st. LOUIS — Rob Thomson was hanging out by the door as he was exiting the champagne-and-beer-soaked mosh pit that was the Visitor’s Clubhouse at Busch Stadium late Saturday night. I met a reporter who was trying to stay.Dry.
“Do you feel like you got some special brew here?” asked Thomson.
“Yes, yes,” he said.
“why?”
“Because they’re playing unselfish right now. They just want it. They can smell it. They want it.”
A plume of champagne spray interrupted Thomson’s thoughts, but he had enough to say.
A quick two-game dispatch for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League’s Wild Card Series extends this Phillies season, extending their first postseason trip in 11 years to face the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series. At the Best of 5 event starting Tuesday night.
The Phillies struggled to qualify for the playoffs in September, but did so with some spirited wins in the final week of the regular season. Kyle Schwarber hit the game-winning double on Saturday night in the final regular season in Washington, while Aaron Nora threw a masterpiece in Houston Monday night to solidify his postseason berth. Schwalber hit another of his two homers in the game.
The Phillies were less offensive in the St. Louis Series, but as a team they went 9-for-57 (.158) and their starting four went hitless. A spectacle led by 13 inning shutouts by Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola.
Road wins in hostile territory with 48,515 in the stands on Saturday night built confidence and this team has it. You can hear it in the voice of JT Realmute. The All-Star catcher, who doesn’t tend to show off, said, “I can promise you, no one is excited to play for the Phillies right now.”
Wheeler and Nola in particular are at the top of the rotation. They may not be Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, but they’re pretty good.
A champagne-soaked Bryce Harper said Saturday night, “It’s got a great punch of 1-2.
“Get in and get hot, I always heard,” Wheeler said. “We will definitely face a tough team. It will be a battle and I can’t wait.
Ranger Suarez is lined up for Tuesday night’s series opener with Wheeler on Wednesday and Game 3 with Nola in Philadelphia on Friday.
The Phillies are 8-11 against the NL East winners, the 101-win Braves, this season.
“We know them well, they know us well,” said Harper. “This is baseball. It’s a crazy game. Anything can happen. can continue
Wheeler and Nora are hot. Bats need to get hot. I wish Seranthony Dominguez was hot. Or remained hot. He came out of the bullpen spectacularly in a highly leveraged situation for his first 4.5 months of the season. He went down with triceps tendonitis in his late August and revived in mid-September, but was unable to command his power repertoire in the same way. The walk piled up. It became difficult to trust him.
But Thomson trusted Dominguez in Saturday night’s game, and so did Realmuth.
Realmuth told Dominguez during a visit to the mound with MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt at bat and two men on base, “No one is needed in this situation but you.” “Trust yours.”
Dominguez ended the threat by striking out Goldschmidt with a 3-2 sinking fastball and knocking out Nolan Arenado. Two players with over 100 RBIs. They know how to score home runs. But Dominguez showed everyone that he still knows how to get out. He rewarded the manager’s confidence, earning his two outs the biggest in a win that closed out the series at 2–0.
“It’s baseball,” Dominguez said. “It’s like life. Sometimes you struggle, sometimes you get better. You have to keep working no matter what.”
Rhys Hoskins won two games 9-0, and perhaps as much as it struck a chord in his heart, he was feeling pure elation after Saturday night’s victory. He is a team-first man who embodies the altruism Thomson spoke of. He was thrilled with Dominguez.
“I can’t wait to go see another at-bat against Goldschmidt,” he said. “This guy was probably the MVP of the league and Seranthony was just nasty.”
With Dominguez clutching Goldschmidt and Arenado and the match looming, Harper was in the dugout, reciting what has become his daily mantra.
We are not losing this game. We are not losing this game.
Apparently, that’s all that comes out of his mouth before a game in the clubhouse or batting cage. He says it in the dugout all game long.
“This is just the message he sent out. We are not going to lose,” said Thomson. “We’re going to do everything we can to win this game. I think that’s a good message. I really think so. And it was shown by our dedication during the series, the fielders and the pitchers.”
In Harper’s view, altruism starts at the top.
“We play together,” he said. “We are very close. We are a family here. We work hard together every day and our managers have our backs and want us to succeed. This The organization has everything they need right in front of us to be successful, and we said, “It’s because of them, and it’s because of the Philadelphia fans. ) I’m so excited to play, I can’t wait to go back and see the crowd in the stands.I get chills just thinking about it.”
But first, the two of us in Atlanta.
“Keep polishing,” said Harper.
keep sniffing.
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