Phillies EXORCISE DEMONS In SWEEP of Marlins

A few weeks ago, the Marlins had the Phillies' number with a sweep, but it was time for some payback at Citizens Bank Park. Buoyed by Alec Bohm and Aaron Nola, the Phils pulled off the sweep! #RingTheBell #PhiladelphiaPhillies #MLBonX

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

What's going on, Phillies fans? Welcome back into another episode of the Six Ten Podcast. I'm your host, Jay Hollaghan, and we are recapping a Phillies sweep of the Miami Marlins. It was the first time the Phillies have now swept back-to-back series since last May of 2025, where the Phillies took three against the Pirates at home and then hit the road to Colorado and took all four against the Rockies and uh against that Pirates team and against that Rockies team. I think the one thing maybe you can I don't know, sit back and take Solace in with this series is it was against teams who are playing much better baseball in the Minnesota Twins and the Miami Marlins. Now, we'll have some interviews to bring to you in a moment with Don Mattingley. We'll have Zach Wheeler, Bryson Stopp, Brandon Marsh, and Aaronola as they discuss some individual accomplishments, and uh obviously a fun three-game series for the Phillies that exercised some demons from a couple weeks ago. I mean, you hear about you you've heard me talk about it a lot. Phillies out of the All-Star Break, they were struggling. Big time. A three and six homestand hit the road, go four and two, or I'm sorry, two and four should have been four and two at at minimum four and two. Uh probably should have been five and one, as you've heard me talk about all the time. That sweep at the hands of the fish down at Lone Depot Park, just a tough series to stomach there. But you come home, you face them at home now for three games, and you return the favor, and I think that's the biggest thing here is getting that sour taste out of your mouth from the tough sweep at the hands of your opponent just a couple of weeks ago, and then to come back and using one of their I don't want to say all-time best players, but of late, Luis Arise household name for Marlins fans, and for him to come through in in the way that he did in the series finale was brilliant. But let's get it started with game one that saw Christopher Sanchez take to the mound. And overall pitched well. Won six innings, gave up a run. But still too much traffic for my liking. I know with Sanchez and the way he pitches, you're gonna see traffic on the base pads, but eight hits, three walks, eleven base runners is just too much, in my opinion. You know, you're averaging close to two base runners in inning there, and then you look at the six strikeouts, and it kind of has you going, well, a lot of balls were put in play. But that's what's to be expected out of Sanchi. Now the Phillies offense, meanwhile, bottom of the third they got going. RBI single by Trey, RBI single for Luisa Rice, but the Phillies offense didn't do much off Jason Junk after that, and after the top of the sixth, which got a little hairy there for Sanchez, had a couple innings there where things got pretty hairy, um, but he was able to battle through it, got a ground out by uh Brandon Navarro, Luis Arise to Alec Boehm, that ended the frame. In the bottom of the sixth, the Phillies were able to play another one off of a leadoff walk by Bryson Stott, Marsh Sachs Stott to second, JT walks, then Derek Hill comes in to replace Justin Crawford, and Derrick Hill takes John King out to center field to make a three to one. Another batter later, with a runner at third, Kyle Schwarber, Sackfly scores JT. Alright, 4-1 game, we're feeling pretty good. But with Jonathan Boland coming in to take out Christopher Sanchez, so now we're into the bullpen, Bolin gets two outs fairly fairly quickly. Had to work a bit for Marcy, six pitches, but then gets Hernandez on six again, so you know, about twelve pitches there, but gives up back-to-back two out singles to Xavier Edwards and Augustine Ramirez, and then a walk to Otto Lopez to load him up. Well, Javier Sanoja would then hit a ball down the right field line that originally was ruled foul. I'm sure as you know by now, they went back and looked at it. They deemed he'd be placed at second, and Otto Lopez be placed at third. Now, from my assessment, it's a ground rule double. Originally I thought it was ground rule double because it got caught underneath the right field wall, which I've seen them rule ground rule double before. But the real issue here was Otto Lopez not being given home because it's a judgment call that New York has to make as to whether or not he could have scored. They say he he wouldn't have, he stopped, and he goes back to third. Clayton McCullough gets ejected, manager of the Marlins, and then Leo Jimenez strikes out to end the frame. Well, fortunately, one out hit by pitch by Alec Bohm leads to Bryson Stott reaching after a throwing error by Leo Jimenez. So first and second, Marsh grounds out to put runners in second and third. JT walks, good job by JT using ABS, and then Derek Hill with the RBI walk, uh, and that allowed the run to score for Alec Bohm, and it's a 5-3 Phillies lead. So we're back to a two-run game, which is what you want. You know, you want to get that lead back to two. And then to the eighth we went. Brooks Rayleigh comes in, gets an out on Griffin Conine, then gives up a solo homer to Brian Navarito, his first of the year, first homer of the year to make it five four. And the Marlins, true to form, just not going away. And the inning continued. He was able to get Marcy. Kirk Ring comes in, gets Hernandez to strike out. Okay. We go to the eighth, back to a one-run game. Harper, one out single. Luisa Rice gets him to second on the ground out, and then Alec Bohm, an RBI single to make it six to four, and stay hot, Alec Boehm. But again, Marlins wouldn't go anywhere. With now Johan Duran into the game after all those pitches he threw against the twins the day before. He comes in, Xavier Edwards greets him with an RBI single, or with a leadoff single, I should say, to second on defensive indifference. Agustin Ramirez grounds out to get Edwards to third, and then Otto Lopez an RBI single. Sonoha would then pop out to Trey Turner on the first pitch, a splitter really in off the plate, and then Leo Jimenez grounds out to Luis Ariz on an 0-1 pitch who dove at for at second base rather to end the ballgame. Well, that, ladies and gentlemen, felt like a marathon. So many times you thought, Alright, we got a nice cushion, but oh wait a minute, we have the bullpen coming in. So many times you thought they'll get it done. And then they didn't, and it's a one-run game. I mean, it was just such a back and forth game. It's what the Marlins do, they will play you very, very tough. Now to Tuesday we went. And the Phillies sent out Zach Wheeler, who, and we'll play for you the audio in a minute. Had a for again for you know now what seems like the third or fourth time in a row, a non-Zack Wheeler-esque start. Now you got some early runs, RBI single for Alec Bohm, who's just been scorching odd here over the last week. But Wheeler then in the top of the second gives up a solo home run to Griffin Conine, an 0-2 pitch, fastball that was just middle up. Conine puts a good swing on it, 1-1 game, top of the fifth, runners at first and second, 1-0 pitch. And Edwards takes him to center field. Good throw by Justin Crawford to get the out at second. But Phillies obviously see the Marlins take the lead, and Wheeler threw five innings. Wasn't typical Zach Wheeler, seven strikeouts, but gave up two runs on two hits and four walks. So is asked after the game to Don Mattingley, and then you'll hear from Zach Wheeler about the outing and kind of what Don Mattingley's seeing right now.

SPEAKER_06 10:07

I mean, his his stuff seems fine. Um, you know, and guys are just, you know, they're battling as you get through that second time through, third time through, it just gets harder and harder to get through a lineup, especially a lineup like Miami's who put the ball in play, they foul stuff off, they you know, they're not just making quick outs on you. So they put pressure on you. But you know, I don't know what to really make of it. You worry more about is this guy giving us good starts, keeping us in the game more than anything else.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Start off well. Uh it's been the past couple of games, and once I get into it a little deeper, it just doesn't work out for me. But um fastball felt as good as it has in a really long time, actually. Um but you know, we made a little adjustment and it's basically it's getting to my legs a little bit more, but it caused my off-speed to just be not good today. So the fastball was there, but off-speed was not there today. It's hard to pitch one pit. So um, you know, it worked out well at the beginning, like I said, and then just kind of uh got sloppy towards the end.

SPEAKER_09 11:12

Four walks and then two stops to go five walks. Just not Zach Wheeler.

SPEAKER_05 11:17

Exactly. Uh that's the frustrating part, really. It's just um you know, it's the same characteristic characteristic of me, and uh I feel like I've been walking too many guys, you know, the past handful of games. So um, you know, it's gotta figure it all out together and uh it was a little rush stretch for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Zach Wheeler's always been a horse for this team, and he's always, as the year's gone on, he's gotten stronger and stronger and stronger. But I don't know if with the amount of innings he threw in the beginning of the year, with the fact that he had this surgery heading into the season and there were all these question marks about his health and whatnot, I don't know if that might be catching up to him or what necessarily the issue is there, but hopefully he'll be able to find himself here because listen, Zach Wheeler at like 90% is better than most pitchers at a hundred percent. So if he can just lock because right now it feels like he's at like eighty, seventy-five, eighty percent. He hits that threshold to where, you know, he's almost not just unhittable, but to a point to where for the opposition you kind of start going, man, we're one time through, we haven't got much off him, now we're two times through, we haven't got much off him. And as a Phillies fan, you're going, hey, he might be able to go three, maybe more. So that's just what you can get out of Zach Wheeler. Now in the bottom of the sixth, Trey Turner leads off and gets hit by a pitch. Batter later after Harper flies out uh to deep left field. Luisa Rise singles to get Turner to second. Alec Bohm comes through again. 0-1 pitch, he's a slider he likes low and a little bit away, but in the zone, drives it to left field to plate Trey Turner. Then Bryson Stott comes to the plate next, and on a one-two pitch with runners at second and third, fastball pretty middle, middle, or I'm sorry, middle, low, lower third, and stott singles to center field, plates two, Phillies take the lead four three, Justin Crawford with two outs, plates brace and stott on a 1-1 sinker away, and he shoots it past uh third baseman through the infield to get into left. 5-3 Phillies lead, but again, those pesky Marlins, as we get to the eighth. Fielding error by Orion Kirchering leads to an RBI single for Humberto Hernandez as Conine was able to get to second on the play before due to the error. Kirchering gets out of it. But we're back to a one-run game, kind of like the night before. And what do the Phillies do? They get Bryson Stott to lead off with a walk, gets to second on the wild pitch, JT walks, Crawford unfortunately strikes out, but then Kyle Schwerberg with an RPI single to left to make it six-four, and then a one-two-three for Brooks Rayleigh in the top of the ninth to close it out. Now again, Alec Bohm scorching hot.

SPEAKER_08 14:51

Um I think when he gets on these these heaters, um they lost the while. So um think just watching him and um that double he hit today, that like low rising liner. Um that's my favorite swing of his and um usually means he's going really good. And uh that play at first, we told him he he uh couldn't play in the NFL only college because he only got one foot there. But um that was that was a sick play.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Well it's kind of funny how just six games, two series can kind of turn the tide for a player. Alec Bohm, who has been having a solid second half overall, but we know in big moments he has not come through. But in these last two series he certainly has come through, and now everyone, you know, you got people still saying, Oh, I'm happy he's still he's succeeding, but man, he stinks, you know, he still stinks and I'm still out on him. And then there are people who are like, Well I'm happy to see hopefully turning a corner and hopefully he can continue this going, which is I mean, where I'm at because my frustration, I put this out there the other night, is Alec Bohm made us believe four and five years ago that with the production you have been seeing these last five or six games, that's what we saw early on in his career. He could hit for average, and he could just drive in runs, whether it was a sack fly, whether it was a base hit, and he would use left center, specifically right center, thinking the other way. He's he's never been a power guy. I don't know, well, I mean I know why, because let's face it, the players that make the big money, they're power hitters, and with his body and himself and his frame, he could be that. But the problem is, if you're not that kind of guy, don't try to be that kind of guy. At a certain point, you are what you are, and what he is, is you know what, if he hits between twenty and twenty-three homers a year, and he drives in somewhere around ninety to ninety-five RBIs, that's enough for me, personally. I know there's people who wanted wanted him to be a 30 homer guy, but that just it wasn't him. It never was going to be him. I didn't understand why I didn't fully understand why that's where things needed to go. And that's where obviously things went, and it's been unfortunate, I think, for all parties, that it just hasn't been the Alec Bohm that again made us really buy into him early on in his career. But to Wednesday we went with a chance to sweep and early on, bases loaded, with Garrett Stubbs at the plate and facing Sandy Alcantara. It was Garrett Stubbs this moment. I mean, hasn't had too many this year, but he shoots one through to the left side, one nothing Phillies, there you go. For the guy who was basically the backup to the backup catcher for most of the year, had himself a riby, and then had himself a great day behind the dish. We'll get to Aaron Olin a minute. But Luis Arise, then a two-run blast to right center field. Now, Luis Arise, obviously not known for home runs. I mean, he only had four in the first four months of the season, and now two in about three weeks with the Phillies, so a lot of people were like, oh, Kevin Long, keep him away from Kevin Long. Well, Kevin Long wants them to hit homers. You do the math. Might be getting through, might be getting through, might just be Luis Arise running into one, which I think that's the thing, too. There he he can run into one on an occasion. But one guy who for the majority of the game, for once, did not have a problem as much with the long ball. I mean, he gave up one homer there to Sanoha in the sixth, but Aaronola, eight strikeouts and seven innings, giving up a run on five hits. Just a tremendous outing by Nola. They gave him enough run support. Trey Turner added on in the seventh, four to one. Uh we'll get to Bolin in a minute, but what an outing from Aaronola, and really what a fantastic start to the second half. Knock on wood for Aaronola, and here he was, and here was well, first Don Mattingley, and then Aaronola after Wendy Wednesday's finale.

SPEAKER_06 19:34

Oh, he pitched great. It's good to see that. They appreciate that because that was a pretty good outing there. And he's been good here a long time. And he's actually been pretty good this year for a long time now. So uh it was good, it was good to see the game we needed. Um to get go through get through seven there was was huge. I mean, every time we get a good outing, it's it's it's you know, obviously huge for the rotation and huge for the club. Um you know, most of the outings have been a little shorter. Uh to get seven though is is nice now and then. You know, I don't know if when you're rested out there, you don't want to lean on guys to the point of you know pushing them too far when you get when your bullpit's fresh.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

Oh good. T Maggie really did. Um Stubby Stubby was a great pick there. Uh defense was defense was really good. Um made some big plays, and obviously offense putting up some good runs. Uh overall, really good win.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Aaron, this was as good as I've seen you this year with the with all your pitches. And uh it looked like you and Garrett Stubb just worked perfectly together tonight.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah. Uh yeah, other than my pitch is feeling pretty good. Stubb was we're on the same page pretty much the whole game. Um I think the more obviously the more you know he catches, the more uh comfortable we get. Um obviously JT and I are comfortable because it's been you know years and years. Uh so it's good to like you know get both of them working in there and just really getting on the same page, and the communications uh has been there with both of them. I just needed to be in the zone again and and get ahead and win the counts. Uh obviously that was a dagger. Um had him I had Sonoma with two strikes right there, and he just dropped ahead good on that pitch. Um I wish I could wish I could get that one back, but I needed to stay in the zone in those next two guys, and that's a big strike us here.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Well, I'll tell you what. I said after the game, man, where has this Aranola been all year? As a matter of fact, where has this Aranola been the last two years? Because he struggled last year as well. And a lot of people took that with a lot of like, man, I'll tell you what, he's really been able to refine his pitching, focusing more along the edges. You know, the ABS system kind of hinders him because he was able to steal a lot of strikes and Years past him in JT, but that's kind of changed this year, and I maybe from a mental standpoint, he's kind of if pitches do get called back from the ABS system, maybe at times giving in, but hey, that wasn't the case Wednesday night. And he did an outstanding job and give credit to Stubbs for calling a good game. But for a lot of people who are like Well, he's been pitching this well since the beginning of July, but a lot of you people just haven't noticed. No, I've noticed. I'm just saying I don't want to jinx it. And not only that, with the money he's making, I mean, I don't want to get on him, but if you're gonna go there, don't bring up since July. We've needed this since the beginning of the season. And knowing that the ABS system was coming into place, as a veteran pitcher, you have to, in my opinion, course correct earlier on than at the all-star break. And it feels like that's kind of where Nola's gone. But hey, we're seeing it now. And the biggest thing was he helped the bullpen. Because Wheeler only able to go five innings the night before didn't necessarily help things, but for Nola to go seven strong was great. And you heard Dom Mattingley there say, well, with a fully rested bullpen, not sure how much you want to push them. Screw that. Screw that. I mean, you've got a guy going out there. Now, do you want to have someone up and ready to go in case he gets in trouble in the seventh? Sure. But don't yank him too early because listen, this bullpen needed that kind of game from one of their starting pitchers with the day off today, and that's what Nola gave him. Then in the eighth, a leadoff single by Sonoha. Again, the Pesky Marlins, and then a line out by Marcy, Lopez walks, and then Xavier Edwards flies out down the foul line. And Brandon Marsh makes a spectacular Spider-Man catch. Robbing a p well, maybe not robbing because the fans kind of pull back as they saw the bearded Brandon Marsh, long-haired Brandon Marsh coming over with his glove reaching in to make the catch, and what a play by Brandon Marsh. Here he was afterwards.

SPEAKER_08 24:24

Things like that.

SPEAKER_06 24:25

How would you describe the second catch? Climbing up the wall catch.

SPEAKER_07 24:30

Um it was a good one. Yeah, it was uh it was it was fun. I gotta thank the the guy stand over there for kind of pulling away at the last second, because I think he had he had first dibs on it before me, I feel like. So he uh he he moved over a little bit and helped help me have the room to catch it. So yeah, it was a big win for us. Nola pitched his tail off, and uh yeah, we it was a good series for us.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

One of those highlight reel catches that you don't see too often. Bolin comes back to strike out Conine, and that would be pretty much all she wrote. They'd get a runner on in the ninth, leadoff single by Hernandez, but some good defensive plays, Trey Turner, uh good backpick to get the out at second, allowing Casey to to reach, but hey, got the lead runner, strikeout to Ruiz, and then a flyout to Joe Mack, and the Phillies pull off the three-game sweep. And now they have a two games to the good lead on the Padres for the second spot in the wild card, and they're three games to the good on the Diamondbacks with the St. Louis Cardinals coming to town who are two and a half games back, and the Phillies exercise some demons against the fish. Let's see if they can exercise some demons on the Cardinals. As let's get in to the series coming up against St. Louis. Game one. Jesus Lazardo takes them out. The Cardinals didn't see him last week. Lazardo 11-5 with a 3-2-3 ERA, gave up a run on five hits and seven innings with six strikeouts and three walks last year at home against St. Louis, four-five with a four-five-three ERA and twelve starts at home this year. I'd like to see that obviously continue to dwindle down. Hunter Dobbins on the mound for St. Louis, 3-3 with a 3-4-2 ERA, gave up a run on three, but or gave up a run, but three runs crossed. It was last Monday where the Cardinals were struggling in the infield. That was on four hits and five innings with six strikeouts and three walks. He's two and one with a three-four-five ERA and five starts on the road. Or scratch that, three-four-six ERA on the road this year and six starts. Five starts. All over the place. Game two. Andrew Painter on the mound for the Phillies. 2-8 with a 6-4-3 ERA. Last week against the Cardinals, he was masterfully. No hit on there, threw five innings, gave up two runs on two hits and five and two thirds, six strikeouts, three walks, but his one and five with a six-five-nine ERA and eight starts and an appearance out of the bullpen when the Phillies used Tim Mays as an opener earlier in the year. Hopefully Painter. I think the pressure, and this is going to be his second start since the All-Star break at home, and his last one coming a couple weeks ago against the Nationals, where he pitched pretty well. Hopefully he starts to settle that back down and really settle in here. Andre Pallante on the mound for St. Louis, 12-6 with a 3-5-70RA, went six shutout innings with allowing only four hits with two strikeouts and three walks last week against the Philosophs. Seven and oh with a two-nine three ERA and ten starts on the road. He's allowed three runs on three hits and two-thirds of an inning at C B P. That was back in twenty twenty-three. So a little while ago, a couple years ago. But hopefully it'll happen again in some form through, you know, five innings, maybe gives up a nice crooked number to the Philz. Because I'm sure Andrew Painter sure would appreciate some run support like he got last Monday at Bush Stadium. Game three, Christopher Sanchez takes him out sixteen and fourth of two five O ERA this year, threw six shutout innings last week against the Cardinals, allowing only four hits with seven strikeouts. Remember, that was the game with controversial taking him out early by Don Manningley, earlier than a lot of us expected, with the humidity and all that. That's what we were told. Sanchi 11-1 with a 1-4-2 ERA and 15 starts at home this year. Let's see that continue. Kyle Leahy on the mound for St. Louis, 10-4 with a 3-2-4 ERA, gave up a run on six hits and five innings with six strikeouts, five-one with a 3-6-1 ERA and 11 starts on the road this year. He's allowed one run on four hits in three innings out of the bullpen in 2024 and 2025. Those are his numbers at Citizens Bank Park. So in two outings there out of the bullpen, that's Leahy's numbers throughout his career. Now the starting pitching preview, I think, due to Andrew Painter's numbers, it's skews in favor to the Cardinals. But again, I'd like to see the Phillies motivated exactly like how they played against the Fish. They take that same exact intensity with them when facing the Redbirds and take two out of three at home for this weekend. Because I'll tell you what, that would really get the fan base even more pumped as we now begin to really wind down the month of August, and you want to continue to put more breathing room between you and that final wild card spot. And let's see who some of the teams will be looking out for. And mind you, I don't want to go too crazy, but the Braves, you know, they've kind of sputtered here. Now they won today against the White Sox, but the Phillies five games back in the NL East. Two, the schedule, the Braves, they take on the Brewers. That's a tough series, uh, as you know. Uh we obviously will be looking at the Padres, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Diamondbacks. They'll take on the Cincinnati Reds. Now, thing with the Cardinals, they're coming off a wild win today against Cincinnati. They were down 5-4, down to their last strike, two outs in the ninth runners at first and second, and a misplay in center by the Cincinnati Reds, allowing runs to score. It was a six-run inning for St. Louis. It was ten-four, and then the Reds lose the game. 10-9 was the final score. It was absolutely bonkers. But the Diamondbacks take on Cincinnati. Padres, they'll take on the Minnesota Twins. And then the Chicago Cubs, they'll be in Seattle to take on the Mariners. So again, all the more reason for the Phillies to take two out of three because your oppositions, they might not give you any help from the likes of the Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, and the Minnesota Twins. But hey, let's see what the Phillies do here this weekend. Fingers crossed, they win this series, and we'll continue to move forward through the month of August and as we set our sails towards the month of September. Thanks everyone for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.