4 Phillies to blame for abysmal NLCS Game 7 loss to the Diamondbacks
After an unbelievable and shocking end to the Philadelphia Phillies' postseason run, who's to blame for their Game 7 loss?
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. A magical postseason run, with a very real opportunity to advance to the World Series for the second straight year, somehow slipped through the Philadelphia Phillies' fingers and came crashing down around them, their loyal-to-a-fault fans and the city of Philadelphia.
The 2023 postseason saw the Phillies stomp all over the Miami Marlins in a two-game Wild Card Series and then embarrass the Atlanta Braves in a 3-1 NLDS victory before taking a two-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. And it wasn't just a regular two-game lead; it was a showing of force at home in front of the frenzied Phillie faithful against an opponent that looked overmatched and, quite frankly, overwhelmed and in over their heads.
But after dropping two possible clinching games at home and being unceremoniously booted from the MLB playoffs, the Phillies need to take a good hard look at themselves. You know the fans are.
So, who's to blame for the Phillies Game 7 choke job of a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks?
Nick Castellanos
Right fielder Nick Castellanos came into the NLCS a man possessed. He absolutely torched the Braves in the NLDS but went colder than ice-cold against the Diamondbacks.
After hitting a solo home run in Game 1 of the NLCS, it looked like Castellanos was going to demolish Arizona from the seven-hole. Things went downhill from there, and rather quickly. He went 0-for-2 in the Phillies 10-0 Game 2 romp and finished the NLCS 1-for-24 — yes, that home run was his only hit in seven games. He slashed a putrid .042/.111/.167 with 11 strikeouts. Yikes.
Game 7 sealed the fate of his horrendous NLCS. He went 0-for-4, with two strikeouts, and missed an opportunity in the fourth inning to put some space between the Phillies and their opponents.
With one out and a run already in, which had the Phillies up 2-1, the beleaguered Castellanos took a fastball up for ball one before whiffing on three straight sweepers from Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt.
He finished his NLCS with a ground out and fly out to complete his NLCS to forget.
Bryce Harper
It's hard to point the finger at Bryce Harper after all he's done over the last two postseasons for the Phillies, but unfortunately, the uber-talented superstar couldn't come up in the biggest moment of the Phillies' season.
Harper did get off to a slow start in the Wild Card round but came on strong in the NLDS against the Braves. He slashed .462/.611/1.154 with six hits, three home runs, five RBI and five runs scored across the four games. The newly-minted first baseman delivered some iconic moments for the Phillies and their fans. Who can forget the not one but two post-home run staredowns of Orlando Arcia in Game 3?
He looked superhuman at times, but Game 7 of the NLCS was another story entirely. After an 0-for-3 night that included a pair of strikeouts in Monday's Game 6 loss, Harper vanished again on Tuesday — this time going 0-for-4.
In the biggest at-bat of the game, Harper came up with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh. With the Phillies down 4-2 and facing Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel, it felt like it was Harper's moment to make it happen for his team, like he has so many times before.
Sadly, Harper couldn't recreate the magic from last year's NLCS, when he hit his iconic eighth-inning home run that sent the Phillies to the World Series.
To his credit, he laid off a couple of sliders way down out of the zone during the at-bat, but missed his opportunity on a pair of fastballs that came in pretty much middle-middle. He let the first one go for a called strike and hit the second one hard (107.6 mph) but got under it, ending up with an easy inning-ending out for center fielder Alek Thomas.
Harper understood how big that spot was and spoke postgame about not being able to get the job done.
"He threw me the pitch I wanted. It went 2-1, and he threw me a heater, and I just, man, just not being able to come through in that moment, just devastation," Harper said. "You know, for me personally, just I feel like I let my team down and letting the city of Philadelphia down as well. That was a moment I feel like I needed to come through."
From there, it seemed elementary for the Diamondbacks to clinch the NL pennant. Harper had been the Phillies' last hope as the bottom six of the lineup went quietly to end the game.
Trea Turner
Trea Turner. Can you imagine anyone with a better feel-good redemption story that didn't have the storybook ending we'd all imagined? As the Phillies' huge offseason signing, Turner was expected to bring his star power to an already star-laden lineup. Instead, he crumbled under the pressure over the first four months of the season before coming to life in August.
His torrid late-season continued into the postseason. He hit .571 with a 1.482 OPS in the Wild Card. He hit .471 with a 1.441 in the NLDS. It felt like he was constantly on base, and when he was, he was a threat to run, swiping four bags over those first six games of the playoffs. Six of his 12 hits were of the extra base variety: four doubles and two homers.
Turner had a genuine shot to end his first year in a Phillies uniform as an instant legend. Instead, through the NLCS and especially Game 7, he reverted back to his early-season form.
Turner hit .200 with a .636 OPS over the course of the seven-game NLCS. That's 5-for-25, with one double, one home run and two RBI. And then, in the biggest game of the season, Turner all but disappeared, going 0-for-4 and coming up empty when it mattered most.
Like Harper, the most significant moment of Game 7 for Turner came in the seventh with the Phillies down 4-2. With runners on first and second, he immediately dug himself into an 0-2 hole against Ginkel, swinging at a pair of sliders nowhere near the zone. After fouling off a high fastball, he lifted a lazy fly ball to center fielder Thomas and spun his bat away in disgust.
Disgusting, indeed.
That meek at-bat would prove to be his final plate appearance of the 2023 season. Instead of going out with a bang and carrying the Phillies to the pinnacle of the sport, he faded away with nothing more than a whimper.
Rob Thomson
The final Phillie getting some blame for the team's shocking fall from grace is manager Rob Thomson. It may seem unfair to play the blame game with someone who can't step on the field, but being the skipper means wearing the defeats when they happen.
At one point in the playoffs, "Topper" could do no wrong. Think back to Game 1 of the NLDS against the Braves when, to everyone's surprise, he removed Ranger Suárez after just 3 2/3 of spectacular pitching. Thomson looked like a genius, however, as reliever after reliever trotted out of the Phillies' bullpen and combined to shut out the best regular-season offense.
But by Game 7 of the NLCS, some of the shine had worn off. Stemming from questions around Thomson's use of Craig Kimbrel on back-to-back days in Games 3 and 4 when the closer clearly didn't have his usual stuff, there was plenty of second-guessing going on as the Phillies' once promising series lead evaporated before our eyes.
The biggest question mark came in the fifth inning. With two out and a runner on second and Corbin Carroll due up, most observers figured that Suárez's time had come. Sure, he had just fanned Ketel Marte, who up until Game 7 had been the Diamondbacks hottest hitter, but Carroll was seeing the Phillies starter well on Tuesday.
The soon-to-be-named Rookie of the Year had already collected two hits off the left-hander, but Thomson left Suárez pitch. While there was a slight statistical advantage to letting Carroll face a lefty (.283/.339/.382 vs. LHP compared to .286/.369/.552 vs. RHP), rather than bringing in the warming righty Jeff Hoffman, any other left-hander would have been preferable after watching Carroll's first two at-bats against Suárez.
Carroll got to the southpaw for a third time, lacing a 109.7 mph groundball up the middle to drive in the tying run. It was then that Thomason emerged to pull his starter. Unfortunately, it was a little too late. Carroll would steal second and score the winning run on Gabriel Moreno's single.
Thomson said all the right things following his team's elimination, but there's a good chance he'll be thinking about that Carroll at-bat for while.
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