The Philadelphia Phillies did not start their postseason well, dropping Game 1 of the NLDS to the New York Mets 6-2 on Saturday.
After the game, Michael Barkann and Ricky Bottalico, hosts of Phillies Postgame Live on NBC Sports Philadelphia, called out the players they felt were most responsible.
Barkann got things started by pointing out that in their franchise history, the Phillies are 0-7 in series after they dropped the first game. He then made it clear that manager Rob Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Long were not to blame. Barkann also made sure to single out the positive performances of Kyle Schwarber — who led the game off for the Phillies with a home run — and Zack Wheeler — who pitched seven shutout innings and handed the Philadelphia bullpen a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning. Nobody else who played on Saturday was spared. Barkann started with the lineup, then worked his way into the pitchers, excluding Schwarber and Wheeler.
“But (Trea) Turner, (Bryce) Harper, (Nick) Castellanos, (Alec) Bohm, (Bryson) Stott, J.T. Realmuto, (Brandon) Marsh, (Johan) Rojas, (Jeff) Hoffman, (Matt) Strahm, (Orion) Kerkering, (Tanner) Bank(s) — take a hike,” Barkann said. “You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re the NL East champions. Seven wins, three losses against the Mets this season – removing the Taijuan Walker starts – 7-3. They watched Kyle Schwarber hit a home run to begin the game, then Zack Wheeler pitched his butt off. It is a disgrace.”
Aside from aforementioned Schwarber and Wheeler, Kody Clemens was the only Phillie who played on Saturday that Barkann did not criticize. Clemens pinch-hit for Rojas in the ninth inning and delivered an RBI single, one of only five Philadelphia hits during the game.
The dormant Phillies offense is where Bottalico started his rant.
“The Phillies ended up with five hits in this game. I would say three of those would be garbage hits. The only two hits that mattered were early on in the ballgame, both of them by Kyle Schwarber. One of them a home run, leading off the ballgame.”
Bottalico is not wrong. Aside from Schwarber’s two hits, which came in his first two at-bats, Philadelphia’s only hits in the game were the double from Clemens in the ninth inning, an eighth-inning double from Harper and an eighth-inning single from Castellanos. All of those came with the Mets leading by four runs or greater. Perhaps more notably, all came with two outs, leaving the Phillies little chance to build a sustained rally.
But Bottalico had more to say.
“You know what? There’s a lot more issues going on right now than we want to even look at,” he said. “Zack Wheeler pitched seven innings, one-hit ball. He was spectacular. He did walk four guys in this game. Here’s the problem – 111 pitches. Yeah, that’s not something you want to put your hat on next game, right? That’s not it. You used Hoffman, Strahm and Kerkering. Three of your high-leverage guys in this game, and all of them came up empty.”
The hitting, or lack thereof, was not surprising. It was a 4 p.m. start in Philadelphia, which brought the Citizens Bank Park shadows very much into play, creating issues for all of the hitters. That said, while a 1-0 lead is precarious, Hoffman, Strahm and Kerkering were three top relievers for the Phillies all season.
Still, while you’d like to hand the bullpen a lead of more than one run, giving the bullpen a one-run lead only to see your best relievers struggle and blow the lead, can definitely be frustrating.
While the Phillies have never won a series after losing Game 1, plenty of teams have. It’s certainly too early to say they’re done. But the pressure is certainly on in Sunday’s Game 2. And if Philadelphia doesn’t come through then, we can only only imagine what Barkann and Bottalico will have to say.
[Photo Credit: NBC Sports Philadelphia]
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