welcome into another episode of Locked on Phillies the Phils take down the Rays last night and we had some fireworks not just with homers benches clearing call-ups making moments it was a busy night at the bank class night we'll break it all down 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 your host Connor Thomas 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 uh Sports Talk Radio in Philadelphia I've been over at 975 The Fanatic for five years now talking on the air I've been three years a credential Philadelphia Phillies media member and I'm also in my third season as your host of lockon Phillies please make sure you're rating reviewing hitting that subscribe button on the YouTube all that really helps us out on lockon Phillies and get you notifications when new episodes are posted I appreciate everyone who's done that everyone who's going to do that today's episode is brought to you by Gametime download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase go ahead and check out Gametime if you need tickets to any major events real quick before we get into the episode and talk Philadelphia Phillies baseball today is a very solemn day in United States history it is September 11th I do just want want to take a second out to say that we'll always remember the tragedy of that day the people affected thinking of praying for people who are still here and the people that we lost it's just a solemn day that we will never forget thoughts and prayers out to everybody affected by the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 it is again a solemn day but we have uh we have work still to do and uh with that in mind we will continue with the podcast as per usual the Philadelphia Phillies found another win last night they took down the Tampa Bay Rays it was a 94 Victory and it was not as wide of a margin of Victory as that final score would suggest the Phillies and the Rays were tight in this one Phils went up 42 and then the Rays come back and tie it at four and then the eighth inning was where everything really popped off a lot of stuff going down in this one there's plenty of stuff we're going to get into it's going to take more than one segment to even discuss everything that happened in last night's game but let me first first I got to give some love to the folks that really put together the winning effort for the Philadelphia philes now I know Trey Turner had two home runs we'll talk about it I know Kyle schworer set a record and then left with injury we'll talk about it but I want to give some love to Cal Stevenson and Buddy Kennedy because in that eighth inning with the score tied at four Cal Stevenson comes to the plate as a pinch hitter and he ropes a double a two RBI double a big spot for him and to see him come through a guy that you didn't expect to be a part of this team this year didn't expect to be a big contributor and not that he's been a huge contributor over the course of the season but that was a big contribution last night a huge atat and then buddy Kennedy who worked a walk two nights ago to set up the walk-off by Cody Clemens while hearing chance buddy buddy from the home crowd the team he grew up across the river from the local kid well he gets another chance last night and he has an RBI single scoring Cal Stevenson buddy Kennedy a big moment like if you had told me that Cal Stevenson and Buddy Kennedy were having the big hits of the night in a game in September for the Philadelphia Phillies like if you told me that a couple months ago I would have said man well The Season's in the toilet everybody's hurt or this team has had something go terribly wrong and while there are a lot of injuries right now I mean it just showcase it showcases the depth of this organization this team the Philadelphia Phillies in general and what they've done to call up guys and what those guys that they've called up for Cody Clemens to Buddy Kennedy to Cal Stevenson to Weston Wilson to the mirata pitchers Tyler Phillips uh guys that you've brought up to this major league roster that have had major impacts or impacts even in a single game in this season that is how you find a way to the best record in baseball which by the way the Phillies once again after last night's win now have the best record in baseball again clearly outright a full game over the Dodgers technically two because they have the tiebreaker over Los Angeles due to the season series Victory by the Phillies uh let's get into the rest of the game though I wanted to give those guys their love because they're the unsung heroes of baseball teams every year that find a way to be some of the best teams those guys you don't think about that's what the best teams have that's what the Philadelphia Phillies have this year shout out to those guys uh let's let's talk a little Kyle schwarber now shall we he started off the game with a bomb because of course he did bottom of the first inning first at bat of the game for the Philadelphia Phillies and Kyle schorer sends one not quite as deep as the one he hit two nights ago but same exact trajectory same exact angle of the ballpark right center and long gone and it sets the MLB record for most home runs to lead off a team's game so most lead off home runs in a single MLB season he breaks the tie with Alfonso Sorano the former record was 13 now Kyle schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies stands alone as the most prolific power hitting leadoff hitter season in the history of the sport and for all of those folks that argued till they were blew in the face about whether or not Kyle schwarber should be the lead off hitter he can't do it they can't have here move him down move somebody else up come on folks can we agree now Kyle schworer is the lead off hitter of this team not that it's been a huge narrative this year because he's been very very good at the plate but a huge moment for Kyle schwarber then he goes out of the game with a left elbow contusion sliding back into first base on a pickoff attempt later on it sucks because you've already got JT out Alec bow out edmundo SOS out Austin Hayes out we've run through the list this week of injuries Kyle schwarber now had to exit the game what Rob Thompson said after was encouraging though he said schwarber's day-to-day right now I'm putting him in the lineup tomorrow and if we have to scratch him we will but he's a assuming that schwarber is going to be ready to go I don't know if he will play or not Rob Thompson doesn't either but the fact that he's approaching things that way says okay nothing major just something he felt some discomfort they said get out of the game we can't lose more guys we feel like we're in an okay spot in this one or we'll survive this one without you and then you move on to game three and if you can play great now some people are having the same discussion we had with Bryce Harper about a week ago where it's when he got hit in the elbow in in a bat it was like give him a couple days off and then he was back relatively soon so if the guy's ready let him play if he's got a little discomfort sit kyber a day it's going to be a tough one to win if you do that but listen you got to make sure he's ready to go he's been red hot lately he's a huge part of this team he cannot be injured for the postseason be as cautious with Kyle schorer as you need to be uh who else should we talk about because there's a lot of things to get into Trey Turner hell yeah let's talk about Trey Turner two bombs in this game you absolutely love to see it from Trey if his power comes back do you know how much of a game changer that would be for the Philadelphia Phillies in the postseason like could you imag like Bryce Harper isn't even hitting the ball out of the yard we'll talk about him in a second right now but if Trey Turner gets his power back and Kyle schwarber keeps doing this and JT gets healthy and all these guys start to figure it out oh my goodness it reminds you of just how good this lineup can be and why they currently have the most wins in baseball because of the work they put in in the first half of the Season Trey Turner little pop ah music to my ears that was a great thing to see he had himself a great game Bryce Harper also had a great game everyone was so worked up about the double he didn't get two nights ago by watching one out of the box that he thought he had hit out of the yard in the bottom of the ninth inning well guess what he had in just absolute I don't know if you want to call it irony Poetic Justice he was four for five last night three doubles just on second on second on second every time he's like oh what you say I don't hustle I'm a hustle I'm going to get out there four for five great work by Bryce Harper as part of the 13 hit effort for the Philadelphia Phillies offense he had no RB he had no run scored which is crazy for a four for five day but for all the lack of power that he's been displaying he's still hitting the cover off the ball it's just not going out of the yard he had one like I know I know I had the CT guarantee Bryce Harper is gonna hit a home run in this series like can we count the one that was ruled a home run on the field and was overturned because a fan reached out apparently I think that ball might have had a chance to go out my gut feeling is it probably would have gone off the railing but we don't know because the fan reached out and they called it a ground rule double and I get it but I just want my prediction to be right and I want Bryce Harper to have a home run and maybe that gets him going but he's come so close maybe he'll hit one today maybe I'll look like an idiot I'm gonna count that one you guys can make fun of me in the comments if I'm cheating on the CT guarantee on that uh the last thing we need to talk about from this game we're gonna get deeper into this later on in the episode when we talk about the potential playoff rotation for the Philadelphia Phillies starting pitching wise Ranger Suarez was not great five in the third Innings pitch now he only gave up four earn and a couple of those came late on in his final inning of work he only struck out two though he walked two and he gave up 12 hits 12 hits I mean 12 hits in five in the third Innings well that means the bullpen was probably pretty good because the Phillies only gave up 13 hits in the game so that means oryan Kirk ring matrom Jose Alvarado and Tanner Banks got the job done insanely well last night but Ranger Suarez if you have concerns about him right now I understand it I do get it I get what's going on with people worrying about well we haven't seen good Ranger for a little bit his velocity was down is he going to be able to come back and be the type of pitcher he was earlier on in the season I still have faith because he still has time he's still probably got three more starts left in the regular season to work some stuff out we'll see I wanted to see him throw six Innings because I want to see him look like he's starting to get more stretched out he didn't accomplish that last night so that is a little troubling we'll get deeper into the conversation of what that means for the Phillies and coming up next you might think Conor you went through all of that and you didn't even talk about the benches clearing Nick castanos getting hit Bryce Harper saying bad words that I can't say on this podcast oh don't worry we'll talk about Edwin useta coming up next and what the Philadelphia Phillies could potentially do in game three or how they should handle it it's a little bit of a tricky situation okay we'll discuss it coming up as we continue lock on Phillies but let's talk about game time first game time is absolutely awesome the best way to get 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Harper got mad and Nick castanos got mad and ultimately the only guy that left the game was Edwin useta the pitcher who hit Nick ctios intentionally in the eighth inning I would call him more Edwin upsetta because he was clearly just not happy with the fact that his eighth inning was not going the way he planned you give up the double to Cal Stevenson you give up the hit to Buddy Kennedy you give up the home run to Trey Turner and the next thing you know it's nine to4 and you think you let your team down so what do you do you hit Nick casos intentionally like here's the thing I understand people who have been around the game for a while if you're my age or older if you're 30 or older well I'm 29 but we'll count it and and you saw the early like the late 90s the early 2000s even back to 90s 80s baseball when guys used to plunk dudes left and right for anything you look at a guy the wrong way they're throwing in your rib cage you understand that sometimes guys hit guys sometimes it's intentional that's part of the sport but it's going away more and more and part of the reason it's going away is because these guys throw harder on average and you can't have guys out there throwing 98 99 100 regularly just throwing at guys and the we've already had trouble right the past couple of years there have been complaints from batters across baseball about the lack of control by pitchers whether it's coming from different baseballs or whatever the case may be guys don't want to get hit by balls going that fast and I don't blame him it is part of the sport but it's also part of the sport that some players are now trying to take out of it and the Phillies all said after the game in response to Nick casan was being hit clearly intentionally no doubt that it was intentional it's why you said it was thrown out of the game they Kyle schwarber Bryce Harper Nick CIS himself all talked about it and they basically said hey there's no place for that in the game that's unacceptable you can't be doing that you just had a bad inning and now you're gonna take it out by throwing at a guy like that's childish Nick C compared it to his two-year-old complaining when he doesn't get dessert and I think that's an AP comparison he's throwing a hissy fit out there on the mound he's putting Philadelphia Phillies players at risk and that's ridiculous and you should not do that and even though it's happened in in the past I've never been a huge proponent of like hitting a guy intentionally unless they's something unless they hit one of your guys and it's in retaliation and in that case the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves looking down the barrel of do they retaliate there there were talks about it last night from not from the team but from people on social media like hey do they hit somebody here in the ninth you have a nine to4 lead do you bring in a reliever like taian Walker and just throw at somebody just to get him back the Phillies opted not to do that I'd imagine that today in game three of this series they opt not to do that again Zack Wheeler's on the mount you're not wasting a Zack Wheeler start by throwing at somebody that's stupid they'll toss him immediately you need these games you're not going to do that the bullpen guys you're probably not going to do that either and here's the way I look at it right even though like I'm totally on the side of the Phillies like bro that's BS why are you throwing at a guy it's not like anyone disrespected him it's not like anyone bat flipped it's not like anyone was talking to him or said anything he was mad he wasn't performing well and he decided he was going to try and hurt a player on the other team and that's Bush league right there if you deserve to get hit you'll know it if you show up a pitcher hey you got to deal with the fact that maybe that guy wants to throw at you if you're chirping at the other team if you did something dirty where you like I don't know spikes up slide in the second base and they want to throw at you man that's baseball that's the way of policing the game but just you had a bad performance that's ridiculous and now the Phillies have to decide if they're going to throw at them and like I said I don't think they're going to do it I don't think the bullpen they're going to do it because you got a bunch of players on the Phillies come out and say that's not the way we do things that's not the way you should do things the ray should be embarrassed and they should be for the actions now it's one pitcher I don't think it was an organizational thing I don't think they told them to hit it but they should be embarrassed by the actions of Edwin useta sorry Edwin upsetta last night in that game but here's the way like I kind of think about what could go wrong like let's say wheeler throws six shut out and you're up seven nothing and you're beating the Rays and you're like okay Now's the Time go out there and just let somebody wear one well here's the deal right this is a 0.1% chance of this scenario happening but let's say they hit somebody and then that guy comes running out and he's going after whatever reliever well then stubs has to come out from behind the plate then Bryce Harper has to come from over at first base and meet him like you have a bunch of guys now in a Fray let's say somebody throws a punch let's say like it may not even be a Philly players fault but let's say the guy swings on Bryce Harper and what's Bryce Harper supposed to do not defend himself next thing you know you're punching people it has happened before it's rare but it has happened before in baseball and then Bryce Harper suspended for three games against the Mets and that's the closest team to you and your divisional standings it's just it creates a situation where even though it's not likely there could be suspensions if there are suspensions for a team that has something to play for like the Phillies that's dumb to do that just to prove a point it puts you in a bad spot that's why I'm not throwing at somebody it's not about being the bigger person it's about being smarter about where your team's at and knowing that you're winning team they're not a winning team they don't have anything to play for don't stoop to their level this is not the time right if it's June cool if it's August September definitely not not doing it while you're in the race for the top seed in the National League especially when you have so many guys hurt so that's how I feel on that let's talk about the actual game tonight though because I feel like everything I've been talking about is are you throwing at a guy you have Zack Wheeler on the mound looking for a sweep how great would it be if the Phillies after last night that bush League crap that the Rays pulled went out there and Zack Wheeler just absolutely shoved you're facing Shane bats on the mound for them you go out and you see a guy with a 327 ra pretty solid year for him so far in 55 Innings pitched uh he's given up six home runs so you're not really going to beat him with the long ball history would show you well one every like 10 Innings or so so maybe you could get him but like you're looking at a guy that doesn't strike out a bunch the way you're going to have to do the string together hits like you did last night I know they had three home runs in the game but they also had some big productive Innings where they strung together hits 13 total in the ball game that's the type of performance I want to see from the Phillies hey wouldn't you guess another right-handed pitcher on the mound starting for the Tampa Bay Rays and starting against the Philadelphia Phillies I mean look at the numbers folks the Phillies are minus 205 favorites on the money line that's moved in their Direction since it opened they're 75.1% favorites on the ESPN analytics meter here with Zack Wheeler on the mount you should win this game their offense is not that good wheeler is dominant he is in the sa young conversation and fully deserves to be the Phillies should go out and win this game you've already won the series though you've already accomplished what you set out to do let's make it hurt a little bit more this one's personal you want to throw at us we're gonna sweep you we might have let you get out of here with one win save some face your pride isn't completely defeated if you're a Tampa Bay race player coach fan whatever but no that goes out the window beat the breaks off this team like just go out there Zack Wheeler shove hopefully Kyle schwarber plays maybe another lead off home run make it 15 add to the record but the guy I'm really looking at is Bryce Harper he's been so close to hitting the ball out of the yard so darn close like inches reviews off the top of the wall can he please just get one Bryce please just sell out for one I I don't care if you go one for five tonight and your only hit is a bomb find a way to hit the ball out of the yard that's something that I'm looking for because I need that CT guarantee to come true I'm also interested if Trey Turner has a little bit of something building here uh he's showing off the power and two straight SW well not two straight at bats but two at bats yesterday uh Kyle schworer we saw do that and then get hot can Trey Turner get hot can this team start to show that they're peing at the right time it feels like schwarber is it feels like Turner's showing signs of life it feels like Harper's getting close okay we got a little something cooking here who are those offensive stars that step up in tonight's game and how did the call-ups follow up a a couple of great performances from Kennedy Stevenson last night do they get that opportunity again depending on who's available well one of those guys going to have to play or Cody Clemens is going to have to play and if Kyle schwarber's not there you'll have to figure something out this could be one of those weird end of series lineups mainly out of necessity so other guys are going to have to step up outside of the Stars that's what we're looking for in game three of the series against the Rays hopefully I'm wearing this Victory shirt again tomorrow and we're laughing at the Rays for doing something dumb to wake up the Phillies in game two by hitting Nick castanos Maybe Cassy has a big day maybe he goes out and he goes yard because he's a little bit ticked off about losing his last at bat last night due to a guy just not throwing a good game so we'll keep an eye on that but I have another question that I want to ask you before we're done this episode I'll ask you it coming up about the pitching rotation in the playoffs who gets the ball in the third game it's a great question that was asked to me this morning and I'll give you my thoughts as we wrap up lockon Phillies let's talk about prize picks first though prize picks is America is number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members prize pick is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on priz picks it's just you against the numbers you're not playing other players or anything no there's no special line you have to hit no you get the numbers you pick more than or less than on selected player stats put two to six players in a uh in a lineup it could be the same player different stats it takes like a minute tops to put that together and you could find your way to a good amount of money doing it listen to all the stuff going on right now you got NFL Football let's roll always a great time to look at that you got college football hey keep an eye on that MLB coming down the playoff push is on you've got a lot of data over 140 games worth of it for baseball teams right now you should know who's gonna do what it's a great time to take advantage with prize picks plus you download the prize picks app today and use code locked on MLB and get $50 instantly when you play $5 that's code locked on MLB on prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5 not a big math guy I believe that's 10 times the amount that you're putting up that's a good deal and I know good deals you don't even need to win I sound like a used car salesman right there anyway you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus it's guaranteed prize picks run your game all right let's talk about this interesting situation with the playoff rotation real quick before we do I want to thank you for making locked on Philly is your first listen every day now make your second listen locked on MLB Sully Paul Francis Sullivan does a great job covering baseball and General on that podcast it's also part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day it's available wherever you get your podcasts YouTube all the places you find locked on Phillies check out locked on MLB for that big overarching look at baseball Dodgers lost last night Braves not great I mean or no Braves won but still they're far down see this is why you got to do it because I'm Focus Fus on the Phillies I don't always have time to keep up with every team in baseball Sully does he he will take care of you but this conversation about the third starter in the postseason I think it's an easy one but it is a fair question John keade one of my co-workers on Kade and sou chunis over at 975 The Fanatic asked me this he said who gets the ball right now in the third game of a playoff series obviously wheeler throws Nola throws but that third spot is it Sanchez or is it Suarez Ranger Suarez hasn't looked great lately Sanchez has been looking really darn good pretty much all year Sanchez is deserving but is he the guy that gets the ball absolutely not and I don't even give it a second thought and it has nothing to do with Christopher Sanchez or his performance or lack of faith in him or anything what it has to do with is experience if you can get an experienced pitcher out there on the mound that has been in these spots before that is a major major asset for a playoff team and let's be real Ranger Suarez has been in these spots before the past couple years the top three arms have been wheeler Nola Ranger Suarez and because he's been in postseason environments because he's made big starts because he's been in a situation similar to the one that he'd be in starting game three even if it's like one one in a series and you really need that game as a swing game like I'm giving the ball to Ranger Suarez even though he hasn't looked as good as Chris Sanchez recently it's simply The Experience thing Christopher Sanchez's playoff experience it was that like one inning of work against the D diamond backs in the NLCS last year it's not exact and that didn't exactly go crazy well it's not like KK K inning over looks great like no he was okay I'm not saying he's not capable right I'm not saying if the ball goes to Christopher Sanchez I say ah we're screwed the season's over I think he's a extremely capable pitcher and eventually he's going to get those spots at some point if the Phillies Advance deep enough you'll need a fourth starter it will be Sanchez it will not just be a one Innings worth of work it'll be a true start and we'll get to see if the kid has what it takes in the postseason but we already know that answer for Ranger Suarez we know that for wheeler we know that for Nola being around the block having experienced something before makes you just unbelievably more comfortable in those spots and I think Christopher Sanchez would be just fine he has that Ranger s's Gene in him where he's just like calm all the time you don't ever see him show emotion the game never really speeds up on Chris Sanchez again this ain't a Chris Sanchez thing I think he's very very very very good and right now all things equal like let's say neither of them had pitched in the postseason well probably give the ball to Sanchez but that experience is such an important factor and that's why to me it seems to be a simple decision to some people it may be the hot hand but what I'll tell you is past couple times in the postseason game one starters arinola arinola arinola like they go with experience even though Zack Wheeler is the better overall pitcher and they roll with that and it's worked out the Phillies trust their vets they trust the guys that have been there before and that's the situation that you'd be in if you're deciding who the third starter in the playoff rotation is going to be now could it change absolutely if Ranger swore has looks like this for the next three starts and Christopher Sanchez continues to throw well they might force your hand because it's not just like remember Noah card had some playoff experience when the Phillies acquired him from the Angels he didn't just like bump up to the top of the rotation because he was the guy that had thrown in the postseason before remember that was 2022 Nola hadn't thrown in the postseason before wheeler hadn't thrown in the postseason before you're like okay well I'm not even considering throwing Noah Syer guard over them experience isn't the only thing that matters is the point if it becomes undeniable that Christopher Sanchez is the clearly better pitcher and Ranger Suarez hasn't figured it out and his velocity keeps dropping well yeah then you're in a situation where you're going to have to make a tougher decision but right now I think it's no-brainer that Ranger gets the ball and hopefully he earns that fully not just on experience but on performance the first the final couple of weeks I almost said the first couple of weeks the final couple of weeks of the season so that's my thoughts again as always the comments are open on YouTube go ahead and uh leave me thoughts on everything I go ahead and read through all of them I don't always get a chance to respond to them but I check my notifications I see what you guys are commenting and posting and all that great stuff so let me know if I'm off base on that that's just my thoughts on something that's starting to pop up as we draw closer to October The Hunt for Red October man it is red hot right now and the Phillies they're putting themselves in darn good position could they have the top seed in the National League could everything be perfect and could my projection of 97 wins be spot on or close to spot on for the third straight year if it is I'm gonna have to Pat myself on the back but we got a ways to go right now I'm just patting the Phillies on the back for handling their business last night getting over the fact that the Rays pitched like losers and threw at a guy and getting ready for them to go ahead and hang one on them tonight because of that that's all for today's episode of lockon Phillies thank you so much for checking us out I really really appreciate it we're part of locked on podcast Network your team every day please make sure you're rating reviewing hitting that subscribe button on the YouTube it gets you notifications when new episodes are posted honestly you don't even understand how much it helps me out when someone hits that subscribe button so if you enjoy the content here on locked on Phillies I really hope you do that if you haven't checked us out on YouTube and you're just listening to my wonderful voice and podcast form go ahead and check us out on YouTube and if you like it hit that subscribe button there like come on I think it's great in video as well I'm not all that goodlook but I think it's fun to visually be able to see the expressions and some of the Motions I make so go ahead and check that out too that's enough lobbying I appreciate everyone checking us out either way and uh tomorrow we're going to be reacting into the ray series we got an off day so we'll take a peek in on the standings and talking about the most likely Landing spots for teams around the national league when it comes to playoff seting and we'll get ready for a big series with the Mets it's a busy time right now for the Phils The Hunt for Red October is officially on that's all I'll talk to you tomorrow on the next episode of Locked on Phillies