Bullpen decisions loom large for Phillies in series against Mets
At first glance, the baseball season appears to be a series of stand-alone games, separate and distinct. That’s misleading.
Instead, it more resembles a 162-act play in which what happens in any given scene is informed both by what has happened before and foreshadows what will come after. A pitcher may brush back a hitter because of an incident that occurred weeks or even months before. Lineups are constructed, in part, based on the history a given team’s hitters have against the opposing starter.
The strongest connective tissue, though, may well be the thought that goes into a manager’s use of his bullpen. Did a given reliever throw yesterday? The day before? How many pitches? And, always, what impact will using him tonight have on his availability tomorrow?
That’s the calculation Rob Thomson made Friday night against the Mets when he elected to line up Gregory Soto, Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to close out a 5-1 win against the Mets even though it was not a save situation.
That decision stuck out because the Phillies manager had used the same 1-2-3 combo to preserve a scoreless tie and send Thursday afternoon’s game against the Braves into extra innings.
Which also meant it’s likely none of his three most dependable relievers would be available for Saturday afternoon’s game against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park.
As it turned out, that’s probably not why the Phillies lost, 4-2, before a sellout crowd of 43,586. Although the outcome did pivot on what happened after starter Cristopher Sanchez departed.
Thomson let Sanchez, a lefthander, start the sixth to face lefty-swinging Brandon Nimmo with the score tied at two. After Nimmo singled, Yunior Marte came out of the pen. That was partly a left-right percentages decision and partly an acknowledgement that the next two Mets hitters, Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor, had hit the ball hard off Sanchez in their previous at bats.
Yunior Marte was brought in to induce grounders, and he did. Unfortunately for him, the first two made it to the outfield for singles, loading the bases. A potential double play grounder by Pete Alonso resulted only in a force play as Nimmo scored the go-ahead run. Then Tommy Pham singled to score Starling Marte with an insurance run.
Even if Soto or Alvarado had been available, Thomson almost surely wouldn’t have turned to either one in the sixth. That’s the role normally filled by Seranthony Dominguez, who is presently on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
When asked before the game how he weighs winning the game at hand against hedging for the following day, Thomson’s first impulse was that he’s 70 percent about doing what it takes in the moment. And that makes sense. Tomorrow’s game could be a blowout, one way or the other. Tomorrow’s game could be rained out. A bird in the hand, and all that.
After further reflection, he said he couldn’t really put a percentage on which way he leans. “You’ve got to have a balance,” he pointed out. “So I’m always thinking down the road about tomorrow and the next day and the next week.”
In the end, it didn’t matter this time. But managers have to plan for every scenario.
NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Phillies leftfielder Kyle Schwarber, who rightly caught flak for dropping a catchable line drive that contributed to Thursday’s loss to the Braves, made a nifty grab going back on a line drive over his head on a hard-hit drive by Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor in the third Saturday. It was remarkably similar to back-to-the-plate running catch Schwarber made to take extra bases away from Lindor in the fifth on Friday.
Rob Thomson said his entire coaching staff accompany him to Seattle for this year’s All-Star Game in Seattle on July 11. He’ll manage the NL squad by virtue of the Phillies being the defending league champions.
Asked again about the Phillies so-so power and production numbers – they ranked 21st in baseball in both homers and runs going into play Saturday – Thomson repeated again that he expects his lineup to heat up any day now. Besides, he added, "The ’27 Yankees, there were times when they didn’t score runs.”
Well, yeah. But the Phillies have already been held to three or fewer 36 times in 76 games this year. The 1927 Yankees, often held up as the yardstick against which all offensive juggernauts should be measured, were limited to three or less just 40 times for the entire season.
UP NEXT
RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-3, 6.34) is scheduled to face RHP Zack Wheeler (6-4, 3.48) in the series finale Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m.
