Kapler, Phils in midst of critical stretch of the season
PHILADELPHIA » In the first series of his majorleague managing career, Gabe Kapler behaved as if he would not have the chance at a second.
Starting pitchers were pulled early. A relief pitcher was called in before he had warmed. Odubel Herrera was benched. Before the three games in Atlanta were over, Kapler had made one pitching change … and then 17 more.
Kapler has settled since going 1-2 in that March madness. But he hasn’t made a full retreat from whatever devotion to analytics it was that made him rip Aaron Nola out of his Opening Day start after 68 mostly effective pitches. He will hit his pitcher eighth and Rhys Hoskins second. He will use two closers for one save. And he will prepare for each series as if it can define a season, if not his career.
“We are going to prepare,” Kapler said of a series against the Braves that would begin Monday in Citizens Bank Park, “like animals.”
That may or may not have been a reference to the 1993 Phillies and how they prepared. But if Kapler was motivated to prepare for a three-game series in May as if determined to attack, then he had no reason to apologize. That’s because it shouldn’t take a baseballanalytics computer program to reveal that some series can be more vital than others.
“It’s certainly important, right?” Kapler said. “We identify and acknowledge that the Braves are in first place. We identify and acknowledge that we are going to do everything in our power to win the next three games.”
Not that the National League East order of relevance has been solidified before Memorial Day, for it remains the Washington Nationals’ race to control, but more than a quarter of the season had been played by the time the Phils returned Monday from a satisfying 3-2 road trip. And those were the Braves in first place, a game and a half ahead of the second-place Phils. With that, the series would have the chance to redefine the division as it nosed into its second quarter. Even at 26-18 and as winners of seven of their previous 10, the Phillies wouldn’t want to slide too far behind Atlanta, which they will not face again at home this season, and won’t play at all until Sept. 20.
“Every game is important to win,” Kapler said. “Doesn’t matter who the opponent is. Doesn’t matter where it’s played. And we treat every game like it’s important to win. But we also don’t look at every game in a vacuum. We have to look it as a three-game series. And we have to look at it over the course of 10 games so that we are managing our bullpens effectively, giving our personnel a chance to perform.”
They had to look at it the way managers have begun to look at so much else: Differently. Just as many have come to realize that it is better to use a closer in something other than a ninth inning, it should be clear that one series in May can have the same heightened value that one might have after Labor Day. To ignore that it would be the last chance to earn a three-game standings swing against the Braves until it otherwise may be too late would be as other-era thinking as allowing a pitch-count to balloon to 101. Due to the odd scheduling, the Phils had already played the Braves nine times, winning just three. That made it time for the numbers to level out.
“I’m not sure you’re going to find any real tendencies over a nine-game stretch,” Kapler said, “about how we played against the Braves.”
That’s the way he operates. He rejects shallow sample spaces, convinced that, over time, baseball will reveal everything from where to position a third baseman against a left-handed hitter to which teams are the most championshipready. But the Phillies entered the series having played 44 times, not nine. And they’d shown they had the pitching, the hitting, and the depth to remain an N.L. East pest into the fall.
“I take pride in the way a lot of our players have played,” Kapler said. “I take pride in the way they have worked. I take pride in their preparation. I really love our players. I love coming to work every day. I ride the emotion that they ride, so the guys that are struggling a little bit, I really feel the pain of that. And the guys that are having a lot of success, I’m feeling like celebrating with them.”
Few celebrate like the Phils, who will not allow a home victory to pass without turning their clubhouse into a disco, complete with a laser show and a smoke machine. But they have yet to take a West Coast tour, still have to face the Red Sox and Yankees, and must add a left-handed starter before they can claim to have a serious, pennant-contending rotation.
That’s why they can’t allow the fourth of their five series with the Braves to push them deeper in the standings. That’s why they have to play it, and manage it, like they may not have another.
Contact Jack McCaffery @jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @ JackMcCaffery