Primed to end 10-year drought
Ryan Howard swung, tapped a pitch toward second base, ripped a muscle, stumbled, limped to first and was called out in October of 2011.
With that, it was over. The game. The NLDS. The season. The era.
That was 10 years ago, four managers ago, hundreds of players ago, a baseball generation ago.
That was the last time the Phillies were in the playoffs. That was the last time they had a winning season. That was the last time they ruled a city’s sports fan base.
Some year, whether through the laws of average or economics, it will end.
Joe Girardi, for one, believes this can be that year.
“I like our club,” the Phils’ manager said Wednesday, from Citizens Bank Park, a simulated game about to start, a full season a day away. “I think there’s a lot of talent on this club.”
So, it begins, that 11th annual attempt to return the Phillies to serious championship contention. At 3 Thursday afternoon, before spectators not made this year of paper, Aaron Nola will twirl into
his pleasing right-handed motion and deliver a pitch to the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna. What happens next, and for the next 162 games, will reveal if the Phils have finally gotten it right this time.
They have spent the money, $333,000,000 for Bryce Harper, $115.5 million for J.T. Realmuto, market price for Nola and Didi Gregorius. They have assembled as sturdy a think tank as possible, placing Hall of Fame-bound Dave Dombrowski in charge of hiring the players and trusting Girardi, his own Cooperstown application impressive, to put them in the right places.
They improved the back of their rotation. They professionalized their bullpen. They are healthy. They are neither comically young nor tragically over-aged.
“We have to win our division, and it’s going to be tough,” Harper said. “But it has to start Opening Day, Day 1, and see what kind of team we are. And if we get in the trenches a little bit, it will be how we get out of that, without moping or anything, how we can understand who we are as a team. And hopefully, we win our division.”
The 10-year vigil was lowlighted with inferior rosters. The 2021 Phillies do not have one of those. Rather, they will be three-deep in potential All-Star starting pitchers, and versatile both in the bullpen and the batting order. The roster is an extension of the 2019 plan that had widespread public approval before a lateseason stumble that would cost Gabe Kapler a job. The Phillies were in contention into the final weeks of the abbreviated 2020 season, too, only to collapse again, but mostly because Matt Klentak’s inability to stock a bullpen.
Dombrowski, twice having built world championship teams, was hired in December and supplemented closer Hector Neris with triple-digit-throwing Jose Alvarado and capable relievers Archie Bradley, Sam Coonrod and Brandon Kintzler. Nola and gifted Zack Wheeler will share a rotation with ever-alluring Zach Eflin, left-hander Matt Moore and veteran Chase Anderson. Caleb Cotham, the Phils’ fifth new pitching coach in as many seasons, should be able to make that work.
“You never have enough pitching,” Dombrowski admitted. “I have been in positions where our pitching has been decimated. So you always want more.”
While additional arms could be added later, the everyday lineup is constructed to build leads, which it often did last season, only to be banana-peeled by lateinning throwing incompetence. Harper, 28, is a Hall of Fame level player in his prime. Alec Bohm is a consistent hitter who should have been the 2020 Rookie of the Year. Rhys Hoskins has shown big-league power. When healthy, and the Phillies insist he is, former MVP Andrew McCutchen is a useful leadoff hitter. Jean Segura and Gregorius are valuable as a double-play combination and as hitters.
Then, there was the one offseason re-signing that mattered most: The Phillies brought back Realmuto, the best overall catcher in the sport, a by-example leader, clutch at the plate, mesmerizing with his throws to second base.
“We can be very good,” Realmuto said. “‘Obviously, we have a long road ahead of us and we’d have to make some adjustments and we have to get better. Specifically, with defense and pitching, there’s a lot of improvements we can make. But the talent is there.”
Centerfield continues to invite questioning. To start, Girardi will try former firstround draft choice Adam Haseley and swift Roman Quinn. Brad Miller and Matt Joyce lend veteran bench experience. Ronald Torreyes infield versatility.
Fortunate health will matter, as usual. But if there is a hidden impediment to the Phillies’ 2021 success it is that the NL East includes two 2020 playoff teams (Braves, Marlins), the 2019 world champion Nationals, and the aggressive, ready-towin Mets. Says BetOnline.ag, the Phils are 9-1 to win the division, ahead of only the Marlins on the board.
With the first 13 games being against the Braves and Mets, the Phillies could reveal a little something about themselves early.
“You’re going to play them anyway,” Harper said. “They are two of the best teams in our division and playing them is going to be very tough.”
It’s been painful for the Phillies since Ryan Howard said ouch. So many changes later, they have a roster in place for that to change.