Phillies' dramatic win should have been better | Bob Brookover
The victory over the Nationals was more impressive than Saturdays except for the part where the closer could not close out the game.
The Phillies' unscheduled fireworks night Saturday was nice. Any time you score a dozen runs in the first inning and two touchdowns and a field goal for the evening, you're sure to send the paying customers home feeling full and satisfied.
Far more impressive, however, was the follow-up performance Sunday at Citizens Bank Park unless, of course, you want to focus entirely on the ninth-inning meltdown by closer-for-now Jeanmar Gomez that created an elephant-in-the-room postgame news conference for Pete Mackanin.
The manager tried to avoid the subject entirely in his opening remarks following a 4-3 win over the highly regarded Washington Nationals on a day when the opposing team sent the imposing Stephen Strasburg to the mound.
Mackanin chose instead to focus on things like the five scoreless innings from Jeremy Hellickson, the three scoreless innings from the guys who are not his closer and the broken-bat, walk-off RBI single by Cesar Hernandez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
"To win two out of three from what I think is one of the better teams in the National League is really special," Mackanin said after the Phillies finished the first week of the season at 3-3. "After the 17 runs we scored [Saturday], you kind of expect a letdown. You don't know what to expect the next day. But the guys battled. We got enough to win."
Pummel journeyman righthander Jeremy Guthrie as the Phillies did Saturday and all you've really accomplished is something that a triple-A team could do on a given night. Take the rubber game against Strasburg and the Nats and now you've really accomplished something.
The Phillies went 5-14 against the Nationals a year ago and lost 12 of the last 13 they played against them. Strasburg was just the first quality pitcher in a formidable road that lies ahead for the Phillies. They'll see him again next weekend in Washington, but only after facing the New York Mets' Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey on Monday and Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies went 5-14 against the Mets last year. In fact, they were 18-38 against the five NL playoff teams. They were 53-53 against everybody else. You have to consistently beat the good teams to be considered one and, if nothing else, the series win over the Nats was a decent place for the Phillies to start the pursuit of that goal.
"I think it was a grind and we played a pretty good game," shortstop Freddy Galvis said. "We scored when we were supposed to score and we won the game."
Strasburg might not have been at his dominating best, but he was still good and the Phillies' scoring opportunities were few and far between during the seven innings he was on the mound. Galvis knocked in the first run of the day home with a two-out single in the second inning on a nine-pitch at-bat that started with him in a 0-2 hole.
"I tried to stay short to the ball and get the ball in play after two strikes," Galvis said. "They were playing the shift, so I just wanted to make contact and put it in play. I think he threw me a change-up away."
Yes, an 89-m.p.h. change-up. Putting one of those in play is easier said than done.
The Phillies tacked on two runs in the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Hernandez that was followed by an RBI double from Howie Kendrick.
Timely hitting combined with flawless defense - Mackanin's team has not made an error yet this season - got the Phillies to the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead. The only dark moment on this bright sunny day was when Jeremy Hellickson left the mound before throwing a pitch in the top of the sixth. It was announced that he had a right forearm cramp and Mackanin and Hellickson later revealed that he could not open his hand to throw the baseball.
Hellickson said he felt fine after the game.
The same could not be said for Gomez. As much as Mackanin wanted to avoid the subject, he knew it was going to come up. The agony of this victory was too glaring because the Phillies have three guys - Hector Neris, Joaquin Benoit, and Edubray Ramos - with the stuff to close games and a closer-for-now in Gomez who has allowed five runs and two home runs in his first three appearances of the season after a September meltdown last season.
"I'm going to talk with him [Monday]," Mackanin said. "I'll have something for you [Monday]."
He repeated that same sentiment several more times in several different ways before escaping to the safety of his office.
"You don't like to see that," Mackanin said of the ninth-inning blown save. "It's not something you want to see."
It's up to the manager to decide if he has seen enough. If the goal is to get to good again, it should be a pretty easy decision.
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