Is f lop by Phillies beginning of end?
PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper said all the right things about how he could have done more to lead the Philadelphia Phillies back to the World Series.
How he let the team down. How he let the city down. Harper put on a brave front in the wake of a cutting defeat and noted ownership would spend and develop and keep the franchise a contender for years to come.
“Just understand that we’ll be back,” Harper said.
Just understand this, though. The Phillies squandered a trip to the World Series with one of the more egregious collapses in the 141 years of the franchise.
Up 2-0 in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
Up 3-2 and back home for Game 6 with postseason standout Aaron Nola on the mound.
They blew it. It was the Arizona Diamondbacks who planted a flag in the Citizens Bank Park turf and knocked out Harper and a futile lineup that produced no bang for their 241 million bucks.
The day after in Philly was grim. Turn on talk radio, scan social media, heck, even read a newspaper, and the Phillies were painted Wednesday as chokers. The truth, in this case, hurts.
What’s worse, the franchise has traditionally spiraled after agonizing defeats.
Consider 1964, when the Phillies lost 10 straight games to blow a 6 1/2-game lead and the NL pennant with 12 games left in the regular season. They wouldn’t make the postseason again until 1976.
Take 1993, when Mitch Williams threw that final pitch of the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jayds’ Joe Carter for his infamous (at least in Philly) home run. The Phillies didn’t have a winning record again until 2001.
Or 2011, when Ryan Howard crumpled to the ground on the final swing of an NL Division Series loss that served as a gnarly preview for a decade of bad baseball ahead in the City of Brotherly Love.
This year’s Phillies insist more postseason appearances are ahead, that the Game 7 loss won’t serve as some sort of generational defeat like the others that will send them back into the baseball abyss.
Maybe so. The expanded playoffs make another run more palatable. The Phillies won 87 games last year to reach the World Series, and the Diamondbacks won just 84 this season to match up against the Texas Rangers.
The Phillies can win another 80 to 90 games if the offense clicks and starts mashing home runs and spiking bats and spurring pandemonium from the home crowd.
It’s just that when the freeswinging Phillies go cold, well, look out.
Sometimes a series is decided on the little plays. Maybe a stolen base. A bad decision by the manager (though Rob Thomson was guilty of a couple against Arizona).
But the defining numbers were in black and white, right there in the box score.
Harper, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner went 5-for-53 (.094) with 11 walks, 22 strikeouts and two RBIs in Philadelphia’s four NLCS losses. Against six Arizona pitchers in Game 7, the four went 1-for-15 (.067) with five strikeouts and no RBIs. Ouch.
“You work all year to get to these moments and these spots,” Harper said. “We weren’t able to close the door.”
But is it slammed shut on Philadelphia’s hopes to make another deep October run in 2024?
There are other questions the team must deal with, too.
Here’s one: Was Game 7 the last call for Rhys Hoskins in a Phillies uniform?
Hoskins returned to the team for the finale after spending most of the postseason rehabbing in Florida for a lastgasp effort to play in the World Series. Hoskins missed the season after tearing the ACL in his left knee in spring training. The 30-year-old finished a $12 million, one-year contract and could move on if the Phillies decide Harper will stay at first base.
Hoskins was pretty much a well-paid observer this season, but he hit 30 homers with 79 RBIs last season. Should Hoskins prove he’s healthy — he said there were still some “finishing touches” on his rehab — it should be easy to find a home for a right-handed hitter with pop.
Perhaps, though, not in Philadelphia.