Phillies Pushed to Brink; Disastrous 6th Inning Costly
Aaron Nola was not great, but
the Phillies lineup was just plain bad. A 7-2 loss to the Mets has Philadelphia
on the brink of elimination, down 2-1 in the 5 game NLDS.
Give Mets pitcher Sean Manaea
credit as much as it pains us to do. He shut down the Phillies for 7 innings.
The Phils scratched out 2 runs
in the 8th inning, but by then we were just hoping for a miracle.
Nola gave up a couple solo homers,
but at least this Phillies fan kept thinking . . . well, it’s only 2 runs. But he
loaded the bases in the 6th inning with no outs, and he was yanked. Orion
Kerkering came in and got two straight outs and looked like he might pull a
Houdini act before giving up a base hit for 2 runs. The Mets added 2 runs in the
next inning and the game was essentially over.
Yet, look at the top of the 6th.
The Phillies get the first two batters on – both walked – and 6 pitches later
their half of the inning was over. Six frikkin’ pitches! Bryce Harper whiffed
on three pitches and Nick Castellanos lined into a double play. According to the
radio broadcast (I was inhaling dinner), Harper was reaching for balls, and the
pitching chart suggests Castellanos did, too.
That’s the crap that drives ya
nuts. Two guys just walked. The Phillies are desperate for runs, down 2-0. The game
is still right there for the taking. The season’s kind of on the line. What the
hell are ya doing?
I get it – they’re the same two
guys who rescued them last night. I loved it, too. But sometimes it’s infuriating
that they just don’t do the basics – move the runners, take the walk.
Now, the Phillies kind of need
a miracle. Ranger Suarez, who just hasn’t been good lately, takes the mound tomorrow
in New York in a game the Phillies have to win just to play a deciding Game 5.
Comments