Tale As Old As Time: The Phillies Bullpen Shits The Bed, And Now The Team Is Facing Elimination
Rob Tringali. Getty Images.It's the postseason. You need to win the game by any means necessary. I get it. Sometimes you need to get a little unconventional out there.
But Jhoan Duran is a closer. You want to throw him out there in the 7th inning because you have the top of the order coming up and you need a big shutdown inning? I'm totally fine with that. It's a risky move, but it could definitely pay off after Duran went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th.
I get that he can technically go more than 1 inning. But you already made the risky decision to pitch Duran in the 7th. You don't want to get caught with your hand in the cookie jar by sending him out there in the 7th and leaving him in for the 8th...
....fuck.
The 8th batter Duran faced of the day. The wheels were falling off after he hit Ozzie Albies, and the game was over when he served up a premium meatball platter to Austin Riley for a 3-run kill shot. You can say that Duran only blew 2 saves all year but this is the postseason. And in the postseason, the Phillies bullpen always manages to shoot themselves in the dick. Give them any opportunity to let a game slip right through their fingers and they take it. Could be Kimbrel against the Diamondbacks, could be Kerkering against the Dodgers, could be Duran against the Braves.
And just when it was starting to feel like maybe something special was brewing for this team.
Something about this just felt extremely 2022 to me. It was Jean Segura coded. On the road, late in the game, a clutch 2-RBI shot to take the lead. It felt like maybe, juuuuuust maybe, the Phillies would be able to tap into some magic and completely flush the last 2 weeks down the drain. But nope. 1 more loss and this team is continuing the trend of getting worse every year.