The dust has settled a bit, the reactions coming down from the extreme and we’re left to dissect. Los Angeles came in and outlasted the Phillies, getting the big hit from one of their top hitters that the Phillies were just not able to get for themselves. Sadly, it has happened far too often in the playoffs, but this time, the bottom of the order was at least there to provide a lead. That’s a rare occurrence in the playoffs for the Phillies, but the three runs that the bottom provided was all they
would get.
Of course, getting the right relievers into the game would have protected the lead for Jhoan Duran to eventually hold onto, but Rob Thomson chose to have his 40 year old reliever do an up and down outing and it went as we all probably predicted. Matt Strahm did make some good pitches to Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to almost wiggle out, but made a bad pitch to Teoscar Hernandez and paid the price.
That leaves us with our question of the day: what was the biggest culprit for the Phillies’ Game 1 loss? There are probably a few viewpoints on this, so let’s hear what you have.
