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Oct 2023

No need to lose that game. If Big Rob brings somebody other than Hoffman, who just handed the most important game of the season to the Braves, just as he did earlier in the season, maybe the Phils win. You need a righty? Kerkering is ready. A zero on the guts meter for Hoffman.

But that is the way Big Rob manages. You're on his team, then you're expected to perform and you'll get PT with responsibility.

The Phils are facing 2 must-wins at CBP.

Hoffman has been the Phillies' best right-handed reliever for months (better than Kimbrel most of the time which may or may not be saying much. Obviously better than Seranthony). I believe he hadn't allowed a home run since July. Kerkering is a great story and has great stuff but he was handed the lowest possible leverage inning in Game 1. No manager in world goes to him against Acuna and Riley at that moment.

Letting a tired Wheeler face a guy with a 1,000 OPS against him (who also used to catch him) was the bigger issue. Of course the pen still could have blown it then too. That's baseball.

This is exactly it. d'Arnaud started the game over Murphy precisely because he hits Wheeler well. Third time through the order, closing on 100 pitches and in an emotionally charged environment, it was reckless at best to leave Wheeler out there.

I also really like Hoffman but would have preferred if he was facing d'Arnaud, Rosario and Arcia (or whatever pinch hitters they put out) over Acuña, Albies and Riley.
As it was we had Alvarado vs Pillar, Arcia and Harris which seems like a waste of his talents when the top of the order was coming up.

I know that this sounds like hindsight, and some of the specifics are, but he had a bunch if righties coming up, in the 7th inning of a 3 run game. I think ultimately he trusted Wheeler just too much and tried to steal an extra out or two.

Morton coming off the IL ahead of tomorrow's game so it's probably Morton game 3 vs Nola and Strider game 4 vs Ranger or Sanchez and the pen.

I know he'll have a shorter leash with Nola and the pen will be fully rested but he won't have the luxury of an off day ahead of game 4.

Morton is not on their roster unless they have an injury replacement. Think he will try to be ready if they advance. Which they will not

Right, Morton came off the IL but isn't on the playoff roster. That said it's certainly possible someone could be feeling a little sore.

Layoffs historically have favored the team with the layoff. 24-11 record historically versus 19-16 expected. Every year there are upsets there are lots of articles putting way too much stock in small sample size. A rested pitching staff is probably a bigger help than one that has less rest.

Maybe they should eliminate the Friday off day after the Wild Card series so a team in a 3-game series has to play the next day in the division series. It was a problem this year that there were no games for 2 days. They could start half the DS series and Friday and have them all play Saturday as a way to stagger them. Getting rid of rest days that advantage the higher seeded team (and also that stupid rest day after game 1 in the NL series) is a good thing.

That opinion can neither be proved nor disproved, but the manager that looks at the roster and asks himself who has the best arm goes to him.

I think he is mostly Fried's personal catcher too.

It is also different that most of the league has more of a 60/40 type of catching split as opposed to the 80/20 or 85/15 that the Phillies use. It would not surprise me is half the postseason teams start more than one catcher in the postseason. 10+ years ago that was never the case. Even a guy like Chooch who did not start a huge share of games in most seasons was the preferred postseason catcher.

Funny how I barely remember the way it went down at this point. Just that they won.

• In the 1993 NLCS — the first postseason edition of this rivalry — the stately Braves walloped the scruffy Phillies in Games 2 and 3 (combined score: 23-7), but somehow lost the next three games and the pennant.

When do Braves name their starter? I've seen it suggested even an opener is possible. Otherwise do they go with Elder which would be like the Phillies going with Walker and Lorenzen in a game, or the youngster (which would a little bit like the Phillies going with Sanchez)?

I remember attending game 1 of the '93 NLCS. I had good seats next to 3rd base when Kim Batiste's error in the 9th inning blew it for the Phillies. In the 10th, Mariano Duncan grounded out, then Kruk hit a double. The next batter, Batiste doubles to Left, and Kruk scores, and the Vet goes crazy. However, the next two games were SO bad for the Phillies that I thought there was NO chance they'd win the NLCS. Game 2 was in Philly, losing 14-3, with the next three games in Atlanta. I doubt anyone thought they'd recover from the loss in games 2 and 3. Even game 5 in Atlanta, where Schilling pitched eight solid innings, and the Wild thing blew it in the 9th, appeared to be the end, but they pulled it off in the 10th inning with a homer by Dykstra.

Mlb app has Elder as the starter. He’s seen us 2x. One excellent start in June and more recently a short outing when he gave up 4 earned.

I feel like we need this one. Nola has got to keep the ball down and make them run the bases instead of homering. We should be able to out slug them.

Beating Strider 2x is a tall task. I wouldn’t want to have to do it tomorrow facing elimination.

Yea this is the decider for me. If we win it, I think we have a really good chance to win the series. If we lose it, I think it is gonna be extremely hard to win two in a row.

Yeah, they clearly want to get to Strider tomorrow and get 7 innings from him then. Everyone's available today and they might try a different pitcher each of the first 3 times around the lineup.

Would be good night to finally get that lead-off Schwarbomb.

Will be great to start game 4 against the Braves tomorrow.

Rojas needs to sit a game. Time for Cave to get a shot in LF and Marsh in CF.

Keep it simple and start Suarez or do we do some opener type stuff? I imagine Walker is very much available, along with Hoffman, Kimbrel, Sanchez, Soto, and Alvarado.