Yes, NL All-Star Bryce Harper is still elite
Bryce Harper was one of five Phillies to make the 2026 National League All-Star team.
He will join Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, Cristopher Sánchez and Jhoan Duran. Does this make Harper elite again? Was there any doubt he wasn’t? We share our thoughts on each of the five Phillies All-Stars.
We also discuss Aaron Nola’s start on Sunday, Andrew Painter’s Triple-A start on Saturday and more.
This episode of The Phillies Show is powered by Monster Energy. Stop By Your Local Retailer To Pick Up A Monster Energy Drink Today.
It’s “Best Week” by Manco & Manco Pizza! Manco’s is the Best of the Best, and every week throughout the season we pick our best Phillies players, performances and moments of the week.
🔔
Love the show? Get Phillies Show merchandise at ThePhilliesShowShop.com!
@The Phillies Show Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow us on social media!
@Foul Territory We’re part of the Foul Territory Network. Follow FT and find more shows, including Fair Territory!
If you like The Phillies Show, subscribe and give us a five-star review!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Billy Show.
Speaker 3: Ruben Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury. Look at us, Ruben, we're together,
Speaker 3: Ruben Tomorrow Junior. You're in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: Ooh, I'm feeling a little fomo.
Speaker 3: You're missing out, buddy. We're in Kansas City.
Speaker 4: I am that.
Speaker 3: It is Monday, July sixth, twenty twenty six. A lot
Speaker 3: to talk about on today's show, and we got to
Speaker 3: get going. So let's not waste another minute. It's time
Speaker 3: for the Parks First Pitch. First Pitch is powered by
Speaker 3: the Bett Parks Online casino and Sports Pook app where
Speaker 3: there's always another.
Speaker 2: Way to win. You know it, Ruben, it's the number one.
Speaker 3: It's the number one way to win Phillies. Jim. Five
Speaker 3: all Stars we learned on Saturday night here in Kansas City.
Speaker 3: Do you want to run through it for us? Once
Speaker 3: you take the honors, Jim.
Speaker 1: You want to start with the position guys or the pitcher.
Speaker 3: Start with the position players.
Speaker 1: So Brandon marsh Earns the start in the outfield, voted
Speaker 1: in by the fans. Spoke to him a little bit
Speaker 1: on Sunday, Very very grateful. He is very appreciative. Young man.
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper is the Commissioner's legend pick, and which Rubin,
Speaker 1: you actually were right all over that. You were all
Speaker 1: over that like a duck on a june bug. And
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber is also a selection obviously leads some majors
Speaker 1: and home runs, with Chris Sanchez and Johan do Ran
Speaker 1: on the team as well. The closer and the great
Speaker 1: starting pitcher, Zach Wheeler comes up short, missed a month.
Speaker 1: I think that probably worked against him. But Ruben, Bryce Harper,
Speaker 1: you speculated that he might be the Commissioner's pick, and
Speaker 1: like I said, you nailed that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I'm not really not at all surprised other
Speaker 5: than the Wheeler non pick. I mean, I'm really not surprised.
Speaker 5: Now Wheeler is likely not going to be able.
Speaker 6: To participate because I think he's scheduled a pitch on
Speaker 6: Sunday as is Ley, miz Which is actually probably a
Speaker 6: good thing for our other boy, mister san Cheese. But
Speaker 6: and that sort of lines up things properly as they should.
Speaker 6: I mean, we've talked about all this.
Speaker 5: Well deserved and a great honor for marsh. I can't
Speaker 5: believe it's Doran's first one. It's hard for me to
Speaker 5: even imagine that, but I guess, you know, you start
Speaker 5: thinking about some of the guys. Jimmy Rollins didn't play
Speaker 5: in a whole lot of All Star Games because he
Speaker 5: had really, you know, slow starts to the season. He's
Speaker 5: like not a real like cold weather player. So even
Speaker 5: as good as Jimmy is and likely a Hall of
Speaker 5: Famer in my mind, the guy didn't play in a
Speaker 5: ton of All Star Games because he had you know,
Speaker 5: slow starts. Maybe that's the case with Doran as well,
Speaker 5: but because he's been awesome, but no surprises. Great, great
Speaker 5: for Marshie to get an opportunity to be recognized appropriately
Speaker 5: because he's had a hell of a year and now
Speaker 5: two years now, so happy and proud of that, and boy,
Speaker 5: that's good. Abode well at the arbitration table for him.
Speaker 4: Lots of glue, Yeah, lots of glue.
Speaker 5: I mean, that'll jump his number quite significantly and rightly
Speaker 5: so because he deserves it.
Speaker 4: And yeah, no surprise. I mean, Sanchez obviously, one of
Speaker 4: the best pictures in.
Speaker 5: Baseball should be there, should be starting all of that,
Speaker 5: and probably will. I can't imagine that there is a
Speaker 5: scenario unless somebody gets hurt. Something happened, some craziness that
Speaker 5: that Christopher Sanchez doesn't start that game for the National League.
Speaker 3: Bryce said he found out on Wednesday that he was
Speaker 3: the legend pick. He got a voicemail during It was
Speaker 3: during Wednesday's game right against the Parts, Rob Manford called
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball Commissioner called left Bryce a voicemail, and
Speaker 3: of course Ruben like me, the way my brain works is,
Speaker 3: you know, we get spam calls all the time. You
Speaker 3: get the two, one, five, blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: So I asked Bryce, I go, so, do you know
Speaker 3: when you see the voicemail, do you know it's Rob Manford?
Speaker 3: Because sometimes you know, I get I'll get a voicemail.
Speaker 3: If I don't recognize the number, I don't even bother
Speaker 3: to check. He's like, I have Rob's number on my phone,
Speaker 3: so he knew Rob Manford had left him a voicemail.
Speaker 3: He checks the voicemail, says, give me a call. I
Speaker 3: want to talk All Star Game with you, and then
Speaker 3: he gets the course, he gets the nod that he
Speaker 3: was a legend pick, which you know, Bryce was great
Speaker 3: talking about it on Sunday morning. Here Jim Right, I
Speaker 3: mean he was.
Speaker 1: He was great. Todd wrote about on MLB dot Com.
Speaker 1: I wrote a about it on NBC Sports Philadelphia, very
Speaker 1: open and quotable. Talked about, you know how it means
Speaker 1: something to him to be the commissioner's legend pick. It's
Speaker 1: nine in a row. He wants more. Nine overall, I
Speaker 1: should say all Star games. He wants more. Talked about
Speaker 1: his season and he flat out said, quote, I deserve
Speaker 1: to be in this game because of the way I
Speaker 1: have played, and he's had a really really good season.
Speaker 1: Some would even call it elite. I think it's right there.
Speaker 1: He's eleventh in Major League Baseball coming into Sunday in OPS,
Speaker 1: leads the Phillies in RBIs having a really, really tremendous season,
Speaker 1: and I agree with him, he deserves to be in
Speaker 1: that game. The big question is will he be in
Speaker 1: the Home Run Derby because I think the Derby with
Speaker 1: the game being in Philadelphia, the Derby being in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and his personality and the fact that Kyle Schwarber is
Speaker 1: expected to be in it after leading the National League
Speaker 1: and home runs last year, leading the Majors and home
Speaker 1: runs now, I think it sets up to be almost
Speaker 1: as exciting as the game, if not more exciting than
Speaker 1: the game in a lot of ways. But Bryce is
Speaker 1: on the fence. He says he has to find the
Speaker 1: right pitcher, somebody here that he can trust, and I
Speaker 1: think he's going to end up in this thing. What
Speaker 1: do you think, Tom, I do.
Speaker 3: I think he deep down he would love the opportunity
Speaker 3: to be there. Right, But he says his dad's not
Speaker 3: going to throw to him Ruben, right like his dad
Speaker 3: threw to him in twenty eighteen when he beats Swarbur
Speaker 3: in the semi final to win the home run Derby
Speaker 3: at Nationals Park. But he says his dad hasn't thrown
Speaker 3: in a few years. He says he's gotten a few
Speaker 3: people that have reached out, some former teammates. I said,
Speaker 3: you know, he said, like I trust him, like they're
Speaker 3: thrown to their kids in high school with some college kids.
Speaker 3: But I guess there is some truth this.
Speaker 1: He said.
Speaker 3: There's a difference between throwing BP and high school and
Speaker 3: college and then coming out on the mountain the home
Speaker 3: run derby and the way that the derby is set
Speaker 3: up right now, you only get so many swings, so
Speaker 3: if you don't get anything good to hit and Bryce
Speaker 3: said Reuben, I am not coming just to have fun.
Speaker 3: If I compete in the home run Derby, I am
Speaker 3: not coming to just like, you know, have my kids
Speaker 3: on the field and have a fun time. He's like,
Speaker 3: if I'm competing in it, I want to pitch here.
Speaker 3: That's gonna throw me some right where I want it
Speaker 3: so I can win that competition in Philadelphia.
Speaker 7: Oh, it's a real thing. I mean, there's no question
Speaker 7: about it. I mean, and and there's some pressure on
Speaker 7: that guy if that guy hasn't thrown BP, and that
Speaker 7: guy has I mean, there's a huge amount of pressure.
Speaker 5: I've I've brought guys who I knew through very good
Speaker 5: BP to high schoolers and college kids and whatever. I
Speaker 5: brought them to the ballpark in Citizens Bank Park to
Speaker 5: give them an opportunity. I brought them to the ballpark
Speaker 5: at Veterans Stadium, and and and Wade's done it. You know,
Speaker 5: We've we've done it where we've given guys opportunities and
Speaker 5: they really do struggle. I struggle throwing VP. That's one
Speaker 5: of the reasons why I didn't throw BP. And in
Speaker 5: Boston and New York, I just struggled, uh to be
Speaker 5: able to throw consistent strikes. And so in this particular,
Speaker 5: I mean, you're talking about a level of scrutiny that's
Speaker 5: really high. And UH, I mean I'll give my you know,
Speaker 5: unabashed plug to like slugball when you start. When you
Speaker 5: play slugball, you need a picture who can throw the
Speaker 5: ball on the inside part of the plate down the
Speaker 5: middle the opposite way. You know, you have to be
Speaker 5: able to have pinpoint control to do that, and it's
Speaker 5: not an easy thing to do. My brother happens to
Speaker 5: be an outstanding VP thrower, doesn't throw enough gas, So
Speaker 5: I'm not going to recommend him to UH to UH,
Speaker 5: to Bryce Harper, but but it is important to UH.
Speaker 5: It is important to be able to have a guy
Speaker 5: who can who can do that for you.
Speaker 4: And UH, I think who was it somewhere? Guys Ramone,
Speaker 4: him Henderson through.
Speaker 5: Bray you was a Bobby and to Ryan Howard and
Speaker 5: because they knew that Ramon could could throw consistent strikes
Speaker 5: into the love zone, so to speak.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's.
Speaker 4: Important and UH, and it will be really interesting.
Speaker 5: There's no question in my mind that he's going to
Speaker 5: participate because he's going to find somebody that's going to
Speaker 5: be able to do it.
Speaker 4: And there's no question in.
Speaker 5: My mind that this man will be busting his buttocks
Speaker 5: to win this thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. There's tons of pressure on the on
Speaker 1: the guy who throws VP in the home run derby.
Speaker 1: I mean, you got all the TV cameras, you got
Speaker 1: all the fans, and you got to lay it in there,
Speaker 1: and it's got to be firm. It's an art form.
Speaker 3: And how much fun would it be? I mean, what
Speaker 3: the ideal situation. Of course, Schwarburn Harper participate. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: both make it to the finals.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and there are two like listen, they're there are
Speaker 5: two of the stalwarts, the two pillars of this ball club.
Speaker 5: I mean, you could talk about the Marshes and and
Speaker 5: the resurgence of Turner and the resurgence of guys like
Speaker 5: Alec Bohm, but the reality of it is the Phillies
Speaker 5: are the Phillies because of Harper and Schwarbur and obviously
Speaker 5: they starting pitching, but as far as the offensive side
Speaker 5: of the game, those are the guys. And it would
Speaker 5: be really cool and I think it'd be really special
Speaker 5: for Philadelphia.
Speaker 3: You know, it was cool in the in terms that
Speaker 3: we didn't really even talked about Schwarburn making the Alser team.
Speaker 3: We know why he made it, but I thought it
Speaker 3: was interesting that he edged Shoheyo Tani in the player vote,
Speaker 3: like by six or eight votes. He bested him in
Speaker 3: the player vote.
Speaker 1: Respect.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a respect thing. I think people really appreciate
Speaker 3: and respect what Kyle Shwarbur does.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been he's been around in the different parts
Speaker 5: of the league, and he's touched as.
Speaker 2: Many players as anybody.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's been on what five teams? Has he
Speaker 4: been on five teams?
Speaker 7: Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia Nationals?
Speaker 4: Just four or.
Speaker 5: So. He's been on four teams, very prominent teams, high
Speaker 5: level teams, and has made his mark in each one.
Speaker 2: Of those spots.
Speaker 4: So I'm not surprised that he's building a reputation of
Speaker 4: not being just a great baseball player, but a great
Speaker 4: leader and a great person.
Speaker 3: So that was first pitch powered by Parks Casino. Must
Speaker 3: be twenty one gambling problem, Call one eight hundred gambler.
Speaker 3: You know it, It's Monday and it is time for
Speaker 3: Jim Manco and Manco Best Week Manco Manco. When you
Speaker 3: want the best of the best, you swing down to
Speaker 3: Manco Manco's down the shore, and of course it's down
Speaker 3: at Citizens Bank Park. Get your Manco Manco Best Week, guys.
Speaker 3: Lots of options do you want? Do you want to
Speaker 3: lead off?
Speaker 1: Jim, There's tons of options. I might just go right
Speaker 1: back to Brandon Marsh not just the season he has had,
Speaker 1: but really since May one of twenty twenty five, early
Speaker 1: May whatever it is, when he came back from that.
Speaker 1: We have assignment at Triple A kind of as a
Speaker 1: new man had that, you know, like Paul Owens, just
Speaker 1: to say, have a meeting with yourself, and he decided
Speaker 1: that he was gonna make some adjustments and stop stressing.
Speaker 1: And he's had a remarkable run now that for over
Speaker 1: a season, and I think it's just a really great story.
Speaker 1: His journey is improvement as a baseball player has taken
Speaker 1: him to the All Star Game and you know, made
Speaker 1: him an everyday player with the Phillies batting cleanup. Just
Speaker 1: a terrific story. So he would be my Manco Manco
Speaker 1: Best of the Week, Best of the year, best of
Speaker 1: a year and a half. But he deserves it.
Speaker 4: Toddy, Yeah, great call, Jim.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know I'm going to say Bryce Harper kind
Speaker 3: of for the season he's had because you know, Dave
Speaker 3: Dombrowski made that comment of course elite or not back
Speaker 3: in October, and it's followed him everywhere. And it's followed
Speaker 3: him because he's been asked about it a lot. It's
Speaker 3: followed him because he put it on a T shirt
Speaker 3: and posted it on TikTok in the off season when
Speaker 3: he was taking off season BP. So it's something that
Speaker 3: he's I think irked him, but he also embraced that.
Speaker 3: He also used has used as motivation in a sense.
Speaker 3: When we talked to him about it today, we said,
Speaker 3: you know, we asked him about it. He says, yeah,
Speaker 3: I was just asked about that. Are you elite now?
Speaker 5: Again?
Speaker 3: Are you elite now? He said, I'm going to leave
Speaker 3: that for you guys to decide. But the numbers speaks
Speaker 3: for But the numbers speak for themselves. Your eleventh in
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball and ops twenty home runs, Ruben, Your
Speaker 3: fifty seven RBIs, he said, one of you guys said
Speaker 3: it was the team high ends, right, So he leads
Speaker 3: the team in RBIs twenty home runs. You take Kyle
Speaker 3: Schwarber the equation, you know, it's I mean it's still
Speaker 3: a big number, I guess, but eleventh and major League
Speaker 3: Baseball ops. He's had a better season in my mind
Speaker 3: than offensively than Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson. But they've
Speaker 3: got they got big fan bases for fan votes. They
Speaker 3: they finished top two in the player votes. So it
Speaker 3: would have been criminal if Bryce Harper had not made
Speaker 3: this All Star team. He has answered the bell in
Speaker 3: terms of the elite questions or not, and he is
Speaker 3: he is elite, Ruben.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is.
Speaker 5: Yes, he's an elite the ball player, and he's a
Speaker 5: great ballplayer, and he's a future Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4: You know. The last thing is put one of these
Speaker 4: bad boys on.
Speaker 5: He's got to put one of those rings on, and
Speaker 5: and I think that's uh, that's the one thing that
Speaker 5: he he's itching to get. And so he's certainly hopeful
Speaker 5: that it will be interesting to see what kind of
Speaker 5: quotes and how many things he might talk about as
Speaker 5: we get closer to the trait, as he as he
Speaker 5: poses into his assistant GM mode. But but yeah, I mean,
Speaker 5: it's had a great year.
Speaker 4: He wants to win, and he wants to be great,
Speaker 4: and he wants.
Speaker 5: To show the world that he's great, and what better
Speaker 5: way to do that than to do some damage in
Speaker 5: the All Star Game, in the biggest stage and maybe
Speaker 5: win a I don't know, home run derby contest possible.
Speaker 5: I got I actually have Joan Duran. I think Joan
Speaker 5: Douran has been just he has been phenomenal. He's uh,
Speaker 5: he's done everything you could possibly ask in the role
Speaker 5: that he's taken.
Speaker 4: It is a vastly underrated trade by Dave Dombrowski.
Speaker 5: This man has changed the whole dynamic of the bullpen. Yes,
Speaker 5: they need more depth there, but in matt If he
Speaker 5: wasn't there and they had resigned a guy like Hoffman
Speaker 5: or Estevas who has gone down now. I mean he's
Speaker 5: really he's really something special. The Phillies haven't had something
Speaker 5: like this. He's been amazing. Again, kudos to him and
Speaker 5: congratulations for the statsionis. But I got jug yes, Senor Doran,
Speaker 5: because he deserved it. He's been phenomenal and he's getting
Speaker 5: a big ass slice of pie of Manco Manco pie
Speaker 5: for me.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: He's a great pick, a great All Star. It's funny
Speaker 3: because Don manningly said it too. He's like, yeah, I
Speaker 3: was surprised to learn that Doran, and this is his first.
Speaker 8: All Star game.
Speaker 3: He's just been so good for so many years, not
Speaker 3: so many years, a few years, but you would have
Speaker 3: thought he would have made an All Star game by now.
Speaker 3: But this is his first one.
Speaker 4: Doing it in a city, doing it in a city
Speaker 4: where there's a demand, there's.
Speaker 5: A kulo apretado that's a tight ass and you can
Speaker 5: create that.
Speaker 2: In Philadelphia.
Speaker 5: He was not doing it in a city that was
Speaker 5: anything like this when he was doing.
Speaker 2: It in Minnesota. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 4: To watch him grow as a person and as a pitcher.
Speaker 2: I think he's e elite, easilyite.
Speaker 3: He's twenty one for twenty two. I think in save
Speaker 3: opportunities this year. I look this up the other day,
Speaker 3: second highest save percentage by any Phillies closer. I mean,
Speaker 3: Brad Lidge is the only one that's been better, and
Speaker 3: he was.
Speaker 4: Perfect, so and you just can't get better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't get any better than Brad Lidge in
Speaker 3: two thousand and eight, but Drawan Doran is right there
Speaker 3: nipping at his heels. So that was Manco and Manco
Speaker 3: best week. When you want the best of the best,
Speaker 3: go to Manco and Manco We're going to have a
Speaker 3: show down there and a can't wait. We will be
Speaker 3: announcing that soon and want to mention this, guys. Monster
Speaker 3: Energy is keeping the Philly show going all season long.
Speaker 3: Unleash the Beast game days and just about baseball. It's
Speaker 3: about bringing the energy wherever you are. Pick up a
Speaker 3: Monster Energy drink at your local retailer and fuel the hype.
Speaker 3: I could have really used a Monster Energy drink today, Rubin,
Speaker 3: because it was the I mean, it's the fourth of
Speaker 3: July everywhere, of course, but there were fireworks going off
Speaker 3: and can I don't know what it was like in Philly.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it was the same thing at Philly, fireworks
Speaker 3: going off all night. But there are fireworks going off
Speaker 3: across the highway at Kaufman Sam throughout the game last night.
Speaker 3: I get back to the hotel after writing my game
Speaker 3: story and there was fireworks going off. Jimmy, we're saying
Speaker 3: at the same hotel. By chance. Get at three am,
Speaker 3: somebody's lighting off fireworks and it was like pop pop,
Speaker 3: pop pop, and then it would stop for a minute
Speaker 3: and you go, all right, they're out of fireworks, and
Speaker 3: then pop pop and then there'd be delayed for five minutes,
Speaker 3: like all right, finally they're done. It kept going and
Speaker 3: it kept going and it kept going.
Speaker 5: So I could do a lot of patriotism there and
Speaker 5: then Midwest a lot.
Speaker 3: I could have used a Monster Energy drink. Nevertheless, I
Speaker 3: could have used one. I could have I could have
Speaker 3: used one on this morning before the Sunday Sunday Sunday
Speaker 3: morning game. But it is Monday. And what do we
Speaker 3: think of Aaron Nolan on Sunday?
Speaker 2: Guys?
Speaker 3: The first time he had pitched seven innings in a
Speaker 3: game since his final start of last season. First time
Speaker 3: he had pitched six innings in a game since I
Speaker 3: think his last start of May hit any array of
Speaker 3: almost seven. I think right or six and a half seven.
Speaker 3: In all of June, he.
Speaker 1: Was over seven in his last five stars.
Speaker 5: We were hitting the alarm bells and the absolutely and
Speaker 5: rightfully so, Jim, what'd you see?
Speaker 1: You were there? I saw it. Terrific curveball. I saw
Speaker 1: he got some chase really good, uh change up. I
Speaker 1: saw kind of a guy who resembled the Aaron Nola
Speaker 1: that for years gave this team innings and kept him
Speaker 1: in ball games. Really good. That curveball was excellent, said
Speaker 1: he made a little adjustment with it, trying to stay
Speaker 1: on top of it more. But that's my yeah, to me,
Speaker 1: very encouraging because you need this guy. You get a
Speaker 1: big drop off after three, after number three in the rotation,
Speaker 1: and if you can just feel like you can get
Speaker 1: five from Aaron Nola and then on that rare occasion
Speaker 1: he gives you six or seven like he like he
Speaker 1: did on Sunday. But he had like forty two point
Speaker 1: six percent chase today on pitches out of the zone.
Speaker 1: That's him. Change speeds, get some chase, throw that good
Speaker 1: change up, throw that good breaking ball, spot the ass ball,
Speaker 1: keep it out in the middle of the plate, keep
Speaker 1: it down. And he showed me something because he had
Speaker 1: a tough first inning. He had a tough first inning.
Speaker 1: I think there were a lot of people probably watching going,
Speaker 1: oh boy, here we go. And and he buckled down
Speaker 1: and he had some quick innings. He kept the leadoff
Speaker 1: man off base, did a good job.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And now I was one of them.
Speaker 5: I mean I saw that first, you know, that first inning,
Speaker 5: and thought to myself, my god, he's getting underneath that
Speaker 5: breaking ball. It's spinning up there. It doesn't have the
Speaker 5: bite to it. He got the two outs and then
Speaker 5: bing bam boom. You know that stuff was happening with
Speaker 5: him with two He just couldn't get out of the inning.
Speaker 2: I thought to myself he would go again.
Speaker 1: But to his.
Speaker 5: Credit, he really buckled down, as you said, and got
Speaker 5: back to being sort of himself. He really and I
Speaker 5: did see him after your questions, Jim him talk about,
Speaker 5: you know, really getting that adjustment, working on getting on
Speaker 5: top of the ball. We've talked about this many many times.
Speaker 4: When his fingers in his arms and his hand are
Speaker 4: above the ball and he's driving.
Speaker 5: The ball down with every one of his his breaking ball,
Speaker 5: it spins better. His changeup has better action, his sinker
Speaker 5: has better action. And it's really I don't know if
Speaker 5: it's a combination of his arm slot and or his
Speaker 5: position of his hand on the ball. But when he's
Speaker 5: working downhill, which is something that we've talked about with Painter,
Speaker 5: who has had not done a very good job of that,
Speaker 5: when he's driving the ball down hill, he can do
Speaker 5: the sort of things that he did against Kansas City
Speaker 5: this yesterday. So I think the big thing about this
Speaker 5: is that, and I think don mattingly purposely put him
Speaker 5: out there for the seventh inning for him. I think
Speaker 5: he so he did it for his own I mean,
Speaker 5: even veteran guys need to feel loved again, right, They
Speaker 5: need to feel like the manager's in his corner.
Speaker 4: And I think he threw him out there.
Speaker 5: He could have yanked him in after the sixth did
Speaker 5: a good job, but he left him out there for
Speaker 5: the seventh inning. And I think he still had some
Speaker 5: people he could have utilized in the bullpen.
Speaker 4: And so I think that was really cool that he
Speaker 4: Donnie allowed.
Speaker 5: Him to stay in that game and to finish that
Speaker 5: seventh inning good stuff.
Speaker 3: Do you think it was a gamble in this sense?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I was so so here.
Speaker 3: And because here's why we talk about this all the time.
Speaker 3: I always go back to Charlie Manually, a guy's pitching, well, ish,
Speaker 3: you take him out, you go, why didn't you have
Speaker 3: him go the scent? Well, he got him out in
Speaker 3: a good part of the game. I was like, the
Speaker 3: sixth inning, Nola got through six innings, three runs, that's
Speaker 3: a great spot to get him out. He was at
Speaker 3: eighty three pitches, so obviously he could push him more.
Speaker 3: But to me, I thought it was a gamble because
Speaker 3: if he goes out in the seventh inning, gets blown up,
Speaker 3: even though he's facing eight nine to one. I thought
Speaker 3: it was a little bit of a risk, so it
Speaker 3: really paid off well. Like you said, Ruby, I think
Speaker 3: he walks out of the ballpark today feeling really good
Speaker 3: about himself. Absolutely a nice little gamble there by Don Mattingly.
Speaker 1: He struck out the side, all on knuckle curveballs, all
Speaker 1: on spike curveballs. You know, he strikes out the side,
Speaker 1: finishes strong. I thought there was a really good chance
Speaker 1: he was coming out of that game because they had
Speaker 1: action in the bullpen, and you know, I look out there,
Speaker 1: the door is open, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I see him running back out to the mound. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can understand it from the point of view. It
Speaker 1: was the bottom of the order and he was only
Speaker 1: at eighty three pitches and he had a quick sixth.
Speaker 1: But I still thought, you know, there are times you
Speaker 1: get a guy out of there because you've seen stuff
Speaker 1: happen before things blow up, and you wanted to leave
Speaker 1: feeling good and you don't want the game to get
Speaker 1: away from you. But he snuffed out that inning in
Speaker 1: a hurry.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: What I'm seeing about Don Manningly is I think that there's.
Speaker 8: Some situations where he's sort of testing guys what what
Speaker 8: in the in the in the case of Aaron Ol
Speaker 8: not as much of a test, but a confidence builder
Speaker 8: for him to allow him to go back out there,
Speaker 8: and he felt like he had the stuff to be
Speaker 8: able to do that paid off.
Speaker 5: Well. However, on the flip side, I was surprised that
Speaker 5: he went with Johnson set Johnson then in the eighth
Speaker 5: because it was a game that was still in hand
Speaker 5: and the team has done a very good job of
Speaker 5: scoring runs late as of late, and so he's not
Speaker 5: really one of their plus relievers. But the game was
Speaker 5: only a one run game at the time, and I
Speaker 5: think he's sort of trying to find out whether some
Speaker 5: of these guys can pitch and hold leads. And it
Speaker 5: was obvious that in the last two outings that he's had,
Speaker 5: really Johnson hasn't really been able to do that when
Speaker 5: you're walking guys and then he brings back Asin behind him,
Speaker 5: and so I think in some ways Don Mattingly's trying
Speaker 5: to find out whether he can get these guys to
Speaker 5: go to the next step and he's sort of finding
Speaker 5: out that maybe some of these guys can't. And I'm
Speaker 5: sure how many times he's going to give these guys
Speaker 5: opportunities to do that. Not sure who was all available in.
Speaker 9: That bullpen that you felt like some of their plus
Speaker 9: guys were available, correct, But I don't feel like. I
Speaker 9: feel it was one of those situations where he's trying
Speaker 9: to test it out to see if these guys can
Speaker 9: get it.
Speaker 1: Done well when he's stuck with Nola. He actually said
Speaker 1: something after the game that we were still in a
Speaker 1: minus situation and I wanted to stay away from our
Speaker 1: main guys. So he tells you he doesn't have a
Speaker 1: ton of trust out there in the bullpen. That's staying
Speaker 1: away from his main guys one of the reasons he's
Speaker 1: stuck with Nola. So I mean he's got a very
Speaker 1: small circle of trust out there. On seth Johnson, I
Speaker 1: look at the arm and I say, kid man, you
Speaker 1: gotta start throwing strikes. And he's very straight, which is
Speaker 1: a concern, but you got to throw strikes to give
Speaker 1: yourself a fighter's chance to show how good that arm is.
Speaker 1: And it's not going to happen if you don't throw strikes.
Speaker 4: Got to throw strikes out of a bullpen.
Speaker 5: There's nothing more demoralizing to a team and more difficult
Speaker 5: to overcome than walking people in out of the pem.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Don Don is not afraid to try things. He's
Speaker 3: not rattle easily. Again, we before Saturday night's game, we
Speaker 3: asked him to have you chatted with Zach and I
Speaker 3: think he kind of like almost smiled a little bit, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we chatted. He didn't really revealed him. He was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm fine. He went, he made his point, I made
Speaker 3: my point. It's all good. I'm fine. You know, he's
Speaker 3: not bothered by it. Zach's opinion. So he talked about that.
Speaker 3: Andrew Painter allowed what one run in six innings on
Speaker 3: Saturday with triple the Valley.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was four head snow walks.
Speaker 4: I think four or five strikeouts something like that.
Speaker 2: I don't know all the numbers.
Speaker 3: And he, Jim, you asked him. I thought was an
Speaker 3: interesting question about the timetable. Maybe could this be a
Speaker 3: short turnaround? What did what did he say? You want
Speaker 3: to share that? Don?
Speaker 1: You forgot to.
Speaker 3: He basically said, He's like, we didn't go into this
Speaker 3: with any sort of plan.
Speaker 1: He's like, get better.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, it's not like go down there and we're
Speaker 3: gonna forget about you for for for the next couple
Speaker 3: of months. He was like, yeah, I mean we went
Speaker 3: and we sent him down there open minded to work
Speaker 3: on us some things, to get better, to build his
Speaker 3: confidence back. So if he if he goes out here.
Speaker 3: It made it sound as though if he goes out
Speaker 3: in the next few weeks and rais the ship.
Speaker 1: If he pitches good, he's going to be back. They
Speaker 1: need him. Yes, they need a quality a good fifth starter.
Speaker 1: They need it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they need all of the pitch like he pitched
Speaker 5: today or on Sunday, and he they need, you know,
Speaker 5: Andrew Painter to come back and pitched a lot better
Speaker 5: than he pitched. And so I didn't find out and
Speaker 5: I'm trying to sneak around and get some.
Speaker 4: Information about you know, the numbers are the numbers.
Speaker 2: I get that.
Speaker 5: That doesn't necessarily mean that those the way he pitched
Speaker 5: were good, was going to get major league hitters out.
Speaker 5: He's getting minor league hitters out. It's a good sign.
Speaker 5: No walks, that's big. I think that's important.
Speaker 4: But the question I have is what he threw strikes,
Speaker 4: and I used to think about this and talk about
Speaker 4: this a lot. Were they minor league strikes or major
Speaker 4: league strikes?
Speaker 5: Because there's a difference because a strike in the minor
Speaker 5: leagues might be down the middle that gets whacked that
Speaker 5: a minor leaguer fouls off or mishits that a major
Speaker 5: leaguer doesn't. And so is his commands he driving the
Speaker 5: ball down? Is he getting good life on that fastball?
Speaker 5: Is he cutting it loose? Is he not cutting it off?
Speaker 5: Is he getting good breaking stuff down? It doesn't have
Speaker 5: good life to his fastball back when he was throwing
Speaker 5: his fastball with great life prior to his injury. That's
Speaker 5: what I want to find out, and that's why I
Speaker 5: would have my scouts at some point or someone who
Speaker 5: has a different to watch him pitch so that I
Speaker 5: can discern whether or not these are quality strikes or
Speaker 5: just quality minor league strikes.
Speaker 4: There's a difference.
Speaker 2: Believe me, we know.
Speaker 3: Christopher Sanchez can get big LEA hitters out. He's going
Speaker 3: to pitch in Monday's series finale against Kansas City. We
Speaker 3: chatted with him again on Sunday morning before the game,
Speaker 3: and he was very appreciative of making his second NL
Speaker 3: All Star team, and I think he is looking forward
Speaker 3: today possibly starting in the All Star Game on July
Speaker 3: fourteenth at Citizen Bank Park. So he says, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: worried about Kansas City and I'm worried about Saturday start against.
Speaker 2: The Tigers in Detroit.
Speaker 3: We'll worry about that afterward. But like you said, the answer, yeah,
Speaker 3: the right answer. But like you said, Ruben at the
Speaker 3: beginning at the top of the show, if not Christopher Sanchez,
Speaker 3: then who else? Because the miss already said he's out.
Speaker 3: He's pitching Sunday's regular first half finale for the Brewers.
Speaker 3: He's already says I'm here. He said, I'm out at
Speaker 3: the All Star Game. I'm not pitching the All Star Game.
Speaker 3: There is nobody you can make a case for other
Speaker 3: than Christopher Sanchez.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it sort of makes the It sort of makes
Speaker 5: the decision for Dave Roberts easy, and I think he
Speaker 5: would probably make it a decision anyway, I really do.
Speaker 2: I think Dave Roberts is very.
Speaker 5: In tune with stuff, and this is important stuff. The
Speaker 5: fact that this is one of the best, you know,
Speaker 5: pitchers in the game. He's in the NL, and it's
Speaker 5: in his home park, and he's been fundamenon all at
Speaker 5: home in his entire.
Speaker 2: Career, so particularly this year as well.
Speaker 1: So one in, one inning, one inning, nine pitches and
Speaker 1: go to fog Deshao.
Speaker 5: I was going to go somewhere, Foe go to Chown's great,
Speaker 5: but he's probably gonna step it up a few notches
Speaker 5: beyondest well.
Speaker 1: But I only want them one inning, nine pitches, Thank
Speaker 1: you very much.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love it, guys. That was fun Philly show. We'll
Speaker 3: be back on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Wednesday, I think we'll see.
Speaker 3: We'll be back there this week, Ruben. Yeah, we'll be
Speaker 3: back later this week.
Speaker 1: Okay, million later, Ruben.
Speaker 4: Jimmy