On Sunday evening, the Philadelphia Phillies boarded a flight for home with the August-September stretch run for the team ever so close. After clawing their way to 10 games over .500, they had just readied themselves for another drive to the playoffs by losing two of three to both Milwaukee and Cleveland.
However, Sunday afternoon, the Fightin’s had won 8-5 in 10 innings, after trying mightily to blow a four-run lead seized in the top of that final inning. When Yunior Marte recorded the final out, the bases were loaded, as they had been for the two batters before that final hitter.
Marte has been a problem, but the Phillies were running out of options when he was called on. His second save pushed Sisyphus — sorry, the Phils — back up the hill to seven games over .500 for the flight home. It is universally understood that it is a good thing to fly home from a road trip after a win.
Will the Phillies tendency to win three in a row over MLB’s best team, then not much later, lose four of six against lesser teams serve them this year?
But should Philadelphia be happy with themselves at this point? There had to be a few nagging doubts, including several left over from Sunday’s win.
First, workhorse starter Aaron Nola had given up a solidly stuck homer to the game’s leadoff hitter, Steven Kwan, who now has four long balls on the season. This continued Nola’s habit of surrendering homers in an alarmingly consistent way this season.
Worse, Kwan, Cleveland’s leadoff man, continued hitting all afternoon, finishing 4-for-5, and driving in two.
In the second, Nola gave up another home run, but this time to a guy who now has nine dingers.
Then, along the way, the Phillies scored on a balk, and left seven of eight runners in scoring position.
But they made only one error in this game, when a high throw by Alec Bohm pulled first baseman Bryce Harper off the base in the seventh, marring an otherwise fine two-game debut by Harper at his new position. This included a dangerous catch. In his debut as a starting first baseman, Harper flung himself into a camera well Friday night, risking no fewer than five injuries (two fatal), by my count.
Then, in the ninth, closer Craig Kimbrel blew his first Phillies save in 17 tries, giving up, yep, another homer, this one to David Fry. He now has three in ’23.
As icing on the celebration cake, the Phillies also managed to survive a 10th inning in which their first pitcher got no one out and left Marte with the bases loaded.
Credit manager Rob Thomson at least with a pitching change at the right time, but do not doubt that the Phillies will make this year’s playoff run another hair-pulling affair for their fans.
As they land at home to begin a series against a Baltimore Orioles squad, the likes of which no current Philadelphia player has ever seen, they stand, as always, ready to battle until the last day for the last Wild Card slot.
The Philadelphia Phillies should be better.