Back to Back Sweeps for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Are Dbacks going to Steal NL West?

what are we discussing on today's locked on Dbacks podcast the Dbacks stay hot as they sweep the Boston Red Sox what are their chances looking like now of winning the NL [Music] West you are a locked on Diamondbacks your daily Arizona Diamondbacks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome into the lock on Dbacks podcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by supplyhouse supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast shop for your next Plumbing HVAC or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast at supplyhouse.com I'm Miller Thomas host of this wonderful podcast I'm a multimedia journalist anim graphic designer so please go check out my website millor Thomas 24. portfolio.com on see all my latest work from my packages to my articles to my photos and my graphic design on today's locked on Dbacks podcast we'll be talking about the Dbacks staying hot and sweeping the Boston Red Sox how the rotation should look for the rest of the season and potentially the playoffs and then we'll update our NL West belief meter the chances we believe the Dbacks have of winning the division thank you for making lockdown Dbacks your first listen every day I would not be able ble to do this podcast without you my loyal listeners sharing subscribing reviewing doing all that that could do this podcast for you thank you it's free it's available on all platforms so please continue to tell your friends and one of those platforms is YouTube please hit subscribe to locked on Diamond Backs on YouTube all right all right all right let's get back to the lock down Diamondbacks podcast let's talk about that most recent series against the Boston Red Sox because the DB backs complete the sweep against Boston back-to-back sweeps for Arizona after getting swept by Tampa what a response by the Dbacks you go out there you sweep the Miami Marlins now you face a Boston Red Sox team who has been really good since June 1st one of the best records in baseball during that time fighting for playoff positioning still in the Wild Card race and the Dbacks took it to Boston this series a nice clean sweep for Arizona and in every game you basically got to see a different identity of the Dbacks and that's why I believe the Dbacks are not just the hottest team in baseball but maybe the best team in baseball right now like I think it's fair to say that when you look at their record since June 1 when you look at their offensive stats when you look at the teams that they've beaten when you just look at their own Talent on paper like what is missing from the the Dbacks resume the last couple months where they shouldn't be proclaimed the best team in baseball at least for right now entering the postseason why shouldn't they get that moniker I've been talking on podcast the last week where if you were an opposing team if you were the Phillies the Dodgers whoever and you had to power rank the scariest teams that you don't want to face in the postseason would the Dbacks be at the top of like every NL contenders list if you're the Phillies is the Dbacks not the scariest team you want to face or don't want to face same with the Dodgers same with the Brewers the Padres like I think the Dbacks for opposing teams are the scariest team that other teams do not want to face I think this series against the Boston Red Sox was a great microcosm of why because every game we got to see a different way that the Dbacks can kill you game one it was the offensive bludgeoning against the Red Sox 12 to2 Dbacks had 16 hits like they were crushing it Yano Grand Slam three hits from Josh Bell couple hits from Jake McCarthy Pomo had three hits like up and down your lineup everyone was contributing everyone was putting in work and game one showed you that the Dbacks can just go out there and out smash you offensively if they need to game two showed you that the Dbacks don't always need an elite offense you know what sometimes we can just pitch get a couple of clutch hits and that's all we need game number two two was the shutdown pitching performance Zack Gallen six shutout Innings from him uh almost Flawless Bullpen outside of Paul sewal but offense does just enough and the bullpen and the rotation does the great job of shutting down an opposing team's offense and then in this game number three it showed you that the Dbacks are never out of a game no matter what the score is down four runs to Boston after four Dbacks never worried of course and as a Dbacks fan never worried because we know about the resiliency of this team we know this answerback squad makes more comebacks than like any other team in baseball and they did it once again as I always say if the Dbacks are down three or four runs go on FanDuel place a little wage down on the Dbacks money line to come back in that series because once again I'm sure it was like plus 200 plus 250 maybe plus 300 for the Dbacks to come back in this game and of course they did that and this series once again just showed you the Dbacks and kill you in so many different ways whether it's game one bludgeoning the game two pitching performance or the game three we're never going to back down great job by the Dbacks to series Yano Suarez really carried the offense eight hits two home runs including a Grand Slam in 10 rbies this series he was absolutely fantastic of course his numbers since July 1 really really strong for Yano C is fourth on the team in WRC Plus really third because ADC Del Castillo's third and he's barely played so really could say Yano is third in WRC plus since July 1 with a 295 average with a 349 OBP and a 607 slugging he has been phenomenal for the Dbacks over the last couple months and he has been so important to what the Dbacks want to do 44 ribbies also leads the team during that time I do think Yano needs to be moved up in the lineup going forward he needs to be back at least at least fifth above Lords guel because I do not like seeing yanos SZ bat seven so much in the lineup we also got Corbin Carroll he continues to be productive I think I was trying to go back and track on baseball reference you guys could double check my work I think every game where Corbin Carroll has started the whole game not games where he's come in late in the eighth inning or pinch it but games where Corbin Carroll started and finished I think he has a hit or walk in every single game since July 6 that he started and finished the game this guy has been on fire really for two months and in the month of August he has been even better July we started to see Corbin Carroll wake up he's still at a 220 average but 822 Ops in the month of July now in August even better 260 average and a 938 Ops that's what his numbers were entering today's game against the Red Sox he has been really good over the last couple months months and has really tapped into some power he's been scoring a lot of runs I think he has like 67 runs in like his last 72 games or something like insane amount of runs for courton Carroll recently he's been playing so well and you could just look at the Dbacks record during the stretch of Corman Carroll playing well all of a sudden the Dbacks are never losing any games Heraldo Pomo he continues to play well five hits this series four RBI three runs and a home run off the pesky pole in that ninth inning of the finale has been incredible as well recently for the Dbacks you look at Pomo slash line now on the season 288 349 403 like that's a perfect slash line for Pomo if you told me that if you told me put up like a slash line similar to that over the next seven years like I would sign up for that a 290 hitter 750 Ops great defense Elite plate discipline that could be your short stop for the next near decade I would sign up for that person personally Jake McCarthy did his thing as always I thought Ryan Nelson and Zack gallon were both nasty the first two games of the series Ryan Nelson continues to dominate Zack Gallen look good one of his better starts this season Merill Kelly he was shaky in the finale but he did just enough to hold it down which was perfect as well and then the bullpen was pretty Flawless except for Paul sewald who just sucks in the ninth inning Justin Martinez gave up a home run as well but even when he gave up that home run I was not worried at all Dbacks great showing by them this series they showed you all the different ways that they could kill an opposing team they get the sweep they get back-to-back sweeps after getting swept by Tampa and now we'll talk about in segment number three how the Dbacks do have a chance of winning the NOS we'll talk about that in segment number three but in segment number two I want to talk about how the rotation should be set up for the rest of this season but hey if you're looking for any supplies then I suggest supply house because get supplies from the site that's made for the skill trades 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into the locked on Dbacks podcast let's talk about the dback rotation and how it should be set up for the rest of the season because the DX made an announcement Jordan Montgomery is going to the bullpen Ryan Nelson is staying in the rotation I'm so glad the Dbacks chose to make the right decision here because I think we all agreed this had to be Ryan Nelson over Jordan Montgomery Ryan Nelson has been so much better than him this season and again you look at the numbers since July 1 for Ryan Nelson he has been the best teack starter during that time a 276 eay for Ryan Nelson since July 1st he has been cooking Jordan Montgomery he has not been cooking this season it's been a struggle whatever Jordan Montgomery has cooked the uh the the the patrons I couldn't think of people that go to a restaurant and eat food whatever Jordan Montgomery has cooked the customers the patrons they have gone food poisoning this season so good decision by the dback to go with Ryan Nelson over Jordan Montgomery Nelson just looks way more fresh looks way more spry out there he is the the command in the location right now for Ryan Nelson I mean I think is the most impressive thing like the way he's dotting up the corner of the strike zone right now and like some of the edges like this Ryan Nelson the version we're seeing right now he's still very fast ball dependent but the way he's locating his fast ball right now is extremely scary his vo is up from last year same with his cutter like maybe that's the biggest jump that we've seen from his numbers this year like the fast ball it's at 95 this season it was at like 94 and a half last season so he's gain like a half mile tick on that that's not like a huge jump the biggest jump is really on that cutter which is not really an effective pitch like you look at the numbers this season the cutter the numbers aren't looking good for the cutter 312 average allowed 477 slugging but the vo has raised a lot on the cutter 91 miles per hour this season 85.6 miles per hour last season it's that fast ball they like to throw the most his been really good this season only a 248 average allowed this season on his fast ball and that has led to his success this year because it's the pitch he throws the most last year 308 average allowed 553 slugging allowed on his fast ball this season 248 and a 417 slugging and that's why we've seen such a big Improvement in Ryan Nelson this season and that's why he's winning this job over Jordan Montgomery right now meanwhile Monty he could really make the case for Monty that he hasn't even been better than Madison Bumgarner mad bum his first year 648 ER Monty's first season right now 644 erra but Monty that's 19 starts uh mad buum his first season only made nine starts for that 648 ER and then in his second season he made 26 starts and had a 467 ER so if you look at the first 19 starts for both of these guys Monty definitely has the worst ER and madb despite him being terrible Monty still gives up more hits per nine than the first three seasons that mad buum had with the Arizona Dbacks you look at the strikeout numbers mad buum was still better in terms of a k rate than Monty as well so a lot of the numbers that you see right now for Monty whip K rate hits per nine ER like he's statistically worse than Jordan Montgomery statistically worse than Madison Bumgarner which is crazy to say because we know how bad the Mad bum experience was from day one we were disappointed and frustrated with mad bum I feel like there's not the same level of vitri all toward Monty because the Dbacks overall as a team have been able to still play Elite baseball despite Monty being bad and the fact the Dbacks rotation is as deep as ever because when deback sign uh mad bum you had gallon in the building but he only had one really good year of success with Eric Arizona he was coming over from the trade like we hadn't had an established track record of him Merl Kelly I wasn't even in on at that point like I thought Merl Kelly was just like a mid mid pitcher I was like yeah he's like a number four number five starter didn't really think much of him then the rest of your rotation really wasn't anything at all was like the Alex Youngs and the Taylor Clarks so when we signed madom at the time the team wasn't good and the rotation wasn't good so I think that's why we have more vitriol for Mad bum than we do Monty despite Monty being worse but now that he's going to the bullpen great situation for him he could be the third Lefty reliever he could be the go-to long reliever for the pen perfect now Nelson gets to be the number five starter I think that's perfect as well but my question is does Nelly have a chance are these next few weeks going to be an audition for the postseason rotation because I want to know if Nelly has a chance to make it into that playoff rotation because obviously in a regular season you have five guys but in the playoffs you're really only need four Dudes it's like how in basketball you see their rotation strink as well right you only go to like seven or eight guys in a NBA playoff setting in a baseball setting you're only using your top four starters you're not even going to that number five guy in a playoff uh rotation so for Ryan Nelson who is clearly probably on the outside looking in despite his Elite number since July gallon established number one for the Dbacks Merl Kelly established number two for the Dbacks Bren fought big game rookie pitcher last year then rrod I mean he's the second highest paid player on the Dbacks on a four-year contract making 20 million a year like that on paper is going to be the top four guys in your playoff rotation but with the way Nelly has pitching the with the way Nelly has been pitching the last couple months I just want to know if the door is open for Nelly to steal a spot from someone because he's been the best starter for the Dbacks the last seven weeks of the season and if he gives the Dbacks the best opportunity if he continues his play through the rest of the regular season and you're like man this guy has been the best dback starter for two and a half three months now should he be given an opportunity to be in the playoff rotation because look gallan was Elite against Boston this past weekend six shutout Innings that curveball was nasty he was getting strikeouts but he still dealt with some fastball command issues the V the v's there for gallon but the fastball command has been a little bit of a problem he did give up a few walks in that game and you know since the second half of last season he hasn't been Elite Zack Allen I still have a lot of confidence in him but do I have the confidence in gallon that I used to have probably not I I don't know if I feel like he's that shutdown number one starter like I used to feel with Zack Allen and entering the playoffs if he has a few more mixed results starts like yeah that that's a little bit of a question mark for me entering the post season he still be in the postseason rotation no doubt I don't think his job is on the line but maybe it should be a little bit of a question mark Merl Kelly I thought he did a good job of keeping the game close in the finale but back-to-back starts where he ran into some trouble giving up the long ball a little bit uh still trying to work his way back to full health as well like if he if we continue to see Merl Kelly with mixed results does that maybe make it a little bit of a question now I do have 100% faith in Marl Kelly in a postseason setting but just thr throwing out the question a Brandon f is he a guy that's maybe hitting a little bit of a wall right now never pitched this many innings in his season is he going to be fine pitching a full regular season and then a p a full playoff slate as well you know Rod is a guy with questionable Health throughout his career as well and he's barely pitched this season like I think those four will be in the playoff rotation over Nelly but if Nelly does continue to dominate for the rest of this regular season I just want to know if he's if he should be given a look in an opportunity like why shouldn't Nelly potentially start game one of like the Wild Card series maybe you save your other four guys for the divisional the championship series but if you go off in the Wild Card round maybe you do start anelli in that situation I'm just throwing it out there I know it sounds crazy to say out loud when you think of the journey that we've been on with Ryan Nelson but he's been so good the last few weeks of the season and the other guys have been a little bit more up and down I just want to make sure we look at all our options and pick the best guys I think with the way Ryan Nelson Has pitched this season he should be at least given an be given an opportunity to audition for playoff spot for the rest of 2024 now we'll talk about the Dbacks belief meter in their chances of winning the ANL West in segment number three but hey if you want to place a little wager down on the Dbacks winning the NL and the best place to do that of course is going to be FanDuel sports book because you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book well we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with the YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time of course you can still do my favorite thing on FanDuel which is the same game parlay give me uh give me jig McCarthy over on total bases give me Adrien del Castillo RBI and give me the dbx money line and that three L hits it brings a big smile to my face if you want big smile on your face just visit fanduel.com lockon to download America's number one sports book all right all right all right let's get back to the lockdown Dbacks podcast let's talk about the belief meter for the Dbacks to potentially win the NL because we used to do our Sunday podcast and do like a little Panic meter back when the Dbacks were like below 500 right pre- Allstar break when they were just getting to 500 it's like what's our actual belief in this Dbacks team you know getting hot and securing a wild card spot securing you know a place in the Wild Card race like do we remember like that was right before the All-Star break we were doing the Panic meters Dbacks were just barely around 500 maybe a game above maybe a couple games below 500 we still didn't know which way the season was going to go and basically since then the Dbacks have been the best team in major league baseball absolutely on a tear and have been taking the game over by stormm and so now I want to ask are they hot enough to catch the Dodgers in the NOS I mean after back-to-back sweeps I mean they are looking good in the standings the Dodgers are currently playing right now same with the San Diego Padre's I'm recording this podcast before those two games end currently z z in both of those games so we are praying for a Dodgers and Padre's loss today Dbacks have won 24 of their last 27 games so they are hot they are on fire and they are setting themselves up up to potentially win the NLS and if the Dodgers lose today being only two games back of them in the division I believe let me just double check that real quick uh that they will be two games back of them in the division if the Dodgers lose yes and so if that happens I I think the meter right now should be out of six I still think the Dodgers are the favorites to win it but the door is definitely there for the Dbacks to potentially win the NL West being two games back and because the next two series really great opportunity for the deback to cause a Ruckus in the National League standings because next up for the Dbacks you got the New York Mets who are a couple games back in the Wild Card race of the Atlanta Braves that's a team that's going to come out with a fire in their belly right they have a lot to play for a lot to prove that's still I think the most expensive team in baseball and so they definitely want want to make it to the postseason the Braves have been very vulnerable this year dealing with injuries the lineup has been disappointing this is going to be a series where if you're the New York Mets you take two out of three from the Dbacks you not only move up in the Wild Card race potentially get really close to that third wild card spot but then I think you'd be like the only National League team that would also own the tiebreaker over the Dbacks as well so a very tantalizing series for the Mets to get back in the standings own the tiebreaker over the dback and you know that will increase some confidence for your ball Club if you if you go into Chase Field and beat the hottest team in baseball but you're the Dbacks also a great opportunity to rip the hearts out of Mets fans you could sweep them basically end their misery for the postseason race just say hey wrap it up get ready for the draft get ready for the offseason it's okay Dbacks going to the playoffs maybe you can next year let's start shedding that payroll because this team is not it the in the month of August are a 500 team if they beat I believe they're playing the Padre's if they beat the Padres they'll be one game above 500 entering the series against the Dbacks meanwhile the Dbacks are the hottest team in baseball so the Mets at least on paper do not scary but this is also one of those teams I feel like just plays the Dbacks well does not matter who's on the roster for the Mets I feel like they just play Arizona well with a guy like Francisco Lind right now he's been on fire he is a guy the Dbacks do have to watch out for he's got over a 300 average and like a 950 Ops in the second half of the Major League season he is the scariest guy in the lineup we have to watch out for him this could be potentially a trap series because I don't fear this team with the talent that they have on paper but again I feel like this squad always plays the DB back to well so potentially trap series just do your job and take two out of three from New York because right after that you got potentially your most important series of the year against the LA Dodgers a 4 game set entering September I will definitely I'm going to try and be at every game this next week against the Mets and Dodgers I got a homie that now works for the Dbacks he hooks it up for me and so I will be going to potentially every game this week and now that you get to face the LA Dodgers that's why I got put this meter at a six because even though I feel like the Dodgers are more likely to win the division the opportunity is going to be there for you next weekend four gam set you take three out of four from the Dodgers after taking two out of three from the Mets and you might be who you might be having a conversation next Sunday with a game left in the series against the Dodgers and say you know what Dbacks are a game back of La in the division and if they win Monday night they will move into first place in the NLS that could be our conversation next Sunday night on this podcast you look at the pitching matchups over the next week you're never going to be scared now if you're the Dbacks now that Monty's in the bullpen it's either going to be gallon Kelly Nelson Rod F like every single day you're going to feel good about the Dbacks chances to win the game just based off the play Just based off the pitching matchup plus you know the offense the Dbacks have I think the Dbacks right now are better than the Dodgers despite me still still thinking the Dodgers going to win the division I think right now the Dbacks are better than the Dodgers which sets them up really well for the next series so this is going to be a very exciting week of Dbacks baseball a lot of big implications for the next two series and I'm confident that the Dbacks are going to come out swinging and we're going to have a good positive conversation about the Dbacks being set up to win the NLS on next week's podcast and so that's it for this edition of the lockdown Dbacks podcast come back to tomorrow for more Dbacks news coverage and insight and as always stay safe stay healthy doses