You know, they say whenever you come down to the old ball yard, you have a chance to see something that you’ve never seen before.

While I’m not sure if a botched routine infield pop-up with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth has ever dropped to provide the go-ahead runs at some point throughout baseball history, I can definitively tell you that never have I ever seen anything like I saw tonight.

Not on a Little League field, not in a JV baseball game, and sure as hell not in a big league baseball game have I seen anything, and I mean anything like this.

Absolutely insane. Of course:

  1. Rhys Hoskins should have taken charge and caught the ball.
  2. Jean Segura should’ve stayed the hell out of the way.

After the game, Phils manager Joe Girardi seemed to agree with these assertions.

“I think that’s probably the inexperience of Jean being at third and used to being at shortstop and taking charge,” he said. “And it hurt us tonight.”

Here’s Hoskins, who, to his credit, took responsibility for the ill-fated play:

I have also never witnessed a team that committed such an egregious gaffe whither down to its last out before getting off the mat to load the bases and then tie the game.

https://twitter.com/jgroc/status/1293376205752852482?s=20

And I have ALSO never watched that same team then choke away the game after another mind-numbing defensive gaffe just an inning later.

I have no idea what Roman Quinn was doing here. Play it on a hop, let the runner score, hope the pen holds (big if) and give your team a chance in a one-run game in the bottom of the inning.

Nope.

It’s almost like Quinn didn’t understand the situation. A one-run deficit in a spot where a runner starts the inning in scoring position isn’t a death blow. What he did tonight just can’t happen, and his manager more or less spelled that out after the game.

“I mean, the effort is great, but it turns into two runs, which, you know in the extra-inning sort of thing you have a chance if you only give up one, right?” Girardi said, or asked, or whatever. “So that’s kind of frustrating, too.”

Sure is.

Apparently, Baltimore’s Austin Hayes was, too, surprised by Quinn’s approach.

Bryce Harper also chimed in with his take on the costly decision:

“You love the hustle, you love the effort. It’s something that you never want to take away from ‘Q’ because he plays a great centerfield for us, and he goes and gets the balls better than anybody on our team,” he said. “So you never want to take that away, but we have to be a little bit smarter. I had to learn that as well when I was in right field, playing, coming up, not playing as many games, and I’d want to go out and get every single ball for my pitchers. And that’s a spot where with a guy on second base, keep the ball in front of you, hit the guy in the chest, and, hopefully, keep that double-play in order. And, hopefully, they only score one run.”

Of course, the Orioles let the Phillies back into it one more time in the bottom of the tenth, but Quinn’s quest to make amends failed in the form of an infield groundout with one out that didn’t score the potential tying-run from third. Hoskins would then follow with a groundout to end it, stranding both the potential tying and game-winning runs.

In what was, arguably, the most ridiculous baseball game I have ever watched, the Phillies gifted the reluctant Orioles an unimaginable 10-9 win on Tuesday night. It immediately joins an exclusive list among the most mind-numbing of this franchise’s 11,007 all-time losses. The Mt. Rushmore of mind-numbing losses, if you will.

Literally, mind-numbing:

 

This Bleeping Bullpen

I can’t even imagine what this story would have looked like had it appeared on this site four or five years ago. It would have been rife with the swear words.

The historically bad pop-up debacle in the ninth and the misplay by Quinn do not excuse Hector Neris’ poor performance in which he failed to protect a 6-5 lead before the Phillies’ circus act commenced. It also doesn’t excuse another horrendous outing from Tommy Hunter, who failed to keep the game tied in the seventh.

Simply stated, it was another game prominently featuring an inadequate performance by an overmatched Phillies bullpen.

You know, the sheer law of averages would suggest this unit could combine forces to mix in an occasional effort or two without imploding in meaningful situations, but the wait for that miraculous feat continues onward.

On the bright side, the unit offered some resistance on Wednesday night, recording the final out of sixth inning before Hunter unraveled in the seventh. So it has that going for it, which is nice.

As for Hunter, who now sports a 8.31 ERA through five appearances this season, tonight marked the second time in three games where he allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base and multiple runs to score. His sinker was both elevated and without bite, and the Orioles took advantage by piecing together three consecutive hits against it to build a 5-3 lead.

Granted, I wasn’t privy to the game plan here, but I can assure you this pitch wasn’t part of it.

While the bullpen surrendered three of its six earned runs with the help of some suspect defense,  it still managed to see its league-worst ERA increase from 9.87 to 10.19 by the time the final out was recorded.

Bryce Harper Is On Fire

 

How about some good news?

For a few moments tonight, it appeared Jean Segura would play the hero. What a cruel twist of fate he endured. Still, he launched a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth to temporarily give the Phillies the lead. Had the game simply ended at that moment, Bryce Harper’s game-tying, two-run blast in the eighth would have instantly become one of his signature moments in a Phillies uniform.

It wasn’t meant to be, of course, so lost in this catastrophic mess was Harper’s night. He has undoubtedly entered the early-season National League MVP conversation by batting .324 with a 1.155 OPS.

Yes, I know. Charlie Blackmon exists.

Like I said, the conversation.

Some Early Small Ball

On Monday night, the Phillies used muscle to generate some early offense. Tonight, they got things started early on thanks to some aggressive, heads-up base running that came from an unlikely source.

Following a two-base error by Chris Davis that put Jay Bruce into scoring-position with nobody out in the third, Bruce then aggressively took third base on a 5-3 putout to set up the Phillies’ first legit scoring threat of the night. Adam Haseley walked, and Andrew McCutchen then laced a two-run single to plate both Bruce and Haseley.

https://twitter.com/jgroc/status/1293337844707098624?s=20

Despite producing just one hit through four innings, the Phillies built a multi-run lead.

Then, they turned back to a more familiar method of generating offense with this second-deck blast from Bruce that traveled 447 feet:

Wheeler Stumbles In The Sixth

That early 3-0 lead, however, would last all of 10 pitches. Following five scoreless frames to start the night, the Orioles quickly ambushed a cruising Wheeler in the sixth.

Baltimore opened the frame by sandwiching a pair of doubles off the bats of Anthony Santander and Rio Ruiz in between a Renato Nunez single to cut the Phils’ lead to 3-2.

Wheeler retired Pedro Severino, but then allowed a game-tying RBI single to Dwight Smith Jr. that skipped off the glove of a diving Scott Kingery. He would exit the game a batter later, leaving it up to the bullpen. At that point, we probably should’ve known where this thing was headed.

No Talks With Realmuto?

Let’s finish off an ugly night at the park with some off-the-field news that is sure to put a smile on the faces of Phillies fans everywhere!

Associated Press writer Rob Maaddi checked in before tonight’s game with an interesting note on the J.T. Realmuto contract talks – or lack thereof. According to Maaddi, the Phillies haven’t checked in with Realmuto in recent months to see what it might take to strike a deal between the two sides.

Typically, I’m not in the business of defending general manager Matt Klentak, but before unleashing your venom in his direction for this one, know that Realmuto v. The Phillies all comes down to one John Middleton.

Maaddi weighed in again later, tweeting that he “believes the Phillies will do everything possible” to keep Realmuto. I also happen to believe that, but the organization’s current play is a bit puzzling.

Could the Phillies be waiting to show Realmuto a depressed free agent market? Is the team simply willing to wait because Middleton will ultimately sign off on whatever it takes to get a deal done? Maybe. But all it takes is one aggressive team with an appealing situation for this negotiation (or lack of negotiation) to take an unexpected turn.