Full Transcript for D-backs Hang On for Fourth Straight Win As Playoff Chase Continues

much. That's all I got to say there. 00:03:08 Speaker 1: Diamondbacks put four runs up on the board there. There was a Gabby Moreno RBI single. There was a Nolan Arnauto RBI single, as well as a Corbin Carroll two-run triple. As you mentioned, his 17th of the season, which leads baseball by a wide margin. Diamondbacks bats after that. went quite silent and in the middle innings of this game and even up until the very end it felt a little bit shaky the Rockies of course in the ninth inning against Jonathan Loizaga managed to have the tying runners in scoring position with two outs you would have liked to see the Diamondbacks create some distance in the middle innings but they weren't able to To his credit, Mason Adams pitched a pretty good game for the Colorado Rockies. He actually didn't give up an earned run, went six innings, eight strikeouts, no walks. He looked dominant at times. He retired 13 in a row from Jesus Sanchez's flyout that ended the first inning through the end of the fifth inning. And then he was able to still make pretty quick work of the D-backs and face the minimum in the sixth inning. So The Diamondbacks offense, Jack, it did do enough in this game, but it could have done more. And it would have been nice to see the Diamondbacks tack on a little bit earlier. 00:04:28 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, fortunately, they did tack on in the eighth inning. Tim Tower coming through again with that home run. So he's had a good series. He had a double and a walk yesterday. Tonight, he made a really excellent play coming in on a ball, something he wasn't able to do last night. And then, of course, he hit that line shot. Homer is 11th of the year. This was another good performance for Tim. There's been a lot of questioning about why he's getting the playing time over Walsh or Endor Lawler. But he's kind of justifying his space. Some other guys, maybe not so much. But, you know, it's hard to argue Tim Tower being in the lineup these days. 00:05:12 Speaker 1: Feels like he's hit a number of home runs like that this season. At least anecdotally, just thinking back on the year that Tim Tawa's had, it feels like a lot of his home runs have been meaningful. They've come in situations like this where you really needed to just be able to take a breath and turn a two-run lead into a three-run lead at the time. That came, as you said, in the top half of the eighth inning. The Rockies then respond with a home run of their own in the bottom of the eighth. Ezekiel Tovar... hits a home run against Brandon Garcia. Just the third home run ever hit against Brandon Garcia and by Ezekiel Tovar of all players. You cannot predict baseball, as we often say. Maybe it's a little more predictable that it happened in Coors Field. But yeah, Brandon Garcia gives up a home run there. Diamondbacks turn to Juan Murillo to get the final two outs of the eighth inning. And he was able to do just that. No surprises, Jack, that the D-backs are Going to lean a whole lot on those two

guys in the biggest moments of the game, especially here in the final days of the season. 00:06:21 Speaker 2: Yeah, Garcia had thrown 14 in a third innings scoreless. The last time he had allowed a run was August 16th. So I think we give him a little bit of grace here. It's Corey's field. It was an opposite field, you know, home run where Tovar just got the barrel of the bat on the ball. Wasn't a bad pitch by any means. So, you know, that can happen to anybody. He still nails. He's still been great. You know, and I'm going to have to go back and rewrite an article I wrote midseason about the return from last year's trade deadline because, you know, he's a lot more than just a reliever. You know, he alone has probably been worth that trade deadline. And I absolutely concede that point. He's been fantastic. I was a little nervous about Loizica coming in to close out the game. just because of the fact that he does tend to give up some hits and doesn't strike out a lot of guys. And this is just a ballpark where, you know, the space is so big, those balls in play can very easily, you know, grab, jump up and grab you. And they almost did, but, you know, to his credit, he got out of it. I also want to give him credit for being a good defender. You know, I mean, we don't talk about that a lot, but, you know, he had a tough little chance there, had a turnaround spin to make the play, throwing into second base to get a force out. and I actually always feel pretty comfortable when the ball's hit back to Jonathan Loizak. I feel like he's a good athlete, and he seems to make a good athletic, good play, good throw almost every time. I don't really have recollection of him screwing up when it comes to defense, so it's good to see him kind of make that play as well. I want to acknowledge that. 00:08:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a really nice play. And those are the kinds of plays that you have to make in order to prevent Coors Field from doing chaotic things that Coors Field often does. That was a really, really big moment there in the ninth inning. We have a whole lot more to get to on this game, as well as the Diamondbacks postseason picture. What's coming up this weekend? Don't go anywhere. We'll be back on Snakes territory right after this. So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon, needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that you know is going to ruin your sleep? 00:08:39 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, definitely. 00:08:40 Speaker 3: I found myself on the golf course a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be long days out there. So I reach in my golf bag. I keep the ultra focus pouch right here with me, keep it in my golf bag. And it's part of my golf bag, as I said. Yeah. 00:08:54 Speaker 1: And so what are some of your favorite effects of the ultra pouches? 00:08:59 Speaker 3: Definitely, you know, gives me a little bit of focus, that little bit of energy that I'm looking for and obviously not having any caffeine in it is always a plus for me. So I enjoy those things. Ultra is the ultimate guilt free pouch, delivering instant focus and mental clarity without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code baseball to get 15 percent off at TakeUltra.com. That's TakeUltra.com for 15 percent off with code baseball. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. 00:09:32 Speaker 1: We are back here on Snake's Territory. Thank you to all of you for being with us here in the chat. We really appreciate it. If you haven't already, be sure to drop a like on this video. Subscribe to our channel over on YouTube. Hit the bell icon for notifications so that you never miss an episode of the show. And if you're joining us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, one of those audio-only platforms, It also really helps us out if you would leave us a five-star review. I know people are already talking about it. in the chat. The Padres and Dodgers are playing each other as we speak right now. If you're listening after the fact, that game is probably long over. But as of right now, the Padres now have a 2-1 lead. The Dodgers just scored a run. I think Robbie Ray threw about 4,000 pitches in three and a third innings. By 4,000, I mean 84, which is still a heck of a lot of pitches. In three and a third, he gave up seven hits. And it looks like David Morgan, pitching behind him, has just walked in a run. So that is now a tie game as we speak out in L.A. between the Padres and the Dodgers. That game is big, Jack, to say the least. 00:10:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm sitting here watching, too. I guess they challenged that pitch, and it was upheld as a ball. So, you know, everyone's doing the same thing right now. Talk about scoreboard watching. We're all multitasking and, you know, flipping over to the game day and watching every at bat. So, you know, that's fun. I mean, this is what late September baseball is all about. I was sitting here thinking, you know, I mean, it's possible that all of the, the, the playoff spots could be locked up by the weekend, but you know, the D backs are inching closer and closer to ensuring that they'll have at least a Friday game that, matters. As of right now, of course, they're assured to be alive for Thursday. And they have a pretty good chance to control their own destiny here if the Dodgers can somehow beat the Padres. 00:11:35 Speaker 1: It looks like that run was actually just overturned. Did they take it off the board? Shohei Otani, in fact, did not walk. So he's back up, I think, in a 3-2 count. But But yes, anyway, there's a long way to go in Los Angeles. This is still just the fourth inning, and the Diamondbacks would highly, highly benefit from the Dodgers finding a way to win that game. Before we dive more into the playoff picture, which we will do, I do want to talk a little bit about Merrill Kelly tonight, Jack. He was not, I wouldn't call him dominant. He had just six called strikes and

eight whiffs in this game. He didn't miss a ton of bats. But he did really limit hard contact. Only four of 18 batted balls against him were hard hit. The average exit velo was 79.7 miles per hour. And so that was really big for Merrill Kelly to show up, give the Diamondbacks some length, and help this bullpen survive through the weekend. 00:12:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, five and a third, two runs, we're going to have to take that in Coors Field any time. It wasn't the complete game that we got out of him last time. So, you know, that kind of closes the book on Merrill Kelly's regular season. He made 29 starts through 162 innings, the exact total to qualify for the ERA title. Unfortunately, he's going to be about three runs north of what that would have taken. He ends up with a 494 ERA and a FIPS a little bit over five to match. So, you know, we know how things started for Merrill Kelly. a really tough four starts to start the year. Then he kind of seemed to find his footing for a while. And then from there, it was very much up and down. He was so, I guess, bitter and caustic and terse in his post-game interview after his previous outing, you know, and it wasn't directed towards the media. It was mostly just frustration with himself. You know, Merrill's a standup guy and he always, you know, answers every question. It was the first time I've ever seen him not come through and just, you know, give a full articulate answer to a question, no matter how painful it was for him. So he's earned that, you know, as far as the media is concerned, obviously you hope that he can find a way to find more effectiveness and find the strike zone more, not have to nibble so much. You know, if they do make the post season, they're probably going to need them at some point somehow. So yeah, And there's another full year and $ 22 million to go on his contract. So, you know, they're going to need him. But a tough year for Merrill Kelly. That signing didn't quite pay off the way they had hoped. But there's still a chance for him to turn things around. 00:14:26 Speaker 1: Merrill Kelly, yeah, finishes the season with a 4.94 ERA in 29 starts. I guess you can look at his second half and say, OK, he had a 4.35 after the All-Star break, which... still is not great, is not what you're looking for when you pay the kind of money that you did in that situation. But at least there's value in a starting pitcher who can post an ERA in the low-mid fours and eat some innings for you. But yes, of course, the Diamondbacks will be hoping for more from Merrill in 2027. Some people said it in the chat already. Shohei Otani winds up striking out in that at-bat. So the Dodgers have seven hits and I think three walks, something like that. or seven hits and two walks through four innings against the Padres. They only have one run to show for a trailing 2-1. 00:15:17 Speaker 2: Who do they think they are, the June Diamondbacks? 00:15:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly what I was just about

to say. It kind of sounds like something the Diamondbacks would have done here in the past few weeks. But yeah, still a long way to go in that one. They're in the top of the fifth inning. We can take a look at the standings right now. before that game ends. The Diamondbacks do pick up a game on the Phillies. They also pick up a game on the Chicago Cubs. They're now three games behind both of them with four games to play. And then San Diego, they are three and a half games behind the Padres as we speak right now. But of course, that would go up to four if San Diego wins. It would come down to three if San Diego loses. And yeah, three games is kind of the the magic number here. I guess it's not literally the magic number, at least from the Diamondbacks perspective. But if the Diamondbacks can manage to stay within three games of the Padres or the Phillies, then that means you have a shot going into the. I think that's what you're that's what you're hoping for. If you're the Diamondbacks right now is just get to San Diego and still be in it and see what happens. It's baseball and truly anything can happen over a three game series. 00:16:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, if it's San Diego they're chasing, they're going to have to sweep them in San Diego. Whether they're two games back or three games back, we've talked about this before. Regardless of whether you're trailing San Diego by two games or by three, you have to sweep them in San Diego. Sure, it would be a lot nicer if the Phillies would just lose out because then the D-backs have a little bit more margin for error. But either way, you want to have a chance to control your own destiny and, you know, try to win out and see if that's going to be enough. It may, it may not. We'll just have to see what, what transpires over the next 24 to 48 hours. Look, this is right along the edge. I mean, you know, today we're talking about how to get to the weekend and whether or not they can still make it and they could be eliminated tomorrow night. It could all be over tomorrow night. So, you know, we just don't know where, where it's going to land. It's not just day by day, but, you know, inning to inning and pitch by pitch scenario for everybody. We all got to walk the tightrope together. That's why we're here, folks. There was something in this game I wanted to call out real quick too. Sure. You know, Jesus Sanchez, I don't know why they let him in, Torrey left him in to face a left-hand pitcher. Ryan Walshman, I mean, okay, you know, he was dreadful from ever since that pinch hit home run. But he hasn't had an at-bat since September 15th. And you had four right-handed hitters on the bench, right? You had, you know, Waldie. You had Lawler. You had McCann. And I'm blanking here. Oh, Fernandez. So with four right-handed hitters on the bench, I don't understand. Yes, it was two outs. It wasn't a high-leverage situation. But I don't understand why Sanchez is taking that at-bat. It doesn't make any sense to

me. They called it out on the broadcast. I got texts from a couple of people asking me about it. And, you know, I 100% agree. That was a strange situation. I just don't understand. They've just had such bad luck, though, with their left-handed, you know, DH slash outfield or whatever. I mean, between the Max Kepler fiasco and now Sanchez hasn't done anything for them. You know, Neubauer started cold, then got hot. Now he's kind of cold again. Um, he's just been okay. He's back down to just slightly above, I think a hundred OPS plus for them. Um, so, you know, it's just been a slog from the left, left-hand batter's box for the D backs this year. And I don't know why, uh, ironically, you know, Pavin Smith, uh, continues to hit. He got a base hit and scored in that first inning. So kudos to him. Uh, he came out of the game for defensive replacement. Mildemar Vargas made a really nice play, um, It's funny. I kind of was doing something, and I missed that Pavin got pulled from the game for defense, and the ball was hit down to Vargas, and all of a sudden, I saw Vargas take off for first. I'm like, oh, that's not Pavin moving that fast. 00:19:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess once your right-handed starting pitcher leaves the game, then you'd rather just roll with Vargas as defense and you can kind of play the matchups from that point, especially in this scenario where the Diamondbacks had a lead. Yeah, I'm with you on the Jesus Sanchez thing. I thought that was a little strange myself. He has not done much offensively since since joining the Diamondbacks. Feels like they're they're just really trying to force left-hand hitters into this lineup at this point, even though they're not really getting, getting much production there. So I know people are pointing it out in the chat. 00:20:18 Speaker 3: Yes. 00:20:18 Speaker 1: The Padres have just scored two runs in the blink of an eye, two infield singles and a sack bunt that Yamamoto made a throwing air on apparently. And then Manny Machado hitting a sack fly. So Padres now at four to one in that game. And, I guess for the sake of argument, Jack, maybe we just say, okay, the Padres win tonight against the Dodgers. So the D-backs stay four games back of San Diego. If that were to happen, you're still three behind Philly and you have the tiebreaker there. So if you could stay three games behind Philly, then that would allow you to make it to the weekend, regardless of what happens tomorrow. I guess It might not even require a win from the Diamondbacks tomorrow. If they were to lose and the Phillies were to lose tomorrow, then they would still survive into the weekend against San Diego. 00:21:12 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:21:12 Speaker 2: And, you know, I mean, San Diego could still lose tomorrow too, even if they win tonight. Yeah. And get shit, you know, the D-backs have to do their thing. I mean, at the end of the day, they just got to do their thing. They got to win every game. That's it. I mean, they have to win every single game. They cannot lose tomorrow. You know, it's just not realistic to think that they can lose another game and still have a shot at this. 00:21:36 Speaker 1: Which is crazy because the Diamondbacks with this win, they're back to their high watermark of 10 games over 500. If they were to actually win out, they would be 88 and 74, which just hearing that number is like, oh my gosh, this roster winning 88 games kind of blows my mind a little bit. I don't, I mean, obviously we're still a few days from that and the odds are not in their favor of making that happen. But I mean, frankly, they could win 88 games and they could still miss the postseason, right? I mean, even winning out is not a guarantee from their perspective, unless if they're able to, if they're able to pick up one more game on San Diego, if somehow the Padres were to come back and lose tonight, then the Diamondbacks would control their destiny. And they would, if they won out, then they would actually control their destiny. If they were to win every game the rest of the way, then they would be guaranteed a postseason spot. 00:22:34 Speaker 2: Right. Well, it's impossible not to look back at this game or that game. Could they have won? Shoulda, coulda, woulda. But I still go back to that period of time in late May following the Giants series. They had just gotten done beating up on the Giants and the Rockies. like 11 games in a row. And they went up to Seattle and got swept, losing two games in a walk-off. They split with the Dodgers, and you're kind of riding high. And then they go back home, and they get outscored 20-2 in the first two games by the Washington Nationals. Salvaged the third game of that series. Then they go off to Miami and get swept. That 3-10 stretch, I mean, they were 31-24 before that stretch. And I think they're 50 and 40 cents that stretch, but that three and 10 stretch in the middle there from the last few days of May and into that first week of 10 days of June, where they went three and 10, that to me was the letdown portion of the schedule. They've been kind of up and down and had a three game streak of winning and a four game losing and a five game winning and a four game losing. I mean, you know, it was kind of, roller coastery up and down. But the bottom line is, is since that point, once they got through that stretch, they played 10 games over 500. So, I mean, they've been a pretty good team and it's that 13 game stretch. And that was really where the whole narrative of they can't hit where runners in scoring position started because up until they went up to Seattle, they were leading major league baseball. They were leading major league baseball and hitting with runners in scoring position. And they went through that 13 game stretch where they hit about a hundred. I think it was like 103. And from there, it was just inconsistent. They'd have good games. They'd have bad games. So I just look back to that. Why couldn't they pull out of it in

that 13-game stretch? That's the one that really hurt them. 00:24:38 Speaker 1: Diamondbacks in the finale of this series will have Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound against Tanner Gordon for Colorado. Erod, of course, has had an awesome year, 15-7, a 2-8-9 ERA. But he did have a bit of a clunker his last time against the Yankees. And Jack, I guess all eyes are on the first inning. Can Erod exercise the first inning demons this time around? His first inning ERA has ballooned to 7.84 after his last start in New York. But then you look at his ERAs and all the other innings, 1.16 in the second inning, 3.56 in the third, 0.93 in the fourth. Every other one is great. It's just that first inning ERA of 7.84. And, you know, if he can find a way through that tomorrow, then I feel pretty good about the Diamondbacks' chances to sweep this series, which I should mention, I tweeted this out the other day. The last time the Diamondbacks have swept the Rockies at Coors Field was June 8th to 10th, I believe it was, of 2018. 00:25:44 Speaker 2: It has been. 00:25:48 Speaker 1: Coming pretty close to a decade now since the Diamondbacks have pulled it off. And Jack, they're one win away at a time where they need it more than ever before. 00:25:58 Speaker 2: Yeah. So what do you think about the proposals that we've seen? Use an opener for Eduardo Rodriguez. I mean, I don't think he'll do that. You know, I mean, it would be considered a move of disrespect towards a veteran pitcher who's had a career year. So, you know, they're not going to do that. But now if they considered it, like, how do you think that would work out? 00:26:24 Speaker 1: I I don't think it I don't think it really makes any sense. I think that Eduardo's issue, at least in my head, it has more to do with him just kind of acclimating himself to the mound and finding a groove on the mound. I don't think it has much to do with the fact that it is the first inning. I think it's more just like when he goes out there and he's trying to find his way and find his command early on in the outing that he's struggling. So I guess I'm thinking like, sure, you could put an opener in the first inning, but Erod is still going to have to pitch an inning as his first inning. And whether it's the first inning or the second inning or whatever inning, I think you probably have a similar issue there. 00:27:08 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, you know, the second inning becomes the new first inning. Right. 00:27:15 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess you're not facing the top of the lineup, at least theoretically. So maybe it's a little bit more forgiving. But yeah, it's neither here nor there. I don't think the Diamondbacks are going to be using an opener tomorrow. However, we did get a little bit of clarity on the Diamondbacks' starting pitching plans for this weekend. And so we're going to dive into that a little bit. And to do that, let's see what is on deck presented by the Fox One app. Well, Jack, we're still a

few days away. The Diamondbacks still very much need to seal the deal in Colorado and get this series sweep tomorrow. However, if they are able to do that tomorrow, then they very well could have a shot at this thing this weekend against the Padres. Of course, they, they wouldn't need a sweep. It doesn't matter how much they win or the Padres lose today and tomorrow. They're going to need to sweep San Diego this weekend, no matter what, in order, at least in order to beat the Padres in order to pass them in the standings. And, uh, We kind of figured Brandon Fott was going to start Friday's game, and Michael Soroka, who of course was fantastic yesterday, he's slated to start the Sunday game. But we had some questions about Corbin Burns, Jack, and Tory Lovello answered those questions today out at Coors Field. He said the Diamondbacks are planning to stay in line with the rotation, and Corbin Burns, in a game that could be enormous for the Diamondbacks, Corbin Burns, it sounds like, is going to get the baseball. 00:28:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, look, after following his last outing, I made quite the impassioned speech for the fact that I don't think that he should start again for them this year. Certainly not in a game that matters. And I haven't really changed my mind just because they made that decision. And the biggest thing for me was, even post-game, he just looked so lost, so confused. No absolute clue as to why, you know, his pitches aren't working the way he wants them to work. And, you know, insisting he feels fine physically, but, you know, nothing. just coming out as he put it, the chain of command when it comes to his delivery and all of that. Now, maybe he found something in a bullpen and convinced Brian Kaplan that he's going to be ready to go. And that's why they made this decision. It's not like they have other great options. I, You know, a lot of people would be very uncomfortable with Zach Gallen coming out of the bullpen to make that start. You know, Jose Cabrera finished up his season in AAA with a nice start. But, you know, I don't know. 00:30:10 Speaker 1: You take Corbin Burns over Jose Cabrera. I feel pretty comfortable saying that. 00:30:16 Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, right now, Jose Cabrera has much better stuff. I mean, by a mile. I mean, it's not even close. 00:30:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it depends. 00:30:25 Speaker 2: Wait a minute. 00:30:27 Speaker 1: I think it depends, right? 00:30:28 Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but like it's closer than you're saying here. You're thinking about Corbin Burns that doesn't currently exist. 00:30:39 Speaker 1: I mean, so just to put some numbers on that, like I know Jose Cabrera, you know, his fastball, maybe the higher reaches of his fastball velo, maybe it's a little higher than Corbin Burns. But just looking at like stuff plus numbers, like Jose Cabrera is an 89 stuff plus. over fan graphs. I know the velo may be a little more consistent. And certainly if

Corbin Burns is going to be throwing 88 in his next outing, then I do think that's a different situation. But if Burns can average 92, 92 and a half with the cutter, as he did in his first couple of outings, I think it's fairly close. I'm looking at the numbers now. Burns is running a 95 stuff plus this year, which is not good. I mean, last year it was 102. The year before that it was 113. you know, as we talked about. 00:31:29 Speaker 2: Stuff Plus is missing the mark here. I'm not going by stuff. I'm sorry. Throw it out the window. I watched every pitch of that game. Stuff Plus is wrong. 00:31:41 Speaker 1: I think that Corbin Burns' stuff at the end of his outing, when he was throwing an 88-mile-per-hour cutter, I agree with you. You know, give me Jose Cabrera throwing his pretty straight, but still like 94, 95. over Corbin Burns' 88-mile-an-hour cutter. I agree with you there. But Corbin Burns has also, his two previous outings, he averaged between 92 and 93 with the cutter and was touching 93, 94. And he has an actual pretty solid arrangement of secondary pitches. He's thrown some good change-ups. He's thrown some good curveballs, some good sliders. I think you're taking the shape of Corbin Burns' secondary pitches over Jose Cabrera. But I guess this whole conversation just kind of underscores the issue here that we're talking about. Would you rather have Corbin Burns on the mound or a guy who's been a, you know, up and down, not really well regarded prospect in, in Jose Cabrera, who also has, has not performed this year when he's been with the major league team, right? I mean, Jose Cabrera in 27 innings, he has a four, three, three ERA, which is, which is decent, but he's, You know, he has a 4.95 expected ERA, he has a 5.14 FIP, he has a 5.22 XFIP, and the D-backs have heavily protected him and, you know, removed him pretty early in games as well. 00:33:05 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:33:05 Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, and then your other option is Zach, right? So, I mean, they don't have any good options. And, you know, at the outset, I said, look, I get it. You know, you don't have very many good options. I was just arguing, like, there's no clear cut, like, this is the best choice. coming out of this. You know, they're just deciding to go with the guy that they're paying $ 35 million to. Yeah. As opposed, as opposed to the rookie who's been spotty and up and down. I agree. But, you know, I just, I, I'm, I'm sorry. I'm not buying the stuff plus right now. I don't, I don't, I think, you know, I know that Eno told us that it's something that registers at small sample sizes, but it's not working for me. It's not lining up with the way these guys are actually producing results. It's got to be closer to results than that for me. 00:33:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's totally fair. I mean, I'm not here to say that Corbin Burns has looked great because he certainly hasn't, and his ERA starts with a seven, and you don't want to have to put a guy in that position in to start maybe the best game of the year. The option that I think I like most, Jack, but I'm not sure if it's possible, is to just do a bullpen game. to try to get a couple of innings from Ryan Nelson. Maybe there's a little bit of length there. Maybe you can get Taylor Clark to give you a couple of innings as well. And then you just try to piece it together. I mean, I know the bullpen usage could get a little bit ugly, but I mean, let's face it, the Diamondbacks, if that Saturday game does matter, which we should be clear is still a big if, like there's no guarantees that Saturday game matters. The D-backs very well could be eliminated on Friday. On paper, that's probably the most likely outcome. But if they make it to Saturday, you almost have to throw your bullpen usage charts out the window. Like, not entirely. I mean, there's a reasonable limit to that. But this bullpen is good enough where it feels like you might want to leverage that as much as you possibly can. And maybe Torrey is still kind of planning to do that. I mean, maybe he is going to start Corbin Burns on Saturday. but the leash on Corbin Burns is going to be microscopic. And, you know, I think that could be a reasonable outcome as well. 00:35:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, he does, you know, when he has a clean inning, it goes pretty fast, right? He has low pitch counts. So, you know, the question is, can he do that against the top of the Padres order that has been red hot? Yeah. You know, I mean, you almost kind of think he'd be better off going with an opener and then bringing Burns in. 00:35:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I guess that could still happen. Um, I may, maybe that's something the D backs have in their back pocket that they're, that they're thinking about. I think San Diego, their best hitters are, are pretty much all right-handed. So you're probably going with a right-handed opener. I'm not sure who that is. I guess Taylor Clark is someone we've, we've seen Nelson's in that kind of role. Yeah. Yeah. I guess they could just use Nelson in that spot as well. 00:36:12 Speaker 2: Uh, so yeah. 00:36:13 Speaker 1: Um, That would be fascinating if the Diamondbacks decided to do something like that. But once again, there's still a ways to go in order to even make that Saturday game meaningful. MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox One, the race to October. It starts now. It has already started, but it is very much heating up at this point. And we have your front row seat to the wildest walk-offs, lights out pitching, and clutch plays all season long. Follow every Can't Miss matchup as teams battle for a spot in the postseason, then stream the 2026 World Series live on Fox One, at home or on the go, live or on demand. Never miss a moment. Stream now. Start your Fox One three-day free trial today at foxone.com. 00:37:07 Speaker 2: Well, Jack. 00:37:09 Speaker 1: Diamondbacks have one more game here in Colorado, and they very much need to win it. As we

said earlier, it is Eduardo Rodriguez against another right-handed pitcher in Tanner Gordon. One final storyline from today's game that I want to throw out there is Gabby Moreno has an actual shot at winning the NL batting title, and that would be pretty wild. Gabby had a three-hit game in this one, including... a single that just kind of dropped into no man's land late for his third hit. He is now hitting 310 on the season. Luis Arise, who of course is now at the Phillies, he finished today at a 312 batting average. And it's pretty difficult to make up three games in the standings with four days to play. But making up two points of batting average with four days to play, that's maybe a little more realistic. And Gabby Moreno has a legitimate shot to do that. 00:38:06 Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I tweeted out, look, it would be super cool for Gabby to be able to throw a batting title on his mantle. That would be nice. But I just want to emphasize, you know, 312, 310, it means absolutely nothing in terms of actual hitter value, the difference between that. Gabby's got a rise by over 100 points of OPS, 871 and 769. 00:38:32 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. So Gabby Moreno is a world's better baseball player than Louisa rise. 00:38:37 Speaker 2: And you're right. 00:38:38 Speaker 1: It's almost silly that we're like talking about Gabby trying to catch Louisa rise in anything. 00:38:44 Speaker 2: Well, I, I want to, I mean, it's how you want to define hitter to me. And I'm going to say this very straightforward. Gabby Moreno is a much better hitter this year than Louisa rise. You know, you can't just define hitter as batting average. I mean, back in the buggy whip era, you know, you go back to the 1800s, somebody decided that walks and hit by pitch and getting on base didn't matter. The only thing, they don't even count. Somebody also decided that, you know what, singles, doubles, triples, homers, we're going to count them all the same value. Nonsense. If I made up that stat today, I would be laughed out of town as a geek. But because it lasted for over 130 years, so people still look at it. And I'm not saying it doesn't tell you anything. You know, one of the debates on Twitter today was, you know, how could you be a bad hitter if you're a 300 hitter? In today's game, you really can't. You're creating value. There's no question about it. But it's such a flawed stat to use if you're trying to determine who's the quote-unquote best hitter. Because hitting is more than just your average on balls in play. Hitting is a lot more than that. It's about play discipline. It's about taking your walks, about getting on base. It's about hitting the ball hard and getting extra base hits when you get those hits. Because doubles and triples and homers are worth a lot more than singles. It's just that simple. So, You know, yeah, it'd be great if Gabby won the batting title, but let's not forget, he's already 100 points better in OPS. Gabby Marino is already the better hitter, regardless of who wins the batting title. 00:40:33 Speaker 1: Well, speaking of doubles and triples and extra base hits, Avery Owusu-Asiedu, Jack, did it once again tonight in a game that mattered a whole lot for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Diamondbacks AA affiliate to the Amarillo Sod Poodles are Texas League champions. They won game three of their championship series tonight. AOA, as we've been calling him, he hit yet another home run. It was a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh inning, and the Sod Poodles went on to win this game by two runs. 430 feet, I guess, by Texas League standards. Maybe that's not all that far, I guess. But it has been just an unreal second half. for Avery Owusu-Asiyadu-Jack. Of course, he came over in the offseason in that trade with the Phillies where the Diamondbacks sent Kyle Backus over and wasn't great first half for him, but he's bounced back with just an absolutely outrageous two or three months of baseball. And here he is helping the Sod Poodles become Texas League champions. 00:41:40 Speaker 2: Mea culpa to our good friend, Jeff Irving. Get him up here. He's done playing. He's done doing what he had to do for the sod poodles. Get him up here. Let him play. 00:41:54 Speaker 1: Well, Jeff is in the chat. Speaking of Jeff, he said AOA carrying the sod poodles to the chipper, another dinger tonight. Yeah, no one keeps up on the daily happenings with AOA quite like our friend Jeff. So shout out to Jeff, who's very much proven right once again here tonight. Really fun game out there for the D-backs AA affiliate. 00:42:17 Speaker 2: And we'll see. 00:42:19 Speaker 1: Maybe there's some playoff magic to be had for the Major League team as well. Once again, Diamondbacks just four games remaining. They have to win all of them. And we'll see. Stranger things have happened. They're halfway there to this eight-game winning streak that we've been talking about here for the past few days. Our next episode here on Snakes Territory will come tomorrow night. That we know for sure. We don't really know what the rest of the weekend is going to look like scheduling wise. It'll kind of depend on how things go here for the Diamondbacks and how the playoff race shakes out. But you can expect to find us back here tomorrow afternoon. Diamondbacks game starts at 1210 out at Coors Fields, and we will be live after the conclusion of that one. If you haven't already, we have some fun merch items that you should take advantage of. You can see Jack sporting the hat over here. You can find the hat, the shirt, all of the other fun stuff over at SnakesTerritoryShop.com. It's a great way to support the show. We appreciate all of you who have done that. And of course, you can find us over on social media as well. I am at JesseNFriedman. Jack is at ShoeWizard59. And our show is at SnakesTerritory. And you can find Jack's written work over at Arizona Diamondbacks on SI. Jack, any final thoughts here as we say goodbye and head into another do-or-die game for the Arizona Diamondbacks? 00:43:51 Speaker 2: Well, speaking of merch, I just wanted to mention if you go over to Foul Territory Shop, there's also MLB-approved merchandise over there. You can get a really cool Corbin Carroll t-shirt and a few others. So don't forget Foul Territory Shop as well. It's a really great great t-shirts featuring Corbin on there. 00:44:13 Speaker 1: That is FoulTerritoryShop.com. Yes, check that out as well, as Jack said. Thank you again to all of you for being with us on this episode. We really appreciate your time, and we'll be back with another edition of Snakes Territory right back here tomorrow. 00:44:30 Speaker 2: Snakes Territory