His usage of closer Carlos Estévez
There was a reason why the Phillies sacrificed two promising pitching prospects to get elite closer Carlos Estévez at the trade deadline. They truly believed that he could be a huge difference-maker for the club and be able to shut down the opponents in the most crucial parts of the game. Well, the deployment of Estévez by Thomson turned out to be a huge head-scratcher in the end.
In Game 1, when the Mets had the strongest part of their lineup coming up in the eighth inning, Estévez should have been used instead of Jeff Hoffman to shut them down with the game on the line. However, he never ended up seeing any action as the Phillies eventually lost 6-2.
In Game 2, when Estévez finally made his playoff debut, he should have gone more than one inning to help preserve the lead. After all, he threw just eight pitches in the eighth inning and should have had plenty left in the tank to seal the win in the ninth. The Phillies’ bullpen yielded the tying run in the ninth inning but luckily escaped with a win in the bottom half of the inning.
In Game 3, with the Phillies already down 6-2, Thomson shouldn’t have used him at all to keep him fresh for the following game. Finally, in Game 4, Estévez should have been brought in earlier, before Hoffman loaded the bases. Instead, he was handed a tough situation to get out of, especially for someone who gives up contact. Bringing him in at the wrong time led to disastrous results, as the Phillies painfully learned.
The fatal sixth inning of Game 4
But when it came to moves that Thomson likely messed up most on, it was the pivotal sixth inning in Game 4. During the fifth inning when starter Ranger Suárez got into a little jam, Hoffman was brought in to clean things up. He did a fine job as he got Mets slugger Pete Alonso to strike out and infielder José Iglesias to ground out to end the inning.
However, Thomson kept Hoffman in the game by sending him back out in the sixth despite a long half-inning in the dugout. Even when he showed signs of faltering, especially when he started to get wild by uncorking two wild pitches and a hit batter, he was still left in there until the bases were loaded.
At that time, Thomson finally made the move to bring in Estévez. But Estévez is prone to contact and works most effectively starting an inning. With other arms available, Thomson never swayed away from his decision. One hit later, the game, the series and ultimately the season was over.
All of the moves Thomson made seemed like minor decisions at the time, but they had huge implications in the end. A little bit of this and a little bit of that could have changed the whole complexion of the series. Nevertheless, there’s no use in pointing fingers now as the Phillies have the entire offseason to think back about what they could have done better as a whole.