October 09, 2024
It's really hard to win a World Series. The Phillies have been around for 141 years and have just two of them.
Philadelphia won't win a third this year. Even though at times it felt inevitable.
They faltered in predictable ways in Queens Wednesday night, losing in four games to the rival New York Mets in a 4-1 defeat that was preventable in a bevy of ways.
It was mismanaged. The pitching was horrendous throughout. The hitting was even worse. The fielding was subpar. Or maybe the Mets are just a team of destiny.
Baseball is over in Philly and a long (much longer than expected) offseason awaits.
If you're a glutton for punishment and want to re-live the torture, here's one last look at the good, the bad, and some thoughts on the big picture for this team moving forward:
• I am tempted to skip this section entirely. But the Phillies kept fighting (or some of them did). Nick Castellanos has been a total beast in this series and he showed grit with a single in the eighth that sort of gave the Phillies hope (trailing by three). It was just for fun, as he was stranded there.
• Ranger Suárez's start Wednesday was one of the most bizarre I have ever seen — playoffs or regular season. He loaded the bases two innings in a row, allowed nine baserunners, struck out eight, and somehow didn't allow a run. He bent, a lot, but did not break. And while he didn't go as deep into the game as the other starters usually do, he did create a bridge to the Phillies' top relievers who would subsequently bail him out. Jeff Hoffman inherited two runners from Suárez with one out in the fifth and didn't allow them to score. But then he ruined the season (we'll get to that).
Suárez got 12 swings and misses from Mets batters, many of them from his curveball which was giving New York hitters fits. The only number that matters is the one under "runs," and by that measure, the Phillies' fourth starter got the job done.
• A little good luck helped the Phillies to get on the board first, when a Bryce Harper walk and Castellanos double set the table for an Alec Bohm fielders choice that was weakly hit and Mark Vientos couldn't handle it, plating Harper for a 4th inning lead, 1-0. It was the first run scored in the first five innings of a game this series since Kyle Schwarber's leadoff home run in the opener back on Saturday. It was ugly, but a run is a run.
• Carlos Estévez surrendered a grand slam to Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning that basically ended the Phillies' season.
FRANCISCO LINDOR. GRAND SLAM. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/CdKuEVOfT3
— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2024
It wasn't completely his fault — Hoffman left the bases loaded for him. And manager Rob Thomson let Hoffman stay in to load the bases. The Phillies' hitters posted just one run up to that point in the ballgame. But the Mets cashed in on their third bases-loaded opportunity. It's playing with fire when you toss around as many baserunners as the Phillies did Wednesday — 15 in all. The implosion was inevitable. As was their season ending with a whimper.
• Schwarber got a chance at the plate as the tying run in the ninth, after a pair of Edwin Díaz walks, but he struck out and the Mets flooded the field to celebrate.
• I really wasn't sure whether to put Suárez's first inning under the good or the bad. He threw 30 pitches, and allowed two hits and a walk — but was able to wiggle his way out of the early jam with a pair of strikeouts to keep the Mets off the board. His extended workload in the frame all but assured a lot of bullpen reliance in this one.
• Definitely belonging under the bad category is Bohm's misfielding of a chopper that could have been a double play, and should definitely have been at least one out. He missed a tag on the runner crossing from second to third, and after his bobbling of the baseball, threw wide of Harper at first, who was unable to make the force out. Another Bohm misstep came an inning later when a dribbler to third wound up as a base hit as he wasn't able to maneuver a throw. A slicker infielder turns two there, or at least gets one out on the play. Suárez got out of the jam anyway.
When the Phillies look for upgrades this offseason, they might have to address third base.
• Hoffman might have pitched himself out of a job. After tight-roping a Suárez jam in the fifth, he proceeded to give up a hit, a walk and a hit batter — with two wild pitches mixed in — to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth. He was lifted with one out, and responsible for all three runners. A grand slam came minutes later. All of this in addition to him having two dreadful outings already in the NLDS. Thomson has shown a ton of faith in Hoffman and it burned him big time repeatedly in this series.
• It's really hard to win baseball games when you're repeatedly playing from behind. We mentioned it earlier, but just two runs over the first five innings of four games in total is unacceptable. They have one of the most talent-laden tops of the order in all of baseball and they have been too often unheard from until it's too late.
Harper hit a double in the sixth — and Bohm walked — and it amounted to absolutely nothing. Thomson left Bryson Stott in with two men on to face a lefty and he grounded out to end the inning.
• You don't want to have too many guys slumping at once in the postseason. We've documented Bohm's issues on offense — he is still working out of it. Add J.T. Realmuto to the list. The Phils' catcher went 0-for-11 for the series and had some missed opportunities with runners on base Wednesday.
• I want to use this section to share a few stray thoughts from Wednesday's game and the playoffs at large. It's hard to make sense of what happened during this brief playoff run. The five-day layoff was definitely one of the biggest reasons for blame. Teams all across the league have seen bye-winning division winners tossed aside by upstart Wild Cards. At the same time, the Phillies have not been the same team since the All-Star break and that is undeniable. It's really hard to be the best team in baseball for seven straight months, and the Phillies held the title for about five of those.
I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. The starting pitching was among the best in baseball, the bullpen was much improved and mostly reliable. And the offense was laden with stars with proven track records. Show me a baseball team without any flaws.
Very few of the Phillies' stars came to play when the season changed into the fall. Are wholesale changes needed to the roster? Or are they still only a piece or two away?
• The Mets fans are very knowledgeable and they care a lot about their team, but there is a huge difference between the behavior in the stands at Citi Field and at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies fans are diehards. They breathe baseball. Every single excuse they can muster to cheer on their club they do, and they do it loud. At Citi, there were some tense and important moments and it was pretty chill. Even after Lindor's grand slam and a 4-1 lead, six outs from clinching, the New York fans were quietly in their seats. Ask anyone who's been to a playoff game in South Philly, it's never chill. The fans deserve better, and definitely deserved to see more baseball this October.
The Athletic ranked postseason atmospheres, and the Phillies faithful landed second behind the Padres. I was in San Diego in 2022 and their fans were probably on par with Philadelphia's. I was impressed but I didn't think they were louder. Either way, the Phillies ranked second and the Mets sixth.
• Wednesday night's game marked the 34th postseason game for the Phillies over the last three Octobers, the most in the majors. There hasn't been a parade down Broad Street, but this team has become reliably active in the playoffs and that doesn't look likely to change in the near future with the current team tentpoles in place for years to come.
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