Phillies ready for playoffs
Orion Kerkering sounded a bit like every Phillies fan last year, vowing to score World Series tickets at any price. That he was Philadelphia’s fifth-round draft pick didn’t matter much, Kerkering had to scrounge for tickets like any other desperate fanatic.
Good news, Kerkering knew a guy — his uncle — who knew a guy who could get tickets. Kerkering only had to buy his plane ticket and he would have seats with his girlfriend and his father at Game 3 of the World Series.
Kerkering rooted on the Phillies from the third row of the upper deck as they blasted five homers against Houston. While the Phillies trotted out four relievers in the win, Kerkering watched and wondered, could he one day — say, 2025, he figured — be the pitcher that gets the call from the ‘pen in the postseason?
Why wait?
Should the Phillies reach the World Series again, Kerkering can skip the secondary market and friendsof-friends for tickets and instead catch the game from the bullpen. The 22-year-old Kerkering blazed through four stops in the minor leagues this year before he was called up over the weekend, and the right-hander then struck out two in a scoreless inning in his MLB debut in Sunday’s win over the New York Mets.
With 87 wins, their total already matched last season’s, before they knocked off St. Louis, Atlanta and San Diego on a wild ride to the World Series. Again, the 100-win NL East champion Braves are in the way and the Dodgers are closing in
on reaching that win total. But remember last year, the Dodgers, Braves and Mets all hit 100 wins, yet it was the Phillies left standing in the National League, before losing in six games to Houston in the World Series.
Top to bottom, the Phillies are stronger, deeper everywhere, especially on the pitching staff. The Phillies gutted through the playoffs tossing out “openers” such as Bailey Falter and Noah Syndergaard to survive an inning or two. Now, Sanchez, owner of one of the best changeups in the game, has struck out 10 batters in a game twice this month, yet may not even get a chance to start in a short series.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was itching to see what he had in Kerkering and how Michael Lorenzen would fare in relief after he got knocked around in five starts following his no-hitter.
The early returns, pretty promising: Kerkering and Lorenzen (who earned the save) struck out three in two shutout innings in a 5-2 win over the Mets.
Thomson envisions Kerkering — who went 4-1 with 14 saves and a 1.51 ERA across 49 relief appearances
with four different minor league teams this season — as a high-leverage reliever.
The Phillies close the regular season with three against the Pirates and three more on the road against the Mets.
Other games Yankees 6, Diamondbacks
4: Kevin Ginkel blew the last of the Arizona’s three leads in a loss to New York on Monday, dropping them into a tie with the Chicago Cubs for the National League’s second wild card spot. Ginkel (9-1) loaded the bases in the eighth inning by allowing two singles and a walk. He walked in the tying run by issuing a free pass to Oswald Peraza and Gleyber Torres scored on a sacrifice fly to left from Estevan Florial to give the Yankees their first lead.
Notes
Angels star Mike Trout, who was shut down for the season on Sunday due to lingering issues with the hamate bone he fractured and had surgery on in July, said before Monday’s game against the Texas Rangers that he expects to be “wearing an Angels uniform in the spring.”