Tommy’s instinctive two-step costs Phils in ninth
WASHINGTON >> Ninth inning. Too many losses lately, too tempting of an opportunity to not finish putting this one away. So Tommy Joseph quite literally put his foot down Sunday. In the future, maybe he’ll know better.
Joseph, the Phillies’ exciting new offensive addition otherwise known as Ryan Howard’s replacement player at first base, saw Cesar Hernandez range far to his left into the near outfield grass to field pinch-hitter Bryce Harper’s grounder, then saw Hernandez’s hurried throw start to go awry.
Though Harper was busting it down the line, Joseph had time. Caught the ball, put his foot down for what could have, should have been the second out of ninth inning.
Then Joseph again.
One replay later, it was determined Harper hit the bag just ahead of Joseph’s second stamp of his shoe.
Four batters and two more singles later, the Nationals were walking off did it Nationals’ the with a 5-4 victory over the Phillies that was their fourth loss in a row, and 17th in their last 22 games.
This one seemed to hurt a little more than the rest, and not only because Tommy Joseph put his foot down too hard ... and twice.
“That,” manager Pete Mackanin said, “was a very tough loss to take.”
It would be tagged to Jeanmar Gomez, the notso-busy-lately closer, who after seeing Harper get on would give up a single and walk to load the bases, and then with two outs Jayson Werth to stroke a two-run single center to win it.
It especially hurt because the win would go to former Phils closer Jonathan Papelbon, despite him giving up a long home run in the top of the ninth allowed to to Maikel Franco which could have, should have, counted as a game-winning blast.
But it would come down to a somewhat off-line and high throw by Hernandez, and the way Joseph, who only made the switch to first base in the minors about a year ago, would handle it.
Honesty might be the best policy, but experience says you sometimes have to train your instincts to go against the grain.
“I believe if he didn’t go back with his foot to touch it ... if the side of his foot was touching (the bag), I think (Harper) was definitely out,” Mackanin said after his sagging team fell to 29-34. “It’s like if a guy goes back to tag (a baserunner), even though he tagged him the first time ... it looked like he wasn’t on the base.”
Perhaps that’s a complicated viewpoint, but Mackanin clarified, saying “I believe from what I saw on the replays, if he didn’t go back with his foot right at the last second, I believe they would have called (Harper) out.
“I’m going to ask him if he did touch the base with the side of his foot.”
Mackanin needn’t ask, because Joseph said he didn’t know. But in a bangbang play at first base, the lie usually goes to the fielder.
Of course, it takes practice to not do the instinctual thing and make sure with a second stamp of the foot.
“My foot came down at the side of the base,” Joseph said. But as for whether his foot was touching the side of the bag, he added, “I wasn’t sure.
“It was too close and I couldn’t feel it,” he said. “Obviously, if I couldn’t feel it, that’s why I went back and tried to tag it. It didn’t look good and obviously the cameras weren’t on my side.
“I saw the replay on the board. I don’t think I needed to look at it. They got the call right. That’s the whole point of this whole replay thing; get the calls right when you need them to. And they did.” Damn cameras. Anyway, most losses hurt a least a little, but the Phillies have to be building up a bit of a resistance when it comes to losses against the best that the National League
To wit: The Phillies have won once in their last 12 games against either the Cubs or these Nationals dating to May 27. In those dirty dozen games, they’ve been outscored 73-28.
You don’t need a replay to draw an obvious conclusion from that.
“It tells us that they’re better teams than we are,” Mackanin said. “We’ve got to improve our offense. Our pitching has to stabilize and we can’t afford to make mistakes. Our offense, obviously, is a big issue. We have to score more runs. So these types of games, you’re not allowed to make mistakes, like we did today in the ninth inning.”
As for the biggest mistake of that ninth inning, Hernandez’s off-line throw, Mackanin added, “Cesar, I’m sure, feels worse than anybody here. It’s a shame, but we can’t afford to make mistakes. We have to play clean games to win.”
Yeah, and for that.
Just take another gander at that disparity of runs against the Cubs and nasty Nats.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we match up with those teams because we don’t right now,” Mackanin said. “I don’t want to compare us to other teams because, obviously, we’re last in the league in hitting, runs scored and RBIs and doubles. That says it all.
“That tells you what you need to know.” has there’s a to offer. reason