It would’ve been cool if Bryce Harper or J.T. Realmuto cashed in with the bases loaded when the White Sox were on the ropes in the seventh. It would’ve been equally cool if Sean Rodriguez or Jean Segura did the same in the following inning. None of them did, and, unsurprisingly, the fierce ninth inning tandem of Juan Nicasio and Jose Alvarez couldn’t hold a 3-2 lead, so all of us were instead “treated” to six additional innings of free baseball.  I was “treated” to rewriting this story six times. And, a few innings later, everybody was treated to watching Roman Quinn pitch a scoreless 14th inning, thanks to some help from left fielder Vince Velasquez.

What?

Indeed, things got weird.

Of course, Velasquez, who humorously told reporters he ignored Segura’s signal to go to second base with the throw, wouldn’t have been in the game – and Quinn, who, you know, isn’t a pitcher, wouldn’t have been on the mound had Gabe Kapler not curiously lifted reliever Zach Eflin after only two innings of work. It was a highly questionable decision – one that directly contributed to the loss. Still, at the same time, I give Gabe credit because this thing was a total snooze for the previous four innings and that move really perked shit up.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Velasquez couldn’t bail them out a second time when an inning later Chicago’s Leury Garcia just barely scored on Jose Abreu’s go-ahead single.

Starting pitcher Jason Vargas (more on him later), who told reporters he was caught off guard by his trade to the Phillies, was impressed by his new teammate’s effort.

“I mean, I was hoping I would get asked that question because I’ve never really seen something like that before,” he said. “We were pretty sure he threw out the second guy, as well. I mean, to throw out somebody with the game on the line, and make two crazy throws, and then make a crazy catch that, I mean, the best outfielder would be proud of making in a big situation. I mean, the effort was more than there.”

So why exactly did Kapler remove Eflin?

“Zach had a little bit of soreness in his tricep, and I didn’t feel it was right to put him at risk,” Kapler said. “He had pitched a lot for us, given us a lot, and at that point, given the amount of injuries we’ve had recently, I thought it was best to protect our player, even at the expense of using a position player to pitch.”

For his part, Eflin told reporters after the game that he could’ve stayed in the game, but that he was in fact sore.

Whether Kapler was being overprotective, or if Eflin could’ve gutted it out wouldn’t have mattered had Rhys Hoskins, Scott Kingery, Harper, and Realmuto not combined to go 2 for 24 while stranding a total of 16 base runners.

Clearly frustrated after the game, Kapler tried to find a positive in the loss.

“It was frustrating, certainly. I really thought the team stepped up in a major way with everything on the line,” he said. “Played their asses off, fought and clawed for every last inch, never quit, even under the circumstances. I was proud of them.”

Maybe they did fight and claw, I don’t know, but it would’ve been nice if that fight resulted in a fourth run sometime before midnight.

Perhaps it was fate that three runs didn’t get it done. Actually, it wasn’t fate.

It just turns out that Vargas to Morin to Pivetta to Nicasio to Alvarez isn’t an ideal progression for closing close games. Still, as the pregame notes distributed by the team detailed, the Phillies were only 7-38 when scoring three runs or less this season. Four runs, though, that’s an entirely different story. The Phillies came into the night 50-13 when scoring four or more runs.

Narrator: The Phillies did not score four or more runs.

This is kind of how it has gone for the Phillies lately. Win a couple, lose a couple, check the standings, cross your fingers, hope the other contenders spin their wheels, too.

Meanwhile, Kapler also called the circumstances of the extra inning loss a “horseshit situation” that “sucked.”

Speaking of which, the Phillies’ offense went 2 for 13 with RISP and stranded 15 base runners to a White Sox team that’s not very good. Allow me to outline a few reasons why:

  1. They entered the night 14th in the American League with a .703 OPS
  2. They entered the night 14th in the American League with a .397 slugging-percentage
  3. They entered the night tied with the Rangers for the American League’s second-worst K% at 25.9
  4. They entered the night 11th in the American League with a 5.00 staff ERA
  5. They entered the night 13th in the American League with an 11.3% strikeout to walk percentage from said staff

Please note the repetition for emphasis. And one more thing:

The White Sox also entered the night 29th in fielding percentage and 25th in defensive runs saved.

You don’t have to squint too hard to see why the White Sox came into this one at 46-60 and 19 games off the division pace in the AL Central, and true to form, Chicago’s many shortcomings were on display. Yet, somehow, they still won the game.

The Phillies are now 6-3 this season after scoring 10 or more runs in their previous game and failed for the fourth time to reach the seven games over .500 mark for the first time since June 16.

Jason Vargas Shines in Phillies Debut

If you’re looking for a silver lining to this otherwise infuriating loss, the Phillies got an encouraging performance from Vargas tonight.

Quick, let’s take a look at Phillies starting pitchers not named Aaron Nola who have quality starts since June 30:

  • Drew Smyly (x2)
  • Jason Vargas

Vargas joined that beefy list after going 6.1 IP, while allowing only five hits and two earned runs. Matt Klentak, you crafty little wizard, you!

I guess we can throw in the three scoreless innings from Blake Parker over the last two days, too, while we’re at it. Plus, he’s a sight to behold:

https://twitter.com/pbyrond/status/1157488352918167552?s=20

It’s been a rough ride for the general manager this season, so he gets a mild (and brief) golf clap from me on this one.

Anyway, back to Vargas. Look around at some of the top high school programs in the area and chances are that you’ll find at least one, probably more like two or three kids, who are throwing harder than Vargas. It’s not all that hard to do. His average fastball velocity by month is insane:

April: 85.68 mph

May: 85.55 mph

June: 84.93 mph

July: 83.67 mph

Tonight, he kept White Sox hitters at bay for six-plus innings with a four-seamer that averaged 83 mph and a two-seamer that averaged 82.7 mph (insert *multiple* fire emojis), while using his changeup on 41 of his 90 pitches. That plan worked, and it has for most of the season. Opposing hitters were only 28 for 147 (.190) with 10 total extra-base hits against Vargas’ changeup in his first 19 appearances this season. Granted, Jose Abreu did piss on one of those changeups for a mammoth 440 ft. homer to right field, but that was his only mistake of the night.

Some Bad Luck

Let’s talk a little bit about bad luck. Nobody wants to hear about luck, they just want results. I get it. Bad luck hasn’t been responsible for much of the Phillies’ offensive woes this season, and it wasn’t the cause of its mostly inept performance tonight, but it did play a part in the first inning.

After Rhys Hoskins poked a double to right field, the Phillies had runners on second and third with one out. Harper had destroyed Nova throughout his career – he stepped to the plate having gone 6 for 13 with two homers against him, so Chicago manager Rick Renteria understandably wanted no part of that matchup despite Realmuto’s recent hot stretch.

As it would turn out, the move paid off as Realmuto hit a first-pitch fastball into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. It was a tough result for Realmuto, who came into the night with a .900 OPS over his last 10 games, but you can’t fault him for his aggressive approach. Forget that he hit a 106.5 mph groundball to third that had a .440 xBA (expected batting average), Realmuto had been hitting .305 with a .547 slugging-percentage against fastballs, while also hitting .400 with a 1.050 OPS when putting the first pitch in play this season.

That’s just bad luck.

As for his bases loaded strikeout in the seventh, that’s a different deal.  I’ve got nothing for you on that one.

More Power

Is the baseball juiced? Rob Manfred says no, but the historic (and perhaps bullshit) home run rates this season suggest otherwise. Meanwhile, Roman Quinn is out here doing this:

That’s a loonnnnggg way to hit a baseball for a dude listed at 5-10, 170 lbs.