Phils complete 6th sweep of season, Clemens and Harper stay hot

what's up everyone Philly Insider got Drew with me here Hunter here wow what a series what a week what a month it has been what a first two months it has been to start this season Drew phills are hot what an incredible game today I mean the offense I was ready to come on here today and be like you know the offense has been cold this week but they're finding ways to win games and then they put up 11 runs today and boom caps it off with uh Epic bat drop to to seal that win um I'll give you credit Drew on the bat drop you said you said it in our chat I know some people don't give you credit on saying that first but anyway how you feeling after that win today um I mean got to be feeling good I mean bills are they're just absolutely red hot it's it's such a special thing they're playing such good baseball right now they're doing with everything I mean they're winning in all kinds of different ways there's nights where the bullpen carrying there's nights where the hitting's just going off like today and there's nights where they're starting pitching like Nola a complete game shut out the other so just they're winning every way they can exactly what do that's what good teams do do yeah it's pretty incredible man I mean this week the offense like I said wasn't really the focal point um of the wins it was mostly the pitching but you got to find ways to win games I mean there's going to be points where you're going to have dry spells as an offense and especially when you're down Trey Turner that's just going to be a reality and especially when you're down JT as well I know JT hasn't been the best this year he's been a little banged up but you're going to lose some some pop obviously with him and and you're also just going to naturally take a major decline even if Ruto isn't hot it's just a major decline to Garrett stubs which that's really the sole negative of the team right now for being honest um him and probably marfield I would say but overall man I mean what a game today the pitching has been unbelievable like you said Nola was awesome today um really have no complaints about him I mean yeah he he struggled a little bit early on um in a couple at bats specifically the Eddie Rosario w one that sixed out where he G he gives him a fast ball again you could probably blame Garrett subs for that call if you want to I don't want to pile on him too much but I I do think it's noticeable that the pitch calling does seem to be worse when he is in there I know JT is not a perfect pitch caller there are you know things to complain about with him too with 162 games you're going to have those moments as a catcher but I don't know it just seems like there's there's times where pitchers don't have as much success when Garrett stubs is behind the plate but that being said I mean what no gave up two hits today I think it was he was awesome walked a couple guys I mean overall outside of the two solo shots he was really really good today and again the starting pitching has been unbelievable to start this year um there's a number of numbers getting thrown around like 16 plus starts with seven or more Innings I think the Phillies have the most of those or there was you sent something like that in our chat Drew but it's been unbelievable I mean you and me knew that all these guys had this potential um we're not not surprised by what all these guys are doing individually I think what's surprising is that they're all doing it at the same time right now and consistently I didn't think that was all gonna happen in April and May of this season I I'm just really impressed with Nola and and the pitching staff as a whole and again I get the competition hasn't been great but you play who's on your schedule and there's really only five or six great teams in baseball right now and they played a couple of them they will play one of them this week in the in the Rangers but they're doing what they can and they've been really impressive the staff as a whole and Nola just continued that Trend today yeah and like you said the whole staff's doing it right now I mean it's kind of feels like we're talking about everybody except for the best pitcher on the staff Zack Wheeler he's been unbelievable this year he kind of had a slip up there I think it was on Sunday or whatever it was but I mean he's just which STS was behind the play for of course yeah of course yeah but I mean it's just it's incredible what they're doing right now like you said the staff I mean they just they're doing it on every front I mean every pitcher in the staff seems like they're having good games I mean couple guys today like Sir Anthony Turnbull didn't have the greatest outings but Turnbull gave up a lot of soft contact Anthony he's just kind of like a work in progress I think they'll figure it out eventually but sled right now but I mean kind of gonna flip it there a little bit go to the offense I mean Cody Clemens what about that guy it's just unbelievable doing right now he is on a special special run just crazy there's not not many guys in baseball hotter than no man I mean he saved that game last night with that home run I I I I really couldn't believe my eyes when it was him who hit that home run but then like you think about it again you're like well of course it's him because he's just been red hot as of late and it's not just that the numbers are there the guy's hitting Everything 100 miles an hour it feels like I mean it feels like everything is jumping off his Bat he's had so much success ever since he got called up for that paternity lead for Bryce and then he got called up in play to Trey and you're kind of at a spot now where granted we are a few weeks out from Trey coming back I don't know how you send him down right now like we were talking about um via texr I I just really don't see a route to doing that right now I mean yeah you can do it but you went into the year saying all right they're probably going to need a left-handed bench bat at some point they're need they're going to need to shuffle some pieces around to find room for one um I don't think anyone thought Cody Clemens could sustain success and be that guy who's your left-hand bench bet and I'm not saying he is that after a couple weeks but I feel like a couple pods ago I said maybe he is that guy after he did it a couple times and we're still sitting here asking that question right now so it shows he's putting himself in that conversation to at least give himself a shot and I really I really did not did not expect this man um just incredible because he had that high streak to start last year but it certainly wasn't as long as the one he's having right now and he seems to be seeing the baseball really well too like it it doesn't seem like you can throw him three off like off speeder breaking pitches of the same kind and a bat which that's that's starting to get into some really dangerous territory if you're you're talking about someone like that um so credit to him man he's been really really big for them as of late and and like Chris said in the comments there you know he can play a few different spots for you as well you know you don't have to play him at just one position so that gives you options when you are down a guy like Trey Turner to move some spots around and move some guys around to whoever is the hot hand right now and that right now that is Cody Clemens so and that says a lot when SOS has been doing what he's doing too so you have a guy who can do it versus left-handed pitching and Sosa and you have a guy in Cody Clemens who is doing it versus right-handed pitching so that gives you options there in the lineup and it gives you lineup versatility as well based off of who's been hot lately and you know it's questionable to put stot in the two- hole right now with you know Lefty Lefty back to back but he's been hot too so Cody clemens's being hot it's a really good problem to have it's a good roster problem to have too not just a lineup problem and it's really really exciting to see what he's doing right now yeah and like you said I kind of wanted to talk about Soo a little bit that's why I showed this comment uh I mean it's so so huge to have two guys coming off the bench that are scorching hot right now especially in the absence of your one of your top two or three hitters Trey Turner just can't understate what these guys are doing it's crazy they're they've been so so important to what they're doing right now and I think they've lost two games or three games since they lost Trey Turner which is just unbelievable because he was hitting like 350 it's just it's crazy I mean these guys are picking up exactly where Trey left off that's exactly what you need to be doing or being be seeing out of your bench bats especially guys that are kind of like Fringe roster guys like Cody Cody Clemens who are coming up from Triple A I mean just it's been so so special to watch and like like we talked about it the last couple pods I think like Ry hasn't even got going completely like he's he had a really good day today hitting the ball hard and everything but he hasn't been on that streak where he's just hitting the hitting everything they throw at him and I mean it's just it's been crazy right Bryce has had a really good month of May um and he's definitely hot right now but it hasn't been on like a everyday basis right I mean it's been couple games here you know a big hit in one game and then he has a three for five day it's kind of been in spurts here and there in certain games so to your point that's going to be more frequent as the year goes on honestly I mean again he's going to have his ups and downs but as the year moves along rice isn't gonna start seeing the baseball worse he's gonna continue to see the baseball better um I think Paul boy posted on Twitter the other day like he got I think he got three Splitters or something of that nature and it was the one he hit for the uh the sack fly to win the game last night and it's like you can't give him the like three of the same thing in a row because then on the third one he finds a way to go poke that one out there and gets a deep enough for the sack fly to win the game like he knew he didn't need to do anything extra to win that game last night he just needed a a ball deep enough into the Outfield to to get the win so um yeah he's he's been crazy man um over this past month and it's only going to get better and like you said he's not even fully hot yet but just to turn it back to the bench conversation man I mean think about all these options you have right now you have Cody Clemmens and Sosa who are redot marfield granted I don't think he's been that great this year but the potential is there for him to potentially get hot at some point I don't think it's going to be anything crazy but he is a guy who can hopefully contribute For You Off the Bench pach is a guy we know what he is capable of like he's not really a guy you look at the numbers and evaluate him on it's just kind of what he's doing on a game- to game basis and how he's contributing versus lefties and how he's contributing defensively and on the base paths right because of his speed so um yeah like Chris said it exactly well and then um you know again like I said stubs is really the only down down uh like the only like uh bad spot the only negative is the word I was looking for but thank you um really the only negative on the bench right now and I was talking to you you and uh one of our buddies about this in our chat today David D and Jordan lell are playing playing really well in Triple A right now and granted I know they're not on the 40 man but that's really good death to have behind all these guys like if someone else God forbid we had multiple injuries and you needed one of those guys to come up they're they're playing well enough in Triple A to I would I would think they would play at least at the level A J cave did last year right like I would hope you they'd be able to do that with how they're playing right now so I don't I don't think I can remember a time where we've had de into Triple A like this because David D and Jordan Lelo like yeah people are going to say to that like my comment I just made well those guys aren't Major Leaguers yeah that's the whole point is they're playing well in Triple A and they don't need to be Major Leaguers they're just deaf down there so to have guys like that playing well in Triple A right now and you have a couple of options in case you have an emergency situ like if you're going to that those guys you're in a bad situation to begin with so the fact that those guys are playing as well as they are and they're not even like your next guys up really like they might not even be that that says a lot so the def has been really good I don't know how sustainable it is out like Cody Clemens I'm I can't really say it anymore because he's just sustained it so I I can't really doubt him but as far as the other guys go I don't know how sustainable it is for the bench to continue to be this good and pick up the slack for this long um but they don't need to right they they just need to be themselves and we know what kind of pieces they all are come postseason and I feel like you know a lot of it is some of the guys are going to be similar to what they were last year um like sooso will probably he'll probably have a little bit of regression at some point this year pase will probably have some you know regression he'll probably have um an uptick to at some point they're going to have their their hot and cold stretches they're bench players right but it is kind of also crazy how you know if when you're winning the the death is suddenly good right I mean and granted they have been better this year but um some of these guys are performing to similar levels not Cody Clemens but to similar levels they did last year and again the narratives that the bench is terrible but there's really not that many like good benches in baseball there's a reason these guys are bench players right so I just wanted to make that point too but they have been better this year um I still think they could probably use like some bench defa at the deadline like I wouldn't be opposed to them getting a major league bench bat who's like going to be the top guy off uh the bench if you need a pinch hit situation or you need versatility but they don't need to do that like they have guys who can do that right now um and there's probably better options but it's not something they need to like really seek out necessarily it's something they'll probably monitor but because of how well these guys are playing they're in a really good spot um and not even just the bench like it's guys like today casianos has three hits um that's big you know he he kind of looked more comfortable today he's kind of slowly getting back into what we know he can do um and again a lot of it's just like hard contact on Singles or just finding green grass on Singles but um I felt like all three of his hits today were very fundamental like they were very sound hits just poke it poke it to one one hole in the field and you know let the ball do the rest um or let the bat do the rest and yeah like it's it's the whole team like the lineup is picking up the slack of Trey being out right now the bench is helping out it's really an incredible thing to see on the offensive front yeah I totally agree with you I mean I don't I don't really have a whole bunch more to add about the bench but I kind of want to talk about one of the regulars I me he's been the best RBI hitter in baseball Al he's been unbelievable it's it's kind of crazy like we've seen this guy develop into one of the Premier RBI machines really it's what he is he's a machine right now but it's just it's so special to watch because every time somebody's on base and scoring position it seems like he's putting the ball in play at the very least he doesn't strike out he's not swinging missing a ton taking his walks when he can he's getting hit by pitches with the bases loaded a two days in a row correct yeah I think so yeah but uh he's he's doing it all right now on a special run right now like I said he's kind of developed into one of the Premier RBI headers been really watch yeah bom's been crazy man I mean I think for me the big thing has been the walks this year CU he's already at 16 walks last year he had 42 total the year before that he had 31 and the year before before that he had 31 um he really wasn't a guy who we thought was going to be an on base guy prior to this season so I I think with that it's he's seeing a lot better obviously he's behind Harper so he's going to see a good number of pitches too um but he's also seeing better pitches because his play discipline has been better too so I'm really encouraged by that aspect of his game this year I think that's that's been the thing that's stuck out to me the most and I think that's in correlation with everything else he's doing because he's always had that Gap to Gap power and ability there there like he wasn't really I mean yeah today he hit a monster home run like we don't see him do that too much um and pimp it like he did too but he really is he's always had the Gap to Gap power like I said and he's always been a very I talk about fundamentals a lot he's a perfect example of that I mean he's a very fundamental hitter um but this year I think he's seen a lot better pitches and you're now seeing those extra base hit numbers going up too um so it's really encouraging to see what he's doing this year because if he's going to hit this well over the course of the Season as the four hitter they're in a really good spot and you're not going to feel the lack of Reese's presence there as much if he's going to do what he's doing and defensively yeah a big upgrade on the corners when we're comparing him to not upgrade but like when we're talk comparing him to you know losing Reese and and kind of replacing some of that production um yeah if you're comparing them defensively I mean bom has bom is just night and day from where he started out defensively too so that's that's a huge part of his game as well and honestly Drew I mean he's probably not gonna hit enough home runs to be in that mvp consideration but I certainly yeah he will get some votes and that is just such an encouraging development from him this year if that's the case again I know it's only may but even even like I don't I can't speak for you I know you had him at 40 doubles and um you know I I don't know if I even predicted his doubles but I didn't think it was very outlandish I don't even think you even being as higher on him than I was going to this year would have expected potential MVP votes you can correct me if I'm wrong but that's crazy to think I did not expect that I mean I predicted the 40 doubles but I mean it's it's looking like he's gonna hit more than 40 doubles at this point might hit 50 yeah yeah I think he has 18 doubles already maybe more now I'm not sure I mean it's just been ridiculous it doesn't matter who's pitching left-handed right-handed best pitcher in baseball worst pitcher in he's doing it to everybody he's doing damage he's batting behind of the best hitters in baseball and whenever Trey is back he's batting behind two of the best hitters in baseball it's just he's if he keeps going on the pace he's going he's going to have 130 140 RBI just it's crazy what doing right now and the guys in front of them are producing and that's just making it even better so I mean yeah he's providing incredible protection for Bryce because like today they pitched to Bryce whenever the first base was open which I don't know what Davy Martinez was thinking but yeah Bryce just punished him right away and I mean they did that because Al momes behind you don't want to bring him up with the Bas they should have because he would have hit into a double play with the result that he had but I totally different at bat from when the bases are loaded being one gu but I mean it's just it's crazy I mean he's protecting our best hitter and that's just so huge yeah and he's hitting 388 with Runners scoring position this year um and to back up your point on both sides of the plate yeah versus lefties and righties he has a 900 00 Ops versus both so um or above a 900 Ops for both uh I I really am very very impressed and pleasantly surprised with how just how good he's been this year I the first couple weeks of the season I truly thought he was going to be the same as he was last year so um that's a huge development for this team and I also do want to talk about um his his buddy Bryson Stott who has also really started to get hot out of as of late and again he's he's the clutch he's a clutch Batman Bryson stot is in him he has a feel for the big moment last night he ties it up in the seventh when we're down it just feels like every time we need a big hit from him even if there's no one on base and you're like and he's up to bat it just feels like there's a chance he's gonna hit a home run to tie it up um he's been just awesome lately uh Bryson stot finally getting back to what he we know he can do I I think we all expected this to happen at some point but it's it's good to know it's finally starting to happen now too so really happy with what St has done as of late especially you know moving moving positions moving back and forth between second and short there there can be a little bit of focus there too and and that can draw a little bit away from other things as well so um obviously at shtop he's not as good as he is at second base but he's still a sound Defender like it's it's not like he's it's not like he's going to go over to shortstop and suddenly make errors it's just he doesn't quite have the range or the arm to be as good as some of the other guys there but he's certainly a fine Short Stop like I don't have major issues with him there um but just wanted to note that too because he's also having to kind of balance that a little bit it's not a huge mental hurdle he's played shortstop his whole career but I think it's worth noting just on top of everything he's doing right now just it's just impressive everything he's done right now just so far has been impressive to me I think it's the point I'm trying to make and um again not something I'm surprised at but Bryson stman feels like he's starting to come alive too and that's a really good development for this offense given the absence of Trey Turner right now he's able to really fill some of that yeah I was just about to say that like as soon as Trey went down it feels like Bryson got going Med and I mean I feel like that's kind of been a big part of him being comfortable switching shortstop is like we talk about offense prod like producing with your defense like makes you more confident in the field and he kind he's kind of like seamlessly switched to shortstop whenever they have five or whatever it may be he he's been solid out there Short Stop done everything that they need him to do hasn't made any crazy errors anything like that looks very comfortable so he's been so so huge and I mean it's just him hitting behind bone and Bone being as hot as he is it's just such a good combo because Scot is a singles hitter from the most for the most part I mean he's been hitting some taters lately but it's uh mostly he's like a contact guy and if bom's hitting doubles I mean he's on second base for St right behind him and he probably gonna score him so just such a lethal combo right now that three four five yeah absolutely I do want to turn it to a couple guys who haven't been as crisp as of late um to our Outfield Martian roas have not had the best weeks at the plate um Marsha's kind of cooled off for quite a bit now I expect him to get going sometime soon um you know obviously he's a guy with Lefty righty he does get some days off here and there so that will help him as well I'm not sure if the Rangers have a lefty coming up um in this upcoming home stand here that we're playing them on I don't have the probable pitchers for them for this week so we'll see um I actually I can't even remember if they have a lefty in the rotation right now I'm thinking back last year when there but point being he will get some days off eventually and you know maybe that'll be something that kind of gives him some time to just breathe a little bit he's not a guy who I think really mentally it affects him very much he stays positive and he just he knows it's not like he knows he's going to get out of that slump at some point um but you know the longer it drags on it's hard for it not to creep him mentally so I just wanted to mention that you know a guy who we need do need to get going a little bit some of these other guys are going to cool off a little bit too so hopefully Marsh can step up when that time comes and then roas uh we talked about his defensive issues the last time uh the last podcast we had which was a surprising topic that I don't think we had on our bingo card for the podcast this year and granted the weather has not been favorable over the last week but there was a baseball he definitely should have called in center field regardless of the weather so that is a little bit frustrating um but that being said I I just take it back to the point we've been making all year is that yeah he only had a couple hits this past week and you know he has a bloop single today it's not really super super impressive but when the guys in front of him are doing what they're supposed to be doing and they're doing more than that right now you're not going to notice him very much yeah and like you said about Marsh I mean he's gonna come out of this he's too good of a hitter at this his career he's been super super consistent since he came over from the angels for us and it's it's been quite the Revelation at the bottom of the lineup whenever he is hot because he just extends that lineup even more and seems like at that point Roos is the only one at any point that kind of feel like he's not going to come up big hit but even at some points this year Roos has been that guy like you said I mean he hasn't been great lately but I mean he's he's still like very very young still developing and I think the Phillies are honestly okay with that Marsh even though he's been struggling lately as well it's his plate discipline hasn't like wavered like he's not up there liling at bad pitch pitches like taking one two three pitches being done he's having deep counts whenever he's struggling and I mean that's just super good to see because that's how you get out of right yeah I don't really have anything else on the offense to be honest unless you do um another quiet week for Whit like I said that's that's just continued to be disappointing um I don't really want to harp on that point people know I was not the biggest fan of the marfield signing would it happened so um I don't want to continue to be Mr negative there because he did have a little bit of a hot streak in between those two cold streaks but um that's not been great but it's nice that other guys are stepping up and that there's even though he's not playing well there's there's other options right now with try out so um I'll flip it to the pitching a little bit unless you got anything else you want to talk about on the offense the pitching has just been again the whole season lock lock down lights out whatever term you want to use they have been just unbelievable and Christopher Sanchez it was really good to see him have that start he had the other night just to kind of b or the last night to bounce back obviously he's had he's had his ups and downs this year but he's still been really good and I think it was Matt winlan who who pointed it out guy through 9 seven in the sixth inning last night awesome good for him man good for him and you know again we'll see we'll continue to see with a larger sample size how the velocity affects the movement potentially on some of those pitches but I'm not really super concerned with how it's played right now um we'll see as the season moves on that was a concern earlier in the year but Chris Sanchez man I mean again his numbers are very very good for a back end of the rotation guy you're not worried about that right now and yeah everyone else man Ranger doing his job Nola's been really good as of late obviously which a lot of people after the first Nola start were having to meltdown but he's been fine as we all expected but thankfully no like thankfully there hasn't been any like major major blowups with Nola since then that that people have pointed to to get upset about so that's been nice like you said Wheeler's just been wheeler um unbelievable absolutely dominant the other night good to see that after again like you said the Monday start wasn't the best but we knew that wasn't again that's an outlier it's not it's the ction to the rule it's not really a trend and yeah I mean that that's pretty much the starting rotation right now again Taiwan has that toe thing we'll see he's supposed to make his next schedule start um we'll see how he does again not a huge fan of him but and I do think it sucks that turnbull's not really been the the best out of the pen as of late either he feels it feels like he's kind of come out of his rhythm too so not an ideal situation there but hopefully as the season goes on Turnbull gets back in rotation at some point there's going to be injuries too that's just reality of BAS ball and arms but you know hopefully it doesn't come at the cost of anyone else going down that's really important but um I would guess at the end like as we get into the back half of the year you're going to have Sanchez chull and Walker essentially fighting for that last spot in the playoff rotation that fourth spot that is so um there will be opportunities there as far as the bullpen goes man I really don't have much to say except they they've continued to play pretty well our pitch pretty well not their crispest week this past week but I mean I'm not really overreacting to do something in May when you know there there's a lot of times where they're still executing pitches and getting unlucky breaks and again I mean I think they been really good this whole year I think strm has been unbelievable he really is making a case to be an All-Star right now Drew I mean I I don't think that's outlandish to say at this point St really should be in consideration to be an All-Star as of right now um and like Robert said Gregory SoDo was he's been fine I sent that thing in our chat drew that I think it was Alex Carr tweeted it out he's had what was it 77% of his appearances with the Phillies at SC less which is really surprising it's just the ones that are bad are so bad um that you sometimes just get a little a little bit of a jaded view of it um but he's been better and I honestly was really impressed with Jose Ruiz this past week too that guy's yeah pretty nasty um it the first time I really got to wa like sit down and watch him he's definitely got he's definitely got a nice a nice like pitch mix and definitely got some movement on those pitches so um they've overall just been really good I mean obviously Alvarado and and Hoffman and uh Kirk ring didn't have the best weeks of their life but that's going to happen and I'd rather it happen now in May and I still win those games than it happened in more important games or more competitive games later in the year yeah and you kind of just hit the nail on the head on pretty much everything you were talking about I mean I I obviously agree I mean the bullpen they've been pretty incredible for the whole season like you said not their best week but I mean you just kind of take the highs with the lows hopefully you can get through the lows I mean not playing bad right now but they're not doing what they were doing the first month and I mean Gregory stto like I I showed this comment for because I wanted to talk about him but if he can throw strikes he's going to be locked down he's got the stuff to do it it seems like his only problems come when starts throwing balls missing spots badly and then he gives up home runs whenever he does that it like but I mean it's just like what he did there two nights ago against against the Nationals was just incredible I me or last night sorry my fault but he uh he was throwing strikes he was using that slide step that he's kind of in integrating now and it looked really really good he shut down the Nationals at top of the 10th inning ands there and won it in the bottom so that's exactly what you need to do whenever you're coming out there for that kind of outing and I mean last two days Dave dumbrowski what a genius Cody Clemens and Gregory SoDo thank you to the Detroit Tigers I guess what a trade that's for us I mean sto's done some incredible things with us and he's done some not so incredible things but I mean those two guys are producing much much more than Donnie s Matt verling and Nick maton are I mean mayon's not even on the team anymore for the but I mean that was a great trade by Dave dembrowski right there I don't think that's talked about enough I mean things he's done to improve the fringes of this roster I mean like the bullpen they've gotten so many guys at this point where it's like kind to scratch your head when they sign them and then they're like Elite relievers I mean Jeff Hoffman Matt strum the list can go on and on but I mean they've done such a good job with this pitching staff I mean everybody is going on a heater right now for the most part I kind of been bad but other than that I mean it seems like the entire pitching staff is just red hot right now that's exactly what you want to see and same like we were talking about the rotation a little bit there Ian Walker I mean he's been fine we were kind of all really skeptical but went out there and he's done his job pretty much every night and he looked like he was going to do okay there the other night before he got injured so I'm not going to look too much into that but I mean like you said the pitching has just been unbelievable yeah and again if tyon Walker throwing meatballs and getting away with it as the fifth starter maybe the like the sixth Starter by the end of the year is the biggest Ro like rotation concern or pitching concern you're in a pretty good spot so he's only taken the ball once every five days yeah again I like you know my stance on on him but I'm really not going to continue to complain about him if the rest of the pitching staff is going to be this good it's it's really only going to become a problem if some of the other pitchers start to take a little bit of a a step off but I really don't Envision major regression from multiple pitchers at the same time with how good the staff is man because the talent has always been there um and it feels like it's finally starting to show at the same time for all of them right now as I said earlier but yeah and again the bullpen the bullpen is really a continues to be a huge bright spot for this team um again I think it's something they'll probably add to it the deadline but you talk about Gregory shto that guy was an All-Star who you required and again I know that each team gets an All-Star so I get the Tigers had to send someone to the all-star game that year but Gregory shto was still an All-Star pitcher granted maybe not the the best All-Star of all time but he was an All-Star pitcher at one point and you acquired him for multiple guys who were not going to play in the organization for you long term and who really have haven't done anything particularly special for the Tigers right now and again you got Cody Clemens back who I don't think anyone was expecting to be anything more than a death infielder in Triple A and just from what he did in the first couple weeks last year and what he's done now to start this year um while he's been up in the big leagues he's already been worth acquiring in that trade so credit to Dave and the The Scouting Department in the front office like they clearly did their homework on Cody Clemens and saw something there and again he's hitting the baseball hard right now you know I know exit V's not going to save you every single time especially if you're hitting into the ground but it seems like everything he's making contact with is going to the gaps and and being hit hard into the gaps too so he's been just a really really really really nice uh I I don't want to say Saving Grace that's not the right word but just a really nice again pleasant surprise I'll say uh for this team this year so that trade has worked out really well the front office has done a really good job with this team and you know for as much flak that they caught in the off that's another thing we haven't talked about Drew is we we talked offseason about how people were complaining about the lack of moves for this team because they didn't think they could run it back and again I don't think they're necessarily like yeah they're running it back with the same core but even what you know even if they add other supporting pieces around the next year or two like it's still going to be the same core and it was the same core the year before like they're just mixing and matching C certain spots on the team right um obviously they didn't have Taiwan when they went to the World Series that that one year or in 2022 so you're mixing and matching certain spots of the supporting CS but the core is still the same and they've made back-to-back NL championships with this court so the front office caught a lot of a lot of just backlash I don't know why for the lack of moves they made this offseason when they really didn't have a lot of roster spots open and they really didn't have a ton of needs going into this offseason either and again the free agency class like you want to make a case like I I know I've talked about how they should add a right-handed reliever at the deadline that's also because there's a number of right-handed options the deadline that are really good the best guy was who we were interested in was what Robert Stevenson this offseason and now he hurt there were also legitimate concerns with him and he went to the angels too so if that's if that's a team that's going to pay you that's I'm not saying that's a bad look on Robert Stevenson's part but obviously a pretty bad organization so that being said you know Robert Stevenson was very good and he was on the come up but um I think it made much more sense to save your your powder like they said for the deadline and look it's worked out really well like they're the best record in baseball right now and definitely one of the best teams talent-wise in baseball so it's really not a concern to me that they didn't make a lot of moves in the off or was never concern to me that they didn't make a lot of moves in the off season and I think you were on the same page drew it wasn't a major concern and here we are you know it's very rewarding to be sitting here U I'm glad we were both on that side of that take too because it it was just it was getting old talking the whole offseason about they weren't making moves and how they you know it was a loser organization when they were a game away from going back to the World Series this past year yeah yeah I mean this team they're just they're so well constructed I mean they're like they said last year they're built for where they're going and I mean they're showing out in the regular season right now which has not been the theme the last couple years but I mean it's welcome site I mean nobody's gonna be complaining that they're 20 games over 500 and like the like the graphic says I mean they haven't they didn't get the 20 games over until September 27th last year so right at the end of the season and man they are on a heck of a run and I mean it doesn't look like they're gonna slow down I mean they're they're not showing signs of slowing down at all I mean the the thing is like when your pitching is so good it's very sustainable to keep winning I mean you're not relying on like the Yankees right now they're relying on Soto and judge completely I mean their their pitching's been okay A little bit too but I mean when you're relying on two guys in the offense to completely fuel it every single night which they've been doing somehow but I mean it's just it's not a sustainable way to win a ton of games in the regular season and I think that's kind of what happened to the Yankees last year like they didn't have a whole lot of guys around judge and when judge was not going good it just kind of off apart for them and the Phillies are kind of the opposite of that like they have really really good hitters and they have like Fringe roster guys who are performing really well right now and that's just the combination you get I mean 20 games over 500 best record in baseball so just kind of speaks for itself and I think it's going to be sustained yeah I agree with you I agree with you it's it really is unbelievable to think about that we could be the first team to 40 wins this year again something I did not think was possible coming into this season um yeah I mean I really don't have anything else to say on the player side of it we talked about Thompson last time and just crediting him for the job he has done again questionable decisions are going to happen over 162 games especially when you're early in the season and you're trying to mix and match relievers in certain spots and keep them fresh at the same time too but really don't have anything else I wanted to talk about I did have something on Twitter I think it was uh Luke arcany hopefully I'm saying his name right he had an interesting um tweet and it was it was who's your MV for the Phillies so far this year biggest surprise biggest letdown and then unsung hero so I did it on my Twitter but I was curious to to hear your thoughts so um I think the MVP is pretty clear it's probably Ranger Suarez or Alec bone and it's probably both for being honest like those are the two guys right now um I think that's pretty pretty clear clear I don't really have I don't that really wasn't the one I was looking for major Insight on I think we're probably both in agreement there too and then biggest surprise so I orally had mine as Junior marte's first month like first month or so of the season because I thought he was really good to start this year but at this point it just has to be Cody Clemens man I mean I I don't think there's any other answer for me at least um there's other guys for sure but he's got to be my biggest surprise I don't know if you had any thoughts on those first two there u i mean MVP obviously I think it's probably danger just because I think I think he's eight and0 isn't he I mean it's just it's crazy I mean they're winning every game he's starting except for the one which is a no decision and I believe they did win that game but I mean it's just it's crazy the Run he's on right now it's like a pitching linsanity run it's just ridiculous but I mean bom I feel like it's it's every day with this guy I mean it's crazy what he's doing I mean he's he's hitting the ball hard consistently not striking out I mean it's it's pretty special and I mean as far as the unsung hero I mean I don't even know I mean there's so many guys that are performing on the fringes of the roster right now and I mean Cody Clemens okay I was going to say STM is a big one I was just thinking that right when I said that and I mean Cody Clemens isn't really unsung because it's like he's doing it so often at this point like where he's just performing sorry if I keep looking up there's a bee flying right above me I got to kill it at some point you're good for it to come attack me I can cover for you if you need it all good all good um I mean yeah like the Fring is the roster right right now I keep saying the fringes but it's just so true I mean everybody is performing right now and I feel like there's only a couple guys like stubs and wit I mean those are two really the the guys that are struggling right now and it's just other than that everybody in the lineup has been putting their foot forward and doing something great seems like every single day and I mean it's just it's such a sustainable way to win right and and like Robert said Kevin long man uh what a hitting coach you know he he got some criticism over the last two seasons too which surprised me but he has been I mean Caleb cam rightfully so is going to get a lot of the praise out of the coaches and definitely I think he deserves the most for sure I mean he's been awesome like he's been a revelation for the Phillies the past couple Seasons but I think Kevin long is like not far behind him honestly and maybe that's I don't I'm not trying to take anything away from cam I think cam is like again like I said I think he's Head and Shoulders Above the Rest of the coaching staff as far as the praise goes right now but um I think Kevin long deserves plenty as well for for what he's done with all these young hitters and I I'm really impressed with the coaching staff as a whole too but um as far as biggest let down I don't want to we won't end on a negative so um we can talk about that one real quick I think it's probably s Anthony out of out of the guys we've we've mentioned and I don't really know if there's any other answers I mean I wouldn't call casianos a let down just because what he's doing I wouldn't say is like a major surprise and he's been better but like again I'm not I'm not really surprised with his approach of the plate that he's having a little bit of a slump to start this year um but for me it'd be Sir Anthony but I'm trying to think of a better like positive way to end this than that I mean the the biggest let down for me Isn't like a player like as a whole it's Johan ras' defense just been it's been bad and he needs to be better I mean he's dropping a lot of balls that like you expect him to catch and that's the reason he's in the lineup is to catch these difficult balls and track these balls down the Gap and prevent runs and he just hasn't been doing that lately and he needs he needs to be better he does and I think he will be eventually and he's going to be a huge part of the phills this year so I'm not I'm not too down on him sure I guess a positive way I just thought of to end the Pod was um also I wanted to get I wanted to put this comment back up too yeah when Trey comes back good luck against any of the other teams because we saw what we were doing with him in the lineup and now what we're doing without him in the lineup is even more impressive so yeah good luck to this team um yeah or to any other teams playing us but I I want to end this pod I want you to give me the Phillies on the roster who are Allstar right now you put up a poll on our Twitter uh over four and a half Allstars for the Phillies and obviously the teams who are doing well tend to get more votes and obviously Citizens Bank is packed right now Drew and it it's been packed past couple years but everyone who I've talked to who's been there over the past week specifically has said it is now like a playoff environment just without the rally towels that is really impressive because again like like I said last year was packed it was definitely they were filling up the bank pretty consistently but now it feels like we're back in 2011 where every single night it was always sold out I think was the largest home crowd of the season so far so I do want to ask on that note The Vibes are high right now there's a good chance they're going to get multiple All Stars this year too on that note um who do you have as the all- star this year I'll I'll give a couple right off the bat we already talked about them Bowman Suarez I think probably your your two main Allstars right now those guys are probably gonna be in the All-Star game um I think Bryce Harper is probably goingon to be in there again the Phillies are playing well he's the best player in the team he hasn't even gotten hot yet I would expect him to be on the All-Star roster for sure if not a starter and yeah as far as other guys go those are really The Big Three I think um I would say maybe stock gets in but again it's always tough for him because second base is a very good position in the NL um you still have AAS too who has gotten going I believe I haven't really kept up with him lately but he's a possibility um JT is gonna be tough just because he's been out for a little bit so I don't know if I see him making it anymore even though he plays position where you could make it but um I I I think they're going to have a couple I think wheeler makes it too so that's four um I think they're going to have a couple relievers in there as well I I've already said my piece so sorry I kind of took up all the allstars but there's a few more of the relievers too but I want to ask you who you got on there before and say everyone yeah I was actually texting my cousin like right before the Pod so I I'll just read off the list I sent him I had strm Hoffman wheeler Ranger Nola potentially I mean he's kind of like a fringe one Harper bone Turner I mean they could all be allst Stars that's kind of my list right there I mean obviously I might be missing somebody but I mean there's the point is there's so many I mean there's so many Fells that are playing good right now and I mean it's just so fun right yeah absolutely man I would probably agree with that list too I mean like you said Nola's probably The Fringe guy there but the relievers man there's definitely going to be two or three of them that make it and and like you said Turner could make it too because he was red hot before he got hurt and when people go to like when the fans go to vote on the MLB All-Star vote on online like the most of them if they're not voting for their own team they're looking at the numbers so even though Turner has not been healthy he's probably going to get a good bit of the fan vote between that and all the Phillies fans who are going to vote as well so that's a good point he he will probably make it even though he's he's been down for six weeks like there's a good chance he could still make it there um so yeah I mean I think they're definitely gonna have over four and a half Drew I really do I think you're gonna see a a number of Phillies in the All-Star Game this year which that's cool man there there was a year where it was only odubel in it there was a year where it was Dominic Brown and Cliff Lee there I mean there was the years where Papa Bond was the was the only Allstar they had so now to be back in an age where they're probably gonna have not just a couple all stars but multiple that is very exciting especially when last year our two guys were Kimbrell and casianos like look how far we've come just from one year to the next and as far as the All-Star votes go um that's exciting to think about so anyway man I mean that's really all I got I don't know if there's anything else you wanted to talk about before wrap up here nope I think I think we covered pretty much everything I mean it's like we said in the last couple pods I mean there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about for the most part because the Phils are just playing so good right now and I mean we kind of been spreading them out a little more I think because of the way they're playing right now because we need some stuff to talk about when we come on here so it's uh definitely been a really really good run and everybody should definitely keep enjoying it get out to the ballpark if you can it's been electric there I mean like you said it's just it's it's been crazy absolutely man absolutely and yeah I I think we'll probably do one after this Ranger series coming up just because that is a pretty significant Series so keep an eye out for something on that um there will probably be a lot more takeaways from that series than we've had from a lot of the other ones and there might be some actual negatives to talk about I don't want to come on here and talk about you know be pessimistic like I'm not saying that but it is good to have those series to kind of figure out where some of the issues are on the team and we know where some of the holes are too but there's not even though there's not many but it is nice to at least have some of that exposed now rather than later in the season and as we get into June too that'll really be kind of the Prime season for us to kind of pick up the podcast a little bit more as we'll play a little bit better competition as we get into June um we'll get closer to the trade that line like I've always talked about but we'll also we'll also just be kind of picking up steam in the season too and getting a better idea of where all the major league teams are at not just the Phillies so even looking at the schedule man like part of the reason the schedule's not really that intimida going forward even in June and July is because the Phillies are so good it's it's not because there's not solid teams on their schedule it's because the Phillies are taking care of business against every team that's in their path right now like they just swept the Nationals like it was nothing and they come like even when they're late in the game and they're down it's like oh they're probably G to come back and find a way to at least tie this one up and send it the extras like you know they they're coming back in every single game they did not give the Mets any easy win in that series the Mets had to scrape and Claw for that one win they got in that series it was not easy for them um so yeah that's really all I got drew it it was an incredible week of Phillies baseball they've continued to play good baseball the entire season so far and yeah I am excited for the series coming up it's going to tell us some more about the team but even even if they lose two out of these three against the Rangers you're not really in panic mode because you know the Phillies are a team that can bounce back and I honestly expect them to take two out of three because of how good they've been playing and how hard they are on themselves like they they are not H every time they lose a game they are not happy about it we talked about that last time team has a different mentality this year and it's a killer mentality that's what you love to see so anything you want to say before we sign off nope everybody uh just enjoy I mean like I said we'll be back Pro or like you said we'll probably be back after this Ranger series like you said it's a big Series so I mean just keep an eye out for that and if you haven't already joined the Discord I mean I think a lot of people in here probably are already in there but if you haven't definitely join there I mean we're always in there talking Phils so check that out for sure absolutely thank you guys for tuning in we appreciate all you who tuned in to the stream and who tuned into the podcast go Phils God bless y'all we'll see you guys on the next one peace peace