Home plate angle of Edmundo Sosa’s jog only makes Phillies’ blunder more egregious

The Philadelphia Phillies had their backs against the wall facing off against closer Josh Hader and the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. A Bryson Stott single gave the Phillies a fighting chance in the bottom of the ninth before their utility player Edmundo Sosa stepped up with a chance to cut the lead. An RBI double off the right-center field wall by Sosa suddenly turned him into the tying run on second base with all three outs to play with. Unfortunately, Sosa's baserunning blunder outshined everything he did that night after the Phillies failed to plate another run - he should have advanced much further than second.

During the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast, you can see Sosa taking his standard pose after hitting a ball he thought was going to carry over the wall. It was hit 373 feet from home plate, but was just not struck hard enough to get out. Sosa wasn't in much of a hurry to run the bases after he thought he'd become the hero by tying the game up with a home run. It makes it even more troubling knowing that Sosa only has seven homers on the year.

Phillies fans were hoping that wasn't going to cost them after seeing it would have been an easy triple for the speedy Sosa. Their fears were confirmed after three straight flyouts extinguished any chance of a comeback.

Home plate angle really puts Edmundo Sosa's Phillies baserunning mistake on full display

Sosa kept the Phillies alive when facing one of the game's most feared closers, and he let the moment get the best of him. In his mind, it seemed, there was never any real thought that the ball would fall short of the wall. Phillies fans were surely quite annoyed with Sosa's stare as if he were prime Barry Bonds in the box with the game on the line. Sosa eventually got to third base on defensive indifference, but either one of the fly outs that immediately followed his smash could have tested the arms of the outfield and paved the way for another Phillies comeback.

The postgame show made it pretty clear that Sosa gave little effort with a listless jog to first base before finally speeding to second base to avoid even getting thrown out. It was bad optics and was something that has cost this Phillies team wins before, now, and potentially in the postseason. It's just inexcusable behavior that can't happen from a player like Sosa coming off the bench. He was brought in to give the Phillies a jolt, and if he'd just played out what was in front of him, he would be giving high fives to his teammates just a few batters later.

The Phillies have to clean up these kinds of mistakes before they get to the postseason. They had a few in Tuesday's game, with Brandon Marsh's RBI double only plating one due to some odd staggered baserunning, followed by Marsh getting doubled off on second base the very next batter. The Sosa double in the ninth was just the cap to a series of unfortunate events. The Phillies have a better offensive identity, but they can't let the baserunning undo everything they've worked for up to this point.

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