2023 Phillies Post Season Discussion

zambonir 2023-10-20 22:52:32 UTC #421

Heck of a game in Texas. Still not sure who I'd rather play but sticking with the home field/Astros thing.

Aquapong 2023-10-21 03:45:57 UTC #422

Both of these losses were winnable games. Really infuriating.

Hopefully Wheeler goes deep in the game tomorrow. I imagine Kimbrel, Alvarado, and Kerkering would not be available tomorrow. Maybe even Hoffman.

zambonir 2023-10-21 13:43:53 UTC #423

This is kind of interesting. Muncy on a radio show or podcast says that the LA front office now things being a team with a good plate discipline is what helps you win 100 games but doesn't help you win in the playoffs. That chase rate is actually good come October and the teams with high chase rates are the ones who have been winning the past two years (Houston and Phillies definitely, Texas and AZ less so). That certainly tracks with Long's philosophy, it just hasn't looked as good these last two games as it did in the first two and the Braves series.

https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/max-muncy-might-have-accidentally-revealed-source-of-dodgers-postseason-struggles

David_Criss 2023-10-21 15:03:15 UTC #424

Why is Lorenzen or Walker even on the roster if they weren't used yesterday? With the quick hook to Sanchez, either one of those could have given you at least a couple innings. Lorenzen is rested. Walker holds his own.
Wheeler has to throw a nine inning gem now. I know I am beating a dead horse, but the pen is shot for today. The only good news is the D-Backs bullpen is pretty much shot, too, but to a lesser extent.

andyb 2023-10-21 15:16:24 UTC #425

That is certainly a question. Apparently Walker had a bad bullpen game alongside Sanchez a few days ago so they went with Sanchez. I just think they should have had a plan to get at least 5 innings out of Sanchez and one of the RHPs (Walker or Lorenzen). Rob gambled they could get through the game with tired top tier pitchers and they lost.

zambonir 2023-10-21 15:40:22 UTC #426

If Walker had pitched Phillies probably go down 4-0 or 5-0 and never come back far enough to make us feel the pain we did, but the pen would be in much better shape tonight. And to call Lorenzen "rested" is a stretch. He'd be ice cold. He probably should have pitched in Game 2.

Austinfan 2023-10-21 15:49:30 UTC #427

Sounds like bull to me.

There is a balance for most hitters between patience and aggression, only a few can hit like Schmidt, Thome or Schwarber. But Harper has the highest ball rate in the ML I think, and he's aggressive when he gets his pitch.

Too many hitters are going up there locked into attacking pitches without a plan, I mean it's not like Castellanos doesn't know every pitcher is going to throw breaking stuff low and away. I can live with hitters attacking pitches in their sweet zone and missing - but not chasing pitches they can't hit in any case.

And Marsh has been one of the best hitters in the post-season, and he's from the patience school of hitting.

andyb 2023-10-21 16:03:32 UTC #428

Harper has one of the highest first pitch swing rates in baseball. He has a higher shot at getting a strike on the first pitch so he is just going to get one good swing on a pitch (even if he expands the zone a bit) before he starts to work the count.

It is not about discipline or chasing or whatever. It is about getting a good swing on what might be the best pitch you see until a 3-2 count. That is pure Kevin Long and not what he preaches only to Harper.

zambonir 2023-10-21 16:04:53 UTC #429

Well, it's not bull that the Phillies have been among the "top" teams in the category for two seasons (and that the Astros were last year). Of course they are not supposed to chase bad pitches, but they are supposed to swing early and often. That was mostly true during the season and it's been especially true against the top post-season pitchers. What's frustrating and baffling is it worked against the good ones and then the less heralded arms and relievers have gotten ahead of them/made fewer mistakes/allowed less contact.

Callison 2023-10-21 16:36:10 UTC #430

Of all the ways to lose a MLB game, the least likely for the Phils, before yesterday, was the collapse of the pen. Hard to know what to say about it except, like the hitters the day before, nobody showed up, and it's hard to know what to say about that, too... but the travel issue MJS cites above makes some sense. Nothing makes sense about the pen yesterday, though.

Good luck to Big Rob with resetting this team to beat AZ. Like pool, you play MLB and you miss a lot. Takes enormous mental toughness to succeed against the best teams and the Phils need to find some. Likely a pitchers' duel today, so the question is who has the better hitters? C'mon, boys, pick up the pieces! After beating the Braves you got no business losing to these guys.

bkox 2023-10-21 17:13:24 UTC #431

Garrett Stubbs’ plans to celebrate in the pool “motivated” the Diamondbacks, Torey Lovullo said. “I’m glad we could defend the pool,” Zac Gallen said. https://t.co/MQ2zf3UkbP
— Matt Breen ( @matt_breen ) October 21, 2023

Did Garrett Stubbs give Arizona DBacks extra motivation?

"they take things personal... I know their backup catcher made a statement about sprinting towards the pool or making a beeline to the pool. So I think they're wearing that a little bit & motivated by that"

-Torey Lovullo https://t.co/tpd13funsy pic.twitter.com/LUel5iGSce
— Jeff Skversky ( @JeffSkversky ) October 21, 2023

zambonir 2023-10-21 17:38:37 UTC #432

I'm sure that did not matter any more than Kelly's comments about the crowd did but there's no question the Phillies came in overconfident and, it seems, underprepared. Also the first time they've ever played a tough series as favorites.

BaseballCat 2023-10-21 18:00:16 UTC #433

Probably true, but never want to give extra motivation. He said something like “if we win two more he wanted to party in the pool”. We would have taken some offense if the table were turned. Regardless we need to buckle down, not play tight and get to Gallen early. They played sloppy last night. Can’t do that today

HopeSpringsEternal 2023-10-21 18:13:49 UTC #434

This was a dumb thing to say and, if it had occurred, it would have been a bad look for the Phillies IMO. Stubbs is a good cheerleader, but you need to show a little more respect for your opponent.

BaseballCat 2023-10-21 18:29:26 UTC #435

He did say it. I saw it on Twitter before the series started. I don’t know how to copy something like that and no one here mentioned so I let it go. Don’t know the context of the quote. Reporter could have asked if he wanted to party in the pool for all I know. It was said, just have to get past it and play good ball tonight. Sloppy play doomed them the past two days, not a quote, but it certainly did not help.

zambonir 2023-10-21 18:44:23 UTC #436

"I've seen that pool before, so I know exactly where it is," Phillies backup catcher Garrett Stubbs told the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this week. "If we take two here against Arizona, we'll be bee-lining it for the water."

Earlier this month D-backs president Derrick Hall said they will not stand in the way of an opposing team's pool party because they "have the right to celebrate wherever they want, however they want." That is a total reversal for Hall, who called the Dodgers classless for celebrating in the pool 2013. The D-backs even had mounted police guard the pool in 2017.

Philsmania 2023-10-21 18:58:26 UTC #437

As a WIP caller said when I was listening earlier, the Phillies are now learning what the Sixers know about being expected to win.

Philsmania 2023-10-21 19:00:29 UTC #438

Stubbs is a clown and I hate those stupid overrals that all the lemmings are buying

Austinfan 2023-10-21 19:12:07 UTC #439

That was my point, it's not about curtailing aggression, it's about channeling aggression.

Castellanos shouldn't even think about swinging at a breaking ball until two strikes, he's not going to hit that low and away breaking ball even if it's a strike. Same with a FB at eye level, how often does a hitter every make good contact on those.

The whole idea is you attack pitches in your sweet zone, where you have the highest probability of success, and lay off everything outside of that zone until you have two strikes - at which point you choke up a little and focus on contact.

The other thing is if you haven't seen a pitcher before, it's usually a good strategy to watch a few pitches and get a feel for his stuff instead of swinging blindly.

bkox 2023-10-21 19:26:35 UTC #440

you mean these lemmigs?