Season on the Brink: Phillies LETHARGIC in St. Louis

For the fifth time since the All-Star Break, the Phillies have lost a series, and the offense has gone ice cold. Hear from Don Mattingly, Cristopher Sanchez (Diego D'aniello), and Zack Wheeler throughout another disappointing series.  #RingTheBell #PhiladelphiaPhillies #MLBonX

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SPEAKER_02 0:02

Yesterday. All my trouble seem so far away. Now it looks as though they'd stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday. Suddenly. I'm not half the man I used to be.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, into another episode of the Six Ten Podcast. It's a melancholy episode here today. Just exactly like this Phillies team, as they lose two of three to the St. Louis Cardinals. A real stunner, these last two games, I think. And you might have seen it coming. I mean, you could have seen it coming a mile away at this point with the way the Phillies have been playing baseball, and especially the way the weekend went against the Toronto Blue Jays to then hit the road and play the St. Louis Cardinals. But and we'll get into it in a minute. The way this series started, with Andrew Painter on the mound, Painter obviously had all those issues early on in the season, sent back down to AAA. In his last three starts, he's looked like a much better pitcher, and on Monday, he was really showing the stuff. Now it wasn't there's still a long ways to go here. But he looked really, really good through five innings. Phillies got him an early lead with Edmundo Sosa two runs single. He continued to blank the Cardinals. Phillies add one more in the fifth as Harper would ground out into a double play. How many times would we say that in this series? But in the bottom of the fifth, he works around a two-out walk to come back and strike out Jimmy Crooks on nine pitches. He wins the battle. Does Painter puts a strikeout in his back pocket? Phillies do nothing in their half of the sixth. A one-out walk to JJ Weatherholt, which would then lead to a double for Ivan Herrera to put two in scoring position for Alec Berg uh Burleson, who hit an RBI single into center to plate two. Now, unbeknownst to the viewer at the time, when Don Mattingley went out to make the change, takes out Andrew Painter, who pitched extremely well. And in a second you'll hear from Don Mattingley on Painter. But the Phillies go to Alan Ron Hell. Already knowing the players knew this, everyone knew this but us. It was Painter, then Ron Hell, that was it for the night. That was those were the only two pitchers that were available. In the end, Jonathan Bolan could be used in a quote-unquote emergency situation. I don't know how, and I have heard people talk about this who have played in the game, played Major League Baseball before, how you go into a game with just one available pitcher out of the bullpen, and then another guy in a quote emergency situation in the second full week of August now is unbelievable to me. On August 10th, for you to go into a baseball game in the thick of a wild card hunt and that be the plan is I mean, alarming, baffling, whatever you want to say, that's what it was. And the fact that they rolled out a lineup of Bryson Stott hitting in the two-hole with no Trey Turner, with the outfield of Justin Crawford, Brandon Marsh, and Derek Hill, which is not bad by any means, but then having Garrett Stubbs behind the plate, and then Mundo Sosa at shortstop, which is why I mentioned the outfield, like not having Sosa in the outfield and Turner at shortstop. Sosa, who was struggling all year and actually did a heck of a job when given the opportunity. Schwarber played at a one-a run to make it 4-2. Ron Hill was doing good in the 7th. Sosa had a two-run double in the eighth after Justin Crawford doubled out to right. Sosa plays Marsh and Crawford at 6-2. We go to the 8th. And then the Cardinals started to come through. Ivan Herrera, leadoff double. Alec Burleson trades places with him to make it 6-3. Jordan Walker, singles, put runners at the corners. Thankfully, Nathan Church would pop out. But then Mason Wynne hits an RBI double at 6-4. Jose Fermin hits an RBI single 6-5. And Alan Ronhell had to dig in deep. And he did just that. He struck out Jimmy Crooks. He struck out, or no, he got Brian Torres to line out to Justin Crawford, and everyone could take a little sigh of relief. The Phillies unfortunately do nothing in the top of the ninth. But in the bottom of the ninth, Jonathan Boland, who's 0 for 3 in his career in save opportunities, got his first career save, striking out Weatherholt, Herrera flying out, and Burleson lining out to Derek Hill. Now the ball Burleson hit, 101.1 off the bat. He got it on the screws there on a fastball up and away. And thankfully, it ended up in the glove of Derrick Hill for the final out of the game. And the Phillies win 6-5, and I think everyone was going, oh my goodness, I, you know, how could you not have anyone in that eighth inning? Well, Don Mattingley explained it after the game.

SPEAKER_06 6:12

Is that the first game you've ever managed without a bullpen?

SPEAKER_05 6:16

It was one of the easiest games I've ever managed, actually. Because you you know you're not doing anything. Obviously, paint was great tonight. Obviously, paint was really good. That was huge. Yeah. You know, Ron Hellgutsy, you know, getting out of that uh 38. And we had one bullet out there, and that was uh so uh we were willing to use them. You can use guys, but you hurt guys. So we're we're we're not in that spot. But so that's a that's a huge win for us, knowing where we are at with and uh and all the guys out there to get get that from Payne and uh Alan. Huge guy.

SPEAKER_06 7:02

So easy to get it. Is it like a little bit of a helpless feeling when you're chipping away there and you know you really can't pull a straight?

SPEAKER_05 7:11

Uh I mean a little bit, I guess, because you don't really but you don't have any options. You know, at that point you don't have options, and you just you have to live with it. We knew it before the game. Talked about it. This is exactly actually how we we scripted it as far as we need the aid from those two, and if we have a lead, you know, if it was enough of a lead, if we could, you know, kind of tap in, keep those guys from scoring there in the eighth, and and add on somewhere in there, then we'd let Allen kind of keep going. But at that point, it was it was kind of bow, and that was it.

SPEAKER_06 7:52

Which is you probably only want to think about it, but did you have plans for extras and for extras?

SPEAKER_05 7:57

Stubby.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Well, yeah. I don't know if twenty years ago, if Mattingley would have been managing a team, or 15 years ago, when he was the manager of the Dodgers, if he would have gone into a baseball game and said, We only have one guy available out of the bullpen, which means that I'm telling you, the listener, I tend to think that probably comes from upstairs, that's probably a hey, we cannot afford to ruin these guys, the sp you know, sports science and all that, they've thrown this many innings, they've you know, and and the their their arms out of the bullpen were not exactly lighting it up, but to have Alan Ron Hell out there ping to basically find uh find out what your made-of moment out of Ron Hell, and thankfully he came through. But it just really, again, baffling for it's not listen in minor league baseball that may happen. You know, in single A ball, okay. You know, who it's a season where there's not even a the win-loss record is split up into two halves of the year. Fine. You know, it's a development league. For a major league baseball team to go into a game like that, for that, for that bullpen's situation one to have gotten that bad is astonishing. Asting. Now Andrew Painter did pitch well, and Don Mattingley spoke about Painter's night.

SPEAKER_05 9:36

Uh, momentum is good though, and it's three in a row that he's thrown the ball well uh since he's came back, so that's that's obviously positive for us. Uh but that was something that the team needed right there, and for him to come through in that spot is is really good for him and good for our club.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it's great to see this out of Andrew Painter. I don't know what the future's gonna hold for him, but hopefully this is a sign that he's figuring things out. He had a great start his first time back against the O's, had a solid start going there against the Nats last week, and had probably one of his best starts of the year against the Cardinals. So that was very encouraging to see out of Andrew Painter. And the Phillies right now need it, but especially we all need it for the future, because you see the state of the starting pitching. Moving forward for the years to come, they could be in some serious trouble and are gonna need to get really creative as to how they're gonna restock the pitching staff. But moving along through Monday night and into Tuesday, I'm sure a lot of people were saying, hey, they've won two in a row. Now, you basically had to pull teeth to win both of those games. I mean, let's face it. But they won. You got Sanchez going Tuesday and Wheeler going Wednesday. Well, I feel confident they're at least going to take two out of three. If they can get a vintage Zach Wheeler start on Wednesday, and Christopher Sanchez pitches to the form that he had shown everyone against Baltimore a week and a half ago. I mean, his last start against the Nationals was solid, but not great. If he's great and he can go deep into the game and be the Christopher Sanchez we saw earlier in the year, then they should win this game, right? Well, in the end, Christopher Sanchez was excellent. He was excellent through six innings, masterful through six, gave up some traffic at times, but as the game went on, it looked like he was getting stronger and stronger, and the Phillies, you could just see that they were as an offense, it felt like it was kind of, I don't want to say just a matter of time, but through the first three innings they had traffic on. What would unfortunately become all too common in this game, Justin Crawford grounded out into a double play in the second with runners at the corners and one out. Ended the inning. Then Christopher Sanchez gets a double play with two on with one out in the home half of the second. And it just felt like from that point forward he was going to get better. Then in the third, Trey Turner walked with one out. Great. There's some speed on the base pass. Then Bryce Harper grounds out into a double play. We found out before game one that Harper was dealing with some discomfort in his knee, and he wasn't even busting it down the line to try and break up any form of a double play. So that was concerning. Then in the third, a one-out single, turned away by a double play for by Christopher Sanchez. It just felt like okay, this Phillies offense is at some point going to break through. Two out walk by Stott, he steals second, his 23rd stolen bag of the year. Marsh lines out 56 miles per hour to the third baseman Blaze Jordan. What has happened to Brandon Marsh since the end of June, folks, I do not know. It is one of the more mind-boggling tales. Because was there going to be a drop-off? Sure. But to have this big of a drop-off, boy, that is really frustrating to see. In the fifth, Phillies go one, two, three. So for the first five innings for the Phillies, no runs. Couple base runners can't push anything across. In the sixth, they get a leadoff single by Trey Turner. Only for Bryce Harper to ground out into a double play. That finishes the top of the sixth. Sanchez, one, two, three in the sixth. Ground out, ground out, ground out. And then to the seventh we go. Phillies get a two-out single by Marsh. Bohm walks. Crawford lines out 105.8 to Jordan Walker and White and Wright. Crawford a little frustrated there for sure. It was a frustrating night for the offense. Bohm had one that he flew out to the track. But still, at a certain point, it's like, man, is this offense, and because now you're going, are they ever going to break? Because now you're saying to yourself, man, Sanchez could be getting to the end of the line. Is this offense really not going to score a run for him? But as we went to the bottom of the seventh, I don't think anyone expected during that commercial break that Sanchez would not be out having thrown 89 pitches. Sure enough he is. And it's the rookie Alex McFarlane on the mound. And everyone's going, what in the world? 89 pitches and he's done? After the game, Dodd Mattingley and Christopher Sanchez on the decision for Sanchez to be taken out after six.

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Well, I didn't want to pull Christopher to start with. But checking on him after the inning and he just he was done. So he what he did. I know the pitch count was still okay at times to send it back out like that. But uh he was done.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

Yeah, pretty much uh I think we didn't lose uh maybe within the game overall. Uh game of it. I'm out of the way, just uh manager and now we made a joint decision. We we discussed it. Uh it was really uncomfortable today. The weather was uh a little uncomfortable, but uh can use that as an excuse. We we have to perform out there every day, it doesn't matter how it is, and uh you know we we just have to go out there on the field and try to put the team in the best position we can to win the games.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

If you were watching post-game live, you would have obviously heard from Don Mattingley first, and then Christopher Sanchez, right? So which by my account is how it's done in most sports, I assume, and in baseball as well. You hear from the manager first and they open it up to the clubhouse. The reporters, as you heard from Mattingley, it wasn't all too clear as to whose decision it was, because the way he makes it sound, it kind of feels like he's saying, Well, I didn't want to pull him. But he was done. It's like, okay, so was he telling you he was done? In my perception of it all, he could have a f he had a feeling. His gut was telling him Sanchez was done with the heat. When you talk to when you hear from Sanchez after the game, as you heard, he's going, it wasn't my decision. If he it sounded like basically, if he were to have just asked me, I would have said I'm okay to go. And I would have went back out there. Well, Alex McFarlane, who had just been called up the day prior, lead-off walk to Jordan Walker, who stole a bag. He gets Alec Berg Burleson out, then Jose Fermin grounds out to Turner to move Walker to third, and then Mason Wynne comes through for the Cardinals, and it's one to nothing. You're going, oh my god, they have six outs. The Phillies have six outs to get this done. Now, here's the most frustrating part for me. Top of the eighth. Caleb Ferguson on the mound. Walks Kyle Schwarber. Seven pitch at bat, Schwarber walks. Okay. They put in Derek Hill to replace Schwarber. Now people are going crazy about this. Listen, it's I understand wanting Schwarber in just in case, but and at the end of the day, obviously it didn't ultimately matter, but you'd want to have speed on the base paths at that point in the game. And he'll nab second. Runner in scoring position, nobody out. Then Trey Turner takes those walks. Walks him on five pitches. Runners at first and second, nobody out. Bryce Harper takes a couple hacks, fouls a couple pitches off, maybe got a few that he could have driven. But then he walks to load the bases. If you're a Cardinals fan, you're having flashbacks of game one of the 2022 wild card where Ryan Helsley walked the ballpark in the ninth inning and the Phillies played, what was it, like five or six runs in that inning and go on to win that first game in St. Louis. But Luisa Rise, the man, you got at the deadline that you were that everyone said, you know, he and I said, hey, he's gonna he's a hit machine. And if he's not gonna get hits, he's gonna work the count, he's gonna get a good pitch to hit, and you're gonna say, man, he didn't swing at anything stupid. Takes a first pitch ball up at his neck. Then he swings at a fastball low and in off the plate to ground into a three, two, three, double play. The fourth double play of the night. How many times in the last week have the Phillies had the bases loaded with one or less outs and they don't score a run? Mainly because of swinging at pitches way too damn early in the count that you don't need to swing at. You're not looking to protect the plate. Why would you swing at that? It was like Bohm last week against the Jays in the ninth. It was like Bohm against the Jays and Extras on Sunday. Why in the world was Luis Arry swinging at that pitch? A 3-2-3 double play, that in and of itself tells you where the Phillies are at at this point in the season. Now, if they just got one in, if he grounded out into a double play, and Hill score and like the double play was softly hit, it was like a 4 6 3 and Hill scored. Mesa comes in anyways and gives up a solo homer to make it 2 0. So who knows it it could have mattered, could not have mattered. Biggest thing was you needed him to come through. Righty lefty with Stannic in the game. You know how tough of a situation that is for a guy to come into a game and the bases are juiced. And then you help him out. He helped him out. He just helped him out. He here you go. Here, get out of the inning. Well, get closer to getting out of the inning, because then JT flies out to deep right. Which, if Ariz did that one run scores, probably the runner from second tags to third, Turner, and then you take your chance with JT. Who probably would have grounded out into the fourth double play of the night, anyways, but at least you would have scored a damn run. I mean, honestly, and the night itself was frustrating enough offensively. To have the guy you just traded for, the prize piece at the deadline, do that. Is beyond baffling. It's and it can't even just be, oh, well, it's just so it just so happens that they got him and now he's struggling. I don't know. And I'm not here to say that I'm blaming on Kevin Long. I'm saying I don't know fundamentally, because he's been here for a week. Okay, he's been there for BPs, they're in the hitter hitters meetings. I kind of begin to wonder, what are they telling these guys? Because now he's doing it. And again, I'm not saying it's totally Kevin Long's. Could could be a pure coincidence, but are we willing to totally bet that that's just a coincidence? I mean, it makes it it's it's ironic, sure. But it be it makes one wonder what the heck is going on here behind the scenes with these guys, because I'm seeing it so much because Marsh has been struggling. And Harper has had a weird year, Schwerber's had a weird year, Turner, uh, you know, that's a lost cause. Bohm is beyond a lost cause. The only guy that's really gotten better is Stott. JT has never really even been able to get better. I mean, what is going on here with the hitting department this season? Crawford's been up and down. He's, you know, for a nine-hole hitter, he's fine. But in terms of like the consistency with these guys, and to quote the brass of the Phillies, the back of the baseball card, it hasn't shown up. And it's not just, oh, well, these guys are showing their age. Well, one guy was the hitting king last year with Turner. He was the hit king for 2025 in the National League. You don't just forget what the hell you're doing up there. Although we've seen it in the past from Trey. But Marsh had such an exceptional season. And then, I don't know, did he go out to dinner with Dominic Brown and they, you know, that just kind of passed off to him. Dominic Brown's, what was that, 2013, where he was scorching hot in the first half, then he fell asleep the second half? That's what Marsh has been. It's it's really amazing. And then today, and this tells you the vibe on the team is just shocked. Because Zach Wheeler goes out there, first four innings, looks like looks excellent. Looks like, damn, this is the Zach Wheeler we haven't been seeing the last couple outings. I'm glad we're seeing it now, because you know what? He wants he wants to be that stopper that stops a possible losing streak and get the team a W. He's doing that. Sure, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead on a RBI double by Nathan Church after a fielding error by Bohm. But Wheeler's shutting him down right now. Begins the fourth in a 1-1 game after the Harper double, Luisa Rise doubled, and it's 1-1. Or not the fourth, I beg your pardon, the fifth. And Prieto leadoff single, then gets Fermin to fly out to right, gets Crooks to strike out. Okay, here we go. Then Weatherhol hit a ground ball past Boehm. Now it's 102.3 off the bat. So it was hit well. Gets it past Bohm into right. Then Herrera gives the Cardinals the lead. Okay, now we gotta, you know, get we gotta get an out here. And then against Alec Burleson, a 1-1 fastball that's up and away, and Burleson hits his 30th double of the year to plate two. Then Jordan Walker hits his 24th double on a first pitch sweeper. It's 5-1. And I'm done recapping that game because it was over. And now let's hear from Zach Wheeler as he describes an outing to forget.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah, I mean it's a frustrating day. Um, just in general. Um, I've made some good fit to stuff like up and they just put the boundable. But I mean, it's one of those games that you kind of gotta forget the third we're just go for. That's fine, honestly. Um I think they're just gonna last game, but uh, not totally. No, it's a little out of whack right now, so just gotta get that figured out. Um kind of dig into what's see what's going on, get that figured out, and uh just come back. Even better. Um more sharp.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Zach Wheeler has been such a workhorse for the Phillies since coming over here in 2020. Is he allowed to have days like today? Absolutely. I mean, I'm not saying it ha it's it's just it happens. You know, it happens. But I'm beginning to question A why it's happening, because of how dominant he was earlier in the year, and I'm coming to this kind of realization. Starting pitchers are not expected to do what Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler were doing earlier in the season. Anymore in the game of the game of baseball has changed. Fifteen years ago, Roy Halliday, you know, what an unbelievable 2010 he had, 2011, Cliff Lee as well. They would pitch late in the games, complete games, you know, Charlie Manuel, he pulled a uh the manager from uh major league. You know, he took the analytics and he basically took a leak on him. That's no longer happening in the game of baseball. But Don Mattingley earlier in the year had an old school approach because you know what the Phillies needed wins. You couldn't trust the bullpen to get you outs. You had to rely on your starters to go deep into games because the other problem was you couldn't trust your offense half the time to get more than two or three runs. So Wheeler and Sanchez and Lazardo were asked to go deeper and deeper into games until the bullpen could straighten itself out, which it eventually did, to a degree. And suddenly, as we went throughout the month of June and then into July, Sanchez and Wheeler kind of began to labor. They labored a little bit, then they'd have a good start. Then they labor a lot, and then they'd have a decent start. But they have never been able to show that truly terrific form they had prior to Memorial Day weekend or the first week in June. Now Sanchez had a great start the other night, so take nothing away from that. And he had a great start in Baltimore. And Wheeler has been up and down, and Wheeler's I think has been that dead arm that people talk about. But the fact of the matter is, it comes to a head at a terrible time because you've been getting into inconsistent offense, although the offense, in my opinion, I don't want to say has been the least of the Phillies' worries, it's been a big worry. But the fact of the matter is, and I did the math last night. The Phillies have blown five late leads. Five late leads that game one against the Marlins where Wheeler didn't have it, and Duran blew the save, Lazardo's putrid performance against the Marlins, where he gave up six runs, that game one against Baltimore, last Wednesday against the Nationals, and then this past Saturday against the Blue Jays. That's five wins. The Phillies' record right now with five more wins, they would be 69 and 53. Do you know what 69 and 53 would get you? You'd be two and a half games back of the Cubs for the top spot in the wild card. As you well know, listening to this, the Phillies are on the outside looking in of a wild card spot right now. They are not playing good baseball. They could get caught by the Marlins, who are a game and a half back. Do you know how pathetic that is? That's horrible. That is horrible to have happen. And I've seen things been thrown around, oh, but you have to have faith. Why have faith? Because, oh, because they've had guys that have done it in the past. If you watch these games, they look like a completely different baseball team from those last couple years. They look like they're old. They look like their energy has been zapped completely. The light is just out of their eyes. They look like they are waiting for it to be the end of September already. I heard Shane Baz from the Orioles say this the other day the uh earlier today. And I'm not trying to say that the Phillies are doing this, but he said, you know, you're at the time of the year where you're either starting to play the best brand of baseball or you're waiting for the end of September. And that's what the Phillies look like. They look like the latter. And Don Mattingley discussed his concern level with the Phillies record today.

SPEAKER_06 33:00

Do you get a little concerned here?

SPEAKER_05 33:02

Well, I'm not gonna get any, we're not gonna get any of those eight series back. So there's no there's no way to look at it other than go forward. Uh kind of simple as that. You're not gonna look back when we should have won that series. We could have wanted we haven't break. Uh well, that's great to look back, but it's it's not gonna do us any good to look back and say that things that happen behind you aren't coming back, it's not gonna change. Uh there's nothing for us to do, but move on.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

If you're not concerned, Donnie, you should be. Now you can sit there and talk about, well, we can't do anything about it now, we gotta move forward. You know, him saying that kind of makes me think, are the players in the clubhouse doing that? Because it doesn't seem like it. And it's not just the guys in the starting lineup. I mentioned those five blown late leads by the bullpen. There see that's in lies the problem. I don't think, for whatever reason, when Brad Keller went down, it looks like no one out there has the leadership ability to really rally the troops and get them to come together. That just has not happened at all from what we've seen throughout the summer. Now, as I mentioned earlier, the Bryce Harper injury here was Don Mattingley. Harper appeared to be in some discomfort during that last fleet appearance. Is he already?

SPEAKER_05 34:32

I mean, I think so. Uh, you know, I guess I guess he had to the point, you know, if he's hurt or hurting, then we should probably just sit in and let him get healthy at this point. So if he's hurt, I don't he's saying he's not hurt, it's no different than before. Uh so you know, we just go to the medical every day, tell us he's available, make a decision.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

We're going a little over here. Usually I like to cap these in around 30 minutes. We're gonna be well over 30 by the end of this thing. But if I mean he's saying he's okay, he's trying to grind through it. Well, now you hear Manningley say, well, we probably should give him a couple days. I guess, I mean, this is if you said Harper, jeez, that lineup with him not in it. Oh, that is a sad and sorry looking lineup. Well, everyone's favorite baseball movie, Field of Dreams, or at least a majority of people's favorite movie, Field of Dreams, has its third edition of the Field of Dream games in Iowa, and that's where the Phillies will be tomorrow night. As the season stops for no man. It might stop for rain if we get that, which at this point it's a good thing. Game one, the twins will bring out Taj Bradley, who's nine and fourth of three seven, six ERA. And his lone start against the Phillies, this was in 2024 when he was a member of the Rays. He pitched six innings, gave up four runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Aaron Nola, three and nine with a five-four-seven ERA. He's pitched twice against the twins in 24 and 25. His last two outings, he went 14 innings, allowed two runs on eight hits with 15 strikeouts and three walks. Okay. Now the twins are 60 and 62, though as of right now, they're a game back of the Rangers, who are currently in action against the Angels. They're up two to one, so potentially the Twins could be a game and a half back or a half a game back of the final wild card spot. In game two, as the series will move to target field in Minneapolis for Saturday and Sunday, Connor Prelip, left-handed pitcher, three-five with a four-seven nine ERA, drafted in the second round in 2022 by the Twins, made his MOB debut this year. He's 3-2 with a 3-8-6 ERA and nine starts at home. We know the struggles the Phillies have had overall this season against left-handed pitching. Lately it's not been as bad, but I mean, with the way the Phillies are going. Lazardo, 10-5 with a 3-3-2 ERA. He has never pitched a game at Target Field in his career. I found that interesting. 6-0 with the 2-01 ERA and 12 starts on the road this season. So I don't. I can't sit here and tell you whether or not who the starting pitching preview favors at this point. It's a flip the coin. Game three, Dean Kramer will take a mound. He's 2-4 with a 5-2-5 ERA. Traded over from the O's about two weeks ago. He's 0-1 with a 3-4-6 ERA against the Phillies since 2022. He's allowed five runs on 11 hits and 13 innings with 9 strikeouts and 3 walks. In his lone start, pitching for the Twins at home against his former team, the Orioles, on Monday, he allowed 1 run on a hit in 7 innings with 7 strikeouts and a walk. So we'll see how uh how much he really likes Target Field on Sunday. And then Andrew Painter, who's 2-8 with a 6-2-7 ERA, one-three with a five-nine-five ERA, and seven starts and an appearance on the road. Season continues to roll on for the Phillies, and they are ten and fifteen since the All-Star Break, and looking to obviously improve upon that record, but I don't see any reason that would give me confidence that that will happen. Fact of the matter is, you reverse that record again, if they close out those five games. Five games. Hell, I'll give you the two games the last two days, it's fifteen and ten. Sixteen games above five hundred. Don Mattingley can talk about, well, there's no sense, no good in looking back on it, and he's right. But let's face facts. And let's just, as we can view this thing from a thousand foot view, Don, you're gonna have to give that message to your team. They're thinking about it. Um we're watching it in real time. The gears are moving in their heads. They are for sure thinking about it. And it's put the postseason into serious, serious doubt. The alarm, if it's not, if the alarm's not sounding off in your head, Phillies fans, at this point, I don't know what it's gonna take. Because this has got to be you're on the outside looking into the postseason, other teams have caught you and passed you that were well in your rear view mirror just two weeks ago. Hell even a week ago. The only team that can fix it, and the only guys that can fix it are the twenty-six guys in that clubhouse. And as we, of course, obviously get to remember a very special movie tomorrow night, the only thing I can leave you with is hopefully they don't kill that movie for you. We'll talk to you later.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

People will come, Ray. They come to Iowa. I'm not for sure why they're doing it. Perfect afternoon. Somewhere along the baseline. So they're stuck when they were children. And they'll watch the game. It'll be as if they dip themselves in magic words. The memories will be so thick that I can bash them with their faces. The one constant through all the years, Ray, it's been baseball. America's rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball marked the time. It's field, it's game. It's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good. It could be again. Oh. People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.