The original denouement to this recap, written around the seventh inning, was as follows: “ ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. This is not true of baseball
games, where the unhappy ones can really be all alike. Tonight looked a lot like Saturday night, which looked a lot like the NLDS games from last year, which looked a lot like the NLCS games from the year before that. The song remains the same, and it isn’t Dancing On My Own anymore”. (There was also an extended opener referencing Pink Floyd’s The Wall, which now survives only in the headline and subhed. Forgive me the indulgence, this may be my last recap this year).
Tonight’s contest ended up not being entirely the same as those unhappy affairs, hence the hasty rework of this recap. But the feeling left in its wake is not terribly different.
It all looked very similar to start. Shohei Ohtani’s woes against Phillies pitching continued from Saturday night as he took a called third strike on a changeup that nipped the bottom of the zone, his fifth K in six tries. In the face of the Phillies hurlers, he shrank like Shinichi Kudo after taking APTX 4869 (if you don’t get the reference, ask Ohtani, a known reader of manga). Mookie Betts singled by lashing a ball just past a diving Trea Turner, and Teoscar Hernández walked. The tension built, the hammer seemed to come down on a fanbase sensing doom in the air . Freddie Freeman hit a liner that seemed destined to fall when Nick Castellanos appeared to misjudge it, but he got to it; a simple groundout from Tommy Edman provided some temporary soothing of frayed nerves.
In their first crack at Blake Snell, Trea Turner went down on a tight called third strike, Kyle Schwarber swung mightily at a fastball, his favored fare, but produced only a shallow fly ball to left, and the nausea set in again. Bryce Harper worked a walk against Snell, but Bohm soon hit into a groundout. Their next effort against Snell went even faster; three Phillies came to the plate, and three were sent down, two schlepping heavy Ks back to the dugout. But Jesús Luzardo, determined to restore some faith to a flagging fanbase, ensured the Angelenos went down just as fast in the top of the third.
His efforts were laudable, though challenged by a thoroughly dispiriting bottom third: the Phillies flailed at pitches and the one base runner, Brandon Marsh, worked a walk and was then thrown out on an ill-advised, easily sniffed-out steal attempt. But our bespectacled hero kept hope alive, sending another trio of Trolley Dodgers down in order. The next inning went just about the same way. The Phillies entered the bottom of the fifth, then, without a hit, but with a pitcher who seemed equally reluctant to grant any to their foes.
The Phillies finally got a hit with two outs in the fifth as Edmundo Sosa tapped a ball into center right, but a groundout from Marsh ensured that no momentum was maintained. Apart from that brief blip, all seemed to continue on an uninterrupted course, each team sending trios of doomed batters to the plate for perfunctory, fruitless appearances. What would change the tenor of the game? Which seemingly small moment would prove to be the fulcrum that moved the world? Would it be Turner taking a one-out walk in the bottom sixth? He dashed to second in an attempt to give the Phillies their first runner in scoring position on the night, a sub-par, skipped throw ensured he was safe and sound. He was soon joined by Schwarber, who worked a free pass of his own.
Harper, then, in a pivotal moment. Who else would you have? Whether Phillies fan or not, you want to see him here, for the poetry of it. But the poem in question was Casey: no joy in Mudville; Mighty Harper has struck out. The inning then ended when Bohm chopped a ball to Miguel Rojas at third, sending him and Turner simultaneously diving to the base, the former reaching a moment before, ending the inning.
Luzardo was called back out to handle the seventh, and soon gave up a hit to Teoscar Hérnandez, then a double to Freeman. Runners on second and third with none out. His night ended, and though he left what would become pivotal runs on base, none, even in the fractious environment of a season on the brink, could fault his performance. Orion Kerkering was asked to handle the jam, and the flagging hopes of a team and city. Kiké Hernandez broke his bat and chopped the ball to Turner who tossed the ball home in an attempt to catch the other Hérnandez, who slid just in time to get the first run. A walk then loaded the bases. A foul pop put the Phillies on the edge of escape, but a single to left from Will Smith put the Phillies down 3-0, chasing Kerkering for Matt Strahm. Three runs felt insurmountable, but for good measure Ohtani came to the plate and, at long last, got a hit, adding a fourth.
The Phillies finally made it into the Dodgers bullpen, though did little against them in their first attempt. In their second, Max Kepler, summoned to pinch-hit for Otto Kemp, lashed a ball to right, where it bounced around and flummoxed Andy Pages, resulting in a three-bagger. Turner smacked one to center, Kepler came home and Citizens Bank Park, a Lazarus of stadiums, rose from the dead.
But the cheers soon gave way to boos as the Phillies hacked and scuffled their way through the end of the inning. Jhoan Duran was tasked with handling the top of the ninth, allowing a double and a walk before getting the third out (via yet another Ohtani K).
The Phillies’ ninth began with a single from Bohm against Blake Treinen, then a double from J.T Realmuto. And then a double from Castellanos scored them. And Castellanos ought to have been out at second, but he dodged the tag. And suddenly the game was a one-run affair. Treinen was chased. The band was playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts were light, and in that moment somewhere was Philadelphia.
But not even the lightest heart can tolerate a bad bunt decision, and Bryson Stott’s bunt turned into an out at third base. Rob Thomson’s decision to pinch-hit Harrison Bader for Marsh proved wiser, and soon resulted in a single and runners at the corners. Max Kepler hit into a fielder’s choice, putting Bader out.
Roki Sasaki vs. Trea Turner was thus set up as the climatic battle. The result was a groundout, with the added twist of a bad throw to first that was not quite bad enough. Something new, yet nothing feels terribly different.
The Phillies thus lost this game by the score of 4 to 3, and head to Chavez Ravine down 0-2 in the NLDS. Game 3 is Wednesday night at 9:08.
