2023 Phillies Post Season Discussion

[California_Dreamin]

Hard to believe but I will be in Philadelphia from Sunday-Friday guiding a group of senior citizens through the city, as well as to Amish Country and Valley Forge. I cannot believe my good fortune! I requested and was assigned this trip many months ago because I love the city and the history of the East Coast and lead several student tours to Philly in the spring. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this good fortune and I am actually going to be able to hook up with a couple of my Phillie friends who live in the area.

So, if you see a guy with curly hair and a mustache leading a group of 25 seniors in the historic area of Philadelphia this week, just holler "Hey CD". I will be quite inclined to give you a thumbs up and a Go Phillies shoutout!

[gmwannabe]

if First Energy stadium is on your list, let me know. I'll meet you there. you can see the ongoing AA construction.
gm

[Callison]

I don't get the contempt for Hoffman.

I know he has had some success. I've even shouted out to him on the board. Most here seem to think he earned the opportunity he had.

But IMHO, he just gave away a game. That would be the most important game of the season. Not just one bad pitch at a crucial moment, but two bad pitches in two crucial moments. I'm not getting why he lost it and then lost it again. I would think Hoffman would say he blew it and he's as surprised as anybody.

Looks like mental weakness, IMHO, that came out of nowhere, and I'm having trouble getting over it. Resentment, I'd say, not contempt - he didn't do what he was capable of doing.

I only came to know Hoffman when he relieved Suarez, I think, in a tie game against the Braves, when he walked the first guy up and then that game slipped away. Against some other team, maybe I wouldn't have cared so much, but it was the Braves, who were beating hell out of everybody and here was a moment to show the Phils belonged. At that moment, it seemed that he was just a bad pitcher. Which he has disproved.

So some here may prefer to accept these lapses by conceding Hoffman is a reclamation project and he does his best and sometimes it's just not enough. OTOH, I am saying he's shown ability, he got handed some responsibility in game 2 against the Braves and didn't deliver it.

[zambonir]

Did you watch Jose Alvarado pitch in the World Series last year? Or Brad Lidge against the Cardinals in 2004. All relievers make mistakes, fail to execute or sometimes do everything right and just get beat.

Just like Bryce Harper makes an out 60% of the time and Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola give up runs almost every game. Just like an offense that was practically faultless in the big picture left 11 men on base in that game. None of these moments or failures are referendums on any player's mental weakness or overall worth.

It's a fun and fascinating thing to ponder whether Hoffman and Seranthony have changed places as the Phillies' second and third most-trusted relievers. But in these games where the starter doesn't go deep they are both needed.

[ER222]

Wheeler giving up the HR to d’Arnaud was much more egregious than Hoffman giving one up to Riley.

[zambonir]

I mean, yes and no. It was on Thomson to pull Wheeler there. And a starter is going to get dinged once or twice over 5-6 innnings. A reliever's only job is to not allow runs in just an inning or so. But, it happens.

But who cares. They won. Game 2 meant nothing.

[bkeich]

3 guys have started games for the Phils so far in the postseason.

They have WHIP’s of 0.69, 0.58 and 0.87. ERA’s of 2.08. 1.42 and 1.04. Umm, with numbers like that it is surprising we even lost 1 of the 6 games so far.

No position player that has hit has played in fewer than 3 games. All the talk of who will be at the bottom of the roster, but those guys at the bottom of the roster are not even playing (yet).

7 of the 8 position players have played every inning so far. Only Trae Turner has committed an error, and he has 3 (and a sub - .900 fielding percentage). Since he has an OPS above 1.400 I guess we will forgive the errors.

Kyle Scwarber has been the worst at walk rate. He almost lead the league during the season.

Small Samples make for funny numbers.

[zambonir]

All the talk of who will be at the bottom of the roster, but those guys at the bottom of the roster are not even playing (yet).

I mean, there wasn't that much talk. Sosa and Stubbs were always locks and as it turns out so were Pache and Cave. Wilson was just a short series guy. I guess with no LHP likely to start for Arizona this series you could make the case for Wilson over Pache as more of a pure PH but who would he actually hit for other than Marsh, and if so would you want him to take the field or would you also have to burn Cave?

Of course if there's a Hoskins surprise coming that would be something else. But I assume they need to win this series first.

Cave might finally turn up in this series too. Can't imagine he starts even with two tough RHPs but if Rojas comes up against their closer in the 9th you probably PH for him. Problem is Cave still just isn't that good even with the platoon advantage.

This is a very deep and luckily very healthy team. The bench is neither especially good nor well-designed. The outfielders somehow work with all the moving parts and the focus on the defense but Sosa is still redundant with Bohm and Turner (and will never play for Stott).

I think this will be Schwarber's series.

[phillychuck]

4 posts were merged into an existing topic: Phillies Cold (Not Hot Yet) Stove, 2023-24

[Callison]

Wheeler giving up the HR to d’Arnaud was much more egregious than Hoffman giving one up to Riley.

Only nuisance level, IMHO.

Wheeler had just finished 6.1 innings of shut out ball, save one unearned run, so he had already done nearly everything the Phils could hope for. Might even say he was spectacular. In addition, it didn't put the Phils behind to stay.

[zambonir]

Good piece on the pen

When will the league learn from the Phillies?

[jimbomill]

"Hey CD"

That's good news!

[zambonir]

The short version.... those of us who only associate the Phillies and Phillies sports in general with pain and disappointment are, well, closer to death.

This is a kinder, gentler era of Philly sports fandom. Here’s how it came about.

[Callison]

The SF Chronicle had a piece about the Giants HC search and noted both ALDS HC's are former Giants HCs, Bochy and Baker. Not good enough for the Giants. (Even though Bochy did all that winning, he had a dismal last couple years in SF. Good on Texas for hiring him. He was not to blame for the losing, as the post season shows, and what a turn around he's done with the team.) Two all-world HCs face each other. Should be a great series, but Houston has the edge in the regular season and are reigning WSCs, so that may be the way to bet.

If the Phils can get past AZ, the rematch between the Phils and the Astros would be a rivalry series, right up there with the Braves rivalry series, where sport lives, and I'm sure I speak for many when I say the Phils want a piece of the Astros... but, OTOH, would be glad to see them eliminated, too... any WS opponent will do!

[zambonir]

We want Houston because the Phillies get home field. I think there's also something to be said for the familiarity and revenge factor.

Rangers feel a bit more like the hot team. And they did go 3-0 against the Phillies a million years ago. But mostly, you don't want to have to play Games 6 or 7 on the road.

Bochy wasn't fired by the Giants. It was just time to go. Was billed as retirement and he wasn't really looking to work for the new regime clearly. He did take three years off.

Dusty of course managed three other teams since his time in SF before being hired by the Astros (when they were desperate, and after the Phillies picked Girardi over him. In retrospect you can say that's good since they ended up with Thomson but Kapler is actually who hired Thomson, ironically).

[bkox]

Braves confront reality: ‘It was their time to beat us this year'

Key Quotes. The Braves arent blaming the format:

"The people trying to use the playoff format to make an excuse for the results they don't like are not confronting the real issue," Cy Young candidate Spencer Strider, beaten by the Phillies in Games 1 and 4, told reporters.

"You're in control of your focus, your competitiveness, your energy. If having five days means you can't make the adjustment, you have nobody to blame but yourself."

And the Diamondbacks are preparing for the noise

The Diamondbacks are already reportedly piping in extra crowd noise during their workouts in Arizona to try to replicate the atmosphere of South Philly. No easy task.

[zambonir]

Thomson being coy about Rhys but seems unlikely. Rosters lock at 10am tomorrow.

Injuries & Moves: Potential for Hoskins to return for NLCS, but WS more likely

Covey did actually have a bullpen session today but no reason to think he'd take Lorenzen's spot. (Still, it's weird to think that our big trade deadline acquisition and no-hitter dude is indeed the 6th starter/last man out of the pen.)

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

IMO, it's not the noise but the passion behind the noise. Being on a field with 45K screaming people makes each negative outcome you encounter seem thousands of times worse. You can't reproduce this by pumping in noise into your practices.

[zambonir]

One of the articles talked about this. That it's literally the power of positive thinking.

The Phillies have the best home-field advantage in baseball. Here’s the real...

During our conversation, Kamm described a demonstration he witnessed at a sports psychiatry lecture. Before an audience of 75 people, the presenter had a volunteer, a woman who had been an elite athlete, leave the room. While she was gone, the presenter instructed the audience members to think “horrendously negative thoughts” about her once she returned. So they did.

After a few minutes of speaking to the volunteer on stage, the lecturer stopped the conversation and said, I want to try an experiment. He stretched his arms forward until they were as straight as ramrods, and he asked the volunteer, the ex-athlete, to try to push his arms down.

“She couldn’t,” Kamm said. “As strong as she was — she was bigger than him, stronger than him — she could not get his arms to budge much.”

Then the lecturer repeated the entire sequence, with one big difference. This time, when the volunteer re-entered the room, the audience was to think “incredibly positive thoughts about her.” And this time, when the lecturer extended his arms, “it was like she was pushing on a feather,” Kamm said.

[andyb]

Scherzer activated for the ALCS. Could start games 3 and 7.

Rangers activate Max Scherzer for ALCS vs. Astros