welcome into another episode of Locked on Phillies the Phils one again and Cody Clemens played walk-off hero and some people are saying he deserves a bigger role on this team is that true we'll discuss on today's episode you are locked on Phillies your daily Philadelphia Phillies podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes this is locked on Phillies I'm Conor Thomas your host we come to you as part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you may know me from some of my other work in the Sports Talk space five years over at 975 The Fanatic on the radio here in Philadelphia I've been a credential to Philadelphia Phillies media member for three seasons now and this is my third season as the host of lock to one Phillies please make sure you're rating reviewing subscribing to the YouTube all that great stuff that really helps us out here on lockon Phillies if you enjoy the content that's the number one way to say Thank you so I appreciate every who's done that already and going to do that today's episode's brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com to get started and check out that awesome offer from our fan our fans our friends we're fans of them over at FanDuel we're also fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and of Cody Clemens a walk-off win last night for the Phils over the Tampa Bay Rays a two to one final in a game that was um quick and kind of a little bit boring and the Phillies well they had five hits in the whole contest and they won and do you remember I gave you that stat how the rays are like unbelievable when they out hit opponents uh guess what the Phillies just went ahead and said forget all that we're gonna hit five times you're going to have eight hits and we're GNA win this game two to one which is credit let's run through some stuff real quick before we get to the walk-off right and then we'll have that Cody Clem discuss but credit to Christopher Sanchez outstanding start by him and the bullpen was really good too but let's start with Sanchez six Innings he only had four strikeouts but he only allowed four hits and he allowed zero runs great work by him oryan kiring a shutdown inning Jeff Hoffman is shutd down inning Carlos stez went ahead and gave up that home run that Yan roas almost robbed that was like one of the near Miss home run robs like the closest I've ever seen would have been an insane play unfortunately roas didn't make it sucks at the time it was like oh you've got to be kidding me and then you're not even mad at anybody right I guess AZ for giving up a ball that could be hit out of the yard but it was just like how in the world did that not stay in his glove roas trying to make the play didn't quite get there great effort by him nothing to be mad about just kind of like a oh come on man really in the ninth inning but as stez ends up with the victory he is four and four on the season and he gets that Victory because the Phillies were able to walk it off in the ninth now the reason they were in position to walk it off in the ninth is from the only other run in the game besides Cody Clemens which was an absolute moonshot by Kyle schwarber who's one of the hottest hitters in major league baseball right now he was only one for four but that one was like a 470 foot bomb into the upper level of the bullpen that bounced up on the Ashburn alley like to hit the ball there that is insane I've stood out there many times yelling at the opposing Bullpen to know that a ball can carry that far and then bounce up like it's nuts it's superhuman power Kyle schorer has it he's been displaying it all month in September even though we're only on the 10th day of September and he was displaying it at the end of July too wait July did I just skip like August don't even know my months sorry about that folks bottom line klew can hit a baseball really really far and that set up the situation in the ninth inning where the Phillies well they were going to need the win on a walk-off and there's a quick out recorded but the bases get loaded and actually before we even get to Cody Clemens too shout out buddy Kennedy buddy Kennedy local kid milville New Jersey uh he gets a chance to play with the Phillies because the injuries with edmundo Sosa and JT rudo and Alec bow and all these guys in Austin Hayes that are currently not available for the team he gets a big it bat in the ninth inning what would you do if you were in that spot because I'll tell you what I would do if I was in that spot I am stepping up to the plate and the second that I see a ball remotely close to the strike zone I am swinging like I'm trying to hit that ball on the Oregon a and that this ball game is over and it's going to be me and everyone's going to be mobbing me at home plate it is my moment this is Storybook stuff I've dreamed about this for my entire life and what does he do he takes a disciplined walk and he gets Cody Clems to the play Ultimate Team at bat great work by Buddy Kennedy I'm not like overly overly excited about a walk but the situation how hard mentally it is for some young players to come up and get those opportunities and put together a good team at bat and not swing out of their shoes and not try and do too much hey those are the type of bats that win your ball games and that was one that set up Cody Clemens for the walk-off winner we're gonna talk about in our next segment the Bryce Harper thing with the should have been double off the wall that he thought was gone we'll get into it I have plenty of thoughts on that that deserves its own segment because people are losing their minds and again we'll discuss but this first segment we're just going to talk a little Cody Clemens because let's start with the good right and then we'll question the questionable Cody Clemens has been up and down all year really the past two seasons he's been in a situation where he's had moments but he hasn't really gotten an extended stay here at the major league level he has opportunities but because the team is so talented he doesn't get many he gets an opportunity to walk it off last night a great great job of hitting through the first base second base Gap nice little single all you need to do ball game is over and Cody Clemens I gotta tell you guys like I think everybody on social media from my feed at least had the same reaction this dude can swing it like this dude at the major league level can hit baseballs he's batting this year 242 at the major league level with four home runs 17 RB and a 757 on base plus slugging like Ops I should have just said the letter so I listed the whole thing for some reason now he only has in the regular season 91 of bats so in 91 of bats that have 17 RBIs and four homers that's not bad for a guy that hasn't been able to really break through at the major league level yeah he plays a couple of positions and you like him at first base but he can be a little bit versatile bats Left Right throws right so you can play him other places in the infield but really he's a first baseman type of guy or a corner infield type of guy and the tough thing about Cody Clemens right as great as the walk-off was as great as he's had some moments like I love what Cody Clemens has done or the Philadelphia Phillies remember when you traded Matt verling to the Detroit Tigers for Gregory stto Matt verling and Nick maton you got back Cody Clemens is kind of like this throwin guy and soda was the key part of that deal if you had told me that a year and a half later Cody Clemens was going to be hitting a walk-off for this team and Gregory soda was going to be in Baltimore following a complete collapse of his ability to throw for the Philadelphia Phillies I would have called you insane and yet here we are but here's the tricky thing when it comes to Cody Clemens and not getting caught up too much in the moment I like Cody Clemens I like won Wilson I like a lot of these guys that are The Fringe players or Fringe pitchers from the minor league system it's a good sign the guys are coming up and producing because it means you're developing Talent well but here's what I'll say for those that want Cody Clemens to get more bats to get more opportunity who is it over and I understand September call-ups now he can be on the team you get an extra two guys to go ahead and fill out the roster now that we're into September but let's just look at the guys that would normally employ the roster or normally be employed on the roster if they were healthy you're not playing him at first base over Bryce Harper arguably one of the great players of this era never GNA happen you're not playing him over Alec B at third base Alec bow was the All-Star starter at third base this year for the national league he's not really a middle infielder you're not going to play him up the middle even if you were you're not playing him over trade Turner and even though Bryce has struggled you'd have to see significant consistency from Cody Clemens even consider playing him over price thought Trey Turner by the way another All-Star starter in the infield like then you go to bench rolls and and say okay he can be a pin Off the Bench but is he better than edmundo Sosa I'm taking ad Mundo Sosa over Cody Clemens is he better than Brandon Marsh or Yan roas whoever's not playing because Austin Hayes ideally is in the Outfield when he's healthy and not have a kidney infection are you playing Cody Clemens over those guys in the moment you might say yes but in actuality their track records would show they're solid major league baseball players so I the tough thing for Cody Clemens right and I don't want him traded I don't want him off this team but if I was Cody Clemens or if I was Cody Clemens agent I would want him out of Philadelphia because I think this dude is a major league ball player I don't know how good of a Major League ball player but I think he could be a usable depth piece or maybe even a fringe starter on a team like Colorado a team like Chicago not the Cubs the white socks some of the teams that are trying to find pieces right he could be that guy unfortunately for Cody Clemens he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies who are stacked at basically every position so when you get opportunities it's because of injury they're few and far between you can play well but there's still a lot of money committed at these positions to certain players that are not Cody Clemens so as far as giving him a bigger role on the team now if you were to superimpose this season this year's team over last year's team and you have your final out of the year against the Diamondbacks in the NLCS and Cody Clemens is at the plate instead of Jak cave do I feel better absolutely so that just shows you where the depth is at on this team this year compared to where it was last year and that's a great sign the tough thing for Cody is he just there isn't that much opportunity for him to get more chances here in Philly right now maybe that changes in the future maybe he doesn't hang around and wait for it to change in the future and sees his chances somewhere else but in this postseason run if Cody Clemens gets in a bad or two I'm not going to be mad at it the guy seems to come up big more often than not he can Feld his position a little bit and he has a little bit of pop no moments too big and I guess part of that is being the rocket son and knowing that Roger Clemens has shown you what big th situations look like and how you can go through those so credit to Cody Clemens a walk-off hit for him great work great win for the Philadelphia Phillies even though it didn't look so pretty there was really only one tough part of it besides the offense not being productive but when you're missing the guys you are it happens there's only one real negative takeaway from last night and I say negative LLY from my perspective because Bryce Harper did not run out of ball that he had hit off the wall in the ninth inning he thought he had gotten one I don't see it as negative for the same reason that I think everybody else does but my issues might be a little bit more troubling we'll discuss it coming up as we continue today's episode of lockon Phillies let's talk about game time first though because you need tickets to games you need to be there to see the Cody Clemens walk-off game the Christopher Sanchez great game I mean Ranger throws tonight it's never too late to get tickets for the game at the bank between the phills and the Rays and game time has a new feature called Game Time picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite Live Events even easier game time picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets speaking of thousands of tickets the birds play a home game Friday night their home opener against Atlanta maybe you want tickets to that game time does football too they have comedy concerts theater Sports of All Kinds go ahead and check it out with the game time app and they've got so much good stuff I mean you can see the view from your seat before you purchase the ticket it shows you the all in fees up front so you're not surprised by them at the end they have the game time guarantee which credits you 110% of the difference if you find seats in the same row and section for less and you got the best ticket coverage policy in the business go ahead and check out game game time take the guesswork out of buying tickets download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MLB you get $20 off your first purchase that's right terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on MLB you get $20 off download game time today what time is it you already know folks it's game time all right let's discuss this Bryce Harper situation because to me it's a non-issue and I'll tell you why but if you're not familiar with the situation let me just quickly outline what happened so Bryce Harper comes up in the ninth inning and he hits an absolute missile he stands there he watches it it looked good it felt good I'm yelling get out of the TV he's probably yelling get out in his mind and as he's like a step and a half out of the box three or four seconds later the ball Ricochet is off the top of the wall in right field it say in Bank Park and he starts to bust it to First and people look and say well he should have been on second you got caught watching in a big spot in the ninth inning when you just gave up a lead and now you have to score to win and we're in September and everyone's needs some focus and to all those people you know what I say I say you're right at the end of the day Bryce Harper cannot get caught standing around watching the baseball fly run everything out it's one of the first things they teach you in baseball it's good fundamentals now it's not hustle to me right because it's not he's not choosing like making a conscious choice to say I don't feel like running right now that's not it he thought he got one and that happens around baseball all the time and it shouldn't because you should always run everything out but that's more of a attention to detail thing than it is a hustle thing Bryce Harper hustles he plays the game incredibly hard I never question it about him even on times where it seems like he doesn't give the full effort running down the line to first or whatever he has enough St in the bank to tell me that Bryce Harper is a player that hustles that wants to win I firmly believe that about him I'll never question that about him now it is a mental mistake and that can't happen Rob Thompson was caught on the TV broadcast in The Dugout putting his head kind of down shaking his head a little bit he said after the game that Bryce Harper came up to him immediately apologized took accountability for it and topper was basically like yeah he knows he can't do it he apologized that's really like all you can do right that's all you can ask for is just they say they know better they go out and do it again hopefully isn't something that ever has to repeat itself but guys get caught watching sometimes that's the nature of power hitters and like I brought this up earlier this morning on the radio did anyone notice how long Kyle schorer stand stood and stared at his home run no because it went out right but he stood there for a while two three seconds where he like slowly admired the swing he put on the baseball and he took his time and joged around because his ball went way way out of the yard Bryce Harper did not but they both had the feeling that they got one and Bryce Harper has done it like 330 some times in his career I would expect him to know when he gets one so I I I don't know I'm not taking Bryce Harper to task especially since they won the baseball game I'm not gonna kill him for it I I've already told you like should he have run it yeah does he know that yes does Rob Thompson know that yes did they talk about it yes did Rob Thompson address it to the fan base and media absolutely so that's case close right it's not that big of a deal let's not lose our minds over something trivial like that in a game that they want I know it might not seem trivial at the time hindsight we have the benefit of it it was trivial they won anyway move on here's what the real problem is with that Bryce Harper situation it's not the fact that he didn't run out of the box it's not the fact that he got caught watching or showboating or pimp it or wasn't hustling whatever you want to call it if it's anything to do with the fact that that he didn't run to first base and like it looked like he wasn't giving his full effort that's going to pale in comparison to what I'm going to say if you are a power hitter if you are a true major league baseball player that's hit over 300 home runs in your career you and if you're Bryce Harper by the way who's hit probably thousands in his life you know when you get one you do you know the feeling you know hey I've got it that that going out like I just nuked that Kyle schwarber had the feeling earlier in the game I feel amazing About That Swing I just put on the ball there is no doubt in my mind that's leaving the AR so you know what I'm gonna do I'm G watch it for a step or two because I just got this picture and I want him to know it that's the thought process that goes through these guys heads and you want to you want to be entertaining and you want to enjoy what you did it's tough to hit a ball out of the ballpark in a major league game like that's the understatement of the century so when you get one enjoy it it's like telling guys in the NFL like hey feel free celebrate your touchdowns you got to work so hard to get those do whatever dance you want like that's how I feel about all of this stuff but the problem is Bryce Harper should know hey uh this is what it feels like when I get one and clearly last night in the ninth inning he felt that feeling and that ball did not leave the yard and that is much more troubling to me because what that says is that power really is not there we haven't seen him hit a home run since early early August it is now September 10th we do not have a lot of time for Bryce Harper to get that power crank in again before the postseason rolls around now we've seen this before where he goes kind of cold in September little power outage and then in October he just turns it on because he is this clutch monster that will always be in big spots for this team and delivers more often than not so it's not like a complete alarms going off in my head but that was one of my first thoughts was the fact that he thought he hit that out and it didn't get out tells me his power is not where he wants it to be it's not that he's just missing the ball no it's not that he's just getting under it or too much on top of it or not making hard enough contact or there's a hole in the swing no he hit that ball exactly where he wanted to on the line he wanted to probably could have had a little bit more of an angle launch angle but he did not think there was any way it stayed in the yard which is why he watched it the way that he did and it stayed in he's the de with elbow issues he's dealing with wrist issues he's been banged up he says resting a couple days is not going to make it feel better he hasn't had a lot of power displayed by the Philadelphia Philly first basement like it just hasn't happened for him over the past month and change and it's troubling that he thought he got that one and it didn't go out because that to me is just like a clear indicator of he's not creating enough pop and if it's injuries I don't know how that comes back especially if he tells you it's not getting better due to rest so for everyone worried about how fast Bryce Harper is running I'm much more worried about Bryce Harper's ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark in games where it matters the most and he did not display that yesterday I worry especially as a guy who guaranteed the Bryce Harper is going to go yard in this series that would have looked really great if he had a walk-off didn't it would have been a good call by me still two more games though I I I worry about the the power and I worry about the health and I worry about what he's going to look like in the postseason as he plays another 18 baseball games the rest of the way or however many he's in that seems to be a much bigger issue for the Philadelphia Phillies than worrying about hustle for a guy that has never had questions about hustle coming up next we're going to get into a conversation about the game two matchup between the Phillies and the Rays because hey you can win a Series tonight and bounce back from that split with the Marlins how did they do it we'll discuss as we wrap up today's episode yes this is a time to talk about FanDuel you've heard us talk a lot about fandor come on America's number one sports book I know you've heard of them well we have something a little bit different for you as far as an offer from FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three- week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with the YouTube TV base plan you're going to be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game it's a mouthful let me say that again you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment you can cancel anytime NFL season rolling why would you not want to get in on this you're already using FanDuel or you need a reason to start that's the perfect one so go ahead and check it out with America's number one sports book FanDuel okay well before we wrap up today's episode I want to remind you uh well thank you one more time for making locked on Philly is your first listen every day please make your next listen locked on MLB The on MLB podcast hosted by Sully Paul Francis Sullivan it's part of the locked on podcast network available on YouTube wherever you get your podcast they talk about everything around baseball not just the Phillies not just a specific team everything going on so you would have heard about how the Braves lost to the Reds and got shot out last night how the Dodgers lost how the Phillies once again are tied for the best record in baseball all this great stuff so go ahead and check out Sully on the locked on MLB podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day let's look into Phil's Rays game two with Ranger Suarez on the mound and he's going to be facing off against Taj Bradley now Taj Bradley has a 44 erra in 116 and 23s Innings pitched another righty it's been a stream of righties he's given up 20 homers in those 116 and two3 innings so you can hit the long ball off of him here's where I worry I always worry when guys have great strikeout numbers he struck out 131 and6 and two3 innings pitch he's only walked 39 so okay and well well not that 39 is a low number I shouldn't have say he's only walked 39 but that's a guy who's out of the Zone with good stuff and that's a guy that kills the Philadelphia Phillies over the course of the season your approach is going to have to be Rock Solid at the dish tonight and coming off of a game where you only had five hits it kind of Screams slow night for the offense again now who needs to step up to stop that well first of all it's Ranger Suarez who needs to make sure that the Rays don't get into a situation where they make this harder on the Phillies and make them start to have to press but Ranger Suz hasn't really fully stretched out since returning from the injured list a couple weeks ago I'd like to see him go six or more Innings tonight but that 29 and the 107 whip shows you what you need to know Ranger swz has been dominant this season even if it's in shorter spurts right now you want to make sure he's ready for the postseason but he's been as good as anybody in this Phillies rotation not named Zack Wheeler it starts with Ranger going out there and dominating the race hitters like you know they're capable of their offense has been part of their issue with this team and they have a couple of guys that we talked about Yanni Diaz and Christopher Morell and guys like that um Jose Siri that we talked about in yesterday's episode previewing the series as a whole but you can take advantage of this lineup and you need to do what Christopher Sanchez did give me six don't you don't have to give me shut out anys but six and two or less earned runs and let the offense go to work I do expect right I expect the offense to bounce back a little bit they're going to have more than five hits tonight right they have to they were getting like almost no hit through six in Innings and they made a little bit of noise there in the ninth to get things going the eighth and Ninth innings were opportunities for them so they showed flashes I guess but they're I don't even think it was their approach they just weren't swinging the battle that well and they don't have their best players available tonight you're going to have to approach your way into this baseball game if you're the Philadelphia Phillies offense that starts with the lead off hitter everything runs through him right now with JT out and with um edmundo Sosa out and with Alec B out and with Austin Hayes out you're in a situation where the options are few and far between for balancing out this lineup Kyle schworer needs to produce from the leadoff spot whether that's a walk which he's been great at forcing those this year or if it's a bomb like we saw him hit last night that's a guy to keep an on I I still believe in Bryce Harper like I do and he's dude he's so mad I know he's so mad about the way that he didn't run that ball out the fact that it didn't get out of the yard that's embarrassing in and it's not embarrassing for the team no they won that's embarrassing for Bryce Harper the individual not that I think it's that big of a deal because I told you my thoughts on that but he probably will he's probably losing sleep last night over it even though they won the game saying man why in the world would I do that I made our team have to work harder for this win I just made this more difficult than it needed to be in a September baseball game I thought I got that one and I didn't you know what I'm teed off and I'm gonna go ahead and tee off on taj Bradley tonight in the pitching matchup and the faceof between him and one of Philly's Best hitters so I expect Bryce Harper to have a nice night we'll see what happens through the rest of everything else is kind of like a toss up right castios will have a big day possibly I I I don't know I look at schwarber Harper tonight maybe even a little bit of Trey Turner mixed in I'd like to see what Brandon Marsh would be able to produce but we'll see who plays where maybe they go ahead and give Cody clemenson play and move guys around and who knows what they end up deciding to do with the lineup because there's so many moving pieces with some of your guys not available sounds like JT Remo by the way won't be back until like the Met series uh later this week so it's tough for the Phillies right now to put the best possible lineup together it's the top of the order that's going to have to carry it for them but you are going for the series win which is great because that builds momentum going into your matchup with the New York Mets who the Mets are continuing to just keep Pace with the Philadelphia Phillies not like keep pace like they're even with them but they're only seven games back of the Phillies they win when the Phils win they haven't really made up ground but they haven't really lost ground those series Loom large against the Mets so like I said you win these series or you win this series heading in these games from Tampa Bay Rays you feel better about the matchup with the Mets because the team has momentum I don't see this Phillies team as one with momentum right now like in this short short uh recent memory they lost two the Marlins they got shut down by the Rays they won on walk off after nearly blowing a sa I'm not the one to like complain about wins because I know they're hard to come by and you need a bunch of them so all wins are good wins but what I will say is that wasn't the most inspiring performance last night by the Philadelphia Phillies and I hope that tonight is different a 640m first pitch from Citizens Bank Park same time same place let's run it back what do you say boys let's not let it come down to a walk-off let's not let it come down to a two to one final let's not only have five hits in the ball game Let's actually string something together because the Phillies are capable offense still even with some of the guys that they're missing and they really like again they need to build that momentum before the Met Series so this is a big spot for them just a quick look at the standings overall by the way because I know I told you they're tied for the best record in baseball and they have that tie breaker over the Dodgers at 86 and 58 the Brewers are three and a half games back at the Phillies you're building a nice little buffer over them that could potentially expand because the Brewers are playing the Giants which no it won't happen there but they've got the diamondb for three leading into their series with you when you'll be taking on uh the uh the New York Mets so you're in a situation where you could pick up some games on the Brewers before you even play them and then put them out of the race for the two seed all together if you take advantage of that Series so a lot of momentum on the line the Brewers in two Series so it's finishing up the race series Mets and then Brewers up in Milwaukee right now though you attack the game in front of you with the players you have available and tonight for the Philadelphia Phillies that's Ranger Suarez on the mound and a peace meal bottom of the lineup and guys that are just going to have to figure out how to put together it bats and approaches against the pitcher that strikes out a lot of guys sounds like a fun night doesn't it of course this is probably going to be the night that Bryce Harper goes yard and the Phillies score like seven runs but hey I wouldn't be complainant about that anytime I get a chance to wear this Victory shirt again I am a happy happy man and Cody Clemens did that for the Philadelphia Phillies last night so shout out Cody shout out the rang or sorry the Christopher Sanchez start that you got and the bullpen I mean this is still you can tell winning playoff type atmosphere games I'm not talking about the fans but like the way the game plays that was a playoff type of style and the Phillies they find ways man they just win ball games and that's a great great thing it's why they have the most wins in all of baseball that's all for today's episode of Locked on Phillies tomorrow we're going to talk a little bit about of course game two and see if the Phillies are going to be going for the sweep the series over the Rays or if they need game three to find a way to Victory the pitching setup for the series against the Brewers and why the Philadelphia philes are doing this the right way I think and what that means about the Mets series so take a little bit of a peak forward there but also we're going to get into a conversation about who are the teams to watch out for because I think there're a lot less than the records in baseball would indicate we've got a funk thing going on with records and the number 100 so you're going to have to tune in tomorrow for that one how about that in episode to episode teas but that's all for today's episode of lockon Phillies thank you so much again for checking us out please make sure you're raing reviewing subscribing to the YouTube all that great stuff and I will talk to you tomorrow on the next episode of lockon Phillies