Before we get to Heroes and Goats from Game 4, I just need to get this off my chest:
When I was driving home after the third no-hitter in Major League Baseball postseason history, I was debating with myself how to approach this day later, lunchtime analysis that I’ve been writing that has gotten fans fired up on both sides.
So, I turned on talk radio for some inspiration.
And what I heard was an impending Armageddon.
“Getting no-hit in the World series is a disgrace.”
“This team is exactly who we thought they were all along.”
“I can’t believe I let them sucker me in again only to blow it like this. Classic Phillies.”
Got to love this city. It’s so bipolar its crazy. Here are the Phillies, two wins from a championship, going toe to toe with baseball’s evil empire in Houston, writing one of the all-time great Cinderella stories, and after one loss, it’s all reverting back to “we knew all along we shouldn’t have bought in to this team.”
Even a colleague of mine, who shall remain nameless because I didn’t seek permission to use his line in this post, skewed negative last night. To his credit, he plays the part of objective well, even when he’s not being objective, but he had this to say “I don’t want to be that guy, but… Houston in six.”
There was even one irrational fan, who I saw as I was sitting in traffic eventually blaming team leadership. He was complaining about Rob Thomson, of all people, and the leaders in the clubhouse who let the team get so full of themselves that they lost their desire to win.
Maybe he was drunk, or stoned, or both. I don’t know.
What I know is that Game 4 goes down as a 5-0 loss. Yes, the Phillies were no-hit. Yes, that’s historic. But you know what can be just as historic? Becoming the first team to win a World Series after being no-hit in the same series.
And yes, that’s still possible.
And the city can’t fall apart now. Not when they’ve come this far.
Otherwise, I’ll feel like Robin Williams in the movie Awakenings and this fan base is like Robert DeNiro.
Here’s the question that I want to pose though –
Had they not been no hit last night – say they lost 5-0 still, but lets say they were able to sprinkle in a few hits. Say three-or-four. Would fans feel better? Well, at least we got some hits, right?
Come on. No.
And would you have felt any better if they scored a run in each the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth and come up just short in a 5-4 loss?
No. It would still be labeled a missed opportunity.
And everyone is panicking because now the momentum has shifted back in favor of Houston. But, what did you expect? A sweep? The Astros are the best team in baseball. They didn’t win 106 games for shits and giggles.
They were never going to be an easy opponent to play against.
Look, Houston took its lumps in Game 3 and rebounded in a big way to take Game 4. There’s no reason the Phillies can’t do the same.
Bryce Harper wants to flush it. Kyle Schwarber doesn’t “give a shit” about being no-hit. Topper reminded everyone that when the Phillies were no hit in a game earlier this season by the Mets, they came back and won the next day in a game, interestingly enough, where the Phillies used six pitchers, that combined to give up just one run and four hits, and were paced by homers by Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins.
It’s a best of three for the World Series. There’s no reason to bail on this team now.
Now, to a shortened Heroes and Goats:
1. CRISTIAN JAVIER
Look, we can complain about the Phillies’ inability to hit all we want, and deservedly so, but let’s not forget that this guy was as dominant as any pitcher I’ve seen in a long time.
It wasn’t just no hits and nine strikeouts through six innings, it was the most non-competitive swings of bat-on-ball by the Phillies, maybe ever. The hardest hit ball against him had an expected batting average of .320 – That was Schwarber’s ground out in the sixth. In the first five innings the hardest hit ball off of him had an expected batting average of .090 – that was Schwarber’s fly out to left field to lead off the bottom of the first.
2. DUSTY BAKER
I thought he would leave Javier in the game after the sixth. He didn’t, he got him out. By doing so, he likely makes Javier available for an inning or two of relief if the series reaches Game 7. Leaving him in, even for another inning, could have eliminated that possibility.
3. KYLE TUCKER
He just owns Aaron Nola. Plain and simple.
4. ALEX BREGMAN
He gets the big hit to blow the game open and makes a fine play at third base on the final out of the game to preserve history.
5. JEREMY PENA
He gets the hit that chases Aaron Nola and sets up the big inning for the Astros.
1. NICK CASTELLANOS, ALEC BOHM, J.T. REALMUTO, and RHYS HOSKINS
Really, I could have picked the whole lineup here. When you don’t get a hit in a World Series game as a collective, you should all share the No. 1 goat spot. But, since I have to hand out five of these… Castellanos and Bohm were both 0-3 with three strikeouts. Realmuto also struck out three times, but he did hit the ball hard his last time up, so, he gets one step up. Hoskins didn’t strike out, but he hit four weak balls in four at bats.
2. KYLE SCHWARBER, BRYCE HARPER, BRYSON STOTT, JEAN SEGURA, and BRANDON MARSH
Stott looked uncomfortable in all three at bats. With the exception of his leadoff walk, Harper was overmatched, which is rare. Marsh worked a walk but boy did he look bad swinging at a ball that bounced on a 3-2 count in his last AB. Segura made hard contact on his last at bat, just hit it right at Tucker. Schwarber actually had a few good plate appearances. He worked the count several times. Even got a ninth inning walk. But he didn’t get a hit.
3. JOSE ALVARADO
Yes, he was asked to come into the game in a very difficult spot. Bases loaded, no outs, the heart of Houston’s order at the plate. That said, his job there is to limit the damage. Hold them to one or two runs and who knows, maybe it’s a different ballgame. But plunking Yordan Alvarez with the first pitch is no bueno. Then giving up three more hits, allowing not just the inherited runners to score but two more on top of that… that IS the ballgame.
4. AARON NOLA
I’ve been a well documented Nola defender. I stand by everything I say about him as a pitcher and everything I say about those that will shape a false narrative about him because they don’t really understand the game as well as they think they do. Even last night wasn’t as bad as everyone wants to make it out to be. He allowed three singles in the fifth inning, one an infield single and two line drive singles. That’s what did him in. Now, the pitches to Jose Altuve and Pena on the last two singles were terrible. They were really poor location-wise. That can’t happen with no outs. He was likely being lifted with a runner or two on that inning either way, as Alvarado had been warming since the infield hit by Chas McCormick, so it’s interesting to see how fans would have reacted had he, say, gotten one of those guys and Alvarado only yielded one run. Would it have still been a bad performance? We’ll never know. But we do know he only threw 67 pitches, so if this series goes 7 games, it’s very likely we haven’t seen the last of Aaron Nola, and his impact on this series, for better or for worse, isn’t written in stone just yet.
5. PHILLIES FANS
I’ve been nothing but effusive about the fans and what they’ve meant to this postseason run. They’ve been amazing. Absolutely amazing. Until last night. We criticized St. Louis fans for leaving a Wild Card playoff game early, and fans were exiting the building in the seventh inning if a world series game last night with, a historic no-hitter unfolding AND/OR the home team having shown a propensity for dramatic comebacks all season long. That’s weak. Also, when things get intense and tight on the field, the fans need to carry through that. Instead, they got equally intense and tight. It felt like a regular season game last night. Fans were quiet. Too quiet. And the postgame reaction, I already dove into above. Don’t be fickle. You’re the best fans in the world. Show it. Always. Especially tonight.
GAME 1
Heroes:
Goats:
GAME 2
Heroes:
Goats:
GAME 1
Heroes:
Goats:
GAME 2
Heroes:
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GAME 3
Heroes:
Goats:
GAME 1
Heroes:
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GAME 2
Heroes:
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GAME 3
Heroes:
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GAME 4
You can read heroes and goats from this game in more detail here.
GAME 5
You can read heroes and goats from this game in more detail here.
GAME 1
Heroes and Goats from Game 1 are here.
GAME 2
Heroes and Goats from Game 2 are here.
GAME 3
This one was fun. You can read it here.