Anemic Phillies Blow Game 1, Waste Zack Wheeler Masterclass
Saw that coming from a mile away. The Phillies couldn’t hit anything after Kyle Schwarber’s lead off home run and they blew Game 1, losing 6-2 and wasting a Zack Wheeler masterpiece in the process:
Mets hitters before the eighth inning: 1 for 21.
Mets hitters in the eighth inning: 4 for 4.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 5, 2024
Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, and Orion Kerkering combined for a 38-pitch 8th inning.
It’s 5-1 Mets. What an absolute disgrace.
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) October 5, 2024
The Phillies finished with two hits between inning one and inning seven, both from Schwarber, then doubled that total in the bottom of the eighth but couldn’t get anyone across the plate. They showed the slightest bit of life in the 9th before the Mets finished it off.
You can’t expect to win 1-0 games en route to a World Series, but the thing about it is that the at-bats were uncompetitive in the same way they were in the second half of the 2023 NLCS. Nick Castellanos swung at a pitch that bounced in front of him. Bryce Harper swung and missed at three straight pitches that were out of the zone. Trea Turner was 0-4 with two strikeouts. That’s $74 million right there. The most competitive at bat probably came from Johan Rojas, who worked a walk from an 0-2 hole and got to second base, but alas, was stranded.
Not hitting is one thing, but the plate approach and discipline looked totally unserious at times, which we’ve seen before. It was the biggest concern coming into this series, and the postseason as a whole.
Hitting aside, Jeff Hoffman’s not off the hook. Philly sports fans and media love to play the “do you blame this or blame that” game, which is a totally strange exercise in turning everything into an either/or proposition, but the bullpen and the bats were equally disappointing. You need six outs to win a one-run game, which isn’t too much to ask. If it’s 4-3, 3-2, wouldn’t you normally feel pretty good about Hoffman/Matt Strahm/Carlos Estevez getting the job done? They did not. They got one out from Hoffman and Strahm before Orion Kerkering had to come into the game. Five runs for the Mets in the 8th and we knew it was coming. You knew it, I knew it, and repulsive Mets fans knew it. Then you throw Bryson Stott’s calamitous 9th inning into the equation and you come out of it with a 6-2 home loss to start the NLDS.
Game 2 Sunday.