PHNX D-backs After Dark: WBC Hangover

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How's your world baseball class, the Kang over?

Mine's pretty fucking devastating.

Man, I'm still mad about the ending of the DR and Team USA game.

But that's that's a hard one to get over.

Our boy Jerry Perdomo put together a Jerry Perdomo at that and got hosed by the fucking ump.

Horrible. You can't end a fucking baseball can't like that, man. He's can't do it.

I've had I've heard a lot of shit about the ABS system. Yeah, good, bad.

You know, we got our guy, Ryan Thompson, he fucking hates the ABS system.

He wants the ABS system to go directly in the basura, but you know,

moments like this, we already had one moment that was kind of funny during spring training,

where an umpire missed a blatant, blatant call down the middle of the plate.

Right? Just a blatant strike.

I believe it was Jen Powell, if that's how you say her last name, I forgot.

But she just missed it and they had to do the ABS thing and it was,

you know, you kind of heard a chuckle out of the crowd because when you go to the board,

it like showed up dead center, right?

These are the fucking moments that this is for.

The true umpire blinked and missed it and it's a blatant, you know, missed call.

Like I had the weirdest reaction from people when it came to this call.

I heard people saying that the umpire was calling the zone that low all night,

which is bullshit because I went back and looked at other bats and that just wasn't factually correct.

I was calling a low strike zone, but I don't give a goddamn about this low strike zone.

We are past the days of the umpire being able to control the zone in that way,

where they can expand it, right?

And that's, that's what the purpose of the ABS system is.

The purpose of it is to ensure that we have just a more universal strike zone that everybody can understand.

But more importantly in these big moments, like this fucking game, this fucking moment,

with Jerry P up there that we're not missing the call.

Yeah.

And I'm not mad because I'm not mad because like the DR lost that I'm mad that,

you know, it was something that it just it just shouldn't happen, man.

Like I'm not mad at the DR loss of the USA.

I don't care about that.

The DR had plenty of opportunities to be in a better spot at that point in that game.

Sure. They should have been winning.

But I just hate to say I just hate.

It was a classic, by the way.

I mean, it was a great game.

And that's another reason why it's like a solid by the final out being that call.

Like you said, even if Fernando Tete's junior gets up there and pops straight up in the air.

Because then because there was also the potential for that matchup to happen.

If you go over it's on base, you got toddy against Mason fucking Miller.

Yeah.

You actually have almost not on the same level.

But you have a moment like you have a trout in Otani in 23.

You got teammates in a game that decides.

This isn't decided championship.

This decides who goes on.

What's a big moment to have teammates face off like that would have been fucking great.

Huge.

Huge.

But no, we've been huge.

We got robbed of a moment.

That's that's what I said.

Like we got robbed of a moment.

I don't want to out you as a as a casual Padres fan.

But you you are a big fan of Fernando Tete's junior and I know you wanted my guy.

That's my guy.

You know.

But hey, you know what I mean, you know what we could have had too.

And again, no disrespect to team USA here, but we also could have had an incredible final.

Between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, which we've had all the bat flips and all the celebrating.

And everything would have been great.

But.

It's good to have a ride back and forth.

This is way off from winning?

Right.

Right.

Like.

Gotta give credit to them.

That's the incredible lineup are guy.

Erod did the thing out.

We get that so that brought in the 26 please.

Time of the backs.

Having right now third in the rotation.

So I think they're hoping the same thing to because.

Good.

Good.

here we are. Here we are just in this low of spring training, which spring training feels

insignificant all the time. Yeah. Has there ever been a time where spring training has felt

less significant than this gap that we live in right now between the end of the WBC and opening

day? I hate it here. And the thing is we don't think about it because we only get the WBC every three

years, maybe four years now, but every like three years. So it's not an every year thing. So

normally we're all about spring training. We were we're fucking in the thick of it. We can't wait.

We hate when it's over, but then we're happy because the season's about to start, but now you got,

like you said, you just came off of WBC that put baseball on this wonderful stage.

And now you want us to go back and watch a bunch of guys that are going to be in the minor leagues

most of the time. Just come a season like I love my baseball. But come on, man. I mean, even even

the most die hard baseball people say it during this time of the year. This is when spring training

wanes. It's I mean, it's even worse that prices for spring training games are what they are. And

the heat is what it is, right? Like it is. It's just a cocktail for, you know, non attendance. I

guess you should say around spring training in baseball. So again, again, if you like attending

games that don't have a lot of people at them, this time might be perfect for you. But I think

a lot. I saw so many people posting on social media that were that went to spring training,

like the day after everybody that mattered left for the WBC. And they're like, nobody's here.

And then my head, I'm like, how do you not know this? Yeah. How are you so unaware? I could see

casual fans not really date on exactly what date they were leaving for the WBC. Because I'm like,

dead ass, bro, like most superstar star level players that are worth a damn were playing for

their respective hundreds in the WBC. They were playing in good year and surprise and very true.

Blendale. Yeah. I mean, the Diamondbacks had two of their starters in the WBC. And neither one of

them were Merrill Kelly or Zach Galen. So there's that, you know, so, but I, I'm so excited for this

week. I'm so excited for the Diamondbacks to take on the Dodgers in LA. I mean, it's a hell of a test.

It could, I mean, it could literally go from excitement to misery in three days,

depending on the results of this first series in Los Angeles. And I hate to, I hate to speak

loser talk. You know, I fucking hate loser talk. But if they can come in and just went on opening day,

I don't give a god damn that they lose the series. I just want them to go in and ruin the Dodgers

like opening day. Oh, because they're going to do their operation trophy there. They're going

to do the whole thing. Oh, yeah, if you're going to win any of the three games against the Dodgers,

I love you to win all three or two of three. But if you're only going to win one,

I deal opening fucking day. Do it like smash them, too. Do you know what I mean?

And there is them and there is them have have Galen come out and give those performances that

he gave last year that were second half Galen. I'm not even talking about second half Galen.

I'm talking about New York City, Galen. I'm talking about okay. Post road trip at night,

Galen. I'm talking about 15 Ks. And what the milkman was delivering. Yeah. Let me let me use that

milkman video that I made. Let me let me use that fire that guy off on day one because it would

just set such a tone. And again, I don't even I don't even care if they lose the series. I don't

think that matters. I think that confidence that they could gain from winning on opening day

is incredible. Yeah. But it's tough. Is that place going to be a zoo? It is going to be

packed. It is going to be loud. It is going to be annoying. I'm going to hate every second of it.

I think it's a 530 star. Chances are that that stadium is only going to be 40% full at first pitch.

You might be right. You might be right. Like L.A. is good. Like just if you're if you're attending

take the day off and start heading your way to the stadium at 10 a.m. Just just get there right now.

Yeah. Go right now. Go stay at one of those hotels by the Hollywood bowl or somewhere near there

and that takes walk to the stadium. Do yourself a favor. It's quick and a walk.

I am excited for the diamond backs to be on this stage. But taking a step right backwards.

This takes me right back to the WBC where it is a huge stage. And going into this.

Again, loser talk. I'm going to admit it. I just don't want them to get embarrassed.

You know what I mean? Like that's for me. It's what I thought of when E-Rod was going to start for

team Venezuela in the championship game. It's what I felt when her although Predomo came up to

for that at bat with two outs. And I like like that's what I thought in both instances.

Like I just want our guys to have a good showing and I want them to you know perform well.

And I felt like that was robbed from from Predomo because that was just a classic

Jerry P at bat that he was. It was. It was. And E-Rod shocked the hell out of many of us.

Right. Bro. And also let's also he's no longer with us. But he is still our guy.

Congrats to Gino man. Like Gino. E-Rod. I miss Gino. I love Gino. Yeah.

But to see Gino. Right. And that championship game. I wanted to get that big hit. And he got it.

He got it. Yeah. And just just and then his just emotion. His emotion is why the WBC is fantastic.

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. The big big shots to Gino man. I mean who else was I think it was

Luis arise if I'm staking. Yep. Was he. I might be messing this story up if it wasn't

arise. My apologies. But this is the metal with it. Yeah. Was it a rise metal? Yeah.

Then you didn't have it. And he's one of the only guys that didn't wear it because he gave it to

his mom. I mean, I don't like again, I hate that people take rooting against team USA in the WBC

as like anti patriotic anti American. And it might be a little of those things. But I would argue

that it was more about, you know, seeing the difference in how these teams were taking this

tournament, right? And even a team like Italy started playing in a way like it meant everything to

them, meant everything to their country and everything to, you know, you know, the players that

were a part of that team. And the one team in the WBC that just didn't seem to mean that much to

at times is team USA outside of Paul schemes. Paul schemes was the one guy that was kind of a

leader. And the guy who, you know, said all the right things when it came to how much it meant

to him. But, you know, unfortunately, a lot of it too, man. It's the fact that, you know, a lot of

these, these smaller like countries that the DR Venezuela, Puerto Rico, all these smaller Cuba,

like these kids, these guys grew up poor. They grew up struggling. So for them, it's different

because, you know, to put on their country's colors and play for their country and mean something

to them. It means more because they had to, they had to overcome more to get to where they're at.

You know, I wish, honestly, and a lot of it is the fact that the team USA just, it felt like they

didn't really give shit. They're like, oh, we're team USA. We're supposed to win this shit.

And I think that that carried over to how they were perceived. I don't think the whole team felt

that way. But, you know, I don't mean they did themselves any favors because you, you, you

watched the joy that all these other teams are having with celebrations. Everything is so big and

just, it's happy. It looks like it's fun. And team USA is so business. Yeah. Yeah. It's baseball,

man. Have fun. It's baseball. I will say in their defense, I felt like team USA was like more

under the scrutiny of course, the MLB teams than other teams, right? Like so other teams could

get phone calls and suggestions from the organizations that, yeah, players are a part of and ask them

nicely. Hey, please don't use our guys three days in a row. And they're like, well, we're getting

the championship game. I'm going to use your guys three days in a row. Like that's just the way

this is going to work, right? So for, you know, different levels scrutiny there. And for fans of

team USA baseball, you can look forward to this. Mark Dorose is not going to be your manager in

them four years. You got that to look forward to. Very true. So there's a reason Mark Dorose doesn't

manage in the big leagues now. Just leave it at that. He might, he might not even be back at MLB,

not work for all we know. You know what? They might have said I'm taking the next few plays off.

And I like Mark Dorose. I don't have a problem with Mark Dorose. So I just think he's not, he's not

the guy that's going to get it done for team USA. Yeah. I don't know who, and I don't know who,

I don't know who it is because they're not using active managers. So I don't know who you get

to manage team USA. That's not, you know, maybe at maybe and maybe at that point. I don't know. I mean,

for a lot can happen in four years, man. How long until we to see Salvatore LeVolo manage

team Italy, maybe that might be something we see in the future. Hey, hey, hey, I never know. I'm

interested. As we sit here on the, on the cusp of the, you know, on the cusp of opening day,

we could be seeing Tories last season as manager. So I guess, you know, you don't say that. Well,

I'm not saying, but I know I have perspective. It's the final year of his contract, right? I mean,

he could, he could do what he's done. This team could be exactly what it's been. And I mean,

at the end of the day, it might not be perceived as a failure, but it might not be enough to

bring him back. It might just be that the Diamondbacks want to change direction at the end of the year.

But it's, I wouldn't be interested. I would venture to guess that if they don't have

a decent playoff run, maybe a substantial playoff run, that you're probably not going to see Tories

back. And, and, and, you know, at that point, it is what it is because I mean, he's been here and

he's, I mean, he got us, he got us there once, you know, so I love Tories. I hate that this is

going to be hanging over his head. And it's going to get brought up throughout the season,

depending on how well the team plays. But hey, I love the guy. And I, if he's here after this season,

I'm all for it. If he's gone, it is what it is, man. But I'm happy for 2026 baseball.

This is his 10th year, essentially, as manager of this team. So he's the longest tenured.

He is. He has long this tenured. In fact, he's one of the longest tenured professional managers

in the Valley, I believe, or head coach or anything like that. So trying to think who else

cotton could send his has to be on it list has to be for coaches. There was an old, there was an

old son's coach whose name escapes me right now. I think that had a pretty long tenure. But I think

that honestly, if Tori gets this team to the playoffs, I think that a contract extension

is on the table, especially when you consider, I mean, you, you, you, you hate that he has this little

like caveat, but I mean, he's in a division where he's there's really no expectation of the

debacks winning the National League West. Correct. So I mean, there's just, that's just this

be realistic, unless the Dodgers like lose everybody to every possible injury, they're going to win

the West for probably the next three to four years. It just is what it is. I mean, it's just

what it is, unfortunately. So the expectations have to be low and realistic. Yeah, but yeah,

I play off run. I mean, a wildcard and then you know, get to the forget through the wildcard,

get to the first round and maybe beyond who knows, man, anything can happen in October. So,

but and we're talking about this in fucking March, but hey, oh, yeah, we are. Yeah, brother.

We got, we got the first pitch just a few days away and I cannot wait for it. Bro, I have the day off,

like I normally do because I will be watching major league baseball all fucking day on Thursday.

I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. It's a fucking holiday. My dad, my uncle are coming over.

Yeah, it's a holiday, man. It should be. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. We should all get it off.

I shouldn't have to do a show that day. You really should. I completely agree with you. Yeah,

but we are going to have a party. That's going to be fun. We're going to be having a private baby,

having a good time watching that. Of course, if you're listening, you should join us. And of course,

if you are listening, you should also follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman

with a K. He is at rock knowledge, which is RO knowledge everywhere. You can find him.

But our show most importantly is at phnx underscore debax and all roads do lead to at phnx underscore

sports on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. See you guys next time. Appreciate you listening and

remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun on opening day.