Disgusting. The bullpen fucking blew it. A combo effort to turn what should have been a gutsy, come-from-behind victory into a late-innings choke job. Rob Thomson again went to Orion Kerkering in a high-leverage situation and conceded a cheap run. Then Craig Kimbrel got blown up in the 8th and Jose Alvarado gave up the game-winning run as the Phillies lost again.

The NLCS is now tied at two games apiece and Jimmy Eat World’s drummer is not going to let us hear the end of it.

The observations:

 

Early mistakes

The Phillies had a series of mishaps in the early innings:


  • Trea Turner caught stealing for the first time all season long
  • Alec Bohm throwing error
  • Christopher Sanchez thinking there were 2 outs and not 1, and failing to turn a double play
  • J.T. Realmuto with a passed ball
  • Sanchez letting Emmanuel Rivera, who was not a starter to begin the series, drive in the opening run.
  • a wild pitch moves Ketel Marte to second base, eventually he scores

It cost them a couple of runs, but Arizona made up for that with some bad walks, a ball getting stuck in Gabby Moreno’s chest protector, and then a short hopper on a force at home plate that resulted in two runs scoring. Both teams had their moments of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

J.T. and Trea’s near misses

I tweeted this on the CB account and some people got offended for some reason:

Not sure why the complaints. Just sharing information.

Realmuto’s early deep fly went 374 feet and would have been a solo shot at Citizens Bank Park. Trea Turner’s fourth inning fly, hit to almost the same spot, went 375 feet, had a .380 expected batting average, and would have been a homer in 16 ballparks.

If those fly balls went just a couple of feet further it would have been a different ballgame entirely. It also helps illustrate why the Phils can’t rely solely on dingers in Arizona, and to their credit, they did score by making simple contact and then executing some savvy running on the base paths. Five runs, and only one coming from a home run? That should have been enough to win this game.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it from there.

Schwarber passes Reggie Jackson

It was inevitable that this would happen:

Schwarber has hit nine of those home runs in just two seasons with the Phillies. Six came during the NLCS and he hit the other three in the World Series.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it from there.

Big game Brandon Marsh

Lefty on lefty crime:

Two doubles in two games for Marsh, batting 8th in the lineup. Marsh hit .229 against lefties this year, and only faced them 110 times, compared to 362 plate appearances against righties. That’s a huge hit at a critical point in the game.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it from there.

Bohm Squad

Perhaps it was kismet that the struggling Alec Bohm stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 6th.

Then the craziest play of the series took place:

Two runs on a grounder to third. Incredible. It went four feet officially, with a -36 launch angle and a .060 xBA. Whatever works.

Of course, Bohm gets thrown out at second to finish the sequence, but at least he put a bat on the ball and put something in play. Baby steps with him right now, which led to a bloop single in the 8th inning. Start somewhere and the ball will start rolling.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it from there.

Johan Rojas and the insurance run that ended up not mattering

How about Johan Rojas legging out a triple, then scoring on a sac fly? He was just 2 for 32 coming into Game 4, and Phillies fans (and management probably) had conceded that they weren’t going to see anything offensively out of Rojas. That’s fine, of course, because his defense is not replaceable in center, but if he can give you something, anything at the plate, it’s only an added bonus.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it from there.

Robot umps now

Brandon Marsh in the 9th inning:

 Craig Kimbrel

Not playable right now. They have to do something different. He’s gonna cost them a shoe-in trip to the World Series. This D Backs team is not the 1998 Yankees.

EDIT – Okay I’ll add a few more lines. This D Backs team is fucking mid. Can’t believe they let these clowns back into the series. Now all 5 Arizona fans are in my Twitter feed. It’s disgusting. I blame Topper more than anything. Save Hoffman till the 8th. Do something. FIGURE IT OUT. Good night.