Game 3: Seriously, What Is Going On Here?

 

I have seen the 2022 Phillies on three occasions this season at Citizens Bank Park.

One of them, they were held scoreless by the Texas Rangers. Every ball one of them tried to hit out was either foiled by Adolis Garcia being exactly where they were going or the umpires deciding that a ball which was called a home run last night was a ground rule double in May. The only run the Phillies scored last night was thanks to a passed ball stolen base courtesy of Roman Quinn, who, fun fact, isn't even with the team anymore.

Another one, they had the Braves against the ropes, but Matt Olson kept hitting home runs, and it was evident that at this point in the season, despite a huge bomb from Kyle Schwarber, the Braves were better than us. 

I did actually get to see a Phils win this year, but it was in April, and it was a Phillies team that barely even resembles this one anymore. The big RBIs came from Odubel Herrera and Didi Gregorius, Jeurys Familia came in for an inning, and the key runs were scored not by homers but with triples and small-ball. It feels like a century ago.

So if in April, or in May, or even in June, you were to tell me that the Philadelphia Phillies, THESE Philadelphia Phillies, would hold the Houston Astros without a run in a World Series game in Philadelphia...I would have shot you.

I am still in absolute disbelief that this team can go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in baseball. I don't care if Lance McCullers was tipping his pitches, this shouldn't have happened. 

John Smoltz, during the broadcast, said that if the Phillies somehow win the next 2 games, this will be one of the most inexplicable World Series wins of all time. This I do not exactly agree with. The Wild Card era has brought on some extremely unlikely, flash-in-the-pan teams that somehow win the whole thing. The 1997 Marlins came out of practically nowhere and took down the monolithic Cleveland Indians. The 2005 Chicago White Sox had no big stars, no healthy Frank Thomas, and just some Ozzieball mentality, and they were able to stop the price-tag-heavy Astros from winning. The 2010 Giants essentially got good in July, when I was in California, and rode that to the end to take down a Rangers team that had built itself immaculately.

Lately, you've had even more inexplicable World Series contenders, people who were listless til halfway through the season only to catch fire, like the 2019 Nationals and the 2021 Braves. Funny how this always happens in the NL East, and against the Astros. And now, the Phillies were practically dead midway through the year, without Harper and with the managerial switch, and now they're shutting out the Astros in the World Series. 

I'm still not sure if Smoltz is 100% spot on in saying the Phils are THE most inexplicable, if they win. But man, if they pull this off I sure will be bamboozled, because...HOW? HOW ON EARTH? 

Watching last night's game was the single most dumbfounded I've ever been watching a team I enjoy succeed. I am a Philly sports fan, but I don't drink as much of the Kool-Aid as a lot of people in this area. Every single series thus far I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. With Houston, it still could, and I'm prepared for that outcome. But every game the Phillies win against these guys is gonna shock me, because the Astros built themselves so immaculately over a long period of time, and the Phillies just threw some things together and the majority of them have worked.

THE BULLPEN, people. People have been shitting on the Phillies'  bullpen since like 2015. This bullpen has routinely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I've seen Andrew Bellatti screw up a relief appearance. Yet somehow he stopped the Astros from doing ANYTHING in the ninth. I...cannot believe that.

The offense I can believe. Harper, Schwarber, Bohm, Marsh and Hoskins all hitting homers I can believe. I just...I can't believe that we actually stopped them from matching us. Ranger Suarez pitched a gem and the bullpen held it down. This team...did not always look this good. And yet here we are.

Tonight is Aaron Nola, who they hit before but can at least shut 'em down, vs. Cristian Javier, who has been dominant before but is lower on the totem pole in this rotation. In Philly, with this crowd louder than ever. I wonder what's gonna go down this time.