Phillie’s Wild Ride
The Philadelphia Phillies had it going their way in the 2023 postseason. They were on a tear but experienced stumbling blocks going down the stretch of the season; when they needed to clinch the wild card spot, they seemed to get in their own way. Aaron Nola and Johan Rojas saved the club from defeat against Pittsburgh on September 25 to clinch their top wild card spot and secured a date in the playoffs once again. The question would be who they would face, and they had their answer: their divisional foes in the Marlins.
Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler each were phenomenal in their postseason starts, allowing only two earned runs between them and having the Broad Street Bombers power their way to a sweep over the Fish. This sweep would set the Fightins’ on a familiar war-path in the top seeded Atlanta Braves. Game 1 was an adventure and a half to many Philadelphia fans as they were watching their heart rates go up and down, as manager Rob Thomson bullpen managed their way to a 3-0 win, shutting out the Braves at home for the first time since 2021. The hitting corps lit up Strider to the three runs, and Ranger Suarez and co. in the bullpen nailed down the victory.
Game 2 was…more the same. After taking a lead of 4-0, the Phillies let the Braves come back and eventually fell one run behind. A bullpen blunder forced in the go-ahead run thanks to Matt Olson and the series was now even at one win apiece, going to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Lumber Company then went off on Bryce Elder and Bryce Harper got revenge on Orlando Arcia and hit two home runs while staring him down (Arcia made comments about Harper’s base running gaffe to end game 2) and the Phillies went on to win 10-3. Game 4 was nail biting dramatics as a pitching duel commenced between Wheeler and Strider once again. Three solo home runs (two by Nick Castellanos and one by Trea Turner), and a game-saving/season saving catch was made by Johan Rojas against eventual MVP winner Ronald Acuña, Jr,. in the 7th inning. Matt Strahm soon shut the door and the Phillies beat Atlanta in the playoffs once again.
Now, Philadelphia had eyes on what appeared to be an easy sweep against Arizona.
Games one and two in Philadelphia were all Phillies, as they were able to score 15 runs in the two games, including a 10-0 bell-hammering in Game 2. Games 3-5 were when the wheels started to fall off. The pitching was able to do solid work, but Rob pulled too many cute things at once to over-manage the club to defeat. It didn’t help that the top five guys in the lineup were abysmal at the plate against Brandon Pfaadt and Zac Gallen. Game 3 ended on walk-off and game 4 was atrocious, as Craig Kimbrel gave away cookies to Zach Thomas and the Diamondbacks evened the series at 2. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper soon carried the Phillies to a win in game 5, hoping to clinch in Philadelphia. That soon turned to a tragedy as the Phillies were flustered by pitching and clutch home runs by Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. and the awakening of Corbin Carroll. The Phillies lost 5-1 to force a game 7. There, some hope was had as Alec Bohm awoke and gave the Phillies a lead which would soon be relinquished and never recaptured. The Phillies choked a series away to Arizona and questions arose immediately. Where did the hitting go after game 2? Why were Kyle, Bryce, Trea, Nick, and J.T. quiet? In games six and seven, the first four names were a COMBINED 1-27 with runners in scoring position. The bullpen fell apart and Craig Kimbrel became persona non grata in Philadelphia, and the hitting essentially disappeared when entering the dry humid air of Arizona..
Now, after all is said and done, what can we do? We had a successful season, albeit without appearing in the World Series. What can we as a team focus on: Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins are free agents in the offseason; Craig Kimbrel will most likely be chased out. Do we try to go after big fish or aim to build up everything in our order? The season itself is something that should be marveled at so we can build up our errors, but we shouldn’t always put the eggs of our labor into the home run.
Submission from Dave Hummel