The Phillies had no answer for Sean Manaea in Game 3 of the NLDS Tuesday night, as they mustered just three hits against the tough lefty (with a small late rally amounting to very little) in a listless 7-2 loss at Citi Field.
All the good vibes and momentum from an all-time great win back in Game 2 seemed to be totally forgotten as Aaron Nola struggled and the offense struggled even more.
No one expected the Phils to be a game away from elimination — against the Mets no less — this early in October. But that's the reality as they'll need a short memory before returning to action Wednesday with their season on the line.
Here's a look at the good, the bad, and the controversial from a pretty ugly Game 3 drubbing:
The good
• The good news is Philadelphia is still breathing. The Phillies need to find a way to win Wednesday with Ranger Suárez on the mound. There's really not much else to cling to from the loss in New York. They still have life. That's something.
• It was too little too late, but Bryce Harper drove in a run with runners on second and third in the top of the eighth with the Phillies trailing by a half dozen. With first base empty and a 3-1 count, I was shocked that the Mets gave Harper something to hit. I guess when you're that far ahead you feel a little more bold against one of the best NLDS hitters to ever live. Castellanos followed with an RBI single of his own to chip away a bit to 6-2.
• The Phillies were seeing the ball very well to start the game Tuesday — in contrast to complaints of the awkward afternoon start in Philly. Keeping in mind that the average ball put in play by a major leaguer is 89 MPH, here's how things started for the Phils:
• A near homer fly out for Kyle Schwarber — 106.6 MPH
• A sharply hit groundout for Trea Turner — 106.8 MPH
• Another ripped ground out for Bryce Harper — 106.3 MPH
• A deep lineout to start the second for Nick Castellanos — 96.6 MPH
But obviously, if you checked the box score, there are no points given for effort. Early on it felt sort of like a hockey game where a team is firing shot after shot on goal but getting nothing past the goalie. It seemed like they'd eventually be able to break through — but they did not.
• The "A for effort" award goes to Kyle Schwarber, who does a lot of things that don't show up in the conventional stat sheet. Manaea tossed 91 pitches in his impressive outing, and 22% of them were to Schwarber. He went hitless against the lefty, but had an eight-pitch at-bat, a six-pitch at-bat, and a six-pitch plate appearance that drew a walk. A second walk came in his fourth plate appearance (on five pitches this time, against reliever Phil Maton).
The bad
• The Phillies didn't show any fight in their best scoring opportunity. With no one out and two men on in the sixth trailing by two, Bryce Harper struck out on three pitches, clearly trying to replicate his Game 2 heroics. And then bad luck and some less-than-stellar baserunning ended the threat with a Nick Castellanos double play — a line drive right to the second baseman. Many fans were optimistic that the bats were solved and alive after Sunday's onslaught at Citizens Bank Park. That did not prove to be the case Tuesday.
• Pete Alonso got the scoring started with a solo shot in the second — getting the already amped Mets fans feeling pretty good in their first NLDS game since 2015. He's feasted off Nola in his career and the homer was his sixth career dinger against him. In 54 plate appearances during the regular season, Alonso has hit .320 against the Phillies starter.
Nola once again surrendered a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth to Jesse Winker. The Mets made really good contact all day on Nola, tallying more deep-line drives than anyone would want to see.
• Nola's performance was fine through five frames, he only surrendered the two solo shots, but he left the bases loaded for Orion Kerkering in the sixth inning and after getting the first two New York batters out in short order, a two-run single off the bat of Starling Marte gave the Mets some room to breathe and essentially broke the game open.
• The game broke even more for New York in the seventh, as José Alvarado walked the bases loaded and was lifted with two outs. José Ruiz was unable to get the last out to keep the inning clear, with Iglesias driving in a pair of runs with a single, upping the advantage to 6-0.
• A leadoff hit by pitch gave the Phillies a chance to play small ball in their half of the third — and they didn't. Johan Rojas could have bunted Edmundo Sosa to second base, which would have set up a likely tying run when Turner hit a single. It's easy to criticize in hindsight, but the Phillies have been averse to playing that style of baseball of late. It might be a tactic for manager Rob Thomson to consider later in the postseason – if there is a later.
• Alec Bohm finally got a hit — but the well-struck liner to right center might have been too well hit. He tried to stretch it into a double (he was second in the NL with 44 of them during the regular season) but was tagged out after a fantastic throw from Tyrone Taylor. The aggressiveness is good, but the lanky third baseman didn't exactly look fast as he rounded first. He's been struggling, so the hit was a good sign regardless. The baserunning error was not.
The controversial
• The following was ruled an out for Winker:
This is a great catch by Nick Castellanos; ball came loose on exchange pic.twitter.com/70NAfeYfEm
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) October 8, 2024
Castellanos lost control of the ball on the transfer to his throw, and Harper had the presence of mind to make sure he touched first base, with Jose Iglesias retreating back to first. It seems like the umps decided to compromise or something — because for some reason they did not rule it a double play. I am not convinced that was the correct call.
• Does anyone outside of Queens and Long Island think this Grimace thing is cool? For those unfamiliar with the Mets' phenomenon, the mascot from McDonalds threw out the first pitch a while back (kicking off a 7-game win streak and a total season turnaround) and sparked the Mets' impressive run to the postseason. Prior to the Grimace pitch, the Mets were 28-37. They went 61-38 after. And he was all over the ballpark Tuesday night and the fans were loving it. Cool, I guess? Is the McDonalds organization endorsing the Mets?
Grimace is in the building pic.twitter.com/PXVIxqCwku
— Amazin' Army (@WE_ARE_MET_FANS) October 8, 2024
I got some context from my cousin Josh, a lifelong pessimistic and tortured Mets fan.
“Being a Mets fan is more than any regular MLB team fan, we have a culture. We embrace ridiculousness, superstition, and the underdog. Our recent heroes have been Bartolo Colon and Daniel Vogelbach, Grimace epitomizes Mets fandom.”
🤷♂️
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