Phillies on the verge of another first-round exit down 2-0 vs. Dodgers in NLDS.
Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner have been unable to deliver so far.
Dodgers can clinch with win in Game 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
PHILADELPHIA — A few players sat around in small groups Monday night in the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse. Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos huddled, talking in hushed tones. Bryce Harper departed quickly to be with his newborn baby. Phillies manager Rob Thomson sat behind a podium trying to explain his rationale for late-game decisions.
This is a new year, an improved team, with lofty expectations and even bigger hype – but the results are the same.
The powerful Phillies, who came into October as perhaps the World Series favorites, are about to pack everything up for an early exit and a long winter.
Loudly booed most of the night by their sellout crowd of 45,653 at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies staged a frenzied ninth-inning rally, only to be beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3, going down 2-0 in the best-of-five series.
They are on the brink of elimination.
Once again.
The Phillies, who ran away with the NL East title, are now 2-9 in their last 11 postseason games.
They were supposed to have a huge home-field advantage with their fierce and intense crowd, only to have now lost five of their last six postseason games in Philadelphia.
This is a team loaded with All-Stars, but they have been almost completely shut down.
Once again.
This is a team that was in the World Series in 2022. They were one game away from returning to the World Series in 2023.
Now, they’re one game away from their second consecutive first-round exit, leaving Thomson’s future in jeopardy, while debating what personnel changes need to be made.
“We’ve got to flip the script,’ Harper said. “We’re really a good baseball team. It’s still the first one to three [wins]. Obviously, they’re not there yet.’
No, maybe not mathematically. But with the Dodgers rolling, winning nine consecutive games dating back to Sept. 24, they’re a runaway freight train that looks like it can’t be stopped, even with a bullpen that leaves manager Dave Roberts desperately looking for the antacids.
“To get two in this environment is obviously massive,’ said Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who made a fabulous pick on a throw that bounced from second baseman Tommy Edman to end the game. “You can’t understate it. This is a really hard place to play in the regular season, let alone here. It is loud.
“Just hats off to all of us to pull out two wins here.’
There certainly is no shame losing to the Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, who are pitching these days like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale are in their rotation.
Still, when you keep winning in the regular season, but losing year after year in October, something has to give. Barring a miracle in which only two teams have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in the National League Division, the only real question is just how long their stay in Southern California lasts.
“Obviously, the writing’s on the wall,’ said DH Kyle Schwarber, who hit an NL-leading 56 homers this year, “but I feel like if we can take one game, then it’s a one-game task. So, then it’s time to go from there. We know that we’re going to have nine innings of baseball in LA, at the minimum, so we got to take it from there.’
Yet, unless Schwarber, Harper and Trea Turner start hitting like stars, the Phillies are only dreaming their stay will last past Wednesday when Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound.
The Dodgers have completely shut down the powerful trio.
Turner, who should finish in the top five in the NL MVP balloting, has one single.
Schwarber, who should finish runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the MVP voting, is hitless with five strikeouts.
Harper, their former MVP, has one single and three strikeouts.
If you go back to the 2022 NLCS when the Phillies were up 2 games to 0 over the Diamondbacks, the trio is hitting .175. Turner is 6-for-41. Harper is 7-for-35. And Schwarber is 7-for-38.
“I think those guys are trying to do a little too much right now,’ Thomson said, “instead of just being themselves and looking for base hits. The power will come.’
The Phillies stars don’t necessarily agree with the premise, but something is off, and for the third consecutive October, their droughts have come at the worst possible time.
“No, I wouldn’t say we’re pressing,’ Harper said. “I just think we’re missing pitchers over the plate. They’re making good pitches when they need to.’
When Schwarber was asked if their stars were performing like they should, he took responsibility for his own struggles.
“I can speak for myself, I know that I haven’t,’ Schwarber said. ‘You want to get something going. You want to get anything going. And for me, I just didn’t come through in that situation.’
Schwarber was talking about the sixth inning when they finally put together their first rally against Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who didn’t give up a hit until the fifth. Turner drew a one-out walk, stole second, and the Phillies had their chance. Schwarber walked. Harper struck out. And Alec Bohm grounded out.
In the eighth inning, they got to the Dodgers’ bullpen, scoring a run on Turner’s one-out single, but then Schwarber struck out and Harper hit a lazy fly ball.
And in the ninth inning, after they rallied for two more runs off the Dodgers’ struggling bullpen, Turner stepped up to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners. He hit a routine ground ball to Edman, who bounced the ball to Freeman, leaving Schwarber standing in the on-deck circle.
‘Anything can happen’
The Phillies can come up with all sorts of reasons and excuses for their failures, but when Turner, Schwarber and Harper aren’t hitting, well, the Phillies aren’t winning.
“Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job with guys on base,’ Harper said. “I mean, I had a couple opportunities myself and didn’t get it done. It’s got to be better. We got our work cut out for us.
“We understand that we’re a good team. Anything can happen in the next couple of days.’
It would be easier, of course, if the Dodgers’ starters were making some mistakes, but if there has been any, the Phillies have yet to make them pay the price. Ohtani gave up just three hits with nine strikeouts in Game 1, and Snell topped him by giving up just one hit in six shutout innings, striking out nine. This is the first time in franchise history their starters have nine or more strikeouts in four consecutive postseason games.
‘They’re pitching very well, and that’s kind of been the story right now,’ Schwarber said. “They got some quality starts, and it’s up to us to figure out a way to get on base and jump on us trying to find a way to get on base and jump on any sort of mistake.
“I just feel like these guys, the first two games, have been on. They’ve done a really good job of making some pitches. We’ve just got to find a way.’
Well, good luck, with Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ best pitcher, who struck out 201 batters during the season, waiting for the Phillies in Game 3.
“There’s no looking ahead,’ Schwarber said. “We have to fly back home to Philly at some point anyway. Let’s make it worth something.’
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This post appeared first on USA TODAY
