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Offense Blanks, Phillies Face Elimination After Putrid Game 3 Loss
By Luke Arcaini
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The Phillies offense went silent again, propelling the team to a 7-2 Game 3 loss. After a 95-win regular season and their first NL East title since 2011, they’re one game away from being eliminated.
What an embarrassment of a showing. The Mets wanted it so much more than the Phillies on Tuesday night, and it showed. They hit the ball hard, and Sean Manaea was as good as ever.
Aaron Nola
Nola’s first inning was great. The 2nd and 3rd weren’t, but he ended up escaping allowing just 1 run.
I didn’t love JTs game behind the plate. It felt like he wanted everything up, which obviously wasn’t working for Nola. The knuckle curve was on in the 1st, and they abandoned it in the 2nd.
You just can’t make that pitch to Jesse Winker. He got all of that one. Nola’s 6th was rough, but that game should’ve never have come to that situation in the first place. The offense, once again, let down their pitcher.
Alec Bohm
Just really, really frustrating. He may be the slowest player in the league? He’s so far in his own head right now. It’s concerning. He’s just hacking at every first pitch to try and get out of it and it’s not working one bit:
Alec Bohm saw five pitches in four at-bats tonight.
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) October 8, 2024
Austin Hays
He just doesn’t deserve anymore at-bats. He saw four pitches in his first 2 ABs. Get him off of the roster. That was one hell of a deadline move.
The Brutal 6th Inning
This game unfortunately ended in the 6th inning. Schwarber works a walk, Trea works a walk, then:
- Bryce Harper strikes out on 3 offspeeds away
- Nick Castellanos lines into a double play
The Casty ball is unfortunate. He put a good barrel on it. There’s just nothing Schwarber can do there.
The bottom of the 6th was the obvious killer. Nola allowed a single, walked two, and the command started to go. They went to Kerkering, they got two big outs, but a bad pitch was hung and Starling Marte made them pay.
The Offense, lol
I don’t know where to start, so I’ll start here…
Sean Manaea, who has a career 10.66 postseason ERA, looked like Prime Randy Johnson.
The chase rates were up… again. They tagged Manaea good in the first, although it didn’t fall, and it was all downhill from here. They had two hits through seven innings and Bohm got thrown out at second on one of the two.
You talk all year about getting back to October. You talk all year about winning the World Series. Then you go out there against your division rival, after one of the best playoff wins ever at CBP, and lay a dud. Your trade deadline acquisition looks like he couldn’t make a Double-A lineup. You get a leadoff Schwarbomb in Game 1, and you lay a dud. All you hear about is how bad they want it… but how bad do they actually want it?
And maybe the most frustrating inning of them all was the 8th. The Phillies start to get baserunners, Bryce Harper works a great at-bat that leads to the first run, and Nick Castellanos singles home another run.
Then? Alec Bohm swings at the first pitch against Ryan Stanek, who looked shaky, to end the inning and leave two on base.
Maybe they’ll have some life in Game 4? Probably not.
Ranger Suarez vs. Jose Quintana in a win-or-go-home game. If they escape, it’s back at the Bank on Friday night with Zack Wheeler on the mound. Hopefully you get early-season Ranger, because it could get ugly again if you don’t.
Luke Arcaini covers the Phillies for Crossing Broad. The wave is the worst thing is sports. Follow him on Twitter @ArcainiLuke