Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies battle Charlie Morton, Braves in biggest NL East series of the year

[Music] hello everyone and welcome into the pH Phillies podcast as we are I wanted everybody to really hear that uh we are live at Top Tomato uh Pizza and Bar in Center City right here on 11th Street uh just south of Samson and what an awesome spot this is Jamie Lynch Renee Washington and of course Renee the reason I wanted everybody to hear that is because this show is brought to you by our friends at Miller Light in addition to our friends at bet 365 find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 but big thank you to Miller Light Renee for having us out here tonight at Top Tomato an awesome spot and it's going to be game time here in a little bit and there's going to be $1 beer $1 hot dogs uh going on we're going to be giving out some tickets some awesome seats some great merch uh and it's good to be out in Center City again I love walking the city and it was a nice little stroll to get here I know welcome back to the city Jamie you're such a Suburban guy by now yeah man it is beautiful here at Top Tomato it's a great atmosphere I've actually never been this is my first time shout out to Top Tomato because they've got the upstairs the dancers we are upstairs for anybody that's looking to find us to come hang out we're upstairs lots of TVs the wings look great I know you had some buffalo wings uh this is awesome to see that uh we get to hang out here for today so I'm thrilled for this yeah awesome awesome spot uh and there's some Phillies news which we'll get to Taiwan Walker obviously happened uh that is a thing uh that we will discuss because um why I don't want to see him anymore but we'll get to that we'll get to that uh the game tonight at hand though is a big one it's the Atlanta Braves coming to town uh your hated rival the team you've kind of you know come in second to and you have a five-game lead and it's a 4 game series Renee uh I'm not the math guy here you're the math expert on the show uh that seems to me like a pretty big Series yeah the math is mathing I mean the Phillies came into the month of August with a 6 and 1 half game lead and we have been holding on to that lead by a thread and to have this four game series where you're up by five games you have to go out and there's a lot of implications for this and we'll get into the importance of this series in terms of playoffs but also just to maintain that lead if you do not win more than like two games I'm not going to I'm not even going to talk about getting swept or anything but if you don't at least split this series that's that's trouble heading into the last stretch of the regular season not to mention this is the last time the Phillies face the briefs in regular season play so there's a lot on the line for this series it starts tonight thankfully it starts tonight with Christopher Sanchez and not Taiwan Walker on the mound but this is a huge huge huge series for that can are we able to forget about yesterday happening yet have we have we forgotten because I kind of nalized myself there forgot that even thank God it was an off day for the Phillies yeah I don't remember any any Phillies games yesterday we'll get into the starting lineups in a minute but tonight's game is Christopher Sanchez as you mentioned versus Charlie Morton really interesting Charlie Morton fact I'll give you in a minute uh but Christopher Sanchez we know uh the difference between home and Road sanche he did give you a good start out west last road trip uh other than that he struggled on the road he's phenomenal at home his splits on the year uh he has a 218 erra at home versus a 543 on the road his opponent's batting average he holds to 217 at home 324 on the road uh it's just substantially better Christopher Sanchez tonight uh versus Charlie Morton the old vet the former Philly for what was that one game was that his first game that he got hurt on or was it the second game first pitch uh the former Philly Legend Charlie Morton himself uh who has a 4.24 ra and is seven and seven on the year with 133 strikeouts so I would say Advantage Christopher Sanchez being that the game's at home and not in fton County yeah huge Advantage huge for uh Christopher Sanchez you mention how spectacular he's been at home a big reason why he's an All-Star is because of his play at Citizens Bank Park so back at home with a game a that starts a series that's going to have like a playoff vibe to it I know we said that last series but this one is absolutely going to be that and for the month of August we know how how great we've been seeing Christopher Sanchez pitch again he's been special he needed to kind of reset I feel like after the rut that everybody went through and to have his complete game um to have the last game that he pitched which was actually against the Braves also in that game he was able to throw for uh six Innings and gave up nine hits three earned runs for Christopher Sanchez you know another chance to go up against the Braves and for him to be back at home against the Braves now I definitely would think this pitching match up favors Sanji plus right now I think he's just pitching on a different level you saw it in the complete game we've been seeing it as the season progresses the belief the confidence the consistency that you're getting from him that he's a number four that for many teams would be like a one or two oh he could you know yeah he he's definitely a three on other teams could potentially scratch twos uh you know in terms of some teams around the league uh but our friends at bet 365 agree he is a m the Phillies are a minus 165 favorite uh on the money line tonight you can get the Braves at plus 140 there uh so the Phillies are a substantial favorite the starting lineup tonight uh pretty standard Phillies lineup this is going to be your playoff uh lineup Kyle schwarber Trey Turner Bryce Harper Alec bow Nick casianos Bryson stot JT well stot and JT May flipflop by the time the playoffs come around Marsh Hayes and of course Christopher Sanchez uh so that's your philly lineup your Braves lineup do you have any Whit marfield fear Renee do you think he's going to come in first of all the fans are going to boo Whi yeah the fans are going to boo Whit marfields Whit marfield even on the f baseball he's like one of the highest added players across the league right now because he has been playing really well as of late it really kind of started last time the Phillies fa the Braves that we saw like the best series he got extra base hits he did all these firsts for 2024 in August um which says a lot about how he's been playing lately so he's going to get booed but I do think we're I hope this is a chance to have him simmer down like last series he got the last last but now it's it's the Phillies turn to strike back it's a different Phillies team than he saw just what five days ago yeah Whitley's Whitley's probably going to hear it some tonight and uh I'm not going to Fan police anyone do what you want you paid the ticket you paid the money to go into the stadium tonight if you want to boo boo away let let it rip if you if you feel it down in your loins if you feel it's right let him have it but he's leading the game off tonight with marfield Jorge salair in the two-hole Marcel Ozuna that turd uh in the three hole Matt Olsson he's pretty good in the Four Hole Travis darno laurano Michael Harris Orlando arcia and Luke Williams is the lineup for the Braves tonight uh I would actually save the booze for Orlando AR and just give him a nice you can Bo both you can but if you're going to want to like really feel one I'd rather arcia gets the Bron of it so I could see Whit gets yeah listen RC has earned the booze especially after that yeah fake star down that was not a star down that was absolutely a St down with Bryce in a regular season game that you then turn around and lost that's not Redemption from the playoffs there down with Bryce Harper that's not Redemption from adoy Harper he is earning some boost a lot of guys in this lineup to be honest have earned some booze but I think you can give like a nice light boo to to wit and then go all in on Orlando but they both deserve to be boo let's be honest yeah uh this is this is a huge series there is going to be a little bit of a you know playoff uh atmosphere down at the Ballpark tonight uh back to the Charlie Morton fun fact I promised you uh Charlie Morton uh is now now currently ninth all time on the hit batters list by a pitcher of all time uh and he is skyrocketing up he is the largest distance uh of you know a large distance between him and second place of hit batters as a pitcher uh and Renee he can very quickly rise the ranks to beat Randy Johnson all time so look for Charlie Morton to hit some guys tonight he has 18 84 in his career and I'm not going to give him too much uh crap about it because the guy he's hit the most in his career is Pete Alonzo so I actually want to kind of applaud that a little bit he's hit Pete Alonzo five times in his career um that's tied for the most but we won't name that other guy yeah pet Alonzo who just passed Mike Panza for third most home runs Mets history but uh listen when you look at that number I like that somebody's going to be getting hit by a pitch just brace yourself and be ready pitches he moves up to seventh all time so like there's a lot to play for tonight that's very I think uh that's one that you can bet on for sure because I think it's going to happen but I I like the fact that when you look at this matchup um there's so much on the line and I think that with where the Phillies have been at this stretch of the Season you kind of need this like they locked in both Dodgers series we saw them lock in like you need this they they rise to the occasion it's four games it's a five game lead back at home you know after this if like this is I'm going to say the last cuz the schedule does ever get easier it's it's still professional baseball but it does change after this this is it you have to go all in and make sure that you're dialed in starting game one and so I feel like especially with the Braves having the upper hand on the Phillies currently and the season series they they they know what's at St they know they this the biggest series of the year it's probably the biggest series remaining on the schedule because it's the difference of you know a two or three game lead where things get tough tight and you start thinking bad thoughts versus you know a maybe six or seven game lead it it can really kind of decide the division here so uh you know it's like in the NFL season each week the next game is the most important game of the year I think you can say without a doubt this is the Philly's most important series of the year uh because of who it is because of you being at home you're kicking off the series uh you know with sansi who's great at home uh the offense has come back to life this is an enormous series and the Braves are you know kind of down bad two or three of these guys in the lineup weren't with them a month and a half ago and these are a lot of uh kind of Band-Aid pieces so you want to kick the crap out of this team but with that the Braves are actually 9-2 in their last 11 games they are scoring 4.8 good organization I hate it their starting pitchers are 4-0 with a 210 erra in those 11 games and in the last 17 games their starters have an RA of 242 um and much like the Phillies they also have a a good amount of success when their starters go deep when their starters go six and more Innings they're 43 and 21 not 30 straights like the Phillies when their pitchers go seven or more but this is huge because as you look at the fact that the Braves have now won six of the nine games against the Phillies coming into today it is a four game series so as much as it's just as important to keep this NL East lead you also need to make sure with the way that tie Breakers have changed and the postseason has changed you want to you want to see if you can not sweep at least get three wins out of this you got to win this series three in one is is I mean obviously a sweep is always awesome but three in one should be the goal um in a coward 4 game series uh the nerd research department just uh texted in uh an update on on Charlie Morton Tyler would you like to uh take that that fun Charlie Morton fact sure why why not um so I sent you guys this uh Charlie Morton has hit double digit batters in his career 11 times he's also LED Major League Baseball four separate seasons in hit by pitches he is also the third one that that 11 double digit number uh he has hit double digits in four consecutive years in seven of his last uh eight years the only time he did it was in 2020 when he only made nine starts well if you're going to be known for something I guess uh that's something yeah yeah um congrats I guess yeah congratulations on all your success there of hitting guys uh but the point of the story from the athletic was that he's like a great guy and he feels so bad every time he does it and he goes out of his way to apologize to the player like in the game over 100 times he said 184 times and I felt bad about it 184 times and everybody said he's a just a great guy so nobody takes offense when he actually hits you um I do want to shout out those in the chat we've got Lauren Seth Shawn filthy F everybody that's tuned in live right now with us on Twitter on YouTube um talking about wit of course saying that Whit never really tried hard while he was here listen this group in general was cooked yeah I just don't for whatever reason he just got to Atlanta and I think part of it was because Atlanta is so down bad to be honest you have a chance to go into a a club that's has a lot of injuries missing a lot of pieces and they're scrambling looking for some guys to step up whereas with the Phillies he was a utility piece he was in a top one two three four play regularly there regular cor and that makes a difference because he's got a little bit more he's got more value there versus here in Philly where he was just a a yeah it was a new role for him in his career and you know you saw JT coming out of the injury there and how long it took him to get his timing back I would imagine if you don't have an opportunity every day uh like you're accustomed to it's probably going to take you some time I look I have no hate for Whit marfield in my heart um I don't really care but uh you know who's a guy that there's probably going to be some sports hatred in your heart about uh Taiwan Walker seems like a very nice guys teammates really seem to like him I really thought yesterday's performance from Taiwan Walker was was the last time we were going to see Taiwan Walker and it comes out today from Rob Thompson that no Renee not so quick you're going to see him again maybe somehow in some role but Taiwan Walker is getting moved to the bullpen I would imagine he is nothing more than the lowest of low leverage guys so when a Colby Allard does get lit up or Michael Marcato or Ty Phillips or whoever the fifth starter is uh if it gets out of control quick hey Taiwan go in there and um clean up the scene a little bit give us some Innings this one's over I kind of hate it listen we didn't even think about this as an option because as we were talking through it was like either he's going to get another start or he's going to be DFA we didn't even think about a move to the bullpen in our many many conversations about Taiwan so with that announcement that they're moving him they said they're going to be calling someone up for that number fifth start that's going to be happening Tuesday in Toronto we also did see the movement of uh junior Marte got recalled and then Michael Marcato got sent back an option to Lehigh Valley told you that one was coming yeah like we also saw Michael Marcato he's pitch he hasn't pitched well in any of his uh last few call-ups that he's had so for Taiwan Walker specifically though you don't need him and I think he's honestly just worked himself into a Jose Ruiz situation it's a shame you're spending so much money on a guy that's going to be a low-leverage bullpen arm but he's going to be like a Jose R and to be honest Jamie my first thought was he's also now your new Garrett stubs he's replaced Garrett stubs in the bullpen line up in the event that you ever have a game where you don't want to put another out there instead of Weston Wilson instead of gar stubs it's now going to be Tai on Walker you're spending millions and millions of dollars on a guy that's going to come out and pitch once in a while if the game is completely over One Direction or the other but I think it was their temporary step because they probably are not really sure but they had to figure out out something right now while they figure out longterm what Taiwan I did have the thought today of the terrible offseason words of well there was an injury and well we believe with the offseason a rehab I'm nervous about that and you could just bring him spring training and move on from him then but like I don't know if they want to do that is that fair to him who knows I I thought we were done with it yesterday but it's like just break up the relationship it's over it's not going anywhere it's not me it's all you it's not going anywhere we're draging this out let's end this now but I do feel like this is their way of like slowly parting ways with him and they're going to drag this out unfortunately but at least he's moved to the bullpen for now and we don't have to see him start in the near future yeah Tyler uh you can chime in here with the the stats you just texted uh us but I had a buddy text me earlier today his thoughts and he said oh Taiwan Walker the guy that gets lit up every first inning the bullpen should be great for him uh Tyler would you like to share the stat he just shared that was my initial thought too is he is he for for two years now even when he pitched adequately in the beginning of 2023 um the first inning was his big hiccup the first inning was his struggles and we you know we expanded just to this year you can expand it through the first time through the order you don't even have to just say the first inning to the first time through the order this year in 30 and 2/3 Innings he's given up 15 earned runs and and opposing offenses are slashing 276 333 448 against guys I don't know what kind ofit there is to Taiwan Walker being a bullpen piece if he struggles to even settle in yeah I just think it's a Band-Aid move I think real in reality and I know in the chat maybe they're just not embarrassing him during the season or just saying in the chat there's a million reasons why they're going to keep trying I think this is you needed to make a move right now like yesterday was awful you can't keep him in the starting rotation and I think right now the focus is going to be on who's that number five probably going to be Tyler Phillips because on the other side uh Kobe Allard actually cannot be back called back up until September 10th so they're going to need somebody else to make two starts up until that point so probably Tyler Phillips maybe Seth but either way you you know it's not going to be Taiwan so I feel like this gives them wiggle room like the priority is getting that number five starter locked in and I think this is going to be a conversation they're going to be slowly having we might see him next year which would be terrible to do to drag this out anymore but I feel like they're not going to make an impulsive decision this is a million doll million plus dollar deal like you're not going to just even though it's easy for us to say they're going to try to drag this out as best they can and make it work I would just like to be put out of my misery correct um take that dog out back uh please yeah yeah it's got It's got lumps all over it it can barely walk anymore old y old yeller's got to go um but yeah that's unfortunate because when we do see him though I do believe the game will be over regardless so I guess he can't really hurt you maybe he can just eat up Taiwan we're talking about last year wasn't it his fourth inning that was bad or the second time through the the lineup now it's the first it's just what it's always something with Taiwan it's not going to improve he's also aging he's pitched a lot of innings so I agree rip the bandaid off finish like move along but I think they're going to slow walk this this is Rob and his staff do they ever do anything quick um with decisions not really no yeah uh and now Brandon Marsh is hitting again and all the all the moves that I you know was pushing there for weeks which would have been the right move at the time now you know the old baseball guy can go hey uh you don't need to overreact you know guys have slumps and they come out of it so why don't you idiots in the media what helps them get out that slump is we didn't have to see Marsh like when Austin Hayes came back Brandon Marsh's role changed and I think that was even needed I mean ideally we would have loved to see him have a couple games that he set out but you know you had him more as a center fielder maybe I don't know it just yeah hopefully this is permanent that he's he's out of the slump so we are going to be doing the postgame show probably firing it up in the eighth inning here from Top Tomato uh we got $1 beers from Miller Light and $1 hot dogs going on during the game should be a good time taking a look at the rest of the series here tomorrow night of the 640 game Tyler and I will be on at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow uh Ronaldo Lopez versus Ranger Suarez that's a pretty damn good pitching match up and Saturday Max freed versus Zack Wheeler a tremendous matchup there and then of course Sunday the fourth game of the coward series Spencer schwellenbach versus Aaron Nola so you know Fred and Lopez are beasts and schwell and Bach is he going to be able to repeat such great success the second time uh seeing a team so quickly I hope not uh so the Philly should have pitching Advantage overall throughout these four games yeah I'm feeling a 3-1 Series win for the Phillies um I think we're going to get a great series from Bryce Harper also because after having yeah and in July got the official numbers we mentioned how July was a tough month for him coming out of his hamstring injury he was splitting 149 24358 with a 598 Ops which is the lowest of any month in his career when he's had 50 or more plate appearances in August he swung that it did increase to an 803 Ops uh which is an improv his numbers have been much better as of late I think he's going to have a big series which will then help the Phillies win this series and I think tonight is definitely won for the for the Phillies to win how lame would it be on on Monday morning if we're doing the show and going that was a really fun two game split doesn't it feel like you just accomplished absolutely nothing it's the worst get rid of four and two game series Rob Manfred you coward somebody has to win somebody has to lose stop this nonsense sense I honestly just don't lose the series I'd rather them split it of course than lose it but I do not like it either you do four games if we come in Monday oh right that was fun well they split the series we had I'm going to tell you this right now if you show up on Monday you go ahead and scream Into The Ether cuz you're going to be the only one that shows up I no other people are with me there's dozens of us no one is working on Monday corre you can show up on Monday you go ahead and show up got you good you guys know me calendars I'm Ill literate when it comes to calendars we will not have a show on Monday so you can J at the studio if we're recap in the weekend series though I'm going to complain about what a lane 2 two split it was there's there's worst things that could happen this weekend to complain about um but most importantly the Phillies have to win this series don't split this series win this series please don't split this cuz we don't want to hear Jamie complaining Tuesday yeah yeah take it 3-1 what are you thinking is going to be today uh prediction today uh the hell knows I think the Phillies take it I'm going to go I'm going to go 53 Phils okay it's definitely been some uh ups and downs offensively for the Phillies I don't think we're going to get an 11 run production tonight I'm going to go you said 53 yeah I'm going to raise your 53 to a h 7 to2 win Tyler more open throw a dart at the dart board what who cares about for score tonight I'm going to I'm going to burst Jamie's bubble though I'm going to say this uh the minimum they can do is split this series wow I think they're going to split this series here's the thing right on your parade four game series against a good team that's playing some hot baseball right now who is is right on your heels of the division lead if you get out of a tonight is 29 games left in the regular season if you get out of 29 games to 25 games and you're exactly where you started it's not as miserable is I think people are going to look at a split I think that this is a good Braves team who's playing good ball right now it's some some really good pitching matchups uh their backs are up against the wall they know what's at stake if this gets to eight the division's practically over um I think that this is going to be a two game I think I think both of these teams win two games over the next four you're going to see a Ser split Jamie's going to go to work on Monday and do a show Yeah by himself into the Oblivion so have fun buddy no worries in the chat is saying 65 Philly I could see this being a close game I just feel like after yesterday the offense is going to explode you know you're going to have Redemption from Taiwan Walker day with a great chistopher Sanchez day a split series could make sense unfortunately but I'm still going to go a 3-1 Series win for the Phillies all right we'll be back here from Top Tomato in Center City uh right on 11th Street just south of Samson we got great $1 Miller like cans $1 hot dogs going on during the game we're going to be giving out some uh sign memorabilia and some sweet game tickets as well so hopefully we meet some of you die hards tonight but we'll be on live after the game for the postgame show here and thanks to our friends at Miller Light and Bet365 uh for making this happen today and uh go Phils see you after the game [Music] everyone we all sitting like the May