Phillies

Trea Turner, the Hero of August, Becoming a Thing for the Vibing Phillies

By Anthony SanFilippo

Published: Aug 23rd, 2023 · 9:30 AM EDT

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After two seasons, we know that June Schwarber is a thing.

With that knowledge, do we really have to wait until next season to declare August Turner a thing, too?

Continuing his late summer renaissance, Trea Turner picked up his first walk off hit as a Phillie and the eighth walk off hit for the team this season as the Phillies came from behind, again, to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 Tuesday.

It was a typical Phillies win. Get behind early. Make some baffling errors of the fundamental variety, and have the offense miss out on too many opportunities. Yet, at the same time, pitching is good enough to keep them in the game long enough to have a chance to come back, and then, as they’ve done for 35 of their 69 wins, they do pull out a victory in a game that seemed like it was careening toward defeat.

Turner’s game-winning knock was his only hit of the game, and it was a little bit fortunate in that it ticked off Giants closer Camilo Doval’s glove and changed direction just enough to squeeze past second baseman Thairo Estrada, who was playing in with the rest of the Giants infield, and slowly roll into shallow right field, thus allowing both the tying and winning runs to score.

But he hit the ball hard, and had a very excellent at bat, with the hit coming on a 2-2 pitch, against one of the best closers in the sport:

TREA VANCE TURNER. pic.twitter.com/pIdRjDfczA

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 23, 2023

Turner has slashed .353/.389/.618 for an OPS of 1.007 with four homers and 14 RBI since August 4th. In that stretch of 17 games, Turner has at least one hit in 15 of them.

While this run coincides with the planned standing ovation, a contrivance that spurred passionate debate over such an idea and to whether it actually worked, or if it was just serendipitously coinciding with his late-season breakout, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Turner’s resurgence comes from the simple fact that he’s not chasing pitches with regularity any longer. Turner is forcing pitchers to throw him strikes, and in doing so, is using his natural ability to drive the ball and be more productive.

Yet, for all the love Turner got for this hit, it’s how he came to be the guy in the position to provide it that was far more interesting.

The Bottom of the Ninth

Doval entered the game as the fifth reliever used by Giants manager Gabe Kapler (is anyone surprised?). Bryson Stott, who had two hits earlier in the game, leads off.

Doval almost plunked Stott with the first pitch and then two pitches later actually got him square in the elbow with a 97 MPH heater.

Stott was in agony for a bit after that but shook it off enough to remain in the game a s a baserunner. Thomson didn’t have an injury update other than to say that Stott will be reexamined on Wednesday and that the pitch “got him pretty flush on the elbow.”

That doesn’t sound like a statement that exudes confidence that he’s fine, and my Spidey-sense tells me that regardless of the degree of injury, we won’t see Stott in the lineup for the series finale Wednesday afternoon.

Jake Cave pinch hit for Edmundo Sosa, but popped out, which brought Brandon Marsh to the plate.

Marsh had an interesting night. He was on the bench for the second game in a row as the Phillies opted to start Johan Rojas in centerfield again against another lefty starter. With Bryce Harper still dealing with the remnants of last week’s muscle spasms in his back, the Phillies are choosing to be cautious and allowing him to only DH, which means Kyle Schwarber is back in the field in left and Marsh is on the bench.

He pinch hit for Rojas in the seventh inning and he, too, was plunked by a pitch, albeit just a glancing blow and not something as direct and painful as what Stott experienced two innings later. The Phillies couldn’t get Marsh home and in the top of the eighth, a miscommunication between Marsh and right fielder Nick Castellanos turned a would-be first out of the inning into a pinch hit double for Luis Matos.

Fortunately for Marsh, Castellanos, and the Phillies, that run didn’t score thanks to an outstanding relief appearance from Gregory Soto.

So, when Marsh stepped to the plate in the ninth, an already mostly negative night for Marsh looked like it was going to continue as he watched the first two pitches from Doval blow past him for strikes.

But then Marsh was able to take the next pitch and slap it back through the middle for a single and Stott, who had to be dealing with a throbbing arm, read it well enough to go first-to-third.

That opened the door for Schwarber, but only for two pitches as Marsh stole second and the Giants countered by intentionally walking Schwarber to get to Turner.

This is where the strategic beauty of the sport is on display. Some would argue the stolen base was brilliant because it eliminated the double play. Others will say it’s stupid because it takes the bat out of Schwarber’s hands, and all that is needed is a fly ball to tie the game and Schwarber does tend to put the ball in the air when he makes contact. Not only that, it exchanged a left-handed hitter for two right-handed hitters to face Doval, who is tougher on righties, of course.

I’ll let Thomson take it from there:

“We know they’re probably not going to throw through in that situation (when Marsh attempts to steal). Now, you take a chance by taking the bat out of Schwarber’s hand, but, you eliminate the double play because they’re going to bring the infield in, so you have to weigh those odds.”

They liked these odds better. They trusted Turner – and he delivered.

An interesting side note to this comes from some great reporting from Matt Gelb at The Athletic:

Last summer, when the good vibes around this franchise coalesced, the Philadelphia Phillies had an inside joke. Teams sometimes intentionally walked the hitter ahead of Jean Segura in an important situation. It became a thing the Phillies wanted Segura to be mad about. They wanted him to be personally offended. So, they started yelling at him. (Turner) probably didn’t know the joke from 2022. But Schwarber yelled at him anyway. “They walked me to get to you!” Schwarber screamed. Three minutes later, a teammate dumped a bucket of water on Turner, and Schwarber shoved him. “They walked me to get to you!” he said. “Schwarber shoved him again. They both laughed.

Brandon Marsh after any #Phillies win – "Eat it!" "You have to eat it."

Trea Turner is not having it! 😂 #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/zBcuOCMf66

— AC  (@ACinPhilly) August 23, 2023

“It’s wagyu.”

That’s all you need to know about these guys right now. They’re so together. And the fans, they are with them.

The crowd, just short of a sellout but still over 40,000 Wednesday was insane. It was unnerving for the Giants. And this is only August. Just wait until October.

“It’s not a random game,” Turner said. “But it’s a middle-of-the-week game in August. I know we’re in the playoff hunt and whatnot, but (it’s) definitely not a game that should be that exciting. And yet it was. That’s why I play the game. That’s fun out there.”

The Philadelphia fans did it. Again.

And the vibes with this team are through the roof. Again. Every guy is talking about it. Turner. Schwarber. Even Taijuan Walker, who pitched for the first time in 10 games and gave the Phillies a decent five innings after shaking off a little rust early in the contest.

And the white pinstripe overalls are becoming popular now, too. Garret Stubbs started wearing them after wins at the beginning of the last homestand. He ordered 60 more pairs for the team and staff. Each guy has them hanging in their locker. After the game Wednesday, Schwarber and Jake Cave joined Stubbs in donning the overalls.

I can see it now. Fans all over the ballpark dressed in these overalls. (They are available for purchase online from the company that reached out to Stubbs initially.) And I wouldn’t be surprised if this didn’t become a thing too. Just like June Schwarber, August Turner… oh, and Red October.