Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos key biggest #Phillies win of the year I The Phillies Show S1E55

hi this is Chase Utley and this is the Philly [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] show hi everybody Welcome to the Philly show Ruben Amar Jr Jim Salsbury Todd zi we're part of the fou territory Network Friday August 29th 2024 guys how are we doing today Bueno Bueno Phil had Philly had a big win last night Nick CIS is feeling good Nick casos came out the other night uh post game I'm sure you guys saw it he comes out he's got his CP ranking hat on not that we're we're not they're they're not a sponsor of ours but he must they must be a sponsor of his and comes out without a shirt on does his interview getting a little he's getting a little roof work done and he's getting a little chess work down yeah and then last night last night though he came out came out uh with the shirt on so he's a little bit more modest last night I mean it was a big home run but it wasn't it was a two-run shot versus a three-run shot so you know so he had to go you had to go with like a tank top yeah exactly right exactly right but I mean they're having fun obviously you know Brandon Marsh with a big home run in the sixth inning Nick castan's big home run in the seventh in goahead uh big win last night I mean what one of the biggest of the year I mean I I I I I you know people say that all the time right is this the biggest win of the year or one of the biggest wins of the year and it seems like there's a million of them million of them but I I feel like it's maybe true last night super important super super important you know because you know you maintain or you go to six games up a day comes off the schedule against your big rival who's trying to chase you down uh you lose that game you're down to four um it just uh and it you know much like the schwarber Grand Slam game 10 days ago um emotional win with a big dagger type hit it's one of those wins you can build off I think and get a couple more uh because of the momentum uh so I thought it was just an amazing huge win because you know they left like I they left seven men on base through the first five innings you're like uhoh one of those nights and then two big home runs two big daggers and it lifts everybody and you build on it the bullpen was great like they've been really good good throughout this entire home stand against Houston they were good that first night against Houston I think they had four shut out and last night three plus shutout I mean just great job by the bullpen locking that baby down but I mean home runs are so important to this team um look they're they're important to every team and you can say you know the Phillies win when they hit home runs most teams win when they hit home runs home runs have an impact on all teams the thing about the Phillies is they don't you know have a lot of ways to win ball games when they don't hit home runs other teams do um so you know they they need to slug the ball and and last night was case in point casos right now I mean the marsh home run was fascinating in the strategy employed by Brian snitker kind of blew up in his face then I noticed he said the ball was wind blown that was a little and then castiano is not missing if you throw him if you make a mistake over the plate right now he's in such a good Groove he is not missing it he is smoking it he is yeah I mean uh I I I don't know if you guys saw the post game but I was on post game last night and I had to apologize to Dave NE Browski I left after the fifth inning to go back to do that seventh inning hit back to the studio and I basically had my camera or my phone in my face as I was uh looking at something and I said something like these guys don't have a chance against the Braves or something like that and Dave debrowski came walking out of his office he's like well that wasn't very optimistic I was like oh my God I literally stuck my foot into my mouth but but I mean I listen they they you're were right Jim they were dead in the water I mean they had opportunities left and right and just did not get it done but it also shows a lot about the resilience of the team I mean listen I'm a fan too so I was I was disappointed because I thought it was going to be one of those games where they missed opportunities they weren't going to be able to bounce back um and uh and they did so great job of of resilience uh you mentioned the bullpen they've been outstanding great job by Rob Thompson and hey man you need everybody to step forward and you know marshy had three really poor bats he had a couple of strikeouts and then you know you all of a sudden there was a breaking ball and it's hanging in the middle of the plate for him and he crushed it the left center field and God bless him uh he he had a big home run and then you know ganos has been we talked about this he's been their most consistent uh offensive player man he's been really outstanding what I thought was really interesting about that at bat he got a first pitch fast ball from Holmes and he f it sort of surprised him because I think he was looking for like an off speed pitch much like you know the Verlander at bat I think off speed pitch and he fouled it back and he thought to himself you know what if he comes with another fast ball I better not miss it and he came with another fast ball and didn't get in enough and he stayed through it and hit it out of the ballpark it was a magical moment for for the fans it was magical moment for the team and uh and and that lock down Bullpen was just spectacular Orion kirking has taken a couple of steps forward over the last couple of weeks where he is now throwing his fast ball with conviction he's trusting it he's got a 97 mph fast ball sometimes he can sink it sometimes he gets it up to 98 but he's starting to command that pitch no walks out of the bullpen five strikes out three in a third great effort super super huge win I believe that it's the biggest win of the Season no doubt it's good that you mentioned oryan kirking I think he's been really stepping up lately you're right Ruben and then it you mentioned casianos he did say exactly what you said which is he missed that first fastball and he's he looked back to his it was I think it his first at bat in the first inning against Charlie Morton uh there was Runners Runners on first and second I think and Morton threw three straight fast balls to him so in his head he's like I think they might I better be I'm not missing this fast ball I cannot miss this fast ball if there's another fast ball sure enough fast ball crushes it Nick castiano since May 19th batting 280 15 home runs 56 RBIs 817 Ops that's why he's hitting fifth again gentlemen and probably hit and fourth today if B can't bounce back right yeah we should mention that yeah Alec B uh HT his left hand on a swing in the first inning stayed in the game uh went in the tunnel tried to hit was uncomfortable swinging the bat came out of the game in the third inning X-rays were negative Rob Thompson said there is just some soreness there so we'll see if he's in the lineup today so yeah you would think Nick would be hitting fourth if if uh if Al can't go that would be that's he's an important player I mean you can't start losing players and hands and feet are so important in this game I immediately talk about hands all the time uh Ruben you know that um just you know he the way he winced it was like oh boy like yeah I thought I was like oh my gosh hamade man don't be a hamade that's the very first thing I thought of when I saw him and and it looked like on the swing it was like a two two strike swing he was protecting and I think he was sort of looking for an off speed pitch and he had to like throw his backat to the into the zone and had to had to kind of flip it and I've had that um he fouled it off I've had that happen to me like had those Stingers where um you know you you pull some sort of there's so many little muscles and tendons and stuff in your hand that may be like tweak something so he may be down a day or so I don't think it's an iil situation but I've been through that and then and in fact that happened to me just before I got traded to the Phillies Way Way Back in ' 91 I was playing in in winterball and um I took like a weird swing one time and um I was sort of on the uh on the shelf for like a day or so in winterball and that's when I got the call I think it was in December of like 901 that I got traded to the Phillies and I said well my hands been bothering me they said why don't you just shut it down and come home and that's what I did uh Ruben you me go go Jim no I don't want to I don't want to ruin your train of thought but I will I just was curious like were you surprised that Brian Snicker didn't bring in a lefty to face Brandon really surprised all the um all the talk all that's been written and talked about Marsh struggles against left-handed pitching it almost seemed like a textbook moment for for to see a lefty 100% agree bummer started warming up I a couple batters earlier so I I assumed that he was going to come into the game I wrote this La Brandon Marsh against lefties this season batting 20532 Ops those numbers obviously way flipped and improved against against right-handed pitching so I it was it was definitely a head scratcher in the moment I don't know I I have a feeling that he went with his feel right there in that in so much that and I say feel I mean the first two at bats didn't he punch him out twice he strike out tce Made made him look not very good I mean I mean he was not on him at all and and listen to his credit uh to to Marsha's credit I mean he stayed in theat he got a breaking ball and he got it over out over the plate and he smoked it to left center field now after the after the game he talked about that that particular pitch or that his you know his uh you know best path to this to the swing is to drive the ball to left center field he called it his honey hole Yeah my honey holees in left it was funny as tell um but you know it's true like certain guys like they have to understand themselves Charlie U Manuel used to talk about this all the time you have to know thyself and understand what M what what you're really good at what your what your pluses are and what your minuses are and understand those and for Brandon Marsh his you know knowing Li self is to drive the ball to the left center field because he's got great Back Spin he can drive the ball he's got good power that way he's got a few home runs that way I think he hit a double that way as well um earlier in the game but when he's in the middle of the field and driving the ball to left center field that's what that's that's his money it's just an example that in this B in this game really in all sports you have a tough moment early in the game you can't give up on yourself because you still have a chance to make a huge contribution later in the game and if you're beating up yourself and pouting on the end of the bench you are cooked strikes out twice comes back with the hit of the game uh it was you know really nice uh bit of perseverance and um Triumph for me Brandon Marsh uh from July 12th to August 22nd was batting 152 487 Ops in 32 games striking out over 40% of the time his last seven games batting 346 Ops over a thousand strikeout rates down to 34% so he's putting the ball and play a little bit more he's hitting the ball to left center field I actually I actually when nowhere in the road I actually asked Rob Thompson like how how long is Brandon Marsha's leash because he was striking out at like a 50% rate for about two weeks I was like she oh man and uh to his credit man he's bounced back and and really helped this ball club and they need him they need him to lengthen out that lineup and they need some protection for the other guys guys like cascianos and others in that lineup I liked in the ninth inning how Ro Ras came into the game and played some center field and moved Marsh over to left I I feel like they haven't done too much of that like late defense substitutions I mean it's a no-brainer for me but that was nice to have be able to slide Marsh over to left field have Roos play center Jeff Hoffman pitched great locked it down so uh yeah guess what guys we'll be right back I love a great deal but I'm not going to run sprints in the Outfield just to save a few bucks it has to be easy no hoops no BS with mint mobile it really is that easy to get wireless for $15 a month with the purchase of a three-month plan purchase and activation is super easy to get started go to mintmobile.com territory all plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G Network you can use your own phone with any mintmobile plan and bring your phone number to get this new customer offer and your new three-month premium Wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month go to mintmobile.com territory that's mintmobile.com territory cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile / territory $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month new customers on their first three-month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on Unlimited Plan additional taxes fees and restrictions apply see mint mobile for details and we are back and I think now is a good time for SP [Music] word Sam fighting words presented by shy vintage Sports get unique throwback Philly te hats and sweatshirts from their local artists at shops in Center City Wayne and webester sports.com guys this week's them's fight in words comes from Taiwan walker uh quote after a start the other day Wednesday it's obviously not the best times I feel like I've never really struggled like this like that's just a good segue to get into the decision that the Phillies made yesterday hinted strongly at it on Wednesday night that he is going to move to the bullpen for the remainder of the Season said he's gonna be a long man basically a mop-up man I'm gonna assume that none of you guys are surprised unless one of you two guys thought that he was going to be DFA uh on Thursday I'm not surprised he's out of the rotation it was the only move you could make it had to be made and I'm not surprised that he was not DFA uh because I think you can you you can get him through the final month on the roster you can make it work uh without you know booting him out the back door and um you can make a decision on what's going to happen in the future in the off season uh I said it the other day I'd be surprised to see him in Clear Water not saying it won't happen but I'd be surprised I think right I think um you know there may be a an exit strategy here um but not right now and um you know what I'm glad they didn't DFA him you know why I thought he showed a lot of class sucking up those two innings the other day those extra two innings when he had nothing when a lot of guys would have come in The Dugout and complained my manager leaving leaving me out there to die and embarrassing me and he said I'm gonna suck up these two innings and help save the bullpen before a before a big Series against Atlanta and know what happened last night the bullpen pitched really good so I thought that was uh I thought it was it was honorable and it was good teammate behavior and um showed a lot of class so you know we beat the crap out of the guy but let's tip our hat to him when when he did something pretty pretty honorable I could not agree more I mean that was uh he and he said it Jim right after the game he said I wanted to wear it because we have a big he lit came out and said I we have a big series coming up against the Braves I want to be I wanted to keep the bullpen Fresh So I want I wanted to go out and pitch the next couple in it's like I would have gone out and pitched the seventh that if you know if I could have gone out and pitched the seventh so yeah I mean he's getting murdered he's getting killed Philly fans don't like him I get it he hasn't produced but that was a that said something about him and his willingness to try to help this team that uh he sucked it up after getting rocked in that in that fourth in going out and pitch a couple Innings hey maybe they had to pitch Ryan Kirk ring or one of these guys maybe they're not as effective last night maybe they give up a bomb and maybe they don't win that game so you don't know but uh it was that was that did say something about him yeah completely agree with what you guys are saying um I was a little taken back by the fact that he you know he's a prideful guy man this is a guy who's never been there before and when he was saying you know we were trying to you know our game plan was trying to get quick outs and and uh you know soft contact well there's no self-c contact happening uh he just hasn't pitch well and you know I sort of wish he would have just said listen I've been terrible and I gotta get better or I have to do something different or whatever the case may be but that said actions speak louder than words I was very impressed by the fact that he stayed in there number one guys don't do that in this day and age and they don't wear it as you said Jim and uh and the fact that he did sort of save the bullpen the other thing is as far as the DFA is concerned I'm not surprised that he didn't obviously the money is a big factor but I mean you got to try to salvage this is too much money and there's so few starting so little starting pitching out there that you got to sort of try to salvage the guy I actually think he's going to come back and be in Clear Water next year I think they're going to put him on some type of program to try to strengthen his arm or he's going to have to do something I mean I got to believe that he has enough pride in himself if he wants to continue to pitch that he's going to come back and try to do something in the offseason to get him to the point where he is a more effective pitcher because he has to be able to separate that fastball from the split and if he can do that then he's got a Fighter's chance to at least help them eat some Innings next year and that's really all you can ask from a guy like that who's starting to you know obviously starting to decline as far as his arm speed is go is concerned when I think about next year I just think about like you come to spring training and it becomes a big story again it's like here we go again uh you know you know as a front office guy those things can be uh they can be a real pain in the ass they can be distraction uh here we go again okay can you build enough armor speed so we can maybe trade him or maybe he can help I just think at 30 what is he 32 and what we've seen I don't know if it's coming back you know but I guess in this day and age with all the Technology based um ways to you know dive into a body and and maybe strengthen I don't know maybe he goes and camps out at drive line for two months you know I I don't know what what what can happen but um I just feel like I've seen enough baseball that these uh stories often I don't know it just it's hard to get it back when you when you headed headed downhill at that rate of speed yeah my my heart says that the GU you know basically uh or my head basically says that he's just not going to bounce back but my heart says you know maybe he's got something left in the tank and that they can try to tap into it all right let's let's say he wasn't owed 36 million and uh he was owed a lot less um do you think they would have DFA if it wasn't just if the money wasn't so huge do you think they we know would it I actually have a feeling like if they feel like they've clinched or they've gotten to the point where they're like uh have home field advantage whatever they need somebody to start games yeah they're going to need him to start a game they you they meet him for a long you know long stretch they might get blown out one game they need somebody to go in there and Pitch right and the marcados of the world aren't getting it done I mean that that's that's terrible um I feel badly for that kid but you know he's right now he's not a major league pitcher and so you don't want to put that kid in that position and you don't want to do that for the team so I mean a guy like having a guy like Taiwan Walker around you know at least is durable enough to maybe get through some Innings you gota have that kind of have those guys around the dep Factor the depth factor for the rest of the season is huge I was telling somebody last night is is he ever gonna start again for the Phillies I actually said that I said you know they clinch with six games to go I could see them pitching him with four to go and saying just give us three so but it it I just don't know that I want to go down this road again next year unless I see some dramatic evidence that he has found something in the off season so Todd no I was gonna say uh people ask me the same thing like why not just dfam get R he's not going to help you in the bullpen and I was thinking this like maybe they're just trying to protect themselves against like thermal nuclear war where all of a sudden you know you don't want to get too cocky right and go there's no way he's pitching again next year guys or or this season there's no way you're ever going to start him again and not even in a clinch situation but what if Ranger Suarez's back acts up again what if Kobe Allard gets hurt you know Rob Thompson always likes to talk about shin Burgers you know a guy get takes a ball off the shin he's gota you know he gets injured for a few games uh and all a sudden you're going holy crap why did we get rid of Taiwan Walker when rosters are expanding on Sunday with a month to go I mean you know what is there to lose we couldn't have sucked we couldn't have sucked it up for one month so uh that was part of my my thinking is that you know just just protect yourself for one month I mean he's not going to pitch in the postseason he's not going to make the postseason roster but just protect yourself against from against some sort of like massive Calamity and I think you got to do it for the team like for me you you don't start them because of you don't want to affect the team negatively you don't start them anymore unless you actually have to and if you have to then you go ahead and throw him out there you know he's going to be available yeah he's if they would have released him uh DF him he was owed he would have been owed around $39 million that's it yeah that's it that's not CH Milton can take that would have been like the second that would have been like the second most in the history right I think Pablo sandal was like 43 or something like that yeah Pablo sandavol and own uh 2017 the Red Sox DFA him he was owed about 49 million uh Canó the Mets DFA him in 2022 he was owed about 37.6 Jose BR earli this year Astros owed 30 Madison bumgartner Madison Bumgarner last year was owed about 34 so yes Ruben he would have been the second biggest DFA ever um knock it down to 36 if you want to do the off season go big or go home um it's a rough ticket yeah that is a rough ticket so we had a couple leftover questions from last week we got so many questions on on Wednesday and and uh we went long we went real long because there was so many good ones but you guys want to answer a couple more here before we get out of here before yeah let's do it let's make it tight all right let's do it so we'll we'll just do a couple uh does Rob Thompson rely 100% on analytics or does he ever use his gut instincts this is Tim on X I think he uses got instincts all the time all the time he's a blend guy yeah I think leading up to the game he he he takes all that analytical information and then I think during The Dugout he's processing it all and it's coming out his gut boom right agreed okay yeah uh if the pH more gut more gut than analytics I think yeah I think just the way he handles the team and the lineup I mean he he uses his good all the time but he's prepared like he's already prepared like different scenarios man before he gets into a situation like okay this is my guy is a plus Guy this is my minus Guy this is where I'm going to use him in this pocket and that pocket I mean he's pretty well prepared now you have to make adjustments as the game goes on because the game changes but he's he's very very well prepared believe it yeah if the Phils end up in the one or two seed who do you guys prefer their opponent to be in the nlds this that's from Manny faces on X I don't care because they can beat anybody if they uh Play Good crisp baseball make plays behind their pitchers get get seven Innings from their starters it's all about how they play they can beat anybody at any time if you play good situational hitting's good base running is good don't give extra bases I worry about my own Clubhouse more than I worry about the uh or my own lineup card and my own Bullpen more than the other teams they can be anybody they know uh talk to somebody a a scout that both of you guys know I won't name him but uh the other day in the Press Club uh he made a great point he said this is the best team team in baseball hands down from top to bottom the Phillies are the best team in baseball so you know it's funny because they've been playing terribly for a couple months and a lot of people here think they're not very good he's like no they are the best if they get it going they are the best roster in Major League Baseball thank I've seen all the other teams uh they're not as good they're not as good so if they had the good pitching and they're hitting they're going to win they're going to win so you got to play well you just have to play well when it's time to play well you got to play well all right well guys that was fun uh we'll be back early next week see we'll wrap we'll wrap up the rest of this Brave series three big games coming Friday Saturday Sunday night smell you guys smell you J this is the Philly show if you haven't already please subscribe to the Philly show wherever you get your podcasts you can also watch us on our YouTube channel if you like what we do give us a review tell a friend catch Ruben Jim and me on Phillies Nation TV presented by Valley Forge tourism new episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia replays air throughout the week and on philliesnation tocom get more of Ruben's analysis during before and after Philly's games on NBC Sports Philadelphia on the sports radio 94 WIP Morning Show and MLB Network read Jim at the All City Network atall phly.com find more of me at mlb.com the Phillies be newsletter and occasionally on MLB Network [Music]