I was “off” last night, but I obviously had my eye on what went down in Cincinnati, so I feel compelled to check in with a few quick thoughts about the Phillies’ disastrous seventh inning, one that preceded an all-time hideous eighth inning.

Perhaps you were wondering during the seventh why Neftalí Feliz, a guy who hadn’t appeared in an MLB game in 1,415 days, entered for a cruising Bailey Falter with one out and the tying-run at first base. You probably felt validated in your understandable skepticism of the move four batters later when Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam.

As laughable stats about X blown leads in Y days, and historical comparisons highlighting this team’s virtually incomprehensible run of late-game ineptitude flooded forth on Twitter and the television broadcast, Castellanos’ grand slam was just latest piece of evidence that this current group of Phillies probably just doesn’t have it.

Naturally, the attention turned to Joe Girardi’s decision, and this is where I wanted to chime in this morning:

  • I certainly wouldn’t have killed Girardi for sticking with Falter. Even with Falter winding down at 66 pitches and facing a right-handed pinch-hitter, pressing your luck with the hot hand — your only hot hand — would be an understandable decision.
  • I don’t even hate that he went to Feliz, who had thrown the ball well at Triple-A this season. If you have woken up lately feeling burned by the Phillies’ bullpen, how do you think Girardi feels? Sure, his moves have often backfired, but that’s largely a product of simply not having enough bullets in the chamber. Going to Feliz, who posted a 1.26 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 15 appearances with the Iron Pigs, felt like a “can it be any worse?” kind of move. A “sure, why not?” move.
  • But Feliz remaining in the game to face Castellanos? That’s where Girardi loses me. After a four-pitch walk to Aristides Aquino and a strikeout of Jonathan India, Feliz got ahead of Jesse Winker in a 1-2 count. This was his best chance to navigate the inning unscathed. Instead of delivering a put-away pitch, Feliz ran a 97 mph fastball too far in, plunking Winker to load the bases. The pitch was a huge red flag. Conveniently, it completed the three-batter minimum, while also demonstrating Feliz clearly didn’t have the command or the poise to pitch in this spot. Circle back to the fact the guy hadn’t pitched in a Major League game in nearly four years, and, well, I can’t tell you why things got to this point.

https://twitter.com/jgroc/status/1409681847043297280?s=20