked,
and he saw what didn't work.And believe me when I tell you,
his wheels are turning about how tobest handle this situation when they clinch
and you know just how much youtake your foot off the gas for a

(07:02):
couple of days and then when doyou bring it back and build up the
intensity again. But I will alsosay this, I think Brian Sticker is
also that kind of manager. SoI think the Braves will benefit from having
a guy like Brian Sticker in thatsituation. You just have to hope that
his best players will buy in towhat he's selling. At that point,

(07:25):
I have no doubt that the Philliesplayers will buy into what what Rob Thompson
is going to put out there.And I would imagine that Snicker has a
pretty good handle on what his guessI got bit by last year, Yeah,
exactly, he knows, and Iknow he's so well respected down there
and he's a baseball guy. Ithink he and Rob Thompson are so similar,

(07:46):
even their careers are very similar.You know, career minor league guys
and organizations. They come up throughthe ranks and finally get an opportunity,
and they're both interim guys and noone's going to give him a chance,
and then they both run with theopportunity. You know, if Sticker were
to win one more World Series downthere, I mean you're talking about he's
being talked about as the same asBobby Cox down in Atlanta exactly, And

(08:09):
there's a statue being built for Snickeroutside that ballpark down there if he were
to win it. I mean,that's how how he's taking and Rob.
You know, if Rob takes thisteam to another World Series, if Rob
were to win a World Series here, he is being talked about in the
same breath as Charlotte Manuel and DallasGreen and guys like that. So it's
it's cool to watch these career longbaseball men, you know, guys that

(08:33):
do it the old school way.Personally, I love that baseball guys,
and and to have the success thatthey're having, it's kind of cool.
And obviously I hope Brian's ends today. You know, they can build that
down the road. Let's start workingon the Rob Thompson one. But but,
but I do think they're both bothteams are in pretty good hands.

(08:54):
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(09:37):
giveaway again this week, because hey, we're at the end of the season
and there's only three home games left, and we got a lot to talk
about on today's show. And Murphy, I know, the last week we've
been dealing with Charlie Charlie Manuel's healthsituation. I know he's been active on
Twitter, and you had broke lastweek that everything was going in a positive
direction towards the end of our firstsegment last week. So first and four,

(10:00):
most you, being a part ofthe Phillies family, if you could
provide us with anything else that youhave as far as Charlie Manuel's health update,
and then I'd like to talk alittle bit about Scott Roland, who
went into the wall Fame on onFriday evening. Yeah, well, the
news on Charlie that the last thatI've been told and the last that I've
heard, is all positive. Youknow, he's recovering, and you know

(10:20):
Adam Icu with his family, jokingaround with the with the nurses on social
media, doing his things. Heposted his ll I think the best thing
he's posted. I don't know ifyou guys saw it, but at one
point he said after the stroke hewas they were, you know, trying
to get him to speak in hisdialect. Yeah, and and they came

(10:41):
in, said, and they werea little concerned, and he said,
no, no, no, that'sthe way I always talk. So,
you know, Charlie sounds like AndrewMcCutchen had a great impersonation on Twitter too.
Yeah, the whole thing. Itseems to be moving in the right
direction. I mean, I certainlythink Charlie has a long road ahead of
him. But but as bad asit seemed on that very first day,

(11:05):
I think he's out of the woodsin that regard and certainly had it in
the right direction. I know acouple of our guys have been in touch
with Missy, his wife, anduh, she is uh, you know,
breathing a sigh of relief and knowingthat the Charlie's on the road to
recovery. So it's it's positive news. It's good news. The prayers and
the and the good thoughts that cameout of Philadelphia and all over the baseball

(11:28):
world certainly did not go unnoticed bythe Manual family. And it's been great.
I mean, we love Charlie anduh, we're all open that,
you know. I don't know ifhe'll be back up here for the postseason,
probably not. Well, I don'tknow me too soon probably I would
think so. But but certainly he'llbe He'll be there in spirit and and
then hopefully we get to see him, you know, early next year.

(11:50):
Use as a rallying cry, whynot, you know, do it for
Chuck for sure. And I knowyou had the privilege in honor of sitting
down with new Hall of Fame majorLeague Baseball of Fame or Scott Rolland and
we honored him at the ballpark onFriday night. He was inducted into the
Phillies Wall of Fame, which isa little different. He had a scheduling
conflict. Normally it's you know,it's alumni weekend back in August. But

(12:13):
you know, I thought the Philliesplayed this right all along Friday night,
end of September. Phillies in arace, you know, to get back
to the postseason for the second timeback to back years. There's a lot
of good vibes around the team rightnow, around the franchise. They're playing
the Mets. It's a rival.Uh you know it was. It was
pretty well played out by by howthey did things. And I really enjoyed

(12:33):
Scott's speech what he had to sayas far as cutting his teeth here and
really talking about how he missed HarryCallis. And you know, John Vukovic
was a big influence on his career. You got to sit down with Scott
before the game on the pregame show. Why don't you tell us a little
bit about what you caught up withScott on Friday night? Yeah, you
know, it was great. Iwas a very young reporter. Well,

(12:54):
well, I'll tell a story ina second. But I got to know
Scott when he started in the Philliesorganization in the minor leagues. I covered
him in reading and then and thenhe came to Philadelphia, and I came
to Philadelphia shortly afterwards and was ableto cover him at that point as well.
So I'd known Scott back then alittle bit. And yeah, I

(13:15):
think he remembered my face, andso we were able to sit down and
have a really great conversation. Andyou know, when you stop and think
about Scott Rowland's career, I knowsome folks in Philadelphia can't get past the
fact that he left and went onto win a World Series with the Cardinals,
went on to play with the Reds. But when you just go back
and look at his career and andand then watch some of the highlights that

(13:37):
they showed he was such a greatplayer. And then talking to some of
his teammates. I interviewed Ricky yesterday, and obviously I'm with Kevin Stocker all
the time, and Kevin played alongsideScott. And you know, these guys
said, you knew immediately that hewas a Hall of Fame talent. Now,
whether or not he could stay healthyand have a a prolonged career,

(14:00):
that you also need to go intothe Hall of Fame. But they said,
talent wise, it was evident fromday one that Scott Rowland had Hall
of Fame talent. And and theysaid, you know, you don't often
see that kind and and that's justthe kind of player. He was every
facet of the game. So itwas great to talk to him. He
was humbled by the by the Philliesoffer to put him on the Wall of

(14:22):
Fame. He said he got acall from John Middleton in the winter saying
that it's been too long, andthen he needed to come back to Philly
and they needed to shake hands andand and not John. You know,
it wasn't John's issue with with YeahBerry. The hatchet with the fan base,
burry the hatchet with any kind ofill feelings. He's part of the

(14:43):
Phillies franchise. They won him partof the Phillies franchise, and uh and
that's the way it was. Andit was great, and I think he
really appreciated being there. And hesaid his kids had never seen him in
a Phillies jersey and they were goingto get a chance to see him in
a Phillies jersey. It was good. It was right on him, pretty
good. That's the one jersey mycollection I don't own. That was my

(15:05):
second favorite Philly I mean, DarrenDalton was first. And when he was
on his way out the door andhe was going to win a World Series
of Marlins, that's the year Scottwas winning Rookie of the Year with the
Phillies. And you know what ahard nosed ball player, a great ball
player, and you know, andyou could tell by what he was saying
this speech, he's proud of thisteam, this this current Phillies team,
and those boys are gonna go afterI love it when he said, these
guys behind me, you're thirsty,and these boys are over here are hungry,

(15:26):
you know, so let's let's goahead, let's get this done,
and let's get this game rolling.So I think he nailed it on both
accounts, but hey, so realquick. So I was a I had
gotten just gotten out of college,and I had been working for a sports
member a Bilia company for a year, and then I finally got my first
real on air opportunity for a smallstation up and Redding WfMC as their weekday

(15:50):
reporter. And so I I startedwork on a Thursday, and the first
day they just kind of showed mearound and that kind of thing. But
my second day they said, allright, you're gon go live from the
Reading Phillies game and you just we'regonna be on the five o'clock news.
Well, I'd never been on livetelevision before, and I had never done
this job before. I had noclue what I was doing. I arrived

(16:12):
at the ballpark, I talked tothe PR people. They say, I
say, I need someone to interviewed. They say, well, our best
player is Scott Roland and he wasa double a you know, third baseman.
At the time, I didn't knowwho he was. He didn't obviously
know who I was, and theysaid he'll come over and do the interview
with you. So five o'clock Newsstarts, the sports anchor sends it to
me, and I could not havebeen more nervous than I remember. I

(16:37):
remember not being able to remember anything, his name, my name, what
station I was working for. Thisis Scott Murphy, and I'm great,
rolling You're not too far off,you are not too far off. I
butchered every bit of the interview.I was, like I said, I
was petrified, And when I triedto send it back to the station,
I literally forgot my name. Icould not get it back to them.

(17:03):
And Scott was so gracious and sohe could tell how nervous I was.
And you know, here we arebasically the same age, right, But
he had been doing live interviews forever, and he was great and I was
terrible, and he was terrific aboutit. And the best part of the
story is somebody he remembered Friday night. He did not remember because I asked
him. But the best part ofthe story is someone from the Reading Phillies

(17:27):
organization just happened to take a pictureof the interview, and about two weeks
later gave it to me. Asnapshot of me first time on television interviewing
Scott roll One. Yeah, butin the picture you can't tell because I
looked at that's pretty much. AndI still have that picture of Scott and

(17:48):
I and uh, you know,I think back to how far I've come.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very nervous to work with
you. But but honestly, Imean probably the first time you worked me,
definitely were nervous working with making youdidn't know what you were getting were
But anyway, it's so I havea special fundness in remember he Scott Rowland.
So that's awesome. Again, congratulationson the Wall of Fame ceremony.

(18:11):
And let's talk a little bit beforewe go into break here. Let's talk
a little bit about this Phillies teambecause I want to dive into it.
I mean, five and two overthe last week here they clinch a playoff
spot here today with magic number attwo and for a for the home field
advantage for the Wildcard series it's atthree, and you know, man,
it's just been absolutely insane. It'sit's it's only going to get better,

(18:33):
you know, for us to goback to back years here with the Red
October. But I want to talkabout this Brave series, because man,
that that rate there. To me, it's proving what we talked about on
last week's show. You need towin that series. The Phillies know they
can beat the Braves in October.They did it last year. Uh And
for as much as we've talked aboutthis, the Phillies know that they can
compete with the Braves. They've doneit every year for the last six better

(18:56):
than anybody else in Major League Baseball. But to get that game, to
blow a four nothing lead on Wednesday, for the Braves to come back in
that game and tie it and thenhave the one out runner on third,
Kimberroll is out there and everybody's sweatingit out. Ball goes down the foul
territory line and the first base side, and everybody is screaming for Cassianos to

(19:18):
drop the ball, and that voicein his head that he talked about,
he catches it. He turns,he throws perfect dart right at the plate
and Stubbs makes the tag and thento have runners on first and second with
nobody out, and then the doubleplay happens, and then Stock comes up
against aj Minor and he just slapsthe ball down the left field line and
gives the Phillies two runs and thePhillies win that game six five win of

(19:41):
the year. Play of the yearfor Cassianos. If you, if you
take all the games so far thisseason, that game has meant so much
and it's gonna mean even more.Phillies get pasted the Wildcart series and they
getting the LDS against the Braves.Yeah, you know, play of the
year. Yeah, I guess sheshould like a big an argument. I
thought my head, I can't thinkof anyone that was big as we come
down the stretch. So yeah,I think play of the year is is

(20:03):
certainly is certainly fair. Uh andand yeah, I think I just think
there's not a guy in that clubhousethat doesn't believe that they can go out
and beat the Braves. That teambelieves we can beat the Braves in October.
Now they've got to get to theBraves. You know, we can't,
we can't wild Card, but butthey believe they can. They can

(20:23):
beat the Braves. But getting awin like that in that situation, you
know, taking two out of threein Atlanta in games that mean an awful
lot to the Phillies but still meansomething to the Braves because they haven't clinched
to the top spot, or hadn'tclinched the top spot. I don't know
if they have to have it.Yeah, I think the Dodgers are four
behind them right, so again,it's almost a foregone conclusion at this point.

(20:45):
However, you know, at thatpoint they're still fighting for something.
It was all their starters to yourpoint, you named all the all the
guys. So yeah, it wasbig. It was it was exciting,
it was fun. It almost happenedagain yesterday with with Kyle Schwarber down left
field line catching a foul ball andalmost throwing a guy out of the blatant
fact it was a bang bang playthey had. They had a review of

(21:06):
Schwartz has that voice in his headtoo? Yeah, I guess so,
you know, I might have toask him that today. But you know,
I had Trey Turner on the showright before Game two of that Atlanta
series and I asked him, Isaid, look, I said, you
know, you know, Trey wasn'twith the team last year when they beat
in the postseason. I said,when you come into a series like this
and you play well against the teamlike Atlanta, and they have played well

(21:30):
against Atlanta for the most part thisyear. I said, does that give
you an idea that you can competewith this team? And it was probably
the wrong way to phrase the question, and Tray is two nice of a
guy to be like, you're that'sa dumb question, you know, But
but in retrospect I think it wasbecause his answer was, we know we
can compete with this team. Wedon't need validation that we can compete.

(21:52):
We already know that and we believeit, you know, in every fiber
of our being that we can competewith this team, which is the It
is a great answer and the rightanswer, right, So the Braves don't
scare the Phillies. And you know, I know Snicker said publicly, you
know, the Philly scared the Braves. That's not accurate either. I don't
think the Philly scare the Braves.I think it's two really good baseball teams

(22:15):
that know that they're gonna have toplay really well against one another in order
to advance. And if it comesto that, it's gonna be one hell
of a series, it really is. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
So absolutely would be, Hey,don't hang out alone in the main
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(22:37):
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two am. All right, comingup on the other side, we're gonna
dive in. We're gonna talk alittle bit about the Phillies. There's you
know, the guys in their lineup, I mean Nick Castiano's, Alec Bohm,
Bryce Harper, and somebody got afarewell if a ninety dollars bottle of

(23:02):
wine from Napa Valley. Who wasthat? We'll find out on the other
side here, I want to twopoint five Fox Sports of Gambler. This
is Baseball Brunch, brought to youby Cheerleaders Sheelman's Club. We'll be right
back after this. No balls,two strikes, Well it will start me

(23:29):
ditch outside. Let's see what youdid there. Yeah, Jeff McNeil sure
learned how to fly on Friday Night. Yeah, or dropped to his knees
one or the other. I saidon the on the postgame show, he
said, I read a ready togo. Yeah, that was a funny
moment. You know, it's amazingbecause McNeil had almost no reaction, so

(23:52):
it must not have if folks didn'tsee the play a foul ball that appeared
to hit him. He got moreright between the thighs. Yeah, but
the original little shot that was shownlooked like it hit him square. And
yeah, I have the shot ofit. It's great, of course you
do. I use it today onsocial media network, Scott said to me.

(24:12):
Scott said to me on the FridayNight roundtable that night, he said,
well, you know he's I'm surehe's wearing a cup, And I
said, I don't think so.Look at that video. I said,
it didn't rickety off in there,but I mean it didn't look like he
was wearing a cup, to bequite honest. So Yeah, for my
promotion of the show, I've goneaway from like the Baseball Brunch logo because
I've used it like every day orevery Sunday for the last three years since

(24:36):
we got it. So I'm like, let's just do different things and I'll
I'll live off of that. SoI said the Phillies. Look, they
hit the Mets where it hurts againtoday and potentially punched her ticket to the
postseason. So you know, Iused that, but I like it.
Yeah. Well, this this secondsegment is brought to you by our friends,
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three four five one nine eight.That's two six seven five three four five
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That's we Heat Dirty Windows dot Com. I'm Chris Sack, He's Greg
Murphy. We are Baseball Brunch.So let's dive in a little bit further
here. Let's get some quick kids, murf because we do have to be
off the air today at eleven fiftyfive, so we can't put some around
like we normally do in a finalsegment because coming up after Baseball Brunch is

(25:45):
Sean Brayson, John Janssen with countdownto pay out present to the presented to
you by mal Chevy from twelve totwo. So make sure you guys stay
on with us after us for Braceand Jansen. So, like we already
alluded to, Nick Castianos seemed torespond to his demotion in in the batting

(26:06):
order because over the last week,I mean, he now has a new
career high for RBI in a singleseason, which sits at one hundred and
four, and it leads the teamand practically carried them the victory all by
himself on Thursday against the New YorkMets. Good to see Nick finding his
swing once again, and it's justin time for the postseason because remember last
year he hadn't hit a home run. He had that oblique injury when he

(26:29):
started to get hot in August,he had no home runs in September,
he had no home runs in October, and here we are, you know,
batting three sixty with six runs scored, ten rbi at double and four
home runs over the last week alone. Yeah, I mean, look,
obviously, having a Nick Castiano swingingthe bat well heading into the postseason is
a huge positive for the Phillies.I mean, you think about this lineup

(26:51):
and just how deep it can bewhen all the guys are swinging. It's
as good as any lineup in baseball. When everybody's swinging the bat well.
Bryson Stott got a day off yesterday, hopefully that helps him. Rob said
yesterday he thought Bryson looked a littletired, which is understandable. He's played
virtually every game this year. Well, actually, I guess he's played about

(27:12):
but still, you know, inhis second year, it's it is,
it's a grind on on until you'reable to learn as a young player what
it takes to to get through theentire season. And and then you know,
last year, obviously in the postseason, the Phils played extended baseball.
So if we can get his batgoing again, because he was so good
and uh and Brendan Marsh as well. You know, it would be terrific

(27:36):
to see those guys start swinging it. The big guys all seem to be
locked in at this point. Youknow, Bryce is locked in and Trey
has swung the bat well hopefully JTwhat we're seeing at a JT over the
last couple of days. Yeah,and then and three hits last night.
You know, so little things likethat, but yeah, Nick Cassianos is
such a big part of this lineup. He's so dangerous when he's swinging the

(27:56):
bat well, and you know,the guys made a career or barreling up
baseballs and that's what we're seeing rightnow. So it's good to see the
guy that replaced him in that threefour spot in the lineup. Alec Bom
has not slowed down either. He'sbatting two eighty. He's got an outside
shot at twenty home runs. Heneeds one more and one hundred rbi,
which would make him the third Phillyto do so this year, and three

(28:18):
walkoffs this year. I mean,if there's anybody that comes up in the
ninth or tenth inning of a ofa game and you need a big hit.
Alec Bom is your guy. Iwould agree with that, and I
would put I would have put Bryson'sthought on that list. I still would
because I think bryson S thought alsohas been unbelievably big. Hit on Wednesday.
I mean, yeah, I meanthose two guys, you know what
the bones in his third year,third year yeah, So three year for

(28:41):
Bryson, yeah, and and secondyear for these young players that have made
such an impact on this Phillies teamthis year. I mean that's what you
need. You need a mix ofveterans and young players, right, I
mean, in order to be successful, that's really the formula, and the
Phillies have found it with Bomb andMarsh and Stott to a great extent this
year, those guys and now Melmoment seems too big for these guys.

(29:06):
And I think that's as good ofa compliment as you can give a young
player in Major League Baseball, probablyin any sport, that the moment is
not too big for them. They'renot overwhelmed by the third deck, they're
not overwhelmed by the lights and thecrowd. They go out there and they
take care of business. We knowbaseball is a game of failure. But
when you can come through with thebig moments, that's what it's all about.

(29:26):
And those guys have all done it. And I agree. Alec Bohm
looks so comfortable right in the middleof that order, and it's it's so
great to see him in between,you know, or right behind Harp in
the lineup more often than not,giving him a little bit of protection.
Now, and you saw what happened. They walk Harper and Bob comes up.
And we asked them on the postgameshow that night, if if you

(29:49):
know, you get a little chipon your shoulder, and he said,
well, you know, of courseyou do. He said, I knew
before I even got into the nextcircle. I was going to be leading
off that inning. He said,I knew it because it's right baseball moved
double play. Yeah, of courseyou're shutting up the double play. You're
taking one of the best sitters inbaseball history out of the equation, not
letting Bryce Harper beat you. It'sthe right move. But Alec Bohm right

(30:11):
there to take care of business.And you know, as we said,
a missile off of the bat,because that's how we wrote it down to
the box score. No, noone'll ever be the wiser it came off
fifty one miles an hour or whatever. But you know, putting the bat
on the ball, put the balland play, good things happen. Certainly
good things happened that night. Speakingof Bryce Harper, I mean, I
like, I don't want to saythat we haven't really largely talked about him

(30:32):
a lot this year on the onthe show. I mean, it's not
a typical Bryce Harper season, right, I mean, I feel like the
most that we've talked about Bryce wasin that first like five weeks of the
season where I was asking exactly youknow, but if you look at the
numbers, I mean, since he'sreturned, and especially since the beginning of
August, I mean, the guyhad five home runs walking into August first.
He has fifteen since then. He'she's eleventh in baseball and batting average.

(30:57):
He's qualifies too. Even though hemissed the first five weeks of the
season, he's tied for ninth andops. He's hitting twenty home runs and
sixty nine RBI. For a guyto miss the first five weeks of the
season, he's been sprinkled in withsome days off here or there, and
he's been kicked out of a couplegames this season, so I might have
robbed him from, you know,more potential RBI opportunities and on runs.

(31:17):
But this guy in the middle ofyour lineup, batting third or fourth,
And say what you want about theother guys and the numbers that they put
up this year, the straw thatstirs a drink has been and still will
always be until the end of thiscontract is over. Bryce Harper incredible season.
He is primed and ready to doanother red October quite like he had

(31:37):
last year. Yeah. Right now, he's just hitting the ball. Even
his outs are loud and hard rightnow, you know, and it's it's
that's great to see because when BryceHarper is swinging the bat like he is
attacking the baseball now. His RBIsingle off the glove of Alonzo yesterday that
scored two runs was a rocket,you know, obviously the home run it

(31:59):
was big, his twentieth of theyears into the wind. And I literally
I was doing play by play yesterdayand I was doing it with Larry Anderson,
and I was just about to sayto Larry, you know, in
order to hit a home run today, you are you know, you're really
gonna have to knock the I thoughtyou were just about to say that Harp
was due for a home nne Youtrying to be like Kevin Stoker was last

(32:20):
week, the complete opposite. Iwas about to say, it's not no
one's gonna hit a home run theright field today, just not gonna happen.
And then he hits one end ofthe upper deck, you know,
or off the upper deck. Andhe's a remarkable player. We are watching
greatness and there's no doubt about it. Bryce s Harper is a great player
and is the kind of guy thatI liked what you said this, charl

(32:42):
This sturts to drink. He iswhat makes this team go. And it's
it's we're lucky to watch him.Twenty home runs. I think sixty nine
RBIs right now if I'm not missingyes, yeah, and having missed two
full months of the season, ifyou project that out again, it's like
thirty two home runs right on hundredand fifteen RBIs or maybe one hundred and
five RBIs, something along those lines. It's it's just another another terrific se.

(33:07):
We'd be talking about him, youknow, in the MVP con he
would be right there. So Iknow we have we have quite a few
minutes here left in the In thesecond segment, again, we got to
be off the air at eleven fiftyfive, so I don't want to go
too late into this in the secondsegment here, But did you happen to
see what the Oakland A's did tohonor an all time great player first ballot

(33:30):
Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera. Youknow, people have been giving him stuff
on his farewell tours his last season. You know, pool Holes has had
it done. Jeter did it,Martino Rivera. These players, all time
grades going to the Hall of Fame, first ballot, they deserve the recognition
on their way out. A ninetydollars bottle of wine from Napa Valley is

(33:51):
the best that that organization could givehim on field in front of their you
know, two hundred fans. Imean. And the funny thing is is
like, if you look at thecourse of his career, where has he
stumbled. It's been with alcohol.I mean, he had a duy a
couple of years ago. He hada domestic thing, you know, like
fifteen years ago. And let's let'stry and cure this by giving this man

(34:13):
a ninety dollars bottle of wine,Like you couldn't pony up and give the
guy, like if you want tocontinue to give him alcohol, I know
it's I know, it's Snapa Valley, it's northern California, it's the Bay
Area. Nice two hundred and fiftythree hundred dollar bottle Scotcha sometime. I
mean, like, I had noproblem with the wine, but yeah,
if you're gonna pony up and gethim a nice gift, get him a

(34:34):
case of wine, get him abarrel, you know what I mean.
Now, his issues with alcohol,I don't know if he does drink still,
I don't. I don't either,and so I you know, I
don't. I've read some reports thathe's a recovering alcoholic. I'm not sure
that that's accurate, but you know, to your point, he's had some
issues with alcohol. To me,look, it is what it is.

(34:54):
There are people in this world whoare bad gift givers, you know,
because they don't take the time toconsider who they're giving a gift to.
You don't you don't take the timeto think about what that other person enjoys,
or what that other person might need, or I mean, it's all
walks of life. It's not justbaseball organizations to great players. It's husbands

(35:14):
to wives, and and and andfriends. Slash buys tube socks for his
girlfriend for Christmas, but she lovestube socks, so you know the Slash.
Yeah, it's the gift that keepson giving. Not cheap either.
They're out a pretty penny for sometube socks. Yeah. So to me,
it just comes down to apparently theOakland A's are poor gift givers.

(35:37):
It was yeah, it was itwas a it was a bad gift.
But whatever, all right, beforewe go to break, I would I
want to get this in here.There there's a shot that the defending World
Series champions might miss the postseason.Oh, I will not be sad and
that happens, because you know,I think there's teams in the American League

(35:59):
that can get to the World Seriesoutside the Astros. A lot people want
to say if the Astros get in, it's it's a walk in the park.
I think the teams this year inthe American League playoffs are better than
the teams that were in there lastyear. I mean, because you know,
the Mariners have another year of experiencein the postseason. If they make
it. The Blue Jays have anotheryear of posting experience if they make it,
and you know, and they bothhave good starting pitching to perform there.

(36:21):
The Orioles have played great this season. The Rays are always there and
analytically driven, and you know,who knows what team is gonna win that
division. It's a game and ahalf apart right now. The Orioles are
up on the race. It's justI would love nothing more than here Dusty
Baker last year saying, oh well, why retire on one when I can
come back and get too. Iwould love for him to watch postseason baseball,

(36:43):
maybe be a TV analyst for TVsduring the course of October by losing
out, So I'm pulling for theI'm pulling for the Mariners, the Rangers,
and the Blue Jays. Let's makethis happen. Yeah, I mean,
I certainly won't lose any sleep ifthe Houston Astros don't make the postseason.
I think. I actually it's goodfor baseball when a team doesn't get
back and there's some new blood inthere. You know, I love Dusty

(37:07):
Baker and he's one of my favoritepeople in baseball, so I you know,
I was glad. I'm glad thathe'll retire having won a World Series.
I wish it wasn't against last year. It couldn't have been. Believe,
don't take this row away. Iwas hoping we'd sweep Dusty and his
squad out last year. It didn'thappen. But Dusty's a great guy that

(37:29):
said, yeah, let's let's knockthe Astros out. Let's not get them
in the postseason. How great wouldit be to have a Seattle and a
Texas team get in? Uh?You know, remember Texas started our season
beating us three straight. You knowwe got swept on the opening weekend down
in Texas. Yeah, they tookit to us. But but you know

(37:50):
what, it would be fun.It would be fun. Whether or not
it happens, it remains to beseen. But I agree with you.
I think the the American League hasa lot of teams they could get to
the World Chess. It's wide open. I don't think the central is the
strength, but I think, youknow, the two teams from the East,
the two teams from the West certainlycould make teams from the West.
Ye three teams from the East,three teams Sotherwise, it's crazy but now

(38:12):
it's fun. It's a lot offun. If you don't like the new
playoff format, I mean, whatdo you think. I love it just
it just makes it more excite.It just don't add anymore. I think
I would agree. I think thisis the perfect formula. I don't think
the lad anymore. They add teamsat some point, yeah, but I
don't want them that. I don'tthink. I think I think what they
have right now, with the amountof teams, however, many teams that

(38:35):
they have already in the league,it's perfect. Just leave it there,
all right. So the Green Legionif you want to have fun. Speaking
of fun outside of Major League Baseballplayoffs coming up, which I did,
take vacation next week so I'm gonnawatch Wildcard Baseball all the day. Go
Yes, let's go. Hey,but it's time to make sure you get
your reservations for another amazing Eagle season. Had the Green Legion dot Com to
get signed up for, I thinkyou could still get signed up for the

(38:57):
tailgate in Tampa for tomorrow night's gameLA Kansas City, Dallas, and Seattle,
or gets signed up for the daytrip games for the Jets, the
Giants or the commodes. Make sureyou check out the Cheerleaders Gentleman's Club bus
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Eagles road trips around coming up.On the other side, I still stink

(39:21):
at my picks, and that's howI'm gonna leave it. One or two
point five Fox Sports The Gambler.This is Baseball Brunch, brought to you
by Cheerleaers Gentlemen's Club. We'll beright back after this The Gambler, Phillies
home for all things sports gambling,Welcome back. Final segment. Here is

(39:47):
Sunday morning in the Delaware Valley.It is raining, but we're looking to
get this Phillies get Mets game inthis afternoon or an early evening. It's
six ZHO five is first pitch.So make sure you guys pay attention to
your social media accounts and stay upto date with what's going on down at
the ballpark tonight. But until then, enjoy football, and you could also
enjoy listening to Sean Brayson John Jansenwith Countdown to pay Out, present it

(40:12):
by mal Chevy from noon to tworate. After Murf and I go off
air, this final segment is broughtto you by the Lovedlam Hotel in Seattle
City, the fully renovated Lovedlam Hotelat four thousand Landis Avenue in Seattle City.
Yes, it's the old LaCosta andthat LaCosta lemonade. I still have
a taste in my mouth for that. It's delicious. You guys got to
make sure you get down there.It's opened year round, So make sure

(40:34):
you guys get down there and checkthem out at Ludlam Hotel dot com.
That's Ludlam l u d Lam Hoteldot com. We'll call them at six
zero nine two six three seventy twonine. That's six zero nine two six
three seven eight two nine for allyour reservation, dining or entertainment questions.
The loved Theam Hotel, your newoasis in Sea Isle City. All right,
MURV, let's update on the pickshere real quick and then we'll dive

(40:55):
into our picks. Can you believeit's well, it's it's status quo.
The funny thing is is last weekwe said that it was probably the first
time in our Picks segment in threeyears where we both got the over under
in the same week. We didit in back to back weeks. How
about that. Also, it's againand it's the only thing that either of
us hit last week, So weboth went one and two. So you're

(41:15):
sitting there struggling, very struggling.Thirty one and thirty two is now where
you're at thirty nine and a halfpoints, and I am at thirty and
thirty three with thirty seven points.Give me your favorite for today, all
right. It's it's good to bethe front runner with two weeks to go,
just for the record, keeping youat arms length arms length. Yep,
that's all I gotta do at thispoint. Uh and uh and I

(41:36):
plan on do it all right.So my phillies again today, I'm not
not today, although I do likethe phillies today, but I didn't didn't
go ahead. But you want tobe soaked in champagne to night. That's
the reason why I do. Ido Tonight. It's time for a celebration.
I'm ready today, tomorrow day.Tomorrow, I might not even change
out of my clothes. I'll justsleep in them, so get in through

(41:57):
the pores. All right, it'sa visible So I went today with the
Brewers. All right, I'm sorrythe Brewers over the Marlins in uh in
that game? Is that's what Iwent with? Yeah, the Brewers are
minus one thirty. I don't know. Is that who you went with?
I did? I wrote it downaround, I wrote Orioles. I don't
know why, but Brewers Marlins playingtoday. I like the Brewers to win
that game. Obviously they're still playingfor something as well. The Marlins.

(42:21):
Uh, they got bad news yesterday. I'll i'll contra done for the year
with the Brewers playing for anything.Yeah, they haven't wrapped up the Central
yet. They've wrapped up the Central, No they did. I thought they
did Rowdy to Les or no labSasonason, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
the only position to do that.They had not eliminated the Cubs from the
chance to win the division, althoughagain it's one of those mathematical things.

(42:44):
But they're still playing for something,and I think the Marlins realize the hill
and look if the Marlins a lotof credit. They've fought all year.
Here we are on the last weekof the season, still with the chance.
But I like the Marlins the Brewerstoday to be my favorite songs,
all right, So I'm gonna gowith the Rangers is my favorite minus one
thirty Nathan neil Valday versus Brian Woo. I hate doing this to the Mariners,
especially because I want, you know, them to leap frog over the

(43:07):
Astros and getting that finally getting thatwildcard spot. Razors a one four in
a row. They're starting to peakright at the right time here towards the
end of the season. So I'mgonna take the Rangers. Day is my
favorite. And then that wise manonce said, not so fast, I
think is of course, of courseI might have said that I'm going the
opposite. I like the Mariners todayfor the for the very reasons you just
said. Rangers have one four ina row. I think they're due to

(43:27):
stumble a little bit, lose thegame. Mariners are a good team.
I'm taking them as the underdogs,all right. So my underdog today is
the Yankees. Now this is closeto being, you know, not plus
money, but it's Yankees plus onehundred. They were plus one hundred an
hour ago when we were prepping togo on air, and they didn't even
announce that rodam was going to betheir starting pitcher today against Zach Gallen,
which it's a little weird that minusZack Gallen is only getting Mayas once twenty.

(43:52):
I think that I think the Yankeeshelp out the Phillies today, and
the Yankees beat them and also helpout my you know, making up two
points. I hope you're I hopeyou're right, but uh, I don't
know. I think I take theopposite side on that. I'm going back
to the Milwaukee Marlins game for myover under. Uh the over under is
seven in that game, I'm goingover. It'll probably go under because I'm

(44:14):
terrible at those, but but I'mgonna go over on that and go over
seven in that one. All right, all right, so we're rooting for
a two one Marlins. You areno one else. That's what I'm checking
on today. I'm doing score.So you're gonna root for the Marlins.
Phillies need the Marlins the lose,do they? Yeah, it's one of
the Marlins of the Cubs. Yeah, alright, so so you're gonna go
Cubs. I'm gonna go over tenand a half. That game yesterday between

(44:37):
the Reds and Pirates was insane.I'm gonna take over ten and a half
today. Both starting pitcher sting Canyou believe it? Five thousand of one

(45:00):
at six to five? And thewild phase rbid? Can you believe it?
Can you believe hit? Two thingswe found interesting from this past week
in Major League baseball, Murph,give me your first one, all right?
Carlos Santana, former Phil hit histhree hundredth career home run the other
day. Becomes just the tenth switchhitter in either league to hit three hundred

(45:22):
home runs. Carlos Santana, it'spretty impressent. Well, yeah, all
right, so mine, Blake Snell, because that could have five Baseball has
allowed a total of only eighteen earnedruns in his last twenty two starts.
Nobody's your league baseball pitcher has everdone that before since nineteen thirteen when they
started tracking earn runs and not countingopeners. And I'll stick with this one

(45:42):
too, because you know I'll giveyou mine and then you give me your
last one. The Padres dropped.They won eight in a row, which
was the first time they won morethan three in a row all season long,
becoming the last team in Major Leaguebaseball to win four more or a
row, four more in a row, and so they want eight in a
row. But they lost last nightand they dropped oh and twelve and extra
innings. Joining the nineteen sixty nineMontreal Expos it's the only teams to go

(46:06):
oh and twelve and extra innings.Crazy season that San Diego has had.
Yeah, and Adam Wainwright, whois retiring after at the end of this
year from the Saint Louis Cardinals,going for win number two hundred in his
career. He had been stuck onone ninety eight forever, got one ninety
nine going for two hundred, goesout there and pitches seven shutout endings.
At age forty two, he isthe oldest pitcher in Cardinal's history to do

(46:29):
that. He gets win number twohundred. Pretty cool way to end his
career out there in Saint Louis,Murph. Let's wrap it up today,
right, Let's let's be done.Let's let's win. Let's win the top
wall card spot today. Let's makesure the champagne is popping and you're waking
up in you know champagne so closetomorrow. I'm hoping for the best for
you. Today down there at theballpark. But it's gonna be a lot
of fun. Regardless it should be. They'll they'll clench at some point this

(46:51):
week, so sign us up fora party at some point. But why
not take care of business today.They need a little help, as you
mentioned, you know, he needthe Cups to lose, or the Marlins
or the Marlin stuff, and thenthe Diamondbacks have to lose two. Yeah,
so you need a little help.But win today from the Phils in
combination with one of those, andand we will be celebrating tonight in South
Philadelphia. I like it sounds great, all right? I remember countdown to
pay Out. It's coming up withShawn Brayson, John Jansen for Kyle the

(47:14):
magic Man, non a Maker,Greg Murphy. I'm Chris sacking like a
three one pitch to Ryan Howard.We are out of here. Let's go
Phillies. We'll talk postseason baseball withyou all next weekend.